It depends on the life stage that they're in. Maybe as a puppy, they'll get liquid formulations, like Panacur or Nemex. If they get older and they're not on prevention, unfortunately, we might do a one-time administration of something like Drontal.

It's unusual, but I have seen that happen. So here at Countryside, every time a dog comes in for a well visit, we take our scanner and we scan them, just to make sure that it's always working so you can count on it if you ever need it. The last thing I want to point out is that the new microchips can read their body temperature. So the bonus once puppies are microchipped? When they come in for a checkup, we can scan them and get their special number as well as their temperature.

We think that dogs get senile just the way people do. Sometimes, they get their day and nights mixed up. For instance, an older dog might sleep all day long and then get up at night and go prowling around and panting. They might bark. So, that's called cognitive dysfunction syndrome, and we have some things we can do to help with that.

At home, it's probably just good, simple hygiene. Make sure the dog's coat is cared for and that there are no significant mats. With long hair breeds, you either want to get them groomed often or just simply brush them often, particularly in the summer months where the shedding is going to be worse. A lot of dogs struggle with dry skin in the summertime, too, so using things like shampoos that contain aloe and oatmeals are great, as they are hypoallergenic additives that also help to clean them.

The other thing I would mention, too, is that fatty acids are very important for dogs' coats, so check the ingredients of your dog’s food. Perhaps your food has fatty acids naturally occurring in it but, if they don't, maybe add fish oils or something along those lines to the food. What you're looking for is what's called Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. Those are the two that most of the big food manufacturers look for and try to include because those have been proven to be beneficial for skin and coat.

Some puppies seem like they want to eat and eat and eat, and they'll have a nice little chunky belly going on. Others are too preoccupied to sit down and take the time to eat. And so you can actually look on your bag of food and look at the side panel or the back, and it'll have a chart on there that recommends a daily amount that your puppy should be feeding based upon the adult weight or how much they currently weigh. That's a pretty good rule of thumb as far as the guideline. And then you want to watch your puppy to see if they’re getting too chunky or if you can count their ribs, and that'll allow you to set the amount of puppy food.

It's a bit variable depending upon how big your puppy is. For the tiny ones, usually less than five pounds or so, those puppies need to be eating at least about four times a day. And this is for puppies that are a little older as far as six weeks or so once they're weaned. About four times a day is a pretty good rule of thumb. But for most dogs, three times a day is usually what we're going to be starting with as far as when they're pretty young puppies.