Marion County Receives Offer to Take Over Shelter

SC State Senator Kent Williams' local shelter (where he dumped his German Shepherd in March after allowing her to become pregnant while repeatedly roaming loose) has been advertising for someone to take over the shelter. A group called Paws to the Rescue who pulls dogs from the Marion County Animal Shelter regularly has submitted a proposal. The County Administrator apparently has some quibbles over the county's financial responsibilities as outlined in the proposal. The one and only offer to take over the shelter has been sent to a committee for further review. yawn. I only hope some action is taken sooner than in the Kent Williams case - which was never, actually.

Arkansas Mayor: Nanner-Nanner-Boo-Boo

UPDATE, July 19: The Arkansas Democrat Gazette is reporting that Mayor Misdemeanor has temporarily lost his license to practice law after the Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct reviewed his actions regarding a 1999 case unrelated to the animal cruelty charges he now faces. Apparently in the 1999 case, the Mayor took a $300 retainer from a client and basically did nothing to further the client's case. The client was unable to reach the Mayor and so filed a complaint with the Committee in 2007. After the Committee advised the Mayor of the complaint, he sent the client a check for his $300 but postdated it by a full year. In his defense, the Mayor said something along the lines of "Oops."

I can't help but wonder if the Mayor will attempt to represent himself in court on the animal cruelty charges - you know, assuming his license is reinstated. And if so, will there be clowns, elephants and a ringmaster?

ORIGINAL POST:

Mayor Set-Them-Free of Arkansas has a warrant out for his arrest after the local humane society director, whom the Mayor has belittled at every opportunity, signed an affadavit alleging animal cruelty charges. Now, in a playground move apparently designed to push the
HS director off the swing and make her cry, Mayor Shenanigans has signed an affadavit calling for her arrest. The Mayor has not yet been arraigned on his charges.


The Mayor gots his own blog and again, I'm hard pressed to pick just one quote but - regarding the dogs under his city's care which he kept at the dump, he says, "Strangely the conditions at the pound have been questioned." Yeah, totally bizarro. Cos like, what pet wouldn't want to live at your charming city dump? Especially given all the opportunities for adoption as families stroll around the landfill looking for a companion.

"We dance for laughter, we dance for tears..."

Having put joyous smiles on countless faces in his 15 years, Rookie the freestylin' Golden Retriever, has danced his way across the Rainbow Bridge. Our heartfelt condolences to owner Carolyn Scott and to Rookie's many friends and fans.

Thanks for sharing your joie de vivre Rookie. Add me to your dance card.

Juliette de Bairacli Levy's Natural Rearing Diet for Dogs

I have for several years now bemoaned my inability to find a summary of Juliette de Bairacli Levy's Natural Rearing diet for dogs on the web. Born in 1912, Juliette is an herbalist and breeder of Afghan hounds. Her wonderful book, The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat (originally published in 1955), does not include recipes per se, but rather discusses various aspects of feeding and does include suggested amounts here and there. The main points of her Natural Rearing diet are: feeding raw meats and bones, fasting, feeding raw milk and flaked cereals, resting the kidneys by feeding meat only 4 or 5 days per week.

This is my interpretation of Juliette's feeding recommendations. I hope it will be a useful reference and for those unfamiliar with Juliette's work, perhaps it will spark interest in reading her pioneering book for yourself.

Per Average Size Adult Dog, 5 days per week:

Midday Meal: Flaked whole-grain wheat, rye, barley or oats - softened with raw milk, buttermilk or vegetable juice
Alternate Days: raw egg one day, small amount of corn (or sunflower) oil or tahina the next
Can add: whole wheat, rye or corn bread, whole wheat, rye or corn biscuits, uncooked wholemaize flour, mashed black olives, mashed cooked sweet potatoes, mashed cooked carrots
3 or 4 days per week: 2 tsp coconut, 2 tsp peanut or almond flour (Note: peanuts must be raw when ground, not roasted)

Night Meal: Raw, chunked meat and bones with a small amount of fat
1 tsp wheat germ flakes
1 tsp cod liver oil (Winter)
seaweed powder
1 Tablespoon minced green herb
Few Tablespoons bran or flaked oats (as a substitute for the roughage provided by skin and fur, normally consumed)
Can add: grated raw carrot

One day per week: meatless meals using raw milk, eggs, white cheese, cottage cheese, whole-grain flaked cereals, rice, cooked beans and/or lentils.

