New Pet

I have people ask me almost on a daily basis about getting a new pet.  I will try and offer a few pearls of wisdom (or at least my opinions) about where and how to get a new pet. 
First of all the decision to bring another living creature into your household should not be made lightly.  There are so many people that walk into a pet store "just to look" and walk out the proud owner of a new puppy or kitten.  A very large percentage of those puppies and kittens, ofter turning into not so cute dogs and cats end up in the local shelter. 

• My first piece of advice is to NEVER make a purchase on an impulse.  

Go home and talk it over with your family.  Look at your budget, can you afford the first year of veterinary bills, food, training, grooming, etc.?  Think about how a new puppy or kitten will change your daily schedule and lifestyle (if you haven't already).  Do some research about the breed and whether or not the personality is a good fit for yours.  Then if after a few days you still think it is the right decision go back and make the not-so-impulsive buy.

• My second piece of advice is to research where the puppy/kitten in coming from.  

There has been a lot in the news lately about puppy mills and the horrible conditions that the animals are housed in.  What hasn't been in the news is any information about all those backyard breeders.  In my opinion the only valid reason for breeding a dog or a cat is to improve that specific breed.  In order to do this properly you need to have both a sire and a dam with excellent confirmation, temperament, and health.  Since dogs and cats can both start producing litters as early as 10 months of age (sometimes even earlier) it can be very difficult to determine if they are genetically free of the "bad" genes.  A responsible breeder will usually not breed until the animal has gone through at least one heat cycle (usually 2) and has been tested for the known problems that specific breed is known for.  In many cases this means not breeding them until the animal is 2 years old. 
Another thing a good breeder will do is only breed every other heat cycle.  Pregnancy is hard on the body (as any woman with children can attest too!) and back-to-back pregnancies lead to many potential problems.  Most "good" breeders are not breeding for a living.  Yes they would like to make some money, or at least recoup their expenses for the litter (which if done right can be upwards of a few hundred dollars a puppy/kitten), but they have another income source that pays the bills.  There are some exceptions to this, but in general it is true that breeders that are in it for a living are eventually more concerned with paying the bills and less concerned with the quality of dog/cat they are producing.  This is not to say you can't get lucky and get a good dog or cat this way, but it will truly be a crap shoot.

• The cheapest cost for a new dog or cat is usually the purchase price.
• You get what you pay for.

A good reputable breeder is going to charge premium costs for their puppies or kittens.  When they have a limited supply and they are putting in lots of time and money in genetic testing and showing/competing they can demand a higher price.  If you won't pay the $2000 for the dog then someone else surely will because they have the BMW of the dog world.  A back-yard breeder is going for quantity sales.  They want the puppies gone as soon as possible (sometimes even before the legal 8weeks old) and they want to sell lots of puppies.  The backyard breeder's puppies may be cheaper on the outset, but when the dog develops epilepsy, hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, lymphoma at 4 years old you will count the purchase price as a drop in the bucket to what you will spend in dollars and heartache.  Getting your dog or cat from a good source does not guarantee they will be healthy and live longer than average, but it dramatically increases the chances.  Most good breeders are also willing to take back a dog that you can no longer take care of. (As an aside a lot of back-yard-breeders are average people who just wanted to experience the "joy" of letting their dog or cat have a litter.  They may think they could make a little bit of money and recoup the cost of buying their dog, but you need to find out where they got both the male and the female and do some genetic snooping on your own about the bloodlines to be sure you will get as healthy a dog as possible.)

• You do not "rescue" a dog or cat from a pet store!

I have heard so many people tell me they bought a puppy or kitten from a pet store because they had to rescue it from the horrible conditions it was kept in.  In truth all they are doing is giving the owner of the pet store more money and a new vacant cage to put another animal in.  This in turn tells the puppy mills and other unscrupulous breeders to produce more puppies and kittens to sell.  If you truly feel that a pet store's conditions are unsanitary, unsafe, or inhumane for the animals kept there then call Animal Control or the Department of Health.  Do NOT purchase the animal.  You are only supporting the horrible conditions when you do this.

• A designer mutt is just an expensive mutt.

