In the past couple of months, pretty much everyone I know has chosen to foster or adopt a pet. Most were prompted by a gut need for unconditional love and companionship. So, it’s no wonder that dog and cat fostering and adoption levels are at an all-time high. Kelly DiCicco, manager of adoptions promotions at the ASPCA Adoption Centre, says “there’s no doubt that the response from people across the country willing to open their homes to animals in need during this challenging time has been enormous and unprecedented.”
But as tempting as it may sound to have a furry friend to comfort you these days, there is much to consider before you bring an animal into your home, not least of which is the fact that animals will forever be dependent on you; unlike kids, who eventually (you hope!) fend for themselves, you will always need to feed, discipline and clean up after your pet.
Pat Miller, a certified professional dog trainer and behaviour consultant and the director of Peaceable Paws Academies in Fairplay, Maryland, says she sees too many people getting pets without thinking through all that it entails – a phenomenon not unique to the pandemic. “Happens all the time. We are just seeing more of it now because so many people who are sitting at home with nothing to do are deciding it’s a good time to get a pet.”
Miller says that before you get a pet, you must make sure everyone in your home is on board. That doesn’t mean everyone in the house needs to be responsible for taking care of the pet, but there needs to be some level of universal agreement around having the pet.
“Animals do not need to come into an environment where there is conflict over their presence,” she says. She suggests setting clear guidelines and rules of what the pet is allowed to do – and not do – in advance. Questions to consider: is the animal allowed on the furniture? Where will the animal sleep? Who is going to clean up, walk and feed the animal? Who is the primary trainer? What happens when everyone goes back to school and back to work? “The more you think through ahead of time, the less conflict and confusion there is for the animal.”
Miller also suggests finding a vet, groomer, pet sitter (you’ll need one someday!) and trainer before bringing an animal home. Interview them about their methods and determine whether they are on the same philosophical page as you. For example, Miller is a force-free trainer; she is adamant about not using pain coercion in training, but there are others, she says, who are not.
Other prep work to do: purchase supplies in advance, and set everything up before the pet’s arrival. DiCicco’s must-have list for cats: a collar, litter and litter box (make sure you have a spot to put them), food, toys and bowls. For dogs: a leash, collar and harness, bed, food, toys, bowls and crate.
DiCicco says you also need to make sure that your home is safe before and after you bring your pet home. Remove all items from the floor that could be eaten or chewed, and keep electrical wires out of reach. Also, check that your house plants are safe. The ASPCA has compiled a list of plants that are toxic to animals that should be removed from your home or put out of reach (aspca.org). Other potential pet hazards: vertical blinds, curtains that pool on the floor, tassels and long cords.
If you are adopting/purchasing a cat, install high-quality metal screens on all windows. And keep in mind that cats are excellent climbers, so pet-proofing for a cat means more than just keeping the floor area safe; move plants and fragile objects to a protected area. For kittens, DiCicco says to block any small hideouts where the kitten could escape or get stuck, including around and underneath appliances.
Because scratching is a natural behaviour for cats, DiCicco recommends investing in a scratching post to prevent destruction of other objects. And just as cats need to be able to scratch, dogs need to be able to chew. Provide appropriate chew toys; Miller suggests Kong dog toys (kongcompany.com), which come in a variety of sizes and firmness, or Dog Tuff toys (dogtuff.com).
If you are getting a puppy or dog who is not yet house-trained, create a special area for the dog using baby gates or a collapsible pen, so any accidents don’t damage carpets. (You should roll up and store decorative rugs until your new dog is fully house-trained.) Miller prefers baby gates that are pressure-mounted (no need to screw them into door frames) and that are easy-open walk-through. And she suggests using a crate to help train your dog. “When properly used, a crate is the easiest way to house-train and manage a puppy, because dogs come with a natural inhibition against soiling their own den.” For the house-training process, Miller says to use a smaller crate, so the dog can’t soil one side and lie comfortably on the other. Once a dog is fully house-trained, switch to a more spacious crate.
When you bring your pet home, DiCicco says to give them some space to get acquainted with the sights, sounds and scents of their new home while keeping an eye on them as they settle in. “And remember to take things at their pace and follow their lead.”
Some cats are more sensitive than others, so they may settle in better if initially confined to one room, DiCicco says. Gradually give them more space to explore over time. This helps them adjust to their environment without feeling too overwhelmed.
If you already have pets, provide the new pet with a quiet area away from the other animals while they get acclimated, potentially for their first few days or weeks, and take initial introductions very slowly. DiCicco suggests trying scent swapping – giving one animal something that smells like the other – before introducing them. This improves your chances of having a successful first introduction.
Miller is not a fan of animal doors; she says it’s best that you control when your dog goes in and out. “It’s your responsibility to make sure that your dog gets out as often as he needs to, not only to go to the bathroom, but also to exercise.” She adds: “If your animal has an accident indoors, it’s your fault.”
