Keep Your Dog’s Coat Looking Fresh

Dogs are beautiful creatures, and make incredible pets. They’ll be your new best friend and never leave your side. – You should do the same for them, and that includes taking care of them because they can’t always do that themselves.

Our boy Scrap. Photo: Keith Newhouse / photoplatform

One way you can take good care of them is by making sure their coat is healthy. Not only will they look great, but they’ll feel even better.

Whether your dog’s fur is long or short, smooth or coarse, you want to do all you can to make it look as luxurious and ravishing as can be. Shiny hair means healthy hair. Here’s what you need to do.

Nutrition

There are so many different types and brands of dog food out there, it’s hard to know which one to believe. Most of them all claim to do different things, while believe it or not, they all contain similar ingredients. When buying their food, make sure you do the right research based on their breed, age, size and any other health factors that may be relevant.

Fleas and Ticks

Take the appropriate steps to prevent fleas and ticks working their way into your animal’s fur. Tick and flea treatment for dogs consists of medication, ointments, shampoos and pills. Keeping them away from your pups will give your dog a stress-free life from constant itching, redness and swelling, meaning the fur can grow naturally how it should, without any disturbance. We get tailored flea, tick and worm treatment on prescription from our Vet. Scrapper is weighed so we know the exact right dosage, perfect for him.

If you find a tick in your dogs fur, don’t try to remove it yourself. The tick’s head could be left under your dog’s skin and cause serious infection or disease. Take your dog to your vet, where they will be able to remove the tick safely and quickly.

Allergies

If your dog is allergic to something, it may affect their skin and fur because of all the scratching. The more they scratch, the more the skin becomes tender, resulting in damaged tissue which will prevent normal hair growth, leaving it looking thin and unattractive. Bathing, shampooing and conditioning can help with this, but you should go to the vets and figure out what the real cause of the allergy is. That way you will have more of an idea on how to treat the problem.

Brushing

Regularly brushing your dog’s fur will help distribute their natural oils back into their skin. Brushing will also help remove any loose or tangled fur that if left, can end up in hair loss from knotting. Make sure you don’t just use any old brush though; there are different types depending on your dog’s fur type and length. Another wonderful benefit is that it creates a bonding moment between you and your buddy, which is, in doggy terms, known as grooming. You may find that your pal licks you as you brush their fur – this is them grooming you back.

Our little Scrapper.

As you can see, keeping your dog’s coat beautiful will not only benefit their fur, but their general health too. This will also keep your dog’s stress levels down because they don’t have any irritation or discomfort. Stress itself will cause your dog to gnaw away at their fur, so as long as you do all you can to bring up a happy pup that gets plenty of exercise, water and lots of love, there’s no reason they won’t grow up to be a stunning stallion with a coat that you could only ever dream of.

Old MacDonald Had An Urban Mini-Farm

One of the best ways families can go green is by growing their own organic veggies. But did you also know that it’s also possible to raise your own chickens so that you can enjoy fresh eggs too? You just need to set up your own little urban farm! It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a lot of outdoor space – you’ll be surprised at the possibilities you have even in a compact city garden. Here are some very useful tips that can help you get started with your urban farm. And remember, even if you decide to just grow a few veggies in pots on the patio, you will be feeding your family with healthy fresh food, with no air miles, pesticides and you had fun along the way!

Split Your Space

If you fancy growing vegetables and keeping chickens in the same garden, you will need to effectively split up the space. That’s because you shouldn’t let chickens onto your vegetable patch as they will scratch it up and could damage the plants once they start to grow. Trust me, I have fallen victim to this a few times! The chickens had great fun though!

So, it’s necessary to allocate some of your garden as a veg patch, and make sure that it is surrounded by a fence or some chicken wire so that all your crops can grow without being disturbed by the chicken!  Make sure the wire is strong and do your research how to fox proof your space. Even though chickens can’t fly, they can jump very high. We have one girl who can easily clear 6ft!

Equip Your Shed

You will need lots of different tools once you start your own little urban farm. For starters, you should ensure that you have plenty of gardening equipment that can help you look after all your crops. If you plan on working in your shed and have lighting installed, you might want to go to selectra.co.uk and find out about smart meters. These can help you monitor your energy use and ensure your farm stays within its budget. Fix water buts to your home and shed too, so you reduce the need for using the garden hose. We have 4 water buts in total, which saves gallons of water needed to water all of our veggies.

Use your shed as growing space too. We have attached hanging baskets to our shed. Our shed is huge and in full sun, perfect from growing tumbling tomatoes.

Find A Chicken Coop

You need to find an appropriate coop or hutch for your chickens to live in. If your shed is big enough, you might want to just place some straw in one corner so that they can sleep in there. That’ll save you buying a specific house for them. It is important to remember that you might not be able to let your chickens roam freely if you live in a built-up area. But you can still let them outside – you just need to make a run for them. You can have a go at making your own, but most pet shops stock them. Looking at chickencoopsandhouses.co.uk, you can see that there are runs and coops of various shapes and sizes.

We have a kids wendy house as a coop. I can easily get in to clean and collect eggs, and my husband fitted a drop down steal door to make letting them out in the morning easier. The wendy house was an on-line freebie and works just as well as any expensive coop.

Breakfast time.

Start Small

Start by growing just a few things in tubs first or dedicating a small patch of your garden for growing space. Taking on loads as a newbie can be daunting and can be really disheartening when things go wrong. Take time to plan your garden, what you want to grow and do your research when the best time to sow and plant out.

Keep your eyes peeled for a cheap greenhouse for sale. The plastic pop up ones are fab for small sheltered spaces, but glass houses are best. You can buy small ones, and will have far greater success growing in a proper glass house.

Sell Your Eggs

If you find that you have quite a few eggs left over after your family have taken the ones that you need, you might like the idea of selling some. To do this, you should buy some egg boxes (or ask your family and friends for any old ones!) and clean off the eggs before you pack them. Make sure you don’t wash them, though, as this can damage the protecting film that helps them last longer. Don’t say that your eggs are free-range though, as you might be breaking regulations, especially if your chickens can’t get out of your garden. But if you feed your chickens organic food, then you can advertise them as organic eggs.

Enjoy your new urban farm!