Day after meatless meals day: Fluids only
"Meals" of honey in water or very watery diluted raw milk

***

As a breeder of Afghan hounds, Juliette describes how she feeds her own dogs as follows:

Per Afghan:

Midday Meal: flaked cereal w/extra herbal bran and some raisins
2 tsp. dried coconut
1 tsp. tahina
raw milk

Night Meal: Raw meat and bones
minced salad greens
also possibly: minced sprouted grains, raw egg

You will note that she mentions feeding raisins to her dogs daily. Raisins now appear on many "foods toxic to dogs" lists although Juliette probably scoffs at this. I am not recommending feeding raisins to your dog but felt it was important to include them in my summary since Juliette specifically notes the information.

There is so much more to Juliette's book than my summary interpretation posted here. It is very interesting reading and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in natural dog and cat care.

Shelters and Disease: Death Behind Closed Doors

The Marion County shelter in Florida closed today so they could kill 84 dogs with contagious diseases such as Parvo, Kennel Cough and Canine Flu. No word on why some or all of the 84 couldn't be medically treated and restored to health, especially since some of the dogs being killed are symptom free.


On the opposite coast, volunteers at a shelter in San Luis Obispo County, California told a local newspaper (on condition of anonymity since their bosses don't want them talking to the media) that dozens of cats have died from or been euthanized for Distemper in recent weeks.

"Both volunteers said they believe the shelter was slow to implement an effective quarantine, and both volunteers said members of the public and inmates from the honor farm, who assist at the shelter, were still recently observed entering the supposedly quarantined area, without precautions in place to prevent the spread of the disease.

A volunteer also expressed concern that people were still being allowed to drop off cats and kittens, and that others adopting pets were not being warned of the outbreak."

The shelter director's response? He said they are not required to make such outbreaks of disease known to anyone. And I guess that's good enough for him. It will be interesting to read the Humane Society's report on this shelter, expected this month. Full article here.

Treats on the Internets

Good finds on other pet blogs:

Lassie, Get Help gives us her take on identifying "good" and "bad" family dogs by breed. Good reading and here's a teensy spoiler: the words "Holy Crap" are featured prominently at the beginning of the post, hehe.

Recipes: I LOVE baking for the dogs. If I didn't have to work for the money to buy ingredients, I'd prolly bake all day, every day. So I'm always on the lookout for new recipes to try. Petville has one for Peanut Butter Biscotti that sounds fun. And Petdoc posted one of my recipes for a kibble type dinner.

PetConnection has some SuperExcellentFantastic ideas on what could be done with Leona Helmsley's $8 billion estate gift to canine welfare. I hope something good is done with the money, as opposed to having it sit in a bank account for decades while lawyers argue about it.

Holy Stupidity BatMom! Worms and Germs has a couple good bits on bats and Rabies including a Mom who got into trouble when one of the family's pet bats bit her son.

Salmonella Salad and Pet Food Safety Comes Up Short

From an article at HealthNewsTrack.com regarding the FDA's progress on food safety issues:

In 2007, FDA began working in collaboration with the State Health and Agriculture departments in Virginia and Florida, several universities, and the produce industry on a multi-year Tomato Safety Initiative. As part of the initiative, FDA has led assessments of grower practices focusing on the factors believed to be associated with contamination of tomatoes with Salmonella. FDA has conducted assessments in Virginia and began assessments in Florida in April.

Sooooo - how's that going?

