Dogs That Lick Their Paws

Thursday, December 15th, 2011
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They all do it, but some more than others and some are obsessive about it. If you’ve ever tried to go to sleep with background sounds of lick, lick, slurp, chew, lick, you know what I mean when I say it can really get on your nerves. You tell the dog to stop, s/he does for a while and then goes back to it, usually with more fury. Some bite their nails as well. You would too, if you were itchy and prevented from scratching. That’s one side of the coin. The other is neurotic behavior and it’s a tough one to break. Since I’m not a trainer or behaviorist, let me tell you what’s helped dogs that have this issue due to diet and a few other factors.

 

Diet first: it’s unlikely that the dog is focusing only on paws if the itch is due to food allergy, but it’s not unheard of. Usually, the itch is everywhere, but more severe at the paws, ears, anal area and thighs. Read more Dogs That Lick Their Paws

Diets For Dogs With Bladder Stones

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
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A generic diet may be based on dietary principles that work, but just how well they work can be based on unique metabolism, so we need to consider that as well. There are different types of bladder stones and many are combination stones.

 

 

The three most common are urate (Dalmatians are genetically disposed to forming these stones), calcium oxalate, and struvite. Urate crystals and stones can be a heads up about liver shunts, especially in puppies, so the Dalamation is not the only breed that can have these, but for different reasons. Urate crystals can be prevented by feeding the right diet. The problem here is that some people don’t want to hear what the right diet is because it’s vegetarian. Eggs, milk products and tofu can make up the protein part and the rest is pasta, potatoes or rice and certain vegetables that are low in purines. That’s the start. In some cases, chicken can be fed, but if you start with chicken and the dog has urate crystals, the chicken has to go and then you can recheck urine, see where you stand and take it from there. Chicken might be ok later, but there’s a weaning process to go through. I’ve been working with Dalmations for about 18 years and never had an issue with crystal formation once the right diet was being fed. The thing to remember is that “right diet” means it has to be right for that particular dog. Urate stones look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Struvite stones are almost always due to a urinary tract infection and urine pH will be high. Struvite stones are the easiest to deal with from a dietary perspective. In a nutshell, we increase protein from eggs and meats and lower the carbohydrate content of the diet. There’s more to it, but that’s the start. A basic struvite stone looks like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Calcium oxalate crystals can be more challenging, but again, success comes from understanding how a certain dog reacts to proportions of certain foods rather than just the foods themselves. Basic calcium oxalate stones look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Protein derived from meat, dairy and fish will decrease urine pH and most of these dogs have low urinary pH to begin with. That’s a common problem, so we need to feed less of the foods above, but “less” is relative because it depends how much of them the diet provided in the first place. To compensate for the lost calories after a reduction of dietary protein, we use carbohydrates (choose white rice, egg noodles, wild rice or rye bread) and as luck would have it, carbs help to increase urine pH. Bonus! Now, we add low oxalate vegetables and fruits which means we’re restricted to acorn squash, white cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, green peas, iceberg lettuce, red pepper, turnip roots, zucchini, peeled apples, cantaloupe, cherries, honeydew, mangoes, nectarines and watermelon. Cook the vegetables and don’t feed organ meats.

 

UPDATE (2021) A common frustration for pet parents is finding treats that work well for calcium oxalate stone formers. Although feeding the foods listed above is helpful, calcium plays a critical role in helping to flush oxalate out of the body. Treats that can help in this way as well as provide support through important antioxidants and phytonutrients are unavailable. These formulated recipes fill that void.

 

 

One of the most critical thing you can do to prevent crystals and stones is to keep the dog really well hydrated. Make the food “soupy” by adding water to the food bowl. Preferably not plain tap or mineral water (filtered or distilled are much better) since we want to avoid excessive mineral intake – but we want to a feed a balanced diet, so this does’t translate to not adding the amounts of required minerals to food. Flushing out those crystals with water prevents them from aggregating into a stone in the first place.

 

Photos and credit:http://www.lbah.com/word/bladder-stones/ with permission

Your Dog’s Skin Health

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
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Most dog owners think of healthy skin as being that which doesn’t leave white flakes on the coat and isn’t scaly to look at. True enough, those two things are signs to look for, but how do you get there?

 

We know that the skin is an organ and it needs proper nutrition, but we don’t often connect this to water intake. Healthy skin minimizes the migration of moisture upward from deeper dermal tissues. Fatty acids in the skin do a good job of preventing water loss. In contrast, fatty acid deficiency can lead to a poor barrier, encouraging water loss, so the dog might drink a lot more water to compensate.

 

Protein is required for development of new skin, and while some diets provide ample amounts of protein, the quality matters. For example, protein from sources other than eggs, milk, fish or meats are of inferior quality. Read more Your Dog’s Skin Health

Brewer’s Yeast As a Flea Preventative

Thursday, November 24th, 2011
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Despite the popularity of this myth, the fact is that adding brewer’s yeast or nutritional yeast to the diet does nothing to detract fleas. I’ve often been pointed to websites and books that make this claim and some people insist that they can prove it’s true. Their proof is that their dog never had fleas while ingesting this yeast. By that logic I can point to my Zoey who never ingested brewer’s yeast and never had fleas, therefore I could claim that not eating it kept fleas away. Obviously, it’s ridiculous at best!

 

Consider my Ming, who lived to be just shy of seventeen years, ate a combination of kibble and (healthy) human foods, and finally a prescription diet. He never consumed yeast, yet never had fleas despite being walked along the boardwalk (a beach area in Toronto that is known for heavy flea populations) almost daily. But these are only personal stories. The facts should hold more weight, so let’s look at them. Read more Brewer’s Yeast As a Flea Preventative

Does Your Dog Have Itchy Skin?

