Your dog is an adorable creature, and you absolutely love seeing him around your home. It’s likely that one of his most prominent features is his coat, so you want it to stay looking great. How can you make this happen?

Your pet needs you to understand that he will have a healthy coat when he is healthy overall. Feed him a food that supports coat health, and help him lead a low-stress life filled with healthy habits. You can also help him care for his coat by brushing it regularly and bathing him when necessary. Professional grooming can also be helpful, so keep this in mind. This can be a great route to travel down if your pet needs his fur regularly trimmed, or you would rather have someone else tend to his grooming needs. For additional information, please contact your local Livonia, MI vet clinic. ... Read more »

At least 90% of a rabbit’s daily food intake should be grass; that leaves only 10% for pellets. Most rabbits spend about 20 hours each day chewing on grass. This can keep their continuously growing teeth well-trimmed. Overgrown teeth can cause a lot of problems including pain and discomfort that prevent rabbits from eating and grooming. Their digestive system is designed to digest fiber.

Rabbit pellets are readily available but a rabbit can easily consume a day’s worth of calories and nutrition in just about 20 minutes of eating pellets. And these can certainly leave the rabbit’s teeth growing.

How long a rabbit spends chewing can spell the difference between having a healthy mouth and pain from an overgrown tooth. It should be noted that feeding pelleted food is one of the top causes of overgrown teeth in rabbits.

If you don&r ... Read more »

Many people think that spaying or neutering pets can make them gain weight. But this is actually a false notion! The main factors that cause obesity are excessive food consumption, too many treats, not getting enough physical activity, and genes.

More often than not, pets that have been spayed or neutered gain weight after the procedure especially when they have been given the same amount of food they were on before undergoing the procedure. The removal of their reproductive organs (testes in males and uterus and ovaries in females) result in a change in hormone levels. One important effect is the slowing down of metabolism by about 30 percent in spayed or neutered pets. What does this mean? The amount of calories that fixed pets should receive should be about 30% fewer than before what they have been consuming before the procedure. If you have an overweight or obese dog, check wit ... Read more »

Lumps on a dog’s body should never be ignored. These can lipoma (benign fatty tumors), tumors, or an inflammation in reaction to a foreign body. Checking for lumps and bumps is usually done during grooming sessions or when you are cuddling with your dog. Other health warning signs that you should be quick to report to your veterinarian include the following:

Persistent vomiting

Dogs vomit occasionally when they want to get rid of an irritant in their throat, but persistent vomiting should be a cause for concern, especially if it does not improve within a day.

Rough or dry hair coat

Healthy dogs have shiny hair coats. Any change in the growth and/or appearance of your pet’s hair coat can be an important symptom of a variety of conditions including food allergy, kidney disease, vitamin ... Read more »