Lastly, Miller says to opt for a physical fence and not an invisible underground shock fence (which she thinks should be illegal). “Invisible dog fences don’t keep things out, so they don’t protect your dog from something coming in and getting them, and they contribute to unwanted aggressive behaviour.”
How canine friends have helped humans cope during the pandemic?
As lockdown descended, people across the UK sought comfort and distraction from the coronavirus pandemic from their pets – old and new. Demand – and prices – for puppies soared, and the Dogs Trust was inundated with interest from those wishing to adopt, while reports of thefts of popular breeds also increased.
We’d like to hear from people about how their canine friends have helped them cope in lockdown, particularly if you live – or have been shielding – alone.
Share your experiences
Have you spent more time with your dog during lockdown? Did you buy a new puppy or rescue a dog during this period? If so, how did the buying or rescue process work? And are you worried about how your dog will cope if and when you return to work?
You can leave your story in comments on our Facebook page.
Scientists planning first ever complete list of all animals and plants on Earth, in effort to halt extinctions
As worsening trends reveal plight of various flora and fauna, a comprehensive directory of all known life could help authorities and researchers understand and protect natural world, writes Harry Cockburn.
A new effort is underway to create an overarching list of all the world’s plant and animal species.
Currently there is no single compendium of all of our planet’s species, with some types, such as mammals, the focus of numerous indexes, while other groups are not represented on lists at all.
A comprehensive catalogue of every species will help conservationists, scientists, governments and other organisations understand and protect the biodiversity on Earth.
“Listing all species may sound routine, but is a difficult and complex task,” said Professor Stephen Garnett of Charles Darwin University, who is spearheading the initiative.
“Currently no single, agreed list of species is available.”
A paper published in the open access journal PLOS Biology outlines a roadmap for creating, for the first time, an agreed list of all the world’s species, from mammals and birds to plants, fungi and microbes.
The authors said organisations and governments need reliable, agreed, scientifically defensible and accurate lists for the purposes of conservation, international treaties, biosecurity, and regulation of trade in endangered species.
There are numerous difficulties which must be overcome in order to create a coherent document which usefully details the planet’s vast array of life.
The paper outlines a potential means of streamlining some classification processes. This is in the form of a set of ten principles for creating and governing lists of the world’s species, and a proposed governance mechanism for ensuring that the lists are well-managed and broadly acceptable.
“Importantly, it clearly defines the roles of taxonomists – the scientists who discover, name and classify species – and stakeholders such as conservationists and government and international agencies,” said Dr Kevin Thiele, the director of Taxonomy Australia and a co-author of the paper.
“While taxonomists would have the final say on how to recognise and name species, the process ensures that stakeholders’ needs are considered when deciding between differing taxonomic opinions.”
The natural world is facing numerous unprecedented threats, with scientists warning we are accelerating into the midst of a sixth mass extinction event.
The increasing burden of human activities, which are driving the climate crisis, causing pollution, land clearing, disease and over utilisation, are combining and resulting in a rapidly worsening extinction crisis.
“Developing a single, agreed list of species won’t halt extinction,” said Professor Garnett, “but it’s an important step in managing and conserving all the world’s species, great and small, for this and future generations.”
Starbucks, Subway and McDonald’s have made no animal welfare progress in eight years
Our Animal Protection Index (API), which ranks countries on their laws protecting animals, exposes the drastic need for global change
Holding countries to account
For the API, we assessed the animal welfare policies and legislation of 50 countries and ranked them from A (the highest score) to G.
Shockingly, no country obtained an ‘A’ grade.
Some countries such as Morocco, Iran, Algeria, and Belarus were found to still be missing the basic legal framework needed to protect animals, and others do not formally recognize animal sentience in their existing legislation.
Sweden, United Kingdom, and Austria are rated with the highest scores, which is encouraging. More countries need to follow their lead.
We are calling on all governments to immediately improve their animal welfare standards, not only for the benefit of animals but also to reduce the risk to public health.
Coronavirus and other concerns
Severe animal welfare concerns from intensive farming, wildlife markets, and associated trade are all proven threats of disease outbreak, such as the most recent global epidemic, coronavirus.
The API found that China, USA, Vietnam, Egypt, Azerbaijan, and Belarus need to do more to protect animals and people from the threat of zoonotic diseases.
This global threat will continue for as long as there is no effective legislation and preventative measures to control the emerging threat to animal and people’s health.
Beyond public health, these systems which put us all at risk are causing immense suffering and cruelty to billions of animals every year.
We need to build a better world for animals and people, but this won’t be possible until we stop treating animals as commodities.
Does the life of an animal mean nothing at all?
Last year we launched a film to highlight the many ways that we are failing to protect animals, asking the question: does the life of an animal mean nothing at all?
This is a question we need to ask governments lacking even the most basic animal welfare policies.
As COVID-19 keeps us apart, we will let the animals in
First, the eyes. I pressed mine to the opening of a little wooden house. The park ranger behind me cleared her throat.
