Spoodle Dog Website » Dog Health

Omega Fish Oils for Dogs – A test on Teddy

Teddy — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:58:46 +0000

Dog Diets
Dog diet is probably the most understood aspect of good dog health, especially for new dog owners. We might look no further than the supermarket when we buy our dog’s food, or just focus on what’s at the vet. But did you know that the look, energy and general overall health of your dog can come from its diet? It’s possible that many issue stem from its diet – Allergies, behaviour, dull coat, and skin condition can all be a cause of malnutrition.
Issues with Dry Food
Do you feed your dog solely on a dry food diet? The issue with this is that they are highly process grain with little nutritional value. Though they may claim to add omega 3 and other nutrition, if it’s stored at room temperature most of these supplements are useless. The only fatty acid which can survive the temperature of the Dry Food process is omega 6. If we are overdosing our dogs on Omega 6 it can create the conditions for degenerative diseases. Feeding your dog solely on dry food is usually not recommended.
Varying your dogs diet

A good balanced diet can improve the health of your dog. Raw foods, meats, vegetables, fish and eggs can all contribute to a varying diet which gives your dog the variety that it needs.

Teddy’s diet
Teddy, my dog, has a diet which consists of dry food in the morning and raw food at night. I looked at the package of the dry food and saw that it was filled with all sorts of nutrition which I just assumed would fill any lack of nutrition gap. At around age three I noticed that teddy’s coat started to fade and also get quite coarse. His skin would become quite dry and often he would have issue. I read around on the internet on dry skin and found that it might be a lack of oil in the skin due to a not so good diet. Naturally I thought that this couldn’t be an issue with Teddy as his diet is quite good. On reading further they started to talk about fish oil tablets and omega 3 for dogs. I know humans can take fish oil tablets but never really thought dogs could. Reading about how they can improve a dog’s skin and coat I thought I would give it a try, since I did have a spare case of fish oil tablets in the fridge no one was using.

The results of Omega 3 Fish Oil tablets on dog
I gave teddy one whole fish oil tablet every morning with some cheese. Naturally I didn’t expect much to happen as I don’t totally believe this would be a miracle fix to his coat. After one week not a lot had happened and I thought this must be another one of these alternative healing articles which claim more than they deliver. I continued on with the fish oil every morning as I did have 100 tablets and thought I might as well give this a good shot. After a while it became habit to give him a tablet and I soon forgot about his coat. After about a month I was stroking him and I thought his coat feels softer. It was at this point, I wondered if this was the fish oil. Now 3 months on his coat still feels softer than before, its actually quite amazing and didn’t really expect this. I can’t say for sure that it was the omega 3 tablets however it’s the only part of his diet I have changed. Whenever I catch fish now, especially Kahawai I make it a point to feed some to him. I can’t say for sure that Omega 3 fish oil will definitely soften your dogs coat or improve his skin, however on Teddy the results have being very promising.

Dogs Bad Breath? Brush its teeth

Spoodle — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:54:22 +0000

Dog Dental Care

Brushing Dog Teeth

Does your dog have bad breath?
Have you ever thought that dog’s teeth also need brushing? Well most likely not.
The first time I heard about brushing your dogs teeth I thought – is this is a joke?

When I visited my local vet they showed me the large range of dog dental care and it wasn’t until then that I relised this wasn’t a joke. Checking my dog’s teeth I noticed straight away a dark brown colour at the top of his K9’s developing. This is a build up of plaque and tartar – now I’m starting to sound like the dentist. It’s true, animals do develop this on there teeth and often are made worse with diets which lack in bones. Raw brisket bones and dental chews will help clean the back of there teeth however it’s the front teeth and k9’s that often get this build up (if your dog doesn’t have raw bones or chew’s it’s most likely you will find a build up on the back teeth as well). If you do notice a build up of plaque and tartar you will need to get your local vet to remove this with a specialist dental tool (this should always be check when you take your dog to the vet for its routine check up). If your dog has really bad teeth then a detailed oral clean maybe required in which may be put under anesthetic. Once this has been removed you can then prevent this by brushing your dog’s teeth using a dog tooth paste and soft brush. There are some good brands out there which are flavored so your dog enjoys it.

If this build up is allowed to continue it can lead to preventable dental disorders such as periodontal disease and also affect the overall health of your dog. It’s a good routine to get into and you should start when your dog is young, that way they will get use to the brushing. If you have never heard of brushing your dog’s teeth and you own an older dog, then there is no better time to start than now. It will only improve your dog’s health and also there breath.

