Hunting Dogs Safety
With hunting season upon us, it’s important to make sure hunting dogs are ready for action. Prepare your dog for the season by visiting your veterinarian for a wellness check and ensure your pet’s vaccinations are up-to-date. Also, be sure that your dog is on a monthly dewormer such as HEARTGARD® Plus or Interceptor® as they can very easily pick up worms in the wild and transfer them to your family members. Below we’ve listed some things to look out for and some tips on how you can keep your dog healthy this fall. If you have any questions, please contact the Mountain Home AFB Veterinary Treatment Facility at 828-2221. Our knowledgeable staff can address your questions or schedule an appointment for your dog.
Poisoning:
Lead Shot/Bullets: Aside from the trauma caused by gunshot wounds, the lead found in pellets and bullets may lead to lead poisoning if left in the body. If your dog is shot, seek veterinary care immediately. If the bullet fragments or pellets cannot be removed, check blood levels regularly to ensure that chronic lead poisoning doesn’t occur. Signs of lead toxicity include behavioral changes, gastrointestinal signs (vomiting, diarrhea), and neurologic problems (including walking drunk, seizuring, and blindness).
Clay Pigeons: Pigeons contain coal tar and heavy metals such as lead, zinc, copper, and nickel, and can result in toxicity if ingested. If you have a “mouthy” hunting dog known to ingest toys or rocks, beware. Make sure they’re not eating scattered pieces of clay pigeons, as poisoning can result in liver, brain, and kidney damage
Mushrooms: Because hunting dogs are exposed to the great outdoors, they’re more likely to ingest a mushroom in the field. While most mushrooms are generally non-toxic, certain types can be very dangerous. One of the most dangerous found throughout the United States is the plain looking Amanita phalloides or death cap mushroom. Because proper identification of mushrooms is extremely difficult, consider all ingestions of unidentified mushrooms as toxic until proven otherwise. Depending on the type of mushroom ingested, symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, depression, tremors, and seizures, with ingestion usually leading to liver and kidney damage.
Safety tips:
· Hunting dogs are more likely to run through barbed wire or lacerate themselves by running through dense brush. Therefore, it’s important to keep your dog in a blaze orange chest protector vest. This will protect vital organs from injury and can also save on expensive vet bills. You may also want to consider training them to wear booties in order to protect their pads. An alternate to that is by toughening their pads in advance with a product such as Pad-Tough, which the Base Veterinary Treatment Facility routinely stocks.
· An excited hunting dog that is not wearing an electronic shock collar, can take off after a scent, possibly leading to hours of searching for your companion. Make sure identification tags are well secured onto your dog’s collar in addition to having them microchipped to ensure a happy reunion.
· Rarely, a genetic abnormality in Labrador retrievers, called “hunting dog hypoglycemia,” can result in an acute drop in blood sugar resulting in the collapse of a normally active dog. Making time for frequent water and snack breaks throughout the day is important.
· Heat stroke is always a big risk early in the hunting season. Excited dogs combined with higher air temperatures can increase chances of heat exhaustion. Keeping a canine first aid kit handy along with a thermometer is important in case of an emergency. If you notice your dog constantly panting, make sure to take frequent water breaks and water dips in ponds without blue-green algae. When in doubt, always play it safe and give your dog a break to cool off.
· Make sure to scope out the area where you are hunting. Have the phone number for a local veterinarian, emergency veterinarian, and Pet Poison Helpline programmed into your phone in the event of an emergency.
· Ensure your dog is vaccinated against Leptospirosis. Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease which can be spread in animal urine. It can be in streams or stagnant water. It spreads to animals upon ingestion of the contaminated water or by direct contact with the urine. It is a zoonotic disease meaning that it can also be spread to humans as well.
