How an abandoned pit bull went from desertion and starvation to a forever home

By Dr. Marty Becker

Andrews McMeel Syndication

Last August, my wife, Teresa, and I were in Louisiana, volunteering at a shelter animal clinic. Before heading there, Teresa and I agreed not to adopt any pets that day. We even shook on it.

You probably know where this is going.

Along with a team of veterinarians and veterinary nurses and a scrum of veterinary and pre-vet students, we methodically but tenderly examined 300 dogs, drawing blood for heartworm checks, giving dewormer for internal parasites and products for external parasites, and implanting microchips. Throughout, we focused on each dog’s physical and emotional well-being, guided by our Fear Free philosophy.

Then Relic staggered in. The adult male pit bull was the thinnest dog I’ve ever seen in 39 years of practice. He was covered in fleas, ticks and lice, and inhabited internally by roundworms, whipworms, hookworms, tapeworms and heartworms.

Then he did something special. I had drawn a smiley face with aerosol cheese on the palm of my left hand. Relic walked over slowly and started licking it out of my hand. His tail wagged so hard, it made him unstable. I’d never seen a dog fall over from being happy.

I looked down at Relic and up at Teresa. In unison, we said, “We’ll adopt him.”

Relic had been abandoned in a decrepit house. When the landlord found him, he thought the fly-covered unresponsive dog was dead and called animal control to come get the body. When they discovered Relic was still alive, they rushed him to Bellevue Veterinary Clinic in Opelousas, Louisiana. The dog weighed only 19 pounds and was near death, but Dr. Kevin Fuselier gave him a chance, and he slowly began to recover.

When we spoke with him, Dr. Fuselier said Relic (now called Lazaruff for his rise from the dead) had only a 33% chance of survival.

Lazaruff made it. But we weren’t able to adopt him. The veterinary behaviorists who evaluated him recommended that he go to a home where he would be the only dog and where someone would be home with him most of the time. Lazaruff had separation anxiety, and he was happiest lying next to somebody with his big “meat head” on their lap.

The right home hadn’t come along, so last month, when Teresa and I were in New Orleans for Animal Care Expo, we decided to drive him back home with us to see if the right family was in northern Idaho, where we live.

During that weeklong road trip, his light shone bright. He never got carsick, never barked, never soiled his crate. He went from having to be lifted into his crate to jumping into it in the back of the SUV. We made “pit stops” at shelters along the way, spreading our message of emotional well-being and enrichment.

Then the miracle happened: Our friends at Panhandle Animal Shelter in Sandpoint, Idaho, connected us with Breanna Franck and her husband, Terry, who owned their own home, had no other pets, worked opposite schedules so somebody would be home most of the time and, most important, loved dogs.

Lazaruff walked over to Breanna, she knelt down and he washed her face with one lick of his dishrag-size tongue. He went into their arms, into their vehicle and into their hearts.

Teresa and I have stayed in close contact with them, and Lazaruff continues to fall over from being happy. But now it’s not because he’s too weak to stand. It’s because he’s waiting to get his belly rubbed.

Q&A

Prevent early-morning

feline food demands

Q: We took in a neighborhood cat. We love him, but he wakes us up at 3 a.m. every day wanting to be fed. Help! We need our sleep.

A: Cats are wonderful, but they have some innate body clock differences that can sometimes make them a challenge as housemates.

Cats are what we call crepuscular, a fancy way of saying that they’re most likely to be active at dawn and dusk. It sounds like your cat doesn’t even wait until dawn to do his hunting -- i.e., demand that you feed him. And you’re not alone; this is a common problem for many cat lovers.

The good news is that pet experts and manufacturers are making great efforts to provide cats with toys and other ways to get food that don’t involve waking up their people at the crack of dawn, let alone earlier.

A cat’s normal hunting behavior involves multiple forays for prey daily, not all of which are successful. Simply setting down a bowl of food twice a day doesn’t present a cat with any challenge to brain or body. But puzzle feeders allow you to mimic a cat’s natural feeding behavior, from the hunt to the satisfaction of eating.

