How to Prevent Dog Diseases in Spring

1 Overview

First: Gastrointestinal Diseases

Including acute and chronic gastroenteritis, food poisoning, foreign-body ingestion, parasites, etc., causing vomiting, diarrhea, bloody stool, intestinal blockage and so on.

Acute gastroenteritis is the majority, with foreign bodies second. Owners should watch pets’ eating habits: do not feed table scraps or spoiled food; control the dog outdoors so it does not lick outside things; store small items at home so pets do not swallow them by mistake.

Second: Trauma

The largest share of trauma is fractures, sprains and bites. Because spring is peak heat season, many pets become more lively; on walks dogs get very excited, bolt, dart around, even break the leash, ending in crashes, falls, twists and sprains. Some pets in heat change temperament, becoming restless or even violent, with a tendency to attack people or other animals.

So the effective way to reduce pet trauma is a muzzle outdoors, a proper sturdy leash, and spaying/neutering.

Third: Spinal Diseases

The data show mainly spondylitis and lumbar problems. Over half the dogs are middle-aged or senior (over 5) and mostly small or medium breeds. These come from owners training dogs to stand long, climb stairs, or holding them in wrong postures, causing spine and lumbar problems.

To reduce such health issues, do not go against a dog’s nature by making it stand long; do not keep holding it in wrong postures; raise it correctly and scientifically.

Fourth: Skin Diseases

Skin diseases have many types; we will not list them all here, but focus on how to prevent them.

First, always leash the dog on walks; do not let it jump into thick grass.

When bathing, use an anti-skin-disease shampoo and deworm regularly; summer is near, so do not shave the coat very short – leave some length; for dogs with weak skin resistance, feed a diet formulated for skin health.

Fifth: Infectious Diseases

In the data, dogs’ infectious diseases are mainly coronavirus infection, with occasional distemper and parvovirus; cats are mainly cat flu and cat plague.

Dog-to-dog infectious disease data dropped a lot from past years, showing owners value vaccination more and vaccinate on time yearly, raising dogs’ immunity – a very good trend.

Owners who keep cats should also value immunization; yearly vaccination can also keep cats away from some infectious diseases.