Physical Therapy for Dogs

Animal physical therapy first got its start in the big-money sport of horse racing. When you drive horses hard as all that, of course, there are going to be injuries. Since there is a lot of money riding on these horses, they worked out many rehabilitative techniques to help them. Modern physical therapy for dogs draws comes from these efforts.

Rehabilitation is about the most popular elective in veterinary medicine today. There are more than a dozen veterinary schools that offer specific courses in physical therapy for dogs, and about 500 physical therapists practice this skill today.

If you're unfamiliar with how physical therapy for dogs can help, you're probably wondering at this point, how exactly physical therapy might even be needed. How does physical therapy help a dog, exactly?

When a dog suffers an injury or undergoes surgery of some kind, a little bit of physical therapy can help considerably in the recovery. But it can do other things. It can help the dog gain better flexibility and become more athletic. It can help with weight loss, too.

Let's say for instance that your pet has just had surgery for kidney stones or something. Of course, he can't go and walk about right after, because it could be painful. If you let your pet just rest it out for a week or so, that wouldn't really work, because her joints and muscles quickly become very stiff and even start to atrophy even after a couple of days of no movement. If you find this hard to believe, just think of what happens every morning, when you get up from a full night's rest. Doesn't your entire body feel stiff?

Now imagine what would happen if you were to try to rest for a whole week without moving much? You would be completely unable to move if you were asked to get out of bed at the end of the week. Your muscles would have atrophied, and your joints would have become extremely stiff. Do that for even longer, and you might permanently lose the use of your limbs.

Physical therapy for dogs is very useful when your dog is in pain from arthritis or any kind of injury, too.

Physical therapy canine rehabilitation has come a long way from the one-size-fits-all attitude that was used at first. These days, the physical therapist will work together with your dog's veterinarian to develop a program just for your dog. It works just the way it does with people.

How to Evaluate a Seizure in Dogs

While all breeds of dog have a great personality, not all tend to health in the same way. Some breeds, such as the boxer, have some particularly worrisome health tendencies. What do you do in the event of a seizure in dogs?

Usually, there are two different kinds of seizure in dogs, in general. The first is the most serious – they coll them primary epilepsy or true epilepsy. This is where the dog inherits it the tendency, from its genes. Doctors only ever entertain the possibility last of all. They always try to rule out every other possible kind of seizure before thinking of this. With dogs like boxers that are known to have a genetic predisposition to this though, doctors may be willing to call it a seizure a little early. With most kinds of dogs though, they think about it quite a lot.

They usually investigate for secondary epilepsy first. They look for anything in the dog's environment that could be disagreeing with him. But when it is a young dog though – dogs that are anything short of three years generally – seizures are quickly identified as genetic. Generally, things in a dogs environment can't bring about an effect like this in just a few years.

If it isn't the dog's environment, and if it isn't genetic, what else could it be? There are a number of possibilities.

A brain tumor is one of the first possibilities that a vet will consider. A seizure in older dogs is often very quickly narrowed down to a brain tumor. The two are often easily associated. But not all dogs are equally susceptible. Dogs like boxers that have squashed-looking faces, are the ones that have the most trouble with this.

A vet will typically be able to judge if a dog has a brain tumor, by the way he holds himself. With a brain tumor, a dog is often unsteady, and may tilt his head because it feels more comfortable that way. The vet will give your dog an x-ray and find out.

Degenerative myelopathy is another possible reason for seizure in dogs. Once the disease strikes, it gradually destroys the dog's central nervous system.

There are other ways in which seizures can occur in dogs. But no one knows how they work exactly. That's why the doctors call them idiopathic seizures. A dog can get one for all kinds of complex reasons that are never immediately apparent. Even regular loud noises can do this.

How to Buy the Best Pet Insurance for Dogs

Just the very idea makes a lot of sense to a lot of us. We do worry about what we will do come the day that our cherished pet needs expensive medical attention. The kind of treatment options that veterinarians give us these days can easily run to thousands of dollars. What is one to do when there is an unexpected illness or something? There are so many things that can very easily happen to our dog – he could lick antifreeze off a puddle somewhere, run out to the street and get in an accident or anything. Thousands of people find that when something like this happens, that they haven't prepared for it; and their savings go up in a puff of smoke. One does hear about how insurance can help, but one does tend to be skeptical. While a little bit of skepticism certainly is called for, you can follow a few basic guidelines on how to buy the best pet insurance for dogs, and you could come out in good shape.

