Many of you will know this already, but please share this information widely!

“If your dog will jump in the nearest river, pond or lake given half a chance, don’t use spot-on treatments for fleas and ticks, say researchers.”

Flea treatments on dogs are effective because they are extremely strong invertebrate killers in their tiny doses AND they are designed to last a long time. These same benefits are exactly what makes them a nature-killing nightmare for aquatic life and wildlife that eats them including birds. If you need to use topical flea treatment (preferably this is only if they currently have fleas, NOT as a year-round preventative which is an outdated practice now): keep your dog out of all wild water, even ephemeral ponds, for as many *months* as you can, and dispose of shedded dog hair in the bin (can kill chicks if used as nesting materials).

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2482650-dogs-pollute-water-with-pesticides-even-weeks-after-flea-treatment/ #dogs #dogsofmastodon #dogstodon

Dogs pollute water with pesticides even weeks after flea treatment

When dogs given spot treatments for fleas go swimming, they release levels of pesticides dangerous to aquatic life for at least a month after the treatment

^{Michael Le Page (New Scientist)}

Got commissioned by @flaki to make an emoji pack based on the Merle Collie and they were kind enough to make this available for everyone to use for free! 8 of the 11 emojis are shown here (the other 3 are variations for the top row)

Head on over to my shop to get your set of cute pupper emotes:
https://ko-fi.com/pineaura/shop

#DigitalArt #VectorArt #Commission #Animals #Dogs #Emoji #Emotes #CreativeToots #ArtistsOnMastodon

Just a pleasant idea.

#dog #dogs #library #sticks

Current weather outside: Snow fog.
Current situation inside: Lap warm.

#dogs #dogsOfTheFediverse #Colorado


My UI doesn’t do Alt Text. So, here ya go: Two photos of small black dog nestled in striped blanket. In one photo, dog’s face is in center of frame, looking into camera, human hand laying on his body in background. In the other, dog curled symmetrically, center in frame, shirt of human behind him.