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Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Is this your dog? Acidophilus treatment for your dog.
Several years ago when my Missy girl, a sweet Golden Retriever, developed these symptoms, there was a long, frustrating period ahead for us. As a professional dog-walker for The Pawfessionals Dog Walkers & Pet Sitter, Dallas, I was especially frustrated. After all, I was supposed to know the basics about caring for dogs. I had cared for my own dogs, as well as client dogs in the Dallas, Texas, area for several years. There was, to my relief, an eventual cure for this. Take a look and see if this sounds familiar:
1) Does your dog have a consistently "sweet/sick" smell, not the typical dirty dog smell, but the sweet/buttermilk-y smell that you can't attribute to just needing a bath?
2) Does your dog experience hair loss on parts of his/her body, accompanied by skin redness and possibly pustules? This could be even worse in the hot summer months. There was one summer that she lost all the hair on her entire tail -- what they refer to as the rattail. She looked and felt awful!
3) Does your dog's coat seem to have an oily feel even when freshly bathed?
This describes what Missy began experiencing before the age of two. I tried everything. It was miserable for her and a sad confusion for me. What to do? The veterinarians (and I use the plural form) would administer steroids to cool down the red skin and irritation. There were times that antibiotics were given to alleviate the infected areas. To make matters worse, Missy had adverse reactions to the steroids in the form of bloody stool. So the answers were evading me and also evading the doctors. But there was a reason and a cure. It came from someone without a medical background, but with a similar experience with her dog. I was past the point of challenging anyone who seemed to have any suggestions. I took her up on it. Thankfully!!
Missy's little system was and probably still is producing an overabundance of yeast. What offsets yeast on the pH charts is acidophilus. It's a natural, and when used proportionally, no side effects at all. I was warned to not expect anything immediate in the way of symptom relief. Be patient. Keep doing it daily. So to Whole Foods I went and got my first bottle of acidophilus. Each morning a tablet was placed in her food. Nothing looked better even a month later. But then, given another few weeks, I started noticing fewer and fewer bare spots, a more vibrant, oil-free coat. Oh, and the odor was fading as well. Now, during this time I did comfort her with hypoallergenic bathing (which I had always done anyway) but finished the baths with a vinegar rinse made up of one part vinegar to three parts water. This was sort of a Band-Aid for the moment. It cooled her off, and the vinegar, just like the acidophilus, was an offset to the yeast. Time frame for all good? I'd say it was six months to almost a year before I saw her first summer that came and went with not a single skin issue.
We're now going on our fifth or sixth year in 100% remission of this puzzlement that afflicted her for years. Here's what you have to know: DO NOT STOP THE ACIDOPHILUS just because your dog becomes symptom free. It's their system that's a bit off and it will go back to dominating their body if you decide enough is enough -- all good now! No. You must realize that this is something like insulin to a diabetic. Just because the symptoms are gone doesn't mean their bodies have re-set.
If you have a much smaller dog than mine, a 65-lb. Golden, go for the children's acidophilus, either in tablet or liquid, and do your math on how much is needed for the individual size and weight of the dog. And another thing that I'll stress: Do not go for the cheapest, whatever you can grab at the nearest drug store. I am a believer in the idea that you need a high-quality product to produce the fantastic results that Missy has enjoyed. Make it a part of their daily intake.
- Mary Ridenhour, Dog Walker for The Pawfessionals Dog Walkers & Pet Sitters, Dallas, TX
- Mary Ridenhour, Dog Walker for The Pawfessionals Dog Walkers & Pet Sitters, Dallas, TX
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Monday, November 2, 2015
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
The Pawfessionals Dog Walkers and Pet Sitters: Should You Trim Your Pet's Whiskers?
Sometimes our furry friend’s
whiskers, also called tactile hair, grow really long and we wonder how in the
world they can stand it. Our first impulse is to trim them down to our liking,
but those whiskers serve several, necessary purposes.
