7 Reasons to Suspect That Your Pets Might Have Allergies

1. Stress

If you have seen the 2019 movie The Secret Life of Pets 2, you will remember when the protagonist dog Max needs to go to the vet to get a cone around his head to prevent him from scratching his neck. Max scratches his neck because he is nervous about his owner’s toddler’s reckless behavior and the possible damage that might occur. This can also happen because of transitions in your dog’s life; maybe you just moved, had a new baby, or even removed a piece of furniture for a better one. This can cause a change in behavior, emotions, or physical reactions, as we started with.

2. Medication

New medication always has a warning of hundreds of different symptoms from the least to the worst. Be aware of the new medications that your canine’s veterinarian just prescribed for a recent diagnosis and any of the symptoms that it cautioned. Most importantly, your dog might be ALLERGIC to the medication, and so you might need to bring him/her to the hospital! If the reaction is not imminent, you must stop its ingestion as soon as possible, and bring him or her to their local veterinarian for another medication, if the recent diagnosis requires it.

3. Sickness

Sickness, or illness, may come from multiple causes such as older age, a weakened immune response, or even an allergic response which can reduce the canine’s ability to combat his illness. Pet Health Network says that 10% of underlying illness doesn’t show symptoms at home but can only appear to their veterinarian at an annual checkup! Your dog might exhibit depression, respiratory symptoms, digestive problems, bad breath, weight loss, a dry nose or drooling, and dry and itchy skin which might be cases for a “normal illness” and will not be the cause of an allergy. For example, they might just have intestinal parasites.

4. Skin

Do you see rashes, dry skin, reddened skin, or smell a different odor? These might be from an allergic reaction, but a veterinarian’s advice is required. A different odor might result from sexual pheromones or stress. Dry, reddened skin might result from stress (as discussed above), a new, dry environment, or during the winter season. However, dogs can be allergic to flea bites and flea saliva, which will cause flea allergy dermatitis. Other physical reactions can be lethargy, dry nose, etc.

5. Environment

Environmental factors can play a part in a pet’s allergies, such as pollen, seasonal, or non-native plants (e.g. Bermuda grass to the Southwest) that can bring about allergic triggers. Your dogs (or even you) can be allergic to their city.

6. Prior Disease

Deadly diseases like valley fever or hay fever can cause your dog to be susceptible to common allergies, and then cause them to need specific foods, environments, etc. These prior diseases can then cause a genetic disposition to develop common allergies like corn, soy, dairy, wheat, egg, fish, and even high-protein meats like beef, lamb, pork, rabbit, and chicken.

7. Food

Just above this, the ten most common allergens for canines demonstrate to dog owners what they need to be careful of when searching for the right food for their pets. There are so many household pet food brands out there and they speak about their quality diets and high-quality formulas. Dog brands can be also be trusted if they are compliant to Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) and Business Service Management (BSM) Partners (i.e. a companion animal product industry’s full-service consulting firm for 500+ food brands), such as Zignature Turkey Limited Ingredient dog food that promises safety and quality assurance in terms of dogs’ health with their use natural ingredients.

In conclusion, VCA Animal Hospital says that a dog’s allergy symptoms can be confused for other diseases or disorders, so veterinarian professional advice is required. However, allergies will be harmful to the body’s immune response, even for years, but the family must follow the doctor’s orders to relieve mankind’s best friend’s discomfort.

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Should I Crate My Dog at Night? The Answer is Yes!

When done right, crate training is a very effective management system for pet owners as it helps them with different important goals, such as prevention of destructive behavior, house training, and teaching dogs to relax and settle.

Crate training at night is usually a necessity, especially for puppies. You wouldn’t want your puppy to walk around your house, and chew or pee on your furniture while you sleep. Crate training can also protect your pet from getting into trouble, and teach him that being close to his family doesn’t mean that he should sleep in your bed.

Why Should You Consider Crating Your Dog At Night?

There are actually many reasons why you should consider crating your dog at night.

Provide a Safe and Private Place for Your Pet

When you teach your dog to love his crate through positive reinforcement, the crate will become his own exclusive safe and private place, pretty much similar to a bedroom for a small child. The kennel or crate is the place here your pet can go and not be bothered.

This is the ideal destination if your pet is nervous or tired. Take note that dogs also have the natural instinct of spending time in a den. Most dogs can take to crates rather easily.

Teach Bowel and Bladder Control

A crate which comes in the right size that suits your pet will also encourage the instinct of your pet not to mess in his sleeping area. This will then help teach your pet proper bowel and bladder control. This tendency to see the crate as a clean spot is definitely a big advantage when you want to house train a new puppy or rescue dog.