In other FDA news, the transcript from the blink-and-you-missed-it "all day public meeting" regarding pet food standards is available for download in pdf format. It doesn't take too long to read because you can skim over all the good ol' boy chatter and cut straight to the only voice we consumers had at the meeting: Mike Floyd from Defend Our Pets. (Take their survey on pet food safety here.) His comments are straight talk on what consumers want and need from the pet food industry. Thank goodness he was there because after he spoke, the FDA shut down this supposed all day public meeting citing lack of attendance. Well FDA, some of us actually have to work for a living and can't necessarily get an entire weekday off. So to my mind it's certainly plausible that some people were planning to attend your all day public meeting - you know, when they could get there, which may have been more than 90 minutes after the meeting started - which is when you closed the thing down. So while the FDA touts this as a community outreach activity, I would describe it as a business-as-usual-activity.

Newsflash: We're going to have to do a lot better to fix the problems in our food safety system. For humans and pets. Because the status quo ain't workin'.

Arkansas Mayor to Face Charges

“As far as this crime thing, there was no crime committed,” said Mayor Set-Them-Free of Arkansas to the City Council as they debated a resolution to support the Mayor, who now has a warrant out for his arrest on charges of animal cruelty.

Right. Well sure it's not a "crime" in the sense of say, detaining hundreds of prisoners indefinitely without trial. (Which is a crime, btw. In case anyone is paying attention.) But it is a "crime" in the sense that it's a violation of the laws of the state of Arkansas ("cruelty to animals" and "obstructing the prevention of cruelty to animals") and the federal laws of the United States (abandoning animals on public land). No one, not even Mayor I-Am-Not-A-Criminal, has the right to dump shelter dogs in his city's care at a National Forest.

The resolution failed to pass because only 4 of 9 members were on board. Kudos to the 5 council members who effectively said "Whaaaaaa?" when asked to vote their support for the resolution.

The Mayor will get his day in court (tentatively set for July 11 in Helena-West Helena District Court) to face the two misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. No word yet on any federal charges. Meanwhile, 4 of the abandoned dogs have been rescued by a recovery team.

Local Interest: Shelter Dog in Columbia, SC in Need of Foster Care

In my inbox this afternoon:

Meet Jasmine. Jasmine or “Jazzy” as she is lovingly referred to at the shelter is such a sweet girl. She is a graduate of the Dog Trainers Workshop in the Upstate and is also a graduate of Project Pet basic training. We’re not sure why she hasn’t found her forever home except that perhaps her size is intimidating. She is a very tall hound mix and is quite strong. Unfortunately because she has been in the shelter so long she is starting to become depressed and is losing weight.

If you can help, please contact Blair at bsalmon@projectpet.com or call Project Pet at (803) 407-0991.

***

Note from me: Jazzy is approximately the height of a Weimaraner and has been in the shelter for 8 months. She needs a break. They would like to see her adopted but would be happy just to get her into a foster home for right now. She looks like a sweetie.

Can You Offer a Home to a Pair of Crocodiles?

Yeah, me neither. But if you know someone who can, Cypress Gardens in South Carolina is having to rehome a couple dozen crocs due to budget cuts. The Crocodile Isle (I just love saying that) Vet would like to keep breeding pairs together.

Note: Photo is just a sample. Your actual crocs may vary.

Pet Food Ingredient Breakdown - #2

Today, I looked at a new, AAFCO approved food on the market for dogs. It contains all the usual advertising tags which make me suspicious: "100% complete and balanced", "No fillers", "High quality proteins", etc. Here are the first seven ingredients leading up to the first source of fat:

1. Rice Flour - This is the main ingredient of the only food you want me to feed my dog - rice flour? Isn't that better used for making gluten-free baked goods or something? Flour comes in a sack and it's all powdery. My dog doesn't want that as the main ingredient in his dinner! And I question the quality of any flour sold for use in pet food. I assume that like many other pet food ingredients, it's of lower quality than the flour sold for human consumption in my local grocery store. Exactly how much nutrition is my dog supposed to get from this pet food grade sack of flour? The "no fillers" claim isn't sounding so truthful right about now.

