Need info on Amer. Cocker Spaniels, characteristics, diseases etc so I can take good care of her.?
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Im so excited for you I love cocker spaniels I have three. Cocker spaniels are a very high maintenace breed in my opinion but worth every minute. They have an excellent temperment and very loving. I would put her on some premium dog food such as candaie or Royal Cannin. Two of my cockers had a bad reaction to iams. Your going to need some ear cleaner and some clippers. Cocker spaniels are extremely suspectible to ear infections and have tons of eye problems. There is some eye stain remover you can get at any pets store or at www.dog.com. Just take a wet wash rag and clean around the eyes. Cherry eye in cockers is prevalent also. Its were the third eye lid flips over and it looks like a red bubble. There is a sugery you can get that will keep it from happining again and it costs about 225. To keep the number of ear infections down you need to keep the ears clean and groomed keep the hair around the ear canal trimmed very short I know the curly ears are just adorable but its better than going to the vet with an ear infection. Cockers are also pigs put her on a feeding schedule, cockers should eat between 1 1/2 cups - 2 cups of dog food a day they will act like they are starving but they get overweight very easy. Charlie had to go on a diet and a feeding schedule after the vet got on to me about his weight. Cockers are eager to please and are intellegent, house breaking is a little difficult. Your cocker will need to be groomed about every month, i would go get some clippers its a lot cheaper and its not hard to do. Cockers need to be bathed frequently depending on what cut you decide. Mine have a show cut and it requires frequent brushing and frequent baths. Use a good oatmeal shampoo or some conditioner. There skin is really dry. Sorry I just woke up some the info is a little scattered however if you have an questions just email me I would love to help My cocker pics
Just because she isn't micro-chipped doesn't mean that you shouldn't at least try and find the owner.
Contact your local humane society/animal shelters and rescue groups and let them know you found this dog and was wondering if the owner is looking for her. If they don't have her reported as missing, then she is yours. You can keep her at your home while they check, which is best. Go here: http://www.mypetnanny.info/pd/index.htm... and find your area.
http://www.mypetnanny.info/link_pages/lo...
Remember she might have been reported missing for some time. If you were the original owners, wouldn't you want to find your dog too? You owe it to her and the owners to try.
As far as characteristics, temperments and such go here: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/americancock...
http://www.akc.org/breeds/recbreeds/cock...
Visit the following link for more details
http://www.dogsvets.net/breeds/american_...
Spaying is a good start! Cockers are very prone to ear infections, so be sure her ears are kept clean. Get her groomed, and have the hair on her ears trimmed, that will help to let air circulate so she will be less liable to get her ears infected. Have the vet check her eyes, but they tend to have runny eyes anyway.
I hope you get to keep her, cockers are one of the sweetest things on 4 feet!
Well, I am real glad that she has found a new home! And you should keep her, but before you are certain you should see if anyone has been calling the shelters near you looking for her especially before you spay her. For all you know she could be someone’s Champion.
Having her eyes tearing is actually good if her eye staining is coming from tears, many cockers as they age can get "dry eye" a condition where they stop producing enough tears and develop more of a mucus discharge. If she develops that as she gets older, you can put drops in her eyes. Cockers do need grooming, but you can keep her in a puppy clip and not need to groom often. If she is a show type cocker she will be able to grow hair on her legs and belly to the floor like an Afghan, you can keep that trimmed or even shave her down once of twice a year, or you can keep her in a full show coat. If she doesn't grow coat like that there is a chance she is not from show breeding, which is fine. The American Cocker did not have as profuse before about 1950 and many lines still don't. The ones that are bred for show generally do. Although sometimes a buff cocker will have less coat only because it was bred with black and on occasion that combination looses coat on the buffs (but not always it depends on how many generations of buff with coat are on the pedigree).
I hope that helps, and I am very glad she found a good home! That is one reason that people should consider pure bred dogs, because in the event they get lost, or something happens they are the first ones people want to be the new homes for.
Ah yes ear infections. Cockers need to have their ears cleaned, some are less prone to ear infections than others but cockers are notorious for ear infections. One of the favorite treatments for cocker’s ears is called the “blue power treatment” I will give you a link for that bellow. Also buying a good ear cleaner like oticleanse or R-7 is a good idea. The blue power treatment can be used prophylatically before baths. It is purple and it does stain, but is an excellent reducer for fungi and microorganisms that cause infection. If she develops a real bad ear infection that has a distinct awful smell and mucus it would be pseudomonas the preferred drug right now for that is Cipro. At times that changes as the organism becomes resistant to different drugs. In the event she ever develops that make sure you tell your vet to try systemic Cipro along with a topical Gentamicin ear drop.
With foods please stay away from anything with BHT, BHA or Ethoxyquine
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