Pets on the canals

[Night Hawk]

We've just returned from our summer adventure - 5 weeks on the cut with three kids and Ibsen our Hungarian Viszla dog.

 

About two weeks into the trip, Ibsen displayed symptoms of an ear infection but a close inspection didn't reveal anything stuck and his ears weren't hot...by the time we'd arrived at Market Drayton to moor up and find a vet, Ibsen was as right as rain..chasing ducks and that kinda thing!

 

Symptoms returned this morning - three weeks later - and, now that we're home, a quick trip to the vet revealed he was getting over whatever he had and there was nothing to worry about.

 

It did get me thinking about what other complaints, illnesses etc our dogs (and cats) can pick up whilst on the towpath....

 

Any members of the forum encountered any problems with their dogs that might have been attributed to being a boating dog rather than a land-lubber hound?

 

Do dogs suffer from 'sea legs' and 'land legs' as we humans do...is it twice as bad for them having twice the number of limbs to adjust to 'terra firma'?

 

Andrew (and Ibsen)

Edited August 27, 2009 by Night Hawk

[Lady Muck]

Well they are more likely to fall in, that's for sure. Piled sided canals are pretty bad, because they can't get out. My dog slipped off the pontoons in the ice last year, he was in the water for no more than 10 seconds but when I pulled him out he'd knocked the ends of all of his back claws trying to get out. He was in shock for days, it wasn't nice.

 

The other thing to watch for is water borne bugs that they can pick up from drinking the water. I don't like him drinking it but he tries to constantly.

 

Two dogs in our marina have been ill due to drinking canal water and getting infected with water borne bugs - I know they aren't given shots, our vet says were they properly vaccinated this wouldn't happen. Another one drowned but this was the owners fault - he left it loose in the marina and went to work, it fell in and couldn't get out. Last year my neighbour spotted another of the marinas dogs in the water, it was not far from drowning, you really have to pay attention to your dog when they are next to water, you have to watch them as much as you would a child.

 

The thing that worries me most is blue green algae, should a dog drink water containing that, it could kill him.

 

I do have pet insurance and I have used it for boat related incidents, my neighbour is a welder and my dog ran into a load of steel metal he had lying around and cut his leg! I've gone for the highest level of cover because of the risk and because my dog is a demon.

Edited August 27, 2009 by Lady Muck

[Night Hawk]

Well they are more likely to fall in, that's for sure.

 

The other thing to watch for is water borne bugs that they can pick up from drinking the water.

 

The thing that worries me most is blue green algae, should a dog drink water containing that, it could kill him.

 

I guess it's the water bourne bugs I was thinking about...I need to check with our vet if the 'booster' our dog has every year covers Lyme's disease and any other 'nasties' - anyone happen to know what diseases found in canal water that animals may catch?

[Christine]

Lungworm is a nasty disease that dogs can pick up from drinking in puddles where slugs and snails have been. BTW Croydon and Southampton are 'hot spots' for lungworm infections caught from infected foxes. There is an immunisation available from your Vet.

[churchward]

We've just returned from our summer adventure - 5 weeks on the cut with three kids and Ibsen our Hungarian Visual dog.

 

About two weeks into the trip, Ibsen displayed symptoms of an ear infection but a close inspection didn't reveal anything stuck and his ears weren't hot...by the time we'd arrived at Market Drayton to moor up and find a vet, Ibsen was as right as rain..chasing ducks and that kinda thing!

 

Symptoms returned this morning - three weeks later - and, now that we're home, a quick trip to the vet revealed he was getting over whatever he had and there was nothing to worry about.

 

It did get me thinking about what other complaints, illnesses etc our dogs (and cats) can pick up whilst on the towpath....

 

Any members of the forum encountered any problems with their dogs that might have been attributed to being a boating dog rather than a land-lubber hound?

 

Do dogs suffer from 'sea legs' and 'land legs' as we humans do...is it twice as bad for them having twice the number of limbs to adjust to 'terra firma'?

 

Andrew (and Ibsen)

I think you have to treat this with some logic. There will be no special issue with walking a dog or cat on the towpath that is not present doing the same along a well trod path in a city park or country field.

 

As long as your animal is MOT'd regular at the vet and preventative inoculations kept up to date there are no real special diseases to worry about.

 

As Lady Muck points out though there are physical hazards we need to be mindful of.

 

Dogs and cats on the whole have very robust constitutions.

[Night Hawk]

I think you have to treat this with some logic. There will be no special issue with walking a dog or cat on the towpath that is not present doing the same along a well trod path in a city park or country field.

 

As long as your animal is MOT'd regular at the vet and preventative inoculations kept up to date there are no real special diseases to worry about.

 

As Lady Muck points out though there are physical hazards we need to be mindful of.

