Posts in Category: Pet Wellness and Preventive Care

Did you know that your pet doesn’t actually need year-round parasite prevention? April Fool’s! On the contrary, the best way to protect your pet from ticks and other vectors is to keep them on a schedule all year long. While many pet owners believe that parasite prevention is only necessary during the spring and summer, the fact is that fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes continue to threaten animal health and wellness no matter the season. 

Congratulations on adopting a sweet, fluffy, curious, adorable puppy! Your puppy’s first year is full of absolute delights, but they wouldn’t be nearly as wonderful without certain challenges or surprises. You take the good, you take the bad, and at the end of their first year, you’ll be amazed at their progress. Perhaps more amazing is the personal growth that happens among owners of puppies. For all concerned, adopting, training, and supporting a puppy’s needs is an incredible adventure.

Parvovirus, or parvo, is a highly contagious virus that primarily affects unvaccinated and incompletely vaccinated puppies. With treatment, 90 percent of puppies survive, but many others suffer a terrible death. Bayside Animal Hospital has compiled nine fast facts about this preventable virus. We want to keep puppies healthy, and make parvo a thing of the past. Here are the facts:

#1: All dogs are at risk

Parvovirus can infect any dog, but is most common in unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated puppies from 6 weeks to 6 months old. German shepherds, dobermans, American pit bull terriers, English springer spaniels, and rottweilers have a higher susceptibility, although the reason for that is not fully understood.

Coping with a cat who urinates outside their litter box can be extremely frustrating. You may suspect these mysterious creatures have some kind of vendetta against humanity (or at least against you)—after all we’ve done for them! Before you start sleeping with one eye open, let Bayside Animal Hospital unbox the messages your cat is trying to send, so you can tell your cat, “message received,” and take the appropriate steps to fix the problem.

#1: Your cat has a medical condition

Urinary tract disorders will cause the most fastidious cat to miss their litter box. Increased urgency can prevent cats from reaching their box. Painful urination may become associated with their box, which may cause avoidance. Cats will indicate their pain by vocalizing when urinating. Urinary tract conditions include:

Your insanely curious dog is constantly poking his nose in off-limits places. He also loves to join you on hiking and camping trips during warm spring and summer weather. Both situations place him at risk of encounters with rattlesnakes.

From April through October, these cold-blooded animals are most active in areas popular with hikers and campers. In warmer weather, rattlers look for places out of the afternoon sun. They frequently hang out in woodpiles and heavy shrubs. They’re also found under logs and good-sized rocks.

The Sacramento region has a higher-than-normal risk of rattlesnake bites, and dogs are often the unlucky recipients of the snake’s venom. Rattlesnake bites can cause bleeding, swelling, super-low blood pressure, and shock. Rattlesnake bites can be fatal for dogs.

When you leave your pet in someone else’s care, you want to ensure your furry friend is safe, comfortable, and well cared for. And if it’s your first time looking for pet care, you might not know where to find a pet sitter, what questions to ask, or how to tell if someone is reputable.

These are the qualities to look for and questions to ask when hiring a pet sitter.

Pet wellness visits are a vital element of overall pet health and wellness because they give us the opportunity to create and monitor a health baseline throughout various life stages. When we first get to know your pet, these visits give us the best view of his or her “normal” when it comes to daily wellness. Keep reading to learn more about these visits and how we use them to keep your pets as healthy (and as happy) as possible.

We can all assume that smoking around your pets is probably not the best idea, but the waters become a little murkier when it comes to vaping. As this practice becomes more prevalent, the Bayside Animal Hospital staff get asked more and more, “can I vape in the same room as my pets?” Vaping around pets definitely requires some precautions, and not all are self-evident. 

The love and companionship of a pet is positively priceless, but it certainly isn’t free! The lifetime cost of a dog/cat can be substantial, and our team at Bayside Animal Hospital is here to help you venture into pet parenthood with realistic expectations about the annual costs of pet care.

There’s much more to being a responsible pet parent than filling food and water dishes daily. Opening your home and heart to a pet is a serious commitment that entails providing adequate healthcare, a safe environment, and plenty of attention and TLC throughout your pet’s life. At Bayside Animal Hospital, we celebrate the human-animal bond, and we’re here with the resources and support you need to create a healthy and happy home for your pet. If you’re wondering how to be a responsible pet owner, here are five ways to tell that you’re doing a great job!