In my acupuncture practice I come across many pets who suffer from red, itchy or oozy eyes. Chrysanthemum flower tea is an easy remedy for most of these cases.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, chrysanthemum flower is one of the main herbs used to treat eye ailments. It is especially helpful during allergy season.

It can be used for pets or humans. Most animals do not like the taste of the tea. Fortunately it can be used externally.

To make a soothing eye wash from chrysanthemum tea for you or your pets, place the tea bags in luke-warm water for about 3 minutes. Then gently place the tea bags on your pets eyes for a minute or as long as they will allow it. You can do this twice a day.

If you are not able to find the tea bags and are using loose dried flowers, allow them to soak in lukewarm water for the same amount of time. Dip a cotton ball in the bowl and gently place on the eyes.

Jeanie Marie Kraft, L.Ac. is keeping tails wagging on the North Shore of MA (Salem, Peabody, Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Swampscott, Melrose) with canine acupuncture house-calls. FourPawsAcupuncture.com for more information.

Mars Petcare, with brand names that include Pedigree, issued a voluntary recall for pet food produced at its plant in Everson, PA due to the potential for salmonella poisoning. Some of the food may be a retail store brand.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Fanklin, Tennessee — September 12, 2008 — Today, Mars Petcare US announced a voluntary recall of products manufactured at its Everson, Pennsylvania facility. The pet food is being voluntarily recalled because of potential contamination with Salmonella serotypeSchwarzengrund. This voluntary recall only affects the United States.

Salmonella can cause serious infections in dogs and cats, and, if there is cross contamination caused by handling of the pet food, in people as well, especially children, the aged, and people with compromised immune systems. Healthy people potentially infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. On rare occasions, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.

Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Animals can be carriers with no visible symptoms and can potentially infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

The company stopped production at the Everson facility on July 29, 2008 when it was alerted of a possible link between dry pet food produced at the plant and two isolated cases of people infected with Salmonella Schwarzengrund.

Even though no direct link between product produced at Everson and human or pet illness has been made, Mars Petcare US is taking precautionary action to protect pets and their owners by announcing a voluntary recall of all products produced at the Everson facility beginning February 18, 2008 until July 29, 2008 when we stopped production.

The company is continuing to work collaboratively with the FDA to determine the nature and source of Salmonella Schwarzengrund at the Everson facility. Since it has not yet identified the source of the Salmonella Schwarzengrund at the Everson facility, Mars Petcare US does not plan to resume production out of a commitment to the safety of our pet owners and their pets, customers, and associates.

The top priority of Mars Petcare US has always been and continues to be the health and welfare of pets and their owners. Consumers can continue to have confidence in the quality and safety of the products produced at other Mars Petcare US facilities. Only those products which were produced at the Everson facility are impacted by the voluntary recall.

Many of the brands involved in the recall are national brands produced at multiple facilities. A chart for all products is below. For example, PEDIGREE® is manufactured in numerous facilities throughout the country, and Everson represents a very small portion of the manufacturing base – 2.7 percent of total PEDIGREE® production.

Mars Petcare US will work with retail customers to ensure that the recalled products are not on store shelves. These products should not be sold or fed to pets. In the event that consumers believe they have purchased products affected by this voluntary recall, they should return the product to the store where they purchased it for a full refund. Specific product details and other information can be found at www.petcare.mars.com

Please find recalled pet food UPC information below.

The products listed below are made at our Everson facility on behalf of a variety of retailers. All code dates, with the exception of PEDIGREE®, are listed in a similar format as noted below:
Consumers should look for “17” as the first two digits of the second line. Sample:
Best By Feb 18 09
17 1445 1

For PEDIGREE® the Everson code date format is as follows:

Consumers should look for “PAE” on the bottom line – the sixth, seventh and eighth digits. Sample:
PEDIGREE ® Small Crunchy Bites
Best Before 02/2009
808G1PAE01 12:00

In an effort to prevent the transmission of Salmonella from pets to family members and care givers, the FDA recommends that everyone follow appropriate pet food handling guidelines when feeding their pets. A list of safe pet food handling tips can be found at: www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/petfoodtips080307.html
Pet owners who have questions about the recall should call 1-877-568-4463 or visit www.petcare.mars.com.

BY TREVOR HUGHES • TrevorHughes @coloradoan.com • July 26, 2008

A CSU-sponsored seminar next week intended to help pet owners use animals’ body language to zero in in on pet pain is already full, and organizers are scheduling another for this fall.

The inaugural “Is Your Pet in Pain?” seminar set for Tuesday has already drawn more than 70 registrants, said Dr. Narda Robinson, a Colorado State University professor who is also a doctor of both humans and animals.

A dog that doesn’t want to jump in the car anymore might be “saying” one thing, while a cat who refuses to climb stairs or hop into bed may be saying something else, said Robinson, director of CSU’s Center for Comparative and Integra-tive Pain Medicine.

“Once I show people how to read their animal’s posture - there’s so much information there,” Robin-son said.

Robinson is a doctor of osteopathy, which is a medical doctor for humans who focuses on the whole body and uses touch and physical manipulation to help diagnose problems, especially related to posture and pain.

In the seminar, Robinson and fellow veterinarian Dr. Bonnie Wright also will discuss treatment options, from dietary supplements and exercise regimens to drug therapies, acupuncture and other complementary therapies.

Robinson is a doctor of osteopathy, which is a medical doctor for humans who focuses on the whole body and uses touch and physical manipulation to help diagnose problems, especially related to posture and pain.