Whether you feed canned or dry food, you can find a puzzle toy that works with it. Experts at FearFreeHappyHomes.com recommend buying or making an assortment of food puzzles so you can continually challenge your cat’s hunting skills. Fill them with your cat’s normal amount of food for the day, and hide them around the house so your cat can use his nose and other senses to find food without gobbling it all up at once and then demanding more from you at 0-dark-30.

For more information about food puzzles, both homemade and commercial, check out foodpuzzlesforcats.com. -- Dr. Marty Becker

Do you have a pet question? Send it to askpetconnection@gmail.com or visit Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker.

THE BUZZ

Tennessee names

bluetick state dog

-- The bluetick coonhound, the University of Tennessee’s mascot, is now the state dog, thanks to unanimous votes in Tennessee’s House and Senate and Gov. Bill Lee’s signature making it official. The personable hounds take their name from their blotchy dark blue coat with black spots on the back, ears and sides. The people-loving dogs are often seen riding shotgun in pickup trucks and can be good friends for kids old enough to stand up to rambunctious play. Expect to give the medium-size (45 to 80 pounds) bluetick long walks and hikes and plenty of sniffing time. Drawbacks: The coat has a distinctive musty scent, and the bluetick is famous for a “big bawl mouth” -- in other words, he’s loud.

-- More than a dozen authors will be signing their books on animal care and health, breeds, science and mystery fiction, adventure, fantasy, memoirs and more at the 2019 Cat Writers’ Association 25th anniversary conference. The book signing and fundraising event, open to the public, benefits the Humane Society of Missouri (HSMO) and takes place at Drury Plaza Hotel at the Arch, St. Louis on Friday, May 17, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the West ballroom, located on the lobby level.

-- Sometimes it seems as if certain dogs ought to be able to put the initials M.D. after their names. Besides the ability to sniff out certain types of cancer or recognize the odor indicating that a person’s blood sugar is too high, dogs have now been trained to indicate the presence of malaria infections. Tested in an area of West Africa where malaria is endemic, the dogs successfully identified the distinctive odor of the disease 70% of the time by sniffing clothing worn by people with malaria infections. They recognized uninfected people 90% of the time. -- Dr. Marty Becker, Kim Campbell Thornton and Mikkel Becker

ABOUT PET CONNECTION

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Kim Campbell Thornton. They are affiliated with Vetstreet.com and are the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Joining them is dog trainer and behavior consultant Mikkel Becker. Dr. Becker can be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker. Kim Campbell Thornton is at Facebook.com/KimCampbellThornton and on Twitter at kkcthornton. Mikkel Becker is at Facebook.com/MikkelBecker and on Twitter at MikkelBecker.

The spines on a cat’s tongue serve a variety of purposes

By Kim Campbell Thornton

Andrews McMeel Syndication

If you’ve ever been licked by a cat, you know the rough feel of the tongue, lined with rows of backward-facing barbs called papillae.

It used to be thought that papillae were in the form of a solid cone, but engineering researchers at Georgia Tech took a closer look and made a surprising discovery. Using 3D scanning with micro-computed tomography, the actual shape of the small spines was revealed to be not conical, but hollow. And that shape has a specific purpose.

“I liken them to ice-cream scoops,” says Alexis C. Noel, lead author of a paper published last December in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). “They have this little U-shaped hollow from the tip down. We found that this cavity holds fluids really well.”

To test the action of the papillae, Noel and co-author David L. Hu introduced drops of food dye to the tip of the spine. “It sucked it up like a straw,” she says.

The scoop shape enables cats to use surface-tension forces to pull up water as they lap it, as well as to wick saliva deep into their fur, a way of cooling themselves.

“This shape makes much more sense, from a biomechanical standpoint,” says feline veterinary specialist Drew Weigner, DVM, who practices in Atlanta and is president-elect of the Winn Feline Foundation.

The investigation was inspired by Noel’s own cat, who was sitting on her one day while she watched TV.

