Natural Pet Health

While your pet may initiate certain behaviors regarding eating habits and exercise, through the evolution of domestication, many of these normal processes fall under the influence of our hands. Therefore, making just a few tweaks in routine may greatly benefit your pet’s overall health and well-being.

There is much that can be done to support a healthy immune system in pets. Here are a few tips:

• Avoid exposure to toxins and chemicals as much as possible.
• Don’t expose your pet to second hand cigarette smoke.
• Give your pet a healthy varied diet – making sure to include lots of raw meat, fresh vegetables and fruit.
• Use natural remedies known to support immune system functioning –Echinacea, astragalus, goldenseal, elder and garlic have played a significant role in maintaining a healthy immune system.
• Ginseng is most suited for improving liver function, regenerating liver cells and ensuring general immunity against disease.
• As always, lots of exercise - the benefits are multiple both for you and your pet!
• Use Immunity & Liver Supportâ„¢ capsules to boost your pet’s immune functioning and resistance against disease and infection.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

As a pet owners, we come to expect mishaps now and then—a wetting accident after being left alone too long, changed behavior in a new environment, stomach upset after a new food—but sometimes, unavoidable and seemingly inexplicable triggers can send even the most composed animal into a frenzy.

For instance, many animals experience anxiety during thunderstorms and fireworks. Animals may cower, hide under the bed, tremble, or exhibit nervous behavior. However, sometimes the response can be disproportionate to the situation or result from an unlikely trigger such as beeping from an electronic device, a hair dryer, or a vacuum cleaner.

Veterinary behaviorists estimate that up to 20 percent of dog owners (and an imprecise but similar estimation for cats) seek professional help for their pet’s severe noise phobias. Extreme animal behaviors may include self-mutilation, indoor defecation, and/or damage to furniture or surroundings.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

While your pet may initiate certain behaviors regarding eating habits and exercise, through the evolution of domestication, many of these normal processes fall under the influence of our hands. Therefore, making just a few tweaks in routine may greatly benefit your pet’s overall health and well-being.

• Do not change diet suddenly, but slowly introduce fresh, raw and unprocessed food into your pet’s daily diet, while reducing commercial foods and foods with little nutritious value.

• Keep diet varied and interesting, but watch out for foods that your pet may be allergic to.

• Regular exercise helps to build up a healthy appetite and gets all organs in the body functioning well. It also helps to relieve stress and contributes to a healthy, happy pet!

• Animals need time outdoors where they can naturally seek out herbs that will help them maintain the health of their digestive system. All carnivorous animals, including dogs and cats, will naturally induce vomiting from time to time as a cleansing process to get rid of excess bile, mucus and other impurities. They do this by eating plants which will induce purging. This is healthy and animals should not be reprimanded for it!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

From kids to seniors, pet ownership benefits abound

According to the 2007-2008 National Pet Owners Survey, 63% of U.S. households own a pet, which equates to 71.1 millions homes. But do you occasionally take your cuddly companion for granted? Chances are, work, family, and other obligations interfere with time spent enjoying simple pleasures with your pooch or kitty… but taking a moment to appreciate their benefits to our lives is worth doing now and then.

Most pets’ demands are quite small, requiring basics like food, shelter, veterinary care, and companionship. Compared to the immense health benefits they bring to us—including emotional support, lowered blood pressure and stress levels, and unconditional affection and friendship, it’s no wonder we grow attached.

There’s no doubt that pets live for the moment, coping with life’s ups and downs and then dismissing them. The innocence and trust of a companion pet help us to be less cynical. This positive attitude is particularly important for the elderly.

According to a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, caring for a dog or cat also serves as a buffer against isolation, depression, and loneliness in elderly people.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Theories to explain this unusual behavior

While it may be alarming to see Fido or Fluffy nibbling on the front lawn or a houseplant, it shouldn’t be a cause for concern unless the grass or plant was recently treated with pesticide, fertilizer, or another poisonous chemical. Both dogs and cats from time to time may take an interest in grass or similar substances, each for different purposes that can actually benefit their bodies.

Dogs tend to self-medicate their bodies and regulate behavior through occasional ingestion of plants, as the diets they often receive in captivity are vastly different than what they would eat in the wild. Dogs are not simply carnivorous, and can be often seen hunting for roots and fruits. Since dogs evolved from wolves, in the wild, wolves and dogs may eat an herbivore prey that they have killed, and often first go for the stomach area of the carcass where they will find roots, leaves and berries.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Human beings are not the only ones who can suffer from insomnia, pets sometimes get it too. Unless your pet is keeping you up at night, you may never even have a clue that he is not sleeping and since they can not speak, this can make it especially difficult. Temporary bouts of insomnia can appear with your animal for the same reasons that insomnia appears in humans. It is likely that something is bothering your animal resulting in his sleep loss.

