Dogged Blog

Mixed bag: Dogs, bugs, and politics

Helloooooo?

I haven't blogged here in EIGHT DAYS? I mean, my girlfriend came to visit me last weekend so, well, you know... not so much online. And then there was that big Tuesday deadline, and my SFGate.com column on drug-resistant staph infections in dogs that turned into a really big story, but it's Friday now and I have no idea how that happened.

*stares at calender willing it to move backwards*

Okay, enough of that. Allow me to catch you up.

One, my SFGate.com column on my dog Kyrie's struggle with MRSI, the canine version of human MRSA:

There's a new and growing threat to your pets' health, and while I wish I could tell you it's just another Internet rumor, it's all too real. I should know, because my dog is its latest poster child. I'm talking about something you might have thought only affected humans: drug-resistant staph infections.

We hear a lot about these types of infections in people these days, severe ones spread in hospitals and less severe ones spread in daycare centers, schools and gyms. Most human infections involve methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. In dogs and cats, the bacteria is slightly different — methicillin-resistant staphylococcus intermedius, or MRSI — but it's otherwise pretty much the same problem: some strains of a common bacteria found in and on most dogs, people and surfaces have evolved to resist the antibiotics we normally use to treat it.

My introduction to MRSI began three months ago, when I noticed my 9-year-old borzoi, Kyrie, had a small, quarter-sized red patch on her hip that seemed to hurt her terribly. I got her into the vet the next day, and she diagnosed a spider bite, shaved and cleaned the area, and put her on antibiotics, pain medication and a topical lidocaine spray to numb the wound. She predicted Kyrie would feel better in around 48 hours.

But Kyrie spent the night restless and whimpering despite the pain medication. And the next day, her coin-sized sore had become 8-by-8 inches of infected, oozing, red, raw skin. Unable to sleep while she was so uncomfortable, I spent a few hours on the Internet, where I learned two things. One, there are no venomous spiders in San Francisco, where we live, and two, most diagnosed spider bites are really something else entirely: drug resistant staph infections.

Full story here.

And if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, the local NBC news folks were out here this morning, filming Kyrie and me for the evening news. They weren't sure if the segment would air at 5 pm or 6 PM, but if you're local, watch for us! Or it will probably be on their website, www.kntv.com.

I also blogged at AfterElton.com about politics... but don't tell them, they say they're not a political blog.

It seems only a bare handful of queer blogs and bloggers got credentialed for the Democratic National Convention in August.

One of them is Pam's House Blend, a widely respected political blog run by Pam Spaulding. Two others are also strong political blogs with queer bloggers or site owners, John Aravosis' AMERICABlog.com and ThoughtTheater.com. And the fourth is Andy Towle's Towleroad.com.

[....]

Four blogs? Out of more than 120?

It's not just that four out of 120 isn't close to the percentage of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people in the United States, let alone the Democratic party, let alone the liberal blogosphere. 

It's that four years ago, our struggle for civil rights became the scapegoat for George Bush winning the 2004 election. A flood of anti-same-sex marriage ballot measures was blamed for driving conservative and religious right voter turnout to record highs. "God, guns, and gays" became the rallying cry of the right wing, and not only are we the "gays," we're a hefty hunk of the "God," too.

And this year again, not one of the three viable Democratic candidates dared to endorse marriage equality, betraying progressive ideals while acknowledging the conventional wisdom — no doubt true, however much I hate to say it — that no candidate can be elected President in this country if he or she supports same-sex marriage rights.

Given that big right wing flag that's planted like a stake through our hearts, given that yet again, our civil rights are a political lightning rod, given how we were told to shut up and be quiet four years ago, and four years before that, so as not to scare the "Reagan Democrats" away from us, given that more than a few folks are no doubt cursing California for recognizing marriage equality just in time to make it an election year time bomb yet again... we get four blog credentials?

I really think the Big Tent folks can do a hell of a lot better than that for us, considering how much fire — quite a bit of it "friendly" — we keep taking for them.

There's more, although actually, not too much more, here.

Now, go watch Kyrie and me on TV!

Kyrie Borzoi, TV Star -- UPDATED WITH VIDEO!

Just a quick note to let you know that a TV crew is on their way to my house to interview me about Kyrie's struggle with drug-resistant staph (MRSI) ... they also interviewed my veterinarian. This was prompted by my column on SFGate.com yesterday, which has generated an enormous amount of email from people dealing with MRSI in their pets, as well as an unprecendented number of reprint requests.



However, the reporter wasn't all that interested in me. She just wanted to make sure that Kyrie would be available for the cameras. So the fluffy one is all shiny and brushed, and sitting in regal splendor on the sofa waiting for her close-up, Mr. DeMille.



