Annual Doggy Checklist for responsible, adult dog owners

Hi everyone,

because we are busy people living in a fast paced city, I have taken it upon myself to compile an annual check list of things you should remember when it come to your dog. I have had some minor issues come up (do you remember the dewclaw incident?) that could have been prevented if I was more vigilant with our grooming routine, but hey, we all forget and make mistakes from time to time and part of being a responsible adult dog owner is putting some or other checklist on the fridge/mirror/ceiling so we don't make the same mistakes again, right?
Here is said checklist.

ASAP!

• Get you dog microchipped - this way you will literally NEVER be able to lose him!
• Change your dog's bowls from plastic to ceramic or stainless steel.
• Groom your long haired dog and check for things like ticks, lumps and bumps and infected ears.

WEEKLY

• Groom medium to short haired breeds and check for lumps and bumps, ticks etc.
• If your dog has smelly breath, it's time to brush teeth! I got Salvador some toothpaste and a toothbrush the other day and he loved it, probably because the doggy toothpaste is quite tasty. A much easier alternative is providing your dog with plenty of raw boned to chew on as this acts as a toothbrush, not to mention it saves you time!

MONTHLY

• Do some or other tick and flea prevention. There are the store bought varieties and now a days there are also great natural varieties around - which we haven't tried yet, but soon will!
• Check your dog's nails, especially those nasty dewclaws! 

EVERY 3 MONTHS

• Deworm your dog. You don't have to go to the vet to do this. You can buy a deworming tablet from your nearest vet shop and do it yourself. You don't even have to hide it in a piece of vienna or cheese anymore as the modern day deworming tablets are basically as delicious as a treat.

ANNUALLY 

• Take your dog for a vet check up. I know there is currently debates going on how vaccinating adult dogs aren't all that important, but living in the city doesn't just mean your dog comes into contact with all kinds of gross things, if your dog's vet record is not up to date, a doggy daycare won't allow him in or say you were planning on leaving the country and you are taking your dog (which you obviously should do) you will need to have a good recording of annual vet checks and vaccinations. 

Print this out and stick it on you fridge, add it to your calendar, write it in your diary, but whatever you do, don't say you didn't have ample prep time...

Licks & Kisses!

xxxx

The FAT issue

Hi all,

there is still a quiet gloom hanging around the house this morning because of yesterday's Blue drama. I obviously get attached way to quickly! I was mulling over it all in my head and suddenly remembered chatting to the vet about dog weight.
I asked her if she thought that Salvador was at a good weight - now that his hair is short, one can get a much better idea - and she said he is definitely on the porkier side of thin. I wasn't shocked and freaked at all. I knew that moving him from the farm to the city was going to be a challenge in terms of getting him the huge amount of exercise that he was accustomed to and needs, so I've looked into other ways than merely focusing on that to also make sure he doesn't gain too much.

I've been very clear from the start on the subject of owning a dog that is not overweight and I'm not afraid to take the necessary steps to insure this, yet I know so many people that struggle with this issue.
Growing up, our dogs' food bowls were always full. My mom didn't believe in rationing their food, being of the school of thought that they would eat when they are hungry. Now, whether your dog will stop eating when he's full or not is very much personal (once again proving that your dog is more like you than you thought). The biggest problem is perhaps YOU!
How many times have you watched one of those reality shows about the severely obese and their carers, who often turn out to be as much part of the problem as the actual over eating, just to say something like "he/she is enabling the eating". Meanwhile Scruffles is lying under your feet, struggling to breath due to all the extra rolls around his neck ?

Fact #1: Your dog can only eat as much as you feed him.

It is your responsibility to figure out how much your dog should be eating. Dietary guides on the back of food packets can be tricky to get right as there are many factors that come in to play. Working dogs, puppies and pregnant females should be getting more food than is prescribed and remember, just because you own a dog with the word 'hound' audible in its name or just because your dog brings you the newspaper in the morning, does not mean it is a 'WORKING' dog...think hard labor people!

