Just like human beings, animals have emotions and feelings too. They need the assurance that their masters love and care for them. In return, pets often reciprocate their love by demonstrating various forms of affection to their owners. These may include making soft purring sounds, licking and even body contacts like rubbing their heads or furs against them.

Pet care is an important responsibility of pet ownership. Pet care requires a lot of patience and is also a way of showing the animals that they are important to us. Pet care will include feeding our pets carefully and ensure that they are groomed properly to maintain a good health.

There are educational videos on pet care, that is, how to maintain the wellness and health of pets. These include various demonstrations on how to care for the different types of pets and what are the attentions required.

For four-legged pets such as dogs and cats, good pet care will include giving them regular baths, checking their paws and ears, trimming their nails as well as fixing regular health checks with a professional veterinarian.

Sanitation plays an important role to the health of the pets and their owners. Bathe your pets regularly and ensure that they are clean at all times. Buy a set of dishes especially for the pets and keep them separately from those used by human beings. After every use, wash the pets’ dishes thoroughly with soap and water, then give them a final rinse them with boiling water.

It is common for pets, especially dogs, to have fleas. Their bites are irritating and annoying; and make the pets feel uncomfortable if the scratching developed into skin rashes. Fleas are also the cause of other more dangerous and serious skin problems such as allergies or dermatitis. As such, good pet care will include conducting regular checks on the animals and getting rid of the fleas.

Dental care is another essential part of pet care. Most canine pets need to maintain a proper dental healthcare routine. A professional pet shop owner will be able to demonstrate the correct way to brush the animals’ teeth. This will prevent gum diseases or other health conditions related to poor oral hygiene.

Products such as detergents, cleaners, fertilizers and pesticides, must be kept well out of the way in the house. These contain chemicals that may be lethal or poisonous to animals and should not be within their reach. This is another way to exercise proper pet care.

Every pet owner, especially those first time owners, should be prepared for the big responsibility of having and owning a pet, as pet care takes more than just skills and experience. Value the existence of nature’s creations and ensure that the animals are given the best pet care. Lastly, always choose the best pet products and supplies so that your pet will have the best nutrition and pet care available.

Ske Chay
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/how-a-good-pet-care-guide-keeps-the-vet-away-67923.html

If the dog you loved so much was injured and bleeding, would you know what to do? Would you know what to look for if he were bleeding internally? Yes, the sight of blood makes some of us queasy, but there comes a time when you have to put your own comfort aside if you are going to save a life. Sometimes there isn’t any time to think and you have to react quickly. There are two types of bleeding; external and internal. External bleeding is the result of a wound to the surface of the body like a cut or a scratch. Internal bleeding is when the inside of the body is suffering from a wound that is bleeding into the body.

External bleeding is the easiest to notice. Generally, you’ll need to stop the flow of blood from the wound to prevent excessive blood loss and possible shock. In most situations, applying firm and steady pressure to the wound is enough to slow the flow of blood to give a dog a chance of survival. An easy way to apply pressure properly is to cover the wound with a thick cloth or gauze bandage while using a hand to press the bandage to the area. When the cloth over the wound soaks up too much blood, don’t remove it, but instead apply a new one on top of the old one. Under no conditions should you try to wipe away blood that’s welled up over the wound. Excess blood is in the process of forming a clot that will naturally stop the wound from bleeding. The application of a bandage won’t hinder the clotting process but wiping the blood away will.

If a simple bandage doesn’t do the job to slow bleeding, try elevating the open wound if the dog was hurt on a limb. A pillow, rolled-up blanket, or a cushion placed between a dog’s legs can all be used to elevate a wounded limb, but raise only slightly before applying direct pressure to the wound. However, if there’s a chance that a bone might be broken, elevating a wound is a very serious mistake.

Should direct pressure and elevation fail to slow the flow of blood after one to two minutes or be an option to avoid (in the case of a possible bone fracture), you should consider applying pressure to a pressure point (points of the body where major arteries are close enough to the skin’s surface to be touched). There are nine such pressure points on a dog’s body: Four pairs in the legs and a fifth in the tail. The first pair are on the front legs of the dog, inside the upper area immediately above the elbow. The second pair of pressure points is in the back legs of the dog, inside the thigh at the spot where the leg meets the body. The third pair is in the front feet of the dog, inside the lower leg and just above the paw. The fourth pair is in the back foot, at the front of the back leg just above the paw. The final pressure point is on the underside of the tail.

