Pet Haven

This is a issue that’s relevant all through the year, but now that summer’s almost upon us, and kids are now playing outside more, it’s not just a question of being socially conscious about the environment in which you live, or even whether or not there’s a fine in place if you get caught for not doing so.  It’s a case of commonsense and hygiene.  No-one likes getting dog poop on their shoes, but in the summer there’s a higher likelihood of children in particular getting this on their barefeet if you allow your dog to poop in public places, and ignore the fact that you as the dog’s owner are responsible to clean it up.

There’s really no reason not to clean up after your dog these days.  In times gone by, it wasn’t something you did, no-one expected you too and it wasn’t always easy to do.  Nowadays, you just need to walk into any good pet store and you’ll find an array of different “tools” that will make this not so pleasant job simple to do.  There are a variety of “poop scoops” that help with the picking up, and “baggies” to put it in.  If you prefer, you could use the scented nappy sacks available at most supermarkets.  Public places such as parks even provide special bins where you can dump the dog’s poop baggie once you’re done.

What’s really annoying is seeing little old ladies who obviously have problems bending down, managing to clean up after their dogs, whilst healthier younger dog owners think that it’s ok for them not to.  It’s not ok.  If you’ve got a dog, and you’ve bought it in the past 10 or so years, then you know you're supposed to clean up after it.  

Make this a country where our children can walk freely in public areas without fear of treading in a mess someone else should have cleaned up!

For many years, cat treatments were simply extensions of treatment given to dogs.  Cat disorders of the skin, the eyes, the ears, the circulatory, respiratory, urinary, digestive, nervous, skeletal, and the blood, as well as contagious cat diseases and external and internal parasites have been extensively studied.

Despite this, cats die because their ailments become fatal before their general conditions changes sufficiently to reveal any symptoms of illness and  many symptoms used in diagnosing cat ailments are not definitive for given disorders. Signs of illness include general symptoms such as a dull coat, lack of appetite, and listlessness. Diarrhea may be a result of serious illness or simply reflect a change in diet. Tearing of the eyes, especially when accompanied by sneezing, may indicate conjunctivitis or a cold. Since, however, sneezing is the cat's only mechanism for blowing its nose, not all sneezing indicates illness.

Open sores, usually at the base of the ear, around the mouth, or on the toes, can point to an ear mite or a ringworm infection or to a fight with another animal.

Cats are attacked by several kinds of external and internal parasites. External parasites are often found in kittens, although they can occur in adults. Frequently they are fleas, but lice, ticks, and ear mites occur. Internal parasites include roundworms, tapeworms, and protozoan coccidia. Once diagnosed all these diseases are easy to treat successfully.

Panleucopenia, often called feline distemper, is the best-known viral disease in cats. Highly contagious, with a high mortality rate, it is most evident in young cats. Vaccines are effective protective measures. Rabies is less of a problem with cats than with dogs, but all free-roaming cats should be vaccinated. Vaccines have also been developed for other feline diseases, including feline leukemia, pneumonitis (chlamydiosis), viral rhinotracheitis (cat influenza), and calicivirus infections.

Cats permitted to wander outdoors are exposed to a variety of hazards, including accidents, attacks from other animals, poisoning, fleas and other parasites, and contagious diseases such as feline acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Cats that kill and eat rodents and other small animals can become infected with the parasitic protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, which can be transmitted to humans and causes the disease toxoplasmosis.

There is a difference between guard dogs and dogs that guard your home. Many home owners require an early warning system to alert them to the danger of an intruder, and at the same time many intruders are deterred by a bark. For this purpose, most dogs understand the limits territory and know who should not be on it, they will bark to protect it.

A dog bred to guard is a different proposition and brings with it separate problems and despite being a guard dog it does need to be socialized. Having a guard dog means investing a lot of time in the correct training for the dog.  Do not consider buying a guard dog to merely defend your property, even guard dogs need interaction with people and need to learn how to behave amongst people not making a claim on their territory.

Dogs are pack animals and whatever their size they need to know who is boss, they need to be dominated, without this they will innately attempt to do it themselves. This trait is genetic and has been bred into to most dog breeds for hundreds of years. Male dogs have the urge to be the “big man” more than females and if the owner does not assume the role the dog will and that often means that the commands of the owner go ignored.

