Posted on July 9th, 2008 — in Pets and Other Animals
Until a very recent period, dog worms were thought to be of a spontaneous origin, brought about by the influence of heat upon decaying vegetable matter, and it was and still is freely asserted that puppies are born with dog worms inherited from the mother in some mysterious manner while still in uterus. This has been conclusively proven an error and in the minds of all scientists there is no question about dog worms springing from individual eggs and having a complete life history of their own.
The principal worm species with which dog owners have to contend are round worms and tape worms. The first named commonly infest puppies and consequently are most dreaded by breeders. In shape and size these worms resemble common angle worms, but in color are lighter, being almost white or only a pale pink.
In adult dogs these worms, when full grown, are from three to seven inches long. In puppies they are about half that length, and as thick as common white string. Round worms live in the small intestines, sometimes coiled in such masses as to obstruct the passage, and occasionally they wander into the stomach or are passed by the bowels.
It is easy to understand that when one dog in a kennel is infected with worms, millions of eggs will be passed with the feces. These are scattered all over the floors, bedding, feeding and drinking pans. They get on the dog’s coat, are licked off and swallowed and in numbers of ways gain entrance to the digestive tracts of other dogs, where they soon hatch out and in ten days are fully developed.
This rapid development account for the popular belief that puppies are born with worms, for breeders who have held post-mortems on puppies scarcely ten days old and have found in their stomachs fully developed round worms could account for their presence in no other way. They overlooked the fact that the prospective mother, confined in a kennel infested with worms, would get these eggs attached to her coat, belly and breasts, and the young, as soon as born, would take these eggs into their stomachs with the first mouthfuls of milk.
Symptoms Of Dog Worms Attack
Dog worms are responsible for so much sickness and so many symptoms that it is practically impossible to mention all of them, but their presence can safely be suspected in all dogs which have not been recently treated for them, as well as in cases where the patient is run down, unthrifty and out of sorts.
Other symptoms are a hot, dry nose, weak, watery eyes, pale lips and gums, foul breath, mean hacking cough and a red, scurfy, pimply or irritated condition of the skin and harsh, dry, staring coat that is constantly being shed.
Wormy dogs sometimes have a depraved appetite and will eat dirt and rubbish. Some days they are ravenously hungry, the next day they will not eat at all; their sleep is disturbed by dreams and intestinal rumbling, the urine is high colored and frequently passed, bowels irregular, stomach easily unsettled, watery mucus is frequently vomited and the mouth is hot, sticky and full of ropy saliva.
Puppies which are full of worms bloat easily and are pot-bellied. After feeding their stomachs distend disproportionately to the amount of food consumed. Their bodies are also subject to scaly eruptions and their bowels to colicky pains; they do not grow as rapidly as healthy puppies should and instead of playing with each other they curl up and sleep hour after hour; they get thinner, weaker and more lifeless from day to day and if they do not waste away or die in fits and convulsions with frothing at the mouth and champing of the jaws, grow up coarse-jointed, rickety and misshapen. Puppies with worms are also liable to paralysis of their rear limbs and on removal of the worms the puppies regain control of the affected parts.
A wormy dog is usually an unhealthy and unhappy dog who leads a miserable life. It could even be deadly, especially so for young puppies. Bring your dog to a veterinarian if you are unsure. Your dog will certainly thank you for that.
About the Author:
Moses Chia is a dog lover and owner of
DogsObedienceTraining.com - The resource site for dog obedience training
tips and dog obedience training books review. You are welcome to reprint this article if you keep the content
and live link intact.
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Posted on April 20th, 2008 — in Pets and Other Animals
Keeping a fish tank is a wonderful and relaxing hobby, but it can turn stressful if your fish start to die off. The most common cause of fish disease is poor water quality so it is vital that you perform regular maintenance on the tank, making sure you do a partial water change periodically and clean out any waste or uneaten food so it does not decay and poison the water.
Many fish disease can be halted if you provide treatment as soon as you see any signs of your fish being sick. Therefore, it is important that you monitor your fish each day to see if there are any signs of illness.
Some common symptoms of disease are listed below.
White dots - sometimes fuzzy looking, almost like grains of salt on your fish. This disease is called Ichthyophthirius), or simply Ich. It is a rather common disease and is caused by poor water quality or can effect your fish when it’s immune system is not functioning up to par due to stress. It can be treated easily if you catch it in time. There is a special solution you can buy at the pet store to medicate your tank and, hopefully, get rid of this problem.
