So what happens when this stick monster broke into our home. Our little poochie came to the rescue! she defended us against the vicious monster that wanted to tear us apart! Go poochie, you are my hero.

There is no dispute which two animals are top two on the worlds most owned pets. Cats and dogs have been a long time favorite for.....well an entire life time for animal lovers. The both posses distinctive qualities which suites the different characteristic of different pet owners quite well. Although there are the in between owners who have both cat and dog under the same roof. Even though both animals are loved, which animal comes out on top of this elite top two list of pets. Lets do a simple comparison and see how they fair against each other.

The Table Below Represents The totality of the amount of pet owners of the top three pets.

Grooming
Dogs are much harder to groom than cats and shed much more fur too. There are certain breed of dogs which may require a dog grooming professional to deal with those bulky hair. Cats do not shed as much as dogs and since cats are much smaller, grooming will also be much easier than dogs.

Feeding
Anyone who has a dog knows that dogs like to chow down. And if you let them, they would eat all around the clock. On average, dogs will eat at least 5 times what the average cat eats per day. This of course will lead to a higher food bill for your dog than your cat.

Health
Both cat and dog comes with their health risk issues, but which is more riskier? Meaning, is you dog more likely to be infected or are cats more likely to be infected. Lets look briefly at the most common health factors of both animals

If we compare the table of common illnesses we would see that there is not much difference as both animals share common illnesses such as Diarrhea, vomiting, worms and of course flea infestation.

Intelligence
There is absolute no doubt in this world or any other that dogs are much more intelligent than their feline counterparts. It is much more easy to train a dog to do certain task than a cat. Dogs are trained to do tricks, search and rescue operations. Narcotic findings, blind leading and many more activities which require not only the physical training but some level of intelligence to undertake the task which is bestowed upon them.

Emotions
when it comes down to expressing emotions, dogs do come out on top for this as well.  The facial expressions given by dogs are often priceless. You can easily tell if you dog is sad, upset or happy by facial and bodily expressions. From the moving of the ear to the tail movement to the natural sounds which the dog makes can help you determine the state or feeling of the animal. Cats are basically cats. They are cute and cuddly, but many times would just either purr when they want to be let out or purr when the want food. If they think you are lovely today they will curl upon you wherever you are and just simply want to be next to you. Cats emotions tends to be a bit harder to negotiate with their poker faces.

Playfulness
OK,cats will play now and then and many times would just prefer to jump up a tree or scratch on the scratch mat. I doubt you will be able to play catch the Frisbee with any of these felines anytime soon as they neither have the vigor to prolong in playfulness among humans for any long period.  Dogs do it all, they will run you to extreme tiredness if you let them. Once they are out in the yard and you begin to play their is no stopping. Whether is be a bit of wrestling or cuddling with your pet dog they will be totally into it. Just bring the game and they play.

Sensitivity and Awareness
Cats are aware of the surroundings which "they care about" namely their food dish and water dish. Dogs tend to be much more aware of their surroundings and can actually tell if something has moved or changed in their surroundings. They are also protective of their surroundings and owners also.

My Conclusion
Well, for me as a pet owner with two dogs, one cat, a fruit bat, and a gold fish named swallow. I can say that cats are wonderful pets and deserve every bit of attention that they get. Dogs on the other hand are the ultimate pets and have outclassed the cats in most levels. But what is your take on Dogs and Cats. Which do you think actually makes a better pet?

Lyme disease is an bacterial infection caused by the deer tick. The tick simply attaches itself to the host, dog, human, cow any mammal and once it has inserted its contacts into the flesh of the host. It is then capable of transmitting the disease. It only takes one tick with the disease to spread the bacteria. Once that bacteria is the dog, the animal will begin to experience the symptoms associated with a Lyme disease infection.

Fever

• The temperature of the animal will eventually rise as its internal system tries to fight off the foreign objects in the bloodstream.

Swollen And Painful Joints

• Bacteria may build up at the point in joints which may cause painful movement of the joints resulting in a slowdown of the animal.

Loss of Appetite

• Normally when any mammal is experiencing illness which brings about fever and affects the nervous system, you will find that loss of appetite comes along with it. Your dog will now be as "chowy" as he used to be.

Swelling of Lymph Nodes

• Lymph nodes are important part of the immune system.Lymph nodes are located throughout the body, but visible and palpable only when they are enlarged or swollen. This also contributes to saggy movement of the animal.

If You Believe Your Dog Is Infected
If you believe that your Dog has been infected with Lyme disease, the first thing you must do is to take that animal to a vet and let the vet examine and diagnose the animal. The Vet Facility will have to run a series of test on the animal to determine if your suspicions are correct. These test includes a physical exam and blood test. If the animal is diagnosed with Lyme disease, then the vet will consult with you and treatment of the disease will follow.

Treatment Of Lyme Disease In Dogs
Normally when Dogs are infected with the Lyme disease, the most common treatment is for the vet to administer antibiotics to destroy the bacteria. It is up to you if you would prefer the animal to be kept and monitored over night or take the animal home. The antibiotics should begin to work and the animal should show improvement in 2-3 days.

Preventing The Infection Of Lyme Disease In Your Dog
Well for start you have to ensure that the animal remains tick and flea free. Buy anti-tick and flea collars. Ensure that the animal is bathed and when so use flea and tick shampoo. Keep the dog well groomed and monitor the animal for any excess itching. Ensure that your environment is not tick friendly. Keep you lawn mowed regularly and ensure that the yard is maintained on a regular basis. Get rid of unnecessary bushes and shrubs. Spray areas where you know your dog visits frequently with tick and flea spray.  Once you have a tick free environment then you dog will also remain tick and Lyme disease free.

