We live in a town that gives free rabies shots for dogs and cats if you happen to be in town when they are giving them. This year my owners were out of town for the weekend, so I had to go get my shot tonight. I hate getting shots, and am glad it’s over-with now. My owner had a flu shot a couple of days ago and is talking about how much his arm hurts as a result…well a rabies shot isn’t any fun either.
Now we wait and see if my rabies vaccination shot site hurts, but hurt or not, it’s something that has to be done or I don’t get my annual dog license, and if they come around and we don’t have our licenses, there is a fine. So not getting your rabies shot can lead from one problem to another, and are a must in our Town.
How about your Town or City, are rabies shots required where you live too?
You don’t have to look at the categories and pages along the right for very long to realize that we like providing answers to dog health questions.
But we aren’t the only blog that likes to help answer your questions about dogs. We have a friend who keeps another blog called “Ask About Dogs” that you’re going to want to take a look at.
The site provides you with dog health and dog care advice of all kinds.
We learned the hard way about impacted anal glands and how to express them. I got sick during our own natural disaster, Hurricane Irene, and my owners were doing their best to keep up with flooding issues and me not feeling well at the same time.
I couldn’t tell them that it wasn’t just the Pancreatitis that I’d had before…but something more. At first it seemed like I was doing better when they started treating me for the Pancreatitis, but then one Saturday I was miserable and in pain. These are the things I did to try to let my owners know what was wrong, and some things that they should have picked up if they weren’t so distracted by the weather, power failure, etc.:
I scooted around dragging my bottom on the floor, they just thought it was itchy, but it was more than that
I licked myself a lot trying to clean my anal area, which made me feel sick..and icky thing to have to do
I didn’t have an appetite.
I skulked around the house with my head down, flopping down wherever I felt like it.
My belly felt bloated and distended, and felt hot, I was feverish
Finally my owner looked online, and through searching for different things about dogs anal glands, she found that they can need what they call “expressing” and if they aren’t cleaned, they can get impacted. She realized I had all the symptoms she was reading about, and tried to find a video on how to express the anal glands. There were a few, but this is one that you can see really well, and of a small dog, so it was most helpful:
BUT, my owner couldn’t do this, and decided to take me to the vet (finally) after the weekend. The vet said that because I had diarrhea, maybe from stress related to the storm, he wanted to hydrate me so gave me fluids under the skin. Also told my owner to continue to treat me for the Pancreatitis, and then he expressed the glands. He said that they were very full and that what they contained was thick, so hard to express.
I came home and now it’s over a week later, and I’m fine…got better almost right away after that, and now my owner will know the signs and symptoms that show the anal glands need to be expressed.
My owner has used Frontline on me to get rid of fleas for years. She just gave me my first “dose” of it for the spring season a couple of weeks ago. I get a terrible rash all over my body with just a couple flea bites, so it’s important to keep me treated.
While we were looking at information about flea repellents, we found that there is actually a natural herbal repellent you can use on dogs, cats and other furry animals as long as their skin is not sensitive to it.
What you do is combine 1 part eucalyptus powder; 1 part pennyroyal, sage or rosemary powder; 1 part fennel powder; 1 part yellow dock powder. Put all in something that has a shaker top…we keep a few emptied spice bottles that have shaker tops around to use for things like this.
Try a bit on your pet to make sure they are not sensitive to it. If all seems okay, sprinkle just enough so that the smell is evident on the fur, brushing hair against the grain as you sprinkle it on.
Do not get it in your pet’s eyes…concentrate on areas like the back and “chest” area of the belly where they won’t lick too much. You don’t want to overdo it, and again, make sure it won’t irritate your pet’s skin.
You can also sprinkle this on carpets to repel fleas in the house, or around the perimeters of the room or outside of the house to keep them away. How often you do this is a matter of trial and error…you shouldn’t have to use it every day on your pet unless they are particularly infested. I’d definitely put some on before going for hikes in the woods or grassy fields.
We have just discovered this, and are thinking of giving it a try. Have any of you ever tried natural herbal flea repellents for your pets? If so, tell us about it in a comment.
Maybe you think that spaying or neutering your dog are the most common reasons for surgery…and maybe they are. But dogs need surgery for some of the strangest things as well.
Some dogs eat just about anything, and sometimes the things they eat cannot be passed through the digestive system, and cause intestinal blockages, and need removal.
I am a small dog, and admit that I do eat some very strange things…I like licking the bottom of my owners shoes, or eating small things while out on the deck…a good reason to make sure all our dogs immunizations are up to date and making sure we’re getting our heartworm pills.
Anyway, strange things removed from a dogs intestines are usually in larger dogs who have bigger mouths than mine, and can include:
Socks – This is a big one, and if you are missing a sock and have a dog that likes playing with your socks, and your dog is vomiting, you may need to consider this possibility….you should keep dirty socks in the laundry and out of reach.
Stones – yes, we are known to eat rocks and even sticks when we’re outside, for some odd reason. Keep an eye on us, if you can, when we’re outdoors, and if you keep us penned outside, make sure there isn’t anything around that we could eat when your not looking. (And make sure we have shade and water in the summer and a warm place to go in the winter!)
Undies – Sounds disgusting, doesn’t it? Some dogs are kind of disgusting to humans because we find smelly socks and smelly underwear is appealing. Sorry if you have a sensitive stomach, this is just something you should know if you own a dog. Don’t leave those things lying around on the floor…they belong where you put your dirty laundry.
Dog Toys – including balls that we like to play with
There are many other things surgically removed from dogs, you can do your homework searching online….we just write this to make you aware that even though we’re cute, we don’t think like you, and dogs can eat strangest and sometimes the most disgusting things!
Since a dog vomiting is sometimes a symptom of blockage, we thought we’d include this video about reasons why dogs vomit.
