Great question, to which the answer is an emphatic yes. The blog is mostly focused on dogs as they are more commonly affected, much more commonly, but paralysis ticks can affect a whole range of animals.

For all those cat owners out there here’s some advice from the great Professor Richard Malik himself who makes the following points:

a) Use frontline spray in cats not top spot to prevent ticks. Definitely DO NOT USE Advantix as it kills cats – stone dead.

b) Proban tablets can also be used

c) Daily tick searches – by hand, and using a stainless steel FLEA comb

d) Keeping your cat exclusively indoors will largely prevent the problem.

It is thought that cats have fewer ticks because they groom more fastidiously and owners may not notice if their cat is under the weather as much because cats tend to sleep more than dogs anyway.

Hope this helps.

Thank you, Sam

Thanks for your reply.

Clearly this is something we will never agree on however I would like to answer a couple of points you raised.

You say that German Shepherds in general have good teeth – maybe so I don’t know – but that doesn’t explain why our cat’s teeth which were sufficiently bad to require surgery BEFORE we started feeding her chicken wings and necks got glowing reports from her vet AFTER their inclusion in her diet and right up until she died 8 years later. By the way we always fed our cat on a rubber mat in the laundry and removed whatever she didn’t finish so the risk of giving the “family food poisoning” by ” having a cat lick a raw meaty chicken wing around the kitchen floor each day” was never an issue for us.

To say that by telling owners to feed bones to their pets “is to effectively delegate dental care to the butcher who chooses which bones to give out that day” would be true if you didn’t, as part of that same discussion, provide advice on the types of bones which are suitable to feed your pet AND the types of bones which are most definitely NOT suitable.

Thanks for your time.

Best regards
Sue

Thanks for your comment. I certainly agree that it’s a case of horses for courses when it comes to different pets and what they can tolerate in their diet. One size rarely fits all and it’s great that your dog is doing well.

The jist of the article and my particular interest is in debating the oft quoted “fact” that bones clean teeth. A German Shepherd is perhaps not the best dog to argue about because by and large they have good teeth.

Having now spent over a year in Australia my observations (I choose the word carefully) are that:
1. Bone feeding is a widespread phenomenon in Australia. Almost every pet owner I meet feeds their dog bones. Compared to virtually no-one doing so in the UK. So you might expect Aussie pet’s teeth to be significantly better.
2. The fact is that see no less incidence of dental disease here than i do in the UK.
3. I am however treating a lot of fractured carnassial teeth with abscesses. (the big one up top at the back of the mouth) – a result (I’m fairly confident) of dogs being fed huge beef knuckle bones which are way too hard for the tooth enamel. Labradors, Kelpies and Staffies seem more commonly affected than others.

In general I must say i’ve become less anti-bone than i was in the UK (as I say in the article). The story that goes along with the BARF diet does sound compelling, however I simply do not believe most of the claims. And the dental claims in particular I have I found unsubstantiaited by real life evidence before me.

My point is that if people want to feed bones, then that’s very much their business. I do though think they have a right to an honest, balanced perspective. If someone gets advice to give a bone instead of brush their pet’s teeth then that’s not good advice. I’m sure it will be better for the teeth than giving a tin of sloppy dog food each day, but i don’t think it’s any better than giving a kibble (especially a dental one) and it is nowhere near as effective as daily tooth brushing. When I ask, most of my clients say they buy whatever the butcher is offering that day for their dog. So in effect for me to say give your dog a bone each day is to effectively delegate dental care to the butcher who chooses which bones to give out that day. That’s bad news for teeth in my book and I’m the one extracting the broken teeth which suggests this is true.

As i said, i’ve softened my stance on this issue, but still i feel the risks of feeding bones outweigh the benefit. I personally won’t be giving my pets bones or especially raw chicken (though my colleagues do). I can’t think of many better ways to give my family food poisoning than having a cat lick a raw meaty chicken wing around my kitchen floor each day.

My advice to clients reflects this. At the end of the day pet health care comes first and if this diet works for you then great! Go for it. All i do is give a balanced view of the benefits reported by others and the problems i treat each week in my consult room. With no food company bias in the middle.

Great comment though and good to get some discussion going.

Cheers, Dave.

Them bones, them bones – only RAW MEATY SIZE-APPROPRIATE bones.

Best regards
Sue