Intestinal parasites are anything that is living in the intestines of your cats or other animals that are not supposed to be there. Our intestines have a lot of what we call commensal bacteria, meaning bacteria that live with us, don't do us harm and help us digest our food. A parasite would be in the intestines or in the intestinal tract that is causing harm to its host and, in this case, our kitty cat.

So we talked about that a little bit earlier. Working on conditioning long before you need to give your dog a bath can be helpful, although that may not be possible in some scenarios. Say you get a dog from an unpleasant situation, and they're quite fragrant already, and you want to get them clean—do the best you can to make it a not traumatic experience. Make sure there's good traction in the tub or the shower that you're using. Use either a gentle spray if you're in the shower so that you can get close to the dog, or use a cup to gently pour water on. Be conscious of the water temperature and try and sweeten the deal with some sort of food. I typically use peanut butter on the wall of my tub when I'm bathing my dogs. And that's usually enough of a distraction that they give me the puppy dog eyes, but they're still willing to eat and stand still for the process.

That depends on what's causing your dog's itching. Probably about 98% of the time, your dog's itching is due to allergies or some sort of parasite causing a problem—mange, fleas, ticks, et cetera. So if you have a dog that's itching more than the occasional flap of the ear, or licking the foot, give us a call or check in with us because there's probably an underlying medical issue that we want to address.

For the most part, no. That may be something that a show dog, like an Afghan Hound, may need something extra to keep the tangles out, but your average dog doesn’t need anything extra like that.

If your dog does not have allergies or is prone to skin infections, you can use a pretty basic shampoo. I typically look for something that does not have a fragrance. It may be nice for our dogs to smell like apples and lavender, but they probably don't want to smell that way, and smell is pretty important to dogs. I like an aloe and oatmeal shampoo in most situations, but a medicated shampoo can be beneficial for dogs with skin issues or chronic problems.