There are several things you can do at home to make sure your pet is as healthy as possible, and help lower the costs of owning and caring for a pet by not having to take them to the vet as much.
Food

There are several ways for each of us to make sure our pets stay healthy. One way to start is by selecting the right kind of food for your pet. There are a lot of selections out there to choose from. My personal favourite brand is Iams. Toy breeds, such as Chihuahuas, need the type of crunchy food that comes in teeny bite size pebbles and Iams has a food that is about the size of a pea, which is perfect for the little mouth of Chihuahuas or Yorkies, etc. Iams also carries a food size for medium size dog breeds such as Boston Terriers and Lhaso Apsos. They also offer a large chunky size for the larger breeds such as Rottweilers, German Shepherds, and Akita.

There are also a lot of foods out there that are good for tartar control for dogs as well as cats. The brands that are good for tarter control can be fed by themselves or mixed in with the regular brand.

Some pet’s love the taste of canned pet food. Once in a while, canned food is good as a treat, but feeding canned food all the time does not keep their bones as strong as they need to be.

There are pet foods on the market for all shapes and sizes of dogs. There are many selections of cat food as well. There are foods that keep the coat looking healthy and shiny. There are wide selections of foods for weight reduction. There are even brands of dog food out there that you can feed your dog that cut down on the amount of poo the dog will eliminate daily. If I can recall correctly, I fed my 125 pound German Shephard/Alaskan Malamute mix dog the green bag of Iams dog food and when he eliminated daily, there was not a big pile of poo you would expect to see from a big breed. He loved this food. I would also mix in a few beef jerky strips like twice a week.

I know a lot of people think that you need to keep food out and available at all times for your pets, but this is true only if you have a small breed dog such as a Chihuahua. Smaller breeds such as this do need to eat little meals during the day, but medium to large breed dogs can be fed once a day and be fine. Always keep fresh water available day to day for both dogs and cats. Food can be left out on a daily basis for cats as long as it is not canned food. If you do feed canned food to your cat, only give half the can in the morning and cover the rest and refrigerate the other half until that afternoon. Hard food can be left out at all times.

If you feed canned food to your pets and do not use the whole can, cover the rest and refrigerate it until the next feeding. Canned pet food is good for at least a week in the refrigerator. During the long hot days of summer, you may notice that your pets’ appetite is not like it usually is. This could be due to the fact that animals sometimes tend to not eat as much during the summertime. It is just too hot and they don’t want to eat like they normally do. When the weather cools off, their eating habits will return to normal. Now if your cat or dog stops eating completely at any time, see your local vet a.s.a.p.

If there comes a time that you want to switch dog or cat food, do not just start feeding a different brand, because this will cause diarrhoea for your pet. If you switch foods at a slow pace and shouldn’t have any problems afterwards. What you do to switch to another food is gradually mix in a little of the new food with the old brand day to day. And each day add a little more of the new food and less of the old food until all there is to feed is the new food. You should have no problems at all using this method.

Pet Vitamins

I always give vitamins daily to my dog. What is use to keep his coat shiny is Omega 3 Fatty Acid capsules? I squeeze open 2 capsules over his food every day. The capsules smell kind of fishy and some days he would not eat his food because of the smell, so I would have to give him the capsules orally. This particular brand of vitamins gives my dog a shiny sleek coat. I also give him 1 pet tab vitamin daily and which he loves these. Pet tabs can be purchased at a local vet clinic. They come is different sizes according to your pet. They are for dogs as well as cats and I have found that both like them equally. There are also liquid vitamins that can be given orally. From the wide selection of vitamin and mineral supplements that are available now, talk with your vet to see what is best for your pet. It is not necessary to give your pets vitamins and minerals but as for keeping your pet as healthy as possible, it does not hurt to do this.

There are so many things that we can do as pet owners to ensure a long and happy healthy life for our pets from choosing the best food and treats, to the best vitamin available. Always keep fresh water out at all times for your pets. Just like humans need water and can dehydrate without it, our pets can too.

Give your pets lots of love and play with them daily and your pet will love you back as well, and that love will be unconditional!

[amazon_link asins=’B003TJWVZ6,B003XLHJNY,B0038HF9JE,B01H4CXUH6,B003YKWIGC’ template=’CustomProductAd’ store=’pettrackerreviews-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’58ee064e-3cc4-11e7-8c5d-fb3cef3ca969′]