Adventure Dog Blog

For the most part, dogs will not drink ocean or salt water because, well… it’s salty!  However, some dogs are more stubborn than others (or maybe they have poor taste?), and will insist on sucking up half the ocean when you take them playing at the beach.

In Mexico, Mr. Meaty was notorious for rushing down to the water’s edge for a drink when he was thirsty.  The best way to combat this was by taking a large bottle of fresh water with us anytime we headed to the beach, and before, during and after playing, I would offer him a drink.  This helped reduce his salt water intake drastically.

What happens if a dog drinks too much salt water?  It makes them quite ill and can cause vomiting and  diarrhea.

One night, my dog Mr. Meaty became quite ill, and the only thing we could find wrong with him was that he had drank a significant amount of salt water earlier that day when we went to the beach.  From that night forward, I was even more careful to prevent him from drinking salt water.

Drinking too much salt water can be very dangerous for anyone, including your dogs, so don’t forget fresh water when you take that trip to the beach!

While running free in Mexico, my dogs drank from all kinds of water sources, including dirty rivers. It was important that they have all of their vaccinations, including one for Giardia, a parasite that can cause diarrhea and other symptoms.

However, it’s important to note that dogs can also pick up Giardia from any contaminated food or water source, even rivers running through your city. According to The Pet Center, “Giardia is transmitted from one dog to another through the ingestion of cysts in contaminated feed or drinking water. Cysts may also be found in streams or other water sources.”

Reading at GoLetAVet.com, I learned that Giardia “can be found anywhere from puddles and ponds to swimming pools and streams. Your pet can contract the disease by drinking contaminated water, or even by licking his paws after walking in an infected area!”

The Government of Alberta has a page that answers the basic questions you might have about Giardia, and your vet should be able to tell you about vaccinations and help you determine whether your dog needs them.

When we were in Mexico, we lived in the jungle along the coast. Our house had no screens on the windows, and we didn’t even have all four walls on our house. The dogs could come and go as they pleased, and they delighted in disappearing into the bush now and again to chase chickens.

Unfortunately, there are a LOT of ticks in the jungle, just like a lot of other places on Earth. If you live, or go adventuring, in an area that has ticks, you’re probably going to have to remove one from your dog sooner or later.

If your dog has been wandering around outdoors in tick country, it’s a good idea to check your dog for ticks everyday. You can do this by rubbing your fingers through their hair and along their skin. You want to feel their skin for any little lumps or bumps. Sometimes this is just dirt or a scratch, but other times it’s a tick. You’ll need to part the hair and get a good look.

Ticks tend to be brown in color, and are fairly small, with little legs sticking out from their sides. They are very flat before feeding, and quite swollen and fat after sucking blood. They excrete a substance from their mouth parts that acts like a glue to hold them tight to the skin, so they can be difficult to remove. Making it worse, they can bury their mouth parts under the skin and removal of the tick sometimes leaves these bits behind, leaving the body prone to infection.

When you are removing a tick, it is wisest to use a pair of tweezers if at all possible. If you squeeze the tick when it’s full of blood, it will just explode, leaving all kinds of bits behind under your dog’s skin. Gross but true. You need to gently grab the tick with the tweezers and PULL.

Now when I was in Mexico, I didn’t have any tweezers, and I removed any ticks we encountered with my fingers. However, it’s important to realize that ticks carry all kinds of diseases, some of which can be transferred to humans. Using tweezers really is the safest technique.

After you’ve removed the tick, don’t just dispose of it outdoors. Ticks can survive for months and months without feeding, and I’ve been told you can’t crush them to death even with a hammer! Now I’m not sure if that’s true, but your best course of action is to flush the tick down the toilet. That way, you can be sure the pest will never again attach itself to your dog’s skin.

If you live or adventure in places that are heavily populated by ticks, you might want to consider getting your dogs vaccinations against common tick diseases if available, and use a product like Revolution to repel ticks.

The scorpion is part of the arachnida family, the same as the spider. You will find them in places all over the world, and the majority of them cause no great harm to large mammals like dogs and humans.

