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Hosting Thanksgiving dinner as a pet owner can come with its own unique set of concerns: How do I keep the dog from swiping the turkey off the counter before it’s served? Luckily, here are 5 Thanksgiving dinner tips for dogs and cats below. After all, Thanksgiving should be a day to safely enjoy delicious food with all of your loved ones — including our four-legged friends!

1. Don’t slip your pet these dangerous foods.

What Are Feline Leukemia Virus and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus?
Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) is contagious among cats. Unlike many other viruses that enter specific cells in the body and destroy them, FeLV enters certain cells in a cat’s body and changes the cells’ genetic characteristics. This permits FeLV to continue reproducing within the cat each time infected cells divide. This allows FeLV to become dormant (inactive) in some cats, making disease transmission and prognosis difficult to predict.

Like FeLV, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is also contagious among cats, and a cat can be infected with FIV for many years without showing any clinical signs of illness. Although FIV is not contagious to humans, FIV has some similarities to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and has been used to help researchers better understand HIV.

How Do Cats Become Infected With FeLV and FIV?
FeLV is generally transmitted through contact with saliva from an infected cat. Certain social behaviors such as mutual grooming and sharing food or water bowls can spread the disease. Kittens can become infected during fetal development or during the first days of life as their mothers nurse and care for them.

Like FeLV, FIV is also transmitted through contact with saliva from an infected cat. However, most cats contract FIV through bite wounds sustained during fights with FIV-infected cats rather than through social behaviors. Because of territorial behavior and related aggression of cats (particularly male cats) roaming outside tends to increase the risk for exposure to FIV.

FeLV and FIV are both killed by common disinfectants and don’t live for very long in the environment, so contact with an infected cat is generally necessary for disease transmission between cats.

Signs of FeLV and FIV
Not every cat that becomes infected with FeLV develops clinical signs or long-term complications associated with the virus. The immune system of some cats can eliminate the infection before the cat becomes sick. In other cats, the virus can “hide” in the bone marrow, where it is difficult to detect until it begins to cause problems later in life. Other cats become carriers of the disease or experience various illnesses and immune suppression before eventually dying of FeLV-associated complications.

Like cats with FeLV infection, FIV-positive cats don’t always show clinical signs. Some FIV-positive cats can live a relatively normal life span after becoming infected. Similar to HIV, FIV causes illness by attacking the patient’s immune system. Therefore, FIV-infected cats tend to develop clinical signs related to secondary (related) infections and not necessarily due to FIV.

Clinical signs associated with FeLV or FIV infection can be very similar and surprisingly variable, including the following:

• Fever
• Lethargy (tiredness)
• Chronic respiratory infection
• Chronic dental, oral, and gum infections

Some FeLV-positive cats also go on to develop bone marrow problems and certain cancers. Additional clinical signs associated with FIV infection can include chronic diarrhea and weight loss and chronic eye and skin infections.

When cats infected with FeLV or FIV continue to spend time outside, they are at increased risk for exposure to other viruses, parasites, and infections that their bodies may be unable to handle. Additionally, they are likely to sustain wounds (through cat fights or other trauma) that may become infected or fail to heal properly due to the compromised immune function associated with FeLV or FIV infection.

Diagnosis and Treatment
FeLV infection can be complicated to diagnose because there are several stages of disease and not every cat handles FeLV infection the same way. Blood tests detect the disease in many cats, but for other cats, the bone marrow must be examined to confirm infection. In contrast, FIV infection is usually diagnosed through blood testing alone.

A rapid-result test called a SNAP test to can be used to help diagnose FeLV or FIV infection. The SNAP test is very accurate, can be performed in your veterinarian’s office using a very small amount of blood, and takes only 10 minutes to complete. If your veterinarian obtains a questionable result on the SNAP test, additional testing may be recommended. Some of these tests must be performed at an outside laboratory, from which results take longer to receive.

No medication can eliminate FeLV or FIV. Most treatments involve managing the clinical signs and associated complications. Keeping cats indoors is very important to protect them from these diseases.

When Should Cats Be Tested for FeLV and FIV?
Because FeLV or FIV infection can have many clinical presentations, your veterinarian may want to test your cat if he or she seems to be ill—especially if a fever is present.

