Grazing on Green: Is grass eating normal?

I hear customers, family, and friends talk about their dogs eating grass and it just doesn't seem right to me, so I've done some investigating. I've heard everything from it being a natural remedy for gassy stomachs/force vomiting to cure constipation.

I found no evidence that grass eating is detrimental to your pooches health. Although, there are many dangers and concerns as a pet owner, you should worry about.

So When you find Fido munching away in the backyard, you may want make want to take the initiative to find the underlying problem.

Here are some health hazards that experts say you need to take in consideration:

• Fiber Deficiency. Don't mistake this habit as a behavioral problem, let it be a sign that Fido is lacking the efficient amount of fiber in his or her diet! Nutrition studies support high protein, high fiber diets for their ability to improve weight loss and satiety in overweight dogs. More fiber in the diet can mean better blood sugar control in overweight dogs with diabetes. And of course, we offer many different varieties of high fiber and high protein foods!
• Houseplant Hazards. If they cannot satisfy their need for fiber from nontoxic sources, they may turn to houseplants, like a Dieffenbachia, which can be fatal. And lilies are fatal to cats ( For a complete listing of poisonous plants click HERE).
• Fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, and other contaminants such as parasites on the lawn could pose dangers.

So, when you think about it, grass munching isn’t that bad at all. However, watch out for a sudden increase in grass eating; it could be a sign of a more serious underlying illness that your dog is trying to self treat, and that requires immediate veterinary assistance.

Being Eaten By the Big Guys

Hey Everyone!

Cary forwarded me this article last week and I'm just now getting a chance to post it.

"Procter & Gamble, the immensely huge consumer-products company that snapped up Iams/Eukanuba years ago and put the former specialty brand on grocery-store shelves for the first time, has picked up another pet-food company.

From Reuters:  The acquisition [of Natura] may surprise some industry watchers who had wondered in the past if pet food was a business P&G would exit. The business, a relatively small one for P&G, has not performed as well as other parts of the consumer product maker’s $79 billion portfolio.

Natura, based in Davis, Calif., sells products under the Innova, Evo, California Natural, Healthwise, Mother Nature and Karma brands in some specialty pet stores and through veterinarians, mainly in the United States and Canada."

I find this news unsettling, not so much because I care what P&G does or how it might affect my portfolio (although I did happen to get this news on the day the stock market took a record hit, partly due to a shocking drop in P&G stock...)  But rather because I'm concerned about what will happen to Innova, Evo, California Natural and other Natura lines.  The thing is that these are very well respected foods.  High quality foods that I trust, as do many other educated pet owners.  What I want to know is, what happens when this big company starts imposing their rules on this "small" company's product?  In my experience, large corporations, such as P&G put the bottom line above all else.  Which means that they will soon start squeezing anywhere they can.  Maybe they change to a foreign supplier.  Maybe they change to a cheaper ingredient.  Maybe the just reformulate altogether.  In the end, the result is the same.  You end up with a good name that's no longer a good food.  I hope I'm wrong.  I hope P&G keeps Innova just the way it is.  But, if I was feeding Innova, I think I'd start looking for another food.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Hey Everyone!

We started carrying Nature's Select in 7.5lb buckets this week.  For those of you unfamiliar with Nature's Select, they make their all natural, holistic food in a plant in North Texas.  Doug and Danielle Magdych run the operation here in Northwest Arkansas and they are super knowledgeable about dog food and what it takes to make a great, healthy food.  Doug and Danielle will actually deliver Nature's Select food to your door, if you're looking for large quantities (like the 25lb or 50lb bag)  You can order from them at nsnwa.com or by calling 1-888-676-3692.  But due to the price of gas, it's hard for them to deliver the smaller size.  So they came to us and we are as pleased as can be to work with them.  We have their Chicken & Rice, Salmon & Sweet Potato, High Protein and Feline formulas in stock.

My favorite part?  The 7.5lb comes in a re-usable bucket!  How better to celebrate Earth Day every day than by reusing containers?  And, if you buy the 7.5lb bucket here and then bring it back to be refilled, you save 15% on your food.  It's a win-win! (Plus their food comes with a money back guarantee.  If you're not satisfied, you bring it back and your money is refunded.  That's confidence in the quality of your product!)

Danielle was also kind enough to share their "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" of pet foods.  It's a great reference when you're wondering what exactly is in your dog's food and why.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good
Lamb Meal: An excellent source of protein. It is great for muscle development & overall body maintenance.
 
