effieex3 reblogged
give emo batman a robin asap
effieex3 reblogged
It’s been awhile….
RAW DIETS
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misconceptions surrounding raw feeding and alleged health benefits.The American Animal Hospital Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, World Small Animal Veterinary Association, Food & Drug Administration, and Center for Disease Control ALL currently advise against feeding companion animals meats that have not been processed to eliminate pathogens. Links to their statements can be found at the end of this post. There’s a number of reasons why, but it ultimately boils down to a risk-benefit analysis. We know there are dangers associated with raw feeding, and we have no documented evidence of significant benefit to outweigh those risks. Additionally, many home made raw diets are not appropriately balanced for complete nutrition. If you are interested in feeding a raw diet, you should consult with a boarded Veterinary Nutritionist (DACVN) to discuss options.
I’ve written about raw diets here: https://www.docofalltrades.net/…/pet-food-facts-fiction…
Here are some studies on the subject of raw diets.
1: “The genomic signature of dog domestication reveals adaptation to a starch-rich diet” www.nature.com/articles/nature11837
2: “Perceptions, practices, and consequences associated with foodborne pathogens and the feeding of raw meat to dogs” www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2684052/
3: “Raw diets for dogs and cats: a review, with particular reference to microbiological hazards” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/31025713/
4: “Tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium bovis in pet cats associated with feeding a commercial raw food diet” https://journals.sagepub.com/…/10.1177/1098612X19848455
5: “Enteropathogenic Bacteria in Dogs and Cats: Diagnosis, Epidemiology, Treatment, and Control” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/…/j.1939-1676.2011.00821.x
6: “Intake of minerals, trace elements and vitamins in bone and raw food rations in adult dogs” https://www.cambridge.org/…/7520574DA173F4DB29330A6F858…
7: “Evaluation of recipes of home-prepared maintenance diets for dogs” https://avmajournals.avma.org/…/10.2460/javma.242.11.1500
8: “Raw food diets in companion animals: A critical review” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3003575/
9: “Apparent total tract energy and macronutrient digestibility and fecal fermentative end-product concentrations of domestic cats fed extruded, raw beef-based, and cooked beef-based diets” https://academic.oup.com/jas/article/90/2/515/4764443
10: “Raw meat-based diets for companion animals: a potential source of transmission of pathogenic and antimicrobial-resistant Enterobacteriaceae”https://royalsocietypublishing.org/…/10…/rsos.191170…& “RMBDs have a high risk for contamination with bacteria, parasites, and other pathogens. In addition to the risks of nutritional inadequacy and contamination with bacteria and parasites, other health concerns for an animal eating a RMBD include risks from ingestion of bones if they are included (e.g., constipation, diarrhea, dental fractures, gastrointestinal obstructions) and diet-induced hyperthyroidism from excessive ingestion of thyroid tissue. There is currently no properly documented evidence of health benefits for RMBD, but there are well documented risks. As such, the World Small Animal Veterinary Association Global Nutrition Committee recommends that RMBD not be fed to dogs and cats. ”https://www.wsava.org/…/WSAVA-GNC-raw-diet-statement-12…
“At this time, the vast majority of purported benefits of feeding raw foods remain unproven, while the risks and consequences have been documented. It is best to discuss the choice of feeding raw foods with your veterinarian so that an informed decision can be made with regard to your pet’s diet. https://acvn.org/frequently-asked-questions/#canned
“The AVMA discourages the feeding to cats and dogs of any animal-source protein that has not first been subjected to a process to eliminate pathogens because of the risk of illness to cats and dogs as well as humans. https://www.avma.org/…/Raw-or-Undercooked-Animal-Source…
“RAW PROTEIN DIET Past proponents of raw food diets believed that this was the healthiest food choice for pets. It was also assumed that feeding such a diet would cause no harm to other animals or to humans. There have subsequently been multiple studies showing both these premises to be false. Based on overwhelming scientific evidence, AAHA does not advocate nor endorse feeding pets any raw or dehydrated nonsterilized foods, including treats that are of animal origin.” https://www.aaha.org/…/aaha-position…/raw-protein-diet/”
The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) accepts the evidence for potential health risks to pets fed raw meat-based diets (RMBDs), and to humans who are in contact with RMBDs, or with pets fed RMBDs. The CVMA holds that the documented scientific evidence of potential animal and public health risks in feeding RMBDs outweighs any perceived benefits of this feeding practice. “https://www.canadianveterinarians.net/…/raw-meat-based…
Source: DocOfAllTrades
Some Valentine’s Day cards for the special cockroach in your life. 💕
Bonus (from this amazing fanfic by @blithers):
effieex3 reblogged
Anonymous asked:
Are there any famous forests in Greece? I know our country is famous for their beaches on summer, but I think we have some gems for winter as well.
