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3 Natural Remedies For Getting Rid Of Ticks That Plague Dogs And Cats

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Your loyal canine companion or your fuzzy tabby can all be targeted by ticks. Ticks are arachnids that suck the blood of animals and sometimes people. The problem here is that these creatures aren’t just bloodsuckers. When they bite, they can also transmit dangerous viruses and parasites to your pet. So, at the first indication of a tick infestation, you should deal with the problem right away to keep it from worsening. Consider asking your vet about what treatments are available or you can also opt for natural remedies, which will be discussed further below.

Choosing Natural

Why should you decide on natural treatments for ticks? First of all, natural options are more Earth-friendly, and so these are less toxic to the environment. Plus, natural remedies are safer for your wellbeing and the health of your pet as such methods reduce exposure to stronger and more harmful chemicals.

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So, what are some natural remedies for ticks that are plaguing your house pets? Here are some examples.

1. Essential Oils

Essential oils are aromatic substances derived from the flower, bark, stem or leaves of plants or trees. There are several kinds of oils that you can use to repel ticks. Citrus scents, including lemon, orange or lemongrass, as well as tea tree, juniper, oregano, thyme, and rosewood oils are a few examples. You can find different recipes online. Some oils, such as rose geranium oil, can be directly applied on collars. You only need a few drops. Others have to be diluted in carrier oils, like olive oil and sunflower oil, or alcohols, such as vodka. However, ask your vet first before using any type of essential oil on cats since felines are very sensitive to such, especially citrusy oils.

2. Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous earth, which is also called diatomite, is a powdery substance that is often used as filtering material. This can help kill insects with exoskeletons, which are the hard outer structures of certain creatures, such as ants, lice, ticks and fleas. DE sticks onto the outer layer of insects and then slowly scrapes these away. Once the exoskeleton is damaged, the insect becomes dehydrated or injured, and it will eventually die. For tick and flea control, food-grade DE can be dusted onto your pet’s coat. It is alright for animals to ingest DE as this is non-toxic and it can even help get rid of worms in an animal’s GI tract. To prevent further infestation, apply DE onto your pet’s bedding too.

3. Citrus Fruits

Just cut an orange or lemon in half and then rub this onto your pet’s fur. Orange peels are also popular options. The citrusy odor repels both ticks and fleas. Rubbing fresh fruit on your cat is fine, but since felines generally dislike citrus scents, you’ll be making it very unhappy. Also, remember that essential oils and fruit juices are very dissimilar. So, don’t rub orange oil on your pet’s fur, especially if you have a cat, because, as mentioned earlier, felines are very sensitive to strong oils.

Citations:
  • Mr. T in DC. “Havre de Grace Dog Greeting”. April 3, 2010. Online image. Flickr. July 2, 2013.
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Claire Brent is a freelancer who likes to blog about pests and how these affect households. If you are interested to learn more about pest control, she suggests that you visit http://www.preventivepestcontrol.com/locations/new-mexico/rio-rancho/ for more details.





The Scary Truth About Your Pet’s Food

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peaceWe all love our pets and treat them like family. And when it comes to buying them food, we want to buy the best. So we purchase bags of food from the local grocery store that has pictures of whole grains, prime cuts of meat and human grade vegetables nicely displayed on them. We pleasantly assume there is some nice chef in a pet food kitchen preparing wholesome meals for our beloved pets.

Wrong. While we would like to believe our pet’s food is made of whole chicken meat, choice cuts of beef and fresh grains, the truth is pet food is actually made from the absolute worst parts of chicken and beef. Some of which is high in hormones and even diseased and cancerous meat. And those whole grains, they’ve had the starch removed for cornstarch powder and the oil extracted for corn oil. The only true whole grains used in pet food has been deemed unfit for human consumption due to mold, contaminants, or poor quality.

Pet Food Industry is Unregulated

Sadly, the pet food industry is not regulated. As one of the world’s most synthetic edible products, pet food contains virtually NO whole ingredients. What’s worse is that the pet food industry makes approximately 11 billion dollars a year on products that should be in the garbage or better yet a landfill. Pet food manufacturers have become master manipulators when it comes to producing tasty food for our pets. Scientists have learned how to take a mixture of inedible ingredients, fortify it with artificial vitamins and minerals, and preserve it so it can sit on the grocery shelf for more than year (yuck). While the human eye may be deceived by the color and texture of our pet’s food, remember it’s made of leftover carcass and cheap fillers.

Look at the Ingredients

Carefully look at the top five ingredients on your pet food. These will be the most abundant ingredients according to weight in the food. For dogs and cats, a good portion of their diet needs to be from meat protein. Therefore, you want the first ingredient in your pet food to be a meat source (e.g. chicken, beef or lamb). You never want to purchase pet food with an unidentified “meat” or anything listed as a “by-product”. Also, it’s ok to see “chicken meal” before “chicken” because it contains less water content, more meat.

Holistic Options For Your Pet

There are holistic options out there for your pet. For starters, you could prepare your pet’s food yourself. Remember, dogs require protein, whole grains and vegetables in their diet. Cats on the other hand are pure carnivores; the majority of their diet should include protein with half the amount of whole grains and vegetables. However, before you cook anything be sure to consult with a veterinarian or veterinary nutritionist about your recipes. Foods you should absolutely avoid are chocolate, raisins, grapes, macadamia nuts, and raw meat. You can also purchase pet foods from specialty pet stores. Make sure they are labeled “all natural” or “organic,” and read the ingredients carefully. It may cost you more money, but it is much healthier for your pet.

