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Posts Tagged ‘Health’

Fleas

Flea Basics
Fleas thrive when the weather is warm and humid. Depending on your climate, fleas may be a seasonal or year-round problem. Your pet can pick up fleas wherever an infestation exists, often in areas frequented by other cats and dogs. Adult fleas are dark brown, no bigger than a sesame seed, and able to move rapidly over your pet’s skin.

Adult fleas live their entire lives on your pet. Female fleas begin laying eggs within 24 hours of selecting your pet as a host, producing up to 50 eggs each day. These eggs fall from your pet onto the floor or furniture, including your pet’s bed, or onto any other indoor or outdoor area where your pet happens to go. Tiny, worm-like larvae hatch from the eggs and burrow into carpets, under furniture, or into soil before spinning a cocoon. The cocooned flea pupae can lie dormant (inactive) for weeks before emerging as adults that are ready to infest (or reinfest) your pet. The result is a flea life cycle of anywhere from 12 days to 6 months.

Risks and Consequences
You may not know that your pet has fleas until their number increases to the point that your pet is obviously uncomfortable. Signs of flea problems range from mild redness to severe scratching that can lead to open sores and skin infections. One of the first things you may notice on a pet with fleas is “flea dirt” the black flea droppings left on your pet’s coat.

Fleas bite animals and suck their blood; young or small pets like Chihuahua with heavy flea infestations may become anemic. Some pets can develop an allergy to flea saliva that may result in more severe irritation and scratching. Also, pets can become infected with certain types of tapeworms if they ingest fleas carrying tapeworm eggs. In areas with moderate to severe flea infestations, people may also be bitten by fleas. While fleas are capable of transmitting several other infectious diseases to pets and people, this is rare.

Treatment and Control
Your veterinarian will recommend an appropriate flea control plan for your pet based upon your needs and the severity of the flea infestation.

Fleas spend a lot of their time off of your pet and in the environment. In addition to treating your pet, reduce the flea population in your house by thoroughly cleaning your pet’s sleeping quarters and vacuuming floors and furniture that your pet comes in contact with frequently. Careful and regular vacuuming/cleaning of the pet’s living area helps to remove and kill flea eggs, larvae, and pupae. You may also have to treat your house with insecticides to kill the fleas; consult with your veterinarian about products safe for use around pets and children.

With moderate and severe flea infestations, you may be advised to treat your yard in addition to treating the inside of your home. Your veterinarian can recommend an appropriate course of action and suggest ways to prevent future flea infestations.

Ticks

Tick Basics
Hosting a tick is the price dogs or, less commonly, cats may pay for investigating shrubbery, brush, or wild undergrowth. Ticks have a four-stage life cycle, and immature ticks often feed on small, wild animals found in forests, prairies, and brush. Adult ticks seek larger hosts like dogs and cats who venture into these habitats. Tick exposure may be seasonal, depending on geographic location.

Risks and Consequences
Ticks are most often found around your dog’s neck, in the ears, in the folds between the legs and the body, and between the toes. Cats may have ticks on their neck or face. Tick bites can cause skin irritation and heavy infestations can cause anemia in pets. Ticks are also capable of spreading serious infectious diseases (such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and others) to the pets and the people on which they feed. Disease risk varies by geographic area and tick species.

Treatment and Control
Prompt removal of ticks is very important because it lessens the chance of disease transmission from the tick to your pet. Remove ticks by carefully using tweezers to firmly grip the tick as close to the pet’s skin as possible and gently pulling the tick free without twisting it. After removing the tick, crush it while avoiding contact with tick fluids that can carry disease. Do not attempt to smother the tick with alcohol or petroleum jelly, or apply a hot match to it, as this may cause the tick to regurgitate saliva into the wound, increasing the risk of disease.

Pets at risk for ticks should be treated during the tick season with an appropriate tick preventative. Your veterinarian can recommend a product best suited to your pet’s needs. Owners who take their pets to tick-prone areas during camping, sporting, or hiking trips should examine their pets for ticks immediately upon returning home and remove them from their pets. If your pet picks up ticks in your backyard, trimming bushes and removing brush may reduce your pet’s exposure to tick habitats.

Ear Mites

Mite Basics
Ear mites are common in young cats and dogs, and generally confine themselves to the ears and surrounding area. Mites are tiny and individual mites may be seen only with the aid of a microscope. Your pet can pick up ear mites by close contact with an infested pet or its bedding.