I'll be back soon with the full report. And if I can get my about-to-be-replaced computer's faltering USB interface to see my digital camera.... PICTURES!



For now, this totally silly one of Kyrie as a puppy will have to do.



UPDATE: It's not exactly correct in its details, but here's the video clip of the report, with lots of great camera time for Kyrie! If anyone knows how to save that video, I'd be very grateful!



Also, photos under the jump!

Labs covering up contaminated food imports -- and it ' s legal

Via the dogged Therese at PetSitUSA, the Chicago Tribune reports on a congressional investigation into the safety of imported foods:

A congressional committee is investigating whether some private U.S. laboratories were instructed to withhold samples of tainted food so that importers could get their goods into the United States.



In a May 1 letter to 10 labs, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce suggests they may have been encouraged by importing companies to discard test results that had failed Food and Drug Administration standards.



"We're gathering information from both the FDA and private industry about the labs almost being complicit in helping importers game the system," said Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee that is investigating the labs and food companies. "Someone told us you pay for the result you want to get from the labs."

Like Therese and anyone else who lived through last year's massive pet food recall, I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you.



The investigation was launched because hearings on how well the FDA and USDA are protecting American food safety, as well as the efficacy of the current inspection and recall powers indicated there may be problems with the system. (Ya think?)

The role of food testing laboratories became an issue in February, when the CEO of one private lab, Anresco Laboratories of San Francisco, said private labs don't always tell the FDA when tests show that imported food may be contaminated.



That executive, David Eisenberg, told the committee that the FDA "requires that we sign a laboratory director's statement that we're submitting all work that we've done on a sample."



In reality, he said, the importers that hire the labs control where the test results go.



"If the importer tells us not to submit the information to the FDA, the FDA never sees it," Eisenberg testified. "Sometimes they want to keep a clean record on their item with the FDA."



In an interview, Eisenberg said that a check of his company's records revealed that it withheld samples from the FDA at a company's request an average of three times a month. He said the labs break no laws by withholding such information.



"We are employed by the imported-food manufacturer," Eisenberg said. "We are not employed by the FDA, and the FDA has no authority over private labs that are generating imported-food test results, so we have to follow the advice of our customer."

Well, we know who's looking out for the corporations. Who's looking out for us?



Full story here.

DAMN YOU BARACK OBAMA

If I hadn't vowed to donate all my shoe money to Barack Obama until the convention, I could buy these.

Not even for Howard Dean did I give up shoes.

*looks at shoes*

*looks at shoes again*

You know... this is actually Bush's fault, right? If he hadn't stolen the election Gore would still be president and the country would be in better shape and we wouldn't be so desperate for change and I could buy these shoes!

Damn you George Bush!

Yes, we can!

I started my Obama fundraising page with a teeny little goal to raise $500. I raised it.

I upped my goal to $1000. I exceeded it.

Today, on the night that Barack Obama took the majority of pledged delegates in the primary, I've increased it to $5000, in recognition of the fact that we're now in the general election phase of the campaign.

From now on, it's not just about how much I love Barack Obama, and believe in him. It's also about saying no to lies and lobbyists, to business as usual, to heartless policies and ruthless politics.

It's about saying no to a third Bush term, to a hundred years in Iraq, to war and poverty and government of, by, and for the corporations.

It's about saying no to John McCain. Please donate now, and help me reach my goal!

Interview and other kinds of mojo

My interview mojo has been just toxic lately.

First, I had a big problem getting an interview on one particular subject, period. No one I contacted would talk to me, and it wasn't even anything controversial! It was like I was cursed. Finally someone agreed, only to keep rescheduling until it was literally too late for me to use the interview in my article.

Then I actually had to cancel an article due to problems lining up an important interview.

Then I had to spend a week getting a freaking comment from one person, this time having to reschedule the article.

Then I spent the last week and a half trying to get someone who had agreed to talk to me, again about something totally non-controversial, to actually spend ten minutes on the phone with me.

Well, I just did two of those much-delayed interviews, and am having them transcribed by the good folks over at escriptionist.com, and I feel like the weight of the world is off my shoulders.

Now I have to interview the two gay contestants on the next Design Star, so if that goes okay, perhaps it means the curse has lifted.

Speaking of mojo, I wrote a diary over at Daily Kos about Barack Obama being adopted as a member of the Crow Nation... that is the top-recommended diary over there for the last 24 hours! I've been on the rec list there a few times with pet food recall pieces, but this is the first time with general political blogging.  I even got asked to cross post it at Native American Netroots, where it got front paged.

