Keeping Your Pet Healthy

Showering our dogs and cats with love and affection comes naturally. Making sure they are healthy takes a little bit more effort. The key to your pet's wellness is staying on top of regular maintenance and keeping a watchful eye on routines and habits. Our four-legged friends can’t tell us how they're feeling, but they can show us through their behavior — or changes in that behavior. So look for variations in their usual regimen and demeanor, as these could be signs that something isn’t right.

Healthy Pets Are Happy Pets

Here are the essentials for keeping your pet healthy and happy for as long as possible:

Proper Nutrition Is Critical

A nutrition-rich diet is at the center of good health. But not all animals should be eating the same food. Nutritional needs vary according to a pet’s age, size, breed, and level of activity. High-quality commercial foods are formulated with these factors in mind and are labeled to address them. Some are ideal for puppies, older cats, or allergy-prone dogs, for example. Choose a product that suits the species, life stage, weight, and exercise habits of your four-legged friend.

To know which to select, read the label carefully. Federal guidelines for labeling are stringent and will tell you exactly what you’re feeding your pet. Caloric content, ingredients, and nutritional assessment are reported on all products, according to the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), a nonprofit organization that establishes the guidelines. The first ingredient listed, for example, has the highest concentration in the recipe. Minimum and maximum amounts of protein, fat, and ash must also be spelled out. You’ll also find information on how much food to offer each day, depending on your pet’s weight.

Then, there is the wet versus dry decision. There are benefits to both, PetMD reports. Wet food contains 78% moisture, which may be helpful for pets who don’t drink enough water or suffer from urinary or kidney disease. Dry food, which has 10% moisture, encourages chewing, which promotes dental health.

Choosing the Best Diet for Your Dog

Regardless which food you select, it's imperative to give your dog the proper amount based on body weight. Pounds creep up on dogs just as readily as they can on humans. Obesity is a common canine problem, but it can be avoided. To determine how much food your dog needs, record body weight at each veterinary visit, consult with your veterinarian, and check the package instructions on the food you use. Whatever the recommended volume, it's a good idea to split that total so your pup has two meals a day — morning and evening.

Next, no matter how much we love to indulge our furry family members, minimize between-meal treats, or stick with nutrition-rich, low-calorie choices: Your dog will be just as happy with fresh carrots, green beans, and apple slices. (If you can’t resist the cookie aisle at the pet store, limit the number you give on a daily basis, and subtract that equivalent caloric amount from your dog’s daily total.) Finally, avoid offering table scraps. Most dogs are highly skilled at begging, and it's hard to resist a pair of soulful eyes, but remember that people food may be too high in fat for a canine's system and could cause illness, such as pancreatitis. Certain foods, such as grapes, chocolate, and sugar-free candy, can even be toxic. Learn more about what to feed and not to feed your dog.

Choosing the Best Diet for Your Cat

Cats are carnivores and need the nutrients found in animal products. They’ve retained their hunter origins and require a lot of protein, moderate amounts of fat, and fewer carbohydrates than dogs. They also need a variety of other nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and amino acids, which commercial food typically contains in the proper balance, according to the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University.

Just as canines have evolving nutritional needs as they grow and enter different life stages, so, too, do felines. Kittens double or triple their weight in mere weeks, so they have to consume lots of calories … often. Nursing mothers require more calories, too, but seniors generally do better with fewer calories, thriving on high-protein, high-moisture food that supports the renal system.

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You have three options for commercial cat food — dry, semimoist, and canned — each with different benefits:

Dry food is the most convenient and least expensive option. It can sit out for hours without spoiling, but it may not appeal to finicky eaters, even with its coating of flavor enhancers, such as animal fat. Sometimes, this formulation is less digestible, too. If you do use dry food, keep it sealed in an airtight container, and store it in a cool, dry location to preserve flavor and avoid a decrease in vitamin potency. Be sure to use it before the expiration date.

Semimoist cat food comprises mostly meat and meat byproducts. Soybean meal, grain byproducts, cereal, and preservatives are added. While it contains 35% water (about three times as much as dry food), semimoist products can also be left out for a while, allowing cats to feed themselves as they please.

Finally, canned food is the wettest of the three types, containing 75% water. Cats generally love it. The better brands will contain meat, such as liver or kidney, combined with whole meat byproducts, but it’s a good idea to check labels for nutritional guarantees, as required by AAFCO.

For more information on the best diet for your cat, read this helpful article on Feeding Your Cat.

Keep Your Pet Busy and Engaged

Your pet’s mental health doesn’t flourish on its own. It needs to be nurtured. You can help by establishing a well-rounded, balanced routine that your cat or dog will welcome and anticipate gleefully. A reliable schedule for playtime, bathroom time, meals, and bedtime will establish a regular rhythm to your pet's day, ensuring security and wellness.

Exercise is the key ingredient for emotional and physical well-being, so for a dog, be sure to schedule at least 30 minutes each day for walking, running, hiking, or swimming, depending on your pet's age and abilities. For cats, regular playtime and access to toys and climbing structures will provide enriching physical and mental stimulation. Introducing new activities will keep your pet happy and well-behaved.