Risks and Consequences
Ear mites can cause intense irritation of the ear canal. Signs of ear mite infestation include excessive head shaking and scratching of the ears. Your pet may scratch to the point that it creates bleeding sores around its ears. A brown or black ear discharge is common with ear mite infections.

Treatment and Control
Treatment of ear mites involves thorough ear cleaning and medication. Your veterinarian can recommend an effective treatment plan.

Sarcoptic Mange Mites

Mite Basics
Microscopic sarcoptic mange mites cause sarcoptic mange, also known as scabies. Sarcoptic mange mites affect dogs of all ages, during any time of the year. Sarcoptic mange mites are highly contagious to other dogs and may be passed by close contact with infested animals, bedding, or grooming tools.

Risks and Consequences
Sarcoptic mange mites burrow through the top layer of the dog’s skin and cause intense itching. Clinical signs include generalized hair loss, a skin rash, and crusting. Skin infections may develop secondary to the intense irritation. People who come in close contact with an affected dog may develop a skin rash and should see their physician.

Treatment and Control
Dogs with sarcoptic mange require medication to kill the mites and additional treatment to soothe the skin and resolve related infections. Cleaning and treatment of the dog’s environment is also necessary.

Demodectic Mange Mites

Mite Basics
Demodectic mange caused by demodectic mange mites is mainly a problem in dogs. Demodectic mange mites are microscopic, cigar-shaped, and not highly contagious. A mother dog, however, may pass the mites to her puppies.

Risks and Consequences
Localized demodectic mange tends to appear in young dogs as patches of scaly skin and redness around the eyes and mouth and, perhaps, the legs and trunk. Unlike other types of mange, demodectic mange may signal an underlying medical condition, and your pet’s overall health should be carefully evaluated. Less commonly, young and old dogs experience a generalized form of demodectic mange and can exhibit widespread patches of redness, hair loss, and scaly, thickened skin.

Treatment and Control
Your veterinarian will discuss treatment options with you. Treatment of dogs with localized demodectic mange generally results in favorable outcomes. Generalized demodectic mange (demodecosis), however, may be difficult to treat, and treatment may only control the condition, rather than cure it.

Important Points

Look for fleas, ticks, and coat abnormalities any time you groom your dog or cat or when you return home from areas that are likely to have higher numbers of these parasites.

See your veterinarian if your pet excessively scratches, chews, or licks its haircoat, or persistently shakes its head. These clinical signs may indicate the presence of external parasites or other conditions requiring medical care.

Prompt treatment of parasites lessens your pet’s discomfort, decreases the chances of disease transmission from parasite to pet, and may reduce the degree of home infestation.

Discuss the health of all family pets with your veterinarian when one pet becomes infested. Some parasites cycle among pets, making control of infestations difficult unless other pets are considered. Consult your veterinarian before beginning treatment.

Tell your veterinarian if you have attempted any parasite remedies, as this may impact your veterinarian’s recommendation.

Be especially careful when applying insecticides to cats, as cats are particularly sensitive to these products. Never use a product that is not approved for cats, as the results could be lethal.

Follow label directions carefully.

Leave treatment to the experts. Your veterinarian offers technical expertise and can assist you in identifying products that are most likely to effectively and safely control your pet’s parasite problem.

Knowing when to take your dog to the vet and when to let him “self-regulate? is a pretty tricky business how do you tell when he needs to see a professional? After all, it’s not as if you can rely on your dog to let you know.

Nobody likes forking out for a needless visit to the vet, but then again no conscientious dog-owner can bear to contemplate their dog’s suffering, either! Frankly, it’s a bit of a quandary.

I’ve owned dogs on and off my whole life, and this is still something that I’ve never been 100% comfortable with: of course, I’d always rather be safe than sorry (a viewpoint which has resulted in many, many unnecessary trips to the vet over the years, just to set my mind at rest)

but I’ve also always wished for the kind of solid grounding in canine medical basics which would enable me to confidently decide for myself when my dog needs to see the vet – and when I can save both him and myself the hassle!