*iz proud*

Also, my coverage of the lesbian side of the GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco is up over at AfterEllen.com... with lots of photos of Sharon Stone, Jennifer Beals, and more.

Pet Food CSI: Deconstructing the recall

In more wonky news, an interesting article in Chemical & Engineering News was just released last week. (Shut up. I like science journals.)



It contains a pretty good comprehensive timeline of last year's pet food recall, with a focus on the scientific detective work that finally led to the identification of the contaminants responsible for so much animal sickness and death:

FDA, which regulates the manufacture and distribution of animal food and drugs, logged more than 18,000 phone calls after the recalls were announced. "This was the largest recall in FDA history," says Tolleson, who works in the agency's National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) in Jefferson, Ark. "There were more calls to FDA over this issue than anything we've ever handled before."

They peg the number of dead animals at "as many as 1,000," relying on the survey information released by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. However, that survey is not complete, nor was it designed to elicit any kind of final or total number of dead pets. The actual number is undoubtedly much larger, based on numbers from the Veterinary Information Network, Banfield the Pet Hospital, and our own database. However, it's still much more accurate than the 12-14 we used to see so much of.



The article goes on to recap the 2004 recall (which we covered here) that turns out to have been an earlier melamine-related incident, although blamed at the time on mycotoxins.

Sadly, the 2007 incidents might not have been the first. A 2004 outbreak of kidney failure that reportedly struck thousands of dogs and cats in Asia originally was attributed to contamination of pet food ingredients by fungal toxins. But University of Georgia veterinary pathologist Cathy A. Brown and colleagues reported in September 2007 that they had found "compelling evidence" in tissue samples from autopsies of affected pets that both outbreaks were caused by the same toxic chemical combination (J. Vet. Diagn. Invest. 2007, 19, 525).

In the "Pet Food CSI" department, the article discusses some of the science used to identify melamine and cyanuric acid in the foods, and the distinguishing crystals they form in dogs' and cats' kidneys:

On March 30, FDA and Cornell University—whose animal health experts had been enlisted in the investigation by Menu Foods—announced that they had independently identified melamine as a contaminant.



[....]



The finding was a bit mysterious because the small amount of information available in the scientific literature indicated that melamine wasn't particularly toxic.



FCC staff next examined samples of the suspect wheat protein concentrate under a light microscope and separated out what appeared to be foreign particles. Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectra of the particles, as well as DART and GC-MS, confirmed the presence of melamine. FCC's analysis also unearthed further triazine contaminants, particularly cyanuric acid. [The FDA's R. Duane] Satzger says that total adulterant levels in the protein concentrate ran as high as 25% by weight.

Why was tracking down the contaminants so difficult?

The DART technique is much quicker than GC-MS because it requires no sample preparation, Satzger notes, but it depends on expensive equipment that's not widely available. Throughout April 2007, FCC scientists labored to develop a GC-MS method to rapidly screen pet food samples—one that could be replicated in other labs across the country with commonly available instrumentation. One challenge involved finding a way to test for multiple triazines, which have widely varying solubilities, in a single run. FCC researchers working in collaboration with FDA's Pacific Regional Laboratory Northwest, in Bothell, Wash., found that a solvent system of acetonitrile, water, and diethylamine did the trick.



During this same period, other FCC scientists were examining crystals from kidney tissue provided by FDA's Rockville, Md.-based Center for Veterinary Medicine, Satzger says. Raman mapping studies indicated the crystals could be melamine cyanurate. Lab tests also showed that mixing melamine and cyanuric acid in water forms melamine cyanurate crystals.



Meanwhile, Tolleson was gathering data about the toxicity of the pet food contaminants using cultured cells from the immune system known as macrophages. He found that cyanuric acid by itself was only slightly toxic; by contrast, melamine and the combination of both compounds were toxic to the macrophages.

I tried to elicit a comment from Procter & Gamble for an earlier story of my own, and somewhat surprisingly got a very polite " no comment." The article gives a hint as to a possible reason:

In April 2007, Procter & Gamble toxicologist George P. Daston showed that the triazine compounds are deadly to rats when consumed in combination, Tolleson says. Rats that ate the mixture developed the same kidney disorder seen in pet cats and dogs. Neither Daston nor other P&G representatives would comment for this story because the company is involved in ongoing litigation associated with the contaminated pet food.

Regardless, the forensic scientific work continued, broadening our understanding of just what happened when these compounds were consumed in large amounts by pets:

In November 2007, University of California, Davis, veterinary toxicologist Birgit Puschner and colleagues reported on the results of feeding melamine and cyanuric acid individually and in combination to a few cats (J. Vet. Diagn. Invest. 2007, 19, 616). The researchers found that a single 32 mg/kg dose of the combination can cause acute renal failure in cats. Puschner suggested that the compounds cause renal damage at least in part through precipitation of melamine cyanurate crystals out of acidic urine in the kidneys.



