Pros And Cons Of Cow Hooves For Dogs

April 10, 2017 by Fanna Easter

Cow Hooves for Dogs

Last week, we went over pig ear dog chews. This week, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of cow hooves for dogs. Pet owners and pet professionals have mixed reviews about this dog chew, so it’s best to decide yourself whether or not cow hooves will make an appropriate dog chew for your pet.

Cow Hoof Pros

If your dog loves to chew for hours, then she’ll love chewing on cow hooves. A cow hoof is durable, easily lasting a full day for moderate to power chewers. That’s a long time for a dog chew.

Cow hooves are also relatively cheap. One hoof costs less than a dollar, and cow hooves are even cheaper when purchased in bulk. Hooves are available at most pet retailers and online, including hooves from cows born and raised in the USA.

Cow hooves are considered a natural product because they’re the actual hooves from a cow. Once a cow is slaughtered, hooves are sold to pet food vendors that completely clean, shave and dry them for pet resale. The hooves are hollowed out after cleaning, making it easy to squeeze in cheese or peanut butter inside.

Cow Hoof Cons

The biggest con of cow hooves for dogs is the smell. Cow hooves stink! The smell is worse when hooves are chewed, which can linger on carpet for days or even weeks.

When arriving home from work, many pet owners take one whiff and assume their dogs had a potty accident indoors until they find a half chewed cow hoof sitting on the living room floor. Yes, cow hooves smell that bad. You’ve been warned. 🙂 While this strong odor is a major turnoff for pet owners, it’s probably a pro for dogs because dogs love stinky smelling stuff!

As with all durable dog chews, there’s always the risk of tooth fractures, gum lacerations, choking and digestive obstructions. Chewed cow hooves can splinter and develop sharp edges, which can cause mouth lacerations, punctures and bleeding.

Dogs also seem to become extremely thirsty after chewing on cow hooves. It may be from the act of chewing or the additives on cow hooves.

Cow Hoof Chew Safety

Cow hooves are best for moderate chewers, so use with extreme caution for power chewers. Light chewers will likely get bored with these chews because they’re so tough.

Always supervise your dog when she’s chewing on any type of toy or chew even if your dog has chewed these items before. Every 10 minutes or so, walk over and trade the cow hoof for a piece of hot dog or cheese. Playing this dog game gives you the opportunity to inspect the chew for splinters, large chunks or sharp edges. The trade game also prevents resource guarding and teaches your dog good manners. During the break, take a moment to check your dog’s mouth and gums for bleeding or chipped teeth.

Once a cow hoof has been chewed to a small nugget, it’s best to throw it out to prevent your dog from swallowing the last piece. Any dog chew can be harmful, so supervision is key.

How To Protect Your Dog From Dog Food Recalls

April 3, 2017 by Fanna Easter

Dog Food Recall Safety Tips

At least once a month, it seems a new dog food recall floods social media channels. For those who remember, 2007 was a terrible year for dog food recalls, which resulted in dogs dying from kidney failure. Yet, dog food recalls are still happening. All dog food brands have issued a recall regardless of cost and quality. Dog treats and chews are being recalled now too. With so many recalled dog food, how can you protect your dog?

What Causes Dog Food Recalls?

There are numerous reasons why a dog food or dog treat is recalled, including:

Poisons and chemicals
Unhealthy bacteria
High or low levels of vitamins and minerals

Poisons & Chemicals

In 2007, wheat gluten imported from a Chinese company was contaminated with melamine, resulting in mass recalls and deaths of many dogs (2007 Pet Food Recalls, 2017). Melamine is essentially an industrial chemical that’s considered a poison when ingested. How melamine contaminated wheat gluten used for dog food is still a mystery. However, most brands are now testing vegetable proteins before adding them to dog food.

Just last month, Evanger’s dog food was recalled due to high levels of phenobarbital found in a specific flavor of canned dog food. Phenobarbital is a drug used to control seizures and euthanize animals, and it’s uncertain exactly how this drug made its way into this food.

Bacteria

While some bacteria is good, some are deadly. Most dogs can handle commonly ingested bacteria with minimal discomfort, yet chronically ill or older dogs can not. Plus, humans are at great risk when handling foods contaminated with salmonella, listeria and E. coli.

Treat all dog food, treats and chews like raw meat. This means washing your hands thoroughly with antibacterial soap and warm water after handling.

High or Low Levels of Vitamins, Minerals & Hormones

Kibble-fed dogs eat the same food every day. There’s no variation in micronutrients—just the amount of kibble they eat throughout the day. When high levels of certain vitamins and minerals are consumed every day, this can cause illness.

The same applies for low levels. More than a decade ago, many cats suddenly went blind after eating a specific brand of cat food too low in taurine (an essential amino acid). Make sure you’re feeding your dog a balanced diet of vitamins and minerals. Too much or too little of a nutrient can be dangerous.

