Southland Weimaraner Club

The premier Weimaraner Club for Southern California.

Raw Honey for Pet Health

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The following is reprinted with permission from the HemoPet Newsletter

Raw honey: A sweet food for the health of your pet

September 12, 2019  |   By W. Jean Dodds, DVM

Who doesn’t love honey? The golden, sweet, gooey nectar seems to enhance the taste of just about everything. But although you may love a generous slathering of honey on a piece of toast or a dollop in a cup of tea, why on earth should you give honey to your animal companion? Well, it turns out there’s much more to honey than meets the eye (or, more appropriately, the sweet tooth). Let’s take a closer look.

WHAT IS HONEY?

Honey is a part of the honeybee’s beautiful symbiotic relationship with flowers—a relationship that results in pollination, or sexual fertilization, and plant reproduction. Pollination is vital to all life on earth. Honey is comprised of simple sugars — mostly glucose and fructose — manufactured by honeybees from the nectar of flower blossoms.

But if simple sugars are bad for you, then why eat honey for health or give it to our companion animals? The answer lies with the type of honey you choose, as this will determine its health benefits.

NOT ALL HONEY IS CREATED EQUAL

You can either purchase honey in its raw, unprocessed state (which is typically thick and “milky” in appearance) or you can purchase a pasteurized (heat treated), filtered version. This processed commercial version typically looks clear and smooth and may even be so thin that you can pour it. The healthful, nutrition-packed honey that can benefit you and your pet originates from wild, raw, unfiltered honey—not from the processed honey contained in the likes of those bear-shaped plastic bottles found at the supermarket!

Raw honey contains many beneficial properties, including:
• Alkaline-forming food
• Antimicrobial effect against a number of fungi and bacteria
• High in antioxidants
• Natural enzymes and nutrients
• Powerful antibacterial and antimicrobial properties

Pasteurization compromises these beneficial properties.

Medical studies have identified raw honey’s ability to help heal ulcers, manage diarrhea and soothe sore throats. And, since it becomes alkaline and does not ferment in the digestive system, it is also useful in counteracting indigestion.

Raw honey is also beneficial in treating topical wounds, an ability that arises from a chemical reaction that occurs between the glucose in honey and an enzyme added by honeybees called glucose oxidase. When the honey comes in contact with the skin, the right conditions occur that enable the glucose oxidase to break down the glucose into hydrogen peroxide, which is antibacterial. Honey also retains moisture, drawing it away from the wound. Pasteurized honey, however, is not a viable wound care treatment.

Some common uses for raw honey include:
• Healing minor wounds
• Healing ulcers
• Managing diarrhea
• Soothing indigestion
• Soothing sore throats
• Treating sunburn and mild burns

LOCALLY GROWN HONEY MAY HELP PREVENT SEASONAL ALLERGIES

Both canine and human anecdotal evidence suggests that eating locally grown honey may help prevent seasonal allergies. The theory is that locally grown honey contains local pollen spores picked up by the bees, so consuming it can slowly build immunity to the pollen.

A study published in 2011 supports the anecdotal evidence. The study followed 44 patients diagnosed by their physicians with birch pollen allergy. The purpose was to evaluate the effects of the pre-seasonal use of birch pollen honey on the patients’ allergy symptoms and medication use during the birch pollen allergy season. The participants consumed incremental amounts of birch pollen honey from November 2008 to March 2009 and then recorded their daily allergy symptoms and medication use during the birch pollen allergy season, from April 2009 to May 2009. An additional 17 patients serving as the control group took only their usual allergy medication. The results were highly encouraging. During the 2009 birch pollen allergy season, the patients who consumed the birch pollen honey reported:
• A 60% lower total symptom score
• Twice as many asymptomatic days
• 70% fewer days with severe symptoms
• 50% less antihistamine use compared to the control group

