In this time of restraint dog owners are trying to save money and keep their dog healthy and the best dog health advice is free. A healthy diet is key for a dog and that can become a problem but also you can follow some helpful tips for various dog health issues.
Dog’s itchy skin is more than likely to be caused by food ingredients and causes allergies and may require a change in diet. If your buying cheap dog food at Wal Mart your dog will get itchy skin and other problems. If your dog is allergic, has mosquito bites or irritation and is breaking out in skin sores or dry flaky patches:
Use Aloe Vera Gel straight from the bottle and apply liberally on the skin sores. Also add a teaspoon per day to food or down the hatch, 2 teaspoons for medium size dogs and 3 teaspoons for larger dogs. Aloe Vera Gel for dogs also soothes the stomach, and intestinal track. Another tip is to bathe your dog in an oatmeal bath mix instead of buying chemical oatmeal shampoo at the pet store.
Make Your Own Home Made Oatmeal Bath for your Dog:
1 Cup Instant Plain Oatmeal (organic if available)
Coffee Grinder, Spice Grinder or Hand Grinder
** (For Large Dogs – use 2 cups of oatmeal)
Put the 1 cup of oatmeal through a grinder and grind into a fine powder. Put the powder into 1 cup of water and stir until a cloudy consistency or until mixed well. Put your dog into a bath tub and fill with enough water to cover at least half the dog’s body, let the dog soak for about 20 minutes while pouring the solution on its back and head. (not in the eyes). Rinse your dog well and dry.
This bath will cost you about 50 cents in oatmeal and will save you about $ 15.00 at the pet store, it is worth the effort to relieve your dog’s itchy problem. Repeat as necessary.
There are economical ways to keep your dog clean, healthy and stop the itching especially during the summer months.
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A warning is being circulated on dog forums everywhere and snopes.com has a listing for cocoa mulch which is highly toxic to pets. If you have gardens and are using this mulch be forewarned that if you pet ingests this mulch it could very likely die.
Cocoa Mulch made from Cocoa Beans
An owner of two young lab mixed puppies bought the cocoa mulch for his garden not knowing of the dangers and it is supposedly sold with the benefit of keeping cats out of your yard.
However their dog calypso was drawn to the mulch because of its chocolaty odor and decided to eat a large amount of it. The next day the dog had seizures and died while on a walk. The autopsy revealed a lethal amount of cocoa beans in the dog’s stomach. In 2007 another dog in Minneapolis died after eating cocoa mulch purchased at a local store.
It is up to Veterinarians, and pet food companies to use their resources to get the word out to pet owners not to buy this product. There are no warnings on the product packaging itself which is sold at most stores like Target, Wal Mart and Home Depot or most gardening stores. The stores themselves do not post warning signs on the product shelves and it is up to pet owners to find this information itself which is highly irresponsible.
Cocoa Mulch is used as a decorative landscaping product and is made of cocoa bean shells which contain:
Toxins called theologize, and a xanthine compound which is similar to caffeine. If your dog or cat or child for that matter eats the mulch due to the enhanced flavor of chocolate -it can lead to convulsions, and death.
Cocoa bean is what chocolate is made of and chocolate is highly toxic to pets.
Cocoa Mulch come in various Brand Names
Look for warning signs of tremors, shaking restlessness and vomiting in your dog especially if you have neighbors that use the mulch product. Do not let your dog out unattended without first removing the substance and while on a walk be careful of neighboring homes that are using cocoa bean mulch.
ALTERNATIVES IN MULCH PRODUCTS:
The alternative decorative mulches also contain resins and oils which are also harmful to your pets. The best tip is to not let your dog near mulched areas of your garden, do not leave your pet unattended. Do not let your dog roam around the neighborhood without supervision. If your dog has ingested any of these substances call the Animal Poison Control Center at: 888-426-4435 or induce vomiting immediately.
If you are using these products consider removing them and replacing with plain old wood chips for mulch. Most mulch is available free from your local city or municipal maintenance department. Or just purchase plain wood chips with no chemical additives.
TAGS: Cocoa Mulch, toxic cocoa mulch, snopes.com, alternatives to mulch products,cocoa mulch poisonous to your dog, Target, Wal Mart, Home Depot, decorative cocoa mulch, dog poison, cat poison, dogs, cats, pets, toxins, dog health, doghealth1, wood chips, no chemical additives.
BHT or BHA is a preservative used in commercial pet foods and it basically preserves the animal fat content quite plainly so it does not rot in the dog food bag or can. It is also called Thoxyquin which does not sound very appetizing to people. The history of Ethoxyquin dates back to the fifties where it was used to kill weeds as a herbicide and it was a chemical used to make rubber more stable.
As a preservative it keeps old food preserved longer and that has to do more with shelf life and not your dog’s health. BHA is more for the manufacturers to sell it to grocery stores so it can sit on the shelf longer than other foods.
