Tag Archive for: English

Is your pet suffering from allergies?

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 Think holistic and help them to a better life!

 Many pets suffer from allergies. Get an overview on what you can do for your animal, if they battle with allergy! 

What is allergy?

Allergy is the body’s immune system response to substances (allergens) that are generally harmless.

The animal must have been exposed to an allergen a certain number of times before symptoms appear. Many pets are allergic to things they breathe in through the air. Animals typically, react to different pollen and house dust.

What are the symptoms of allergy?

Symptoms of allergy may occur in many disguises: itching, recurrent ear problems and repeated skin infections.

The veterinarian can do a blood sample to be examined for substances your animal may be allergic to (allergy test). Your veterinarian will be able to guide you, on which treatment needs to be initiated.

How do you treat allergies?

It might be necessary to give medication to an animal with allergies. Medication is a symptomatic treatment. It can give a “relieve” here and now – but of course does not cure the cause of the problem!

Allergy might not be completely cured. There is however a lot you can do, to help your animal to a better life.

You can have your pet vaccinated against the (substances/allergens) which is the cause of the allergy (hyposensibilisation) and build up the animal’s tolerance to allergens, which in the long run makes life more tolerable.

Keep in mind – it is NOT a “quick-fix solution”.

Battling on several fronts!

There are many things you can do to strengthen your pets immune system.

Think holistic and see the big picture: the better the immune system works and the healthier the skin is, the stronger we stand in the fight against allergy.

The body can be strengthened both inside and out.

Give the animals a dietary supplement with essential fatty acids. Over 80% of all animals with allergies will benefit from getting an extra supply of essential fatty acids.

You can get food fatty acids added, but it’s also available as a supplement to the food.

There are some new supplements that contain biotin, fatty acids and a substance called PEA. The latter can be freely described as a natural antihistamine which also helps reduce the symptoms of allergy.

Do you have a pet that can’t tolerate house dust and or pollen?

Some dogs benefit from having a bath, but not all animals enjoy the water and soap. There is an alternative to a bath!

Take a damp towel and wipe it over the animal – both on the body, head, legs and paws. This way you remove dust and pollen from the fur that can cause irritation. Think about how a car looks on summer day when there’s pollen in the air!

Use a spray to strengthen the skin. Many shampoos and conditioners are made especially to the coat! Remember when we battle allergy we need to focus on the skin.

Talk to your vet about which spray is the right choice for your animal.

Some animals benefit from a very simple solution: take a little almond or argon oil in your hand and gentle rub it into the skin.

Remember to keep your home clean; dog baskets, blankets etc. collect a lot of dust and must therefore be washed regularly. Wash your fabrics once a week at 60 degrees.

Change the bedding frequently and air out the bedroom. If your pet sleeps in the bed, give it a thorough cleaning!

Does your dog frequently ride along in the car? Cars collect huge amounts of dirt and also need to be cleaned – alternatively place a blanket where the dog lies in the car. The blanket is easy to take out of the car and wash!

A steam cleaner is a great tool for your daily cleaning of the home and the car!

Want to go a step further in battling allergies? You can purchase an air purifier for the home that cleans the air from pollen.

If you have a pet suffering with symptoms of allergy, you can try to changing its feed. There are many different allergy diets, each with their own focus area. Consult your vet in choosing the right feed for your pet.

The new feed must be administered for at least 2 months before assessing whether the animal has fewer signs of allergy.

Think holistic!

Good health is connected to both the mind and body.

How is your everyday life with your pet?

If your pet is living a “stressed” life, you might find it beneficially to look at the animal’s psyche.

Stress affects the health of the animal. The word “stress” can cover many things however the effect of stress is the same regardless of the reason.

If your animal is stressed, the body will store stress hormones (cortisol) that destroys the immune system and has a lot of devastating effects on the body – it will make the animal more prone to all diseases and is a predisposing factor for allergies!

If in doubt concerning your pets’ daily wellbeing please contact one of the country’s many skilled dog trainers.

The trainer will be able to help you read your dog’s language and signals, and thereby increase the animal’s wellbeing.

The more balanced your pet is, the better the body will provide for them and make them healthier in every way!

You can also begin the studies about the language of animals on your own.

It’s our responsibility to learn the language of animals. This way we can make the necessary changes in their lives that will benefit their health!

Allergy is a complex diagnosis. If we consider all aspects, there is a lot we can do to help our animals live a better and healthier life.

 

Take good care of your ageing dog!

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I have a lot of clients coming to me with their ageing dogs! People are concerned. 