I want to apologize to all of those out there with your Peekapoos and Puggles because I know your specific pet is the best one you have ever had.  I just want to talk in general about the practice of breeding two different breeds together and then selling the offspring as designer animals.  The last time I checked two different breeds mixed equals a mutt.  This is just the latest gimmick to get people to buy more puppies.  There is no benefit to buying a mixed puppy from two purebred parents because those parents probably weren't the best examples of their breed anyways.  If you really want a mixed breed puppy, go to the shelter and look for one with the characteristics you want or even look in the paper for "Free to good home" puppies or kittens.

• Know what you are getting yourself into!

You may love the look of a German Shepherd, but how much do you mind sweeping up 5 pound hairballs on a daily basis.  You may think chihuahuas are absolutely adorable, but are you going to be terribly upset when it can't go on a 5k run with you?  And don't forget Labradors are the greatest family dog ever, but did you know that is because they have more energy than three 2 year olds?  Do a little soul searching and really try to decide what you are looking for in a dog or cat. 
What can you afford food and medication wise?  If you have a tight budget then you probably can't afford heartworm prevention and food for a great dane. 
What can you afford for health issues?  Can you drop $2500 (or more) in a second when your Corgi herniates a disc and needs emergency back surgery or heart medications and repeat testing when your Doberman develops dilated cardiomyopathy? 
What can your lifestyle handle?  Do you run several miles a day and want a companion to go with you?  If so you want an active dog that likes to get up and go.  Are you a couch potato?  Then get a dog that is content to sit at your feet and won't chew a hole through the wall from excess energy.
Where do you live or are you going to live?  Thick coated dogs like the St. Bernard and Husky don't do well in hot climates and thin skinned/haird dogs like the greyhound and chihuahua are lest tolerant of very cold weather.  How much square footage do you have for the dog or cat to roam?  How tolerant are your neighbors going to be to running feet or barking?  Do you have stairs to climb and when your pet develops arthritis are you going to be able to carry them down the stairs to go outside?
Do you have children or are you going to have children?  Some dogs are much more tolerant to having hair and ears pulled than others.  Do you have other pets?  Some dogs, such as greyhounds, have high prey drive and may kill a cat without a second though.  Or bird dogs like Pointers may think your parrot is there for practice.
Well I seem to have rambled on with lots of questions to ask yourself before getting a pet.  It basically all comes down to "know what you are getting yourself into."  Plan for a 10-20 year commitment and try and think of all the possible scenarios that you may have to face over the life of the pet and you will be much better prepared and a much happier pet owner.  If you aren't totally set on a puppy, but want a specific breed check out breed rescues and adopt an adult dog.  If you aren't dead set on a specific breed (or even if you are since 25% of dogs in shelters are purebred) then please check out the shelter or rescue groups.  About 4 million cats and dogs are euthanized yearly so even if you don't adopt then at least have your pet spayed or neutered.

Caring for a Senior Pet

Fortunately our pets are living longer lives.  The downside to this is that we are now having to deal with how to care for our senior pets.  It is something that veterinary medicine is not yet prepared to deal with and we are having to extrapolate a lot of things from human medicine.  In our field we are typically about 10 years behind human medicine in many things.

First of all let me say that old age is NOT a disease. Old age just means you are more likely to have a medical condition such as organ deficiency, degenerative changes, or cancer.  The American Veterinary Medical Association recommends that senior pets have a physical exam twice a year.  This equates to a senior citizen going to the doctor once a year.  Senior pets are more likely to have kidney failure, diabetes, liver cirrhosis, arthritis, thyroid disease, and cancer to name a few.