MANUKA: THE “KING” OF HONEY

While all types of raw honey are beneficial, the “king” of honeys — celebrated for its super health benefits — is Manuka honey from New Zealand. Made from the nectar of flowers from the medicinal Manuka bush, Manuka honey has been shown in clinical trials to kill more than 250 strains of bacteria, including:
• MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus)
• MSSA (methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus)
• VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococci)
• Helicobacter pylori (which can cause stomach ulcers)

In addition to the hydrogen peroxide antibacterial activity contained in most honeys, some strains of Manuka honey have additional healing antibacterial properties known as UMF (Unique Manuka Factor), which is indicated by a rating on the jar; the higher the UMF rating, the more potent the honey’s antibacterial strength. The lowest recognized UMF is 10. Manuka honey is so effective in fighting infection that in 2007 the FDA approved its use for treating wounds and burns in the Unites States.

SOME COMMON-SENSE HONEY CAUTIONS

If your pet is diabetic, consult with your holistic veterinarian or veterinary nutritionist before feeding honey, since its high sugar content can increase insulin levels. Also take care when feeding honey to overweight pets; at 64 calories per tablespoon, it can contribute to packing on unwanted pounds! Since raw honey can potentially become contaminated with a botulism-related toxin, we advise against feeding it to very young pets (or children under one year) because their immune systems are not yet developed enough to defend themselves. Adult pets and people are not affected.

Raw honey in moderate amounts can serve as a nutritious, and delicious, addition to your pet’s diet. Try mixing in a tablespoon with some fresh blueberries, or just letting him lick it right off the spoon. He’ll love the taste!

References
Benefits of Honey, 2012, www.benefits-of-honey.com.

Mercola, J,  2006. The Healing Properties of Raw Honey, viewed 10 September 2012, http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2006/12/19/the-healing-properties-of-honey.aspx. 

Mercola, J,  2009, This Bee Product has Enormous Benefits for Your Health, viewed 10 September 2012, http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/17/This-Bee-Product-Has-Enormous-Benefits-for-Your-Health.aspx.

Mercola, J, 2011. Fresh Evidence… Could 1 Teaspoon per Day Tame Your Allergy Problems, viewed 10 September 2012, http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/27/can-eating-local-honey-cure-allergies.aspx. 

Puotinen, CJ, 2007, “Bee products have a special meaning for dogs.” The Whole Dog Journal, viewed 12 September 2012, http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/10_9/features/Bee-Honey-Products-Help-Canines_15967-1.html. 

Saarinen, K, Jantunen, J and Haahtela, T, 2011, “Birch pollen honey for birch pollen alergy — a randomized controlled pilot study.” Int Arch Allergy Immunol, 155:160-166 (DOI: 10.1159/000319821)

Wolf, D, 2009,  Superfoods: The Food and Medicine of the Future, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA.

2019 SWC Specialty Show

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2019 Southland Weimaraner Club Specialties and

WCA Western Futurity and Maturity

Camarillo, California

July 4 & 5, 2019

The 2019 Southland Weimaraner Club Specialties and WCA Futurity and Maturity are a wrap and in the books.  Luckily, unlike last year’s blistering 103° heat, this year the weather gods smiled upon us with slightly overcast mornings in the 60s, afternoon temperatures in the mid 70s with the occasional sea breeze.  In other words, perfect dog show weather.

This year’s Show Committee: Gina Grissom, July 4 show chair, Linda D’Alessandro, July 5 show chair; Jo-Ann Rosenberg, Dona Tanaka, Mary McElwee, Carley Devine, Jordan Dickenson, and Rachel Aguilar spent months working through the issues and ironing out the details including:  judges, grounds, trophies and hospitality.  However, a big thank you also goes out to a very special group of members:  Bob and Vickie Margolis, Brad Rosenberg, Walt Freshour, Keith Pautz, Brenda Barnette, Pam Hutson, and Louise Brady, who, in addition to caring and showing their own dogs, pitched in before, during and after the shows to do the “heavy lifting” involved in set up, hospitality and tear down.