“Yeah, watch out because they jum–”
The shiniest eyes bugged out, followed by a little furry body.
An Australian northern quoll is fast, spotty and critically endangered. Ginger Meggs landed deftly on my neck, scuttled across my shoulders and flattened his body against my wrist. Normal quoll behaviour?
“He’s feeling your pulse,” the ranger told me. She asked if maybe I was a calm sort of a person because he stayed there, belly warm against wrist, reading my blood. No one has ever described me as calm. In the human world, I’m excitable. But maybe in quoll time my big human heart is languid, lazy.
I was living alone in a caravan in the Northern Territory Wildlife Park at the time, researching my novel about communication between humans and animals, which begins, a little too presciently, with a new flu pandemic sweeping the country. Ginger Meggs was living alone in an enclosure. We paused there together, sharing my heartbeat.
But now, in the age of coronavirus, we all live alone. Or with a couple of people, max: our bubble buddies that we are happy to share germs with and no one else. While we keep apart to protect each other, there are still many moments of connection online. We can watch author Miranda July dance in her loungeroom. We can learn how to do the #BlackfellaHug on NITV, celebrate Jacinda Ardern or deplore Scott Morrison together on Facebook. But on the last day of on-site work, I can’t hug my crying colleagues. I recently moved from Melbourne to regional New Zealand and can’t get to my family across the deep Tasman Sea. And I can’t cope with the thousands who have already died from coronavirus.
In my riverside town, people tended to holler “hello” of a morning. This week, they’ve been inadvertently reduced to a whisper, as though even a greeting might imply inappropriate social contact. Our bodies move awkwardly in public – we don’t know how to communicate togetherness and solidarity while being so physically separate.
But then a woman appears on the river bend, easy limbed, with a dog keeping pace. She doesn’t break her stride when she sees me, she smiles; she’s not alone because she’s with a dog. And that dog wags, showing us how to be in the world.
“You know who this is all working out very nicely for?” author Ella Holcomb posted online, “PETS! VERY nicely indeed.”
Another Twitter user had to take their dog, Rolo, to the vet because he sprained his tail from excessive wagging at his suddenly homebound humans. (Rolo now has an Instagram account.)
Meanwhile my cousin jokes that, “While the rest of NZ was panic buying toilet paper and tins of tomatoes, we panic bought a dog!”
Dr Liz Walker, CEO of RSPCA Victoria, tells me over a stuttering Zoom connection that, “People with pets have higher self-esteem, are less likely to be depressed, and cope with grief and stress more effectively than non-pet owners. Especially now amid Covid-19, animals give us a sense of connectedness. No matter how bad it gets, animals make you feel safe, they make you feel happy and they’re always glad to see you.”
As countries close down and our home lives get smaller, I too “joke” with my partner that now is the exact right time to rescue a rabbit. I imagine long days of watching Cottontail chewing the furniture and pooing on the rug. And indeed, pets are generally good. For us. But – and if I didn’t think so much about this I’d have a Cottontail with me right now – what about the animals? How do they fare in this new world paradigm?
Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan, an animal welfare expert from UNSW, says that in times of crises, “we’re looking out for the humans, but animals are considered dispensable for some. There’s no doubt that you’re still vulnerable when you’re a nonhuman animal, even as a companion animal”. Some people, for instance, have asked vets to put pets to death because they’re concerned that they might carry the virus. New research that cat-to-cat transmission is possible not only increases fear, but makes a pet’s position as beloved family member increasingly tenuous. When it comes down to it, will we continue to protect our companions?
Walker agrees that while it’s natural to seek support from your companion animal, “it’s also important to prioritise downtime for everyone, including animals, so that when this ends – and it will – animals can cope with the changesin the household. Cats sleep for 18 hours and if you’re home when you were once out, you’re disturbing their sleep patterns. I would get cranky too!”
If we’re to eradicate coronavirus globally, isolation will drag into months; for some of us, the birds that we see hanging around outside the window could become our only non-screen living contact for the day. Maybe having more time to watch animals and observe that they have their own lives and needs, will give us a new appreciation for them. “That feeling of connectedness that you get from animals, and watching them do their thing … it’s extremely comforting. A lot of people get a whole lot of joy out of watching animals experience happiness and freedom,” Walker says. Can we stop, look around ourselves, realise that we aren’t the centre of the universe, and try to be a different way in the world?
Our Zoom chat is broken by a terrifying screech as the New Zealand government sends an emergency alert to every mobile phone in the country, marking the beginning of phase four: total isolation: “Follow the rules and STAY HOME. Act as if you have Covid-19. This will save lives”. For the next four weeks, I’m allowed to see people on the screen and my partner in person – no one else.
But I know that when I go for my sanctioned solitary river walk, I will still see life. Everywhere. Like a scene from the novel I just published, where a strange new flu enables us to understand other animals, my senses will be heightened to them. In the skies, crawling between rocks, hopping in the long grass and waddling at the end of a lead. From their perspective, my presence might mean very little – they have their own thing going on – but my heartbeat will slow, calm for a moment. It will mean the world.
