Ruki at 16 Months

Just some pictures with the new camera of Ruki at 16 months.

The Real Deal on Home Lead-Testing Kits

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission released an October 2007 report that Home Lead Test Kits are Unreliable. (Link to the full report.) The CPSC conducted these tests in light of recent reports of lead in toys. I, however, am interested in them in the context of testing for surface lead in our apartment to protect my family from eating lead paint chips. (I hear lead paint tastes sweet! Mmmm...)

The take-home: My opinion is that these lead test kits are still useful in testing for exposed lead paint on your walls, doors, and sills. If you do find lead, then you have to thoroughly clean nearby surfaces and prophylactically paint over the exposed lead and keep your kids away from these areas. (See Lead-Safe Cambridge's practical recommendations on protecting your kids from lead exposure.) Here's a post from Thingamababy recommending the Homax, Hybrivet, and Abotex lead test kits from a Consumer Reports study.

Living in Massachusetts, particularly around Boston, it's nearly impossible for the average family to rent (or buy) a place that *doesn't* have lead. The rule of thumb is that if your building was built before 1978, then there's going to be lead paint on your walls. Since then, the lead paint may have been painted over multiple times. But you have to worry about places where the paint may be chipping--where windows or door jams rub, anywhere where paint is cracking. This might cause lead paint to chip and be accessible on the floor, or to turn to dust and then float around your apartment.

In September 2007, the CPSC tested four lead test kits on surfaces (1) painted with lead paint, and (2) with a coat of lead paint covered by a coat of non-leaded paint. (There was also a control with a coat of non-leaded paint.)

All of test kits detected lead in the single coat of leaded paint (0.5% lead carbonate). (The HUD threshold for lead paint is 0.5% lead.) None of the test kits "consistently" detected lead which was painted over with non-leaded paint.

The study reports that of 104 tests, 56 were false negatives--i.e., they didn't find lead when lead was there. But it's unclear as to whether the CPSC considered tests that didn't detect paint over lead paint a false negative. It sounds like this might be the case, but again it's unclear.

In that case, I'm not so worried about false negatives--so long as I can prevent my kid from chewing on the sills or picking up paint chips off the floor. The concern of the CPSC is different, however--kids are more prone to chew on toys and thus a coat of non-lead paint isn't much protection.

And so while there's always a theoretical risk for my soon-to-be infant (and my puppy), I have to calculate the practical risk: Can I find a non-leaded apartment? Can I afford a new, non-leaded apartment? Do I ask my landlord to de-lead the apartment? (They have to by law pay to move me out, pay for alternate housing, and then pay the $10-20K to de-lead the apartment. Come on. Instead, they'll evict us, and we'll spend the next months homeless and in court.)

Instead, I'm going to test doors, windows, and any cracked or chipping surfaces for lead paint. Then I'm going to thoroughly clean all these areas with wet detergents and paper towels (not cloths or sponges: read this great guide to preventing lead poisoning), and then paint or caulk over any cracked or chipping areas. And then I'm going to sleep easy--as much as I possibly can--when the baby finally comes.

On the risks of lead exposure: We spoke with a pediatrician who is extremely concerned about lead dust in the air and the risk of "mental retardation" in children. She strongly encouraged us to immediately find a de-leaded apartment, ignoring the reality of living in Cambridge/Boston. I've spoken to a pediatric cardiologist--so not specifically concentrating on lead in kids--who said the kid's gotta be eating lead chips and then you're talking a statistical drop in 1-2 IQ points. So it's all over the place.

More Bumpiness -- Food Allergies?

So yesterday morning I noticed that Ruki was looking particularly angry. And then I realized the fold above her left eye was particularly bulging. Was it a bump? It was. A huge one.

What happened? Did she hit her head? Was it from playing rough with another dog? No idea. So we watched it. And when I took her out for her walk, I noticed that she was bumpy on her legs. It's not that you can see the bumps; it's just that her fur is raised in small dots.

Through the past few days, the bumps have come and gone. First on her legs; now on her sides; now on her face, around her lips. Sometimes they seem to subside; sometimes they seem to spread.

We've been giving her Benadryl since yesterday. One and a half pills--that's 25 mg + 12.5 mgs. She's 37 lbs, so the dosage is right: 1 mg per lb. And then give her this dosage 2-3 times a day for a few days to see if she clears up. The big bump above her eye has gone down since then. But there are more bumps everywhere.

I noticed a new thing last night: She dove into her food with the same gusto as usual, but then about halfway through, she stopped, and walked away. Crazy!!! I then held the bowl for her, and she re-approached and finished most of it up. But not all! Crazy!!!

The same thing this morning. I wonder if it's a food allergy.

I initially thought that maybe she had eaten something when we took her to Harvard Square's Oktoberfest (which was fantastic, by the way). But then after doing some reading, her allergic reactions would have started much earlier. They say that sometimes allergic reactions would occur within 20 minutes of contact with the allergen.

So the best--in the worst kind of way--diagnosis might be a food allergy. I'm going to give her some more Benadryl this afternoon. And then maybe just feed her rice and water over the next few meals to see if her bumps go down.

The theory on food allergies is that exposure to some things too early creates these allergies. That's why often the foods recommended for allergy treatment are lamb or fish-based: most puppies have limited or no exposure to lamb or fish until their allergies develop (by 2 years of age), and then they can eat lamb or fish for the rest of their lives. The same theory goes for grain or starch allergies, and new foods containing more barley or potato than wheat or soy.

