But yeah, we'll be right back.
Love, warmth, and happiness.
And everything you want to know about your pets.
Right here on Pet Connection.
With your host, Dr. Bernie Pouquet.
Hi, I'm Dr. Bernie Pouquet and welcome to my clinic.
You know, in my practice I get a lot of questions about worms.
How can you tell your pet has worms?
What should you do about it?
Now these characters here, these dogs and cats, they look pretty healthy, don't they?
And yet they might still be harboring worms and we wouldn't know it.
We want to know what we can do about that.
For example, if they rub their hind ends on the floor, does that in fact mean they have worms?
Well, we're going to be talking about worms today on Pet Connection.
And we're going to talk about roundworms specifically and why they're important to us and our pets.
And we're going to talk about a whole lot more.
So don't go away, you have an appointment with me.
Coming up, how to reduce your risk of zoonosis.
Find the scenes of the Royal Canadian Mounted Belize musical ride and taking care of wild birds in distress.
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Music
Now some people might suggest that these are fairly homely birds.
But I know about you, but I find them very, very attractive and kind of cute, too.
What do you think?
Oh, I think they're great.
Once you get to know them and you appreciate their amazing programming
and their ability to fly so well, you will appreciate them very much.
With me today is Carol Precious.
And Carol is actively involved in birds of prey
and specifically taking care of orphaned birds of prey.
And what is the story on these birds?
Now these are orphaned, I guess, or what was the story behind them?
Well, barn owls will have huge clutches of 8 to 13 babies.
And in the wild, it's almost impossible for the parents to find enough food to feed those babies.
So what we did is we took some of the babies away to hand raise them
so they'd have a greater chance of survival.
We left some of the babies with the parents.
And our hope is to release some of the young back into the wild.
That's excellent. That's what we call a rehabilitation program.
What kind of birds are these and how old are they?
These are barn owls and they are 3 1⁄2 weeks old.
They are all from the same clutch, which is incredible,
because this one's a monster compared to the little guy down on the end.
Now he's very hungry. He's telling you that give me finger or give me food.
Right, and you know that I've been feeding them every 2 to 3 hours.
At this stage, they eat many times their own weight every day.
Wow.
And this little guy's coming over.
And that's simply raw meat, isn't it?
Yes, this is raw meat.
Now they also need to be fed meat that has some bones in it
so that their bones will be strengthened.
So they get a variety of raw meat.
And that's to show you how we feed them.
We use these tweezers because their beaks are fairly sharp, even at this young age.
How do you feel about the situation, especially with birds of prey,
about trying to do the feeding yourself and the care of yourself?
I imagine there's a lot of pitfalls there.
Yes, the diet is critical, and it takes quite a while to be able to read a bird properly,
to know that you're giving it enough warmth, enough exercise, and an adequate diet.
So there are quite a few rehabilitators all through North America now.
And whenever possible, I would encourage people to take the birds
to these people who have had quite a bit of experience.
Certainly, if you are very interested in the bird,
you'll find that these people will encourage you to come and visit it.
So you still can feel that you're involved with the bird,
but perhaps you're leaving the actual care of it to someone else.
Take a few dollars along just to help them along with the contributions, too,
so they can continue the work of the rehabilitation center, right?
When are these going to be released to the wild, these little fellas?
Well, most birds of prey have all of their feathers when they're three to four months old.
And we'll start working with them, introducing them to live mice,
making sure that they know how to hunt and fly well.
And during the course of the summer, when there's an ample mouth supply in the wild,
in the farmer's fields, that's when we'll start to do the release.
Okay, I'm getting some little noises here. I think we better continue feeding.
They are hungry. Look at that.
And you'll notice when they take the food that they shake it quite a bit.
That's because when they're being fed by their parents, they're being fed mice.
And often those mice aren't quite dead.
So they're shaking it just to make sure that that piece of meat is thoroughly dead
before it goes down the hatch.
