It’s no surprise to any of us pet owners, that dogs are food driven, if it’s tasty, they’re interested. If you don’t believe that, just have a nice juicy hamburger with a dog sitting nearby. Many dogs spend a lot of hours alone while owners are at work or running errands or any number of reasons. This is a great time for a dog to get bored and a bored dog can get into all sorts of mischief and cause all sorts of problems. Rather than allowing your dog to get so bored that it begins making up things to do, try providing him or her with entertainment that is understandable.
Treatball Options
There are many different kinds of treat balls and treat toys available on the market. One such ball is hard plastic and has a voice recorder in it. When the ball is jostled, it plays what’s on the recorder. This type of ball is great if you are leaving your dog at a kennel while taking vacation because you can record your voice and it plays as the dog plays. There are more pliable rubber type balls and other shapes that allow for treats to be stuffed inside. The rubber holds the treat in place while the dog works to chew it out.
Still another ball has a bulbous half round treat that goes into each end of a ball. The treat is very hard and the shape makes it hard for the dog to get hold of it. This means they end up chasing the ball around a bit trying to work the treat out. This type of treat can last days, however it is also more expensive than the other types.
Catnip, or Nepeta Cataria, is a plant within the mint family. The active ingredient in catnip is a substance that closely resembles a chemical found in the urine of female cats (nepatalactone).
Cats And Catnip
Cats don’t normally show much response to this plant until they are around six months old. Some cats never show any interest, while others show interest much earlier than normal. Fresh catnip is the best, however catnip spray works well on toys and scratching posts. It is believed that the oil of the plant triggers nerves within the cat’s brain and causes it to roll and rub all over the catnip area. Some purr quite loudly while indulging while others just wallow in it and eat it. In eating it, some cats show a behavior that closely resembles intoxication. This reaction may last from five to fifteen minutes, though the cat may be very calm, relaxed and pacified for hours beyond that.
Side Effects Of Catnip
Catnip is a harmless herb and doesn’t leave any unpleasant side effects, however, if the herb is used too often, eventually the cats get used to it and loose interest. If this happens with your cat or cats, remove the herb for an extended period of time and then try re-introducing it, keeping the contact time minimal. It’s likely that if you do this, the cat will have cleared the senses and will go back to reacting to it.
Curiously enough, many large cats such as lions, leopards, and cougars react just like our family house cats, while tigers have no reaction to it at all.
Many people use harnesses on their dogs and when asked why, they say that they don’t want to damage the animals neck. Many of these harness wearing dogs are completely out of control and pull the owners everywhere. Harnesses are not good training tools unless of course, you are training your dog to pull, such as pulling a sled. The front of the harness strap sits low across the animal’s chest and it actually gives them impetus to pull. There is really no way to correct an animal that is pulling against a harness; the harness is across one of the strongest parts of the animal. You may as well just put on some wheels and enjoy the ride.
Choke Chains Vs. Harness
Some animals have had choke chains used on them in completely the wrong manner and they have had damage to their windpipe. With animals like this, a collar can be uncomfortable and restrictive, it could also inflame the area and make matters worse. With an animal with this issue, a harness may be the only safe way to restrict the dog while walking on a leash.
Very small dogs do okay with a harness for the simple reason that even though they are pulling with everything they have, you can probably still restrict them with very little effort. A choke chain on a little dog can be too severe. The links have to be smaller in order to accommodate the smaller size and a smaller link means more point impact on the neck should the leash be jerked.
There are varying opinions concerning the collar to use for puppy training. Many advocate the use of a choke chain as a way to get the puppy’s attention and teach him or her not to pull against the leash. Others advocate a round collar made from leather, while still others will only use a flat surface collar.
Choke Chain
The choke chain, if used wrong can be damaging, especially to a puppy who is still much more fragile in the neck area than an adult dog. A choke chain isn’t supposed to be used to choke the animal. It’s the sound more than anything else that is supposed to get the animal’s attention. If the animal is moving ahead on you, a quick jerk and release on the chain (not real hard) will make a loud noise as the chain runs through the loop, the animal will feel the tightening around the neck and then the release. Letting an animal pull against the choke chain on a constant basis could be damaging and even life threatening.
Round Leather Collar
A round leather collar works more directly on the neck, it doesn’t make any warning noise but the roundness can be a bit severe on the neck when pulled over and over again.
Flat Wide Collar
Many people stay with the wide flat collar with puppies so that their neck is not damaged, the drawback of the flat wide collar is that the animal can pull against it with basically no repercussions from the owner. In the end, you will need to make your own informed decision.
Every pet owner should consider microchipping their animal.
Advantages
The obvious benefit of this procedure is that if your pet ends up missing for some reason, you have a much better chance of finding them, especially if they are picked up by any of the animal control agencies. With a microchip your animal has a way of getting home. You’ll want to make sure that the information on the chip is current and stays current.
Disadvantages
There are disadvantages popping up also. The microchipping industry has grown exponentially since its inception and now a universal reader no longer reads all microchips. Each service is now coming up with its own microchips and proprietary readers. This makes it much harder for your animal to find its way home, even if the entity does have a reader. If the entity doesn’t have the right reader, the chip will do no good.
While many pet advocacy organizations are working to reverse this trend and bring back a fully universal reader, it remains to be seen whether manufacturers will agree to give up their own unique codes in order to make the units universal. Until such time as they do become universal, you may want to call the different animal control agencies around your area, find out what units they are using and make an informed decision as to which chip you will use. It’s an important decision that will give your pet the best chance to get home.
