It’s a great time for small game hunting
It’s a great time for small game hunting
If you enjoy small game hunting, this is your time of the year. My
rabbit-hunting companions say that there are plenty of rabbits again this
year, and the weather has been great for pretty much any outdoor activity.
Rabbit hunting is fun and great exercise, for both the dog and the hunter.
The briars you go through will keep your mind off your problems that’s for
sure, because if you don’t pay attention to what’s in front of you could
loose your nose to a briar.
Well, that’s if you hunt with the crazy guys I hunt with. They think rabbits
only live in the most uninhabitable, impenetrable parts of the land. For the
most part, they are exactly right.
I haven’t heard too much from the grouse hunters in the area yet. I know
from my own adventures that I didn’t see a single grouse in the woods of
West Virginia or Ohio this year.
My area of Marion County never really had a lot of grouse to speak of
anyway. I used to hunt for grouse over the hill toward the Mon River but I
haven’t been near there in a long time.
Last week I wrote about lyme disease in humans. Not long after, I received
an e-mail from a local vet pointing out that lyme disease can also infect
your family pet as well as humans. That was a great point and want to thank
him for e-mailing me.
Lyme disease in dogs differ from those in people, and usually occur much
later after the tick bite. Clinical illness in dogs usually occurs two to
five months after initial exposure and the likelihood of disease and the
severity of the disease seems to vary with the animal's age and immune
status. Cats can develop lyme disease, but it occurs rarely in them, even in
endemic areas.
Other domestic animals such as horses have contracted lyme disease, but it
does not appear to be a significant problem. Dogs show several different
forms of the disease, but by far, the most common symptoms are a fever of
between 103 and 105°, shifting leg lameness, swelling in the joints,
lethargy, inappetence, and maybe most importantly, response to appropriate
antibiotics.
Arthritis may be a result of both short- and long-term infections. Most dogs
that are promptly diagnosed and treated do not appear to develop arthritis,
but a few dogs who do not respond completely to treatment or were not
treated will develop progressive degeneration of the infected joints.
A few dogs have developed severe progressive renal disease as sequelae to
lyme disease. This severe kidney failure is non-responsive to treatment and
death is often the outcome. Fortunately, this form appears to be rare.
Usually, dogs will not develop any rash or the circular area of redness
around the bite (erythema migrans) which is seen in people.
Blood tests are available to assist in the diagnosis of lyme disease. The
standard blood test detects antibodies made by the dog in response to
infection with B. burgdorferi. Because of the lack of sensitivity of the
blood test, many dogs show positive test results, but are not actually
infected with the disease.
Many animals are exposed to the organism, but fight the infection off on
their own. These animals will have antibodies to B. burgdorferi but not have
the disease. In an endemic area, almost 90% of all dogs will have a positive
antibody test, so a single positive result means very little. As we
mentioned earlier, only around 10% of the exposed dogs actually contract the
infection.
Tests must be used with several other criteria to gain a positive diagnosis.
Suspected animals should have a history of tick exposure, compatible
clinical signs, and have a rapid response to antibiotic therapy. In fact,
clinical signs and rapid response to antibiotic therapy is how many
diagnoses of lyme disease are made. If an animal that is suspected of having
lyme disease does not clinically improve within 48 hours of starting
antibiotic therapy, it is best to assume that it is not lyme disease and
begin to do other diagnostic tests to find the source of the problem.
Treatment for lyme disease is very straightforward and consists of using
either a tetracycline or penicillin-based antibiotic. The two most commonly
used are oral Doxycycline or Amoxicillin. A recent study showed that both
antibiotics worked equally well. The antibiotics must be given a minimum of
14 days, but 30 days is recommended.
Deer season has pretty much come to an end, but there’s plenty of stories
about big bucks that have been killed recently. I found one really big buck
that was killed in Wisconsin by a bowhunter on Nov. 1.
At first, it was thought the buck would surpass the Milo Hanson buck but it
was determined to be a non-typical. The so-called Field & Stream buck scored
233 2/8 non-typical, making it the number one bow killed non-typical of all
time in Wisconsin.
If you’re interested in seeing more on the buck, I have a photo and a some
additional information on the blog section of my website
www.dannysnyderphoto.com.
Danny,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to thank you for the well written article on Lymes Disease. I suffer from Lymes Disease and wanted to comment on the difficulty of diagnosing the disease. I was bitten in July, 2006, suffered a rash in the bite area less than 2 weeks later. Unfortunately, the blood test is highly unreliable. While I had many of the described symptoms, the blood test came back negative. I continued to develop more severe symptoms and yet the blood test continued negative. For this reason, WVU hospital would not administer the IV antibiotic. After a year and a half of symptoms and illness, I found a specialist in Hermitage, Pennsylvania who was able to diagnose the illness and begin treatment. Unfortunately, the time period to be able to take the IV treatments and be cured has long passed for me and the best we can do is treat the symptoms and slow the bacteria. The point I want to make is that the documented cases within the state do not truly reflect the number of cases that exist. In my community of Bunner Ridge alone, there have been 3 of us diagnosed within the last two years and only 1 had the blood test give the desired positive result. Anyone who experiences these symptoms, see a specialist. Thanks again for the great article.
Sincerely,
Della Huffman