Ultimate Dog Food Secrets

Archive for the ‘Dog Health’ Category

There is a growing concern that some of the commercially produced dog foods present a risk to your dog’s long-term health. The reasons for this are that many of these foods contain large amounts of chemicals used for flavor and preservation and that consuming these over their lives may lead to health problems for your pet.

Choosing a natural dog health approach to feeding your pet will allow you to avoid these problems and will lead to a longer and healthier life for your dog.

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One of the main problems with most commercial dog foods is that they contain ingredients that your dog would not consume if they had the choice. Many of these ingredients are actually left over materials from other food processing activities and would have been discarded as waste in the years before the commercial dog food industry was born.

In fact to get a pet to eat these ingredients the pet food has to have flavorings added to mask the taste of many of the ingredients. Also, to give the food a longer shelf life preservatives are added to the food to help avoid it spoiling. All of these additives do nothing to help with the nutrition of the food and are really not great things for your dog to be consuming long-term.

Natural dog health foods in contrast are full of nutrition and are something that you’re dog will love to eat. These pet foods can either be prepared by you for your dog, or are even sold as complete meals that are ready to serve.

The prepared meals are a little more expensive than the standard commercial dog food and this slight increase in price reflects the better ingredients that are found in the food. A major advantage to putting your dog on a natural dog health diet is that their meals won’t include all of the chemicals that are found in commercial dog foods.

A natural dog health diet will also supply a better nutritional balance for your dog’s meals. The reason for this is that even if the commercial dog food you are considering for your pet uses some natural dog health ingredients, many of them have been drained of much of their nutrition by the preparation and packaging process.

To create the dry food shapes, the ingredients have to be heated to a very high temperature and this will cause many of the nutrients and enzymes to leech out of the food being prepared. So even if a particular ingredient is on the can or bag, you’re dog is still not getting all the nutrition from it that it should.

Another popular natural dog health diet plan that is relatively new is a raw food diet. This type of diet uses all raw and uncooked ingredients and provides many of the same foods that your dog would normally eat in the wild. A dog’s digestive system has a unique ability to process these raw foods very well and consuming them raw ensures that they will get the maximum nutritional benefit from the foods.

These meals can either be made by the pet owner or are sold as frozen meals that can be used when needed.

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Picking a healthy food for dogs takes a little bit of research to find the perfect diet. Many people simply settle for a commercial brand of dog food in the belief that it will supply all of the nutritional requirements for their pet. Although some of these commercial dog foods do a fair job of this, there are other choices that are better for most dogs.

Picking the right foods for your dog can be tricky because their needs change as they age. What works best for them when they are young and active may not be the best choice for them when they are older. Many diets are based on what a dog would naturally eat if they lived in the wild. Taking this approach in selecting good food for your dog to eat can make it easier for them to digest their meals.

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Meat is a healthy food for dogs and is something they would eat if they had to forage for food. This can be any form of meat, chicken or fish and can be given to them either cooked or even raw. The reason for this is that a dog’s digestive system has the ability to deal with certain bacteria found in raw meat that would make us sick if we ate it.

We have to cook our meat before eating to make sure these bacteria are gone. Many diets include portions of raw or slightly cooked meat and it can be a very healthy food for dogs as part of an overall diet plan.

Grains, on the other hand, are not such a healthy food for dogs. Because dogs are omnivores, they can tolerate a small amount of grain but can’t really derive much benefit from large quantities of it. Even though it may help them with the digestive process of other foods, it’s of small nutritional value to them itself.

The way a dog food is prepared can also help to determine if it is a healthy food for dogs or not. The more natural foods you can include in your dogs diet, the healthier it can be for them. Many people have taken to preparing their dog’s entire meal in recent years to give them total control over what their dog eats. Some of these meals are prepared from scratch and others are meals that they have purchased that then need to be cooked.

These natural meals include healthy food for dogs and are based on portions of food you would like to eat. They include good cuts of meat, chicken, fish, vegetables and fruit. Whether you prepare them yourself from a recipe or buy them prepackaged they are all designed to give your pet a balanced meal that delivers the right amount of protein and nutrition for good health.

If you decide to try this natural healthy food for dogs in your home, be sure to check with your veterinarian first to make sure it’s right for your pet. Also, introduce any change in diet slowly to your dog so they can become accustomed to it over time. Radical changes in a dog’s diet are never good and can lead to digestive issues for the dog.

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Dog hair loss is not usually a serious or life threatening condition for a dog but should be addressed to keep your dog in good health. There are many reasons for sudden dog hair loss and each of them has a different treatment that a veterinarian can prescribe to help your dog recover.

The medical term for dog hair loss is Alopecia and can be quite common over the course of a dogs life. Most of the reasons a dog loses their hair are temporary and can be easily corrected. Normally this dog hair loss only affects a small section of the dog and can be cured with medication. When hair loss occurs over a larger section of the dog’s body or is a regular occurrence the treatment may be more involved to help eliminate the problem.

The most common cause of dog hair loss are irritants in the dog’s environment. These can be things that have gotten on the dogs skin, things they have ingested, diet and even things they have inhaled. These irritants cause their bodies to lose their hair as a result of this exposure.

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If the hair loss is localized to a specific area of the body, it is most likely a topical exposure and easier to treat. If the dog hair loss occurs over more of the dog’s body or several isolated sections of hair are affected, the irritant was most likely ingested or inhaled.

The treatment for this cause of dog hair loss will vary depending on the type of exposure, type of dog and the irritant involved. The veterinarian will usually do a blood test to determine the irritant that caused the problems and may treat the dog with medication or let the condition run its course naturally. With this type of dog hair loss it is usually temporary and the hair will return as long as the dog avoids continued contact with the irritant.

