3 Top Tips to keep your dog alive

Northern Beaches people occasionally ask me what differentiates Perfect Pet Sitter from other dog minders and pet sitters. Key factors are depth of knowledge, experience and our professional approach to caring for peoples’ dogs and cats as it is a huge responsibility. Our expertise means knowing how to look after our Clients’ pets and how to keep them safe and well. Here are three examples:

 TIP 1   Avoid BLOAT/GVD with my feeding time frame guide  

Taking a dog for an easy stroll round the block shortly after feeding is one thing, but heavy exercise or run right after a big meal (especially kibble as it takes so long to digest) is a very BAD IDEA.  Dogs – and most importantly the large breeds - should NOT BE FED TWO HOURS before exercise.

Indi & her house mate, Lilo

If you're lucky, your dog might only feel uncomfortable, be extra thirsty and develop diarrhea. At worst, running soon after eating CAN BE FATAL especially for large dogs when their gut can flip/twist, and Bloat can ensue. Even with fast intervention 40% will not recover and it is a terrible and painful end.  

Big and active dogs such as Indi, a German Shorthaired Pointer
are especially prone to Bloat if exercised too soon after food

And after their run dogs should be left to settle calmly for at least 30 mins before feeding.   More:-  http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/bloat

 TIP 2  Flea & Tick Treatments - BUY THE REAL THING!

There is a massive trade in counterfit drugs for humans and nowadays for our pets too. If you buy on-line instead of from your vet you cannot be sure what you are getting. This came to light when at one sit I noticed the dog in my care was infested with fleas. Talking to the owner he told me in he’d purchased treatments on-line from Europe as they were much cheaper.

A dog which has had a Flea & Tick treatment should not be covered in fleas!  What you can know for certain is if the treatment is not killing Fleas, then neither will it be killing Ticks. You then have the very real prospect of a paralysis tick latching onto your dog. If your pet then needs a life saving Vet intervention the cost will be far higher than genuine Flea & Tick treatments in the first place.

TIP 3  Don’t throw sticks on grass!

Ok, now I’m just sounding like a kill joy!  How can something seeming harmless turn out to be life threatening? After all, you’ve thrown sticks hundreds of times and it’s been fine. It is – until the day it isn’t when this happens… instead of landing flat the stick catches in the earth or grass and points upwards. Your dog rushes forward and pounces on the stick and bam – the sharp end pointing upwards pierces the back of your dog’s throat. Depending upon how far the stick penetrates, this is a potentially life threatening injury.  Added complications are splinters of wood left inside and bacteria in the throat mean these wounds cannot be stitched and have to be left to granulate (heal from the inside out).

This is sadly a very common injury - yet completely avoidable – as our Vet told us over 20 years ago when it happened to Flash our German Shorthaired Pointer.

It was, as any visit to the Vet tends to be, an expensive lesson. So if you must throw a stick choose one with no sharp ends – and throw it into water!