The first thing that you have to understand is that not even the best pet insurance for dogs will pay everything that your dog will need, when he falls sick. You do have to be willing to make a hefty co-pay. How much they will reimburse you, is what sets the good plans apart from the bad ones.

Before you start looking for an insurance policy, make sure that you know what exactly you're looking for. Write down everything you know about your dog – his breed, how often he visits the vet, what kind of health problems he has had so far and so on. It wouldn't be a bad idea also, to work out how much exactly you spend on your dog's veterinary care every year. With all this information in hand, you should be in a good position to talk to the insurance companies and find the best plan for your needs.

Your dog's veterinarian should be a very good source of information on who has the best pet insurance for dogs. Since vets routinely deal with pet insurance agencies, they know which ones are the best and the easiest to deal with. If there's a particular pet insurance company that routinely gives its customers grief, the veterinarian is going to know, and he is going to tell you. You could also try talking to the vets at a multispecialty veterinary practice. They are likely to know which insurance companies handle expensive surgeries the best. Talking to every kind of vet – this is the way to come by the best pet insurance for dogs.

While pet insurance isn't usually as complex as health insurance for people, they still can be quite complicated. They all have something or the other and that they won't cover. Some will not cover accidents, others will cover treatment but not medication costs, and so on. Be sure that you really understand what each company offers you.

It can be a complex decision to make, to understand who has the best pet insurance for dogs. But just as you do go and buy something even if you don't like any of the health insurance options that are open to you, you shouldn't just put this thing off in disgust. You will thank yourself one day for it.

Bringing Home An Adult Dog

Bringing home an adult dog is quite different from bringing home a puppy. His adaptation to your way of living will largely depend on his previous treatment and environment. In most cases, firm rules and abundant kindness will win him over. Time is in your favor, so use it! If you expect the dog to adapt in a few days or weeks, change your thinking: It will be six months to a year before he is really yours.

All dogs should be kept under physical control, that is, fenced or leashed, for that period of time. Unlimited walks will help the adaptation process, especially if you walk in different directions, covering different territories. This helps your bonding with the dog, and the walk back, always leading to his new home, will help him become used to his new "den."

As with the puppy, the following guidelines should help you in conditioning the new adult dog to become socially acceptable.

Housebreaking

1. Keep the dog tied to you for the first two weeks when he is in the house. Let him loose in your yard to potty or take him on lead to where you want him to potty. Always tell him "Potty" and praise when he does so.
2. Keep a close eye on him during the third week and let him off the leash in the house for short periods of time. Let him out frequently.
3. If you have a Toy breed or Toy mix, or a dog raised and previously kept in a kennel, your time frames should be a month each for Steps 1 and 2.
4. Do not leave the dog alone to roam the house. If you leave, put him in a secured yard or pen, or in a crate in the house.
5. As time goes on, you will be able to tell if he has good intentions of seeking the outdoors to relieve himself. Depending on the dog and his former circumstances, he may be reliable from the first day you bring him home; alternatively, it may take three or four months.

Sleeping Quarters

1. Select the place you wish the dog to sleep.
2. If it is in the house, let him out shortly before you go to bed or take him for a walk.
3. Tie him on a fairly short lead to keep him where you want him to sleep. Give him his own rug and a small bowl of water, or provide a bed or crate for him.
4. If you want him to sleep outside, provide him with a doghouse or a dry, warm corner underneath a porch or a wind-sheltered corner with some type of protected covering. Make sure your yard is secure.

When Your Dog Is Vomiting

The dog vomits with ease, seemingly at will, and often without apparent cause. One thing that almost never causes a dog to vomit is eating too fast. Bolting food is the natural way for a dog.