So besides regular vet visits what can you do to make your senior pet's life more comfortable?  The first thing is to make sure your pet isn't carrying around any extra weight.  The average cat should weigh about 10 pounds.  When Fluffy weighs in at 12 pounds you may think "It's only 2 pounds, that's nothing." when in fact it is equivalent to an average person carrying an extra 30 pounds.  Encourage your senior pet to continue moving around and stay active.  Not only will this help keep the weight off, but will help keep stiffening joints more flexible and keep blood flowing.    The next thing you can do is feed your pet a good quality food and limit how much you feed.  A few extra kibbles each day can add up quickly.  Our perception about what is a lot is usually not very accurate.  Many cats only need 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of food a day.  Pour that into a bowl and most people think they are starving their cat to death!  Most pet foods quantity recommendation is based on a very active, intact, or even growing pet.  Your senior Labrador that spends the day lounging on the couch only needs about 50-75% of the calories recommended on the bag.
It is very difficult to tell if your pet is overweight just by looking at them, especially if they have long hair or a thick undercoat.  You will have to put your hands on them to really determine how much extra weight they are carrying.  Purina has a great weight chart for cats and dogs with illustrations to help you "score" your pet.  If your pet is too fat or too thin then an adjustment in their calorie intake is required.  Especially if your pet is too thin some lab work should also be performed to determine if there is a more serious cause.

One study showed that 95% of cats over the age of 10 years old have radiographic evidence of arthritis.  There are no specific statistics in dogs that I could find, but I am sure it is similar in smaller dogs and probably occurs earlier in large dogs.  The signs of early arthritis are often over looked.  Your pet may start laying in a different position, get up a little slower, take an extra second before deciding to jump, chase the ball a few less times than normal.  Most people don't notice signs of arthritis until their pet is in obvious pain which they show by limping, difficulty getting up or down, no longer jumping up, etc.  I don't think I have ever met a pet that cried because of arthritis pain.  Most animals won't vocalize because of chronic pain.  If your pet is limping, he is in pain.
Ways you can help your pet be more comfortable with arthritic pain are vast.  Simple things like adding a stool or stairs to help them get up onto your bed.  Give them a pet bed with extra padding.  Raise your big dog's food and water bowl to shoulder level so they don't have to bend down to eat.  Put your cat's food on the floor instead of the counter.  Give your cat a more shallow litter-box so they don't have to step over a big lip.  Do physical therapy in the form of stretches with your pet.  Make sure your pet has a warm place to sleep when it gets cool to decrease stiffening of their joints.  These are all simple things that can be done. 
Talk to your veterinarian about joint supplements such as glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, MSM, and EPA.  Adding vitamins such as Vitamin E and C and fish oils may also be beneficial.  Make sure you talk to your vet before starting your pet on any supplement.  Just because it is not a medicine doesn't mean that it is harmless and there are some medical conditions that could be made worse by giving certain supplements. There are also diets out there that have research backing their effectiveness in easing arthritic symptoms such as Purina JM and Hill's j/d. 
Many older pets begin to suffer from hearing loss as well as changes in vision.  If you think your pet is not hearing as well as before then consider getting a whistle or teaching them to respond to a loud clap if they don't seem to be able to hear you calling them.  Put a nightlight in the hallway so your pet can get around easier in the dark.

Bathroom habits are also something that starts to change as a pet gets older.  Dogs that potty trained in one day start having accidents in the house and cats start finding places outside the litter-box.  When this happens there is usually an underlying medical reason.  It is important to make a note of details such as:  Is it urine or feces or both?  Is it large amounts or small?  Are they awake or sleeping when it occurs?  Does it happen in the same spot every time or is it random?  Is there anything abnormal about the urine such as color, smell, etc?  Are the feces normal and formed or are they soft/diarrhea?  Knowing these things will help your vet better pinpoint what may be the underlying cause and treat appropriately.  Sometimes there is not a physiological reason for this to be occurring.  Dogs and cats are both known to develop cognitive dysfunction which is similar in signs to Alzheimer's disease in humans and like humans there is no cure but there are treatments that may help.
Hopefully these are a few tips that you can use to help your senior pet.  If you have any questions or want me to elaborate on any specific issue let me know and I will be happy to do so!
Thanks to Candace for the topic suggestion.

The ABC's of Reading Pet Food Labels

I'm going to expand some on my last blog.  I have recently gotten into reading labels a lot for my family's nutritional health and since I consider my cat part of the family I have to learn to read pet food labels too.  I will do this over several blogs since it can be dry reading!

It is amazing how little information is required to be on the label of a bag or can of pet food.  According to the FDA, proper identification of product, net quantity statement, manufacturer's name and address, and proper listing of ingredients are the only requirements for a bag/can of pet food.  Many states have also adopted the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) regulations which are more specific.  I will focus on AAFCO regulations since most diets will follow these.

