Five articles about dog health to read whilst you’re stuck at home during the coronavirus restrictio

The Covid 19 coronavirus stay at home restrictions are having a huge impact on everyone all over the UK right now, including those who are continuing to work as well as those on enforced confinement. If you’re at home with nothing to do and climbing the walls with boredom, you’re probably wondering what you can do to make the time pass more quickly.

If you own a dog, even if you’re hugely experienced and have kept dogs all your life, there is always more to learn; and right here in the articles section of the Pets4Homes is a great free resource to begin with.

We’ve got well over 5,000 articles in our library, with the majority of them pertaining to dogs, dog care, canine behaviour, training, health and management. Bookmarking some of these to help you to develop a better understanding of your dog and their needs is a really worthwhile way to spend your time! Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll be collating a range of listicle-type articles on different dog-related topics to suggest the most important articles dog owners should read on different subjects.

If the novelty of unlimited Netflix or working your way through that pile of books you never thought you’d finish has worn off, your house has never been so clean, and all of those niggling DIY jobs have been taken care of, why not bookmark this list of five essential dog health related articles that every dog owner should read, in no particular order.

Keeping your dog at a healthy weight

More than half of the UK’s adult dogs are overweight, and the canine obesity epidemic has become so acute that many dog owners cannot pick out a dog that is at a healthy weight for some breeds at all. Obesity can cause and worsen a whole range of canine health problems and actually shorten your dog’s lifespan; and it is much harder to return a dog to a healthy weight than it is to prevent them from getting fat in the first place!

Read this article to learn five feeding tips to keep your dog at a healthy weight for life.

Avoiding the myths surrounding preventative healthcare for dogs

Preventative healthcare means working proactively to safeguard your dog’s health and avoid them developing health conditions that can often be avoided completely with vigilance and forethought.

However, from vaccinations to flea treatments to spay and neuter procedures, all too many dog owners neglect some aspect of their pet’s preventative healthcare, and risk their health needlessly.

Often this is due to old wives’ tales and myths surrounding certain aspects of preventative healthcare for dogs; and you can bust seven of them and find out the truth by reading this article.

Do you know which canine health conditions are the most common?

Nobody can predict their dog’s future health or tell if they’re likely to get ill or what with with any certainty, albeit some breeds have a hereditary predisposition to certain health conditions that can often be identified in advance with pre-breeding screening.

However, across the UK canine population as a whole, veterinary surgeons and researchers have collated statistics on what health conditions are most common and prevalent in dogs overall, in terms of the number of presentations of such conditions seen in vet visits.

Additionally, going back to preventative healthcare as mentioned in the previous entry, two of the most common dog health conditions in the top five list are conditions that can be prevented entirely by investing in your dog’s preventative healthcare.

A little time and money now can save your dog pain and discomfort, and save you money, further down the line. Find out which canine health conditions are most common here.

Are you falling for these widespread myths about dog fleas?

Think you’d know if your dog had fleas because you’d be getting bitten? Wrong. This is just one common myth about dog fleas that results in dog owners failing to flea treat their dogs, or using inappropriate and ineffective products; get the facts in this article covering five dog flea myths that too many pet owners believe.

Why breed-specific health tests are important

Finally, as mentioned in a previous entry on our list, certain pedigree dog breeds have a hereditary predisposition to specific health issues within the breed, and many of these can be identified in breed lines by means of pre-breeding health tests.

These enable breeders to get the facts, and make an informed decision to help them to breed healthy litters. However, most such health tests aren’t mandatory for puppies to be eligible for Kennel Club registration, and participation in such health schemes is usually left to the discretion of the dog breeder.

This article will tell you why performing all of the advised pre-breeding health tests is important for breeders – and why puppy buyers should pick a puppy from a breeder that has followed this advice.