Cleaning Your Dog’s Teeth

Providing good oral care for our canine family members can actually extend their lives by as much as three to five years. In order to successfully clean your dog’s teeth, you must get your dog used to having its mouth handled by lifting its lips and examining the teeth. Do this 2-3 times per week, and each time, give your pet a small treat and lots of praise after you have finished. Your dog will be more comfortable with the teeth cleaning process when it knows there will be a treat when it's over.

Introduce toothbrushing slowly to gradually accustom your dog to having you handle its mouth.

You'll need a dog toothbrush (a wash cloth or gauze pad wrapped around your finger also works well), and toothpaste specially formulated for animal use. Dogs cannot spit, and human toothpaste is not safe to swallow in large quantities. Your dog will most likely swallow whatever you use to clean its teeth with, so it is important to buy toothpaste that has been formulated specifically for dogs. A good alternative for cleaning your dog’s teeth is a solution of vitamin C and water in a ratio of half teaspoon of vitamin C to a cup of water.

Position yourself on the floor, with your dog in front of you. With smaller breeds or puppies, you can hold the dog in your lap. It may be necessary to start with gauze and work up to the toothbrush. Lift your dog's upper lip and clean your dog’s teeth in a circular motion, making sure to brush at the base of each tooth where it meets the gum line. The toothbrush bristles should be angled at 45-degrees to the tooth surface. Also, make sure to clean your dog’s back molar teeth, which are more likely than the front teeth to develop problems. Gently force the bristles into the area around the base of the tooth and the spaces between the teeth with about ten short back and forth strokes, focusing on the outside of the upper teeth.

Do only one or two teeth the first few times. As your dog becomes comfortable with teeth cleaning, brush more teeth in each session. Clean your dog’s teeth twice a week. Always give your dog a small treat after each session.

Hard bones are the primary cause of your dog’s teeth breaking; knuckle bones are soft.

Giving bones to your pet to chew on is an effective method for keeping tarter from accumulating and aids in keeping your dog’s teeth clean. Raw knuckle bones (the joints), from your local butcher or meat counter at the supermarket, are great because they are soft and allow your dog to scrape its teeth into the bone, nicely cleaning food and tartar from teeth. These bones still have some tendons and muscle meat. They will clean your dog’s teeth and provide a nice oral workout as well as a healthy amount of natural calcium. Your dog will enjoy a good knuckle bone. It will be content and relaxed while chewing, and a little sleepy afterwards. Keep your dog on a towel that is easily washed.

Cooked bones can splinter and cause mouth injury as well as intestinal problems.

Supervise your dog to prevent it from swallowing a large piece of bone, which may cause choking or digestive problems. Give your dog bones that are too large to swallow and NOT cooked. Do NOT give unthawed frozen bones to avoid the possible breaking of teeth. Raw carrots are a good substitute for cleaning your dog’s teeth.

Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/1014011/Cleaning-Your-Dogs-Teeth

Booger the pit bull is back! All five of him...

An interesting news about cloning of dog...

SEOUL (Reuters) - The loss of Booger the pit bull terrier was almost more than Bernann McKinney could bear.

Now she is happy, minus $50,000 and her house, and owner of five cloned Booger puppies.

"It is a miracle for me because I was able to smile again, laugh again and just feel alive again," McKinney told a news conference in the South Korea capital to show off the week-old black puppies -- all of whose names include the word Booger.

They are the work of the biotech firm RNL Bio, affiliated with the South Korean lab which produced the world's first cloned dog and is staffed with former associates of disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk.

She sold her house in the United States to raise the $50,000 for RNL scientists to turn skin cells taken from Booger before he died two years ago into embryos carried by two surrogate dogs for two months until giving birth to the puppies last week.

Read more...

Common Health Problems and Diseases of Puppies

When I first had my pet, when he's still a puppy, he was so fragile. I guess most of puppies are. They are prone to sickness/diseases. It's always great to take the puppies away from those health problems for all time. And best way to get rid of those problems is to prevent the infections or other health problems basic to intermediate knowledge about caring for your new born puppy is very important.

