Natural Dog Food Explained

Vegan Amy Rader knows her dog, Henry, needs meat protein, but she hates the possibility that chemically processed additives are going into her 5-year-old beagle’s food. The new "natural" label on pet foods – and what that precisely means – has also puzzled the Seattle-based social worker. "It’s similar to buying organic for myself," explains Rader. "A lot of words that sound pretty good are on the packaging, but I’m not always sure exactly what they mean, and I end up spending way too long in the pet store."

Read more

Can Dog Food Protect Your Pet?

When Jerome Kogan’s eight-year-old pug, Grady, begs for her dinner, it’s probably not because she’s concerned about her health. "Grady starts asking for dinner about 3 o’clock every afternoon," says the 39-year-old resident of New York City. "I try to hold off until 4, though sometimes her incessant whining gets to me, and I feed her earlier. She just really loves to eat."

Read more

10 Dog Feeding No-No’s

Some dogs experience motion sickness. "We started taking our pug to my mom’s on Sunday mornings, and we’d get in the car more or less just after she’d finished eating. Three weeks in a row she threw up," remembers 30-year-old dog owner Casey Johns of Baltimore, Md. "We asked the vet about it, and he told us we needed to wait four hours after she ate to take her for a car ride. My husband and I don’t get car sick and can drive after eating with no problem, so it hadn’t occurred to us."

Read more

Why All Proteins Aren’t the Same

Veterinarian Trisha Joyce, DVM, of New York City Veterinary Specialists, has seen the consequences of canine protein deprivation. Six weeks after Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Joyce headed to New Orleans to volunteer her time providing care for animals impacted by the storm. "The dog was like a skeleton with skin on it," she recalls. "Without the normal amount of protein, the body just begins to break down. The poor animal could barely walk."

Read more

Size up Your Dog’s Food Needs

When George Kantor took his pug Sadie to his mother’s country home for the holidays, the New York City psychologist forgot to bring his diminutive dog’s small-breed kibble. It was Christmas Eve, and the stores were closed, so he simply fed Sadie from the food bag of his mother’s standard poodle. "If you know pugs, they never turn down a meal, and Sadie is no exception," says Kantor. But the pug’s holiday meal soon turned sour.

Read more

What You Need to Know About Dog and Cat Nutrition

Food is the foundation of health.How long an animal lives and, most important, the quality of its life, depend greatly on the quality and quantity of the food that it eats.Simply put, food is body-fuel, and provides the energy needed for an animal to maintain good health and condition.With regard to nourishment, quantity is not necessarily synonymous with quality.It is very possible for an animal to receive adequate quantities of food and yet still suffer degradation of health due to poor quality ingredients.

Read more

Healthy Treats For Furry & Non-Furry Family

If you have children, then you know they’re a magnet for hovering hounds and mooching mousers. Living in a busy home that includes kids, pets, and adults, the line between who eats what can sometimes become blurry! Picking up dog or cat treats at the store can seem pointless if your furry family member is gobbling up whatever the kids are eating. And it can be frustrating to constantly guard the toddler from eating the pet’s treats!

Read more