Dog Blog

What’s worse than having your dog skunked? How about having your skunked dog run through the house, leaving a trail of stink that’s nearly impossible to get rid of?

Spring is here, and so again are skunks, who are busy courting and mating and spreading their scent hither and yon — including on dogs.

“We had three the other day,” says Francine Barnes, owner of Carriage Hill Kennels in Glenview, Ill., where skunked dogs can get cleaned up. “We’re probably doing a couple a week now. We even had some in March, which is unusual. It’s April, May, June when they really kick in.”

Skunks, which are also high on the list of animals that carry rabies, are more likely to be found in rural areas. But they do turn up in some sections of cities near wooded areas, for example. Glenn Mayer, a member of the Chicago Veterinary Medical Association who has a practice on the city’s Far Northwest Side, says he had a skunked Shih Tzu brought in recently.

There are things a pet owner can do.

Reduce the skunk threat by not making them welcome. Never leave pet food outside, don’t feed skunks, keep trash containers secure, and remove piles of brush that could serve as shelter. When you take the dog out at dawn or dusk — when skunks are most active — flip on a yard light and make a lot of noise first to scare them off.

Even after taking all the precautions, though, your dog can run afoul of the critters. Should the worst happen, the first thing to do is close your doors and keep the dog outside. There’s nothing worse than a skunked dog running through a house, trying to rub the scent off on rugs or furniture.

Don’t hose off the dog. A skunk’s oily musk can’t be removed by water; in fact, water only makes things worse. Also worth noting: Tomato juice doesn’t work as a remedy. It’ll just turn your dog pink.

Instead, Barnes recommends a homemade solution (see accompanying instructions).

Still, the stench can persist, according to veterinarian Lawrence M. Fox, who practices in River Grove, Ill.

“I can often detect the odor on a dog just brought in for a routine visit, and when I question the owner, [he or she will] recollect that the dog was skunked some weeks prior,” he says.

“The most effective [remedy] is time,” adds Barnes, who has been in the kennel business for more than 40 years. “It’s just got to wear off.

“My dad used to say that on a warm sunny day, put your dog out in the sun and let it bake off.”

Anti-skunk dog rinse

1 quart fresh hydrogen peroxide (available at any drugstore or grocery store)

1/4 cup baking soda

2 tablespoons liquid dish soap (preferably Dawn)

1. Mix all ingredients. The mixture will bubble, and it must be used when freshly made, while it’s still active.

2. The washing should be done outside; wear protective gloves.

3. Don’t wet the dog; pour the mixture over the dry dog, being careful not to get any in the animal’s eyes, and let it sit for 10 minutes.

4. Rinse and repeat.

5. If the smell persists, make another batch of solution and go another round. (And it’s probably not a bad idea to follow up with a professional groomer.)

Source

Considering attending to your dog’s hygiene needs at home? Consider this: When you work your dog’s skin and remove foreign objects, you’re mirroring a portion of his natural, wild heritage. Wolves do it for one another, and now you can use home dog grooming, not only as part of a money-saving routine, but as a vehicle to bond with your best bud. He will repay you with heightened loyalty and extra wet kisses.

Just ten minutes per day spent doting on your doggie’s physical condition will result in a stronger bond and a mutual respect.

You may want to shoulder all hygiene needs at home, or just a portion. Here, you’ll find a menu of standard services offered by professional dog groomers (or, you). Keep in mind that if you choose to take care of your dog’s grooming needs at home, you will be required to purchase a few dog grooming supplies to get you up and running.

Brushing:

Fur, that is – We’ll Touch on Teeth Later

Daily brushing is necessary for every dog, regardless of fur length. True, longer hair is more prone to mats and tangles, but brushing your short-haired dog stimulates blood flow and oils, and importantly, alerts you to any changes in his skin condition.

If, while brushing, you notice sore spots, itchy skin, or a notably dull coat, consider your dog’s overall health. If his latest veterinary check-up has proven him to be free from disease, consider changing his diet. Higher quality dog foods are sometimes the answer. Also, the addition of fatty oil to his diet can clear up skin conditions quite effectively.

Also note that parasites in your dog’s fur can transfer disease and can take a leap from the dog to you or your family members.

Black specks on the dog’s skin are a sure indicator of the presence of fleas. Run a flea comb through the hair and put your finds into soapy water to kill them. A flea-killing shampoo should be used during your dog’s next bath (start at the head when washing, to avoid a flea stampede into the dog’s ears).

If a tick is found crawling, pluck it and plunge it into rubbing alcohol to kill it. If the tick is imbedded in your dog’s skin, use tweezers to grasp its head, as close to the skin as possible, and pull it straight out, at a 90 degree angle to your dog’s body. Do not use substances like petroleum jelly or dish soap to force the tick to back out of the dog. This could stress the tick and cause it to regurgitate its contents back into Fido. Yuck! Also, do not attempt to kill the tick before pulling it. If you do, you will be left with a half-tick whose jaws are clamped into the skin – making it nearly impossible to remove. If you pull the tick and the head remains in the dog’s skin, swab the area with rubbing alcohol, and the skin will likely naturally push the head out, or the skin will grow around it. Consult with your veterinarian if the area becomes inflamed or red.