2. Chicken By-Product Meal - This is a euphemism for things such as chicken heads, feet, intestines, lungs, etc. If you don't know (or won't say) what exactly you are putting in this food, don't expect me to feed it to my pets.

3. Meat Broth - What kind of "meat"? A hodgepodge of condemned carcasses that were covered in charcoal to distinguish that they are unfit for human consumption? Or is it something else, just as disgusting? Again, if you either don't know or won't tell - I won't be feeding it.

4. Wheat Flour - See my powdery complaint above.

5. Glycerin - I was reading an article about how excited the pet food industry is about using glycerin - a waste product of the bio-fuel industry - in their products. Me, I was a little less excited.

6. Corn Gluten Meal - Another waste product obtained from the manufacture of corn syrup - not an ingredient I'm inclined to sustain my pet's life and health on.

7. Corn Flour - Enough with the sacks of powder already - my dog wants some real food!

Overall product ingredients review: 4 paws down! Despite claims of "premium nutrition", there is not one ingredient appropriate for a dog's main meal among the first seven ingredients. And the product itself is far more expensive than many on the market. What exactly are we buying?

***

Related Bit: A group of pet owners have filed a lawsuit against several pet food companies and chain retailers claiming false advertising regarding the wholesomeness of pet foods. I'll be following this case with interest.

Feeling Do-Goodish? How About AniMeals?

AniMeals is a community service, sometimes associated with local Meals-On-Wheels programs, which aims to keep low income families and/or senior citizens and their pets together. The programs vary but generally they provide pet food, sometimes kitty litter and toys as well, to those in need. There are a number of AniMeals programs around the country and probably many which don't have websites. They not only need pet food donations but delivery drivers (and possibly webmasters!) too. Here is a list of some I found online, grouped by region:

Lynchburg, VA

Forsyth County, NC

Muscogee County, GA
Broward County, FL

Hillsborough County, FL

New Port Richey, FL

Morgan County, AL

Boone, Kenton, Campbell & Grant Counties, KY
Kentucky

Clark County, WA
King County, WA
Whatcom County, WA

Clackamas County, OR
Sherwood, OR (cats only)
San Francisco and San Mateo Counties, CA

San Diego County, CA

Humboldt County, CA

Pleasanton, CA

St. Charles, MO

Chicago, IL
Kalamazoo County, MI

Eastern Nebraska
Colorado Springs and surrounding areas, CO

Aubrey, TX
Austin and Travis County, TX
Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, and Kendall
Counties, TX
Brown County, TX

Corpus Christi, TX

Houston, TX

Jefferson and Hardin Counties, TX

Buffalo, NY

Know of any more pet food pantries? Let me know and I will add them to the list!

Arkansas Mayor Redefines the Word "Apology"

As has become obvious, it's best when Mayor Set-Them-Free speaks for himself.  Please read his detailed "apology" letter here.  He's not sorry he abandoned the dogs in the forest, he's just sorry people complained.  Hard to pick a favorite from the many gems he has given us, but this one - which I assume is a typo - is a priceless bit of advice coming from someone who seems to be annoyed, at best, at having to serve the public in the course of his job as a public servant:

"Please, do let this opportunity to do good pass you by."

Typo or not - well said, Mayor.

Paws Down and Paws Up

Breaking News - No action has been taken on the complaint filed by someone from the humane society against Mayor Set-Them-Free of Arkansas. Well, maybe not so breaking. But inaction speaks. And people are listening.

Mayor James Valley just endears himself more and more to animal lovers (and other people with brains) every time he opens his mouth. “The Humane Society is up to their regular old shenanigans, trying to get a man arrested for nothing,” Valley said. Full updated story here.

Meanwhile Mayor Shenanigans' neighboring shelter has a very good plan for what to do when space becomes an issue: they have an "emergency adopt-a-thon" where pets can be adopted at no charge along with very low cost spay-neuter certificates. Now that's a plan! Read that shelter's reaction to the Mayor's actions here.

