Category: Dog Grooming and Health

Eliminate odor and give your dog a healthy smile with Dental Fresh.

Did you know that your dogs bad breath isn’t just unpleasant, it’s a result of odor-producing bacteria build-up.

By using Dental Fresh or a similar product daily for your pet from an early age, pet owners can help prevent bacteria build-up, plaque, tartar and ultimately, periodontal disease – the most common disease found in dogs.

As a matter of fact,  according to the American Veterinary Dental Society, 85% of dogs have periodontal disease by the time they are 5 years old. With only 1 in 3 pet owners purchasing oral health products each year, the makers of Dental Fresh are focused on promoting the awareness of medical dangers associated with poor dog oral health care and urging pet owners to care for their pets dental wellbeing on a daily basis.

Pet owners should know that surgical veterinarian visits continue as the greatest expense incurred by dog owners, resulting from problems such as periodontal disease.

Dental Fresh is a “Toothbrush in a Bottle™” – without the toothbrush or the mess. For maximum effectiveness, simply add one teaspoon of Dental Fresh for every 8 oz. of drinking water in the dog or cats water bowl, or follow your veterinarian’s directions. Dental Fresh is tasteless and colorless when dispersed into the water bowl so it does not prevent the pet from drinking.

Dental Fresh is veterinarian recommended and proven to eliminate dog bad breath while removing built-up tartar and plaque.

First, get someone to hold your pet!  This is much easier done with two people.

Don’t forget that this blog is not written by a vet.  If you think that your pet may be ill, please take them to a vet.

Use the digital vet thermometer / stub-ended thermometer, lubricate the end with petroleum jelly or vegetable oil, and insert it about 3/4 in (2cm) into the rectum.  Leave it in for about a minute.  Normal  temperature is about 101F/38.6C; anything over 102.5F (39C) should indicate a fever. 

Measuring heart rate and pulse:  To feel the heart beat place one or two fingers on the chest just behind and level with the elbow.  The best place to feel the pulse is in the femoral artery in the groin.  Count the number of beats over a period of one minute.  Normal heartrate is 110-140 beats per minute, but can vary widely between individual pets. Under minor stress, such as traveling, going to the vet, can  cause an increase.  Under severe stress or illness the rate may reach as high as 300.

To make things easier you should handle your pet’s feet and nails frequently and from as early an age as possible. Make it a pleasant experience, offer a dog treat or cat treat and of course, lots of praise when he or she behaves well during the handling. This will let him or her become accustomed to having the toes and nails touched and allow for easier nail care.  Within a few months you will be like a professional!

Invest in a good sharp set of nail trimmers. Pictured to the right is Miracle corp cushion-grip nail clippers and are a great choice.

Professional pet grooming supplies and / or higher quality trimmers will work better. Dog nails contain nerves and blood vessels, known as a quick which grows down the middle of the nail. Take care not to cut this or you will cause pain and bleeding. The pinkish colored quick is usually easy to see in light colored nails but may be very difficult to see in dark nails. Excessively long nails may have an outgrown quick. This is often seen in older pets.

If you can’t see the quick, trim very small bits at a time from the end of the nail. You may need to repeat this frequently with over grown nails.

PREPARATIONS:

1. Lay down a mat in the tub for traction.
2. Secure your dog, using a quick release leash and collar which you can attach to the soap dish.  Nothing worse than a dog that jumps out of your tub running loose soaking wet and full of soap all over the house. 
3. Use a canine shampoo.  One of our favorites is pictured to the right – Veterinary Formula Ultra Oatmeal Conditioning Shampoo. Measure out the amount you are intending to use and premix it with some warm water in old shampoo bottles saved for that purpose.
4. Get some cotton balls ready to lightly pack the ears, so they stay dry.

STEP 1 -Adjust the water termparature.  Test the water on the inside of your arm.  Water that is too warm or too cold is a major cause of squiggly dogs.

STEP 2 -Put the dog in the tub, secure him, and thoroughly wet the dog.   Work section by section…legs, feathering on the legs, underbelly, sides, front, bottom and tail.  Leave the head until last.  When you get to the ear, hold the flap down and use your hand as a shield against the ear canal to make sure the water doesn’t soak the cotton. If you want to moisten the eye, use a clean, soft cloth, not the shower nozzzle.

STEP 3 -Spread the shampoo evenly onto the dog’s coat.  A word of caution: Cleaning the eye area should be done carefully by hand once the rest of the dog is done.  Owners of prominent-eyed breeds need to be especially cautious…some shampoos can cause a burn or irritation if they get in the eye.  Have some saline eye-rinsing solution handy in case you have an accident; even better, get some protective eye ointment from your veterinarian beforehand – it will help waterproof the eye and if you have to blow-dry a sensitive-eyed dog, it will keep the eye from drying out.  Take the dog to the vet if you even slightly suspect you have damaged an eye during grooming or bathing. A damaged cornea is very painful for the dog snf will become infected – it needs immediate veterinary attention.

STEP 4 -Massage the shampoo into the coat and get a good lather.  Rinse and repeat again. 

STEP 5 -Rinse all shampoo out of the coat.  Repeat the rinse one last time, even when you think the coat is shampoo-free.  Shampoo residue can cause skin irritations – get it all out.  Apply coat condtioners/rinses as directed.  Some are leave-in, some are rinse-out. Always rinse in the direction of the coat.

STEP 6 -Using your hands in the direction of the coats, squeeze-out excess water. Let the dog shake.  Then towel-dry the dog.  You can be very vigorous with short-to-medium coated breeds but the long-coated breeds need careful blotting to avoid frizzy split ends and tangles.

STEP 7 -Air-drying is fine for a number of breeds, but some need careful blow-drying.  Others need to be draped in special towels for drying, so the hairs stay straight and flat.

A QUICK TIP:
When it comes to dogs who come home with a coatful of burrs – the kind that stick like porcupine needles onto your dog’s hair – these miserable things tend to dig in deeper the harder you try to remove them.  This is painful to your dog and will only drive you crazy.  The easiest thing to remove them is to put your dog in the bathtub and with tepid (warm) water turn the water on them.  The water will loosen the lot of them and they will fall off naturally.