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One Way NOT to Save Money During Hard Times

By Pat Racimora on August 27, 2009 at 9:01 AM in Current Affairs

webjedi

Most of us see companion animals as our kids, but with a lot more hair. And, as you have probably noticed, we here at No Quarter are animal lovers. And, as times get tougher, we often find ourselves getting more creative with taking care of needs. After all, “necessity is the mother of invention.”

I see friends making some amazing adjustments: growing food instead of a lawn, learning how to alter still-good but older clothing to fit today’s styles, cooking from scratch. But one saving tip I see is of great concern unless it is done thoughtfully.

Instead of throwing out leftovers, people may be giving them to their dogs and cats for dinner. That can be OK, but beware of some food items that you might not think would be a problem. After all, we humans like these foods (some of them are even good for us) and our dogs and cats are almost human, right?

I’ll get right to it. Everyone wants to make sure that their pets do NOT get fed (or are able to get hold of when you’re not looking) the following:

Avocado
Chocolate (all forms)
Coffee (all forms)
Fatty foods
Macadamia nuts
Moldy or spoiled foods
Onions, onion powder
Raisins and grapes
Salt
Raw meat
Yeast dough
Garlic
Products sweetened with xylitol (e.g., sugarless candy)
Alcoholic beverages

(From a list put out by the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control of food-based causes of death and illness in pets.)

So, when feeding what we like to the fuzzy ones you love, please be very careful. In our culture we use, for example, lots of onion and garlic (in solid or powder form) in many dishes that might be shared with a pet.

Unfortunately I have very recent first-hand knowledge of the ordeal that can result when one’s beloved non-human companion gets hold of a food that is good for us, but poison to them. While having dinner with friends last week, Jedi (pictured above) managed to get into the back of a cupboard and pull out a bag of onion powder. We came home to a house dusted in white. I knew onion powder was not good for dogs, but he seemed fine. So we took no action. (Here is where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!) What we should have done was take him to the nearest animal emergency hospital and had his stomach pumped. Turns out it takes days for the toxin to destroy their red blood cells sufficiently to show any symptoms of a horrible type of anemia. Long story short: A hospital stay, a blood transfusion and over $2,000 later, Jedi is hopefully on the mend. It will be weeks before we know for sure.

One last word: Thanks to a tip from my friend, Dr. Ken Pope, a wonderful human being who devotes much of his life to caring for sick and abused animals, I called the ASPCA Poison Control Center. This is an amazing service! For a $60 fee you talk to a vet who is an expert in toxicology. And that’s not all. They tell you what to do and they will also prepare a report for your vet and FAX it as soon as you give your vet the case number and a special phone number. And that’s still not all! For the same $60, you can call again and again, and so can your vet. (I wish there was something like this for people!).