Quite right, Greece has many beautiful forests but they are mostly known to Greeks and ecologists / biologists because as people know abroad, Greece has no trees. Regardless, allow me to add a title to this answer:
Forests in Greece
Somewhere in Kastoria by Dreamy_Photos from Pixabay.
I started making informative lists of forests based on region but it was getting too long so I will follow a shorter approach.
Officially Greece has:
- 10 national woodland parks
- 17 national parks, 11 of which have partial or extensive forest coverage
- 19 aesthetic forests
Because more than 80% of Greece is mountains, you can expect that there is forest coverage in many locations but since these other places haven’t earned the title “national” or “aesthetic”, I am not gonna attempt including them too. Also, as you see, they are too many to write information as well. If one or a few interest you more, I can make a detailed post about them separately.
National Woodland Parks
- Forest of Mount Párnitha, Attica, Sterea Hellas
- Forest of Sounion, Attica, Sterea Hellas
- The woodlands of Pindus Mountains expanding in most of Epirus and West Macedonia
- Woodlands of Mount Oeta, Pthiotis, Sterea Hellas
- The woodlands of Prespa Lakes, Florina, Macedonia
- The National Park of Vikos - Aoos, Ioannina, Epirus
- The forest of Samaria gorge, Chania, Crete island
- The woodlands of Mount Parnassus, Sterea Hellas
- The forest of Mount Ainos, Cephalonia island, Heptanese
- The National Park of Mount Olympus, Pieria, Macedonia
Mount Oeta by Dust Road from 500px.
National Parks (only the ones with important forests)
- National Park of Schinias and Marathon, in Attica, Sterea Hellas. Includes one of the last remaining forests of Aleppo pine and Stone pine in Greece and the Mediterranean.
- National Park of Koronia and Volvi lakes, in Thessaloniki, Macedonia. Includes the lakeside forest of Apollonia.
- National Park of North Pindus mountains, in Ioannina, Epirus and Grevena, Macedonia. Part of this region is also a National Woodland Park as we saw. This region is in general a national something. The wood highlight must be Valia Calda, which probably belongs to the woodland part IDK
- National Park of the lagoons of Missholongi & Aetolikon, the deltas of Achelous & Evinos rivers and Ehinades islands, in Aetolia - Acarnania, Sterea Hellas. Greek national parks tend to have easy names like that. It includes the well known Forest of Fraxos, which is registered as a “monument of nature”.
- National Park of the Forest of Dadia - Lefkimi - Soufli, in Evros, Thrace. Honestly since this is a national park of a forest in its entirety, I don’t understand why it is not in the woodland parks. Anyway, it is one of the most ecologically significant regions of Europe.
- National Park of Amvrakikos gulf & Lefkas island, expands in Aetolia - Acarnania of Sterea Hellas, Preveza of Epirus and Lefkas island (duh) of the Heptanese. It includes the seaside forest of Agios Varnavas in Preveza.
- National Park of East Macedonia and Thrace. This includes the Great Forest of Nestos river, which used to be the largest lakeside forest in the Balkans but is no more, which is why they are trying to protect whatever remains.
- National Park of Tzoumerka mountains, Peristeri and the gorge of Arachthos, This is a very mountainous region that extends from Ioannina and Arta in Epirus to Trikala in Thessaly and is forested with many tree species throughout.
- National Park of Strofylia - Kotihi, in Achaea and Elis, Peloponnese. It is a forest surrounded by a lagoon, swamps, a lake and the Ionian sea, where the forest gives its place to a beach with sand dunes. It is a wildlife shelter.
- National Park of Rhodope mountains, also in East Macedonia and Thrace. It includes two important forests: a) the Forest of Frakto in Drama, which is one of the five least disturbed by man woodlands of Europe. It is said there is no human interference for the last 500 years and b) the Forest of Drymos or Haidu in Xanthi which is full of bears, wolves, boars, deer and endangered birds.
- National Park of Mount Helmos and Vouraikos river, in Achaea and Corinthia, Peloponnese. This is another huge area that is very mountainous so it is covered by forests but it also includes one of the aesthetic forests, that of Kalavryta.
Valia Calda by Konstantinos Lagos from 500px.
