Safe Home Remedies for Your Pet: How to Manage Minor Injuries and Illnesses at Home

I want to start this article with a disclaimer. Home remedies are not always the best solution when your dog is ill. Many times they do not work or may make a problem worse instead of better. However, these days a lot of people, including myself, are hard pressed to afford medical care for themselves, so taking the family pet to the vet for every little thing is often completely out of the question. In the past couple of years, I have found a few small things that work well for minor problems with pets. I share these with you now with the caution that these things only work in the circumstances I am outlining, and if they don't work quickly and decisively, you must take your pet to the vet.

Scrapes and Cuts

If your cat or dog has a minor scrape or a cut, treat it just the way you would your own scrape or cut. Flush it thoroughly with warm soapy water followed by warm clear water. Pat it dry with paper towels to avoid getting any lint embedded in the cut. Spray the injured area liberally with hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle. Hold your pet until the hydrogen peroxide has finished bubbling and has dried. You can use a blow dryer on a low setting to speed this process. Don't let your pet lick the hydrogen peroxide off. Repeat this process two to four times a day until the wound is completely healed. If the wound does not show significant signs of healing within the first 48 hours and/or if it shows any signs of infection, take your pet to the vet for treatment.

A lot of people will say that you should put an antibiotic ointment on the wound, but in my experience, this is not a good idea. I have found that cats and dogs tend to lick antibiotic ointments off, and I think the ointment tends to hold germs against the wound and encourage infection. I think with an animal, it is better to be sure the wound is clean and dry as much as possible.

For a cat, it is possible to use this treatment for a burst abscess, but it is certainly not the treatment of choice. An abscess is, by definition, infected. The chance that the infection has spread throughout the cat's system is extremely high; however, if the cat seems otherwise healthy and happy, and you absolutely cannot get to a vet at all, this treatment is certainly better than nothing, since with nothing the cat will surely sicken and die. If you are going to treat an abscess this way, you must clean it thoroughly 2-4 times a day, saturate it with peroxide, and hold the cat still until the peroxide has done it's work and dried. Not a pleasant process!

If the cat does not show marked improvement right away and/or if it seems to sicken, you must take it to the vet.

Rashes

For cats, it is almost impossible to treat rashes without a trip to the vet. They lick off everything, and there are very few over-the-counter medications you can give them safely.

Dogs are a different story. A dog can safely take Benadryl (generic: diphenhydramine hydrochloride). This is an inexpensive, over-the-counter allergy medication. You would dose your dog in the same way you would dose a child. A large dog (60 - 100 pounds) would take one, 25 mg pill up to 4 times daily. A small dog (20-60 pounds) would take a half pill up to 4 times daily. A very small dog (under 20 pounds) would take a quarter of a pill up to 4 times daily.

To treat rashes topically in dogs, wash the affected area with warm soapy water followed by warm clear water. Pat the area dry with paper towels and apply Johnson's No More Rash diaper rash ointment to the area liberally. This is the only ointment I have found that works, so be sure to get this brand. I think it must give relief from itching on contact because my dog, Amber, who tends to get heat rashes on her flanks in the summer time, stops licking the minute the ointment has been applied. She leaves it alone, and the rash starts to heal up right away. You can repeat this treatment 2 - 4 times a day.

When Amber has a rash, I give her Benadryl and treat topically with Johnson's No More Rash. Her rash clears up in 2-4 days. If your dog's rash does not clear up within a week, or if it worsens or your dog shows any adverse reaction to the Benadryl or the ointment, stop treatment and see a vet.

Cough

Recently, my 20 pound dog had a constant, hacking cough that was causing her to cough up bile. Her eyes were bright, her appetite was good, her gums were pink and moist, her energy level was excellent, and she had no fever - all good signs - so I decided to research treating it at home. I Googled "dogs & cough". I found that the reasons for a cough might be distemper, injury to the esophagus, something stuck in the throat, or an allergic reaction.

She has had her shots, so I ruled out distemper. There was nothing caught in her throat that I could see or feel with gentle palpation. She had just had a flea treatment, so allergic reaction was possible. She had also become entangled in her leash while walking and been a bit choked recently. So I thought that the problem was probably an allergic reaction or injury to the esophagus.

I wanted to try to stop the coughing because the more she coughed the more irritated her throat seemed to become. I thought the cough would just worsen if left untreated. If the problem was damage to the esophagus, this would be especially true.