Many modern guard dog breeds initially guarded cattle, sheep or flocks of birds. Their herding instinct is strong and they do not differentiate between children or other pets, they are all there to be herded into position. This can cause friction between young children and the dogs. Guard dogs have been bred to be aggressive and those traits cannot be switched off on demand but you can control them.

If you are not prepared to invest the time into the correct training for the dog and later create a stable home with the dog then an alarm system will cause less grief  in the long term.

Surprisingly acne on the chin is not restricted to humans, feline chin acne is a fairly common condition. A cat’s face has two types of gland, the sweat glands and the sebaceous glands. The sebum produced by the sebaceous glands waterproofs the skin and as in humans, it keeps the skin soft and supple. However a cat has larger sebaceous glands on the chin, the top surface of the tail and the eyelids, and in the case of the chin these glands are referred to as the submental glands.  These extra sebaceous glands excrete an oily substance that is used for marking the cat’s territory.

These submental glands can get over stimulated and when they are  active they  can clearly be seen on the cat’s chin as an oily greasy “stain” it is more apparent on cats with a very light coloring. Sometimes it appears as a dark greasy mark, which can easily be mistaken for flea dirt.

This over activity of the submental glands is feline chin acne and when it is only mild the feline chin acne appears as a blackhead,  a black comedone is clearly visible and it is not flea dirt. Feline chin acne can be a particular problem for Persian carts and it is called

Idiopathic Persian facial dermatitis often referred to in the vernacular as “dirty face!”

Feline chin activity can often be made worse in cats that are messy feeders. Interestingly the cat acne treatment is not that different from the acne medications that the humans have, it is a topical cream.

Unfortunately cats are more likely to lick the acne medication off their faces than humans are, and it can be less effective, and they need a stronger acne treatment. Acne is something that is not confined to humans and neither is the treatment, but fortunately, your cat will not be worried about the scars from feline chin acne. 

Unneutered males are most likely to spray. Neutered males as well as unneutered females and neutered females also may exhibit this behavior.

Owners may observe their cat spraying and notice a urine odor, or find evidence of urine on vertical surfaces.

Urine marking is a normal social behavior of domestic cats which serves several communication functions. Contrary to popular belief, spraying does not intent to exclude other cats from the marking cat’s territory; other cats are drawn rather than avoid sprayed sites, making it appear more like an advertisement and information sharing.

 Neutering stops or at least greatly reduces urine marking in 87 percent of intact males that spray. Generally, cats will cease spraying within two weeks after undergoing this procedure; however, improvement may not occur for up to six months in some cats.

 For unneutered cats, neutering by itself is often effective in eliminating or greatly reducing urine marking. In neutered cats that spray, however, environmental, behavioral and pharmacological management is required.

Urine marking occurs in sexual, territorial and competitive contexts. Treatment requires first identifying the specific social or environmental factors that trigger the marking and then both limiting the cat’s exposure to those factors and reducing its response to them.

Environmental management involves making changes in the household that reduce the cat’s exposure to arousing stimuli. For example, when the presence of stray or neighbor cats triggers spraying, it is necessary to either block the cat’s view of those cats or to use repelling devices to keep the other cats away. Sometimes it is possible to work out a "traffic control" schedule with neighbors to reduce the cats’ exposure to one another.

Some pets with urinary tract infections produce crystals which form in their urine. Sometimes, the crystals form before the infections starts, and sometimes, after the infection have already set in. The crystals are like fine sand and irritate the bladder like rough sandpaper. They can develop into much larger bladder stones as well. In male cats, the crystals may plug the urethra, the tube that leads from the bladder, through the penis, to the outside of the cat. This is a life-threatening condition, since the cat is then be unable to urinate.

The two most common crystals are struvite and oxalate. Struvite crystals are more likely to form in urine that has an alkaline pH. If struvite crystals are a problem, special diets are available to make the urine more acid. There are diets available, that are lower in the minerals that make up the crystals such as magnesium and phosphorous. The diets are available through your veterinarian. Some of these diets are used to treat existing problems and are given for several months only. Others are used to prevent the condition from occurring in the future and can be fed for the lifetime of the animal.

Oxalate crystals are more likely to form if the pH of the urine is acidic. Special diets are available which make the urine more alkaline. These diets are lower in calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, and sodium.

Therefore, depending on the type of crystals seen in your pet's urine, a different diet may help prevent the recurrence of the problem.