Care to Your Dog!

Pet services have come a long, long way in the last few years. With the popularity of pet daycares, spas, pet clothing, and much more, pets and their owners have never had it so good! There are a lot of options for pet owners out there – no matter what it is that they want to do with their pet. However, there are still some difficulties in certain areas when it comes to pets, and traveling is probably the biggest area in which there are barriers for people with pets.
One of these travel barriers is the fact that all restaurants – even truck stops – do not allow pets inside. Unless your pet is a working dog, he or she will have to wait in the car while you dine! If you feel bad about this, consider buying your pet a treat at the restaurant and giving it to them afterwards.
Another travel barrier is paying extra cash for flying with your pet. Most airlines allow pets to fly, but not with their owners. Granted, the animal’s airfare will not be as much as the owner’s, but it is still an extra fee that some people do not like paying. Before you complain about the cost of flying with your pet though, call around to your local kennels and do some research on kennel costs these days. Add that to your guilt about leaving him or her behind, and paying that extra flying fee suddenly won’t seem so bad.
When you travel with your pet, you tend to be very limited on where you can go. A lot of the popular vacation destinations are just not animal friendly, and many places will not even allow pets – especially at hotels. If you search hard enough though, you will eventually find a few places that might be pet friendly, but they will not likely be any of the places that you have seen advertised on the media.
Even if you do manage to vacation at a place that is pet friendly, you will not be able to take your pet sight seeing at many places, and this can definitely put up a barrier to your travels! It is no fun to have to call around and try to get someone to pet sit for you while you are on vacation, or even just traveling from one destination to another.
Another travel barrier that you may encounter when you elect to bring your pet with you is the matter of bathroom breaks. You can’t exactly pull over just anywhere, and you won’t always have a litter box or newspaper handy. This can be the most frustrating part of traveling with your pet, and there is really no good solution to this issue. The most you can really do is keep a careful eye on your pet and monitor when and how much he or she eats and take bathroom breaks accordingly.
Traveling with your pet can cause some problems and difficulties, but some people would just rather have these issues than be without their pet for a long period of time. If you fall into this category, make sure you do your research before you make any decisions as to where you want to go, and you will be fine.

Every day, people by the millions pour food from a package into their pet’s bowl. Day in and day out, meal after meal, pets get the same fare. This strange phenomenon is widely practiced by loving pet owners who believe they are doing the right thing.

Why? Certainly because it is convenient, but also because the labels state that such foods are “complete and balanced,” “100% complete,” or that they have passed various analytical and feeding test standards. Furthermore, manufacturers, and even veterinarians, counsel pet owners about not feeding other foods, such as table scraps, because of the danger of unbalancing these modern processed nutritional marvels. The power of the message is so great that pet owners en masse do every day to their pets what they would never do to themselves or their children – force-feed the same processed food at every meal.

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Think about it. Our world is complex beyond comprehension. It is not only largely unknown, it is unknowable in the “complete” sense. In order for nutritionists and manufacturers to produce a “100% complete and balanced” pet food, they must first know 100% about nutrition. However, nutrition is not a completed science. It is, in fact, an aggregate science, which is based upon other sciences, such as chemistry, physics, and biology. But since no scientist would argue that everything is known in chemistry, or physics, or biology, how can nutritionists claim to know everything there is to know about nutrition, which is based upon these sciences? This is the logical absurdity of the “100% complete and balanced” diet claim. It is the reason a similar venture to feed babies a “100% complete” formula turned out to be a health disaster.

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In that instance, after sufficient disease and death resulted from attempting to retire the human breast to a mere appendage of adornment, government stepped in and controlled the commercial hype. Now doctors, nurses and purveyors of baby formulas cannot say these products are complete or that they are equal to or superior to breast-feeding. Good for the regulators. (Although they should have been proactive and prevented the disaster before it ever took root, not have merely stepped in after enough deaths accrued.)