Much appreciation goes out to Gwen Lattin (show secretary), Lani McKennon (ring steward) and our judges:  Melissa Hampton, who came all the way from Maryland to judge our Sweeps; Debbie Campbell Freeman (July 4 Specialty), Sam Houston McDonald (Futurity/Maturity), Pam Murphy (Obedience), and Barbara Dempsey Alderman (July 5, Specialty).

Last but not least, a huge shout out to all the exhibitors who came in from far and wide to show their dogs.  This year brought in exhibitors from not only out of state, but also from Canada and England. Congratulations on your wins!  We hope you enjoyed your stay and had a safe trip home.

Congratulations to all the winners!

2018 WCA Western Classic and Field Futurity

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LATEST FIELD TRIAL NEWS

Western Classic and Field Futurity February 14, 2018

**SWC dogs are highlighted in green**

Grand Limited Open All Age Todd Yamamoto & Warren Eizman (7 starters)

  1. Saga’s Major Cage
  2. NFC Waybac’s Jewel Up Up and Away
  3. WITHHELD
  4. WITHHELD

Western Field Futurity Todd Yamamoto & Warren Eizman (15 starters)

  1. Barrett’s Stars N Stripes (FC PM’s Trigger Happy x Southpaw’s in the Red) Owners: Charles & Kristi Salse
  2. Trax Ivy League
  3. Trax Business Time
  4. Barrett’s Independence Inn (FC PM’s Trigger Happy x Southpaw’s in the Red) Owners: Jason & Sasha Robertson & Kim Burnell

Open Gun Dog Classic  Gregg Knight and Jim Gagnon (24 Starters)

  1. Knight N Reiteralm Heartland Flyer
  2. Silvershot’s Otto Von Knapp
  3. Trax Edenrock Fireworks One
  4. Silver Rain’s Storm’n the Fence

Open Derby Classic  Gregg Knight and Jim Gagnon (17 starters)

  1. Silver Rain’s Traxi Driver
  2. Heartbeat’s Livin For Lumpy Slim
  3. Jaas N Silverthorn’s Gleaming Spur
  4. Westweim’s Cut to the Chase Jase

Amateur Gun Dog Classic  Rick Petersen & Dennis Brown (14 starters)

  1. FC AFC Snake Breaks’ N Reiteralm’s Gleaming Sabe
  2. Donamoor Trax in the White Snow
  3. Saga’s Major Cage
  4. WITHHELD

Open Puppy Classic  Rick Petersen & Dennis Brown (9 starters)

  1. Quik Trax on Tapp
  2. Jaas N Silverthorn’s Gleaming Spur
  3. Trax Ivy League
  4. Brymar N Touchstone’s Los Angeles (NFC FC Unserhund Von Sieger x Brymar’s Do the Math V Reiteralm) Owner: Anne Taguchi

2018 Southland Weimaraner Club Match and Weim Festival

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24th ANNUAL WEIMARANER  FESTIVAL

Southland Weim Club 2018 Sanctioned Match

Thank You – To all who came and shared the day with us – and enabled us to make our 24th donation to Weimaraner Rescue, www.friendsforpets.org

Saturday, November 17TH at Woodley Park was another day of perfect weather!  Cool, sunny and no wind!  The set up crew consisting of myself, Mary McElwee, Louise Brady, Dona Tanaka & Sue McMahan showed up bright and early at 7am to set up the canopies & tables & the ring, to unload all the raffle prizes and trick dog equipment, and cordon off our picnic tables for lunch.  Stephanie Schuster & Linda D’Alessandro arrived soon after with more equipment & prizes – and help with the raffle and entry tables.

Once the raffle table was organized, the signs were posted and our dogs were walked – we sat down to wait –and wait – and wait.

Guess what – NOBODY SHOWED UP FOR THE MATCH!  So we had a nice long 3-1/2 hours by ourselves at the park.  We did have our General Meeting, so we were able to use the time.

