INTRODUCTION

At Tianshan we care greatly for the health and welfare of your puppy. We have compiled some of the advice that we give on this page. We would encourage all with a new puppy to read and head the advice given to get your puppy off to a healthy start in its, hopefully, long and healthy life.

EARS

The ears of a Shar Pei are very small so it is imperative that they are checked on a weekly basis so that any sign of infection can be picked up at the earliest opportunity. You can buy good ear cleaning products from your vet or the local pet store. Clean the inside of the ears with cotton wool balls but do not delve too deeply into the ear canal. Dust with THORNIT once a week, hopefully this will keep the ears clean, dry and fresh smelling. If you do notice a smell coming from the ears or they are red and swollen you should consult your vet as soon as possible. You will need some eardrops, I have found that Panalog works best.

EYES

Whilst teething, moulting or when a bitch is in season there is a chance that your Shar Pei's eyes may blink or water slightly, they can water also if an infection is present in the ears or they have become stressed. You can try golden eye drops to flush out the eyes just in case there is any dust or debris. You can then try golden eye ointment or lacri-lube provided that entropion is not the cause. If the eyes do close do not hesitate in calling the breeder so that they can suggest a Shar Pei friendly vet you can take your puppy/dog to. When the dog/puppies eyes close this is the condition Entropion it is very painful for the animal so you must act quickly.

PARASITE CONTROL

A clean environment will certainly help to keep your Shar Pei free from fleas. Wash bedding once a week. A garlic capsule each day will act as a repellent but they must not be the odourless capsules. You can also buy a herbal product from the vet called Xenex (spot on or spray) Homeopathic and herbal remedies are best for treating Shar Pei as they can be allergic to strong chemicals. You should worm your dog twice a year with Drontal or Panacur available at your vets.

VACCINATION

I prefer to use homeopathy to help build up the immunity as I have experienced severe side effects following vaccination at the vets. Refer to Canine Health Concern section for more information.

INSURANCE

Health Insurance for Pets will insure non vaccinated dogs Tel: 01730 301420

EXERCISE AND PLAY

Do not let your puppy jump on and off the furniture or run up and down the stairs as this can damage the bones of a developing puppy. Exercise must be kept to a minimum, very short walks or time in the garden will be sufficient. Walks can get longer with age.

CHEWING

Your puppy will start to develop an adult set of teeth around 14~16 weeks of age. It will want to chew on almost anything to cut the new teeth, so make sure electric cables are out of reach. Pig ears and nyla bones make a go alternative to your furniture.

SOCIALISATION

It is very important to take your puppy to basic training classes so that it mixes with other dogs and people. Try to take your puppy out in the car, to fetes, car boot sales, into town and to meet other types of animals e.g. horses and cows and to socialise your puppy with children. Start to leave your puppy for short periods alone in the house building up to 4 hours. This is a very important otherwise you will never be able to leave it on its own. I do not leave my own dogs for any longer than 4 hours, I feel this is not fair to do.

ARRIVING HOME

Whilst I appreciate that you and your family will be tempted to play with your new puppy as soon as you arrive home you must bear in mind that moving to a new home is a huge change, a car journey will be tiring in itself, take things quietly, not over fussing, give time to settle in before introducing your baby to friends and neighbours. Do not let very young children pick up the puppy and let the puppy sleep when it wants to (its only a baby, you must remember this).

CANINE HEALTH CONCERN

INTRODUCTION

Canine Health Concern (CHC) is all about love - people join CHC because they love their dogs enough to go that extra mile for them. CHC is about becoming knowledgeable and studying the facts so that you are no longer following blindly. You are doing your very best for your dogs, and putting in the time and effort to get things right. You're learning to separate the advertising and marketing hype from the actual facts. Each quarter, CHC issues a newsletter packed with information that will help you to care for your dogs. This information con sometimes be simple, and sometimes fairly scientific their aim is to provide the information you need, to the depth that any one of you might need. Membership of CHC provides you with benefits:

• Information to help you keep your dogs healthy

• Facts that help you make important choices for your pets

• Hope for the future

If you follow their advice, you should have lower vet bills and healthier dogs.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BECOME A MEMBER OF CANINE HEALTH CONCERN?