The dog doesn’t seem like itself and the owner wonders if the dog might be ill. It appears tired and not as enthusiastic in its greeting the owner when they come home and the energy isn’t what it has been.

Presented with these symptoms as a veterinarian, the dog is thoroughly examined and often bloodwork is done to rule out serious illnesses such as heart- and lungworm.

Luckily most of this week’s examinations have come up negative.

This leads us to another issue:

 We need to learn that our animals also ages.

An older dog IS NOT able to do the same things as a younger dog.

Growing older is not an illness but it does require more of us as owners in the way we interact with our beloved dogs.

To me, an older dog is amazing.

As charming as a pup can be, just as wonderful are dog which have lived a full life and have settled down in its surroundings with people and other animals. You can see the changes in the dog’s appearance e.g. pigmentation change around the nose and they tend to walk slower which marks a good life.

Many are raised with the fact that exercise is good and a lot of exercise is REALLY good and we LOVE to take walks.

I’m often told by dog owners, that they have been around the park three times and are running 10 km with their dogs.

When a dog reaches a certain age it won’t be able to continue on the same long walks as before. This is completely natural. If the walks are too long you will experience your dog becoming fatigued and less enthusiastic.

Have you for a long period been walking along without taking the dog’s age and energy into consideration?

Then it’s time to change the routine, before you are forced to by your veterinarian 😉

Shorten the walks – shorter than you might think.

Walk SLOWLY and plan ahead. In return you’ll get a mindfulness walk which will allow your dog the best conditions for sniffing its surroundings.

The dog’s nose is its most valuable tool for achieving a good walk and is especially import with older dogs.

By stimulating the dog through its nose it will have just as much benefit of a short walk as it would a long walk.

Bring along a long leash and sit down while your dog gets to sniff the surroundings around you. If your dog isn’t used to this type of walk it might take some time getting used to it – so be PATIENT.

When we’re “on the move” it is not for the dogs benefit – but our own!

It is fairly easy to give your dog a wonderful retirement on its own terms.

Contact your veterinarian if you need help finding the right amount for exercise for your dog.

It is always a good idea to give your dog a senior checkup. The results are used to evaluate the dog’s daily intake of food and level of exercise. This way we can give the dogs the best life possible!

Perhaps slowing down the pace in our daily life is also something we can benefit from.

Stop displaying sick animals!

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These days videos are often shared online.

A bulldog is shown running up a hill.

Halfway up it stops and rolls down the hill. The bulldog gets back up, continues up the hill, only to fall down again.

Some people think that watching the dog tumbling down the hill “is funny”, as if, by it’s own free will, it rolls down the hill.

STOP STOP STOP! Dogs don’t think things are funny! Fun is a manmade property we project onto our animals.

The video does not show normal behaviour for DOGS. The DOGS behaviour is not motivated by it’s own free will.

The dog rolls down the hill for one reason only.

The bulldog is bred “brachycephalic”, which means that the bones in the skull is pressed together in such a way that there is little room for the soft structurea eg. the soft palate.

Many bulldog have narrowing of their airways, which means that the bulldog can have difficulties breathing.

The strain of running up the hill causes the dog to lose conciousness because of the lack of oxygen, it collapses and falls, only to roll down the hill. Shortly after it recovers and tries to run again.

Loss of conciousness by exertion due to a heart condition cannot be ruled out either.

The video shows an alarming tendency in our society: we fail to see the signs of illness in animals and interpret their behaviour as “funny tricks”, when in reality the dog has a serious condition.

This is NOT funny! I hope that we can stop these wrong interpretations, and not let animals poor health entertain us.

An animal are not just lazy!

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“Look at the “lazy” animal”!

So called ”funny” videos of dogs and cats are all over the internet such as a dog crawling out of bed, a dog that grunts and snores loudly, a dog which walks or runs in a “funny” manner, a cat that ”dances” or is used for entertainment.

The videos are followed by funny remarks and are shared amongst thousands of people, who find amusement in watch the animals in distress.

Dogs and cats are not lazy – it’s a trade assigned by humans.

The cause of the animals so called ”laziness” is often serious health problems.

The grunting and snoring dog has severe problem with narrowing of the airways, restricting it of air, which makes it grunt and snore.

The dog with a”funny” gait, has severe problem with its legs, which causes the dog extreme pain when trying to walk normally.

It is never funny to see animals suffer.

If everyone would just learn the language of the animals then maybe the humor would have a change of character.

Se den danske version af denne artikel her!

Dogs DO NOT experience guilt!

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It’s not fun to watch a dog being scared!

First things first: Dogs DO NOT experience guilt. Guilt is a human trade, we as humans mistakenly impose our animals.

