Hairballs

I promised to keep you updated on using olive oil for prevention of hairballs and am sorry I didn't post this sooner but you know how life gets at times.

Anyway, I started out putting a little olive oil in my cats canned food every day but after a couple of weeks I decided to cut down the frequency to once or twice a week. I haven't found any hairballs in quite a while so I'm going to keep giving them this treatment.

I hope everyone is staying warm and having a great holiday season.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Vaccinations for dogs

There has been a lot of debate over the last few years as to whether vaccinations help or hurt a pets immune system. This is a decision that each pet owner has to make for themselves.

I believe in vaccinations so I am going to give you the vaccination schedule for dogs in this blog.

A puppy should be started on vaccinations when they are 8 weeks old. The initial vaccination is to protect against distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza, parvovirus and corona virus. Some vets recommend a vaccination that includes leptospirosis while others include this only for hunting breeds.

A booster needs to be given every 2-3 weeks until the puppy is 4 months old. At that time the puppy gets the final DHPPC booster and their rabies vaccination.

If you adopt an adult dog and it has either never had vaccinations or you do not know it's history, then the safest thing to do is have it vaccinated with the DHPPC and the rabies vaccination and booster the DHPPC in 2-3 weeks.

Once you puppy or dog has received it's final vaccinations it will need to vaccinated with DHPPC and rabies every year thereafter.

Of all the diseases dogs are vaccinated against the parvovirus is the most commonly seen by veterinarians. If you talk to many dog owners, you will always find they either had a dog who contracted parvo or they know someone who's dog had it.

Below I have listed all the diseases with their descriptions and symptoms.

• D = Distemper:
Distemper is a nasty virus that is highly contagious, occurs world wide, and at one time was the leading cause of death in puppies. Young puppies are more susceptible to the virus then adult dogs. You may see signs of an upper respiratory infection with a high fever, the dog may also have neurological signs. This disease is often fatal.

• H = Hepatitis or Adenovirus-2:
This is spread by contact with the urine and feces of infected animals. The virus causes liver and kidney damage, animals that survive may have chronic illness. Symptoms include but are not limited to: fever, lethargy, anorexia, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhea.

• L = Leptospirosis:
This disease affects the liver and kidneys and is deadly. Animals with this disease are contagious to other animals and humans. A positive dog should be isolated and the caregiver should wear protective clothing and gloves. The disease is spread through contact with urine of infected animals. Dogs with leptospirosis may show signs of lethargy, dehydration, jaundice, and fever.

• P = Parainfluenza:
This is a virus that causes an upper respiratory infection. Dogs usually contract the disease through contact with nasal secretions of infected dogs.

• P = Parvovirus:
This virus attacks the intestinal tract and causes severe vomiting and diarrhea. Parvo is highly contagious, dogs contract the virus through contact with an infected animals stools. Without treatment dogs become dehydrated and weak and often die. This virus is very common and puppies who are not properly vaccinated are often afflicted. Rottweilers and Doberman Pinschers seem to be at greater risk for parvo.

• C = Corona virus:
This virus attacks the intestinal system similar to parvovirus. Infected dogs suffer from vomiting and diarrhea and dehydration. Keep your pet vaccinated and your yard clean to protect your pet.

Changing Food

Everyone has reasons from time to time to change their pets food. Some animals do fine no matter what food you feed them but others do not.

The best way to change your pets food is to do it gradually. This will help prevent stomach upset and diarrhea.

Whenever you are going to switch to a new food make sure you have some of the old food left. The first day you feed the new food you should mix about 10% of the new food with 90% of the old food.

If your pet does fine with this, then on the second day increase the new food by about 10% while decreasing the old food by the same amount.

At this point if your pet is still doing fine, keep increasing the new food by 10% every day until you get to the point where you are no longer adding any of the old food.

Years ago I had a lab puppy that I decided to feed Iams because I had been told it was so much better for him than any other food on the market. This puppy had very bad smelly gas so I decided to change his food.

I did the gradual change to Science Diet but he still had a bad gas problem. At this point I decided to go back to using Purina Puppy Chow since the puppies I had in the past had been fed this without having gas.

Once again I did the gradual change and by the time I was feeding only Purina, the gas problem was gone. I'm telling you this because some people think a gassy dog is just a problem they have to put up with but sometimes it can be helped by a simple diet change.

