Pet Cancer Awareness – Pet Camp

We recommend that people watch out for changes from the norm in their pets. So if the energy is down, if the appetite is low, if there’s increases in thirst or urination, changes in mobility, limping or stiffness, anything like that, persistent vomiting or diarrhea, persistent coughing or sneezing, so anything that’s different from the norm, be aware of.
Pet your dog and cat regularly. If you notice a lump or a bump, bring them in right away. Sometimes you’ll notice the color of the skin. If it’s yellow, sometimes it directly means some type of liver issue. But it could be as vague as just kind of weight loss or general lethargy, just not wanting to do normal activity.
We normally tend to see it in middle to older age dogs. Cats are a little bit harder, they seem to be very stoic in the sense of showing signs of sickness sometimes. So sometimes just hanging in a different area or sleeping in an abnormal spot, doing something really abnormal for a cat, peeing inappropriately, something of that nature, kind of their way to let us know that there could be something wrong with them.
The sooner we can diagnose something, the better chance we have at managing it.
There is correlation with animals getting lung cancer from second hand smoke. So the things that we can do to prevent it would be good quality diets, just general exercise if we can.
Socialization top so, yeah being active during the day. Seeing if you have the ability to bring him to a place where they can hang out with other pets and be active all day outside in the fresh air. That’s fantastic, even something as short as a dog walker or someone to come in and check.
Cats are different, where I feel like their home is more of their comfort zone. Dogs in general tend to be kind of more of a social type of animal too. It’s just like in humans too, keeping them engaged keeping them with other animals. And, also the great thing about that, is you get another set of eyes on your dog.
You have someone coming to say, you know what? Your dog, Oscar, is acting weird today at day care. It’s just another set of eyes to say, wow, maybe he’s lost some weight and you haven’t really noticed. Just because you’re with them day to day. So that’s another way that’s kind of nice to be able to, sometimes when we’re with them all the time, it’s hard for us to judge.
Nutrition plays a big part, so feeding good quality food, well-balanced food is very important. Making sure that the pets get a lot of exercise, just like with us. Whether it’s taking them on hikes, or putting them in a lot of places in the city, like pet camp.
We’ll offer daycare, where dogs get to play with each other, which I think, is really, really good. Cuz it’s something that they would do in the wild, and they definitely get a lot of enjoyment out of it. So, nutrition, exercise, and then preventative care, so actually going to the veterinarian.
I recommend twice a year. Pets don’t live as long as humans. We go to the doctor at least once a year, just for our preventative care, and I think the same thing should be with pets. But even better, I would recommend every six months, just developing a good relationship with your veterinarian to insure that things are picked up early.
If you pick something up when it’s very early on, before there’s even symptoms, you have a much better chance of potentially curing, or at least managing it much better, versus catching it very later on.