Sanibel

Several years ago my parents bought a place on Sanibel Island in Florida and started spending half the year there.  I love going down to visit, but it can be really tough to get away from the clinic and this summer it didn't happen.  Around Labor Day my cousin Chip and his wife Krystal moved to Big Pine Key near Key West...and I had the idea that maybe Thanksgiving on Sanibel would be doable.  The clinic is only open a half day on Weds, would be closed on Thurs for Thanksgiving, and we usually come in and work a half day or until we run out of clients on Fri and are closed on Sat.  I figured I could leave Tues night or Weds morning and come back Sun night and only have to close 2 extra half days.  Luckily my parents, Chip and Krystal thought it was a good idea as well.  Mom and Dad drove down, I flew down Wednesday morning, and Chip and Krystal drove up with their Lab Vader.   The only one who DIDN'T think it was a good plan was Mom and Dad's cat Spooky.  It's hard to say if he was more annoyed by Vader or by me, his least favorite person on the face of the earth.

Vader, on the other hand, thought it was a GREAT idea and wasted no time investigating the pool.  It did take him just a little bit to figure out how to get IN, but once he had that down he was in heaven.

And that was before we took him to the beach.  He was in seventh heaven...their new house on Big Pine Key is on a canal, but he hasn't tried to jump in there yet.  And the beach is at the end of their street, but it is private access there so I don't think he's spent much time in the ocean yet.

 The next day we went back to the beach;  it was about 80 degrees but the water was COLD!  Krystal and Vader braved it for a little while and Dad and Chip took out the kayak.  Mom and I were wimps and watched from our beach chairs!

 Vader looks very handsome, but it is hard to catch a Lab NOT looking goofy!  The one below is my favorite goofball shot.

But my favorite place on the island is Ding Darling Wildlife refuge, which takes up a huge percentage of the island itself.  Ding has about a five mile drive through the refuge;  you can drive through at your own pace (usually barely rolling for me), stop and get out as you like, walk the trails and climb the viewing towers, or just watch from the car.  I usually try to be there every morning as soon as the gates open and often make another run through in the afternoon or evening.

This time of year the white pelicans were very visible- they have not been there when I have gone down in the summer.  The more common brown pelicans are around most of the time, but they tend to spend their time on the ocean rather than the bay side where the refuge is.

This particular tree must be a favorite spot for the osprey to bring their prey to eat, as I've found them there several times.  If you look closely, you can see this one has a fish in his talons.

My very favorite "Florida birds" are the Roseate spoonbills.  I didn't see many of them this year at Thanksgiving, so most of these shots were ones I took last summer when I went down.  They were very much in evidence that time and I got many good views.  They always remind me of the goons in the old Popeye cartoons.

This shot always makes me think of a choir director!

Aaargh!  Blogger STILL won't let me manipulate photos to my liking, so sorry about the annoying arrangements.  Next time I make a trip down I think I am going to rent a big lens for my camera, as I was definitely suffering from "lens envy" comparing myself to the REAL photographers down there!  My quest for a good in flight shot continues...they are really hard to get and I think I am going to have to figure out how to use a tripod and still get the right angle. 

Sorry for those of you with a slow connection- I know this one was really picture heavy but I always have fun shooting in FL!

How much should I feed him, Doc? Part One

One of the most frequent subjects I am asked about on a daily basis is feeding your pet. What, how much, when, etc. And by far, the MOST common problem I see in pets in my practice is obesity. I would venture to guess that 75% or more of the pets I see are above their ideal weight; it is not unusual to see both dogs and cats who weigh more than twice what they should. By contrast, I very rarely see pets who are too thin, and when I do it almost always indicates a medical problem.

Lets talk a little about cats first. Cats are true carnivores, or meat eaters. For many years, most of my clients have fed primarily dry cat food; I did too. However, in recent years we are finding that the dry foods are quite high in carbohydrates. Have you ever eaten a huge pasta dinner, felt so stuffed you had to unzip your pants, and yet woken up in the middle of the night with hunger pangs? That "carb crash" is similar to what happens to our cats fed high carb diets; the result being they eat more and more and get fatter and fatter. Feeding a predominantly canned diet has been shown to promote proper weight regulation; in addition, the increased water intake (most canned foods are 80% or so moisture) helps to maintain urinary tract health, which is important since lower urinary tract disease is one of the most common problems we see in our housecats. Obese cats are at much higher risk for diabetes, among other disease, and interestingly we are finding our diabetic kitties also are much better regulated on low carb diets.

With my current cats (Stevie, the clinic cat, who is prone to be chubby, and my two young cats who are two years old) I am now feeding predominantly canned food, though I do give a little dry in the mornings to keep them accustomed to it so that if I need to be gone overnight I can leave out dry food for them to have while I'm gone (although in practice, leaving a reasonable amount generally results in it all being eaten before I am out the door!). Since making this change Stevie is finally at an appropriate weight (though he will probably never lose his "paunch" unless we can convince him to do ab crunches!), my young cats are at an appropriate weight, and their coats look the best of any cats I have had. Best of all, the shedding is markedly less. On the down side, canned food is more expensive, messier, and smellier (but the expense may be offset by savings on medical care).

In an ideal world, cats are best "free fed", which means allowing them to nibble throughout the day. My cats would interpret this as "being allowed to nibble ALL day without stopping", so for chow hounds I recommend splitting the recommended feeding into a morning and evening portion. For maintainence, on most foods, about 1/2 cup per cat per day of dry or 1 5-6 oz can usually is a good starting point. You can always increase or decrease as needed depending on how your own pet maintains their weight on this amount. (Frequently the recommended feeding amounts on labels are WAY higher than what is needed to maintain an appropriate weight in both dogs and cats- I usually recommend looking at the bottom end of the range they give and subtracting 25% for a good starting point).

One thing to remember with cats is that, unlike dogs, there is never a place for fasting them when trying to get them to lose weight. When cats go without food for a period of time (and the fatter the cat, the shorter the time it takes for them to get into trouble- sometimes even less than a day in extreme cases), they begin to build up fatty deposits in the liver. This is called "hepatic lipidosis" and is an extremely frustrating disease in which the cats literally become unable to eat. It can be a primary problem or occur secondary to other disorders which make the cats stop eating in the first place. Once the cat starts eating again, the disease is generally reversible, but GETTING them eating again can be an incredibly difficult process, involving appetite stimulants, force feeding, and even placing feeding tubes. If your cat is not eating for more than a day, ESPECIALLY if it is a fat cat, that is an indication that you need to see a veterinarian.

Part 2 to follow later, when we will talk about dogs and how NOT to create a picky eater!