On Sept. 23, 2024 federal health regulators announced a warning to pet owners after samples of two Answers Pet Food products tested positive for salmonella, a third tested positive for listeria, and a fourth tested positive for both.
The above are technical terms your typical veterinarian probably doesn’t know. (Dog model: Dusty Bleu)
On January 11, 2020 Midwestern Pet Foods announced that it had recalled several brands of dog and cat foods made with corn products that expire on or before July 9, 2022, that were manufactured at their Chickasha, OK facility. The recall was prompted by the report of the appearance of “aflatoxin levels which exceed acceptable limits.” According to the official FDA website: “Pets experiencing aflatoxin poisoning may have symptoms such as sluggishness, loss of appetite, vomiting, jaundice (yellowish tint to the eyes or gums due to liver damage), and/or diarrhea. In severe cases, this toxicity can be fatal. In some cases, pets may suffer liver damage but not show any symptoms.
Of the 24 dog parks and dog-friendly areas in Fairfield County, CT eight of them are dog-friendly areas. This means they are neither fenced-in nor entirely dedicated to dogs. Two of my favorites are dog-friendly beaches… Compo Dog Beach, in
Recently, a Washington, D.C. TV station WJLA partnered with Ellipse Analytics to test several brands of wet dog food for the drug pentobarbital, a common euthanasia drug used to put down pets and zoo animals. Of all the brands tested, the popular brand Gravy Train, repeatedly came back positive for pentobarbital, according to the station. Out of the 15 cans tested, nine tested positive and the FDA currently allows no traces of it in any dog foods or treats. The results of the study have prompted the FDA to announce plans for a full investigation.
Currently Fairfield County, CT has 21 dog parks and dog-friendly areas and 11 of these spots are fenced-in parks. Guess what? They’re all great! They are all cared for lovingly by a combination of local towns or private citizens and I’ve visited every single one and met lovely people and dogs at them all.
Of the 21 dog parks and dog-friendly areas in Fairfield County, CT six of them are dog-friendly areas. This means they are neither fenced-in nor entirely dedicated to dogs.
I don’t usually like to rate dog parks because I really do love them all and I feel like they are all equal. But to paraphrase the book “Animal Farm,” some parks are “more equal than others.” I’ve visited, run, explored, peed-on and inspected each one of these dog parks in Fairfield County, CT, and this was my true, impartial, doggie-reaction to each.
I’ve written about my rating of Top 11 Dog Parks in Fairfield County, my Favorite Dog Friendly Areas, and my Favorite Fenced-in Parks in Fairfield County.
But neither of these blog posts have covered my actual favorite places for me to run my 24-lb. butt off and go crazy sniffing and peeing on as many trees as I can handle at one time. All of them are in Fairfield County, CT and I love all three about the same.
It’s pretty fun to do the fetch game with your dog, and what better thing to throw than a tennis ball, right? Well, just imagine the toxins in a typical tennis ball and it doesn’t take long to speculate on some of the things that can go wrong.
So, my owner wanted me to blog about something that he’s noticed in our travels throughout Fairfield County dog parks… the trend of some humans to nicely pick up after their dog has pooped, but to bag it and leave it on a trail or by a tree for someone else to pick up.
Why would you go to the trouble of bagging the poop with a non-biodegradable bag but then leave it out on the ground where it will not decompose for at least another 50 to 1000 years?! It would actually be better if you let the poop stay out in the open so that it can disintegrate the next time a heavy rains comes.
If you’re a dog like me, you like to run around in the yard, check the trees, bushes and plants for new smells and mark the place up as best you can. I also like to chew on blades of grass every now and then… they give my sensitive belly a bit of relief.
But what if your master sprays your running place with weed killers, fertilizers or insecticides? Since that stuff kills bugs and weeds and is a POISON, doesn’t it stand to reason that it might be harmful to us dogs, too?
As it turns out, the answer is YES!
While I was at my favorite dog park today, I was viciously attacked by an unfixed male Pomeranian. You may laugh when you see the picture of one below. They look like stuffed toys, but I will tell you this guy was literally the wildest dog I’ve ever encountered. And those who know anything about dogs know that it’s the smaller dogs that tend to be the craziest.
My owner has been asking other dog owners this question for months…
“What do you do when your dog is freaky?”
He’s a first-time owner and isn’t used to some of the freaky things we can do. I don’t know what the big deal is.
When it comes to Lyme disease and exposure to the biting bugs that carry the disease… i.e. ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, horseflies, etc. … your dog may be your “canary in a coalmine.” In other words, because your furry friend is rambling through areas of higher exposure to these bugs than you, it may get exposed to Lyme disease before you do.