A video has been circulating the internet, which has also been shared by Ekstra Bladet and several other medias around the world..

The video shows a man pointing an object which has been chewed on at two dogs. He asks the dogs in a very threatening manner, who of them has chewed on the object.

One of the dogs turns away from the man. The man continues, moving towards the dogs with the object. One of the dogs creeps up to the other dog and hides its head.

This is apparently a situation that many people find amusing.

The poor dog is obviously very scared of the man and is showing all the signs of submissive behaviour.

Dogs use submissive behavior to show friendliness, when feeling threatened.

Picture 1: The dog turns its face and putting its ears back, which is submissive behavior.

Picture 2: The dog turns away from the man, which is submissive behavior and a sign of friendliness.

Picture 3: The object is getting closer. The dog is withdrawing itself and attempting to turn away from the man.

It is a very stressful situation for a dog to be spoken to in such a manner and at the same time being confronted with an object as if it was being thrown at it.

The dog is displaying amazing behavior. Instead of trying to defend itself and its friend, the dog is using its body language telling the man to stop threatening them.

I don’t think that it’s fun to watch a dog being scared. It makes me sad that this is the sort of video that brings amusement to some people. It clearly shows that a lot of people don’t know the dogs language and therefor misinterprets different behavior in our pets as ”funny”.

This is NOT amusing in any way!

I think that it’s very unsettling that a media such as Ekstra Bladet is exhibiting humans’ inability to read dog behavior and therefor having fun at the expense of a very scared dog.

Read the Danish version of the article here!

No, not all dogs need to greet!

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Written by: Veterinarian Lise Rovsing (Dyreklinikken Artemis) & Hanne Truelsen (Snudekompagniet)

Most dog owners are familiar with the following scenario:

You are walking your dog wearing harness and on its leash. Suddenly an unfamiliar dog comes running towards you.

From a far the owner shouts:” don’t worry, my dog is friendly”!

A second later, the two dogs are at each other’s throats, and you are forced to drag your dog away from the other dog. After a few minutes the owner of the other dog comes and collects his/her dog.

It is a common misconception that all dogs, should be able to interact with each other.

Dogs are racists, whom often like their own breed.

Not all dogs have been socialized since puppyhood. Some might have had bad experiences which make meeting other dogs a trial.

RESPECT that you do not know the story behind all dogs. If an owner has his/her dog on a leash, there is usually a reason why. The owner is showing responsibility, leaving the leash on the dog, knowing that the dog isn’t comfortable with unfamiliar dogs.

The notion that all dogs should be able to interact with each other, is outdated. The more we can learn about animal behavior, and the better we get to know our own dog and learn what it’s comfortable with, only then do we know when to put on the leash, and when to walk away from a potential conflict.

It should always be respected, when a dog owner expresses that the dog does not want to greet.

If everyone showed the same curtesy, many conflicts could be avoided.

Remember these guidelines on your next dog walk!

  • It is okay if your dog, DOESN’T love all other dogs! As long as you, take your precautions.
  • It is okay to put your dog on the leash, if you sense trouble. Dogs don’t always figure it out themselves.
  • It is okay if your dog is a ’racist’. Dogs ARE racists’ and know the difference between breeds.
  • It is okay to cross the road, if your dog sees another dog it’s not comfortable with. It’s always better to avoid conflict.
  • It is okay to place yourself between the dogs, if they start to play too rough. They don’t have to “figure it out for themselves”.
  • It is okay to take your dog out for short walks. Dogs shouldn’t just be “worn out” physically.
  • If your dog growls because it’s uncomfortable, remove it from the situation. It doesn’t mean that your dog is aggressive it means your dog has a language, which you understand.
  • It is okay not to scold your dog aloud for doing something it’s not supposed to, as long as you praise correct behavior!

All of the above is based on dogs’ language.

Learn your dog’s language by reading and understanding its signals, by doing this you are one step closer to a good life with your dog.

Check up on heart- and lungworms:

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How to pick up the pooh!

  1. You must collect 3 poohs tree days in a row. The worms are being expelled in “waves”, by giving us 3 samples we increase chance of catching worms in dog. Collectapproximately at the same time at the day (ex. morning or evening pooh).
  2. Pick just the top of the pooh. Be carefull not to collect grass or dirt in the bag as it can contaminate the test. We use only a spoonful of faeces from each sample to do the test.
  3. Use just an ordinary pooh bag.
  4. The samples must be stored in a chilly place. They must not become frozen or be exposed to bright sunlight. The best place to keep them safe is in a container in the fridge.
  5. When you have collected 3 samples, bring them to the vet.

Enjoy 🙂