Around 10:30am the Friends For Pets crew showed up to set up their booth and the Weim owners and their dogs began to arrive.  Unfortunately the attendance was much less than previous years, while we can’t be sure exactly why we speculated that the fires in the Thousand Oaks to Malibu area and the subsequent travel difficulties must have had an impact on those who might have come.

In spite of that – those of us who were there had a great time!

The Rescue Parade had a good number of participants and we had a MARRIAGE PROPOSAL!  Yes, that’s right – he got down on one knee right there in the middle of the Rescue Parade.  Dona took lots of pictures and we all got teary eyes.  The newly engaged couple met after having adopted Weims from Friends For Pets, and their love grew with their love of Weimaraners.

What a great day.

After the yummy potluck lunch, we had Trick Dog evaluations.   And 5 dogs earned Novice Trick dog titles, 4 were owned by club members and 1 was a FFP adoptee!

SWC Member Novice Trick Dog Title Earners:

Touchstone’s Hook N’ Hollow, TKN (Zipper) – owned by Sue McMahan,

Star’s Electrical Output, TKN (Amp) – owned by Dona Tanaka

CH Silversmith Chiquita Bonita, CD RN JH SD TKN (Fin) – owned by Dona Tanaka

CH Hat’s Off N Heirlooms Abbey Road, RN TKN (Abbey) – owned by Gina Grissom

THANK YOU!         To the SWC CREW who provided the elbow grease (plus canopies, tables and rings) to make the Festival & Match possible.  A small but mighty group!   Special Thanks to Mary McElwee who hauled a lot of stuff (including a very stinky canopy) – as she has done each year for 24 years.

AND THANK YOU!   To everyone who contributed Raffle Prizes.  The prizes and baskets that all of us who came, club members and rescue volunteers alike, were able to provide enabled us to put on another fabulous raffle!

AND OF COURSE THANK YOU!         To Diane Monahan and her terrific volunteers who help those lucky dogs we see at the Festival find their forever homes.

 

Gina Grissom

Festival & Match Chair

Losing Destinee

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LOSING DESTINEE

A Mushroom Horror Story

We wrote this in May, 2003, after losing our precious Destinee, CH Silverado Cosmopolitan.

I remember vividly every detail of those two horrible days. With Spring approaching, which to me will always be “Mushroom Season”, I am prompted to revisit the events in the hopes that this may save someone’s beloved dog.

It seems like once a month, we get an e mail from someone who finds this article tragically too late.

Dear Dog Lover,

Here’s a short quiz on natural elements dangerous to dogs: Which is more dangerous, rattlesnakes or mushrooms? Surprisingly, at least in our experience, mushrooms are much more dangerous. Although we do not have autopsy confirmation yet, let us relate a painful story in the hope that other dog lovers can avoid the devastating loss we just suffered. We had lived on our property for almost 3 years. We bought it for our Weimaraner kids as a safe place for them to romp; 18 fenced acres with no access to roads and isolated enough that if someone did get out, there is little danger of getting run over. We are behind a security gate controlled by a remote & gate code. Service people, PG&E, etc., cannot drive onto the property unless we give them access. We thought we had the perfect safe environment for our family. Then the rattlesnakes came. We came from property where we encountered the occasional rattlesnake; it is California, after all. After a visit to emergency with Destinee and Ryan and their tangle with the first rattlesnake, then a July 4th weekend that resulted in 5 dogs being bitten, we fenced in a smaller 2 acre area within the 18 – aviary fencing, the works. Last year we only had 1 rattlesnake bite & man­aged to raise our 2 babies by keeping them inside yet another fence all last summer. The Northern Pacific Rattler, while very toxic, is a manageable threat. They warn if you are too near, they don’t al­ways inject venom and the bite is survivable with the proper care. Our dogs that have been bitten are now very snake averse.

