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Top Ten Tips for a Healthy Dog
1. If your dog buries bones you give it, don’t worry. Just keep on giving the bones and eventually they’ll realise they are getting them regularly and don't need to put them aside for ‘later’.
2. Don’t walk pups until they are mature. The best exercise is play in the park or garden until they are old enough to be taken on serious walks.
3. Treats – have you ever tried our Natures Menu real meat treats. They don’t mess up your coat pockets, now available in re-sealable packs and they are actually GOOD for your dog.
4. The ideal weight for your dog is so that the ribs can be felt, but not seen.
5. How much do I feed my dog? Answer – if they are getting fat or thin (see tip No. 4), you need to change the quantity you feed, regardless of what it says on the packaging of the food.
6. Natural, live yoghurt is good for your dog. If they are intolerant of cows' milk yoghurt, you can get goats’ milk products from supermarkets these days. This may do the trick. Use especially when having antibiotics to help put ‘good bugs’ back in the gut.
7. If your dog won’t eat chicken wings, don’t worry. Make sure they get used to eating raw meat products, then just gradually introduce the wings. You can even mince them up to start with to get the dogs used to the new textures. If they will not take chicken wings, think about turkey necks.
8. Whether you decide to vaccinate your dog every year or not, an annual health check by the vet is a very good idea. Just having a fresh set of eyes run over your dog can show you things that you have not noticed in the previous 12 months. Treating problems early is much easier than when problems get really set in.
9. Cracking tartar off dogs teeth is easy with a strong thumb nail. Get your vet/vet nurse to show you how next time you go for a check up.
10. If your dog is scooting on their bum, it is not likely to be worms. The usual reason for this is full or even infected anal glands. Glands like these can also explain sudden bad breath!
Top Ten Tips for a Healthy Cat
1. Cats have a third eyelid, the nictitating membrane, that appears from the inside corner (nearest the nose) when a cat is unwell. If you’ve noticed these recently, get your cat checked.
2. If you find it hard to give your cat a pill, always use two people, get one to hold the cat’s shoulders while you support the head from above. Tip the head back until they are looking at the ceiling. Hold pill in your thumb and forefinger. Open the mouth with middle or ring finger of the same hand then quickly push the pill, gently over the back of the tongue. The trick then is to keep the mouth closed until the cat licks its lips. You can stroke the throat. Cats cannot lick their lips until they’ve swallowed the pill. If in doubt get the nurses at your vet practice to show you how.
3. For constipated cats or for cats prone to getting bunged up, add a small amount of stewed rhubarb to the food or stewed pumpkin or squash.
4. Cats can be very blinkered about what they will and will not eat. To change a cat from one feeding regimé to another, be prepared to change things very gradually over a very long period – even as much as six months in some cases. Don’t give up, just do things very gradually.
5. Cats are very fussy about drinking. If your cat will not drink room temperature water from the tap, try pouring out a small amount of mineral water whenever you’re in the kitchen. You can put the bowl in the fridge if your cat likes cold water. Some cats will only drink flowing water. Fountains are available now to provide constantly moving water.
6. If your cat is licking hair away from the top of the tail or in a circle between it’s legs, first get them checked for fleas and infection. If there is no improvement, then consider a restriction diet, after talking to your vet. If you still have no improvement, it may be a stress problem where the cat is licking themselves for comfort.
7. Cats fight and because of this they get abscesses where another cat’s tooth has carried bacteria under their skin. They either get abscesses in the face or in the backside; if they are fighters, then you’ll find them in the face. If they’re in the backside, then they are runners!
8. If your cats go off their food because of a recurrent blocked up nose, then just try feeding warmed, smelly food when they have the discharge. Sardines or other oily fish are very useful, especially if tinned in tomato sauce.
9. Cracking tartar off a cat’s teeth is easy with a strong thumb nail. Get your vet/vet nurse to show you how next time you go for a check up. Don’t worry if there is a small amount of bleeding.
10. Cats are intrigued by pieces of thread/string/wool. Be careful about leaving these things around the house because they can end up round the cats tongue causing swelling and potentially very serious conditions.
