FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF OCT. 16, 2000:
Is it true that a person should drink eight glasses of water a day? I usually don’t drink water until I’m really thirsty.
According to Martha Raidl, University of Idaho extension nutrition specialist, most people actually need more than eight glasses of water a day. "Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink," she says. "Once you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated." Symptoms of mild dehydration include sluggishness, dry and itchy skin, headaches, indigestion and constipation.
To calculate how much water you need, divide your weight in half and consume that many ounces daily. For example, if you weigh 128 pounds, you should be drinking 64 ounces–or eight cups–of water every day.
"Some people complain that water tastes too plain," says Raidl. She recommends adding lemon or lime slices, cranberry juice or even artificially sweetened Kool-Aid. Or, substitute juice, milk, caffeine-free pops or such moist fruits and vegetables as watermelon, tomatoes and lettuce.
Both my cat and my dog show interest in the occasional spider they find on our walls or floors. What would happen if they got bitten by one that was poisonous?
A bite from a black widow spider–especially a female–can be deadly to a cat, says University of Idaho veterinary toxicologist Patricia Talcott, but dogs appear to be less susceptible. A bite from an aggressive house spider, or "hobo" spider, has fewer consequences for both species of companion animals: it can leave a blistering and oozing spot that will eventually scab and scar over, although healing can take a long time.
Fortunately, Talcott says, the likelihood of a cat or dog being bitten by a poisonous spider is "probably pretty small" to begin with. "The further probability of actually getting seriously ill is even smaller."
Pets’ longer hair coats provide a significant amount of protection, she says. "The spider has to find a relatively hairless site to bite so that its pincers can penetrate through the hair and skin." Since spiders don’t stalk pets, bites occur as instantaneous, defensive reactions to the pets’ cornering them or accidentally lying on them–and the odds of a spider finding bare skin in that instant aren’t great.
While hobo spider bites cause few symptoms beyond the local wound, black widow spider bites affect the whole body. Unless you can find small puncture wounds surrounded by some reddening, you won’t see the black widow bite. Your cat, however, will know it’s been attacked and will likely experience numbness, tenderness, muscle pain, tremors, cramping and abdominal rigidity. "Bottom line, it’s painful, and a cat will vocalize, howl, salivate, vomit and have diarrhea," says Talcott. It may also have difficulty breathing, its heart rate and blood pressure may rise, it may have seizures and it may ultimately die from either respiratory or cardiovascular collapse.
Don’t worry about brown recluse spiders, Talcott says: We don’t have them in Idaho.
We have two daughters, 9 and 10. Our 9-year-old is an outstanding scholar and gets top grades with little effort. Our 10-year-old tries mightily to compete but doesn’t do as well, despite far greater effort. We’ve tried to encourage our 10-year-old to see value in her other pursuits, which include music, but she’s still upset that her younger sister so easily gets higher grades. Do you have any suggestions about how we can soften this rivalry so that our older daughter feels better about herself?
"You’re right to emphasize all of the many ways to be excellent," says Harriet Shaklee, University of Idaho extension family development specialist. "Continue to remind your older daughter about the exciting things that she is doing and support her in them. But try to amplify the power of what you’re doing by asking your relatives, her teachers and other adults to join in."
Compliments from a number of adults will broaden the variety of voices that your daughter hears on this subject and help speed her passage through this sensitive developmental period, Shaklee says. "She may continue to be concerned about this issue for a while, but parenting is a long-term proposition and I think she’ll be fine in the long run."
Without overscheduling your daughters, Shaklee recommends encouraging both of them to identify and develop a breadth of interests and abilities. "We all have a variety of strengths, and childhood is the best time to explore them," she says.
I am seeing more produce washes available at the supermarket. Are these a good idea for making my fruits and vegetables safer?
Generous amounts of water will remove a good portion of the dirt and harmful organisms that may be present on raw fruits and vegetables, says Sandy McCurdy, University of Idaho extension food safety specialist. "It doesn’t hurt to add a produce wash product to the water, but so far there is not much evidence that produce washes remove more of the bacteria or viruses that cause foodborne illness than simply rinsing with plain water."
When it comes to removing pesticides, waxes and fingerprints, however, Procter & Gamble research indicates that its Fit Fruit & Vegetable Wash is significantly more effective than water. The product’s ingredients–which include oleic acid, glycerol, ethanol, potassium hydrate, baking soda, citric acid and grapefruit oil–"do improve the ability of water to dissolve and float away foreign material on produce."
[READERS: Do you have a question about your home, yard or garden? Send it to HomeWise, University of Idaho Ag Communications, Moscow, ID 83844-2332 or e-mail it to homewise@uidaho.edu. Mention of proprietary products or firms does not constitute endorsement by the University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System or imply approval to the exclusion of other suitable products or firms.]