Just because your dog is healthy does not mean that you have to leave it at that. In fact, even healthy dogs need preventive health care. Giving him preventive health care not only helps prolong his life but also helps keep him safe against common diseases and illnesses.
The first step to preventive health care is by bringing him to his veterinarian for regular checkups as well as making sure that he is up to date when it comes to vaccinations. It’s also just as recommended that you do preventive health care at home.
Eye Care for a Healthy Dog
Dogs, especially those with long fur, tend to have crusting around the eyes. Tears dry up and collect around the eyes that, if you don’t remove them, can lead to infection. If you want to prevent eye infection, then see to it that you remove the crusting each day. Use a cotton ball soaked in warm water and gently swab at the crusting until it loosens up. Of note though; squeeze the cotton balls first before you apply them over his eyes. You don’t want dirty water getting into his eyes.
For dogs with long fur, it’s important that you trim the fur around the eyes. Not only can this help prevent crusting of eye discharge, but it also helps prevent clumping of hair that can cause irritation and pain.
Ear Care for a Healthy Dog
Giving your pet proper ear care is very important. In fact, this area should be given special attention particularly since it’s very easy for parasites such as ticks, fleas, bacteria to hide in this curvy, twisty, and damp anatomy of the dog. If you don’t remove these parasites, it could easily lead to ear infection.
Dogs with long, floppy ears and those with long fur are very susceptible to ear infection, so it’s important that you clean their ears with a dampened cotton ball. Pour in a little mineral oil on the cotton ball as well as a drop or two of hydrogen peroxide so you don’t do damage to the delicate inner ear.
Of note; don’t insert anything into the ears. If there is some debris that you can’t remove, then bring him to his vet or groomer. They have special tools to remove hard-to-reach dirt inside the ears as well as hair sprouts that trap dirt.
Nail Care for a Healthy Dog
Dogs can inflict superficial wounds and lacerations to his own skin when he scratches it. He can also cause wound infection if his nails are dirty. You can prevent this from happening if you give your dog nail trimming at least once or twice a month. This causes the quick, which, simply put, are the nerve bundles as well as blood vessels located inside the nail, to move away or retreat from the nail base. Because these nerves and blood vessels shorten, the nails will remain shorter for a longer period of time.
Grooming your dog can be a bit difficult, especially if he’s not used to you probing his ears and trimming his nails. If you want to be safe, then bring him to his vet or to a local pet groomer.
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Jennifer Dahlquist writes for arborpethospital.com. She specializes in pet care and grooming articles.