Pet Sitting, Dog Walking, House Sitting – Gold Coast

Posts Tagged ‘dog health’

By William Kyle

There are few things more frustrating and upsetting than having a sick pooch. Pets are special members of the family but happen to come with a certain language barrier that keeps you from explaining the bitter little pill you’ve been trying to hide in a certain someone’s dinner. Here are a few quick suggestions and tips to help you and your special canine get through any illness in comfort.

When your family dog is in need of medication, it’s important to realize that both their illness and medications may likely be just as serious as your own. When any pet is prescribed a pill or shot, whether he gets his meds on time and in the right amount or not can make the difference between a speedy recovery and lingering or worsening symptoms.

Above all other advice, keep in mind that your pet’s veterinarian can offer the most authoritative and essential information about any condition or medication. During you and your dog’s visit to the doctor, never hesitate to ask lots of questions about dosage, ways of administering the medicine, what to do in the case of a missed application and other applicable issues.

Administering Medication

Although getting your dog to swallow his medicine may sometimes be a lengthy and arduous ordeal, the benefits surely outweigh the cost. If you’ve come to the end of your medicine-applying rope or are simply looking for some helpful hints before tackling the job, this quick advice might help make the process a bit simpler.

Pills

Pills are generally the most difficult type of pet medication to administer, due to the fact that your dog must voluntarily swallow them and their often seemingly awful taste. The approach you choose to take when offering pills will vary depending on the personality, temperament and condition of your particular four legged friend.

If your dog tends to wolf down snacks and is in good enough condition to do so, your task may be quite simple. Try to hide a pill completely in a snack your pet is used to and offer it under normal snack-giving circumstances—if your dog senses something amiss, he’ll be more likely to take his time or investigate.

This camouflaging approach can also work at mealtime, but can make verification a bit trickier. Try to avoid crushing pills, as it will be difficult to determine whether an entire dose has been administered and crushing can tend to make your dog’s normal meal taste strange, possibly leading to rejection.

Liquid Medications

Liquid medication application tends to be a bit easier to accomplish since specialized syringes are available specifically for the task. Before administering the medication, try to bring your dog to a calm and relaxed state—the more comfortable he is, the simpler your job will be. Since your pet trusts you, you can turn medicine time into a routine that ends in a generous treat for a job well done.

Be Aware of Common Conditions

Most people have a general knowledge about illness that affect people, including symptoms, preventative measures and treatments. When you choose to share your home and life with a dog, it’s your responsibility to be aware of common health issues that could become an issue during your pet’s lifetime. This basic understanding will help you recognize the signs of potential health issues when they pop up.

A great way to get a general overview is simply by asking your vet and checking out a library book or two on the subject. If your dog is a pure breed, keep in mind that certain breeds are affected by special problems more so than others. Pure bred pups are often more susceptible to health problems as well due to a more limited gene pool than would be available to mixed breeds.

Knowing and Caring For Your Pet

No one ever wants her dog to get sick. Although dealing with the occasional illness or accident is an inevitable part of being a pet owner, the best way to show your love for your pooch is to take good care of her. A healthy dog’s love should be filled with lots of exercise, affection and a carefully controlled diet that’s rich in vitamins, minerals and essential fats.

The other side to this coin is attention and vigilance. Since your pup can’t very well speak up and let you know if something feels different, it’s up to you to notice any changes in your dog’s behavior and determine whether a visit to the vet is appropriate.

Just as with human health, prevention is an excellent strategy to keep your pet in great health. By staying well informed about common dog illnesses and issues and administering lots of tender love and care, you and your dog are sure to enjoy a long and happy life together.

Article Source: Articles Engine

The importance of the physical examination need not be underestimated in case of dogs. Simple but systematic physical examination techniques may diagnose most of the disorders in dogs and hence, without physical examination of the dog, one should not resort to knowing the status of your dog’s health.

