Aspen the Yorkie

Diabetes is not a medical condition that only affects humans, even dogs, cats and other animals can develop the disease. Just like a person, an animal that has this high blood sugar disease needs to receive the proper treatment for it so the illness can be effectively managed. Unfortunately, the type of insulin (hormone that is vital for metabolizing glucose) medication that people are provided does not always successfully treat animals. That said, various types of veterinary insulins, known as PZI insulin, have been created, which have proven to be effective for animals, particularly felines.

Protamine Zinc Insulin (PZI) helps regulate the natural release of insulin in a cat’s body. It is very similar to the medication that humans use, but PZI insulin tends to either be a combination of pork/beef insulin or a beef-derived insulin and is closer in molecular structure to a cat’s or dog’s own insulin.

This medication is not available at regular human pharmacies, but can be found at a compounding pharmacy. It comes in different dosages and the lower the dosage the less of the hormone ingredient is in the medicine. The type of PZI insulin that should be obtained depends on what type of formula the cat responds to best. Regular veterinarian monitoring and testing will help make this determination.

Today when my owner was on her twitter account, we noticed that #pawpawty was in the list of trending topics (visit the twitter link to learn more about twitter if you’re clueless) and so she decided to let me twitter.  We do that a lot lately.  She changes her picture to mine, and I tell her what to type for me.  Today I’ll be taking over for the day since it’s a monthly “PawPawty” day.

This is a special day that takes place once a month, here is the information that someone shared on www.examiner.com explaining the event:

So far, these fund raising virtual parties have raised more than $5,000 for organizations such as The Humane Society, Kitten Rescue of Los Angeles and Orphans of the Storm in Illinois. The next pawpawty is scheduled for May 2-3 to benefit the Margaret Green Animal Rescue.

For each pawparty, a theme is chosen and “party-goers” are encouraged to change their Twitter default pictures to something theme-related (see the slideshow below for some cute examples). Prizes are given away for various contests such as trivia and scavenger hunts – all the while people are encouraged to donate even just $1 to the featured charity.

Who can attend the #pawpawty?

The pawpawties are open to anyone with an interest in raising money and getting the word out to friends about the fund raising efforts. Many of the party-goers are animals, or people who tweet as their pets. There are thousands of Twitter Critters online, ranging from dogs and cats to hamsters, gerbils and even a moose!

It is not necessary to be an “animal” to attend these virtual fundraisers, however. Everyone is welcome – the more attendees, the more opportunity to raise as much money as possible for animal charities.

If you decide to join in, be sure to follow us and say hi, I share my owner’s account and we trade off regularly – http://twitter.com/happynutrition.  And if you click on this #pawpawty link, you’ll be taken just to the search results for pawpawty, and see only the “tweets” related to the event. See you there, I hope!

I love it when we have a chance to talk about places that sell things that we don’t hear about every day, because I hope that after my owner finishes typing the post for me, she will want to buy some of the things she sees.  (No, this isn’t me in the picture, but what a nice white coat of fur!)

Tonight, we stopped by at a site, and my owner had a puzzled look on her face, then smiled,  because she had never, ever heard of some of the things that you can find at a site called North Coast Pets. Let me tell you about a few of them and you’ll see what we mean:

• B.A.R.F. – Okay, we know what you’re thinking when you read that, but you’re wrong, it means “biologically appropriate raw food”.  My owner’s Mom has cats, and her Veterinarian thinks a raw food diet, including meats, is natural and the right way to feed pets, but it has to be done right.
• Deer Antlers
• Himalayan Yak Treats – yes, deer antlers and yak treats for dogs.
• Animal Naturals Food Supplements
• An EGGE for dogs that like to play ball, I have to get one of those, or get my owner to get me one.
• Flea season is coming, how about a High Tech Flea TRAP for the ones that get away from your pet.

I could go on and on, there are lots of things for people who like fish…as a dog, I don’t quite understand what people like about fish, they aren’t soft and fuzzy, but my owner’s daughter just got a BIG one for a LARGE fish tank, so I think they’ll need a pump, maybe a skimmer and all the things that people who keep fish need to keep the tank clean so their fish are happy fish.

There is SO much more that I can tell you about, things for almost any pet you can think of, and the thing that is special about North Coast Pets is how different and unique their pet supplies are. They aren’t just your every-day pet shopping site.

Stop by and see for yourself…and now if my owner will just stop typing and go shopping there herself, I’ll be one happy Yorkie!

We are done posting for the week, the owners are going away for a few days, so have a very special Easter, remembering what the season is all about.

My geeky owners send emails to each other and chat with each other when one of them is at work, and today a really cute one came, it’s even more than cute, it’s really nice and something that you’ll probably never see unless you watch this video:

I’m not sure I want my owners to know all of this pet safety information, especially the part about food, but since I’m happy to eat just about anything, maybe it’s a good idea.  During the holidays, there are things around the house, and things that people eat, that are not good for pets.  Here are just a few health and safety tips:

• High-fat holiday foods that people enjoy can make some of us animals sick, especially little ones like me.  Fatty foods can lead to pancreatitis in pets, just like it can in people, only a little more easily because we are smaller.  This is a very serious thing for pets to get and will mean staying in the pet hospital.
• Chocolate, coffe and tea contain something that causes cardiac problems and problems with the nervous system in pets, which can lead to seizures and gastro-intestinal upset.  Dark chocolate is even worse than regular chocolate, which is bad as it is.
• If you have a party and serve alcohol, be sure that we don’t get tempted to finish off the glasses of drinks that aren’t finished by your human friends, that can be fatal, every year hundreds of dogs die from alcohol poisoning.
• The pretty plant, Holly, causes digestive upset in dogs and cats.
• Mistletoe causes heart problems and digestive upset
• Poinsettias cause blisters in the mouth and digestive upset
• Secure your tree if you have a cat, especially if it’s your first Christmas with the cat and you don’t know their habits.  They will sometimes climb the tree, and knock ornaments off the tree to play with.
• Cats might swallow tree tinsel, ribbon and other things that can cause obstructions inside that might require surgery.
• Don’t have batteries lying around or other little things that you dog might chew on and make them very sick because of the toxins inside.
• Macadamia nuts are not good for pets, they can affect the nervous and digestive system.
• Potpourri, the wonderful smell comes from oils, and those oils can be toxic to pets.
• DON’T GIVE PETS AS GIFTS unless you have planned well ahead for them…so many pets end up in shelters or out on the streets because the family isn’t prepared and gets tired of them, and that’s just plain mean and sad.

A lot of these tips came from a vet in a town not far from here, his site is newtonvet.com.