• The Animals in that Country by Laura Jean McKay is out now through Scribein paperback or as eBook
In the middle of a pandemic, it’s those closest to us that we worry about most: our friends, families and… pets.
The most pressing question for many pet owners is whether their beloved animals can catch the new coronavirus.
The World Health Organization says no.
There is no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 in the form it appears in humans can be passed onto companion animals and similarly, no evidence of a pet transmitting the virus to humans. So even if you have the disease, you shouldn’t worry about passing it to your pets.
But senior vet Sean Wensley, who works for veterinary charity PDSA, says regular hygiene measures are still important.
“There’s no evidence of any ongoing transmission of the disease by our pets,” he told Euronews.
“Nevertheless, as we seek to understand the disease, we think it’s really important that we apply the usual hygiene measures that we ought to be applying all the time, so washing our hands before and after contact with our pets, their leads, their food, their poop, but that’s just all good precautionary advice.”
Even if our pets don’t seem to be physically threatened by the disease, there’s still the matter of making sure they’re cared for properly while under lockdown. In most European countries that have introduced mandatory social-distancing measures, there are exemptions to the stay-inside directive if you need to walk your dog. But it’s important to keep the walk as short as possible and avoid other people. Most parks and dog run parks are closed to keep human contact to a minimum.
“When we’re able, if we’re not self-isolating because of suspected signs of coronavirus, and are therefore still able to take our dogs for a walk, we should make sure they’re kept on a lead, we wash our hands before we take them out and we crucially keep them two meters distance or whatever your local government advice is, away from other dog walkers,” explained Wensley.
If you’re self-isolating because you think you might have COVID-19 but can’t keep a greyhound indoors all day with you, it’s okay to reach out for help, said Wensley. Asking a friend or family member to take your dog for a walk is a good move, as long as both people take precautions.
Again, pets can’t get the disease, but items like their collar or lead could transmit it if an infected person touches them.
“That person shouldn’t come into your house, you should maintain a two-meter distance from them, and just be sensible, wash your hands, wipe your pet down, before you transfer them, ask them to bring their own lead with them.”
And just like us, pets aren’t overly fond of big changes in routine. Whatever lockdown measures look like in your household, it’s likely that the routine isn’t exactly the same as it was before the pandemic. That could be a recipe for stressed-out pets, according to Wensley.
“For some pets, having people around in the house that they wouldn’t normally have, perhaps children, if there’s a change in routine that can be stressful for some of our animals. Cats are particularly prone to that.”
“The one top tip I would give for those pets, and indeed all pets actually, because of the change of routine, is to make sure they’ve got somewhere that they can go to get away from the rest of the household and commotion, if they want to.”
Whether it’s a pet bed, or under your bed, Wensley said it’s important to identify a place where your pet can minimize their stress.
“I think we all need to in these trying times,” he said.
Homosexual and bisexual activity between animals may play key role in evolution
Homosexual and bisexual activity between animals has been well documented, with more than 1,500 species recorded in engaging in same-sex sexual behaviour.
But despite the large body of evidence, evolutionary biologists have struggled to explain what has become known as the “Darwin Paradox” – why are these behaviours so common when they result in no opportunity for species to reproduce.
And why, when animals have evolved over millennia, has same-sex sexual behaviour repeatedly evolved and persisted?
Researchers from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies suggest instead of examining the issue as a conundrum in need of a solution, the question ought to be reframed from “why do animals engage in same sex behaviour” to “why not?”
Writing in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, the authors suggest that these behaviours may actually have been part of the original, ancestral condition in animals and have persisted because they have few — if any — costs and perhaps some important benefits.
“We argue that the frequently implicit assumption of [different-sex sexual behaviour] as ancestral has not been rigorously examined, and instead hypothesise an ancestral condition of indiscriminate sexual behaviours directed towards all sexes. By shifting the lens through which we study animal sexual behaviour, we can more fruitfully examine the evolutionary history of diverse sexual strategies.”
Lead author and F&ES doctoral candidate Julia Monk said: “We propose a shift in our thinking on the sexual behaviours of animals.
“We’re excited to see how relaxing traditional constraints on evolutionary theory of these behaviours will allow for a more complete understanding of the complexity of animal sexual behaviours.”
In the past, the researchers say research into species’ sexual behaviours has rested on two assumptions.
The first is that same-sex behaviour has high costs because individuals spend time and energy on activities offering no potential for reproductive success.
And the other assumption has been that same-sex behaviours emerged independently in different animal species and evolutionary lineages.
“If any trait other than homosexuality had been observed in such a diverse array of species it would be widely accepted as being part of our ancestral DNA rather than something that evolved later,” said Ms Monk.
“Put simply,” the authors write, “we are proposing a shift from asking ‘Why engage in SSB?’ to ‘Why not?’”
