Many people don’t realize that their dogs, just like human beings, can suffer from allergies. In fact, about twenty percent of the dogs in the United States alone suffer from one allergy or another, with flea allergy dermatitis being the most common form of allergies in dogs. Other types include atopic dermatitis, food allergies, and inhalant allergies.
Signs and symptoms of dog allergies may vary but are often marked by persistent itching and discoloration of the skin (most common in skin allergies), coughing, sneezing, wheezing, and mucus discharge (most common in inhalant allergies), and nausea, lethargy, vomiting, and diarrhea (common to food allergies and other ailments.)
Over-the-counter preparations and treatments for common dog allergies exist and may be purchased at any good pet supply store, but care should be taken when choosing such treatments. Consultation with a vet is the best first course of action for several reasons. First of all, what you think is an allergic reaction may actually be signs of a more serious ailment and a vet should be the one to determine whether that is the case. Secondly, if the allergy is severe enough, over-the-counter treatments may not be sufficient to treat the symptoms and a prescription strength treatment may be required. There is also the chance that the dog does not have an allergy at all. The last thing you want to do is medicate your pet unnecessarily.
If you do think your dog has some type of allergy, consult your vet. The doctor will be able to perform tests to determine whether an allergic condition exists, how severe it is, and what the proper treatment will be. If the dog has an allergy to certain foods, it will be imperative to restrict the animal’s diet to eliminate those items that cause a reaction. The vet’s testing methods can help to determine whether this type of allergy exists as well. If the dog has flea allergy dermatitis (an allergic reaction to the saliva of fleas, rather than to the insects themselves), an extreme flea prevention regimen will be recommended.
Just like humans, dogs that suffer from various allergies can live comfortably with them if they are detected and treated properly. It is important to keep in mind that this is not a time to “play doctor” by attempting to diagnose and treat a possible allergic condition yourself. Only your veterinarian is qualified to determine whether your dog is suffering from allergies and what course of action to take.
Sunday 13 December 2009
Adopting a Dog
There are lots of ways that people choose a new family dog. Some may search the newspaper for advertisements from breeders who are selling new puppies; others find breeders via listings on the internet, while still more may simply purchase a puppy from a local pet store. Perhaps the best method, however, in terms of being helpful to society in general is to adopt a dog from a local animal shelter.
Adopting a dog brings a new friend into your life. It also helps to reduce the number of unwanted and homeless dogs in your area. Unless the shelter is a “no kill” facility (and these are sadly few and far between), it will also save a dog’s life. Animal lovers everywhere champion the adoption of dogs from shelters as opposed to any other method of bringing home a new pet for this reason alone, but there are other reasons to choose the adoption option.
The dogs at a shelter are not just strays and often are turned in to the shelter by former owners for various reasons. When this happens, the shelter collects as much information about the dog as possible, including whether its good with children, how much it barks, how playful or obedient it is, whether its housebroken, and other important details. While it’s true that this information is only as good as the honesty of the former owner, most of the time it is fairly accurate.
Animal shelters provide a valuable service to the community that they serve by keeping the streets as free of stray animals as possible. Because many of them do this with little or no public funding or governmental support, they are very limited in the number of dogs they can have in the shelter at any given time. The only way that they can bring in more stray animals is if they remove the ones they currently have. This is done through adoption or euthanasia. Obviously they would prefer to have the dogs adopted rather than killed. Adopting a dog could very well save its life and allows the shelter to bring in another dog in its place.
Adopting a dog brings a new friend into your life. It also helps to reduce the number of unwanted and homeless dogs in your area. Unless the shelter is a “no kill” facility (and these are sadly few and far between), it will also save a dog’s life. Animal lovers everywhere champion the adoption of dogs from shelters as opposed to any other method of bringing home a new pet for this reason alone, but there are other reasons to choose the adoption option.
- Adopted pets have had their shots
- Shelters often have information about a dog’s temperament
- Adopting a pet frees space in the shelter for more dogs
The dogs at a shelter are not just strays and often are turned in to the shelter by former owners for various reasons. When this happens, the shelter collects as much information about the dog as possible, including whether its good with children, how much it barks, how playful or obedient it is, whether its housebroken, and other important details. While it’s true that this information is only as good as the honesty of the former owner, most of the time it is fairly accurate.
Animal shelters provide a valuable service to the community that they serve by keeping the streets as free of stray animals as possible. Because many of them do this with little or no public funding or governmental support, they are very limited in the number of dogs they can have in the shelter at any given time. The only way that they can bring in more stray animals is if they remove the ones they currently have. This is done through adoption or euthanasia. Obviously they would prefer to have the dogs adopted rather than killed. Adopting a dog could very well save its life and allows the shelter to bring in another dog in its place.
