Handy guide to being owned by a pug!

I am looking for the website that showed the top ten human foods that dogs should not have. Thanks

EVERY pet person should know:


National Pet Recovery Hotline
1-800-984-8638
Whenever your pet is lost, this is one of your first places of help to report your missing friend. This 24-hour service will help you to locate your pet. Lost pets usually end up in an animal shelter before the county or city steps in. Members pay $25.00 for the lifetime of the pet or $55.00 to find the pet for free and non-members pay $50 and above.

Legal Hotline
1-800-555-6517
"I think my neighbors are abusing their pet. Can I do any thing to stop them?" Here is the number to call. To know your rights and how to go about expressing your displeasures, this number is for you. But try not to call because you don't that like someone's method of training his or her dog. Animal Legal Defense Fund help with landlord-tenant issues, vet problems, neglect and any form of abuse.

National Animal Poison Control Center
1-888-426-4435
In a life-and-death situation when every minute counts for your cat, dog or other pet, this 24-hour manned emergency number is your pet lifesaver. Sponsored in part by 36 different companies along with a $45.00 charge for consultation.

Emergency Disaster Hotline
1-800-227-4645
Provided by the American Humane Association, this number is your first point of call in earthquake preparedness for your pets or any disaster, what to do and where to go. They provide support and relief information.

Pet Loss Support Hotline
1-888-478-7574
Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine provides a source for emotional support for those who have lost an animal friend or are anticipating the loss of their pet. Veterinary students at the college man this free service. A 24-hour touch phone line where you can leave a message and someone will return your phone call. Seven days a week 6:00pm-9:00pm CST , May to August, Wednesdays and Fridays 6:00pm-9:00pm . This free service is funded by the Iams Company and dedicated in memory of Krista Rankin who organized the initial

Spay Helpline
1-800-248-SPAY
One way to prevent several unwanted lovely pets from ending up in shelters or destroyed is to spay or neuter them. Thousands of abandoned and unwanted pets are euthanized yearly due to over irresponsible breeding and other factors. So before you consider giving off your pet to the shelter, this organization can help you. SPAY USA provides free or low cost services to all. Call them for an appointment and locations of over 950 programs and clinic nationwide. Your local Shelters also help in providing similar services.

I am looking for the website that showed the top ten human foods that dogs should not have. Thanks

chocolate - With the recent popularity of chocolates that are 60 and 70 percent cocoa, this risk has become much more serious. Dark chocolates have always been more toxic than milk chocolates, and these newer chocolates are even more so. Toxic doses of chocolate can cause abnormal heartbeats, kidney failure and death. The toxic dose is dependent on weight, so little dogs are at higher risk, but with the high cocoa products now even bigger dogs are at risk.

Grapes and raisins - have been found recently to induce kidney failure in some animals. This failure can be permanent and life threatening. It does not seem to relate to the volume ingested, and not all animals seem to be equally susceptible. Although some dogs have been eating grapes for years, the safe course is to avoid grapes and raisins completely.

Onions - are tasty for our pets as well as us, but too many onions can be dangerous. High levels of onion ingestion in dogs and cats can cause life-threatening anemia.

xylitol - present in products from gums to sugar free cookies. When ingested in relatively small amounts, this sweetener can result in low blood sugar, seizures, liver failure and death. These symptoms can show up as quickly as 30 minutes or as long as 12 hours after ingestion, and treatment must be quick and aggressive or they can be fatal.

Wild mushrooms - Wild mushrooms can cause abdominal pain, drooling, liver damage, kidney damage, vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, coma, or death.

The green parts of the tomato and potato plant - are considered toxic because they contain solanine, which has the potential to produce significant gastrointestinal and central nervous system effects.

Macadamia nuts - Contain an unknown toxin, which can affect the digestive and nervous systems and muscle. Can cause weakness, muscle tremor and paralysis. These symptoms are usually temporary.

Turkey skin - is currently thought to cause acute pancreatitis in dogs.

See also:

Holiday Health Hazards

Humane Holidays With Your Pets

With any toxic exposure, minutes count so knowing what to do can save a life. Most importantly, you should have the phone number of poison control, your regular veterinary and an after-hour hospital posted in your home. It is best to wait until you reach poison control before you do anything but usually you will be told to make your pet vomit to get rid of some of the toxic substance. Vomiting can be induced with a teaspoon of peroxide if you don't have ipecac. Give the peroxide by mouth every few minutes, giving your pet a chance to relax between since many dogs and cats will refuse to vomit when held. Once vomiting occurs, or if you are unsuccessful within a few minutes, you should then seek professional help from a qualified veterinarian. Be sure to have an idea of how much of the substance your pet ingested and how long ago it happened.