They argue a combination of same-sex sexual behaviours (SSBs) and different-sex sexual behaviours (DSBs) is an original condition for all sexually producing animals — and that these tendencies likely evolved in the earliest forms of sexual behaviour.
The authors suggest not only that same-sex behaviours are often “not costly”, but can in fact be advantageous from a natural selection perspective because individuals are more likely to mate with more partners.
Many species aren’t inherently monogamous but instead try to mate with more than one individual. In many species it can be difficult for individuals to even discern between different sexes.
“So, if you’re too picky in targeting what you think is the opposite sex, you just mate with fewer individuals. On the other hand, if you’re less picky and engage in both SSB and DSB, you can mate with more individuals in general, including individuals of a different sex,” said co-author Max Lambert, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California-Berkeley’s Departmental of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.
He added: “So far, most biologists have considered SSB as extremely costly and, consequently, something that is aberrant.”
“This strong assumption has stopped us as a community from actively studying how often and under what conditions SSB is happening. Given our casual observations suggest that SSB seems to happen pretty commonly across thousands of species, imagine what we would have learned if we had assumed this was something interesting and not just a rampant accident.”
If you have ever owned or spent a lot of time riding with one particular horse, chances are good that you’ve felt some sort of special connection with them — and wondered ifhorses even like humans. Maybe you’ve felt like they were actually your friend, or a small part of your family, and wanted to know if the feeling was reciprocal. Research is now confirming that that connection isn’t all in your head — and anyone who has ever had a pet before, horse or not, definitely won’t be surprised at some of these recent findings. A new study shows that horses can actually understand and remember human emotions, which is something that makes them seem even more magical than they already did.
This is not the first time scientists have discovered something like this about these animals — previous studies have found that horses can recognize expressions. This new research, though, has found that the animals can not only recognize expressions but can also remember them and link them to a specific face. In other words, horses can recognize human faces and their emotional expressions, something that they then use to discern whether the person is a threat or not.
This latest study was done by researchers at the universities of Sussex and Portsmouth and was published in the journal Current Biology. While it’s certainly not the first study down on horse behavior, it is the first one to find something like this.
“We know that horses are socially intelligent animals, but this is the first time any mammal has been shown to have this particular ability,” Portsmouth research Leanne Proops said. “What’s very striking is that this happened after just briefly viewing a photograph of the person with a particular emotional expression — they did not have a strongly positive or negative experience with this person.”
The researchers came to this conclusion after a series of experiments where they showed domestic horses photographs of humans with either a happy or angry facial expression. Later, they showed the horses the people in the photographs, making neutral expressions. During the real life meeting, researchers watched the eye movements of the horses. They found that the horses saw those who had been photographed with angry faces to be more threatening (previous research has shown that horses look at negative or threatening things with their left eye). It’s important to note that the humans did not know which photographs the horses had seen before, which was done to eliminate the risk of the humans behaving differently.
Karen McComb, a professor at the University of Sussex, said in a news release, “What we’ve found is that horses can not only read human facial expressions, but they can also remember a person’s previous emotional state when they meet them later that day — and, crucially, that they adapt their behavior accordingly.”
This research is incredibly interesting for so many reasons. For one thing, it proves exactly how intelligent and emotional horses really are — that connection that you might feel with one of these magnificent mammals is a real thing. For another, it’s an important step toward learning more about these important animals, and maybe even animals in general. We still know so little about what goes on in the minds of some of our favorite animals, and this is one way to understand a little bit more about at least one of them.
In fact, this is more proof that horses may have more human-like behavior than you thought. Previous research has found that horses can deal with chronic stress, experience allergies, and even get the flu. Anyone who has spent a lot of time around horses may not find this type of research particularly surprising.
You love your pet, so you want to feed him the best-quality food that you can find. But pet food nutrition labels aren’t the same as those for human food. It can be hard to tell if one product is better than another by simply reading the name on the label.
Keep your eyes open for a few signs that you’re buying the best food for your dog or cat.
Ingredients Aren’t Enough
When you shop for yourself, you might read the list of ingredients to see what’s in the food that you’re thinking about buying. So it makes sense if you look at ingredients on pet food packages as well.
“That’s where the pet parents’ eyes are drawn,” says Julie A. Churchill, DVM, PhD, associate professor of nutrition at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine.
An ingredients label lists food by weight, with the heaviest item listed first and the lightest item last. Heavier foods that sound good (berries or carrots) may be higher up on the list than other foods that weigh less (dried meat), but that may not tell the whole story.
“Things that are water-rich — fruits and vegetables — that will push them to the top of the list,” Churchill says. “Meat and chicken are 70% water, so they’re heavier [and listed higher on the label]. Owners may mistakenly say: ‘It’s got more meat in it,’ but it may have less chicken in it than those foods that add chicken meal, which is a cooked, dry product.”
Read the Fine Print
Most companies that sell dog and cat food include a statement on the package based on the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) Model Pet Food Regulations. It should say whether a food is designed for puppies or kittens, pregnant pets, or adults. It may have other details as well.
