PawshPaws

The holiday season is a time of celebration with friends and family… furry and four-legged ones included. But colder weather, decorations and parties can create safety hazards for pets. Make sure your holidays stay festive with these simple tips to keep your pet healthy and safe.

Cold weather hazards

De-icing products, salt and ice can get into fur and paws, causing skin irritation or more serious conditions. Thoroughly wipe your pet’s paws and tummy when they come in from the cold. Take care to wipe up any spilled antifreeze – dogs and cats like the sweet taste. Better yet, use pet-friendly antifreeze products.

Keep holiday decorations out of reach

Ingestion of glass, metal, ribbons or tinsel can lead to serious medical emergencies for pets. Also, snow globes and artificial snow contain chemicals that can be harmful if ingested or inhaled.

Place holiday plants high off the ground

Pretty as they are, ivy, holly, mistletoe, pointsettia, lilies and Christmas greens can all be toxic to animals if ingested. Also, don’t allow pets to drink Christmas tree water – it can be harmful, too.

Keep a watchful eye on pets

Everyone loves a party, but sometimes the hustle and bustle can frighten animals and cause them to run away. Designate a quiet, secure “pet room” away from the crowd, and be sure that your pet is microchipped and wearing a collar with current ID tags.

Fight the temptation to feed table scraps

Fatty holiday meats can cause a number of gastrointestinal problems while bones can cause bowel obstructions or choking. And remember, no chocolate for pets! The sweet stuff contains a chemical that is highly toxic to pets.

Watch the door

The hustle and bustle surrounding guests can create opportunities for escape. Know where your animals are whenever the door opens and closes. As a safeguard, make sure your animals wear collars with proper identification.

Don’t Forget Your Feathered Friends

Getting ready for holiday gatherings usually means extra cleaning before guests arrive. Fumes from rug shampoo, furniture polish and oven cleaner can be fatal to a bird if they enter its delicate respiratory system. When using these products, keep them away from birds, and open your windows to let the air flow.

Ever wondered if regular check-ups are important for your dog?  Most dog owners ponder this question. And the truth is… if you failed to do the regular check-ups, then your dog may end up having some major diseases that you don’t know about.  Subsequently, you would need to pay lot of money to both the veterinarian for a consult and for the required drugs needed for the therapy of the clinical condition.

If you don’t have a lot of experience with dog diseases or dog rearing, you may not recognize the common clinical conditions of your dogs.  This is why check-ups are so important.   For example, if your dog has potbelly, the condition may not look abnormal many times. But if you take your dog in for a regular check-up, then the veterinarian can immediately diagnose the condition and give the appropriate therapy. If not, your dog may experience diarrhea and dehydration.

If your dog has any signs of illness, then don’t wait for their regular check-up. Instead, you need to visit the veterinarian immediately.  If done in a regular basis, check-ups will provide your dog with vaccinations against canine distemper, parvovirus, corona virus, rabies virus, hepatitis virus, and more.

Various booster vaccinations will be given during checkups. Many of these injections help to improve the immunity level of your dog in a remarkable degree against diseases . Regular check ups also include a complete stool examination to check for conditions such as heartworm.  If found, deworming may be carried out with drugs like fenbendazole, albendazole, etc.

Abnormalities like signs of pain may be ruled out during such  examinations.  If not, helminthiasis may affect the animal and diarrhea may occur in addition to the other types of digestive upsets and anemia. Regular examinations help to rule out the external parasitic conditions like lice or tick infestations.

And as mentioned in previous posts, dental problems are also diagnosed during the regular veterinary check ups.

Home dental care is to be given more emphasis nowadays because of the fact that the dental diseases are emerging in the case of dogs to a greater extent. Though you are giving home dental care, if you suspect on the extension of the dental diseases, then immediately approach the veterinarian for intervention.

Try to provide bone materials without very sharp points to the dogs and they may love to chew them and then swallow the bitten products. Such activities help them to go for the development of strong teeth structures in a natural manner.

Mind that the breeds of dogs like Pekingese, etc. are more prone for the development of teeth diseases because the teeth are closely crowned in the oral cavity be to the small size of the these dogs. Hence, these dogs need to be checked up for the excessive plaque formation in the home itself.

