Dog Food Conspiracy

Archive for March, 2010

Maybe you are changing from puppy food to an adult dog food or maybe you are changing from a regular dog food to a special diet food. What ever the reason, you need to know how to change your dog’s diet is a way that will be best for your dog and better for you as well. Sudden change in dogs’ diet often results in such stomach upset that bad gas, vomiting, and diarrhea occur. This is obviously not good for your dog. Not only is he not getting vital nutrients that he needs, but he can easily become dehydrated. The possibility of dehydration is higher according to the dog’s size. Smaller dogs, like babies, dehydrate faster than larger dogs. This is scary, since dehydration can lead to your dog’s death.

Any change in your dog’s main diet must be done gradually, over a week’s time. In addition to the above mentioned changes, changes can be something as simple as changing from one brand of dog food to another or changing from a hard food to a soft food. Plan the change in advance. For simplicity, this change is described in terms of feeding a small dog (10lbs or so). Make sure you have at least ½ of a small bag of your dog’s current dog food on hand and purchase the new dog food.
· Day 1: Mix ¾ c of the current food with ¼c of the new food.
· Day 2: Same as Day 1.
· Day 3: Mix ½ c of the current food with ½c of the new food.
· Day 4: Same as Day 3.
· Day 5: Mix ¼ c of the current food with ¾ c of the new food.
· Day 6: Same as Day 5.
· Day 7: You can now give your dog only the new food.

If your dog shows signs of stomach upset at any time, go back to the previous step and repeat for a couple more days. For Example: On Day 3 your dog develops diarrhea not long after eating; you would go back to mixing ¼ c of current food with ¾ c of new food for the next couple of days, then proceed with the next step. For larger dogs, the ratios should remain the same, no matter how much they eat.

Slowing Their Eating Style
Your dog may have a number of reasons for eating his food too fast. Often, other household pets and/or children are the cause. If you have these factors, your dog may be eating so quickly as an act of resource guarding (or food protection). They think that they have to hurry and eat or someone else will get their food. It may be true; your other animals may come in and eat food before the others can. To remedy this (whether it’s due to other pets or due to children), you will need to teach all of your dogs about sharing. Once the dog learns to share, he will not be as worried about missing out on food because he will understand that there will always be enough food to meet his needs.

It may also be that your dog is just a fast eater. This is much the same in some children, but just as dangerous. Choking is always a hazard when food is taken into the body and gulped without proper chewing. In this case, you will need to teach your dog to slow down. Here are a few tips to try that can help you teach this lesson:

· Get a large ball that is fairly heavy, enough so that he cannot knock it out of his food bowl very easily. Put the ball in the center of his dish and put his dog food around it. This way he will have to eat around the bowl and cannot grab huge mouthfuls at once and will force him to eat more slowly.

· Get an old cookie sheet and spread his dog food all over it. By spreading it out, he can only get smaller bites, which forces him to eat slower.

· Use your hands. Feed him a handful of food at a time, making him eat it out of your hands. Of course you won’t want to do this with moist food (yuck!). Make him wait between handfuls and he will eventually learn to eat slower.

Article Source: http://www.hobbyarticledirectory.com

downtown doggy manufactures dog clothes and dog jackets.

Most people who have dogs in their lives, reach for the easy option of commercial dog food. There is little thought that goes into it.

Or perhaps they feel their veterinarian knows best and they buy what they offer.

Either way, the health of your dog will suffer.

But you know that already, or you wouldn’t be here.

As you’re considering feeding a raw food diet for dogs, you’ve come a long way and first up, need congratulating!

I find that the most difficult part of changing anything in my life, is the initial reluctance to change my mind. It’s no mean feat. But now that you’ve done that, the rest is easy.

Or comparatively!

A raw food diet for dogs is what they evolved. on. You can’t beat or better nature. Nature has had a long time perfecting herself. Puny man and his pseudo ideas are no match!

But I’m sure you still have questions. For a start, what should you feed your dog, and how much?

Are there any foods to avoid or limit?

Should bones be a part of the raw food diet for dogs?

And lastly, how can you fit it into your busy schedule of juggling work, family and hopefully a bit of time for you?

Well, lets answer the last question first. Buying raw food is no less difficult or time consuming than buying commercial dog food. Putting meat instead of a packet into your trolly takes the same energy!

The other questions on what and what not to feed dogs have already been discovered by others who have gone before you. So you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. It’s already been done. Just follow in someone else’s footsteps.

It does take a little bit of time to get used to what to feed and how much, but once you have the hang of it, it becomes second nature.

Feeding a raw food diet for dogs is really the start of other things too. Such as listening to your dog. He will tell you what he likes to eat and what he doesn’t. He’ll also tell you what medicines he’s happy to take and what he doesn’t like and would prefer you not to insist.

It’s a whole new world, and one I can’t recommend enough!

