Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Get Skunk Odour Off Your Dog

Hi There! VivBounty here with how you can get of skunk odour off your dog.

Last week the skunks returned to take up residence under our shed. Sure enough, Pedro saw one as he did last autumn, it was late at night, again, and he bounded happily up to it trying to make friends. Poor little skunk seeing this 85-lb “predator” approaching with vim and vigour had no option but to spray him.

Brian spotted him with his nose under the tail of something furry a bit too late and hollered for him to come back in. As they traipsed past me on their way to the biscuit cupboard, he casually mentioned Pedro was chasing something furry asking if I could smell anything. Taken by surprise, I bent over; took a good snort of the top of my dog’s head between his ears and immediately regretted my actions! Ugh!! Nose burning, eyes tearing and a nasty pungent odour attaching itself to my cilia, I yelled “Skunk”!

Eleven days ago I sprained my ankle quite badly, the day before that, Brian’s back “kinked”, so bent over and bandaged we did not relish the thought of washing Pedro at one a.m. Having taken in a sinus full of this skunk odour, I had to hobble up the stairs to flush it out so that I could think before taking this on. Fat chance! It was days before the it left my nose!

To add insult to injury, I couldn’t remember the recipe for the skunk odour removal solution we used last autumn. I had printed and filed it “in a safe place” but had no idea where. Hobbling back up the stairs to look through my files, I found a newspaper cutting, but the solution didn’t look the same. Brian, in the meantime was searching online once more. He skipped all the solutions with 2 quarts of peroxide, groaning we’d never bought that much peroxide in our lives, but soon came across one suggesting 7-Up, which we had several cans of.

With gloves, Pedro’s towels and dog shampoo, we headed up to the bathroom. From memory I made this solution, which frothed for a while then stopped:

  • 2 tablespoons of Dawn dishwashing liquid
  • 2 tablespoons of white vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons of baking soda
  • 1 can of 7-Up
We sat on opposite ends of the tub, Pedro hopped in behind the bucket, we wet him with a warm hand shower, rubbed the formula into his fur with face cloths carefully avoiding his eyes, ears and genital area, left it on for a few minutes, rinsed the solution off thoroughly, shampooed with his own shampoo, rinsed again and blow-dried. As Brian says, “What a performance”! Needless to say we didn’t get to bed until 3 a.m. with a very sweet-smelling Pedro happy to be allowed back in the house from the back porch where he left some yucky fumes for a few days. Like last year, Brian will escort him out from now on to make sure a skunk doesn't spray him again this season.

Prosperous Blessings,
VivBounty


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Monday, September 14, 2009

Can Garlic Boost Your Dog's Immune System?

Hi There, VivBounty here with my personal report of how garlic has boosted my dog's immune system.

I have first hand experience with this wonderful natural remedy. I have read various reports on the Internet about how garlic is a wonderful way to boost your immune system and have always been a garlic fan. What I have learned in the past year is that garlic can also boost your dog's immune system.

On the following Web site, you will find many testimonials about how garlic is ok to feed your dog in low doses Testimonials about garlic for dogs.

In previous posts I have written about my dog, Pedro who we adopted in Spain. He is now 5 years old and much happier outside after his second summer in North America. We found out the hard way on a cross-country trip that Pedro is allergic to flea and mosquito bites. In addition, possibly due to the stress of moving through several countries, climate changes and various parasites, Pedro had a hot spot, and sometime later, hair loss in two large patches on either side of his tail.

After doing considerable research into garlic boosting, I began to supplement his diet with 2 cloves of garlic in his meal once a day. 2 years later he is happy, healthy, no more scratching, no more eruptions and as his fur is white I see mosquitoes barely land on him and promptly fly off in disgust. I can only assume the fleas are doing the same thing. His bedding is white, as I have sewn fitted sheets for both his beds from our old Spanish ones which do not fit on Canadian queen size beds, our carpets are light and in my diligent inspections I have found no evidence of fleas, ticks, or the like. His fur soon grew back in and not a hot spot in sight in 18 months.

