How can you tell if your dog is not feeling well?  Is he ill or just tired?  What are the common symptoms of a dog health problem?
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Ticks are creepy little insects that cause irritation and disease to both humans and animals.  To prevent ticks from becoming a problem, tick repellents are widely available and very effective.  In locations where ticks are abundant, see your vet and ask for recommendations on a good insecticidal bathing or dipping.
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Ticks are flat insects that are more or less the size of a small kernel of corn.  Although they are small at first, ticks actually expand to many times their normal size right after a good meal.  Dog ticks can live from anywhere between ten and twenty three weeks, depending on their ability to find a victim on which they would prey on.
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What is the foundation for your dog to have exceptional dog health?  Are there certain steps that you need to take to ensure that you are taking good care of your dog?
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There are three common causes of protein deficiency in a dog’s diet: Insufficient total protein in the diet; imbalanced and poor-quality dietary protein; and bulky, low-energy diets.
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In order to keep health problems in your dog from getting serious, you need to detect them early.  Sometimes just watching your pet and catching abnormal behavior can tell you that there is something wrong, even before the actual signs start to appear.  Therefore, it is necessary to give your dog a basic check-up about once a week.  This check-up takes no more than a few minutes, and it can help prevent problems as well as expenses down the road.
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Internal parasites are a constant threat to dogs because of their natural habits.  Moderate infestations with intestinal worms may go unnoticed unless the dog is eating a deficient diet.  When puppies are infested with only moderate amounts of roundworms, fed diets containing inadequate protein, the injury resulting from the worms is far greater than the injury would be in puppies eating an adequate diet. This is because the protein deficiency favors the rapid growth and build-up of the parasites. Read the rest of this entry »

Dogs of any breed, size or type can suffer from stress.  In fact, a certain amount of stress is necessary for a healthy life.  Hunger produces a form of stress that motivates us to find food, which is a healthful activity.  However, a pet dog that receives a doting owner’s petting and praise on demand all weekend tends to build an insatiable appetite for constant social gratification.  Once he is left alone, particularly for a long period of time, the dog is frustrated by a frustrating problem where he cannot find his “emotional food.”
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The muscles of most aged mammals lose much of their strength and actually decrease in size with each advancing year. This is a normal part of the aging process and is to be expected. However, there are two as yet poorly understood muscle disorders which at first may look like normal aging weakness.
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lf it becomes necessary to change the time at which a dog is fed, the most satisfactory way to do so is by making gradual time changes from the old time to the new time.  For example, suppose you change jobs, and start getting home an hour later than when you usually fed your dog.  It is far better to start about two weeks before you make the change and feed the dog live minutes later every evening for twelve days, than to abruptly offer your dog its food 60 minutes late the first day you start the new job.

Probably the most often changed item in any dog’s feeding routine is the food itself.  There are occasions when circumstances dictate that you must make a change in a dog’s food.  Whatever the reason for making the change, if it is made too abruptly it may cause a digestive upset.

The micro-organisms growing in a dog’s digestive tract become accustomed to one diet.  So does the dog’s digestive tract itself.  An abrupt change does not allow sufficient time for either to re-accustom themselves to the new diet.