Simply observe the dog with scratching. Catch the dog and simply separate the hair material from the itching site. To the surprise you may come across a big wound in the scratched site. The wound might be the main reason for the scratching of the dog at that site. However, one has to rule out the occurrence of wound by severe itching itself.

Many times, when the scratching dog is examined physically, one can come across plenty of lice infestation or tick problem in the skin and coat. The parasitic condition might not be diagnosed at all if one has not carried out the physical examination. Similarly, the dog may reveal the signs of pain when the physical examination is carried out by deep palpation technique.  The dog show signs of pain when the dog is examined at the stomach or the back regions.

Even if it is possible that by pressure based palpation, one can detect the acute renal disorders in the affected dogs turn to the examined site at the region of kidney or at the back region. The dog affected by the Cystitis with severe retention of urine is often diagnosed by mere physical examination.

The filled bladder together with signs of pain during the examination at the site of urinary bladder indicates that the animal is affected by Cystitis.  Auscultation of the heart in both right and left sides helps to rule out the abnormal heart sounds and the pulmonary area based auscultation reveals the respiratory system disorder like pneumonia.

by Dr Michael Woodcock

There is no truth in the stories of twisting the tick clockwise or leaving behind the head for the tick to regrow its body. So it is best off to ensure we have removed the tick so that no more toxin is being injected. Once removed it is a good idea to to keep the tick to bring in to the veterinary clinic for identification.

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In most cases as the poison is a neurotoxin, it affects the hind legs initially then moves to the forelegs and chest, though all tick paralysis cases are different and each symptom can occur at a different stage.

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An experience veterinarian with the right equipment will give your pet the best chance of survival.

The above is an excerpt from the first few pages within Dr Michael’s “Tick” 10 page eBook ! If you want to be prepared this tick season (they are active!), download this eBook (click here) !

Please note: If you are accessing this blog via an iPhone or iPad, as the eBook is in “flash” (.swf) format you will need to use an alternative device (iMac or Macbook or Macbook Pro etc) to read it.  For everyone else, you may need to download Adobe Flash Player to view this ebook. Most computers should however, already have this free program.

Author: Dr Michael Woodcock

The Vet Lounge promise to offer services based on what’s best for your pet. They’re family owned thus able to offer personalised care to all animals: Dogs, cats, birds, snakes, guinea pigs, mice, rats, lizards, turtles, horses, goats, ducks!

WEBSITE: http://www.vetlounge.com.au/

by Dr Michael Woodcock

Throughout the year in this Hinterland region of the Gold Coast we will find paralysis ticks on our animals. We can also find other ticks – commonly known as cattle ticks, scrub ticks and brown dog ticks.  It is very important to identify the type of tick you find because the paralysis tick can kill your pet within 3 – 4 days !

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In our area the most common time to find ticks about is from July through to January. The tick prefers this Spring into Summer period and is often predominant after a period of rainy weather. The tick does not seem to be able to handle the extreme heat of Summer in the January/February period and after March numbers reduce as we head into Autumn.  In some areas like Tamborine Mountain [and West Gold Coast - Bonogin, Cangura, Advancetown] they can be found year round due to the cooler, more wet rainforest areas.

The above is an excerpt from the first few pages within Dr Michael’s “Tick” 10 page eBook ! If you want to be prepared this tick season (they are active!), download this eBook (click here) !

Please note: If you are accessing this blog via an iPhone or iPad, as the eBook is in “flash” (.swf) format you will need to use an alternative device (iMac or Macbook or Macbook Pro etc) to read it.  For everyone else, you may need to download Adobe Flash Player to view this ebook. Most computers should however, already have this free program.

Author: Dr Michael Woodcock

The Vet Lounge promise to offer services based on what’s best for your pet. They’re family owned thus able to offer personalised care to all animals: Dogs, cats, birds, snakes, guinea pigs, mice, rats, lizards, turtles, horses, goats, ducks!

WEBSITE: http://www.vetlounge.com.au/