Even with that lesson as a dire warning, pet food regulators turn a blind eye. Instead of preventing pet food producers from claiming a processed food concoction is 100% complete, they in effect promote the death and disease-dealing specious claim by setting bogus standards that supposedly justify and authenticate the claim. They legitimize sloppy science in order to win consumer confidence. All a manufacturer has to do is guarantee that their percentage of protein, fat and the like meets National Research Council standards. In the alternative, manufacturers can do feeding trials on caged laboratory animals for a few weeks, measure cursory blood parameters, and monitor growth and weight – as if survival after a few weeks on a food has anything to do with achieving optimal health and long life!

Down the primrose path millions of trusting pet owners go while at the same time unknowingly condemning their pets to terrible degenerative diseases. Pet food regulators then spend the majority of their time harassing pet food companies with picayune requirements about terminology on packaging and where certain words must be placed on labels. In this regard manufacturers must contend with the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials), and 50 State feed regulatory agencies. All for naught. It’s like the entire police force busying themselves ticketing people for jaywalking while turning a blind eye to the murder and rape going on in the alleys.

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Claiming that anything is 100% is like claiming perfection, total knowledge, and absolute truth. Has pet nutrition really advanced that far? Does a chemist make such a claim? A physicist? Doctor? Professor? Did Einstein, Bohr, Pasteur, Aristotle, Plato, or any of the greatest minds in human history make such claims? No. Has the science of pet nutrition advanced to the point where everything is known about the physiology, digestion and biochemistry of animals, or that everything is known about their food? Certainly not.

The fact of the matter is that the “100% complete” claim is actually “100% complete” guesswork. At best, one could say that such a claim is the firm possibility of a definite maybe.

Each time regulatory agencies convene to decide how much of which nutrients comprise “100% completeness,” debate always ensues and standards usually change. This not only proves that what they claimed before was not “100% complete,” but this should also make us highly suspicious about what they now claim to be “100% complete.”

Moreover, consider that in order to determine the minimum requirement for a certain nutrient – say protein – all other nutrients used in the feeding trials must be adequate and standardized. Otherwise, if vitamin E, for example, is in excess or is deficient in the basal diet, how would one know if the results of the study were because of the effects of protein or due to something amiss with the level of vitamin E?

If the minimum requirements for all 26+ essential nutrients were all set and absolutely etched in stone, that would be one thing. But they aren’t. They are constantly changing. This means each time any nutrient requirement is changed, all test results for all other nutrients using the wrong minimum for this nutrient would then be invalid. Most nutritionists simply ignore this conundrum, feeling like cowboys trying to lasso an octopus – there are just too many loose ends. But they continue to perpetuate the “100% complete” myth, and excuse themselves by saying they make adjustments when necessary. An apology of “I’m sorry,” when the false premise of “100% completeness” is still retained, deserves no forgiveness.

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Also consider that virtually all so-called complete pet foods are vigorously heat processed to gelatinize the unnatural starch components (making them “digestible” – meaning more easily converted to glucose) and to extend shelf-life by sterilization. Dry foods are extruded at hundreds of degrees and hundreds of pounds of pressure. Canned foods are retorted. Commercial pet foods also contain a mix of ingredients including meats, fats, starches (a variety of label dressing “natural” ingredient buzzwords) and vitamin/mineral “fortifiers.” Although the ingredient label is evocative and beguiling, what is in the final product is another matter. Essential fatty acids are oxidized and isomerized. Cytotoxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic cholesterol oxidation products (COP) are formed, including C-7 derivatives, 5,6-epoxides, triols, 25-OHs and 3,5-dienes – the real culprits in human atherogenesis, incidently. The cooked meats form heterocyclic amines, proteins are degraded and amino acids destroyed or racemized. Carbohydrates are glycated, acrylamides are formed, vitamins destroyed, oxidized and racemized and minerals are complexed into unavailable matrices. The end result is a potpourri of imbalance, unavailability and toxicity – not “100% completeness.”

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Yes, pets can survive for a time on such fare, but that is simply a testament to their physiological capacity to adapt. They seek equilibrium at higher and higher levels of toxicity until adaptive reserve is exhausted. Chronic degenerative diseases and immune failure is the end result.