It’s not the most prominent part of the label,” Churchill says. “It’s usually in small print.”
Many AAFCO statements say that the food is “complete,” which means that it contains all of the nutrients that pets require. It may also say that the food is “balanced,” which means that those nutrients are there in the proper ratios for dogs or cats at that stage of life.
Research Is Key
The best thing that an AAFCO statement can say, experts say, is that the product was used in a feeding test using AAFCO guidelines.
“They fed their product to dogs or cats in different life stages, so it’s not just a formula on paper being sold,” says veterinary nutritionist Martha G. Cline, DVM, vice president of the American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition.
Products that have been tested are more likely to have the health benefits they promise than those that haven’t been tested.
“Some companies have very nice science behind them,” says Nolie Parnell, DVM, clinical associate professor at Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine. “They spend time and resources, maximizing health in our pets. Other companies don’t even have a budget for research and aren’t putting that investigating time in.”
If you’re unsure about what’s best for your dog or cat, ask your vet for help.
“They should have the basic knowledge to make basic recommendations,” Parnell says. “They should have the skill set to see if the food company is reputable.”
Your vet may suggest certain food for your dog’s breed.
“There’s not one perfect dog food for every dog,” Cline says. “Every dog and cat is going to be a little bit different. There’s not one perfect diet out there that’s going to be the right diet for every single animal.”
Even if you’re happy with your pet’s food, ask your vet every now and then if your choice is still good.
“There isn’t one food that is ideal for your whole life,” Churchill says. “As your needs change, your veterinary team will make recommendations.”
Your veterinarian has several options for treating pets with cancer. There are 3 common treatment options for animal cancers: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy). Each of these options can be used alone or in combination with other treatments. The specific treatment program your veterinarian will recommend will depend on the specifics of your pet’s condition. In selecting the treatment, your veterinarian will consider the type of cancer, how quickly it grows and spreads (the stage or grade of the cancer), and the location of the cancer.
The goal of any cancer treatment program is to completely and permanently eradicate the cancer. Sadly, a complete cure is often not possible. For pets whose cancer cannot be cured, the veterinary team can provide treatment to minimize the animal’s pain and discomfort and enhance its quality of life.
Oncology is the medical specialty that deals with all aspects of cancer in both humans and animals. Veterinary oncologists are veterinarians who study cancer in animals, including prevention, development, diagnosis, and treatment. A veterinary oncologist may be a part of the medical team treating your pet or the treatment may be conducted by your regular veterinarian and veterinary clinic staff.
Surgery
Surgery is considered the cornerstone for treating most cancers in animals. It is one of the oldest forms of cancer treatment and frequently the most effective one. Today, surgery may be combined with radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy, depending on the characteristics of the case.
When cancer surgery is performed, the main goal is usually to remove all the cancerous cells in the animal’s body. Sometimes, if the cancer is detected early (before it grows too large or spreads to other parts of the body), surgery can completely cure the animal. Other goals of cancer surgery can include removing an unsightly tumor to improve the animal’s appearance or comfort or removal of a tumor that is interfering with the animal’s normal body functions. These goals can improve the quality of life for the animal.
Surgery is most successful when the cancer involves a tumor that has not spread beyond its original location. Unfortunately, however, not all tumors can be surgically removed. Some are in inaccessible sites. And, there are times when the costs to the animal might outweigh the benefits. For example, removing a large tumor might require removing a vital organ or may cause a pet to lose a vital body function. If the cancer is in more than one location or has spread (metastasized), then surgery is not as likely to be an effective treatment.
A biopsy is a surgical procedure in which a piece of a tumor is removed for study and analysis by a pathologist. The pathologist’s report will provide important information such as the type of cancer and its characteristics. Combined with information about the size and location of the cancer, your veterinarian can develop the best treatment program for your pet.
Even if surgery cannot be used to completely remove a tumor, it can be used to remove part of a tumor, a process known as debulking. There are several possible benefits to debulking. First, partially removing a tumor can reduce the signs of cancer and make the animal more comfortable through improved mobility or reduced pain. Debulking can also be used to improve the effectiveness of radiation therapy or chemotherapy. These cancer treatments have the greatest chance for success when fewer cancer cells are present.
Surgery may also be prescribed by your veterinarian to manage or reduce the side effects of other treatments. During radiation therapy, for example, normal, healthy tissue may be damaged. Removal of the damaged tissue will encourage more rapid healing. In other cases, the surgical placement of a feeding tube may be necessary when either the cancer or its treatment makes normal eating physically impossible or very painful.
Pain management is an important part of surgical treatment . After the surgery, medication is usually provided to reduce pain and make the animal more comfortable.
Radiation Therapy
One of the most common treatments for cancer in both humans and animals is radiation therapy. This treatment is sometimes also called x-ray therapy, radioisotope irradiation, or cobalt therapy.