Here are some of the few common puppy health problems and diseases that a weak puppy might be susceptible to.

Hypothermia:

Hypothermia is one of the major problems. A tiny new born puppy has difficulty regulating it's body temperature as it's thermoregulatory system may not be fully developed yet. One common solution is to keep a new born puppy in a moderate heated environment of 85-90F degrees for the first two to three weeks.

How can you do that? Simple, use a heated dog lamp or warming lamp. Also, it is a good practice to use warm bottles (not hot as they might be dangerous) and a puppy warming blanket. Use hypoallergenic cotton blankets as an alternative because they retain some body heat.

Parvovirus:

This is a common diseases for a young puppy and a dog. As a dog owner, ensure that your puppy is adequately protected against the deadly Parvovirus disease. Parvovirus is a contagious disease that attacks the lining of the dog or puppy's digestive system. It is usually spread through feces of another infected dog. Parvo can also be carried on kennels, crates and accessories of another dog.

Symptoms include lack of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, weariness and putrid smelling dog stool. These symptoms have also been linked to high fever which could lead to congestive heart failure.

Make sure that your puppies are vaccinated under a proper program and a health time table. Veterinarians recommend that infected puppies should not be taken to the dog park or even the yard where they can interact with other dogs, until the proper vaccination and injections are administered.

Colostrum:

This is an anti-body that can be given to your new born puppy at approximately 24 hours after birth.

How? Simple, by feeding your puppy the full-bodied first milk of it's mother. This step if available, is critical to your puppy's health and health problems prevention.

If you are concerned about your new born puppy' slower absorption rate; it is quite common, visit your local vet for a consultation about their Colustum's absorption rate. Your vet will usually do a blood test to check your puppy's anti-body absorption rate and if needed, your vet will then proceed to inject some serum from it's mother to speed up the process.

Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeremy_Wong

Daily Vitamins for Dogs

Just like humans, our pets also need proper nutrition for their daily activities. Some may take their dog's health for granted, thinking that they're healthy physically, where the fact is they're not.

It is known that a healthy diet for our dogs is one of the best ways that we can say "essential" to them in terms of maintaining health and warding them from illness and deadly diseases. However, we're humans right? Therefore, it is necessary that our daily lives are much different from our dogs. In other words we are as "busy" humans that sometimes, we don't have enough time for our pets. And sometimes, we even let them skip their meals...and even feeding them with high-quality commercial food which doesn't provide all the nutrition that an animal needs to stay healthy and strong in today's world.

So what's the most solution to that? Give them a high quality daily vitamin that can supplement them with the optimal level of nutrients that may be missing from their food.

Fat-soluble vitamins:

• Vitamin A plays an important role in bone growth, tooth development, reproduction, cell division and gene expression. Also, the skin, eyes and mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, throat and lungs depend on vitamin A to remain moist.

Sign of deficiency: Conjunctivitis; cataracts, retinal degeneration, and other eye problems; weight loss; muscle weakness; reproductive and developmental disorders
Signs of excess: Skeletal lesions in kittens, particularly outgrowths of the cervical vertebrae, osteoporosis

• Vitamin D plays a critical role in the body’s use of calcium and phosphorous. It increases the amount of calcium absorbed from the small intestine and helps form and maintain bones. Puppies and kittens especially need adequate amounts of vitamin D to develop strong bones and healthy teeth.

Signs of deficiency: Rickets; abnormalities in skeletal development; progressive paralysis; reduction in body weight and food intake
Sign of excess: Poor appetite; vomiting; lethargy; calcification of soft tissues

• Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant, protecting vitamins A and C, red blood cells and essential fatty acids from destruction. Research has shown that vitamin E may help prevent heart disease and cancer.

Signs of deficiency: Poor appetite; depression; pain sensitivity in abdomen; fat tissue pathology

• Vitamin K plays an essential role in normal blood clotting and helps promote bone health.