"That pretty much brought the story full circle," Tolleson says. "Melamine cyanurate was present in the contaminated raw material, it was detected in the crystals that were responsible for kidney failure, and feeding animals with melamine cyanurate reproduced the kidney toxicity."

That's where the science is today; now it's time to follow the money.

While the technical studies continue, the legal and financial mess spawned by the pet food adulteration is also gradually unfolding. This February, a federal grand jury in the U.S. indicted ChemNutra and its owners; Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. and its Chinese owner; and the export broker Suzhou Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products, Arts & Crafts (SSC) and its Chinese president for their roles in the contamination scheme. SSC had obtained the contaminated wheat from Xuzhou Anying on behalf of ChemNutra. According to the indictment, the shipments were falsely labeled to avoid inspection in China. ChemNutra's owners reportedly deny the allegations involving their company.



Menu Foods' Henderson says it's unlikely that customers of the Chinese companies will be able to obtain restitution because they have been shut down (C&EN, July 30, 2007, page 31). However, his firm has sued ChemNutra. Menu Foods itself faces considerable liability. The recall cost the company $54 million. Furthermore, on April 1, 2008, Menu Foods announced it had reached a tentative mediated settlement with pet owners who had filed claims against the company. A court hearing is scheduled for May 14.

The full article is here.

Mandatory spay/neuter: The unkindest cut?

From Kim Campbell Thornton, in her regular column at MSNBC.com, a hard took at the health downside of mandatory spay/neuter legislation:

As legislators push for more mandatory spay and neuter laws for pets as young as 4 and 6 months in hopes of reducing the number of unwanted animals, critics are crying foul over research showing that such surgeries may raise certain health risks in dogs and therefore shouldn't be required.



Studies have shown that dogs that undergo spaying (removal of the ovaries and uterus) or neutering (removal of the testicles) are at increased risks for certain cancers, thyroid disorder, incontinence and some of the same behavior issues, such as aggression, that the surgeries are said to prevent.

One example:

While it's long been believed that spaying and neutering can improve a dog's behavior, one large study done at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine found that, with a few exceptions, spaying and neutering was associated with worse behavior, although those effects were often specific to certain breeds and depended on the age at which the dog was altered.

Kim goes over many of the issues raised in Dr. Margaret V. Root Kustritz's review of what the science says, and discusses the conflict between public benefit -- reducing the number of dogs and cats entering the animal control system -- and the health of individual dogs and cats. She interviews a number of folks in the shelter community as well as veterinarians including Pet Connection BFF Dr. Patty Khuly.



Lots of great information... check it out.



Related, from Gina: Nathan Winograd breaks down his case that pet overpopulation is a myth, explains what no kill really is about (it's not about turn-away shelters and mentally ill pet hoarders, no matter what you've been told) and shows how 90 percent of the pets in the shelters can find permanent, loving homes with the reform of the shelter industry. Oh yeah and by the way, read the book.

Climate change? Srsly?

It's hot here in San Francisco, yo.

I mean, very very way way hot, no doubt because yesterday's historic ruling that the configuration of our genitalia or our chromosome count cannot be used to deny Californians our civil rights when it comes to marriage laws has opened the gates of hell.

Or, you know, climate destabilization due to decades of pro-business, anti-environment policies on the part of legislators.

The exact "why" might vary with political affiliation, but historic temperature records are falling all over the Bay Area, and it was in the 80s when I walked my dogs at 7:30 this morning. This does not happen here. I know; I'm from here.

My mom, in a fit of prescience and generosity, bought a tiny window unit air conditioner (I mean, I have purses bigger than this thing) for my bedroom. She said it was so my dogs wouldn't be too hot. They did, indeed, spend all day yesterday in that one room, and graciously let me sleep in there with them last night. I feel very guilty at the environmental toll of running that damn little machine all night, but not enough to have turned it off and suffered.

It is possible I own the only window unit air conditioner in San Francisco. I'm not sure.

So not only can I get married, at least until November when we'll see if the out-of-state religious right hate groups succeed in getting our constitution amended to strip me of my rights again, I am also the only person in the City who is not going to sleep in an agony of hotness tonight.

Well, the only one other than my mom, because she, too, has an air conditioner.

A friend in Virginia laughed last night when I said no one in San Francisco has air conditioning. She thought I was joking, and it took me five minutes to get her to understand, no, really: No A/C in this city. Not in homes, not in apartment buildings, not in older office buildings, not in restaurants, not in stores. Only the really big, newer public buildings, malls, etc. have climate control. Some movie theaters don't even have it, although all the new ones do.

