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Dog obesity is a pretty common problem with dogs. It is a serious concern, but it is a health concern that can be prevented, and as a pet owner, you want to do what you can to prevent dog obesity before your dog gets so overweight that the extra weight starts to cause other health problems.

Just like in people, obesity causes so many other problems, that if you let it go, you will end up regretting it something serious. Common health problems caused by obesity include diabetes; damage to bones, joints, and ligaments; heart disease; and increase blood pressure.

In order to prevent dog obesity, you can make sure that you feed your dog appropriate foods, eliminate excess treats, make sure to offer healthy treats and not fatty treats, and make sure to completely cute out table scraps. You also want to make sure that you regularly exercise the dog.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Dog Health

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Picking Your Dog Up From The Vet After Surgery

November 14th 2008 01:33

Whether you had to leave your dog overnight for his surgery or you had to leave him overnight, you want to follow a few pretty simple rules. I mean, yea I know that you are going to be happy to see your dog and your dog is going to be happy to see you, but you don’t want to over stimulate the dog right after surgery.

You don’t want to make a big scene. Just walk in, tell the receptionist that you’re there to pick up your dog, and she’ll have you seated in the waiting room or a private room. If your dog had major surgery or something out of the norm- I.E. something other than a routine spay or neuter- typically, the vet will bring you to a private room so that he can talk to you.

When they bring the dog to you, just stay seating and let the dog come to you. Even though you may want to get on the floor and just rub and kiss all over the dog, refrain as much as possible.

Pet the dog, but try to make sure that the dog stays on the floor and you stay in the chair or standing, while talking to the vet.

If you get down and love all over the dog, the dog could get overly excited and bust a stitch, whether internal or external, and you don’t want this to happen.

After talking to the vet and you’re dismissed for the day, you want to put the dog in a kennel to ride home. Try a dog seat belt, but depending on where the surgery was done and the stitches placed, you don’t want to put pressure on the area. You also don’t want the dog running around your car either, leaving the kennel as the best place to let your dog ride home.

When you get home, try to keep the dog calm. Try to keep any other dogs away from the dog that had the surgery, and try to keep everyone in the house from plain rough-housing and loving all over the dog. Remember that you want to keep the dog as calm as you can. The more loving and baby talk that the dog receives more than likely the more hyped-up he will get.

And, trust me I know that this can be hard, especially if you have other dogs because they’ll all want to play, and of course everyone in the house will want to love and dote on the dog coming home.

Another thought is to keep the dog in the house, if it’s a primarily outdoor dog. You don’t want to get the stitches infected by the dog rolling around in the dirt.

Basically, as you can see keep the dog calm… At least until the stitches heal or are removed. You don’t want to further the injury during the healing process. And, depending on the extent of the surgery, you may want to consider keeping the dog in the kennel when not being walked on short lead outside.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Dog Health

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Caring for an Old Dog

November 10th 2008 21:52

If you have a dog, whether it is a young pup or it is an aging adult dog, you'll want to consider what happens when the dog gets to the point of being classified as elderly. Yes, just like people, our pets go through the same stages of life, and it's just unfortunate our dogs do not have longer lifespans, especially since they truly do become part of the family.

Well, as a pet parent to an older dog, I have first hand experiences as to what to expect with caring for an old dog, but like people, even dogs age differently.

The first thing that you want to consider, is that older dogs need more vitamins and special diets than your averaged 4 year old dog. You want to make sure that you purchase a good vitamin supplement for your elderly dog; you also want to make sure that you purchase an elderly dog food diet so that your older dog gets the proper vitamins in his daily diet. Plus, in many cases dog food for older dogs will be smaller, softer kibble so that your dog doesn't have a hard time chewing.

With your older dog, you'll want to make sure that you pay special attention to every day activities because you will begin to notice the dog slowing down and having small changes to regular activities.

You'll want to reduce rigorous exercise, but make sure that you still exercise the dog. Make sure that you pay attention to muscle changes, changes in eyesight, change in urination and appetite, and any other abnormal behaviors.

Also, with an older dog there will be time where you may have to consider euthanasia. It can be a hard decision to make, but you may just have to decide when to put your dog to sleep. And, if this time comes, just remember that your dog isn't going to be happy if he's suffering and in pain. Your dog's ideal lifestyle is happy and pain-free, and if he's having problems getting around, then he's probably not very happy. In cases where euthanasia is the best choice, it can be a hard choice to make.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Dog Health

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Dog Seizures

November 8th 2008 19:08

Although, it's not something that many pet owners experience, dog seizures is a serious matter especially if your beloved family pet has frequent seizures. You will find that there are many reasons behind dog seizures, and depending on the age of the dog, you'll find that the likely cause will vary.

