Looking to take a vacation, but can’t take your pet with you? Many pet owners like to hire a pet sitter to take care of their animal until they return. This is great for the animal, because it gets to stay in familiar surroundings and doesn’t have to endure the pain of staying at a pet boarding facility or kennel. Choosing a good pet sitter is very important – you don’t want just anyone coming into your home.

It isn’t hard to understand why pet sitting has become so popular. A lot of people have the occasion to travel frequently, whether for business or pleasure, and it isn’t always possible to take a pet along for the ride. Having a sitter come into your home is a pleasant alternative to taking your pet to a boarding facility, where they can be exposed to disease and an unpleasant environment.

It isn’t difficult to find someone offering pet sitting services. The trick is figuring out who to start with among all the choices. check around among people you know and try to get the names of some good ones to start. Your veterinarian should also have some idea of who you can contact.

Once you have a few names, contact some of them and have them visit your home. See how they interact with your pet, and how your pet reacts to them. Animals have a great instinct and “sixth sense” about people.

When interviewing, ask them why they feel they are qualified. Many will respond by saying they like to work with animals, or something similar. This is a good start, but trustworthiness is something you can’t establish from this alone.

Find out more about their experience with animals. Are they able to recognize the initial symptoms of illness, and discern when an normally healthy pet is hurting? This might seem elementary, but it really takes someone with experience. Just loving animals is great, but a good sitter should have a broader background and some knowledge of animal health.

Ask these questions of any prospective sitter that you might hire:

What is their visiting schedule, how many times per day will they come over?

When they are at your home, what will they do? There is more than just providing food and water. What about taking time to walk your dog or play with your cat? If the pet leaves a bowel movement in an inappropriate place, will they clean it up?

A reliable pet sitter, when you find one, is a jewel. Knowing there is someone taking care of your pet that you can trust is priceless. Do your research and choose your pet sitter carefully – it does make a difference.

It’s just an animal, isn’t it? Wrong. It’s your pet, and a cherished member of your family and home. Enjoy learning more about taking care of pets to ensure their health and contentment.

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For many dogs with mild diarrhea that are still eating, drinking and acting normal, home treatment may be all that is required. This can be done by providing your dog with a bland diet such as white rice and boiled, skinless, boneless chicken breast. Implementing this food in small portions every two to four hours during the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours of the onset of diarrhea will allow the intestines to resume a normal balance of enzymes. Once the diarrhea has resolved, you can then begin re-introducing their normal food in small amounts. If the diarrhea does not resolve or it returns after re-introducing the dogs regular diet, this can be an indication of something more serious and warrants an immediate visit to the veterinarian for testing and further treatment options.

There are several options for treatment of diarrhea.

Metronidazole is an antibiotic used to remove any abnormal bacteria in the intestines.

Pectin and Kaolin are medications often given in conjunction with Metronidazole as together they work to stop diarrhea and firm the stool more quickly.

Probiotics are sometimes used also. These are beneficial bacteria that help restore the balance of normal bacteria in the intestines. Some probiotics are used to treat diarrhea and others can be used to prevent diarrhea.

Another option is bland food. Giving your dog white rice and boiled chicken allows the intestines to calm down and readjust to a normal balance.

Do not give your dog over the counter medications such as Immodium, Kaopectate, or Pepto-Bismol without checking with your veterinarian first. Most cases of simple diarrhea respond to treatment within a few days. If your dog continues to have diarrhea, you may need to re-visit the veterinarian for more testing or a change in therapy. The video below discusses treatment of simple diarrhea.

Tar like stool or blood stool, additional symptoms and a dog that just doesn’t feel well must be taken to a veterinarian immediately. If gone untreated, the condition can become worse rapidly, leaving your dog vulnerable to more serious and dire consequences.

How to Prevent Diarrhea

Listed below are several ways you can prevent your dog from having diarrhea:

Keep all trash, human food and medications out of reach.

Do not feed your dog human food or table scraps.

Always supervise your dog while he/she is outside in order to make sure they are not eating something they shouldn’t.

If a change must be made to your dogs regular diet, be sure to do it gradually. This can be accomplished by simply mixing a little of the new food with the old. Gradually increase the amount of new food until that is all your dog is eating. By doing this, you allow your dogs intestines to become slowly adjusted to this new introduction. For most dogs a period of about seven days is all that is needed, however some dogs may require longer.

When boarding your dog, take your own food.

Deworming. It is important to do this every month. Most heartworm medications will also deworm your dog.

Please bear in mind that no information in this article is designed to diagnose or treat your pet nor should it replace a visit to your veterinarian for appropriate diagnosis and treatment.

Heather Fox is an an experience veterinarian who loves to share her knowledge. You can find her class about Dog Diarrhea Treatment and other lessons like Dog Parvovirus Infection Diagnosis on Clivir – the Free learning Community Site.

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