Friday, November 18th, 2011
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Numerous trials show that a combination of primrose oil and fish body oil (wild salmon oil is my preference) helps dogs with atopic dermatitis. I really like that science tries and often wins in pointing us in the right direction, but I think that observation has a place as well. For example, science asks how much of each fatty acid is the right amount and under what circumstances. Important questions, but are we going to sit around while a dog is mutilating him/herself until scientific knowledge provides an answer?

 

Veterinary dermatologists seem to have decided  not to wait. Most will supplement with essential fatty acids once the more obvious problems have been ruled out. No fleas, no mites, no bacterial infections, no yeast overgrowths, etc. Or, treat any of the above via medication(s) and shampoo therapies and if a problem remains, use essential fatty acids, sometimes in combination with particular vitamins and/or minerals. Read more Does Your Dog Have Itchy Skin?

Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Dogs

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
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Also referred to as IBD, dogs with this disease have common symptoms although not all dogs will experience the gamut of them. Diarrhea, mucus in the stool, a sheath that looks like a sausage casing around the stool, vomiting, weight loss, noisy tummy sounds, refusal of food, hiding after eating…basically, a lot of obvious signals that the gastrointestinal tract is in bad shape and the dog feels poorly.

 

Most cases of IBD include food allergy which is why changing the diet to one or two foods (fresh foods, not commerciall diets) the dog has never consumed before usually works very well.  An allergic reaction includes inflammation and when the gut is inflamed, permeability often results. Read more Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Dogs

Nutrient Metabolism When Fasting Your Dog

Thursday, November 10th, 2011
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Some people fast their dogs for a day or more on a regular (often, it’s one day per week) basis. Here’s the skinny as regards nutrient metabolism while fasting:

 

Metabolic demands are ongoing and must be met despite that the flow of absorbed nutrients slows down between meals. This is a basic issue of supply and demand and the ebb and flow is based on the feeding interval imposed on a dog. During the intervals between meals, the dog must remobilize stored reserves in an efficient manner. Read more Nutrient Metabolism When Fasting Your Dog

Arthritis in Dogs

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
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Arthritis doesn’t necessarily care if the dog is young or old, but the older ones are the most likely to have the problem and I have a thing for old dogs. They’ve given us their whole lives and now they need us more than ever.

 

Age is not a disease. Your older dog doesn’t need less protein in the diet – he or she needs more! Read more Arthritis in Dogs

The Scoop on Dog Poop

Monday, October 24th, 2011
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People send me a lot of emails about their dog’s stool. Sometimes, they send pictures of it. No, I’m not kidding. They want to know if the poop looks to be the right color, texture, etc. They’re worred (I get it) and even more so if they’ve read something on the internet about what the perfect stool looks like and Fido produces anything different from that.

The latest cause for their concern comes from a site that states healthy stool must be hard/firm and brown, but it must turn white within a day and disintegrate within two days. Anything other than that is considered to be bad. So, now we have not only a description, but a timetable to follow! Seriously?

 

Normally, stool is brown due to a series of reactions in the body, and to bacteria present. Read more The Scoop on Dog Poop

Prebiotics and Probiotics for Gut Health

Thursday, October 20th, 2011
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The excitement about prebiotics is deserved but overdone. It’s deserved because sometime in the mid ’90s a doctor in Brussels coined the term to describe something that’s very old but wasn’t understood all that well. It’s overdone because prebiotics have been around from the start. It’s just that we didn’t have a fancy name for sugar molecules that escape digestion and so, help to feed the good-guy bacteria in the bowel.

 

Probiotic bacteria aka good-guy bacteria (remember that acidophilus is proven in dogs whereas others are questionable at best) helps to crowd-out nasty bacteria.

 

Since prebiotics help to ‘feed’ probiotics, the former is often added to supplemental probiotics to keep the bacteria thriving. Not only is this not necessary if the probiotic is freeze dried, but many dogs can’t handle some of the common prebiotics being used. Read more Prebiotics and Probiotics for Gut Health

Nutritional Help for Dogs with Heart Failure

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
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Some of the things that others consider to be more complicated may nevertheless be very worthwhile. This is the take-home message I got after reading the article I’m going to point you to, but the message isn’t new, really. I’ve never doubted the power of balanced home-prepared diets. What I find exciting is that it’s finally being recognized by scientists focusing on dogs.

 

Sometimes, when working with veterinarians, I’d wonder if they really believed in my approach or if they accepted it with a shrug. Now, having worked at this for so many years, I feel we (all of us) are coming to a better understanding of just how important a fresh food diet can be. Read more Nutritional Help for Dogs with Heart Failure

L- Glutamine – A Conditionally Essential Amino Acid

Thursday, October 6th, 2011
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The general classification of amino acids is broken down into three categories. Essential amino acids are called essential because the body isn’t able to produce them, so they have to come from foods.

 

Unessential amino acids are, in fact, needed by the body as well, but the body can manufacture them if all essential amino acids are present in sufficient amounts. A conditionally essential amino acid is one that the body may need more of when certain circumstances arise. Read more L- Glutamine – A Conditionally Essential Amino Acid

Taurine for Eye Health

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
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Taurine is an amino acid known for heart health, but it also has a role in eye health. The body can manufacture taurine from other essential amino acids in the diet, so it’s been considered an unessential amino acid for this reason. In other words, as long as the diet provides sufficient amounts of all essential amino acids, we shouldn’t have to worry about taurine. But that turns out not be the case for all dogs, or even for people.

 

Some breeds show a taurine deficiency even when the diet is great, and some individual dogs, no matter the breed do, too. Another interesting consideration is that more taurine seems to be needed when there is emotional or physical stress. Read more Taurine for Eye Health