How to remove a tick from your pet

When you find a tick, carefully remove the entire tick from the pet’s body using tweezers or a tick scoop. Tick scoops, are available at most pet supply stores. To remove a tick using tweezers, grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible by trying to grip its head. Steadily pull up until it releases its grip on your pet. Do not squeeze to the point of crushing the tick. If the head is left in the skin, use a sterile needle to remove the head similar to how you would remove a splinter. Wash the tick bite and your hands with soap and water. Note: The old wives tails that says using petroleum jelly, alcohol and a hot match do not work to loosen ticks from the skin. Remember: Ticks do not drown in water, so get rid of them by wrapping in tissue and flushing them down the toilet, or drown them in rubbing alcohol or tea tree oil. Crushing a tick risks the spread of disease.
Read more tips for managing fleas and ticks.


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Sunshine Blend Essential Oil

Nature's Sunshine has a special summer blend available. I am excited about it and plan to use it as a refreshing spray for both me and the dogs. I think it would be a great addition to pet shampoo! NSP's essential oils are like no other. Because an enormous amount of raw material is used to make pure, natural essential oils, a surprisingly large amount of products on the market have been mixed with chemical substances or diluted with lower quality, commericial-grade oils! (Yuk!)

After discovering that many manufacturers taint their essential oils with foreign substances in order to save on production costs, Nature's Sunshine resolved to find premier sources of genuine and complete essential oils.

For a limited time only: SUNSHINE BLEND

This special combination of essential oils reflects NSP’s outlook—sunny and warm! It contains 100% pure, cold-pressed essential oils from Lemon, Orange, Pink Grapefruit and Lime. This bright, clean aroma helps uplift, invigorate, inspire and bring balance to the body, mind and spirit.

Available while supplies last.

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Instinctive Choice

Cats evolved as desert animals, so their sense of thirst is not as well-developed as in other mammals. In fact, cats will only drink an average of two milliliters of water for every gram of dry food they eat.

Our veterinarian formulator, Dr. Jane Bicks, used a unique approach to formulating our premium canned cat food. Based upon feline physiology, and taking evolutionary factors into consideration, she created a canned food to ensure that cats receive adequate hydration. Instinctive Choice Premium Canned Health Food for Kittens & Adult Cats is a revolutionary canned food that is formulated to provide your cat with a meal that is similar in moisture and nutrition to how felines have fed in the wild for millennia.

Instinctive Choice contains superior-quality proteins from certified-organic chicken, tender turkey and succulent shrimp. And figuring prominently in this savory feast is nutrient-rich water, offering the nutritional components found in chicken broth and the other proteins in this food, which allow your cat to obtain moisture closer to the way a cat in the wild would get it. And mixed in this unique recipe is dog grass extract, which mimics the grasses cats in the wild found in their prey.
Other highlights of this tasty food include added Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, Taurine, and a superior blend of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants to help kittens grow strong and healthy, and to maintain the health and wellness of adult cats.
And all of these fine ingredients are cooked in a delicious broth that is seasoned with a touch of rosemary, for a flavor that even finicky cats can’t resist. With Instinctive Choice Premium Canned Health Food, you can give kittens and cats the nutrients they truly crave,with the fluid intake they need to thrive.

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Flea Control Safety Issues

if you are using a spot on or topical flea control on your pets, please take note of safety concerns:

Imidacloprid (often sold as Advantage)

Imidacloprid is toxic to animal nervous systems. In a test conducted by an midacloprid manufacturer, it caused tremors in laboratory animals.

Fipronil (often sold as Frontline)

Fipronil insecticide products disrupt hormone function. Scientists at the Universidade Federal do Parana in Brazil showed that an application of Frontline to laboratory animals caused dramatic changes in the levels of two sex hormones and disrupted the animals' reproductive cycle.

Link to the article: http://www.pesticide.org/fleainsecticides.html



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Are Flea Control Products Safe?

Are Flea Control Products Safe?

