What should be some of a dog's greatest joys in life have become Skeeter's worst nightmare. Food, a chance at chasing a squirrel, going for a walk, or even an opportunity to sniff another dog all have the same effect on the 11-pound toy poodle: he's out cold.
"He has no personality right now(sounds like someone...hmm...do you know who?)," Shari Henderson told the Idaho State Journal. "It is scary. I don't want him turning into a couch pillow."
The condition, narcolepsy, is extremely rare in dogs and has fascinated Skeeter's veterinarian, Walter Rowntree of Bannock Animal Medical Center in Pocatello. The condition is so rare, Rowntree said, that there are no statistics available about its prevalence in dogs.
"I called four or five colleagues to brag that I'd diagnosed a narcoleptic dog," said Rowntree, who first examined Skeeter on Oct. 11 because of an enlarged lymph node(this is starting to sound really, really familiar..hmmm).
The condition is more common in humans but has been documented in some dogs, horses, ponies and a single Brahman bull. It is caused by a disconnect between the normal sleep-wake cycle, triggered by excitement that causes the afflicted to go from being awake straight into a deep sleep(I can be quite the sleepy head and pig too). In humans, strong emotion triggers attacks(I HATE SCHOOL!!!! *sleeps*), and dogs have strong emotions about eating, Rowntree said.
Stanford University researchers who studied a narcoleptic group of Dobermans discovered the dogs all lacked a certain brain protein involved in wakefulness.
With Skeeter, initially, only the sight of food triggered attacks. His condition has progressively gotten worse, and Rowntree hopes the human medication he prescribed for Skeeter on Tuesday — Ritalin and an antidepressant — will help restore Skeeter's normal routine.
Rowntree also notified faculty at the veterinary school at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., who requested video footage of Skeeter.
Skeeter once spent his afternoons roaming the fence line in the Henderson's one-acre yard. When Shari's husband, Darrell, took him for two-mile walks, he pulled on the chain wanting to walk faster.
Now that Skeeter falls asleep in mid-trot, the Hendersons place him in a stroller for his customary walk.
Skeeter can no longer eat regular dog food, so the Hendersons hand-feed him cooked vegetables and lunch meat. To keep Skeeter awake during the meal, they hold up his back legs and massage his neck(I want my massage too...*pouts*).
Aside from the danger of falling asleep in mid-activity, Rowntree said narcoleptic dogs can live as long as healthy dogs.
But Rowntree also noted that there's no joy for a dog who can't stay awake to experience the things he once loved to do.
Lose weight, enjoy a better sex life: study(Before I go on, can I say something? Isn't that a given thing that most people will go "d'oh!!" at?)
Obese women who start to lose weight will also see an improvement in the quality of their sex lives, according to a U.S. study released Monday.
Even a moderate weight loss reduced complaints of feeling sexually unattractive and led to improved desire(maybe 'cause more guys are desiring to have them?? *ponders*), according to the study presented at the annual meeting of The North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) in Vancouver.
"If people experience benefits and rewards from their weight loss and health efforts, it may motivate them to continue a healthy lifestyle," said Martin Binks, director of behavioral health at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, North Carolina.
Researchers who tracked 161 obese women participating in a prescription weight loss program in Minnesota found almost two-thirds reported problems with aspects of their sex life when the study began.
Within the first year, the percentage of women who said they had problems with sexual desire dropped to 15 percent from 39 percent and the number who felt they were sexually unattractive dropped to 26 percent from 68 percent.
The Minnesota weight loss program lasted for two years, but health officials said it was normal for the majority of the weight loss to be in the first year.
The researchers said they found similar results in a survey of 26 obese men in the Minnesota weight-loss program, but cautioned that the small number of male participants made it difficult to draw conclusions from that data.
Health officials say there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in North America in the past two decades, and 64 percent of adults in the United States are considered to be overweight or obese(welcome to the club...welcome to the club..unfortunately, I seem to have already terminated my membership .. hmm.. oh yea... I lost some 40% of my body weight in erm 6-8 years?? Oh well..gimme liposuction anytime baby..=P).
