Pet Peeves - 3rd October - Galway Independent

Home

Sections

Living

Pet Peeves - 3rd October

Written by Staff Reporter

Wednesday, 03 October 2007

The Galway Independent together with the Galway SPCA has launched an educational programme in an effort to reduce cruelty to animals. Each week we will put together questions from the public on animal welfare. These questions will cover all animals.

This week we celebrate world animal week.

It is the little things we have to do that make a big difference for our pets such as vaccinations, worming, de-fleaing, neutering, proper diet and exercise.

First we want to give you the top five lethal household items for your pet:

Home medicines. Make sure you keep these out of reach of your pet especially dogs.
Antifreeze is lethal for your pet.
Glue.
Paper shredders. More and more householders now have them. Always make sure it is turned off.
Chemicals
Where any of the above are concerned treat them like you would with children and keep them under lock and key.

Its amazing how so many 'human' diseases now effect our pets from diabetes to kidney problems, cancer to one we will look at today, arthritis. Arthritis is an inflammation of the joint and any animal can get it. It is caused by many reasons such as wear and tear, accidents, infection and our damp weather could be considered a cause as well. The official name is osteoarthritis and it usually, but not always, happens in elderly pets. With pets it can be hard to detect as we just assume our pet is slowing down. That is why if you notice it, it is safer to check it out.

The signs to look for are stiffness, lameness, reluctance to jump and reduced mobility. They can have swollen joins, which are painful, they can be slow in getting up after resting and the symptoms can be worse if the weather is cold or damp.

Your vet will perform an examination, which may include x-ray and blood work, to see what the problem is. Treatment can be varied from anti inflammatory, to surgery. Some vets have had success with homeopathy or even acupuncture if available. If your pet has arthritis, while it is not curable with proper medication, diet and exercise, your pet can have a pain free, normal active life.

Finally from everyone in pet peeves we wish all animals a lovely safe happy healthy world animal week.

Comments (0) »