Posts Tagged ‘Pets’

Is Your Dog Is Having Too Many Accidents?

May 9th, 2010

If you are having trouble with housetraining your dog, the quickest way to get around the problem and make a diagnosis is to know your pet’s history. Knowing how your dog has been performing at home yields important information to the veterinarian and helps narrow the diagnosis. Here’s how you can help:

HADDINGTON, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 01: A vet ca...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

1) For urinary accidents, note if your dog is passing water more often; producing normal, littler or larger amounts of urine; dribbling while walking; leaking while relaxed or sleeping; or wetting when excited or scared.

2) For fecal accidents, take a sample to the veterinarian. If your dog defecates in front of you

, does she appear to be straining or pooping while he’s walking upright? (Hopefully you are carrying your biodegradable pet waste bags with you). Look at the stools: Are they loose, runny, firm, hard, blood or mucousy? Are st

ool volumes less or more often than normal? Is your dog defecating more often?

HADDINGTON, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 01: Vets prep...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

3) Report any changes you’ve noticed in your dog, such as increased drinking or vomiting; reduced or increased appetite; weight, skin or coat changes; lethargy; panting; anxiety; fear; lameness or difficulty getting up; or reluctance to play or exercise.

4) Think about any changes or new events in your dog’s life that preceded or coincided with his housetraining accidents. A

new member in the household? A change in diet, supplements or medications? A frightening event? Be sure to report anything new to your dog’s veterinarian.

Do Not Withhold Water

: Image by colorblindPICASO via Flickr

What goes in must come out, so some dog owners might find it tempting to simply reduce the amount of water their dog drinks or withhold water completely at night or while they’re absent.

This could be a very dangerous thing to do. There are medical issues such as kidney problems or urinary tract infections where the dog actually needs to drink more water. Withholding water from a dog with low-grade kidney problems might lead to grave kidney failure.

Depriving a healthy or ill dog of water could also lead to new or worse pre-existing problems. That said, there are some young dogs that just love to drink water, so they wet far more often. In those cases, restricting water to some extent is the only way that the dog can be a happy, functional member of the family. Unfortunately, many dogs do not outgrow this.

If you suspect that your dog is lapping up water because it makes him happy to do so, discuss your suspicions with your veterinarian and get a vet exam to rule out any conditions that could cause increased thirst.

For more information, just click here

Always take your dog poop bags when you walk your dog.

All The Things You Should Know About Your Dog – But Don’t Want To Talk About! (animaltopics.com)
Dog Health Answers: Shaking Dog and Dog with a Runny Nose (animaltopics.com)
Your Vet: The Perfect Resource to Educate You About Your Dog’s Diet (animaltopics.com)

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Posted in Animal Protection, Biodegradable Bags, Pet Health, Pet Waste Bags, Waste

Tags: Biodegradable Bags dog poop Pets Recycling Urinary system

PICKING-UP DOG POOP: YOUR BEST FORM OF COMMUNICATING?

February 12th, 2010

A few years ago, my girlfriend and I had a friend move in with us. We had all lived together before so we knew exactly what to expect and were looking forward to it. However, our new/old roommate was bringing two dogs along and that dynamic would be totally new for us. Neither of us had ever lived with dogs before and had no idea what to expect. One dog is a French bulldog that is impossible to not fall in love with and a mini-Doberman pinscher that, to me at least, took a little more effort to love. Anyway, I learned a lot very quickly about dogs and owning them here in NYC. It’s like being in a community within a community, a whole new world is revealed to you that most non-dog owners probably do not realize is even there. I also quickly learned (thank you NYPD) about leash, license and poop laws and how they pertained to me and my new roommates and added pet waste bags to my shopping list.

After a few months, we had developed a routine and all of us (dogs included) had adjusted to our new living scenario I realized that our most important and informative daily interaction with the dogs was taking them to poop. We needed to know how often each dog went, the color, the consistency. Was there anything strange in it? Was it difficult for the dog to go? I learned later that parents are the same way with their newborns and there are actually guides that tell parents what should be coming out and what it should look like (http://family.go.com/parentpedia/baby/care-basics/baby-bowel-movements/). Had I had this parental experience I might have prepared myself a little better for the strange and gross fact that dog poop and picking it up with pet waste bags would play a major role in my relationship with the dogs. Your dog’s poop can let you know if they are sick or if they have parasites. The way they poop and how often can tell you about their feelings and moods and what is in the poop can tell you if they have been eating things aren’t supposed to be eating. We even required daily poop reports from the dog walker we utilized during the day and left pet waste bags for him to use on these daily walks.

I have seen lots of reasons why picking-up your dog’s poop with pet waste bags is important. There are the obvious reasons like it is gross, unsanitary, smelly, and not something anyone wants to see. There are the not so obvious reasons like it pollutes water sources through rain runoff and can carry and transmit disease. Snohomish County, Washington actually has a website (http://www1.co.snohomish.wa.us/Departments/Public_Works/Divisions/SWM/Services/Water_Pollution/Pet_Waste_Posters.htm) where they are selling light-hearted posters about the importance of picking-up your dogs poop. Some of the posters are just gross because I can’t get past the poop that is pictured, some of them are funny, some cute and some informational. The page is titled 101 Reasons to Pick-Up pet waste but I only counted 25 posters so….

Anyway, like I was saying, there are lots of reasons for why everyone should clean-up after their pets with an eco-friendly pet waste bag. The most important to me was it was my best informational tool on the health happiness of my new roommates.