MA Tourist Town Lacks Animal Shelter

The good citizens of Rockport, MA may or may not realize their town is not complying with state law mandating a shelter for stray pets. The town's Recreation Committee chair and a local Veterinarian have organized an effort for a 10 foot by 20 foot modified shed to be placed next to the park-and-ride bathrooms at the Transfer Station. Although it sounds like a modest proposal, they have so far been unable to raise the funds needed for the project.

Rockport is located on Cape Ann, well known to tourists for its beautiful seaside landscapes and lighthouses. The median income per household in Rockport is $50,661, and the median income per family is $69,263.

Here's hoping the town can come up with the remaining $5000 needed to put up the animal shelter. Anyone who'd like to donate to the cause can make checks payable to "The Town of Rockport" with "Animal Facility" on the memo line and mail to:
Town of Rockport
Box 2324
Rockport, MA 01966.

More on Southern Shelters in the News

God but I never get tired (yawn) of reading stories about how stupid Southerners breed their dogs, raise them badly then dump them irresponsibly at shelters so that smart Northerners, with no puppies in their own shelters because they are such upright citizens, must truck the unwanted problem dogs up North for adoption. But then - doh! - the unsuspecting Northerners get bushwhacked by these bad Southern dogs with behavioral problems.
Come on. There are irresponsible people everywhere. And there are dogs with behavioral problems left in shelters everywhere. It's like 2008. Join us.

Update on Mayor Misdemeanor in Arkansas (misdemeanor is apparently all he could be charged with) - Someone from the humane society has filed a complaint seeking his arrest for "setting free" dogs under his city's care into the national forest. No action has been taken on the complaint by the city's judges toward actually issuing an arrest warrant. I'll be holding my breath on that one. The complainant states that after hearing of the Mayor's "freedom" plan for the dogs, she asked him for two hours to get together volunteers to assume responsibility for the dogs. He couldn't wait. Full update piece here.

You Give Love a Bad Name: Pets Continue to Suffer in Southern Shelters

Macon.com reports on a public meeting held to discuss animal control issues in the Macon, Georgia animal shelter.
Citing Macon Animal Control's 80% kill rate for 2007, the reporter notes that at the time she visited the facility, the tally of animals available for adoption was:
Dogs: 4
Cats: 0
Approximately 20 other animals were on hold, awaiting medical clearance before being released for adoption. The shelter's inhalant anesthesia machine is broken and so presumably only those surgeries performed under injectable anesthesia are taking place. A local Vet offered to perform surgeries at his practice but apparently Animal Control doesn't have the personnel or vehicles necessary to transport pets there.
The outdoor carbon monoxide gas chamber, where almost 4000 animals were killed in groups last year, is functioning however. Given the shelter's proximity to the city landfill, where the gassed pets are disposed of, the transportation challenges haven't been an issue.
A fund has been established in an effort to raise money for killing pets individually by injection and for possibly relocating the shelter in future. Contact Macon City Council at (478) 751-7260 for information on how to contribute.
Full story here.

Meanwhile a Mayor in Arkansas is handling his animal control challenges another way: by releasing homeless dogs into the St. Francis National Forest. He thought it would be better to abandon the dogs in the forest than to house them in the shelter's horrible conditions. O and an animal control officer suffered two dog bites and a sprained ankle over a 3 month period, which the Mayor obviously considers outrageous.
Never mind the fact that domesticated dogs are not wild forest animals and releasing them to freedom, as the Mayor puts it, is inappropriate. Never mind that our elected officials are being paid to serve their communities, not make rash decisions which will have many layered negative consequences. Never mind probing the reasons why there is a surplus of homeless pets in the South (poverty, substandard education system, lack of community service programs, etc.). My question: Isn't this against some kind of federal law governing our national forests? If so, can the Mayor and any relevant parties involved in this inhumane act be prosecuted?

