Remember your vet in times of need

Taking care of an older dog is something that needs some extra special attention. When you notice that your beloved dog is starting to age you can make their ageing process as comfortable as possible by speaking to your vet and by making just a few changes to their everyday lifestyle. As your dog approaches their senior years they will start to change in their usual habits and so you will need to keep a watchful on eye on them and make sure that their changes are made as easy as possible. Older dogs may still be as playful and loving at heart as they were when they were younger but physically they will start to be less active than they were in their youth. A lot of dogs can also develop some niggles as they enter their golden years consulting your dogs vet can pin point what these may be. Niggles can range from touches of arthritis to hearing and sight difficulties but with the right nutrition and health regiments these ailments can be controlled and kept to a minimum. So if you notice that your dog is starting to react more slowly to things or does not seem to be responding to your calls as quickly as they used to it is not a cause for alarm it just means that you need to pay some extra attention to their aging and to their health needs.

Medipet Insurance

Medipet insurance is a company that cares about both your pet’s health needs as well as your financial security. While preparing you and your finances for any vet visits and medical costs Medipet insurance makes sure that you can afford to cover your pet with the best offer of reliable and comprehensive medical insurance. Good and affordable pet insurance means that you need an offer that is both considerate of your monthly payments as well as your pet’s possible health needs.

With Medipet insurance your cat’s health and your dog’s health is well taken care of and will be covered without any financial strain being placed onto you. When you take out pet insurance for your animal you only have to think about the monthly payments, which with Medipet are kept as affordable as possible without having to compromise on your pet’s cover. With Medipet insurance your cat will be covered with great health insurance at only R115 per month and your dog will be covered at only R125 per month and if you take out cover for more than one animal you will get a 10% discount on your total monthly payment which makes taking care of your pet’s health a whole lot easier!

Pet Blogs

By reading and writing a pet blog you can get up to date information regarding your animal and their needs. Instead of searching through mounds of books or having to actually go and search out an expert you can easily get good and reliable information over the internet from vets and other knowledgeable experts or from pet owners themselves who have experience in taking care of their own animals.

Good information is vital to ensuring that you are giving your pet the best that you can possibly offer them. This means that when you have a question or are looking for tips or some extra pet related information you can find it instantly and with ease by reading through a pet blog. Information in these blogs can range from the right foods to feed your pets to the best available information on the top medical pet health insurers in the market. Because when it comes to looking after your pet you need to know that they will be taken care of in the best of ways in all aspects of their lives. A pet blog allows you to ask questions while providing invaluable information about your cat or dog’s health needs - just like this blog. So send us an email if you need any assistance with your pet, and we'll do our best to provide you with all of the answers!

A pet insurance package you can rely on

As you very well know medical bills can stretch into the thousands and if you are not adequately prepared or covered for your medical expenses they can really put a huge strain on your life. So by making sure that your animal and their vet bills will be covered when they require medical attention you can save yourself a lot of time, money and hassle. Insurance packages are designed to help you in preparing for medical costs that may or may not be foreseen. Vet bills can be as costly as doctor bills and so it would be a great advantage to you if you and your pet are well covered by reliable pet health insurance. When you do take out a pet insurance package you need to be sure that you are getting a fair and the right deal for you. With Medipet you can discuss your needs and your animal’s cover requirements with caring and knowledgeable consultants. Medipet will make one hundred percent sure that your insurance package is the right option for you and for your cat or dog. From just R125 per month for dogs and R115 per month for cats you can cover your pet’s health.

Cat Health

Good and planned safety and can be essential to ensuring that cat health is not only looked after but that is even optimised. Taking care of your pet’s health does not have to take a lot of time or unnecessary effort. Following some useful and proven tips and by listening to expert advice can save you a lot of time and effort.

Finding out from your vet what foods are best for your animal to eat means that you can start protecting your cat or dog from the inside. Good nutrition is the basic element to making sure that your pet is physically able to handle the rigours of everyday pet life and will have enough energy to sustain them from day to day. Other advantages of good foods are that your pet will develop and grow and age with the right nutrients for all of the right stages. While good food provides for all their physical nutritional demands you can take care of their other dog and cat health needs such as daily exercise and grooming when and where it is necessary. When you are looking for specific advice feel free to ask Medipet for any vet, animal and insurance related information.

Pet adoption

The year is in full swing and we are already headed towards March. If your year is starting to feel the like usual hum drum of being back at work and getting into your usual ways of doing things then maybe it is time for something new. Start a new relationship with someone who will always be around and bring you great comfort and joy by adopting a pet. Pet adoption is a great way to give a cute puppy or an adorable kitten a new home and loving home. When you do decide to start looking around for your new puppy or for a kitten give consideration to the places around you that offer pet adoption services.

