Total Dog Magazine

Category: Featured

  • Meet the Dog Owner Who Found Out About Importance of Preventative Care for Her Pets

    Veterinary care can get very expensive and more and more often, pet owners are cutting corners on preventive treatments to try and save money. This, however, can do more harm than good for your pets and tends to lead to more problems (and expense!) down the line.

    An article from the PDSA, published on Pet Gazette, has recently revealed that millions of pets are at risk of serious diseases due to not being vaccinated. As a stat, this is very worrying as a lot of poorly pets could be in a much better position if they had been given preventative care.

    The Healthy Pet Club is a pet loyalty scheme aimed at helping customers save money on preventative care for their pets. From just £9.99 a month, they offer free vaccinations (and many other benefits) to make sure your much loved pets don’t lose their lives to these horrible diseases, when prevention is so easy.

    Read all about how the Healthy Pet Club has helped two Springer Spaniels stay happy and healthy below:

    Dolly is an eight year old English Springer Spaniel, both her and her brother Dave, also a Springer, belong to Lynda Dunn and her husband, Roger. They have had Dolly since she was a puppy, but unfortunately in 2011 she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis. Treating this involved regular injections of Cartrophen along with Cosequin tablets, which would have cost the Dunns a fortune had they not been members of the Healthy Pet Club. They have not only saved money on Dolly’s injections and daily medication, but they have also had the benefit of making further savings on her routine treatment, check-ups and vaccinations including Kennel Cough.

    Dave was rehomed with Mr and Mrs Dunn when he was approximately 4 years old. About 6 weeks after he joined the family, he started to show signs of not being well and he lost a quarter of his body weight. Luckily, Dave had been signed up to the Healthy Pet Club as soon as he was adopted. This was a good thing too as he was eventually diagnosed by their vet with whipworm and successfully treated.

    Lynda explained: “We are now obviously very concerned about the risk of reinfection, and the peace of mind we gain from knowing that we are saving on regular flea and worming treatment and check-ups is priceless. Unfortunately, he has also been diagnosed with osteoarthritis so our medications will be increasing as a result.

    “Being a member of the Healthy Pet Club is so worthwhile, especially if you have a dog or cat with a chronic condition that needs regular medication.

    “Knowing that we are saving on the various treatments and check-ups gives us peace of mind. I can’t even begin to estimate how much we have saved, but needless to say, it’s a lot!”

    To find out more about the Healthy Pet Club, visit: www.thehealthypetclub.co.uk/K91

  • Could Your Dog Share the Love & Win Prizes?

    Helping to spread the love far and wide, pet product expert, PetSafe® is launching an international campaign inviting pet lovers all over the globe to get involved, and ‘Share the Love’ to raise money for charity, and to celebrate PetSafe® is giving two lucky readers the chance to win an EasySport™ Harness in new colour Red and new Busy Buddy® toys Cow Wow™, Elephunk™ and Hippster™.

    Starting off a global chain of ‘throw and catch’, PetSafe® is asking people to upload videos to its ‘Share the Love’ page of themselves and their pet catching a toy and passing it on stating their name, pet’s name and country.

    For every video that is uploaded, PetSafe® will add money to its virtual pot. At the end of the campaign, the money will be donated to a nominated pet charity from the country that has uploaded the most videos. Throughout May, the videos that get the most votes will also win spot prizes.

    If you want to get involved go to http://intl.petsafe.net/en-gb/sharethelove from the 29th April, upload your video and ‘Share the Love.’

  • New Research Reveals a Dog’s Age More Likely to Be Factor in Finding New Home, Not Coat Colour

    New research challenges the idea that black dogs are less likely to be adopted and finds age and breed of dog key factors in waiting time for adoption.

    In the past, news reports have regularly quoted animal shelter personnel and spokespeople from various humane organisations, who state that it is harder to rehome black dogs compared to others. The idea is so entrenched that there’s even a name for it – Black Dog Syndrome – with various surveys appearing to support the concept.


    Pictured above is Tansley, a 2 year old Labrador cross who is looking for a new home on dogsblog.com

    However, new research not only challenges this view but has resulted in some surprising findings, claim Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) who published a study in their scientific journal ‘Animal Welfare’.

    The study aimed to determine whether the colour of a dog’s coat had a significant impact on its average length of availability for adoption in a shelter and on its likelihood of euthanasia and used four years of adoption and euthanasia data from two private, not-for-profit animal shelters located in the USA.

    The data amounted to 16,692 records of dogs and was carried out by the Department of Animal Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation at Canisius College, New York.


    Pictured above is Tilley, a 5 month old Border Collie who is looking for a new home

    Only those dogs considered to have the potential to be rehomed were included in the analysis and so dogs under 1 year of age or over 13 years were excluded as well as those with missing or incomplete information relating to their coat colour, breed, sex or age.

    The study determined the number of days which passed between when the dog first became available for adoption and the actual adoption date and this was defined as the ‘LOA’ or ‘length of availability’ for adoption.