The name of a food is a very important factor in most consumer's decision to buy a food.  To prevent companies from misleading the consumer about what is in a food there are a few definitions imposed on them. 

• A product can only be labeled "Beef for dogs"  or "Salmon for cats" if the meat product makes up 95% of the total weight of ingredients (not counting added water).  These foods are typically canned food. This definitions only applies to animal based products in the diet.
• The "dinner" rule means that if a food is labeled a dinner (or entree, platter, nuggets, formula, etc.) such as "Classic turkey dinner", it must contain at least 25% by weight of the named ingredient.  In this case turkey.  This means if your pet does not like a certain ingredient then a "dinner" flavor needs to be more closely analyzed.  A look at the ingredient list may find that it contains a significant amount of the unwanted meat.
• Combined dinner rule: I a food is labeled "Turkey and Rice Dinner" then the combined ingredients must equal 25% by weight of the total diet.  The first ingredient listed must be present in greater quantity than the second and the second ingredient must make up at least 3% by weight of the total ingredients.
• The "with" rule means that the named ingredient must make up at least 3% by weight of the diet.  So a canned cat food with a pretty picture of a beautiful salmon that is labeled "Gourmet Classic with Salmon" is only guaranteed to contain 3% salmon by weight.  The main ingredient could be anything else.
• The "flavor" rule simply means that the food must must contain an amount sufficient to be able to be detected.  A "Beef flavored dog food" does not need to actually contain any real beef.  Beef digest (materials treated with heat, enzymes and/or acids to form concentrated natural flavors) or beef stock can be what is added to provide the flavor.

Claims by Pet Food Companies...True or False?

Recently there seems to be a lot of people running towards the expensive "all natural"  or "grain free" diets so I decided to do some research to help clarify their claims and what they really mean.  Unfortunately in the pet food industry it is very easy to make all sorts of misleading claims about a product.   Advertising is done to get you to buy a product and the more facts you have, the better you can interpret if a product really is "the best." It ultimately comes down to the fact that 95% of dogs and cats will do fine on almost any food available on the market and most people are spending the extra money because it is a food "that you can feel good about giving your beloved four-legged family member." as seen by this quote from one pet food company.  I personally still recommend brands such and Purina, Royal Canin,  and Hills that have not only been "formulated" to meet your pet's nutritional needs, but have gone through rigorous testing and food trials to ensure that what goes in your pet's mouth will actually provide good nutrition and not just pass through. 

Here are some common statements that I have cut and pasted from different pet food web sites.

"modern science proves that your dog or cat still share the DNA of the wolf or wild cat. *****  offers your pet a diet dictated by his genes. It provides your pet with the kind of natural, balanced diet that he could find "in the wild."  We all love to think of fido as a tame wolf, but he is not.  Yes, genetically he is very similar to his wolf ancestor, but he is still not a wolf.  If you can change one single amino acid in a gene and cause a dog to have a long versus short muzzle, then what kind of dramatic changes can be made by changing many different genes.  Domesticated dogs are genetically different enough from wolves (Canis lupus) that they are classified as a whole separate species, Canis familiaris. We have bred dogs for thousands of years to the point that they no longer even communicate with each other the same way that wolves do.  Domesticated dogs have adapted to interact with us, play with us, work with us, and, yes, even eat with us.

"supplemented with fruits and vegetables"  The definition of supplement is:  "Something added to complete a thing, make up for a deficiency, or extend or strengthen the whole."  It amazes me how in the first sentence a pet food will claim that their product gives your pet what they would get in the wild and then in the second sentence makes a claim like this.  While wolves in the wild have been known to occasionally eat vegetables, it is not a very common occurrence.  When you open the bag and there is a whole bison waiting for your pet to chow down on, then they can claim that.  It is also a fact that almost ALL pet foods are supplemented with fruits and vegetables to meet the nutritional needs of dogs and cats.

"All natural" Only a few pet foods today are "artificial" in that they use BHA or BHT as preservatives. Otherwise, food is food. And to be nitpicky, no pet food is "all-natural" if there are added vitamins and minerals (which 99% of pet foods use). So when pet stores say "we only recommend and sell all-natural pet foods" they're lying.  Not to mention rattlesnake venom is all natural, but I seriously doubt many people would claim it is good for you!

