Feb 17, 2024 | Dogs, General, Recipes
Homemade dog biscuits are a healthy treat for your dog.
If you enjoy baking for yourself and your loved ones, it makes sense to make some healthy dog biscuits for your dog. Just bake these oatmeal dog treats for your four-legged friend. You can be sure that your homemade dog biscuits do not contain any harmful colors or preservatives. They are also ideal for dogs that cannot tolerate wheat. The recipe for these treats is simple and doesn’t require many ingredients. The combination of oat curls, egg and butter is sure to hit your dog’s taste buds.
Ingredients for the dog biscuits:
300 g fine oat flakes
2 eggs
125g butter or margarine
Water, as needed
Preparation of the treats:
Knead all the ingredients into a dough and add a little water if necessary so that a roll can be formed. Let the roll rest in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. Then cut into thalers and bake them at 150°C. The thalers keep well if they are dried and stored in a paper bag.
You can also customize the dog biscuits according to your four-legged friend’s preferences. For example, you can refine the cookies with cheese, meat or vegetables. Whatever your four-legged friend’s taste is. He will be thrilled.
Feb 13, 2024 | Dogs, General
If the animal loses urine uncontrollably, this is known as canine incontinence. After sleeping, the dog leaves wet patches on its dog bed and leaks urine, even though it has long been house-trained. The lives of both dog and owner are severely affected and a veterinary diagnosis and treatment is necessary.
DIVAN Uno dog cushion with incontinence cover
What is incontinence in dogs?
An incontinent dog unconsciously leaks urine or faeces. This can happen while standing, walking or sleeping. Depending on how severe the dog’s incontinence is, it can be a few drops of urine or a whole stream. More rarely, incontinence affects faeces. In the most common form of incontinence, the dog loses a few drops of urine at night while sleeping. If the bladder sphincter is relaxed, the dog can no longer control it. This often happens in older female dogs when they no longer produce female sex hormones. However, incontinence can also occur in neutered dogs, due to illness or trauma.
More female dogs are affected than male dogs, as the ureter is much shorter and straighter in female dogs. Large dogs such as Dobermans, Rottweilers, Boxers and Giant Schnauzers are more frequently affected. Sheepdogs, Bernese mountain dogs, dachshunds and spaniels are less frequently affected.
Why is my dog incontinent?
Several reasons can lead to incontinence in dogs. There is age-related incontinence, which is more common in female dogs than male dogs. Castration in dogs is also associated with incontinence. In around 30% of all large, spayed bitches, incontinence occurs on average after 3 to 5 years. In unfavourable cases, incontinence occurs immediately, in favourable cases only after 8 to 10 years. Only 10% of smaller dog breeds are affected by incontinence.
Various diseases such as cystitis, malformations of the ureters or nerve damage can lead to incontinence. To find out the cause reliably, an appointment with the vet is essential.
Diagnosis and treatment of incontinence in dogs
If there is a disease causing the incontinence, it must be treated without fail. Malformations in the urethra, bladder stones or a tumour in the bladder are serious conditions that may require surgical intervention.
Dogs that become incontinent due to castration can be treated well and successfully with appropriate medication. These drugs increase the muscle tension in the urethra and support urethral closure.
Homeopathic therapy can help and nutritional supplements such as pumpkin seeds or cranberries can have a positive effect.
Can incontinence in dogs be prevented?
Basically not. It is assumed that there is less urinary leakage due to castration if only the ovaries are removed and the uterus remains in the dog.
Tips for living with an incontinent dog.
It is not in a dog’s nature to soil its living area. House-trained animals suffer psychologically from their incontinence. Dogs have fine noses and they hate smelling their urine. It is very important to react with understanding. As the dog is not leaking urine on purpose, it must not be punished for it under any circumstances.
Wearing nappies from time to time can be a way of making everyday life easier. Unfortunately, it is not advisable to wear nappies permanently, as this can irritate the dog’s skin and coat.
To prevent unpleasant odours from forming in the house, it is helpful to clean all floors regularly. Also wash the dog bed at short intervals. The dog beds from pet-interiors are all washable and suitable for tumble drying. We have developed matching incontinence covers for all our dog cushions to make it easier for you to live with your four-legged friend.
The incontinence cover from pet-interiors keeps the dog bed clean
Feb 7, 2024 | Dogs, General
The most important rule is:
Even if there is only the slightest suspicion, do not hesitate and take your dog to the vet immediately.
your dog to the vet immediately. Because if your four-legged friend has really swallowed a poisoned bait, this can cause the first signs of poisoning within a very short time.
The first signs of poisoning can be
– vomiting
– excessive panting
– white salivation
– pale mucous membranes
– altered pupils
– listlessness
Unfortunately, the signs are not always immediately noticeable and much depends on the type of poisonous bait.
Rat poison
The disastrous thing about rat poison is that the first signs may only appear after a few days. Typical signs of poisoning with rat poison are vomiting, tiredness, bloody diarrhoea and a low body temperature. 2-3 days after ingestion of the rat poison, bleeding occurs on mucous membranes and from body orifices and the dog usually dies of organ failure within 3-5 days.