Update: The Mayor was questioned on June 13 by investigators from the U.S. Forest Service. And apparently the community isn't too happy with the actions of their public servant either and have been voicing their annoying opinions. Says the Mayor: "You would think that from all the emails and calls I just unleashed the world's greatest problem... We're talking about 10 dogs."
Read the full follow up article here.

Personal Note: In case any of you are wondering - and if you rely on media reports then quite possibly you are - MOST of us in the South are kind and normal people. Those of us who choose to have pets are responsible. We just don't make the news as often as the bad apples.
This is my dog Emily, rescued from a South Carolina shelter, well loved and cared for. She might not win any beauty contests but she is a treasure to me.

Land O' Lakes Purina Feed Recalls Lamb Feed

UPDATE - June 12, 2008:  The FDA has updated its release and there are now four lamb feeds being recalled due to lambs dying.  Full updated release here.

As I have previously wondered when Purina recalled aflatoxin contaminated horse feed, is there any possibility of cross contamination to Purina pet foods from the recalled livestock feeds? Any sharing of ingredients, suppliers, storage facilities or processing equipment between the livestock feed manufacturing and pet food manufacturing?  I sure would like to know.  But Purina says that's "proprietary information" and won't answer those questions.  All we can do is hope that the pet food is safe.

Original post:

From the FDA:

"The Land O'Lakes Purina Feed plant in Fremont, Neb., has initiated a limited voluntary recall of two lamb feed products due to higher than acceptable levels of copper.

[...]

The recall was initiated after receiving a customer complaint regarding the products. In addition, Land O'Lakes Purina Feed stopped producing the lamb feeds at the Fremont, Neb. plant and immediately began product testing.

To date, the presence of copper above acceptable levels has been found, which can cause serious health issues, and at high levels, mortality in sheep."

Full release here.

Heartworm Medications by the Numbers - Dosages for Dogs

Note: I did not go to Vet school and I'm not giving medical advice. For informational purposes, and because I like to research numbers, I'm sharing here some canine heartworm medication dosages along with sources for that information. If you have any questions about the medication you are giving your dog or if you want to make a change to the dosage, please ask your Veterinarian.

***
Heartworm drugs kill certain stages of heartworm larvae which may have developed in the dog's bloodstream over the previous 30 days. This is commonly referred to as "heartworm prevention" although that is rather a misnomer. Perhaps it would be more accurately termed "prevention of heartworm larvae developing further". The two most common heartworm drugs are Ivermectin and Milbemycin Oxime.

The minimum dosage of Ivermectin for heartworm prevention is 6 micrograms (mcg) per kilogram (kg) of body weight, every 30 days. For us non-metric-enians, that's 2.72 mcg per pound (lb) body weight.

Some brand names of FDA approved Ivermectin tablets which your Vet may sell or you might order online are Heartgard (or Heartgard Plus which adds an intestinal dewormer to the Ivermectin), Tri-Heart Plus (Ivermectin plus intestinal dewormer), (Note: Tri-Heart got into some trouble with the FDA in 2007 over their claim of the product's effectiveness against whipworms) and Iverhart who offers two products - both containing Ivermectin plus intestinal dewormers.

Rather than manufacture and market dozens of different products for various weights of dogs, pharmaceutical companies typically market just a few products, each one with a range of weights to be treated. For example, a product labeled "for dogs up to 25 pounds" contains the Ivermectin needed for a 25 pound dog. All dogs weighing less than 25 pounds are receiving more than the minimum Ivermectin necessary for heartworm prevention.

In order to dose specifically for the weight of an individual dog, some owners opt to purchase the 1% Ivermectin solution injectable labeled for cattle and dilute it with a suitable liquid (Ivermectin does not mix evenly with all liquids which would throw off the dosing) such as propylene glycol. Or you could purchase the Ivermectin already diluted. The 1% Ivermectin solution contains 10mg (10,000 mcg) per ml. (Note: 1ml=1cc) Diluted to .05% (a 1/20th dilution), each ml contains 500mcg. Looking at Chart A, a 50 pound dog needs a minimum of 136mcg of Ivermectin. Using the diluted solution, that would be about .27 of a cc given orally - not injected. Clearly a tuberculin syringe would be needed to measure this dosage. Alternately, the 1% Ivermectin solution could be diluted further. Note: Many Vets discourage this "off label" use of the cattle version of Ivermectin in dogs as it is not FDA approved. Vets are obligated to advise their clients to use the FDA approved versions of canine heartworm meds on the market - that doesn't mean it's unsafe.

