Spring has finally sprung! I can’t wait for green grass, flowers, a garden, and sleeping with the windows open! It’s finally me to kick off the heavy winter boots and slip into flip flops. I hope that you and your pups are enjoying the warmer days, too. I did so many readings in April that I’d like to tell you about, but there’s one problem. When the reading ends, I don’t remember most of what I’ve said to you. Forge ng what I’ve said keeps my brain unclu ered, but at the end of the day, I’m aware that some amazing things were said, and I have no clue what they were! My role as the psychic is to be a conduit, and some mes it feels as though the words bypass my brain and simply flow from a higher source and directly out of my mouth. I was smart enough to write two things down in my most recent reading though, and I hope you find them as funny as I did! I got an email from a woman who has called me before to gain insight into her dog’s behavior. This me the issue was that if he kept barking, the neighbors were going to call the Animal Control Officer. Lucky for her, they had given her fair warning, and she was being proac ve by seeking out a reading. Her dog got super excited
How to Recognize Lungworm in Your Dog Q. My dog is coughing. He
Furry Words by Sara Moore www.enlightenedhorizons.com
and barked his head off every me someone came into their house, and he’d also randomly have barking fits in the evening las ng five or ten minutes. She wanted to know why he was doing this and how she could get him to stop. When I looked at my notes, the first thing I have wri en is “White noise, owner doing well.” Luckily that was enough to jog my memory, and the meaning behind it is actually pre y cool. The dog
Ask the Vet… by Dr. Judith Herman
has had tons of tests. An bio cs and steroids have not helped. What else could be going on?
A.
Coughing in dogs can be caused by viruses if your dog goes to kennels or other areas that have a lot of dogs, bacterial infec ons, heart condi ons, and hormonal imbalances, and finally parasites. Roundworms have a stage where the larvae moves into the lungs, gets coughed up and swallowed, and then finishes growing into an adult. There is another cause of coughing which is o en overlooked. This is a parasite called lungworm. The common lungworm here in
North America is the fox lungworm. Infected cats will cough up the larvae, an adolescent stage, and swallow it. The larvae will pass in the poop which will infect snails and slugs. Dogs and foxes, the final hosts, will ingest the snails and
said that his owner had been doing so much work on herself as a result of the last reading that she was emo onally in a good spot. He told us that she no longer comes home from work exhausted and carrying the stress of the day. He explained that before he’d have to bark at her to help her release all that crazy energy that was hanging around her and clear the space himself. She did admit that she had put a lot of the areas in her life into perspec ve and was enjoying life more. If this were the case, then why was he s ll barking? Well, he sheepishly admi ed it was really quiet there now, and he didn’t know what to do with himself. He asked for a white noise machine so that he could “get off the clock” himself, so to speak. She laughed and agreed to try it if he agreed to stop the barking. I’m assuming it worked because I never got a call back. In my line of work no news is usually good news! The next thing I have scribbled is “amazing race, cat/dog.” What the heck? I had to think back a little on this one but finally remembered what it meant. The owner had asked how the dog was feeling about a cat that had recently joined the family. Turns out the dog didn’t really like it and the cat didn’t care much
for the dog, but they agreed to disagree. The cat said that if they had to do the Amazing Race (a television show where couples, friends, or siblings have to get to a destination by following clues), they would probably make it but end up totally hating each other. We laughed so hard that I told her it could very well end up in an ar cle, and that’s why I’m sharing it with you today! There are two other cats in the home that are completely indifferent to both the dog and new addi on, and she was very relieved that she could stop trying to get them all to be best friends. Readings like this are so enjoyable for me because they’re light hearted and usually result in posi ve changes. When I say things like your dog and cat relate to each other like contestants in a TV show, I do think I may be a bit nuts. When I get the valida on that whatever was said actually helped, I know that, yes, yes I may be a bit nuts, but I will con nue to keep my job as a Psychic for People and Pets. Sara Moore is a psychic for people and pets, has an office in North Conway, NH but is also available for phone readings and private events. FMI go to enlightenedhorizons.com, email enlightenedhorizons@gmail.com or call (603)662-2046.
slugs. The larvae are released in the gut and migrate into the airway passages of the lungs, bronchi and bronchioles, to grow into adults. The most likely me of infec on is during wet and warm seasons, spring and fall. This is the ac ve slug and snail me. The life span of this worm is 8 to 10 months, so infec on can be detected in a dog any me during the year. A dog infected with a few worms may not show any signs of a cough and the infec on can spontaneously go away. The problem is with a heavier burden of worms. The symptom commonly seen is a chronic cough, but sneezing, nasal discharge, and retching can occur. These dogs develop inflamma on in the airways, trachea, and bronchi called trachei s and bronchi s. If severe, the dog can stop ea ng and become weak. With severe infec on, a dog can develop bronchial pneumonia. You can see how this worm infec on can be confused with allergic bronchi s. To diagnosis this problem, your veterinarian will check a poop
sample. Using normal techniques, this parasite can be missed. Some mes mul ple samples over a period of a couple of weeks is needed because the larvae is shed sporadically. There is a special test called Baermann technique that is more successful in finding the worm. Another test to diagnose lungworm is a technique called tracheal lavage. On Prince Edward Island in Nova Sco a, researchers found this parasite in about a third of shelter dogs. Lungworm is easily treated with a common wormer from your veterinarian. If you find your dog having a cough that he can’t shake, his teeth are clean, heart is fine, an bio cs and steroids didn’t help, and you and your veterinarian are scratching your heads, you may want to check his poop. Judith K. Herman DVM, CVH Animal Wellness Center Augusta, ME www.mainehomeopathicvet.com
Kennel Clubs present Eighth Annual Southern Maine Coastal Classic Hundreds of dogs will converge in Scarborough, Maine, for the state’s largest canine event. The eighth annual Southern Maine Coastal Classic, four days of AKC All Breed Dog Shows and Obedience and Rally Trials runs Thursday, May 18, through Sunday, May 21, 2017. All ac vi es begin at 8am each day, outdoors rain or shine, at Wassamki Springs Campground, 56 Saco St, Scarborough, Maine.
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York County Kennel Club of Maine, Inc and Vaca onland Dog Club, Inc invite the public to meet some of AKC’s 180 recognized breeds and observe the various ac vi es throughout the day. Admission each day is $5 per vehicle. There is ample parking in and around the campground. Wassamki's snack bars will serve food throughout the day. Also, be sure to visit our vendors selling dog-related items.
York County Kennel Club of Maine, Inc is a not-for-profit organiza on whose goals are to protect and advance the interests of purebred dogs through AKC performance events and community educa on ac vi es. For more informa on about this show cluster, direc ons to Wassamki Springs or any of the featured dog clubs go to h p://www. yorkcountykennelclub.org.
Downeast Dog News