First bath shampoo for rescued dogs, cats

When a dog or cat is rescued from street and if signs of neglect are present like a dirty coat, signs of skin disease and similar...I use Bayer's VetriDerm shampoo for the first bath followed by second bath with a balm shampoo. Vetriderm is an antiseptic shampoo that will practically disinfect the skin surface and coat of a cat or dog. After cat or dog are dry you can easily cut their hair and use spot on solutions against skin parasites knowing that other harmful bugs are not there on the dog/cat. The shampoo is really not meant to be used on regular basis unless it's recommended  by a veterinarian as a part of therapy.

My Favorite Dog&Cat Ear Cleaning Products

Two great products that will keep ears of your cats and dogs clean are Ear Care by Care4Pets and Otoclean by Elanco.

I have had great experience with both products. However there are differences between them. Here is my experience:

- Ear Care by Care 4 Pets is white creamy liquid and your cat or dog won't be able to get rid of excess liquid by shaking their head. After application and gentle massage of ear you will have to use cotton balls to remove excess liquid. It's great product if your dog or cat have healthy ears and you just use it for regular cleaning.

- Elanco's Otoclean is by far the best product for ear cleaning I ever used. It's great for cleaning of dog/cat ears if there is ear inflammation present and you need to do therapy with prescribed ear drops, Otoclean can be use to  prepare ear nicely for the drops. It's watery,  slightly oily liquid that quickly dissolves any build up in ears and both dogs can cats will be able to rid of the excess liquid by shaking their heads although you should use cotton balls and dry ear as much as possible before you use prescribed ear drops. One ampule is sufficient to clean both ears of a large adult dog easily.

Old dogs and arthritis

Meet my 14 year old Airedale Dona, she is a dog that has never been sick for 13 years. However as of early 2015 I noticed she has problems to go upstairs and would hesitate to do it while before it was very easy thing for her to do. Vet said it was normal for her age.  I kept Metacam and Rymadil at hand  since she had acute painful episodes and by the end of 2015 I had to carry her upstairs in my arms during such episodes that would last for about 10 days. In December 2015 I decided to try with dietary supplements, first two most important supplements were Curcumine powder (one full teaspoon mixed in food every day) and VitaKraft Vita-bon tablets (minerals and vitamins) every day and then I discovered No-Dol pills (made by Italian company ESI) but there are many similar products or products with practically the same composition made by other companies. Essentially the product contains natural supplements for  improvement of joint flexibility and reduction of joint inflammation.  It contains Glucosamine, Mangane, Chondroitin, MSM, Aloe Vera and Devil's Claw (this last sounds wicked but is really good for a dog). So after one month of therapy with all the supplements there was very little improvement regarding Dona's ability to walk upstairs but her acute episodes were gone and after almost two months of therapy there was significant improvement of her ability to walk upstairs - if she had to she could do it by herself slowly tough. The trick we do now when she wants to go upstairs is I gently pull and hold her tail upwards so it relieves pressure from her hips while she goes upstairs and usually after some time I can let the tail go and she make final few steps on her own.

So to conclude, supplements unlike drugs that your vet prescribes (for example Rymadil and Metacam)  need time to work, don't give up after a month or two on supplements because it might take more time before you see improvements on your dog. 

""No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light." Luke 11:33

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I have been doing dog and cat rescue for 14 years and currently run a private dog and cat shelter. The shelter provides care for 92 dogs and 52 cats. During past 14 years I've gained great experience with dogs and cats and  I've had to deal with various health problems that they were troubled with and it's going to be one of the blog's subjects. During that 14 year period I've had opportunity to test and try various pet products and I am going to write on this blog about that as well. I will try to keep things short, sweet and neat for you. I hope you will like it.