Woofington Post

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Editor: L.P. Watson May 2, 2014
Dear readers: The many storms we have had recently are an especially sensitive subject for owners of pets with storm anxiety. Storm anxiety causes dogs to act fearful to the point of causing damage to themselves or their surroundings. In mild cases, the dogs pant and pace throughout the bad weather, wearing out themselves and their owners. In severe examples, they may tear the sheetrock off the wall or dig and chew at their surroundings until their nails bleed and their teeth are worn down. Sometimes the condition can be traced back to a specific incident; such as being left out in a bad storm, but often it is just a behavioral condition the dog is prone to that gradually worsens with age. Many dogs that are afraid of storms are also afraid of loud noises like the bombing on base that we hear at a distance in our area. The best thing to do is have a routine established that your pet can rely on whenever it feels troubled or scared. This routine should begin with a common command such as sit and stay or lie down. This would be something that the two of you have practiced on a regular day-to-day basis when nothing is distracting the pet. Also have a safe place for the dog to escape the storm noises and lights. Your pets safe place might be a kennel with the door removed or under a bed in a room with few windows. Consider applying an article of clothing to the pet such as a pet sweater or a Thunder Shirt. Thunder Shirts can be found online at www.thundershirt.com. They apply constant gentle pressure over the body of the pet, giving it comfort.

Advice Column: Thunder Shirts

Headlining Hedgehog Legend

A bear, a tiger, or a chimp? Not quite. When editors were debating which animal would make the cover for its compelling story on exotic pets called Wild Obsession, they wanted a creature that would immediately make readers smile, and then awaken their senses of wonder and curiosity: What are exotic pets? Who owns them? And is bringing a supposedly domesticated wild animal into a home ever a good idea? In the end, the editors went for a hedgehog: adorable but obviously prickly, the perfect sweet-and-sour note for a story on a sensitive subject. It didnt hurt that hedgehogs have become trendy pets; one named Darcy has scored more than 400,000 followers on its Instagram page. Even hedgehogs demand time and care to come away with a keeper photo. What you might think will take 45 minutes is going to take two days, Musi told Harley. Im going to rearrange your furniture and by the end you are going to hate me and be glad Im done. But if were lucky, well make a picture that will make you happy. In some ways, taking a picture of a tiger would have been simpler than aiming at

a hedgehog. Usually getting eye contact takes distraction, like someone behind me waving meat on a stick in front of a tiger, or for a sheeps attention, rattling baby toys, Musi notes. Its the exact opposite with a hedgehog. The slightest movement or scrape of lighting equipment caused his tiny quillcovered subjects to withdraw their heads and, as Musi puts it, turn into a pine cone. And its in there for a long time. Harley was a good sport. He brought out most of his menagerie and cupped them in his hand. (Their quills, not as sharp as a porcupines, have been compared to the soft bristles of a hairbrush.) We went through nine hedgehogs, says Musi. If one got tired or stressed, it would lose the sparkle in its eyes. The winning cover girl was Jade, a fullgrown, 16 -ounce,11-month-old female used for breeding. Her offspring go for about $200. Jade does look like she could be a household pet. A bear, a tiger, a chimpall of which wait inside the magazineare harder to imagine sharing a human home.

Throughout my entire veterinary career, I have maintained that my patients had right or left handed preferences. Subtle observations of preferences or behaviors during my exams suggested to me that, like us, each side of their brain dominated different activities. This weeks issue of the The Economist describes studies by Italian scientists that demonstrate the direction of tail wagging is determined by whether a situation was pleasant or unpleasant. Two years ago Giorgio Vallortigara and his group at the University of Trento in Italy demonstrated that dogs wagged their tails to the right when greeted by their master. The same dogs wagged their tails to the left when encountering an unknown dominant dog. Left unanswered by this early study was whether the right or left signal was meaningful to other dogs. In the new study, Vallortigara and colleagues used electrodes to monitor the heart rates of

Is Your Pet Left Or Right Handed?

dogs subjected to videos or silhouettes of other dogs, head on, with tails wagging to the left or right. An increased heart rate indicates an anxiety response. They also noted other stress behaviors like ear-flattening, head-lowering and whining in response to the videos and silhouettes. Left tail wagging was consistently associated with prolonged, higher heart rates and stress behavior in the wired dogs. Their heart rate response to right tail wagging or stationary tails was much less. Stress behaviors were also less common when subjects viewed right tail wagging. These studies suggest that dogs and humans have brain halves that are specialized for specific functions. Handedness and language are human traits that have been established as specific to brain hemispheres. Interesting is that both humans and dogs view the use of left side as sinister. In fact, the right side

of the dog brain, not the left, initiates left tail wagging. These studies did not look at whether dogs had right or left hand preferences. So why do I suspect that is the case? I have noticed over the years that my cat and dog patients had a preference for which paw they presented when greeting me. Often times questioning of the owners would uncover hand preferences when greeting them or exploratory behaviors around the house. I have also noticed many cats that consistently present for fight wounds on the same side of the face or body. To me this suggests a weak side. Absent visual problems, it would seem that these cats are stronger at protecting one side over the other. They are like a boxer with a great right jab but a weak left hook.

The Red Paw

Sugar Gliders are marsupials; that is their young start life off in a pouch. They originally hail from Australia, Indonesia and New Guinea, and live in forests. Their name is derived from their diet, and from the flap of skin they have between their wrists and ankles that allows them to glide between trees. They are omnivorous, meaning they will eat plant material and meat - food in the wild include nectar, fruit, insects and even small birds or rodents. They live in social family units in the wild, a trait which makes them inclined to bond well with their human family. However, if they are deprived of social interaction they will not thrive (in fact they can become depressed to the point where they may die). Sugar gliders make endearing, playful, and entertaining pets. As mentioned above they are very social, and ideally they should be kept in pairs or groups, and in any case they

A New Sensation: Sugar Gliders As Pets

should have a good deal of social interaction with their owners. They also have sharp teeth and though not aggressive, will bite if they feel threatened or frightened. If not acquired tame and used to being handled, it may take a great deal of time and patience to get them to the point where they are cuddly. Sugar Gliders do have fairly strict dietary requirements. The ideal diet for sugar glider is still a widely debated topic among keepers. If a sugar glider is not tame when acquired, time, patience, and gentle frequent training sessions will eventually allow bonding of the glider to its owner. They will be lovely companions, who view you as an equal. Sugar gliders do not respond at all to punishment or domination, so treat them with respect, gentleness and understanding, and you will be rewarded with a devoted companion!

Several years ago, Jen Leary began working as a firefighter and American Red Cross volunteer. She would often arrive at a disaster scene and see traumatized survivors struggling to care for their pets. Pets were sometimes taken to shelters or abandoned. The situation broke Learys heart. After a devastating fire in 2011, Leary formed her organization and teamed up with the local chapter of the American Red Cross. Now, whenever the Red Cross responds to a disaster and discovers that an animal is involved, they call Leary. She believes its the only partnership of its kind in the United States -- one she hopes to replicate in other cities. Learys group responds 24 hours a day, seven days a week to residential disasters such as fires, gas leaks and building collapses. Leary answers nearly all the calls herself. Her firefighter background gives her unique privileges. My hope is that its a fresh start, and they can move forward together, she said. After going through such a sad thing, its so good to have a happy ending.