Puppy Education

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There is no doubt that your pet is extremely precious to you, and you don’t want to compromise on its health. There are common notions people cling to today about cats and dogs that have been around for centuries, but you need to kick these misconceptions the curb to make informed choices about your pet’s health.

Here are ten myths debunked, along with the facts, so you can keep your pet happy and healthy:

1. A dry or warm nose means a dog is sick – Many dog owners believe that a wet and cold nose is the sign of a healthy dog. On the contrary, your dog’s nose may remain warm right after he has woken up and this is quite normal.
2. A dog is happy when it wags its tails – Although this may be true to a certain extent, sometimes it can mean that the dog is in an aggressive mode. A wagging tail also can indicate excitement or stress.
3. Cats never get injured due to falling – Although it’s true that cats are agile and can often manage to land on their feet while falling, they can get severely injured while falling from heights.
4. Cats are able to live on a vegan diet – This is one of the most dangerous misperceptions that many people believe. You must remember that cats are carnivores and meat is essential for their proper muscle growth and metabolism.
5. Using food for training leads to an overweight dog – It completely depends on you since the trick is not to overfeed your dog. Consider taking food from your pet’s daily diet for rewarding an animal during its training sessions.
6. Your dog doesn’t need heartworm prevention if it mostly stays indoors – Even if your dog is mostly indoors, it is still at risk of heartworm disease, since heartworm is mostly spread by mosquitoes.
7. Licking leads to healing – Although it’s the natural habit of dogs to lick their wounds, this doesn’t always lead to healing. For instance, if your dog has a hotspot and he keeps on licking it, this may even worsen the condition. A dog may have a wound in his ear, and if he keeps licking his paw and then scratching at his ear, you should opt for proper dog ear treatment after consulting an experienced vet.
8. It’s impossible to teach an old dog new tricks – Although it may not be that easy to teach an old dog new tricks, it’s not completely impossible. Though it may be a little difficult to get your older pet’s attention, you can succeed by not choosing an activity that requires too much physical exertion and breaking training up into smaller segments.
9. Cats can’t be trained – It’s a common belief that unlike dogs, cats can’t be trained properly. However, this is not true. You can teach your cat many tricks like turning the pages of a book or playing with a ball.
10. Dog mouths are cleaner than those of human – This misconception came into existence since dogs keep on licking their wounds and this supposedly helps heal the wounds. Quite contrary to the belief, dogs’ mouths contain profuse germs and sometimes dental tartar is formed due to bacteria. Therefore, it’s unadvisable to share dishes with your dog or let him lick your wounds.