I found a veterinarian's website that said it is safe to give dogs Guaifenesin in this sort of instance. The information I found said to give the dog a cough syrup with Guaifenesin as the main ingredient along with prednisone to reduce irritation and inflammation. It also said to cease exercise and use a harness instead of a collar when exercise is resumed, and I heeded this advice by suspending her daily walks.

I know from experience that this dog will not take a liquid medicine of any kind. I also know that prednisone is only available by prescription. Aside from that, I don't like to give steroids like prednisone because of negative side effects. I decided to look into the possibility of combining Benadryl and Guaifenesin. I Googled this combination and came up with a website that would determine drug interaction.

Pediatric On Call Child Health Care
http://www.pediatriconcall.com/fordoctor/drug_result/drug_result.aspx

After researching the combination of Guaifenesin and Benadryl for a child, I found that there were no short term negative side effects, and long term (after over one year's use) negative side effects were minor.

I happened to have a bottle of Benadryl (generic) on hand (approximately $4 for 100 tablets). I went to the store and found Guaifenesin in a pill form that could be cut to a dose that would suit my small dog. These tablets are 400 mg each and scored in the middle for easy splitting (approximately $7 for 60 tablets). I started her out with ½ a Benadryl tablet and ½ a Guaifenesin tablet crushed in a small amount of food four times daily.

After the first dose, I monitored her closely, and found no negative reactions. Her cough, however, was dramatically reduced. From being almost constant, it went to being occasional. Although, it was still quite harsh, it did not cause her to cough up bile. Within three days the cough disappeared except for every 4-5 hours when the medication wore off. Then it was still somewhat harsh. After five days, the severity of cough decreased significantly, and she only exhibited the cough after enthusiastic barking. By the seventh day, the cough was only occasional and not severe. I decided to dose for a full ten days to be sure the cough was completely gone. This seemed to be the right amount of time, and my little dog is well and happy now and taking her walks with a harness ($10).

I caution you very strongly not to be cavalier about medicating your dog in this kind of situation. I felt confident to give this a try because I have had over 30 years of experience with dogs and because I did quite a bit of online research. If my dog had not gotten better right away or if her condition had worsened, I would have stopped treatment and taken her to the vet; even though, I truly cannot afford to do that at all, and it would have created a hardship for me.

Of course, there are those who will say that people who can't afford complete veterinary care shouldn't have pets, but there are a lot of people these days (myself included) who could afford complete veterinary care when they got the pets. These are difficult times, and many people are subject to reduced circumstances. Pets are being abandoned right and left by heartbroken owners who simply cannot afford them any more. Shelters are filled to overflowing, and newspapers and online advertisement sites like Craig's List have pages and pages of "Free to Good Home" ads.

In many cases, giving up a pet is like giving up a child. The difference is that pets that are abandoned or even given to "good homes" often meet with terrible ends. So I think it is better to continue to try to do the best we can for our pets. Keep them in and safe, feed them decently, and educate ourselves to take care of their ills at home as much as we can. But always be cautious and safe. Research problems and solutions thoroughly. Read the labels of any medications you try. Try to find medications that give dosing for children, and then determine dose by weight for your dog carefully.

Don't give cats any over-the-counter medication. There are almost none that are safe.
For more information on home remedies for cats, see:
Home Remedies For Cats
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/home-remedies-for-cats-ga.htm

Try to have a little money set aside to get your pet to the vet if it is necessary. If you try to treat an illness or injury at home and you do not see positive results within 24-48 hours, be sure to get your pet to the vet right away. Of course, use common sense. If your pet has a severe injury, a broken bone, is throwing up/ urinating blood or exhibiting some other signs of major illness or injury, go straight to the vet! Before an emergency, do some research in your area to find an inexpensive clinic and find out what their standard office fee is so that you will have some idea of how much you may have to spend.

Here is an article that may help you find inexpensive veterinary care in your area:

Having Trouble Affording Veterinary Care?
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/trouble_affording_veterinary_care.html

For more on pet care, you may enjoy:

Worming Dogs and Cats: Natural Alternatives
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2036611/worming_dogs_and_cats_natural_alternatives.html?cat=53

Training Your Deaf Dog
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1642913/training_your_deaf_dog.html?cat=53

Kava Kava to Ease Anxiety in Dogs
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1761094/kavakava_to_ease_anxiety_in_dogs.html?cat=53