Kittens or cats being introduced into the home should be tested for FeLV and FIV, especially if they are ill. Kittens whose mothers were infected with FIV may test positive when they are very young but test negative later as the antibodies they received while nursing from their mother wear off. Some veterinarians, therefore, recommend retesting young kittens when they are older (for example, at 6 months of age) to verify whether they are still positive. With FeLV infection, some kittens may test positive at first but test negative later if their immune system has been able to eliminate the infection. Similarly, some cats may be FeLV-negative at one point and test positive later as the virus progresses through various stages in the body. Because infection with FeLV or FIV can be complex, your veterinarian may recommend re-testing at some point.

Many cats can live reasonably normal lives with FeLV or FIV infection, so if your cat tests positive, do not despair! This result does not necessarily mean that your cat will soon become sick and die. As long as precautions are taken to protect cats from wounds, parasites, and other infections that can make them sick and shorten their life span, some cats can live for many years with FeLV or FIV infection. If your cat tests positive, ask your veterinarian what precautions you should take to protect your cat.

Vaccination and Prevention
Available vaccines can prevent disease associated with FeLV and prevent infection with FIV. Kittens are generally vaccinated against FeLV around 8 to 9 weeks of age. A booster vaccination is given 3 to 4 weeks later, according to the vaccine label, followed by boosters each year as long as the risk for exposure remains. Similarly, vaccination against FIV can begin when kittens are around 8 weeks of age. Two additional boosters are given 2 to 3 weeks apart, followed by boosters each year as long as the risk for exposure remains.

Cats that go outside are at greater risk for exposure to FeLV and FIV compared with cats that stay indoors. If your cat’s exposure risk is low, your veterinarian may not recommend these vaccines, so be sure to discuss this important question with your veterinarian.

Protecting your cat from exposure to FeLV and FIV involves minimizing exposure to other cats and knowing the FeLV and FIV statuses of all the cats in your home. Any new kitten or cat being introduced into the home should be examined by a veterinarian as soon as possible and separated from all other household pets for a quarantine period of at least a few weeks. During this time, the new cat should be tested for FeLV and FIV and monitored closely for signs of illness. Any problems should be reported to your veterinarian before introducing the new cat to your other pets.

This blog was written by McQueen Animal Hospital, an animal clinic (vet hospital/vet clinic) in Brampton committed to providing only the highest level of veterinary care to our beloved pets.

Sedation or Agitation
The most common side effects of marijuana intoxication are “drunkenness” (with pets appearing impaired and uncoordinated), sedation and urinary incontinence. THC and other cannabinoids affect the central nervous system, causing disruption of normal movement and behavior. However, about 25 percent of pets who ingest THCbecome stimulated instead — with agitation, vocalization and high heart rates as possible side effects. The most severely affected animals are typically the ones who have consumed marijuana edibles. These products can have very high levels of THC. There have even been some dog deaths reported after eating cookies or brownies made with marijuana butter because pets, unlike humans, think nothing of opportunistically wolfing down an entire pan of edibles.

While dogs are the most common pets to ingest marijuana, cats will eat the plant material. Because of their apparent lack of a sweet tooth, however, they are less likely to consume the more tempting edibles. After ingestion, pets can become affected in minutes to hours, and signs can last for hours.

If your pet is unable to walk or cannot be roused after being suspected of ingesting marijuana, contact your veterinarian immediately. It is most important that your pet gets medical assistance. Affected animals should have their heart rate and blood pressure monitored. Treatment for marijuana intoxication can include confinement to prevent injury, intravenous fluids to keep the blood pressure normal and medications to lower the heart rate. Severely affected animals may benefit from intravenous lipid emulsions to help decrease the amount of circulating cannabinoids in the pet’s system.

A Pet Pain Reliever?
Given marijuana’s usage in humans for problems such as chronic pain, especially back pain, some people have logically asked, “What about using marijuana as a pain control option for my pets?” At this point, more research is needed in this area to provide an answer. There is no known appropriate dose for pets, and the raw plant material has variable amounts of cannabinoids in it. If you are concerned about your pet’s comfort level, speak with your veterinarian and use one of the many available medications, such as opioids or NSAIDs, that have been shown to be safe and effective for managing pain in animals.

Finally, as with any potentially toxic substance, always keep marijuana and marijuana-laced food items out of the reach of pets and children. While the trend toward legalization may make marijuana more available in many homes, remember that it remains a highly toxic substance for pets.