Many pet owners feel that if they buy a flea control product in a grocery store it must be safe. Or, if they have their homes treated by a "professional" applicator or use products recommended by their veterinarians, the products must be safe. In fact, researchers found that many pet owners were so complacent about pesticide hazards that even during pregnancy and the first 6 months of a new child's life parents "failed to recognize and reduce the pervasive exposures associated with the use of no-pest-strips and flea collars." 1 To dispel this myth of safety, it is crucial to understand a few points about how pesticides work and how they get on the market.

First, pesticides are poisons; they are primarily intended to kill living organisms. Many pesticides affect a broad range of living things. For example, organophosphate and carbamate compounds (two classes of pesticides commonly used for flea control) act on the nervous system of insects and mammals in the same manner.2 When you use these chemicals you can affect not only fleas, but your pet and yourself.

Second, the law that regulates pesticides - the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) - does not use safety as the fundamental basis for allowing a pesticide on the market. FIFRA is based on a risk-benefit standard. This allows pesticides to be used even if they pose hazards to humans and the environment so long as the benefits outweigh the hazards.3 Any health or environmental hazards can be acceptable if the estimated economic benefits are large.

Third, many products on the market today do not meet current standards for health and safety testing. These products were already registered when FIFRA's testing requirements were passed in 1972. While the law was amended in 1988 to set deadlines for bringing the testing up to current standards, the deadlines have not been met.4 This means that we have limited information on some older pesticides.

Fourth, pesticide products are made up of more than one chemical. Most pesticides are composed of "active" ingredient(s) , whose identity must be listed on the label, and "inert" ingredients whose identities most manufacturers claim are trade secrets. The term "inert" is misleading, because these secret ingredients are neither biologically, chemically, nor toxicologically inactive. Much of the testing required for EPA registration is done on the active ingredient only.5 Therefore, adverse effects of the pesticide as it is used are untested and unknown.

1. Davis, J.R., R.C. Brownson, and R. Garcia. 1992. Family pesticide use in the home, garden, orchard, and yard. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 22:260-266.

2. Cremlyn, R.J. 1991. Agrochemicals: Preparation and mode of action. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. Pp.123 and 149.

3. Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act 2(bb).

4. U.S. EPA. Pesticides and Toxic Substances. 1992. Pesticide reregistration. Washington, D.C., May. Pp.2-3.

5. U.S. EPA. 1987. Inert ingredients in pesticide products; Policy statement. Fed. Reg. 52(77):13305, Apr. 22.
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Bug Repellant - Natural

Lemon Spray: Take a large lemon (the thicker the rind the better!) and slice it paper thin. Place the slices in a bowl and add a tablespoon of crushed rosemary leaves (or a sprig of fresh). Pour over, a quart of hot, nearly boiling, water. Steep overnight. Strain and put into a large spray bottle. Refrigerate. Shake well before applying – do not wet the coat, lightly mist. (not intended for the face) Click here for more recipes.

Don't have any lemons? Try lemon essential oil!

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Animal Hospice

Animal Hospice Compassionate Crossings is not a place, but rather a philosophy that promotes healing through shared understanding. We provide support, compassion, and most of all a sense of connection. You are not alone in your time of grief, even if you live in a remote area.

We offer our services to anyone anticipating or coping with the loss of a beloved animal companion. Our group of trained volunteers will visit by telephone, mail, e-mail, or in person with anyone who asks for help in dealing with the loss or impending loss of an animal. We will support the person through visits before, during, and after the death. We provide ideas and planning for memorial services, designing and conducting these services for those in our neighborhood of Idaho and giving others the tools for their areas.

We provide ongoing support groups, direct people toward appropriate reading material, and encourage people to share together their feelings of love and loss surrounding their animal. When we suffer a loss, rarely can we find unconditional support and acceptance for our pain. When an animal dies, people who do not understand the depth of love possible between animals and humans are unable to give much comfort to a grieving person during or after the death of an animal. But we understand!

Our telephone helpline is answered daily and calls are returned by a trained and caring volunteer who is there to listen. We are happy to take your call, no matter where you live. You can also set up a home visit if you are a Wood River Valley resident in Idaho where AHCC has its headquarters. There are no charges for our services but toll calls are returned collect to allow our operating expenses to better serve the Wood River Valley community. www.animalhospice.org

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