Q: I was taught that “people food” is bad for dogs and cats, is this true?
A: To answer this question, let’s go back to a time when dogs and cats were first domesticated and there was no billion-dollar-a-year pet food industry. Those early canines and felines must have been useful to the societies that adopted them. Dogs ate garbage and provided an alarm system against invaders. Humans found them to be loyal companions, protective of both their territory and their people and useful for tasks such as pulling a travois or a sled. Cats, no doubt, proved valuable for the control of rodents and other pests.

People, pigs and other species of omnivores are capable of digesting and utilizing a wide variety of food products. Omnivores have longer digestive tracts, teeth capable of thorough mastication (something my wife is constantly reminding me about) and the ability to digest much of what they consume. Dogs and cats are carnivores with teeth designed for grasping and tearing rather than efficient mastication. Their digestive tracts are shorter and their nutritional requirements are different. Wild carnivores consume more than muscle and organ tissue, they also ingest partially digested vegetable material from the intestines, often consumed first.

Both dogs and cats require ten essential amino acids that they get from animal origin protein and essential fatty acids from animal or vegetable fat. Cats need more protein than dogs. Both dogs and cats require the proper balance of vitamins and minerals. The FDA requires any pet food that advertises with the words “complete” or “balanced” on the package to have everything your pet needs. The only problem with feeding your pet “people food” is that it takes knowledge and planning to provide all the nutritional requirements.

So far, I have avoided the question of feeding table scraps. Here we go. Do not feed your pet from the table while you are eating. The result will be an annoying pet that begs whenever you sit down to eat. The food may or may not be healthy but the behavior generated from table feeding is irritating and the result is usually a bad mannered, spoiled animal. Given that, I have been responsible for many family pets over the years and routinely mix small quantities of leftover food from our plates in with their regular commercial pet food. I avoid giving highly spiced foods but have routinely added meat gravy and fat, small bits of uneaten steak, even potatoes and cooked vegetables. All our dogs have thrived and appreciated these treats, while most of our cats have turned up their noses — what does that tell you? Never provide cooked bones, as they can splinter and cause all manner of problems. I have removed steak bones and chicken vertebrae from more than one obstructed GI tract.

If you look on the Internet, you can find many recipes for homemade pet foods that seem to contain all the necessary ingredients for a healthy diet. I would be a little apprehensive about feeding a diet with raw red meat, poultry or seafood, as it’s too easy for bacterial contamination. If it is cooked fresh, introduced gradually and your pet doesn’t react adversely to it, you should be OK. If you opt for a vegan diet, you have to be extremely careful to supply all the necessary essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals, not easy to do. It seems to me that feeding your pet organic foods or foods you prepare is more about lifestyle, cultural and moral beliefs than nutritional needs or food safety, but if it makes you feel better, why not?

Some animals do have special dietary needs because of illness, age or some other condition. If your veterinarian prescribes a special diet, you must use the commercial diet recommended or have a lengthy discussion about what you can prepare yourself to meet all the patient’s requirements.

Dr. David Gross of Edmonds graduated from Colorado State University’s veterinary school in 1960 and was in private practice for 10 years. He retired in 2006 as Professor and Head of Veterinary Biosciences, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Gross is the author of “Animals Don’t Blush,” which describes the unique patients and even more unique clients of a veterinary practice in Sidney, Montana in the early 1960s. The book is available at the Edmonds Bookshop.

Ron Wambolt spotted these cats relaxing on Paradise Lane Wednesday.

This is a group for Golden Retrievers and their owners. To learn more about this group go to the meet-up page here or find them on Facebook under Edmonds Golden Retriever Club. These meet-ups are free and open to all ages of Golden Retrievers.

Washington State Ferrie is implementing an across-the-board, 3-percent fare increase to help cover operating costs and meet revenue targets. This increase applies to all fare types, including vehicle/driver, walk-on, and multi-ride cards.

The State Transportation Commission approved the increase last August as part of its annual review of ferry fares. The state transportation budget requires the ferry system to meet an overall revenue target of $310 million that must be collected from ferry fares between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2013.

Single-ticket prices for vehicles will also increase 25 percent on all routes, except for the San Juan Islands where they will increase 35 percent, as part of a peak-season surcharge that begins in May. The seasonal surcharge helps pay for increased operational costs that come with increased traffic May through September.

Also beginning May 1 is a bigger discount for vehicles shorter than 14 feet. Drivers of small vehicles will now pay 20 percent less than drivers of standard-sized vehicles. The discount increases from 10 percent to 20 percent. Smaller vehicles are still subject to the 3-percent fare increase and seasonal surcharge.

