By Stephen Smoot
How often does one find a professional who works to teach potential customers how they can avoid paying so much for his or her services?
Last night at Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College, Tom Parisi from South Branch Veterinary Hospital, did just that. Steve Pendleton, who works with area animal welfare efforts, also helped to organize the session.
“This is public education to help people better understand their pet’s health care,” shared Pendleton, who added “it’s amazing what people don’t know about their pets.”
The session held last week serves as one of a series of presentations held by Parisi and Pendleton to cover various aspects of how to prevent serious illness in dogs, cats, and other pets. Each session briefly recaps previously shared information, then focuses on the topic of the day.
While attendance has been strong, Pendleton worries that those who have come for the education sessions are not those targeted for them. Their goal lies in bringing in pet owners for whom veterinary bills might present a significant expense. As in human beings, preventive measures and understanding are key.
For example, Parisi spoke about parvo. This disease, first identified in the 1970s, produces painful hemorrhaging in dogs and usually ends in their death. Treatments can cost upwards of $2,000 and often do not work, “even with aggressive support and care.”
Preventative medicine includes vaccinations. Shots for what dog owners call “distemper” actually cover a number of separate canine conditions. These include parvo, canine coronavirus, and other diseases.
“Parvo is the one that stands out,” stated Parisi.
He explained that if a dog suffering from parvo spends time on a certain area of ground, that ground gets contaminated. “In the ground, it survives for years and years,” noted Parisi. Owners who have had dogs suffer from the disease in the past in that area need to vaccinate their dogs against parvo to prevent transmission from active germs in the ground.
Parisi also discussed leptospirosis, which he referred to as “zoonotic.” That terms means that it can transmit to humans as well. Excretions from livestock or rodents can carry this disease. Dogs pick it up if their mouths or an open sore come into contact with areas where those substances are present. Humans can contract the virus if they handle canine excretions, don’t use gloves or wash their hands, and the disease touches an open wound or somehow enters through the mouth.
Parisi shared a tremendous amount of information with attendees, but he and Pendleton have plans to create larger impact. They do intend to work more in the future to engage schoolchildren on the subject of pet care, finding the most effective ways to spread the knowledge to the community.
