Category Archives: Preventative Care

Feb 26 2013

World Spay Day

Posted on by

Today, February 26th, 2013 is ‘World Spay Day‘ which is an annual event hosted by The Humane Society of the United States in conjunction with Humane Society International. To see the list of other sponsors click here.  World Spay Day is dedicated to spreading awareness about the importance of spaying and neutering our pets.

worldspayday

As I’m sure you all know, part of being a responsible pet owner is getting your dog or cat spayed or neutered. Each year 6-8 million dogs and cats enter shelters nationwide. Only half of those animals are ever adopted, which means the other half are being euthanized.  Yet thousands of litters of puppies and kittens are intentionally (and non-intentionally) brought into this world each year.  By doing your part (although it may feel like a small and insignificant act) and getting your pet fixed, you can help make a change in the right direction. Talk to your friends and family about the importance of spaying and neutering their pets, and now you’ve payed it forward just a little bit more.

Most shelters include a spay/neuter surgery with their adoption fee, so adoption can be a great way to get a healthy pet quite affordably.  Many shelters and rescue programs are also able to get you in touch with a low cost spay/neuter program if you simply ask for their help. A ‘free dog’ from the paper isn’t free any longer once you’ve spent hundreds of dollars in supplies, vaccines and other vet care which is one of the reasons that I promote and support adoption whenever anyone is seeking to add a furry companion to their family.

If you’re looking to get involved with World Spay Day, click here for a list of WSD events near you. Or maybe you’re in need of a low cost spay/neuter program for your own pet? Please see the various resources available to you here.

I’d love to know how many of you have your pets spayed or neutered? Both Bear and Scooter have been neutered for years, and we wouldn’t have it any other way! All of my pets growing up were always fixed too, and I thank my parents for instilling good pet ownership in us at a young age. We had two female dogs, three cats, and even Bear who were all dutifully fixed under my parents care.

With a lofty goal of 55,000 spay/neuters there is still a long way to go…please help spread the word!

Dec 6 2012

Winter Wishlist

Posted on by

I’ve already done one Christmas roundup this year (check our these awesome Etsy finds!) and I still owe you a round up for the dog lovers in your life, but I just had to share this one today.

I was browsing amazon last night when this little gem popped up:

Needless to say, I couldn’t say ‘ohhh I need one of these‘ fast enough! I added it to my amazon wishlist, and also to the SheSpeaksBark’s Amazon store (if any of you are interested in one of your own).

With all the foster dogs I’ve been hauling around, this has become practically a necessity in my life. I’ve got the seats protected, and this handy blocker would help ensure the dogs actually stay on the seats they’re supposed to be on. Both Bear and Maverick try to jump in the front seat to wait for me if I leave them in the car for a moment. (annoying!)

I was ‘sold’ on this seat block in particular because its more affordable than other options I’ve seen, and it comes with storage pockets that I could stuff treats, leashes and poop bags in.

What do you use to keep your dogs ‘under control’ in the car?

Nov 26 2012

Fluff-ified

Posted on by

Scooter’s officially been fluff-ified!

Our vets office was able to squeeze him in at the last minute for his free grooming session (more on how we won that here) before we left for Thanksgiving weekend. They are super awesome over there, I’ve never been happier with a vets office in my life. I’m sad that we’ll be moving before too long, and will have to start the search again for another good veterinarian wherever we end up next.

He’d never been professionally groomed up until this point, so I wasn’t sure how he’d react to the whole thing. I’ve always done it myself, which he has tolerated begrudgingly, but I assumed he’d probably behave better for strangers.

I was at work while they groomed him, and picked him up over my lunch break. He came out happy as a clam and smelling like ‘pumkin pie cologne’. He’s literally half the size he was before! Pomeranians have a double coat of hair, so the groomers stripped out his entire undercoat, and then trimmed some of the longest hair in his outer coat.  When I groom him at home I worked in sections to strip out the under coat, but it never occurred to me that trimming the outer coat a bit really cleans things up.  He looks amazing!  The best part was that he got to spend the rest of the day with me at work- we had a blast! He schmoozed all the customers and came home a happy camper. They sent him home wearing a bandana that he proudly displayed to Bear & Maverick. Bragging rights, doncha know?

Pssst: Maverick wants to know why you haven’t entered our giveaway contest yet? There’s 4 more days to get your name in for a chance to win a Kyjen Hide-A-Squirrel toy (just in time for Christmas)!!

