The Animal Rescue Site

By taking a minute out of your day and going to The Animal Rescue Site and clicking on the purple "Click to Give" button, you can help feed and care for shelter animals. Everytime you click on this button food is donated to an animal shelter.

This is a very simple and no cost way for everyone to help shelter animals. If you want to do more, they have a store that also helps support animal shelters and they have various charities you can donate to.

Going to The Animal Rescue Site is something I look forward to every day because they post short stories from people who live with a rescued pet.

Pictured here is Pepper who belongs to my youngest stepdaughter. Pepper was adopted from a local shelter when she was barely old enough to be weaned. She had been found alone in the streets and was very sick. Now Pepper weighs over 90 lbs and is one of the most lovable dogs you will ever meet.

Swollen Chin

This is a little hard to explain if you have never seen it but sometimes dogs and cats will get a swollen area on their chin or jaw. The first thing to do if you see this is try to check their mouth to see if they have an infected tooth or area on their gums.

If their teeth and gums look good, then what they probably have is acne or what is sometimes called a rodent ulcer (sounds gross doesn't it). This is very easy to treat at home but you do have to be persistent and keep treating the area until it is totally healed.

One of the best things to have in the house is epsom salts. Epsom salts are great for treating hot spots, cuts, swollen joints, abcesses and pimples.

When you first notice the acne you need to get a bowl of very warm water and put about 2 tablespoons of epsom salt per cup of water. Dip a washcloth in the water, wring it out just until it is not dripping and place the wash cloth on the swollen area.

Every few minutes you need to dip the wash cloth and put it back on the swollen area. It's best to do this for 15-20 minutes but sometimes your pet will not hold still that long so just do it as long as you can.

Do this at least twice a day until the area is totally healed. Just to be sure that you don't stop too soon, it is best to soak the area with the epsom salt solution a day or two longer than you think you need to. If you stop before the infection is completely pulled out of the area, then the area will swell back up and you will have to start over.

If you don't think the soaks are helping, then you will need to make an appointment with your vet to get antibiotics and to make sure there is not something else going on.

I just have to share this....

Last week we were petsitting for one of my stepdaughters. She has a white English Setter named Izzy. Izzy is a really sweet dog but not entirely trustworthy off-leash.

I got to feeling sorry for her not being able to run so I took the dogs to a nature trail by a lake. There were no roads close by and the trail was surrounded by water and woods so I figured it was a good place to let Izzy run. The first thing Izzy did was take off into the woods with Katie hot on her tail. I called the dogs but only Katie came back.

I decided to walk a little ways down the trail figuring that Izzy would come back out soon. Well, she didn't come back out and I couldn't see or hear her so I got concerned. I looked at 8 month old Katie and told her to go find Izzy. She immediately ran back into the woods where Izzy had gone in and waited for me to catch up. She continued to go deeper into the woods but stopped from time to time to make sure I was right behind her.

In just a short time she was flushing Izzy out of the woods and herding her back towards the trail!!!! I did tell Katie to grab Izzy's collar but I guess that was beyond her comprehension. Anyway, Katie got Izzy out to where I could grab her and put the leash back on her. I was so amazed that Katie was able to not only understand what I wanted but also find Izzy and bring her back to where I could get her! I am very proud of this little puppy!!!!

Katie is a Blue Heeler mix and as you can see from the picture, she LOVES water. There is nothing she would rather do than splash in puddles or swim in the lake. She is always happy and loves to play with people, dogs and cats. She has done so much to get Beau more active. He is much happier since Katie came into our lives!

If you have some amazing pet stories, I would love to hear them. Feel free to post here or to email me!

Fleas in your house

I posted this blog on my Florida RV Park and Campground Reviews page but felt it was also relevant here in case some people don't read both blogs.

If you have pets you are bound to get fleas in your RV or home at some time. There are lots of products you can purchase to try to get rid of them but for the most part they don't work very well.

Years ago I had a major flea problem in my house and tried many products that I found at Wal Mart or the pet stores but I still had fleas. I even got desperate enough to call an exterminator but still couldn't get rid of them.

