Dog Health - Teeth

Dog Health - Teeth

Humans are told to brush twice a day, floss if you are American ect... (not quite sure why NZ & Australia are not told to floss...) But what about your dogs' teeth.

Most people have seen those horrific pictures on the back of chew bone packets.
You know the ones...Pay us $19.99 for this bone or your dog's teeth will look like this...

Many dogs when feed solely on Dog Roll, Canned food or Pellets have shocking tartar, bad breath and gum disease.
There are 2 simple ways to put an end to this.

1. Raw bones from your butcher.

Just ask your butcher if they have spare bones or dog bones. Usually you only pay $1 or less for a big bag.
All you need to do is give your dog one a day. Your dog will love it (bones and meat are their natural food after all...) and it is a less expensive way of teeth cleaning than those pet shop bone things... And less grief than brushing your dogs teeth !

2. Bones and Raw Food diet - Switch your dog's food.

Seems like a big task, but really it's not.
From the butcher I get;
10kg chicken frames $10.00
2 kg Pet mince $2.00
Supermarket;
1 pack of natural yoghurt $1.00

All the fruit & veg scraps, some whole eggs, maybe a tin of fish

I feed 1 chicken carcass twice a day with 50g of pet mince & some of the vege/egg/yoghurt mix.

I use the above amount and get 14 large freezer bags.
I spend 1/2 an hour every 2 weeks. I freeze each days' food in one freezer bag and bring it out the night before.

The result ?

My dog has perfect teeth, no "doggy" smell, no bad breath, a shiny coat, impressive muscle tone.
Sadly, it doesn't magically train the dog, but everything else is taken care of !!

If you want another reason to help your dog out; CHECK THIS OUT

Next time; Vacinations

Lincoln.

Dog health - Teeth

Dog Health

Dog Health

Does the food I feed my dog affect their health.
YES !!

You will find so many competing websites out there today, telling you what you should and shouldn't feed your dog.

First, check if they are a sponsor of dog food or an affiliate of a commercial food company. You know the ones...I just read one which proclaimed "never feed your dog raw meat " !! to the top right I saw the glaring Purina affiliate ad. Hmmmmm

I would suggest for a balanced opinion you simply pop over to a forum for your particular dog.
You will likely find a lot of information on food and feeding.

Before I go on, I should tell you that I feed raw meat and bones. My Bullmastiff is the most healthy dog in our town and I get comments and questions all the time !!

Top 3 Most ridiculous arguments against raw food;

#1
Bones can splinter and perforate the oesophagus.

There have been studies done on large vet centres which actually show almost the same amount problems with raw bones as thee have been with dogs choking on kibble or pellets.

One word of caution ; NEVER GIVE YOUR DOG COOKED BONES !

#2
Raw meat is bad due to cysts and disease.

Where is this raw meat coming from ???!!
I give my Bullmastiff chicken frames which are finished having cuts of meat off them that people pay $9.99 / kg for ! Same goes for the pet mince.
With the exception of very young puppies, dogs have incredibly strong stomachs which can handle most of these problems.
Use common sense though. No road kill, no euthanised pets ( if you'd like to have this fed to your dog there is a nice brand out there starting with P that will provide your dog with this !!) Click Here!

#3
It's sooo expensive !!

Hmmmm.
I pay $1/ kg for fresh meat & bones
My 40kg baby Bullmastiff eats approx 7kg per week along with a vegetable/yoghurt mix that costs me $0.50 per week.
That's $7.50 a week.

Dog roll that I can buy here cost $5.60 for 2kg. The pack says an extra large dog of 35 kg+ (!!!) should have 1.5kg per day.
If I feed this highly processed (yet better than kibble) food, it would cost me $29.66 per week.

Interesting, no ?

This is a Good Read on the subject !!

Next time ; Teeth Can I fix that horrible breath !

Lincoln.

Dog Health

Dog Health

Essential to your dog's health and well being is obedience training.

This is the first thing I will focus on as quite simply, it can mean the difference between life and death for your best friend.

Your first consideration in training your dog should be respect for cars.
Thousands of dogs each year escape from their yards, get off their leash or are frightened from their home. A huge number of these dogs encounter busy roads.

If your dog has no respect for cars they can be hit in a split second. Imagine then if their collar had come off, you hadn't had them microchipped and they break a leg.
The pound or SPCA in this case will euthanise them.

Sounds extreme, but this happens thousands of times a year in single cities alone !

You don't need to go to a special "dog school" or takes hours a day.
Try a reliable program such as : SIT STAY FETCH

In 10-15 minutes a day YOU can be responsible for eliminating a huge problem in DOG HEALTH.

More from me Later,
Lincoln.