Who doesn’t love spending some time camping in the peaceful, beautiful outdoors? The only way to make it even more enjoyable is by spending a weekend camping with your dog? Whether in a tent or a camper, your dog would love to go too! As soon as our dogs see the camper hooked to the truck they get so excited. Too nervous about taking your canine companion camping with you? Here are some tips!
Up to date on dewormer and flea/tick preventative
Not only is preventative veterinary medicine important for overall health and well-being, but it is also super important when taking your dog into the wonderful great outdoors. Dogs tend to eat all kinds of things they shouldn’t, sometimes including feces from other animals, and more than likely, those other animals are probably full of parasites. Also, heartworm is transmitted by mosquitoes and causes heartworm disease which is fatal to dogs if left untreated. Keeping your dog up to date on a broad spectrum monthly dewormer such as Interceptor Plus will keep them protected.
And don’t forget about the fleas and ticks! The woods are loaded with blood-sucking, disease-spreading ticks, and rabbits are loaded with fleas. I prefer Bravecto to protect my doggos against fleas and ticks. It’s a chewable tablet that protects them for 12 weeks!
Bring fresh water when camping with your dog
I do all I can from letting my dogs drink from stagnant water sources so we always have fresh water from home available to them at all times. Stagnant water can be contaminated with parasites like giardia that cause diarrhea and is zoonotic, meaning we can catch it too. Leptospirosis is a disease that dogs can also get from drinking contaminated water sources. It’s harmful to their liver and again, zoonotic. To avoid this the best you can, just bring water you know is clean.
Have Plenty of Leashes
Most of the time, we can just let our dogs go without having a leash attached. However, I always have them. If we are camping around other campers with dogs, they don’t have the extra freedom. It is more for their protection against other dogs. The last thing you need is a dog fight out in the middle of nowhere.
Doggy First Aid Kit is Essential When Camping With Your Dog
Being a vet tech, I have everything imaginable with us just in case. However, everyone should have a simple doggy first aid kit. In it should be bandage material including vet wrap. Dog-friendly anti-inflammatories such as Rimadyl (NO IBUPROFEN FOR DOGS!), Benadryl, and Dramamine for dogs that experience car sickness. Benadryl is the most important medication to have in the case of bee stings or allergic reactions to plants. You can read here for more information about giving your dog Benadryl. Extra t-shirts and baby socks are nice to have available too. As well as tweezers or a pair of hemostats, like the ones you can buy at a fishing store, in case your dog runs into a porcupine or breaks a toenail.
We love camping and we have even more fun when we bring our dogs. Because our dogs are our kids, I do my best to make sure we have everything we may need just in case. Do you take your dog camping? Where is their favorite place to go?