To get a rough estimate of how your dog weighs in, follow this link to a calculator and also take a look at this great diagram I found.

From http://www.aplaceforpaws.com/blog/canine-obesity-a-huge-problem

Fact #2: Indulging your dog might make you feel good for a while, but is it making him sick? 

Overweight dogs are at risk of suffering from diseases very similar to those that an obese human would suffer from. You don't want this for your best pal! Here are a few of the common things your dog might suffer from if he is on the chubbier side of plump:

• Heart disease
• Respiratory issues
• Diabetes
• Cancers
• Osteoarthritis
• Cardiopulmonary disease

If this worries you, start sorting our his diet today. Your vet can help you by calculating the right amount of food he should be having or suggesting a special diet. 

Fact #3: There's no point trying out that new diet if your not going to try out the exercise program with it!

Keeping your dogs' weight in check is simple. EXERCISE! Any old exercise will do and your dog will love you for it! 

As dog owners we all want the best for our besties and that sometimes involve turning a blind eye to those cute little needy eyes, subtly demanding a little nibble of something. We will all have to toughen up!  

Licks & Kisses!

xxx

Blue Wednesday...

Salvador's aunt and I might, or might not have saved a puppy off the streets today...

Okay so quite clearly we did rescue a puppy this morning, but don't get too attached, the story doesn't end too well...let me start from the beginning. 

Salvador's aunt was driving along when she spotted a man with a puppy in arms, clearly hawking it to whoever stopped at the intersection. She decided to contact Animal Welfare who was understaffed and therefor could not send out an inspector. She came to pick me up and we managed to get the dog from it's sad owner (who was telling us he couldn't afford to take care of the dog anymore etc. I personally think this was just a scam for various reasons that I will not go into). She arranged for us to take it into Animal Welfare to have it checked out. I didn't want to introduce it to Salvador if it was carrying weird viruses! 

We arrived at Animal Welfare and filled out the necessary forms, only to be sent away because we don't fall under the right salary bracket, so we decided to make an appointment at our regular vet instead. 

We named the puppy Blue, as he had the most amazing blue eyes and upon closer inspection at home it was quite clear that this guy was severely malnourished and skinny - WARNING SIGN #1 although strangely he wasn't too keen on the food I gave him - WARNING SIGN  #2. 

Eventually it was time to go to the vet. We got there and the first thing they did was test Blue for Distemper and unfortunately it turned out that Blue did indeed carry this rather shocking virus. At first I thought, oh well, I'm sure we can get that sorted out with a shot, but it was not until they started sending cleaners through the whole practice with sprays and chemicals that I got worried... My boyfriend Googled the disease, but it was the look on the vet nurse's face and the call for the euthanizing liquid that really made it ring home...there was NOTHING we could do for Blue...

I didn't know anything about this disease before today, apart from reading the name on Salvador's vaccination certificate, but I've never come into such close contact with it, so I thought I would enlighten all of you on the subject of this very scary disease.

It is a virus similar to Measles and it affects the gastrointestinal, respiratory system and  central nervous system of dogs, rats and ferrets to mention a few. 

Symptoms include vomiting, coughing, thick mucus from the nose and eyes, anorexia, lethargy and the list goes on.

Puppies in general and especially puppies that come from moms that have not been vaccinated against it plus adult dogs that have not been vaccinated are at risk and it spreads rapidly through close contact with a contaminated dog, through sharing of bowls etc. 

THERE IS CURRENTLY NO KNOWN CURE FOR THE DISEASE  thus prevention is key. According to the vet at Cape Animal Medical Centre , some dogs can 'recover' from the disease, but medicating a dog with Distemper is expensive, as they have weak immune systems for life and are therefor susceptible to all kinds of other viruses too. One also runs the risk of your dog spreading the virus to other dogs as they never totally get the virus out of their systems. Were we to keep Blue, he would have started getting seizures 2-3 weeks in and often the symptoms start showing in old age. 