The use of a tourniquet should be a last resort, used only if all of the methods listed above fail. Even then, a tourniquet should be used with the utmost care to avoid stopping the flow of blood to a limb entirely. Any strip of cloth or gauze (though elastic bands or drawstrings may also be used if necessary) can be used as a tourniquet. Tourniquets are tied above the wound and tightened by hand, but they should be released every 10 to 15 minutes to allow some blood to flow into the limb.

Internal bleeding is much, much trickier to detect. Whenever a dog suffers excessive physical trauma but no blood is seen, the dog should still be examined by a veterinarian for internal bleeding. Shock can also result from internal bleeding, so look for rapid but weakened breathing, cold extremities, and a rapid but weak heartbeat, as they’re all signs of shock.

As with all serious injuries, you should seek out professional help immediately, especially if you suspect broken bones, internal bleeding or if there’s something stuck in the wound. First aid is only a temporary solution to stabilize the situation until a veterinarian can apply proper treatment. By doing what you can before the professionals arrive, you are giving your dog a fighting chance to survive.

Jeff Clare
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/how-to-help-any-bleeding-dog-95524.html

Pet Care: Learn To Care For Your Pet

General responsibility in caring for and maintaining your animals entails seeing to their adequate nourishment, shelter, control of external and internal parasites such as ticks and fleas, ensuring that they are regularly vaccinated and using veterinary services when necessary. Pet care also involves training and controlling your animals so that they do not become a problem to neighbors, delivery personnel and visitors to your home. In some cases, this could mean costly additions to your property, such as fences or walls. Caring for your pet also means obtaining some general knowledge in relation to the various sicknesses and ailments that can affect animals. Yet another area of responsibility is to ensure that at times when you and your entire household go away for vacations, you can provide either pet sitters, or arrange for your pets to go to boarding facilities.
Let us look now at some specific areas of pet care and here we will concentrate mainly on dogs, as they are the most popular of pets.

Feeding: Too often, pet owners think that all a dog or cat needs is the leftover food from their own meals. However, for animals to remain healthy they need to have the correct type of nutrients that can be found in good quality animal foods. For growing dogs, the amount of dry food intake per day should be about 5% of the dog’s body mass. For the maintenance of grown dogs, it is about 2% and for lactating or hardworking dogs, it is 7.5%. It is good to provide bones for chewing, as this assists in keeping teeth clean. Raw meat is a healthy component of a good diet. Milk too is good in moderation, as an excess of it can cause diarrhea. Clean drinking water is vital. It should be replaced at least once a day. The physical appearance of a dog, such as a glossy coat is a good indication of the adequacy of the diet. Check too the gums and the tongue, which should have a healthy, pink color.

Bathing: The 2 main reasons for bathing pets is for general hygiene, especially where you have a lot of physical contact with them and also as a controlling factor for external parasites. Most large breed dogs which do not have access to inside your home do not necessarily have to be bathed, except in the case where they have rolled in something smelly, as they tend to do at times. When bathing your pets, be sure to use suitable soaps or shampoos, as some may tend to irritate the skin, or dry out the natural oils that an animal needs. This can also happen with excessive bathing. When bathing for the control of ticks or fleas, be sure to use the appropriate insecticide shampoos and to follow the instructions carefully.

Grooming: Longer haired dogs especially, need regular grooming, both for appearance and for the comfort and health of the animal. An ungroomed dog will be more of an ideal breeding ground for fleas and ticks. Dogs, which live inside, if not groomed regularly and thoroughly, will be depositing shed hair all over your home. Take care in choosing the right grooming brushes. One with nylon bristles tends to create static electricity in the animals coat and could damage the hair over a period of time. The metal variety is probably the most durable.

Exercising: Regular exercising is an important part of caring for your pet, especially if your home has a small yard. If that is the case, then you will need to take them for walks. This means that they would have been, or must be trained to walk on a leash, as it is not wise to let your dog run free in the streets.
Lastly, you need to know that dogs are very sociable animals and thrive on companionship. Therefore part of caring for your pet is to play with them. This can be done in conjunction with exercising.

Take joy in caring for your pet and you will have many rewards. A well cared for pet will give you years of pleasure, satisfaction and companionship.