Health And Diet
What you feed your dog is as important as what you feed your kids!
Please read this excellent article on the best feeding schedule, then come back here.
Of course we all love our dogs. Of course, we want the best for them, right? Well, let me tell you that just as the Cigarette Industry continues to sell a product that is well known, and not disputed, to cause cancers and other major health problems – including death – the Pet Food Industry is doing the same thing!
photo credit: pirate johnny
In any bag of your name brand kibble, the packages list it’s nutritional values, etc. If you surf to the list of ingredients, you’ll find that in most – if not all name brand kibbles – contain Wheat and Corn fillers. In those two ingredients contain the proteins that shoot up their nutrition values. Now, that would be great if our canine companions where created with the same “systems” that we humans have. But that’s simply not the case.
You see, we humans are omnivores. We eat meat as well as greens and grains (such as wheats). Rabbits and cows are herbivores, as they eat strictly greens and grains. There is no meat within their diets. Carnivores, however, get their nutrition from killing and eating other omnivores and herbivores. Of course, the animals carnivores eat are typically smaller than they are!
Here is a brief description of the carnivore/omnivore/herbivore relationship:
A carnivore is an animal that gets food from killing and eating other animals. Carnivores generally eat herbivores, but can eat omnivores, and occasionally other carnivores. Animals that eat other animals, like carnivores and omnivores are important to any ecosystem, because they keep other species from getting overpopulated. Since carnivores have to hunt down and kill other animals they require a large amount of calories. This means that they have to eat many other animals over the course of the year. The bigger the carnivore, the more it has to eat. You should make sure that you have many more herbivores and omnivores than carnivores.
http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/marssim/simhtml/info/whats-a-carnivore.html
Dog Food Allergies: Saving Your Pet From Discomforts
By Ann MarierAre you fond of sharing your food with your dog? According to experts, giving your dog some of your food may not be a good idea. Some of the tasty food that we like to eat and even those dog food that we often buy in the market could cause a lot of miseries to our pets.
In fact, dog food allergies have been tagged as one of the leading cause while many dogs get sick every year. If your dog happens to be one of those breeds that are sensitive to food, you need to be extra careful when giving him or her any times of food. Dog food allergies can bring about some complications that could be very harmful to your pet.
Preventing Dog Food Allergies
Almost all types of dog food allergies can be easily prevented by proper care. Different dogs may be different allergy triggers so be sure that you know what types of foods could cause dog food allergies in your pet. You can easily determine the types of food that are harmful to your per through a process of elimination.
If you have been giving your dog a specific brand of food for sometime and you noticed that your dog keeps scratching itself even when it does not have any pest infestations, there is a big probability that your dog is having some kind of allergic reaction to the food. Try to stop giving your dog that same kind of food and see what happens. If your dog stops scratching itself after a few days, then do not give attempt to give it that brand of dog food anymore.
When trying to find out what triggers dog food allergies in your pet, you should keep a record of your findings. List down all the types of foods that does not cause any allergic reactions from your dog as well as those types of foods that caused some allergic reactions.
If you happen to have somebody who takes care of your dog while you are away, make sure that your dog caretaker knows that your pet has dog food allergies and what are the types of foods that triggers the allergic reaction. In case you have to go away on a trip for a couple of day, give a list of things that could trigger dog food allergies in your pet to your caretaker along with the name, telephone number and address of your vet. Instruct the caretaker to take the dog to the vet immediately if he or she notices that the dog is not feeling so well.
About the Author: Ann Marier writes informative articles on general health issues
providing helpful tips and advice. Her latest articles are about different allergies including food allergies.
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October 6th, 2008 at 1:33 am
I am not sure who I am addressing my question two Ann Marier or to Martin this is Melanie and I have relied on this site for guidance on the a few problems with my one year old GSD female. Now here is the the problem I need help with my poor girl, two months ago I purchased flea medicine from Walmart instead of the vet (a friend told me it’s the same as what the vet gives) yea well I don’t agree after what Dakota Von went through. Within in a few days I noticed her scratching annoyingly bad for her and for me. She also started loosing her hair back around her hinds, and I have to say I got scared. I did the best I could to try and relieve her pain,giving her Benadryl (vet said it was ok for her) buying any thing organic no harsh chemicals spending a fortune at my hair dressers for products made by “Paul Mitchell” especialy made for pets with skin and irritation issues. I attributed her problem to reaction to the fle meds I put on her so when the next it was time for the next dose I did’nt put it on her. Her hair has now filed back in but she is still scratching even more so now. I have a friend actually her GSD is the mother of my Dakota and she did some research on natuarl remedies for her GSD because she found out from the her vet that Crownie has ( get this allergic reactions to the actuall bites of the fleas or flys and other pests dogs are prone to when they are outside doin there “bussiness.” Two of Dakotas sisters has the same issue, my logic tells me ok it runs in the family
November 5th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Hello Melanie,
Wow, sounds like a severe allergic reaction. I know that traits such as “sensitive skin” can pass from sire/dam to pup.
What was the meds you purchased at the store? There are allergist doctors your vet can refer to pin-point the allergy.
How is your girl doing now?
November 9th, 2008 at 5:27 am
Hi Martin,
I have not put any more flea stuff on Dakota and her hair came back after awhile, she was losing her hair after I put Hartz Flea stuf on her. I did some research and found that some swear by putting garlic on your dogs food that this will help keep the fleas off. She still kept scratching and digging at herself so I talked to my father who has breed and trained GSDS all my life for advice and he told me she could be allergic to the food that I was feeding her and suggested that I review the ingredients on the food that she was eating. If it was chix based to try a beef based etc. and than go from there. I went and changed her from a chix based food to a beef based food she has been on that now for almost a week now and she seems to like this food better at least she is eating it alot better than the other food that I was giving her. Also I found an oatmeal shampoo that my hair dresser suggested that is made for dogs with sensative skin and I have been washing her with this and putting a leave in conditioner on her. Dakota still is scratching and digging at herself some and I have also been told that after awhile it may be just habit for her to do this. So I am still treaking forward and doing anything I can to try and give her some relief. If you have any other ideas that you think may help I will gladly accept any advice that you may have so that I can help my baby to get some relief. This problem has caused us both to have some long sleepless nights and I know that it is stressing us both out. I know that it is not going to be a problem that is going to go away over night and I need to have patients.
Thank You!! Melanie Harden
November 21st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Hi I went through all of this with my German shepherd, I put him on Natural Balance pet food and it helped so much! The vet also told me to only bathe a German Shepherd twice a year they have very sensitive skin even when you use very gentle products they can still lose hair and get hot spots just from the bathing. Natural balance dog foods even have limited ingredients for allergy sufferers, he loves the taste even though he is such a picky eater. Hope your dog starts starts to feel better soon!
September 12th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
[...] Health And Diet [...]
December 10th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
@Lisa – Yes, I totally am sound on Natural Balance dog food, if you go the kibble route with your dogs!
January 31st, 2010 at 7:44 am
I had to take my GSD puppy of Natural Balance ( fish and sweet potato) due to allergies. He has been on anti histamines for several months! So now I think it is either peanut butter which I have stopped or beef marrow bones which he loves to chew on. I heard it takes 12 weeks to know for sure. He is on California Naturals Lamb and rice right now . Vet says stop all other protein sources to find out. So hard with a puppy who needs to chews and destroys all store bought chew toys in minutes.