Feeding Your Dog

My "Sister" Gemma

Medical update - I've lost another half pound in the past week. I went to the vet yesterday and had my stitches removed (put in where the biopsies were conducted and the scarred flesh in my groin was removed to aid in the healing process.) We are still waiting for extra tests, being conducted on the biopsies, to be completed. Once the results are in and if no contra-indications are expected, the vet is going to put me on a two week treatment session of Prednisone, a steroid, to promote increased healing and to clean out any lingering infection. Now onto today's post.

Although us dogs have usually been considered as carnivores, we are actually omnivores, which means that we can eat, enjoy and digest various types of food. We do not require as high a protein diet as cats do. We can live perfectly well on a completely balanced diet, but we do enjoy some variety in our meals.

It doesn't matter whether you use a premium complete commercial diet, or choose to create your own food combinations, you must ensure that our diet is well balanced, containing both proteins and carbohydrates. Our diet must also contain fatty acids, vitamins and minerals to ensure optimum health, proper bodily functions, healthy skin and a healthy coat (hair/fur). Fruit and vegetables are beneficial ingredients to include in our diets. I love apples, mangoes, cantaloupe, bananas, watermelon and strawberries and, to a lesser amount, most other fruits and vegetables. When we are convalescing, boneless chicken or fish mixed with boiled brown rice makes a highly digestible meal.

Active dogs need a higher protein diet than those of us that laze around looking pretty. And, of course, overweight dogs, like my “sister” Bandit, should have fewer calories than those of us that still have slim figures.

All commercially prepared packaged food for dogs contains comprehensive lists of ingredients which should be carefully studied before you make your choice of the food for your dog. For example, my food, which keeps me from getting kidney stones, is made by Royal Canin Canada Company under the brand name “Medi-Cal”. The maintenance variety which I eat contains the following ingredients:

Chicken Meal, Oat flour, Pearled Barley, Rye (the grain not the liquor), Chicken Fat, Corn Gluten Meal, Salmon Meal, Tomato Pomace (source of Lycopene), Flax Meal, natural flour, Dried Beet Pulp, Dried Tomato (source of Lycopene), Apple Pomace, Dried Egg Powder, Fish Oil, Cranberry Meal, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Sulphate, Fructo-Oligosaccharides, Taurine, Salt, Vitamins: [DL-Alpha-Tocopherol (source of Vitamin E), Inositol, Niacin, L-Ascorgyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), D-Calcium Panothenate, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Vitamin A Acetate, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 Supplement and Vitamin D3 Supplement], L-Lysine, Choline Chloride, Potassium Citrate, Marigold Extract (source of Lutein), Trace Minerals: [Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulphate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Copper Sulphate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite], Brewer's Yeast Extract (source of Mannan-Oligosaccharides), L-Carnitine, Beta Carotene, L-Glamine. Naturally preserved with mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract and Citric Acid. It is a slightly acidic dog food that is formulated for optimum nutrition and urinary tract health of active adult dogs.

You must always remember that we have sensitive digestive systems and if you change suddenly from one type of diet to another, that we could end up vomiting or having diarrhoea. You must always introduce diet changes gradually mixing the new food in increasing amounts with the current food over the course of a week or so. In this way we can adapt to the new food without adverse results.

Fresh and canned dog food should be removed and disposed of if left uneaten as it tends to spoil quickly after being expose to air. Bacteria quickly forms and could result in your dog becoming ill. Dried dog foods can remain available all day because they contain natural preservatives.

Adult dogs usually require one main meal per day with a light snack at the other end of the day. Since we are more active during the day, the main meal is probably best served in the morning with the snack before bed. In this way, we have the fuel for our active day and a snack before retiring for the night. When the main meal is served at night, it tends to result in more weight gain as the calories we ingest do not get burned up by activity so they add fat to our bodies for later use during energetic times. Unfortunately, many of us produce more fat than we use up as fuel and thus we become overweight. (More about overfeeding and obesity in a later post.)

