Newsletter - February 2007

2006 Annual Club Picnic

This year the annual club picnic was again held at the home of Doug & Melanie Gulley, in Grand Prairie, on Sat., Oct. 1. The location of the Gulley’s lovely property, which is entirely fenced for the safety of the hounds, was a nice, easy location to find.

The weather was terrific and as always, the food was fantastic. On behalf of all the NTIWC members, I would like to thank Doug and Melanie, for graciously offering to host this year’s picnic, for the 2nd consecutive year! It is a lot of work to prepare for this each year and very kind of them to open their home to all of us, and our hounds. THANK YOU, Doug & Melanie!

At our club meeting we discussed the reorganization of the club. We then voted and approved, the pursuit of seeking to have the NTIWC, an AKC approved club in the future. Brenda Fairbanks, having been very active and experienced in the past, with the IW clubs, in California has been very generously offering her expertise and time in helping us to get much of what we need for this change, organized and underway. Thank you Brenda! I am certain without her help we would not have come as far as we have, in this short time. She is fantastic and we could not have done it without her. It is a huge undertaking and a lot of work.

Lesa Newbitt brought two measuring wickets to the picnic. One was purchased from E-Bay from a website that makes them for miniature horses (eBay store Minaiture Horse). She also brought (and demonstrated) a version that was a home made type. It was fun to watch faces of owners whose hounds were either much taller, or shorter, than they had always thought they were. There were a few boys that were pretty darn tall! <G>

Upcoming Breeders Seminar: Advanced Canine Reproduction

This seminar is sponsored by Southwest Airedales and Faith City Kennel Club. It is limited to 50 participants.

Advanced Canine Reproduction

Dr. Robert Van Hutchison, DVM

Dr. Hutchison is well known and respected in the show-dog breeding community. A leading expert in canine reproduction, he is recognized internationally for his work with canine frozen semen and reproduction. Co-director of the Animal Clinic Northview and director of the International Canine Semen Bank of Ohio, Dr. Hutchison is associated with the colleges of veterinary medicine at Ohio State University, Virginia Tech, Purdue Tufts University, and Michigan State University. He is the author of numerous important articles on canine reproduction, including Canine Frozen Semen, improving the Odds of Having Healthy Puppies, Treatment of Pyometritis in the Bitch Using Prostaglandin F and Female Reproduction.

Seminar Topics Include:

1. Canine Reproduction: *Anatomy* and Physiology
2. High Risk Pregnancies: Management and Care
3. Elective C-Sections: Risks, Planning and Timing, Reducing Risks and complications, and Post-op Care of Dam and Pups
4. Neonatal Resuscitation
5. Stud Dog & Brood Bitch Maintenance
6. Neonatal and Puppy Intensive Care

When: June 16, 2007 8 am - 5 pm

Where: Girl Scouts of Texas Council, 6001 Summerside Drive, Dallas TX 75252

Registration Fee: Register early and save $10: $80 before May 1; $90 after May 1, 2007.

Registration Fee includes a light lunch, coffee and soft drinks, afternoon snack and certificate of completion to those who register in time for Dr. Hutchison to get names ahead of time.

For registration form and information, or to register online, please go to www.southwestairedales.org. For more information, please contact Joyce Miller at jmillerwolfe@gmail.com or call Joyce at 972-248-2128.

Melanie Mercer's Puppies from Berwyck

Meet "Tia" and "Zevon", both photos taken at 16 wks. Melanie has been very busy moving to her new property, in Wills Point, Texas. She has been putting up fencing, painting, replacing flooring, etc. You name it, and I think she is, (or has learned how) doing it, since she has moved there! All this while working her full time career as a Veterinarian AND caring for these two active, lovely new babies??

OH, did I mention her *GOATS* for the much needed agricultural farm tax exemption??? One delivered twins kids, the first week.

YOU GO "FARMER in the MEL!"

Reminders!

Please, don’t forget to send in your Membership Dues for 2007 if you have not already done so. They are now PAST DUE.