What does Ethoxyquin do for your dog? Well it can kill it. People who work in the rubber business and were exposed to Ethoxyquin contracted skin cancer, blindness, leukemia, diarrhea and liver damage. In animals it can kill their immune system which is their only defense against diseases. It causes kidney cancers and makes stomach tumors or colon tumors and the Department of Agriculture lists it as a pesticide. Yes you will find BHA in poor cheap dog food at Walmart.
This is a chemical preservative that your dog is ingesting at every meal for years and years. Your dog will consume pounds of Ethoxyquin in its food approximately 27 pounds in its life time. Doesn’t sound very healthy does it?
You wonder why pet owners buy this food at all but most do because it is cheap. It is cheap in its ingredients but is it safe? It all depends on how long you want your dog to live? Dogs can live 25-30 years but today the average life span of a dog is 13-14 years. The best advice is to buy only certified organic food for your dog, and ensure that it does not contain BHA, or corn, or wheat or by products. Pet foods are not supposed to contain chemicals that kill your dog. They are not supposed to contain harmful ingredients that damage your dog’s kidneys.
The only way to buy dog food today is with a magnifying glass as you read the ingredients. These days I know where the organic food is and its not at Pets Mart, at least the fake organic food is but not the real stuff. If you find your local independent health food store -you will find organic dog foods.
Ingredients of Ol’ Roy Complete Nutrition: even after the recall of 2007 this food is not fit for dog consumption.
Ground Yellow Corn, Meat and Bone Meal, Soybean Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Wheat Middlings, Animal Fat Preserved With Bha and Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Brewers Rice, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Color Added Red # 40, Y … (excerpt from : walmart.com).
There were no product reviews on this item for sale at Walmart. Usually when you buy a product on line you get to see other people’s reviews which states how they liked it, what it did for them, how they used it and how much they liked it. But in this case, we did not find any reviews for Ol’ Roy Complete Nutrition. As Wikipedia explains:
To date, the US FDA has only found a verifiable connection between ethoxyquin and buildup of protoporphyrin IX in the liver, as well as elevations in liver-related enzymes in some animals. It has been shown to cause mortality in fish.
Websites on BHA: http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/Ethoxyquin.htm
Even more information on BHA or Ethoxyquin: CBC Report.
TAGS: BHA, life span of a dog, Pets Mart, Ethoxyquin, chemical preservatives, Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, animal fat preserved with BHA, Bha, Red Dye # 40, Walmart Pet food, walmart, wikipedia, dog food, pet food. FDA, doghealth1, commercial pet food, food, pet, eyzymes, pets food, dog’s food.
Numerous medical studies show how garlic juice reduces cholesterol and helps the heart.
Worldwide people take garlic pills, eat garlic cloves and spray garlic juice on food for good health.
For dogs it does even more:
1. Keeps dogs from having worms and gets rid of worms that are there.
2. Keeps fleas and ticks off dogs by getting into the dog’s system and creating
a garlic odor that fleas and ticks detect and avoid the dog altogether.
(Don’t worry, your dog won’t smell like garlic. Humans can’t detect
the garlic odor on the dog but the insects sure will!)
3. Reduces a dog’s cholesterol level for good heart function.
Garlic Juice is easiest way to give garlic to your dog, here’s how most kennels and dog owners do it:
Spray or pour garlic into the dog’s food, mix well into the food.
Here’s the recommended daily dosage:
5-20 lb. dogs – 4 sprays or 1/4 ounce in food daily.
21-50 lb. dogs – 6 sprays into food and mix well.
51 lbs. and over dogs 8 sprays into food and mix well.
If, for some rare reason your dog will not eat food with the garlic juice in it, mix the garlic
juice with soybean oil (available in the cooking oil section at your local supermarket) and mix
into food – this also helps make a very nice coat on the dog.
Say goodbye to poisonous flea collars! Mother Nature has provided a safe and all-natural
alternative – farm fresh garlic juice!
South Korea researchers in the Asia Pacific rim confirm two beagles cloned from just fat stem cells were born in healthy condition. These dog healthy beagle babies are called Magic and Stem and were produced by RNL BIO a biopharmaceutical that specializes in stem cell based therapy using Somatic cells are any cells formed in the body and can be made from internal organs, skin, bone, blood, connective tissue and in this case fat tissues can be used.
There is no basis in using just embryonic cells as some religious groups in the past have been trying to prevent this research under the Bush administration. Those days are long gone as science goes down a brighter, successful and more promising future to cure all diseases to man and animals.
Dog Cloning uses Somatic Cells:
The word from Latin meaning “ the body” and the body cells or a dog or a cat are stem cells.
The beauty of using stem cells or somatic cells is that these contain a full set of chromosomes where as the regular reproductive cells only carry ½ of the chromosomes, which makes Somatic Cells more powerful and acceptable for transplants. Rather than relying just on sperm and egg which are gametocytes – somatic cells can be the key to complete disease eradication and cures for: cancer, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, liver failure, spinal cord injury, paralysis, Alzheimer and all major killers of people and pets.
Dog cancer can be cured completely if only this type of research if funded here and abroad. If not here, research will be conducted elsewhere as in Korea and many other countries that are seeing the results of the power of stem cell transplants and research.