Is it true that animals can be poisoned by eating chocolate?

Yes, well sort of, it depends, is that clear? Actually chocolate poisoning is not unusual in dogs, maybe because many dogs will eat almost anything. Cats are more discerning. I found one reported case of chocolate poisoning in a horse. That is weird because the toxic dose of chocolate is dependent on body weight.

The published toxic dose is 100-200 mg/kg. (a mg, milligram, is 1/1000 of a gram, a kg, kilogram, is 1000 grams, a kilogram is equal to 2.24 pounds, 16 ounces to the pound. Let your fourth grader do the math.) To complicate matters, veterinarians at the Poison Control Center of the ASPCA have reported problems with doses as low as 20mg/kg, of theobromine. So we will go with the lower toxic dose.

Chocolate comes from the beans of the cacao tree. The beans contain methylxanthines, a class of drugs that include theobromine and caffeine. Most humans can metabolize, break down, both theobromine and caffeine without much difficulty, in two to four hours. The half-life of theobromine in dogs is 17.5 hours, the half-life of caffeine about 4.5 hours, about the same in cats.

To complicate matters further, the levels of theobromine depend upon the type of chocolate. Dry cocoa powder has the most theobromine, about 800 mg/ounce. If your five-pound Chihuahua (about 2.25 kg) ingests an ounce of cocoa powder, he will have ingested 800 mg of theobromine. Anything more than 45 mg could cause problems for him. Unsweetened Baker’s chocolate contains about 450 mg/oz of theobromine, an ounce is still very toxic to your Chihuahua. Semisweet and sweet dark chocolate contain about 150-160 mg/oz and milk chocolate about 44-64 mg per oz so your Chihuahua could still be in trouble. However, your 70-pound Golden Retriever (much more likely to snarf down your chocolate) will have to consume about 14-16 oz of milk chocolate to get sick on it.

A 400-kg horse would need to ingest about 8,000 mg of theobromine; that’s about 17-18 oz of Baker’s chocolate. If caught feeding Baker’s chocolate to a race horse you will be banned from the track, maybe prosecuted, it’s considered a stimulant. White chocolate contains very small quantities of the methylxanthines.

Both caffeine and theobromine are readily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and distribute throughout the body. Both compounds are metabolized in the liver. The metabolites are excreted in the urine along with small amounts of the original, un-metabolized, compounds. So, if your pet is old, or has liver or kidney disease, the toxic effects can be intensified. With normal liver and kidney function, it will take about two days for your pet to eliminate a toxic dose from its system.

Signs of chocolate toxicity in dogs and cats include diarrhea, vomiting, increased urination, muscle twitching, excessive panting, hyperactivity, whining and — when severe — seizures, rapid heart rate and circulatory collapse. Treatment is to induce vomiting and use activated charcoal in an attempt to bind the theobromine and prevent its absorption from the GI tract. You can induce vomiting with 1-2 teaspoons of hydrogen peroxide, repeated two or three times every 15 minutes, if needed. One to three teaspoons of syrup of Ipecac, based on the size of the pet, will also do the trick.

If your pet is showing signs of intoxication, get it to your veterinarian. S/he can sedate the animal to control seizures and flush with intravenous fluids to hasten elimination from the body.

Dr. David Gross of Edmonds graduated from Colorado State University’s veterinary school in 1960 and was in private practice for 10 years. He retired in 2006 as Professor and Head of Veterinary Biosciences, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Gross is the author of “Animals Don’t Blush,” which describes the unique patients and even more unique clients of a veterinary practice in Sidney, Montana in the early 1960s. The book is available at the Edmonds Bookshop.

Both of these African clawed frogs are genetically male, but lifelong exposure to the herbicide atrazine transformed the frog on the bottom to female. The female frog reproduced with normal males twice. (Photo by Tyrone Hayes)

By Dr. David Gross

Dr. Val Beasley, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, recently collaborated with 22 other scientists who reviewed the evidence linking exposure to atrazine, a herbicide widely used in the U.S. and more than 60 other nations, to reproductive dysfunction in amphibians, fish, reptiles and mammals

Atrazine is the second-most widely used herbicide in the U.S. More than 75 million pounds of it are applied each year to corn and other crops. It is the most commonly detected pesticide contaminant of groundwater, surface water and rain in the U.S.

