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Dog With Least Health Problem Article

You might think the most important bit of dog health advice would be to let your furry loved on spend all day enjoying the outdoors. But you'd only be half-right.

You know we must protect our children and ourselves and from the sun. But do you know that leading canine health experts now say that the most important dog health advice they can give is to protect your dog from the sun, too?

Dog Health Advice: Identifying Dog Sunburn

Like us humans, dogs need sunlight to help balance their bodies’ levels of calcium with their metabolism.

Yet too much ultraviolet radiation can irritate our dogs’ skin as it does our own, causing sunburn.

Identifying Dog Sunburn

Dog sunburn begins as redness and hair loss.

Where sunburn first appears

• bridge of the nose


• tips of the ears


• belly

Dog Sunburn Dangers

• aggravates any existing skin problems


• skin ulcers (sores)


• infection


• cancer

Sunburn and Dog Breed

Pale and short-hair dogs are particularly prone to sunburn,
usually on the nose, abdomen, groin, and inside of the legs. Being close to the ground, they not only are affected by the downward sunlight, but also by sun reflecting up from pavement or hot sand.

Some breeds, like Weimaraners and Boxers, are predisposed to cancer.
Therefore, they must have extra protection from the sunburns and UV rays to avoid a kind of skin cancer.

How you can protect your pets:

Think about the precautions that you take to prevent yourself from sunburn and UV exposure. You stay out of the sun at the peak hours like noon to 3PM, use sunblock and cover up, don’t you? Those same suggestions can work for your dog.

Here’s more dog health advice:

• 
  Be sure that your dog is inside the house or in a shaded area during the sun’s peak hours, even on overcast days.
  


• 
  Apply sunblock to the bridge of the dog’s nose, ear tips and other small, sensitive areas whenever the dog is outside for more than a few minutes.
  


• 
  Consider some sort of covering for your dog. Some veterinarians say that the most important and effective protection is a type of bodysuit for dogs, which is designed to block ultraviolet rays and prevent sunburn.
  

Our dogs give us hours of pleasure and years of unconditional love. In return, all we must do is love and keep them healthy.

It's still good dog health advice to let your dog play outdoors. But spare your “best friend” the pain of sunburn and its consequences.

About the Author

About the author: You can read more of Joel Walsh's articles on dog issues such as Dog Health Advice at: http://www.i-love-dogs.com

Written by: Joel Walsh

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Dog With Least Health Problem Article

Feed him a balanced diet.

- Give an occasional yogurt treat
- Ask your vet about giving Boxers calcium tablets as they could have some problems later on in life!

- Keep him comfortable so his immune system can remain strong.

- Boxers are shorthaired and sensitive to extreme elements of the weather and thus must be kept a housedog. His shortened muzzle also makes hot and humid weather uncomfortable for him.

- Give Boxers lots of exercise and regularly.

- Remember that he is a big and strong breed and requires physical outlets for his boundless energy and high play/prey drive.

- Walk them three times a day or have play sessions. Provide plenty of space for them to bounce around. You want to keep their spirit up and not break it or they won´t be the dogs you fall in love with in the first place. Healthy and happy Boxers are a joy to live with.

- Make a breeder your friend.

- Keep in touch with the breeder who sold you the Boxer. The breeder can advise you about care and health matters that are unique to the breed. Any Boxer breeder, for that matter, can be an invaluable ally to you throughout your Boxer's life.

- Guard your Boxer from fleas.

- Your Boxer has fleas if you find black specks in the fur or fleabite marks on the skin. A tip given by an owner is to give your Boxer garlic daily to prevent fleas.

- Boxers catch fleas from other animals. It is an every day problem that, at some time or another, you can expect to encounter in your Boxer.

- The fleas only go to the Boxer to feed on its blood.

- Fleas mostly live and multiply in your home. The comfortable living - central heating, double-glazing and, best of all, the fitted carpet - we create for ourselves and our Boxers also work best for the fleas.

- De-worm your puppy every month and your adult Boxer, every six months.

Worms

Worms is another everyday problem in Boxers but the puppy is more likely to get sick from worms than the grown up Boxer.

The sick one would lose weight and become weak, suffer from upset stomach, poor growth, listlessness or even lung trouble.

They may impede your puppy´s growth and cause him to have a potbelly or be thin and have a shoddy-looking coat.

Your grown Boxer may not be showing any sign of worms but he could spread them more than the sick puppy, through large amount of larvae or eggs passed out in the feces.

If your Boxer has tapeworms, he has fleas too because part of the tapeworm life cycle occurs in flea as the host. As such, treatments against flea and tapeworm are normally prescribed together.

Some, like the roundworm, that infect dogs can also get passed on to children.

In more serious cases, your dog will catch cough, pneumonia and develop lung problems.

There are different types of worms that infect dogs such as tapeworm, roundworm, ringworm and heartworm. De-worm your Boxer puppy every month and your grown Boxer, every 6 months.

Puppies get sick from worms, more so than dogs.

But your infected grown Boxers help spread the worms more through their droppings that would contain large number of larvae and/or eggs.

Released into the surrounding, these larvae and eggs could infect other animals and even children.

The tapeworms have a flat, segmented body.

You see them as single segments or chains that resemble segments of rice in the droppings of infected canine.

Part of the tapeworm´s life cycle occurs in the flea as the host. Therefore, if your Boxer has tapeworms, it has fleas too and the treatments for both are usually prescribed together by the vet.

The roundworms (toxocara) live and produce hundreds of eggs in the intestine.

They cause digestive upset in puppies, poor growth, and thin or out-of-conditioned coat.

The infected puppies may become listless, have a potbelly or tucked in appearance.

Once the roundworms migrated from the gut to the lungs, your Boxer can suffer lung damage, cough and pneumonia.

The roundworm eggs in the dog droppings get passed out and about.

These are very hardy eggs, resistant to heat and cold, and can survive up to 7 years in the soil. The eggs can pass on to children through ingestion and cause them to fall sick as well.

As precautions, you can toilet train your Boxer puppy to use a place where you can easily clean up and dispose of the droppings into the sewer. Have your children wash their hands every time after they handle the puppies and discourage your puppies from licking people hands or faces.

Boxer Dog Information Pictures - Boxer Dog Information, Puppy Articles, Dog Pictures, Dog Training Tips and Resources.
This article courtesy of http://www.1st-in-dogstuff.com You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.

Written by: Gord

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