Poultry Meal: A good source of protein and fat that provides the essential energy component, & provides the fresh meaty flavor that dogs love. It also promotes muscle, tissue, bone and teeth development. (Please note that poultry meal and poultry by-product meal are NOT the same thing!)

Poultry Fat: Makes pet food highly palatable. Poultry Fat is high in Omega 6 (3.4%) & other essential fatty acids needed to develop a healthy skin & shiny coat. It also provides energy, and acts as an antioxidant.

Rice: Dogs and cats can almost completely absorb carbohydrates in white or brown rice.


Oatmeal: Supplies carbohydrates and amino acids, and is a good source of fiber. It is also high in iron.
 
Vitamin A: A source of natural Preservatives.

Vitamin D: Helps in the absorption of the calcium.

Vitamin E: Helps to maintain a dog's healthy immune system. As dogs age, antioxidants like Vitamin E can help reverse the age-related decrease in immune responses.

Rosemary Extract: A natural antioxidant.

Thiamine Mononitrate: Good source of Vitamin B

Calcium Pantothenate: An enzyme for energy metabolism.

Riboflavin: Promotes growth & good metabolism.

Niacin: Form of Vitamin B that helps in digestion.

Vitamin B12: A source of enzymes that aid in proper growth.


Biotin: Strengthens the claws and keeps them from chipping and cracking.


Sodium Selenite: A source of selenium that acts as a biological antioxidant.

Folic Acid: Provides Vitamin B that helps develop strong claws.

Flaxseed: Excellent source of Omega-3 (0.5%) essential fatty acids, which help to keep the skin & coat in tip-top shape & maintain lower cholesterol levels.
 
Dried Whole Egg: High in protein with superior bioavailability.

Potassium Chloride: Plays a vital role in the osmotic balance between cells and body fluids. It is the water balance in the body.

Choline Chloride: Enhances digestive system in the stomach.

The Bad
Corn: Hard to digest & far less nutrients than in rice.

Wheat: The available nutrients from wheat are poor because of the digestibility of the grain.

Soybean: Contains large quantities of natural toxins or "anti-nutrients". (For more information on the dangers of soy, see Cary's article, "Soy and Dog Food".)

Corn, Soy and Wheat are three of the biggest culprits as far as food allergies in dogs. Itchy, red, flakey skin, a dull coat and intestinal upset are common symptoms of food allergies. Soybean meal, wheat, corn glutens, corn meal, whole corn, crushed corn and ground corn are commonly used for the protein content in pet foods and are generally poor sources of protein versus meat. Corn gluten meal or wheat middlings added to pet foods are the left-overs after the grain has been processed for human use, containing little nutritional value.

Brewer's Rice: The small milled fragment of rice kernels that have been separated from the larger kernels of milled rice. It is a lower quality rice product that is missing many of the nutrients found in ground white rice & ground brown rice. It is basically a waste product of the alcohol industry.

Food Colorings: Food colorings are still commonly used in pet foods despite the fact that
they are not necessary & some have been linked to medical problems.
 
The Ugly
Chemical Preservatives: BHA, BHT, propylene glycol (also used as a less-toxic version of automotive anti-freeze), and ethoxyquin are found in many pet foods. Scientific studies have shown
that these chemicals can promote liver disease and other medical problems including seizures and cancer.

By-Products: They can consist of the internal parts of animals such as necks, heads, undeveloped eggs, feet, intestines, lungs, spleen and liver and almost all the other parts not generally consumed by humans.
 
Animal Fat, Tallow and Meat meal: Processed dead dogs, cats and other animal materials, zoo animals, road kill and 4D (dead, diseased, dying and decaying) livestock by a rendering plant. These plants are depositories for restaurant grease and garbage, meats and baked goods past the expiration dates (Styrofoam trays and shrink-wrap included). In the United States these animal parts are denaturing before rendering with substances that include crude carbolic acid (a constituent of coal tar), fuel oil, or citronella (used to repel insects).
 
Animal Digest: Animal Digest is a cooked-down broth made from unspecified parts of unspecified animals. There is no control over quality or contamination.

Soy and Dog Food

Premium dog foods have been touting "Soy Free" for some time now. Why is this important you ask? Maybe you already know soy is bad for your dog (if you are our customer I'm sure you know this already), but maybe you don't know exactly why.

Here's some interesting facts:

Soy beans, along with beet pulp, have been introduced into commercial pet foods because they are a cheap source of protein. Neither of these ingredients are essential to a dog's health. In fact, there has been mounting evidence that soy beans and beet pulp can have adverse effects.