In the seminar, Robinson and fellow veterinarian Dr. Bonnie Wright also will discuss treatment options, from dietary supplements and exercise regimens to drug therapies, acupuncture and other complementary therapies.

Robinson said it’s important for pet owners to realize that they shouldn’t just blame old age for their pets’ conditions.

“More and more in veterinary medicine, we say that age is not a disease. Old age isn’t a diagnosis,” Robinson said. “Yes, they might be seven or 15 or 20, but that’s not what’s causing the problem. We need to get past disregarding further medical attention simply because of their age. There are so many treatable conditions.”

She added: “The frustrating thing is that there are so many things you can do.”

Canine hip dysplasia, is an abnormal development of the ball-in-socket joint that makes up the hip. In a dysplastic hip, the ball which is the head of the femur, or thighbone, and the socket known as the acetabulum, do not fit together properly. Therefore when the dog bears its weight on the joint, it leads to painful and damaging friction.

Kobe is a feisty 5 year old Collie mix who was diagnosed with hip dysplasia and arthritis in the winter of 2007. He is a very active dog who had been training in agility and free-style dancing. He is also a therapy dog.

Kobe’s owner began to notice that he was limping and seemed to be in pain after his training sessions. Conventional medicine was not easing his symptoms so she turned to Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Kobe began his acupuncture sessions in late winter of 2008. In addition to acupuncture, we changed his diet to a better brand of dog food which did not contain any wheat, corn or soy. These ingredients can exacerbate pain and allergies.

A few supplements such as Halo’s Hip Hip Hooray was added to his regime as well. A Chinese herbal liniment was used in conjunction with Tui Na (a form of Chinese massage). The liniment helped to ease his pain and reduced inflammation which seemed to be worse on cold damp days. Kobe seemed to enjoy his massage after each session.

After his third acupuncture session Kobe chased a rabbit and after his sixth session, Kobe was able to return to his Freestyle dance class. His owner said “He still has a bad day every now and then, but those sad, pain filled eyes are gone and my happy, loving therapy dog Kobe is back!”

To read more about Kobe and other dogs who have been helped with Traditional Chinese Medicine, visit the Happy Dogs page on the Four Paws Acupuncture website.

I get several calls each week from all over the country asking for referrals for veterinary acupuncturists and other alternative medicine practitioners. Due to the number of calls, I am not able to respond in a timely manner. Nor do I know many practitioners out of my area that I can refer. At this time I only make canine acupuncture house-calls on the North Shore of MA and do nutritional and herbal phone consultations for those out of the area.

I highly recommend visiting www.altMD.com. It is a great health and wellness site with tons of information about Acupuncture, Holistic Pet Health and over 100 other wellness specialties and over 400 common health conditions. It is also a valuable resource to help you find a practitioner in your area.

What’s Your Dog Eating?
By Holly Noonan

Have you ever noticed that dogs tend to develop growths after a decade or so of eating commercial pet food? My sister’s dog has a couple of growths on his leg that are developing their own personalities and arguing with each other. It’s fascinating in a grotesque sort of way. And did you hear about “Gus, the World’s Ugliest Dog?” He must be seen to be believed. He had some tough competition, too. Poor Gus is missing one eye and one leg and will be spending his prize money on cancer treatment.

OK I’m getting predictable in my refrain “It’s all about the food,” but doesn’t that make a heap of sense? Modern industrial commodity pet food is literally the garbagey by-products of our industrial meat system, which isn’t that clean or palateable to start with.

Our dog Tenzin started growing growths on her face and body last year and that’s when I made the switch away from commercial dog food. (Her growths have stopped growing.) Also, she is part husky and blows out her undercoat in the spring. Every year it was getting earlier and earlier, until at 7 years old, she started losing her undercoat in the coldest part of winter: February. We switched to natural dog food (more on that below) and this year she didn’t start losing her undercoat until May. It was a really conspicuous change in one year.

According to the Animal Protection Institute, we should “avoid foods that rely on by-products as the sole source of animal protein. By-products consist of organs and parts either not desired, or condemned, for human consumption…. (Another) potential problem with commercial pet food is pesticide residues, antibiotics, and molds contained in pet food ingredients. Meat from sick animals may be loaded with drugs, some of which are known to pass unchanged through all the processing done to create a finished pet food (such as penicillin and pentobarbital).”

To read more of this article waldo.villagesoup.com

Jeanie Marie Kraft, Lic.Ac. is keeping tails wagging on the North Shore of MA with veterinary acupuncture house-calls. All house-calls include a nutritional and herbal consultation with an acupuncture and laser acupuncture treatment.

This includes the following towns of Massachusetts :
Marblehead MA
Swampscott MA
Lynn MA
Salem MA
Peabody MA
Danvers MA
Beverly MA
Hamilton MA
Ipswich MA
and a few others located in the near by vicinity.

Contact FourPawsAcupuncture.com for more information.

During your phone consultation, I will take time to understand your dog and any health concerns, then provide recommendations and instructions drawn from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to help your dog. A session will cover:

* A complete health history, to learn more about your dog, her or his health issues, and other factors that may contribute to these issues.
* A discussion about your dog’s diet and nutrition, and suggestions of several food brand options, recipes and other information on nutrition as applicable to your dog’s health.
* A discussion about supplements, Bach Flower Remedies and other products that will help your dog.
* Recommendations of Chinese herbal formulas that may help your dog.

For more information www.fourpawsacupuncture.com