If you have Dogs or Ferrets, This is For You

[Punum]

If you have dogs or ferrets, this is your lucky Friday. It has been a challenging week for me. I have had a number of issues come up regarding dogs and ferrets. I had to do some research and contact other rescues and shelters for help. It’s amazing how animal people all stick together and help each other so animals can havea better life. Thank you!!

One challenge I had were ferrets with fleas. I never had ferrets with fleas so I was not sure what to do about them. I know they are delicate animals and it can be deadly if they are treated like dogs and cats for a flea problem. Here are some of the things I found out:

1. A flea condition is 100% fixable. I spoke to rescues who told me that ferrets die from fleas. They are such small animals and it doesn’t take long for them to be sucked dry. The fleas are coming in from a source. Once you find out what the source is, you can correct it. Ferrets, being indoor animals, should not have fleas.

2. If you have dogs or cats that come in and out you can give them Capstar.
You have to get it from a veterinarian. This should not be given to ferrets, unless you just adopted them and
need to get the fleas off this one time. (Talk to your vet about dosage).

3. You can also get an 8oz.spray bottle. Put about 2 tablespoons Skin-so-soft with 1 teaspoon alcohol (to cut the oil) and fill with water. You can spray that on the dogs and cats and rub it in. This will kill fleas. Again, be very careful not to use this too much with ferrets since they have very sensitive skin.

The one recommendation I got over and over again, get everyone and everything out of the house. Fumigate the whole house and have the yard treated. While you are gone, get all of the fleas off of
all the animals. When you return, you are starting new. Make sure all of the animals stay in the house. If they must go outside,make sure they stay in your yard., if possible. Give them Capstar before they go out to be sure they don’t get any fleas. The ferrets should no longer have a flea problem, ever.

I also had people asking me about the proper food they should be feeding their dogs. Since I have not had dogs in years, I was not sure what to tell them. I have a friend, Greg Martinez,DVM who just
wrote a book called, “Dr. Greg’s Dog Dish Diet”. That book has a wealth of information when it comes to feeding your dog. It gives you histories of different breeds, what different breeds eat, how different foods affect different dogs, etc. Did you know dogs are not suppose to have any corn or beef?

Here are a few tidbits I got from the book that I thought were interesting and I wanted to pass along:

1. A Tablespoon of olive oil or canola oil on the food daily, or an egg yolk in the food three or four times a week, can have a wondrous effect on health.

2. Never give your dog chocolate. That goes for ferrets too. Ferrets should not have any sugars or fruit.

3. The closest ancestor to a dog, the wolf. 99.8% of a dog’s DNA matches the wolf. To feed dogs well on a
diet that resembles the natural diet of a wolf, make sure the mix of ingredients and nutrients are similar.

4. Wild game provides the wolf with a high-water, low-carbohydrate diet that is also high in protein and fat. With the exception of a few of the newer diet; canned dog foods most closely match the wolf’s natural diet.

5. Ounce for ounce, canned dog food has about a third the calories of dry food.

6. A healthier diet may actually prevent, decrease and often cure many of the common chronic problems in dogs.

These are the top 10 claims for Veterinary Pet Insurance:

A.Ear Infections

B. Skin Allerfies

C. Pyoderma (hotspots/ bacterial skin infections)

D. Gastritis/Vomiting (stomach upsets)

E. Enteritis/Diarrhea

F. Urinary Tract Infections Benign

G. Skin Tumors

H. Osteoarthritis

I. Eye Inflammation

J. Hypothyroidism

7. Allergies in dogs are caused by three common allergen groups:

A. Fleas

B. Pollens, grasses and molds

C. Allergenic food ingredients (most often wheat, beef and corn)

8. Wolves keep their teeth clean by chewing on the bones of prey animals. In that tradition, you can give your dog raw or frozen chicken theighs, smoked pork bones or beef knucklebones, and they’ll gnaw the tartar away. PLEASE, be careful what you give your dog. They should be able to chew NOT eat bones. The book
goes into detail about this.

To learn more about dogs and their diets click here for Dr. Greg’s Book.

Then I had questions about adopting dogs. The best timing in the world because I had information sent to me from “TheCamping Dog”.

It specifically talked about adopting a shelter dog. They say one of the best gifts you can give yourself is adopting a shelter dog. Are shelter dogs right for everyone? Absolutely not. You never really know what you’ve got until you get your new friend home. And odds are even that your dog will need specialized attention and care for health or behavior issues for some period of time. Unless you’re willing to be patient and work with your pup, you have no business having a dog at all – and especially not a shelter dog who may
well have had traumatic experiences.

There is nothing more rewarding than watching a dog blossom into their true personalities. Seeing a dog learn how to play for the first time is a delight. And watching them grow as they learn new behaviors and have new experiences is so much fun! And they do thank you for it in so many ways!

If you would like to know the questions to ask yourself if you are thinking about adopting a dog click
here.