Dog Skin Problems: How to Treat Dog Skin Rashes

Say you have an annoying itch. What you’ll probably do is goto the nearest pharmacy and ask the pharmacist for the most powerful cortisone or antihistamine that their store carries. Then you apply that medication like there’s no tomorrow!

Having an excruciating back ache or a smashing headache is a nuisance but if you have a skin rash you feel very, very itchy and it’s like you’re in living hell and your nails aren’t doing justice to what you feel. Read more »

Sad news this week about one of the older dogs in our town, who has a place in the hearts of most of the local people. Lola is a Newfie and she lives in a traditional grocer’s shop, where she lazes for most of the day in the delivery van. The sliding door is left open and Lola collects cuddles from almost everyone who passes by. At the end of last year Lola had a growth in her neck but that was cured. Now she has another malignant growth and it is not responding to treatment. There is no logic to the occurrence of cancer, apart from Mesothelioma cancer. She is nearly eight years old – a good age for a Newfie – but I am afraid there will be some sad news quite soon.

Buying a puppy from a breeder is something that a lot of families see as the obvious way to get a dog. But a recent survey by RSPCA inspectors reveals that more than half of all puppy breeding establishments in England in Wales do not meet the animal welfare needs. The number of complaints about animals and pet purchases, have almost doubled in the past two years. More than 4,600 calls were made to the goverment complaints service in 2008.

The RSPCA wants to work with local authorities, who license animal breeding establishments, to ensure the animal welfare standards are raised. Thay also want to clamp down more and more on rogue puppy traffickers who are routinely peddling sick puppies imported from Ireland. Round here that animal rescue centres are full of unwanted puppies from Ireland, so you can see that by using a puppy breeder you could be contributing to puppy trafficking. This is where puppies are bred in large numbers for profit, often with little regard for animal welfare. Many puppies fall sick, and some die.

These are the facts – RSPCA undercover staff bought six puppies. Of these, two were seriously ill. Frank, a mastiff, had parvo virus, but was fortunately saved by vets. Chardonnay, a cavalier King Charles spaniel cross, was diagnosed with pneumonia and, despite constant care, sadly died two weeks later. Read more »

I always hoped that my dog, Kevin, would walk down the aisle at my wedding, but in the end this was not possible. We lost Kevin five months ago and past week the wedding took place on a fantastic sunny day in Sussex. Fortunately, we scattered Kev’s ashes near the church so we were able to visit the site and remember him before the ceremony. Here is a nice picture of the spot, beneath a holly tree. We have planted wild flower seeds for a permanent memento of our lovely dog. We did manage to have some dogs at the service, and I will be posting some pictures of my ‘dog bridesmaids’.

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I know it may sound stange, but my house was really not dog friendly until last week. When we moved in here the stairs were not carpeted. Instead they were painted wood, which may look very trendy but it is noisy, cold and very difficult for a dog to climb. The hous has three storeys so this made life very difficult for me – an elderly dog with arthritis. I had several tumbles because there was nothing for my claws to grip on to, and Mum had to carry me up and down as much as possible. Now we have carpet on all four flights. Not only is it much quieter but a lot more comfortable for me. There are still a few more home conforts missing: next week they are going to get a new TV, and there is a lot of talk about whether they can install a wall mounted tv stand themselves. I hope they do something cos I am fed up with the telly being o the floor. yesterday I walked over the remote and I switched channels with my paw. I thought it was a good trick, but they were not veruy happy.

Mum was looking at a video of me, when I was much more agile and I could run up and down the stairs in our flat. The sad thing is that the film was taken just over a year ago. Since then my poor joints have started to ache and my back legs are very weak with dog arthritis. Mum is now seriously thinking of getting me a kind of pushchair so that we can take longer walks – something like a Bob stroller, she says. It would be much better for walking in the rain, I suppose.