Fungus Among Us

The recent rains have brought up a bumper crop of mushrooms around the Cape and South Shore. We see them everywhere, from woodland trails to manicured lawns to open pastures, popping up  in every shape from tiny parasols to golf balls, soft balls, fluted goblets and one that resembled a bowler hat or perhaps a space ship.

Albeit charming in appearance, we've all been warned many times not to eat wild mushrooms. Delectable sautéed with butter and herbs or stirred into sour cream for stroganoff or soup, yes, but unless you are a mushroom expert and 100% sure of what you've collected, wild mushrooms shouldn't be on your menu, nor your pet's.

This spring one of our customers on the South Shore told us about nearly losing her beloved Golden Retriever because the dog had eaten some harmless looking mushrooms growing in her suburban yard. Luckily she was able to rush the dog to an emergency vet who was able to save the dog, but had she not been home or noticed her pet's distress the result would have been tragic. 

The ASPCA reports that 99% of mushrooms are harmless but the 1% that are toxic are extremely dangerous. They recommend that you should immediately call your veterinarian and/or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888 426 4435 if you see your pet eating a wild mushroom. If you have a yard, keep an eye on any mushrooms that appear and remove and discard them safely as soon as possible.

We recommend that you take advantage of this beautiful fall weather by taking as many long walks with your dog as possible, but keep an eye on your pooch when walking in the woods.

Ticked Off!

It's tick season, which you already know if you have a dog or cat. Heck, you really don't even need a pet; I found a tick crawling across our sofa this week, just hiking along it seemed. I'm taking numerous ticks off the dogs I groom and I'm finding dead ticks regularly around the house where they've latched on to Grigri but fallen off after been killed by the tick preventive we use. Everyone I've talked to is having the same experience and we're ticked off!

A few suggestions for keeping your pets healthy during this trying season:

Dangers: Ticks carry some nasty diseases, even in New England. Both you and your dog or cat can be infected. Lyme's disease is the most well-known, but the entrancingly named Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and other conditions are also serious and can be fatal to a pet.

Tick Removal: Growing up on Cape Cod we picked a millions ticks off our dogs - this was long before the advent of tick prevention remedies (see below) - and there were several local strategies for getting the whole tick out. My family advocated using the tip of a burnt, but still hot, match to make the tick back out voluntarily. Others use petroleum jelly or nail polish to suffocate the tick. Research has shown that it's very difficult to get a tick to voluntarily "back out" and no folk method for doing so is effective; in fact, the longer the tick is left on the skin the higher the risk of infection so waiting for the tick to decide what to do is counter-productive. Quick removal should be your priority. Acarologists (people who study mites and ticks) recommend using a tool such as hemostats, high quality tweezers or any of several commercial tick removal tools to grasp and gently pull the tick away from the body. These tools are effective at grasping the ticks and also keep your hands free of tick saliva, which can infect you as well. An analysis of several tools appears on the University of Ohio's web site. Whichever approach you use, inspect and remove ticks daily.

Tick Disposal: I was talking to my neighbor about the tick invasion yesterday and we got to talking about how to dispose of them once you get them off. In my family we favored flushing them down the toilet but I would feel guilty about using all that water now so I wrap them up in a tissue and squish them before throwing in the trash. My neighbor had a method I'd never heard of, which is to throw them into a bowl of water with a little dish detergent. The detergent acts as a surfactant and breaks down the surface tension in the bowl of water, allowing the ticks to sink and drown. Sounds neat and tidy but I don't know if it works.

Tick Prevention: Where we live on the Cape is prime tick territory. Surrounded by woods, brush and long grasses, we find it difficult to avoid them. Theoretically, if you stayed strictly on the paths and roads you could stay tick free because ticks cannot jump. They wait on grasses and shrubs and latch onto passersby as they brush past. The only sure fire method to keep your pets tick free is to use a specially formulated topical preventive such as Frontline or Advantix.

Aussie Pet Mobile has these products on board so be sure to ask your groomer if your fluffy friend needs his or her monthly application. We can take care of it for you at the end of a groom.

Trash Talk

We're becoming quite the connoisseurs of trash collection. I found the pictured beach buggy in a "free" pile by the side of the road and Jan came up with the idea of re-using heavy duty garbage bags in it. This shot is of Grigri and me setting off to clean Craigville Beach Road between Magnolia and Greeley. We don't usually take on cleaning the main roads but focus on the beaches and trails - there's just too much trash for us to carry - but this is our neighborhood and we wanted to give it a spring cleaning so between the rain drops we did the best we could on this mild spring afternoon.