Nov 6 2012

D.A.P Collar {Product Review}

Posted on by

Ever heard of D.A.P? It stands for Dog Appeasing Pheromone.  I first came across this little gem of ‘pet whispering’ back when I worked at the animal shelter. We used D.A.P and its feline counterpart feliway to comfort animals who were stressed by the shelter environment. Generally a few spritzes to a towel was all that was needed to calm an upset dog or cat.

D.A.P. is available in three different application methods: spritz, collar, & diffuser. This allows you to really customize your pets method of treatment. We thought we’d like to try something new for Bear’s anxiety. He’s recently starting licking a few spots on his legs when he gets nervous, and we’ve had to resort to him wearing a cone on occasion so he’ll leave them alone.

The diffuser works just like a glade plug-in and refills last probably 1-2 months. I’ve never used D.A.P (dog version) diffusers but I have seen the feliway diffusers work wonders. This method is great for apartment dwellers, or if your pet is often contained to a single/few rooms (Ex. crated, confined to a portion of the home)

The spritz lasts quite awhile, and I think it works well for pets who are stressed by certain events. For instance, we always take ours with us when we travel because it helps keep the dogs calm in our hotel room. It works great for us to spray it directly in the dogs kennel, blanket, or even a bandanna their wearing.  Others may use the spritz to keep their dog calm in the car or during a thunderstorm. It can keep a cat comfy on the ride to the vets office or when guests visit.

The collar is just so darn convenient. Reminiscent of a flea collar (but with no detectable odor at all!) this plastic-y collar emits the D.A.P pheromone continuously for about a month. It is great for anxiety issues where it’s constant presence is most helpful. The only issue I have with the collar is that it’s very hard to tell when it has ‘run out’ because a human can’t smell it to begin with!

 

I’d seen the D.A.P spray and diffusers around for years, but the collars were new to me. So I had to order one and try it out for myself. While I do believe the collar really worked for Bear, I also realize it is not a sustainable method for our family. At $24.95 for a single month’s supply, that gets un-affordable quite quickly. Instead, I’ve opted for the glass spritz bottle which we can use much more sparingly. This way we’re also able to use the D.A.P in situations where we know it will be most helpful for our own pets.

*Each pet is an individual, so the treatment methods and effectiveness will vary from pet to pet. Always consult your vet before making a change in your dogs diet or health care routine. 

**These products were fully purchased and paid for by yours truly. D.A.P, Comfort Zone, or Adaptil have no clue who I am, OR that I’m writing this review. I’ve simply had success with their products, and wanted to share my experience with you. However, some of the links in this post are affiliate links which generate a small bit of revenue for SheSpeaksBark.

Sep 25 2012

Scootie’s Car Seat

Posted on by

Haha! Isn’t my little babycakes TOO CUTE in that car seat? Ahh those teeny paws….

This little car-seat has been a great improvement in Scooter’s car riding experience as of late. Not only is he up off the seat (and can’t be stepped on or squashed by big brother Bear) but he’s finally got somewhat of a view out the windows. Wahoo!

He’s also a heckofalot safer when he’s all strapped in here safely. Scooter doesn’t ride in the car seat continuously on long car rides because we do like to give him a chance to move about and stretch some too, but it’s a great place for him to tuck away for a nap for a few hours. This is our Travel Tip # 2.

With our new seat cover and now Scootie car seat we’re ridin’ in style! Bring on the roadtrip/vacation- we’re ready!!

Jun 11 2012

Bugs be Gone!

Posted on by

Ahhh, ‘Herbal Highlights’ are one of my favorite posts to put together! Lately, I’ve been working hard to come up with a natural solution to repel fleas and ticks. You see, ever since I placed my last ($100!) order for flea and tick meds my minds been spinning. After hitting ‘submit order‘ for four months worth of flea meds for the boys, instant regret sunk in. I’d stumbled onto some research suggesting some pretty nasty negative side effects. I’ve been grossed out by these chemically additions to the boys’ monthly routine for long enough and just couldn’t stand it anymore.

[I talked to hubby about going 'au natural' with the boys insect repellent  The flea meds package came in the mail. We hemmed. We hawed. The package went back through the mail. My credit card got refunded. Extensive research began. I finally decided on a two-part method that we could (probably) live with]

 The kicker in all this came when we found four, FOUR, ticks on Bear in a single week WHILE HE HAD K9-ADVANTIX ON!!! I was appalled. And disgusted. Why pay all this money to put chemicals all over my poor dogs when they aren’t even doing what they’re supposed to anyway! Grrr. That was the end of the line for me.