Cancer cells divide more frequently than normal cells. Cancer cells also have a weakness; they do not recover from radiation damage as quickly or completely as normal cells. Radiation works as a treatment for cancer because it kills cells that divide rapidly or, in other cases, because it damages the cancer cells so severely that they cannot divide and grow. Radiation therapists work to deliver just enough radiation to the cancer cells to destroy or injure them and prevent them from reproducing.
Radiation therapy is often used in addition to treatment with surgery or chemotherapy or both. The therapy or combination of therapies prescribed for a particular animal will be selected by your veterinarian based on which options offer the best chance of controlling or eradicating your pet’s cancer. For brain tumors, nasal tumors, and other tumors in the head and neck, radiation therapy may be the treatment of choice. For cancers of the spine or pelvis, it may be the only practical treatment option.
Great strides have been made in recent years in radiation therapy. There has been a dramatic improvement in the sophistication of radiation therapy equipment and methods and a parallel rise in its success in eradicating cancer. Pet owners have also increased their requests for this treatment for their pets. However, radiation therapy is not a cure-all for cancer. Not all cancers are easily killed by radiation. Some cancers are highly resistant to radiation therapy and cancers of these types cannot be treated effectively with radiation. Thus, whether or not radiation therapy will be prescribed will depend, to a great extent, on the type of cancer to be treated.
Often, radiation therapy is used to either help make chemotherapy more effective or to decrease the size of a tumor in order to make surgical removal possible or more likely to succeed. Thus, radiation therapy is frequently used as a part of a combination treatment program.
Radiation therapy is not administered in a single “zap.” It is delivered in a series of doses over an extended period. By administering the radiation in this way, the killing effect on the cancer cells is maximized while the toxic effects on healthy cells are minimized. This schedule allows healthy cells to repair themselves after radiation exposure. The exact dose and the schedule for delivery will be carefully set based on the type of cancer being treated, how advanced the cancer is, the animal’s response to radiation therapy, and the goal of the treatment. For example, if the treatment goal is to reduce the size of a tumor prior to surgery, the treatment dose and schedule will be different than if the goal is to completely eradicate a tumor. Overall, a radiation therapy program will typically involve 5 doses per week for a period of 4 to 6 weeks.
A cancer cure is not the only possible goal for radiation therapy. In some cases, the radiation therapy goal is to provide some relief from the impact of a tumor or from the spread of cancer to other parts of the body. These steps may allow the animal to feel better even if its life is not lengthened by the treatment.
Great accuracy is required to target the radiation to destroy cancer cells while protecting healthy cells. However, even with great care and accuracy, radiation can damage normal cells close to the cancer. The cells most likely to be damaged are those that normally divide rapidly. These include the lining of the mouth, esophagus, and intestines; hair follicles; bone marrow; and the skin. Radiation can also damage the ovaries or testes.
There are some recognized adverse effects from radiation therapy. The extent and severity of these effects will depend on the size of the area being treated, the dose administered, and the location being radiated. When the radiation site is near sensitive tissues, the effects are likely to be more severe and prolonged. For example, treatment for tumors on the head or neck often causes damage to the overlying skin. Treatment of head tumors may cause inflammation or irritation of the lining of the mouth. For animals with this condition, a feeding tube may be recommended to reduce the discomfort of eating with a sore mouth. Dry eye is another side effect associated with radiation to the head. It is caused by a decrease in tear production due to the impact of radiation on the eyelids. This can sometimes be a permanent condition. Eye drops and other medications are available to help prevent sores from developing and relieve eye irritation. Radiation to any portion of the digestive tract may cause irritation resulting in nausea, lack of appetite, or diarrhea. For these animals, a change in diet may help control the signs.
Chemotherapy
Certain drugs destroy cancer cells. This type of treatment is called chemotherapy. It can be used to manage and treat several types of cancer. When it is used, the most common treatment goal is to shrink, stop the growth of, or destroy the cancer without longterm negative effects on the quality of life for the animal. Veterinarians will prescribe chemotherapy based on the type of cancer to be treated, the stage of the cancer, the overall condition of the animal to be treated, and any financial constraints that may be present.
In an ideal situation, a chemotherapy drug would kill cancer cells in an animal’s body without harming normal healthy cells. Few such drugs have been found. Today, the drugs selected for chemotherapy have been designed to be more damaging to cancer cells than to normal cells. They specifically target cells that divide and grow rapidly. Normal cells will be affected to some extent by chemotherapy drugs; sometimes the drugs can have adverse effects.
Chemotherapy drugs are delivered either through the mouth or by injection. If injection is used, it can be into a vein (intravenous), muscle (intramuscular), or under the skin (subcutaneous). The delivery method will be selected with the comfort and quality of life for the pet in mind balanced against the goal of effective delivery of the drugs.
