Bowker Saur Pet Blog

Pet insurance is definitely a good idea if you consider things in the long run. With veterinary services getting more and more expensive as time goes by, both you and your pet will benefit from a pet insurance. If your pet suffers an accident or simply gets ill, you will probably have to spend very large amounts of money to help him out. With the appropriate pet insurance plan you don’t have to worry about such situation anymore.

Your veterinary clinic most likely deals already with insured pets and will know more about the necessary paperwork; the bottom line is that you won’t have to spend large sums of money out of your pocket each time your animal best friend gets sick or suffers some sort of accident.

The best part about pet insurance policies is that you can easily find more information online. Even better, you can easily get the right pet insurance with just a few clicks and probably get a nice discount for shopping online.

Here are few ideas for homemade dog toys that I’ve gathered from the web and comments that you’ve posted on this site.

I hope they provide you with some inspiration for making your own dog toys – please add to the list with any other suggestions you have.

The plastic bottle is a much under rated toy in my opinion, Zoe has had hours of fun chasing plastic milk bottles around the deck.

Don’t let your dog play unsupervised with the bottles, they can easily crack and you don’t want your dog swallowing the plastic. Ideally, just use the bottle once and then dispose of it.

The Plain Plastic Bottle – it doesn’t get any easier than this; just remove the cap and labels, squeeze the bottle so it makes a great crackly sound to get your dog’s attention, throw it up in the air and off you go, an instant toy for your dog to chase and fetch.

Stanley Coren reminds you that you can always take the bottle back for your deposit once your dog has finished playing with it.

Now we know what is causing the problem of the barking dog, we can begin with some tips for dog training. Firstly, never yell at your dog! This is a problem that increases the problem of the barking dog. So we must stop it, and this is why. When your dog is out barking at someone or something, and you come out and begin to yell towards your dog, your dog may not realize you are yelling at them. They could see it in 3 different ways.

1. They may believe you are doing what they are doing, yelling (or barking) at the treat – someone getting too close to their home and thus barking or defending them away.
2. You are playing a game with them. They bark you yell. A loud noise game, which can cause a long amount of barking. Ever seen a dog owner yelling a their dog and the dog continues to bark? Well they could be thinking their owner is playing a game with them.
3. That you are in fact yelling at them and they are in trouble.

You should take the alternative approach, grab a small treat call them over and praise them for stopping the barking and for coming to you. If you continue to praise their good behavior they will stop the behavior that they don’t get praised for. A very effective strategy for obedience training your barking dog.

Punishing your dog for bad behavior can only confuse them as they do not know what is going on and why they are in trouble. However praising a dog for good behavior, they will relate what they have done to be praised, and they love the attention. They are not referred to as man’s best friend for nothing, they will do anything for their owners attention, and enjoy it more than anything in the world!

Now from this praising technique, you now have a basis to continue this over and over and over again. People sometimes ask why would you want them to stop dog barking when you call them? I respond why not? And I give you this question to yourself to answer.

“Would you prefer your dog to never bark at all, or would you prefer them to bark at strangers who maybe coming to close to your yard (or could be robbers) but on the instant that you call them they stop and come to you?”

My response is always I would prefer them to defend the house with their barking, as this also alarms me to the fact that someone is out there and stop on my command, than a dog that is too scared to bark because of the techniques some people use these day.

Medicated dog shampoos come in a variety of forms. The most common being oatmeal, but there are other types that you will want to consider depending on your dog and his needs.

If your dog has dry skin and skin allergies, you may want to consider a natural oatmeal- based dog shampoo. Shampoos with aloe vera will help relieve fleabites and will reduce itching. The aloe vera will alos help soften your dog’s skin. You may consider using pepperment and tea tree shampoos, as they contain minerals that act as antiseptics, as well as a natural bug repellent. Shampoos with hydrocortisone and lidocaine will help relieve inflammation and itching.

If your dog has oily, scaly skin and dog dandruff caused by seborrhea or eczema, you’ll want to purchase a medicated shampoo with coal tar. If the dog is experiencing just mild dandruff is usually caused by dry skin, which you can fix by just changing the shampoo, so try that before you try using coal tar mixed with the medicated shampoo.

If you dog still has dry, scaly skin after changing the shampoo, you’ll want to contact your veterinarian to rule out a skin condition.

Pet insurance is health insurance for animals. Pet Insurance operates just like health insurance for humans, with premiums payments, and deductibles, and various coverage plans. Plans are based on the pet’s age, species, pre-existing conditions, and in some cases, whether they are indoor or outdoor pets. Most companies begin their coverage for pets when the pet is between 6 or 8 weeks old. Depending on the company, the policy may be extend the lifetime of the animal, or it may expire after your pet has reached a certain age. Pet insurance can be further classified into different types, according to the pet(s) you have. These include dog insurance, cat insurance, reptile insurance, bird insurance etc. Please refer to www.lowcostpetinsurance.co.uk for more information.

Just having the best pet insurance isn’t enough to secure your cat’s healthy and happy future. Here are a few tips to help you make sure that your cat lives all of his nine lives.

Don’t overfeed your cat. Just because a cat is circling his food dish does not mean that you should feed him more than once or twice a day. Overfeeding a cat can lead to obesity, which is the gateway for several future cat health problems.

Better yet, keep your cat indoors. According to the ASPCA, indoor cats tend to live three times longer than their outdoor friends. Cats who are allowed outdoors are more susceptible to accidents and infectious diseases.

Buy good food. Inexpensive pet food tends to be lower in nutritional value, which can cause future health problems for your cat. Cheaper food is often full of fillers, which can lead to hyperactivity in some breeds of cats.