Recreational raw beef bones are wonderful materials to keep the teeth structures of your dog clean and free from formation of plaque with build up of bacterial organisms.  Teeth brushes are available for use with care in case of dogs and one has to be careful during the usage of these brushes in dogs. Teeth brushes are to be used with special kinds of pastes recommended by the veterinarians for home use in case of dogs.

Specially prepared food materials are available in the pet shops to remove the tartar and the plaque materials from the teeth structures. Dry dog food and toys that are specially made to add strength to the teeth structures are often used at home for better teeth cleaning.

The plaque materials are intermittently to be removed at home to avoid any occurrence of the periodontal diseases, which are more common among the dogs.  Dental wipes are available in the pet shops and they may be used carefully in the home.  This helps to remove more plaque and the tartar like materials that are loosely attached.

Check out this posting for more information on veterinary dental treatments.

Today I wanted to continue with our discussion of the importance of dental health for dogs…

Preventing dental disease is an important feature, which is to be paid more emphasis by the dog lovers or dog owners. Dental disease is given priority in the health schedule of the dog nowadays because of the association of the dental diseases with systemic diseases in the dogs.

Antibiotics need to be given in the initial stage of teeth infection itself and if not, this may cause specific infections and the organisms may spread to the other nearby regions like the oral mucous membrane and pharyngeal region etc.

More acidic or alkaline food materials need not be given to the dogs to avoid the possible teeth damage.  Antibiotics need to be given in the initial stage of teeth infection itself and if not, this may cause specific infections and the organisms may spread to the other nearby regions like the oral mucous membrane and pharyngeal region etc.  More acidic or alkaline food materials need not be given to the dogs to avoid the possible teeth damage.  If the dog is not given at its young age some bony material to bite on, the dog may develop some dental diseases later. The teething action often causes the animal to go for biting in an indiscriminate manner. Hence, the animal has to be given some biting materials to avoid the occurrence of dental diseases.

If there is an evidence of bleeding from the oral region, the dog needs to be examined thoroughly for any dental abnormality.  Mainly the puppies or some times, the adult dogs also may have teeth injuries. They need to be attended immediately as a preventive step. If not, the animal may end up in secondary bacterial infections.

Hunting dogs need additional care associated with the dental structures and such care is needed to avoid the future dental problems in such dogs.  Brushes are available to provide better dental care to dogs. However, one has to allot more time and should have patience to use such brushes in case of dogs.

This may lead into further problems. Centers for disease control and prevention are trying to put up guidelines to prevent the dental diseases in dogs in many nations.  However, the oral examination needs to be carried out frequently in dogs and such activities help to rule out the emerging problems pertaining to the dental structures in the beginning stages.

Next time we’ll look at some home dental care practices you should be performing on your own pets…

As my own dog is aging, I’ve realized the importance of dental treatment and wanted to pass what I have learned on to you…

Veterinary dental treatments are extremely important for your pets. If the dental structures are not being checked out carefully, there are more chances for the development of periodontal diseases in dogs.  Subsequently, the veterinary dental treatments need to be paid maximum importance during the life of your dogs.

There are many advanced systems that deal with dental treatments that have come up in the market.  Many systems are available with built in water spray systems, double filter systems, auto clavable clips, and more.

Many veterinarians use high speed fiber optic hand pieces with push button turbines, two hand piece water jet systems, soundless water compressors and more.  The diagnosis of a condition pertaining to the periodontal structure based diseases are more important before the treatment.

Periodontal diseases are graded into minimal and moderate and severe diseases.  Accordingly the therapy is carried out, it is impossible to check all teeth by basic oral examination in the dog patient.  Hence, general anesthesia is required before the examination of the teeth inside structures.  Surgical curettage is done in case of advanced periodontal diseases using flaps and the teeth extractions are also carried out using moderate force and more care is taken to avoid the continuous bleeding.

Oral surgeries are undertaken after obtaining of the dental radio graphs in the dogs and by comparing the tissue damage with normal teeth structures.  The concerned veterinarians assess the extent of damage in a systematic manner.

The periodontal diseases are controlled by administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics in an effective manner.  Along with the dental surgeries, the oral treatment is done with many products that are helpful to prevent the attachment of the tartar or plaque on the teeth. However, reputable products should be used in the veterinary practice and the dog owner’s satisfaction is given more priority during the veterinary dental therapy.