For a more complete list of possible toxins in your home, go to
ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center
National Hotline: 888-426-4435
Available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Original Seizure Info:

http://pug.meetup.com...

Additional seizure information:

Seizure Disorders

Canine Epilepsy Research

Understanding Your Pet's Epilepsy

Canine Epilepsy Resource Center

Blind Dog Info:

CARING FOR YOUR BLIND PET

Blind dogs and cats can live as happy pets if one follows a few simple guidelines to make life easier for them. Animal's senses of hearing and smell are so much better than ours that when an animal is in a familiar environment it is often hard to tell that it is blind. Here are some hints and precautions to make their lives easier and safer.

1. Avoid changing your pet's environment. But, if you do move furniture or move into a new house, you may find it takes several weeks for your pet to memorize and familiarize itself with the new surroundings.

2. Teach your pet to walk on a harness or lead so that it can be exercised safely. Start using more voice commands to help he or she know when to slow down or be careful.

3. Fence in a small area of yard for them and keep the environment constant.

4. If you have a pool, you may want to fence it in so your pet cannot fall into it. Otherwise, blind pets should not be left unattended around pools. Filling the pool more will make it easier for them to climb out if they do fall in.

5. Encourage them to use their other senses to compensate for vision loss.

a. Buy toys that are noisy (that have a ring or a rattle) or ones that have a recognizable odor.

b. Apply perfume on legs of furniture or the edges of stairs to help them know where these objects are located.

c. Get another companion animal that your blind pet can follow around, using its senses of hearing and smell.

6. If your dog or cat is blind due to cataracts, it is a good idea to observe their eyes daily for changes that could indicate the onset of glaucoma or uveitis (inflammation), conditions which can be very painful for your pet. These changes might include reddening of the white of the eye, an increase in the size of the eye, pawing at or rubbing the eyes and change in position of the cataract.

7. Encourage exercise, whether in a fenced yard or on a leash, to prevent excessive weight gain.

8. Do not change the placement of the bowls of food and water, if you do, try to help them learn where the new place is.

9. Some behavior changes (aggression, depression, fear, etc.) can be observed with sudden blindness. Try to avoid stressing or scaring the pet. Inform the family members (especially children) of the new condition and educate them to alert the pet with soothing words or sounds before petting or grabbing the animal.

USEFUL LINKS FOR OWNERS OF BLIND DOGS

Littlest Angel Vest - ~the white cane for blind dogs

Doggles - Goggles For Dogs. These are basically sunglasses that have been designed for dogs. They can protect the eyes from trauma, reduce glare, or relieve light sensitivity.

Devouring feces (coprophagia)

"There is no solid scientific evidence explaining why dogs eat feces - their own or those of other dogs, or other species," says Alice Moon-Fanelli, Ph.D., certified applied animal behaviorist at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. "The behavior is typically more bothersome to owners than dogs because owners find the habit so distasteful." -- From "Tips of Their Tongues" by Betty Liddick

How Dogs Decide What's Delicious

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A great many learned canine behaviorists consider that copraphagia is well within the normal repertoire of canine behavior, rather than being an "aberrant", "abnormal", or "pathological". Quite a few otherwise totally normal dogs do it occasionally or oftener. Moreover generally it is not harmful, beyond perhaps involving ingestion of intestinal parasites from another dog (or another species), and that can be controlled by normal good worming practice (the monthly heart worm prevention medicines also prevent almost all other intestinal parasites except tapeworm and tapeworm comes from eating an infested flea, not from eating feces).

Many believe that some dogs who are receiving too little food quantitatively, dogs who are receiving substandard food qualitatively (food which is indigestible or lacking essential nutrients), and dogs whose digestive mechanism is inadequate ( e.g., lacking adequate production of digestive enzymes) may resort to copraphagia.

Although the canine behaviorist might well tell us that the copraphagic dog does not have a "problem" and, rather, that it is we, the humans, who have the problem of finding copraphagia "disgusting", still the fact remains that most of us would go to some degree of trouble to cure our dogs of this little habit (fortunately for me, my little ones don't do this )

Some canine nutritionists recommend switching the dog to a diet of maximum digestibility without dyes and artificial preservatives. As I'm sure you are all aware, I always recommend nutritious home-prepared food.

For the dog whose underlying problem is an insufficiency of digestive enzymes, supplementation with such enzymes mixed with the dog's food should be very helpful. Even if the copraphagia does not stop, the dog's overall health should benefit from better nutritional absorption. I highly recommend Optimal Pets Enzymes & Probiotics.

