Veterinos

Posts by Adriana Mármol

Basic Needs of Cats

15/09/2015 Leave a Comment Written by Adriana Mármol

Cat playing

Cats are one of the animal species that were domesticated more recently in the history of mankind; some people think that we haven’t domesticated them at all. They are animals of habit, independent, territorial, and inquisitive, masters of themselves and their environment.

Although the presence of cats is part of anyone’s daily scenery, that doesn’t mean that we know them so well as we know, for instance, dogs, and we can’t figure out their behavior as easily.

Here you have a few general observations about the care of these unique animals.

Meals

Wild cats usually eat 10 to 20 times a day, feeding off small preys. Also, they spend a good portion of their time seeking and hunting their victims. Extrapolating this to domestic cats, we should leave food at their disposal all day, and they will ration it themselves.

If we hide as well small bit of food around the house, they will simulate the search of food, and keep themselves entertained when they are alone.

It is advisable to offer them moist food often.

Water

A cat’s drinking trough should be large, and filled to the brim if possible. It is best to have separate troughs for food and water.

They love running water, so the fountains for cats are a great choice for them to be able to drink water in motion and, incidentally, amuse themselves.

Litter Boxes

Litter boxes must be big enough for the cat to turn on itself, and have enough sand so they can dig without touching the bottom of the box.

You need to clean the box daily to remove feces and dirty sand. Once a week, you should also clean the litter box in depth.

The box must be placed in a quiet place where the cat is not bothered constantly. There should be as many litter boxes as cats, + 1. This way, we prevent eventual marking issues, or the cat evacuating where it should’nt (see “Cat Litter Box Training”, at Perfect Paws).

Scratching Boards

Cats need to scratch. It is a biological need. We must teach them from a very young age to do it in the right place, to prevent future problems.

The surgical removal of claws is illegal, and cruel for cats, as well as unnecessary.

Vertical spaces

Cats love heights. There are several theories on this matter, but the reason is still unclear. It is certain, however, that they like having high spots at their disposal, to rest and watch everything that happens.

Games

Cats prefer to play during short time periods, and several times a day. Their favorite games are chasing moving objects, or catching them if they are attached to a string (more information at “Cat Toys”, by The Humane Society of the United States).

We must never play with cats using our hands or feet. If they see them as toys, they might claw even when we are not playing (see “Training your cat to never scratch your hands”).

There are a number of interactive toys that provide a good mental stimulation, and entertainment for cats when they are alone.

Safe zone

Every cat needs a place to hide without being bothered. Cats are very sensitive to stress, and most often show it by hiding. When they do hide, we must allow it, and never try to drive them out of their hiding place.

We should try to find out what caused this reaction, and solve the problem if possible to allow the cat to overcome its anxiety by itself. If necessary, ask a veterinarian about the most suitable treatment.

Further information in “Cats Hiding”, by Feliway.

Cat Carriers

All cats must be inured to carriers, but we must do that gradually, and appropriately.

A good option is having the carrier always open at home, and leaving inside treats and toys, instead of producing it only to take our cat to the vet, or on a trip.

For more details about cat carriers, check the article “Cats and Carriers”.

Cats
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Fear of Fireworks

14/07/2015 Leave a Comment Written by Adriana Mármol

Dog under the bed

The fear and phobia of fireworks and thunderstorms is a very common problem in dogs, as well as in cats. The animal feels fear before a stimulus whose origin it cannot fathom, nor can escape. That causes stress, sometimes severe.

Symptoms of fireworks phobia

Phobia may be recognized by the following symptoms:

  • The dog pants more than usual
  • It barks or howls for no apparent reason
  • It moves frantically, or hides
  • It shivers
  • It pees and defecates where it knows it must not
  • It destroys things

Occasionally, it can become aggressive.

What can we do if our dog fears fireworks?

We have to start preparing immediately, taking the following measures:

  • Create a safe place: you need a place where the dog can hide when it feels the need to escape what, for him, is a real threat (fireworks).

To that end, we can use an area the dog has already chosen (under the bed, in the bath), or create a new one. The area must be in a room as soundproof as possible, for example using cartons and covering them with blankets.

As soon as the area is chosen, we must accustom the dog progressively to being there, by giving him meals in the safe place, leaving there its toys, caressing it … The purpose is to make it a pleasant and safe space.