Saturday evening after the Camellia Capital KC show, I fed the kids dinner. Destinee refused. This has happened to us several times. Someone has eaten a dumb thing, lizard, half of a bird, whatever. Destinee had no visible symptom-no vomiting, diarrhea or elevated temp. Destinee & I spent the afternoon together on the couch watching TV, snuggling with a steady stream of other gray kids, usually her daughter Trinitee or her Mom, Vanity. I even went as far as trimming her nails getting her ready for the show the next day, which was Mother’s Day. I planned to take her to the dog show & take photos of her with her 2 one-year old babies. The contrast of how we spent Mother’s Day & how different it was from the one that I planned is still such a painful thought.

We took Destinee with us to a neighbor’s house and she slept in her crate while we visited. We checked on her a few times…just resting. That night she decided to sleep on the couch while we all went to bed upstairs. She does this a lot, as she loves her spot on the couch. Michael & I both checked on her at different times during the night…still resting and in no apparent distress. At 5:45 AM the alarm went off for us to get ready for the Sunday show. Destinee was in a coma. We spent the day in emergency & in the evening took her to UC Davis. Her liver was destroyed. Everything, according to the emergency clinic vets and the specialist at UC Davis pointed to a poisonous mushroom, either the Death Cap or Destroying Angel. If one gram of either is ingested, by the time you see any symptoms, it is too late. The only recourse is a liver transplant, which is not done with dogs yet. The course of the damage caused by the liver being destroyed & wreaking havoc on every other organ is too painful to relate. We combed the property & found 4 mushrooms within the inner fence; one had been bitten. It’s a miracle we didn’t lose more than Destinee. We could have easily lost everyone. The conditions that made this environment conducive to Death Cap mushroom growth are very wet spring and sudden warmth. If you have deciduous trees, particularly Oaks, you may also have these lethal mushrooms. Comb your grounds for all mushrooms and compare them to the mushrooms found on this website:

http://members.aol.com/basidium/deathcap.html According to the veterinarians involved, the only chance of your dog surviving this is vomiting the mushroom. This is providing that you are lucky enough to witness your dog in the act. If this is the case,

“The Dog Owners Home Veterinary Handbook”, suggests inducing vomiting by these methods:

  • Syrup of ipecac (1 teaspoonful per 10 pounds body weight)
  • Hydrogen Peroxide 3% (1-3 teaspoonfuls every 10 minutes, repeat 3 times)
  • One half to 1 teaspoonful of salt (placed at the back of the tongue).

I URGE YOU TO INDUCE THE VOMITING & GET TO EMERGENCY AS FAST AS YOU CAN.

If you suspect your dog ingested a mushroom, but it is too late to induce vomiting, take your dog to the vet to get their liver values checked!

Forty-eight hours after Destinee’s death, and with all the introspection, soul-searching and guilt, I’ve had some realizations. We have had our share of emergencies & tragedies. Our message to the caregivers in these situations has always been the same, be as aggressive as you can be, do whatever you think makes sense. The money is not an issue. To hear the veterinarians at UC Davis say this is hopeless no matter what you do is just about as devastating as it gets.

Our plans to move are already in the works since, unlike the snakes, the threat to the rest of our be­loved pack from these mushrooms is too great. One bite of this killer is 100% lethal. We will be looking for a flat piece of land with no rocks or trees. We’ve had enough Jurassic Park.

Shiffra Steele & Michael Ayers

Silverado Weimaraners

Dog Owner’s Home Veterinary Handbook

By Delbert G. Carlson, D.V.M. and James M. Giffin, D.V.M.

PS – Since this was written we have received necropsy results, which point to a mycotoxin, aflatoxin or blue green algae. Even though the diagnosis is not 100% conclusive for Death Cap Mushroom toxicity, Dr. Smarick, of UC Davis stated, “If you ask me for a diagnosis right now, I would say mushroom, mushroom, mushroom. If you ask me for a diagnosis beyond that, I’d have to think about it.”