Miss M has been the first dog I've had on my own as a grown-up. Since her care was completely up to me, I became overly protective and would run to the vet for every little ailment or mishap. Needless to say, this habit became quite expensive; the average vet visit in the city runs $150+. Since then, I've been researching and talking to people about preventative care to keep our pooches healthy.Miss M. used to have severe allergies to the point of developing welts on her stomach. We changed the pooches' diets to include raw food, and since then her stomach has been nice, clear, and pink.
She also used to have dry hair and a severe shedding problem, so we began using fish oil to keep her coat shiny and healthy. This has also reduced the amount of time I need to spend brushing the pooches, and has saved us money on baths.
Since Mr. B will be running with me as I train for the Chicago Marathon, we started including glucosamine tablets in their Kongs. I actually take these when I run to help with my joints, so I figure they would be great for the pooches.And of course, we have our pet insurance should there be any huge, unforeseen mishap.
I was curious if anyone else could offer other daily care or home remedies you use to keep your pooches in good shape. Thoughts?
17 comments:
Awww...I luvs that last picture of Mr. B. We haves a Zoom Groom, too! You pretty much do what my mom does. Most recently, she did start using this thing called Teddy's Pride on our food to helps with our teethies and it seems to be working but we haven't been doing it for very long so she can't say 100% for certain.
Oh, and I'm very much glad that Miss M doesn't get those itchy welt thingies on her tummy anymore. I bet that didn't fell good at ALL.
Wiggles & Wags,
Mayzie
That is one super sweeeeet pink belly! If it could talk it would say "rub me!"
Mom has been thinking about giving us fishy oils with our dindins.
We will tell her how nice it makes you guys look!
lots of love and good food. We also try and make sure to get them into shape slowly and not expect them to run marathons when they haven't worked up to it.
We put apple cider vinegar in the girl's water. It is suppose to help with itchy skin, smelly ears, runny eyes, immune system, heart and many other problems. We have a breed that is known for having a lot of healh problems, so I figure ACV couldn't hurt.
My big issue here is their teeth. Greyhounds have notoriously bad teeth for some reason. We brush them, of course, and I like to give them raw bones to chew on from time to time, but we've been rethinking that after some reading we've done. We also do nail trimming at home part of the time, at least on Bunny and Blue. Lilac has funky nails that have to be trimmed at the vet.
Both of the pooches look just adorable! I love that pink belly!
Darwin's a Trupanion gal too and we've loved them in this past month when we were taking in her in almost weekly.
We just started giving Darwin fish oil for her coat, but we've been giving her Body Guard (http://www.protec-pet-health.com/body_guard.html) a natural supplement for about a year now.
oh my goodness that pink belly is precious and mr b looks mighty scawy in his photo. mommish goes to walmart at gets the vitamins that she gives ush daily and senior ones for guero and coco chanel.they are way WAY cheaper than the ones at petsmart. also brushing toofers ish something we had to get use to but is a must. she shays she'll have to try the fish oil. she use to put egg in our food but we would toot extra much and extra stinky winky so she stopped that.
tee hee
pibble sugars and wee wiggles
the pittie pack
Our momma recently switched our food to an all holistic food and it seems to help our poopies move better and less and plus our coat is shiny and momma wallet is thinner. Thinner is better right?
Wags and woofs,
Mack and Mia
I love that picture of Mr. B!
My mom has one of those Zoom groom brushes and I completely forgot to get one. Thanks for the reminder.
We are trying Diatomaceious Earth powder with ours - if it works like it's suppoesed to it could save a bundle in personal and pet expenses.
https://www.earthworkshealth.com/
We give Levi fish oil too. He gets dandruff, so the hope is the oil will help with that. I haven't thought about glucosamine tablets since he's not exactly a runner, but maybe I should consider them for me and my old joints! Other than that, we just use a special cream on the area in front of his penis that gets red and irritated for some reason. Since he's a fan of sleeping on his back (like Ms. M., apparently), it's easy to remember to apply it.
I love the shots you get of your dogs- so cute :)
We've started brushing their teeth, are really on top of their exercize and also consider socialization to be part of their overall health contribution (I take them to day care on occasion in addition to the dog park just to keep on top their interaction/sharing etc. I think it's good for their brains).
I think we're going to have to give fish oil a try...
Great post with tons of useful information. I can't believe we didn't listen to you the first time you posted about trupanions. We're going to feel it later today. Thank you so much for your encouraging comment about my sissies.
Twinkie
We likes your belly! Good luck and drink lots of Gator-Ray!
Luv,
Riley and Star.
scratchy scratchy..your belly looks like Lily
Benny & Lily
weird! It works for me. If you check my page again I have a different way to get to the voting area.
Thanks!
Yuh, I take the glucosamine and fish oil too! Momma's vet knows that momma is an extra watchful dog person and so works with her over the phone whenever possible to save the dollars for really important stuff (like getting my nails done).
Slobbers,
Mango
What a great post,so much useful advice!!
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