8
in other words
march13
2012
Creature Comforts ~ Spring Time Preventative Care
By Michal Smith
The arrival of spring not only
reminds us of the opportunity for extra
cleaning – as in “spring cleaning” but
also for worming our pets! There are
3 main types of worms that infest our
pets both small and large, Hookworms,
Roundworms and Tapeworms. A pre-
ventative program will consist of a good
flea killer along with a good worming
regimen. A large percentage of puppies
and kittens are born with microscopi-
cally small roundworm larvae in their
tissues. The larvae are introduced to
the developing pup or kitten right in the
mother’s uterus -- via migration through
the mother’s tissues! In the later stages
of pregnancy they activate and infest the
soon-to-be-born puppies and kittens.
Pets with intestinal worms expe-
rience a range of symptoms from anemia,
malnutrition, and death to no symptoms
at all. Intestinal worms compete with
the pet for nutrients so that a pet with a
heavy worm burden looks malnourished
and has a swollen belly. The hair is often
dry, dull, and coarse. There can be mu-
coid discharge from the eyes. Pets can
have diarrhea and abdominal pain. Over
time, they lose weight.
Pets with parasites that suck
blood (hookworms) or cause blood loss
because they damage the intestinal wall
(whipworms) experience anemia. Ane-
mic pets have pale mucous membranes
and a rapid heartbeat. Roundworm
larvae can be transferred to the nursing
pup or kitten from the mother’s milk.
The larvae make their way to the intesti-
nal tract where they can grow up to five
inches in length. They start shedding
eggs and try desperately to keep house in
the small intestine of the pup (or kitten).
The eggs that the adult worms pass in
the stool can now re-infest the animal or
other dogs and cats if somehow the egg-
bearing stool is eaten. When the worm
eggs hatch, larvae are released internally
to migrate to the animal’s lungs where
the larvae (remember, the larvae are mi-
croscopic in size) are finally coughed up,
swallowed, and finally grow up to adults
in the small intestine.
Female roundworms can pro-
duce 200,000 eggs in just one day.
These eggs are protected by a hard shell,
which enables them to exist in soil for
up to years. Puppies and kittens with ac-
tive roundworms in the intestines often
have a pot-bellied appearance and poor
growth. The worms may be seen in vom-
it or stool. If not treated in time, a severe
infestation can cause death by intestinal
blockage. Roundworms don’t just affect
young pups (or kittens), though. They
can infest adult dogs and cats, too.
However, as mentioned above,
the larvae can encyst in body tissue of
adult dogs and cats, remain dormant for
periods of time, and
can activate during the
last stages of pregnancy to infest the
puppies and kittens. Worming the moth-
er has no effect on the encysted larvae in
the body tissues and cannot prevent the
worms from infecting the newborn. Al-
most all wormers work only on the adult
parasites in the intestinal tract.
Hookworms are more common
in dogs than in cats. They are very small,
thin worms that fasten to the wall of the
small intestine and suck blood. Dogs get
hookworms from larval migration in the
uterus, from contact with the larvae in
stool-contaminated soil, or from ingest-
ing the eggs after birth. As with round-
worms, the hookworm larvae can also
be transferred to the nursing pup from
the mother’s milk. A severe hookworm
infestation can kill puppies, often mak-
ing them severely anemic from the loss
of blood to the hookworms’ vampire-
like activities! Chronic hookworm in-
festation is a common cause of illness
in older dogs, often demonstrated as
poor stamina, feed efficiency and weight
maintenance. Other signs include bloody
diarrhea, weight loss, anemia, and pro-
gressive weakness. Diagnosis is made
by examining the feces for eggs under a
microscope.
The tapeworm is transmitted to
dogs and cats that ingest fleas -- as ap-
parently fleas think tapeworm eggs are
real tasty -- or hunt and eat wildlife or
rodents infested with tapeworms or fleas.
If you were to see an entire tapeworm
you would notice that they are arranged
The Water Rate Decision
By Dale Webb
With limited space for
this article, I will cut straight
to the chase. One camp on the
Public Works Committee feels
that the lower end users are getting
“hosed” and the opposing group
feels that shifting the existing split
between fixed costs (base charge)
and variable costs (consumption
charge) will be unfair to the higher
users.
Personally, I do not
understand why anybody would
feel a low end user using 2,000
gallons of water or less is getting
gouged. These customers don’t
pay a dime for the water that they
use; the users that use more than
2,000 gallons pick it up. The low
end users pay the base rate, but
should we be dividing their 2,000
with a small head at one end and many
tiny brick-like repeating segments mak-
ing up the rest of the worm.
Tapeworms can reach 4 to 6
inches in length within the intestine.
Each tapeworm may have as many as
90 segments! Although it is the last seg-
ments in the chain that are released from
the worm that can be seen in the stool or
attached to the fur under the pet’s tail.
Many cases are diagnosed simply by
seeing these tiny terminal segments at-
tached to the pet’s fur around the anus
or under the tail; they even move around
a bit shortly after they are passed and
before they dry up and look like little
grains of rice or confetti. It is also these
segments of the tapeworm which con-
tain the eggs.
The most successful treatment
for dog and cat worms involves a dual
approach of eliminating both fleas and
worms at the same time. Consider be-
ginning with a good grooming using a
flea killing shampoo followed by a topi-
cal flea killer such as Fiproguard which
also kills flea larvae and ticks plus a dose
of a worm killer such as Far D Wormer.
(HINT: the coupon for 10% off groom-
ing at Creatures Pet Store from the Feb-
ruary 14 issue of Vernonia’s Voice is still
good through 3/31) It is always wise to
visit the vet if your pet is displaying se-
vere symptoms. Call us or come by at
503-429-PETS (7387). Open Mon-Fri
10-6, Sat 10-5.
gallons into the base amount and
then declaring they are paying
more than higher end users per
gallon? The answer is no.
We have to remember
what the base rate is supposed to
be for. The base rate covers the
fixed costs, which basically are all
the costs excluding the actual cost
to produce and pump the water to
our homes.
So what are these fixed
costs? Meter reading, data center
activities, 40% of the billing clerk
wages and benefits, actual bill
mailing, bonded debt, infrastructure
maintenance, vehicle costs, fixed
electricity costs, diesel-gasoline-
natural gas, insurance, a third of
the city administrators wages and
benefits, a third of the finance
officers wages and benefits, free
water used by city buildings and
parks, free water used by our
fire department and most likely
a myriad of other activities we
take for granted performed by our
public works crews.
Any person who pays the
base rate benefits from a far bigger
infrastructure than they could of
afforded as an individual and one
of the biggest benefits is the fire
protection that our water system
provides. With our existing fire
fighting rating also comes lower
house hold insurance cost, this
only is occurring because we have
all shouldered the burden of the
cost as a community.
We need to stop acting
as individuals in our community
when it comes to supporting it, or
we will simply cease to exist as a
community.
Vernonia
Coffee Roasters
START RIGHT. START HERE. SM
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TO PERFECTION”
Time to get your MOWERS tuned up
We’ll take your dead mower
Drop off your push or rider here
Also wanted: used auto batteries
Now available at
vernonia sentry market
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Family owned & operated for over 40 years
834 Bridge St., Vernonia (503) 429-6364
Your LOCAL property management company
Joni Jackson
Owner/Principal Broker
Real Estate Sales
• Residential
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• Vacant Land
Property Management
• Residential
• Commercial
• Vacation Rentals
Real Estate Service with a plan of ACTION!
503-956-0445
Joni@RelianceRES.com
1287 Cherry Street • Vernonia, OR 97064
www.RelianceRES.com