So there you go...what an eventful day. I'm sad it didn't turn out better, but it did make me rush Salvador to the vet to get all his shots up to date and I hope that this story taught us all a lesson or 10!

• Never buy a puppy from someone on the street or from any shop or person that is not a reputable dog owner/breeder or animal welfare. If for whatever reason you do so, get it checked IMMEDIATELY  and do not let it come into your house or get close to your other pets until you've done so!!!!!
• Get your puppy vaccinated as soon as possible - call your vet and arrange it when you get your puppy or make sure whoever you get it from has done so and demand to see vet certificates.
• Keep your dogs' vaccinations up to date. Dogs over 2 years should go to the vet once a year to have a check-up. If you can't afford to do this for whatever reason, go to an Animal Welfare organization that will help you for much less or in some cases for free. 
• You don't have to be rich to own a pet! Not getting your dog vaccinated is stupid and ignorant. I'm not going to go on a rant about how you shouldn't get a pet if you can't provide it with posh healthcare. People are going to have pets. This is why there are places like Animal Welfare.

Rather be safe than sorry!

                  

Rest in Peace Blue - We are glad that your last few hours were happy-sitting-in-a-warm-lap-bathing-in-the-sun hours!

Licks & Kisses ( although with all the viruses going around....)

xxx

Dewclaws, CHECK!

I'm starting to remember all kinds of things that happened during our hiatus from this blog!

One of these happened about a month ago. I was so sure that I've done a post on this subject but I might be thinking of the time Salvador had issues with grass seeds - see the post on grass seeds .
Salvador has become a rather fluffy thing over the past two years. No one seemed to warn me that by shaving him in the hot summer months, I encourage epic hair growth in the winter months, thus he is now one giant ball of fur(pictures will soon follow). With out of control hair growth comes many new, and often overlooked grooming responsibilities...one such responsibility is to check nails - in particular the one called the dewclaw.

http://petcarefacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/dew-claw.jpg

Dew claws are common in dogs and you can usually find them on the inside of front legs, although occasionally they are also found on the hind legs - in Salvador's case. Some believe they are ancient remnants of doggy ancestors that have no real purpose in our modern day pals, but apparently they do assist in holding on to bones while chewing.
Salvador seems to be blessed with a dewclaw on all four of his legs. Upon further investigation(searching through many layers of fur and fluff...) I came across a pretty horrific sight! Salvador's dewclaw was so out of control, it was curling around and growing back into his paw?!

I am ashamed to say that I've never even thought about clipping his nails. I always assumed that because we walk on tar roads and cemented pavements, his nails were being filed down naturally, but because the dewclaw is positioned so high up on the leg, they never get filed down and therefor just keep growing.

http://www.cavaliersa.com/rescue.htm

We took Salvador to the vet the next day - as he would not let me close to the sore toe, where they proceeded to give him a proper nail trim and a course of antibiotics to clear up the infected toe.

OPTIONS:

So how do we prevent this from happening again?

There are a few options. Some folk have their dogs' dewclaws removed surgically - I've even come across some articles where they show basically new born puppies undergoing, what might look like, the very painful removal the whole nail. I guess it's like having your ears pierced as a baby as apposed to when your an adult - you forget about the pain...

In my case, we will just have to be more vigilant toe nail watchers. I for one don't think I will be doing the trimming myself. I find it less worrisome to have it done by a professional (be it a groomer or a vet) as it's easy to cut the nail too short if you don't know what you're doing. Checking your dogs nails every month is probably a good way of staying on top of this.

Licks & Kisses

xxx

Beware of Cheap Imitations

We had a bit of a 'dog day' yesterday! 

Salvador and I decided to go and visit his friend Jameson in Franschoek this weekend and it was great apart from the scary Sunday drama we experienced...here follows the tale.

