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Dog Attacks: What To Do, How To Prevent Them

dog attack

Emergency Info (details to follow):

If Your Dog Is Being Attacked

To separate dogs, try:

  • Water sprays or buckets
  • Aerosols and sprays (pepper spray is only legal in WA)
  • Personal duress alarm (hold buttons on each side of an iPhone down for 5 seconds)
  • A beach towel thrown over the aggressor’s head
  • Picking the aggressor up by the back legs (‘wheelbarrowing’ is dangerous and should only done by the dog’s owner)

Do not try to pull the other dog off. That’s up to their owner to do. You will get badly injured. Click here for your closest Adelaide Emergency vet.

Do not blame yourself. Often there’s nothing you can do due to the size and determination of the aggressor. You’ll probably also fail to get the owner’s details in the heat of the moment.

Now dive deeper…

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Help! My Cat Attacks Me Without Warning

cat being held

It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so serious. Look for answers on why your cat bites or scratches you and you’ll find people telling you it’s all about a competition for dominance.

As any genuine cat lover knows, our cats always dominate us. Most of us have enough humility to love them for it. 

It’s stopping them biting and scratching that we’re after. That’s a whole other story with a wholly different explanation. One where aggression is just a symptom of a problem in the cat-human relationship.

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Does Laser Therapy For Dogs Really Work?

Laser therapy for dogs is now something that I get asked about most days. That’s because it’s being offered for problems that are very frustrating to both dogs and owners. These are conditions like:

But does it work? Is this relief for suffering dogs or just another false hope?

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Broken Legs In Italian Greyhounds

Italian Greyhound broken leg

Dante is an all-too-familiar story. I saw him recently for vaccination and immediately noticed the scar on his leg. What happened? He was running and broke his leg.

If this happens to your dog, here’s a quick first aid tip: carefully put the lower leg into a roughly normal position, wrap it in a t-shirt until it’s a thick roll and then sticky tape it. If you can’t do this, just keep your dog as quiet as possible. This will stop possible damage to soft tissues caused by excessive motion across the fracture site. Then go straight to a vet.

Leg fractures in Italian Greyhounds are common. If you’re looking to buy a puppy, or take out insurance you might well ask, “yes, but how common?” The answer may affect what you do next.

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Help! My Dog Has A Lump On The Face

dog face lump

Dogs can get all kinds of lumps and bumps, some serious, some not. That’s why I’ve previously written a guide to dog skin lumps with pictures. Just click on the picture to visit.

lumps on dogs
A gallery of dog lumps

However, there’s one very particular swelling that I haven’t talked about even though it’s important, common and easy to recognise.

It’s the tooth root abscess.

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Help! My Dog Is Limping

why dogs limp

This isn’t just a catalog of limping dogs. By knowing the leg problems that dogs get you have a better chance of preventing some, identifying others and taking them all seriously.

I’ve gone back through our records, found the top 20 with pictures. The list below is sorted into ‘puppy’, ‘adult’ and ‘common’ problems. Visit this page to see which problems happen in the front or back legs and how to tell which leg is sore.

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Help! Dogs With Cuts & Cats With Wounds

‘At A Glance (Details Below)’ What to do

When A Dog Or Cat Gets A Cut

  1. Don’t handle the wound if it looks clean, just keep your pet out of the dirt
  2. To remove dirt, rinse cuts in a solution of ½tsp salt to 1 cup water
  3. If there is serious bleeding, apply a tight bandage using clean cloth
  4. As long as you see a vet immediately, a tight dressing should do minimal harm and may be lifesaving

Now dive deeper…

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Why I Hate Tennis Balls (And Dogs Love Them)

Tennis ball dog

For many dogs, the highlight of their day is a game of fetch with the ball. Who can resist? You’d have to have a heart like a stone to say no. Or, like me, to know too much.

Stay with me while I show you five ways that tennis balls were made in the devil’s workshop. Afterwards, I’ll tell you how your dog can still have that fun without the risk.

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Common Problems Of Dogs, Cats, Rabbits & Chickens

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