It is important that if you notice your dog having a seizure, that you consult your vet as soon as you can, especially if it is a bad seizure.

There are some breeds that have common seizure disorders, and you want to be aware of those breeds as long as you are going ot be a pet caretaker. Although, you will not love your dog any less becuase its breed may be prone to seizure disorders, it's just good to know what you may have to expect.

If your dog only has the one seizure, then your vet may not prescribe any means of treatment or medication, but if the seizures persist, you will want to find a medication that will work best with your dog. Just remember that most seizure medications have adverse side effects that may outweigh the benefits, so consider different forms of treatment if your dog's seizures worsen.

You can always consider purchasing all natural PetAlive, which is supposed to help alleviate dog seizures.

You can find all of this information in more details at Dog Seizures- Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, & More

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Dog Health

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Dog Chocolate Poisoning

November 1st 2008 17:48

We have all heard that we should not give out dogs chocolate because it can kill them... Right? Well, do you know the truth behind that or the reasoning why? Because not many people do. They just know that if they're dog eats an M&M it's time to call the emergency vet, but do you really have to? Is chocolate really that serious to watch out for?

Yes...

And No...

Chocolate poisoning can be a deadly concern if you don't watch out for it. I mean you don't want to feed your teacup Chihuahua an entire bag of dark chocolate hersey kisses, but more than likely one small, milk chocolate chip won't hurt the dog.

But, at the same time every dog has his own tolerance to chocolate, and the type of chocolate will be a factor as to how your dog is affected.

As a general rule, you want to avoid letting your dog have chocolate of any kind, shape, or size.

But, also remember that depending on the type of chocolate, you'll find that your dog will be affected differently. In terms of different types of chocolate, white chocolate is the lesser worried about chocolate, followed by milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and then Baker's chocolate being the worst one.

Chocolate poisoning is a serious matter, and you want to make sure to watch out for any signs of chocolate poisoning.

The more common signs of chocolate poisoning can include:
* Trembling and Shaking
* Muscle spasms
* Seizures
* Vomiting
* Diarrhea

You want to contact your vet or an emergency vet as soon as you think that your dog may have chocolate poisoning. He will be able to asses the dog and pump him with activated charcoal to soak up (so to speak) to alleviate the poisoning. The vet may also put the dog on various medication depending on the other symptoms that the dog is experiencing, such as anti-seizure medicines if the dog is seizing and cardiac medicines to aid with irregular heart beats and heart rate.

Although this picture is a set up where she really didn't eat the Dove chocolates, there was one instance that she did get into that very bag of dark chocolates and ate every last one of them to include the foil wrappers. MIA, made it out ok after vomitting the majority of the foil wrappers out of her body and pooping out the rest.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Dog Health

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Plastic Surgery for Dogs

July 19th 2008 18:01

Generally, if people don't like something about themselves, they spend the extra money and hire a plastic surgeon to get the breast augmentation, the butt lift, or the tummy tuck. Well, believe it or not people do the same thing with their dogs... Well, kind of...

Dogs can get plastic surgery, but it's not to the extent that people get done. People commonly put their young puppies in surgery to cut off their ears or tail, which is known as hear cropping and tail docking

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Dog General Care, Dog Health

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Flea Control and Heartworm Prevention

July 6th 2008 20:46

Whether you have a pet dog or cat, it's very important that you consider a good flea and tick control method, as well as a heartworm prevention. Yes, even cats can get heartworms.

There are currently several good flea and tick control options that you can purchase from your veterinarian, select feed stores, and even a few pet stores. But, before you purchase one to use on your pet, you need to make sure that you understand the ingredients and side effects. Even though the products are meant to help your dog, some of the ingredients can be harmful

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Dog Health

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Homemade Dog Treats

June 2nd 2008 15:51

We all want the best for our pets, and if you look at the shelf at the pet store or grocery store, there are so many unhealthy dog treats. The best way around that is making your own homemade dog biscuit. This ensures that you know every ingredient that goes into the dog cookie, and it ensures that the dog treat is healthy.

Before you try to make your own dog treats, make sure that you find recipes that are vet approved. Because dog's can't eat all the things that people can, you want to make sure that you're not baking regular ole peanut butter cookies, packed with sugar and butter

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Dog Health

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