Whiskers are longer, thicker and
more rigid than hair. According to Vetstreet.com, each whisker is rooted in a
hair follicle that is filled with blood vessels and nerves that occasionally
fall out and grow back. Most cats have 12 whiskers arranged in four rows on
either cheek, but dog whiskers vary per breed. Those hairs sticking out
above your pet’s eyes are whiskers, too, as well as those under the chin. Cats
can even grow whiskers behind their wrists.
So what are all these whiskers
for? Well, believe it or not, the primary function of whiskers is to aid with
vision, especially in the dark, because they provide sensory information. They
are the animal’s antennae. Even though they are filled with nerves, the whisker
cannot feel anything. However, they vibrate when they touch an object, which
then stimulates the nerves in the hair follicle. This makes perfect sense
because the scientific name for whiskers is vibrissae, which is derived from
the Latin word, vibrio, which means “to vibrate”.
Cats use the whiskers on their
head to know whether or not they can fit into a narrow space and use the
whiskers on their legs to sense prey and to climb trees.
40% of a dog’s brain can detect
when something touches their face because of their whiskers.
Both dogs and cats can use their
whiskers in the dark to warn them before they bump into things, without even
touching anything. Amazing, right?
The whiskers above the eyes
protect them from long grass and other objects close to them.
So, if you trim your pet’s
whiskers, you take away your canine and feline friend’s ability to feel and
protect themselves. The bottom line is, it’s best to leave them alone.
- Kassira McKee
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
The Pawfessionals Dog Walkers and Pet Sitters: Do Cats Shed Like Dogs Do? by Kassira McKee
Well, folks, summer is upon us,
which is the season for animals to shed some fur for the summer. Dogs shed
their undercoat to prepare for the heat, but do cats do this as well?
According to Pets.webmd.com,
outdoor cats lose more hair in spring and fall and retain more fur in the
winter. So, seasonal shedding is naturally common.
However, there are several issues
such as medical, dietary and stress that may cause your cat to lose more hair
than is normal. If you see excessive shedding or bald patches on your cat,
take it to the veterinarian ASAP. Here are some things that could be occurring:
1) Allergies – could be
environmental or dietary.
2) Ringworm – circular, patchy
areas caused by a fungus that infects the skin, hair and nails and can be passed on to humans and
other animals.
3) Fleas – also passed on to
humans, other animals and the general environment.
4) Bacterial Diseases –
Salmonella and other bacterial diseases caused by consuming raw or contaminated foods, licking manure
off of their feet and coats and oral contact with surfaces contaminated by other infected
cats.
5) Hypothyroidism – a common
glandular disorder caused by an excessively, circulating thyroxine-a thyroid hormone (T4) in the
bloodstream.
6) Poor diet – your cat is not
eating anything you serve it, which means something is wrong.
7) Stress – caused by many
different factors such as other animals in the household, a chaotic, unsettling environment,
relocation or being left alone for an unusually long time.
8) Medications – caused by
allergies to medications.
9) Pregnancy/Lactation – caused
by morning sickness, like vomiting and lack of appetite, fatigue due to hormonal and uterus changes,
and post birth when your cat stops eating 24 hours before giving birth, her
temperature drops to 100 F and she is fatigued during the nursing period.
10) Sunburn – caused by being
left outside too long.
Symptoms of abnormal shedding to
look for are obsessive licking, biting or scratching, loss of patches of hair
and loss of appetite. Take your cat to the Veterinarian immediately.
If your veterinarian determines
there is no medical cause, here are a few things you can do to cut down on hair
loss:
- Feed your cat a healthy, balanced diet
- Groom your cat regularly
- Check your cat’s skin and coat during grooming sessions for hair loss, redness, bumps, cuts, fleas, ticks and parasites.
- Keep your home vacuumed to better monitor your cat’s shedding
If a feline’s excessive shedding
that is a medical issue goes unattended, its health will worsen. If a
long-haired feline goes ungroomed for too long, matting occurs, which is not
only painful, but can also lead to a bacterial or fungal infection.
We at The Pawfessionals Dog
Walkers and Pet Sitters love our feline clients and are here to help you keep your
kitties healthy.
- Kassira McKee
- Kassira McKee
For more detailed information on
feline shedding, click here.
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