However, there are a few species of scorpion that can cause great harm, including death, so it’s always important to be careful when you encounter one. A general rule of thumb, according to The Scorpion Files, is that scorpions with large powerful claws are usually harmless, whereas the ones with thin slender claws can be dangerous.

Particularly dangerous scorpions can be found in the Southern United States, Mexico, Central America, the Carribean, South America, Asia, Western and Southern Africa, Northern Africa, the Middle East, and across the Mediterranean from Spain to the Middle East.

Before we panic about scorpions, you should know that they are not terribly agressive. They are afraid of humans and other large potential predators and try their best to run away. Scorpions are noctural so you are most likely to encounter them at night. During the day, scorpions are often hiding under rocks, in piles of wood or leaves, or inside your shoes. Always shake out your shoes before putting them on, shake out towels and clothes that have been lying around, and check your bed before getting in it! For your dogs, the best thing you can do is keep them inside at night.

While in Mexico, my big dog Anna was stung by a scorpion. She left my bedroom and turned to sniff something on the day bed when she pulled back her head suddenly and began to shake it. She started smacking her lips and rubbing her nose with her paw. I knew something had happened. After searching for awhile, I found a scorpion between the mattress of the day bed and the wall. Luckily, the village we lived in had a very good vet and I was able to call her immediately on the phone. We walked over to her house, and within fifteen minutes of being stung, Anna was receiving two shots of antihistamines.

We were fortunate, while the scorpion that stung her was known to cause fatalities, Anna never showed any signs of being stung beyond the initial shaking of her head and smacking of her lips. The vet said that she’s seen two reactions in dogs to scorpions here. One is when the dog gets glassy eyed and tends to stare off into space, the other is when they seem to lose all coordination, a condition she said was very scary, even for her as a vet.

But what is a person to do when there is no vet around? There appears to be very little you can do about scorpion stings in animals. According to Pet Place there is no home care for venemous scorpion bites. Treatment for scorpion stings tends to be supportive, and you just have to let things run their course. Pain can be managed by applying ice to the site of the bite. My vet administered antihistamines to help combat the body’s reaction to the venom. The best treatment seems to be avoiding getting stung in the first place.

Visit The Scorpion Files to learn more about scorpions.

When travelling with your pet, or venturing into the wilderness, you need to be aware of various dangers that you wouldn’t necessarily be mindful of without your four legged friends around.

My dog Anna likes to put anything and everything in her mouth. Like a baby, she explores everything with her lips and tongue. A dog like her can run into real trouble when travelling to new places simply because she’ll encounter various dangers she wouldn’t normally find at home.

The Cane Toad is one of these dangers. According to the Australian Museum Online, the “natural range of Cane Toads extends from the southern United States to tropical South America.” However, the species has been introduced in many other regions of the world, and you’ll find them in abundance in places like Australia, Florida, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, parts of Japan, various Carribean Islands, and several other parts of the world.

The Cane Toad is dangerous because it has two large poison glands located behind the eyes and is highly toxic if ingested. The poison is also very harmful if it comes into contact with mucous membranes such as the eyes, nose and mouth. Dogs can, and do, die from Cane Toad poisonings.

However, according to the Department of Agriculture and Food in Western Australia, “seeking veterinary assistance ensures that most dogs survive, with a 2004 study of 90 cane toad-poisoned dogs in Queensland reporting a survival rate of 96 per cent following veterinary intervention.”

Anna encountered a Cane Toad one night and thought it was a very yummy thing to have in her mouth. I was talking with friends when one pointed out that Anna had something. I turned to see her with a Cane Toad! I immediately ran over to her, yelling at her to drop it, which she did, and then I chased and scared her away from it. She began smacking her lips a bunch and I was terrified that she had been poisoned. We immediately rushed home where I rinsed her mouth out thoroughly with water, and waited. Luckily, she showed no other signs of poisoning and all was well.

Cane Toads are nocturnal, and you can do a lot to prevent encounters by keeping your dogs indoors at night. It’s also very important to train your dogs to respond to a “drop it” command should you ever find them with one in their mouth.

Click here for more information on protecting your dogs from Cane Toad poisoning.

Click for more general information on the Cane Toad.