"A grain-free formula for all life stages with sweet potatoes and peas..."   I will take this statement in two parts.  The first part is the "all life stages" comment.  The last time I checked the nutrient requirements for a baby or a nursing mother are different than the nutritional requirements for a senior citizen.  A food that is formulated for "all life stages" meets the requirements for the most demanding phases of life.  This is good if you are a growing puppy or a lactating queen, but it may contain too much of something if you are a senior dog that sits on the couch all day.
The second part of this statement is the "grain-free".  Grain free is the most recent fad in the pet food industry.  Back in the 1960's there was the big hype to feed dogs and cats all meat based food.  Then we started seeing dogs and cats with massive and fatal nutrient deficiencies.  In the 1970's research really began to try and create dog and cat foods that are balanced and meet all their nutritional needs.  Now at least pet food companies seem to be smart enough to not promote all meat diets, instead they are getting their ingredients from novel sources.  Instead of using corn or wheat they are using "sweet potatoes and peas."  There is nothing inherently better in sweet potatoes or peas than in another carbohydrate source.  They all have variations in their mineral and vitamin content, but that will be corrected by adding vitamins anyways.  It is theorized that maybe 1% (or less) of the pet population is gluten intolerant (extrapolated from the human population statistics).  Should grocery stores stop carrying gluten containing products because 1 out of 100 people that shop there can't eat them?  Why should we stop feeding our pets corn or wheat because 1 in 100 may have a problem with it?

"Corn, wheat and soy have been linked to allergic reactions in some dogs" If it contains protein you can be allergic to it.  Food allergies in dogs and cats develop over time to something they eat regularly.  Because corn, wheat and soy are common ingredients in pet foods we see more animals with allergies to them.  In fact we see more allergies to beef and chicken than we do to corn and wheat because these are the common meats used.  When companies started making lamb based products it was the big thing because there were no reactions to it because no animals had been exposed to it.  In about 10 years time if these new pet foods maintain their popularity we will start to see more and more dogs and cats allergic to peas and sweet potatoes!  I'm not saying these foods are bad, just that this statement is very misleading.

This brings me to a quick aside for those who want to feed their pets a raw meat diet.  All I can say is that you need to be careful about bacterial contamination and make sure you feed the entire animal.  Going on the theory that you want your pet to eat what it's wild cousins do, remember a wolf does not just cut out a steak and eat it.  Most wild predators go for the belly first to get at the tasty, nutrient rich organs inside and then go for a flank steak.  A dog or cat will protein starve to death on a complete all meat diet.

"many of the well-known pet food brands contain ingredients like chicken by-product meal or poultry by-product meal, corn, wheat, soy or artificial preservatives"  For some reason "by-product" has a very bad reputation.  The definition of by-product is "Secondary products produced in addition to the principal product" (page 355, AAFCO 2011 - chapter six - official feed terms).  This means if you have a factory that produces leather then the prime rib would be considered a by-product because it is a secondary product. 
The legal definition of meat by-products is "the non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat (which is basically muscle), derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does NOT include hair, horns, teeth, and hooves."  (page 369, AAFCO 2011) There is large nutritional value in organ meat and bone.

"poultry by-product meal"  Consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poulty, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines, exclusive of feathers." (page 369, AAFCO 2011): The definition of rendering is a "cooking and separating process in which conditions such as time and temperature, with or without pressure, are sufficient to remove water, kill pathogenic microorganisms, and separate fats and oils from other components.” In other words the parts are cooked so that fat can be separated out and the crude protein is left behind.  It usually results in a higher density of protein than meat alone.

Hopefully this will give you some information to help see through the smoke and mirrors that pet food companies try to use to convince us to buy their foods.  Remember the bottom line for any company is the all mighty dollar and there are good and bad points to all of them.  Most of the time when something costs more money it is a better product, but not always.  A company will charge as much as they think they can and still be able to sell their product.  The better the advertising is the more product they can sell at high costs.  Don't believe everything you hear and see, just know that the majority of the good quality foods will provide good nutrition to your pet, you may just pay a little more or a little less depending on the success of their advertising campaign!