For more information clearly outlining the health benefits of supplementing your dogs’ diet with garlic, what dosage and form, and the ongoing dispute of its safety, please see Garlic For Dogs.

It must be said that Pedro now weighs 85 lbs and 2 raw cloves of garlic in his food does make for a smelly burp. He seems to take pleasure in going to my hubby immediately after eating his dinner and as he stands almost eye-level to him when seated on the settee, gives a huge burp. which is greeted with “Good grief, Pedro that’s just charming! You should go and thank your mum for your dinner and burp on her”. It’s all lost on me really as I love the smell of garlic and Pedro happily wags his tail before going to lay down on his mammoth doggy sofa.

Until next time, please make sure you consult with your vet about any health concerns prior to self-treating.

Prosperous Blessings,
VivBounty

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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Did a Reiki Treatment Help My Kitten's Vaccine Soreness?

Hello There. VivBounty here with a lovely report of how giving my kitten, Scampy a reiki treatment helped to relieve his soreness after his first round of vaccines.

Scampy was 8 weeks old at his second visit to the vet. He had doubled his weight to 2 lbs by then, so we estimate him to have gained 2 ozs per day in that 2 weeks. Being concerned about vaccines in general after reading too much online about the potential side effects, I asked the vet about sarcomas. Might as well go to the worst case scenario, right? Well I was delighted with her response. She explained that at a veterinary convention she attended a study on this very dilema was presented. The sarcomas were deduced to have been caused by technique.

She further explained that the study had shown an increased incidence of vaccine-site sarcomas at a vet clinic where none had occurred prior. There had been a new staff who vaccinated between the shoulder blades, believing this to be a less painful site, but unfortunately there is also less muscle there resulting in no movement of the tissue and thus the vaccine just sat there in a pouch never moving throughout the body eventually forming a potentially deadly sarcoma.

In her twenty years of practice, she has personally never injected in this location, rather opting to use the outer shoulder muscle where there is movement of the muscle and thus dispensation of the vaccine through the tissue throughout the body, nor has she had incidence of vaccine-site sarcomas in her hospital in the two decades.

So we cautiously agreed to having Scampy immunized with his first vaccine covering a number of common kitten afflictions. She gently said, "You'll probably need to rub that shoulder" and documented his vaccine record. We put him back in the pet carrier and he remained awake for the hour it took us to pick up some supplies for him before returning home.

When he stepped out of the carrier, he limped and I panicked. Brian picked him up to help him to the litter box and he "screamed" such a loud "meow" that I was in tears. I decided if I'm going to be his mummy, I have to maintain my composer and pull myself together. So he did his business and limped over to lay on the sofa. I grabbed my laptop to post an update in my blog and he hopped up on my recliner to snuggle on my lap with slightly glazed eyes. I tried to touch his shoulder and he "cried" so sadly and loudly that I was in tears again. I then gathered him in a fleece blanket on my chest, reclining my chair as rubbing anything was obviously out of the question.

I then grounded myself, and prepared to give him a reiki treatment to see if I could ease his pain. My hands immediately became very hot, within 5 minutes he was purring, and fell into a deep sleep. I kept my hands cupped around his tiny body until the energy ceased to be drawn and then just lay there with him for the next hour and a half.

When he woke up, he bounced of my lap. Scampered, true to his name, through 2 rooms over to his feeding bowls, drank some water, ate a good portion of his food and began playing with his stuffed toy. He had his "mojo" back!! I even gently rubbed his shoulder and he didn't even flinch. Again the next morning I rubbed it again without reaction, he was normally frisky, walking, eating, drinking and eliminating as if nothing had happened. I've read online that lack of appetite and soreness from vaccines can take up to a day and a half to ease off, but my little Scampy after his reiki treatment was as good as new.

Until next time, this is VivBounty reminding you to make informed decisions about your pet's care.

Prosperous Blessings,
VivBounty


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