The vet I worked for carried Siphotrol Premise Spray and finally my flea problem was taken care of. At the time they had not developed the spot flea treatment for pets so I was dipping my pets every 2 weeks to try to keep the fleas off them.

For the last year I have been putting Frontline Plus on my pets to keep them from getting fleas but no one told me that you needed to rotate products so the fleas won't develop an immunity to the product so I wound up with fleas in my RV. I purchased Advantage to use on my pets and hoped that this would be enough to stop my flea problem but unfortunately it wasn't enough.

Once again I went searching for a good flea product and couldn't find anything that worked. When I was about to give up hope, I found a vet that carried Siphotrol Spray and bought it. Once again the Siphotrol did the job and my RV was flea free.

Until recently the only place I could find Siphotrol was at a vet's office and not all vet's carried it. Now I have found the Siphotrol that has always worked so well for me online at Entirely Pets.

I have created a couple of banner links to Entirely Pets so you will be able to purchase without having to search like I did. Type Siphotrol into the search box on the Entirely Pets website to see all the Siphotrol flea products.

You can also purchase flea treatment for your pets through Entirely Pets. Just click on thebanner at the bottom of this post or the banner on the right hand side to purchase yourflea products or any other pet need.

The Siphotrol Spray comes in a 24 oz pump bottle and the Siphotrol Premise Spraycomes in a 16 oz aerosol can. Both products work well so you can choose whichever type of spray you prefer. You can also get Siphotrol for the yard or in a fogger.

Housebreaking

Some dogs are very easy to housebreak and others are extremely difficult. One of the main things to do when you are house-breaking a dog is to take him/her out regularly and often. When I first get a new older dog, I take him out every 1-2 hours to make sure they don't go in the house. As the days go by, if they are doing well on this schedule, I will extend the time little by little.

Anytime you are housebreaking a puppy, it is very important to take them out after they eat, sleep or play as well as take them out at regular intervals. Puppies are very quick to squat so you need to keep a close eye on them or you will be cleaning up a mess.

If you cannot watch the puppy closely, it is a good idea to crate train them. The first thing to do is get them used to the crate by hiding treats or toys in there so they think of it as a fun place. If you force your puppy in there, he will probably bark or whine because he will be very unhappy.

Even with crate training you need to take your puppy out every 1-2 hours. They have very small bladders and they are not used to having to hold it. Your puppy will not want to go to the bathroom in his crate if you get one just big enough to stand up, turn around and lay down because he will not want to soil his sleeping area. If the crate is too big, he will go to one end of it to relieve himself.

The picture above is of my dog, Katie, when she was a puppy. I was trying to get her used to the crate but Lucky, my cat, wouldn't stay out of it so they kept getting in there together and playing. Katie did real well with housebreaking so I gave up on the crate training. I had intended to put her in the crate at night while we were sleeping but she would bark to wake us up when she needed to go out. Also, she was so attached to Beau, my shepard, that it would have broken her heart to be separated from him.

Katie is the only dog I've ever had that will bark or scratch at the door when she needs to go out. For all the other dogs, I just had to know what the signs were when they needed to go. Some of them would fidget a little more, some would just look at me in a certain way and others I would just have to know by the look in their eyes. The key to good housetraining is learning to read your dog.

I did have one dog I adopted when she was 9 months old. Obviously this dog had never been housebroken and she was very challenging. It seemed like nothing was working and she kept going in the house. Finally I put her on a leash and kept her beside me all the time so I wouldn't miss the signal that she needed to go out. It took several days of doing this but I finally got her figured out and didn't have any more problems.

If you see your dog or puppy relieving himself in the house, immediately say no and take him outside. Tell him to go potty and praise him when he goes. Dogs want to please us and praise will go a long way in their training.

Mites

In November 2008, my husband called me from the warehouse where he was working asking if I could come there to look at a cat. Being the animal lover that I am, I didn't hesitate.

