Total Puppy Care 5: Housetraining Your New Puppy (Part 2)

When initiating housetraining, always keep in mind that until a puppy is 7 months old, his control over excretory functions is extremely limited. At least once per hour, and possible more often, he will have to relieve himself.

These urges are even more pronounced after sleeping, eating, and playing. By keeping the puppy confined to a relatively small area lined with papers, you will assure that he does not have the opportunity to make a mistake and necessitate verbal reprimand. He will naturally seek the place furthest from his sleeping quarters to soil so that he may keep his own bed clean.

Therefore, take this cue and, after he naps, eats or plays, place him on his papers or outside in the yard. When your puppy soils where you have placed him, praise the dog immensely, but make it sincere. Unconvincing praise doesn’t fool anyone, even an eight week old puppy.

And as a side note, apartment dwellers and owners who are away at work all day are generally are more successful paper-training a puppy until his is old enough to have considerably control.

Symptoms and signs of cancer in pets and humans depend largely upon the organ or the tissue that has developed cancer cells. For example, the symptoms of liver cancer in dogs and cats are far removed from the symptoms of oral cancer. Cats with cancer of the digestive system will show signs of vomiting, diarrhea and anorexia while a lump in the peripheral skin indicates lymph cancer.

Some cancers are highly progressive and spread very fast. The first tool in your hands is to educate yourself and be aware of all the symptoms properly. Timely approach to treatment is the only way to prolong and make life comfortable for your cat.

Cats should be groomed regularly. Stroking and petting all over the body serves two purposes – it lets you know of any abnormal changes that might be occurring in your cat’s body and it helps in building an emotional bond between you and your cat.

Older cats should be taken to a specialist for annual check ups. There are ten signs that are commonly understood to be indicative of cancer, including feline cancer and on noticing them they should be brought to the notice of a veterinary oncologist without fail.

An important part of your dog’s pet care routine is grooming. It not only makes him look better, but it also helps to prevent certain diseases and contributes to his overall well-being.

Brushing your dog regularly is important, especially during the shedding season. If you do not keep on top of this task when your dog is shedding, you will find it frustrating trying to brush his severely matted fur later. Trying to brush your dog when his fur is extremely matted can also be quite painful for the dog, and you surely don’t want that to happen.

Brushing will keep his coat clean and shiny, and will result in helping to prevent some canine diseases. A dog’s shedding fur can be quite itchy, and he will scratch frequently to try to relieve his ‘itch’. This can quite often cause him a lot of skin irritation, even to the point where he will scratch until he bleeds. If this happens, it can even become infected and cause other skin problems

It is important to use a brush or comb made especially for dog grooming. Some ‘people brushes’ may be too soft to do the job properly, or others, like a wire brush, may be too harsh to use on your dog’s skin.

Minor injuries in pets

Both dogs and cats often fall victim to minor cuts, scrapes, bites and stings- especially those with outdoor lifestyles and adventurous natures! Cuts and scrapes, abrasions, insect bites, fights with other animals – all can result in a miserable pet with consequent risk of infection. Like people, animals can also suffer from allergies and reactions to plants like Poison Ivy and Poison Oak.

Most of these little injuries heal fairly quickly on their own and without long-term adverse effects, especially in healthy pets with strong immune systems. However, the immediate pain, discomfort and swelling can be unpleasant and debilitating for your pet and it is important to care for these wounds appropriately. Also, there may be a high risk of infection in otherwise minor wounds if they are not properly cared for.

How can natural remedies help?

Because of the risk of infection, pet wounds are often treated with antibiotics – taken internally or applied as a cream to the skin. They may also be treated with topical corticosteroid creams. While these can be effective in the short term, many holistic vets believe that they may also compromise your pet’s health by affecting immune functioning. Topical antibiotic, corticosteroid and antiseptic creams are also often licked off by pets and can contain substances that may not be good for them to ingest.

Symptoms of Addison’s disease are not so specific in dogs. Moreover, even these vague symptoms vary over a period leading to a situation where dog owners are not even sure of its prevalence. Addison’s disease generally occurs due to autoimmune conditions.

Although it is not a conclusive diagnostic procedure, it is important to look for the level of primary ions of electrolytes like sodium and potassium. The proper amount and distribution of electrolytes in the body is essential for your dog’s health.

Final diagnosis of Addison’s disease, however, is done only after checking the response of the dog’s body to ACTH. ACTH is a hormone that is secreted by the anterior pituitary gland to stimulate the adrenal cortex to produce its own hormones.

Addison’s disease is basically a production disorder and is caused by an insufficiency of hormones secreted by the adrenal cortex. This is unlike canine Cushing’s disease, which is caused by excessive production of adrenal hormones. Addison’s disease is managed by giving supplemental hormones.

