Feeding Your Dog The Right Food
I have been staying in Southern California and came across a chain of dog food stores known as JustFoodForDogs. With all fresh ingredients, stainless steel appliances and state of the art shop fittings, the store looked good enough to feed humans too! They are more than happy for you to come tour "the only open kitchens in the pet food business and watch your dog’s food being made"!
Raw food versus cooked food for dogs
Recent scientific research has come down on the side of lightly cooked food for dogs. This is because raw dog food diets usually include a combination of uncooked meat from animals, fish or poultry but not necessarily USDA certified fit for humans, meaning they could include rejected carcasses or medicated animals. Some manufacturers will hide the fact their meat is not fit for humans and say “USA meat” or “meat from a USDA facility” with the ingredients usually including flesh (muscle), internal organs, blended body parts and bones. They may also include untreated milk or uncooked eggs. While there is nothing wrong with giving a raw food diet, it makes sense for pet owners to be as fussy about the source of their pets' food as they are about their own, ensuring that all members of the family (canine, feline and human) stay healthy.Foods that are toxic to dogs
The following foods are harmful to dogs - and some can even be deadly.- Onions or onion powder
- Chocolate
- Coffee and all coffee-related products
- Tea
- Alcoholic beverages/ Hops
- Macadamia nuts
- Grapes and raisins
- Tomato foliage (leaves and stems)
- Green parts of potato (green peelings, sprouts and foliage)
- Rhubarb leaves
- Avocado tree bark, leaves, skin of the fruit and seed of the fruit. The actual flesh of the fruit is not toxic.
- Pits and seeds from fruits (plum, apricot, avocado, peach, apple and some varieties of cherries)
- Bitter almonds
- Moldy or spoiled foods
Arthritis in dogs
Surprisingly common as your dogs begin to grow older because obviously a dog's life is an active one. When they are not sleeping, dogs are constantly running, fetching, walking and hiking - putting stress and strain on bones and joints. Normal joint health in an active dog is maintained by an intricate interaction of those cells found in the bones, the cartilage, the fluid in the joint space and of course the blood that nourishes them all. Should your dog suffer from an injury (however minor), inflammatory cells immediately come to the rescue to help with the healing process. However, as time goes by, those cells can fail - even causing damage to the cartilage and the bone itself. Perhaps in time, this can lead to arthritis, chronic pain and decreased mobility. The right food can change your dog’s life. It can improve his health, increase his life expectancy and, in the long run, help you save on his vet bills.
Written by Jane Chitty
Jane writes for Healing Natural Oils, a producer and retailer of high-quality, all-natural treatments for a variety of conditions as well as a range of beauty products. Apart from writing about those various conditions, she also covers general health, environmental and other subjects of interest. She has lived in Kenya as well as Cape Town, South Africa and spent time in San Diego, USA. She now lives in Somerset, England with regular visits from her far-flung children and grandchildren. She is a keen gardener and enjoys growing fresh fruit and vegetables with her husband on their joint allotment. As a result, there is something available to use in the kitchen virtually all year round. Her regular posts can be found on our blog.