- Author: Rob Warren
- Contributor: Jeannette Warnert
Veterinarians at the University of California, Davis, warn pet owners to be careful about using rat poisons and similar compounds.
In recent weeks, veterinarians at the UC Davis William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital have seen a spike in accidental rodenticide poisonings. In the last two weeks of August alone, they diagnosed and treated six canine cases.
If not treated, a dog can die within a week of ingesting rodenticides.
"This is an all-too-common occurrence," said Karl Jandrey, assistant professor of clinical small animal emergency and intensive care at UC Davis. "People are trying to get rid of unwanted rodents, but are not realizing what these toxins do to the other animals who share that environment."
Keeping pets safe
Using proper pest control techniques can help keep family pets safe, said Roger Baldwin, UC Cooperative Extension advisor with the UC Integrated Pest Management Program. Baldwin, a wildlife pest management expert, is based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier.
Dogs can be affected by rodenticides two ways: by eating the poisoned bait or by eating an animal that was poisoned. Both can have serious consequences.
Home improvement stores like Lowes and Home Depot, and even grocery stores, carry a variety of products that may be used to control unwanted rats, mice, pocket gophers and ground squirrels. If the unwanted animals are inside the house, Baldwin recommends using traps rather than poison.
"If a poisoned animal dies behind a wall, you can't get it out and you have to live with the smell for weeks or months," Baldwin said.
Also, before baiting outdoor pests, Baldwin suggests making sure they are not also going inside buildings. If they are, find all potential access points and close them up.
If resorting to poison baits, buy a new product at the store and carefully read the label to understand when, where and how it can be used. Because of rapidly changing restrictions in recent years, old products in your garage or shed could be outdated.
Pocket gopher bait must be placed in the gopher's underground burrow. Even there, Baldwin said, certain dogs will dig up dead pocket gophers if they are close enough to the surface. Families with digging dogs will likely want to choose gopher traps. For ground squirrels, baits can be placed in bait stations or scattered very thinly on the ground through broadcast or spot treatments.
"When you use broadcast or spot treatments, there is relatively little danger to dogs or cats," Baldwin said. "But I would opt to use bait stations in my yard if I had pets running around, just to be on the safe side."
Some rodenticides contain ingredients that are anticoagulants, which slow the clotting of the blood. When dogs ingest these poisons, the active ingredients concentrate in the liver where they interfere with vitamin K storage and the production of blood clotting factors.
At UC Davis' veterinary teaching hospital, dealing with accidental poisoning by an anticoagulant rodenticide can require around-the-clock care with treatments in the intensive care unit to replenish blood clotting factors with fresh frozen plasma and replace vitamin K. If administered early enough, this treatment usually leads to a full recovery. Other rodenticides (e.g., bromethalin, cholecalciferol, strychnine and zinc phosphide) do not have antidotes, so treatment is more difficult.
One patient recently treated at UC Davis was Mocha, a one-year-old Belgian Malinois from Winters, Calif. Mocha had gotten into d-CON, a common rodenticide available at hardware stores.
Luckily, Mocha was brought to the veterinary teaching hospital in time. She responded well to treatment and was able to go home in two days.
"We are grateful for the care Mocha received at UC Davis," said Ken Shaw, Mocha's owner. "Like most dogs, Mocha is adventurous and likes to get into things she shouldn't. But after the treatment at UC Davis, she was home within a few days, happy and playful once again."
- Author: Karen Nikos,UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-6101, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu, cell, (530) 219-5472
The work by an interdisciplinary group of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty and members of the local community, is made possible by a $4.8 million grant last year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The goal of the project, Ninos Sanos/Familia Sana ("Healthy Children/Healthy Family"), is to curb obesity among Mexican-heritage children ages 2-8.
In all, 400 children and their families in Firebaugh will be provided with practical tools, education and incentives to help them eat healthy diets and get sufficient exercise in a five-year program. Many of the programs and meetings will be held at a new center that will launch Thursday.
