April 4, 2007 Time to Inspect Your Dog

April 4, 2007

Time to inspect your dog.

Ideally, you should be doing this monthly or more often.

Eyes...Some dogs have tear stains. The first thing you MUST do is figure out why the dogs eyes are tearing. Is there a lot of hair around the eyes? If so, it could be hair irritating the eye and causing it to tear. A little trim around the eye area is usually all that is needed. Sometimes dogs have eyelashes that are on the inside of the eyelids. These must be removed by a vet. It’s a common occurrence in many breeds especially breeds with wrinkles such as shar-peis and bulldogs. If there are no eyelashes rubbing the eye there are products to bleach out the tear stains, but it has to be done several times a day. I’ve recently discovered a product that you sprinkle on your pets food that works wonders on tear stains called “Angels Eyes” and it’s available online or at my shop.

Ears... Are the ears clean? Is there an odor or discharge? Does it look like coffee grounds? Is the ear puffy, itchy, raw? Ear infections are fairly common in dogs but when I see a dog that has had ear infections that are routinely treated but keep occurring the first thing I suspect is a food allergy. When I adopted my dog Jasmine, she had black discharge in her ears and itchy skin. I immediately switched her food to one with no wheat, no corn and cleaned her ears...I’ve never had a problem since. Ear mites usually cause a black coffee ground like discharge. Your vet can treat ear mites. Your vet or groomer can show you how to properly clean out your pets ears.

Mouth... If your dog has bad breath, red gums or tartar, all the teeth cleaning snacks in the world won’t fix it. He needs to see the vet and see if he has a gum infection, gingivitis or a bad tooth. This area is easily overlooked on pets. Many times the dogs teeth look fine, but look deeper. Lift up the lips and pull back and look at the molars, are the gums red? Is there tartar on the teeth? Sometimes a dog could have a bad tooth and it needs to see a vet for a dental cleaning and possibly a tooth extraction. Bad teeth or infections can cause excess drooling, difficulty eating that can be perceived as being “picky”. Check those teeth!

Nails. If you have hard floors in your house and you can hear your dogs nails tapping as he walks that’s a good indication of needing a nail trim. Some dogs wear their nails down naturally when they walk on concrete or dig outside but most dogs don’t and they need a “pawdicure” from time to time. Don’t forget the dew -claws, those are the “thumbs” on a dog and some dogs have dew- claws on the rear legs as well. If you have a hairy breed be sure to feel around and if your dog has dew claws those need clipped more often than the regular nails because they don’t touch the ground and never get wore down. Some dew claws can be a problem to some dogs due to having long hair and being hidden they are often missed when clipping nails and sometimes get snagged by clippers when being groomed. Ask your vet to remove any dew-claws that are a problem. I’ve seen dogs jump around in crates and break the dew-claws, it’s painful and easily re-injured by excitable dogs. It’s best to have them removed and eliminate the problem.

Belly...Who doesn’t rub their dogs belly? If you feel any lumps be sure and mention them to your vet as soon as possible. Hernia’s usually occur where the spay surgery stitches were and sometimes in the groin or the navel on puppies. Dogs get breast cancer too! Spaying before a dogs first heat cycle generally prevents it.

Rear...Yes I know, nobody likes to think about this area but it’s important. Lift up your dogs tail, there shouldn’t be anything stuck to the hair back there. If there is, gently clean it off or cut the hair around the rectum. I’ve seen dogs get “diaper rash” from having feces that has been stuck to the dog for days! Keep the area under your dogs tail CLEAN! Now that you have the tail up, do you notice anything that resembles grains of rice stuck in the hair? That could be tapeworm. Tapeworm is caused by fleas. Fleas are ingested and the tapeworm eggs grow inside your dog and parts of it come out the rectum. Groomers find tapeworms often in dogs. Once again a visit to your vet will take care of tapeworms, fleas or other parasites that are living on or in your dog.
Does your dog scoot on its’ rear? Lick under its’ tail? That could be an anal sac problem. Small dogs seem to have anal sac issues regularly. Your vet and some groomers will express the anal sacs for you and that should take care of the problem for a while. Many times a high fiber diet helps to prevent this problem.

Hair...Feel hair for matts. Matted hair pulls on the skin and hurts! If you can’t comb out the matts or remove them yourself, call your groomer or vet and make an appointment. Matted hair doesn’t dry well and traps bacteria under the hair and air can’t get to it. Hot spots, sores and ...gulp...even maggots have been found on matted dogs. Comb your dog out regularly to prevent matts. Your groomer will happily show you how to do it and what tools work best on your dog.
Grooming your dog keeps down shedding hair, keeps the skin and coat in good shape and makes for a cleaner, happier more pet-able pet!