A good place to start out is your local pet rescue centre they will often have a range of animals from young dogs or cats to new born kittens and pups. If you are looking for an older animal you are sure to find older animals there too. Talk to your nearest SPCA, DARG or TEARS about the animals that they have and find out from animal associations from vets about animal breeders if you are interested in finding a specific breed of cat or dog for adoption.

Kittens and their nutrition

Kittens are absolutely gorgeous creatures that are both cuddly and extremely playful. Taking a kitten home with you is something that is hard to resist once you have been caught up in those adorable and sparkling little eyes. Once you are settling in at home with your new little cat you will probably find that you will need to go out and buy foods that are specifically suited to the kittens food needs. A newly born kitten lives off of and gets its nutritional nourishment from its mother’s milk but as the kitten ages and grows its nutritional and food needs change too. Once a kitten is weaned off of its mother and her milk you can start with feeding the young cat specially formulated foods that are made with consideration to the kittens needs. Your kittens food will also be softer than other cat foods and will often be mixed in with gravies or jelly – you can slowly add whole foods to their diet as their teeth grow. These foods are high in the right vitamins and minerals needed for a constant and good development of healthy bones and teeth while also adding together to create a shiny and lasting coat.

Johannesburg Vet

Are you moving from one city to another? Or have you just recently moved to a new city and are scouting around for good vet? A good idea in finding a new vet for your animal’s is to speak to your previous vet and find out if they know of any vets that they could recommend to you. If you are moving from Johannesburg speak to your Johannesburg vet about how to go about choosing a vet in your new city. Your vet is sure to know of a vet or of a good way to track down a vet in the new city. When talking to your animal’s vet also find out if there is anything related to your pet’s health and medical history that you should tell your animal’s new vet about.

When you move from one city to another do remember that your Medipet pet health insurance covers your cat and/or dog no matter what city in the country you are moving to. So whether you are moving to or leaving Johannesburg you are sure to get plenty of helpful advice from your Johannesburg vet and you can rest assured that your pet will still be reliably covered with Medipet insurance.

Animal Help: what you didn't know about chocolate and your pet

Before we have to go looking for animal help there are certain things that are essential knowledge that could help us to keep our pets safe and protected from unnecessary dangers. One of these is the foods we feed our cats and dogs. I am sure that you have heard that is not a good thing for an animal to be fed chocolate but have you ever wondered why that is? Well, chocolate contains a stimulant called theobromine this stimulant works on and affects the cardiovascular system while acting as a diuretic when it is ingested. So when we eat chocolate we get a rush of energy that stems from more than just the sugar in the chocolate because our hearts and are working harder and thus we feel more energized. Our bodies can handle a certain amount of chocolate but animal’s bodies are often smaller and also less tolerable to such cardiac stimulants. Because chocolate increases the heart rate if an animal eats chocolate they can become very energetic and if they then use this energy and run around or play they can become hyperactive, become unusually thirsty and experience an irregular or very rapid heart rate. Prevention is better than cure and avoiding the need for animal help is the best way to assure to pet’s health and safety.

Just some informative findings

Hello everyone! I trust that you and your pets are loving this beautiful weather that is sweeping our country!

Here is something that you might find interesting: the Cape Province Dog Club has a range of informative articles on their website that their skilled operator has put together for dog owners. Some of the topics include what to do when your dog is digging, how to choose a dog breed and breeder, food guarding and harnesses. Although we cover many of those topics here ourselves, it is always interesting to see what other professionals have to say! You can check out their website at www.capeprovincedogclub.co.za. You can simply follow the navigation links on the bottom of the screen when you get to their fun website.

You can also find out more about their Doggy Day Camp and a range of other exciting activities that they coordinate each year. It is always a lot of fun to join a social club like the Cape Province Dog Club, and it has very positive effects on the training and upcoming of your own puppy or dog.

Be sure to check their site out, it has some interesting articles that may be what you have been searching for. Don't forget, you can email our qualified nurse vet right here at MediPet for all of the pet help that you might need! email us at medipet@gmail.com!

Have a great week ahead pet lovers!

Animal Antics

Dog training is something that could drastically improve your relationship your animal while it also makes both your animal and your life much safer and easier to handle. By teaching your dog cute little tricks you will not only be teaching them something that will get ooh-s and aah-s from people that you can show off to but you will be forming a lasting bond that builds trust and a firmly cemented relationship between the two of you. Whether you are teaching your dog to fetch a ball or to safely cross a road on a leash you can both enjoy and gain from the experiences and time spent together. Always remember to make animal training fun as dogs pick up on and respond to enthusiasm. Use verbal commands such as come, sit, and walk and fetch to get your dog to understand you and be sure to only need to give a command once – in the beginning you may need to repeat commands for your dog to learn what each command means but very soon they will only need to hear a command once. Be constant in your verbal commands and praise your dog after they have obeyed a given command, while still in training you could even give a treat to your animal after they obey a command.