Senior Dogs

If you have been reading my blogs, you know that I adopted Beau when he was 2 years old from a rescue group. They found him in a pound in St. Louis, MO that kept no records of how the pets arrived at the pound or anything about their history so his age was just a best guess.

I have had Beau for just over 9 years now so if they guessed his age right, he was 11 years old in July. A dog is considered senior at 7 and should be started on senior dog food which is easier for their system to digest and has more of the nutrients that an older dog needs.

We have all been told that puppies need to be fed 2-3 times a day but after a year old you can go to feeding once a day which is what I did for many years. A couple of years ago my husband and I got to talking about the dogs feeding schedule and we decided to feed twice a day. When you really think about it, it doesn't seem right to feed them one big meal every day. We are told to eat more smaller meals instead of a couple of big meals so it just makes sense that the same would apply to them.

At the time we had Beau and Pepper, the black lab mix who's picture is posted on one of my blogs. Pepper is the kind of dog that will eat everything you give her and still want more. Beau never has been a big eater so going to 2 smaller meals worked out great for him.

A big thing you need to watch for in any dog but especially older dogs is overeating. If a dog is over weight, it not only puts strain on their joints but also their internal organs. It's really hard to say no to those begging eyes but treats need to be given in moderation.

I started Beau on a natural diet about 3 months ago and he's been doing great on it! He has always been one that I had to coax to eat but now he gets very excited about meal times. I do give him about a third of a cup of senior dog food with about a cup and a half of the natural diet. When I was feeding just the natural diet he seemed hungry all the time and by adding a little dry food he seems more satisfied.

If you are interested in feeding a natural diet, I posted the recipe in my June 27, 2009 blog. You can type "recipe" in the search bar at the right to pull that blog up. I am getting ready to start experimenting with different recipes and will keep you posted on how that goes.

Through my travels I have talked to a lot of pet owners and picked up good advice along the way. One owner's vet had told him the best thing he could do for his senior dog was to keep his mind stimulated. If a dog is left to just lay around all day in the yard, on a chain or even in the house, he has little to occupy his mind and will go downhill just like people do.

This owner's solution to keeping his senior dog's mind stimulated was to take him to the vet's office early every morning before the office opened and let him walk around the building smelling where all the other dogs had been the day before. His dog looked forward to this and thoroughly investigated every smell around the building.

Our solution to keeping Beau stimulated was to get another dog for him to play with. I take Beau for several walks a day and he enjoys checking out new smells but we could tell that he needed more. Beau has never been an only dog since I've had him so I knew he enjoyed other canine companionship.

We got Katie as a puppy and she fell in love with Beau instantly but it took him a couple of weeks to really start interacting with her. They love playing together and he is much more active and happy.

One of the first thing people ask me when they meet Beau is if he has any trouble with his hips. A couple of years ago I started giving him glucosomine hoping to delay any potential joint problems. He does have a little arthritis and needs help getting into the back of my jeep but he is doing great!!

Hairballs

If you have ever had a cat, you have found hairballs in various places where they have thrown up. When cats groom or clean themselves they naturally ingest hair. Some of this hair will pass naturally but some will stay in their digestive tract where it can cause them problems.

If the hair starts building up in their stomach, it will cause them to throw up hairballs from time to time. If the hair builds up in their intestines, it can cause a blockage that can be life threatening.

One way to help prevent hairball problems is to brush or comb your cat every day. This sounds simple enough but we all get busy and forget or you may have a cat that hates to be brushed making it a real battle.

Another way is to give hairball remedy 2-3 times a week. This is an over the counter product that you can get from a vet or almost any store that has a pet section. The problem with this is that we have a tendency to forget to give it or the cat hates it and it becomes a battle of wills to get them to eat it.

A few weeks ago I read that olive oil is good for helping to relieve hairballs. I give my 4 cats canned food twice a day. When I open the can in the morning I pour a little over a tablespoon of olive oil into the canned food and mix it up well. I divide half the can between them in the morning and they get the other half in the evening. I have been doing this for 3 weeks now and have not found any hairballs laying around during that time.

I will keep you posted on the success or failure of the olive oil treatment. If anyone else has found an effective yet simple way to treat hairballs, I would love to hear it.

Scooting

We've all seen dogs scoot on their butts at some point in our lives and heard people say they must have worms. This is not always the case.