“He decided to lick this microfiber blanket that he was on top of, and he got his tongue stuck in it,” she says. “I had to detangle him from the blanket, and it made me think. Everybody says cat tongues are kind of like sandpaper, but it really looks like the tongue is a lot more like Velcro.”

She and Hu hypothesized that when cats lick themselves, saliva -- containing enzymes that break down fats and particulates -- is distributed from the hollow spines, all the way down to the root of the hairs. They used high-speed videography to film three adult cats grooming themselves. During grooming, papillae become erect, increasing their contact area with fur. This contributes to saliva’s cooling effect.

Cats don’t have sweat glands over their bodies, except on their paws, so the thorough distribution of saliva helps to remove heat from the skin. Without papillae to push saliva deep into the fur, it would wet only the top layer of hairs.

The spines also help cats lick up oils, dirt, blood, feces and other contaminants. This not only keeps cats clean, but it also reduces odors that might otherwise expose their presence to predators.

Beyond domestic cats, Noel and Hu were able to examine the tongues of five other members of the feline family: bobcat, cougar, snow leopard, tiger and lion. What they found surprised them: Papillae are the same size and shape regardless of species.

That means the papillae of your tabby or tortoiseshell are just like those of a tiger or lion -- except the big cats have more of them. Cats have about 300 papillae, while tigers have approximately 1,200.

“We thought that was strange because generally when you go from a small species to a large species, these things tend to scale, but these papillae didn’t,” Noel says.

On further investigation, they learned that no matter what the species, feline papillae are almost always long enough to penetrate fur and reach the skin. The exception is the Persian, with long, thick fur that’s impenetrable. “With these cats, the cat physically cannot push the tongue spine through the fur and reach the skin,” she says.

Q&A

Vomiting has

many causes

Q: I took my dog out to potty, and a few minutes later he started hacking and vomiting up clear liquid. I don’t know if it was caused by something he ate outdoors, the half a pear core he had eaten a few hours earlier (and eventually vomited back up) or the antibiotic he started taking last night.

He seems fine now, but how do I know when vomiting is an emergency?

A: Dogs can throw up easily and for any number of reasons. Sometimes it’s because they get into the garbage or eat something they’re not used to (that pear core, maybe). They may down something disastrous, like rat poison or some other toxin. Internal parasites, certain diseases, stress and, yes, certain antibiotics can all cause your dog to upchuck.

Oftentimes, a dog’s stomach upset is the result of dietary indiscretion, but I never like to assume that. Foreign-body obstruction, ingestion of a rodenticide and bloat are all emergencies that can have fatal (or at best, expensive) results if you wait too long to treat them.

Call your veterinarian and describe what’s happening. The history of the problem gives your veterinarian clues as to whether the problem is urgent.

How do you know if a case of vomiting warrants a visit to the veterinarian? Puppies (and kittens), toy dogs and older animals are more prone to dehydration and may benefit from subcutaneous fluids, so it’s best to take them in sooner rather than later.

Other causes for concern are an increase in the volume or frequency of vomiting or diarrhea; the presence of blood in the vomit or vomit that smells like feces; and persistent retching without bringing anything up, which could suggest bloat. Take your dog in right away if he shows any of these signs. -- Dr. Marty Becker

Do you have a pet question? Send it to askpetconnection@gmail.com or visit Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker.

THE BUZZ

Check calendar for

dog and cat days

-- May is an eventful month for pets. Take time out to observe Pet Cancer Awareness Month, National Pet Month, Be Kind to Animals Week (May 5-11), National Animal Disaster Preparedness Day (take a pet first-aid class or set up a "go bag" with everything your pet might need if you have to evacuate on May 11), International Chihuahua Appreciation Day (May 14), World Turtle Day (May 23) and International Hug Your Cat Day (May 30). Cats don’t especially enjoy being hugged, so maybe just give her a good scratch behind the ears.

-- Which is cleaner, your dog’s fur or your husband’s beard? Swiss researchers found that dog fur wins out. They swabbed the beards of 18 men and the necks of 30 dogs of assorted breeds and compared the results. All the men had high bacterial counts in their beards while only 23 of the dogs (76 percent) had the same result. The remaining seven dogs had medium-to-low levels of bacteria. Maybe it’s time to retire the phrase “You dirty dog!”