Aesthetic Forests
- Palm forest of Vai, Lasithi, Crete island
- Forest of Kesariani, Mount Hymettus, Attica, Sterea Hellas
- Tempi Valley, Larisa, Thessaly
- Saint George - Karaiskakis, Karditsa, Thessaly
- Pefkia of Xylokastro, Corinthia, Peloponnese
- Suburban forest of Ioannina, Epirus
- Forest of Selemnos and Haradros streams, Achaea, Peloponnese
- Forest of Farsala, Larisa, Thessaly
- Forest of Steni, Euboea island, Sterea Hellas. This one turned to ashes this summer, hooray
- Woodland complex of Mount Ossa, Larisa, Thessaly
- Oak tree forest of Moggostos, Corinthia, Peloponnese
- Seaside forest of Monolithi, Preveza, Epirus
- Woodlands of Skiathos island, Sporades islands, Thessaly
- Stena of Nestos river, between Xanthi in Thrace and Kavala in Macedonia. This must be close or part of the aforementioned Great Forest.
- The also aforementioned Forest of the National Independence of Kalavryta
- The suburban forest of Tithorea, Phthiotis, Sterea Hellas
- Woodlands of Amygdaleona, Kavala, Macedonia
- Woodlands of the fortress hills and Ailia of Trikala, Thessaly
- Oak tree forest of Kouri & Almyros, Magnesia, Thessaly
The Kesariani aesthetic forest in Mount Hymettus, outside Athens, by vaisgaea from Wikimedia Commons.
!Very important note!
I hate these lists. Living all my life here, I consider them to be very lacking (therefore the Greek state is lacking) and thus I must add some honourable mentions.
- Elatia Forest, Drama, Macedonia. Now here’s the funny thing. This is the biggest forest in Greece! Somehow it is not mentioned anywhere above. I assume it is part of the National Park of Rhodope or the East Macedonia and Thrace one but it was literally ignored in all the national park websites I checked for more info! What the heck.
- Vytina forest, Arcadia, Peloponnese. This is one of the most popular and beautiful forests in Greece. Again, nowhere to be found.
- Foloi forest, Elis, Peloponnese. Another big forest, entirely ignored.
Foloi forest by nanpan from 500px.
Also, from personal experience, why has Skiathos made it to the aesthetic forests when Skopelos island next to it is even more forested??? Not that Skiathos isn’t pretty forested, but Skopelos is more, maybe the most forested Greek island. In general I think there are many forested areas that are better than half the official aesthetic forests but anyway. You do you, Greek state.
Vermio mountain has gorgeous forests and in general Imathia prefecture, you can find very beatiful gems of nature there. The Agios Nikolaos forest there is one of the prettiest places I have been.
Forest of Holomon in Chalcidice is great too and offers views to the incredible coastline of the region too.
There is also the petrified forest of Lemnos island but I assume that doesn't count as a living forest.
Mount Pelion in Magnesia might be one of the most densely vegetated regions of Greece but they put something random in Kouri Almyros or whatever it is called from that prefecture instead in the aesthetic my ass forests...
OKAY don’t mind me ranting about the aesthetic forests. They might be all nice, I don’t know, a couple of them that I have been in are truly beautiful, I just believe there are numerous places - maybe comparatively better - that are ignored.
I worked a lot in this answer and I start having a meltdown so I am stopping here, enjoy :) I am sure I forgot important places but blame the Greek state not me hehehehe
Goodnight or Good morning with this picture from the forest of Euboea which was burned to the ground because I am fun at parties.
Photo by Stathis Floros from Wikimedia Commons.
effieex3 reblogged
Absolutely.
effieex3 reblogged
Nikita Busyak Creates Architectural Drawings That Look Like They’re Illuminated With Real Lights
A simple flick of the switch can transform a home from dark and asleep to bright and full of life. Ukraine-based artist Nikita Busyak captures this effect in his enchanting pen and ink illustrations of cityscapes. In each architectural drawing, he digitally manipulates the windows so that they glow with golden light, making it seem as though someone is home.
effieex3 reblogged
Seizure First Aid.
Learn it. Share it. Know it. Use it.
100% correct medical information on tumblr for once; also consider calling 911 if you don’t know how often the person has seizures and ESPECIALLY if the seizure has lasted 5 minutes or more (which is why the watch is critical)
ishipphanaf
I have epilepsy so making sure the word is out on how to help people who do have seizures means a lot to me.
effieex3 reblogged
theexoticvet-deactivated2022070
Me: “Hi, it’s Dr. Blank. What’s going on with Doofers?”
Owner: “He had surgery Wednesday and when we took the bandage off leg, the bone is showing!”
Me: “I see we neutered Doofers on Wednesday. Nothing was done with his leg other than a catheter. How long ago did you notice this?”
