Sudsy Puppy Pet Grooming

Well it’s that time of year again here in Temecula Valley, Southern California! The fox tails are out and we are already finding them the feet and hair of dogs and cats that we groom. As pet groomers we deal with them every year and they are very unpleasant! It surprises us how some of these furry friends of ours are able to walk with a sticker in their toes or feet.

What is a foxtail? Foxtails are a wild barley very common to our area. They are designed to work their way further and further into their host by way of little barbs built into their tops. They typically are not a problem for pets until they dry out. At this point they very easily become embedded in fur (and socks!) and are difficult to remove. A foxtail can work its way right into the skin and even the bloodstream and should be taken very seriously as they can create expensive vet bills and lots of discomfort to a pet!

5 Grooming Tips on Managing Foxtails for your Cat or Dog

1. Check your dogs feet often! Look in the pads and remove and stickers or foxtails after they’ve been out in nature or even just for a walk.

2. Check your dogs ears, and bottoms. Foxtails can become embedded in a pets privates if they sit on them. They can also enter ears easily and this is a common reason for a vet visit.

3. Avoid weeds and wild fields. Try the park or the beach for an outing instead and if you are on a trail keep your dog on a leash so they dont crash around in the underbrush and collect stickers and foxtails.

4. Keep your pet professionally groomed. In grooming your pet we cover everything! We find remove and report possible foxtails on a weekly basis in the summer.

5. If you think your dog has a foxtail. If you suspect your dog has a foxtail in its foot, often you can apply a warm compress to drain and squeeze it out. If the foxtails is embedded too far in you will probably need to have it lanced out by a vet.

Please feel free to comment or add to our list! Every little bit helps keep our pets healthy and happy!

And don’t forget cats can get foxtails too, so be sure and follow these steps wherever appropriate if your kitty spends time outdoors.

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Have we mentioned our furry friends yet? Yes we do have a bunch here! 10 cats all indoors and one shihtzu. Recently we’ve noticed out smallest rescued kitty “Sweet Pea” is having accidents on the couch. We plan to have her spayed next week and know that this will help a lot. Because she is a bit of a feral cat, we will take extra steps that we can to prevent her from having these accidents and steer her towards the cat littler box.

A natural cat repellent method I’ve recent become aware of consists of using rosemary plant cuttings or essential oils as a cat repellent. Personally I love the smell of rosemary so this wont bother us at all. Today I will be purchasing some oil and diluting it with water then lightly spraying the couch, which we keep covered with a blanket or two.

Keeping the fingers crossed! We’ll report back as to how well this idea actually works!

Natural Cat Repellent

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A great idea and one that I’ve been pondering how to implement on our last several vacations is how to set up a movable video cam in our home so that we can check in on our pets while we are away. Recently I was referred to this website, which has a product they call Pet Cam, that does exactly what I imagined. Check out the Web Cam here. 

It is a bit pricey still but as technology does this price should come down quickly. Hopefully they will add a speaker feature that allows us to talk to our pets in real time. This could conceivable be a great way to teach dogs not to bark when we are not home!

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