The point is, don’t believe the claim on any commercially prepared pet (or human) food that it is “100% complete and balanced.” It is a spurious unsupported boast, intended to build consumer trust and dependence on commercial products – not create optimal health.

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Unfortunately, most people think animal feeding is a mystery. It is not. Animal nutrition is not a special nutritional science to which common sense human nutrition principles cannot be applied. Use the same reasoning in feeding your pets that you use for feeding your family. Nutrition is also not about some special ingredient, the absence of some boogeyman ingredient, or claims such as “natural,” “organic,” or the like.

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If you feed processed foods, use discernment since just about anyone can create a commercial pet food. The pet food industry has hundreds of brands. Business profiteers and the occasional movie star are the most common forces behind the labels. All one needs is a little money and they can go to any number of toll manufacturers and have them slightly modify a shelf formula. Then all that is needed is to dress it all up with a fancy package, a clever brochure, and some advertising. Voila! Another brand is added to the 20-billion-dollar pet food industry heyday.

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Nutrition is a serious health business, not a mere opportunity to turn dollars. Check the credentials of the decision maker at the head of the company you are entrusting your pet’s health to and examine closely its operating philosophy. Health competence and principle should come before pretty packaging and beguiling hoopla. The public is not well served by exclusively feeding products from companies without any real commitment to health… or knowledge of how to even achieve it.

For the past 25 years, I have been a lonely voice in the wilderness trying to get people to understand the deadly health consequences of feeding processed pet foods exclusively. People want convenience in a bag and the industry wants the flow of billions of dollars to continue uninterrupted. In the meantime, the scientific literature offers compelling proof that millions of animals have been maimed and killed as a result of feeding thoroughly tested “100% complete” foods… with the full imprimatur of government regulation. (Exactly the same thing that abounds in the FDA-pharmaceutical industry.)

Examples of pet food disasters include dilated cardiomyopathy from taurine deficiency, potassium imbalances, fatty acid and carnitine deficiencies and numerous other problems that would be expected on a steady diet of dead, devitalized, carbohydrate-based processed foods. Moreover, the whole panoply of human chronic degenerative diseases such as cancer, obesity, arthritis, autoimmunities, dental deterioration and organ failure are at epidemic levels in the pet population… as should be expected on such a diet.

“Thousands of pet cats die each year with dilated cardiomyopathy… observed in… cats fed commercial cat food…” (Science, Volume 237, pages 764-8)

Not only is feeding the same processed food day in and day out a formula for disease, it is a cruelty to pets. It is one thing to take them from their interesting and active wild setting and confine them, but to not even offer them interesting natural meal variety is really quite inexcusable. The answer, like everything else good in life, is a little attention and common sense. Knowledge is the best beginning point.

Further reading and resources of scientific references:

Wysong, R. L. (2002). The Truth About Pet Foods. Midland, MI: Inquiry Press.

Science, Volume 237, pages 764-8

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 199, pages 731-4

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 201, pages 267-74

Feline Practice, Volume 20, Number 1, page 30

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 202, pages 744-51

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 191, pages 1563-8

Journal of Nutrition, Volume 129, pages 1909-14

Journal of Nutrition, Volume 126, pages 984-8

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 203, pages 1395-1400

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 198, pages 647-50

Veterinary Clinics of North America Small Animal Practice, Volume 19, pages 527-37

Veterinary Forum, Volume 9, pages 34-5

Veterinary Forum, Volume 9, pages 26-8

American Journal of Veterinary Research, Volume 62, pages 1616-23

Petfood Industry, May/June 1998, pages 4-14

Journal of Animal Science, Volume 75, pages 2980-5

Veterinary Business, Volume 2, page 1

Waltham International Focus, Volume 3, Number 1, page 9

For further reading, or for more information about, Dr Wysong and the Wysong Corporation please visit www.wysong.net or write to wysong@wysong.net. For resources on healthier foods for people including snacks, and breakfast cereals please visit www.cerealwysong.com.

