EPA: Companies Agree to Stop Selling Pet Collars Containing Pesticide to Protect Children
Related Information
3/28/14: Propoxur Cancellation Order
3/14/14 Press Release: EPA, Sergeant’s Pet Care and Wellmark International Reach Agreement to Cancel Potentially Harmful Insecticide Products
Reduce Your Child’s Chances of Pesticide Poisoning, Protecting Pets from Fleas and Ticks
EPA’s Registration Review of Propoxur fleacollar
Under a voluntary agreement, Sergeant’s Pet Care Products, Inc. and Wellmark International have agreed to stop producing pet collars containing the pesticide propoxur. This decision was reached as a result of discussions about how to reduce children’s exposure to propoxur in pet collars.
The companies have agreed not to distribute these products after April 1, 2016. The remaining products will go through the channels of trade until the existing stock of pet collars has been sold.
If you purchased a propoxur pet collar, read the label carefully and follow all directions on the label to protect your family and pets from exposure. Pesticides on your pets can be transferred to your children. Do not allow children to play with the collar and wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after handling it.
Author: mom
Countering the Caregiver Placebo Effect
Countering the Caregiver Placebo Effect
03.12.2014 | Tracey Peake
How do you know that your pet is benefiting from its pain medication? A new clinical trial design could help overcome pet owners’ unconscious observation bias and determine whether the drugs they test are effective.
When animals are recruited for clinical trials, particularly for pain medications, researchers must rely on owner observation to determine whether the medication is working. Sounds simple enough, but as it turns out, human and animal behavior can affect the results.
All clinical trials have a “control” – often a set of participants that receive a placebo in place of the medication. In human trials researchers have long struggled with the placebo effect – the psychological impact that the patient’s belief in the treatment can have on his or her condition. To get around this, researchers put a lot of effort into developing tools sensitive enough to distinguish between the placebo effect and the medication’s ”real” effect.
“In veterinary medicine, we’re one step removed from the patient, and so we run into what we call the ‘caregiver placebo effect,’ which is how we refer to a number of factors that result in unconscious influence on owners’ responses,” says Margaret Gruen, NC State veterinary clinician and researcher. “Merely observing behavior can change it, and any changes in daily routine, like administering medication, will affect the way you relate to that animal and change its behavior.” This makes controlling for the placebo effect more difficult, and even the most sensitive detection techniques still have trouble distinguishing between the real and the placebo effect.
Take cats for example. Inscrutable at the best of times, they are also notorious for their reluctance to take medication. So if your cat is participating in a clinical trial for pain medication, both your relationship to the animal and its behavior are going to undergo some pretty significant changes once you start administering medication. And these changes will occur whether or not your pet likes the medication or placebo. That, coupled with your optimism about what the results may be and the fact that you’re now closely scrutinizing the cat’s every move, can change your responses. “We cannot get away from this,” says Dr. Gruen, “so we need to find a way around it.”
To do so, Gruen and lead researcher Duncan Lascelles tested a low dose of a drug commonly used for pain management in cats with degenerative joint disease. They started by giving all of the trial participants an initial two-week placebo to get the animals used to taking the medication. The owners were aware that they were giving placebo during this period. This was followed by a three-week trial, with half of the participants receiving the drug and half receiving placebo, without the owners knowing which was which. Finally, there was a three-week “blinded placebo washout,” in which all of the participants were again taking a placebo, but the owners weren’t aware of the change.
“The final three-week period is where we were able to get real results about the usefulness of the medication,” Gruen says. “During the three week medication trial, all of the owners indicated that their pets improved, which is due to the caregiver placebo effect. But during the washout phase, owners of the cats who had been receiving the medication in the first phase said that their pet’s signs of pain were returning, while the owners of cats who had received placebo in the first phase did not notice any change.
“So we were able to circumvent the placebo effect and determine that this medication is effective in cats with degenerative joint disease,” Gruen continues. “We understand that this approach will need further investigation, but we believe this design may be useful both in veterinary studies and in human studies where the placebo effect is particularly strong.”
Gruen and Lascelles published their new trial design and results in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
Stress & behavior in therapy dogs
Salivary cortisol and behavior in therapy dogs during animal-assisted interventions: A pilot study
Lisa Maria Glenkemail address, Oswald David Kothgassner, Birgit Ursula Stetina, Rupert Palme, Berthold Kepplinger, Halina Baran
Abstract
Animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) have been associated with positive effects on human psychological and physiological health. Meanwhile, for those who want a quick break from their lives, they can resort to games like betend.