Talk About Gorgeous: little Izzie

Hello everyone! Look at Gabrielle's beautiful new Yorkshire Terrier puppy Izzie! Gabrielle writes:

had her for less than a week, but have already established a few definitive
character traits, such as her penchant for spicy flavours (she goes crazy when
she smells paprika and pesto), her incredible dislike of Angelina
Jolie, and her wanton appetite for ribbons, shoes, and any stray fingers
that should happen to cross her path.

That's a whole lot of personality! Thanks for sending us the photographs! :-)

Animal Safety

Animal safety is a reality that is better to be careful with rather than to be left feeling sorry that you didn’t take all the possible and even necessary precautions beforehand. Here are some basic tips and guidelines to ensuring your animal safety:

- Find a good and reliable vet that you feel comfortable with and are prepared to entrust with your animal’s safety

- Take you cat or dog for regular annual check ups with your vet. This check up is likely to be best to coincide with trips to the vet for your pet’s necessary shots, which are generally given every two years to protect them from viruses and other bugs that could get into their systems

- Make sure that your pet does not have free running access to roads and try to keep them within the gates or walls of your property where possible

- Feeing your animal the right foods that is specifically suited an animal diet and nutritional needs can do wonders for the safety of your animal’s health

- Making sure that your dog is well trained to listen to you is also a great way of ensuring better safety for your animal

Happy Valentine's Day!

It is finally Valentine’s Day! The day for love, for extra special treatment and the day to really let your loved one…or ones…know how you feel about them. I say ones in hope that you haven’t forgotten about your oh so loving pets! They are around for you all year long and they also deserve some extra attention and tokens of love on a day like today. If you haven’t yet thought of anything for your animal why not give it some thought right now? If you can instantly think of what they love and thoroughly enjoy then there is no problem, go right ahead and get them that something special. Treating your cat or dog with a visit to the grooming parlor might be just the thing – your pet will come back feeling like a million bucks and will be looking as gorgeous and as cute as ever. Grooming parlors know how to do just what it takes to get your animal’s coat and overall look into tip top condition and a trip to the grooming parlor does not even have to take all that long. So if you decide to give your pet an extra treat today or to take them for a groom you are sure to both feel very loved on this day!

Pet Accidents

Pet accidents are something that we absolutely dread. Even thinking about the possibility of our pets being injured or somehow involved in a pet accident is enough to send a shiver running through us. Unfortunately accidents are a reality we do have to deal with and the burden of dealing with them can sometimes seem overwhelming. When something unexpected occurs we are often able to handle the situation in the best way we can and know how but when we are emotionally attached and involved we can sometimes wish for a little bit of help in getting through it all. Now with Medipet’s pet insurance offers you can have all the help you need in all the ways you may possibly need it should your pet be involved in an unforeseeable pet accident. This means that once your cat or dog is covered with health insurance they are guaranteed to be taken care of in the best ways possible by fully qualified vets.

Our beloved cats or dogs being involved in a pet accident is the last thing we want to think about but by preparing for any possible injuries now you can make the future health needs of your animal secure and set your mind at ease all at the same time.

Pet Shop know how

Pet shops can be places of great fun. It is a pity that you can’t take your pet’s with you when you go shopping for toys for them but if you know your pet well and if know what they enjoy you should not experience any hassles when you are looking for something new for them to play with. Toys range from fake furry mice, to balls that jingle as the roll along the floor and much more that is appealing to a cat and their sharp and playful eyes.

However pet shops are about more than just incredibly cute toys, you could find helpful information from pet shops about your cat or other pet too. You could find other pet related products such as collars with nametags to help you in finding your pet should they ever go missing, while keeping in mind the assistance that you will get from Medipet in searching for your animal if they did ever go missing. You could find flea shampoos, animal edible treats, scratching posts, animal fur brushes, beds, animal blankets and even cat travelling boxes that come in handy should you need to take your animal with you when you are either moving or travelling somewhere.

Pet Picture

Dear Readers,

Eminu sent us this picture - how gorgeous are those pups?! :-)

Thanks Eminu, and keep reading!

The SA Pet Lovers Team

Fleas strike back!

Fleas can be a huge hassle and can be a big trouble to get rid of once they have settled in to your home and your cat or dog’s fur. The most effective ways of getting rid of your pet’s flea problems is to tackle the problem in its early stages. This means that once you notice a flea or see that your cat or dog is scratching more than usual you should find a solution that works for both you and your pet as soon as is possible. From pills, powders and shampoos there is sure to be something that will work for you.