Owner: “Wednesday”
Me: “His bone has been exposed since Wednesday?”
Owner: “Yes”
Me: “I’m sorry, this sounds serious. Can you send a photo?”
Owner:
“His skin is gone”
Me: “Ok. So, his fur has been shaved for the IV catheter. But his skin is intact, is there a wound you can see?”
Owner: “You can see the bone right there. It wasn’t like this before the surgery.”
Me: “You can see the shape of his bone, yes, but his skin is still covering it. If you look at your own wrist see how you can see that bony bump? But it’s not exposed bone, it’s covered by skin.”
Owner: “His skin has been shaved off. His arm is skinny.”
Me: “His fur is shaved off. His skin is under the fur. It’s like when you get a hair cut.”
Owner: “But I can see the bone.”
Me: “Ok well let’s get him in for an appointment because that is serious. You can come right now.”
Owner: “I can’t come until Wednesday.”
Me: “We really need to see him, he could be very sick.”
Owner: “We can’t. I’ll call back.”
I’m crying because the STRUGGLE. IS. REAL
Oh sweet potatoes, some people…
effieex3 reblogged
effieex3 reblogged
Anonymous asked:
I keep hearing the grain free diets for pets is just a fad that isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. My cat’s food that I chose happens to be grain free but I more chose it because of the high protein and organs in the ingredient list then it being grain free. Is there anything inherently bad about grain free diets? Or are they just a way to up the price tag?
gettingvetted here.
Yep, grain-free diets are a way to up the price tag. They started out as a fad since so many humans were adopting a gluten-free diet, and these days brands often like to claim that dogs and cats should not eat grains as part of their diet since they wouldn’t do so “in the wild”. Since dogs and cats are domesticated, they shouldn’t be eating anything in the wild, and are so far removed from their wild ancestors that their ability to digest grains have substantially increased. More recently, grain-free diets have been shown to contribute to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM, or heart failure).
However, it’s not just about grain-free diets. The diets that are causing DCM are now referred to as “BEG” diets – boutique companies, exotic ingredients, or grain-free diets. The apparent link between BEG diets and DCM may be due to ingredients used to replace grains in grain-free diets, such as lentils or chickpeas, but also may be due to other common ingredients commonly found in BEG diets, such as exotic meats, vegetables, and fruits. In addition, not all pet food manufacturers have the same level of nutritional expertise and quality control, and this variability could introduce potential issues with some products.
A diet should not be selected based on ingredients (or lack thereof). Rather, a pet owner should be asking these questions of a company:
You did it! You broke 2020 down to its bare essentials!
effieex3 reblogged
effieex3 reblogged
Anonymous asked:
Do cows just have a really high pain tolerance or something, to be wandering around stabbed and not care? Or are they just really good at faking being Perfectly Fine in case of predators?
At some point Looking Tough translates to Actually Tough. While they are a prey animal and will avoid displaying weakness, they are a relatively stoic species compared to something like the Thoroughbred which claims it’s dying whenever it stubs a toe.
- Dr Ferox
effieex3 reblogged
you might have a “medical degree” but i roleplayed as a medicine cat on a warrior cats forum in middle school so who’s more qualified here
i know this is a joke but some people be like this
effieex3 reblogged
Heyyy one of the residents at my school made this 😂
effieex3 reblogged
theexoticvet-deactivated2022070
The World: Everything is closed. Parties and gatherings are banned. Most restaurants are shut down. Many people work from home or can’t work. There is nothing to do outside of home.
Veterinary Clients: “Sorry I’m so late, we were busy.”
Every f***ing day during this shitshow
See also: “I want his vaccines done before Easter.”
Why? Are you going somewhere?
effieex3 reblogged
Coronavirus and Animals
There’s a lot of talk about Coronavirus at the moment, and a lot of misinformation in these early days while data is still being gathered, so lets clear some things up.
- There is more than one coronavirus. Coronavirus is a family, there’s a bunch of them, and many have been well known for a jolly long time.
- COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) is the illness caused by SARS-CoV-2, it’s relatively new and it’s what we’re all worried about.
The COVID-19 virus was detected in one, single dog in Hong Kong, owned by a human who was infected with the virus. This dog continued to have low levels of the virus detectable in its mouth for several days, never showed any signs of clinical disease, and so far (March 12th local time) has not demonstrated a serological response.
So it appears that while COVID-19 can exist in dogs, if it does so it is the dog getting infected from its human, and there is no evidence that they then transmit the illness on to other humans. Think of the dog’s mouth like unwashed human hands - the virus can be there, but hasn’t actually infected the hands.
