There is a confusing amount of information about just what kind of food you should feed your dog. Many given brands of dog food offer diets for puppies, adolescents, high-energy dogs, dogs with sensitive stomachs, mature dogs and senior dogs. Some are “grain-free” and some list one or more meats as the “primary” ingredient. Some are labeled as “Premium” which has little real value as a definition on a label. Dog foods can be cheap or pricey. Expensive, with attractive packaging does not always mean better quality.

Another issue is the amount of food you should feed your dog, based on weight and size. This is usually recommended on the dog food bag and can vary greatly, depending on ingredients and caloric values.

What to Ask to Learn How to Choose Dog Food

Questions to be asked are; how is the food formulated and by whom? Where is the food produced? Where are the ingredients sourced? What are the benefits of one particular food over another? Have there been any recalls of the food or any other product produced in the facility where it is made?

According to the FDA, in years 2014-15, there were at least 18 recalls of dog foods and treats. Reasons for recalls range from foreign materials in food, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, insufficient levels of vitamins and excess levels of minerals, higher levels than acceptable of copper and combinations of the above mentioned issues. Many of these products have words like “natural,” “healthy” and “premium” on their labels. Words that people associate with food that is beneficial to their dog.

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Many “high protein” foods are made up of “meat meal”. A product of cooking called “rendering.” Basically, this process is a dry meal end-product from stewing ingredients and baking the residue to form into dry kibble. The ingredients used to make this “meat meal” can include many things besides the listed primary ingredients of any particular brand of food. Ingredients like deceased zoo animals, wild animals such as skunks and road kill, euthanized dogs and cats (complete with flea collars), perished meats originally intended for human consumption (including shrink wrap and Styrofoam trays), unacceptable grain products such as corn cobs, mill sweepings and stalks and pesticides and other toxins.

The handling of these ingredients and domestic farm animal “meat by-products” is usually unsanitary and equipment used in “rendering” is rarely, if ever, shut down, cleaned and sterilized. The process basically goes on twenty four hours a day.

Armed with all this information, how do you decide what is the right food for your dog?

The first person to consult is your veterinarian. You dog’s doctor may not be able to tell you about how any one food is processed, but he can give you advice on considerations about your dog’s general health and age and specific dietary concerns. In the age of internet accessibility, doing diligent research on available dog foods, ingredients and recent recalls is convenient and highly advised.

Happily, there is good news on healthy, nutritious, carefully formulated and ethically produced dog foods available that can make how to choose dog food much easier. Most of these dog food producers are small companies, easily contacted and very forthcoming about their formulations, company history, locations of production, mission statement and often the offer of free samples. This option is often surprisingly affordable and in light of the choices in mass produced commercial dog food and the dangers involved in canine consumption of these products, are usually preferable to consumers that care about the health of their dogs, do their research and come to an ethical, moral decision on what they want to feed their pets.

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According to the American Veterinary Society, a majority of pets show signs of having oral disease by the time they are three years old. When plaque builds up on their teeth, it can cause them to have gingivitis, bad breath, and decaying teeth. In many cases, it is because of the type of food they eat. Certain foods are bad about getting stuck in their teeth, and it can cause the plaque to build up faster. Feeding them the right kind of food is important.

When plaque and gingivitis affect your pet, you have to really be concerned because it can get into their gums and travel to their blood stream. This can cause them to have some serious health concerns. It can even affect their kidneys, liver and heart if you aren’t careful.

Cleaning Your Pet’s Teeth

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Chewing is Important

While you may not really want your animal to chew on your furniture, shoes and other home goods- you should encourage them to chew on chew toys, bones and other acceptable items. Just remember not to give them something that they could choke on. When they chew, it helps to get the plaque and other particles off of their teeth, and it also helps to strengthen their jaw.

Veterinary Annual Cleanings

Most veterinarians will recommend that you take your pet in once a year to have their teeth cleaned thoroughly. They will usually put them under some type of sedation to make them comfortable, so you can rest assured that they won’t be in any pain during the procedure. It is much like when people go to the dentist twice a year- the vet is able to get their teeth much cleaner than you would be able to with a toothbrush.

As you can see, oral health care is definitely something that you will want to keep in mind for your pet. You want them to be as healthy and as happy as they can be, and that means keeping their overall health in check- even their teeth and gums. If you haven’t ever taken your pet to the vet to have them check out their teeth and gums, then it is time that you do that. You don’t want to put it off until it is too late and has already caused more serious health concerns, because then it may be far too late for you to do anything about it.

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If you notice such behaviour from your pet, don’t worry. Just because you pamper your pets does not mean that they will completely do away with their primordial feline habits. Feline urinary marking starts with reproductive maturity at around the age of five or six months, whereby they reverse up to a vertical object with their tails raised high, and release a spray of urine. Their tails tend to quiver as they do this.

How is spraying different from urination?

For starters, urination is simply the excretion of urine from the bladder, performed by squatting over a horizontal surface. If you are not around to see your cat spray, or urinate, there are other ways to distinguish between marking and simply soiling the house. Your pet is being territorial if:

• The problem is mainly urination, as cats seldom mark with faeces.
• Only a small amount of urine is found, mostly on vertical surfaces. Leg lifting and spraying are two primary characteristics of urine-marking, though the markings may still be made on horizontal surfaces.
• No pet in your home is neutered or spayed. Intact male and female pets are more likely to use urine to mark that neutered or spayed animals, though the latter may still mark if there are other intact pets in the home.
• Your cat urinates on new items in the environment, such as a visitor’s purse or shopping bag, or on items that have another animal’s scent or unfamiliar scents
• Your cat has conflicts with other pets in your home, whereby the bullied one expresses his anxiety by spraying.
• Your cat interacts with other pets outside your home. If he has an encounter with another cat, or sees another animal through a window, he may feel an urge to mark his territory.

Prevention

The good news is that this is a controllable behaviour. To keep your cat from urine marking, there are several things you can do, including:

1. Resolving conflicts among your pets at home.
2. Spaying or neutering your cat.
3. Discouraging other animals from approaching your home, or keeping your cat from accessing windows and doors through which he will see other animals that cause him to feel territorial.
4. Clean soiled areas well without using strong smelling cleaning products, since they may cause your cat to over-mark the area.
5. Keep your pet indoors.
6. Make previously soiled spots unattractive or inaccessible. To do this, you can treat, feed, or play with him in those areas.
7. Keep items with new scents, which are likely to be marked, away from reach.

Finally, urine marking is an animal instinct, so don’t punish your cat for doing it. Doing so could cause him to be scared of you and will not change his behaviour. Instead, try to scare him during the act, so he associates the fright with urine-marking and hopefully stops.

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