Also, if you are planning to attend Irish Fest and are willing to help out with either manning the booth, setting up or breaking down the display, PLEASE return your sign up sheet to Cherry, ASAP. She needs to know who she can count on to be there!

We need money donations for the NTIWC Hospitality Room at the IWCA National Specialty. This will be held at the Southfork Hotel on Monday, April 9th, from 2pm - 7pm. We also need volunteers to help with hosting the room. If you can do either, PLEASE contact Lesa via email. Anything will be most appreciated. Thank you!

If you are not receiving news, or emails, from the NTIWC on a regular basis, are you remembering to notify me when you change email carriers, so I can update the membership roster and email list? Please be sure to let me know if you want to keep informed of club functions. I don’t have SPYWARE, <G> so you need to let me know!

Speaking of which, I have a new email address, but I will be keeping the old one too for a while.
Old: beteroniw@wccs.net
New: beretoniw@wccs.net

Thanks, Lesa

Accupuncture Point for Bloat: It Simply Works

By C.A. Krowzack, DVM

This article is reprinted here with the kind permission of theGreat Lakes Irish Wolfhound Association and Dr. Chris Krowzack.

In February of 1998, the Great Lakes Irish Wolfhound Association (GLIWA) held their annual meeting. The meeting is an occasion for fellowship of the members; the club attends to business and also hosts a speaker on a special topic. In the past it has been obedience, therapy dog training, and this year the topic was acupuncture.

Dr. Debbie Mitchell gave an overview of what acupuncture is, its history and its medical uses.

Then, using a member’s dog showed the participants several acupuncture/acupressure points that they could utilize. One point was to stimulate gastrointestinal motility to combat bloat.

This week at my clinic, a GLIWA member brought her wolfhound in for an examination. During the night Quinn had begun experiencing discomfort. He sleeps in the bedroom with his owners. The husband had worked a long day and was asleep, but the wife was awakened by the restless behavior of Quinn. When she petted him she found his abdomen severely enlarged and hard to the touch. She knew it was bloat, but didn’t know what to do. She is a small woman, and Quinn a large dog. She remembered the acupressure point Dr. Mitchell had shown and began massaging it. Within a few minutes, Quinn began passing "a lot of gas" and his abdomen became smaller and softer. The husband and wife brought Quinn in the next morning to make sure he was all right, and because he had diarrhea.

On examination, Quinn was completely normal. He was not experiencing discomfort upon palpation, and no abnormalities beside the diarrhea could be found. Because she remembered the acupressure point, the wife had saved Quinn’s life. The acupressure point is on the hind leg. If you start at the hock, on the front of the leg (anterior) you can feel the tibia. Move your hand up the leg along the tibia’s sharp crest; what in humans would be called the shin. As your hand approaches the stifle, or the "knee" the crest becomes very pronounced and then curls around to the outside (laterally). Just inside this curve is a depression. The acupressure point is in this depression. An acupuncturist might insert a needle into this spot, or inject a liquid, but, as Quinn’s owners will attest, massaging also stimulates the point. The gastrointestinal tract starts to contract and move (peristalsis) and expels the built up gas before torsion can occur. If torsion has occurred, massaging the spot will not help.

I don’t recommend this procedure instead of veterinary treatment, but begun early, or on the way for veterinary treatment, can save your hound’s life!

A further note, Dr Krowzack has studied acupuncture at Colorado State University Veterinary College this past year and is now a board certified veterinary acupuncturist.

K-State Veterinarian Says Special Surger Usually Best for Dog's Ligament Tear

Source: Dr. James Roush, 785-532-4134, roushjk@vet.k-state.edu
http://www.mediarelations.ksu.edu/WEB/News/MediaGuide/jroushbio.html

News release prepared by: Erica Snyder, 785-532-6415
Tuesday, May 30, 2006

MANHATTAN -- Tearing a cruciate ligament in the knee is not just something humans can do. Man's best friend also can sustain the injury.

And, just like in humans, surgery may be the best option to repair the damage in dogs, according to a Kansas State University veterinary medicine professor.

