How to Clean Your Pet's Ears

Repeated head shaking. Foul-smelling, waxy build-up. Red, painfully inflamed ears. What do all these things have in common? All are symptoms of otitis externa, or what is commonly referred to as ear infections. If you have ever groaned inwardly and felt dismay the moment your dog starts shaking his head or rubbing his ears along the nearest available surface, you’re not alone. Unfortunately, too many pet parents are more than familiar with this recurring medical problem. Often, it is accompanied by an offensive odor and one can only imagine how overwhelming the smell is to the suffering pup!

Canine ear infections result from an overgrowth of yeast or bacteria in the ear canal, causing redness, irritation and a heavy accumulation of wax. Likely triggers of these maladies are skin reactions to inhaled allergens – like pollen, mold or dust mites – or food allergies and sensitivities. Be aware that both large ears and swimming predispose dogs to ear infections.

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Ask Dr. Jane Tonight!

Our "Ask Dr. Jane" calls are always informative and a lot of fun! To participate in the calls, phone our conference call number 561-515-1695 at the appropriate time, and enter 224012# after the prompt. Tonight's call is scheduled at 8:30 p.m. EST.

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Coming Soon!

Nature's Fresh, a new line of household cleaning and laundry products, will be available in October! Nature's Sunshine’s will be offering a superior line of safe, environmentally friendly products: laundry soap, bamboo dryer sheets, enzyme spray, surface cleaner, oxygen non-chlorine bleach, surface wipes, liquid dish soap, and automatic dishwasher soap!


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Back to School and Pets

Back-to-school season is a time of transition for the whole family, as parents and children begin to adjust to a new routine. But as the ASPCA reports, it’s also a difficult time for pets, who have grown accustomed to some extra attention during summer vacations and excursions to parks and beaches.

“It’s not an uncommon problem — after all, cats and dogs are particularly vulnerable to any change in their schedules, and they thrive on stimulation,” the group notes. “With nothing to do, pets are forced to find ways to entertain themselves, which may include excessive barking or meowing, gnawing on shoes, raiding the garbage, eating houseplants and scratching furniture.”
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Friday Super Sale - Super Skeletel! A Twofer!!

Super special today Friday, September 10th. Buy 2 Skeletal Strength for just $20!

Click here to order!

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Kennel Cough Vaccine

Karen Becker, DVM

Kennel cough has a number of different causes, only one of which — the most common cause — is the Bordetella bronchiseptica bacteria. Many people think bordetella is kennel cough, but that is technically inaccurate.

In fact, dogs that acquire the bordetella bacteria usually have a virus that makes them more vulnerable to infection. Some of these viruses are the canine adenovirus, distemper, canine herpes, and the parainfluenza virus.

Kennel cough is a form of bronchitis and is similar to a chest cold in humans.
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Hartz Recall

Sept. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hartz Mountain Corporation is voluntarily recalling one specific lot of Hartz Naturals Real Beef Treats for Dogs due to concerns that one or more bags within the lot may have been potentially contaminated with Salmonella...Hartz Mountain Corporation is recalling 74,700 8-oz bags of Hartz Naturals Real Beef Treats for Dogs, lot code BZ0969101E, UPC number 32700-11519, which were imported by Hartz from a Brazilian supplier, Bertin S.A., and which were distributed to a number of customers in the United States. While regular testing conducted by Bertin (prior to shipment to the US) did not detect the presence of Salmonella in any packages of this product, random sample testing conducted by FDA did indicate the presence of Salmonella. Hartz is aggressively investigating the source of the problem.
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Dogs Help Our Health

Posted by Cathy Bruce, CPDT

After a terrible and restless night of trying to sleep and my analyzing thoughts about a work situation keeping me awake, I rolled over in bed to stroke my two senior dogs lying curled up beside me. Part of what had kept me awake was my blood pressure was up and I realized as I stroked my resting dogs that it had a significant calming effect on me. One of my dogs has been with us for 12 years and remained quietly resting as I stroked her side and the other dog is 10 years old. As I stroked my 10 year old dog she immediately rolled over for the obligatory belly rub….her absolute most favorite thing in the whole world. I had to smile.

I started thinking about that tactile behavior we humans do in stroking our dogs. I think for the most part we do it because it makes us feel good. I know in that moment I started to feel better and it felt like my blood pressure started to go down. There are some really neat research studies being done these days about the effects of the human and animal bond. I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Dr. Rebecca Johnson from the Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction (ReCHAI) in Columbia, MO last month (http://rechai.missouri.edu/). They are currently working on some very exciting research studies that analyze the positive effects that animals have on a human’s health. Those effects are even wider reaching than just making us feel good. The actual measurable health effects and benefits are amazing. Among some of the many positive health benefits of owning a dog are lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, lower stress and lower depression. For me, this makes me appreciate the animals that I have even more.
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Iam recall has expanded

Iams Indoor Weight Control with Hairball Care dry cat food
6.8 lb bag
02304173 (B1-B6)
1901403921

The company successfully traced and retrieved nearly all of the affected product and estimates that fewer than 60 bags from this production run may have been purchased by consumers.

This production run was sold through a single retailer in the following states: Illinois, New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.

Consumers who have purchased one of these few bags with the specific code date listed above should discard it. For a product replacement or refund, please call P&G toll-free at 800-862-3332 (Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM EST).

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