In the summer heat, it is very important to follow some rules to protect your pet’s health (and often its life!).
🚗 NEVER leave the dog (or anyone) in the car in the summer, NOT FOR A SINGLE MINUTE!
🌡 In summer, concrete surfaces can heat up to 60 degrees, and metal coverings can be even hotter. If you can’t walk the dog on grass or in the shade, get him shoes and foot protectors, because even a few steps can cause burns!
🚰 Always have fresh water and a drinking bowl with you, don’t go for a walk without it!
🕔 The best time for long walks are the early mornings and the evenings.
🍧Take care of cooling toys and accessories, especially if your dog is prone to overheating anyway – this is especially true for short-nosed dogs, pugs, bulldogs, and boxers.

The plant in the picture is the awn barley, which is responsible for the fact that we, unfortunately, see a lot of puppies in the vet’s office every summer.
So we’ll elaborate a bit on the topic, so you what to look out for and what to do if a grass awn is embedded in your dog’s paw. 

But what is the awn?
 The awn barley, aka the mouse barley is an annual monocotyledon weed that is quite common in Hungary.
 Its seeds germinate in the spring, develop in the summer and can grow to 30 cm in height  It’s not toxic, but when the spikes turn yellow, the awn detaches from the plant and it can penetrate the body of the dog walking in the grass, even causing severe symptoms. 
As it is unable to degrade, in certain extreme cases, it can be fatal to the animal.

What you can do to prevent the plant from penetrating the skin of your dog?
 Avoid awn infected places as much as possible – however, it’s important to stay vigilant even while walking in the city, as this plant can grow out of the cracks in the concrete!
 If your favorite is long-haired, take it to a pet groomer regularly and, as far as the breed allows, keep its hair short!
 After each walk, Inspect your dog and comb its hair.
 If visiting a heavily awn infected area, you may put socks or dog shoes on your dog’s paws.
 In the case of breeds with long, drooping ears, some owners would also put socks or stockings over their dog’s ears in particularly infected areas – in this case, however, you must pay close attention to the risk of overheating.

What to look for to timely  recognize that the plant has penetrated your dog’s paw or body?
After walks in meadows and fields, check your dog, especially on the footpads, feet, underbelly, the ears, folds, and around the muzzle.
 Intense scratching, licking of an area, bleeding or loss of balance (in case of awn infection of the ear) can be warning signs.  Strong squinting, squeaking, or whining may also indicate that the awn has penetrated the animal’s nose or eyes, in which case it’s even more urgent to consult a vet.

 What you can do if you find awn in your dog!
 It’s important that you do not try to remove the awn yourself! This is the vet’s job and they use a special tool for this, otherwise, the appendage of the spear-shaped ear of the plant will detach and remain under the dog’s skin.
 If you find an awn in your dog, consult a specialist as soon as possible, especially if the awn is in your dog’s mouth, nose or eyes!
 Don’t let your dog poke or lick the wound! This would spread the bristles of the awn under the skin, evidentially making it more difficult for the vet to remove them. If your dog pokes the awn, put a sock on its feet or cover the infected area until you get to the vet!

Information about cartilige protection products made for dogs
 How can these products help my dog?
 They can help in the regeneration of articular cartilages, cartilage discs, thews and tendons, while also preventing the development of musculoskeletal problems or reducing their effects
 Who should take them?
 Large breed or rapidly growing young or developing dogs.
 Adult dogs performing sport or work related intense movements.
 Dogs recovering from bone or joint related medical procedures to help with regeneration.
 Dogs with cartilage disc diseases or injuries.
 Senior dogs.
 How long can these products be used?
 For prevention: a 2 months long period 1 or 2 times per year. For acute symptoms: continously all year around.
At our pharmacy we can help you with choosing the most suitable product for your dog  and give advice on the proper usage too!

Extremely important that as many animal lovers as possible learn about the dangers of heartworms and the possibilities of protection.

What are heartworms?
Heartworm larvae enter the dog when the mosquito sucks blood.
The worms are mostly located in the pulmonary arteries, the right side of the heart will only be affected in the later stages of the disease.
The lifespan of heartworms can reach 7 years, the parasite cannot pass directly to family members living with an infected animal, blood-sucking mosquitoes are needed to transmit the infection.

Why is it dangerous?
The infection can go unnoticed for a long time, and by the time it is discovered, it has already caused serious or irreversible damage to your pet’s body. Therefore, prevention is extremely important.
Making a diagnosis is also complicated by the fact that parasites cannot be detected during the first 6-8 months of their development cycle (with blood and serological tests).

How can you defend yourself?
Detecting the disease is therefore not easy, so preventive treatment and repeated examinations are necessary. Fortunately, there are several methods that can be used:

Regular screening is important!
At the start of each annual preventive treatment, dogs must be examined for the presence of both circulating antigens and microfilariae in the blood (Knott’s test for microfilariae, blood test to screen for antigens).

Prevention with repellent preparations:
Animals can be protected from mosquito bites with spot-on preparations that prevent mosquitoes from sucking blood.

Antiparasitic preparations for dogs

Antiparasitic preparations for cats

Additional prevention methods:
There are other preparations, they work when delivered to your pet’s body. In any case, regular application is the most important part of your defense strategy.
Ask your veterinarian about effective preventive treatment against larvae!

❗In cartoons dogs chew on bones all the time. However, real life is a bit more complicated than that!

No matter how common of a practice, the reality is that giving bones to your pets is a really bad idea! 🙅

⚠️ Shattered bones could easily hurt your dogs’ palate, could get stuck in their esophagus and cause choking or even puncture intestines!

⚠️ If that’s not enough, they can also cause serious constpiation and with that, really bad complications.

⚠️ The most dangerous bones are chicken, duck or turkey, as they shatter to really small and sharp pieces. Never give your pets these!

⚠️ Solid bones, like spare ribs of beef shanks shatters into duller pieces, but they still make digestion harder, so giving these kind of bones to your pets is also not advised.