Eating too much, however, is another matter. The capacity of a pup's stomach to hold food is phenomenal. Life Magazine once ran a story about a five-pound puppy that ate a five-pound ham, all but the bone! Such examples, of course, are the ultra-extreme. Adult dogs, on the other hand, can hold only about one and one-half ounces of liquid for each pound the dog weighs. Some dogs may even hold as much as two ounces per pound of body weight, but any quantities above this almost always produce vomiting.

Vomiting, like diarrhea, is often seen in puppies. Dogs at this age have the exasperating habit of eating such things as dirt, stones, sand, bedding, toys, foil, paper, socks or almost anything else they can get into their mouths. Vomiting also occurs in adults from eating bones, sour food, garbage, carrion or feces. In these cases, vomiting is a sign of gastritis, which is an inflammation of the stomach. Gastritis is rapidly produced by such things as garbage, carrion or caustic chemicals. Most older dogs eventually learn that the foreign materials will make them sick, and stop eating them. The same dogs never seem to realize that garbage, buried bones or sour food may do the same thing - and neither do many owners!

One of the most serious consequences of vomiting is that, once begun, vomiting can persist, even though the cause no longer exists. The usual course in such cases, if uncorrected, follows a characteristic pattern. The dog has a more or less violent seizure of vomiting that ordinarily eliminates the causative substance or object. The vomiting continues, but in a somewhat less violent nature, giving the appearance that the dog is improving.

The loss of fluids and electrolytes in the vomiting causes an imbalance and a noticeable thirst develops. Mild depression develops as well as anorexia, and the vomiting begins to become more severe. Thirst is exaggerated, loss of fluids and electrolytes is accelerated and depression becomes marked. The vomiting becomes more and more violent and the continued loss of fluids and electrolytes creates a critical imbalance. If the situation is allowed to continue uninterrupted, the dog eventually dies from electrolyte imbalance and dehydration.

To help with your dog's vomiting problem, liquid foods should be fed first. Such things as beef and chicken broth not only supply a few calories, but are excellent tor establishing many of the electrolyte balances that have been disturbed by vomiting. Within 48 hours it is usually possible to finely chop a little hard-boiled egg into the broth. If this does not cause a return of the vomiting, then a little cottage cheese, some vanilla ice cream or a little toast and milk can be offered. Resumption of the regular diet can commence as soon as the bland foods are tolerated for at least 24 hours.

Dog Transport that Doesn't Alarm the Dog

It isn't an easy thing to transport an animal. Not if you want to do it in a way treats the animal well. If your problem is how to make those dog transport arrangements in such a way that your dog never has any reason to feel alarmed through the whole thing, you need to know that it can be done only if you plan ahead.

The first thing that you need to do is to prepare your dog for the trip. If your dog is going to go on an airplane for the first time now, you need to mentally prepare him for what is to come. You can do this by bringing out the crate that you wish to carry your dog in on the airplane, put him in it, and then drive him around town with him in the crate. Doing this should help him associate the crate with a safe and familiar travel experience.

On the day of your trip, before you start your whole dog transport plan, bring out a little essential oil of lavender and rub it on his paws. The smell of lavender has a calming effect on man and animal.

A lot of people worry about whether or not they should sedate their pets before they put him in the cargo hold of an airplane. The idea that your pet should be out cold for the whole trip so that he doesn't really know what's going on, is a very good one. But not using drugs is a good idea too. You can choose a natural way to knock him out. You could take him out on a long and tiring hike shortly before the trip. This way, he's going to be yearning for a little rest, and he will fall right asleep the moment you put him in his crate and take him to the airport.

When your pet is jostled about in his crate at the airport, of course, he is going to wake up and react in whatever way he knows to react. Some dogs will pee right there. Wherever you are, people do know that dogs do react in certain ways sometimes. Most people won't mind. Especially if you happen to the with a pet friendly airline or pet friendly hotel. Some hotels and airlines charge you a "naughty pet fee" sometimes, and they just take care of the problem.

When it comes to renting a car and carrying your pet in it, you don't want to do anything that could mess up the car. If your pet leaves a mess in there, the car rental company will charge a cleanup fee. You could avoid this by feeding him tiny meals ahead of the trip. That should help keep his stomach empty enough.