Tag animals

Pet Dental Health

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Yuliia Sonsedska

 

I’m sure the majority of you are well aware about the importance of good dental health, but have you ever thought how important good dental health is in your pets?  Just as in humans, the mouths of your pets are teeming with bacteria, and some of those bacteria can enter the digestive tract, respiratory tract, and bloodstream, and cause disease, particularly in the heart, lung, and kidneys.

Another factor to consider in our pets is the fact that we have domesticated these animals over the millenia, and as a result, they no longer depend on hunting to procure their food.  This means that the natural form of teeth cleaning, in essence, gnawing and tearing at the flesh of their prey, has, for the most part, been eliminated, and replaced with dry kibble and canned foods.  Eighty percent of pet dogs and cats who have had no dental cleaning or intervention show signs of oral disease by the time they are 3 years old.

I take all of this very seriously with my pets, and I am diligent about taking them in every six months for non-anesthetic dental cleaning.  It’s worth the financial expense, even though I struggle to pay for their dental care twice a year.  The way I see it, I’d rather take them in for regular dental cleaning than to put them at risk for a myriad of diseases, and have them suffer needlessly as a result.  I’ve been taking them in for regular cleanings from the time they were young adults, and they have had mild issues with no need for a more aggressive cleaning with anesthetic.  I realize that they may at some point need cleaning under anesthesia, but until we cross that bridge, I will continue to take them in for the anesthesia-free option.

There are definitely some limitations with non-anesthetic teeth cleaning for pets, such as the fact that only the plaque above the gum line can be removed.  The veterinarian examines the pet’s teeth and gums to determine if there is any inflammation or sign of infection, and if there are any findings which are beyond the scope of the non-anesthetic cleaning crew, the pet is referred for cleaning with anesthesia.

Overall, if you aren’t paying attention to your pet’s teeth and gums, you should.  It’s a good idea to ask your veterinarian at your next visit what he or she recommends in the way of dental care.  There are dental chews which help to clean the teeth, and some very brave pet owners actually brush their pet’s teeth.  Your vet will help determine the best care regimen for your beloved pet.

 

Pets and Your Health

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42089792 - woman with her dog tender scene

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I don’t know how I would get through difficult days without my three wonderful cats. Tenshi, Shima, and Kazu are so special to me that I always look forward to coming home and seeing their sweet faces. Those of you who have pets to whom you are closely bonded know how comforting it is to come home to them. Animals are capable of deep, unconditional love which is unparalleled. A pet won’t care that you look all disheveled from battling a grueling day. If you are distraught, a pet will make you smile and perhaps even laugh with cute and silly antics. Pets are natural antidepressants, and create the perfect distraction when you are tempted to feel sorry for yourself or ruminate over something which is only causing you anguish.

Pets are wonderful for our well-being and spiritual health.

It turns out that owning a pet also confers physical health benefits as well. Pet owners enjoy a reduction in stress and anxiety, which has a positive impact on blood pressure. Another very striking and unexpected benefit to having pets is a decrease in a child’s chances of developing allergies to animals. The decreased chance of developing allergies to animals in small children who live with animals is as high as 30 percent, according to research conducted by pediatrician James E. Gern which was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Dr. Gern conducted a number of studies on children exposed to pets, all of which concluded that children who were exposed at an early age to animals tended to develop stronger immune systems overall, and were far less likely to develop pet-related allergies.

When I think of friends who have allergies to cats or dogs, most of them did not grow up with a pet in the house. I also did not grow up with a family pet per se, unless you count the two rabbits I had in fourth grade for about six months. My mother was so fed up with them that she sold them to a pet store, and that was that. But I spent extended periods of time petting and hanging out with numerous outdoor cats in the neighborhood, enough so that I had a regular exposure to them. I also spent weekends with my dad’s dog, or with his friends’ dogs, so the exposure was steady.