    Breeds were grouped into herding, hound, non-sporting, sporting, terrier, toy, bully and working. The bully breeds (American Pit bull, American Staffordshire Terrier or Staffordshire Bull Terrier) were considered separately from the other terrier breeds. Coat colour was also categorised and reduced to nine standard options – black, brindle, brown, grey, red, tan, white, yellow and multi-coloured.

    Assistant Professor Christy Hoffman PhD who co-authored the study, said: “Approximately 3.9 million dogs each year are accepted into community animal shelters in the United States. Whilst the impetus for this study was to examine the impact of black coat colour on the length of availability for adoption (LOA) and the likelihood of euthanasia, our results indicated that it is in actual fact a brindle coloured coat that is associated with increased likelihood of euthanasia and increased LOA, not black.

    Also, age and breed group were more consistent predictors of shelter outcomes than coat colour. Previous research has found that factors other than coat colour, such as age and breed or breed group, are better indicators in predicting the length of stay at a shelter and our study results support those findings.”


    Pictured above is Nellie a 10 year old Standard Poodle who is looking for a new home on dogsblog.com

    The study found that, in general, younger dogs were more quickly rehomed and had lower euthanasia rates than older dogs. They were also less likely to be classified as unhealthy or untreatable. The bully breeds had the longest waits prior to adoption, were euthanised at higher than expected rates, and were more likely than expected to be labelled as unhealthy/untreatable.


    Pictured above is Honey, a 5 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier who is looking for a new home on dogsblog.com

    Findings from this study may provide shelters with insight regarding how best to use limited resources to market animals whose physical characteristics may place them at risk for euthanasia. Shelters may also benefit from applying some of the methods utilised in this study to take a closer look at their own adoption and euthanasia-related trends. Doing so may help them make informed changes that could potentially increase adoption success and reduce euthanasia rates within their organisations.

    The full abstract of the study can be read at UFAW’s website HERE.

  • Dog Owners Warned About Outbreak of Animal Disease Carried by Ticks

    British dog owners are being warned about an outbreak of animal disease caused by the babesia canis parasite (also known as the brown dog tick).

    Better known in Europe and the USA, the brown dog tick is adapted to warmer climate where it affects shelters and greyhound kennels, but has recently been diagnosed in Harlow, Essex where two dogs have sadly died and three have needed blood transfusions after contracting the disease.

    Companies, such as Bayer Animal Health, have previously warned about the affects of ticks and encouraged dog owners to be tick aware, however according to the BBC, experts say that it will be “impossible to stop the spread of the disease” carried by the parasite and concerns has grown over it spreading across the UK.

    Two government agencies are now investigating the outbreak: the Animal and Plant Health Agency and Public Health England.

  • Pet Owners Worry As Dog Thefts Rise

    The rise in dog thefts over the past 12 months has left Britain’s pet owners concerned that even in the comfort of their own gardens, their dogs are not safe, according to research from Churchill Pet Insurance.

    An alarming 41 per cent of dog owners claimed that they are worried their dogs are not safe outside. While some owners felt fencing and gates eased their concern slightly, nearly a third (31 per cent) said they still feared the worst.

    Pete Bishenden, head of Churchill Pet Insurance, comments: “It is such a shame that even though we have had one of the best weather spells in years, our research revealed that 38 per cent of dog owners have been limiting the time their dogs spend outside. Of the 1,167 pet owners questioned, 66 per cent admitted that they felt their dog’s breed made them more covetable by potential thieves. We know from our own claims experience that certain breeds are more popular to sell on, such as smaller, more docile dogs. We have also seen Lurchers and other breeds taken for dog baiting. Over half also claimed that they felt their dog’s age, from a puppy up to three years old, made them more susceptible.”

    One dog owner, who took part in the survey, shared her own story: “I owned a very small, elderly Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who was snatched from our front garden. We think the people who stole him thought he was a puppy, given his small size. After closer inspection, the thieves realised his true age and the dog was dumped by the side of the road in the next village. A kind member of the public found him, took him to the police and we managed to get him back the next day.”

    Another dog owner commented she had witnessed a dog napping, but only realised when it was too late. She urges people not to leave their dogs tied up outside shops as a result.

    K9 Magazine editor, Ryan O’Meara, offered his thoughts on the findings: “For many, our dogs are very much a key part of our family unit and so it’s not surprising that many worry about their pet’s safety. It is, however, very sad that dog napping is on the rise. Many years ago it was something you heard about every now and again. Now, the fact that almost everyone we spoke to when carrying out the research has heard of dogs being stolen shows that this is a real threat that dog owners must take seriously.”

    Churchill Insurance and K9 Magazine’s dog security tips

    • Be careful not to leave gates open
    • Make sure that your fence and gate is high and secure enough
    • Fit a bell to your gate so you’re alerted when it’s opened
    • Make sure there are no broken or unsafe panels to your fence which could easily be broken or removed
    • Ensure your dogs are visible to you in the garden at all times
    • Have your dog microchipped with your details registered, and keep the details up to date
    • Never leave your dog unattended outside a shop or in your vehicle