Articles: rats

What’s next? 2020 turns out to be the years of plagues. What’s next? Now, a squirrel tested positive literally for the bubonic plague in Morrison, CO. Unusual in squirrels and far more common in prairie dogs, various ground squirrel species and various rat species; plague caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis is found in rodents and…

Listen HERE to Steve Dale’s Pet World, WGN Radio, and Dr. Natalie Marks offers her perspective on how veterinary medicine has changed for better or worse as a result of the pandemic. And how clients are relieving some of their pressures, with veterinary professionals sometimes at the other end of those emotions. And how everyone…

There’s no doubt that military working dogs save our soldiers’ lives by detecting landmines, They’re not the only ones with this talent. Giant Gambian pouched rats can do the job, and arguably do it better. And they are indeed giant, weighing about nine to 10 lbs., While too light set off the explosives, who who…

With restaurants barely operating or not open at all, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning against aggressive urban rats who a desperate for food.  Back on March 30, I predicted this “rats and COVID-19 crisis.” Aside from grossing people out, what’s the problem? After all, rats don’t attack people. Or do…

Few are talking about the rat crisis resulting from COVID-19, which is making it a difficult time to be a rat.  In big cities like Chicago, New York, New Orleans, Detroit, etc. as restaurants and fast food places are operating on a limited basis or not operating at all there’s not nearly as much trash.…

On Chicago Marathon morning I thought about the story of the tortoise and the hare – so we spoke about tortoises and hares (rabbits) HERE on WGN Radio Steve Dale Dale’s Pet World.  My guest, Dr. Byron De la Navarre, past President of the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians and is considered a world expert…

In a collaborative effort, several investigators from The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine as well as MedVet Chicago partnered on the paper, “The Descriptive and Spatio-Temporal Analyses of 45 Canine Leptospirosis Cases from Chicago, 2015-2018.” Amanda Smith, PhD Candidate at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine is the lead investigator on the project,…

The World Health Organization (WHO) listed “vaccine hesitancy” — defined as the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate, despite the availability of vaccines — among the top 10 health threats of 2019. Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways to avoid disease, preventing two to three million deaths annually, according to the organization. An additional 1.5…

Leptospirosis doesn’t just go away because the weather gets a bit cooler. In fact, in places, there may be more of it. Lepto is a water born bacterial infection spread by many mammals, most prominently rats. That’s why Lepto is sometimes called “rat fever” or “rodent fever.” Infected animals may or may not show symptoms.…

Rats don’t like dog feces. That’s the truth. I am tired of public officials and others who blame dogs owners not picking up for the rat problem. We were at a city festival over the weekend, and they were giving out signs which blamed dogs for the city’s rat problem. That simply is untrue! Of…