The lethal dose for Ivermectin is 10mg/kg in rats. This is a huge dose. Super huge. In other words, Ivermectin is a very safe drug (unless your dog happens to be sensitive to it).

Which brings me to my next topic: opting to give your dog more than the minimum required dose. Many people choose to give more than the minimum Ivermectin dose:
- Those who like the convenience of purchasing the medicine in a dose for the top of the weight range but whose dog weighs less
- Those who add the diluted Ivermectin liquid to the dog's food and don't want the worry of "What if a minuscule amount got left in the food bowl and my dog got shorted?"

So how much more than the minimum is proven safe to give on a monthly basis? To answer that conservatively, we can look at the bottom weight range in the pre-packaged Ivermectin tablets. For example, if you follow the package instructions for a 51 pound dog, you are giving approximately twice the minimum required Ivermectin each month. Same for a 26 pound dog - the label instructs you to give one tablet monthly and that tablet contains approximately twice the amount needed for the dog's weight. So the manufacturers and the FDA have approved routine monthly dosing of twice the minimum required amount of Ivermectin for dogs. If you are curious about giving more than twice the minimum dosage monthly, check with your Veterinarian.

***
The other drug commonly used for heartworm prevention is Milbemycin Oxime and is marketed under the brand name Interceptor as well as others. This drug is administered to dogs at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg body weight (.23 mg/lb) every 30 days. At this dosage, the drug works against heartworm and intestinal parasites. If you are wanting to use the drug for heartworm prevention only, you'll want to use the "Safeheart dose". (Safeheart was approved by the FDA in 1998 but never sold in the US.) The FDA states:

This supplement provides for a change in dose for dogs from a minimum of 0.5 mg/kg [which is the Interceptor dose, which also controls intestinal parasites] to a minimum of 0.1 mg/kg with a corresponding restriction in indications to the prevention of heartworm disease only. [bracketed addition=mine]

Interceptor is packaged in the following dosages: 2.3mg tablets, 5.75mg tablets, 11.5mg and 23 mg tablets. Looking at Chart B, the 2.3mg tablet would be the right dosage for a 45 pound dog if you wanted heartworm prevention ONLY. If your dog weighs less than 45 pounds, I don't know of any options for purchasing smaller doses of Milbemycin Oxime in the US. Splitting pills is one alternative some people use with due care.

Further reading:

Dr. Khuly's pitch for doing your "civic duty" and giving your dog heartworm meds


Dr. Khuly writes about a few of the reasons owners don't give heartworm meds when they really should

Vets Uninterested in Pet Food Safety?

Petfood Industry Magazine has an article online regarding the attitude of Vets toward pet food. The author, a Veterinarian and pet food industry consultant, gave a series of talks at a veterinary conference and wrote the article characterizing some of the feedback he got from attendees.

A couple points of interest: Vets are apparently being hit by a "barrage of misinformation" regarding pet foods which clients bring to them via that Internet thingy. The author recommends providing Vets with "sound facts" to defend against the assault. My suggestion: How about putting truthful information that pet owners want and need to know on your labels and on your websites? You know, you could actually improve that stupid series of tubes with "sound facts". Why not start with country of origin for your ingredients as well as the name and address of your manufacturer? Then we can talk.

Also interesting to me was the fact that the author's talk on pet food safety was the least attended in his series. He observes: "I would have thought the recalls last year would have sparked more interest..." Yeah, go figure. It's almost as if the pet food industry minimized the 2007 recall to the point of it barely registering on the safety radar.

Read the full article here. Note: click on Contents and then Petfood Insights.