The review recently appeared in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The researchers looked at studies linking atrazine exposure to abnormal androgen (male hormone) levels and found a common association between exposure to the herbicide and the “feminization” of male gonads in many animals. The most robust findings were in amphibians. At least 10 different studies found that exposure to atrazine feminizes male frogs, sometimes to the point of sex reversal.

Beasley’s lab was one of the first to find that male frogs exposed to atrazine in the wild were more likely to have both male and female gonadal tissue than frogs living in an atrazine-free environment. In a 2010 study, Tyrone Hayes, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California at Berkeley, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that atrazine exposure in frogs was associated with genetic males becoming females, and functioning as females, at concentrations commonly found in the environment.

The review concluded that atrazine exposure can change the expression of genes involved in hormone signaling, interfere with metamorphosis, inhibit key enzymes that control estrogen and androgen production, skew the sex ratio of wild and laboratory animals (toward female) and otherwise disrupt the normal reproductive development and functioning of males and females.

Apparently atrazine works through a number of different mechanisms. It increases production of cortisol (the stress hormone), undermines immune function by increasing cortisol, and inhibits some key enzymes in steroid hormone production while increasing others. It also apparently prevents androgen (male sex hormone) from binding to its receptor.

“Cortisol is a nonspecific response to chronic stress,” Dr. Beasley explains. “But guess what? Wildlife in many of today’s habitats are stressed a great deal of the time. They’re stressed because they’re crowded into little remnant habitats. They’re stressed because there’s not enough oxygen in the water because there are not enough plants in the water (another consequence of herbicide use). They’re stressed because of other contaminants in the water. And the long-term release of cortisol causes them to be immuno-suppressed.”

There also are studies that show no effects, or different effects, in animals exposed to atrazine, Beasley said. “But the studies are not all the same. There are different species, different times of exposure, different stages of development and different strains within a species.” All in all, he said, the evidence that atrazine harms animals, particularly amphibians and other creatures that encounter it in the water, is compelling. Do we want this stuff in our environment? Do we want our children to drink this stuff? I would think the answer would be no.”

Dr. David Gross of Edmonds graduated from Colorado State University’s veterinary school in 1960 and was in private practice for 10 years. He retired in 2006 as Professor and Head of Veterinary Biosciences, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Gross is the author of “Animals Don’t Blush,” which describes the unique patients and even more unique clients of a veterinary practice in Sidney, Montana in the early 1960s. The book is available at the Edmonds Bookshop.

Tumors of the skin are probably the most common tumors seen in dogs and can be of many different types. Those that originate in the epithelium, the outermost layer of the skin, include papillomas (warts), cornifying epitheliomas found within the layers of skin, various forms of follicle cell tumors, tumors of the sebaceous glands, tumors of the sweat glands, hepatoid gland tumors also known as perianal tumors, anal sac tumors, squamous cell carcinoma, and basal cell tumors. We also encounter soft-tissue sarcomas, and various round cell tumors including plasmacytomas, mast cell tumors, lymphoma, histiocytoma and transmissible venereal tumors. Dogs can also develop melanomas, either malignant or benign.

Papillomas (warts) are benign, found on the surface of the skin or mucous membranes and caused by viruses that seem to target specific areas of the skin, the eyelids, in the genital region, on lips, gums, tongue, palate and throat. They may appear singly or in large numbers. They are most common in young dogs or older dogs with decreased immunity.

Dogs can get several different types of tumors associated with sebaceous glands (glands that secrete a lubricating substance). These are usually benign masses, solitary or multiple, raised and firm, and can be pink, yellowish or darkly pigmented. They can be oily, ulcerated and frequently the hair is gone around them. They are most commonly found on the belly, but can be anywhere on the animal. Sebaceous gland adenocarcinomas are malignant tumors and much less common in dogs. They usually are found in older dogs and appear similar to the benign form. A trained pathologist must make the determination of benign or malignant.

Lipomas are benign fatty tumors, usually found in the tissues just under the skin (subcutaneous). They are very common in middle-aged and older dogs, especially if the dog is a little overweight. They are usually well circumscribed, soft to firm to the feel and move easily within the tissue. Surgical removal should be considered if the lesion is cosmetically troubling or if it is growing rapidly or interfering with the dogs ability to move about. Sometimes lipomas infiltrate into underlying tissues; get these removed as soon as possible.