Stress-Free Dog Care

You can imagine the relief I felt when I happened across The Ultimate Guide to Dog Health (by Malcolm Fields dog-care professional) on the Internet. It was uncanny: this guide is exactly what I was looking for. It’s complete and detailed, covering all the common health problems (both serious and not) that dogs suffer from; the overall focus is on being prepared and taking preventative action; it teaches you how to accurately self-diagnose (with the assistance of step-by-step flowcharts which tell you whether he’ll be fine by himself, whether he needs to see the vet, and how urgently the vet should be seen); and, while it’s packed with knowledge and advice from veterinarians and trained dog-care specialists, it’s easy on the eye and reader-friendly you can actually understand what they’re trying to say!

In a nutshell, it’s detailed (but not dauntingly so), comprehensive (covering all the common ailments and illnesses), knowledgeable (while retaining a conversational, easy-to-understand tone) and it gives you the kind of introduction to canine healthcare that’ll allow you to take good care of your dog without spending unnecessary time and effort trying to absorb the jargon of a veterinary textbook!

What’s Actually Covered?

The book deals with all the common problems and ailments suffered by dogs. It covers issues like toothache and dental trouble, ear infections, skin rashes and chafing, eye irritations, worming issues, and lameness; chronic problems like vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, asthma, breathing trouble, and liver problems; more severe issues like arthritis and cancer; and symptomatic “alerts? like hair loss, lethargy, and behavioral changes.

On top of that, you also learn how to pick up early warning signs by identifying and accurately interpreting your dog’s body language; how to groom your dog quickly and effectively; how to take good care of his teeth and gums; how to administer medicine safely and easily; and how to recognize the early warning signs of health trouble through behavioral and physical changes.
All this information is fully supplemented by full-color diagrams, photographs, and illustrations.

My Favorite Part

While it’s great to learn about canine anatomy and medical problems, the thing that I wanted to know more than anything else was: How can I tell how serious the problem is, and when do I need to take my dog to the vet?

So I was particularly happy to note the presence of the many and detailed symptom charts, which were designed especially to help owners make solid decisions about their dog’s health-care. Each chart starts from the specific symptoms of a particular ailment (you just follow the “branches? of the flowchart, depending on the symptoms that your dog has) and tells you the recommended path of treatment for each one, as well as advising whether veterinary care should be sought and if so, how urgently. Pure genius!

Something for Nothing

In addition to the fully-illustrated, 240-page guide itself, you also get a handful of tempting freebies: specifically, four bonus books.

There’s “The Ultimate Guide to Dog First Aid?, which is an incredibly useful resource for those situations requiring an immediate response (including how to perform the canine Heimlich maneuver and doggie CPR); “180

Gourmet Recipes for Your Dog?, which really teaches you how to indulge your pooch’s taste buds; “101 Ways to Spoil Your Dog for Under ?, detailing all kinds of luxuries-on-a-budget and activities for you and your dog to enjoy together; and “20 Super-Healthy Recipes for Your Dog? which proves that doggie health-food is as delicious as anything else! These books have a combined value of over not a bad freebie!

The Ultimate Guide to Dog Health: Summed Up

All in all, I couldn’t be happier with this product. It’s exactly what I was looking for and even if I hadn’t spent the last decade or so wishing for a book just like it, I think I’d still snap it up in a second: it’s that useful.

This is an information resource that every responsible dog owner should have access to. Not only does it enable you to make good decisions about the more serious health issues commonly suffered by dogs, but you learn a lot about the minor, day-to-day ailments and afflictions that almost every dog will encounter from time to time, as well as a host of useful facts on preventative care.

This Ultimate Guide to Dog Health will help you to spot little problems before they become big ones: truly indispensable.

Dog owner’s interested in creating a healthy lifestyle for their hounds has become a common notion in modern dog ownership. The trend has triggered the availability of natural nutrient dense dog foods and nutritional supplements designed specifically for the canine biology. The effective use of these products requires identifying certain conditions of your dog’s health and age. Calculating your dog’s age relative to humans is important to creating an effective health care plan. However the canine aging process has been over simplified making its application to chronic disease prevention a lot less effective. Know a dog’s actual relative age is critical to establishing a health care plan that will effectively reduce the odds of chronic disease. A dog’s health care plan needs to adjust throughout their various stages of life.

A dog’s rate of aging or aging profile varies according to their adult size. Breed specific life expectancy tables should be used to determine what stage of life a dog’s biology is experiencing. Methodologies in health and disease prevention for various stages of humans usually are applicable to canines since dogs age similar to humans. There are 2 features of the canine aging process that require a special attention and are critical to disease prevention and lifestyle choices.

