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Pets cook in cars ! |
With summer arriving, you may be planning to take your dog (or your cat) with you either for a day out or on holidays. Remember to never leave them in the car. Every year, dogs and cats die from heat stroke. When a car is in the sun, it really works like an oven and the temperature easily reaches 50°C in no time. Even if it’s cloudy or if you leave your vehicle in the shade, conditions change (the sun turns) and the inside temperature rapidly becomes unbearable. Pets who survive a heat stroke might suffer lifelong diseases such as kidney failure. |
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What should you do? |
- Cover the body (but not the head) with a damp cold towel
- Offer water
- Moisten the lips and mouth but do not force the pet to drink
- Take your dog urgently to the vet
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Signs of heat stroke: |
- A high body temperature (above 39.5°C)
- Excessive panting
- Dehydration
- Loss of conscience, coma
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Itchy pets… |
When you consider scratching, you will soon realise that it’s quite a normal behaviour for dogs and cats. From time to time, we too get an itch that requires some kind of relief.
Itching becomes a problem when the need to scratch becomes painfully unbearable or too frequent. In medical textbooks, this is called pruritus.
Many factors can cause pruritus and they are not always easy to identify. The main causes are parasites (like fleas or lice), infections and allergies (food, dust mites…) or a combination of these. Only your vet will be able to find out why your pet is itchy and how to relieve it. The process will require time and possibly additional tests. For example, a specific diet fed exclusively over several weeks can be used to confirm or rule out a suspected adverse reaction to food.
One word about cats: When they get an itch, they usually lick it. Their sand-paper tongue is very efficient; hence your cat may have a severe pruritus where they will continually lick themselves as opposed to scratching. This will cause hair loss with the swallowing of lots of hair in the process (but this is another story).
To prevent your pet from suffering from the discomfort of itchiness, make sure you follow the flea/tick prevention program recommended by your vet practice and do not hesitate to consult with them if you feel that the itch is getting out of control.
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What food? |
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Supplying your pet with a complete and balanced diet is the easiest way to keep them healthy. However, when deciding which one is best for your dog or cat, you might want some advice. The choice is rather large but your vet will be able to recommend a good brand. If your dog or cat is of a specific breed, you will have to consider purchasing a diet that has been specially designed for him/her. A Labrador is not a German Shepherd, even if their adult weights are similar. Some individuals although healthy are prone to specific conditions, or their age or reproductive status might warrant a special dietary program. After neutering, metabolic changes occur very rapidly and you don’t want to ruin the benefits of this procedure by allowing weight gain. |
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You need at least 50 ingredients to make a balance diet for your dog.. Are you sure you are making right choice?
Homemade food: It is likely that you are not providing the correct nutrition with the right quantities. |
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Of course you want to give your dog or cat a food that they will like which is also complete and nutritionally balanced. Recently the trend to feed “natural” or “wild” food has become popular. Compared to wild cats and dogs, our pets live much longer. When you think about it, it’s very unlikely that they will find the nutrients indispensable for balancing their diet in our urban environment. Furthermore, several studies have highlighted the risk of such diets not only for the animals but for the people around. You definitely don’t want to give food poisoning to pet or your children. |
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