How To Protect Your Animal?s Health

Plans for pet insurance

When it comes to human medicine and animal medicine, neither one comes very cheap. Animal care is actually one of the most expensive form of medicine in the nation and the costs just keep rising year after year. It?s gotten to the point where many pet owners are opting to put their animals down due to the simple fact that they cannot afford the treatment. Expensive health care for animals and pet health insurance plans has made it quite a challenge for animal owners to protect your animals health.

What makes it even more difficult to protect your animals health is that it?s almost out of your control. The warning signs of an unhealthy or sick animal is not the same as it is for a human being. Unless you know your animal very well or make frequent visits to the vet it’s hard to tell whether their healthy or not. But maybe following these tips will help you prevent and illnesses or having to pay the extra bucks for expensive insurance for pet care.

Tip 1
Make sure your pet?s life and living situation as stress free as possible. A happy pet makes for a healthy animal. With the rise of pet medical insurance cost, it will save you time, money, and trouble if you opt for preventative care and it all starts by making your animal?s living situation as comfortable as possible. Make sure they get plenty of exercise and remain active. Further try to give your pet it?s own living space where they can roam around freely and do whatever they like.

Tip 2
Water is the nectar of life for all living things. Ensure that your animal is getting plenty of water throughout the day. Your pet must remain hydrated so that their kidneys and heart doesn?t have to work too hard. While it might be difficult to measure the amount of water your pet drinks but it might be as simple as just making sure that water is always available. Hydrating your animal is possibly the most simplest and effective way to protect your animals health.

Tip 3
Make sure that you are feeding your pet healthy food and avoiding the kinds of food that may cause health problems. This will require you to do some extensive research and guidance from a pet health care professional. The food your animal eats is what fuels their body and feeds their ells. Animals cannot read the nutrition labels that are on the food?s packaging but you have the ability to have a better understanding for what type of ingredients are included in your pet?s food. It?s important that you feed them the right amount of food as well as knowing what kinds of foods to avoid.

Tip 4
Pet proofing your home might be a huge life saver and a great way to protect your animals health. It?s imperative that you stay aware of the objects in your home that might pose a threat to your pet?s safety. Make it part of your pet wellness plans to do a walk-through of not only your house but the neighboring area. Check for anything that might be harmful to your animal. If there?s a pond in the neighborhood or if you have a pool in the backyard make sure your pet does not have unsupervised access to the region.

Tip 5
Another important step to help protect your animals health is to either spay or neuter them. Besides helping in preventing any unplanned pregnancies, this medical procedure has several health benefits. Spaying your female pets helps prevent breast cancer and infections that might occur in the uterus. It also prevents them from going into heat. Neutering your male animals also provide the similar benefits. Male pets tend to be less aggressive when they are neutered and it also keeps them from getting testicular cancer and prostate problems.

The key point to this is to nurture your pet and stay vigilant of any possible health concerns that might occur. The best way to do this is to have a preventative approach and making sure that you have plans for pet insurance.

How to Treat Heartworms for Your Dog

Heartworm antigen test

If you are a dog owner, there is a good chance you’ve been told about or heard about heartworm disease. It is not an easy thing to look at, especially when dealing with your beloved pet. We do everything we can to assure out dogs are healthy and happy. But sometimes, that isn’t enough.

In the aftermath of a heartworm antigen test kit coming back positive, you may find yourself feeling a little helpless. Luckily, it is possible to treat this problem. Veterinary laboratory procedures are now in place to help kill the heartworms and make your pet healthy again. If your heartworm preventative measures do not work and your dog needs treatment, here are a few things you can expect to happen.

Pre-Treatment

Before the actual treatment begins, your vet may place your dog on a series of antibiotics to battle against the heartworm antigen. These help kill bacterium given off by the heartworms when they die that could cause health problems for your dog. All medication should be given out at the proper dosages and times.

Treatment

After the period of antibiotics, it’s then time to move on to the actual procedure. The treatment lasts around 60 days. It involves injecting your pet with a series of drugs through their back, or lumbar muscles. This drug kills the worms. Your dog will need to stay in the hospital to be observed. It’s possible not all the worms will be killed the first time around, so follow-up treatments may need to be scheduled.

Recovery

Like any procedure, while following it your pet should do their best to try and rest up. Their physical activities must be greatly decreased for the time being. Consult your vet to know when your dog can resume normal exercise.

No one likes to know that their dog is sick, even less so with heartworm antigens. Despite best efforts, it still is possible for your dog to catch it. Luckily, however, it’s not the end if your dog happens to contract the disease. Treatment can be very successful for your dog with the help of a trained veterinarian and a lot of time and patience. Soon the only worms your dog will have to deal with is the ones he digs up in the backyard.

How to Prevent Mouth Issues in Pets

veterinary surgical proceduresApproximately 46,300,000 households in the United States own dogs, and 38,900,000 households own cats. Every pet should make frequent trips to a vet for routine checkups, but sometimes, veterinary surgical procedures must be performed to keep your pet in good health. If your pet is scheduled to undergo a minor veterinary surgery, rest assured — they’re in good hands. Here’s a look at one of the most common minor veterinary surgical procedures vets perform.

Tooth extraction is listed as the top surgical procedure performed on cats according to Veterinary Pet Insurance. It’s also the third most common procedure for dogs. The average cost of a dental tooth extraction procedure is just under $1,000. It’s important to understand that keeping your pet’s mouth in good dental health is one of the best ways to prevent the need for an emergency veterinarian.

As your pet ages, they are likely to develop periodontal disease as an adult. This causes breakdown of gum tissue that can lead to bacteria escaping into the bloodstream and potentially causing an infection. If your pet’s immune system isn’t strong enough to kill the microbes, it’s likely to lead to a heart infection.

Another little-known fact about cats is that they can be seriously harmed from prolonged cigarette smoke exposure. If your cat lives with someone who smokes cigarettes indoors, the noxious smoke and all its chemical components can actually seep into the cat’s fur. Then, when they groom themselves, which is generally several times a day, the toxins will get into the cat’s mouth and cause some serious issues.

Regardless of the environments in which your pets live, it’s important for them to maintain a healthy diet. Doctors recommend a diet of mostly raw foods that trace back to the animal’s roots. For example, it’s recommended that cats should not eat seafood since ancestors of today’s house cats did not hunt from the sea. Even though most cats enjoy seafood, there are other alternatives your cat will enjoy as well. Remember to look at the ingredients and try to limit the preservatives in your cat’s food.

Overall, keeping your pets healthy is a proactive effort. Taking small steps to reduce health risks, and taking advantage of veterinary services are the best ways for your pet to live a happy and healthy life.