Category Archives: Tips

Pet Emergencies – What Do I Do Now?

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Pet emergencies are scary just because they are emergencies and in general they happen with no warning. Even worse is when they happen at night or on the weekend when your regular vet is often not easily available. Or if you live too far away to make a trip to the vet’s office easily and quickly enough. What do you do then?

Do you have a pet first aid kit and know how to use it? Do you know the basics about pet first aid? Poisonings, cuts, abscesses, wounds, bites, etc. Will you have the time to look it up online and hope you come across the right information quickly enough?

Like I said, scary!

This is something we all hope we never have the need to know but what if you do? Do you have a comprehensive manual on pet first aid at home that you can access quickly? It can make a difference.

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What You Need to Know About Pet Health Care Insurance

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Wanted to pass along some excellent advise on pet insurance from For the Love of the Dog

I recently did an article on pet wellness and the questionability of it. It seems the supplier in question is notorious for poor customer service among other things. They do not seem to have a good reputation.

Purchasing pet insurance or a pet wellness plan is an important step and can be a good or bad step depending on the company. Here are some tips on choosing pet insurance:

Before you purchase a pet health care insurance plan for your pet, check the list of the companies approved veterinarians to see if your veterinarian will accept the companies check.

Ask your local veterinarian what type of pet health care insurance plan would best suit your family pet. Ask your local veterinarian to read over the plan and listen to their advice. Talking to your local veterinarian will also help you establish if the insurance company you are considering purchasing your pet health care insurance plan from is reputable.

If you have purchased a pet that is as of yet unaltered you’ll want to look for a pet health care plan that includes neutering and spaying.

Before you pay for a pet health care insurance plan you need to carefully read how the policy handles prescription coverage. Most companies that sell pet health care insurance do not include prescription coverage in their basic medical health care insurance plan. If you are concerned about the cost of any prescription your pet might need during the course of its life you should probably consider buying a prescription coverage rider to complement your pet health care insurance. Although this rider may appear expensive and unnecessary you’ll probably wish you had purchased it if your pet is ever given a prescription for anything. Just like the human counterparts prescriptions are very expensive.

One of things you need to take into consideration when purchasing a pet health care insurance plan is the deductible. The deductible is the amount of money you pay out-of-pocket for veterinarian services rendered that your pet health care insurance plan does not cover. Different pet health care plans require different deductibles. The higher a the deductible you choose the lower your monthly payments to the insurance company but the higher deductible the more out-of-pocket extension had each time you visit the veterinarian’s office/clinic.

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Regular Home Examination of Pets Can Save Lives

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Too often a pet’s illness goes undetected until it gets to a critical point then you have rush vet visits and bills and treatments. If you take the time to perform weekly home examinations of your pet and learn what to look for, you may be able to detect potential problems early enough to take care of them before they get to a critical point. It’s not that difficult if you follow some basic guidelines.

There is much when it comes to your pet’s health that you can not only check, but treat at home.  Armed with the proper knowledge there are many home and natural remedies that you can employ to care for your pet.

Get comfortable in examining your pet. He should be fine with letting you put your fingers in his mouth or brushing his hair to feel for lumps. The first thing that you have to be familiar with is what is normal.

Vital Statistics: Pulse and Heart Rate

Normal resting rates:
Cats: 150-200 bpm
Small dogs: 90-120 bpm
Medium dogs: 70-110 bpm
Large dogs: 60-90 bpm

Pulse should be strong, regular and easy to locate.

Checking the pulse

The easiest place to locate a pulse is the femoral artery in the groin area. Place your fingers on the inside of the hind leg and slide your hand upward until the back of your fingers touches the abdomen. Gently move your fingers back and forth on the inside of the hind leg until you feel the pulsing blood.

Count the number of pulses in 15 seconds and multiply that number by 4. This will give you the beats per minute (bpm).

Temperature

A normal dog’s temperature is 101 F (38.0 C), and a normal cat’s temperature is 102 F (38.5 C). Taking your pet’s temperature involves placing a thermometer in their rectum. If your pet has a temperature of 103.5 F (39.5 C) or more, they have a fever.

Thermometer should be almost clean when removed. Abnormalities are indicated by blood, diarrhea, or black, tarry stool.

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Liver Shunts in Pets

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A portosystemic shunt (PSS), also known as a liver shunt, is a bypass of the liver by the body’s circulatory system. It can be either a congenital (present at birth) or acquired condition.

Congenital PSS is a hereditary condition in dogs and cats, its frequency varying depending on the breed. The shunts found mainly in small dog breeds such as Miniature Schnauzers and Yorkshire Terriers, and in cats such as Persians, Himalayans, and mix breeds are usually extrahepatic (outside the liver), while the shunts found in large dog breeds such as Irish Wolfhounds and Labrador Retrievers tend to be intrahepatic.

Acquired PSS is uncommon and is found in dogs and cats with liver disease such as cirrhosis causing portal hypertension, which is high blood pressure in the portal vein.

Congenital PSS is caused by the failure of the fetal circulatory system of the liver to change. Normally, the blood from the placenta bypasses the liver and goes into circulation via the ductus venosus, a blood vessel found in the fetus. A failure of the ductus venosus to close causes an intrahepatic shunt, while extrahepatic shunts are usually a developmental abnormality of the vitelline veins, which connect the portal vein to the caudal vena cava. Thus in the juvenile and adult animal with PSS, blood from the intestines only partly goes through the liver, and the rest mixes into general circulation. Toxins such as ammonia are not cleared by the liver. Most commonly, extrahepatic shunts are found connecting the portal vein or left gastric vein to the caudal vena cava.

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Don’t Let Halloween Be a ‘Fright Nitght’ for Your Pets!

