Edie MacKenzie

Edie MacKenzie is a published author, traveler, dog lover, and tortoise enthusiast. Passionate about what she does, her books provide peopel a firm grounding in the dog breed and their unique characteristics with a nice touch of humor.

Dog Health – Matching Your Dog’s Diet With His Lifestyle

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What you put in your dog’s food bowl has a direct correlation to dog health and happiness.

There are several similarities between humans and dogs concerning nutrients and proper feeding. Dogs, like humans, are omnivores.

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This means that we need both meat and vegetables in order to be healthy. Our diet should include the right amount of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals that is necessary to acquire optimum health.

We also need an unlimited supply of water to keep our body functioning and alive.

Similar to humans, dogs need to be fed according to their age, size, shape, and lifestyle for optimal dog health.

For example, a sheep dog that is working in a field will have a different diet then a spoiled Chihuahua that is living in a small house.

Similarly, a pregnant female dog will have a different diet than that of an average male dog, and her puppies will require a higher amount of nutrients in order for them to grow healthy and strong.

The aging dog will require different levels of nutrition than that of a growing puppy for good dog health.

Therefore, it is crucial to know what type of food to give your pet, as well as the type of food to avoid. It is also important that you do not overfeed your dog.

Although you may think that you are being a good owner by giving him big meals and lots of tasty snacks, what you are actually doing is harming the animal.

By giving your dog more food than what his body requires, you are encouraging obesity and paving the way for illnesses such as diabetes.

There are many different kinds of dog food on the market today. The majority of these foods contain the right amount of nutrients that your dog needs for a well-balanced diet.

The three types of food that you can choose for your dog are canned foods, semi-moist foods, and dry foods.

In addition to his regular meals, there are also a wide selection of snacks and treats that you can give him for those times that he is well-behaved and during training sessions that are not damaging to dog health.

Dog Health – Confused About Dog Nutrition? Read This

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Giving your puppy good food, healthy treats, and the necessary supplements will not only increase dog health, but it will also affect his behavior and his ability to be trained to learn new things.

Every dog is different, and there are certain factors to consider when determining the diet program that will fit the needs of his growing body and dog health.

However, there are also general rules that owners must follow to ensure that their pets are getting the balanced food and supplementation that their bodies require.

For Good Dog Health Avoid Giving Your Dog Human Food

Most vets and breeders do not recommend adding table scraps to your dog’s diet. They will also likely tell you that the majority of commercial vitamin and mineral supplements that are available today are only a waste of money.

When you give your puppy human food, he will not only get used to eating that type of food, but the difference in the taste of human food and dog food will cause him to reject his own food.

He will become a finicky eater, affect overall dog health, and be more difficult to get him back to eating his regular food.

For Best Dog Health, Take It Easy On The Supplements

It is also not necessary to give your dog a separate vitamin and/or mineral supplement along with human food and his own food. The majority of supplements out there are ineffective and can even be dangerous to some level.

For example, providing your puppy with an extra calcium supplement is not at all beneficial. It doesn’t aid in bone growth, but actually does the opposite. In some cases, extra calcium in your puppy’s body can actually develop to certain types of bone problems.  Adding a combination of supplements is just as harmful to your pet because they can create an imbalance to his diet.

Keep It Natural When It Comes To Dog Health

Your puppy is better off with his own food, which is a good, commercial dog food specifically tailored to his needs (ask your vet for recommendation). In addition to the dog food, you may also give him a multivitamin such as Omega 3 oil and occasional liver tablets which, in my opinion, are one of the best treats you can give your dog. Omega 3 and liver tablets are available in most health food stores, pet stores, and online catalogs.

Other supplements to give your dog are natural, whole foods. A few examples of these are wheat grass, brewer’s yeast, bee pollen, and barley. These are foods that contain nutrients from nature and will not interfere with the nutrients in your dog’s diet causing good dog health.

Dog Food – 3 Types Of Standard Commercial Dog Food Sold In Stores

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With the rising concern for dog health, there are many different types of dog foods today. There are 3 types of commercially prepared dog foods that are available in the market today: Canned foods, Semi-moist foods, and Dry foods.

