A Tribute to Bandit

It's been three years this month that our beloved Bandit went to the Rainbow Bridge at the age of 17 and a half. He was the best friend a human could have and continues to inspire us today to help people find natural solutions for their pets.

I remember the day back in 1992 when I was visiting some friends and saw a “little black dog,” as I called him, wandering around in their yard. I inquired about who he was, and they said, “Oh just a stray, he won't leave.” Well, we had our visit and it was time for me to go and that “little black dog” followed me down the long road as fast as his little legs could take him ... following behind my car. I stopped at the stop sign, he ran up to the car door and I scooped him up, took him back, and he refused to get out of the car. I said to him, “Well, little black dog, I guess I will take you home with me then.”

It was love at first site, he sat in the seat next to me as proud as he could be and licked my hand, so grateful for the kindess showed. It didn't take me long to work out why he was a stray dog. He loved to take off with lightening speed and roam the neighborhood. He would get “the look” in his eye and then off he went, like a bandit who had robbed a bank.Click here to read the full story

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Potentially Dangerous Items for Your Pet

Many edible and non-edible dangers for your pet may exist within or around your home.

What items could possibly put my pet’s health in danger? Some food items that people consider tasty treats may be considered dangerous for their pets. As tempting as it might be to share food with your four-legged friend, please resist!

Click here to view the list

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Dogs Eating Grass

If you call the office, quite often, you will hear our "assistant" KaeJae, my terrier mix vocalizing while we are on the phone. I think he is just offering his version of herbal advice because he certainly enjoys eating them! KaeJae seems to have a fetish for grass eating, which I worried about at first! After some research, I realized he isn't the only dog who just likes the taste of the greenies in the yard and in my herb pots. He ate on my Lemongrass growing in a pot last year and also finds that Parsley is tasty. He loves to sniff the Rosemary and usually has to take a stroll down the row of the herb pots to see what fancies him.

Read below about Victoria Stillwell's dog who has a fetish for weeds.

"My dog Sadie is addicted to weed. It’s gotten so bad that we’ve had to have several interventions (which, as evidenced by the fact that there have been a few, obviously means they haven’t been entirely successful). She doesn’t necessarily admit to having a problem, but then I guess that’s to be expected. When one is under the fierce grip of such an insidious vice, it can often be hard to see the forest for the trees. When I think of her addiction issues, the age-old witticism comes to mind: Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. No, I don’t think Sadie thinks she has a problem at all – in fact, she seems to be perfectly oblivious to our concern for her well-being.

Of course, by ‘weed’, I don’t mean marijuana, but rather the clover, nutsedge and the countless other grassy weeds that seem to sprout up everywhere around this time of year. I’ve become resigned to it: my dog loves to eat grass. She is obsessed. Won’t stop chomping away whenever we’re outside. The local city government ought to be paying us for the free grazing service our dog provides every day on each walk through our local park." Read the entire article

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7 Tips for Preventing Dog Bites

Sophia Yin, DVM

As Dog Bite Prevention Week is being recognized across the United States, the Center for Disease Control reports that 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs every year. Nearly 20% of those bitten seek medical attention and approximately 1000 victims per day require a visit to the hospital emergency room. Not surprisingly, one group at risk is animal care professionals—veterinarians, groomers, shelter workers and people who work or volunteer in the animal care field.

A majority of bites could be prevented if animal care professionals recognized the warning signs and took a more sensitive and deliberate approach to handling. After spending over a year studying what makes some handlers more effective than others while developing a textbook and DVD for pet care professionals called “Low Stress Handling, Restraint, and Behavior Modification of Dogs and Cats,” I have identified a set of low stress techniques that can help both professionals and pet owners prevent bites. Read the entire article