My two-part method to natural flea and tick prevention goes a little like this. #1 Protect from the inside-out. #2 And protect from the outside. Maybe/possibly confusing, allow me to explain.

I’m going to use a bug repellent tonic that can be given to the dogs in their food (protect from inside-out), coupled with a natural bug repellent that can be spritzed onto the dogs coats (protects from the outside).  I’m not promising this will work. But. I think it will! I AM promising that I’ll share the full details of how this works out. No matter what. Oh, and I did promise hubby we’d go back to the commercial flea and tick repellent if my awesome natural methods turn out not-so-awesome. Disclaimer over. Let’s move on.

For the past month I have been giving the boys apple cider vinegar in their water (they drink it up just fine, about 2 TBS per bowl) and garlic powder in their food. Both are known bug repellents that slightly change the pH of your dogs skin to make it less appealing to nasty little critters. This new tonic recipe is an easy way for me to accomplish both of those feats in one. The dandelion in this recipe packs additional anti-bug punch which should make this more effective (I hope!).

I started out by finding the best dandelion in our yard (hah, so odd to be saying that). This one had tons of leaves, and even a few flowers still. I used a trowel and dug down to get as much root as I could (I didn’t do a great job…).  Next I brought the dandelion inside and rinsed it thoroughly.

The supplies were simple:  a clean jar, Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV), minced garlic, dandelion root, flower, and leaves.

Step 1: Add garlic to the jar

Step Two: Add dandelion bits & pieces

Step 3: Fill jar with ACV

Step 4: Replace lid, shake, let sit in warm place for 1-2 months. You can begin using the mixture after its steeped for a few days.

The recipe recommends scooping straight from your jar and adding to food or water.

The recipe advises 1 teaspoon per 20 lbs body weight. I’ve been adding this to the boys’ food (and discontinuing the garlic powder we feed of course) so that I can accurately control the amount each of them is getting. If they were closer to the same weight, I might add this to their water instead but that’s just not an option for our family.

Just like with all our other herbal supplements, I don’t use this on a daily basis. I believe in taking three days off a week for any given supplement to ensure a toxic build-up doesn’t occur. Our dogs also receive a lot of meat and vegetables in their diet which provide their own variety of vitamins and minerals. Aside from the “Bugs be Gone” tonic, we’re also supplementing with cinnamon, and Nupro.

Since I’ve already been using ACV and garlic with pretty great results, I’m not too worried about the effectiveness of this little tonic. If we see things aren’t working as we’d expected though, we’ll be sure to share! Any of you out there use any natural flea/tick methods of your own? Please share in the comments! Who’s ready to whip up a batch of their own??

Be sure to speak with your vet before changing your dogs diet. Garlic has been controversial in dogs, so it is best to run this by your vet before giving to your dog to avoid any sort of negative reaction. We are not veterinarians and this is not intended to be nutritional or medical advise.

I’ll be back next week with the second way we’re tacking nasty fleas and ticks this year!

Feb 8 2011

Find strength in numbers

Posted on by

Going to the dentist or doctors office is something that most of us humans dread. Its just not usually a pleasant experience. And I think its safe to assume that most of our dogs feel the same way. Getting poked, prodded, and picked at in an unfamiliar place can be unnerving to say the least. Do you have to fight with your dog to get them through the vets front door? (Yep, I’ve really seen that happen) Then these pointers are for you!

Help your dog learn to walk confidently into the vets next time

For the scaredy-dog:

  • Take your dog for a ride in the car somewhere fun, like a dog park or open field. That way she won’t assume each car ride is leading to that same dreaded destination and will enjoy going places with you more.
  • Make it a positive experience. Have the vets staff give her treats and gentle praise when you arrive to help ease nerves.
  • Visit the vet sometime when you don’t have an appointment to just drop in and say a quick hello- that should help her realize even the vets office isn’t always a scary experience. 

If you’re a multi-dog household there are a few other options to try out. Always take your dogs to the vet together because they will find comfort in having pack members near them. Don’t have the dogs seen by the vet on the same day though.

For instance, if Bear needed an update on his rabies shot, I would take both him and Scooter even though Scooter didn’t need to be seen. Bear would get poked, prodded the whole works, while Scooter was able to just soak up the experience. When we leave, Scooter is left with the impression that the vets office is just a fun place to hang out and won’t stress about it next time we need to visit.

High five to no stress!