Healthy Pets: A Dog Owners Manual on How To Treat For Radiation Sickness

From the desk of Sharda Baker.



 

 

Hello and welcome everyone!

This is Sharda with a healthy pets newsletter update!

Lately there has been a lot of noise in the news and amongst worried dog owners about the issue of radiation sickness in healthy pets; how it affects dogs and what can be done to treat an animal which has been exposed to higher than doses of radiation.

This might seem like a strange condition to be worried about in this day and age, but it is the recent and tragic earthquake in Japan that has gotten many pet owners worried about their dogs health condition.

As you well know that during the large earthquake one of Japans major nuclear energy plants were damaged causing leakages of radioactive chemicals into the air and sea water.

Environmentalists are now worried that because Japan was also hit by a number of other after shocks which caused small tsunamis, some of the contaminants could realistically be swiftly carried over the North Pacific Ocean to Americas west coast cities.

Since the event in Japan veterinary services in places like California have reported higher patient turnovers for radiation sickness check ups, a sudden interest in purchasing buying their pets insurance and advice on what pet medication is needed to protect their dogs from radiation exposure.



A long time veterinarian from a well known Californian vet university has gone on record saying that by the time the contaminants reach the U.S. coast it would contain such a low level of radioactive material that healthy pets would not be in any severe danger.

Though for those owners who are worried it is possible to put your animal on a course of 'Potassium Iodide' to reduce or stop the uptake of harmful radioactive ingredients that may harm your animal.

 

SYMPTOMS OF RADIATION SICKNESS IN CANINES

The main danger of radioactivity is being exposed to a high enough dose to cause genetic damage and cancer, both of which inevitably lead to a slow death. The problem with radioactive poisoning is that its symptoms can take a while to show and by that time it is possibly too late.

The signs of radiation sickness in canines can vary depending on the level of exposure that they have had; small dose of radioactivity will result in minor and almost immeasurable changes to a healthy pets body.

Though it is best to consult a veterinary expert before jumping to conclusions, here are some of the main signs that your dog has been exposed to radioactive materials:

  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Fever
  • Hair loss
  • Blood in stool
  • Lack of energy
  • No appetite


TREATMENT OF RADIOACTIVE POISONING IN DOGS

The main worry of exposure to radiation is either sustaining genetic damage, problems with the normal functioning of vital organs and more seriously contracting cancer through cell damage.

Unfortunately, there is no set treatment for animals that have been exposed to doses of radioactivity because of its uncommon nature, but there are 3 medications that may be available in your local pet clinics which can help reduce the level of damage to his/her vital organs.

These are not specifically veterinary medications, though have been proven to work in the past on healthy pets undergoing treatments for cancer.

  1. Potassium Iodide - This is the most common chemical used to prevent and counteract the effects of radiation poisoning and in particular iodine 131, a dangerous byproduct of most nuclear waste. Taking regular doses of potassium iodine will stop a dog's thyroid from absorbing the poisonous iodine 131 and reduce the chances of him/her developing serious thyroid cancer. In small doses, potassium iodide is harmless, but over time it can build up to cause potentially fatal side affects in canines.

  2. DTPA - Better known as diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid, this chemical attaches to 3 types of harmful radioactive elements; plutonium, curium and americium and passes them out of the dogs body in the urine before it has a chance to do damage to the vital organs.

  3. Prussian blue - This is actually a type of blue dye; when taken into the dogs system it binds itself to two particular radioactive elements: thallium and cesium. The Prussian blue dye in turn prevents these toxic elements from passing into a healthy pets system, instead passing out of the body in the feces.

Remember to consult your Vet immediately if you notice those symptoms above. This update is simply to educate everyone about radiation in our dogs and is in no way intended to scare dog owners.

I really hope you learned a LOT of things from today's healthy pets newsletter update..

All the best and take care

Warmly,