On Sunday, in celebration of Mexican Independence Day, a mural depicting the history and culture of the community will be unveiled on the wall of a community center in San Joaquin. The mural has been painted this month as a collaborative project by UC Davis students and San Joaquin residents, including youth.
A mural in progress, designed by Jaime Montiel, artist-in-residence at Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer (TANA) at UC Davis, is created in the Fresno County community of San Joaquin. The mural painted Sept. 1-15 is based on the community's cultural and social history. Carlos Francisco Jackson, founding director of TANA, co-leads the Ninos Sanos/Familia Sana study. Photo by Gilda Posada, community art engagement project coordinator, TANA
- Contact: Karen Nikos, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-6101, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu, cell, (530) 219-5472
Called "Ninos Sanos, Familia Sana" (Healthy Children, Health Family), the center is a collaborative effort of the University of California, Davis, the University of California Cooperative Extension, and local communities and organizations.
"Opening this center really gives us an opportunity to work with the community -- to be there for children and families and show we are committed to promoting good nutrition and physical activity," said Adela de la Torre, professor of Chicana/o studies and director of the Center for Transnational Health at UC Davis. "We want to help them learn the best approaches to preventing obesity now and in the long term."
Part of a five-year, $4.8 million study aimed at identifying effective approaches to combating obesity, the center will address a problem that affects more than four in 10 children born to parents of Mexican heritage, putting them at greater risk of early diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Planning for the study, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, began last year. The study will conclude in 2016.
During the study, 400 Firebaugh children and their families will receive practical tools, education and incentives to help them eat healthy diets and get sufficient exercise. Interventions will include:
- $25 monthly in vouchers for families to buy fruits and vegetables at participating markets;
- classroom instruction for children on nutrition and physical activity;
- 10 family education nights per year in which parents will learn how to select and use fresh ingredients to prepare healthy meals for themselves and their children; and
- twice-yearly health screenings to monitor weight, blood pressure, body-mass index, skinfold thickness and waist circumference.
At the same time, 400 children and families in the town of San Joaquin will receive:
- twice-yearly health screenings
- a series of forums designed to assist parents in supporting their children's education
The San Joaquin community will also benefit from these outreach
activities:
- UC Davis will collaborate with area schools to enrich the science curriculum.
- A community mural project will depict the rich cultural heritage and history of the community. (The mural, painted on an outdoor wall of a community learning center in San Joaquin, will be unveiled on Sunday, Sept. 16).
At the study's conclusion, de la Torre and her research colleagues will have data to show whether the food vouchers and health education programs tested in Firebaugh are effective, using San Joaquin as a control. San Joaquin families and schools will then receive much of the same intervention used in Firebaugh, with assistance from UC Cooperative Extension specialists.
Both Firebaugh and San Joaquin are located in Congressional District 20, an area with the nation's lowest human development index, an international measurement of wellbeing based on longevity, standard of living and other factors.
"The irony here is that their parents may harvest vegetables in the fields -- some of the richest agricultural land anywhere in the world -- but their children rarely share in this bounty," de la Torre said. "We need to provide better access to fresh vegetables and fruit in stores and teach these families how to prepare these foods in easy and convenient ways, to make these good foods part of their lives. That is what this program is about."
An agricultural economist, de la Torre has studied Latino health issues in the U.S. and Mexico for more than 25 years.
Throughout the study, an advisory committee made up of school, community and parent representatives from each community will provide feedback on program strategies, approaches, concerns and solutions to the barriers that prevent children from maintaining healthy weights.
Participants include parents who have volunteered to have their families take part; grocery stores; health professionals (Sablan Medical Clinics); a nonprofit, community-based program of promotoras, or outreach workers (Proteus, Inc.); school teachers and administrators (Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified School District and Golden Plains Unified School District in San Joaquin).
Also participating are about 20 educational specialists, economists, nutritionists, psychologists, physicians, and graduate and undergraduate students from UC Davis and the University of California Cooperative Extension.
