immune system

[mick 707 0]

Any advice on boosting a dogs immune system.

[labsnlurchers 39]

I tend to let them get over injuries without antibiotics. Obviously a bit of experience is required to correctly judge when intervention is required. Most cuts look worse than they are and people often panic and go straight to the vets where anytibiotics are prescribed to prevent infection. To a certain degree germs/bacteria etc is what primes the dogs immune system so infection can lead to a dog having a healthier immune system thats better able to cope with everyday germs and bacteria.

Keeping things too clean can lead to a depleted immune system. Im not saying let your dogs live in their own shite for days on end but very regular use of strong cleaning agents can stop the dogs immune system from getting up to speed with the pathogens present in the environment.

[skycat 6,173]

Feeding naturally (raw meat, bones and veg) will help to keep a dog in much better all round condition than feeding it on commercial, heat treated food packed with preservatives etc. I've had rescue dogs come to me suffering from sores/wounds etc that the previous owners said would'nt heal: after a couple of weeks on real natural food for dogs 99% of skin problems and wounds have healed with no extra intervention from me in the form or antibiotics or whatever.

 

Happy, calm and well exercised dogs will also have a better immune system than dogs which are stressed or unhappy (e.g. badly treated, frightened, living in cramped conditions, not enough stimulating exercise etc.) It is too easy to look at just one aspect of an animal's health (or a human's come to that), and treat just the one symptom: a sore that won't heal for example. When treating any aspect of an animal it is necessary to consider the whole animal, mental as well as physical.

 

A good relationship with the owner, regular fulfilling exercise, somewhere warm and safe to sleep, and a well balanced natural diet will all help a dog to develop a good immune system. Exercise on different types of ground where the dog will come into contact with different types of bacteria etc will also help to strenthen the system. Wrapping a dog up in cotton wool and only exercising where no other dogs go won't help it to build up the antibodies needed to fight infection: the same reason that native peoples often died from colds and flu when first invaded by Western settlers the globe over: they had no immunity.

[richard25 0]

Mate, i use Prozyme probiotics & touch wood i have not had to go to the vets for anything in the past three years & its just a powder supplement you add to your dogs food.

 

I started this as Harley ( my AB ) was a pup & kept getting reacurring ear infections & the vet just gave us antibiotics & it would go & literally a day after coming off them the inffection would be back so i started using the probiotic supplement in all my dogs diets as its a great allrounder & he has not had any type of infections since & awhile back now my sisters dogs had kennel cough & my dogs had a slight cough for all of a day or so & i think thats when i realised it really was that good as my sisters dogs where messed up for awhile & mine are with them all the time & showed no adverse affects.

 

Check out Ripley wrinkles American bulldogs ( dog a google search ) as this lady has put some info out there too on this.

 

Good luck