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Hawthorn and the Heart

Hawthorn is not hypo- or antihypertensive. It strengthens capillaries and larger blood vessel walls, strengthens the heart muscle itself, enhances the oxygen uptake of the heart muscle is, lemmesee now (from R. F. Weiss): a positive inotrope, chronotrope and dromotrope, and a negative bathmotrope, and it enhances coronary and myocardiac blood supply. (Tell that to a doctor and watch him nod his head, looking as if he understood it.)(positive inotrope: strenghtens muscular contractions; positive chronotrope: strengthens the heart beat; positive dromotrope: strengthens the nerve impulses of the heart muscle; negative batmotrope: lessens the excitability of the heart muscle.) So there's no tsraightforward hypo- or hypertensive action; instead, hawthorn is an all-round heart strengthener, and an all-round blood vessel strengthener, which incidentally will help both with low and with high blood pressure. Read the entire article

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The Alpha Fallacy

dogstardaily.com

The Alpha Fallacy
It is popularly held that rank is established and maintained by physical strength and dominance and that the more dominant (i.e., higher ranking) dogs are more aggressive. Hence, dogs that frequently threaten, growl, fight and bite are often assumed to be “alpha” animals. Not so Joe! The above assumptions are quite awry. Not only do they betray a theoretically simplistic view of a most sophisticated social structure but also, such notions tend to be counterproductive, inhumane and dangerous when cavalierly extrapolated to dog training, or the treatment of behavior problems.

In reality, a growly, macho topdog is a rare find. Topdogs seldom growl — they don’t need to. A true topdog is usually a pretty cool customer, who is secure and confident of his (or her) privileged position and has no need to fluster and bluster to bolster up his rank. Moreover a true topdog is more likely to share a toy, a bone, or a sleeping place, than fight over one. On the other hand, bottom-ranking dogs rarely growl either. The prime directive of a low ranking individual is to maintain a low profile. Barking, growling and snarling only draw unwanted attention and if it came to a fight, the underdog would most certainly lose. Read the entire article

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Natura Sells out to Proctor and Gamble

I have very strong feelings about Proctor and Gamble and am sad to report that Natura has sold their food line to them. "Natura's brands include Innova, Evo, California Natural, Healthwise, Mother Nature and Karma. These brands are sold in a limited number of pet specialty stores and through veterinarians, mainly in the United States and Canada."

"It's time for the right company to take our brands to the next level of growth. P&G is that company," said John Rademakers, founder and owner of Natura Pet Products. "We know that P&G will honor our history as they capitalize on their strengths to build these brands."

Perhaps the company feels this is the right thing to do for their profits, but I certainly don't see how this is a good thing for the pets that consume their products. I disagree so much with Proctor & Gamble's business practices and ethics that I do not buy their brands.

Link to the News Release

Nestlé’s bought Purina to form Nestlé Purina Petcare Company (Fancy Feast, Alpo, Friskies, Mighty Dog, Dog Chow, Cat Chow, Puppy Chow, Kitten Chow, Beneful, One, ProPlan, DeliCat, HiPro, Kit’n’Kaboodle, Tender Vittles, Purina Veterinary Diets).

Del Monte gobbled up Heinz (MeowMix, Gravy Train, Kibbles ’n Bits, Wagwells, 9Lives, Cycle, Skippy, Nature’s Recipe, and pet treats Milk Bone, Pup-Peroni, Snausages, Pounce).

MasterFoods owns Mars, Inc., which consumed Royal Canin (Pedigree, Waltham’s, Cesar, Sheba, Temptations, Goodlife Recipe, Sensible Choice, Excel).

Procter and Gamble (P&G) purchased The Iams Company (Iams, Eukanuba) in 1999. P&G shortly thereafter introduced Iams into grocery stores, where it did very well.

Colgate-Palmolive bought Hill’s Science Diet (founded in 1939) in 1976 (Hill’s Science Diet, Prescription Diets, Nature’s Best).