Lucia Kaiser, Cooperative Extension specialist in the UC Davis Department of Nutrition and a co-investigator on the study, said:
"This project is an exciting opportunity for UC Davis and UC Cooperative Extension to pull a multidisciplinary team of social scientists, nutritionists and other professionals to work in partnership with an underserved community to prevent a pressing health problem -- childhood obesity."
Additional information:
Editor's note:
- Interviews will be available in Spanish. Lean en espanol: http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10329]
Media contact(s):
*
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
UC studies examine costs for growing pears, walnuts, winegrapes
Analysis for each crop is based upon hypothetical farm operations using practices common in the region. Input and reviews were provided by UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors, researchers, growers, farm accountants, pest control advisers, consultants and other agricultural associates.
The studies describe the assumptions used to identify current costs for the individual crops, material inputs, cash and non-cash overhead. A ranging analysis table shows profits over a range of prices and yields. Other tables show the monthly cash costs, the costs and returns per acre, hourly equipment costs and the whole farm annual equipment, investment and business overhead costs.
The four new cost studies are the following:
- Sample Costs to Establish and Produce Pears, 2012, North Coast, by Rachel B. Elkins, Karen M. Klonsky and Kabir P. Tumber.
- Sample Costs to Produce Organic Pears, 2012, Sacramento Valley, by Chuck A. Ingels and Karen M. Klonsky.
- Sample Costs to Establish a Walnut Orchard and Produce Walnuts, 2012, North Coast, by Rachel B. Elkins, Karen M. Klonsky and Kabir P. Tumber.
- Sample Costs to Establish a Vineyard and Produce Winegrapes (Cabernet Sauvignon), 2012, San Joaquin Valley North, by Paul S. Verdegaal, Karen M. Klonsky and Richard L. De Moura.
These cost studies and cost of production studies for other crops are available online at http://coststudies.ucdavis.edu, at UC Cooperative Extension offices and by calling (530) 752-3589. For more information about the studies, contact Richard De Moura at rdemoura@ucdavis.edu in the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
- Contact: Pam Kan-Rice, (530) 754-3912, pam.kanrice@ucanr.edu
- Contact: Richard DeMoura, (530) 752-3589, rdemoura@ucdavis.edu
Analysis for each crop is based upon hypothetical farm operations using practices common in the region. Input and reviews were provided by UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors, researchers, growers, farm accountants, pest control advisers, consultants and other agricultural associates.
Assumptions used to identify current costs for the individual crops, material inputs, cash and non-cash overhead are described. A ranging analysis table shows profits over a range of prices and yields. Other tables show the monthly cash costs, the costs and returns per acre, hourly equipment costs, and the whole farm annual equipment, investment, and business overhead costs.
The new studies are the following:
- Sample Costs to Produce Fresh Market Broccoli, 2012, Central Coast, by Surendra K. Dara, Karen M. Klonsky and Kabir P. Tumber.
- Sample Costs to Produce Cotton (Acala Variety), 2012, San Joaquin Valley; Sample Costs to Produce Cotton (Pima Variety), 2012, San Joaquin Valley; and Sample Costs to Produce Cotton (Transgenic Herbicide Resistant Acala Variety) 2012, San Joaquin Valley by Robert B. Hutmacher, Steven D. Wright, Larry Godfrey, Daniel S. Munk, Brian H. Marsh, Karen M. Klonsky, Richard L. De Moura and Kabir P. Tumber.
- Sample Costs to Produce Oat Hay (Dryland), 2012, Sacramento Valley by Rachael Long, Karen M. Klonsky and Richard L. De Moura.
- Sample Costs to Establish and Produce Alfalfa Hay, 2012, Intermountain, by Steve B. Orloff, Karen M. Klonsky and Kabir P. Tumber.
All cost of production studies are available online at http://coststudies.ucdavis.edu, at UC Cooperative Extension offices and by calling (530) 752-3589. For additional information on the studies, contact Richard De Moura at rdemoura@ucdavis.edu in the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