Stay Updated

Before feeding any type of commercially prepared food, it’s best to check the item out first. While your social media may blow up when a dog food product is recalled, many recalls go completely unannounced. For up-to-date information, check out the FDA’s website on Animal Food Recalls. This website provides a list of all recalled items, including reason for the recall, customer service number and important brand information. Before buying any pet food products, including dog chews, check the FDA’s website first.

Consider Feeding a Home-Cooked Diet

Due to dog food recalls, many pet owners are now making dog food and treats at home. Home cooking for dogs has become so popular, there are now veterinarians board certified in nutrition. This trend makes complete sense, especially if your dog has lived through a dog food recall. When you cook at home, you purchase ingredients from a local grocery store and prepare the meal yourself, so you’re fully aware of what your dog is eating. Believe it or not, cooking for your dog is pretty easy too.

Stay informed and check it out, or better yet cook for your dog!

Heartworm Disease In Dogs

March 24, 2017 by Fanna Easter

Overview of Heartworms in Dogs

With warm winter temperatures and large amounts of rainfall in the U.S., 2017 will be a record-breaking year for mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are annoying blood-sucking insects that cause heartworm disease in dogs (and cats) too. Learning about heartworm disease in dogs and heartworm prevention can prepare you when the mosquitoes come out.

How Does a Dog Get Heartworms?

Dogs get heartworms from heartworm-infected mosquitoes. When a mosquito bites a heartworm-infected mammal, such as another dog, this mosquito is now infected with heartworm microfilaria (tiny heartworms). When this mosquito bites your dog, it then passes the microfilaria into your dog’s bloodstream. This process happens at an alarming rate. In mosquito-prone areas, thousands of dogs are diagnosed with heartworm disease every year, which is why heartworm prevention is so important.

What Do Heartworms Look Like?

Heartworms are thin spaghetti-like worms that live inside your dog’s heart valves. As they multiply and grow, heartworms block vital blood flow. Many years ago, while working as a veterinary technician, we performed a necropsy on a dog that had passed away from heartworms. Our veterinarian pulled at least 30 heartworms from the small dog’s heart with each worm measuring 10-12 inches long.

Can Dogs Die From Heartworm Disease?

Without heartworm prevention, heartworms are fatal. Additionally, symptoms of heartworm disease in dogs don’t show up until the later stages. Many pet owners assume monthly heartworm prevention is too expensive and instead opt to complete heartworm treatment if their dogs contract these nasty worms. However, heartworm treatment is extremely expensive and can be dangerous.

For a medium-sized dog, heartworm treatment can cost more than $1,000. When dogs undergo heartworm treatment, they must be under close veterinarian supervision and follow stringent crate rest requirements. As heartworms die from treatment, the potential to cause further complications is huge.

How are Dogs Tested for Heartworms?

Veterinarians take a small sample of your dog’s blood during his or her yearly checkup. If heartworms are present, a SNAP test will indicate a positive result. Some veterinarians will then look at the dog’s blood sample for active microfilariae under a microscope. Under microscopic magnification, microfilariae look like tiny bits of rice moving around within the blood sample.

Heartworm Prevention

Heartworm prevention is key. Most dogs ingest a monthly heartworm preventive that kills any microfilaria present. To prevent missed doses, it’s important to give heartworm medicine at the same time each month. When choosing a heartworm preventive, discuss all options with your veterinarian first. Puppies will start heartworm prevention around 4-6 months of age and continue for life.

During early morning and dusk hours, keep your dog indoors to decrease mosquito bites. Additionally, some flea preventives also repel mosquitoes. If you live in mosquito-prone areas, as your vet about a year-long heartworm preventive. It’s worth spending $10 to keep these nasty and fatal worms away.

As temperatures warm up and rain falls, expect mosquitoes soon!

UP NEXT: 6 Reasons Why Dogs Need Veterinary Preventive Care

How To Use Facebook To Help Dogs In Need

March 23, 2017 by Fanna Easter

Help Dogs in Need the Right Way

In a perfect world, social media would be packed with wagging tails, adorable puppy faces and darling dog tricks. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible. Eventually, a dog lover will stumble upon a desperate-dog-in-need post, and it will tear at her heartstrings. Before you hide the post or tag your friend in a comment, learn how to use Facebook to help dogs in need.

Verify the Dog’s Status

When desperate pleas pop up on your social media feed, take a few moments and verify the dog is still in need. Verify by clicking on the original picture and scroll through the comments for updates. Once a dog has found a foster home, or has been safely pulled from Animal Control, someone usually updates the entire group. If nothing is noted, this dog is probably still in desperate need.

After checking if a dog still needs help, please share the post publicly with your Facebook or Twitter family. When sharing, take a moment to copy and paste the original message including the dog’s location (city and state), specifics about the dog (breed, age, gender, contact person) and verification that the dog is still in need. If you’re unable to foster or donate to help the poor dog, the very least you can do is share his or her story.