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Age and Long-term Protective Immunity in Dogs and Cats

Summary

Vaccination can provide an immune response that is similar in duration to that following a natural infection. In general, adaptive immunity to viruses develops earliest and is highly effective. Such anti-viral immune responses often result in the development of sterile immunity and the duration of immunity (DOI) is often lifelong. In contrast, adaptive immunity to bacteria, fungi or parasites develops more slowly and the DOI is generally short compared with most systemic viral infections. Sterile immunity to these infectious agents is less commonly engendered. Old dogs and cats rarely die from vaccine-preventable infectious disease, especially when they have been vaccinated and immunized as young adults (i.e. between 16 weeks and 1 year of age). However, young animals do die, often because vaccines were either not given or not given at an appropriate age (e.g. too early in life in the presence of maternally derived antibody [MDA]). More animals need to be vaccinated to increase herd (population) immunity. The present study examines the DOI for core viral vaccines in dogs that had not been revaccinated for as long as 9 years. These animals had serum antibody to canine distemper virus (CDV), canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2) and canine adenovirus type-1 (CAV-1) at levels considered protective and when challenged with these viruses, the dogs resisted infection and/or disease. Thus, even a single dose of modified live virus (MLV) canine core vaccines (against CDV, cav-2 and cpv-2) or MLV feline core vaccines (against feline parvovirus [FPV], feline calicivirus [FCV] and feline herpesvirus [FHV]), when administered at 16 weeks or older, could provide long-term immunity in a very high percentage of animals, while also increasing herd immunity.


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Perfect Eyes

Perfect Eyes is on sale this week! $2.00 off or buy 4, get 1 free!

Benefits:
•Supports total eye health.
•Fight free radical damage.
•Provides antioxidant protection for aging eyes.
•Supports the health of the macular region of the eye.

Perfect Eyes® [Circulatory, Vital Nutrition]. Our eyes are constantly exposed to sunlight and artificial lighting, which can generate free radicals that have harmful effects on ocular cells. After middle age, our natural antioxidant production decreases, and the pigments in our eyes change.

Perfect Eyes gives your eyes the nutritional support they need to protect against free radical damage.

This formula contains lutein, an important antioxidant that may protect against the advancement of age-related macular degeneration. It also contains N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC). Aging bodies can easily convert NAC into the eye-protecting antioxidant glutathione, defending the eye from harmful free radicals. These two key ingredients reduce oxidative damage to retinal cells and thus help protect the eye. Click here to order and to see all products on sale

Click here to read more about your pet's eye health

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What it's like to think with a dog's brain...

Groucho Marx once said, "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

But it is beginning to get lighter in there, thanks to modern cognitive science.

Groucho's quip graces the opening page of "Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know," a new book by cognitive scientist and psychologist Alexandra Horowitz that goes a long way to suggest what it's like to think with a dog's brain -- to actually be a dog.

Combining new knowledge from hundreds of scientific and animal behavior studies, and mixing it in with a fine style guided by her own loving bemusement of dogs -- especially of her own Finnegan, rescued as a sick and needy pup from a shelter -- Horowitz gives us a fascinating picture of a dog's umwelt (OOM-velt) -- German for "their subjective or 'self-world'."

"Umwelt captures what life is like as the animal," she says.

We met Horowitz and Finnegan on a high plateau -- a grassy field hidden amid a circle of trees in New York's Central Park -- one day at 8 a.m. Read the entire article

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Feline Inappropriate Elimination

Peeing outside the litter box, otherwise known as feline inappropriate elimination, is one of the most frustrating and common behavioral problems some cat lovers must endure. Feline inappropriate elimination refers to the location of the deed, and it is considered inappropriate by most cat owners because peeing on the bed, the rug, the curtains, the tile, the laundry or anywhere outside of the litter box is not considered appropriate!

What many cat guardians may not know is that urinating outside the litter box, or defecating for that matter, is a message from your cat. Cats have a natural inclination toward sand. They prefer to dig in the soil before they eliminate: that is why litter boxes are so effective, even in young kittens. Cats do not naturally choose flat, hard, or cloth-like surfaces, and they do not eliminate outside the litter box out of meanness or spite. Your cat is, in essence, letting you know that something is wrong and is asking for help. Read the entire article

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