Current advice is to keep suspect pets with their owners if they are in self-quarantine, and wash your hands after handling. Also, don’t let your pets lick your face if you have any cold or flu symptoms.
More info below cut, including other species.
Reports are in that the single dog which tested positive for the virus causing COVID-19 has died, but this is NOT cause for alarm.
- The dog never showed any symptoms despite being carefully watched.
- They repeatedly tested negative for days before release, and continued to show now symptoms.
- They were 17 years old, which is an advanced age for any dog, even a pomeranian.
So while this might hit the news, and potentially irresponsible media reporting, it’s still really zero concern.
Updates as of 1st of April 2020, and these are NOT April Fools related in any way.
- The Hong Kong dog did have evidence of antibodies to COVID-19, though never any symptoms and never any evidence that it was capable of transmitting it.
- There is one case of a cat in Belgium that has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and is unwell with both respiratory and gastrointestinal signs. This is still early days and waiting for more info, but it was owned by a COVID-19 infected owner and appears to have picked up the infection from the owner in close contact.
- The virus can experimentally replicate in the nose of ferrets. There is no known natural occurrence of this so far, but if you experimentally squirt the virus up ferret noses it’s quite capable of replicating there, and their tonsils. Not a peer reviewed study, because peer reviews take time but worthy of a ‘watch this space’ flag when dealing with ferrets owned by infected people.
- The above study is small and not peer reviewed, but suggests while cats and ferrets have some susceptibility, dogs are less susceptible, and pigs and poultry are very resistant. However, when you consider the sheer numbers of domestic pets in contact with hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 cases worldwide, the risks from animals is infinitesimally low and no evidence yet that they can transmit, though some may potentially be able to be infected by humans.
Just keep washing your hands, and don’t let pets lick your face. The numbers are still incredibly low in the real world (Three. There are three cases.) but we are watching this space.
Mostly to ensure there wont be any sort of animal/wildlife reservoir for COVID-19 to hide in when we do look at getting it under control or eradicated.
Updates as of 9th April 2020
Starting to get a little wary of the feline situation.
Domestic cats:
- Experimentally infected cats might be able to shed enough virus so that virus particles are detectable in adjacent cats who were not experimentally infected.
- This is why there are recommendations to keep your cats indoors during the pandemic. (should be always, but especially now) Treat them like an extended family member or part of your house, only you can’t disinfect them if they bring viral particles inside.
- SARS, which is related but distinct, was detected in an outbreak in cats in 2003. There was thought to be no cat-to-human transmission, but thought the cats contracted the virus from human contact, or contact with human garbage.
- In addition to the Belgian cat mentioned in the previous update, one additional cat in Hong Kong has tested positive for viral detected, though has no symptoms at this stage.
- Naturally occurring infections in cats continues to appear exceedingly rare, but good advice is to keep your cats home with you, do not care for them directly if you have respiratory symptoms, and do not pet strange cats while outside.
- AVA summary with relevant links here.
- In addition, blood sampling of cats in Wuhan, while no disease in the cats was reported, suggests that ~14% of them had specific, effective antibodies for neutralizing COVID-19, which did NOT cross-react to the normal feline coronaviruses. This suggests that COVID-19 can enter cats, but not that they are likely to become unwell or that they shed it. This is also a preliminary report, not a peer reviewed study so should be considered with caution.
Big Cats
There is a case of a tiger in a Bronx zoo having both respiratory symptoms and testing positive to COVID-19. I have been trying to wait for more information before commenting, though additional information hasn’t been forthcoming yet.
- Multiple big cats at the zoo are showing symptoms, but only one has been tested to date because testing them required general anaesthesia and is a risk to both patient and staff.
- It’s thought an asymptomatic keeper is the cause of the infection, however this is currently not verified and New York is a bit of a COVID-19 hot spot right now.
- Keepers should not have direct contact with the big cats, but viral particles may have gotten in on equipment, food etc. Or, more concerning, potential transmission breathing the same air for several minutes in face-to face contact from several feet away and through a barrier. How the infection occurred is not currently clear.
- If multiple big cats are affected, this looks suspicious for cat-to-cat transmission of the virus between the tigers and lions.
And in general IDEXX is developing a commercial COVID-19 test for domestic pets, have processed ‘thousands of samples from the USA and South Korea’ and… haven’t actually found a positive yet. They are expanding their sample collection. (Link, about halfway down page under drop down options)
The safest place for your pets is in lockdown/isolation with you, treat them like an extension of yourself and don’t let them go roaming the neighborhood or licking strangers hands.