Open up and Say Ahhhh!!!

 Would you go for years without dental care?  Most likely not! Your pet's dental care is just as important to his/her overall health care as your dental health is to your general health.  Starting a regular dental care routine for your pet is one of the most important things you can do to help ensure his/her optimum overall health.  Farm animals are no different!  At Pasado’s we have routine veterinary checkups that do include dentals as well as blood work, vaccinations and hoof trimmings.    
 

Recently, two of our Pasado's residents had to receive a little more dental work than just a cleaning.  Chester, our miniature horse,  had an improper bite.  The way a horse chews his food often wears the teeth uneven.  If the teeth aren’t “floated” regularly, the inside of the mouth can become cut and sore, making eating difficult.  If they cannot eat properly, it will affect their food intake, digestion process, and eventually cause other health problems.

There are specialty veterinarians that focus mainly on dentals, like Dr. Robert Gregory of Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital in Snohomish, WA.  Here he is making sure that Chester's teeth are in tip top shape!

Llama Turner received his (yes, his - We recently discovered that "she" is a "he"!) routine dental as well. As llama’s age, old or infected teeth often loosen and fall out. When a llama is missing teeth or has irregular wear of the teeth, it will cause problems with the first step of digestion, the mechanical breakdown of food through chewing.  The llama will begin to lose weight even if it is still eating enough food. Sometimes it will eat less food because the mouth may be sore.  Routine oral examinations should be done by your veterinarian.

More and more people are adopting farm animals like Llama Turner and Chester as companion animals to help the victims who suffer from production farms and other neglectful and abusive situations.  And when you adopt an animal from Pasado’s Safe Haven it opens a spot for another animal in need of rescuing. 

When interacting with farm animals, it is easy to recognize the similarities between them and other more “common” companions.  Goats, for example are very much like dogs; they are extremely personable and love human attention.   Llama’s can teach us a lot; like mutual respect and tolerance.  They are non-aggressive, intelligent, and serene animals that have a soothing and peaceful affect on humans.  Anyone with a kind heart can care for farm animals - but you will need to do a lot of self-educating and training.  

 Adopting a farm animal can be very rewarding, whether it is a chicken, a goat, cow, horse or pig.   Every animal has it's own unique personality - just like a cat or dog.  Information on caring for a farm animal is available from farm and feed supply stores, agricultural agents, and even your local farm animal veterinarian.  Keep in mind that these resources generally view farm animals as "food products" and some of the information may be misleading or not applicable.  If you are interested in adopting a farm animal, please contact Jenny here. 

Can't adopt an animal but still want to help?  Because the majority of the dogs, cats, and farm animal that Pasado’s Safe Haven rescues are often adults or seniors, they are capable of have more health problems.  Please consider making a donation to help us ensure that our animals continue to get the veterinary care they need.