So after examining the chart above and if you determined that your dog is too heavy and needs exercise let proceed. If not proceed anyway as information is always good to have. The first thing to do if the dog is too heavy is to reexamine the amount of feed you give your dog, the total times fed per day and what are the ingredients which make up the feed.  How much feed you give to your dog depends on a couple factors, some of which are, how big is the dog and how active the dog is. You can ask your vet about how many calories your dog should get each day. You can also use the guide printed on dog food packages.

Exercise Time
Dogs are natural players and lovers of running. If you find that your pooch is quite dormant and has little interest in natural activities he may also be ill or could be his natural tendency. But you will have to influence your lazy dog to get up out of that slumber and do a little tail chasing.

Bring the Dog To A Dog Park
Take the dog out side at a location large enough where he may see a different environment and become interested enough to want to explore. He will see other dogs being active and this may just trigger his tail chasing gene. You cannot expect your dog to be interested in sprinting if you dabble along with that box of jelly donuts. Run with you dog at the dog park and get him all wound up. Bring one of his favorite balls and see if he would play fetch. Bring along a couple of healthy dog snacks as bit of motivation and incentive.

Play with him at home
I mean dog play, not just standing their and saying "come here boy" and then patting him or rubbing him behind the ear and then pour seven pounds of dog food in his bowl. You need to get down to his level, go down on all four knees and act doggy. Run like a dog up to him and grab him and twirl on the floor while barking like a dog. Pick up a ball in you mouth and run and on your hands and knees and see if he chases you.  Hang on to his tail with your mouth and and pull him, he will have a blast while getting some good exercise.

Dogs are great animals, anyone who owns on knows this. As pet owners, we sometimes go overboard with the pampering of our dogs and flood them with toys and treats. We buy the best of everything for them and ensure that they are fed the proper nutrients to have a healthy diet. Many owners will go over board with feeding their dogs and eventually end up with an overweight and under exercised animal. If you want to have a general idea about your dog's weight, look at the image below. This will help to determine if your dog is overweight.

For every one who has actually owned a dog or have been close enough to observe the dogs face will realize that the dogs nose is actually wet. Many would say they the dog's nose is wet because he just sipped up some water. But of course, seasoned and professional animal owners knows that this isn't so. Dogs noses are quite special and much more sensitive than that of a humans nose. That is one of the reason you will see dogs performing sniffing duties at airports, shipping docks, drugs raid and hunting.
It has been found that A dog's sense of smell is said to be a thousand times more sensitive than that of humans. Dogs smell receptors is like superman to humans. Dogs has more than 220 million olfactory receptors in its nose, while humans have only 5 million.

Nosepad or Rhinarium
This is referred to the naked surface around the nostrils of the nose in most mammals. In actual scientific usage it is typically called a "wet snout" or "wet nose" from its moist and shiny appearance.

Alar Fold
Typically just a a fold extending from the nostril to the ventral nasal concha.

External nares
This is the external openings into the nasal cavity; nostril.

Philtrum
the vertical groove in the median portion of the upper lip.
Now that we have a bit of appreciation for our canine buddy nose, we can look at some of the possible reasons why dogs noses seems to be wet. Please have an open mind here.

Temperature Control

• Since Dogs are covered with air, they are not able to sweat through the skin like a person does. Dog will cool down their body temperature by panting or through their noses by evaporation. It is said that the dogs nose carry some special mucous glands which helps to produce a type of watery fluid which helps speeds up the cooling process. The thing about this cooling down through nose because of furs is that not only dogs have furs. In fact most land animals have furs the last time i checked my pet  lion his nose was not wet. OK, i am busted, i don't have a pet lion. But if i had i am sure his nose would not be wet. I honestly don't believe dogs nose are wet because it helps him cool off. (My dog nose is wet even in much cooler temperatures)
  

Greater Scent detection.

• A dog's sense of smell is Galactic compared to human sense of smell. The dogs wet nose helps it to absorb tiny water droplets which carry scent. This allows the dog to pick up and trail the most miniscule of scents.

Dogs Lick Their Own Noses

• You will see you dog licking his nose periodically, one main reason he licks his nose is to sample the scent detecting mucus that actually is produced by the nose itself. Dogs will also lick their nose if they sense that it as been soiled, so if they are gulping down some dog chow, you will see that food particles are sicked to the moist dogs nose. The dog when finished eating will lick his nose to clean up that sensitive section of his body.

Moisture Receptacles

• Dogs sniff any and everything, have you ever heard the term " The Dog's nose knows?" You haven't? Oh well, that's no big deal since a just made that up. Dogs will sniff through moist environment such as grass and soil. Sucking every drop of moister on those special noses like an antenna picking up an alien invasion that is not happening. Even from the common air, the dogs nose will pick up moister.

They Drink With Their Noses

• No that's actually not true, not because you see Bruno dipping his head in that water bowl you believe that his nose sucks up water too. Do you know what drowning means? Well if he drank with his nose he just may have a lung filled with water. Dogs nose sometimes tend to get wet when the gulp up the refreshing water that his lovely owner pours in his water bowl periodically. Then they will sometimes lick their noses again if the water splashed on the nose is too much or will just run along with a watery nose.

Hey! My dog's Nose Is Not Wet...Do I Need A Vet?
That rhymes right? pet, vet. Anyway, many people believe that it is a must for their dogs nose to be wet and if that is not the case it is a sign that the animal is not in the best of health. That my friend is not true. I have spoken with several veterinarians and they have debunked this myth. They will tell you that some dogs just naturally have wetter noses than others. As a matter of fact, a drier nose may be quite healthy in some breeds and pups. So don't panic if you see other dogs around you with wet sloppy noses and your dogs nose is like potato chips. If you want to moisten it just give him a little smooch on his nose. He will love you a little more. Take care my friends.