| Crystal's Dachshund Crossing |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| Crystal Antlsperger 941-474-2767 (H) 941-468-2004 (C) crysdach@yahoo.com |
| We are having technical difficulties with our server, If you email us response in a 24 hour period, please email again or call. |
| © Copyright 2008 All rights reserved. This website was created and is maintained by Crystal Antlsperger All pictures are the sole property of Crystal's Dachshund Crossing. Any unauthorized copying of pictures, contracts, or articles written by Crystal Antsperger will be a violation of the copyright laws and you will be prosecuted to fullest extent of the law. This does not apply to graphics. |
| 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. first, ARE YOU READY? |
|
| SUPPLIES YOU WILL NEED... |
|
| Puppy Proofing your home: |
| TAKING YOUR NEW PUPPY HOME Take your puppy home and try your very best to keep it there until it has adjusted to it's new surrounding and it's new family. Don't do anything that stresses the puppy. Usually placing a toy/blanket from the breeder in the bed with your baby at their new home makes it feel secure enough to sleep without crying. You can also put a plastic bottle of very warm water securely sealed so it doesn't leak into a soft blanket or towel and allow the new baby to cuddle up to it at night. This simulates the body temperature of another puppy in the bed with your baby so it doesn't feel abandoned. Don’t let the puppy cry it self to sleep, reasure it that it is ok. If you are required to have the puppy checked out by a Vet within a certain length of time, use some common sense. Keep your puppy in a crate or in your lap when visiting the Vet's office. Do not let it romp on the floor or furniture and most certainly do not allow it to socialize with other animals that also may be in the office at the same time. Where do all people take sick dogs? TO THE VET. Please note: ALL VETS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL! All of them do not have the welfare of our animals as their number one priority. Remember, the dog is yours and the Vet is supposed to be working for you. You ALWAYS should have the right to say "NO" if you think anything they suggest doing is unreasonable. Some of them are more interested in how high they can run that bill instead of what is the best thing for your animal. More than one shot should never be given within a 3 week period. Your little one’s immune system just can not stand it. Remember, you can always make another trip later. Find out what shots your puppy has been given before you picked it up and what shots will be due to come later. If the Vet you chose says your puppy will have to be started on it's shots all over again even after the breeder has told you they were already given, run, don't walk as fast as possible for the door. There are many other Vets out there that puts the welfare of your animal before the lining of their pockets with your money. If in doubt, ask around until you find someone that you feel comfortable with taking on your new baby. |
| DIET AND FEEDING If you were caring for a human baby you would be feeding it every few hours and changing it constantly, and keep their enviroment clean. Whatever food was recommended to you by the breeder at time of purchase should be fed for at least the first week so as not to "stress" the puppy any more than necessary. Depending on the age and size of the puppy, it is wise to keep food and clean water for it 24 hours a day until it shows signs of being capable of going longer lengths of time without being fed. It may be necessary to wet the food and add baby food for added flavor to encourage the puppy to eat better. The main subject here is: DON'T change the puppy's diet or eating routine too abruptly. The smaller the puppy, the more times a day it has to be fed. You have to remember that because of the small stomachs, they have to eat much more often just to sustain themselves. NEVER confine a small puppy for any length of time with no food or water. I've heard horror tales where new owners thought they were keeping their puppy safe by putting it in some sort of soft crate or bed and putting it on the bed with them with no food or water to sleep through the night. Puppies also have to eat and drink during the night time hours just to sustain themselves. If you feel it necessary to confine a small puppy, leave it on the floor beside your bed in some sort of pen with sufficient room to sleep, eat and drink and relieve it'self. Yes, they also have to go potty during the night. So do not put very small puppies in the bed with yourself or your small children. They will attempt to move as far away from where they have to sleep to relieve themselves and could fall off the bed and break bones. Puppies have no concept of heights. They will walk right off the edge of any furniture if they are left unattended. So please warn children not to play with them on the sofa or the bed. Play with them in the floor for their own safety. |
|
| TIPS AND CONCERNS |
|
| CHILDREN AND PETS |
| YOGURT YOGURT-The miracle drug for puppies Plain yogurt can literally save your puppy's life. We recommend to everyone that takes a new puppy home to make sure you have a supply of plain yogurt on hand for several days. Please check the label and make sure it has the acidophilus culture and not the aspartame. ASPARTAME IS PURE POISON for humans and should not be fed to small dogs. Stress occurs when you take a new puppy out of it's natural environment. This means that when you purchase a puppy and take it home, you are creating a stressful situation for this puppy. Stress kills off the good bacteria in the G.I. tract. When anything occurs out of the ordinary, it is stressful. Wormings, shots, shipping, riding---all create stress for small animals. Plain yogurt culture puts the good bacteria back into the system so you will have a to the new environment. Yogurt can be force fed with a syringe in situations where your puppy has stopped eating and shows signs of being hypoglycemia. |
|
| Vaccinations: First puppy shot set.............6-8 weeks Second puppy shot set............11-12weeks Third puppy shot set...............15-16 weeks Rabies can be done at 4 months of age and then 1 year later, then from then on it can be done every 3 years. |
| 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 Parvo 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. 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 |