So the weather is balmy and it's great to be with a friend (after all, this week has been a bit lonely for Salvador with one of his favourite humans out of the country and the other one going off to work for a good part of the day). Naturally there are a few games of tug'o war going on and a few tennis balls scattered about, but unfortunately Salvador does not share balls and chew toys well and the game of blanket tug'o war is soon abandoned for a spot of 'who can fit the most tennis balls in his mouth'. Due to Salvador's little sharing issue, he naturally takes this too far and feels like it would be better for him to 

1. Rip up the tennis ball and, 

2. Somehow get it into a place where Jameson will never find it i.e. his stomach...

Unfortunately by the time we notice some suspicious behaviour going on under the table, half the tennis ball is already tucked away in it's desired hiding place (his stomach) and there isn't much to do. 

So the day goes on and later everyone is relaxing on the couch when the heaving and belching begins...At first I thought he somehow got hold of Jameson's food due to the large amount he was bringing up (sorry, I'm aware that this is gross...), but then we started noticing the little bits of black rubber...

After non stop puking and eventually just bringing up bile we phone the vet in hysterics! 

Luckily the vet assured us it is a good thing that he's bringing it up and that it's just his body's way of getting rid of the unwanted objects - if he is still throwing up in the morning then he should see a vet. Also no food for him that night! 

 

Fortunately he started to look a bit better soon after the call to the vet and the puking stopped and we had no issues during the night and this morning!

Now, the moral of this disgusting story is that apparently you should never give your dog tennis balls that are not bought from a pet store - YES! It seems like there is something like a pet friendly tennis ball!? I'm not sure what the difference is - obviously something that the balls are made of, but I gave one of those cheap and cheerful ones from yesterday a good sniff and it was pure chemicals! Horrible stuff! 

Be safe out there pet pals,

Licks & Kisses!

xxx 

Return of the dreaded Grass Seed...2!!

O.K so the birthday celebration is over and all is back to normal - and by normal I mean going to the vet once again, for the second time this week to have a grass seed removed from Salvador's foot.

Last weekend I noticed him licking his paw a lot. I decided to leave it and see how it goes the next day, only to wake up to a restless and limping, very unhappy looking dog. Upon further investigation I realized this could only be due to the dreaded Grass Seed that grows in lush abundance on the farm at this time of the year(Spring-Summer).

A dried version of the plant...

The actual seeds - they have arrow-like heads and are
anything from 1-2cm long! 

They specially target breads with furry little feet like the Spaniel and the Border Collie for instance. They have long, hair-like grips to help them attach to the fur and they're spear-like heads easily penetrate the soft skin between the toes and in the ears. The seed has little hairs or fibers on the casing that makes it capable of only moving one way and that is in! No need to speculate if it is a grass seed or not either - they are pretty easy to identify by the little swelling and hole they leave in the paw.

And this is what your dog's foot will look like...
(image from Cockers Online)

According to the vet I saw, she treats dogs on a daily basis with these nasty things lodged into their toes and ears.
She removed Salvador's under a general anesthetic by using a fancy little scissor/tweezers to go into the hole and so pull it out. On Monday they were lucky to find the whole seed, but this morning they had to cut to try and find it and even then she reckoned that the seed might have traveled quite a way up his forearm or we hope it somehow already got out.
The worry is that, as I've said before, these seeds travel one way and that is onward and upwards so there is always a risk that they could travel all the way to the heart - which of course is fatal...

As it stands now, I have a very drowsy 'puppy' of a dog lying at my feet with one foot wrapped up and all the rest clean shaven so as to avoid those nasty seeds from attaching and hopefully preventing further infestations!

-Drowsy-

The vet suggested this not-so-hip cut to prevent the seeds from attaching...

If you live on a farm or in a very bushy area, this cut might be helpful to your dog. Getting these seeds removed can be rather costly and trust me, it won't just happen once! Take it from me, in this case, prevention definitely is better and much cheaper than cure! 

GOODLUCK OUT THERE !!