About Diabetes
Need to know more about diabetes? Are you seeking for some information about diabetes and its symptoms? This is the right platform that will give you all the genuine information about diabetes. The information would definitely help you in fighting with this dreadful disease.
Diabetes is indeed a life-long disease, which is caused in the body by the high sugar levels in blood. Insulin, the hormone that is produced by the pancreas organ to control the blood sugar in body, is the main play factor of diabetes. Too little insulin or resistance to it or even both can cause diabetes.
The other alternative scientific names of diabetes are diabetes mellitus. In order to understand all the facts about diabetes, it is necessary for you to understand the usual process of food metabolism, first. Several activities take place when our body digests the food. Glucose, a sugar, a fuel source enters the blood in the body. Pancreas makes insulin, which moves glucose from blood to the muscles, flesh and liver cells. But this process is not this simple and normal in the body of diabetics. The diabetes patients encompass high glucose in the blood because the pancreas in their body either fails to produce an adequate amount of insulin or the muscle, flesh, liver are not able to act in normal response to insulin or both can happen.
There are three main type of diabetes disease. These are scientifically called as Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational diabetes. The first type, Type 1 diabetes can be detected in the childhood of the patient. In this case, the body produces either little or no insulin. Thus, daily injections of insulin are required. The Type 2 diabetes is quite common and thus can be diagnosed in 90% or more patients. It attacks people in adulthood. The pancreas fails to make sufficient insulin and to maintain the blood glucose level normal. The last type, Gestational diabetes is a kind of high-blood glucose that builds up at any time, even during the period of pregnancy.
There are several risk factors concerned about diabetes, which include a diabetic as family member, obesity, age crossing 45 years, pregnancy, high blood pressure or high blood cholesterol level.
What you should know most importantly about diabetes is that there is absolutely no cure for diabetes, till now. But the most immediate goals that you can achieve are to stabilize the blood sugar in your body, or to eradicate the symptoms of high blood sugar. Some of the goals of treatment that are long-term are prolonging life, reduced symptoms, and to put off long-term diseases, like heart diseases or kidney failures.
After you have got ample knowledge about diabetes, the basic care of diabetic patient should be taken by you. You must always be aware of how the occurrence of diabetes can cause long-term problems of health. The best preventions methods to keep this deadly disease away should also followed by you. It is also important for you to know that two key factors also - special diet and exercise for diabetic patients help tremendously to keep the blood sugar even. As new and new researches and improvised ways are coming up about diabetes, it is thus also important to update your knowledge.
Diabetes is indeed a life-long disease, which is caused in the body by the high sugar levels in blood. Insulin, the hormone that is produced by the pancreas organ to control the blood sugar in body, is the main play factor of diabetes. Too little insulin or resistance to it or even both can cause diabetes.
The other alternative scientific names of diabetes are diabetes mellitus. In order to understand all the facts about diabetes, it is necessary for you to understand the usual process of food metabolism, first. Several activities take place when our body digests the food. Glucose, a sugar, a fuel source enters the blood in the body. Pancreas makes insulin, which moves glucose from blood to the muscles, flesh and liver cells. But this process is not this simple and normal in the body of diabetics. The diabetes patients encompass high glucose in the blood because the pancreas in their body either fails to produce an adequate amount of insulin or the muscle, flesh, liver are not able to act in normal response to insulin or both can happen.
There are three main type of diabetes disease. These are scientifically called as Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational diabetes. The first type, Type 1 diabetes can be detected in the childhood of the patient. In this case, the body produces either little or no insulin. Thus, daily injections of insulin are required. The Type 2 diabetes is quite common and thus can be diagnosed in 90% or more patients. It attacks people in adulthood. The pancreas fails to make sufficient insulin and to maintain the blood glucose level normal. The last type, Gestational diabetes is a kind of high-blood glucose that builds up at any time, even during the period of pregnancy.
There are several risk factors concerned about diabetes, which include a diabetic as family member, obesity, age crossing 45 years, pregnancy, high blood pressure or high blood cholesterol level.
What you should know most importantly about diabetes is that there is absolutely no cure for diabetes, till now. But the most immediate goals that you can achieve are to stabilize the blood sugar in your body, or to eradicate the symptoms of high blood sugar. Some of the goals of treatment that are long-term are prolonging life, reduced symptoms, and to put off long-term diseases, like heart diseases or kidney failures.
After you have got ample knowledge about diabetes, the basic care of diabetic patient should be taken by you. You must always be aware of how the occurrence of diabetes can cause long-term problems of health. The best preventions methods to keep this deadly disease away should also followed by you. It is also important for you to know that two key factors also - special diet and exercise for diabetic patients help tremendously to keep the blood sugar even. As new and new researches and improvised ways are coming up about diabetes, it is thus also important to update your knowledge.
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