As we worked I was reminded of our last dog, Queenie, who was a terrible trash dog and suffered from pancreatitis more than once after getting into a trash can. Although dogs seem miraculously able to ingest almost anything, in reality there are a lot of agents that can cause illness and death. Be careful what you discard, especially if your baby likes to investigate the garbage, and check out the ASPCA's list of 2010's Top 10 toxic substances that generated calls to their poison center:

Human Medications: Poisonings by our human meds topped the ASPCA's list, with over the counter pain remedies playing a major role. Don't give your dog any human pain pill without checking with your vet and if you drop a pill on the ground, make sure you find it before your dog does. Ibuprofen (Motrin) and acetaminophen (Tylenol) are both toxic to dogs.

Insecticides: These are ubiquitous around our homes so always be careful. One common problem is using flea control products on cats that are not safe for them. Check labels and make sure the product you're using is safe for kitties.

Mice/Rat Baits: This are highly attractive to cats and dogs. Even if you place them where your beloved pets can't reach them, the mice and rats can carry partly eaten bait into accessible areas. Make sure you keep bait and pets apart.

People Food: Did you know grapes, raisins, onions and garlic can make pets sick if enough is ingested? This doesn't mean that a bite of spaghetti sauce with a few onions in it is going to kill Fifi, but I can certainly visualize situations in which Queenie could have made herself sick getting into these foods if left unguarded.

Vet Meds: These are often made to taste good, so if your furry friend gets access he or she may eat more than one dose. Keep these items out of reach and contact your vet in a hurry if Fido eats the whole bottle.

Chocolate: I never used to believe that chocolate was toxic to dogs because my parents used to feed it to our poodles regularly, but this risk has been documented extensively, so beware. The darker the chocolate the more Methylxanthines it contains, which is the dangerous ingredient. Maybe my folks were just cheap and were handing out something with very little actual chocolate in it. Give your poodles a pet treat instead.

Household Toxins: Cleaners are perhaps an obvious risk, but also keep an eye on where your batteries and liquid potpourri are stored. What is liquid potpourri anyway? Doesn't sound like something I'd want around the house!

Plants: Both indoor and outdoor plants can be poisonous. Check the ASPCA's list of toxic plants out.

Herbicides: Apparently they taste salty. Who knew? Keep pets off treated areas until they are dry.

Other Outdoor Toxins: Antifreeze, ice melt products, fertilizers and many more products used around the house and garden are big trouble. Queenie would have eaten any of these and may not have lived to tell the tale.

Keep your trash secure and the poison control number handy - (888) 426-4435 (a $65 consultation fee can be paid by credit card) If you have litter in the car, by all means keep it away from Fluffy, but please don't throw it out the window either. We already have our hands full cleaning Cape Cod.

Let's Make a Dog Park!

When we adopted Grigri last year I spent some time on the internet looking for a local dog park. But found exactly none. That's why I was so happy to see an article in the Barnstable Patriot that a committee to establish a dog park for Barnstable County was forming.

What is a dog park? There aren't very many on Cape Cod but they are popping up all over the country. Typically a dog park is a fenced area where dogs are allowed to play off leash. Usually there are separate areas for small and large dogs, with vestibule entries that prevent dogs from dashing out the gate when others enter. Water bowls, poop bags and garbage cans are common fixtures and some parks have balls and other toys available. The great thing about dog parks is that they allow our pets to socialize with other dogs - something they have few opportunities to do on leash, in yards, or in homes. It's also a great social opportunity for dog owners to make new friends and talk about their favorite topic: our dogs!

I attended the March 24th meeting of the Committee for Barnstable Dog Parks where I met a really enthusiastic group of dog owners. They have made enormous progress in the three months they have been organizing and have identified several potential sites. Grigri and I visited the Danforth Property, which is one seemingly desirable spot.

The Danforth Property is located near the intersection of Race Lane and Route 149. We cleaned the trail to Mystic Lake there and found the tunnel that originally offered cows the chance to walk under the road down to the lake for water. There is parking, and across the road at the airport a magical trail called Sumac Grove that winds through a sumac forest with deep grass underneath. I imagine it is lovely in summer - can't wait to return.

These trails were nice and clean with the exception of the usual beverage containers and the occasional spot some dog owner overlooked. Sometimes you just run out of bags I guess. I'm hoping the new Committee for Barnstable Dog Parks succeeds in setting the tone for dog owners in Barnstable by emphasizing the need to be extra careful of our pets' waste in order to protect Cape Cod's natural beauty (and high water table). If we each cleaned up a little bit more than our share, we'd win the battle!

Meetings of the Committee for Barnstable Dog Parks are slated for the 4th Thursday of the month at 6:30 PM at the Hyannis Senior Center on Route 28 (multipurpose room) and all are welcome. However, in April an alternate date has been suggested (April 21) due to conflicts.