Grooming for Good Looks and Good Health

Taking your pooch to the groomer's is not just about a pretty face. It helps maintain good health as well. Regular baths, haircuts, brush outs to remove dead fur or hair, and professional grooming can all help ward off skin ailments, knots, and matting, which can be painful and even cause long-term problems for your pet. Nail trims enable proper and painless walking and prevent potentially dangerous snags on fabric. Keeping ears clean dissuades growth and buildup of fungus and bacteria, which can cause infection, or worse, hearing loss.

In between visits, maintain what you can. Some pets will let you grind their nails with at-home tools, for instance, and a cotton ball soaked in diluted apple cider vinegar or a store-bought formulation will keep ears squeaky clean. A good tip for new pet parents is to get your puppy or kitten used to having their paws, ears, and underbellies handled often so they don't become skittish or temperamental with grooming habits down the road.

Brushing your pet's teeth is critical — and it's often overlooked by pet parents. One reason is that it may be a bit of an ordeal. Not many cats or dogs look forward to it, even though specialty toothpastes are formulated with their favorite flavors — such as peanut butter, poultry, or fish. Annual dental cleaning by a veterinarian (for animals below a certain age) helps prevent gingivitis, tooth loss, and periodontal disease. How often your pet will need these services varies according to breed, condition, general maintenance, and the type of food your pet consumes.

Schedule Regular Veterinary Visits

Wellness exams are an important part of a preventive care regimen. All dogs and cats should have checkups once a year to ensure that vaccinations are up to date, and that annual checkup gives your veterinarian a chance to detect any developing conditions or illnesses. The doctor will listen to your pet’s heart and lungs; check the eyes, mouth, and ears; scrutinize the skin under the coat, looking for potential problems or conditions; and address any questions you may have.

If your pet’s life stage and general health dictate more frequent visits, your veterinarian will advise you of the proper schedule. Puppies and kittens need vaccines every three to four weeks for the first four months, while senior pets may benefit from two checkups a year, rather than one. Between visits, if your pet exhibits unusual behavior — not eating or showing signs of gastric issues (vomiting, diarrhea), constant scratching, or scooting on the floor, for example — then it's time for a visit to the veterinarian.

How Much Does The Average Person Spend On Pet Care?

In addition to that annual wellness checkup, you may need to return to the veterinary clinic periodically for vaccine boosters and tests for common conditions such as heartworm. The cost of veterinary visits fluctuates by geographic location, type of practice, and sometimes even by pet breed. When searching for a veterinarian, it’s a good idea to call a few in your neighborhood and ask the price of a wellness exam. You can also ask what the practice charges for laboratory tests and vaccinations. (Most veterinarians bill à la carte for their services.)

The cost of a basic checkup, without inoculations, fecal or heartworm tests, or the purchase of medications, ranges from $50 to $250, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). A fecal exam will cost $25 to $45; vaccines, $15 to $28; heartworm test, $45 to $50. More specialized testing and services will tick up your bill. Dental cleaning runs from $70 to $400, the AVMA reports, and allergy testing, $195 to $300.

Keep in mind that you can use less expensive services such as Vetco, Petco’s vaccination clinic, for your pet’s routine shots. (Petco’s veterinarians will also provide preventive medication for fleas, ticks, and heartworm, and they’ll do a heartworm test beforehand.)

If your pet is ill and needs more aggressive diagnostics such as blood work, urinalysis, X-rays, and biopsies, you may experience sticker shock if you are not prepared. Blood work can cost from $80 to $200, X-rays from $150 to $250, and ultrasounds from $300 to $600. If surgery is required, fees skyrocket. Emergency surgery may run into thousands of dollars, notes the AVMA. Chronic conditions, such as epilepsy, or treatment for a serious illness, such as cancer, yield significant bills that could break the bank or clean out a rainy-day fund, if you have one.

You may have taken out pet insurance when your dog or cat was young in order to be prepared for unexpected injuries, illnesses, surgery, medication, tests, emergency care, and exam fees. Many companies, including people-friendly firms like Allstate, Geico, and Liberty Mutual, offer a range of policies with varying fees and deductibles. According to data from the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, the average accident and illness premium in 2019 was about $585 per year for a dog and $350 for a cat.

Without insurance or an extra stash, you may find yourself in a bind, because, well, emergencies happen. And they can be costly. If you qualify, financial resources exist for needy pet guardians facing unforeseen expenses. Some of these programs are sponsored by veterinary associations, foundations, and charities.

Waggle, too, acts as a safety net to help pets and their families who can’t afford critical veterinary care. As a crowdfunding website, we provide a platform for individual campaigns to raise money for life-saving care. We will help you write yours, guiding you through the process step by step. All donations from individuals and our many partner organizations go directly to the doctors and animal hospitals providing care, and in nearly five years, we’ve helped thousands of animals avoid economic euthanasia, enabling them to live out their natural lives — happy and healthy lives. Check out many of our joyous successful pet crowdfunding stories.

Because that is what Waggle is all about — happy endings.

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