… a beautiful Colorado day and we were most grateful for the off/on cloud cover! Lots of folks stopped by to see the booth and say hello to Teller, our breed ambassador for the day. Kudos to The Promenade Shops at Centerra for putting on a great gathering and big thanks to hubby for being our “roadie” for the day …
It’s been a bit hectic since the last posting so we’ll just jump in here and get started. Spring has been late coming to Colorado. Really, really late. We had four straight weeks in April where a snow storm rolled through and dumped significant amounts of snow on Loveland (we got 30″ in April alone). While we desperately need the water, a nice warm, soaking rain would have been a welcome change. Forget about any of my spring bulbs blooming as the single-digit temps and snow took most of them out. As hope springs eternal, the long-range forecast doesn’t show snow or freezing temps so we geared up and got most of the annuals planted in the big pots scattered throughout the yard and the fountains up and running. A few more annuals to find and we’ll officially be open for summer!
ApsoRescueColorado was the recipient of a nice donation thanks to Katie Culkins of K.C.’s Grooming in Windsor, Colorado (Katie is a National Certified Master Groomer and has owned her shop for 25 years now). She was an entrant in an international online grooming contest as sponsored by Animology of the UK. Lucky for us, her submission of Toby’s new hairdo won the contest and a donation was made to us by Animology. Thank you Katie and Group 55/Animology!!
If you’re out and about this weekend, please come visit the rescue booth which will be set up at Loveland’s 2013 Paws on the Promenade at The Promenade Shops at Centerra. If the weatherman can be believed, it appears we’ll have a typical Colorado spring day (i.e., wait ten minutes and the weather will change) to celebrate our four-legged companions!
I just love this video … make sure your speakers are up!! Thanks to Trudi who adopted Ka Tu and Emmy for sharing with us.
Sweet Sophie
Friends recently had to said goodbye to their 16-year old terrier mix, Sophie. A delightful little sprite, she had a good long life with her owners and the two Apsos in the household. As is so often the case with elderly dogs, quality of life became the deciding factor. Difficult as it is, we owners are called upon to take their pain and make it our own, giving them release from a body and/or mind shuttered with age and disease.
In my many decades as pet owner and rescuer, I have been at that crossroads seven times now. While it does not get any easier, each passing has given me a deeper experience base from which to call upon when the next time comes around. And there is always a “next time” for those of us who choose to share our lives with four-legged companions. Over the years, I have learned to set aside my grief and look objectively at what is best for the animal, whether treatment should or should not continue, and how any of it will change the outcome and to what degree. Are they here because they find enough interest in each day to carry on … or is it because I, in my gathering grief, can not let go? Sometimes, the hardest part of letting go is seeing beyond what the heart feels.
During email conversations with Sophie’s mom, the subject came up of what to do with the remains of our companions. A profoundly personal choice with no “right” or “wrong” answers, there are a myriad of choices available now. Options that were not available in the late ’80s when faced with my first euthanasia! My beloved cat — Bear — was brought home, wrapped in a blue towel and buried in a corner of our large yard (a practice not allowed now in many communities). A divorce not too long afterwards precipitated a move back to my home state of Colorado and it has always saddened me that my old Bear was left behind. With that experience imprinted, my first Apso, Brittany, was cremated and returned to me in a little floral box. I’ve toyed with the idea of “planting” her in the yard with a spectacular specimen of some sort — high on the list at this moment is a yellow magnolia tree. Then the nagging questions set in, i.e., what if we move away? (And we will eventually move away, even if it is only on a gurney out the front door.) What if the plant dies and we have to dig it up and send it on? So, there she sits, on my bookcase with her collar and tags laid across the top.
After the death of my parents along with a major clean out of their house and 50 years’ worth of accumulated items, hubby and I embarked on a major decluttering of our own home. While dusting the bookcase one day, I began to think about how many boxes of ashes I’d eventually end up collecting … and why leave them for my niece to dispense with when our time has run. With four geriatric animals in the house at that point and 
certainly more in the future, I made the decision to let go of the ashes to come. When we lost Ali in 2011, she was cremated and then scattered at a pet cemetery in Northern Colorado … a quiet place with a stunning view of the Front Range of Colorado.
In all honesty, I did not let her go completely. Starting with Ali, all my dogs have been in full coat at some point. Just before being clipped down, I take a lock of the full coat starting at the top of the shoulder … a visual and tangible reminder of the life we shared when they are gone. These lockets now hang in the grooming room, a collage of sorts with fired clay name tags from another friend. Hubby has compared them to the shrunken heads one might find in a voodoo shack. But, in the same breath, I’ve also seen him reach up and gently rub the red braid between his fingers. A connection across the years and a whisper from the Bridge … all that remains.
This new super poison has allegedly killed one of the Westminster competition dogs, a Samoyed. Please be aware that two possible events occurred: (1) The dog found it in a motel room or (2) someone poisoned the dog at the dog show. For those of you that travel with your pets and kids … this is a very serious implication.
New Rodenticide Without Antidote Alarms Pet Toxicology Experts
2008 EPA Regulations May Have Unintended But Dangerous Consequences.
Jan 29, 2013 ~~ Julie Scheidegger DVM NEWSMAGAZINE
Fluffy got into the rat poison in the garage? Get the Vitamin K! Not so fast, warns Ahna Brutlag, DVM, MS, a diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology and assistant director of veterinary services for Pet Poison Helpline. The ingested substance may be bromethalin, the new toxin of choice for rodenticide manufacturers. There is no test save necropsy to detect its presence–and no antidote. Why are manufacturers switching to bromethalin? Because in 2008 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a decision prohibiting the use of second-generation or long-acting anticoagulants in residential settings.
