Heal Your Pet at Home

As pet owners, we love our animals. Dogs and cats add so much to our lives and it can be devastating when our furry friends become ill. When they become ill, we take them to the vet and HOPE that they can find out what is wrong with them. We spend hundreds or thousands of dollars and often end up with the vet treating the symptoms.

As a dedicated dog owner, I often get frustrated with this process. I believe there are many things we can do at home to treat our beloved pets and to keep them happy and healthy, without dragging them to the vet.

Common Issues

Don't Always Require a Visit to the Vet

Are you willing to care for and comfort your sick or injured pet so you can alleviate pain or begin treatment, even before you reach your Vet? Doing so could be a matter of life or death.

As parents we try to educate ourselves in order to better care for our children. I am an avid believer that the same should be done for our pets. By educating ourselves about common issues and illnesses, and effective at home treatments for our pets, we can better their quality of life and ours.

Basic Health Care for Pets

Dental Care, Proper Weight Management

One of the most basic ways to care for our pets is dental care.

Harmful bacteria can build up in our pet's mouth, causing infections and even heart disease. Proper dental maintenance is vital to overall pet health. It is suggested that your pets teeth should be brushed at least once a week, and up to every other day. This shouldn't be a chore. There are many products available to make this task enjoyable for your pet.

Another vital piece to keeping your pet healthy at home is proper weight management.

You will be able to tell if you pet is over weight generally by just looking at them. As a rule of thumb, you should not see their rib cage, but should see definition in their bodies. You should also not feel much fat on your pet's bones. Understanding what food you are feeding them is the first piece of this puzzle. Just like people, a balance diet is important. Make sure that you are following the feeding guidelines on your pet's food packaging. An 8 lb. Yorkie should not be eating the same amount of food as a 35 lb. Beagle. Also, EXERCISE your pet daily. Again, like humans, pets need to be physically active (this includes cats). You know your pet the best...find ways in which your pet enjoys to be active.

These are just a couple of basic suggestions. Even when we take excellent care of our pets, they still get sick. I've found the book below helpful in learning more at home solutions for common pet illnesses.