Gray patches on the skin, looks cottony and can be around the gills. This is a fungus also caused by excess fish waste and food decaying in the bottom of the tank. You can buy treatment for it and it should clear up easily unless you have let it go too far. In the future remember to clean the tank each week so you do not have a reoccurrence.
If your fish seem like they are gasping for air, this could be simply due to lack of oxygen in the water and not necessarily a disease. You could add an airstone to see if that helps the problem. Make sure you do not overcrowd the tank with too many fish.
If you see your fish scraping itself agains the bottom of the tank or the decorations, it’s possible that he has a parasite called Flukes. These attack the gills and skin and are rather difficult to get rid of once your tank is infected. Again, poor water quality will make this much worse. They do sell medication for the tank and you may be able to clear it up if you treat the tank at the first sign of trouble.
Rotting fins are sometimes seen if the fish is under stress and also if the water quality is substandard. It is a bacteria that is attacking the fins and you must treat the tank at the first sign of this problem. If possible, isolate the affected fish to another tank to prevent the bacteria from spreading.
To insure that you always have healthy fish, you should keep the tank clean and religiously perform partial water changes. This will not only keep your fish happy but will make for a better looking tank as well!
About the Author
Lee Dobbins is a pet lover and owner of http://www.fish-tank-guide.com where you can learn to setup your freshwater aquarium. Find out more about fish disease at http://www.fish-tank-guide.com/fish-disease.html
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Posted on April 8th, 2008 — in Pets and Other Animals
Hello Adam.
I would firstly like very much to thank you for the fantastic information in the book! Wow! It has made the training of our new dog so much easier than I could possibly expect!
I live on a small farm in Victoria Australia and am currently in the process of training our new dog “Toby”(a border collie). I think we maybe have a head start as he is quite smart and soft natured but the techniques in you book work a treat and I find I hardly have to do anything to maintain a healthy working relationship with him. I do however get frustrated at people who I try to explain why he is so well behaved and happy etc.. .etc… when they think I am some kind of dog basher!?? The comments have even been “He is a lovely well behaved dog but I’ve heard about your training techniques (with negative intonation!).”
I don’t understand why people can’t see that this way you can train a behavior in minutes and with only one or two corrections rather than months or years of yelling at the dog for the same problem with monotonous inconsistency! (What they also don’t know is that a correction for Toby doesn’t need to be much to be motivational)
At least the dog knows! He is happy– well behaved– he can be inside safely without worry of disasters. He is quiet and confident-house trained–does sit/down (and stays down)/paw/crawl/bow/find/ and come from as far away as he can hear me(well come+down anyway, I haven’t tried the others). He also is safe around our horses when we work them, as we have boundary trained him to the arena and will hold a down stay if needed elsewhere. And he is only five months old!! It is almost like magic!
Now for the Question. I struggled to come up with one as the basic principles seem to solve pretty much everything. I would like to know a good way to teach him to go away/back or to go left or right in a controlled way(sort of working dog stuff really). I don’t know if this makes sense and it may sound unusual but it would be quite useful on the farm as well as fun and interesting for me and him (He seems to like jobs to do!)
I hope you can help me as I cant figure out a good way to do it? I would rather not use sheep to teach it as I am afraid he might then feel the need to work sheep or ducks or whatever at other times. Maybe this isn’t a problem anyway as he doesn’t misbehave. I wouldn’t like to create a temptation though? (Besides I don’t know what I am doing with working training anyway and wouldn’t like to stuff it up!) Any suggestions would be well appreciated.
Sorry this is so long but I am really enthusiastic!
- Oliver.
Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Australia.
Dear Oliver:
Set a plate with a cookie on it, off in the distance. (Point B).
Start a Point A, with the dog, and with a broad hand motion, point to the plate and say, “Go out.”
Your dog will run in the direction you point, to the plate.
Gradually move the plate farther away.
Then find a shallow hill, and place the plate on top of the hill. Point, and do the same things as described above.
After you’ve been doing this consistently for several days, begin placing the plate “behind the horizon,” but let the dog see you do it.
Next, do it again (after a few successful days) but don’t let the dog see you put the plate out.
Repeat in a variety of situations, always using the same command.
To read more of my dog training ramblings, read about my book (click below): http://tinyurl.com/4efaq
Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer!
About the Author
Author, “Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer!” which you can read more about at:
http://tinyurl.com/4efaq
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