 

Dogs and cats on the whole have very robust constitutions.

 

It's not thje towpath I'm concerned about - it's water bourne bugs. It seems that most doggy vaccinations cover leptosperosis - Wiel's disease.

 

I wonder if when boosters are due, I mention to our vet about our 13 weeks a year on the canal and see what he suggests!

[Boatgypsy]

On the whole canals are very healthy places for dogs and cats. There is always the chance of accidents such as falling in, but I would imagine this is far less risky than say living on a busy road.

 

One of my dogs died recently aged 17, of old age. She had had a long and very happy, healthy life on the canal. The only incidents I can recall were when she was kicked by a horse, which shouldn't have been on the towpath and once when she got a stick stuck in her throat. She was never ill despite preferring canal water to tap water and eating any partially decomposed rabbit she came across. Dogs do have very robust constitutions!

 

My other dog, when a youngster, was watching an angler. When he saw the angler lift his line out of the water and prop it up with the maggot dangling on the end, he decided to jump up and eat the maggot. The barbed hook which impaled itself in the back of his throat was a bugger to get out - even the vet couldn't do it and I had to do it while the vet held him still - talk about role reversal!

[churchward]

It's not thje towpath I'm concerned about - it's water bourne bugs. It seems that most doggy vaccinations cover leptosperosis - Wiel's disease.

 

I wonder if when boosters are due, I mention to our vet about our 13 weeks a year on the canal and see what he suggests!

Again not much to worry about and not really any more threat than drinking out of a puddle. their digestive systems are strong. Inner city canals with high man made pollutant content may be more worrying but like us a quick accidental dip is not likely to be an issue or at least no more worrying than taking your animal to any other location.

[Yoda]

Sea water can be worse for dogs. They can get badly infected ears. Both cats and dogs will get worms, so that needs dealing with on a regular basis.

 

Cats can crawl out after falling in, if they have a scramble net, but dogs cannot and will drown. Both animals are likely to pick something up if they find kill.

 

You must watch the health of your pets on a daily basis.

[AMModels]

With the highlighted dangers of marina life for dogs would it be worthwhile asking marinas for a plank or similar wedged in the canal somehow for a dog to climb out on, similar to a hedgehog slope in a garden pond?

[Night Hawk]

Sea water can be worse for dogs. They can get badly infected ears. Both cats and dogs will get worms, so that needs dealing with on a regular basis.

 

Cats can crawl out after falling in, if they have a scramble net, but dogs cannot and will drown. Both animals are likely to pick something up if they find kill.

 

You must watch the health of your pets on a daily basis.

 

We live by the banks of the Mersey (New Brighton) and our dog spends most his walk diving into the river. We've never had a problem with any of our dogs and sea water.

 

I have to confess I watch the health of our dog more that our children....at least our kids tell us when they're feeling ill!

 

Coming back to an earlier thought....do dogs suffer motion sickness or 'sea legs' in the same way humans do?

[Lady Muck]

Both cats and dogs will get worms, so that needs dealing with on a regular basis.

 

Did you know that you can now get proper worming tablets for your dog at Pets at Home, the same as you can get at the Vets? You just need to know the weight of your pet and sign a form.

 

With the highlighted dangers of marina life for dogs would it be worthwhile asking marinas for a plank or similar wedged in the canal somehow for a dog to climb out on, similar to a hedgehog slope in a garden pond?

 

My neighbour gave me an old bunk bed metal ladder which I've got hanging over the pilings. Thing is, the dog that keeps falling in here is a barrel shaped staffy crossbreed, he is forever falling in and he couldn't climb out if he tried!

 

My lurcher is more nimble, if he falls in it's always been when he's slipped on algae or ice.

[Night Hawk]

Did you know that you can now get proper worming tablets for your dog at Pets at Home, the same as you can get at the Vets? You just need to know the weight of your pet and sign a form.

 

Ibsen's 29.4 Kg! They got these new scales at the vets..we all had a go!

[Smelly]

I guess it's the water bourne bugs I was thinking about...I need to check with our vet if the 'booster' our dog has every year covers Lyme's disease and any other 'nasties' - anyone happen to know what diseases found in canal water that animals may catch?

 

It's not just dogs that get Lyme disease... I had it a few weeks ago; my ankle looked broken it was that swollen. There didn't seem to be a vaccination as there are are lot of the spirochetes of the same family that cause it. Lyme disease is contracted from infected tick larvae and not the water. Apparently they're deer ticks but what a deer tick was doing in Tipton this time last month is beyond me yet bite me it did...

 

My moggy caught fox mange a couple of years ago. The vet reckoned he'd either been scrapping with a fox or rootind round it's den. I wouldn't put a past scrapping past him he's a swine. As he caught it at Tixall does that count?