Dogs and cats are much attuned to what is going on with their owners and around the house in general. If there is construction going on very nearby that is causing a lot of chaos, this can affect your pets sleep pattern, if there is someone new sleeping in your home, you will likely notice a difference in your pet, and if there is a lot of fighting and arguing going on, that too can affect your pet and his sleeping. This is something that pet owners usually never give too much thought to but it does affect your animal.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

As more and more people become pet owners, sometimes disturbances in behavior, such as anxiety around noise, aren’t considered before adopting or buying. However, to provide both emotional and physical support for your pet during times of nervousness, it is important to be ready to care for your pet in the best way possible—without exacerbating an existing problem or creating a new one.

• Regular exercise is essential. High energy pets need a natural outlet for their energy and exhaustion can have a dramatically calming effect on an overly active animal! Plus, exercise has been shown to have a mood-stabilizing, calming effect
• Ensure your pet is eating a balanced, high quality diet with plenty of raw and unprocessed food (preferably organic). Behavioral issues can often be related to food intolerances and an inadequate diet. A diet that is too high in protein can also be a factor. If in doubt, please consult your vet.
• Keep natural remedies on hand to immediately soothe a highly-strung pet by supporting nervous system health safely and effectively.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Kennel cough in dogs is an infection that can be caused by a number of agents. These agents work together to damage and irritate the lining of trachea. Though kennel cough is commonly associated with a bacterium known as Bordetella bronchiseptica, two other viruses, parainfluenza virus and adenovirus and parasitic bacteria (mycoplasma) can also lead to kennel cough in canines.

The condition is self limiting and the duration of kennel cough in dogs is short. However, that does not mean that it does not cause discomfort to the dog. The condition can cause your dog to cough continuously for several minutes. His cough may sound like a ‘honking’ sound as if trying to expel something out from his throat. The continuous sound of the cough can be extremely irritating to the owner as well; not to mention the discomfort that it causes the dog.

Kennel cough is a contagious disease. The name comes from the fact that this condition is often seem among dogs who return from boarding at kennels. However, all dogs that have been boarded in a kennel which contains an infected dog do not contract the disease. And the difference lies in immunity - the body’s own ability to resist and combat infectious invasions. Herbal remedies can help in preventing kennel cough as they are equally inclined to treat kennel cough and strengthen the body’s immune system.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

When looking for a hypoallergenic dog, you will have to decide on a breed of dog and also how the dog will fit into your lifestyle. Many hypoallergenic dogs are small or medium breed dogs. This means that they are small sized or medium sized dogs that require more attention than larger breeds.

Hypoallergenic dogs may cause you to have fewer allergy attacks because their hair does not shed, they don’t have an undercoat, or they do not shed a lot dead skin cells, or dander. The following breeds of hypoallergenic dogs are popular with those who suffer from allergies: Irish Water Spaniel, Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, and Bedlington Terrier.

For those looking for a hypoallergenic dog that is larger than other breeds, the Irish Water Spaniel may be the dog for you. These dogs have very short human-like hair that will prevent shedding and allergens from entering the air. The coats of these dogs must be maintained through grooming every two months. The Irish Water Spaniel is a friendly dog that likes to exercise and swim during the warmer months of the year.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Sinuses are air-filled cavities especially in the bones of the skull that meet nasal cavities. It is one of the many infections that can affect the health and behavior of your dog during a lifetime. Dog sinus infections are a common occurrence and may be bacterial, viral or fungal in nature.

Aspergillosis is a common fungal sinus disease that is caused primarily by Aspergillus fumigatus. Infection is usually in the nasal cavity and sinuses. Although it can affect healthy animals as well, a weak immune system, a history of sinus infections, diabetes and a protracted antibiotic treatment can put a dog in the high risk category for a sinus infection.

Aspergillus fumigatus is present all over the environment and a dog may inhale Aspergillus spores. This leads to fungal infection. Most sinus infections tend to be localized and remain restricted to the sinus or the nasal passage. However, the disease ranges from a mild form that affects only the surface of the mucosa to a more intense condition where the bones of the sinus are destroyed.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!