Uncategorized

Are you having fly problems?

Here is what you can do to get rid of the fly problem with very little investment or additional time needed.

If you have a dog or dogs or an outside cat you have poop to pick up ad get rid of.  There will also be flies buzzing around.

Even if the feces is picked up daily and the soiled area rinsed down daily the area will have flys in abundance.  Flies eat feces. When you have pets feces tend to, well, pile up.

Over the years

We have tried a variety of products to curb the fly population at our site.

By far the best product to handle our fly problems has been the Rescue Fly Traps.

Rescue Fly Traps

They are inexpensive, reusable containers that have a lure scent packet, when dissolved in the water, attracts flys, well like flys.  Within a few hours, you will start seeing results.

The attractant refill is cost-effective.

The jar should be emptied and the attractant replaced once a month to continue to eliminate the fly problem.

Flies love to bite

They land on dogs’ ears and noses causing a condition called flystrike dermatitis.  Repeated bites can cause skin damage and alopecia or hair loss that won’t grow back, in the damaged area.

Flys carry diseases that affect humans as well.

Researchers think that house flys contribute to 65 different diseases. The bacteria contained on their bodies from their food supply of feces, rotten produce, spoiled meats, trash only takes a few seconds to transfer to wherever they land. Flys vomit and defecate wherever they land.  Flys in cities carry more pathogens than rural flys.

Rescue Fly Traps Come With 1 Packet of Attractant

This is just a few of the diseases house flys carry

1. Cholera

2. Conjunctivitis

3.  Dysentery

4. Gastroenteritis

5. Salmonellosis

6. Tuberculosis

7. Typhoid fever

8. Anthrax

                                                                                                                    The lifecycle of a fly.

The breeding ground.

Animal feces are among the most important breeding sites for houseflies. The conditions for breeding depends on the feces’ moisture, texture, and freshness.

The egg.

Eggs are usually laid in masses on organic material such as manure and garbage.  Once lain they hatch in a few hours.

The larvae.

Temperature and food supply determine how long it takes to get to the next stage. Usually from 3 days to several weeks in the larvae stage.

When the larvae have eaten enough they migrate to a dryer environment and build a cocoon-like structure around themselves this is the start of the pupa stage.

The pupa stage

This is where the transformation from larvae to housefly takes place.  This stage usually takes 2 to 10 days.  As soon as it emerges from the cocoon the fully formed fly spreads its wings and the air dries them, then the insect can well fly off.

After a few days, this new fly is able to reproduce.  A female fly will lay five batches of eggs. Each batch can have as many as 130 eggs.  She heads back to the feces piles to do this.

So as you can see, it’s super important to be a good pet owner and go behind your pet daily to pick up their feces to rid the environment of the breeding area flys require.

Click the link below to get a handle of your fly problem today.

Rescue Fly Trap

                                                                                                                                                      Want to learn about fleas click here                                                          Else-Vet videos of the fleas life cycle

There are a lot of flea protection choices to choose from.

When you have pets you are bound to have fleas at some point or another, no matter how clean you keep your house.  There is a flea season its early spring which could turn into a year-round issue if you don’t take action.

Owning k9s and felines it’s almost impossible to avoid the dreaded flea.  The trick to eliminating this bug is to break its lifecycle.

You have to treat the whole environment,

The products available for outdoor bug control come in spray and powder.

In the yard

A product I like is Sevren dust.   This product is a powder that is sprinkled into the grassy areas where fleas and other pesty bugs hang out. It needs to touch the bug to kill it. Sprinkling it liberally will ensure that the pesty little thing will come into contact with it. It also will wash away so it should be done when no rain is expected.

The inside flea arsenal

Flea protection choices include a flea shampoo, flea collars, flea/tick topical drops, flea powder, flea sprays, flea furniture powder, and a supplement called Flea Away.

Now until recently, I had never heard of Flea Away supplement.  I found it on, you guessed it, chewy.com.

So I decided to give it a try.

One pack member has flea allergies that cause skin issues for him. Another couple of pack members have curly hair and are almost constantly scratching and biting their bodies.  So with that in mind, I decided to purchase two bottles from the website.

Week one using Flea Away results

I found that the firsts day they all willingly ate the supplement. To my surprise, one of my two inside cats decided to enjoy a dose.  By the second day the smallest dogs, shes 7lb, and 2 of the 20 lb dogs didn’t want to take another dose.   Everyone else enjoyed another dose.  So far we are on day 4 and the 3 little dogs still refuse to take part in the supplement but everyone else including the second cat is now onboard with the program.

Has it been effective?

The literature states it takes a month to see results.  Although I have noticed less scratch and biting at themselves in the shorter-haired dog.  Plus one of the curly-haired dogs has slowed down on chewing herself as well.

Getting everybody on board with Flea Away

Different ways how to trick the little dogs into taking the supplement.

1. mash it up and mix it in with chicken stock and hide it in their snack.

2. smash it up and mix it into dog-friendly peanut butter.

Be sure that your peanut butter does not have artificial sugar.

Xylitol poisoning in dogs

I’ll be back with updates on effectiveness and how I got the little ones to get on board.

If you want to learn more about the dreaded flea click here.

How can I tell if an animal has rabies?

Wild animals are generally shy and avoid human contact.  So if you encounter an animal foaming at the mouth, acting aggressively, or acting unnatural, steer clear of that animal and contact the animal control division in your local area.

Where is rabies most common?

According to the Mayo Clinic, in developing countries, you have a higher risk of getting rabies by dogs than in the United States.  The Clinic recommends that if you are going to travel to parts of the world where rabies is common to get vaccinated before you go on your journey.

Can you get rabies if an animal licks me?

