Summer Signals a Time for FoxTails
Summer Signals a Time for FoxTails
© Sophia Yin
First appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, April 2003
A famous dog expert once stated, “When people ask me, ‘What kind of dog should I get,' I ask them, “What kind of dog can you afford to entertain?”
Well, I can afford to entertain exactly two adult Australian cattle dogs with activities such as twice daily walks.
For the younger dog, diversions also include weekly trail runs where at full trot she gazes across the hills in search of grazing cattle while daydreaming about where she'd herd them if she had the chance. It's during these runs on mornings when the sky promises a clear view and the warm air whispers about the coming heat, that I can't help wondering,
“Why can't dogs carry their own water?”
Unlike poop bags which are virtually weightless, a dog's daily supply of water can make you long for the return trip. So, in search of a better way I tested a dog back pack—the ergonomically designed 2-in-1 dog & human pack made by Planet Dog. As stated in the name, you can, as I did, use this sporty-looking pack yourself for hauling small items on bike across town, or you can use it on your dog so that Fido finally pulls her own weight on extended outings.
.
Unfortunately while the shoulder pack fit me perfectly, it was too big for Zoe's 40 pound body. Luckily it fit her unsuspecting stand-in, an 85 pound Labrador retriever named Atlas. His owner, a fellow veterinarian, had agreed to test the pack on our hike.
Like many Labradors, Atlas basically has two settings, “Happy” and “Asleep.” Predictably during the one-minute fitting phase he wore his “happy” face as if he didn't notice a red nylon foreign object hugging his sides. His attitude persisted throughout the hike where he leisurely traipsed across the trails leaving marks like a boyscout laying a trail.
Of course for this first trip we chose a relatively light load for Atlas—a first aid kit, lots of water, and, for some reason, enough poop bags to last a whole week.
Why so much water? While our dogs probably wouldn't be drinking all of the water we'd packed for them it could have several other uses. First, because dogs only have sweat glands in their feet, their primary ways of keeping cool include panting, standing in the shade, and jumping into bodies of water.
When overheating, they have a classic pant—mouth open so wide you can count the molars and tongue dangling like an oversized tie. When dogs pant over about 3-5 seconds a minute and continue to do so after about five minutes of rest in the shade, they're probably overheating. A rectal temperature would read 105-plus indicating immediate danger and requiring the dog be drenched in cool water and rushed to the hospital. On our hike we would be dousing our dogs with water well before this happened.
Water was also an essential element of our first aid kit. In case of a cut, we would flush the dirt out using our sports water bottle. Then we would apply copious amounts of a non-stinging antiseptic such as betadine and cover it with a bandage to keep it clean prior to follow-up care. Which brings us to a fourth item—the name, location of the nearest emergency hospital.
You would think with two vets we wouldn't need the location of a veterinary hospital, but most emergencies will require care at a veterinary hospital. For instance, 30 minutes into the our hike the peace was abruptly interrupted by the type of violent sneezing you would show if you had a cockaroach or other creepy bug crawl up your nose. The sneezing came from my dog Zoe. In the presence of drying grass in California it immediately meant one thing—she had inhaled the awn of a dried foxtail. A speck of blood told us it had entered her left nostril.
Several minutes later, her cluster sneezing stopped but that didn't fool either of us. These awns were designed by nature to travel one way. Barb-like projections prevent the foxtail from backing out.
More likely, the foxtail had traveled past the tactile receptor area of the nose. Leave it in and it could travel into the intestinal system, or get sucked into the lungs, or cause recurrent infections in the nose. This sneezing warranted a foxtail search under general anesthesia so that the nostril could be viewed through a narrow cone inserted an inch or two into the nose and each delicately lined crevice carefully examined.
I took Zoe to a hospital and as expected the foxtail was hiding several inches up the nostril. The grass awn was removed and after checking her ears and fur for additional grassy invaders we declared Zoe foxtail free.
All-in-all despite this slight emergency, the hike went well and the back-pack proved perfect for dogs as well as humans. Of course if I wanted to use it on a dog I'd have to bring Atlas along on all of our hikes. Atlas wouldn't mind.
Planet Dog: http://www.planetdog.com
1-800-381-1516.
I'll also e-mail a link to more info on foxtails.
Related linksContact Sophia Yin
 |
|