In retrospect, then maybe we should have limited the types of proteins and grains we fed Ruki as a puppy. Her Innova has turkey, chicken, herring, barley, rice, and potatoes. So what's left to try to eliminate? I'll keep updating on our journey for Ruki to some day be stable and healthy...

Update (12/03/07): We ended up switching her food to California Natural's Lamb and Rice formula. Since, she's been fine.

Her Innova Adult was chicken and turkey based. So we suspected a chicken or turkey allergy. This Thanksgiving, we fed her some turkey, and I noticed a bump or two show up, so we know it's at least turkey. But now we just avoid both.

Reverse Sneezing... Or Worse? (Update!)

Update from:

http://rukimonster.blogspot.com/2007/09/reverse-sneezing-or-worse.html

So, I ended up taking her to the vet... And the vet said that Ruki has mild pneumonia. Her "reverse sneezing" is actually just coughing, and her licking up in her mouth was her licking up phlegm. Then her coughs would get so violent, they'd make her regurgitate. (Not "vomit"--vomiting comes from the stomach, regurgitating comes from other causes. Well-noted, Dr. Vet.) They confirmed this with x-rays.

So they gave us Clavamox--she just got off Clavamox for her pyoderma!--and the vet made some suggestions that have so far proved brilliant:

Raise Ruki's food and water bowls off the ground, about chin-height.

The thing is that bulldog's throats and airways are so short, that straining down and wolfing down food can mess with their breathing.

So I took an old Amazon.com shipping box, wrapped it in a plastic bag, and put her food and water up there. And amazingly she doesn't choke any more when she gobbles up her food! And she hasn't puked from coughing since! (But that could be just because she's getting better.)

I have to get her a new bowl since she eats with such gusto she knocks food and water all over the place--right now, I just hold the bowl while she eats. But this is great.

Now, the next step, is to look into changing her food and see if some day I can get her to actually *chew* her food!

Also, here's a link to a Yahoo! Answers post that gives some insight into too fast eating and the risk of bloat:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070329080847AAFNk1I

Reverse Sneezing... Or Worse?

Three nights ago, Ruki woke us up with a loud COUGH! We didn't think much of it, but then the next day she had a short fit of what I now think is reverse sneezing. That night, I took her for a walk, and she started the coughing, retching, reverse sneezing, which ended up with her vomiting repeatedly on the sidewalk. While we worked our way home, her hacking stopped, and she was OK.

Last night, around 2 a.m., we heard her hacking/coughing again, and then she started a puking session all over the apartment again. This morning and afternoon she's been hacking/coughing, but has been holding her puke down.

I've watched videos, and it looks like reverse sneezing. I'm just worried about the vomiting. Does anyone else's bulldog reverse sneeze and then vomit, too?

I don't want to have to go to the vet, and have them not know what it is and then charge us $100 for tests if it's something that's fairly common. She doesn't have a fever, isn't listless or lethargic, no runny nose, no extraordinary eye discharge, and the poo's fine.

Here's a video of her:

Sanitizing Properties of Eco-Friendly Household Cleaners?

So I recently started to buy eco-friendly cleaning fluids for the house. But then when you look at the ingredients, what's in there? There's usually a surfactant, a preservative, and maybe a natural fragrance.

There are (at least) two ways to think about cleaning: (1) I want to kill absolutely everything that's on my countertop, and even if I eat those nasties, then they'll be dead and of no danger to me and my loved ones, or (2) I just want to "wash" off any nasties and flush them away.

Products like Lysol and bleach do the former. This is often done through "lysis"--or a reverse osmosis where by sucking away the water outside of bacteria, the water inside the bacteria is drawn out, imploding the bacterial nasty. Or just through putting a lot of harsh, toxic stuff in the sprays that kill some other nasty way.

But the other way, while seeming not as "safe," might be just as good. Doctor's don't use crazy chemicals to wash their hands. They usually soap (though they'll sometimes use alcohol-based hand cleansers). I remember reading somewhere that just using water--no soap--is pretty effective, too. You don't have to kill the nasties, you just have to wipe them away.

Surfactants generally operate on oil allowing you to lift oil off of services. Oils are usually what traps the nasties and makes them stick to our counter-tops, etc. It does the same thing that soap does, without actually being soap.

Another option for sanitizing is to use products with bleach, vinegar, citrus, or hydrogen peroxide. Bleach degrades into salt and water. Hydrogen peroxide is an acid that kills bacteria, but also bubbles when reacting with organic substances, lifting dirt out of oil, the same way detergents work--or how peroxide cleans out cuts by bubbling up the dirt out of your cuts. Vinegar and citrus, similarly, are acids that can help to kill nasties.

Stinky Dog and Baking Soda Carpet Cleaner

There's no shying away from it--Ruki's a stinky dog. Her fur and her food gets in the rugs, and it just gets musty. I've tried candles, sprays, etc., but they don't seem to work for more than a few minutes.

The best thing so far has been to vacuum our floors, and use Arm & Hammer Pet Fresh Odor Eliminator. It's fragrance and baking soda. You sprinkle it on your rugs/carpets, let it sit there for 15 minutes (or more) and then vacuum it all up. It definitely smells good for a day or two (or three), but even after that the mustiness is nearly gone.

I believe the claims behind it are that the baking soda absorbs the biological nasties--proteins, enzymes, fluids--that cause odors. Then it also gets into the carpet fibers and breaks the static there--the static which makes it more difficult to vacuum out the pet hair. And of course the strong fragrance covers anything else up.

I also appreciate the fact that it's "more" natural than other things. I know Febreeze is supposed to be based on corn products, but I don't know what else is in there. The Pet Fresh is mostly baking soda. I can deal with that.