Common Dog Ear Problems

Spoodle — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 02:41:27 +0000

There are several common ear problems that can occur in dogs. The most common problem is usually an allergic reaction of some sort. Allergies often can occur for several factors ranging from a food allergy to an external environmental factor, such as pollen or toxic plants. Itchy, red inflamed ears and paws are a common symptom of an allergy and you may find your dog is biting at there paw or scratching at there ears a lot. To deal with external environmental factors, it’s important to reduce things such as dust and pollen and therefore it’s important to keep your dogs living environment as clean as possible. If it’s a food reaction you may need to test which foods it’s reacting to and possibly change to a low allergy food. It’s also important that you keep your dog’s immune system as healthy as possible, so regular exercise and mental stimulus mixed with a healthy variant diet will help to strengthen the body’s ability to deal with allergies. It’s important that you keep an eye on your dog and try to keep them away from poisonous plants which can show up in the paws and also in the ears.

Another issue which can arise is ear infections. Ear infections can be cause by many issues however they tend to arise when your dog’s immune system is low and a graze or minor irritant becomes infected. The infection thrives due to the dark, warm and moist environment inside the ear, especially with dogs with woolly coats. Yeast and bacterial growth will cause an odour in the ears and if the infection is found in only one ear you may find your dog tilts its head to one side attempting to equalise pressure. Common signs are that your dog is more irritable, the ears are warm to touch, possibly more tired and obvious signs such as redness inside the ear. The best treatment is to take your dog to the vet to get the ear checked out and if an infection has occurred then usually it will be fought with antibiotics, cleaning of the ear and also drops or a cream.

It’s important to check your dog’s ears for anything that may have found its way in there. They can range from plant material such as grass seeds or pollen, to sticks from off the beach or even cuts and grazes from rose bushes or black berry bushes. You should be able to check your dog’s ears with a flash light and a quick look inside, however it’s important that you don’t insert anything inside as this can damage the dog’s ear. If there is anything inside causing a problem you should take your dog to the vet to get a thorough check up and let them fix the issue. For a dog with quite a woolly inside ear it’s also possible that a knot can form from small debris inside the ear. If this occurs you should take your dog to the vet and get it removed as they can become infected.

If your dog is treated with consistent flea and tick treatment then this shouldn’t normally be an issue, however if your dog is not treated they can effect your dogs ears. Ticks and fleas can bite inside your dog’s ears which can cause the bites to get infected or else your dog could have a flea or tick allergy which makes bites swell up and rashes occur. Even a bite outside of the ear can cause an allergic reaction which often shows up as redness inside the ears. The best treatment is to regularly use a flea and tick controller and also to make sure your dogs sleeping area is kept clean by regular vacuuming and also washing of bedding. Fleas usually only need to feed about once every 3months and the rest of the time they live inside small cracks of walls and where the wall meets the carpet or other places which are warm and dark. If an infection or major reaction occurs within the ear you need to take your dog to the vet and get appropriate treatment.

If your dog constantly scratches its ears then it’s possible that this can cause irritation that can make its ears swell up or bleed. Constant scratching is usually an irritation from possibly one of the above reasons. Scratching of the ear usually causes it to become more irritated and often can lead to other issues. Because dog’s claws can harvest bacteria, cuts caused by scratching can become infected. If un-left then your dog will most likely continue with this scratching and often will only get worse. It is normal however for your dog to scratch its ears every so often however if they do get obsessed then it’s important to address this issue.

If your dog does have woolly ears it’s often been a common suggestion to pluck your dogs ears to keep them hair free. Plucking is a personal choice and some people believe it’s a must while others believe it’s unnecessary. The reasoning behind plucking is to help to prevent issues such as knots and build up of junk. However plucking can also cause infections when the plucked area opens a wound and also some dogs are very sensitive in this area and plucking can cause a lot of stress. It’s possible as well that the hair inside the ear is an important part of protecting the inner ear. If your dog doesn’t have any major ear issues then plucking is probably unnecessary, however if health issues arise from excessive hair inside the ear then you maybe advised to look at plucking some hair. Often all that is required is trimming the fur inside the ear and keeping the ears clean. Vets will be the best to advise you if there are some major issues when they do there health check ups.