Flea shampoos can be very effective and fast ways of getting rid of you flea problem but not all animal take very kindly to being dumped into a bath full of water. If your cat or dog can handle a bath then this is probably your best bet. If your animal is not one for baths you could give flea powders or sprays a try. Not all animals like the sound of the spray so you may need to drop the liquid onto them instead. And for something fast and easy you could even try anti-flea tablets that your pet must ingest.

Health Insurance

Health insurance for your pet may sound a little far fetched to some people but if you have ever had to take your pet to a vet for medical attention that was completely unexpected you will understand the sheer value of the security that a good health insurance package can offer for you and for your pet. Medipet’s insurance packages are designed for both dogs and for cats with each having their own specifically designed packages according their respective cat and dog needs. For just R125 a month you can cover your dog with pet insurance that will be there for him or her whenever they need to medical assistance from a vet. And for only R115 per month your cat can be covered for all of his or her health needs as well. Even if your trips to the vet have not been unexpected you could still greatly benefit from having health insurance as a future safety net for your animal.

By having animal health insurance for your pet means that you do not have to be concerned about the immediate costs of vet bills. The bills are covered by your monthly payments and your choice of insurance package.

Litter Box Know How

Indoor pets are usually more reliant on their owners for more things – one of these things is of course their daily needs that out of necessity are dependant on a litter box. Keeping a litter box is sometimes a hassle because it needs to be kept clean and fresh litter needs to be put into your animals litter tray on almost a daily basis. But the extreme convenience of having a litter box for your cat or dog is that they do not need to be walked or taken outside as frequently as they otherwise would need. This frees you up with more flexibility and time for other things because you do not need to be at home at specific times to take your cat or dog outside.

There are a wide range of choices when it comes to your animal’s litter box. You can choose from sand to fine stone gravel to silicone stones to lay out as the filler and absorber in your litter tray. Generally placement is also an aspect that you need to consider as it must be out of the way but still be comfortably accessible to your pet – putting it in the bathroom or on a veranda may be a good idea.

Dog Food - things to look out for

Having a pet sometimes may feel as though you have a child rather than an animal. But this can be a good thing more often than it is troublesome or irritating. Your pet is your lifeline and your ultimate friend so when they are fussing or acting up a bit take the time to see just what it is that they need… or want. Keeping a watchful eye on your cat and dog food is a great way to make sure that your pet is feeling good and healthy. When your cat or dog stops eating, changes their eating habits or just starts eating notably less food, then you know that something may be wrong or troubling them. When we feel ill or slightly off we change our eating habits according to our feelings and animals seem to be no different when they feel otherwise.

By watching for changes in your animal’s more usual habits you can be constantly aware of their changes and so by keeping an eye on your dog’s dog food and your cat’s cat food you can very quickly and simply pick up when they are ill or just not feeling quite their usual vibrant selves.

A Valentine's Day Treat for your special pet

Valentine’s Day is ten days away and who better to treat with a gift of love than your absolutely loving and incredibly lovable dog and cat? You take good care of your pet throughout the year but special days such as February the 14th give you a wonderful excuse to treat them and to get them something out of the ordinary and extra special. For your dog you think of getting them a brand new soft and comfy dog cushion, and if your cat is ever happy to be anywhere other than on your lap you could get a cushion for your cat too.

Other than cat and dog cushions there are many other ideas and gifts both practical and fun that you could get for your beloved animals on this Valentine’s Day. A gift that could serve both you and your pet is a good and reliable pet insurance package. You could look at gifts such as toy mice for your energetic kitten, a new ball for your lively dog or you could opt for an extra and enjoyable food item or two, like a good juicy bone for your dog or an extra tit bit of food here and there for you cat. Check out MediPet insurance for your pet and give the only gift that keeps on giving.

Cat Food F.A.Q.

We live in age that tells to watch what we eat and to be sure that we are not just consuming food but that we are consuming the right foods. Good nutrition is vitally important, eating the right foodstuffs means that our bodies are able to achieve a state of health and then maintain it. This means that we have to be sure that through the foods that we eat we are getting in the necessary vitamins and minerals and all the other nutrients that are essential to ensuring our good health. The same goes for our pets – cats and dogs are as in need of a healthy food plan as we, their owners, are. Cat food needs to be considerate of cat’s health and nutritional needs. This is made easy for us nowadays as we can walk into a shop or a vet and know that we can buy our cats food that is specifically formulated and produced with optimum nutrition and your cat’s health in mind.

If you are unsure about the food to be feeding your cat talk to your vet or don’t hesitate to contact Medipet for advice on the right cat food to be feeding your animal.