Aldosterone, a corticosteroid hormone produced by the adrenal glands that regulates salt (sodium and potassium) and water balance needs to be supplemented. This is achieved by administering a mineralocorticoid that influences the metabolism of sodium and potassium.

The personality and thought process of the dog is an extremely complex mechanism. Training, whether for toilet training or teaching to sit on command, is simply a matter of communication.

That is, communicating your desires to your pet and requiring that he respond in a certain manner, all the time. But when a normally trained canine suddenly behaves in a manner differently than from the way he has been trained to behave, the owner must search for the cause before trying to find a cure.

Is it possible for an occasional accident to become a learned behavior in your mature dog? If an occasional accident goes unnoticed by a dog owner for any length of time, the possibility exists that the dogs actions will become a habit. Consistency in performing a particular act results in that act becoming a learned behavior. Therefore, it is possible for a perfectly housebroken dog to become trained to use the bathroom indoors due entirely to lack of proper supervision.

When this situation happens, there is no alternative except positive retraining methods. Removing the motivator is fine in the early stages, before the bad act become a learned behavior, but when the act has been allowed to become a routine, then it is the owners responsibility to retrain the dog.

Potty Training Potty Train Your Puppy In 4 Easy Steps

If there is one thing that all dog owners can relate to it is the experience of taking a puppy that has no clue about the proper area to use the bathroom in and then training him to be a responsible pet to use the bathroom in the appropriate place and at the appropriate times.

Housebreaking a dog is also the most common area where many dog owners initiate the wrong kinds of training protocols. It is this situation where people could use just a few common sense tips to get their dogs quickly introduced to the proper way to use the bathroom.

The first thing you need to keep in mind is that all animals have a natural instinct to avoid soiling the very place in which they sleep and eat. Of course brand new puppies may not get it right away, but it doesn’t take long for them to realize that they do not want to urinate or create stools where they live and play.

Here are a few housebreaking tips that you can use today which will help get your puppy on his way to being properly trained when he has to use the bathroom:

Housetraining Schedule: How To Housetrain Your Puppy In 7 Days Or Less

It is quite alright if you are a new puppy owner and feel clueless about how to initiate housetraining for your dog. Many new dog owners make the mistake of scolding and punishing their dogs when they make a mess.

I made this same mistake with my first Chihuahua. Every time she would go potty inside the house I would take her over to the messy area and scold the dog with a loud voice with the occasional tap to her rear.

Soon enough, I noticed something strange happening. My puppy was still refusing to use the bathroom where she was supposed to go, but she started pooping and urinating underneath the bed and in closet areas. I caused my puppy to be afraid of going to the bathroom!

She did not understand why I was angry all of the times before and all her little brain knew was that every time she used the bathroom, I would yell at her. I realized that she started to be fearful of going potty and was basically trying to hide it by going in places that I could not see in plain view.

Pet owners are often confronted with pet ear problems. Even though there reasons other than ear mites are the most common cause of ear infections in pets. Some major causes of infections in dog ears are:

* Wet ears that do not dry on their own
* Dog ear mites
* Skin diseases
* Allergic reactions
* Injury to the ear canal
* Insect bites

The structure of a dog’s ear is such that water gets entrapped easily in the ear canal. A dog’s ears naturally produce some amount of wax. This wax should be cleaned regularly as part of normal grooming. Severe instances of infection normally leads to excessive wax production that refuses to go away despite regular cleaning.

Moist wax is an invitation for yeast infection. If your dog scratches or rubs his ears excessively or shakes his head without any reason, it is prudent to inspect the ears for any signs of yeast infection. A particularly foul odor, redness, swelling of the external ear and an oily discharge are sure indications of a yeast infection.

Adapted from The Puppy Owner’s Manual, by Diana Delmar (Storey Books, 2001). http://www.care2.com/

How many times have we heard or said, “I love cats (or dogs), but I’m allergic to them!” Or, even worse, “I just got the cutest puppy (or kitten), but it turns out I’m allergic to it. I’ll have to get rid of it!“

Here are ten great ideas for helping you or someone you love control allergies, so you can get a companion animal, or keep the one you have.

People who are allergic to pets usually are reacting to dander (pieces of skin that have been shed) and saliva.

Keep in mind that people who have allergies usually react to more than one allergen. Allergy to dust mites, for instance, is even more common than allergy to dogs and cats. Sometimes pets take all the blame, when in fact there are other things in the house contributing to allergic symptoms.

Some of these tips are primarily for dogs, while others will apply to either dogs or cats.

1. Keep your pet out of the bedroom.