Archive for December, 2008

You’ve poured antifreeze in your car, installed storm windows and had your furnace serviced. But have you winterized the dog for these frosty days?

It’s only fair that your four-footed friends enjoy frolicking in the ice and snow, too.

Dr. Porge Nakovich, director of veterinary medicine at Animal Friends, the no-kill shelter in Ohio Township, Pa., has several suggestions on how to keep your dog warm and healthy in the winter.

“If it’s too cold for a person, it’s probably too cold for a dog,” she says. That’s her guide in determining when she’ll change the routine of her daily walks with her Rottweiler mix, Patches, and her Chihuahua, Taffy.

When she’s freezing herself, she takes shorter walks more frequently. If the temperature drops to zero or below, or the wind chill makes it feel that cold, Nakovich does not take her dogs outside, and she advises that you don’t either.

When leaving her home, she sprays her dogs’ paws with cooking spray. This prevents ice balls from building up between their pads and gives them some protection from the rock salt, too.

Does your dog or cat shake their heads or rub their ears against furniture frequently? This is not a play of your dog or cat.

Actually, it may imply that your pet is suffering with ear infection.

Even if you notice foul smelling discharge in your pet’s ears, you should immediately take necessary steps, since it is the most common sign of ear infections in pets.

Whenever you notice any signs of ear infection in your pet, as first step you should clean the ear of your pet carefully. Few other solutions to treat ear infections in dog include:

Use vinegar to clean the ears: If you notice that pet’s ears are filled with brownish-pink wax like substance, it implies that your pet has developed yeast infections. Most of the veterinarians recommend using white vinegar to eliminate dirt and debris to clean ears of pets.

Give natural diet: Giving your pet healthy homemade diet helps to boost your pet’s body immune system and prevents recurrent ear infections.

Don’t use oil treatments: Usually most of you use oil treatments to clear ear infection, which cannot treat ear infections completely. However, if you want to use oil for ear infection, clean ears of your pets before you give oil treatment.

If you are looking for a dog that is small and that require minimal grooming, Affenpinscher will be right choice for you.

Affenpinscher is most lovable toy dog for children, which also protects your family. It can adapt to any kind of environment and loves to play outdoors as well as indoors.

Every one will definitely love to adopt Affenpinscher and if you take proper care, an Affenpinscher can live up to 12 years.

If you are planning to adopt Affenpinscher, here are few things that you have to consider.

1. Ensure that you buy Affenpinscher from a qualified breeder and always ask for health certificate before buying any pup home.
2. You should show your Affen lots of love and care. Feed him 4 meals a day for up to 6 months and then you can gradually reduce the amount to one meal per day.
3. Be sure to teach him discipline in the first years of his life. Teach him how to behave. However, initially you can feel frustrated while you are teaching him certain basic commands.
4. Even though grooming is not that difficult with Affenpinscher, it can get various respiratory problems and extremely warm weather damages their coat. So, be sure to take care of its health for its long living.

When taking care of your cat, you have to look for various diseases and skin infections that they are susceptible to contact.

Even though not every condition can be life threatening, few of them will be contagious and also cause harm to you.

One of such contagious skin infections in cats is ringworm.

So, when you notice this condition in your cat, immediately get alert and take necessary treatment options to avoid further problems.

Here are few home remedies that you can try to cure ringworm in cats.

1. Apple cider vinegar: It is believed that apple cider vinegar works like charm in the treatment of ringworm in cats. So, simply dab very little amounts of apple cider vinegar in each and every spot of your cat’s skin that is infected with ringworm.
2. Raw papaya: Take a fresh raw papaya and make a thin slice of the fruit. Rub the infected skin of your cat with fresh sliced papaya for better results.
3. Grapefruit seed extract: Dilute grapefruit seed extract in water in consistent amounts and dab it on the spots of your cat’s skin with clean cotton.

Does your dog smell bad even after recently given him bath? If so, this can be really frustrating for any pet owner.

However, it is not good for your dog to take bath too often and it is very important that your pet should be bathed only once in a month.

So, how do you overcome this problem of bad smell in your dog? There are quite few dog shampoo substitutes that can really help your dog to smell good without causing any harm to their skin. Here are some of those.

Baking soda

This is one of the best substitutes for dog shampoo. You can try baking soda between your dog baths into their fur and down to the skin to avoid bad smell. Brush the fur coat of your pet dog well with baking soda; you can surprisingly notice the difference. But, beware not to use too much. Consistent amounts can give wonderful results.

Rolled oats

If you don’t want to use baking soda or if it is not in your hand, grind ground oats in a blender till they turn into fine powder. Use this powder for your pet dog bath. You can tolerate your dog around you for more than 2 weeks after the bath.