-- If you have a new kitten, be sure she is properly vaccinated. Current recommendations are an initial inoculation for feline viral rhinotracheitis, calicivirus and panleukopenia when kittens are 6 to 8 weeks old, followed by additional doses every three to four weeks until the kitten is 16 to 20 weeks old. A single, separate rabies vaccine can be given when the kitten is 12 to 16 weeks old. Even if your locale does not require cats to be vaccinated for rabies, it offers important protection in case your cat ever encounters a rabid animal. Bats can fly into homes, and it’s not uncommon for cats in their own yards to come in contact with skunks and raccoons, which often carry rabies. -- Dr. Marty Becker, Kim Campbell Thornton and Mikkel Becker

ABOUT PET CONNECTION

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Kim Campbell Thornton. They are affiliated with Vetstreet.com and are the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Joining them is dog trainer and behavior consultant Mikkel Becker. Dr. Becker can be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker. Kim Campbell Thornton is at Facebook.com/KimCampbellThornton and on Twitter at kkcthornton. Mikkel Becker is at Facebook.com/MikkelBecker and on Twitter at MikkelBecker.

11 smart ways to help your puppy become the dog of your dreams

Andrews McMeel Syndication

Whether your new puppy is your very first or the latest in a long line of family dogs, a little advice on bringing him up can help ensure that he has a great start in life. Sometimes we forget what puppies are like, especially if the last one was 10 or more years ago, and if you’re new to puppies, they can be a mystery. The following tips can put you and your new pup on sound footing.

1. Start as you mean to go on. “What’s cute at 18 pounds isn’t cute at 118 pounds,” says Bernese mountain dog owner Adam Conn. Teach young pups to sit instead of jumping up when greeting people, especially if they are going to be jumbo-size as adults. If you don’t plan to allow your dog on the furniture when he’s grown because he’ll be too big or furry or drooly, don’t make an exception when he’s a small puppy.

2. Introduce puppies to being brushed and combed and having teeth brushed from day one. Even if a pup doesn’t have much coat yet, becoming used to the grooming process will save both of you stress in the long run.

3. Live by a schedule. “They poop and pee a lot more than you’d expect,” says beagle owner and dog trainer Denise Nord. Set a timer, and take them out every hour during the day until you get a handle on their personal schedule. Every pup is different.

4. Don’t take them out to potty and then go right back in. Let them have a little fun outside first. Sniffing and exploring are important to dogs.

5. Speaking of exploring, puppies need plenty of socialization -- exposure to new people, places, objects and experiences -- but in a positive way. “The more new experiences you can introduce your puppy to under calm, controlled conditions, the more likely he will be to accept new situations with a confident attitude,” says Fear Free Pets lead trainer Mikkel Becker. New situations should be fun, not scary, with the pup having the option to investigate at her own pace.

6. Don’t miss your puppy’s peak socialization and learning period (3 to 12 weeks of age) by keeping him at home until all his vaccinations are completed. “If you wait until your dog is 10 months old and 75 pounds before you take them anywhere except the vet, you will have issues,” says dog trainer and Labrador owner Liz Harward. It’s safe to take your pup to a socialization or “kindergarten” class as long as he has had at least one set of vaccinations and the other puppies have had vaccinations as well. Avoid places where unknown dogs gather, such as parks and pet stores.

7. Exercise appropriately. Puppies are active, no doubt about it, but they aren’t ready to become jogging partners until they are 18 to 24 months old. Running with them too early during bone development can cause permanent damage and pain, says English springer spaniel breeder Linda Prouty. Talk to your veterinarian about when your pup’s growth plates will close.

8. Schedule downtime. Puppies need plenty of rest, or they’ll become cranky, just like a toddler. Use a crate, exercise pen or puppy-proofed room for naptime -- and for any time you can’t actively supervise your puppy’s activities and whereabouts.