Dr. James Roush, K-State professor of clinical sciences and a small animal orthopedic surgeon, said a tear in the cruciate ligaments in dogs is caused by arthritis or rigorous physical activity. The cruciate ligaments are in the hind knees of dogs and prevent the tibia -- the bone below the knee -- from sliding forward when bearing weight.

If a dog is older, overweight and already has problems with arthritis, the probability of tearing ligaments in both hind legs is higher, Roush said. On the other hand, if a younger dog is playing catch and lands improperly on a back leg, the chance of tearing the cruciate ligaments in both hind legs is less likely, he said.

When it comes to repairing the ligaments, Roush said one type of surgery stands out.

"There are about 40 described techniques for repairing cruciates that all work roughly the same, but tibial plateau leveling osteotomy is the gold standard," Roush said. "The purpose of the surgery is to ease a dog's arthritis and limit the advancement of arthritis, or to repair the ligament so the dog can return to its normal activity."

On average, six to eight tibial plateau leveling osteotomy surgeries are performed weekly at K-State's Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital -- and the surgery has a high success rate, Roush said.

"The results verify what practicing veterinary surgeons have been saying for years: The reason they are so in favor of this surgery is because they have less client complaints afterwards," he said.

"Once the ligament surgery is healed, it will stay that way. In other words, you won't have to redo it. This is different from other procedures."

Roush recommends the surgery particularly when the injured animal weighs more than 30 pounds and/or has an active lifestyle.

One sign that a dog may have torn a cruciate ligament is if it appears to have a lame hind leg. Roush says the dog should be examined by a veterinarian as soon as possible. If surgery is recommended, he said getting a second opinion, just as humans would do, is best.

When the surgery is performed at K-State, the dog will stay two days at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, going home the second night. The dog can be expected to put slight weight on the hind foot one day after the surgery. Some form of physical therapy also is recommended. At K-State, the recommended therapy is having the dog walk on the underwater treadmill. The bone should heal in about eight weeks, Roush said.

Information provided by K-State Media Relations, K-State's news service, may be reproduced without permission. The marks and names of Kansas State University are protected trademarks and may not be used in any commercial or private endeavor without the approval of the university.

Questions?
Contact media@k-state.edu

Media Relations and Marketing

9 Anderson Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506-0117
Phone: 785-532-6415
Fax: 785-532-6418

Mark Your Calendars - Upcoming Events

• March 2 - 5: North Texas Irish Festival
  Don't forget to let Cherry know if you are able to attend and help with the booth this year!
• Sunday, March 18: NTIWC Meeting & Confirmation Fun Match
  Brenda & Gary Fairbanks' home - This event has been rescheduled (previous date February 24). Further details will be emailed to the membership and posted to the website once they are available.
• Monday, April 9, 2pm - 7pm: NTIWC Hospitality Room at Southfork Hotel
  Volunteers are needed to greet exhibitors and distribute hospitality bags and show packets. Please contact Kim Stamen or Lesa Newbitt if you would like to help. This is a great chance to meet other IW people, including fanciers, exhibitors, and breeders from all over the U.S., and Canada.
• April 9 - 13: IWCA National Specialty Show at Southfork Ranch & Hotel
  See the IWCA website for further details

Cancer Treatment with Neoplasene

by Julia Szabo

According to a chilling new statistic, fifty percent of all dogs and cats over age 10 will get cancer. It’s a statistic I’m on intimate terms with: my 12-year-old dog Sam has been fighting the disease since 2003.

Dr. Terry Fox of Montana also knows that statistic well. He’s seen many animals suffer the pain of chemotherapy, radiation, and multiple surgeries, including amputation, only to break their owners’ hearts by dying prematurely in the end.

Inspired by his black lab Boomer, who died in April at age 16, Fox is on a mission to give fellow animal lovers the maximum quality time possible with their pets. “It’s a passion with me,” he says of Buck Mountain Botanicals (buckmountainbotanicals.com), the company he founded to develop plant-based medicines for animals.

