Dog Allergies

Dog Allergies

Just like their owners, dogs can suffer from allergies too.

Some of these allergies can be related to the foods that they eat where some of the cheaper brands of dog food have coloring and preservatives that can cause allergic reactions.

If this is the case then it is a process of eliminating those foods that have the ingredients that cause the reactions.

This is not always as easy as it might seem as it can take quite some time to find which particular ingredient is the culprit.

By buying the better premium quality dog foods you are less likely to have these problems or alternatively if you only feed your dog fresh meat and some vegetables rather than processed foods that should help.

Most of the cheap dog foods use grain products as a filler and these are often the cause of the dog’s problems.

These food allergies can result in your dog scratching their skin, which can also cause more problems with infections.

Just as we would be very uncomfortable with an allergy that makes us constantly want to itch our skin, allergies can make a dogs life miserable.

Aside from the allergies affecting skin sensitivities your dog could also develop coughing, discharge from the nose and eyes, hair loss and breathing problems.

There are many more symptoms that can arise and these are just a few.

If you notice any changes in your dog when they have a change in diet then it will pay to take a note of the ingredients of that product to see what is in it that could be making your dog feel unwell.

Dogs can also get allergies from dust mites just as humans would and it is always necessary to ensure that your dog lives in a clean environment even if they are an outdoor pet by regularly cleaning their cage or kennel.

Fleas are another concern for dogs and they can lead to excessive licking, particularly around the tail, which can ultimately lead to hair loss and sores.
It is very easy for your vet to see if your dog has fleas if you are unable to do so yourself and there are simple solutions to eliminate fleas.

Dogs can also get varying skin diseases and some breeds are more susceptible than others.
There are many good lotions and antibiotic pills that can be administered by your vet to control this and the sooner you get these problems seen to the better as they can lead to more intensive skin problems if left unattended.

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Dog Separation Anxiety

Separation Anxiety

Many people are unaware that separation anxiety even exists with their dog.
There are many different traits that can be seen in a dog due to separation anxiety.

When we leave home for work each day, most people are unaware of what their dog is experiencing, and for many of them it is separation anxiety.  We assume that because the dog appears to be happy when we arrive home at the end of the day, that it has been happy all day long. In many instances, the dog could have had quite a traumatic day.

Many dogs are concerned that when their owner leaves, they might not be coming back.
They have no way of knowing that we will be back in eight or nine hours.

The stress that this causes for a dog can lead to destructive behavior where they will chew everything in sight.
Other dogs might express their stress by soiling the house.

Either way, if you come home from work and find that your well-trained dog has done something out of the ordinary you need to consider whether it has had a stressful day or not, and certainly not reprimand it until you know what the circumstances have been.

If you sense your dog has been stressed during the day, you might like to consider giving it more toys to stop it from becoming bored, or better still, have somebody call in and visit at some stage throughout the day so it knows that it is not alone.

Exercising your dog in the morning before you leave is a good idea because it is more likely to sleep during the day.

Another method to reassure your dog that you will be coming back when you leave, is to do several smaller trips in the course of a few days or weeks, where the dog becomes more and more accustomed to you leaving and returning at different intervals.

By slowly extending these hours of separation, your dog will become accustomed to it, thereby eliminating separation anxiety.

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Problem Whining Dog

Stop that Dog from Whining

So you have a problem with a whining dog?

It is not unusual for people to have problems, particularly with puppies whining all day long.
Most puppies will outgrow this behavior.

They generally whine for two reasons.
Firstly for attention and Secondly when they are anxious.

If they want attention, they will continue to whine if that attention attracts a reward.
It is better just to give your dog attention in the form of eye contact rather than a reward to stop it from whining, as a reward will only encourage it to whine all the more.

Often the best solution is to ignore the dog completely until the whining stops no matter how long it might take.
When the dog realizes that it is not getting the reward it expects from whining it will tend to stop.
An alternative method is to blow a whistle when your dog is whining and when it stops you stop.
Often this method works faster than simply ignoring it.

Another reason why dogs whine is because they are anxious.  Particularly when nobody is around and they have separation anxiety.
This can be more difficult, if you are unable to find somebody to mind the dog when you’re away.
Leaving your dog with suitable toys to play with, fresh food and water can assist, and also getting it used to you being away by starting off with shorter periods apart.