First, the initial 1 to 2 years of a dog’s life represent some 18 to 25 years of their bodies development. This means a poor to average diet for just 6 months to a 1 year of a puppy’s life can have dramatic effects on their long term health, dog health is affected by very short time frames. Research indicates owners commonly over estimate their dog’s true life expectancy and therefore associate the incorrect amount of time for each stage of their dog’s life. For these reasons owners fail to apply the appropriate healthcare that would maximize the odds of preventing chronic diseases and other age appropriate ailments.

Subsequent to correctly identifying your hound’s proper stage of life, owners need to adjust diet, exercise, and nutritional supplementation as well. While certain measures of canine care such have cleaning your dog’s teeth remains constant diet and types of nutrient supplementation need to be adjusted. A dog’s health is highly dependent on the attributes of their diet. Dog nutrition science has been responsible for the development of some very effective supplements including dog vitamin products. The modern canine diet can now be adjusted and supplemented to provide targeted nutrition based on a dog’s particular stage of life. Chronic disease prevention in addition to physical health and vitality can be achieved via nutritional supplements and nutrient dense natural dog foods.

In conclusion, owners need to utilize scientific breed specific data to determine their dog’s life expectancy and stages of life. Veterinarian’s knowledge of this info is relatively unreliable; I suggest referencing websites dedicated to the science and research of determining canine life expectancies. Your dog’s ailments need to be addressed without delay. Health problems can create irreversible damage to canine’s organs a great deal faster than in humans. To a great extent owners have the ability to provide their dogs a quality of life and longevity the domesticated dog has never really enjoyed.

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• dog health need to know

Dog health is a domain that has developed considerably. Specialists have traced new affections and have established new, corresponding treatments. Meals should provide your pet with all the necessary vitamins, proteins, carbs, minerals etc. in order for the dog to develop harmoniously and grow up to be healthy. Dog food has come a long way and the newly appeared products on the market are the results of years of research of the necessities of canines.

Most people consider that a dog eats almost anything and there is no need to pay special attention to what they put in the pets bowl. Some still feed their dogs with leftovers from their own meals and expect it to be enough. Sadly, it is this kind of reasoning that leads to common dog health problems such as obesity, malnutrition and various malfunctions like arthritis, lack of energy, or hypersensitivity. A dog diet should comprise all the elements that make a human organism work, including water. Water is underrated when it comes to animals, but what these people do not know is that animals can resist for some time without food, but they resist a lot less without water. Since their body includes water too, in quite a high percentage, people must remember that water is essential for a dogs health.

Along the years, dog food has evolved. Now, those who care associate it to how many calories the dog needs to make it through the day. Depending on the type of activities that the dog undertakes in a days time, its meals will contain more proteins or more vitamins etc. Usually, nowadays, a common dog diet includes mostly dry food. Served in the appropriate amount and at the right time, this type of dog food can be the complete meal for the dog.

The amount of food that should be fed to a dog, per day, is calculated considering the dogs weight, health and physiological condition. Therefore, things are not so simple and leftovers are not the right type of dog food. The physiological condition refers to how active the dog is, how much exercise it does, what stage of life it is in and other factors such as breeding. After the evaluation of all these things, one is likely to be able to compose a proper dog diet. The dog health system can do so much for you and your pet. In order to get all these equations interpreted correctly, as a pet owner, you should undoubtedly visit the vet. At the vets office, you can have a complete check up for the dog and buy your dog the food recommended by the specialist. Maintaining a permanent contact with the vet can help you have a great looking and healthy dog.

Many companies produce dog food and all sorts of products under one label. This is to emphasize that each dog is different and needs a personalized dog health program. It is important to observe your dogs weight and do your best to help it avoid obesity. This has become a widely spread problem among the canines. Usually, one should be able to feel the dogs ribs and easily mark out the waistline and hips. In case this is not possible, you should probably know that your dog suffers from obesity.

If your dog is lazy, refuses to jump, oversleeps, and there are changes in the alertness, you can suspect arthritis, a dog health problem not related strictly to age, as believed. One can maintain carefully the dogs health by a close collaboration with a veterinarian. The program for recovering from arthritis is complex and it involves keeping your dogs weight in-between normal limits, the walks regular and short; the dogs bed should be soft and warm and besides all this, there are therapies and drugs that you should administer to your pet. This illness does not have a direct connection to the dogs food, but the right amount and composition of dog food can help prevent obesity conditions that bear a relation to arthritis.