Signs of deficiency: Excess bleeding; prolonged blood clotting time.

Water-soluble vitamins:
B-complex vitamins and vitamin C are water-soluble vitamins that are not stored in the body, are eliminated in urine, and must be replaced each day. All animals need a continuous supply of them in their diets.

• Vitamin C helps hold body cells together, aids in wound healing, assists in bone and tooth formation, strengthens the blood vessel walls, is vital for the function of the immune system, and improves absorption and utilization of iron. It also helps prevent nutritional ailments such as scurvy. Vitamin C serves as an antioxidant, and works with vitamin E as a free-radical scavenger. Studies suggest that vitamin C may reduce the risk of certain cancers, heart disease and cataracts.

Eight of the water-soluble vitamins are known as the B-complex group: thiamin (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin B12, biotin and pantothenic acid. These vitamins are widely distributed in foods. They function as coenzymes that help the body obtain energy from food. They also are important for normal appetite, good vision, healthy skin, a healthy nervous system and red blood cell formation.

Vitamin B1 (thiamin)
Signs of deficiency: Neurological impairments including altered reflexes and convulsive seizures; heart-rate disorders; pathological changes in the central nervous system

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
Signs of deficiency: Cataracts; fatty livers; testicular atrophy

Vitamin B3 (niacin)
Signs of deficiency: Poor appetite; weight loss; fiery red tongue, with ulceration and congestion

Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)
Signs of deficiency: Stunted growth; fatty changes in liver; small bowel lesions

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)
Signs of deficiency: Stunted growth; convulsive seizures; kidney lesions

Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) and Folic Acid
Signs of deficiency: Weight loss; vomiting; diarrhea; intestinal disorders

Biotin is a co-enzyme necessary for many reactions in the body. It assists in the making of fatty acids, and in the burning up of fatty acids and carbohydrates for body heat and energy. It also aids in the utilization of amino acids, folic acid, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B12.
Signs of deficiency: dermatitis and muscle pains

Minerals are found in the bones, teeth, soft tissue, muscle, blood, and nerve cells. They act as catalysts for many biological reactions within the body, including digestion and metabolism of food, transmission of messages throughout the nervous system, and muscle response. They are also important in the production of hormones. There is a synergism that occurs between minerals and other nutrients in the body, and the actions of specific minerals are dependent on the presence and proper amounts of other nutrients.

Important minerals:
• Calcium is essential to the formation of bones and teeth; blood coagulation; nerve impulse transmission; muscle contraction; cell signaling.
Signs of deficiency: Nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism; loss of bone mineral content, which can lead to collapse and curvature of lumbar vertebrae and pelvic bones; bone pain, which can progress to fractures.

• Chromium is a trace mineral that is essential for the transfer of sugar from the bloodstream to muscle cells, thereby giving them the fuel they need to work. Chromium is involved in maintaining cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and is necessary for muscle function.

• Iodine is important for thyroid hormone synthesis; cell differentiation; growth and development of puppies; regulation of metabolic rate.
Signs of deficiency: Enlargement of thyroid glands
Signs of excess: Excessive tearing, salivation and nasal discharge; dandruff

• Iron is essential to hemoglobin and myoglobin synthesis; energy metabolism.
Signs of deficiency: Poor growth; pale mucous membranes; lethargy; weakness; diarrhea
Signs of Excess: Vomiting and diarrhea

• Magnesium is needed for enzyme functions; muscle and nerve cell membrane stability; hormone secretion and function; mineral structure of bones and teeth.
Signs of deficiency: Poor growth; overextension of the carpal joints; muscle twitching; convulsions
Signs of excess: Urinary tract stone formation in the presence of high pH

• Phosphorus is needed for skeletal structure; DNA and RNA structure; energy metabolism; locomotion; acid-base balance
Sign of deficiency: Hemolytic anemia; locomotor disturbances; metabolic acidosis

• Potassium is needed for acid-base balance; nerve-impulse transmission; enzymatic reactions; transport functions
Signs of deficiency: Poor appetite; retarded growth; neurological disorders, including severe muscle weakness

• Selenium is important for defense against oxidative damage; immune response

• Zinc is needed for enzyme reactions; cell replication; protein and carbohydrate metabolism; skin function; wound healing
Skin lesions; growth retardation; testicular damage

Amino acids

There are 22 different amino acids that mammals need for various metabolic and energy activities. Dogs and cats are able to manufacture 12 of these, but need to get the rest in their diets. Because they are only obtained through food, they are called essential amino acids.

