Professional Pet Sitter and Dog Walker in Redondo Beach CA
Service Area includes Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach CA
Halloween can be a festive and fun time for children and families. But for pets? Let’s face it, it can be a nightmare. Skip the stress and keep your pets safe this year by following these 10 easy tips.
Can you believe that in less than one week it’s back to school time for the kids?
Back-to-school inevitably signals changes in our routines and everyone is most likely away from home for much longer periods of time. These changes can be especially hard on our family pet which can ultimately lead to depression or behavior problems.
Dogs are kid’s best friend! But to get these BFFs together, children need to learn safe get-to-know-Fido rules.
Hip & joint issues are one of the biggest problems aging dogs experience. This is an even bigger problem for breeds like the German Shepherd who are genetically predisposed to hip dysplasia and other hip & joint issues. However, the good news is that once you are aware of it, you can do something about it.
Just like humans, the majority of a dog’s immune system resides in his gut. The gut is the largest immune organ in the body and contains approximately 70% of all immune cells. So keeping your dog’s digestive system running optimally is essential to making sure that he stays healthy, active, and lives a full and healthy life.
One way to potentially improve your dog’s digestive health is to offer him a daily probiotic supplement. There have been extensive studies on the benefits of probiotics in humans, however, veterinary research is just starting to really dive into how supplementing your pup with a variety of good bacteria can aid in keeping him healthy.
What are Probiotics for Dogs?
Warmer weather, blooming plants and buzzing insects can all spell trouble for the pets in your care, but depending on where you live, winter hazards may still apply! Stay alert to weather patterns, don’t allow pets outside unsupervised and wash melting salts from paws to prevent poisonous ingestion.
If, however, the bright and beautiful days of spring are upon you, remember that doggie dangers and cat-astrophes can happen anywhere, so professional pet sitters must be prepared to prevent disasters and stabilize injuries before veterinary care is available.
Bella is 11 and Fitz will be 10 in June. They are big dogs, and they do age faster than the littles. It happens so fast, and we have to prepare for what is to come. Have you changed your dogs food to senior food? have you done a senior screening? Do they have arthritis? Do I give all of the supplements they need? Some things to think about as our loved ones age. Please make an appointment with your vet and come up with a solid plan to make your pups senior years comfortable ones. Both of my dogs have arthritis, so we give them MSM/Glucosamine as well as fish oil and several others. We have recently started pain medication as well.
When I took my boy Fitz in, he weighed in at 109lbs. He is a big boy! I have noticed he does not go upstairs at night anymore, and he is getting up less and less to greet us at the door when we come home. These are signs that something is off with him. I had a full senior blood and urine panel done on him. The results came back, and most of the report was good. The liver enzymes were elevated quite a bit, so we decided to schedule an ultrasound and have his body X-rayed for arthritis while he was sedated. We are so very happy we decided to do this. It turns out he has a a gallbladder mucocele. What that is, is the distention of the gallbladder by an inappropriate accumulation of mucus. Decreased bile flow, decreased gallbladder motility, and altered absorption of water from the gallbladder lumen are predisposing factors to biliary sludge. It is the reason his liver levels were so high. We will now need to do an ultra sound every 3 months to make sure it is not enlarging too much. He may have to have his Gallbladder removed.
We also found severe arthritis in three different parts of his back. We have come up with a good treatment plan to keep him comfortable. I will also be looking into acupuncture. My point is, we would never have known all of this was going on if we did not take him in. This is a part of being a responsible pet parent. Please read below on some more information on how we can care for our senior dogs and what to look for.
After our vet appointment, we stopped to get our boy Fitz some ice cream.
There’s a popular medicinal herb you can give your dog these days …… and it’s called cannabis.
Dog owners are using it to help their pets with a wide range of ailments – from anxiety to arthritis to cancer.
Are dogs going to pot?
Not exactly. The cannabis dogs are taking is hemp, not marijuana.
For a long time, hemp was illegal in the US and other countries because it got lumped in with other forms of cannabis. Today, you can buy hempseed products in your local grocery store – not just soaps and lotions, but hempseed protein powders and drinks like hempseed milk.
But the hemp that has therapeutic benefits for your dog isn’t the kind lining the supermarket shelves.
We’re talking about whole herb cannabis.