During the terrible destruction of hurricane Katrina and other storms over the past year, thousands of animals were separated from their families during evacuation efforts. This was either because evacuations are set up primarily to save the lives of humans, not their pets. Secondly, even if families evacuated on their own and could have brought their pets, many might not have been able to find them during the chaos of natural disasters.

In response to this important need to reunite families with their pets, Petfinder.com and the Maddie Fund formed the Animal Emergency Response Network (AERN). According to the AERN website, 3,200 animals caught in the destruction of hurricanes Katrina and Rita were united with their families, or were relocated to new homes, thanks to the AERN database.

What is Petfinder.com?

Any organization that would do such wonderful work to save animals across the country deserves recognition. So what is Petfinder.com? Petfinder is a wonderful service that provides an online database of animals across the North American continent which need a home. It includes, and is supported by, over 10,000 animal shelters and adoptive organizations. Petfinder essentially serves as a central database for the country’s lonely and homeless pets, and a wonderful method for families who have loving homes for such pets to easily find a perfect pet that would fit into the family.

Surprisingly (because the website is so professionally done, and the operation is so well managed), Petfinder is a non-profit organization that consists of professionals and members of the public who volunteer their time to update and maintain this database. This is proof that there are some very good people out there.

How Does the Petfinder Database Work?

The Petfinder database provides searches through thousands of pet listings using various criteria including:

• Animal
• Breed
• Age
• Size
• Gender
• Location

And an advanced search section provides searches based on:

• Animal type and breed
• Age
• Pets with a certain name
• Only particular pets such as special needs, declawed, or only those recommended for children.

The results will return the name (if appropriate), the breed, gender, and even a photo. Clicking on the link will take you to the shelter or rescue organization which listed it.

A Pet Portrait Featuring Your Pet’s Name

If you are an organization considering listing a pet, one very unique way to provide an image of the pet that will really get noticed is to have a portrait done of the pet’s photo. Not only would this attract a great deal of attention, but you could also offer the portrait as a bonus to the lucky family who takes this animal back to a loving home. Pet portraits are sweeping the country as a very popular form of recognizing how pets mean to families.

The best pet portraits in the country are created by artist Nikky Hughes of Los Angeles. Nikky was classically trained at the Mission Renaissance art school, and she focuses on capturing not only the beauty, but the unique character of each animal. She will accept photos through the mail of pets, and then create stunning portraits from those pictures. Pet portraits are ideal because they can be done from a photo (as apposed to getting the pet to “pose” at a studio.)

Other Options at Petfinder

Petfinder provides other great services at their website, including a monthly newsletter that you can receive monthly. Just click the “Sigh up today!” button on the lower left part of the web page. There is also a search box to find Animal Welfare groups in your local area. There is an online library where you can learn more about the various breeds, a section where you can learn how you can personally volunteer locally to help pets, a training section with dog and cat training videos, lost and found pet classifieds, a blog and forum community, a shop where you can find animal-oriented gear, and even a “fun” section for kids where there are free Ecards and some fun games.

Petfinder isn’t only a website where you can go to find a pet, it’s a place that does a great service for communities across the continent, and it’s also a website you can go just to spend some time and take part in activities that are available for animal lovers from around the world.

Taking care of a pet is quite easy as well as should be well taken care. Pet care is in fact a simple job, and includes the very important functions of grooming and striving to maintain good pet health care. General pet supplies could be considered a definition of useful tools for grooming and keeping your pet in good health.

Let us consider some useful terms which should be taken care for the well being of your pet:

Choosing A Pet:

The process of choosing a pet is very important. Choosing a pet depends on one’s preferences, but there are still some important things that should be kept in mind. One should always choose an animal of good breed. Secondly, the pet should be healthy especially if it is still in the initial stage of its life. A healthy young pet shows good fast growth.

Pet Supplies:

You should make a complete list of pet supplies and include the following: pet food and food bowls, pet id tags and collar, pet medications, supplements and tonics, etc. Some other items to consider are animal carriers, pet houses and furniture, pet beds, clothes, and pet jewelry.

Online Pet Supplies:

Online pet supplies are supplies that can be purchased from pet stores over the Internet. There are numerous pet grooming product manufacturers and pet-grooming stores selling their products online through their individual official websites.

