PetLvr.com - [The Blog]

As you may know, I feed my dog a raw diet, and advocate whole prey model raw feeding for anyone who’s willing and able to make the switch to this more complex and natural method of feeding pets. However, most people can’t or don’t want to feed raw. If you’re feeding a dry or canned food, take a moment to make sure that none of these undesirable ingredients are included.
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Everyone needs to visit a pet store sometimes, whether it’s for pet supplies, training, grooming, or even advice. However, pet owners concerned about the ethical problems associated with many pet shops often wonder if their dollars are going somewhere of which they can be proud. Luckily, it is possible to find an ethical pet shop in almost any geographical area; however, it may take some effort. In this first of a series, we’ll discuss two common features of ethical pet shops.

1. The ethical pet shop either does not sell live animals, or sells a very few, carefully selected species.

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Dear PetLvr Mailbag,

My 4 month old kitten totally dominates my 8 year old Australian Shepherd.

The kitten, Freckles, is 4 months old. She’ll walk up to the dog, Luke, and he’ll freeze in panic. She’ll rub around his legs, purr, snuggle against him, and he’ll stand in one place with the most pathetic look you’re ever seen on a dog’s face.

Dinner time? If she’s in the same room, she runs to his dish and starts to eat his food, even if he’s already there. She’ll whap him on the nose, and start to eat his food. The kibbles are bigger than her mouth, but she’ll chew on one until it’s eaten, and them move on to another one. It’ll be a good 15 minutes of this before she’s finished and the dog can eat.

And no, I don’t under-feed her. She’s got a dish of her own Iams kitten kibble that’s kept full at all times.

Is my dog just a big wuss, or is there more to it than I’m seeing?

Signed,

Erich

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Whether you are just starting out training your puppy or you have a long-standing relationship with your favorite canine of 15 years, there are plenty of things and issues to think about that all deal with the health and care of your dog. Many people think that taking care of their puppy or full-grown dog won’t be a lot of work. On the contrary, though, there is plenty of work to do, including regular trips to the vet, preventative health care that includes heartworm treatments, feeding your pet the right kind of food, as well as activities that should be done with your dog to encourage the bonding times with your beloved pet.

One of the most important things that needs to be considered, though, is the diet that your dog will be eating. From the time that he or she is a puppy a regular, steady diet of proper dog food is required. Some people choose to feed their dog the regular store and brand-name cooked pellets that are so common throughout the dog food industry. On the other hand, there are plenty of dog owners that insist on feeding their dogs a raw dog food diet. This often means that more care and guidelines need to be paid attention to. However, the benefits of a raw diet definitely outweigh the benefits of a processed pellet diet that dogs receive when brand-name packaged food is bought for them. A couple examples of these benefits include a shinier skin and fur, a lessening of the dog’s shedding, cleaner teeth, better breath, as well as an increase in the dog’s general health. If many more people knew the benefits of a raw diet, there would definitely be more people switching over. Still, the dog’s diet is an issue to be considered by the dog and the dog owner.

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