The majority of house cats and dogs in Canada (as well as the United States) have dental disease. It's shocking, but true. Pet owners who would never think of going a day without brushing their own teeth never think to do the same for their beloved cat or dog. Our goal is to make Toronto area pet owners more aware of the benefits of good pet dental hygiene.

Why Pet Dental Health is Important

According to many veterinary sources, as many as two-thirds of all domestic cats and dogs have some kind of dental disease. Not only is this painful for your pet, but periodontal disease can compromise your pet's immune system and, if left untreated, can lead to a host of medical problems, even death in extreme cases.

Painful gums also make it difficult for your cat or dog to get the nutrition he or she needs. Who wants to eat when it hurts?

Also, from a practical point of view, regular preventative dental care is much less expensive than having to deal with a major health issue in the future.

Pet Dentistry at Islington Village

Fortunately, most pet dental problems can be prevented and even reversed with regular dental care. At Islington Village Animal Hospital in Etobicoke, our veterinarian will not only clean your pet's teeth, but show you how you can help maintain your pet's teeth at home. In addition to preventative dental care, our animal clinic has a state-of-the-art surgical suite should your cat or dog require oral surgery.

At our animal clinic, we offer a full range of wellness and emergency pet care for animals and their owners in Etobicoke and throughout the greater Toronto area.

Do you take your cat or dog to the vet regularly to have his or her teeth cleaned? Has this been a positive experience? Share your stories with our readers by leaving a comment below.

Our Islington Village Animal Hospital has seen many cases over the years where pets have gotten into poisonous items. Some cases have caused more damage than others, depending on the type of poison and the amount ingested. Animals tend to have a natural curiosity that is usually harmless, but it can become dangerous at times.

A curious dog can get into a bar of chocolate left on the coffee table, but chocolate is poisonous for dogs. If a dog has ingested chocolate, pet owners need to find out how much chocolate the dog ate and keep a very close eye on the dog’s behavior. The age of the dog, activity level, and amount of chocolate ingested are influential factors in how the dog will react. If a dog starts exhibiting serious symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea, contact our animal clinic right away for further instructions. Several other things are poisonous to dogs, including onions, grapes, raisins, caffeine, macadamia nuts, fruit pits and seeds, and various plants (like aloe and crabapples) to name a few.

Cats also have severe reactions to certain plants, flowers, and foods that are not harmful to humans. For example, common flowers such as daffodils, tulips, lilies and carnations may be lovely to humans but are poisonous to cats. Cat owners with outdoor cats should be especially mindful of anything their cat eats outside. It is important to contact our veterinarians right away if a cat ingests a poisonous flower or plant. It is helpful to our veterinarians if pet owners could bring along the plant that the cat ingested. 

All animals have a severe reaction to rat poison, human medication, and most household cleaners in any amounts. If a pet has ingested any of these toxins, take action immediately. In all cases, contact our Etobicoke animal clinic right away for instructions on handling the situation. Our Toronto veterinary staff is ready to help in an emergency situation. If you would like more information on what is toxic to animals, please contact us by email or phone.

What are some easy ways that you protect your pets against poisons?

A Toronto Vet Comments:

At Islington Village Animal Hospital in Etobicoke, we offer comprehensive veterinary services to Toronto pet owners and are dedicated to your pet’s health. We serve animal companions big and small and our comprehensive Toronto vet services include primary care, boarding, cardiology, dentistry, dermatology, internal medicine, neurology, pain management, radiology, emergency vet services, and surgery. We also offer an in-house pharmacy so you can take care of all your pet health needs with one stop.

We have created this blog to help educate our patients about ways to maintain healthy and happy pets and today we would like to talk to you about clipping your pet’s nails.

You know your pet needs to get their toenails trimmed. While you probably already know that you can get your pet’s nails clipped at a groomer or by your local Toronto vet, you may not realize you can trim your pet’s nails at home.

You will need:

• A good toenail clipper
• Patience with your pet
• A thick towel to wrap your dog or cat in (if necessary to keep them still)
• Possibly a friend or family member to hold your pet for you
  

Before you ever clip your pet’s nails, it’s a good idea to get your pet accustomed to having their paws touched. It’s best to start handling your dog or cat’s paws gently and often when they’re young, but even older pets can sometimes become accustomed to having their feet touched with patience and time. This will make the whole toenail clipping process easier.

When you do start clipping your pet’s nails, it may be easier to start with only a few nails at a time. Some people have better luck placing their pet on top of a counter or washer/dryer. Get a good nail clipper that can easily fit all the way around your pet’s nails. Human clippers can also work or you can purchase clippers specifically made for pets.

There is a part of the nail called the quick which will bleed if the nails are cut too short. When pets have light nails you may be able to easily see the pink quick inside which will make it easy to avoid.

If your pet has dark or black nails the quick can be difficult to see when trimming nails. If your pet has dark nails you will have a few extra steps to avoid cutting the quick. First, look at the end of the nail. If the is hollow (as in it resembles an empty celery stalk), then trim up to where the nail starts looking full. If there is no hollow area, trim small (I mean very small) slivers off the end of the nail and look at the end of the nail after each cut.