Pet Grooming Supplies:

Pet grooming supplies include items such as grooming clippers, pet hair care products, soaps, shampoo and perfumes.

Pet Health:

Pet health is a very important responsibility of pet ownership. For puppies and kittens, or any other four-legged pets, important treatments would include giving a hygiene bath, cleaning, combing, brushing, checking ears, paws, teeth and underside of the tongue, nail trimming, removing fleas and insects, and fixing regular meetings with a professional veterinary. A good pet owner should follow a regular schedule of grooming sessions.

Pet Care:

Pet care can require a lot of patience. Like children, pets often require special attention. A puppy, kitten or any other pet in its infancy needs to be handled with extreme care. In particular they must be groomed properly, fed carefully, and bedded properly.

Pet Insurance :

When you are treating your pet as your family member why not covering your pet with an insurance policy. Yes! That’s absolutely possible and you will find many insurance companies providing policies for your beloved pet. Pet insurance is now a days very common and used largely by many pet lovers. Though how much you take care of you pet but you never know when an emergency situation arrives.

There is a very famous saying from George Eliot “Pets are such agreeable friends, they ask no questions and they pass no criticisms” about pet animals. Pets have always been friendly to humans and often show their love and affection by licking, hickeys, even love-bites.

Your pet dogs can also relieve you of some of the stresses of night and day life. If you own or are thinking of buying a Dog or Puppy it is advisable to take out insurance to cover expenses for illness or accident. Your pet dogs may need an air filled dog beds and transport dog crates every time you want to travel with pet friend. To some people and ranchers, dogs act as their companion in the wild and a helper at the same time. Your pet dogs could be your best friend especially if you are alone at home or anywhere for that matter.
Your pet dogs may use an air filled dog beds which are very comfortable and easy to clean up. Dog crates or transport dog crates are convenient to have if you plan to travel with them. Whenever you have an obedient pet dog or puppies mean that you are taking care of your pet dogs properly. Pets that are happy can also make the individual owner a happy man too. With an air filled dog beds, rest assure that your lively pet friend is well taken cared.
If you are looking for a varied dog collars do not sweat because there is plentiful of places and sites to order online. Whatever you use to do in the park or in the farm or in your house, take your favorite pet dogs with you. When it comes to dog training, you will need for a good quality collars and harnesses as the experts would recommend.
Take a walk with your golden retriever to watch the autumn leaves in the park. Just like the American Staffordshire Terriers, they are gentle and good natured towards people. Some dog breeds require a lot of time that you will take to dedicate to groom and to put into practice. Other breeds are very easy to train and some are a little bit tougher.
Dog collars come in a lot of sizes, shapes and forms. Dog collars come in designer type and models too. There are plenty to choose from if you ever decide to purchase the best one for your pet friend. Dog collars can also be cheap or expensive. It really depends on your taste and budget.
Pet dogs are very playful too, that can motivate you to go out and set up fun running around or simply play with them. Your pet dogs can also help you temper your ordinary life aches and pains. Being outside on the park or just your leisurely walk with your pet is a good way to relax.
And if ever planning on a trip with an animal friend transport dog crates or a dog carrier will definitely be needed. The good thing about these types of dog crates is that you can use them in a car travel and some airline and or train travel. One of the uttermost popular transport dog crates are the ones called soft sided dog carriers. When travelling whether on a short or long distance travel, it is utmost for dog transport to get them in a transport dog crates.
And the greatest place to start your search is through the internet. By going online, you will foretell hordes of what you are looking for. So if you think about it, it does give you a lot benefits and advantages in having a dog crate. Your pet dogs travel will need and air filled dog beds and a transport dog crates.

Where to start on pet food is what I’m going to say, there are so many different types of pet food out there for any kind of pet you have. You will want to know exactly what pet food your pets are going to like, as well as this you will want to know exactly what is in the pet food you are going to be feeding your pets.