  • Soundproof the area: we need to reduce the intensity of sounds as much as possible. To that end, we must close the windows, lower the blinds, and additionally we can switch on the TV or the radio to minimize the external noise.
  • Do not reinforce unwanted behaviors: we must be a reference of calmness to our dog.

Stay calm, without giving much importance to what is happening outside, so that our pet understands that if we are calm, it can be as well; there is no reason to worry.

We have to act normally in face of the situation. The animal must not detect changes in our attitude, since this might make it more nervous.

  • We can give it nutraceutics, and pheromones: these are compounds that, administered in advance, can help our dog be calmer when the day comes. Consult us if you want to use any of them.
  • Medication: there are certain psychoactive drugs that can be used to reduce our dog’s stress the day of the fireworks.

Medication must always be given under the supervision of a veterinarian specialized in behavior. In Veterinos we will be pleased to advise you on this matter.

Warnings

  • We must never punish our dog for expressing fear.
  • We must never leave the dog in the garden, exposed without shelter to the fireworks (or thunderstorms).
  • We must never to try to accustom our dog to fireworks abruptly. The results can be fatal.
Dogs
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Cats and carriers

11/07/2012 Leave a Comment Written by Adriana Mármol

Cat in a cat carrier

Surely many of you, as cats owners, have found yourselves some day in the situation of having to put them in a carrier. And surely for many of you that situation often turned out to be, at the very least, a bit unpleasant.

As veterinarians, we hear quite frequently “there’s no way to get them in there”, or “as soon as they see me with the carrier, they run off, and hide”.

Why do they reject the carrier?

The answer is learning. The cat has learned that whenever we put them in this funny box, something bad happens — like going to the vet. The result? The cat knows that whenever the carrier shows up, they better do whatever they can to avoid it, even if that means confronting their dear owner. Anything but getting in there.

What can we do to avoid this?

The only way to do it is to accustom the cat to the carrier from a very young age, and to show them that it’s not a bad thing at all, but, on the contrary, it can turn out to be quite nice. How?

In most cases, the carrier is kept away somewhere until it’s needed, and produced only then. This is the first thing we must change. We need to make the cat sees the carrier as just another piece of their usual surroundings: we will leave it somewhere in the house — without the door — so they see it every day, scent it, mark it with their odor, etc.

How to acclimate a cat to the carrier

The carrier should have positive connotations for the cat. Besides getting them used to its presence, we can resort to several tricks:

  • Placing inside tasty food several times a week.
  • If the cat has a favorite toy, we can throw it playfully into the carrier, so they get inside to catch it as part of the game.
  • We can put inside something we’ve worn, so they can feel our familiar scent.
  • It is also helpful to reward cats by offering treats or petting them when they get in the carrier on their own.

How to travel without incidence

If we use these little tricks, the day we need to use the carrier we shouldn’t have too many problems. Nevertheless, there are two more things that will help our cat be calm:

  • Using pheromones, that we are to apply about 15 minutes before putting the cat in the carrier, mainly on the corners and the roof.
  • Covering the carrier during the trip with a blanket or throw; that helps them to stay serene.

In short, the key to have peace when using a cat carrier is to accustom them since they’re kitten to get in and out of it, and to associate it with positive feelings.

Cats
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How to Potty-Train Your Puppy

24/02/2012 Leave a Comment Written by Adriana Mármol

Puppy Dog

All those of us who have a dog have found ourselves having to teach them where to take care of their “business”. There are many myths, many urban legends about what to do or not to do in this situation. What is the best course of action?

Stages in the Life of a Pup

In order to explain the best way to teach pups basic hygiene, first we need to outline the normal development of dogs in this regard.

  • Neonatal period (0-15 days): the animal doesn’t have voluntary control on elimination; it is the mother who stimulates it. If we are raising orphan pups, it is vital that we know this, since we must be the ones to do the stimulation — using a moist rag or similar. Otherwise, the pup might die.
  • Transitional period (15-21 days): pups already have voluntary control on elimination, but they don’t leave the nest or breeding ground to do it.
  • Period of socialization (3 weeks-3 months): we can divide this period in two phases:
    • During the first phase pups begin to leave the breeding ground to eliminate
    • In the second phase, they begin to show a preference as where to relieve themselves. This happens when they are about 8 weeks old.

Taking this into account, and considering that most pups are bought or adopted when they are 8 weeks old, new owners are in the right time frame to start potty-training their puppy.