This video shows you how to house train your puppy fast:

Keep Your Pet Away from Trouble and Mischief

The use of a crate at night can prevent your dog or puppy from getting into mischief or trouble when you cannot supervise him directly. You should also check out: How to keep a puppy busy during the day

Aside from nighttime, crating your dog is also helpful when your hands are full in the kitchen, if you are at work, as long as you don’t have a very long work day and your dog gets his exercise before and after, or any other time if your attention is somewhere else than directly on your pet.

Enjoy and Expect Downtime

Finally, crate training your pet at night will also teach excitable dogs and puppies to enjoy and look forward to some downtime, thus conditioning a relaxed behavior. Pups and dogs can be put inside a crate with a safe and yummy chew, or a stuffed toy to keep them relaxed, out of mischief, and secure for long periods of time.

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Something always happens. They get sick, or they are rebellious, or they are a machine that spread chaos and destruction throughout the house, breaking and biting and scratching.

To help you to keep your puppy busy during the day, I created this infographic.

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How to Keep A Puppy Busy During The Day:

Let Your Dog Watch Television

Though they will not understand a word (or will they?), leaving the tv turned on will always catch their attention. They will be attracted by the noise and will pay attention to the images.

Leaving it on animal life channels, like the Discovery Channel or BBC Earth will be a bonus, as they will see other animals on the screen.

Provide Ways Your Dog To Be Able To Look Outside

The street movement will keep your dog entertained if you leave them a way to look to the outside. They will also be happier with the sunlight and will not have vitamin D deficiency.

Fill A Hollow Toy With Food

This is sort of killing two birds with a single stone. All you will need to do is to buy a hollow toy that has only one hole. ONLY. ONE. HOLE.

If you buy a hollow toy that has more than one hole, you will regret it after you get home. The food will be all over the place, except where it should be: in your buddy’s belly.

If you bought the right kind of toy, like the classic one from Kong (not the King, unfortunately) that looks like a beehive, your dog will try to reach the food the whole day and will keep himself or herself entertained in the process.

Just remember to wash the toy once you get home and never to let food to get old inside of it.

Scavenger Hunt

This is a great way to help to keep your dog busy and fed at the same time. The only thing that you will need to do is to hide food every morning before you go to work, of course hiding them in different places every day.

Also, please note that you will have to play with them this way sometimes for them to understand what you are doing and what they should do.

Give Your Dog New Toys

You can always keep your dog entertained throughout the day with a new toy, especially those that produce sound when squished.

If you have friends that also have dogs, suggest them to make a schedule to rotate the toys, this way all the dogs will have “new” toys from time to time, diminishing the costs and you will not have trouble keeping them all organized.

Give Your Dog A Furry Brother Or Sister

One of the best ways to keep your little ball of fur busy while you are at your work is to give them a furry brother or sister. They will be double the trouble, but will also be double the fun. They will keep each other busy during the day.

Get Dental Chews for Your Dog

Dogs love to chew. The will chew everything that they see in front of them, including that court shoe that costs you a kidney or your favorite running shoes, your wallet or just almost everything.

To solve this problem, all you need is a dental chew. Additional to the benefit of they not chewing on your stuff, the dental chew also keeps your dog’s breath fresh and his or her teeth clean.

Add A Pet Fountain

Dogs lover water and are naturally drawn to running water. If you don’t believe me, put a sprinkler in the yard, turn it on and release your dog to see what happens.

Adding a pet fountain not only can draw your dog’s attention but also keep your dog stays properly hydrated. I recommend you to put it somewhere without things that will mess with water, like the laundry room or a backyard.

Hire A Dog Walker

While this is the most obvious and known one, it is still worth noting. A dog walker will not only keep your dog occupied, but will also exercise he or she, will let your dog make friends and the dog walker can always make sure your pal has enough food and water for the day.

He or she will also be able to take care of the feces and urine of the dog, making your room or yard less smelly.

Let Your Dog Play Fetch Using An Automatic Ball Launcher

The Automatic Ball Launcher, as the name suggests, are machines developed with the sole purpose of entertaining your pa(w)l without you to throw the ball.

It works by throwing a ball whenever it is put on the basket that usually sits on top of it. All you need to do is to teach your dog where to put the ball he or she caught and you are done. See: Best Automatic Ball Thrower For Dogs

Now you know how to keep a puppy busy during the day. Share this infographic with your family and friends who you think would be useful for them.

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