 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
Crystal's Dachshund Crossing
| Puppy Care |
| A new puppy is alot like having a new baby. They cry at bed time, they wake up at night and they have accidents. But they do learn, and once you spend time with them and teach them it is all worth it. So please when considering a new puppy think about your situation first, ARE YOU READY? |
 | Food and Water bowls | |
| Premium pet food to get your puppy of to a good start. | |
| Collar and Leash (Please be make sure the collar is a "breakaway" collar, | |
| puppy's can get hung on things and the type of collar will help prevent them hanging themselves). | ||
| Identification tags, this should include, puppy's name, your name, phone number, | |
| and microchip info if applicable. | ||
| Potty Pads and a Stain remover for accidents | |
| Puppy shampoo | |
| Brush, comb, and nail clippers | |
| Flea, Tick and parasite preventatives | |
| A travel bag or crate for those days out | |
| A Crate for home, if crate training is the option (recommended) | |
| Blankets, or doggy bed | |
| Plenty and Plenty of chew toys | |
| Treats, Keep for training purposes and for a job well done. | |
| Supplies you will need: |
| Keep breakable objects out of reach | |
| Hide or cover electrical cords and outlets | |
| Store household and outdoor chemicals out of reach (especially antifreeze) | |
| If you own a pool, make sure covers or fences are intact | |
| If you provide your puppy/dog with an outside kennel please remember to | |
| provide shelter that is of adequate size, clean water, and food. | ||
| Some plants to keep out of the way are: Poinsettias, Azaleas, | |
| Rhododendrons, Dumb Cane, Japanese Yew, Oleander, and English Ivy, These are just a few. |
| Puppy Proofing your home: |
| It is usually best to pick up a puppy on a weekend or a day when you have off a | |
| few days in a row to have constant supervision in it's new surrounds at least for the first few days. | ||
| A puppy 8- 12 weeks should not be treated like an adult dog, it needs time to | |
| learn, and socialize. Socialization is critical at this age. | ||
| Make sure the food you buy is Puppy Formula, not adult. It is always best to keep | |
| them on what the breeder has provided them with in the time they were with them. | ||
| A young puppy has no bladder control and will need to urinate immediately after | |
| eating, drinking, sleeping and/ or playing. These are the times you need to remember to take him out. | ||
| Be alert, watch for the signs, sniffing on the floor, circling, even running to the | |
| door you take him out to go. | ||
| Don't punish for accidents, He won't understand. They learn praise faster, praise | |
| them with a treat when they go potty in the specified area. | ||
| Baby gates are an excellent source of confinement or keeping them out of certain | |
| rooms. | ||
| If you ever have a health concern that something is just not right with your puppy, | |
| call your vet or emergency vet immediately, they may have gotten into something you are unaware of. |
| Tips and concerns: |
| Crystal Antlsperger 941-474-2767 crysdach@yahoo.com |
| Some Health concerns: |
| HYPOGLYCEMIA This is the scientific name for a condition where the sugar level suddenly drops in a small animals system. The first signs of this problem is usually staggering and falling over as though they are drunk. Or they can be observed lying on their side paddling with their front feet as though they are swimming. If these symptoms are observed, you must act very quickly in order to save your puppy's life. YOU HAVE TO GET THE SUGAR LEVEL UP TO BRING THE PUPPY OUT OF THIS SITUATION. AND IT MUST BE DONE VERY QUICKLY. Usually you do not have time to get them to a Vet before they suffer irreparable damage. Honey is the best remedy for this situation. But if honey is not available, use karo syrup or anything that is super sweet. If you don't have any of this on hand, then run about an inch of water in a coffee cup and stir in 2 or 3 teaspoons of sugar and stir quickly until it dissolves. Then you must get some of this mixture into the puppy. At this point, you will find the puppy clinchs it mouth shut and will not lap it up on it's own. By inserting a finger in the corner of the puppy's mouth you can pry it open far enough to get a fingertip covered with honey into it's mouth. Or in the case of the sugar water, an eye dropper, straw, or even dropping it through the opening in the mouth one drop at a time from a spoon. Once the puppy gets a good taste of the sweet substance, it will usually start licking it's tongue out and will start to recover in a very short time. Please note that if it was necessary to use Karo syrup, this mixture is also a natural laxative. Do not be surprised if diarhea should follow when relieving it's self. If your puppy is experience episodes of hypoglycemia, it is usually a sign that it is not taking in enough food or it has an underlying problem that may need medical attention. Sometimes, this problem can be corrected by just stirring in a teaspoon of sugar to the puppy's water supply daily until the episodes subside. |
| COCCIDIA This is an "opportunist protozoa" that lives in the bowels of all dogs. Did you understand that? ALL DOGS carry coccidia. But something has got to weaken the immune system of an animal for the protozoa to have an opportunity to take hold and start multiplying. That "something " is usually stress of one kind or another or change of one kind. Coccidia is usually accompanied by a loose, stinky stool that can even have streaks of bloody mucus in it. Some Vets will explain coccidia to their clients by saying the animal is loaded with parasites. This is sometimes interepreted by that client that the animal has worms. Coccidia is not exactly a parasite but can be just as hard to get rid of . A daily supply of yogurt prevents coccidia from getting a foot hold as it keeps a good balance of bacteria in the G.I. tract. So long as good bacteria exists in an ample supply in the gut, coccidia can not grow. Coccidia is shed in the stool like a virus. If the animal is not shedding it when a stool sample is taken, the animal can be misdiagnosed as being free of the protozoa. If your puppy is put on antibiotics of any sort, feed yogurt to replenish the good bacteria that is killed off by the antibiotic. It will in no way affect the antibiotic from completeing it's job but may save your animal from secondary infections caused by an imbalance of good bacteria. When coccidia does exist in the G.I. tract of your puppy, it can easily spread up through the system and into the lungs and if unchecked, it can cause pneumonia and eventually death. The first signs of coccidia is usually a lack of eating properly accompanied by a loose stinky stool and sometimes escalating into bouts of hypoglycemia. Coccidia can be transmitted to humans if hands are not washed and contaminated utensils are handled improperly. If your puppy shows signs of this disease, immediately seek professional advice and treatment. |