The first effect is allergic reactions. Soy is considered a high risk allergen for dogs and often they are or develop sensitivities to soy products.

Soy can create bloat, which in severe cases can be fatal. Soy is also a bowel irritant that causes diarrhea, and often is coupled with beet pulp which will naturally harden the stool.

From http://therobertabadydogfoodcoltd.com

The intestinal tract responds to irritants by trying to eliminate them through the process called diarrhea. Diarrhea is caused by the intestinal tract drawing in water, through osmosis, in an attempt to flush the irritants from the system as rapidly as possible. The greater the level of irritation and damage, the more water the intestine will draw in, giving the beet pulp that much more water to absorb. The greater the amount of water available for the beet pulp to absorb, the larger its mass will become, slowing its progress through the colon even further. As a result, the worse the irritation and damage to the intestinal tract, the harder the stools will become. In other words, beet pulp short circuits one of the body's most effective methods of self defense.

If you read any more of the article quoted above, you would have also found out that soy contains saponins:

Saponins are a class of glycosides characterized by their ability to act as emulsifying agents. Saponins, like soap, make bubbles when they are mixed with water and shaken, They create a dense foam with a very high surface tension (similar to shaving cream or the "head" on a beer). It takes as little as one part of saponin material to one hundred thousand parts of water to make the water froth. Unlike soap suds, however, saponin bubbles, because of their high surface tension, are very tough and difficult to rupture. No doubt the observation that dogs were more prone to developing bloat if they were allowed large amounts of water and exercise soon after eating is valid. Although this observation is correct, it should be qualified, since these dynamics seem to apply primarily to feeds that incorporate large amounts of saponin containing material. Mr. Abady explains part of the process of bloat formation as follows: water mixes with the saponins in the feed, the mixture is then agitated in the dog's stomach during exercise creating a sudsy foam. The foam envelops the feed, trapping the gasses that are normally produced by the fermentation of the ration and contained in tiny bubbles of liquid dispersed throughout the feed. Because these gasses are trapped by the foam, rather than being free to escape via the normal oral and rectal routes, the mass of ingested feed will continue to expand until it crushes and cuts off circulation to the major organs. The dog then collapses from the pain and buildup of toxic metabolites.

It doesn't stop there.

In the late 1980s, quite by accident, Mr. Abady found the answer to his questions. While examining the molecular structure of snake venom he detected a resemblance between it and another chemical structure that was familiar to him: saponin. The connection had been made! Saponins were not only foaming agents; they were toxins as well.

Here is a thesis written by Texas A&M's Robert Allen Kennis. What I find most interesting about this document is that he used soy to induce allergic reactions to see if they could be identified in urine. Allergy to soy is the third most common food allergy in dogs, so he thought he would have a more consistent reaction for testing.

While many low quality dog foods continue to inject soy products (and often beet pulp to minimize diarrhea), there are plenty of foods out there that do not contain any soy products. Here's what we carry. While this is not an extensive list, we have used all of these foods with our own dogs and they have reacted very well to them.

My last point here is to be careful with pet companies (I use that term loosely) that do not take time to research what they use as ingredients, as in "Almond Soy Snaps"

What is really in dog food?

There is a very interesting article from the Animal Protection Institute, "Whats Really in Pet Food"

"Plump whole chickens, choice cuts of beef, fresh grains, and all the wholesome nutrition your dog or cat will ever need.

These are the images pet food manufacturers promulgate through the media and advertising. This is what the $15 billion per year U.S. pet food industry wants consumers to believe they are buying when they purchase their products.

This report explores the differences between what consumers think they are buying and what they are actually getting. It focuses in very general terms on the most visible name brands — the pet food labels that are mass-distributed to supermarkets and discount stores — but there are many highly respected brands that may be guilty of the same offenses."

Not all commercial pet foods fall into these categories, but it is important to do your research. While Science Diet and Hills Diet are often touted as high end foods, they contain some of the worst ingredients - including corn. Solid Gold, Taste Of The Wild, and Canidae are all high quality foods with quality ingredients.

Even though this article busts out companies that claim to use "human grade ingredients" as mostly marketing hype, I would like to go on the record and say that for us this simply is not true. We don't use vegetable scraps from human food processing...we have to buy it canned from Wal-Mart, and we buy our flour and yeast from Sams - just like you would for yourself. It's too bad big companies have watered down the meaning of this term. How else do you put in your advertising that you don't use sawdust in your dog treats? How about "Our treats are real food"????