Health And Diet

What you feed your dog is as important as what you feed your kids!

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 cornivores eat are typically smaller than they are!

Here is a brief discription of the cornivore/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.