Are You Leaving Dog Poop in The Yard?: The Dangers of Not Cleaning Up After Your Dog

Is dog poop dangerous?
Cleaning up after your dog can be a stinky job, but somebody's got to do it!
Constant clean up is necessary for a healthy environment for you and your family.

Love, food, and shelter were all things you actively agreed to
providing for your new pet when you purchased or adopted them.
Sanitation and cleanup are also important facets of pet ownership
that are critical to the health and well-being of your entire
family.

Dog feces is as high as 3rd on the list of contributors to
contaminated water. Cleaning up after your dog is one guarantee in
the life of every pet owner. Left un-checked, your yard can quickly
turn into a mine field of feces in a week or less. On average, dogs
do a number two twice per day which adds up to about 14 piles of
poo in just one week, per dog. Contrary to popular belief, dog
feces is not fertilizer and does not provide any benefit to the
soil.

So, what's in it?
Dog feces may contain parvovirus, whipworms, hookworms, roundworms,
threadworms, campylobacteriosis, giardia, and coccidia. If left
unattended, these parasites will contaminate the water, soil, and
can even cause infection in both pets and humans (especially
children). The microscopic Hookworm larvae can be passed to another
pet or person directly through the skin or by accidental ingestion
as can other bacteria.

What bacterias can cause infections in both pets and humans?
Yes, humans are capable of contracting hookworms, tapeworms,
threadworms and campylobacteriosis. This is the most significant
reason to avoid allowing dogs (especially puppies) to like your
face and mouth - affectionately known as "puppy kisses". If a dog
has recently eaten feces or attempted to groom their hind quarters
and come into contact with this infectious material, there is a
chance the parasites will be passed directly into your mouth.
Children are especially venerable to infection because they tend to
enjoy playing in the dirt, where parasites such as hookworm larvae
lay dormant waiting for a new host. Young children may also put
dirty hands or toys in their mouth, further increasing the chance
for infectious material consumption.

What can you do to prevent the spread of infections/bacteria?
Pet feces can be catastrophic to the local water table,
contaminating nearby ponds, lakes, rivers and drinking water. When
feces is allowed to remain on the soil for long periods, rainstorms
will begin to dilute and break apart the feces and slowly spread
the bacteria on other contaminants into local water sources. If
your yard happens to hold water for extended periods of time, the
problem may be amplified.

To avoid potential infection, dog feces should be removed from the
yard every 1 - 7 days, depending on the size of the dog and number
of dogs in the household. Larger dogs will need more frequent
cleanup, as will households with more than 1 dog. A family with one
Pomeranian will have a much lower environmental impact than the
family with 2 Great Danes.

If you are too busy to clean up after your dog, or the thought of
it just makes you gag, there are many services available today,
that will gladly do the dirty work for you.

A sanitation expert will locate and remove any feces found on
premises 1 or more times per week for a fee. Some
areas do have legal statutes that regulate the cleanup and disposal
of pet waste, so be sure to contact your local health board for
more information.

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6 Common Illnesses to Watch for in Puppies

Your puppy is brand new and you want to protect him. The best thing you can do is to feed him a healthy, balanced diet, says Dr. Jim Dobies, a veterinarian with South Point pet hospital in Charlotte, N.C., and a member of the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association.

To read more on this story, click here: 6 Common Illnesses to Watch for in Puppies

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Canine Parvovirus, A Highly Contagious Viral Disease that Can Produce a Life-Threatening Illness Usually Spread from Dog to Dog by Direct Contact

"Parvo" is a word most puppy owners learn, and learn to dread. It's short for canine parvovirus, the most common infectious dog disease in the U.S.

Even though it's a relatively new disease in the dog world, parvo's ubiquitous--present at significant levels in every environment, from home to kennel to park. In fact, trying to shield a puppy from exposure is considered completely futile in this day and age. It's a ridiculously tough virus that can survive for months on living things, and even on objects such as furniture, toys, and carpets.

It's a serious infection, too: it can kill in a matter of days, and it's 80 percent fatal. Puppies less than six months old and older dogs are the most vulnerable. Luckily, a simple vaccine is all it takes to prevent this horrible disease.

Causes
Parvo is actually a family of viruses. Many mammals have some version of it, including humans, though fortunately parvo doesn't pass from species to species--each type of animal gets its own special version. It was first isolated back in the 1960s, but a mutant form called CPV-2 appeared virtually overnight in 1978. Then a mutation of that showed up in 1979, causing a true health crisis in the canine world--an epidemic that killed thousands of pets and triggered a vaccine shortage.

Today that virus has been supplanted by a version called CPV-2b, but because of vaccination for puppies and tight health controls, there are very few cases of adult parvo; it's considered a "puppy disease." Still, it's very serious: dogs catch parvo and die from it every year. (There's some talk of other strains beginning to emerge, but they've yet to be formally identified.)

The virus itself is deceptively simple: just a single strand of DNA, without the usual sheath of fat to protect it. This, ironically, makes it harder to kill with standard disinfectants and allows it to survive outside a host body for as long as five months.

Parvo is usually spread from dog to dog by direct contact (in parks, dog shows, kennels, pet shops, and the like) or by contact with infected feces. People can contribute to the spread of the disease by tracking fecal matter on their shoes. Since the virus can survive a wide range of temperatures and live outside the animal for months, it's extremely tough to eradicate. That's why vaccination is so important.

Symptoms
It's possible for adult dogs to have a mild form of parvo and show no symptoms at all. In its acute phase, however, symptoms include:

• loss of appetite
• depression
• fever
• massive dehydration
• lethargy
• bloody diarrhea
• severe, repeated vomiting

When it's time to see a vet
The disease can kill a dog quite quickly (sometimes in a matter of days), and it may leave surviving animals with intestinal and heart damage. So if you see symptoms or even suspect parvo, get to your vet immediately. The only way to know if a dog has parvovirus is through a diagnostic test.

However, the best time to see the vet about parvo is when you get your puppy vaccinated. That's the best thing you can do to prevent this killer of puppies from ever entering your life.

When your puppy's most vulnerable
The timing of protecting your puppy can be a little tricky. The mild and temporary immunities that the mother passes on to her pups actually interfere with the vaccine's effectiveness--but exactly when those maternal antibodies fade varies from dog to dog, depending on factors such as nutrition, medical history, and even breed. It's that window of vulnerability--the time after the mother's immunity has faded, and before the vaccine has kicked in--when puppies catch this ever-present virus.

That's why puppy vaccines have to come in at least two stages, and why it's vitally important that you don't skip that second visit to the vet. It's also important to not let your dog walk on the ground where infected dogs may have been until the vaccine has fully kicked in--ask your vet when it's safe to take your pup out and about.

What's next
Treatment generally means a lengthy and expensive hospital stay, with at least five to seven days in intensive care, rehydration through an IV, lots of antibiotics, and medications to control nausea. Even then the prognosis isn't good. Many severely infected animals die, even with the best available care. Without the correct amount of properly balanced intravenous fluids, their chance of recovery is very small. Beating parvo is a difficult challenge, even for the toughest of puppies.

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