I like the description. A little too enthusiastic for me, you know?
But the point is well taken. These are wild birds.
They're not pets, and they should be kept wild, shouldn't they?
Yes.
Carol, thank you for coming down. You're doing great work.
My pleasure.
In ancient Egypt, the domestic cat was worshipped.
Unfortunately, in the late 1800s, when 300,000 mummified cats were unearthed there,
archaeologists did not realize their historical importance.
They were shipped to England and used as fertilizer.
Elaine, it's good to see you again.
It's good to see you too.
And you brought Shane. Hi, Shane. How's it going, little buddy?
Is this your favorite one?
Yep.
Yep, it is.
Now, I understand you wanted to see me about something. What's this all about?
Yes. We were at the pediatricians the other day, and they picked up a pamphlet on roundworms.
I mean, now we're thinking on getting a little puppy,
and we go to the park all the time and playing in the sandbox.
What is this thing that they can...
Okay, let me tell you what roundworm is, first of all.
Roundworm is an intestinal parasite that dogs and cats get.
In fact, it's one of the most common worms that they do get.
And so when we ask people to bring a stool sample in for their puppies or cats to have them checked,
that's one of the things we check for.
So if a dog or a cat has roundworms, they spread the eggs in the stool,
and if they're pooping in the park or in the backyard, guess what happens?
The eggs get spread all over the place, and these eggs are kind of sticky,
and so they'll stick to things, you know, playground equipment that the wind will blow them around,
gets on the kids' hands, on their clothing, even on their toys.
Can you see them?
You can't see them. You need to use a microscope to see them.
So what then happens, as you can imagine, is somebody like Shane or somebody comes,
and they're putting their hand to their mouth, and they ingest the eggs.
And then those eggs go into the... This sounds horrible, I know, I can see by your face.
It sounds terrible, and what happens is the larvae in the intestinal tract then migrate through the body.
And this is called visceral larval migraines.
And this visceral larval migraines is a disease that, in kids, for example, can cause something serious,
like blindness in one eye can cause kidney problems, heart problems, it can cause nervous disorders.
So there's some serious things that can happen.
But usually when humans ingest these eggs and get these larval problems,
is that what happens is that they tend to get mild signs, either no clinical signs at all.
For example, I may very well have had the problem, and I know it,
there could be signs of things like diarrhea, malaise, things like cramps, muscle aches.
Is that taken care of as soon as you buy a new pet?
I mean, if you get them de-wormed, do they automatically give them the shots for those?
Well, they do, but let me reassure you, that sounds horrible.
It sounds like a movie, some alien creature invading us, you know?
But the fact of the matter is, it rarely, rarely happens.
It depends on how many eggs you ingest.
And so you find some children who literally eat dirt, or eat, I hate to say, eat stool.
They do have kids like that with problems, and they would get a heavy burden.
And so it's a very rare problem, but I don't know about you, but with my kids,
I don't care if it's one in a million, I like to take precautions.
And so you mentioned about getting a puppy.
You don't just pick these worms up, these eggs up, from dealing with dogs and cats.
But what you want to do is you want to take precautions.
So for example, if you're going to have a pet, or get a pet, or if you have a pet,
have the stools checked for worms. That's so easy.
And if there are worms, we check them out. Okay?
And if they have worms, we treat them for it, that's the end of that.
Number two, obviously if Shane or kids go around handling dogs or in playgrounds,
by all means, have them wash their hands.
You would do that anyway, wouldn't you?
What are the first signs of... are there any signs to watch for if a child's got a wrong worm?
Yeah, well I mentioned some of those, like malaise or headaches or cramps in the stomach,
stomach cramp, very vague signs.
And if that happens, what are you going to do? You're going to check with your pediatrician.
So by all means, and they would do the necessary test. So I would suggest that.
Getting back to the pup, you know, if you're going to get a pup, have it checked for worms.
And if there are worms, have them treated.