Your dog's daily meals can be divided into two equally sized meals if desired as this method doesn't result in your dog getting a large meal before retiring. NOTE! Under NO circumstances should your dog be exercised energetically within one-half hour of ingesting a large meal. If you own a large dog, to aid his digestion, you should raise his food dish off the ground so that he does not have to bend so far down to get his food.

Because I have dry dog food, it's available all day and I can eat whenever I want. As a result, I've become a “grazer,” which means that I eat a little every time I get hungry. However, since my “sister,” Bandit came, things are a little different. Bandit guards the food bowl and if she thinks that I want some food, she will gorge herself on it so that there won't be much left for me. This has resulted in me doing the same thing thing to her. As a result, both of us were getting fat until I got sick. It has also led to growling matches and a few fights, so mom and dad are thinking of changing to scheduled meal times, which doesn't suit my style of eating.

Bones are not recommended as they tend to splinter and can cause internal damage. Cooked bones should NEVER be given to a dog as they splinter easily and often result in tragedy. Raw marrow bones can be given to your dog, but they must be discarded if they start to splinter or if they start to smell like they are spoiling.

We must have access to fresh water at all times because proper hydration is an absolute must have condition. Stainless steel bowls for both food and water are the most hygienic and they are much easier for you to clean than bowls made from other material.

If you are considering a raw food diet for your dog, you should see the following:

“Should Your Pets Eat a Raw Diet? Five Considerations Before You Start” published on this blog on Saturday August 15, 2009 and “How to Prepare a Raw Diet for Your Pet(s)” published on this blog on Friday December 18, 2009. You can access these entries by clicking on 2009 and then the appropriate months or by searching “raw diets” via the blog search capability in the top left corner of the blog page.

Until next time,

Teia

Unusual Pets: Skunks

Skunks are famous for their ability to produce foul smelling odour to defend themselves and to protect their prey from competitors. These mammals belong to the Mephitidae family. Eleven species of Skunks exist in the world today. These species are divided into four genera: Spilogale or spotted Skunks, Mydaus or stink badgers, Conepatus or hog-nosed Skunks and Mephitis or stripped and hooded Skunks. Skunks are found in North America, South America, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Skunks vary from forty centimetres to seventy centimetres in length and from one pound to ten pounds in weight. They have long front claws which help them to dig easily and have short muscular legs which propel their moderately long body in an waddling stride. Commonly, their fur is white and black in color, but there are Skunks with gray, brown and even cream coloured fur. Striped Skunks are striped from birth. Some Skunks have a thick stripe which runs from their tail to the top of their head, while others may have two thin stripes, broken stripes or white spots. Some skunk’s legs are also striped.

Some countries have laws about keeping Skunks as pets. It is legal to have a Skunk as a pet in Great Britain and Canada, but in some states in the United States it is illegal to have them as pets. So, if you live in the United States check with your state authorities before deciding to get a Skunk as a pet. Usually the mephitis genera are preferred as pets because they are more social than most other genera of Skunks. Before selling a Skunk, breeders usually remove the scent glands. Skunks usually live longer in captivity than they do in the wild. Their lifespan in captivity is from ten to twenty years. In the wild their average lifespan is three years with the occasional one living as long as ten years. Keeping Skunks as pets in not new. They were kept as pets by some of the Pilgrims and other early European settlers in the United States and there are reports that some native North Americans also kept Skunks as pets.

Skunks feed on both plants and animals, so they are called omnivorous animals. In addition to plants, they eat insects, earthworms, lizards, frogs, rodents, salamanders, snakes, moles, birds and eggs. When they cannot find meat, they feed on wild fruit and seeds. Some Skunks even feed on garbage in urban areas and this is where they frequently meet and spray dogs, much to the dismay of the dog‘s owner.

Skunks are crepuscular animals (active during twilight). Skunks stay aloof when not breeding, but stay in communal dens in the winter. They do not hibernate in the winter, but become inactive and do not eat on a regular basis. They live in burrows dug by them, man made pits, or natural pits, depending on what they can find in the area where they live. In winter, a huddle, with one male and up to twelve females, will live in a den. They frequently use the same den every year in the winter.