How to Teach Pups Where’s Their Bathroom

The idea is to give the animals many opportunities so that they perform this action correctly.

  1. We have to cover the floor with a large number of newspaper sheets, but leaving the resting and feeding areas clear — which pups will avoid when they want to evacuate, anyway.
  2. Doing this, it is most probable that our dog pees on the newspapers. If we are there when this happens, we can reward them, be it with a caress, playtime, or with a bit of food — even though the deed is self-rewarding in itself.
  3. After a few days, when the pup is used to eliminate always on the newspaper, we can remove it little by little, and finally stop putting it.

Warnings

  • We have to anticipate the needs of our pups, and take them to the spot where we want them to  pee  —  after their naps, around 30 minutes after meals, after a little bit of playtime, etc. We should do that also if we see that the pup begins to sniff around, or in face of any other signs that they want to relieve themselves.
  • We must never punish pups for peeing in the “wrong” place while we were away: they can’t tell why we are reprimanding them. Neither should we punish them if we catch them in the act. If you want to use some verbal “correction”, always ask a specialist in conduct about the best way to do it. Most of owners don’t know how to punish appropriately, and the consequences are negative. Either way, punishment is not advised in any situation — even less when dealing with a pup.
  • Under no circumstances should we rub the snout of our pups in their own urine. That is an atrocity and doesn’t have any educational value — on the contrary.
Dogs
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Garden Dogs

13/12/2011 Leave a Comment Written by Adriana Mármol

Labrador dog in the gardenToo often, I meet owners who think that their dogs don’t need to go out because “they have a huge garden to run about”. This belief is as widespread as mistaken.

The Ideal House…

Let’s consider for a moment the following situation: imagine that we have an enormous house, a mansion, with a lot of land.

The garden is gorgeous, full of beautiful flowers, and some trees, perfectly kept thanks to a novel irrigation system.

We have many rooms: big, bright, with the most modern furniture that we could imagine.

Every day we have everything tidied and cleaned up — we don’t need to do anything.

Every day we are served a marvelous breakfast, and a tasty lunch and dinner. We don’t even have to clear the table — not to mention washing the dishes!

Everything seems idyllic, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t like a life like that?

Nothing Is Perfect

What I haven’t told you is that, in this house, no one else is allowed besides us, and we are not allowed out, so we can’t meet anyone else.

Another downside of living in this mansion is that there is no phone, so we can’t call anybody for a little chat.

On top of that, in this luxurious house there is neither radio, television nor internet — we don’t have even a book or magazine to browse.

We are starting not to like the house so much now, are we?

But wait, I haven’t finished: the cleaners and cooks — who don’t pay the least attention to us because they are so busy — do their job so well that there is nothing left for us to do: not washing, making beds, preparing meals … absolutely nothing.

How would you feel if day after day your life consisted of waking up, breakfast, sleeping, lunch, sleeping, dinner, sleeping …?

Imagine that this has been this way since you were a toddler, and could walk and eat by yourself, so to say, that you could not play with other kids, or go to school. When you grew older, you could not meet other people either, exchange opinions, watch TV or read the newspaper to know what is going on in your neighborhood, or out in the world … All this would happen day after day, month after month, and year after year.

How would you feel? Overwhelmed? Bored? Frustrated? Welcome to the world of garden dogs!

What Dogs Need

Having a huge garden at their disposal is not enough for the well-being of a dog. That is hardly news for anyone whose dogs they dig holes in the garden, destroy flowerpots, plants, the doormat … , despite having so much space. Those dogs are bored, and their ravaging is nothing else that an escape valve.

That is not the worst. The worst is that when frustration settles, stress does too, so in addition to a nervous, barking, and ravaging dogs, we might find ourselves dealing with the kind of tension that can lead to continuous panting, digestive or skin troubles, lack of control in face of most daily situations, and finally behavioral problems.

When this happens, most owners get mad at their pets, and scold them for doing certain things — causing by that increasing stress, thus entering a vicious circle that feeds itself day by day, and never seems to end.

How can we prevent this problem? We should provide our dogs the opportunity to exercise daily, interact socially, and find mental stimuli. Walks, playing with other dogs, learning new things, and engage their mind by means of interactive games are a must for the basic well-being of any dog, regardless of whether we have a garden or not.

Dogs
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