Kacy
Posted Monday, 23 November 2009 By timmyray
With Thanksgiving coming soon, What does Dr. Carol think about Dogs and table scraps? what is ok and what is the worst?
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Diet for new dog after spay surgery
Posted Tuesday, 08 December 2009 By Shelly Skoog-Smith
I'm adopting a dog on Thursday. She was spayed on Monday. At the shelter she's been eating Exceed dog food from Sam's Club. I don't have access to any of their stores but found online it is similar if not the same as Purina One. I refuse to buy Purina because of their awful ingredients.
Will it completely throw her off if I change her food with no transition? Or is it better to buy a small bag of (yucky!) Purina & switch her gradually?
I feed my current dogs Natural Balance Potato & Duck.
Thank you!!
Will it completely throw her off if I change her food with no transition? Or is it better to buy a small bag of (yucky!) Purina & switch her gradually?
I feed my current dogs Natural Balance Potato & Duck.
Thank you!!
Weight Control
Posted Saturday, 02 January 2010 By Shelley
My dog, an Australian Sheppard/Border Collie, is heavier then my other dogs. I put her on light food, but she is always looking to eat more. I have been feeding her carrots for snacks. Is there anything else I can give her? Thank you so much.
Fancy pet food
Posted Friday, 08 January 2010 By eric gazin
Dear Dr. Carol, Of course I love my dogs, but the constant churn of new "super" pet food out there has me confused. How much is just marketing and packaging? I personally think organic pet food is just a gimmick, and human grade ingredients may sound good, but I an not at all convinced it helps my dogs be healthier. What should we look for or look to avoid with both wet and dry dog food?
Thyroid and Iodine
Posted Saturday, 09 January 2010 By Linda Messina
When a dog is on Tyroid meds, why is iodine contraindicated?
Diet for new dog after spay surgery
Posted Wednesday, 09 December 2009 By Dr. Carol Osborne
Dear Shelly
You are correct about quality and the lack there of regarding commercial dog foods. I personally wouldn't recommend either but would consider an organic diet such as Natures Balance, Newmans, etc. Whenever you switch from a lower quality diet to one of higher quality it's not necessary to gradually blend but it certainly won't hurt
One way to switch diets is for example:
Day1: feed 75% old diet + 25% new diet
Day 2 feed 50/50
Day 3 feed 754% new diet with 25 % old diet
Day 5 100% new diet
Please keep me posted
Best Wishes
Dr Carol
You are correct about quality and the lack there of regarding commercial dog foods. I personally wouldn't recommend either but would consider an organic diet such as Natures Balance, Newmans, etc. Whenever you switch from a lower quality diet to one of higher quality it's not necessary to gradually blend but it certainly won't hurt
One way to switch diets is for example:
Day1: feed 75% old diet + 25% new diet
Day 2 feed 50/50
Day 3 feed 754% new diet with 25 % old diet
Day 5 100% new diet
Please keep me posted
Best Wishes
Dr Carol
Fancy pet food
Posted Friday, 08 January 2010 By Dr. Carol Osborne
Dear Eric,
I understand and appreciate your thoughts. It is very difficult to weed through all the marketing hype and get honest answers when it comes to quality pet food.
Honestly, it would take a course to answer your question correctly which is exactly why we will be holding a nutritional webinar later this month to address this topic in detail.
The benefit of organic food is that toxins, preservatives and harmful chemicals are not in the food, both by law and by definition of "organic".
Chemically altered commercial diets are certainly a major contributing factor in pets and people developing diseases from kidney and liver failure to cancer. The old saying"You are what you eat" is very TRUE. If you'd like to discuss this with me, give us a call. If not, consider signing up for our nutritional webinar series, for which a sign up page will be available very soon.
Thank you
DR Carol
I understand and appreciate your thoughts. It is very difficult to weed through all the marketing hype and get honest answers when it comes to quality pet food.
Honestly, it would take a course to answer your question correctly which is exactly why we will be holding a nutritional webinar later this month to address this topic in detail.
The benefit of organic food is that toxins, preservatives and harmful chemicals are not in the food, both by law and by definition of "organic".
Chemically altered commercial diets are certainly a major contributing factor in pets and people developing diseases from kidney and liver failure to cancer. The old saying"You are what you eat" is very TRUE. If you'd like to discuss this with me, give us a call. If not, consider signing up for our nutritional webinar series, for which a sign up page will be available very soon.
Thank you
DR Carol
Weight Control
Posted Friday, 08 January 2010 By Dr. Carol Osborne
Dear Shelly,
If you could give me the age and weight of your dog and tell me what you feed I am glad to offer my thoughts for you. Many commercially available "lite" pet food diets are actually less than ideal. These diets are often filled with "empty" calories (many consist primarily of corn) so the dogs eat a cup of food and defecate a cup of food which is a sgn that the food is going through the body but not being properly digested or absorbed, which is why your dog is"always" hungry. I believe she is hungry.
You might consider switching to a different higher quality natural or preferably organic diet. try feeding your dog small meals at least twice a day or if you're able 3-4 times a day.
If this doesn't resolve the problem I would see your vet and have a complete set of blood and urine tests run to evaluate her internal health status and once you have that, your vet should be able to correct the problem. I hope this is helpful.
Thank you
Dr Carol.
If you could give me the age and weight of your dog and tell me what you feed I am glad to offer my thoughts for you. Many commercially available "lite" pet food diets are actually less than ideal. These diets are often filled with "empty" calories (many consist primarily of corn) so the dogs eat a cup of food and defecate a cup of food which is a sgn that the food is going through the body but not being properly digested or absorbed, which is why your dog is"always" hungry. I believe she is hungry.
You might consider switching to a different higher quality natural or preferably organic diet. try feeding your dog small meals at least twice a day or if you're able 3-4 times a day.
If this doesn't resolve the problem I would see your vet and have a complete set of blood and urine tests run to evaluate her internal health status and once you have that, your vet should be able to correct the problem. I hope this is helpful.
Thank you
Dr Carol.
Thyroid and Iodine
Posted Monday, 11 January 2010 By Dr. Carol Osborne
Because iodine affects thyroid levels.
Dr Carol
Dr Carol
Update on new adoptee
Posted Friday, 11 December 2009 By Shelly Skoog-Smith
Thanks, Dr. Carol!
The shelter was kind enough to give me a small bag of her food so I can transition her gradually. I've had her 24 hours now but she doesn't have much of an appetite. I tried some rice & she liked that much better than the kibble. She has terrible gas & mild diarrhea.
She's also lactating, collecting toys & guarding them (& nipping at my other dog that gets too close to the 'nest'). I assume this will go away when her hormones even out?
Thanks again!
The shelter was kind enough to give me a small bag of her food so I can transition her gradually. I've had her 24 hours now but she doesn't have much of an appetite. I tried some rice & she liked that much better than the kibble. She has terrible gas & mild diarrhea.
She's also lactating, collecting toys & guarding them (& nipping at my other dog that gets too close to the 'nest'). I assume this will go away when her hormones even out?
Thanks again!