Comment Only If You Can Help

There’s no question that Facebook has certainly benefited dogs in need. Many dogs have been adopted due to lightning fast viral attention. However, there’s a downside too. Many well meaning dog lovers write comments that aren’t helping the dog in need. These excessive comments clog up Facebook posts and worse yet provide a false sense of safety.

We all want to help these dogs, but posting “Someone please help this dog now,” “I wish I could help, but I have 4 dogs already” or “This dog looks just like my dog” or tagging a friend within a comment actually delays help. Instead, comment only if you’re able to offer help.

Better Ways of Helping Dogs in Need

Foster, transport, donate or offer your skills. Most rescue shelters accept donations through PayPal or post an Amazon wish list on their websites. If nothing is posted, message the shelter and ask how to send donations. Then, share this link to friends and family on Facebook.

You can also start a fundraiser or make cute hats for shelter dogs. Many years ago, a Pit Bull rescue created beautiful flower hats to showcase available dogs up for adoption. If you’re crafty, offer to create beautiful adornment pieces, such as sequin ties for male dogs or hats. Be strategic with your social sharing, and offer help.

Don’t Scroll Past It

Simply put, seeing sad dogs hurts. Over the last year or so, I’ve noticed a sharp decline in social media shares for posts about dogs in need. I’ll use my social media friends and followers as an example.

I have more than 500 dog-obsessed friends and followers, but maybe only one of my friends will repost a plea for a dog in need. About 3 to 4 years ago, at least 40 people would’ve shared the post. Why such a huge gap now?

From my perspective, it’s gut-wrenching and exhausting to see animals in desperate need every day. Some days, between 5 to 10 pitiful furry faces pleading for help pop up on my newsfeed. Some posts rip my heart into pieces due to unimaginable animal cruelty. I scroll past quickly, telling myself that not seeing it makes it not happen. But then I remind myself that these poor dogs have no voice and that I do.

Social media is powerful, but dog lovers must be strategic to help dogs find their forever home.

Why You Should Avoid Pet Stores Selling Puppies

March 13, 2017 by Fanna Easter

Puppy Mills & Pet Store Puppies

Over the last couple of years, passionate dog lovers have successfully brought attention to a sore spot in the pet industry—pet store puppies. It seems like this movement is finally picking up momentum, as many large cities are now banning pet stores from selling puppies and dogs. This is certainly a win for dog lovers everywhere, and here’s why.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Puppy mills are run by heartless individuals looking to raise dogs cheaply and make a quick profit.[/perfectpullquote]

What are Puppy Mills?

Puppy mills are deplorable dog breeding factories. They mass produce purebred and designer dogs to fill demand for new puppies. Puppy mills ship very young puppies to any location regardless of distance.

Why Puppy Mills are Bad

Puppy mill dogs are kept in tiny cages where they’re forced to live in their own feces and urine. They don’t have access to veterinary care, are skinny from lack of nutrition, and have matted coats and severely overgrown nails due to lack of basic care.

Breeding stock aren’t health or temperament tested. Instead, they’re forced to have litter after litter to feed consumer demands from pet stores and unknowing pet owners. Puppy mills are run by heartless individuals looking to raise dogs cheaply and make a quick profit.

Looking at pictures of puppy mills is sickening enough, but witnessing a puppy mill in person is gut-wrenching. The stench will knock you off your feet and burn your eyes. These poor dogs are barely able to turn around in their cages and are left in dark rooms with no access to sunlight. Most puppy mill dogs have never walked on grass.

Watching these sickly momma dogs covered in mats and feces feeding tiny puppies just makes your heart hurt. Since these dogs have been handled and treated this way, puppy mill dogs are completely terrified of humans.

Given these horrible conditions, it’s easy to see why puppy mills are bad. Unfortunately, puppy mills are everywhere. Most are hidden in rural areas. When one is shut down due to animal cruelty laws, another one pops up to fill demand for puppies. It’s a never-ending battle, and dogs are the victims.

Pet Store Puppies

High consumer demand for puppies is the reason pet stores turn to puppy mills. Pet stores selling puppies are looking to fill inventory quickly, and puppy mills are the most convenient way to fulfill these needs.

Pet stores don’t help these poor puppies out. Pet store puppies are kept in crates 24 hours per day with no access to the outdoors and are forced to potty where they sleep. Potty training a puppy mill puppy is beyond challenging because they’ve learned to potty anywhere. Puppies are little sponges until they’re 16 weeks old, so keeping a puppy in a crate with limited interaction with the world is detrimental. In addition, pet stores don’t properly screen prospective pet owners. This means these innocent pet store puppies could end up anywhere.

Just Say No

Nothing will be done until we do something about it. As a concerned pet owner, I urge you not to buy pet store puppies and educate prospective dog owners on why puppy mills are bad. Don’t shop at pet stores that sell puppies and don’t purchase dog treats from pet stores that don’t sell dogs or puppies. At the very least, please share this article to educate others.

Don’t feed puppy mills. Just say no.