When Shane or anybody else in the family handles a dog, wash their hands.
Pooping and scooping. You know, when you're taking a dog for a walk,
doesn't it make more sense now to pick that up?
Not just because you want to make friends with your neighbor,
but you don't want any potential eggs to spread around.
So pooping and scooping is good.
Maybe, you know, some people share dishes with animals.
It doesn't hurt to maybe have separate.
The dog has its bowl, you have your plate.
And that's fairly important. Maybe separate sleeping quarters, too.
Now, the other thing that you want to keep in mind, too, is that you want to put it into perspective.
It's not something you want to go out and panic over, but by all means, take precautions.
And you know, if you've got a sandbox in the backyard, keep it covered.
Because if the kids, that's where the kids hang out, in the park, in the sandbox.
Keep them covered. And if you have an animal going to the park, please pick it up.
That's basically it.
Thank you.
Okay.
Coming up, the world famous RCMP musical ride.
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Thank you, Deborah. You're welcome.
You know, dogs and cats can be a lot of fun, but there is a certain small amount of risk involved with them as well.
For example, did you know that there's more than 150 diseases that can be transmitted from animals to man?
And of those, about 30 you can get from household pets.
Well, what can you do to minimize that risk?
Well, for one thing, you want to be sure that you purchase your pets from a reputable reader or from a reputable pet store.
And make sure the documentation is there as well. Things like health certificates and vaccination certificates.
And then after you've purchased them, make sure they're checked by a veterinarian to make sure that they're healthy and that everything is just right.
Now, after that, be aware of the fact that annual vaccines are recommended.
And that's for your protection as well as your pet. And at that time, they'll do an annual examination as well.
And if they do get sick, get them to a veterinarian as soon as possible.
Simply because of the fact that you want to nip the disease in the bud, but you also want to make sure it's not something that you can get.
Things like pet food and pet food dishes.
Keep those away from children and be careful when you're handling or disposing of stool, when you're disposing of things like urine.
And obviously, wash your hands.
The same applies to pregnant women. There is a bit of a risk involved with cleaning up the litter box.
So have somebody else do that. There is a risk of getting parasites.
Wash your hands at all times when you're dealing with them.
And especially when they lick the face of the hands, make sure you've washed yourself afterwards.
And finally, you want to make sure that if you do have a sandbox for the kids, that it's covered at all times so animals don't use it as a giant litter box.
Now, if you use those common sense guidelines, there shouldn't really be any risk at all, should there?
They're just too cute to be risky.
Hi, I'm Jerry McCarty. Welcome to a little visit with the Musical Ride.
What you're seeing in the background is a group of people that are going to be doing a musical ride tour this summer.
We're in the process of starting to prepare for that tour by doing a lot of rehearsals.
We're getting our horses ready. We're getting our people accustomed to what we're going to see every day.
The musical ride dates back to the days when the RCMP used horses in their regular police duties.
For that reason, we have based our drill on British cavalry movements.
We have also taken on some of the ideas of dressage, where we train all our horses.
So it's very good when we have people working with the horses. The horses are trained the same as the people,
and they're all trained by basically the same people, and we'll prepare ourselves for what's going on.
What you see in the background now is people getting the horses warmed up the same as you and I do every morning,
where we get up and we stretch ourselves a little bit and get our muscles loosened up so that we can attack our day.
We're going to move over now and we're going to go into the stables, and we're going to visit with
Constable Terry Russell in the stable area, and we're also going to visit with Constable Stacey Talbot.
Stacey's in the blacksmith shop. Then we'll come back here and we'll have a look at the musical ride rehearsal.
Hello, my name is Constable Terry Russell. I'm with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride.
I'd like to welcome you to the musical ride stables, and I'd like to introduce you to my horse Rex.
Good boy. Good boy. Yeah. Come on.
And this is Rex.
This is a horse that I ride on the musical ride. He's 16 years of age, and he's been on the musical ride itself for 10 years.