When you become a member of Canine Health Concern, you are joining a family of dog lovers who will support you as you make important changes for your dogs' health. Annual membership of CHC costs only £12 per annum if you are in the UK, or £16 outside the UK We believe your  investment will pay itself back many times.

Contact Info:

CANINE HEALTH CONCERN PO BOX 6943 FORFAR ANGUS DD8 3WG

Tel: 01307 640604

web site: http://www.canine-health-concern.org.uk

PET FOOD

Most brands of pet food, however well advertised, contain low quality ingredients that only just sustain life. Pet food is generally made from the waste products of the human food chain. Toenails, beaks, feathers, spleens, skin, dead dogs and cats, flea collars, polystyrene trays, rancid meats, peanut shells . . . these and other unwholesome ingredients have all been shown to have gone into the can or packet.

Because most pet food brands are waste products, they must be cooked at very high temperatures to destroy contaminants. This also destroys nutrients, so that you may as well feed your dog the packet for all the good it will do him.

Manufacturers then throw in a few vitamins and minerals BUT, according to the American government, no one actually knows the full nutritional requirements of dogs or cats. So a lot of it is guesswork.

Pet food basically represents dead unwholesome matter that has little chance of keeping your dog healthy.

REAL FOOD

Real Food Will Help Your Dogs to Thrive

Canine Health Concern members have discovered a well kept secret: if you throw away the cans and the packets, and buy your dogs, and cats, meat and bones from the butcher and add vegetables and table scraps, then young dogs retain their youthful vitality, sick dogs make significant improvements in their health, and all dogs tend to live longer, healthier, lives. Some years ago, Canine Health Concern surveyed dogs who had been taken off pet <BR>food and put on a raw meat and bone diet. Their owners reported an 85 per cent drop in veterinary visits. Vitality improved, coats shone, and in some cases medication was no longer required. Similarly, many years ago, a scientist called Pottenger proved that cats fed raw meat, milk and cod liver oil thrived over generations, whereas cats fed cooked meat became sicker and sicker over generations. It makes sense when you consider that animals in the wild can't cook or open cans, but they've survived for millions of years. Having said all this, it must also be mentioned that dogs, like humans, are all individuals. Whilst most thrive on raw food, a small proportion don't. In these circumstances, home cooking is a great alternative and there ARE some really good.

ANNUAL VACCINATION?

Annual Vaccination is Just About the Worst Thing You Can Do for Your Pets

Canine Health Concern first started researching the cause of ill health in the modern dog, the vaccine issue took centre stage.

At one time, it was generally thought that pets needed to be vaccinated every year.

It was also 'thought' that annual vaccination was a harmless procedure conducted by professional veterinarians and responsible dog and cat lovers.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it has now been discovered, following copious research, that annual vaccination is not only unnecessary, but it can also be harmful.

In 1997, Catherine O'Driscoll researched and wrote a book called 'What Vets Don't

Tell You About Vaccines'. It caused quite a stir in the veterinary field but was credible enough to be used as the basis of a World in Action TV documentary. The veterinary profession fought like mad and dug their heels in, saying that we at CHC were irresponsible and just plain wrong. The veterinary vaccine industry mounted a PR campaign to refute what they were saying. But the truth is now out: All 27 veterinary teaching colleges in North America have announced, officially, that a dog doesn't need any more vaccines after a shot at six months of age (with the exception of the rabies shot in America, since this is a remaining useless and unnecessary law). For the plain fact is that once you're immune to a virus, you are immune. This is why children aren't vaccinated every year.

VACCINE HARM

Apart From Being an Unnecessary Expense, Over Vaccination is Deadly Harmful

Canine Health Concern surveyed over 4,000 dogs and asked a simple question of their guardians: if your dog is ill, when did he become ill in relation to a vaccine event?