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Most people don’t realize how scary and actually dangerous Halloween can be for our pets. They tend to think of it as just a mostly fun filled entree to Fall for children and adults alike but what about our furry companions?

It can actually be quite frightening for them, the constant knocking or door bell ringing, strange looking people showing up at the door making sounds, sometimes in sizable groups. This is especially noticeable in pets that are more accustomed to a relatively quiet routine.

You need to really watch for frightened or excited pets darting out an open door and racing into the street. Incidences of animals being hit by vehicles sadly tend to escalate due to this. You may see evidence of fear based aggression triggered by territorial or fear responses to all the ghouls and goblins, the laughter, the noise, the yelling and excitement.

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Skin Allergies in Dogs

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When it comes to canine skin problems, dog allergies are by far the common cause but unfortunately are extremely hard to diagnose effectively because dog allergy symptoms bear a striking resemblance to those of other aliments and illnesses. Skin allergies can manifest themselves in dogs in a number of ways, anything from dermatitis to ear infections, but they will always tend to affect the whole body in some way.

Dog skin allergies are commonly caused by an adverse reaction to an allergen. An allergen is a substance given off by certain elements of the world around us, including vegetation pollen and food for example. When these elements come into contact with a living being and cannot be neutralized by the body, it provokes an allergic reaction.

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Pet Emergency – What Do I Do Now?

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Pet emergencies are scary just because they are emergencies and in general they happen with no warning. Even worse is when they happen at night or on the weekend when your regular vet is often not easily available. Or if you live too far away to make a trip to the vet’s office easily and quickly enough. What do you do then?

Do you have a pet first aid kit and know how to use it? Do you know the basics about pet first aid? Poisonings, cuts, abscesses, wounds, bites, etc. Will you have the time to look it up online and hope you come across the right information quickly enough?

Like I said, scary!

This is something we all hope we never have the need to know but what if you do? Do you have a comprehensive manual on pet first aid at home that you can access quickly? It can make a difference.

Read more→

Preventing the Number 1 Pet Killer Today, Cancer

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Cancer is one of the most common causes of death in pets.

More than 50% of dogs and cats over the age of 10 will develop cancer.

It often doesn’t respond well to the more traditional medical treatments, yet there are a number of at home pet care remedies.

SIGNS
Signs for you to watch for include, a firm lump that grows and does not go away. Some pets have an increased appetite but continue to lose weight. Others have respiratory problems and may show overall weakness if they are becoming anemic.

The most common malignant types of cancer ( cancer that spreads) in dogs are lymphoma and mast cell tumors. The most common malignant type diagnosed in cats is lymphoma, often secondary to Feline Leukemia Virus infection.

CAUSES
It is usually a disease of older dogs and cats. It causes over half the deaths of pets 10 years and older.

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Why Do Dogs Bite? Some Answers and Conclusion

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This is not really a ‘natural health’ article but is an article that having the knowledge may save a beloved pet’s life. Too many dogs lose their life and freedom because of biting and if you are armed with the knowledge, you may be able to do something.

This is from For the Love of the Dog; read and learn, the life you save with the knowledge may be your dog’s or a child’s. Don’t take a chance!

Scary DogThe idea of being bitten by an aggressive dog is scary for anyone, even dog lovers and dog owners. If you Google ‘dog news’ you will see stories of maulings and bites and attacks. My impression has always been the most dog bites could be attributed to owner negligence or improper training (actually training a dog to be aggressive), victim instigation, or in the case or stray dogs, pack behavior. Dogs can and do bite. Smaller dogs actually dish out the most bites, statistically, but there is seldom much, if any damage, which is why when you hear ‘dog bite news,’ it will most often be larger breeds because the damage they can do is much more significant. Due to a recent study that I read, it looks like I really am not off the mark but there was at least one surprise. Read on for more…

Recently there was a study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania and published by the Journal of Injury Prevention, looking for the answer to the question, ‘Why do dogs bite?’ They study, encompassing four years of analysis, looked at 111 cases involving 103 dogs that bit children. The data came from a one specific veterinary behavior clinic and looked at bites involving children under the age of 18 and included such data as age, familiarity with the dog and the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Their findings show that what prompts dogs to bite children is generally underlying anxiety, pain and other behavioral or medical problems. This study was not confined to specific breeds, showing that all dog breeds have the potential to bite. The most common triggers, according to the study in the journal Injury Prevention were “guarding of resources and territory.”

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Ear Problems in Pets and the Solutions

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The ear of a long haired, floppy eared breed dogEar infections and problems are one of the top reported problems faced by many pet owners. Does your dog or cat shake their head and scratch their ears or rub their ears against the ground or furniture? Do you ever notice a foul smelling, discharge in their ears, black, yellowish or brown in color? Are their ears red and tender? These are all signs of an ear infection or problem in your pets.

A dog or car’s ear canal is L-shaped which causes dirt, moisture, parasites; mites, and wax to be trapped in the canal which can lead to ear infections. Dog which have long, floppy ears tend to be more prone to ear problems due to the lack of air circulation available to the canal. With long haired, floppy eared dogs, you can keep the hair trimmed on the inside of the ear to increase air circulation.

The conventional treatment for most infections is antibiotic and anti-fungal medications. The problem with these treatments is that they treat only the symptoms, not the underlying cause. To successfully conquer the problem, both must be treated. Medications will mask the problem and may actually make it worse in the long-run by creating a chemical imbalance in the ear resulting in long-term problems.

Approximately 80% of ear infections are actually caused by allergies, with the ear infections and problems actually being one of the symptoms. You need to treat the allergy; the underlying cause as well as the ear infection for a long-term cure.

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