If the animal has signs of rabies and licks an open wound, yes it is possible to get rabies through that lick.  Rabies is transmitted by scratches or the saliva when being bitten by an infected animal.

Should you be bitten, wash the bite area with soap and water then seek medical help right away as the outcome of rabies is death.

Any mammal can carry rabies.

Mammals are any animals that nurses they’re offspring.  The most common animals in developing countries that have a high risk of carrying rabies are stray dogs but can include all these listed.

High-risk contact is from raccoons, bats, foxes, coyotes, and skunks as well as farm animals and unvaccinated dogs as possible sources in the United States.

Books available about rabies

Should you go to the doctor?

If you think you’ve been bitten by a rabid animal wash the wound with soap and water right away and seek out medical help.

Rabies can lye dormant in your system for 30 to 90 days before you have symptoms.  This period is called the incubation period.  This timeframe allows the disease to work on your nervous system and get into your brain.

Signs of infection

This starts with fever, tiredness, and weakness. You may also have burning or tingling at the bite site.  Other symptoms are you can’t sleep, have confusion, anxiety, hyperactivity, are easily agitated, have difficulty swallowing, hallucinations, become slightly or partially paralyzed, or tingling at the bite site.  These symptoms will lead to coma, heart and lung failure, then ultimately death.

How a doctor determines if you’ve been exposed

This is done by taking tissue and fluid samples from you, saliva, hair, blood, and spinal fluid.

With the results of the testing, the doctor will determine if you’ve been exposed to the disease.

Positive results

If your results show positive for rabies you will be given a shot of fast-acting rabies immune globulin.  You will need four more shots over a fourteen-day period to get rid of the disease.

So if you think you’ve been exposed in any way to rabies go seek medical attention right away.

Use this link to check out a variety of animal health care items

I have a pack of dogs.

K9s Singing At The Window  

Currently, I am housing 8 dogs.

I had a roommate move on recently. I agreed to keep her furkids until she finds a new housing situation.

This is not a permanent solution for the old roommate, just a nice thing I agreed to do while she sorts out her life.

Now on to my dog’s issue.

I have one female that has never missed a meal in her life. I’ve had her and her brother since they were 7 weeks old.

I have always free fed my dogs. This pack is no different.

What is different is the female tends to guard the bowl and not allow others to eat from it. She doesn’t snap or growl, she just blocks access to it.

I do not know why she feels like this is ok behavior. I have tried to show her that the food source is an unlimited supply by showing her the unopened stash.

We usually have a month’s food on the porch waiting to be used as well as a month’s back up. So that means, I usually have 4-40lb bags of dog food at all times. One open bag and being dished out daily and 3 bags unopened waiting to be used.

Yes, I know that most people do not keep dog food as I do.  I feel like if I run into a financial glitch, at least my furkids will not be hungry as they are solely dependant on me for food.

Anyway, back to my problem.

I’ve been searching for answers to this problem of her blocking access to the bowl, which isn’t really a problem. It’s just an annoyance to me that she doesn’t want to share the actual bowl.

When I hear a commotion in the room where they eat I know from experience that she is guarding the food bowl. So I come out to tell her it’s not ok. The food is for everyone. Then I scatter handfuls of food onto the floor and watch them all eat. Or I hand feed them by offering food to each dog.  If they want more, I dump more out and stay until it’s all eaten up.

She is ok if everyone eats off the floor together.

So that’s what we do.

In my search for answers,

I have found some very knowledgeable dog trainers.

Here is something I found YouTube about “source guarding.”

I had never heard that term before, I find it interesting and it is exactly what my girl is doing, not to the examples extreme.

This first example is a very extreme case of “source guarding.” This dog has been allowed to rule the roost and had developed this bad behavior.

This example is an extreme case of “source guarding.”

It’s amazing how quickly Tom makes the dog understand what he wants and gains compliance from the dog.

Training Tools

 Here is another video by Tom.

Here are some tips you can try if your dog guards the food bowl or has food-related behaviors to break the cycle of food issues.

He is training the humans as much as he is training the dog.

I want to thank Tom for making his videos.

I have found them very helpful when trying to do behavior modifications.

If you find his videos helpful please subscribe to his channel.

I have.

He has quality K9 behavior content.

I get nothing from sharing this resource with you other than the hope that you can have the best dog possible.

Iams mini chunk: Good for every dog no matter what size dog you have

Coronavirus and your pets – what you should know and do to keep your pets safe.

I’ve been in the house by myself with the dogs since Saturday, March 21st in the afternoon.  I’ve padlocked the gates. I have been ok.  I had a slight fever on Sunday. I have a headache today but haven’t had caffeine, so that may be why. I do have the sniffles. It is spring so it may just be allergies, but hard to know.

All my k9s are safe and healthy.  I’ve been brushing teeth to help keep them healthy.

Dental Hygiene For Your Dog

Our family was told by our parents to not kiss the dogs on the mouth. I kiss tops of heads, snouts, and ears.

So

Stop kissing the mouth of your pet!

Stop letting them kiss your mouth!

I have been following my favorite YouTube vet’s advice.  Here is his latest post about coronavirus and your pets?

veterinary secrets video on the coronavirus.

Since this video, another dog has tested positive for the virus in Hong Kong at the same residence where the first dog tested positive lived.  The first dog has since died.  It was an elderly dog.  They think it was the separation stress that added to the passing of that dog.  The family wouldn’t let an autopsy be done on the pet.

Here is an article from LiveScience.com that has more information on the first dog. It says that though the dog died, they are not certain whether it died of coronavirus of some other cause.

the story about the first dog. 

Here is the second article from LiveScience.comabout the second dog

the story about the second dog in the same family that had a positive test result. 

Here is an article from the New York Post

ny post story about coronavirus and dogs