Eau de Pew! Help for your stinky dog
18.05.12
We love our dogs and want to be close to them, so when they smell bad we need to find out if the foul odor has an underlying cause that needs to be addressed.
AKC Family Dog magazine explains the most common causes of canine odor and offers these tips to help keep your dog healthy, clean, and comfortable.
- Ears: Terrible odors can come from your dog's ears. If they stink or smell yeasty, chances are your dog has a yeast or bacterial infection and needs an antibiotic. See your veterinarian.
- Skin: Yeast and bacteria accumulating on your dog's skin is a common cause of an overall unpleasant odor. Your best bet to solving this smelly problem is to keep your dog clean. Regularly bathe him (every week or two). Use a gentle, moisturizing shampoo, and make sure to scrub to the skin. Thoroughly clean between wrinkles and paw pads, since yeast and bacteria thrive in these dark and sometimes dirty places. Rinsing very well is also key.
- Coat: If your dog is clean yet still smells bad, the cause may be improper drying. This is common in double-coated breeds. A layer of moisture lingers under the topcoat and gets rancid, not only causing odor, but it can also lead to skin problems if left unchecked. After drying your dog make sure you can run a comb through his entire coat, all the way down to the skin. This will allow his skin to breathe and the coat to dry completely. You can also use a blow dryer to eliminate dampness. If using a human blow dryer, make sure it is set to cool since they can become too hot for dogs.
Source: MiamiHerald.com
No Such Thing as a 'Normal' Vagina?
18.05.12
, Suggest that there may not be a single standard for a “normal” or “healthy” vaginal environment. Levels of bacteria that may signify bacterial infection in one woman may be healthy in another. The study involved 32 women who submitted vaginal bacterial swabs taken twice a week for 16 weeks.
“We were surprised at the extent of differences we saw between women, and the uniqueness of patterns observed with various individuals,” says Larry Forney, director of the Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies at the University of Idaho and one of the co-authors of the paper. “When you look at the 32 women, it’s hard to find two who are the same when it comes to their vaginal microbiota.”
( MORE: A Surprising Link Between Bacteria and Colon Cancer )
It’s the first study to document such dynamic differences, and could change the way doctors currently diagnose and treat vaginal infections. Yeast and bacterial infections affect about 25% to 30% of women in the U.S. on any given day. Rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment, each woman may require more tailored treatment.
Source: TIME
