Good Friends Need Care
Your dog is a valued member of the family. It needs to be looked after well, fed properly and protected against disease. Indeed, it is thoroughly dependent on you for its welfare. Therefore, it is a good idea to consult with a local veterinarian to obtain advice on a program of care. This little booklet provides many hints relating to your dog being a good citizen. This veterinary section will give you general advice on keeping it healthy and happy. Your own vet will be pleased to advise you on a program designed to protect your dog and suit your own circumstances.
Vaccinations
Vaccination is all about prevention being better than cure. Vaccines are generally prepared against diseases caused by viruses. There are certain viruses that can kill your dog, and once the dog is infected, there are no practical cures. Fortunately vaccines have been produced to protect your dogs against the most serious viral diseases. Just what diseases to vaccinate against, and what schedule of injections to be given are best discussed with your veterinarian. Your vet will take into account the risks of infection in your particular neighbourhood and your particular circumstances. The following general comments are however provided for your guidance.
The major viral threats to dogs in Australia are:
- canine distemper
- infectious hepatitis
- parvovirus
- canine parainfluenza
Your vet can vaccinate your pet against these viruses. There are some non-viral diseases against which your dog can be vaccinated as well, depending upon risks in a particular environment.
These include leptospirosis and bordetella infection. Your vet can explain the signs of these diseases.
Vaccination offers good protection if carried out before infection and in a planned program. Your vet will advise you on a suitable program. For example, a vaccination program might involve your pup being vaccinated at about eight weeks and then again at twelve weeks of age. It depends upon the circumstances.Today's vaccines are often combined in one dose, so your dog will only have to be given one injection each time it is vaccinated. There usually are no noticeable side effects, though occasionally your dog may appear 'Off colour' or tender at the site of the injection for a day or two. Very rarely do more serious side effects occur.
Your vet will issue a certificate of vaccination and keep records for you, as well as issuing certificates when you need them. You will receive reminder notices when the dog's next injection is due. Vaccination certificates are essential if your dog is to be admitted to a boarding kennel if you go on holidays and if you attend obedience classes. If you buy your pup from a breeder or pet shop, you should request all relevant certificates with its purchase so your vet will know exactly how well protected the pup is.
Feeding
Nutritious foods are readily available, such as commercially prepared foods or raw meat from the butcher and pet food shops. Do not buy meat from shops you do not think are clean. The meat can be fed directly to your dog or may be cooked. Offal such as liver or heart should never be fed unless it has been very well cooked, since it may transmit hydatids, which is a disease described below. Your dog does need a balanced diet, which is not provided by meat alone. You can add vegetables and cereals, such as rice cooked in with the dog's meat. The diet should be balanced 'texturally' as well as nutritionally-a diet of entirely soft food can lead to dental problems, such as plaque formation on your dog's teeth. Regular feeding of bones or hard biscuits can help prevent this problem occurring.
Puppies have special feeding needs. They generally are weaned off their mothers milk by eight weeks of age. During the weaning period and from then on they can be introduced to a variety of foods, but new foods should be only fed gradually to avoid gastric upsets. Canned or dry complete puppy foods are available. Pups can be fed three to four times a day from the age of eight weeks until they are about six months old. After that, they may be fed twice a day until they reach one year old, and one meal per day from then on is sufficient.
It is suggested that the dog has its own bowl and feeding place so that it can relax into a familiar pattern. However, remember not to overfeed your dog. An overweight dog has similar problems to those of overweight people, with the added disadvantage of seeming more likely to suffer from skin diseases.
Skin Problems
There are several skin diseases which require expert advice and medication, the most common being allergies. A task which you can set yourself from the beginning is controlling fleas in your dog's environment and on your dog. The fleas carried by dogs do not affect people, but can be a real worry for dogs and also cats. If you happen to own cats as well, it is best to treat both species. Flea powders, collars and shampoos can be purchased through many outlets, and you should treat the area where the animals sleep since it is in these areas that the fleas breed. Your vet can provide flea treatments for your dog which are given in oral doses at regular intervals. An uncontrolled flea infestation of your dog will cause it a nightmare of itching and may lead to serious chronic skin problems.