Manufacturers became compliant with these new regulations in 2011, with many using bromethalin instead of anticoagulants in their products. Brutlag says the EPA’s changes–designed to make rodenticide safer for children, pets and wildlife–may actually make diagnosing and treating rodenticide poisoning more difficult, thereby increasing the risk of harm. “We feel like it was well-intentioned but we’ve ended up with some really frightening consequences,” Brutlag says. “With anticoagulants at least we know there is a very effective test and there’s an antidote.” Bromethalin is a neurotoxin that affects mitochondria in the brain and liver.
According to the Pet Poison Helpline, it results in decreased ATP production, which affects sodium and potassium pumps; as a result, lipid peroxidation occurs, resulting in sodium accumulation within the cell. Edema of the central nervous system (CNS) may result. The rapid onset of bromethalin poisoning leaves veterinarians little time for error. “The symptoms come on faster and it’s harder to treat,” Brutlag says. With anticoagulant poisoning, veterinarians had three to five days before bleeding began–maybe a week before death. But with bromethalin, clinical signs associated CNS edema may be seen within two to 24 hours. Once the animal starts showing neurological signs–CNS stimulation or depression, abnormal behavior, ataxia, hyperesthesia, seizures, coma–successful treatment becomes more difficult and more expensive. An animal may have only a couple of days before succumbing.
Even in successful cases, Brutlag says treatment requires more emergency care and hospitalization. “Since there’s no antidote, decontamination is the most important intervention,” Brutlag says. But she worries that not enough veterinarians are familiar with how to decontaminate bromethalin exposure. According to the Pet Poison Helpline, the median lethal dose (LD50) of bromethalin for dogs is 2.38-3.65 mg/kg, with a minimum lethal dose of 2.5 mg/kg. Cats are more sensitive, with a significantly lower LD50 of 0.54 mg/kg. Severity is dose-dependent, but if the poisoning is discovered within 10 to 15 minutes of ingestion, it’s safe to induce emesis at home, Brutlag says. After that small window, induction of emesis should take place at a veterinary clinic where the animal can be monitored for acute onset of CNS signs and be given multiple doses of activated charcoal–four to six doses over 24 hours. “Should clinical signs arise, patients are treated with standard measures to reduce cerebral edema including IV fluids, mannitol, etc.,” Brutlag wrote in an impact statement for the EPA. Prognosis is poor for patients exhibiting persistent seizures or paralytic syndrome.
The negative impact on pets from bromethalin poisoning has Brutlag and others wishing for pre-regulation standards. In fact, manufacturers of the rodenticide brand d-Con have refused to comply with the new EPA standards, continuing to use an anticoagulant as its active ingredient. “Even though it’s a potent anticoagulant, at least it’s an anticoagulant,” Brutlag says. The Poison Pet Helpline and d-Con both cite the dangers of using a toxin with no known antidote as reason for the EPA to revisit the 2008 regulation standards. Brutlag concedes that it may be difficult to return to pre-regulation standards now that bromethalin products are on the market. For her, the best solution may be to simply educate pet owners and veterinarians. She travels the country giving lectures on the dangers of rodenticide poisonings–most recently at the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando, Fla. She says most veterinarians don’t know about the EPA’s regulations and the change in active ingredients. “They’re shocked and concerned,” she says. “Being able to inform veterinarians that this change has occurred is crucial.”
As promised, here’s the link to the Judging Program … looks like Apsos are in Ring 6 on the lower level all four days. Judging starts at the listed times on all but Friday; Apsos are judged after 18 Poodles and 11 Schipperkes so it will be closer to 2:00 p.m. Come on out for a great day filled with all things dog!
Tibetan Apsos at Show …
This is unabashedly a repeat of last year’s post (and the year before, et al ) … the same information holds true for 2013!
Once again, we’re gearing up for the largest dog show in Colorado … The Rocky Mountain Cluster to be held February 15-18 in the Hall of Education at the National Western Complex, 4655 Humboldt in Denver. The Premium List, which contains information on the show, parking, maps and entry, can be found here … Premium List. The actual times for judging and the ring numbers are not disseminated until just a week before the show; we’ll post a link to the judging program when available. If you’re thinking of attending, please be sure to give yourself plenty of time for parking, getting into the facility, and then finding the right ring and some chairs (rings are marked by numbers on tall poles).
Parking, depending on where one finds an open lot, can run anywhere from $5 to $10 — and it may also be a very long walk! Entry fee to the Expo Hall is $5. Please note that dogs not entered in the show are not allowed on the site. If considering crowds/parking, Friday or Monday would probably be the better of the four days to attend. As the largest show in the region, the selection of vendors and their wares is pretty amazing … if it’s dog related, you’ll find it at this show! From art prints, to clothing, to grooming supplies, to dog beds, to canine-related jewelry, to crates and tables, it will be available. Might want to bring the plastic along (and keep in mind that the vendors start packing up on Monday for the return home).
Besides the conformation competition, one can also find other venues such as Rally, Obedience, and Agility. These are generally held in the Events Center which fronts 47th Street; Rally is held on the 3rd floor of the main building. Hope to see you there … it’s a great reason to come out and support the breed! If you need more information, please feel free to contact me at: ApsoRescue@aol.com.