Additionally, cats require taurine in order to live. Without it, our feline friends develop dramatic health problems, including reproductive failure, growth retardation, retinal degeneration and heart failure.

Folic acid (folate)
Signs of deficiency: Decreased growth rate; increased iron levels in blood.

SOURCE: http://www.holisticpetinfo.com/Conditions/vitamins.htm

Friendster for Human, Dogster for Dogs

Social sites now are so in. Many of us enjoy the cool features of it. Finding old friends, new friends and even those that we've never known. Sites like Friendster.com, MySpace.com, HiFive, Refriends and many others.

But wait, our pets are need to be at their best too right? I guess that's the reason why Dogster.com was created.

"For the Love of Dog".

Dogster.com was created for our dog pets. Here you can create your own profile plus the profile of your dog. You can add friends too, write a blog about your pet and background of what he likes or hate.

Me of course has an account and enjoy making friends from all over the world.

You too can try it. Just sign-up and Ola! You have can create a profile that's perfect for your dog!

http://www.dogster.com

When Dog Gets Spoiled

Do you have a dog who, in any moment demands and like to do the things that he really wants?

As for me, I already have. Well, a dog like mine never listens to me most of the time. Sometimes, I'm so afraid that he'll bite me if I will never give the love and care that would satisfy him. Ok, like for instance, he strongly hates my other dog. So, everytime he sees him, he will bark to death and if given a chance he will surely fight for him. Not to mention that he's way smaller than the other. He's a spitz while the other one is obviously bigger that him.

So, what I always do is to let the other one go away, lead him to the other way and poor him, he'll walk alone.

My dog will never stop playing as long as he wants to. Everytime he's inside my room, he'll play all over and even bit every little thing that he sees. Not only that, when he thinks that he's so happy playing, he will never let you hold him. and will just give you a loud.. GGGRRRRRRR!

But, even if he's like that, he's always assure that he is beloved by me. He's the only baby that I have even if he's like that. :)

EYE PROBLEMS IN DOGS… DON’T BE FOOLED

Almost daily every animal hospital receives a call about canine eye problems; and the diversity of concern expressed by the dog’s caretaker runs a wide spectrum. There are times when veterinarians will check a frantic and anxious client’s dog only to discover an insignificant soreness in the dog’s supporting tissues around the eye (called conjunctiva). The very next “eye case” may be an advanced corneal ulcer that has allowed internal contents of the eye to actually protrude through the corneal surface! And that client might calmly state, “It’s been like that for two weeks but we though it would clear up”.

Fortunately in most veterinary practices the entire staff has been directed to prioritize all calls that express concern about a potential ocular difficulty. The reason for expediting the evaluation of any case relating to eye difficulties is that there is no way for verbal description to convey the true nature or severity of the problem. Seemingly innocent conditions can fool you… and result in an ocular emergency rather rapidly. These cases simply must be seen right away.

Let’s take the “squinting dog” as an example. Surely any dog might develop a mild irritation in an eye and squint for a few moments, and extra tear production would be expected, too. But without direct examination of the eye and attendant structures, no one (not even a Specialist in Veterinary Ophthalmology) would know if the squinting is due to a tiny scratch on the cornea, a cinder hiding beneath the third eyelid or a penetrating wound from a carelessly aimed BB gun! And one of the very first signs of systemic diseases such as Blastomycosis or cancer could be an innocent looking squint.

Read Full Article Here...