All the horses that are in the musical ride stables are trained from three to six years old by our instructional staff here.
And once he's six years old, he gets a trial with the musical ride. Yeah.
All the horses that you see in the musical ride stables are black. That's the regimental color of the musical ride.
And the horses stay with the ride for as long as they can. If they're sound, they stay with them for upwards of 20 years.
For the one year that we are together, we work very closely together, and he takes care of me through the shows.
And he's my best friend, aren't you, Rex? Yeah.
Hi, I'm Stacey Talbot. I'm a constable in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
And I'm fortunate enough to end up here at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stables here in Ottawa.
This is my musical ride horse, Charle. She's a nine-year-old thoroughbred mare.
She's full of lots of vim and vigor, and it's my first year on the musical ride.
We stay here for three years, and this will be my first tour year.
And Charle's only done it one year. She came to us from Packingham, where the breeding farm is, as a three-year-old.
And she trained for three years. And because she's got lots of vim and vigor and excited a lot, she's had an extra couple years on training.
And last year was her first year as musical ride horse.
So for us, this is a new... the two of us actually are having a lot of fun here. It's a new year for both of us.
♥
So, Dr. Bernie, as you can see, we have a close relationship with our pets.
They're a little bit different.
They're not in the living room every day.
So why don't you come out and connect with us the next time that the musical ride is
in your community?
Stay tuned.
Dr. Bernie will be right back.
Wildlife Chronicle, tonight at 8 Eastern, 7 Central.
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In Venezuela's Llanos, region crocs and cattle coexist.
Cowboys herd a different type of livestock.
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Oh, with all the running around I do, this is actually the time of day I really enjoy. I get to put my feet up a little bit and just hear what you have to say.
And the first letter here, this is from Alma Corman of Revelstoke, B.C. And Alma writes,
We have a nine-year-old Maltese named Maggie. Recently she has started having fainting spells. She will fall over and remain unconscious for several minutes.
Then when she wakes up she seems okay. We are wondering if it could be epilepsy, except she does not twitch or convulse when unconscious. Any thoughts?
Well, it goes without saying, Alma, that this could be a very serious problem. We can be thinking of all kinds of things, especially a heart problem.
So I would suggest consulting your veterinarian, and your vet may want to do things like an ultrasound, ultrasonic testing, electrocardiogram, even blood tests and x-rays.
So I think it is very important that you rule out heart problems in a situation like this.
We have another letter here. And this one is a simple question, but a very complex one. It is from Burt Barton of Stamford, Connecticut.
And Burt writes, Are there any natural remedies that have been shown to be absolutely effective against fleas?
That is a loaded question. You know, there are a lot of all-natural or holistic remedies that have been touted to work against fleas.
Unfortunately, when you take these remedies and you apply them in a scientific way, most of them have been disappointing.
Some of the ones, I talked to some veterinary parasitologists, for example, and they said things like garlic powder, eucalyptus leaves, rosemary leaves,
even some of the B vitamins like brewer's yeast have not been shown to be effective when they were tested.
You may have your own ideas on it, but there is no evidence. Whatever you do use, you are doomed to failure if you only treat the pet.
Remember, you've got to treat the environment as well.
Send your letters and pet photos to Dear Dr. Bernie, Care of Pet Connection, 49 Ontario Street, 3rd Floor, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5A 2V1.
Sorry photos cannot be returned.
Well, that's all the time we have for today. I hope you enjoyed yourself and I look forward to seeing you right here on Pet Connection next time.
I'm Dr. Bernie Piquet reminding you, don't forget to connect with your pet. Bye-bye for now.
Coming up next on the Discovery Channel, a new generation of chefs bring fresh culinary talent to America's finest restaurants on Great Chefs.
Then, travel the globe for an international feast on world-class cuisine.
The Discovery Channel is brought to you by ESA, the European Union and the European Union Foundation.