‘Pet Health’ Articles
Most dog owners have seen the movie “Marley and Me” by know; if you haven’t its worth checking out. For those dog owners living with older pets it’s not far from reality. Like our human children, we think of our dogs as always being puppies with seemingly endless amounts of energy.
The truth of the matter is that sometimes our dogs forget they cannot do what they use to or for as long. They continue to try to please us biding for our attention only to find that sometimes our increasingly busy schedules offer little. As pet parents we need to understand that this time is precious and worth spending every extra moment.
The old adage of seven dog years’ equals one human year starts to ring true when your dog turns four to five years old. At that age, they are more like a 28 to 30 year old human and depending on the breed by the time they turn seven they should be considered a senior citizen. The age expectancy for small to medium dogs is anywhere from 12 to 18 years, for large breeds 10 to 15 years while extra large breeds is 7 to 10 years.
The most important thing you can do for your senior dog is have your vet give a senior seven blood work up. This test will screen for a host of issues affecting older dogs. Next would be to realize the limitations of your dog while playing and exercising. Cut the time you use to spend by half finding other activities and reasons to offer your affection.
Expect some “accidents” to happen in the house; do not treat this as you would when your dog was a pup. If your dog was properly housebroken then these accidents are an embarrassment for your dog. Punishment or a stern voice will only make them feel worse as well as confused. On the other hand, do not offer a condolence saying, “that’s okay” or you will begin to un-do previous training. Instead, let your dog outside more frequently and if it gets worse place some Wee Pads down encouraging their use instead of the carpet.
Other signs are weight lose, loose of sight and hearing, and weak and tender joints. There are several types of dog food and dog treats available to pet parents that contain natural ingredients formulated to relieve the pain of aging joints. For sever joint pain and arthritis consult your vet; new medications are now available with little side effects that will offer your aging dog a higher quality of life.
Be sure to give extra attention to teeth and gums. Broken or loose teeth are common for older dogs requiring professional cleaning from your vet. Dogs are susceptible to certain types of cancer and like humans; some are operable will others are not. You can find several specialty veterinarian hospitals throughout the country that offer complete oncology departments for pets.
It is sad to say but most pet parents have yet to embrace pet health insurance and the price of treatment becomes the concern leaving some the only option to euthanize their pet. At the end of the day, living with an older dog is about quality of life. Purchasing pet stairs to help them get to their favorite spot and consulting with your vet will help extend those precious moments. However, when their quality of life can no longer be maintained then euthanizing is the best choice.
Posted in Pet Health | Comments Off
Believe it or not, dogs can suffer from allergies as well as cause them–in fact, allergies are all too common among canines. They can’t be cured, but they can be treated, both with medication and by protecting your dog, as much as possible, from whatever is making him sick.
Causes
As in humans, allergies are caused by an immune system that overreacts to an everyday substance, such as fleas, pollen, or a certain food. The following are the three most common culprits.
Atopic dermatitis
Atopic dermatitis is genetic. An affected dog inherits a tendency to develop skin problems from pollens, grasses and trees, dust mites, or mold spores.
It usually begins with a seasonal reaction to pollen when the dog is young, and progresses until the dog is allergic to many different substances year-round. Skin irritation usually shows up around the eyes and mouth, armpits, stomach, and anal area. Ear infections are also common.
Your vet can run a skin or blood test to see what’s causing the problem, although these aren’t always totally accurate and medication can interfere with the results. (Your dog shouldn’t have prednisone for a month before the test, or antihistamines for 10 days before.)
Your vet may give your dog steroids for short-term relief from the itching, and immunotherapy (allergy shots) to lesson your dog’s sensitivity to allergens long-term.
Flea allergy
An allergy to blood-sucking fleas–or rather, to their saliva–is the single most common skin disease in dogs. In allergic dogs, a flea bite can cause extreme itching, red bumps, and inflamed skin that lasts for days. The more an allergic dog is bitten, the worse the allergy gets.
Steroids and antihistamines can make your dog less itchy, but the only real treatment is tight flea control in the house and yard, as well as on the dog. Luckily, the newer generation of flea control products is very effective.
Food allergy
Dogs can be allergic to several types of food, but the most common triggers are chicken, beef, corn, or wheat–all typical ingredients in commercial dog food. The allergy usually shows up as a skin problem, such as itching, rashes, and hot spots (warm spots of infected skin). Some dogs may have stomach upset as well, with chronic diarrhea or vomiting.