Another method to stop your dog from whining is to buy a clicker from a pet store and ignore the whining until it stops.  Once the dog stops whining, wait for a few seconds and then click the clicker, and then reward it in some manner.

The dog will soon learn that the reward comes from its silence.

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Cat Wins Pet Of The Year

The News Herald’s third annual Pet of the Year award was won by a cat.

I am sure this news will send other pet owners into a state of disbelief.  How could a cat possibly beat out all the worthy animals for top spot?

Marilyn Monroe is no ordinary cat to owners Ike and Lisa Duren.  The fluffy Chinchilla Persian cat has been a great pet and business partner helping Ike through the recovery of an accident.  Ike says that Marilyn has selflessly supported him, putting aside her own ambitions.

After beating out 111 other animals, the fluffy cat is now ready to take centre stage and the Duren’s are prepared to back her all the way.

Along with 11 of the other top voted pets, Marilyn will feature in the 2009 pet calendar.  Due to be released in October you can pick up a copy for $10.  The Bay County Humane Society will be the worthy recipients of a portion of calendar sales. Proceeds from The News Herald’s Pet of the Year contest go to supporting free newspapers for schools in the company’s Newspapers in Education Program.

This is a great example of local business in partnership with pet owners supporting the community.

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The Amazing Ability Of A Cat To Balance

The Balance Mechanisms of a Cat

The cat uses its tail to alter its center of gravity in many different instances.
If for example it is walking along the top of a narrow fence and it looks over to one side it will shift its tail in the opposite direction to maintain its balance.

Also when the cat is changing direction, if it is running and chasing its prey, it will shift its tail from one side to another in the opposite direction to the body to give it stability and stop it from falling over with the rapid changes in direction.

This is just one of the things that help the cat have such incredible balance, and while we might be concerned to see a cat walking along some precarious objects, they have the ability to react amazingly fast to the messages that they receive through their eyes and inner ear.

The messages that they receive through the eye and inner ear get transmitted to the brain far faster than any human can react, and they can make minute muscle adjustments in fractions of a second that assist them with their incredible balance.

These balance mechanisms are already fully developed in a kitten, but because they are unable to see initially, and balance requires the use of both the eyes and the ears, a newborn kitten will stumble and fall quite often in the initial stages and until they are able to see.

Cats have the ability to right themselves in fractions of a second if they fall from any height and to land on their feet.
As very young kittens are unable to see they do not possess this ability to right themselves when falling as it requires both the eyes and ears to work in combination with one another for this to happen.

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Which Is the Right Cat For A Pet?

Choosing the Right Cat for You

There is such a wide range of choices when choosing the cat that you will decide to share in your life, that taking the time to do some quality research is well worthwhile.

Not only do you have to decide what type of color you prefer, but whether you want a male or a female cat and the associated characteristics that come with them.

You also have to look at your personality and lifestyle and determine how that will work in with the personality that can be expected from any particular breed.

Fortunately there are many books that give comprehensive details on the personality types of the various different breeds and while they are a generalization they are also quite accurate in most cases and can help you make the right decision more often than not.

Some breeds require a lot more attention than others, and you also need to look at your stage of life and determine how much time you will have to devote to your cat.  Some breeds will always be more suitable than others when taking into account the term of their lifespan, which can be up to 20 years in some cases.

Your decision might also be based on how long you intend to look after a cat, and you might decide that getting an older cat from an animal shelter rather than a kitten might be a better decision.  There are certainly a lot to choose from as animal shelters are generally overflowing with unwanted pets, just waiting for a home.

When choosing your cat, see how it interacts with you right from the outset, as even in one litter there will always be a personality that stands out and shows that it wants you to be its owner.  More often than not the kitten will choose you, rather than the other way around.

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Cat Motels Check List

Boarding Your Cat At A Cat Motel.

There will be times when you might need to consider putting your cat in a cattery.  If you are going on an overseas holiday or even a local holiday for a period of time and you are unable to find somebody to care for your cat at your own home, then the safest solution would be to take your cat to a cat boarding home.

If you know that this is something that will be required in the future then you should take the time to do some research and find out how well these cat boarding homes are run.  You should talk to people who you know and trust who have already put their cat in a boarding home, and ask them how they felt their cat handled the stay and how it behaved when they brought it back home.