If you love your pet and value their heath as much as I do, I hope you will take this information to heart. Please do a little research of your own so you too can become aware of the truth about the pet food industry. My only wish is that pet owners will take the time to read the ingredients of the food they feed their pets, rather than fall victim to the misleading commercials or labels on pet food today.

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Jessica McNeal is a freelance writer and self-proclaimed animal lover. When she’s not spending time writing, she is out running with her wheaten terrier. She recently purchased rabies tags from Ketchum Mfg. Pet safety is her number one concern.

Neutering and Spaying Prevents Unwanted Dogs

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For those of us which have spent any time at all in an animal shelter, it is heartbreaking to watch dogs, which are put down just because they cannot find a home. There are more than 21,000 pets put down each day in the US alone, which totals 6 to 8 million deaths per year. This is due to the fact, their owners decided they could not or would not keep them.


There is an old belief, that if you let your female dog have just one litter of pups, she will be a calmer and more gentle dog, this is not so. In order to have a calm and gentle female dog, it will take training by the owners and maturating of the dog.

Another belief that we have all heard is, if you spay or neuter your dog they will become overweight, this is not so. By the time your dog is spayed or neutered they are around 6 months of age, by this time they are not growing at such a fast pace and their metabolism is slowing down. If you keep your dog on a healthy daily diet, without an overabundance of doggy treats and they get sufficient daily exercise they will maintain a healthy body weight.

When your dog is sterilized some health issues will be eliminated and it will reduce the risk of other health issues. Sterilization will spare your family emotional and financial stress caused by an illness, as well as sparing your beloved pet the pain of disease.

Spaying eliminates the chance of ovarian and uterine cancer, in female dogs, along with reducing the chance of breast cancer, the surgery needs to take place before the females first estrous (Heat) cycle.

Neutered male dogs will not have the risk of testicular cancer or prostate disease, due to the removal of their testicles.

Dogs which have been spayed or neutered, will make better companions, they are less likely to bite and be aggressive toward humans and other dogs.  You will not have to worry about taking your pet out for their daily exercise when your female dog, does not come into heat.

Before choosing a dog, think about visiting a shelter and checking out their dogs, shelters usually have a varity of dogs to choose from and you might be saving the dog from being euthanized as well.

It is wise to let the whole family be involved in choosing a new dog; it is not uncommon for the dogs in a shelter to choose their new owners. The shelter will have all the information you will need to make sure, the dog you choose will be suitable for your entire family.

Apart from being a veterinarian, Susan Wright is a freelance writer. Find helpful advice on being a caring pet owner and good neighbor on this website.

How to Check if Your Pet Dog is Sick

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Taking care of a pet dog is quite tricky because it is not all about enjoying their company and playing with all the time and making sure they are fed with food at a regular basis. Your pet dog also needs special care and attention especially when they start to feel a little sick. Unfortunately, unlike humans, dogs cannot easily tell us that they are not feeling well so as pet owners, it is our responsibility to take not when our dogs are and are not feeling well.

There are many different ways to gauge if your pet dog is sick and as pet owners, it is your responsibility to know these things in order to help them out. Here are some indications that your dog might be getting sick.

Dogs Sniffs Are Totally Important

You probably notice that your dog’s nose is wet at all times, right? This is because your dog is relatively healthy. When your dog’s nose is wet, this does not mean that your dog has colds and has difficulty in sneezing the mucous out. In fact, it’s actually the other way around. If your dog’s nose suddenly becomes dry, then that can be an indication of sickness.

Eating Habits, Appetite and Dog Sickness

Your dog’s appetite speaks so much of how healthy it is. If your dog is a huge eater and then one day it no longer wants to eat as much, then that should normally be a cause of alarm for you. Just like humans, when dogs lose their appetite, it can be because they are not feeling very well at all.

Healthy Living and Exercising is a Must

Depending on the sickness that your dog has, it can lose interest in its usual daily activities. For instance, if your dog usually loves walking with you in the morning and you find that today’s walk has been a drag, then do not get angry with your dog immediately. Rather, look to see what’s wrong with it.

Allergies Are a Total Health Buster

If you have been taking care of your pet dog for quite some time now and notice these changes immediately too, then check for your dog’s possible allergies. Sometimes, dog allergies can be found on their skin and beneath their layers of fur or can also be found in their tummies, or their paws, and even their faces. When allergy strikes, your dog is also bound to be sick.

Now that you know these things about pet dog sickness, all you have to do is coordinate with your veterinarian to help you out when these problems strike your pet dog. You can also do immediate relief in the comfort of your own home just as long as you know for sure what you’re doing.

This article is exclusively written by Artchee Mendoza for this site. Artchee is a contributing writer for www.paws-unleashed.com who are excellent in dog grooming Charlotte NC.

Walk the dog while taking a bike ride?

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I keep seeing people riding by our house on their bikes with their dog trotting by their side. It seems like a great way to give the dog a bit of extra exercise.

I have to admit, we haven’t pulled our bikes out yet this year. My knee has been really bad this year. I was born with knee problems and now it’s turned into arthritis it seems. Yes I’m kind of young to get arthritis, but my leg bones aren’t positioned correctly – my tibia turns a little more outward than it should, so that messes up my knees. I have a feeling I won’t be riding my bike this summer – not until I get my knee feeling better.

My husband on the other hand would probably love to pull out his bike and go for a ride regularly. We live on a busy street, but in general the area is pretty good for bike riding, and if we wanted we could always get out the yakima bike racks and take our bikes to one of the fantastic bike trails in the area since we live near several fantastic interconnecting park systems throughout Toronto.

Our dog would love to trot along beside the bike. I’m certain of it .. oh and she’d be a fantastically tired puppy when the bike “trot” was finished. Perhaps she’d look all sleepy like she did when I took this picture of her back in January?

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