Additionally, ssupplementation with biotin, one of the B vitamins, has been reported to cure copraphagia in some dogs. Normally biotin is made in the dog's intestine, so perhaps those dogs cured by supplementation are ones whose own internal manufacture is deficient. Biotin can be bought at any health food store or the vitamin section at the pharmacy.

If the underlying cause and cure cannot be identified, or if the success is only partial, you can attempt to eliminate the behavior by eliminating the dog's opportunities to indulge in it. This can be done in a very simple and obvious manner : rather than allowing the dog to defecate at a time and place of his own choosing and free from human supervision, his opportunities to relieve himself should be limited to regular walks, on or off lead, accompanied by a human. As soon as the dog defecates, you should either march the dog away or should scoop and dispose of the feces or do both. For apartment dwellers, this is the normal mode of life; so those blessed with a house and fenced yard have to pretend they live in an apartment.

Finally, of course, you can give up and learn to live with the problem. It is, after all, essentially harmless to the dog and to those people around him. It can impose a certain reserve to your welcoming of your dog's greeting kiss , but you will get used to automatically applying the sniff test.

(These suggestions are for informational purposes only and are not medical advice.)

Take a deep breath,

IGNORE

REPORT

MOVE ON

Veterinary costs, in general, can be very scary. One of the things that can increase vet costs dramatically are unneccessary procedures. James L Busby, DVM, understands the fear and he has a concern for his profession with unneccessary procedures being done mearly for the money. In his own words he says - "I'm 65 and am still in very active practice, but am disgruntled over the way my profession is pricing routine (and often unjustified) procedures beyond the reach of middle- and lower-class pet owners. Many of these are not only unnecessary, but some even border on being unethical in my opinion." He has written a book called "How to Afford Veterinary Care without Mortgaging the Kids"

Do I Go Home Today?

My family brought me home, cradled in their arms,
They cuddled me and smiled at me, said I was full of charm.

They played with me and laughed with me, they showered me with toys,
I sure do love my family, especially the girls and boys.

The children loved to feed me, they gave me special treats,
They even let me sleep with them, all snuggled in their sheets.

I used to go for many walks, often several times a day,
They even fought to hold the leash, I'm very proud to say.

They used to laugh and praise me, when I played with that old shoe,
But I didn't know the difference between the old ones and the new.

The kids and I would grab a rag, and for hours we would tug,
So I thought I did the right thing when I chewed the bedroom rug.

They said I was out of control and would have to live outside,
This I did not understand, although I tried and tried.

The walks stopped, one by one; they said they hadn't time,
I wish that I could change things, I wish I knew my crime.

My life became so lonely in the backyard on a chain.
I barked and barked all day long to keep from going insane.

So they brought me to a shelter, but were embarrassed to say why,
They said I caused an allergy, and then kissed me good-bye.

If I'd only had some classes when I was just a pup,
I wouldn't have been so hard to handle, when I was all grown up.

"You only have one day left," I heard a worker say.
Does this mean a second chance? Do I go home today?
--Author Unknown

Our Purpose

I looked at all the caged animals in the shelter...the cast-offs of human society.
I saw in their eyes love and hope, fear and dread, sadness, and betrayal.
And I was angry.
"God," I said, "this is terrible! Why don't you do something?"
God was silent for a moment, and then spoke softly,
"I have done something," was the reply. "I created you."
-- Author Unknown

The Reason

To you, from all your rescue dogs...
I would've died that day if not for you.
I would've given up on life if not for your kind eyes.
I would've used my teeth in fear if not for your gentle hands.
I would have left this life believing that all humans don't care
Believing there is no such thing as fur that isn't matted,
skin that isn't flea bitten, good food and enough of it, beds to sleep on,
someone to love me, to show me I deserve love just because I exist.
Your kind eyes, your loving smile, your gentle hands
Your big heart saved me...
You saved me from the terror of the pound,
Soothing away the memories of my old life.
You have taught me what it means to be loved.
I have seen you do the same for other dogs like me.
I have heard you ask yourself in times of despair
Why you do it
When there is no more money, no more room, no more homes
You open your heart a little bigger, stretch the money a little tighter
Make just a little more room...to save one more like me.
I tell you with the gratitude and love that shines in my eyes
In the best way I know how
Reminding you why you go on trying.
I am the reason
The dogs before me are the reason
As are the ones who come after.
Our lives would've been wasted, our love never given
We would die if not for you.
--Author Unknown

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"Until there are none ... rescue one."