Although the perception of quality standards in AAIs is high, only few investigations have focused on potential welfare implications for therapy dogs linked to their performance in AAIs. The standardized program “multiprofessional animal-assisted intervention (MTI)” has been carried out in adult mental health care, significantly improving patients’ prosocial behaviors. In the present study, we monitored salivary cortisol and behavioral measures in therapy dogs that participated in MTI group therapy sessions in an in-patient substance abuse treatment facility. Take care of the dogs is really important, so they can play and rest, that’s why all dogs deserve a comfy Danish Design Dog Bed. Please check out our range of pet beds on sale. Paws Plus One provides a huge range of pet beds in different sizes and shapes to suit your home that are easy to wash and keep clean. These pet beds are of superior quality and the best price. Work-related activity (lay, sit, stand, walk, and run), behavior (lip licking, yawning, paw lifting, body shake, tail wagging, and panting), response to human action (taking food treats and obeying commands), and salivary cortisol levels were analyzed over the course of 5 subsequent MTI working sessions in experienced therapy dogs (N = 5), aged 5.4 ± 2.8 years (mean ± standard deviation). Salivary cortisol levels decreased from presession to postsession in sessions 1, 2, and 3. However, only in session 4 and 5, postsession cortisol levels were significantly lower than presession levels (P = 0.043). There was no difference between salivary cortisol levels sampled on a nonworking day at home and work-related levels sampled at the therapy site. None of the behavioral parameters varied significantly over the course of the 5 MTI sessions. Both lip licking (P = 0.038) and body shake (P = 0.021) were positively correlated with the decline in cortisol during session 5. The study results suggest that trained dogs are not being stressed by repeated participation in in-patient substance abuse therapy sessions. Further investigation into the effects of animal-assisted therapy on dogs’ physiological markers and behavior is warranted.
Approval for insulin automatic pen injectable for dogs
FDA Approves First Insulin Product for Use with Automatic Injection Pen in Cats and Dogs
Approval provides consumers with additional option for insulin delivery
March 19, 2014
Media Inquiries: Megan Bensette, 240-506-6818
Consumer Inquiries: 240-276-9300, AskCVM@fda.hhs.gov
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the first approval of an insulin for use in cats and dogs via an automatic injection pen. Vetsulin, a porcine insulin, may now be used with the VetPen automatic injection pen. The approval provides consumers with the option of using Vetsulin with the refillable VetPen, which automatically measures out the prescribed insulin dose.
In 2011, Vetsulin was taken off the market due to manufacturing concerns. The product was reintroduced to the market in 2013 and FDA continues to monitor its use.
Federal law restricts this drug to use by or on the order of a licensed veterinarian. The most common side effect experienced with Vetsulin is hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).
Vetsulin is manufactured by Intervet, Inc. For questions on how to obtain Vetsulin, please contact Merck Animal Health Customer Service at 1-800-521-5767.
The Yellow Dog Project
About
The Yellow Dog Project is a global movement for owners of dogs that need space. It hopes to educate the public and dog owners to identify dogs needing space, promote appropriate contact of dogs and assist dog parents to identify their dog as needing space.
Yellow Dogs are dogs who need space – they are not necessarily aggressive dogs but more often are dogs who have issues of fear; pain from recent surgery; are a rescue or shelter dog who has not yet had sufficient training or mastered obedience; are in training for work or service; are in service; or other reasons specific to the dog. Here’s a list of what a yellow dog is NOT.
The Yellow Dog Project seeks to educate appropriate ways to approach or make contact with a dog with permission of a dog owner only, whether or not a dog is a “yellow dog”. They also seek to promote the use of yellow ribbons to identify yellow dogs needing extra space.
As a not for profit organization, all of the monies raised/donated are used to buy more material for ribbons, t-shirts for representatives, and posters for display.
The Yellow Dog Project encourages people to find their local positive reinforcement trainer and look for programs to help their pets. From Grisha Stewarts “Behaviour Adjustment Training” to fearfuldogs.com; Victoria Stillwell to Karen Pryor; Ian Dunbar to Dr. Sophia Yin; and beyond – The Yellow Dog Project encourages all forms of positive training to help yellow dogs.
Click for a list of things that the Yellow Dog Project is NOT.
Proctor & Gamble selling some brands to Mars
P&G Selling Iams, Eukanuba, Natura
P&G expanded its holistic and natural pet food footprint in 2010 when the company bought Natura’s Innova, Evo, California Natural, Healthwise, Mother Nature and Karma brands. (Karma has since been discontinued.) The purchase price was not announced, but analysts pegged it at $450 million to $500 million.
Iams, Eukanuba and Natura Pet Products will pass from one conglomerate to another in a $2.9 billion transaction that expands Mars Inc.’s pet business and guts Procter & Gamble’s.
The all-cash deal, announced today, adds mass-market pet food brands Iams and Eukanuba to a Mars collection that includes Royal Canin, Pedigree, Whiskas, Nutro and the Banfield pet hospital chain. The sale is expected to close later this year.
P&G noted that its pet brands captured about 5 percent of the North American market in 2013 but that sales were hurt by a salmonella scare that forced the recall of many Natura dry pet foods and treats.
Pro-Pet recall
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 5, 2014 – Pro-Pet LLC, St. Marys, Ohio, has initiated a voluntary recall of a limited number of Dry Dog and Cat Foods for possible Salmonella contamination. A single field test indicated products manufactured during a two day period, on a single production line may have the potential for Salmonella contamination. Pro-Pet LLC is voluntarily recalling the potentially impacted products made during this timeframe. There have been no reports of illness related to this product to date.
Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.
Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers. Continue reading Pro-Pet recall