When Beau and I arrived at the warehouse the cat was nowhere in sight. We searched the grounds and then started searching each of the 3 warehouses on the property. I was having no luck finding the cat so I finally turned to Beau and told him to find the cat.

Beau went through the warehouse we were in and went through some rows of stuff. Within seconds I heard a cat growling so I called Beau out so I could try to get the cat out.

It was a very tight area so I had to lay down and crawl on my side to get back to the cat. When I got to him, there was no way I could see him so I just stuck my hand into the area Beau had been in.

As soon as my hand touched him, I instinctively pulled back. What I felt was a massive scabby mess on his head and neck. Thinking the cat had been attacked I reached for him again and pulled him out.

I had to crawl back on my side out of the row of stuff pulling the cat with me. When I got him to where I could see him I was totally horrified. He had not been attacked - he had the worse case of mites I had ever seen.

His head and neck were totally covered with scabs and his face was so swollen that he couldn't open his eyes. How had this cat had managed to survive with the agony of the itching and not being able to see? Where had he come from and how could anyone let him get into this condition?

I carried the cat back to where my husband was working with Beau right beside me. We decided to take the cat to the vet rather than turn him in to a shelter. When I got into the car with him, he curled up in my lap and seemed to be so happy to be held.

At the vet's office they did a skin scrape, took some blood for a feline leukemia test, and some stool to test for worms. It turns out that he had a severe case of scabies but fortunately the other tests came back negative.

The vet gave us antibiotics, shampoo and Frontline Plus spray to kill the mites. I gave him a bath as soon as we got home with the medicated shampoo. He was so pathetic during the bath. The poor baby couldn't see what was going on and he was so scared when he felt the water. After he dried, I used the Frontline Plus spray.

Since scabies are contagious to people and other animals, I had to keep him confined in a carrier for a week. He drank a ton of water because he was so dehydrated and ate all that I gave him. Then he slept and slept and slept. Beau stayed close to the carrier to keep an eye on his new charge and would let me know if he thought Lucky was in trouble.

Yes, we named him Lucky. We felt that name fit him so well. He was lucky my husband was there that day, lucky my husband called me, lucky I came to find him, lucky that Beau was able to find him, lucky he didn't have leukemia, lucky to have survived until we found him and now we are so lucky to have him in our lives.

I did have to give him a couple more baths but once the antibiotics were done and the scabs all healed and removed he turned out to be a beautiful cat. When I found him, his coat was very dull and the white on him was a dingy grey. Now he is a beautifully marked cat with a bright coat. The top picture was taken less than a month after we found him and the bottom one was taken the day I brought him home.

If someone had taken him to the vet when the mites first started, the treatment would have been very simple and the mites would have been killed quickly. Unfortunately no one cared enough to help him so he got progressively worse. If you've ever been bitten by a mosquito and the itching just wouldn't stop, just imagine the agony Lucky must have been in with thousands of mites biting him.

I realize that not everyone is in a position where they can take in strays but at the very least please turn the stray in to the local animal shelter. Lucky is proof that there are worse things than being in a shelter. He like so many others would have died a slow painful death if people didn't get involved.

Diarrhea

This is an unpleasant subject but it is something all pet owners have to deal with from time to time. Every animal has diarrhea from time to time but when it is extreme or doesn't clear up then we need to do something to help.

When we first moved to Florida, we had Beau and Pepper. Pepper, the lab mix, belongs to my youngest step-daughter and is now living with her again.

The first couple of months in Florida, both dogs kept having diarrhea off and on. I would give them a generic immodium tablet once or twice a day and it would clear up for a while only to come back later. I took a stool sample in to have a vet check it for parasites and none were found. I could have put them on prescription diet I/D which is a bland food but with two big dogs, it would have cost me a small fortune.

Luckily I met a woman with a golden doodle at the park where we were staying who had had the same problem. She had given her dog two tablespoons of canned pumpkin once a day and after a few days, the stool had gone back to normal. It is very important to not give more than two tablespoons a day because more will give your dog diarrhea. If you have a small dog, you will want to cut the amount.