I started my day yesterday with the unpleasant news of the death of a friends dog. A beloved pet of the family and friends, Robbie the Alsatian, had succumbed to old age. But perhaps old age was not the only responsible factor as Robbie was also suffering from paralysis of his hind legs since the last month. We had advised Jonathan, Robbies owner to get a dog health insurance for quite sometime now, but like most pet owners Jonathan felt his beloved dog could not fall prey to any serious medical ailment. Robbie and his illness proved him wrong, but it was too late to repair the damage already caused. If earlier I had been sure about getting insurance for my pets, now I am determined and have already put out a word amongst friends for any reputable and reliable pet insurance company that they know about.

A dog health insurance is necessary in more ways than we can imagine. Not only would a good insurance plan cover all medical expenses in case the dog is seriously ill, but the costs of a regular check by the vet or annual vaccinations are also covered under most insurance plans. Many online sites offer the convenience of applying for or buying I started my day yesterday with the unpleasant news of the death of a friends dog. A beloved pet of the family and friends, Robbie the Alsatian, had succumbed to old age. But perhaps old age was not the only responsible factor as Robbie was also suffering from paralysis of his hind legs since the last month. We had advised Jonathan, Robbies owner to get a dog health insurance for quite sometime now, but like most pet owners Jonathan felt his beloved dog could not fall prey to any serious medical ailment. Robbie and his illness proved him wrong, but it was too late to repair the damage already caused. If earlier I had been sure about getting insurance for my pets, now I am determined and have already put out a word amongst friends for any reputable and reliable pet insurance company that they know about.

A dog health insurance is necessary in more ways than we can imagine. Not only would a good insurance plan cover all medical expenses in case the dog is seriously ill, but the costs of a regular check by the vet or annual vaccinations are also covered under most insurance plans. Many online sites offer the convenience of applying for or buying dog health insurance, or even insurance for any other kind of pet that you may own. When considering an insurance plan for your pet, it is imperative that you carefully go over every facility that the insurance company provides and every term and condition of the plan. Every breed of pet can have separate requirements and the insurance plan should be tailor made to suit the requirements of your precious pet. Some particular breeds of dogs are more prone to a certain kind of disease than others like a large breed dog would be more inclined towards bone related diseases rather than ear mites which would more commonly trouble a small and hairy breed.

Dog health insurance is therefore selected and designed keeping the age, breed and perhaps even the gender of the dog in mind. Once you are purchasing an insurance you must ensure that it covers all the conditions that your pet suffers from or is prone to have. The online sites offering are also quite reliable once you have verified their credentials. Better still if you can get a friend to refer some company that offers various plans and schemes for your dogs health insurance.

All you need to do while applying online for a dog health insurance is fill up an online insurance form with the details of your pet. Once you send the form, let the company revert back to you with a number of free quotes which do not place you under kind of obligation. Once you are satisfied with the quotes, you can go ahead and apply for and purchase insurance for your pet without having to move out from the comfort of your home or office. The love and devotion that your pets show for you, no doubt deserve to be repaid with something as essential as a dog health insurance.

, or even insurance for any other kind of pet that you may own. When considering an insurance plan for your pet, it is imperative that you carefully go over every facility that the insurance company provides and every term and condition of the plan. Every breed of pet can have separate requirements and the insurance plan should be tailor made to suit the requirements of your precious pet. Some particular breeds of dogs are more prone to a certain kind of disease than others like a large breed dog would be more inclined towards bone related diseases rather than ear mites which would more commonly trouble a small and hairy breed.

Dog health insurance is therefore selected and designed keeping the age, breed and perhaps even the gender of the dog in mind. Once you are purchasing an insurance you must ensure that it covers all the conditions that your pet suffers from or is prone to have. The online sites offering are also quite reliable once you have verified their credentials. Better still if you can get a friend to refer some company that offers various plans and schemes for your dogs health insurance.

All you need to do while applying online for a dog health insurance is fill up an online insurance form with the details of your pet. Once you send the form, let the company revert back to you with a number of free quotes which do not place you under kind of obligation. Once you are satisfied with the quotes, you can go ahead and apply for and purchase insurance for your pet without having to move out from the comfort of your home or office. The love and devotion that your pets show for you, no doubt deserve to be repaid with something as essential as a dog health insurance.