Doggone Dog Care - Best Doggone Care For Your Dog-Dog Health Issues

Tolerance is especially necessary when a pet owner is allergic to his or her companion animal. Studies show that approximately 15 percent of the population is allergic to dogs or cats. In a study of 341 adults who were allergic to cats or dogs and had been advised by their physicians to give up their pets, only one out of five did. What's more, 122 of them obtained another pet after a previous one had died. It's clear the benefits of pet companionship outweigh the drawbacks of pet allergies for many owners. Living comfortably with a companion animal despite being allergic to him requires a good understanding of the allergic condition and an adherence to a few rules.

Dogs with soft, constantly-growing hair—the Poodle or the Bichon Frise, for example—may be less irritating to some individuals, although this may be because they are bathed and groomed more frequently. One dog or cat of a particular breed may be more irritating to an individual allergy sufferer than another animal of that same breed.

The source of irritation to pet-allergic humans? Glands in the animal's skin secrete tiny allergy-triggering proteins, called allergens, that linger in the animal's fur but also float easily in the air. Allergens are present in the animal's saliva and urine, too, and may become airborne when saliva dries on the fur. The severity of reaction to these allergens varies from one person to the next, ranging from mild sniffling and sneezing to life-threatening asthma, and can be complicated by simultaneous allergies to other irritants in the environment.

Dog Health! Since the dog has had such a long and close relationship with humans, the domestic dog's health is probably one of the best-studied subjects in veterinary medicine. There are many infectious diseases that are prevalent in dogs and are important not just from a standpoint of the veterinarian, but also because of the possible risk to public health here in the USA. Genetic diseases are common in dogs due to the selective breeding necessary to produce individual dog breeds. Due to the popularity of both commercial and homemade dog foods, nutrition is also a heavily studied subject.

Dogs suffer from many of the same diseases that humans do such as skin alergies, skin infections, cancer, arthritis, heart problems, diabetes, epilepsy and many more. We address some of the health problems below.

All dogs, at one point or another have had a case of diarrhea. Most diarrhea lasts one or two days. However when diarrhea continues over a long period of time it causes concern. If the diarrhea gets severe, and is uncontrolled liquid squirts, you need to be concerned. Think of the dog as your baby. If your baby has a soft stool in his/her diaper, it may not be a cause for you to seek your doctors advice. For instance, if you have tried a new food which upset the baby's belly. If this is the case for your puppy, it may be fine for you to treat it at home. However, if your baby, had uncontrolled diarrhea, you would seek a medical doctor's advise, as there could be an underlying cause. Like a baby, a puppy can dehydrate FAST from severe diarrhea. REMEMBER, diarrhea can be mild or severe and the treatments differ.

Some dogs get doggy flu bugs, others may eat a strange food and cause stomach upset.

Diarrhea from change is common. You need to deal with it and not ignore it.

Ignoring diarrhea in a puppy lowers the immune system, and can dehydrate even an adult dog.

There are a number of different Worms that can affect your dog. Roundworms, tapeworms, hookworms, whip worms and heartworms. Some live in intestines and some in the tissue. Many worms do not pose a problem for your dog at all, and you will not even be aware that they are even there. Some worms can be tolerated in small numbers, but in high numbers can create serious problems. Generally a dog should be treated every 6 months for the first two. Roundworms and Tapeworms. They are the most common, roundworm being the bigger problem.

Heat

The summer months can be brutal to your dog. Dogs are much more susceptible to heatstroke than humans. One reason for this is, your dog wears his fur coat all year round. And while dogs do have sweat glands on their feet, they do not have them on the rest of their body. They rely on panting, a method of breathing out excess heat, to cool down their bodies. This method is not as affective as sweating.

Some breeds are much more susceptible to the heat then others. Dogs with thick, double-coats have a harder time beating the heat. Also dogs with pushed back faces, such as Bulldogs, Pugs and Boxers, have smaller airways, and therefore have less of an ability to blow out hot air.

The major cause of heatstroke in dogs is leaving a dog in a parked car. Even with the windows cracked on a 70° F to 80° F day, while it may feel comfortable outside, the inside of your car can heat up to over 100° F in minutes! As you can imagine, with that fur coat on, your dog's body temperature rises very quickly.

Exercising in hot weather is another common way heatstroke can occur. As with humans, older dogs, over-weight dogs and or dogs with heart or lung ailments, are much more likely to suffer from heatstroke than younger dogs that are more in shape. Do not push your dog to exercise on very hot or humid days.