I started giving both dogs two tablespoons of pumpkin once a day and the problem went away. Both dogs thought it was a real treat and ate it right off the spoon.

About this same time I was watching "It's Me Or The Dog" on the Animal Planet and Victoria, the dog trainer, was giving diet advice. She recommended mixing a raw egg in the dogs food every day to help keep the stool solid. Once I started doing this, Beau and Pepper rarely ever had the diarrhea problem again.

One of the side benefits to giving the egg every day was the change in their coats. Pepper's black fur became extremely shiny and she almost glowed. The first words out of everyone's mouth when they touch Beau is they cannot believe how soft his fur is. Most shepards have very wiry hair and his was too but the egg changed the texture and people are amazed when they pet him now.

If you are having a problem with your dog or cat and need a diarrhea solution immediately, you can give either one of them Kaopectate. With the cats, I use an old syringe and give them 3 ccs every 6 to 8 hours. The average weight of a cat is 9-10 lbs so you can figure out the dosage for your dog from there.

The only safe diarrhea medicine to give your cat that I know of is Kaopectate. Cats' systems are much more sensitive than dogs so before giving anything other than Kaopectate, you must check with your vet to find out if it will help your cat or hurt it.

For my dogs, I have found it is much easier to buy the Immodium tablets and treat them this way. For a big dog, I give one tablet when I see the problem with a little bit of peanut butter or cheese. If the diarrhea doesn't clear up by evening, then I give a second tablet. Do not give more than two tablets a day without checking with your vet.

For a small dog under 30 lbs I would give 1/2 tablet no more than twice a day.

You don't have to use the Immodium brand, I bought the Equate brand at Wal Mart in a bottle at a fraction of the cost.

Bladder Infections

Dogs and cats can get bladder infections just like people and it can be life threatening if it goes untreated for too long.

Almost 30 years ago my first cat started squatting and trying to urinate constantly. The way she was twitching and crying I knew there was a problem but had no idea what it was. I called the vet and was told to bring her in right away which scared the heck out of me.

The vet examined her and managed to squeeze a small amount of urine from her bladder which he put on a slide and checked it under a microscope. She had blood and crystals in her urine which had her bladder irritated and made her feel like she constantly had to urinate. At the time I was given liquid antibiotics, a tube of paste which would help dissolve the crystals and told to feed her a low ash canned food.

Once I started the antibiotics she started feeling much better and after about a month or so I started feeding her dry food again and thought it was all over. It took a few years but the problem came back.

The second time it happened I knew what was going on and called the vet immediately. This time she got the antibiotics and the paste to help dissolve the crystals but she also got a prescription food called C/D. I kept her on C/D for the rest of her life and she never had a bladder infection again.

With a female cat a bladder infection can be very painful but normally you have time to get her to the vet without endangering her life. Male cats are a different story. The male cats have a much smaller urethra which can become plugged by the crystals. Once the urethra is plugged a catheter has to be inserted to remove the blockage or the cat will die.

A friend of mine had a male cat who didn't seem to be feeling well before he went to work. When he came home from work, the cat was laying in the litter box dead. He took the cat to the vet to find out what had happened and his urinary tract was blocked with crystals which is what killed him. My friend was devastated. His cat had never had this problem before and had no idea that it could get so serious so fast.

I've had one dog get a bladder infection and so has one of my step-daughters. In both cases they were given anti-biotics but my dog had crystals too so she got a chewable tablet to help dissolve the crystals while my step-daughters dog had no crystals. Neither dog was put on a special diet and as of this date, neither one has had a problem.

In all of the cases where the pet survives the bladder infection, the vet will usually want to check a urine sample at the end of the antibiotics to see if the infection and the crystals are gone. If the infection is not completely cleared up then the vet will usually have you give another round of antibiotics and continue the tablets or paste until the crystals are gone.

If you ever see that your pet is urinating more than normal or straining to urinate repeatedly and nothing is coming out, please call your vet immediately - especially if your pet is a male cat.