Examine your dog for burrs, seeds, thorns and other foreign objects while brushing his fur. Remove any that you find. Check between his pads for those same types of objects. Cuts and irritations from any of these can cause infection and numerous other complications.

Tools needed for brushing depend greatly upon your dog’s coat length. Long-haired dogs are going to require the most maintenance, and the greatest number of grooming tools. You’ll need an oil-based conditioner or detangler, a pair of scissors or a mat razor, a fine toothed comb, a wide toothed comb, a pliant wire brush, and a mat comb. Coats that sport tresses of significant length are pleasing to the touch and the eye, but require an extra shot of maintenance. Mats are common, and must be removed – either by combing or cutting. If left intact, mats will tighten until the dog’s skin is pulled and his movement inhibited. Severe pain and infection can result.

Dogs with a medium length coat can get by with a soft brush for most spots, and a comb for longer, feathered areas.

Short coats, which are all the rage this season, require little hair styling, but stimulation and examination are still necessary. A terrycloth rag or hound glove with massaging nubs work perfectly.

Brushing your dog daily aids in eliminating future problems and gives both of you a special time to look forward to. Read on for a better understanding of the construction of your dog’s coat and to learn about where all of that extra hair is coming from!

Source

In hot car, ‘just a minute’ can be deadly for dogs:

If you’ve ever left your dog in the car for “just five minutes” on a summer day, the officers of the Washington Humane Society want you to hear some cautionary tales.

“They all say the same thing: I never thought that this would happen,” says Mitchell Battle, deputy director of humane law enforcement at the Washington Humane Society. “I was only going to be gone for two minutes.”

But just running inside for a quick errand can be deadly to your pet – even if the weather isn’t all that hot.

In one fatal incident Battle responded to, the temperature was only in the 70s. A woman stopped at home, parked in the shade and came out after what she said was 15 minutes. By the time officers got there, the shade had moved, turning the car into what officer Eve Russell calls “a solar powered Easy-Bake oven.”

Everyone’s opened a car door and been amazed by how much hotter it is than outside – but you may not realize exactly how hot a car can get. Check out the numbers at the Web site mydogiscool.com, a program of United Animal Nations. When it’s 72 degrees, a car in direct sun can reach an internal temperature of 116. Even in the shade, a car can be 10 to 20 degrees hotter than outdoors, and cracking the window has almost no effect.

Veterinarian Cate Rinaldo, a volunteer with United Animal Nations, points out that dogs don’t have sweat glands all over their bodies like humans do, so the main way they can cool off is by panting, which isn’t very efficient.

Once a dog’s body temperature gets over about 106 – normal temperature is around 101 – the result is “everything from nerve damage, heart problems, liver damage, systemic organ failure, and it happens fast, within a matter of minutes,” she says.

Summer is also vacation season, and the Washington officers are often called to cases where people travelling with their dogs tried to use the car to extend their stay by a few hours.

“They check out of their hotel at noon and they still want to go to the zoo or a museum, and they leave Fluffy in the car,” says officer Ann Russell.

Remember that one more museum isn’t worth the risk to your pet’s life – and that cars are not the only place where dogs can get overheated. Rinaldo says that before she was a vet and knew of the dangers, one of her dogs collapsed from heat exhaustion after playing off-leash on a 75 degree day.

That dog survived, but not all are so lucky. One 90 degree day in the San Bernadino mountains, Andy Hoodward of Orange, Calif., was flagged down by a couple carrying their dog in a backpack.

“The woman explained that they had set out hiking in the morning but a couple of miles in, the dog had become lethargic, unresponsive and would neither walk nor drink,” says Hoodward.

The couple were also in bad shape, and Hoodward drove them to a ranger’s station, but it was too late for the dog, which died on the trip.

And officers say anyone can be the victim of inattention or miscalculation. Officer Ann Russell tells of one woman who worked with autistic children and was a volunteer guide dog puppy raiser – “the most responsible person you can imagine,” she says. In an emergency with one of the children, the woman accidentally left a puppy in a car and it died.

Even indoors, it can get too hot for some animals. Battle tells of an elderly, overweight beagle that died of heat exhaustion in his own home; sadly, the house did have central air conditioning but the owners hadn’t left it on since there were no people home.

Be especially careful if you confine your dog to a crate or one area of the house and he’s not free to seek a cooler spot. If you leave your dogs outside, even on a patio or deck, make sure they have shade all day and remember that the sun moves. Use a tarp or awning to shade the spot, and perhaps reconsider whether your dogs might be happier indoors.

“Go out there barefoot and step on the concrete where your dogs are,” says Battle. “It’s not as comfortable as you think it is.”

http://www.mydogiscool.com/

Source