When sizing your animal for a collar, the first thing to remember is that young animals grow quickly. You’ll want to get a collar that fits in such a way that you are using the last first hole on the collar, this will give your animal growing time before you need to go out and purchase another collar.
Check The Tightness
Always make sure you check the tightness of a collar from time to time. This is especially important in young animals as an unchecked collar can become so tight that it imbeds itself into the animals skin. When you are sizing your dog for a collar, make sure to leave approximately two fingers worth of room between the collar and the dog’s neck. If you do this, the collar will fit your animal comfortably.
Choke Chain
A choke chain type collar should slip over the animals head comfortably in a backwards ‘P’ It’s important to understand the mechanics of a choke chain before you use one, if you use it wrong you can damage your dog’s throat making it difficult to breath and in severe cases you could collapse it. Never leave your animal unattended with this type of collar on. This is very dangerous as getting it caught on something is life threatening.
Measuring For A Harness
When measuring your dog for a harness you will want to measure the girth area, this is right behind the front legs. The harness should fit snugly in that area but not be tight. With any and all collars, make sure you check them periodically for wear and tear or foreign objects. Replace any collar that shows damage.
Indications of a dog with diabetes would be drinking much more water than normal and subsequently urinating much more than normal, possibly in the house because of the lack of ability to hold it. The animal may begin to loose weight also. If you see these symptoms you need to get your pet into the vet have a urine sample and blood tests done. The earlier you get it diagnosed, the better chance of successful treatment. The vet will prescribe based on the results of the test. Undetected, diabetes can lead to urinary tract infections as well as cataracts.
Healthy Diet
While there is no cure for diabetes, if a treatement schedule is followed and a healthy diet fed, diabetes can have minimal affect on the animal’s life. Your vet will be able to instruct you as to the proper way of administering any and all medications prescribed and it is very important that you stick to the schedule given. It is also very important that you monitor your animal’s progress.
Medications
The vet can prescribe medications, however without your help, the vet cannot know whether those medications are sufficient of if they need to be changed. Keep a record of your test strip results and the amount of insulin given, record your animals eating habits and general attitude.
The more information you give your vet, the better your vet will be able to help you deal with this serious health issue.
There are as many people speaking out against raw food diets as there are speaking for them. The people that are speaking out against the raw food diets are doing so mostly regarding bacteria.
Bacteria In Food
They believe that bacteria held within the raw meat can be devastating to the animals system, proponents for raw food diets say that the animals digestive tract is much stronger than ours and the time in the digestive system is quite short. That bacteria doesn’t have the ability to settle in the tract. Backers of dog food say that raw meat diets are dangerous and not rounded, while raw meat backers say that dog food is filled with fillers and things dogs don’t need and may be allergic to.. The only thing you can do is read and make your own decisions.
Make An Informed Decision
Many people that switch their animals to a raw food diet do so because of their animals ongoing health issues. Issues that even the very expensive prescription diets don’t seem to help. These people worry whether or not their animals will really get sick, whether they are going to die or if the diet is going to help their health improve. If you are considering putting your animal on a raw food diet, you might consider talking to a holistic veterinarian, regular veterinarians aren’t likely to endorse it because they endorse dog foods and specifically prescription dog foods. Gather all the information you can and then make an informed decision.
If you are taking a large dog, you will have no choice but to have them transported in the luggage compartment, unless your dog is a service dog of some kind. Smaller dogs and cats can be taken into the cabin as carry-on baggage.
Kennels
When purchasing a kennel for your pet, you need to make sure it is a proper size, the animal needs to be able to stand, sit, lay down and turn around in the kennel, if they can’t, the kennel is too small. Familiarize your pet with the kennel they will be traveling in days before departure, this will ensure they will be comfortable inside it.
Plan Ahead
Make advanced reservations for yourself and for your pet, make sure they know you are bringing a pet, if you show up with one unannounced, they may deny you service. If you must take your animal with you, never sedate them before putting them on the plane, sedatives and high altitudes are dangerous for your pet. Always keep the leash and collar where you can find it but do not remove your pet from the kennel inside the airport. A frightened animal can get into a lot of trouble in an airport. Make sure your pets identification tags are on them and make sure all information is current. Never muzzle your pet during travel, this could be dangerous.
If you’re planning on taking your pet with you on a trip, you will want to plan your trip ahead of time especially if you are traveling by car and will be staying in hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts or any other types of lodging.
Lodging
With these types of lodging you will want to call ahead and make your reservations, making sure they understand you have a dog with you. They will probably want to know what kind before they determine if the dog is allowed or not. If you are traveling in a motor home, you are not going to need to deal with this issue, however you will still need to plan ahead for your activities, taking your dog into consideration.
Food
Whether you are traveling by car or motor home, you will want to make sure you brought more than enough dog food with you, just in case your return home is delayed. You also want to make sure you have enough water with you. This way your dog doesn’t run the risk of dehydration. While on the subject of food and water, you will also want to make sure that you have bags to pick up what your dog leaves behind unless its urination, then you want to make sure it is done in a place away from other people.
Make sure you are carrying all of your dog’s medical records, especially a full vaccination record. Many places won’t let you in or through if you do not have those records.