Cut those nails! Keeping a cat’s claws short is not just useful for maintaining the health of your living room sofa. Short nails also insure that your cat will not injure himself when scratching an itch.

Give your cat monthly flea treatment. Saving your cat from itching and scratching keeps them happy and ensures that thpesky fleas won’t be all over your furniture.

It is a fact that pet urine and pet odor are some of the most difficult odors to get rid of. There is Glade that you spray around but it only covers up the problem and doesn’t offer a real solution. You also have Febreeze to get rid of the pet odor but that doesn’t work as well since the smell will come back in as little as a few minutes.

If you have a dog or cat inside the home you could try spraying a bit of vinegar on the carpet and furniture. Vinegar works pretty good at eating up what causes the odor, however, you are left with the smell that vinegar gives off. So you can see why many people avoid using it.

There are chemical based odor removers but the problem with those is that they are toxic to your pets. If you pet starts licking those surfaces, your pet can get poisoned. So avoid using chemical based odor removers.

Pet odor removal can be safely done with a product called What Odor? It is naturally made and it is non-toxic. That means that your pets wont be at risk of getting poisoned. It is safe to use around children and pets. You probably saw the Billy Mays ads for it on TV. It is a good product.

This pet odor eliminator is guaranteed to work. It also works at removing other odors like cigarette smell, kitchen smells, bathroom smells in more. However, it was done with pets in mind and the difficulty that removing pet odor is.

You can get What Odor? for the small price of $19.99. You get two 16 ounce bottles and you also get two 6 ounze travel size bottles. The formula is very effective so it will last you a long time. If you would like to view the commercial and consider ordering this great pet odor removal product, click here: What Odor?

To many people, pet sitting appears far too mundane to be considered an art in the traditional sense of the term, and no one seriously considers the pet sitter as an artist in any way, shape, or form. Then again, there’s definitely a science and methodology behind what pet sitters do, so whether you assign them to cat sitting duties or make them your dog walker of sorts, you can easily recognize that certain skills and abilities are needed in order for them to complete their tasks successfully. Moreover, aspiring pet sitters should realize that regardless of how ordinary dog or cat day care looks to the layman, it’s still an art form as far as pet care is concerned.

Regarding petsitting as an art form as well as a lucrative business opportunity is what would-be petsitters should always keep in mind in order to continually succeed in this thriving and competitive industry. More to the point, starting a pet sitting business (like any other business) isn’t a very simple task or a straightforward process to undertake. For example, if you’re a novice pet care professional-to-be, you need to first understand that you’re no expert in this field, and the established pet sitters that you regularly consult with in order to show you the ropes won’t make up for your inexperience.

You have to be honest with clients who have pets you’ve never cared for before. Your candor and commitment will help a lot in building long-term customer confidence and trust in your pet sitting business. Also, in order to compensate for your lack of knowledge, a self-education program about the pet care business is certainly a must. A love for animals is not enough to make you a viable petsitter. Aside from just consulting with more experienced entrepreneurs about pet care fundamentals, you must also know about other crucial job details like filing, marketing, sales, accounting, and advertising.

The mites that can cause mange in dogs (both sarcoptic and demodectic) will always be present on the dog’s body, but in small numbers they usually cause no harm. Dogs are immune to infestation unless they are put in situations that will lower their immunity, or are of the breed that have a predilection to mites. Since mange is a skin disease, most owners would think that it really is not that dangerous. But mange infestations do tend to get worse and opens the dog to further opportunistic infections.

Severe mange infestations can have the following effect:

1. It can allow other harmless microorganisms to infect your dog like fungi, or harmful bacteria. The skin condition will worsen, and it could lead to sepsis and shock. Some dogs with mange infestations in a local area like around the eyes can also get eye infections. Although antibiotics will clear these infections, they will recur if the mange is not treated along with it.

2. Because your dog will be feeling extremely uncomfortable, the dog will also likely act poorly. He will not have a good appetite, and will lead to the degeneration of his physical well being. Weight loss is just another way to weaken an already compromised immune system. In this weakened state, the dog can just catch about anything, despite the fact that he is vaccinated for them. Vaccinations are never 100% effective against the diseases that they are made for. They are only an added security for your dog’s health.

3.A mange infested dog can pass his mange to other dogs and in the case of sarcoptic mange, even to you. The mites will not live long in your body, that is true enough, but that doesn’t mean they won’t keep trying to live there whenever they can. As long as your dog has these types of mange, there will be occasions that you will itch along with him.

Mange infections are treatable and prevention is not that hard, either. An infestation can be very uncomfortable for your dog, and there is no reason to let it continue. If you see symptoms of mange on your dog, take him to the vet as soon as possible. The earlier the infestation is caught, the easier it will be to get rid of it. It will also be less expensive and bothersome for you.

Ah, the holidays. Chestnuts roasting, families gathering, fireplaces glowing… and then there’s Gina Spadafori’s life:

Some people seem to have bad luck over the holidays, and I have traditionally been one of them. I’ve filled the house with smoke from a poorly laid fire in the fireplace just before guests arrived for dinner, and I’ve tripped over a sleeping dog on Christmas morning and ended up in the emergency room (the dog was fine; I went home with a cast).

But that’s nothing compared to the disasters that seem to dog the pets in our family over the years. I’ve spent good parts of many holidays in after-hours veterinary clinics, and a few times those trips were for problems that could have been prevented.

Fortunately, the better part of two decades — and most of my writing career — have passed since my last holiday pet disaster, and I’d like to think it’s because I learned a few things along the way. In the interest of helping your holiday season go easier, I’d like to remind you of what to look out for in the weeks to come.