Also, you should ask them if they saw any change in the condition of their cat after coming home from the cattery.

Once you have done a bit of research and found recommendations from other people it is worthwhile taking the time to visit these boarding homes to see how they are run, and to look at the conditions that your cat will be living in for the period that it will be staying there.

Try to get a boarding home that is close to your house so there is less travel to and from the boarding home for your cat, which will relieve some of its stress.

Also, make sure that your cat will not come into contact with other animals that could result in health problems.

If your cat is on any special diet or medication, talk to the staff at the boarding home to make sure that they are happy to give your cat the specific diet that it requires, or the medication that it needs to remain healthy.

If you do your research well, your cat will enjoy its holiday motel stay as much as you enjoy yours.

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Are You Over Feeding Your Dog?

Does Your Dog Eat Too Much?

How much food does your dog really need?

Along with the general population of people, dogs are also suffering from obesity from eating the wrong food and eating too much food.

It is relatively easy to control the amount of food your dog is eating and it is essential that you gauge its weight on a regular basis to ensure that it doesn’t get obese.

Dogs can suffer from many different ailments due to obesity including diabetes. There are an increasing number of dogs suffering from this disease and in most cases this could have been avoided through the correct nutrition and monitoring the amount of food the dog has been eating.

Having a dog with diabetes will necessitate the injection of insulin or in some cases taking of pills to assist in the maintenance of the correct sugar levels in their blood.

Obviously this involves additional expense and inconvenience and there is also a danger that should the insulin level be incorrect your pet could die.

It makes sense then that your dog should only eat what is good for it and in quantities that won’t result in it developing health problems later in life.

Working dogs will need more food for the energy that they will expend in the course of the day but a dog that lays around the house all day and doesn’t get any exercise will not need to eat the same portions of food.

You should weigh your dog on a regular basis and see whether it is gaining or losing weight and adjust the amount of food it is eating accordingly.

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Teaching Your Dog To “Come”

The Command to Come when Called.

One of the most basic and important commands that you will need to teach your dog is to come when called.
No matter what else happens, if you have taught your dog this command you will always be able to maintain control whether at home or in public.

Should your dog ever get off it’s leash or escape from your property you will know that when you call it that it will come back and this certainly makes life a lot easier for the dog owner.

For working dogs, this is a vital skill as a handler needs to know that at any time they can get the dog back beside them and ready for their next command.
When you are comfortable that your dog knows the commands of ’stay’ and ‘come’ you no longer have to be as concerned that it needs to be kept on a leash at all times. This allows both the owner and the dog to have a lot more freedom.

Generally, this command of ‘come‘ is incorporated when teaching the dog to stay, as these two lessons work hand-in-hand with one another. The dog is first taught to stay and then the owner will teach the dog to come, while still on an extended leash.

After gaining success in getting the dog to come, while still on a leash, the owner can then teach it to do so without the leash. Obviously for an untrained animal this would be better taught in an enclosed area until the dog has learned to respond to that command.

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Training Your Dog Not To Pull On The Leash

Leash Training Your Dog

Training your dog to not pull on the leash

One of the most common problems people have with their dogs is pulling on the leash.
There are many reasons why this can occur, and quite often it is nothing more than excitement on the dogs part.
If this is the case, allowing the dog a few minutes to calm down before taking it on his/her walk can often stop it.

Once again, the dogs pack mentality can come to play with the dog assuming leadership over its owner as the leader of the pack. This comes back to the basics of dog training where the dog must be aware of who the master is.

Failure to get this basic dog training technique under control can lead to all sorts of problems, particularly if the dog gets off the leash.  In the presence of other dogs, and sometimes young children this problem becomes pronounced.

One of the basics of dog training is for the owner to establish him or herself as the leader of the pack otherwise no training can be effective.

Once this is been established you can start the process of getting your dog to walk calmly beside you with or without a leash.  And that process can only start if you are able to get your dog to sit calmly while you put the leash around its neck.  That is the very first step of training your dog to walk without pulling in its leash.

Once you succeed in that task, you can move on to the next step where you can get your dog to walk beside you without a leash and be assured that he/she won’t run away.

Then you will not be one of those people who’s dog takes them for a walk.

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