Skunks have superb hearing and smelling capabilities, but their vision is poor. They can not see clearly more than three meters. This is a factor in the numerous Skunks killed in road accidents. According to one study, nearly 50 percent of Skunks die due to road traffic, which is probably why few wild Skunks live longer than three years.

Skunks can carry rabies and it is reported that nearly thirty one percent of them are infected with it. However, there have not been many reported cases of humans catching rabies from a Skunk. The stink they can unleash if threatened is enough to ensure that most humans don‘t get close enough to them to be bitten. However, if you decide to keep a Skunk as a pet, they should be vaccinated to avoid any mishaps.

In the event that you do get bitten by a Skunk, clean the wound thoroughly with an antibacterial solution and water. If the wound is bleeding put a light gauze pad over the bite area and apply an ice pack to slow the bleeding. Seek medical help immediately and call the police or animal control and advise them that there is a possible rabid Skunk in the area. When you arrive at the doctor’s office or emergency department of the local hospital, insist that you be given a tetanus shot. Also request that a test be performed to see whether they can tell if you were exposed to rabies or not. If the Skunk is captured or killed, request that it be tested for rabies.

My mom had a Skunk for a pet when she was a teenager. It was a friendly animal, but even after having its scent glands removed, it still had that lingering musky smell. It’s hard to get friendly with an animal that has that kind of odour. Fortunately for mom, her sense of smell is very limited, so she didn’t notice it, but when dad met “Suzy” he wasn’t all that favourably impressed. A few weeks after mom and dad started dating, mom found a new home for “Suzy” so dad didn’t have to worry about her odour any more. He doesn’t know if all pet Skunks have an odour, because that is the only one he has been around. It could have been that the person who removed the scent glands didn’t do that good of a job.

If you do get a Skunk as a pet, you have to be careful with it because Skunks tend to over eat and if you over feed them they will become obese in a short period of time. This obesity will lead to medical problems, so make sure that you only feed the prescribed amount of food, or you will be faced with large veterinarian bills.

Until next time,

Teia

Fat Pet?

People aren't the only ones who have a problem with weight control. Many of our pets, almost 25 per cent, are overweight, with many of these medically considered as obese. Why is this happening? Are our pets also becoming victims of the electronic age?

As we become more prone to using short cuts in everyday life with remote controls, microwaves, dishwashers, etc. . . . one would assume that we would have more time for the simple pleasures in life, such as walking the dog. But no, that does not appear to be the case.

Even though we are managing to do these tasks in a much quicker time frame, we are just as quickly finding new things to fill the extra time. Yes, the advances in technology have provided faster ways of doing things, but technology has also created many more things to do. We now spend a lot of time indoors, especially in front of a monitor. Whether it is a computer monitor, a texting device, or a television monitor, many hours are spent staring at a screen.

We seem to no longer find enjoyment in many aspects of our lives. We are always reaching for that higher level, for more money, for a better job, for a more prestigious lifestyle. And in the process we also spend less time with our pets. This has resulted in an increase in pet obesity. As many people down size their homes, they move closer to city areas, mostly into townhouses and apartments. This means they have less room in the new backyard for their pets, if they even have a backyard at all.

Being overweight can drastically decrease the life span of your pet. Your overweight pet can become an unhealthy pet and ultimately an unhappy one as well. Obesity can lead to many different diseases, including diabetes, arthritis, heart complications, endocrinal diseases and bad joints.

As we feed our pets more convenient, over processed pet foods and spend less time exercising them, we actually put their lives at risk, without even realizing it. Some pet owners may even overfeed their pets to try to compensate for their lack of involvement in their pet's lives.

Take your pet to your local veterinarian if you suspect that it may be overweight. The veterinarian will be able to tell you if your pet is not getting enough exercise or is being fed the wrong type or amount of food.

Lastly, take some time out of your busy schedule and spend it with your pet, it will love you for it. Remember, a pet is a friend for life, so look after it.

Until next time,

Teia