People say aren’t all pet food healthy? Well no the answer is that they just simply aren’t. There are so many different ingredients that are put into a lot of pet food which can be very dangerous. They are packed full of preservatives and chemicals that can and probably will damage your pet.

Pet food can be cheap but is that the way that you really want it to be, if these cheap pet foods are slowly killing your pet, why buy them? There are many different factors that need to be considered when buying pet food, for example all meat diets are bad for both cats and dogs and same again for all fish diets.

Next we need to know what is essentially needed for most kinds of pets, all animals need energy and nutrients. Energy can be supplied through proteins and fats that put into pet food. There are also some nutrients that are needed for your pet, these include water, minerals and vitamins. Water is the most important nutrient which all animals need.

You will want to find a pet food that contains the above essentials, but you will not want to give them too much of certain nutrients and too much energy. High energy pet food is usually good for animals but a constant high energy intake is not good for your pet as the food will be giving your pet too much and energy and can result in your pet having obesity issues which can later lead on to diabetes for your pet.

Also if you are using a pet food that contains a lot of the same nutrients it can make the food become toxic which can be very dangerous for your pet. When pet food is processed the nutrient availability is reduced which can cause nutritional deficiency. Also certain nutrients need to be in the correct proportions otherwise they can cause a nutritional imbalance even if they meet requirements for each individual amount.

When buying a pet food look for the ones that have “COMPLETE” written on, these are the pet foods that contain all the nutrients that are essentially needed for your pet. If it has “COMPLEMENTARY” written on the product then that pet food does not contain all the essentials. If you find out which essentials these do not contain then you should add them in with the food

The best place to find out what you should be feeding your pet is your veterinarian who will be able to advise you properly on which pet food your pet will be best off with as he can make a visual and thorough test which will all in all help your pet a lot.

Pet health insurance is the latest buzz word in pet care today. However, for all the hype that it’s making, it can’t magically make all your expenses go away. Before purchasing a pet health insurance plan, there are many aspects that need to be examined. This article outlines the most basic points one should think about before purchasing a pet health insurance plan.

Discount Plan vs. Comprehensive Insurance plan

Before signing anything on paper, pet owners should try to figure out what’s more suitable for their budgets. Pet health insurance plans usually come in two forms: a discount plan and a comprehensive insurance plan.

A discount plan has an easier scheme, which gives you annual discounts on veterinary fees. A comprehensive insurance plan may offer more benefits, but the scheme is similar to a human health insurance plan-which means that there are more conditions to follow.

Choosing your own Veterinary

Most pet health insurance plans may take away your privilege to choose your own veterinary. When shopping for an insurance plan, make sure you examine the clause which states this condition. Most pet owners feel more comfortable working with the vets they trust the most. However, cheaper pet health insurance plans may not have this option.

Period covered

Be very particular about the period that your pet health insurance plan covers. If you’re a pet owner of a new born pup, go for a pet health insurance that covers veterinary services immediately. There’s no use in investing too soon on a pet that’s not fully grown yet.

Exclusions

Like health insurance plans for humans, pet health insurance may have a number of exclusions. Most insurance companies would try to waive off illnesses which are common in some breeds. To take advantage of this situation, read up on the common illnesses experienced by your pet’s breed. This will prevent you from purchasing a useless insurance hyped up by a sweet mouthed insurance agent.

Routine treatment and check ups

A huge bulk of any pet owner’s pet care expenses come from routine treatments and checkups. Before signing any documents, you should be very particular about the services that are included in the package. A pet healthy insurance policy that covers most, if not all, of routine veterinary expenses is a better deal compared to a pet health insurance that only covers accidents and major illnesses.

Deductibles

Most pet health insurance would require its purchasers to make a down payment before rendering any services. Make sure that the benefit of the insurance plan is worth the deductible that you need to pay for it. An insurance agent may try to lure you with a lot of fluff during sales talk, but you need to be wiser and check if these promises are included in black and white.

Company’s reputation

Always make sure that the company who’s offering you a pet health insurance is reliable. Looking for reviews online is very helpful for someone who’s never heard of pet health insurance plans before. Agents are only too quick to prey on uninformed consumers.