Anyway, yes, I feel really guilty, but the dogs are blissed out and napping in my bedroom, and it's 84 degrees in my living room right now -- at 10:30 in the morning. So I'm trying to live with it.

Blue Iguanas brutally killed in the Cayman Islands

I know this isn't about pets, but I also know our readers care about all animals, as well as about wildlife and conservation issues.



I write for PetHobbyist.com, which is the parent company of kingsnake.com, the oldest and largest reptile and amphibian website in the world. Last week, we were informed that six Blue Iguanas at the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme in the Cayman Islands had been brutally killed in their enclosures at the QE II Botanic Park on Grand Cayman.



The program has been working to restore the Caymans' natural population of Blue Iguanas, which had dropped so low that a survey in 1988 found only three of the animals on Grand Cayman. In 1993, a core group of five wild Blue Iguanas was established as a captive breeding program in the QE II Botanic Park. Those numbers had grown to thirty breeding adults, with eighty 2-year-old Blues being released into the park each year. Park populations had almost reached carrying capacity, and the Programme had been expanding its restoration to another area, the National Trust’s Salina Reserve. Then tragedy struck in the form of a violent attack on the Blues.



Volunteers arrived on the morning of Sunday, May 3, and discovered Blue Iguana males Yellow, Pedro, Digger, and Eldemire, as well as 23-year-old Sara, the matriarch of the program, all dead. Another female, Jessica, had been thrown from her pen and was in shock, but still moving. Both females had been about to lay eggs, a vital contribution to the restoration of the Blue Iguana population.



The volunteers and staff of the program were deeply attached to all the Blues, and the loss and its circumstances have been a brutal blow to them all:

The iguanas appeared to have massive internal injuries, as if they had been stamped on violently and repeatedly. Some were also cut and partially dismembered. Three were found dead inside their breeding pens, two had been carried out of their pens and left in the tour area outside. The body of the sixth is still missing, but entrails on the trail outside his pen are a grim sign of his fate.

Even worse, the losses have continued:

The effort to save Jessica's life went on into the night, but despite specialist advice by telephone from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Dr. Wakelin's resourceful and determined attempts to stabilize her, she passed away during the night.



The persons responsible may have broken into the Park after closing hours, and found a way into the fenced-in captive breeding facility. No motive is known for this act of extreme violence against these unique and much-loved symbols of Cayman's natural heritage. Anyone with relevant information is asked to contact the Royal Cayman Islands Police.

A seventh Blue Iguana, Matthias, died later, even after valiant attempts to save him. Two other Blues, Archie and Billy, appear to be recovering from their injuries:

Responding to the crisis, the Wildlife Conservation Society dispatched specialist veterinarian Dr. Stephanie James to attend to these two large breeding males.



Dr James arrived near midday yesterday, and thanks to extraordinary measures willingly taken by the Department of Agriculture and the Cayman Islands Veterinary Board, she was formally permitted to get to work the moment she arrived.



X-rays at Island Veterinary Services had already confirmed "Billy" had some problems, and Dr. James' first examination of blood parameters confirmed that some of the types of injuries that had killed the other iguanas may also be present in these two. However Dr. James commented "the blood work isn’t nearly as disastrous as I’d feared".



The two iguanas were treated with a painkiller, antibiotic, and various other injections and infusions to counteract any developing infections and other possible consequences of internal injury. They are now being held in a natural enclosure under conditions designed to minimize all stress. They will be under close observation today, while Dr. James designs an ongoing treatment strategy.

The reptile world has responded with horror and compassion. A donor fund to help memorialize the lost animals, to provide a reward for information on their killers, and to help the captive breeding program recover from its loss has been established, and donations so far total more than $48,000, as well as more than $7,000 for a reward.



kingsnake.com will be hosting a guest chat with John Binns of the International Reptile Conservation Foundation and Fred Burton of the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 7 pm Eastern TIme (4 PM Pacific Time) to discuss latest developments in the investigation, and how we can help BIRP recover from this tragedy and support conservation. The chat will be held here.



I know we all have demands on our checkbooks these days, but if you can find a few dollars to help support the BIRP's efforts to recover from this tragedy and to restore Blue Iguanas to the Grand Caymans, you can donate here; be sure to select "Blue Iguana Recovery Programme" when you make your donation.



We'll continue to cover this tragedy and its aftermath on the PetHobbyist.com blog.



Memorial photos of the first six Blue Iguanas, taken during their lives and quite beautiful, marked with their birth and death dates: