Dog Sickness Blog

How about when we move from dog sickness to a dog emergency?

It’s got to be every pet owner’s nightmare… a Choking Dog.

You are on an enjoyable stroll while your dog frolics with his buddies at the dog walk. Max races to beat Shorty to the ball, but when he gets there, Max inhales the ball.

He gasps for air. While he’s struggling to breathe, you run over to him, then he drops.

What would you do? How do you deal with a choking dog? Many of us know how to deal with dog sickness, but when it comes to a choking dog, we don’t have a clue.

I would suspect you may be thinking, just reach inside his mouth and pull the ball out.

Simple, but not so easy.

First, it’s difficult to get your hand deep to the back of the throat, especially in a small dog. Second, I have seen many balls wedged so far back in the throat, that nobody could use their hand to remove them.

The clock is ticking, you’ve got to act FAST. So Now What?

You could pick your dog up, carry him to your car, and rush to the nearest Vet, but you’d need to go fast. You’ve only got about 2 minutes when your dog is choking, then it’s too late.

What would you do with a choking person? The Heimlich.

How about with a Choking Dog? The same exact thing, the Heimlich.

Here’s how. You hold him upside down, with his head pointing down and his spine against you. You give repeated sharp thrusts to the abdomen. You lay him down and sweep the throat again for the ball. You repeat this until the ball comes out.

Every pet owner should know basic CPR, how to handle a choking dog, and how to deal with dog sickness. It’s easy to learn, and it literally may Save Your Pet’s Life.

Its Your Pet - Learn How to Heal Them At Home!

Author: Dr Andrew Jones

Dr Jones offers a Free Course showing you more safe, natural, and effective ways to heal your dog at home.

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When dog sickness results in a dog fever, the question I hear most is:

How do I safely bring down my Dog’s Fever fast?

Imagine how you feel when you have a fever. Way too hot, lethargic, sometimes even wanting to vomit.

So now try and imagine how your dog feels.

Some dog fever symptoms are a decreased appetite and lower energy. His ears are hot to the touch and he pants excessively in the house.

As with all forms of dog sickness, there are many causes.

A fever is usually caused by a bacterial or viral infection. Having a high temperature makes it more difficult for bugs to grow in the body. The problem in dogs is that they will often stop drinking; dehydration then becomes the primary concern. A normal dog’s temperature is 101 F (38.0 C), a normal cat’s temperature is 102 F (38.5 C). Taking your dog’s temperature involves placing a thermometer in their rectum. If your dog has a temperature of 103.5 F (39.5 C) or more, they have a fever.

Your dog usually will have a fever in response to something going on in their body. The most common cause, I find, is bite wounds. Search your dog for punctures. If you find any, they should be treated as they are probably the cause of your dog’s fever.

So What should you do??

Keep them hydrated. Offer plenty of fresh water in different spots around the house. If your dog refuses to drink, use an eyedropper or turkey baster to squirt water into the side of its mouth. For an added boost, add Pedialyte, an electrolyte solution available from the pharmacy; minerals become depleted when your dog is dehydrated. Some dogs prefer chicken or beef broth, or tuna juice; give them whatever works.

If the dog fever symptoms don’t subside and the fever persists for more than 24 hours, call your veterinarian. Especially if your dog is not drinking

A common homeopathic remedy for fighting fever is Hepar sulph (Hepar sulphuris calcareum); give one 30C tablet every 6 hours for 3 days. Arnica is useful in fighting the aches and pains that go along with fever; give one 30C tablet per 40lbs of body weight every 4-6 hours.

Apply a cool compress. If your dog will tolerate it, apply a cold cloth to her belly. The exposed skin will result in some fairly rapid cooling making her feel a little better.

So when dog sickness results in a dog fever, follow the directions above and your pet will be back to normal in no time.

Its Your Pet - Learn How to Heal Them At Home!

Author: Dr Andrew Jones

Dr Jones offers a Free Course showing you more safe, natural, and effective ways to heal your dog at home.

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I see a wide variety of dog sickness, but Diarrhea is at the top of the list.

Fortunately, most cases of diarrhea are caused by dietary indiscretions, and some simple, safe home remedies can help you avoid a trip to the Vet or from having to buy a prescription diarrhea dog medicine.

Here is what I advise:

Give your dog plenty of fluids to ensure they don’t get dehydrated.

You can assess hydration status by checking their gums. Lift up the lips, and place your finger on the gums. If the gums are dry and tacky, then your dog is dehydrated.

Skin Tent is another method. Gently pinch the skin behind the head over the shoulder blades forming a tent. It should rapidly return to normal within 2 seconds. If the gums are dry and the skin tent is prolonged, then your dog is dehydrated and needs fluid.

I find an electrolyte solution, such as Pedialyte is best. You can force it in with a syringe or turkey baster. A 40lb dog should get 100ml or approx 1/2 a cup. This can be repeated every 4 hours. The daily fluid needs for a 40 lb dog are 4 cups.

24 Hour Fast - Stop putting food into your dog for 24 hours (Day 1). This allows the intestines to rest and regenerate. Always have access to plenty of fresh water.

After 24 hours, introduce a bland food for the next 24 hours (Day 2). Plain cooked white rice, feeding equivalent cups of rice as their normal diet. After a day of the bland food mix ½ regular diet and ½ bland diet (Day 3). By the end of Day 3, they should be back on their normal diet.

Homeopathic - Nux vomica works well as diarrhea dog medicine. It is good for the entire intestinal tract. Use the 30C potency giving 2-3 tablets twice daily as needed.

Human Remedies - Pepto-Bismol is an old standby that works well as diarrhea dog medicine too. The dose for your dog is 1ml/10lbs of body weight given three times daily for no more than 7 days. Imodium (Loperamide) is another safe and effective over-the-counter diarrhea dog medicine. Dosage = 0.5mg/10lbs three times daily, or you can give your 40 lb dog one 2mg tablet three times daily.

Every Dog Owner should know how to treat diarrhea, dog sickness, and dog health problems at home.

Its Your Pet - Learn How to Heal Them At Home!

Author: Dr Andrew Jones

Dr Jones offers a Free Course showing you more safe, natural, and effective ways to heal your dog at home.

Technorati Tags: diarrhea dog, dog sickness

Every dog owner should be able to treat their vomiting dogs at home.

I have been dealing with a rash of dog sickness in my own house.

One dog escapes to the neighbor’s house, finds the compost pile, eats it, and starts vomiting.

The other dog has become sensitized to his older food so his stomach becomes upset, and he leaves a pile of undigested food on the stairs to step in.

THE CAUSES

The list is large, although most common is garbage gut. Your dog consumes something he shouldn’t and the result is vomiting. Other causes include medications (i.e. Aspirin), parasites, food allergies, liver or kidney disease, pancreatitis, cancer, infectious causes (i.e. parvovirus), metabolic disorders (thyroid disease, diabetes), physical obstructions (i.e. a ball) and primary motility disorders (the stomach doesn’t contract normally).

THE SOLUTIONS

ASSESS SEVERITY - If your dog is vomiting persistently and unable to retain even water, wait no longer than 24 hours before seeing your veterinarian. This indicates a severe problem such as an obstruction that needs to be treated with IV fluids and possibly surgery. IF your dog is still drinking and only intermittent vomiting, then you can try some of the home remedies.

FASTING TIME - A 24 hour fast is the most important thing you can do to allow your vomiting dogs inflamed stomach to heal. Allow access to controlled amounts of water, but no food. After 24 hours offer bland food such as plain white cooked rice; give equivalent amounts of rice as you do dog food. After 48 hours mix their regular food with rice and don’t fully go to regular food until after 72 hours.

A CUP OF TEA - Peppermint Tea is an old remedy used for upset stomachs in people. It works well for vomiting dogs as well. Brew up a strong cup of tea, but allow it to cool before offering. Give your dog 1 tablespoon.

FOOD ALLERGENS - For dogs with problems of chronic vomiting, I strongly recommend a diet change. Preferably switch to a hypoallergenic food or homemade allergy diet. At the very least, change to a premium quality food. I find that some dogs respond better to a more natural diet, such as Innova or California Natural.

Vomiting dogs can be effectively treated at home. You just need to be able to assess how serious it is, and decide upon the right treatment.

The above remedies work well.

Next time you see your dog vomiting, try them.

Its Your Pet - Learn How to Heal Them At Home!

Author: Dr Andrew Jones

Dr Jones offers a Free Course showing you more safe, natural, and effective ways to heal your dog at home.

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Welcome to my Dog Sickness blog. This first post is to let you know where the idea came from and why I started the Dog Sickness blog in the first place.

Just a little over a year ago my wife and I adopted two dogs. A tragedy occurred in which the entire family that lived next door to us was killed, mom, dad, and two kids. Their dogs were left homeless; no one in the family could or would take them so we volunteered.

We already knew the dogs quite well. We used to doggie sit whenever the family was out of town, and we used to visit quite often. In fact we knew the dogs ever since they were puppies. We lived next door when they originally brought them home. The story was, they went to pick out a puppy but they took two kids. Consequently when they came home they had two puppies.

They got a male and a female, brother and sister from the same litter. You’d never know it to look at them though. The female looks just like a husky. She’s grey, tan, and white, and about 55 pounds. Her brother on the other hand is big. He’s about 115 pounds, pure black, has a huge head, and looks like a Newfoundland. They must have had different fathers.

Funny how things work out, we were actually talking about getting a dog at the time. In fact we were talking about getting two. We saw how well it worked out having two next door. The two of them always got along and they entertained each other constantly.

We couldn’t be happier, we love the dogs dearly. But shortly after we got them we ran into a problem. One of the dogs, Koda, the big strong male got sick. Right after we brought them home he got diarrhea very badly and became extremely lethargic. He just laid around all the time. He stayed that way for about a week. Being “new parents”, we were totally freaked out by the whole dog sickness thing. We thought he could be seriously sick so we took him to the vet.

Boy did we get a rude awakening.

The vet bill came to over $550.00. What a Shock! We hadn’t had a dog in about 15 years so we weren’t used to dealing with dog sickness. We, had no idea Veterinary medicine had gone so high tech (and High Dollar). They kept him over night, ran a battery of tests on him and didn’t find anything wrong. Finally, the Vet told us it was probably just the stress of moving into a new home.

$550.00 to tell us he was probably stressed out due to the move? We told her that when we took him in.

I decided there had to be a better way, and I started doing some research. Sure enough I found a number of alternative treatments you can do to heal your pet at home. My Dog Sickness blog is a documentation of the alternative methods and treatments that I found.

I hope you enjoy it.

Tim

Its Your Pet - Learn How to Heal Them At Home!

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