Everybody’s been there before. Your faithful and loving companion, be it canine, feline, feathered friend, fishy follower or scaled supporter, begins exhibiting signs that all is just not right with the world. Whether it is listlessness, inability to function, lack of focus or lack of appetite, the multitude of symptoms plaguing your animal at any given time may be quite easy to miss unless you know what to look for. Though too expansive a category to pigeonhole in general, this article will address some of the more common pet health questions.
Stopping the Problem Before it Starts
First of all, you will find that many common heath problems can be cured with simple preventative maintenance. Your pet should be regularly groomed, pedicured (when appropriate), fed a proper diet, exercised, vaccinated, and treated with products which prevent pests (again where appropriate). If you do this, then 85-90% of your pet’s health issues will never occur, as this is where most pet health issues arise in the first place… negligence.
Basic Pet health Questions
Some of the basic pet health questions listed below may not apply to all species, nor be as authoritative a listing of all possible health issues which might occur with your pet. Rather, it is a short treatment of some of the more common pet health questions asked by many pet owners today.
#1: When is it Safe to Vaccinate My Baby Animal?
This varies with the species of animal, but generally, you can vaccinate them at about two months. Vaccinations should then roughly be spaced at about four months, or as best directed by your veterinarian.
#2: When Should I Spay My Female Animal?
There is a lot of dispute over this, as many believe that it is safer for your female animal to have a healthy batch of offspring first. After that, she should have stopped weaning first and be dried up. You should NEVER spay an animal that’s in heat. Another area that’s heavily contended is at what age your female animal can be spayed. Generally, a good consensus on this is about six months.
#3: Is My Animal Overweight?
Though there is no clinically definitive ascertained standard for obesity in animals, such as the human B.M.I. scale, generally an animal is considered to be overweight if it is about 15% over the breed’s accepted ideal weight. They are considered obese if they are 30% over that same standard.
#4: Should I Brush My Pet’s Teeth?
General veterinarian consensus is that no, brushing your pet’s teeth isn’t a harmful course of action. In fact, many vets say that without proper home maintenance, professional teeth cleanings for your pet are almost completely useless. Remember, don’t use human toothpaste! This can harm your pet!
If you treat your pet well and care for them right, they can be some of the best company you ever have. Like all company, though; your pet can tragically leave you early if you don’t take care of them properly.