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Dog Coat Health

Keeping your dog’s coat healthy and clean is a very important to maintaining a healthy and happy dog. The largest organ on your dog’s body is his skin and hair. Keeping your dogs' coat in good health is paramount, after, of course, letting your dog know how much you love them!

Most dog owners know to look for parasites on the skin but, what you may not know is that internal diseases such as liver disease, adrenal gland disease or thyroid gland disease can show itself through abnormal symptoms in the dogs' skin and hair. So, it is very important to examine and groom your dog so you can detect any abnormalities early.

Regular grooming will help decrease such infections like skin and ear infections. And you will be able to notice any abnormal skin discoloring or irritations.

Bathing and brushing on a regular basis can help keep your dog’s skin and coat free from bacteria that can cause infection. Bathing with a 'natural' and very mildly antiseptic coat care lotion can also keep down your dogs' chance of flea infestations. Be also careful not to bath your dog too much or that could cause skin irritation, flaking and more.

If your Dog is ok (not himself, but his skin & coat!) with being bathed regularly, weekly bathing will keep down the doggie odor, encourage a healthy coat and skin, and also get your dog use to bathing. If your dog loves the outdoors and like to roam, then he may need to be bathed more than once a week. If he encounters a skunk while on his journey, he will need an immediate bath!

Why brush your dog?

Mats in the coat are the main reason! Mats can be uncomfortable, and can cause destruction of the skin, and parasites can hide in the mats.

If your dog scratches the matted areas, he will pull his skin, which will cause him to hurt and possibly bruise his skin - ouch! Help your dog stay comfortable by brushing him often. Remember the longer the coat the more brushing that will be necessary. If you can not remove the mats by brushing, you can clip the mats very carefully by using a
blunt pair of scissors and being careful not to pull the skin. The most important thing to remember is to brush often so your dog will not get mats in his coat and this problem will disappear.

Your dog will soon begin to enjoy his bath time and quality time with you. You will be able to keep a happy and healthy dog for a long time. You will enjoy bath time with your dog as you see him enjoying the attention and the attitude after he is clean and shiny... Just make sure you dry him well, and don't let him outside as he may roll in anything he can to get his preferred 'smell' back!

About the Author

http://www.dog-pictures.co.uk/ A dog lovers website with plenty of dog breed information and pictures.
http://www.dog-pictures.co.uk/dog-supplements/ provides dog supplements and dog health care information.

Written by: Matthew Seigneur

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Dog Health Health.blogspot.com Information Pet Uk Article

As with most pedigree breeds, there are certain hereditary conditions that can be a problem in the German Shepherd Dog as well as other health issues that are more prevalent in this breed which need to be considered if you are thinking acquiring a GSD.

If you are buying a German Shepherd puppy it is important to ensure that you only purchase a healthy dog from a reputable breeder and a good idea would be to contact the breed council who should be able to provide you with a list of such breeders. Most reputable breeders don't need to advertise but if they do they tend not to use free papers or other general advertising media but will usually place their advert in a specialist dog magazine or paper. The Kennel Club will provide a list of breeders but this does not signify that they are reputable only that they register their puppies with the KC. There are a number of common conditions seen in this breed, some of which have a better prognosis than others but all of which are expensive to treat - so insure your German Shepherd Dog as soon as you get it.

Inherited conditions such as hip dysplasia are becoming more common largely because of irresponsible breeding so you should look for a puppy whose parents are both hip scored and the lower the score the better - ideally less than ten. This is a distressing and painful condition for a GSD as well as the costs for treating being prohibitive if the animal is not insured. Elbow dysplasia is also a common hereditary condition.

Bloat or gastric torsion is a real emergency and a life threatening condition, which has become more common in deep chested dogs over the years. Experts are divided but good tips for reducing the risk are that it is best to feed 2 small meals rather than one large meal a day and to avoid feeding your GSD before strenuous exercise.

Anal furunculosis is a distressing auto immune condition which can be controlled with expensive drugs for a while but will inevitably progress as is the condition CDRM which is a degenerative disease which will ultimately lead to the loss of use of the dogs back legs and then bowel/urinary incontinence.

For whatever reason there seems to be an increasing number of GSD's suffering from PI - pancreatic insufficiency, which presents as chronic watery diarrhoea and failure to thrive. This condition is treatable with expensive pancreatic enzymes and a low fat diet but the regime must be strictly adhered to.

Epilepsy is also more common these days and although it can be controlled by drugs, usually tolerance eventually occurs which will often result in the loss of control of the fits and the likelihood of brain damage as a result of prolonged uncontrolled fitting.

To protect your new puppy and in order to try to minimise long term or future health problems, it is vital that a high quality feeding regime is adopted from the start. German shepherds often have digestive problems so it is important to find a quality food that your dog likes and one that doesn't upset the digestion. If in doubt ask your vet for advice or contact German Shepherd Rescue UK.

About the author:

German Shepherd Dog Health Problems. Written by Jayne Shenstone who runs German Shepherd Rescue UK which helps rescue and rehome GSD's across the UK

Written by: Jayne Shenstone

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