| GIARDIA It is hot, the pond or river or lake looks terribly inviting but take some precautions before letting your dog go swimming in untreated water. Make sure you have your dog's Giardia vaccination up to date. Giardia is a one-celled protozoal parasite that causes giardiasis. In humans, it is one of the most common protozoan water borne illnesses although it is unknown if the species of Giardia that infects humans is the same as that which infects dogs, cats and other animals. Dogs ingest the Giardia cyst most likely through drinking contaminated water. Since the parasite can live outside of hosts possibly for months, it may also be transmitted from infected fur, lawns, kennels, etc. In the small intestine, the cyst opens into a trophozoite that attaches to the intestinal wall and reproduces through division. At some point in its lifecycle, the parasite then becomes a cyst again and passes through the feces ready to be ingested by another host. Giardia prevents absorption of nutrients in the intestine interfering with proper digestion. The result commonly includes diarrhea, loss of weight and possible loss of appetite. Diarrhea can be caused by any number of bacteria or other causes and Giardia cysts are difficult to detect in feces (take several samples over several days since cysts are not always being shed) so it is not always possible to pinpoint Giardia as the cause of symptoms. There is much that is unknown about this parasite including how common it is, how often infection leads to disease, whether it can be passed between humans and animals or even all of the details about its lifecycle. It is a good idea, therefore, to err on the side of caution particularly with young dogs, older dogs and those with compromised immune systems. Treatment includes the use of one or a combination of different drugs some of which have been approved for use in dogs for other intestinal parasites and some which have not. Efficacy is questionable as the parasite may still be present in the intestines even though cysts cannot be detected in the feces. |
| PARVOVIRUS is the most common serious infectious disease of dogs in the United States. Canine parvovirus causes ulcerative enteritis and diarrhea in susceptible dogs. This diarrhea can be bloody and life threatening. The parvovirus has mutated several times since 1980. The most common strain today is CPV-2B. The high mortalities of the 1970s and 1980’s have lessened due to effective vaccines. Still, some dogs continue to break with the disease and die despite vaccination. Parvovirus is an extremely tough and resistant bug. The virus lives for long periods of time on floors, food containers and other household objects. Rugs are particularly difficult to sanitize. It is thought that household vermin such as cockroaches move the virus from place to place. The virus is both resistant to phenolic disinfectants and to heat. It can be inactivated, however, with ordinary household bleach used at a concentration of one part bleach to twenty parts water. Exposure to sunshine also kills the virus. For the bleach solution to work, any caked organic material must first be removed by washing. Although it takes one or two weeks for the dog to develop signs of disease, the virus is shed in the feces from the third day of exposure onward. This means that dogs that appear healthy can already be shedding the virus and contaminating the home. The symptoms of the Parvovirus disease is remarkable in that symptoms can vary from none at all to a fatal disease. Four factors govern the severity of the disease: age at exposure, the size of the virus dose, the presence of maternal antibody, and the breed of dog involved. Dogs receive transient maternal antibody from their mothers through their first milk or colostrum. This antibody gives the puppy resistance to the disease. Puppies that are housed in a parvo-filled environment rarely break with the disease until they reach 14-20 weeks of age. At that time their mother’s immunity no longer protects them and they may die of the disease. Dogs over six month of age develop natural resistance to the effects of parvovirus. Many of these dogs show only transient diarrhea. By the time the dog reaches one or two years of age the disease can be so mild that it passes unnoticed by the owners. For unknown reasons, Doberman Pinschers, Rottweilers and Pit Bull Terriers become more ill with this disease than other breeds. The most common form of parvovirus infection is a sudden (acute) inflammation of the small intestine or enteritis. This is characterized by depression, vomiting, diarrhea and profound dehydration. Bloody stools and a drop in white blood cell numbers are common. Some puppies die as soon as diarrhea occurs but many linger on for 4-6 days. Those that survive eight days usually recover. The lack of white blood cells and ulceration of the lining of the small intestine lead to secondary bacterial infections. There are many other virus and bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhea in dogs. This leads to misdiagnosis where not all cases of “Parvo” in puppies and adults are actually due to this virus. |
| PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOUR NEW BABY AND BE AWARE THERE ARE THREATS EVERYWHERE FOR THEM. |