Wouldn’t you want to cure your dog of cancer or diabetes, or any other disease like arthritis and hip dysphasia? I certainly would do everything in my power to save my dog and as these treatments become more popular we will all be able to afford them.
Last week we spoke about a couple from Florida that cloned their beloved dog Lancelot and just days ago received their puppy from stem cells. They were willing to pay $ 150,000.00 to clone their dog and that is a very high price. This is not to say that when the pharmaceuticals if they had any sense would pursue stem cell transplants instead of drugs that have harmful side effects we would see an end to diseases in our life time.
As Barack Obama promised his two daughters during the campaign that they will have a dog in the Whitehouse, many people are considering the options the Obama’s should consider to chose the right dog.
Malia who is 10 years old, has an allergy to dogs therefore the Presidential pooch must be hypoallergenic to fit into the Obama household. What a lucky dog it will be to have such a loving family and a big house to accompany the family everywhere they go.
Such breeds as poodles, Bichon Frise are non shedders and are hypoallergenic dogs which would fit in very well. The Maltese, Blue Terrier, Wheaten Terrier, or Schnauzers are all excellent dogs that do very well with people that have allergies because they produce less dander.
However, Malia has her heart set on a Goldendoodle a cross breed between a golden retriever and a standard size poodle. Goldendoodles will have either the retriever fur coat or a poodle like curlier coat with hair about 4 to 7 inches long and should be groomed regularly.
As a hybrid dog Goldendoodles tend to live longer than either breed and will weigh about 45 pounds when fully grown. This breed will be intelligent, and friendly, obedient family dogs that are friendly towards children, other pets and strangers which are all good attributes for living in the Whitehouse. As well Barack will be happy to know that they are easily trained and aim to please their family.
The Goldendoodle is usually found in many different colors such as: cream, chocolate, gray, black, gold or a reddish apricot color and they are just an adorable choice for any family.
Barack mentioned in his speeches after the election that they had wanted to adopt a dog from a animal shelter or rescue center for abandoned dogs which is admirably what most perspective pet owners should check out first.
I am sure that the Obama’s will contact their local animal shelters to see if a dog or puppy is available for adoption as soon as they possibly can and for this and other reasons I am so very glad Obama has been elected the President of the United States.
TAGS: Barack Obama, Goldendoodle, Whitehouse dog, Malia Obama, breeds, hypoallergenic dogs, golden retriever, standard poodle, The Presidential Dog for the Obama Whitehouse, Doghealth1.
If you wish to see a Goldendoodle click here: Goldendoodle
Some holistic veterinarians believe strongly that vaccinating your dog or cat each year is not necessary and in some cases can prove to cause life threatening diseases.
The jury is still out on the link between human vaccines and the onset shortly afterwards of autism in children.
Dr. Shawn Messonier a DVM is a holistic veterinarian that wrote a book Bible for Dogs and Cats where he outlines the potential harm from vaccines for pets.
Such illnesses as cancer, allergies, and autoimmune diseases are blamed on vaccinations by many veterinarians especially when given each year.
Dr. Messonnier recommends that you ask your vet for a titer test which is a blood test which is done yearly to see if your dog “needs a booster”.
A Titer Test uses a serial dilution and tests how much antibody your dog has in its blood before you order your veterinarian to give your dog vaccinations. The blood is sent to a laboratory to determine the analysis and the results are returned to your veterinarian and you can get a copy of the report yourself to keep a record.
The results are given as a number and the higher the number the healthier your dog, and the lower the number means your dog needs a booster.
Some vets still cannot decide what number determines the need for shots and suggest you give them regardless of the results. Some dogs will not need shots every year and can go 3-4 years without a booster, and others will need them only every 5-10 years.
The titer test costs roughly $ 60.00 and it tests for distemper, and the parvovirus rather than just vaccinating indiscriminately without knowing whether the pet requires a booster.
When you consider the lifespan of an animal from 10 to 15 years or more usually the initial vaccination and a booster 1 year later is sufficient for the life of the animal.
The advantage of the test is that your dog will not receive too many vaccines which can harm the immune system and your dog will remain healthier. It is worth the cost of the test and far less expensive than needless vaccines.
Tags: vaccinations, pet vaccines, veterinarians, booster shots, Dr. Messonnier, holistic veterinarians, dogs, cats, pet care, titer, antibodies, blood test.
Recently, since March, 2007, we have all been subjected to the chilling effect of learning that dog food contained poisons, that killed a lot of our pets. Besides the devastating deaths we learned that dog and cat food is tainted and also contain many useless additives that offer little nutritional value.
To this date in July, 2007 it is still a growing concern, with many pet owners, changing their dog’s diet completely. It has left the Pet Food industry to scramble to improve and clean up their pet food ingredients and it was a long time in coming to this point.
photo credit: Sugar Pond
Ingredients of Ol’ Roy Complete Nutrition: even after the recall of 2007 this food is not fit for dog consumption.
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