Dog Health - Why Your Dog Needs an Annual Checkup

Title: Dog Health - Why Your Dog Needs an Annual Checkup
Author: Douglas Hanna

A once a year visit to the vet is a must for a healthy dog.
During this annual visit your vet will check your dog's heart
rate, overall body health, perform a fecal and blood check to
diagnose parasites, and keep your dog up to date on
vaccinations. A simple annual visit to the vet may not seem like
a very important aspect to your dog's health, but it is.

Early diagnosis of diseases like cancer, early detection of any
abnormalities like heart murmurs, and vaccines which prevent
fatal diseases will all help your dog to live a longer life.
Many cancers today, which dogs suffer from, are now treatable if
they are diagnosed early, and dogs with heart problems can take
medication to help their heart function well for many years. The
key is 'early diagnosis', and without an annual veterinarian
examination a life threatening illness could be missed until it
is too late to
treat.

Identifying illnesses

An annual veterinarian check-up will also help your
veterinarian to identify any illnesses in your dog such as ear
infections, eye infections, parasitic infections, bladder
infections, or teeth problems. Missed infections can cause wear
and tear on a dog's body, and if they progress serious damage to
the body can occur. While these conditions are not always life
threatening, they can stress the overall health of your dog and
overtime harm your dog's health, immune system, and organ
function. Continual stress from constant infections, or severe
infections that are not treated, can reduce the longevity of a
dog's life.

As comprehensive as you choose

A visit to the veterinarian can be as comprehensive as you want
it to be. You can have the choice of just a short physical and
vaccines, or you can have all the necessary tests performed to
check the status of your dog's health. In order for your dog to
remain healthy, it is highly recommended that you have a
comprehensive physical performed each year in addition to blood,
fecal, and urine tests.

Don't forget parasite control

Deaths caused by parasites are probably one of the most
preventable causes of death in dogs. A high parasite load of
worms and fleas can lead to malnutrition, reduced immune
function, anemia, and poor health; the damage that these
parasites can cause may reduce the longevity of a dog's lifespan
overtime. In addition, parasites such as ticks and mosquitoes
can transmit deadly diseases. The parasites that you will need
to protect your dog from include: ticks, fleas, worms, and
mosquitoes.

Mosquitos and Heartworms

Many pet owners do not realize that mosquitoes can infect dogs
with deadly heartworms. When a mosquito bites a dog that carries
heartworms the mosquito can then transmit those worms to another
dog. More and more heartworm infections are a leading cause of
early death in dogs throughout the states.

Heartworm disease can be treated in dogs, but the treatments
are not without risks; some dogs have deadly reactions to
heartworm treatment. In addition, a heartworm infection that has
continued for a long period of time may have caused too much
damage to the dog's health to treat. To protect your dog from
the dangers of heartworms, always have a yearly test performed
on your dog and keep your dog on a strict heartworm preventative
regimen.

While tick diseases in some areas are rare, dogs that are
exposed to ticks are still in danger of becoming infected with
potentially lethal tick diseases. If you are in an area where
your dog will be exposed to ticks, or you live in an area that
has reported tick disease occurrences in dogs and people, it is
essential that you keep ticks off of your dogs. There are
products on the market today that will help to repel ticks from
your dog, or that will kill the ticks once the ticks latch on to
your dog's skin.

About The Author: Does your dog need a house of its own?
There's a very popular website chock full of information about
building a dog house. It even has links to free dog house plans
and, if you're not very handy, information about dog house
kits.To visit this site, just click on
http://doghouseplans360.com

.

__,_._,___