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If you notice your dog has been shaking his head a bit too often and scratching its ears with its paws or even trying to rub its ears on the ground, your dog may have some form of ear infections. In some severe cases, they may even not walk properly if the ear infection has gone into its ear canals and affected its sense of balance.

This is likely to happen for dogs with long drooping ears as the inside of the ears is not well ventilated or aired. Another possibility is that water could have gone inside the ears when you were bathing your dog and the dampness provided an ideal environment for ear infection to happen.

Firstly, try to have a look at the ears of the dog and use a cotton bud to clean the ears but do not push the cotton bud too far in the ear. You may see some ear wax and they may be dark brown or black in color. In worse case, this wax may have already appeared on the outside of the ears and you can see it immediately.

However, you should not attempt to use water to clean it unless it is on the exterior or easily accessible part of the ear. You should also not pour or drip water into the ear as it may make it worse. Just use wet cotton wool to wipe it.

After having confirmed that there is an unusual presence of ear wax or if the dog continues to show irritation by shaking its head or scratching its ears, despite your having done some minimal exterior cleansing of the ear, please take your dog to the vet for consultation.

My beagle has quite a bad ear infection and the ear wax can be easily seen on the exterior of its ear. I suppose it was due to the shaking of its head and flapping of its long and drooping ears. I took it to the vet and he cleaned its ears by using a pair of long forceps wrapped round with cotton wool after applying some ear cleansing solution. Continue Reading »

Fleas are external parasites and not internal parasites like tapeworms or heart worms. Fleas look round or oval in shape with tiny legs. They cling to the bodies of the dogs and suck their blood.

If you notice or observe that your dogs are scratching themselves very often, you should brush their hair and see if there are any fleas there. If there is a major flea infestation, it should be very obvious as you are likely to see a few of them falling off their bodies. If this is the case, I strongly suggest that you take your dogs to the vet for immediate treatment. You will also need to clean the physical environment that your dogs roam around including their crates and beds.

However, it is likely that you may find a few fleas on your dogs if you have been grooming them well. They are likely to have gotten these fleas when they are taken to unfamiliar places for a walk or from other dogs that they might have met outside.

Besides brushing the dogs with a comb, I always use my hands to brush their body and I find that I am able to detect the fleas better this way. Pay particular attention to areas around their necks, groin, legs and base of their tails. Whenever I feel a small lump, I will part the hair to locate the flea. I will use either a tissue or put a small plastic bag over my hands, using it as a glove, to peel the flea off the body. I will then use my slipper or sandal to kill the flea. Most of the time, you will see the blood splatter over the dead flea. So if you do a body search with your hands regularly, you should be able to detect any presence of fleas and even ticks on your dogs.

However, you may not be comfortable with brushing and peeling the fleas off the dogs, there are products like flea collars, spray and shampoo. You may want to use them regularly or periodically as part of your grooming regime. You must read and follow the instructions closely in order for them to be effective when applied on the dogs.

Once I have found a few fleas on my dogs, I would do daily body search on them and at the same time apply a medication like Frontline which is very effective in keeping the fleas and ticks at bay. I would also check their crates and beds and clean them daily to ensure that there is a clean environment and the fleas has not gone there to seek refuge. I would also use a spray on the surroundings that the dogs roam and rest in the house.

For those living in countries with four seasons, it is found that the fleas and ticks breed more quickly in spring and leading to major infestations in summer. Fleas can still breed during the cold seasons like autumn and winter due to central heating in homes.

If you maintain good hygiene and regular grooming regime for your dogs, the chances of a flea infestation is very slim. However, because your dogs may pick a flea or two from other dogs or when they are out for walks in the woods, you will have to be diligent and take immediate actions once you have detected the presence of a flea.

About the Author: David Poh has a Beagle and a Corgi dog. He has a website where he shares his experiences and tips on caring for dogs. For more information and to view photos and videos on how he grooms his dogs, go to David website
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

Tartar or plagues are deposits that will form and adhere to the teeth of your dogs. Typically, they are more obviously noticed on their molars or teeth at the back of the mouth. However, they can also be found on the front canine teeth too. If the plague or tartars are not removed over a long time, gum disease is likely to occur and will affect the dogs chewing its food.

There are a few ways to maintain dental health for your dogs. You can buy special toothpaste and toothbrush for this purpose. You should not use human toothpaste as the dogs will definitely lick and swallow the toothpaste as they do not know how to gargle and spit it out. Dog toothpaste is specially formulated so that it will not hurt their body system when they swallow the toothpaste. You need to brush their teeth regularly though for it to be effective and you should start brushing early before any tartar or plague start to form on their teeth. This method is more of a preventive approach and not to remove the tartar or plague that is already present in their teeth.

The toothbrush is like a finger glove that you can slip into your index finger and then you insert your finger into their mouth to brush the teeth. Alternately, you can buy a small toothbrush like those used for kids instead.

There are also specially made biscuits that are supposed to prevent accumulation of tartar or plague. These treats are best given to them after their main meal as the contents are supposedly to scrub or remove any deposits in-between their teeth. Again, I would think this is more for preventive measure and maintenance of the dental health in your dogs.

There are also strong gels that are specially formulated to remove tartar or plague but it is likely to take some time. These gels actually work on softening the hardened deposits on the teeth. Most of them are flavored too so as to make the cleansing of the teeth more pleasant for the dogs. I actually use my index finger without the glove-like brush to rub the gel all over the teeth so that I can spread the gel properly, for it to be effective. This approach may take a longer time but supposedly to be quite effective in softening the deposits and subsequently, they could be removed easily when you brush against it.

A combination of the specially made biscuits and brushing the dogs with their canine toothpaste is another possible approach. You may want to give them the biscuits daily and only brush their teeth every other day, for example.

I have used all the above approaches and I am still giving my dogs these specially formulated biscuits at night after their dinner. I still have some of the gel that I have been using but I have found that brushing their teeth quite a chore though the dogs enjoy licking the toothpaste. You need to give them some time to get use to their teeth being brushed and eventually, they will co-operate and look forward to it as they enjoy licking the toothpaste or gel and may see it as a treat for them.

There is one more method that is most effective and it is to feed the dogs fresh bones once a month. Importantly, whichever method or methods that you are going to try, you must start the dental care early and not wait until you find tartar or plague on their teeth. If the methods do not work for your dogs, please consult your vet for advice or if your dogs already have severe tartar or plague on their teeth.

About the Author: David Poh has a Beagle and a Corgi dog. He has a website where he shares his experiences and tips on caring for dogs. For more information and to view a video clip on his dogs chewing on bones, go to David website
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com