If you know your dog is parasite free, then he could be having a problem with his anal sacs. The anal sacs are located on each side of the anus at approximately the 4:00 and 8:00 position.

Most dogs express their anal sacs when they defecate but there are many who need our help to empty these sacs or glands. When these sacs fill up it is very uncomfortable and sometimes he will scoot or chew at his back end trying to relieve the pressure.

If he cannot release the fluid in his anal sacs, it will build up and can become infected if left too long. If an anal sac becomes infected, it can abcess and rupture causing a nasty smelly discharge to start oozing from around the rectum.

An infected anal sac can be a very serious matter. Keeping the area clean so it can heal is very difficult since every time the dog defecates he gets fecal matter in it.

The best way to keep your dog's anal sacs from becomong a serious problem is to take him to a vet or groomer who can express the anal sacs. When the vet expresses a dog's anal sacs, he will put on a glove and insert one finger into the anus. He will then locate the anal sacs and gently express the sac using his finger and thumb. Be prepared that some people do gag when they smell the anal sac odor.

There are some vets and groomers who are able to express the anal sacs externally. They will gently squeeze the anal sac from the outside of the anus until all the fluid is removed.

Not all dogs scoot when they have a problem with their anal sacs. Some dogs chew at their rectum, tail or back legs. Other dogs will start holding up one back leg and limp around. Still others will suddenly start screaming in pain or jump around acting like they have been bit or stung.

Some dogs have chronic anal sac problems and may need to have them expressed as often as every 2 weeks. Others will only have to have them expressed once or twice a year. My shepard had an anal sac problem when he was 2 years old and has never had the problem since.

There are also some cats that have anal sac problems. I have never seen a cat scoot on her butt but I have seen them lick the hair around the base of their tail and their back legs until they had bald patches. Anal sac problems are not as common in cats but I have had 2 cats in my life that had to have their sacs expressed regularly by a vet.

Recently I was visiting with a new neighbor and saw her dog scoot twice while we were talking. Finally I had to say something because a lot of pet owners don't know about anal sacs and I didn't want to see the dog suffer needlessly.

When I asked her if her dog had anal sac problems, she told me that she had taken the dog to the vet because it scooted all the time. The dog was checked for parasites and her anal sacs were checked. The vet said that the dog had no health problems - it just had an itchy butt and she was too overweight to scratch it any other way!!!

Spaying and neutering

Recently I heard an opinion on spaying that I haven't heard in years....that a female pet should have one heat cycle before spaying. This is totally false!!! When I was a kid everyone believed that a dog or cat should have at least one litter before spaying. Where this came from I'll never know but it probably helped contribute to the overpopulation of dogs and cats we have been experiencing for years.

Female dogs and cats should be spayed before they ever go into heat which is around six months of age. If a female dog or cat is allowed to go into heat, it increases the risk of mammary tumors later in life.

Besides the risk of mammary tumors, the heat cycle is extremely stressful not only for your pet but also for you. The female cat quivers and cries almost constantly and seems to be in pain while the female dog bleeds and smells.

Somehow male dogs and cats are able to sense females in heat and suddenly there are suitors everywhere. The males are fighting each other in their desire to be the first to mate. Walking your female dog is almost impossible because you are having to fend off males wanting to get to her.

I was 19 when I got my first cat and was not aware of the all the things involved with a heat cycle. My cat was crying all the time and everytime I touched her, she quivered all over and seemed to be in pain. I felt so helpless and sorry for her. I kept her inside so the males couldn't get to her but they stayed around my house yowling all through the nights. Their yowl would make my skin crawl and I had nightmares about being attacked if I went outside.

Male cats should definitely be neutered by 6-7 months of age. When the male cat matures, he develops an odor to his urine that will run you out of the house!!! Not only will the smell be horrible but he will start marking his territory by spraying urine inside and outside the house. Once he has developed the habit of spraying it is very, very difficult to break. If he is allowed outside, he will get into fights with other tom cats and you'll have to deal with bite wounds, scratches and abcesses.

While the male dog doesn't develop the strong urine odor, he will still mark his territory with urine and get into fights. Also, you may find that he will start straying away from home to find the females.

The bottom line is that unless your pet has a great championship bloodline, there is no good reason not to spay or neuter your pet. The shelters are full of homeless dogs and cats so why not give one of them a home instead of creating more animals that may one day end up in the shelter.