Pet hygiene: is it simply a bath?

By dnp-team On May 20, 2009

Over the years, we have related the term ‘hygiene’ or cleanliness with just a ‘bath’ when it comes to our pets, but it is not so. Here’s what is meant by pet hygiene.
Whenever you give a bath to your beloved pet, you feel that the canine kid has become neat and clean. But while giving him a bath, did you give special attention to areas like the eyes, ears, under pads, nails, toilet areas, under stomach and the teeth. Here’s what you can do to keep your pet hygienic:

While giving your pet a bath, ensure that no soap or shampoo goes into his eyes and ears.
If your pet belongs to a hairy breed, loose hair can enter the eyes while scrubbing and irritate our pets. Take them out with the help of a cotton ball.
If your pet is a Pug, Pekingese, Sharpie, Bulldog, Bloodhound, Bullmastiff, etc, they have folds beneath the eyes. Try to wipe in between the folds with the help of your fingers. Such areas should also be later dried properly with cotton balls or a soft towel after the bath. Regular cleaning of these areas will keep your pet away from skin/fungal infections, which easily develop in moist or damp areas.
Clean each ear with dry cotton balls after the bath to take out any wax deposits and any residue.
The under pads, under stomach and the toilet areas need to be individually checked and scrubbed to take out any unwanted deposits.
Do not clip your pet’s nails at home as they carry live veins and if not clipped professionally can start bleeding.
Some pets give out bad odour even after a nice bath. What we may not realise is that the odour might not be coming from the body but Whroo, Whroof, yes you got it right, it may just be coming from the mouth. If your pet has a dirty brownish colour deposit on the teeth (tartar), it may give out a bad odour. Brushing the teeth with toothpaste or using other products which can be added to the food for tartar removal can tackle this issue.
Give your pet regular chews to chew at as the chewing action helps in removing the tartar deposit on the teeth causing bad breathe.
If you still smell an odour, check his ears and if still something is bothering you, do visit your vet to get your pets anal glands checked!
With the summers in and if you have a breed with long hair, give your pet a summer clip to keep him knot free, relaxed and chilled out through the season.

(Preeti and Sanjeev Kumar of Scooby Scrub, New Delhi are professional certified groomers (Thailand) and animal welfare workers.)