4 Tips For Keeping Your Pet Healthy

When you have a pet in your home that you no doubt love very much, you will want to keep them as healthy as you can. Not only will this prolong their life and keep them feeling good and happy, but it will also – in a purely practical sense – help reduce your bills since you won’t need to pay so much in veterinary fees

 Here are some useful tips for keeping your pet healthy.

Spay Or Neuter Them

Although it may not seem very pleasant, there are a number of reasons why spaying or neutering your pet is a good idea, and many of them relate to health. 

When animals are spayed, they no longer feel the need to look for a mate by wandering. Because of this, they stay at home and are less likely to be in scary accidents like getting hit by a car. They also get sick with contagious diseases much less often and fight less often.

Neutering makes it less likely for males to get prostatic disease and hernias, and it makes it impossible for them to get testicular cancer. It also cuts down on problems like territorial and sexual aggression, urinating in the wrong place (spraying), and so on. 

Females who are spayed before their first heat cycle are less likely to get breast cancer (the likelihood drops to practically nil). It removes the risk of developing a severe and perhaps deadly infection of the uterus, which is seen in many adult unspayed dogs and cats. Spaying your dog removes the heat cycle, which causes unwanted behavior, erratic mood swings, and messy spotting (in dogs).

Spaying and neutering is one of the most important things you can do for a pet, and to let others know, you could buy specialty plates and pass the message along. 

Keep Their Weight In Check

It’s fun to give your pet treats – it’s great to watch them really enjoying what they’re eating, whether they take their time over it or they swallow it down in one gulp. Spoiling the creature you love is a natural instinct, and you might find you are doing it rather a lot. 

The problem with this is that it can lead your pet to put on weight which is bad for their heart and their joints; some dogs in particular can be extremely susceptible to hip problems, for example. 

If you do want to give your pet treats, just make sure they are healthy ones and that you limit how many you give them. This way, you can help to keep their weight in check, plus the treats really do become something special; you can even use them to teach your pet to have good behavior and to do tricks. 

Exercise

A pet is going to need what a human needs in many respects, and that includes regular exercise. This is perhaps easier to manage when you have a dog – you can (and should) take them for at least one walk every day, and this will help to keep their weight in check, as mentioned above, and ensure their muscles and organs are working well. 

Other pets might be a little more difficult to exercise if you can’t easily take them for a walk, but they will still need to move around as much as possible to keep them healthy. The best way to do this is to buy them toys to have around the house or in their cages, depending on the type of animal you own. Check the reviews for the toys you are considering buying and make sure that they are the right thing for your pet. Some toys and activity centers for pets can be expensive, but if they are going to use them and enjoy them, and if it will give them the exercise they will need, it will be worth paying out for.  

A Nutritious Diet 

As well as the tasty, healthy treats we mentioned above, your pets will need to have a good, nutritious, well-balanced diet in general too. This will take care of their health needs in many different ways, including their fur, their skin, their eyes, and their overall wellbeing. 

To begin with, you’ll need to know what your pet can and cannot eat. You can research this online, but if you’re not sure, then it is best to speak to your local veterinarian. They will also be able to give you a better idea of the quantities of food you should be giving and how often. If you can get this balance right, your pet will be much healthier and happier.