Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Dog Massage

Another thing I have been doing to help smash with his skin problems is to massage the skin. He really likes to be scratched but I have found that giving him a deep and vigorous massage helps to stimulate the blood flow and helps to expel the toxins in the effected areas.

He has always been a big fan of pet-the-puppy so this form of handling is fun for both of us. It has been cold lately so I have had to coax him indoors so I can rub him while we sit together.

He always lets me know he has had enough by getting up and walking off.

To learn more natural ways to treat dog skin problems see this site: Dog Skin Solutions

Dog Skin Poblems

A few weeks ago Smash suddenly developed some dark itchy places on his skin. As the fur started to come out of these spots and he scratched the raw we became increasingly concerned about his health.

We made sure his bedding was clean and gave him oatmeal baths to help soothe his itching. It just kept getting worse.

I realized that it looked as if he had some kind of toxins in his body so I started to look at his possible exposure. We live in the woods and he drags up all sorts of dead rabbits and deer parts form time to time. But these have never phased him in the past even if they do stink up the yard.

I eventually tracked it down to a recent change in his dog food. Due to the sad experience with our last dog we have always fed Smash high quality dog food mixed with table scraps and other meaty supplements.

Recently we had switched to a different brand of dog food because it was slightly cheaper and it advertised omega 3 and glucosomine content.

Unfortunately for Smash I did not research the food enough and it seems that he is in fact having a severe reaction to the new food.

A visit to the vet confirmed that he had some kind of allergic reaction and that it could be food related. He gave him an allergy shot that calmed the itching for a couple of days.

I have switched him back to his original dog food formula and I have been making sure he always has plenty of fresh water in his bowl. Even if he does prefer to drink from puddles.

He is almost finished with the big bag of food and the dark spots are lessoning and his fur is starting to grow back. He still has some itching and some strange body odor but he is doing much better.

To learn more about how dog food can effect your dog's health see this web site: MyBestDogFood There is information there on how to read the dog food labels and other things to watch for to avoid what has happened to Smash and to help heal your dog should you encounter skin conditions like those Smash is having.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Puppy saved from Frozen train track

Read about a cute little puppy who was saved by a railway inspector after the dog became frozen to the tracks.

http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-stories/2010/01/puppy_rescued_from_train_track.html