It is heartbreaking to see an over enthusiastic puppy slowly turn into an aging dog that can hardly move around on his/her own, but it does happen to a lot of our canine friends. On the other hand, disorders and diseases can also disable a young, energetic dog, which is perhaps even more heartbreaking to see and experience. While recovery isn’t always an option unfortunately, there are ways for dog owners to make the life of their disabled pets a lot easier and we are now going to discuss five proven methods next.
Get Your Pet a Wheelchair
In general, all dogs love to and need to run, jump and play every day of their lives. When that is taken away from them, it results in canine depression and further physical degradation as well. On introducing a doggy wheelchair into a disabled dog’s life, and after teaching them to move with it on their own, the results are excellent both in terms of canine happiness and health. If you are looking for the best dog wheelchair available in the US, look no further than K9 carts. Their staff will even work with the dog and the dog owner after the wheelchair has been made to help them get accustomed to the feel of everything and also to make adjustments in the product itself, if necessary.
Make Your Floor Comfortable
If your dog isn’t fully paralyzed and can walk around on his/her own with some difficulty, the softer the floor is for your dog, the better. Place carpets or rugs on hard cold floors, especially in places where the dog moves around the most. Aside from the floor, also make sure that the bed is soft and big enough for the poor pooch to sleep comfortably in.
Change Your Dog’s Diapers Often
In case your pet is unfortunate enough to have suffered a disorder or an injury that has left the dog unable to poop and pee outside, use diapers and change them often to avoid infections and germs from making the dog even more sick.
Make Special Provisions for Blind Dogs
Blind dogs can land themselves in a lot of trouble, but if nothing else is affecting the dog’s health, it is a disability that they can learn to overcome, up to a great extent. Still, you will need to follow a few precautions for both helping and keeping your blind dog safe:
- Use baby gates to seal off areas such as stairs that the dog can fall down
- Keep the food and water bowls in the same place every day
- Make sure there is nothing sharp on the floor
- Invest a bit of time in training your blind dog
Continue the Treatment
The trips to the vet should not stop and neither should the meds, but you can always take a second opinion. Maybe a new vet would be able to better treat the disability than the previous one, although there’s no guarantee of that. The main idea is to never give up hope and stop the treatment.
Putting down a pet should be the very last option and even then, you should only consider it if the dog is in considerable pain and multiple vets have confirmed that he/she cannot recover from the injury/illness. More often than not, disabled pets are able to live out long and happy lives if they have owners who really care about them.