Continue cutting small slivers, if it looks greyish or white and kind of flakey then you know that it’s ok to keep trimming. Definitely stop before you see a dark circle in the middle of the nail after a cut (that's the quick). It is much better to stop trimming early rather than cutting too much and potentially hurting your pet.

If you ever cut your pet’s quick, it will sting and may make them less likely to want to get their nails cut in the future.  Pets can sometimes have a long memory, so it’s better to leave pet’s nails longer and cut more often as opposed to accidentally cutting pet’s nails too short and hurting your pet. As you become more experienced, you will gain a feeling for how short the nails should be cut.

If you’re having trouble getting your pet to cooperate, it can often be helpful to get a friend or family member to help out. You can also ask your local Toronto vets at Islington Village Animal Hospital in Etobicoke to show you some different nail-cutting techniques during your next visit. Your veterinarian will also be able to give you advice on how often to trim your pets nails and how much to cut off each time.

If you do cut your pet’s quick and it's bleeding, pack the end of the nail in cornstarch or flour to help clot the blood. If you think you may have cut in deep, consult your veterinarian!

Help Feed Rescue Animals!

The Animal Rescue Site is a completely free website which donates free food every day to rescued animals. It takes less than a minute to participate; visit: http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/ and click on the purple button that says “Click Here to Give – It’s Free!”  For every click they receive, they will donate 0.6 cups of food to feed a hungry rescued pet! The service will not cost you a thing because they use ads on the page to pay for the donated food. Take a second today and help feed a neglected or rescued pet this holiday season!

That time of year has come again, and the holiday season is now in full force in Toronto. The holidays are a time to celebrate, spend time with family, and reflect on the good things that occurred during the past year. However, the holidays can be a hazardous time for your pets so it’s important to take a second to learn what you can do to help ensure a problem-free holiday season. At Islington Village Animal Hospital, your Toronto vet located in Etobicoke, we care about your pet’s health and want to make sure that the whole family stays healthy during the holidays!

Therefore, the vets at Islington Village Animal Hospital in Etobicoke have gone ahead and put together a list of common holiday pet hazards to help keep your whole family safe during the holidays.

Common Holiday Pet Hazards include:

• Christmas Trees: In addition to all the decorations on a Christmas tree, it can be hazardous for a pet to eat the needles off a tree or drink the water in the tree stand. A child's playpen or dog's exercise pen can be placed around the tree to help keep pets away.
• Fatty Holiday Foods and Alcoholic Beverages: Your pet may find them tasty, but people food is generally bad for pets and could possibly be fatal. Don’t take the risk! Let any guests know that the animals are NOT allowed to have people food to avoid a mistake. Veterinarians see many cases of pancreatitis in dogs around the holidays from eating meat or other fatty foods. Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas that can be mild to severe with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, a painful abdomen, lethargy and a lack of appetite. The treatment for pancreatitis is hospitalization with intravenous fluids and antibiotics. 
• Holiday Lights and Power Cords: Holiday lights use electricity so it’s important that you prevent possible electrocution and keep your dog or cat from chewing on holiday lights or any power cords. Avoid this problem by hiding any cords in hard plastic PVC pipes or other protective barrier if possible. You can also paint electric cords with a bitter tasting substance such as “bitter apple” to deter curious pets. 
• Ornaments, tinsel, and garlands: If your pet tries to eat any ornaments, tinsel, or garlands, they could choke or get an intestinal impaction. Items stuck in a pet’s intestine may be life threatening or need to be removed with surgery. Tinsel is especially dangerous because it actually cuts through the intestine when ingested and may be hard to diagnose with x-rays. Cats love to eat stringy objects and often love tinsel so if you have a cat it may be better to skip tinsel in favor of other holiday decorations.
• Wrapped Presents: Be careful to keep pets from chewing on ribbon, bows, string, wrapping paper, or tape. Any wrapped presents which contain food items should be kept hidden or out of reach until the time to unwrap.
• Holiday Plants: Holly, mistletoe, hibiscus and poinsettias are all toxic to pets, with symptoms of ingestion ranging from irritation of mouth and stomach to diarrhea and vomiting.
• Chocolate: Chocolate is toxic to most pets, especially dark or baker’s chocolate.
• Potpourri: The oils which are found in potpourri can be harmful if eaten by your cat or dog
  

A last thing to keep in mind is that your pet may get stressed out due to all the activity and new faces that may be coming and going during the holiday season. Therefore it’s essential to make sure your pet has a safe place to go if they need some time alone.

A great resource for inquiries of what is toxic, the degree of toxicity, and proper treatment, is the ASPCA Animal Poison Center. Veterinarians with specialties in toxicology are on staff 24 hours a day, 365 days/year to answer your questions. Their phone number is 1-888-426-4435. There is no state or federal funding for this poison control center so there is a $65 charge payable by any major credit card. They also have a web site with good information: http://www.aspca.com. There are lists of poisonous plants, common human medications that cause toxicities when ingested by pets, and other important information.

The point of these precautions is not to put a damper on the holiday spirit but to avoid an unnecessary trip to your veterinarian. By knowing the hazards ahead of time and using your common sense, you can prevent an accident over the holiday season.

Have a Happy Holiday Season from Islington Village Animal Hospital, your Toronto vets located in Etobicoke!