Intestinal Problems
'Worms' generally mean adult tape or round-worms in the dog's stomach and intestines. They can cause ill health in dogs and even death in pups. Some can infect human beings, such as common round worm Toxocara canis, the hookworm Ancyclostoma caninum, and the tapeworm which causes hydatids in human beings.
General personal hygiene (washing hands after handling dogs) helps prevent infection of people. Hydatids are cysts which are the intermediate stage of tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus. Hydatids are of concern as a disease of people here in the ACT. Never feed your dog raw offal as this can spread hydatids to dogs.
It is important that your dog be treated regularly against worms. Treatment usually is by tablet or syrup (easiest for pups). Many of the worms affect cats also, so dogs and cats in a household should be treated at the same time. Some treatments are effective against a range of worms, others are most effective against only a few types of worms. Your vet will guide you to the most effective treatment program for your dog. An example of a program is the frequent worming of puppies, say at fortnightly intervals from two weeks until ten weeks of age, then at three monthly intervals for the rest of the dog's life.
Heartworm
This is a parasite which lives as adults in the interior of the dog's heart. The adults are slender and may be as long as 35cm. The disease is spread from dog to dog by mosquitoes. As their numbers build up the efficiency of the heart is affected badly, resulting in a chronic cough, a stomach cavity full of fluid, fatigue, weight loss, laboured breathing and eventually death.
Heartworm infection can be detected by a blood test, and then treated, but prevention is the better policy. Your dog can be protected against heartworm by tablets or palatable blocks given monthly. These may be in a form which the dog likes to eat, and may contain other worming treatments so that your dog is treated for ordinary worms at the same time. Preventative treatment is thus very convenient and much safer for your dog.
Desexing
This is the common term for a surgical operation to remove the ovaries from female dogs and the testicles from male dogs. The operation is conducted under full anaesthesia and in sterile conditions. Although the operation may be carried out at any age over three months, the usual practice is to operate on dogs at six to nine months of age. In an urban situation there is really no alternative to desexing. A female dog 'in season' will roam or, if confined, attract male dogs from all over the neighbourhood. The roaming dogs are a definite traffic hazard, will fight and injure each other, and create general associated problems. Puppies can be difficult to give away and may have to be put down.
There are various beliefs held about desexing, such as that it is good to allow a female dog to have one litter, or that a desexed male dog will not be as good a pet and so on. These ideas do not stand close scrutiny. It can also be said that desexing makes the dog into a better and safer pet which shows less tendency to wander and so is less likely to be injured on the road.
The desexing operation is not reversible.
Socialising
The age of about six weeks to fourteen weeks is critical for the behaviour of the pup, for it is during this period that its social behaviour patterns are established to a large degree. If the pup is brought into contact with other pups and human beings it is likely to be a much more sociable adult, and less fearful and territorial, and so a better neighbourhood citizen. The dilemma is that this is also the period when it is susceptible to the viral diseases mentioned above, because its vaccination program has not been completed. Veterinarians are increasingly addressing this problem by arranging for puppies of known health status, and their owners, to get together and socialise. The aim is to have adult dogs which are less likely to be savage to other dogs or people. This is a matter which you can discuss further with your veterinarian.
Veterinarians can also advise you on other behavioural matters such as excessive barking. You can discuss these at regular consultations or, if the problem is serious, your veterinarian can arrange a referral to animal behaviour specialist vets.
In Summary
The program of caring for your dog is actually quite simple. Dogs are tough animals and make wonderful pets. They are an asset in our community and have been closely associated with human beings longer than any other animal. Make a friend of your vet and you can be assured of good advice through the long and, we hope, healthy years of your dogs life.
