When one has a pet, it becomes family and as with all family members, we love them, care about them, and want to keep them healthy. But to keep dogs healthy is not necessarily the same way that we'd keep humans healthy, so here are some important tips from a reader on preventative healthcare for your pooch.
It’s a common notion for pet lovers to treat animals like their own flesh and blood. That’s the main reason why sometimes, in your desire to give the best for your pet, you tend to spoil them. While this is your way of showing how much you care, too much love can kill them.
What then is the right way to ensure that you keep your dog healthy, and how do you keep the balance? These and other factors to ensure your dog’s overall health are presented below.
Feed The Right Food
Diet would always be the first in the list when talking about keeping dogs healthy. However, it’s essential to know what exactly are the kinds of food that you need to feed your dog and the right amount to attain the optimum nutrients that canines need.
It is said that one out of three pets in the USA will require emergency treatment per year, which translates to about $1,500 on average. So it is always better to choose the healthier pack of dog food that costs a few dollars more than average rather than have your pet suffer some diseases as a consequence.
Regularly Visit The Vet
Just like humans need doctors, your dog also needs regular trips to the veterinarian so you can ensure that it is in the pink of health. Some pet owners tend not to take this part of pet care seriously, thinking it’s just okay since their animals don’t manifest any signs of illness.
However, you don’t have to wait until you see symptoms as most often than not, these can mean that the illness has already progressed. When this happens, expect to spend more expensive emergency care, apart from subjecting your dog to needless suffering.
Spay or Neuter Your Dog
Spaying or neutering can have a plethora of health benefits besides practically preventing unwanted pregnancies in female dogs. These can also lead to giving your pet better health and quality of life.
Some of the advantages of getting your dog fixed are the following:
- It helps prevent prostate and testicular cancer in male dogs, and breast tumors and cancer of the uterus in females.
- It can tone down your dog’s unruly behavior like urinating outside the litter box and territorial marking to attract the opposite sex.
- It can keep male dogs mellow down their desire to escape from home to look for adventures outside, which can prevent accidents and injuries.
Vaccinate
Experts have long been recommending that all pets be vaccinated to protect them from various illnesses and diseases. Aside from helping your dog have a long and healthy life, vaccination can also help spare humans from contacting animal diseases such as rabies.
There are two sets of vaccines that your dog can have: the core and non-core vaccines. Core vaccines include shots for distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus, parainfluenza, and rabies. Non-core vaccines, on the other hand, include Lyme disease, leptospirosis, bordetella, influenza, and coronavirus.
Exercise and Weight Management
Keeping dogs’ weight at an ideal level helps them avoid illnesses that are associated with obesity. Some of these include arthritis and hip dysplasia, among others. For breeds that are predisposed to these conditions, supplements that protect their joints are available like Glucosamine.
Some of the ways to mitigate these are by keeping tabs of what your dog eats and through regular exercise. This, of course, depends on the breed as some are prone to injuries with excessive physical activities.
You can do this by simply taking your dog to regular walks, play catch, swimming, or just letting the dog enjoy some playtime at a park with some improvised toys to play with.
Grooming
Grooming is a crucial part of keeping your dog healthy as it keeps your pet clean and comfortable. However, there are also a lot of health benefits that animals can derive from it.
There are many processes involved in grooming your dog, and these include baths, haircuts, nail trimming, ear cleaning, teeth brushing, and anal gland expression. All of these can be done at home, although anal gland expression can be tricky and gross so you can leave it to the veterinarian or to a professional groomer.
However, if you are too busy, a trip to a pet salon every now and then would be fine.
Prevention and Treatment of Fleas and Ticks
Fleas and ticks can be small but can be really a cause of a lot of issues to your poor canine friend. Besides the annoying itchiness, they can also cause allergies and can transfer tapeworms from one animal to another. It can even cause anemia in severe cases.
Good thing, there are a lot of available flea and tick control products in the market today. Just follow the right dosage or application, the treatment duration, and don’t forget to treat all dogs in the household to ensure complete eradication of these pests.
Prevention and Treatment of Heartworms
Being infected with heartworms is a very serious and life-threatening condition for dogs. They can be transmitted through an infected mosquito bite.
The good news is that they are very easy to prevent, as there are a lot of available chewable medications that your dog can take within six months. But on the flip side, once your dog is infected and if left untreated, chances of death are high. If the infestation is so bad, open heart surgery can sometimes be the last resort.
Get Pet Insurance
Pet insurance is your safety net when the cost of the dog’s health and well-being becomes exorbitant. It covers most regular health checkups, dental services, and even major surgeries, depending on the plan’s coverage.
In truth, not a lot of people appreciate how important insurance is until the pet needs it. Until then, it would be considered a huge waste of money. However, would you prefer to have your dog have a costly disease just to be able to recover the insurance’s cost? Certainly, insurance of any form is something you wish you never have to use.
Parting Words
Having a pet, particularly a dog is both a privilege and a responsibility. Hence, it would be best if you were capable of taking care of animals financially, emotionally, and even physically.
Since pet care can be very costly, you should ensure that you are ready during emergencies; otherwise, you can start saving this early. This is to avoid being burdened by substantial medical expenses when the time comes. But supposing the breed isn’t genetically predisposed to some serious diseases, as long as your dog is living a healthy lifestyle and you follow the tips above, it shouldn’t really be that bad.