Other forms of dog hair loss are the result of genetics and can appear in older dogs. This type of hair loss is more localized and may be permanent. Again a blood test will help provide clues to the causes involved. Treatment for this type of hair loss may include steroids and vitamin supplements to try to reverse or halt the hair loss from getting worse for the dog.

Infections are another common cause of dog hair loss and these can vary greatly in their type and severity. A simple infection from a wound can cause a loss of hair around the wound that will usually return when the wound has healed. Another type of skin condition is related to dermatitis and can have many different root causes that result in hair loss in dogs.

Some shampoos that pet owners use to bathe their dogs can trigger this type of condition and simply changing the shampoo will clear it up. Other times a topical flea treatment can cause a reaction that triggers hair loss. This type of dog hair loss will normally clear up on as long as a different flea treatment is used in the future.

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Helping your dog fight a bout with cancer can be a very difficult emotional experience. Over the years our pets become part of our families and most pet owners want to give them all the support they need as they recover from this disease. One important factor in helping dogs recover fully and more quickly from a cancer treatment is their diet. What they eat during and after their recovery is very important in helping them beat this awful disease.

When a dog is sick, their diet becomes an important factor in how quickly they get better. Deciding on a good dog food cancer diet that can help your pet recover quickly is something you should discuss with your veterinarian.

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They can guide you as to what type of dog food cancer diet is right for your pet and their particular treatment schedule. Most times these diets will require a change in the type of food they eat and maybe even a change to a more natural diet to help them get well.

One of the most important things to avoid in any dog food cancer treatment program is grain. A dog’s digestive system is not equipped to deal with grain and cannot break it down to derive any appreciable nutritional value from it. Worse, it forces a dog’s digestive system to work harder in its attempts to process this food, which means they may not get as much nutrition from other healthier foods in their diet.

The other challenge for dogs fighting cancer is that grains produce complex sugars when digested and cancer cells thrive on this exact type of sugar. In essence these grains are providing the fuel cancer needs to grow and spread. Avoid grains at every opportunity when feeding a dog recovering from cancer and you can help speed their recovery.

One ingredient you should make sure your dog does get as part of any dog food cancer diet is a good supply of fish oils. Many fatty acids like Omega 3 and Omega 6 help a dog’s system fight cancer and these are most easily found in fish oil. This fish oil can be added to whatever food you are feeding your dog by simply breaking open a capsule and adding it to their food. Many dogs actually prefer the taste of fish oil and will gladly eat any meal with it.

If your veterinarian does decide to recommend a commercial dog food, make sure its one that is specifically formulated for dogs with cancer. Many of these commercial brands will have specific products that have been designed to help give your pet the nutrients and vitamins they need during this hard time for them.

You also have the option of supplementing these commercial dog foods with additional vitamins if needed and you should follow your veterinarian’s advice with this.

One final dog food cancer treatment that has become very popular in recent years is using natural foods and preparing the meal yourself for your pet. There are a wide variety of recipes that can be easily prepared for your dog that are a better alternative to commercial dog food. These can help the dog recover more quickly and give them all the nutrition they need.

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When your dog is sick it’s no fun for anyone, especially the dog. One of the more common aliments that dogs are prone to is diarrhea and this can occur anytime and may progress from an inconvenience to a serious condition if not addressed properly. Diarrhea can be caused by many different factors and getting the proper dog diarrhea treatment for your pet usually requires the help of your veterinarian.

Simply put, diarrhea is a condition that occurs when something is wrong with your dog’s digestive process. This may be triggered by something they ate, or a more serious cause like a parasite. To properly treat diarrhea your veterinarian will need a stool sample that they can send out for analysis. Once this is completed they can give you a dog diarrhea treatment to follow to help get your dog feeling better.

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Sometimes diarrhea will get better on its own and if your dog doesn’t seem to have any other symptoms of a more serious illness like lethargy or vomiting you may want to give them a day to see if they feel better and they may not need a dog diarrhea treatment at all.

During this time you should hold off feeding them to give their digestive tract a rest and to let whatever is still in there stomach have time to process. If the condition persists for longer than 24 hours you should contact your veterinarian to have the dog checked out and a proper dog diarrhea treatment prescribed.

Many times a veterinarian can tell what is causing the diarrhea by the symptoms a dog is exhibiting. If the dog is also vomiting along with the diarrhea the problem is usually in their upper digestive tract. If the dog has regular bowel movements that are about their usually frequency but are diarrhea the problem is usually in the small intestine.

If the dog is moving their bowels more often than normal with the diarrhea then the issue most likely will be in their lower intestine. All of these will require a dog diarrhea treatment to help your dog recover quickly.

Occasionally diarrhea can be brought on by a change on a dog’s diet or feeding schedule. Many families feed their dog scraps from the family meal and while this is fine normally, the dog may react badly to a specific spice or flavoring in the food. If this is causing your dog’s diarrhea then it should clear itself up in about 24 hours and no further dog diarrhea treatment is needed.

Changing food brands can also lead to diarrhea in a dog and if you are changing a dog’s food to another type always move them to the new food slowly. Start by mixing small quantities of the new food in with their current food and slowly add more over a week’s time. This can help them transition to the new food without problems.

An important consideration for dogs experiencing diarrhea is that you need to keep water available for them to prevent dehydration. This is true with people as well and making sure they have clean fresh water to drink it vital to their recovery. Also, many over the counter diarrhea treatments can be used for a dog with diarrhea. Pepto Bismol and other remedies like Kaopectate work fine for dogs, but be sure to give the smallest dose possible when you use these.

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