Even we were astounded by the answers. CHC found that a high percentage of dogs (66%) became ill within three months of their shots, many in the first days and weeks.<BR>Illnesses such as epilepsy, diabetes, arthritis, behavioural problems, organ failure, thyroid disease, paralysis, allergies, skin problems, cancer, leukaemia, and a wide range of immune mediated diseases, are directly triggered by vaccines. This claim is supported not only by research conducted by Canine Health Concern, but by research conducted by credible scientists around the world. Much of it is reproduced in Catherine O'Driscoll's book, 'What Vets Don't Tell You About Vaccines'.

VACCINE RISK

You Play Russian Roulette Every Time You Vaccinate Your Dog, Cat or Child.

The CHC appreciate that you don't want to leave your loved ones exposed to potentially deadly viral disease. This is understandable. So some of you may be swayed by the vets and vaccine companies who are now suggesting that you vaccinate your animals every three years. Although it's a move in the right direction, vaccination every three years is STILL too often.

There are a number of factors which can make vaccines harmful to humans and animals alike. The first of  these is genetic predisposition. Did you know, for example, that Merck, one of the world's largest vaccine manufacturers, states in The Merck Manual that individuals with, or from families with, dermatitis, eczema, food allergies, inhalant allergies, and heart and neurological problems, should not receive live virus vaccines because the vaccine could kill them?

Most viral vaccines are live vaccines, which means that if your dog, cat or child, is genetically predisposed to allergies, every time you risk a vaccine, you risk illness and death.

Other factors can render vaccines harmful. If an individual is incubating a disease, or is stressed, or nutritionally deficient, the immune system could be unable to mount a defence against the vaccine challenge. In these circumstances, live vaccines can and do cause the diseases they are designed to prevent. So it makes absolute sense to refrain from any unnecessary medical procedure that comes with potential side-effects.

For the truth is that you don't need to re vaccinate an already vaccinated dog after six months of age, when his immune system will be mature. And you don't need to risk.

DRUG RISK

Some Conventional Veterinary Drugs Are Over Used and Potentially Harmful

If you have been vaccinating your pets annually and feeding pet food, it is quite likely that he suffers, or will suffer, from a range of degenerative illnesses that will require regular visits to the vet.

Conventional veterinary medicine relies very heavily in these circumstances upon antibiotics and steroids, and these are in the CHC's opinion over prescribed. They also come with serious side effects.

Of course antibiotics and steroids do have their place, and have even saved lives. But by over using them we are weakening our dogs' bodies and setting them up for further illnesses.

Another class of drugs, called Non Steroidal Anti Inflarnmatories, or NSAIDs, also come with side effects. The drug Rimadyl, also known as Carprofen, for example, is capable of causing death. So serious has the problem been that the American government has insisted its manufacturer release a data sheet to warn animal guardians of this fact.

Worm and flea control products need to be used advisedly and with caution. Interestingly, a naturally fed dog is unlikely to be infested with worms or to attract fleas.

COMPLEMENTARY OPTIONS

There is a Wide Range of Complementary Healthcare Options for Your Pets

Since the inception of the CHC over ten years ago, Canine Health Concern has campaigned to inform animal guardians of less invasive yet powerful alternatives to conventional veterinary care. The CHC have been recommending homoeopathic veterinary care since it began. They have shared information about Bach Flower Remedies, Animal Chiropractic, Herbs, Nutritional Therapy, Emotional Freedom Technique, Reiki, Radionics, Acupuncture, Physiotherapy, and more. Importantly, they have walked with animal guardians as they have taken power into their own hands and become healers.

CHC MEMBERS

Canine Health Concern Members are Intelligent People Who Think For Themselves.

For many of us, our sick and dying animals led us to the start of a long, exciting, and empowering road of discovery. We were shown by our dogs that appropriate nutrition is the foundation of health. They have also shown us that the 'experts' don't always have all the answers, and that they can sometimes be wrong. Our dogs taught us to think for ourselves and take our power back. That's quite a gift, isn't it. The animals have given us so much.

CANINE HEALTH CONCERN PO BOX 6943 FORFAR ANGUS DD8 3WG

Tel: 01307 460604

website: http://www.canine-health-concern.org.uk/"