Insecticide slug pellets
Insecticide slug pellets are also often used to poison baits. It works much faster than rat poison and the first symptoms of poisoning can occur after just 30 minutes. Please consult a vet as soon as possible. As soon as the poison has entered the bloodstream, the vet can only provide symptomatic treatment. The perfidious thing about slug pellets is their sweet flavour, which is why dogs and cats like to eat them.
Narcotics
As dog haters will use anything they deem useful for their purposes, baits can also be laced with anaesthetics. If your pet has swallowed one of these baits, signs such as loss of consciousness or staggering will occur within a very short time.
Bait spiked with sharp-edged objects.
If your pet has eaten a bait spiked with nails, razor blades or metal spikes, you will often notice blood in your pet’s mouth. In this case, too, you should make your way to the vet as quickly as possible and, if possible, announce the visit on the way.
Do you suspect poisoning?
1. absolutely refrain from self-medicating.
2. call a vet or veterinary clinic immediately and announce the emergency.
3. take your dog for veterinary treatment immediately and without delay.
Do not self-medicate!
You can find lots of first aid tips for poisoning on the Internet, but most of them are hardly practicable and can even be life-threatening. Please do not make your dog vomit under any circumstances, because if he has swallowed sharp-edged or corrosive substances, his condition could worsen considerably.
The administration of activated charcoal may also cost vital time. Charcoal tablets
bind toxins in the body, but the necessary dosage depends on the dog’s body weight.
body weight of the dog.
In an emergency, every second really counts, so contact a vet immediately
vet immediately and give notice so that you can be treated as quickly as possible. Quick and immediate treatment can save your dog’s life.
Please make a note in your telephone:
Address and telephone numbers of neighbouring vets and veterinary clinics.
Even if you are on holiday, this may save your life.
Poison bait also in your private neighbourhood.
Unfortunately, intentional poisoning of dogs and cats also occurs among neighbours. Neighbours may feel disturbed by the barking of dogs. If dog owners allow their four-legged friend to defecate in the neighbour’s driveway or front garden, trouble is inevitable. Unfortunately, the animal perceived as a nuisance is only a poison bait throw over the garden fence away.
How can I prevent my four-legged friend from ingesting poison bait?
More on this in our next blog post: Can I prevent my dog from eating a poison bait?
Which plants are poisonous for my dog? You can find out more here:
Feb 7, 2024 | Dogs
What should the optimum diet be for large dogs?
Nutrition plays a major role in keeping your pet healthy and lively. Whether small or large dogs and small dogs, food plays a decisive role in your pet’s health. Here you can find out what you should pay attention to so that the diet for large dogs is balanced and healthy and keeps your pet fit and agile.
Here is a selection of large dog breeds:
Bernese Mountain Dog
Saint Bernard
Great Dane
Broholmer
Great Dane
English Mastiff
Irish Wolfhound
Landseer
Leonberger
Kangal
Newfoundland
Pyrenean Mountain Dog
Rottweiler
Scottish Deerhound
The best orthopaedic dog cushions for large dogs that perfectly support the joints and spine can be found at pet-interiors.
Nutrition for large breed puppies.
Adult dogs, whether small or large breeds, need approximately the same nutrients. However, this does not apply to puppies in the growth phase. Large breed puppies have very specific and high nutritional requirements. Large puppies need to gain weight quickly, and their weight increases approximately 100-fold by the time they reach adulthood. In small dog breeds, the difference in weight from birth to adulthood is not so great; they gain about 20 to 30 times as much weight. It is therefore essential to avoid nutritional errors during the growth phase in large dog breeds.
Why do large dogs defecate differently to small dogs?
Large dogs have a proportionally shorter gastrointestinal tract than small dogs, which is why they defecate more often and usually have poorer faecal quality than smaller breeds. Large dogs also release more sodium and water into the large intestine, which increases the water content in their faeces. You can prevent this digestive problem with highly digestible food if you tailor the diet for large dogs perfectly to this.
How should food for large dogs be formulated?
If it is a ready-made food for large dogs from a well-known dog food manufacturer that you trust, the special needs of a large dog should be taken into account. Of course, you can put together the food and treats (you can find the recipe for dog biscuits and dog cookies here) yourself and perfectly customise the diet for large dogs.
Then these easily digestible products should be included: Muscle meat e.g., from beef, pork, sheep, game, plus eggs, dairy products such as quark or cottage cheese, carbohydrates from cooked rice or oatmeal, plus oils or fats. The advantage of homemade dog food is, of course, that you know exactly what is in the food for your large dog. However, it is very important to pay close attention to the composition of the food so that your pet does not suffer any deficiencies.
What are the energy requirements of large dogs?
The energy requirements of large and small dogs are similar. The energy requirement depends more on how active the dog is, the age of the pet and whether it is a long-haired or short-haired dog. Dogs with a thin, short coat with little undercoat need more energy to maintain their body temperature. If the dog has a lot of muscle mass with a low body fat percentage, its energy requirement is also higher.
A very active, agile and lively dog consumes more energy than a calm, comfortable and perhaps older animal. You should definitely take these considerations into account in your diet plan for your large dog.
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