Common Dog Health Problems: How can they be Avoided?

The majority of canines could be saved if they got preventive care. Cases are referred to general, specialist, and emergency veterinary clinics when they may have been prevented if handled sooner. Your dog’s health will benefit from preventive medication. It saves you money in the long run because it avoids the need for emergency or specialty therapy to repair any complications that may have been avoided if the medicine had been given sooner.

Preventive Care for Your Dog

A broad range of circumstances may be classified as preventable. The following are a few of the most frequently mentioned issues.

1. Dental disease and gingivitis

Plaque and tartar buildup give you bad breath, but they may also cause tooth decay and loss. Furthermore, bacteria from diseased teeth may spread via the bloodstream, harming organs like the heart and kidneys, especially in older dogs. 

 

All forms of dental illness may be prevented if a dog’s teeth are correctly cared for regularly. Finding a vet dentist? Johns Creek Veterinary Clinic provides comprehensive dental treatment for your pet, from routine cleanings and examinations to tooth surgery.

2. Obesity

Poor nutrition and lack of exercise are two of the most common factors. Low-value dog food provides a high-carbohydrate, high-grain diet for dogs, which aids in weight gain. It doesn’t have a chance with the table scraps and other treats. As our lifestyles have grown more sedentary, so have our dogs’. 

 

Regular exercise is necessary for dogs to maintain their weight and overall health. Lack of exercise is directly connected to many of the canine behavioral issues brought in for training. Diabetes, joint stiffness, and heart and other organ stress may all be prevented by feeding your dog high-quality dog food and regularly walking and exercising.

3. Obstructions

Obstructions are common reasons for pet emergency clinic visits. When a dog consumes anything it can’t digest or pass, such as socks, cardboard, towels, clothing, or toy stuffing, it might cause obstructions. These things get lodged in the dog’s intestines, forcing an emergency requiring surgery. 

 

The foreign item will be too large for a dog to pass by independently. This can be avoided altogether. Make sure your dog is well trained, gets enough exercise, never leaves anything on the floor, gives him suitable chew toys, and keeps an eye on him.

4. Vaccinations

Dogs should begin receiving vaccines at the age of eight weeks and continue until they reach the age of twenty weeks. This initial injectable regimen guards against a variety of potentially lethal illnesses, such as Parvo. Booster immunizations should be administered once a year or as prescribed by your veterinarian. Diseases like Parvo are very contagious, and if exposed, an unvaccinated dog would get ill quickly. It’s challenging to treat, as well as expensive. 

 

Vaccinations and parasite prevention are essential components of your pet’s routine healthcare. Johns Creek Veterinary Clinic can help maintain your pet’s health and avoid common illnesses and ailments. Visit their website to know more.

5. Heartworm

It’s distressing for a veterinarian to have a dog with advanced heartworm as a patient, especially when heartworm prevention is so straightforward. Mosquitos spread heartworm. If a dog has heartworms and isn’t treated, the worms will multiply and enter the heart. 

 

They’ll rise and disperse, clogging the heart, disrupting blood flow, and ultimately destroying organs. Treatment is expensive and harmful, significantly if the sickness has progressed to the point where some dogs have died. Heartworms cannot develop unless a monthly heartworm preventative is used.

6. Tick-borne infections

Tick-borne illnesses appear in a variety of forms. They’re all brought on by a tick sticking to a dog and passing disease via saliva. As the illnesses continue, they may result in lameness, lethargy, disease and neurological problems, renal disease, and blood abnormalities. 

Using a monthly flea and tick control medication and regularly checking your dog for ticks will help avoid these diseases. When you bring your pet to Johns Creek Veterinary Clinic for a regular wellness visit, they will examine it from head to tail to assess its general health.