To find out what your dog’s allergic to, work with your vet to try an allergy elimination diet. This diet involves giving your dog a special food (which you’ll get from the vet), and over three or four months, gradually adding other foods back to your dog’s diet. When he starts itching again, you’ve found your culprit and can keep it out of your dog’s food bowl for good.
When it’s time to see a vet
A visit to the vet is in order if you spot these allergy warning signs:
- Frequent scratching, licking, and chewing
- Recurring skin or ear infections
- Red, thick, or flaky skin
- Hair loss
- Chronic stomach upset
- Reverse sneezing (sounds a bit like the dog is inhaling sneezes)
Immunotherapy may help
Dogs can get immunotherapy (often called “allergy shots”), just like people. Unlike drugs designed to ease symptoms, immunotherapy may make your dog less allergic by regularly exposing him to tiny amounts of whatever he’s sensitive to. It’s not effective for food allergies, though.
Not all dogs respond to immunotherapy. About 60 to 80 percent do very well with the shots, about a fourth get some relief, and another fourth don’t respond at all. It takes weeks, months, or sometimes even a year to know if it’s working. Expect the pay-off next allergy season, not this one.
If it does work, your dog will probably need regular shots for the rest of his life. Your vet or a veterinary dermatologist will teach you how to give the shots to your dog at home, although if you have a tough time doing this, the vet can do it for you. Rarely, a dog will have a serious reaction to the shots, so you’ll need to schedule them when you’ll be nearby for a half hour or hour afterward to keep an eye on your dog.
One final tip: buy the best dog treats you can find to give your dog after the shot, as it will ease the process.
Posted in Pet Health | 1 Comment »
The summer months are prime time for fleas, which thrive in the heat. And if untreated, they can lead to tapeworms and other diseases.
Symptoms of an infestation can include: Severe itching that causes a skin rash, legions and possibly ulcers, dermatitis, and scratching and biting at the inflamed area on the skin. Flea attacks are most common on your dog’s, head, neck and tail.
The symptoms of fleas appear suddenly and range from very mild to severe. Be on the lookout for fleas crawling through your dog’s fur, particularly in your dog’s skin folds. Adult fleas are flat with 3 pairs of legs, brownish in color and 2 – 8mm long. Also look for “flea dirt” (excrement) in your dogs bedding and skin
Posted in Pet Health | Comments Off
On Friday, June 18, Natural Balance Pet Food announced a voluntary recall of certain bags of their Sweet Potato & Chicken Dry Dog food formula. As explained in a letter from president Joey Herrick, random testing by the FDA revealed Salmonella in the Sweet Potato & Chicken Dry Dog food in 5 lb. and 28 lb. bags with the “Best By” date of June 17, 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Pet Health | Comments Off
The flea is a small, brown, wingless insect that uses specialized mouth parts to pierce the skin and siphon blood. For millions of pets and people, it is a remorseless enemy.
When a flea bites your dog, it injects a small amount of saliva into the skin to prevent blood coagulation. Some animals may have fleas without showing discomfort, but an unfortunate number of dogs become sensitized to this saliva. In highly allergic animals, the bite of a single flea can cause severe itching and scratching. Fleas cause the most common skin disease of dogs – flea allergy dermatitis.
If your pet develops hypersensitivity to flea saliva, several changes may result:
- A small hive may develop at the site of the flea bite, which either heals or develops into a tiny red bump that eventually crusts over.
- The dog may scratch and chew at himself until the area is hairless, raw and weeping serum (“hot spots”).
This can cause hair loss, redness, scaling, bacterial infection and increased pigmentation of the skin.The distribution often involves the lower back, base of the tail, toward the back, the abdomen, flanks and neck. It may become quite generalized in severe cases, leading to total body involvement.Remember that the flea spends the majority of its life in the environment, not on your pet, so it may be difficult to find. In fact, your dog may continue to scratch without you ever seeing a flea on him. Check your dog carefully for fleas or for signs of flea excrement (also called flea dirt), which looks like coarsely ground pepper. When moistened, flea dirt turns a reddish brown because it contains blood.If one dog in the household has fleas, assume that all pets in the household have fleas. A single flea found on your pet means that there are probably hundreds of fleas, larva, pupa and eggs in your house.
