Tag
10 posts about dogs.
Three injections for a puppy, then one more at six months. It is not the vet being cautious. Why the early ones can fail, why the one at 16 weeks matters most, what every dog and cat needs, how often adults need boosters, and when a puppy can go out.
Slow to get up, lagging on walks, no longer jumping onto the bed. Much of what gets called slowing down in an older dog or cat is joint pain, and pain can be treated. The early signs, six questions for cats, and what actually helps.
Breathing that has quietly sped up in sleep is often the earliest sign of heart trouble in a dog or cat, well before a cough or a collapse. How to count it in a minute, what the studies say is normal, why your pet's own number matters most, and when a count means calling the vet.
Most limps are a cut pad, a torn nail or a knock that is better in two days. Some are a torn ligament that gets worse with every walk. How to check the paw yourself, which leg is which, what a cruciate limp looks like, what needs a vet today, and why "rest it and see" has to mean real rest.
You found a lump. Most are harmless, some are not, and you cannot tell which by feel. What the vet wants to know, the ten-minute needle test that answers most questions on the day, the lumps that should never be watched, and how to keep a lump map so that "has it grown?" has a real answer.
A dog that barks at the door, a dog that barks at you, and a dog that barks when you leave are doing three different things. Treat them the same way and at least one gets worse. How to tell which you have, what works for each, and why shouting is just joining in.
In southern Europe the dangerous bites are the ones you never see. Ticks carry four serious diseases, a sandfly the size of a pinhead carries leishmaniasis, and a tablet that kills ticks does not stop a sandfly. Which product does which job, whether you live here, holiday here or adopt from here.
Most dogs with an upset stomach are better in a day or two with nothing more than a bland diet and a bit of patience. A few need a vet within the hour. What to do, what to stop doing, and how to tell the two apart.
A dog that explodes at other dogs on the lead is not aggressive, dominant or badly trained. Nine times in ten it is scared and has learned that noise makes the scary thing go away. What reactivity is, the three mistakes that make it worse, and the method that actually changes it.
Pulling is not stubbornness and it is not dominance. It is a habit the walk itself has been training, one step at a time. The two rules that undo it, the equipment that helps, and the part most people get wrong.