I honestly believe that early and regular exposure to pets is a boon to immune health in young children. And since there is a large body of scientific evidence to back that up, why not get a family pet for your children to love?

Can Animals Be Left-Handed/Pawed?

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left handed dog

Here is an interesting article which I copied and pasted. The article can be found through this link:

http://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/can-a-dog-be-left-handed.html#sthash.siZgW3BC.dpbs

It turns out that dogs do show a clear preference for their left or right paw and there’s roughly a 50:50 split between left-pawedness and right-pawedness across all dog breeds. Here are a few tests you can do to find out whether your dog is a ‘southpaw’:

Have your dog sit, and then get up and walk. Which paw do they lead off from?
When you ‘shake hands’ with your dog, which paw do they offer most often?
When trying to get a toy out from under the sofa, which paw do they use?
But whereas left-handedness in humans makes you superior in lots of ways (well, we think so anyway), what does it mean for dogs?

Well, it seems left-handedness in dogs also gives you an advantage. Left-pawed dogs are generally preferred for police and military use and also as guide dogs because they are easier to train (this is mentioned in a few articles but we cannot find a research reference for it. There IS research showing that left-pawed dogs are more aggressive and that may explain the military use) . And a recent study by the Vrije University in Amsterdam has proven once and for all that left-pawed dogs are quicker at learning and better than problem solving (Report: Paw Preference Correlates to Task Performance in Dogs). In the study, the team of researchers selected an equal number of left-pawed and right-pawed dogs to complete some basic intelligence tests. The team found “that dogs departing with the left front paw perform significantly better than dogs departing with the right front paw.”

So let’s hear it for our four-footed lefty friends, and all the dog owners out there do let us know in the comments here if your dog is a lefty or a righty and what effect you think this has.

So Many Flavors For My Cat To Refuse

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IMAG0081_1

Cats are known for being finicky, and this is certainly the case for both of my female cats, Shima and Kazu. Their constant fussiness is balanced out by my boy, Tenshi, who is one of the most food-motivated cats I have ever known. Tenshi will eat just about anything he can get a hold of, including asparagus, avocado, broccoli, bananas and blueberries.

Over the past month I have been trying to get Kazu to eat moist food and to avoid dry kibble, because she is about 30% over her ideal weight. It has been nothing short of exhausting, trying to figure out what she likes to eat. I have gone to the pet store twice, and have selected a bunch of different varieties and brands of food, though I have focused my purchases on the Tiki Cat brand of moist cat food because it is human-grade, the closest to human table scraps, and highly recommended by her vet.

I have purchased about eight different varieties of Tiki Cat, most of which were tuna varieties with other goodies mixed in, and also purchased B.F.F., Innova Evo, Wellness, and Evanger’s. I also purchased tuna and sardines from the grocery store. Here is the status of my experimentation with different types of food:

B.F.F. – Kazu really loved this food, probably because it was a tuna variety. She ate it pretty readily.

Innova Evo – Kazu completely ignored this stuff.

Wellness – Kazu did not like the varieties we tried (tuna chunks and turkey chunks). All she did was give the broth a couple of licks, then completely refused to have anything to do with the food.

Evanger’s – Kazu didn’t even give this food a second’s worth of interest. To be honest, when I opened the can and got a whiff of the food, I was pretty grossed out myself. As a matter of fact, I have noticed that if I find a food off-putting, Kazu will not like it either.

Tiki Cat – Kazu has liked all the tuna varieties, but she was rather indifferent when I offered her the sardine variety. I will say that I am VERY impressed by the consistency and smell of this brand of food. It is appetizing, without any strange odors. With the chicken varieties, you can see actual flakes of shredded chicken. The meats which are used in the Tiki foods are high quality and unprocessed. This has been the winning brand for Kazu, and though I want to try a couple more brands on her, this may be the standard which she will eat on a daily basis. Some varieties of Tiki Cat are priced at close to $2 for a THREE ounce can, so this stuff isn’t cheap!