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pets
Happy Healthy Cats
Hospital sniffer dog can detect bacterial infections in patients!
Despite what you may have been told, cats should not throw up on a regular basis. Here are some reasons your cat may be vomiting and the great news is – we can help you to have a happy healthy cat who no longer vomits.
Cliff the dog is detecting cases of a hospital bug at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.
Eating a poor quality diet can lead to gastrointestinal inflammation and food allergies. The quality of the protein and the protein source of a cat’s diet are very important. Sometimes a cat’s pancreas is not producing enough digestive enzymes, and can be a common cause of vomiting. Diet plays a major role in getting the pancreas working properly. Hairballs - those cylindrical plugs that appear on your floor in a pool of liquid. Cats should be able to groom themselves and have their gastro-intestinal tract deal with the hair ingested. Vomiting hair balls is a sign of over grooming or of a digestive system that needs some help to digest the hair. Gobbling down their food can cause immediate regurgitation. Slowing down their intake can be a simple solution. Eating cat treats full of additives and preservatives can be a cause of gastro-intestinal inflammation. Look out for propylene glycol, ethoxyquin, chemical dyes and emulsifiers (and other things you can’t pronounce). Replacing these with healthy dried meat treats will really help. It is important if your cat regularly vomits to address diet as a likely cause. Don’t put up with the surprise of a watery vomit under your bare feet first thing in the morning. Come on in to see us at Raw Essentials, tell us all about your lovely vomiter, and we’ll pin point the problem for you, tell you how to solve it, and make vomiting a thing of the past.
Dogs have already proved useful as a means of reducing the stress levels of students at Yale Law School, which has recognized the therapeutic qualities of the animals. Helping humans in a different way, a sniffer dog is now detecting cases of a deadly bacterial infection at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam. Hospital bugs are easily picked up by patients if they begin to spread, but doctors can be late to diagnose them if visible symptoms aren’t present. In the case of Clostridium difficile – also known as C. diff – infected patients begin to have a distinctive odor in their stools and the center is now using Cliff the beagle to sniff out those affected by the illness. According to reports, the dog has so far correctly identified 97 out of 100 samples from patients, and can also determine presence of the bacterial infection by smelling the air around guests’ beds. Cliff notifies staff by sitting next to those with the infection. It is believed that other canines could be trained to spot signs of the bug in hospitals and help reduce spread by detecting it earlier than humans can. For more information: www.vumc.com
Dr Lyn Thomson Holistic Veterinarinan www.rawessentials.co.nz or see ad on right
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