Edie MacKenzie

Edie MacKenzie is a published author, traveler, dog lover, and tortoise enthusiast. Passionate about what she does, her books provide peopel a firm grounding in the dog breed and their unique characteristics with a nice touch of humor.

Grooming And The Older Dog

July 17, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Proper and effective grooming contributes only indirectly to your dog’s general health but becomes a more significant factor with senior dogs. As the natural skin oils come to be less effectively produced, the skin can become dry and scaly, causing itchiness and discomfort. Matted or tangled hair-coats likewise cause scratching and, in addition, can hold dirt and debris on the skin from which bacteria can readily enter skin that is already abraded by the scratching and chewing. Bacterial dermatitis is not at all uncommon in older dogs.

The daily grooming patterns begun in earlier years should be continued throughout a dog’s lifetime. It is my firm belief that all dogs, with the possible exception of some show dogs and those with certain skin diseases, should be combed and brushed every day of their lives with a metal comb and a wire-bristle slicker type brush. Combing should be done first, as its purpose is merely to remove tangles and separate the hairs so the slicker brush does not get caught in them. This is followed by the brush which should be used in firmly applied, long, slow strokes. The object of the brushing is to get the wires down to the skin, which is where the dirt is, to remove that dirt and the dry scales of dead skin, but be extra cautious when performing these grooming tasks on senior dogs.

Filed Under: Senior Dog Information Tagged With: Bacteria, Bristle, Coats, Dead Skin, Debris, Dermatitis, Dry Scales, Firm Belief That, General Health, Hairs, Itchiness, Metal Comb, Natural Skin, Remove Dirt, Show Dogs, Skin Diseases, Skin Oils, Slicker Brush, Slow Strokes, Tangled Hair

Constipation And Flatulence In Senior Dogs

July 1, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

As with every mammal, the muscles of the colon and rectum may lose some of their ability to propel and expel feces adequately during a bowel movement, so don’t be too surprised if this happens to your senior dog. Reduction in stomach and intestinal digestive secretions can produce a bulkier, firmer stool as can diets very high in dry food content if there is insufficient water intake. Your dog will squat and strain to force the fecal mass slowly out. She may cry from the discomfort.

Prostatic disease can mechanically cause constipation as the prostate gland enlarges and presses up against the floor of the rectum. Similarly, tumors in the rectum or on the anus can interfere with the passage of feces. Senior dogs may have an isolated difficult bowel movement on occasion. This should be no cause for alarm if he is otherwise in good health and there is no bleeding or excessive pain.

Repeated bouts of constipation can slowly stretch the rectal muscles, causing permanent dilatation and resulting in chronic constipation. Once this occurs, senior dogs will need frequent enemas as well as fecal softeners to help him eliminate. The increased time the stool remains in the colon and rectum will allow bacteria that normally live there to act on the stool, causing putrefaction and excessive gas production in senior dogs.

Filed Under: Senior Dog Information Tagged With: Anus, Bacteria, Bouts, Bowel Movement, Chronic Constipation, Colon, Diets, Digestive Secretions, Dilatation, Dry Food, Enemas, Excessive Gas, Flatulence, Food Content, Good Health, Mammal, Prostate Gland, Rectal Muscles, Stomach, Tumors, Water Intake

Grooming And The Older Dog

June 16, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Proper and effective grooming contributes only indirectly to your older dog general health but becomes a more significant factor with increasing age.

As the natural skin oils come to be less effectively produced, the skin can become dry and scaly, causing itchiness and discomfort.

Matted or tangled hair-coats likewise cause scratching and, in addition, can hold dirt and debris on the skin from which bacteria can readily enter skin that is already abraded by the scratching and chewing. Bacterial dermatitis is not at all uncommon in an older dog.

The daily grooming patterns begun in earlier years should be continued throughout a dog’s lifetime.

It is my firm belief all dogs, with the possible exception of some show dogs and those with certain skin diseases, should be combed and brushed every day of their lives with a metal comb and a wire-bristle slicker type brush.

Combing should be done first, as its purpose is merely to remove tangles and separate the hairs so the slicker brush does not get caught in them.

This is followed by the brush which should be used in firmly applied, long, slow strokes.

The object of the brushing an older dog is to get the wires down to the skin, which is where the dirt is, to remove that dirt and the dry scales of dead skin.

Filed Under: Senior Dog Information Tagged With: Bacteria, Belief, Bristle, Coats, Dead Skin, Debris, Dermatitis, Dry Scales, General Health, Hairs, Itchiness, Metal Comb, Natural Skin, Remove Dirt, Show Dogs, Skin Diseases, Skin Oils, Slicker Brush, Slow Strokes, Tangled Hair

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