No, Corona didn’t pass, thank goodness but we, as pet owners, know we do have to consider what happens when she does and then live like she never will.

Every pet owner and even potential pet owner does have to consider the effects on the family due to the loss of a beloved pet. The aspect has to be dealt with but its sudden impact is dependent on how the family prepares for it.

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Coping with the grief after losing a pet can be a difficult thing to do. Those experiencing pet loss need to arm themselves with their toughest defenses because outliving a pet is a heartbreaking situation. The loss of any type of pet – guide animal, police animal, companion animal or other, is a devastating loss of a best friend.

The deep emotional bond one shares with an animal is hard to put in words. Whether you are grieving, or sympathizing with someone who is, take a soul-soothing journey through the pet loss poetry on this page. Pet loss poetry serves a dual purpose: it’s healing and supportive at the same time.

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Similar to healthy dogs, sick dogs need to eat in order to supply energy and nutrients for growth, for replacement and repair; as well as to meet an ever changing need. Nutritional requirements for a sick dog usually do not differ greatly from those of a healthy dog. A sick dog’s dietary needs, however, can become substantially different from those of a healthy dog.

Diseases in which a dog’s diet will need to be changed are often due to true nutritional diseases, in which the diet itself is responsible for the disease. Most of the true nutritional diseases are deficiency diseases. What this means is that they are diseases caused by a diet that contains an insufficient amount of one or more needed nutrients. Most of these diseases were the result of inadequate or improperly balanced home-made food. Since cost-effective commercial food became more and more nourishing, most of these deficiency diseases gradually disappeared. Vitamin or mineral deficiencies are rarely seen as a primary disease any more. Both vitamins and minerals are inexpensive and are needed in such small amounts that today, few commercial dog foods fail to contain them in adequate amounts.

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Proper grooming for your dog does not only have aesthetic purposes but also adds to your pe’ s holistic growth physical and psychological. Since dog hair can interlace due to dirt and grime in the coat forming mats and tangles, they would need to be groomed to keep proper hygiene. Plus grooming generates more bonding time with your pet, creating a stronger relationship.

It is best to train your dog to be groomed at an early age. But, an untrained dog can still be taught to accept all the attention. Train your pet to get used to his body parts being handled and brushed. You need not go to a professional groomer, but if you don t have the time or the interest to groom your dog, be sure to select a groomer that handles the animals gently.

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Canine diabetes is becoming a lifestyle disease in dogs just like in humans. The risk for developing diabetes mellitus increases with age and weight.

Early warning signs include extreme thirst and increased water intake (and hence more frequent urinating), unexplained weight loss and depressed or lethargic behavior.

The usual treatment consists of strictly regulating sugar intake. This can be achieved by feeding a special diabetic dog food and feeding multiple smaller meals a day instead of one biggie.

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Does your dog suffer from heartworms?

Dog heartworm is a common disease among canines in the United States. Discovered in 1856, the worms mainly live in your dog’s heart and major blood vessels.

The worms, especially on worst cases, seriously impair the heart’s operations. Worse, they could also clog your dog’s blood vessels. These infections result in loss of body weight, chronic cough, dropsy, shortness of breath, chronic heart failure, vision disturbances, and ultimately, death.

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It is curious how many people, conscientious and considerate in all other matters, never seem to think about their veterinary surgeon as a person but merely as an expert perpetually “on tap”, whose duty it is to attend to the troubles, mild or serious, of pets at any hour of the day or night. They would not dream of ringing up even a great personal friend at three in the morning for a cosy chat about the length of Fido’s toenails or to communicate the breathtaking news that he was sick the day before yesterday but, believe me, people do just this with the veterinary surgeon! Evidently sleep is considered a luxury for these busy people.

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This is an important and serious condition (pus in the womb) in which the uterus is infected. Although it is usually confined to maiden bitches of 6 years of age or more, it is occasionally seen in young bitches as a result of infection acquired at the time of whelping or contracted from the stud dog. When a bitch is not bred from, the uterine tissues begin to deteriorate in the course of time, and this makes them more likely to become infected with harmful bacteria. In the case of young bitches accidentally infected after mating or whelping there is no degeneration of the uterine tissues, but infection occurs from outside, usually with the commoner groups of micro-organisms. All bitches should have at least one litter, which will, to a large extent, prevent this dangerous condition.There are two types of pyometra, open and closed, the latter being far more acute. The symptoms vary, but fever is always present (from 103F. upwards); there is loss of appetite, vaginal discharge (in the open type) of a brownish or pinkish colour and, as the condition becomes worse, great thirst, frequent vomiting and finally prostration. If untreated, a toxaemia quickly sets in. In the closed type, which can rapidly prove fatal, the symptoms are more acute, the fever is usually greater, there is no discharge and as the pus cannot escape, it is pent up within the uterus, there is considerable abdominal enlargement and the abdomen feels hard and is painful to the touch. A case of pyometra may begin as an open type and end as a closed, or vice versa.

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Pentobarbital is a drug that is used to euthanize our pets after sharing a hopefully happy life together. As the dog food you are feeding probably contains meat like beef, duck, pork or fish you would not expect pentobarbital to be present in your doggie’s dinner. However, pentobarbital continues to be found in pet food which leads to the hypothesis that our once beloved dogs and cats are in pet food. The pentobarbital-concern started off with anecdotal reports from veterinarians in the 1990s saying pentobarbital was losing its effectiveness as an anesthetizing agent in dogs.

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Last Friday a US dog lover asked my recommendations on the energy requirements of a rather obese dog. Below you find an excerpt of my response to them.

A six year old chihuahua/dachshund mix had been gaining weight from 7.5 to 10 pounds. Assuming the 7.5 pound is the ideal weight, this dog suffers from 33% overweight… which is just too much! A dog that is 10% above its ideal weight, is overweight.

She is on Hills I/D because of a sensitive stomach and for health reasons she now needs to loose weight. The owners have reduced the feeding amount from 1/3 can in the morning + 1/3 can in the evening + 1/8 can as a late snack to 1/4 can already. So from a 80% filled can, she is now on 25% of a can daily.

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