If you see tapeworm segments in your dog’s stool, he may have had fleas at one time or may still have them. The flea can act as an intermediate host of the tapeworm, Dipylidium caninum. Through grooming or biting, the animal ingests an adult flea containing tapeworm eggs. Once released, the tapeworm grows to maturity in the small intestine. The cycle can take less than a month, so a key to tapeworm prevention is flea control.
The Life Cycle of the Flea
The flea’s life cycle has four stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The adult flea uses your dog as a place to take its blood meals and breed. Fleas either lay eggs directly on the dog where they may drop off or deposit eggs into the immediate surroundings (your home or backyard). Because the female may lay several hundred eggs during the course of its life, the number of fleas present intensifies the problem. The eggs hatch into larvae that live in carpeting, cracks or corners of the dog’s living area. The larvae survive by ingesting dried blood, animal dander and other organic matter. To complete the life cycle, larvae develop into pupae that hatch into adults. The immediate source of adult fleas within the house is the pupa, not the dog. The adult flea emerges from the pupa and then hops onto the host.
This development occurs more quickly in a warm, humid environment. Pupae can lie dormant for months, but under temperate conditions fleas complete their life cycle in about three weeks. The inside of your home may provide a warm environment to allow fleas to thrive year round.
Fighting the Flea
Types of commercial products available for flea control include flea collars, shampoos, sprays, powders and dips. Other, newer, products include oral and systemic spot-on insecticides.
In the past, topical insecticide sprays, powders and dips were the most popular. However, the effect was often temporary. Battling infestations requires attacking areas where the eggs, larvae, pupae and adults all congregate. Because some stages of a flea’s life can persist for months, chemicals with residual action are needed and should be repeated periodically. Sprays or foggers, which required leaving the house for several hours, have been used twice in 2-week intervals and then every two months during the flea season.
Treating animals and their living areas thoroughly and at the same time is vital; otherwise some fleas will survive and re-infect your pet.
As one might expect, flea control through these methods is very time consuming, expensive and difficult. The good news is that currently, with the newer flea products on the market, flea control is much safer, more effective and environmentally friendly. Current flea control efforts center on oral and topical systemic treatments. These products not only treat existing flea problems, they also are very useful for prevention. In fact, prevention is the most effective and easiest method of flea control.
One group of products works to control fleas by interrupting the development of fleas by killing flea larva and eggs. These drugs are called insect growth regulators (IGRs). These products do not kill adult fleas, but they dramatically decrease the flea population by arresting their development. One common oral product used is lufenuron (Program®). Lufenuron is given monthly, and is combined with heartworm protection in the product lufenuron/milbemycin Sentinel®. Lufenuron is also available as an injection that lasts 6 months. Methoprene and pyriproxifen (Nylar®) are also very effective IGRs that are available as sprays or collars.
Other products kill the actual flea (adulticides) and work quite rapidly. These include both spot-on and oral products. Spot-on products are usually applied on your pet’s skin between the shoulders. The medication is absorbed into the skin and distributed throughout the body. Fleas are killed rapidly on contact with the skin. Spot-on products include fipronil(Frontline®), Metaflumizone (ProMeris® and ProMeris Duo™), imidacloprid (Advantage®), and Selamectin (Revolution®). A recently developed oral adulticide is nitenpyram (Capstar®), that when given begins to kill fleas in 30 minutes. All these products are safer, easier to use and, if used correctly, the most effective method of flea control.
Additionally, some have the added benefit of efficacy against other parasites. Some veterinarians are even recommending a combination of an adulticide and insect growth regulator (Frontline Plus®) as a more complete method of flea control.With all these choices it is best to consult your veterinarian as to the best flea control and prevention for your pet. The choice of flea control should depend on your pet’s life-style and potential for exposure. Through faithful use of these systemic monthly flea products, the total flea burden on your pet and in the immediate environment can be dramatically reduced.
Keeping your pet on monthly flea treatments, especially in areas of high flea risk, is an excellent preventive method of flea control. These products often eliminate the need for routine home insecticidal use, especially in the long run. Although it may still be prudent in heavy flea environments to treat the premises initially, the advent of these newer systemic flea products has dramatically simplified, and made flea control safer and more effective.
Posted in Pet Health | Comments Off