Canned Foods

This type of food comes in several varieties which ranges in quality as well as price. They consist of about 75% water and is mixed with assorted meat, fish, and cereal products. They are easy to prepare and dogs love them! However, canned foods produce low-energy nutrients, which means that you would need to give your dog a big serving in order to provide him with the required energy he needs.

If you have a large dog, you would have to double the amount of servings, which makes canned food a bit unpractical and on the pricey side. To solve this problem, consider mixing canned foods  with dried food.  The mixture will provide more energy for your dog and will also add volume to the food, thereby saving you money.

There is another kind of canned food that only contains meat, hence called “all meat canned foods”.  Similar to regular canned food, all meat canned food does not provide your dog with the proper amount of energy that his body needs. In order to get enough energy, you would need to give him large quantities of the food, although this will only produce an unbalanced diet. Therefore, all meat canned foods should also be mixed in with dried foods or even semi-moist food.

Semi-Moist Foods

This type of food has high concentration and only contains 15 to 30% water content, which provides more energy for your dog in less amount of volume than canned foods. Their ingredients consist of meat, cereals, vegetables, sugar, and fats.  They are easy for your dog to digest and he will surely love the taste. They come in a wide variety, do not need to be refrigerated, and many owners find them to be the most convenient way to feed their dogs.

Semi-moist foods are expensive and is loaded with sugar and corn syrup and therefore, should not be given to dogs with diabetes. In addition, these foods are also loaded with colorings and artificial flavors.  It is best to give your dog this type of food only on an occasional basis rather than his main source of diet.

Dry Foods

Dry foods contain about 10% water, providing high energy value to your dog. They are the least expensive of all the dog foods, they can be stored in bulk quantities, and they do not need to be refrigerated. This is why most pet owners prefer this to have a food for their dog and considerate it to be the most economical way to feed their pets.

On the other hand, the majority of commercially prepared dried foods contain mostly cereal and is very limited in the amount of protein that the dog requires. Consider mixing dry food with canned foods to give your dog a well-balanced diet.  Another alternative is to choose a brand that contain meat as its main ingredient, this is helpful in reaching balanced dog health.

Pet Food Recall: Knowledge Is Power When It Comes To Pet Food

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Due to the recent pet food recall, millions of pet owners are left feeling daunted and bewildered as to why this incident happened. So many dogs and cats were left sick and worse yet, many more died. And since most pet owners depend on commercial pet food to feed their dogs, they are now skeptical about which brand of food to buy and what type of food is safe for their dogs.

Who Can The Consumers Count On?

Commercial pet foods have been contaminated with harmful chemicals, including mycotoxins (toxins produced by fungi). The FDA and food manufacturers have authorized several recalls after a defective food is found. The FDA and the food company join together to find out the main cause of the problem and prevent it from happening again.

Knowledge Is Power

When it comes to getting the best dog food possible, you need to know what to look for and what to avoid. Below are some ways to monitor the food you are giving your dog to ensure its safety:

1. Check the expiration date on all foods and treats before feeding them to your dog. Doing so will help you avoid any items that are scheduled to go bad. While this is a wise consumer action on your part, ironically enough the food could still be poisonous to your animals because of preservatives and other chemicals that are added for taste, longevity, and texture. Try shopping organic if possible.

2. If the food or treat is not yet expired but appears to be stale or has a foul odor, do not feed it to your dog and contact the company/manufacturer. There probably isn’t much you can do in terms of getting your money back, but by contacting the producer of the food themselves, you may be a small part of a larger action to have a recall initiated. Remember, if nobody complains that nothing gets done.

3. Consult with your vet if your dog shows any symptoms of abnormal or unusual behavior. Early treatment will result in a better chance of full recovery. It’s safe to say that some of the dogs and cats that were killed by tainted pet food may have survived had the owners’ brought them to the veterinarian at the first signs of illness. Take the situation seriously if you sense that you are dog is having a reaction. Remember, the threat is real and many pets have died.

4. To ensure the safety of the food that your pet is eating, keep informed of the latest news on pet food recalls. The best way to do this is to go online and type in “pet food recall”. Read through as many articles as possible.

Try to avoid information that is put out by pet food manufacturers themselves. It’s not that the information is not reliable, but consider the fact that these companies are going to sugarcoat the dangers of pet food is best possible. It is their livelihood after all. They are in the business of selling pet food!

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