Keeping A Journal on Your Animals:

Keeping a journal is one of the most important steps you can take to have your animals live their longest, be the healthiest and even to produce the healthiest offspring.

Your holistic veterinarian will be able to help your animal more effectively when you can give all this information. You will have books with wonderful memories of your animals. Remember that to find holistic care, call 1886-4-VETNOW, and for $34.99 a holistic veterinarian will help you decide which modality is best and refer you to the best practitioner for you and your animal.

There are an infinite number of ways to keep a journal – be creative.

KEYS PARTS OF A JOURNAL

1. Beginning: Where you got the animal and when. Any history you could glean. Situation she came from. How he reacted when first with you.
2. Illnesses:
   1. For each illness record anything the veterinarian tells you and shows you. Be specific about how things looked, not just the diagnosis. (“Gingivitis”, says the veterinarian. “Why do you say that?” you ask. You see the red line above 4 of the teeth, the pus coming out behind one tooth…etc.)
   2. Ask yourself and other in the family what could have caused this illness – were emotional things happening in the family, had the animal just been to the groomer, or vaccinated, or….? Did you just get another animal?
   3. Record every current symptom observed by you and your family and your veterinarian, in numerical order.
   4. Record and date every treatment and if the animal resisted the treatment, loved it or could care less.
   5. Observe and record each symptom you originally listed, and add any new ones to the list and continue to track them all.
   6. When recovered from this current problem, schedule times for you to review the symptom list periodically to see if they are slowly returning.
   7. Always put the most emphasis on the energy, happiness, interactions, appetite and overall how she is doing.
3. Wonderful behaviors and traits For every symptom you list, think of something wonderful your animal does and record that. “She coos as she kisses my face.” “He can leap tall buildings (well big chairs) in a single leap.” “I sense her compassion for my problems.” So you will have two lists, one of ill problems, and one of funny, touching, actions, smells, tastes, feelings and more good things. Remember that our thoughts create our reality so focusing merely on the ill parts of our animals (or ourselves) may create more of that. Notice the “illnesses”, focus on the positive about your animals and yourselves.
4. Physical exam
   1. If your animal is a puppy or kitten, do a physical exam once a week until 4 or 5 months old, then shift to monthly exams. At one year, start doing the checks every 6 months or as often as you wish. When the animal has been ill, do them weekly, and then taper off as they regain health. When they seem to age, do them more frequently again.
   2. Have your veterinarian show you how to look in the eyes, ears, mouth, etc. If they will not, do it yourself anyway or look for another veterinarian. You will notice, after a time, whatever is important to see. Then – yes – record your observations.
   3. Once a year, or more often if needed, have a veterinarian do a physical to see if there is anything you are missing.
   4. What to use The best will be the upcoming book, “My Healthy Animal’s Journal”. Until then calendars, spiral notebooks, 3 ring binders, computers and scraps of paper can work to keep their journals. The best seem to be computer or 3 ring binders.

DOING A PHYSICAL EXAM

Next time you are with your veterinarian, ask her to show you what she looks for when doing a physical examination. Until then, just carefully go over your entire animal and record anything that seems different.

Eyes – look for change in color or freckles on the colored part of the eye (iris), are the white parts red and irritated? Does the center of the eye (pupil) seem dark black, or white? Is the pupil wide open or tiny? If you shine a light in the eye or point the head toward the light does the pupil get smaller? Any discharge? If so what color? Any smells? Lids – any bumps or warts, hair loss? Test vision by quickly pushing your fingers towards the eye as if you were going to poke out the eye. Your animal should blink in protection. Sometimes they trust you so much they won’t blink.

Nose – What is the color and is there any change? Any discharges? Sneezing? Itchiness (Rub the nose and see if your animal really wants a lot more rubbing.)Scabs? Flaking?

Face – Have any whiskers fallen out? Is there any hair loss anywhere? Excessive salivation? Any crusting around the mouth, especially in the corner? Any “rodent ulcers” or spots on the lips?

Mouth – Describe the color of the gums. Look for the red line where the teeth go into the gums – check all the upper teeth/gum margins for this. It may be over one tooth or many. Any teeth loss, tarter, broken off tips? Look at the tongue. Some animals will not let you look. Wait till they yawn, then add this part of the physical. Describe the odor of the mouth.

Ears – Color, odor, discharge, hair loss

Neck –Feel both sides and under the jaw to feel for lymph nodes (firm swellings that should be there, but not too big). Any other lumps or skin problems.

Front legs, starting with the shoulders. Feel both sides at the same time to notice any differences. There are lymph nodes in the armpit. How are the elbows? Nails – cracked, thickened, shredding, sensitive to touch, need trimming?

Chest – try to listen to the heart and notice how frequent the breaths and the heart beat, if you can.

Abdomen (Belly) – push and prod a little. Do you feel any odd lumps inside? They may be normal, but jot them down till next exam. Nipples look ok? Any discharge from the penis? Can you feel the bladder?

Rear legs – Again, feel both at the same time, starting with the hips. Watch your animal walk and note anything that seems different or abnormal to you. There are lymph nodes behind the knees. Pain, heat, swelling are all to be noticed. Feet same as front ones.

Skin – any lumps or bumps – measure them and record where they are located. Hair: greasy. dry, brittle, odor. Brush your hand over the coat firmly – does a lot of hair shed out?

Temperature – occasionally take the temperature. A healthy dog or cat will have a temperature of 100-101.5.

The following are more of a summary of what you have noticed over the last month and should be recorded every time your work in the journal.

Attitude – More or less playful, happy, aggressive, fearful, active...

Generals – Change in preference for heat and cold, thirst,