9. Too much freedom too soon makes it difficult for puppies to become housetrained and learn house manners. For instance, they can learn to chew on the wrong things, says trainer Liz Palika.

10. Puppies need guidance, but it’s important not to push them too quickly. “I encourage people to let their pup grow up and take that time to build a solid working relationship that will pay dividends in the end,” says flat-coated retriever breeder Xan Latta.

11. Most important, enjoy that first year. “It goes fast,” Harward says.

Q&A

Drooling may be

clue to cavity

Q: My cat has started drooling frequently, and I can’t figure out why. What could cause this?

A: A number of things can cause cats to drool, including a foreign object stuck in the mouth or ingestion of a toxic substance. But one of the most common is the development of cavities.

Cats may not have a sweet tooth, but they can develop cavities, known as resorptive lesions. They start inside the tooth and move outward toward the pulp -- or even exposing it. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a tooth injury that exposed the pulp, but it’s extremely painful!

The result can be a cat who drools or finds it painful to eat. You may notice your cat picking up a piece of food and then dropping it. She’s not playing; it hurts because the tooth is so sensitive.

Research shows that nearly half of all cats older than 5 years have at least one tooth affected by a resorptive lesion. Your veterinarian may point out a small red area at the gumline that’s characteristic of the condition. In other instances, the lesions may be identified only through dental X-rays.

Cats don’t get fillings for their cavities. Instead, affected teeth are removed while the cat is under anesthesia. Feline teeth are small and fragile, so it takes care to remove the entire tooth, including the part below the gumline. Once teeth with RLs are gone, the pain goes away, too. And your cat will be able to eat comfortably, even with a few missing teeth.

This is why I always recommend that cats (and dogs) be checked twice a year, from teeth to tail, to make sure they aren’t suffering any painful conditions. Your pet will thank you! -- Dr. Marty Becker

Do you have a pet question? Send it to askpetconnection@gmail.com or visit Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker.

THE BUZZ

Cats at risk from

tick-borne diseases

-- Cats don’t get ticks or tick diseases, right? Wrong. While cats are more resistant than dogs to tick-borne diseases, it doesn’t mean that exposure to ticks can’t or won’t cause disease. Among the ticks that may feed on cats are brown dog ticks, which transmit ehrlichiosis; lone star and American dog ticks, which transmit a potentially fatal feline disease called cytauxzoonosis; and black-legged ticks, which transmit anaplasmosis. Cats who go outdoors should receive routine tick preventive year-round or wear a breakaway tick collar.

-- Dogs don’t get colds, but they can get illnesses that have similar signs, such as coughing, a runny nose or sneezing. Take your dog to the veterinarian for prolonged coughing or coughing accompanied by labored breathing, bloody phlegm or runny eyes or nose. A runny nose that continues for more than several hours requires veterinary attention as well. If your dog sneezes, he may have mild nasal irritation that will resolve on its own, but frequent sneezing, especially accompanied by a runny nose, may indicate anything from allergies to an infection to something stuck in the nose.

-- Hamsters need dental care, too. You don’t have to brush their teeth, but they need access to material they can chew. Chewing wears down the constantly growing teeth so they don’t grow too long and develop abscesses. Hamster teeth that are too long can also grow through the roof of the mouth, invading the nasal cavity. Suspect dental problems if a hamster is drooling, not eating as much, losing weight or has bad breath. Take your hamster to the veterinarian so the teeth can be trimmed and antibiotics prescribed if necessary. Once the teeth get to this state, they will likely need to be trimmed by the veterinarian for the rest of the animal’s life. -- Dr. Marty Becker, Kim Campbell Thornton and Mikkel Becker

ABOUT PET CONNECTION

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Kim Campbell Thornton. They are affiliated with Vetstreet.com and are the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Joining them is dog trainer and behavior consultant Mikkel Becker. Dr. Becker can be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker. Kim Campbell Thornton is at Facebook.com/KimCampbellThornton and on Twitter at kkcthornton. Mikkel Becker is at Facebook.com/MikkelBecker and on Twitter at MikkelBecker.