Mast cell tumors are malignant, invade surrounding tissues and difficult to treat successfully. They account for a little more than 20 percent of all canine skin tumors diagnosed. They are on the skin or in the subcutaneous tissues. They can be bumpy or smooth, easy or difficult to palpate the limits or edges, soft or firm, ulcerated or free of hair, red or dark and either singly or in multiple locations. They are found more commonly in older dogs who may show signs of metastasis and excessive histamine release, resulting in gastrointestinal distress, bleeding, delayed wound healing and, in final stages, shock. Most common sites of metastasis are lymph nodes, spleen, liver and bone marrow.

If your pet has any suspicious lumps or bumps, get it to your veterinarian as soon as you can. If the lesion is malignant, early detection is the key to successful treatment.

Dr. David Gross of Edmonds graduated from Colorado State University’s veterinary school in 1960 and was in private practice for 10 years. He retired in 2006 as Professor and Head of Veterinary Biosciences, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Gross is the author of “Animals Don’t Blush,” which describes the unique patients and even more unique clients of a veterinary practice in Sidney, Montana in the early 1960s. The book is available at the Edmonds Bookshop.

Angie Chau author of "Quiet as TheyCome" speaks Feb. 22 at Edmonds Community College.

Edmonds Community College celebrates Women’s History Month Feb. 19-25 on campus, 20000 68th Ave. W. in Lynnwood, with free lectures, panels and performances open to the public.

All events, except an art gallery reception Friday, take place in the Black Box Theatre in Mukilteo Hall.

For more information, call 425-640-1139 or go to www.edcc.edu/artsandculture.

Women’s History Month Awareness Week Events include:

• “History of Women’s Movement and a Portrayal of Alice Paul”- 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 21, Black Box Theatre

Edmonds Community College anthropology instructor, Gem Baldwin, presents a history of the women’s movement and current issues and actress Debbie Dimitre will portray Alice Paul of the historical women’s movement. Door prizes!

• “Human Trafficking- Local and Global” – 6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb 21, Black Box Theatre

Local experts present critical issues on human trafficking throughout our region and the world. Panelists include representatives from Dawson Place Child Advocacy Center, Providence Intervention Center for Assault and Abuse, a mother of a victim, Shared Hope International, The Genesis Project, and Hope for Seattle. Booths include Penny’s Place, International Justice Mission, Shared Hope International, and The Bridge Program.

• “A Female Immigrant’s Journey to Success”- 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 22, Black Box Theatre
  International author Angie Chau discusses life in Vietnam, immigration to the United States, and her road to success as an author. Chau will sign copies of her book Quiet as They Come after the lecture and the book will be available for purchase.

• “Women of the Middle East” 12:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb 23, Black Box Theatre

Edmonds Community College Arabic instructor Christina Fusch moderates a panel discussion on Women of the Middle East. A live presentation on the history of belly dance, with demonstrations, follows. Refreshments and henna tattoos will be available prior to the discussion, with proceeds to benefit the student Arab Club.

• “Female Entrepreneurs’ Business Network & Resource Fair”- 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 23, Black Box Theatre

Discover programs and services that contribute to sustainable communities, and get information about starting and managing a business, financing, counseling and training. Representatives include the Service Core of Retired Executives, Small Business Administration, SNO-Isle Library, City of Lynnwood, and the Northwest Washington Business Center.

• “Heart & Grace Reception”- 4:30-6:30 p.m., Fri., Feb. 24, Art Gallery, Third Floor. Lynnwood Hall

Meet artist Kristen Ramirez at the last day of her exhibit “Lore” in the college art gallery. Ramirez based her installation on students’ oral histories and creates a mixed media piece drawing on sign painting and typography for inspiration. Refreshments will be served.

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We had to share this great KING-TV “Evening Magazine” feature on Edmonds’ Dining Dog restaurant.

Thanks to City Stormwater Engineer Program Manager Jerry Shuster and Recycling Coordinator Steve Fisher, the city secured a stormwater education grant to purchase 4,000 collection bags. Then Shuster convinced the firm of Custom Bioplastics to donate 10 dog waste bag dispensers to the City of Edmonds, for a savings of $600, Buckshnis said

Dispensers have already been placed at the following “test” locations: Sunset Avenue and the Mini Park near the restrooms at the Washington State Ferry holding lanes.  They will be installed at these locations next week: City Park, Yost Park, Pine Ridge Park and the Interurban trail near Lake Ballinger. More dispensers will be added, so ideas for future locations should be directed to Parks and Recreation Department Director Carrie Hite or Manager Rich Lindsay at 425-771-0230.

“So please dog owners, scoop the poop!” Buckshnis said. “Picking up after your dog not only makes all dog owners look responsible, but it helps keep our streams and creeks clean and – by extension our lovely Puget Sound.”