14 Oct 09 Dog Dental Care

Caring for your dog’s teeth is very important. In fact, that importance almost cannot be understated. Not only is bad dental hygiene bad for your dog in general, but developing a gum infection can lead to life threatening infections of the heart, kidneys, and liver. Periodontal disease can develop in a dog as early as age 3, and irreplaceable damage can occur to your dog’s health. So good dental hygiene is a must for any dog owner, and here’s how you should go about that.

Start by talking to your veterinarian, so that you can hear their recommendations. This way you’ll also be able to set up a schedule for how often your dog should have regular check-ups. During these the vet will inspect your pet’s teeth and gums, which can clue you in the a problem before it becomes severe. Follow their list of care requirements, and make sure to make the vet appointments. Both will ensure the long term health of your dog.

For some ideas on what to try at home, first try giving your dog dry dog food. Dry food is better for your dogs dental health, as it requires the dog to chew the pieces. Since the pieces are harder than wet, and require more chewing, your dog will remove more plaque in the process. Decreasing the likelihood of a plaque buildup, or a gum infection. If you have your heart set on the wet dog food, try giving your dog a hard biscuit afterwards, as that will have the same effect.

Also make sure to examine your dogs teeth on your own, at least once a week. Check to make sure that there is no swelling in the gums, or bleeding. Both are signs of possible serious gum conditions, so call your vet immediately if you find either.

Tags: Check Ups, Dental Care, Dental Health, Dental Hygiene, Dog Biscuit, Dog Owner, Dogs Health, Dry Dog Food, Dry Food, Gum Infection, Hard Biscuit, Kidneys, Likelihood, Long Term Health, Periodontal Disease, Plaque Buildup, Teeth And Gums, Ups, Vet Appointments, Veterinarian

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25 Sep 09 Properly Storing Your Dog Food

A lot of people tend to underplay the importance of storing your dog’s food properly. Not storing dog food properly can lead to health hazards not only for your dog, but for you as well. The improper storage of dog food can lead to rodents taking over your house, or the unintentional contamination or spoiling of your dog’s food. That’s just bad for everyone involved. But by using a few simple and worthwhile techniques you can assure that you’ll never have a problem with your dog’s food.

Remember that even though dry dog food keeps for longer than moist food, it will still spoil if you don’t store the food properly. This means purchasing a big enough sealable container to store the dry food from the bag. Try to find containers with screw on tops, or rubber seal tops. Anything that will create an air tight seal to keep the food fresh and safe.

A lot of the time people neglect bags of dog food in their pantries and closets. This is bad because an open bag is not a good long term container. The dog food bag is not the most sturdy container, and can tear fairly easily, which can lead to food spilling out. This can attract all manner of bugs and rodents, and that’s not at all what you want in your house. If you store any household chemicals in the same closet, that could also be bad, as a dog food bag is very susceptible to liquid leaking through.

In addition to proper storage of your dry dog food, make sure to inspect the food each time before filling your dog’s bowl. Check to make sure that the food smells fresh, and looks okay visually. If the food seems clumpy, or is moldy or moist in any way, it’s best to play things safe and throw the food out. You don’t want to risk your dog’s healthy by feeding them food that may be spoiled.

Tags: Bugs, Closets, Containers, Contamination, Dog Lead, Dry Dog Food, Dry Food, Health Hazards, Household Chemicals, Improper Storage, Neglect, Pantries, Proper Storage, Risk, Rodents, Rubber Seal, Screw, Sturdy Container, Tight Seal, Tops

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27 Jun 09 Wet Dog Food vs Dry Food

When choosing your dog’s food, first you’ll have to face the choice of which type of dog food you want to purchase for your canine. What I mean by that is, you’ll have to choose from wet food, or dry food. Wet food meaning the soft food stored in cans, or other airtight containers, with water and oils. And dry food, just the standard giant bag of kibble. Both have fairly different nutritional values, and different pros as well as cons.

First off, we’ll start with wet food. Wet dog food is healthy because of the water/oil content that dry dog food doesn’t contain, as it will provide your canine with exactly what it needs to maintain a healthy beautiful coat. Wet dog food also is much closer to what your dog would be eating in the wild, containing less filler than dry dog food on average.

But wet dog food can be bad in the long run as it does not promote good dental health. Dry dog food strengthens your canine’s teeth and jaw, as well as cleans off excesses of plaque during the eating process. Wet dog food does nothing to that effect. And so your dog’s tooth health can actually decay on a diet of mainly wet dog food, unless your dog makes up that difference by chewing bones, or toys often.

Dry dog food contains all of the nutrients and vitamins your animal would need over it’s lifetime. Dry dog food also contains fewer fats and oils, which is good for your dog’s cardiovascular health. But dry dog food also contains a lot of roughage, opposed to the sort of more carnivorous meals they would be eating in the wild. Excesses of corn and wheat found in dry dog food isn’t exactly desirable for your dog’s overall fitness. Also depending upon your storage practices, dry dog food is more likely to spoil, or attract insects looking for an easy meal. But simply using a re-sealable plastic container for the food, opposed to just keeping it in the bag, should solve any problems you may have with pests.

Overall I lean more towards dry dog food, because of the health benefits in terms of dental health, as well as cardiovascular fitness. But then it all depends on which sort of dog you have.

Tags: Airtight Containers, Cardiovascular Health, Dry Dog Food, Dry Food, Excesses, Fats And Oils, Food First, Good Dental Health, Insects, Nutrients, Nutritional Values, Oil Content, Pests, Plaque, Plastic Container, Roughage, Soft Food, Storage Practices, Water Oil, Wet Food

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14 Oct 09 Dog Dental Care

25 Sep 09 Properly Storing Your Dog Food

27 Jun 09 Wet Dog Food vs Dry Food

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