All the Creatures

Today’s horse owners have it so easy when it comes to ridding their horse of worms. Just a simple paste wormer given orally once every 2-3 months and they are done. Some horse owners even use the pelleted type you add to the horses’ feed. Both of those methods are a far cry from what use to be done to a horse only a few short decades ago.

I am old enough to remember when horse articles appeared in national horse magazines that promoted the use of cigars, fed to the horse to rid them of worms. As late as the 1980’s horses were still “drenched” for worms. A vet would perform the drench. It consisted of about a gallon of chemicals pumped into the horses gut via a tube inserted up their nose. This was done once or twice a year. Even now I come across the words “horse drench” online and it is apparently still the common method to rid a horse of worms in some third world countries.

Thank goodness that health care of the horse has come a long way in the last 30 years. I wonder if that is the main reason why horses are now living longer?

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Always give your pet a hug, kind word or praise. After all they are around because you wanted them to be there.

- Jan S. at All the Creatures

Eczema is an inflammatory skin condition that is often triggered by an allergic reaction to something that has touched the skin of an animal. Humans have suffered all kinds of skin problems and it should not surprise us that animals do too. There are two types of eczema, the dry and the wet. They are accompanied by irritation, itchiness, redness, and thickening of the skin. Eczema can be caused by a wide range of irritants. Here is just a short list of what can trigger eczema in an animal, fleas, bedding, grass, plastic and chemicals.

Although there are literally hundreds of products on the market to combat eczema, the best eczema treatment is to remove the cause of the problem. That sometimes takes a bit of investigative work on the part of the human in charge of the animal.

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Always give your pet a hug, kind word or praise. After all they are around because you wanted them to be there.

- Jan S. at All the Creatures

I know from experience how a dogs teeth can be ruined by ill informed dog owners. About 30 years ago I got a beautiful Chow Chow puppy. He had champion bloodlines and my goal was to show him when he got older. At the time I was just getting married and my husband to be was living at our new home while I was moving from where I lived. The puppy got moved to our new home before I did and my husband to be was puppy sitting.

During my absence my husband-to-be bought a doggy toy on sale. Instead of buying a chew toy that my puppy could play with on his own he bought one of those rubber dog toys that has a handle on one end and a section that the puppy would grip at the other. He would play tug of war with my show puppy! This went for weeks and then one day I showed up.

I just about came unglued when I saw him playing with my pup and proudly showing me that my pup would grip the chew toy while he lifted him off of the ground by it. When I scolded him for playing with my puppy that way he had no clue………no clue that he was ruining my puppies teeth. He apologized but it was too late, my puppy’s adult teeth had started to come in and they were crooked. Dogs cannot be shown with crooked teeth. My dreams of showing my dog were dashed.

Don’t ever play tug of war with your dog, it will ruin their teeth.

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Always give your pet a hug, kind word or praise. After all they are around because you wanted them to be there.

- Jan S. at All the Creatures