Symptoms In Dogs

It may surprise you to know that while price can hint at quality, a high price does not always mean a good quality pet food. There are many factors that determine what the final price tag on a bag of pet food will be. To note, we are primarily talking about dry kibble as for cats and dogs in this article.
 
The Ingredients are a big contributing fact to the price of a cat or dog food. Quality ingredients drive a price up, cheap ones, enable the manufacturer to sell the food for less. We will not discuss every ingredient here, just some of the most common.

Be aware that ingredients… From: Pet Food Prices Why Are Some Cheap and Others Expensive

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I was never so happy as to hear that the Bill to Close the Puppy Mills in Missouri had passed with a resounding victory. So many dogs were rescued and cared for. It is just unbelievably wonderful. I am so happy to support the ASPCA and all the good work they do.  I hope all you dear readers are too.

As a result of the shutting down of the puppy mills, many many dogs needed to be adopted. Here is the story of one such little guy named Peanut.

This is Peanut

On September 21, the ASPCA joined the Humane Society of Missouri (HSMO) in removing dozens of dogs from a puppy mill in Camden County, MO. Most of the dogs were transferred to the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri in Springfield and HSMO in St. Louis, but a few made their way to the ASPCA in Manhattan. One such pup—a darling Welsh Corgi named Peanut—was adopted by one of our own: Julia Nelson, ASPCA Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Julia first met Peanut while the sweet pup was recovering at the ASPCA Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital. “She was in her temporary living quarters in our Adoption Center director’s office. She was so excited when she first saw me, and the feeling was mutual,” Julia recalls. “She was adorable!” The happy pooch soon joined Julia’s family of cats, Ireland and Woody, and quickly settled into life in Manhattan. Woody, the younger cat, and Peanut became best pals right away. “He showed her his tummy, and now they eat side by side in the kitchen,” Julia says.

read the rest of the article here.

It is just too wonderful to know that these precious creatures are finding new homes and love after such a horrible existence.

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Why is it that people frequently fail to think of their dogs as living breathing creatures that require the same care to stay alive as they do? At least this is the way it seems when you hear on the news how someone has again left their dog in the car with the windows up and the temperature outside is 90 degrees.

Dogs do not have the ability to sweat and discharge that excess heat that has built up in their bodies. They can only pant which is their way of exchanging the hot air for cooler air, but what happens when the temperature on the outside is the same or worse than the inside? This is when heat stroke occurs a deadly and painful condition.

Heat stroke is an emergency. If you intend to save your pet you must act quickly. You must get the body temperature down below 104 degrees F. Do this by cooling them with cool water, not freezing, set them into a cool bath for a couple minutes then put them in front of a fan. Put cool cloths on their abdomens, groins and arm pits. Dip their feet into cool water or put cool cloths over the feet as well.

Keep checking the rectal temperature every ten minutes and when you have it down below 104 degrees F. get the dog to the vet, there are many complications that can occur after the heat stroke has occurred and been dealt with.

If you have a dog or pet and you love them, you must exercise that part of you that would do anything to save a child. Learn about heat stroke and how to prevent and in the worse case scenario how to treat it.

Please take a moment to look at more detail in the recognition of the symptoms of heat stroke and the treatment in my Factoidz Article regarding this very subject.

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So many of us love our pets especially our dogs to the point of distraction. We would do anything for them, we even give up our privacy and our time with our human partners. Well is it healthy?

This question is nicely answered in an article I wrote for Factoidz. I think you’ll enjoy it.

We live in a country of animal lovers and statistics show that many of us sleep with our beloved pets. According to a recent survey of pet owners by the American Pet Products Association, nearly half of dogs sleep in their owner’s beds. The survey found that 62% of small dogs, 41% of medium-sized dogs and 32% of large dogs sleep with their owners.

The survey also found that 62% of cats sleep with their adult owners, and another 13% of cats sleep with children.

But is it healthy to sleep with our pets? Of course obviously if you are allergic to your dog or cat you should certainly n… From: Is It Healthy to Sleep with Your Family Pet

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My Isabel, the paralyzed Belgium sheepdog mix that I have spoken of on this blog is ten years old now. She is doing remarkably well for a paralyzed dog in diapers. And I am happy to say that I am doing well too.

Isabel, My Paralyzed Dog

We have all well-adjusted to life with a paralyzed dog. It isn’t as difficult as you might think. After the initial shock and learning curve were behind us, we have sailed right through with about the same number of problems you might have with a dog with all four walking.

But the main problem we continue to have is Urinary tract infections. Which I am happy to report is better controlled now than they were in the beginning. But a dog in diapers is bound to have these issues. Well a few of you have been interested in what it is I have done to improve on this situation.

As you know, I am a nurse, and I have taken care of many paralyzed patients. Whether by spinal injury or Multiple Sclerosis or whatever the cause. All these people must have bowel and bladder routines. We actually train their bowel and bladder to empty on command, by habit almost. Well it occurred to me, why wouldn’t this work for Isabel? Well it does.

When you bring your paralyzed dog home from the vet, after surgery or after healing from whatever injury caused the paralysis, they will have taught you how to express the bladder. It is always good to do this after your dog has been incontinent of urine, making sure the bladder is empty. This helps cut down on UTI’s. But instead of waiting until after the incontinence, I empress her bladder two or three times a day, before she is incontinent. Completely emptying her bladder and also keeping her dry. Of course, there will be accidents, but the goal is to dramatically cut down on urinary incontinence.

Now let me tell you another secret. As your dog continues to wear diapers. The hair around her bottom end will recede, making it much easier to keep her clean. You may even consider giving her a trim to help with the cleaning issues. But no matter, when the area is free of hair, you will notice that the bladder is easily stimulated by a rubbing pressure right next to the anus. Repeated effort at each session will completely empty the bladder without any problem. Also I learned that gentle pressure right on the anus, (I use the baby wipes or rubber gloves to keep me separated from her skin and clean from her urine and feces) will stimulate a bowel movement. Repeated pressure after each elimination will assure you have emptied the vault of her colon, thus keeping her clean until the next time you help her eliminate. I do this twice a day, morning and night.

So by emptying her bladder and bowel before she is incontinent, I make my life easier and cleaner and her life with less frequent urinary tract infections. I know this is not a preferred topic. But it is essential to a healthy and long life for your loved pet. It is not their fault they are paralyzed and it is better for you both if someone has control of the situation.

So you can see why I say it takes a special person to take care of a paralyzed dog. I have known people who simply couldn’t face this “disgusting” task and they just allowed their animal to be incontinent and felt cleaning up afterwards was more appealing. Hmmmm. I disagree. Or they had their pet euthanized because it was simply too difficult for them to deal with. This very much saddens me. I’ll admit a medical background did certainly help me. But my powerful love of animals would have gotten me over the hurdles, and anyone motivated can learn all this care. I hope you will have an easier road with your beloved paralyzed animal with this new knowledge.

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