“Cancer does not have to be a death knell,” says Fox. To prove it, he formulated a medicine called Neoplasene whose key ingredients are alkaloids found in the bloodroot plant (sanguinaria). While conventional cancer treatments indiscriminately attack all of the body’s cells to destroy the cancerous ones, Neoplasene is selective. “It recognizes cancer and kills it, leaving healthy tissue unharmed,” Fox says. “The alkaloids in this medicine distinguish between diseased and healthy tissue, a fact confirmed by researchers at Case Western Reserve University Medical School.”

Worldwide, thousands of veterinarians are routinely using Neoplasene, Fox says. One of them, Dr. Jill Elliot of Manhattan (nyholisticvet.com), has a patient named Athos, a 10-year-old Belgian Shepherd who underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor two years ago. Oncologists gave Athos six months to live, but Elliot used conventional and homeopathic medicine to keep the dog in remission until last month, when another tumor appeared.

Almost immediately after Elliot injected the new growth with Neoplasene, she says, “the tumor started turning white, and about five hours later, the sick tissue was literally dying and dripping off. It’s astounding,” Elliott adds. “This is so miraculous that I’m fully endorsing Neoplasene - with results like this, it’s worth devoting the rest of my practice just to this.”

Unfortunately, many oncologists scoff at this treatment - you will likely have to locate a holistic vet who's open to using it; contact Dr. Fox at 406-232-1185 and he can recommend a holistic vet in your area that uses Neoplasene...

Reprinted from the New York Post, Aug. 06, by permission of author & pet reporter - Julia Szabo

A dog's life as pets left home alone get the blues

by Angie Brown

INCREASING numbers of pets are suffering from stress and behavioural problems as a result of being left at home alone for long periods of time, new research has shown.

Eight out of ten veterinarians say they have seen an increase in animals suffering problems as a result of being left by their owners.

The problems suffered by pets are similar to those humans may experience as a result of loneliness, such as stress and depression.

Just over a quarter of people who responded to a poll by the insurance company More Than said their pet had suffered from some sort of behavioural problem, with leaving animals alone seen to be the main cause of the problem.

Ironically, 70 per cent of owners said that they kept a pet for companionship.

The Scottish SPCA also said they were seeing an increase in the number of cases of dogs suffering from "loneliness".

The research was based on responses from 350 vets and 1,700 pet owners questioned by mail during June.

Joyce Stuart, a leading Scottish canine behaviourist who is based in Lanarkshire, said it was common to find pet dogs suffering from "separation anxiety".

She explained: "It is a condition which means when the dog is left on its own in a house, it cannot cope.

"This can occur for example if the dog has been used to company and then the owner suddenly gets a job and the dog is left all day on its own.

"Symptoms can manifest in one of three ways - the dog either barks continuously, it chews and destroys furniture, or it does the toilet in the house.

"Now they don't do this as retaliation for being left on their own; instead, it is a way for the dog to relieve stress.

"The period of time a dog can be left varies between dogs, but nine hours while an owner is at work is too long.

"If someone wants a dog but they work full-time, then they really should rethink their decision."

She added that it was not too late if a pet owner's dog was showing signs of "separation anxiety".

"An animal behaviourist can give advice to help solve problems if a dog is showing signs of distress," she said.

Sophie de Pelet, a veterinary adviser for More Than, said: "Unfortunately, it is a fact of life that man's best friend is often left alone for long periods of time when pet owners go out to work.

"This can be extremely stressful for animals, especially dogs, who like company. Worryingly, persistent anxiety can contribute to long-term illness.

"Dogs should ideally not be left alone for longer than four to five hours. With cats it is more difficult to specify a time period but beware - if they are not getting companionship at home, they may well uproot and move in elsewhere."

A spokeswoman for the Scottish SSPCA said: "Dogs are pack animals and therefore when we leave them alone for long periods they see it that they have done something wrong, as they have been 'discarded' from the family."

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1844072005

Reprinted by permission from Kerry Black, Syndication Executive, Scotsman Publications Ltd. http://www.scotsman.com