Some cancers do not respond to chemotherapy. How a cancer responds to a particular drug will depend on the type, size, rate of growth and spread, and location of the cancer. These factors are some of the most important ones in the selection of chemotherapy drugs, their combination, and their dosage. As is the case with other cancer treatments, chemotherapy is most effective when the tumor is small, is at an early stage in development, and has not spread to other parts of the body. When these conditions exist, most cancer cells divide quickly and the chemotherapy drugs are able to kill a larger number of the cancer cells.
Chemotherapy alone usually cannot cure cancer in pets. It is used most often to control cancer and its spread. Thus, chemotherapy is often used to treat cancers that affect the whole body, such as cancer of the lymphatic system (lymphoma). In other cases, chemotherapy is used to fight the remaining cancer cells when a tumor cannot be completely removed with surgery. Chemotherapy is also used to fight types of cancer that spread around the body early in their development.
Many of the chemotherapy drugs used to control cancer in people are used for the same purpose in pets. However, animals require dosages that are adjusted for their size and body type. In most cases, a combination of drugs will be used. Your veterinarian will evaluate the individual cancer and the particular needs of your pet when selecting the drug combination, dosage, and administration schedule. Quality of life issues, medical and nutritional support concerns, and pain control are other considerations that the prescribing veterinarian must evaluate when selecting a chemotherapy program. In all cases, your veterinarian must weigh the expected benefits of the drugs with possible adverse effects to select the most appropriate treatment for your pet. The veterinarian will carefully monitor your pet’s physical and behavioral response to the treatment and adjust the dosage to maximize the effect on the cancer while reducing the side effects.
While improvements have been made in chemotherapy for humans—many of the well-known side effects such as nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and fatigue have been reduced in recent years—people still regard chemotherapy as a distinctly unpleasant experience. Animals generally appear able to tolerate chemotherapy better than people, but treatment with some chemotherapy drugs may lead to vomiting or a lack of interest in food. This side effect can be treated with anti-nausea medicine. Intravenous fluids can be used to control such side effects as vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration. Some chemotherapy drugs may cause a reduction in the number of red blood cells (anemia), white blood cells (leukopenia), or the cells that clot blood (platelets). The loss of white blood cells is probably the most significant of these effects because white blood cell loss lowers your pet’s ability to fight off infections. Your veterinarian will monitor your pet’s condition by taking blood samples. If the white blood cell count becomes too low, antibiotics may be prescribed to prevent infections. For animals with a low platelet count, there is an increased risk of bleeding.
Hair loss is a common side effect of chemotherapy among people. This is less common in pets, though it varies among breeds.
Dogs and cats receiving chemotherapy usually have good to excellent quality of life throughout the treatment program. Side effects, if any, are usually mild. The risk of life-threatening adverse effects is estimated at less than 5% for most types of chemotherapy. The most risky side effects can often be anticipated and either controlled or prevented entirely. If your pet will be undergoing chemotherapy, you should discuss the treatment program with your veterinarian in advance. You need to come to a mutual understanding about what can be expected for your pet and the level of risk that can be accepted.
Chemotherapy may be stopped before the end of the scheduled treatment program if the cancer being treated is not affected by the drugs or starts regrowing following a period of remission. A prescribed chemotherapy program may also be stopped when the animal has received the maximum acceptable total dose for a particular drug or if there are unacceptable adverse effects.
Combination Therapy
The term combination therapy refers to the use of 2 or more treatment options in the fight against cancer. Today, combination therapy is the most frequently used approach to treat cancer in pets. It offers the best opportunity to cure the cancer while maintaining the best possible quality of life for the animal.
Combination chemotherapy offers many advantages over single drug treatment programs. For example, when multiple chemotherapy drugs are used, and each one uses a different mechanism to kill cancer cells, it is less likely that the cancer will become drug resistant. This improves the chances that the treatment will be successful. Also, a combination of drugs can target different cancerous sites, increasing the likelihood of controlling any spread of the cancer. When using drugs with different side effects in combination, the probability is high that any side effects will be no worse than with a single drug given separately. These benefits combine to make a combination therapy program the best choice in many cases.
There is no single best treatment for all cancers. For some cancers, the best approach is one that combines surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Tumors and other cancers that are confined to a localized area are often best treated with surgery or radiation therapy. Chemotherapy has the advantage of treating cancer cells that have spread from their original location. In other cases, radiation or chemotherapy is used to shrink a tumor to a size that makes surgical removal possible or more likely to succeed. Radiation or chemotherapy may be used following surgery to kill any cancer cells that may remain.
The stage of cancer development is a factor in selecting the treatment, whether a single treatment mode or a combination of treatment methods. For animals with advanced cancers that cannot be treated with surgery or radiation therapy, combination chemotherapy can be used to reduce the signs of the disease and prolong life.
Prospects for a Cure
During the past century, researchers have made enormous strides toward finding a cure for cancer. But we are not there yet. There is no single and complete cure for cancer in either humans or animals. However, much has been learned about managing and treating this ancient disease. Veterinarians have been successful in using surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy to cure many animal cancers. Meanwhile, research is continuing and the prospects for better cancer treatments are strong.