Most people who have dogs in their lives, reach for the easy option of commercial dog food. There is little thought that goes into it.

Or perhaps they feel their veterinarian knows best and they buy what they offer.

Either way, the health of your dog will suffer.

But you know that already, or you wouldn’t be here.

As you’re considering feeding a raw food diet for dogs, you’ve come a long way and first up, need congratulating!

I find that the most difficult part of changing anything in my life, is the initial reluctance to change my mind. It’s no mean feat. But now that you’ve done that, the rest is easy.

Or comparatively!

A raw food diet for dogs is what they evolved. on. You can’t beat or better nature. Nature has had a long time perfecting herself. Puny man and his pseudo ideas are no match!

But I’m sure you still have questions. For a start, what should you feed your dog, and how much?

Are there any foods to avoid or limit?

Should bones be a part of the raw food diet for dogs?

And lastly, how can you fit it into your busy schedule of juggling work, family and hopefully a bit of time for you?

Well, lets answer the last question first. Buying raw food is no less difficult or time consuming than buying commercial dog food. Putting meat instead of a packet into your trolly takes the same energy!

The other questions on what and what not to feed dogs have already been discovered by others who have gone before you. So you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. It’s already been done. Just follow in someone else’s footsteps.

It does take a little bit of time to get used to what to feed and how much, but once you have the hang of it, it becomes second nature.

Feeding a raw food diet for dogs is really the start of other things too. Such as listening to your dog. He will tell you what he likes to eat and what he doesn’t. He’ll also tell you what medicines he’s happy to take and what he doesn’t like and would prefer you not to insist.

It’s a whole new world, and one I can’t recommend enough!

Article Source: http://www.articlewarehouse.com

Madeleine Innocent is a practicing homeopath, a specialised modality of natural health care. She treats both people and animals in her busy West Australian practice. Madeleine loves to spread the good work of homeopathy and other areas of natural health care and writes extensively on the subject. For a complimentary ebook on how to have a healthy dog, starting today, visit naturallyhealthydogs.com or www.bestdoghealth.blogspot.com

There are always times when we worry about our dog’s eating habits. The two most common worries are overeating and not eating enough. Both can have profound effects of your dog’s digestive system and health. Overeating leads to obesity, which in turn can affect your dog’s circulatory system, just as it does in humans. Not eating enough leads to poor nutrition which has a profound effect your dog’s immune system and can cause serious damage to other systems.

To combat overeating, which is usually snacking throughout the day, do not leave food for your dog at all times. Leaving a constant supply of dog food is referred to as free feeding or free range feeding. Some dogs just don’t do well being fed this way. In these cases, you need to feed your dog at the same time every day, allowing him only about 30 minutes to eat. He will probably balk at this in the beginning; you will need to offer him the food and remove the bowl if he hasn’t eaten in within the 30 minute time period, offer it to him later following the same routine. Once he has eaten his food, do not give him any more for the rest of the day. Repetition of this procedure at the same time every day will teach him to eat at that time and give you control over the amount of food he takes into his body.

Changing the habits of a dog that is not eating enough can be tougher, unless it is a result of a life stress: moving, losing a loved one (person or other animal), and changes in food are examples of life stress for a dog. In cases of life stress, the problem usually works itself out as long as the dog is given plenty of love and support. Sometimes, the problem can be a serious health condition and should be treated by a veterinarian. Because this is the case, we suggest that you take your dog to the vet if the problem persists.

Why is My Dog Moving His Food?
Dog’s may have different reasons for moving their food. Sometimes it is just a force of habit, maybe you have recently moved his food bowl and he is used to eating in the old place. If you have recently done this and he is taking his food mouthful by mouthful to the old place, give it a week or so. He may become comfortable with the new placement. If he continues to take the food after a couple of weeks, he’ll probably be more comfortable if you just go ahead and put the food bowl back in the old place.

If you have other dogs, he may be taking his food so that he can eat in peace. This happens more when there is a size variety of dogs in the house. Smaller dogs will take their food, by mouthfuls, to someplace that the larger dogs cannot get to. Then they feel more comfortable about eating and don’t have to worry about the larger dogs taking food away. It also happens in homes that have young children, as the dog is trying to eat in a place that the children cannot get to them. If your smaller dog is doing this, you need to work on ’sharing.’ This should be done with all dogs in the house. Our articles about food protection (one titled, Puppies and Food Protection and one titled, Resource Guarding) will help you accomplish this.

Another reason your dog may be moving food is that he just wants to be near you while he eats. In the wild, mealtime is one of the times that animals are most vulnerable to attack. Even though your dog is not, and probably has not been ‘in the wild,’ these instincts remain. He feels safer, knowing that you’re there to watch out for him while he eats. It may be easier in this case to just feed him when you can be close or move the food bowl near you.

Article Source: http://www.hobbyarticledirectory.com

downtown doggy manufactures dog clothes and dog jackets.