National Canine Weight Check - Is Your Dog Overweight?

Posted by Clare Bristow | Leave a Comment

dog-on-scales

Is your dog overweight? Statistics banded about say that over 40% of dogs in the United States are overweight/obese, and the percentage is as bad in Europe. However, the percentage of owners who think their dog is overweight is significantly lower than 40%.

Zoe was overweight; four kilos crept on after she was spayed last year and we spent several months getting rid of them.

The combination of a reduced diet, encouraging her to be more active when we were out walking and no more pigs ears as treats eventually did the trick.

Here are two quick tests to determine whether your dog is carrying more weight than he should:

When you run your hands along your dog's ribcage, can you feel his ribs? You should be able to count the number of ribs as you move your hands along your dog's body - if you can't then he's carrying too much weight.

Running your hands along your dog's side, does he have a 'waist' - by that I mean does his body tuck in in front of his hips? If there's a straight line from his hips to his shoulders, then he's overweight.

I found this useful flowchart for determining whether your dog is extremely thin, severely overweight or something in between. If you think that your dog is overweight then it's worth paying a visit to your vet just to make sure there isn't an underlying health issue that's causing the problem.

Provided you live in the United States, you can take part in the National Canine Weight Check during February; participating vets will assess your dog's weight for free and provide you with information and advice on the causes of canine obesity and the health problems it can lead to.

Should your dog's weight problem be down to over feeding and not enough exercise, draw up a plan for feeding and exercising your dog and stick to it consistently until he's lost the weight he needs to.

Like humans, it's better if the weight comes off slowly and adopting a healthier lifestyle is likely to be more successful than putting your dog on a crash diet and/or giving him some of the new weight loss medications that are now available.

From personal experience helping your dog lose weight is hard work - particularly not giving giving into those pleading 'can I have some more food' eyes - but it's worth it. Zoe's energy levels are now back to normal, and I'm finding it much easier to lift her on and off the grooming table!

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Filed Under Dog Health, Blog

Dog Video - How to Brush Your Dog's Teeth

Posted by Clare Bristow | Leave a Comment

February is dog dental awareness month in the United States; a few months ago I explained how to brush your dog's teeth, and how to select dental products for your dog.

It's often easier to see how to do things rather than read about them so today I've posted a video in which Stanley Coren shows you how to get your dog used to having his teeth brushed - the key is to take it in small steps and have some great tasting toothpaste to hand!

At the end of the video Stanley Coren says you only need to brush your dog's teeth once or twice a week in order to keep his teeth healthy. Whilst this is better than not brushing at all, ideally you should aim for a daily brushing to remove the plaque and remove the risk of your dog suffering periodontal disease.

Keywords: dog dental care, Dog Health, how to clean your dogs teeth, periodontal disease

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Stem Cell Therapy for Dogs

Posted by Clare Bristow | Leave a Comment

yorkshire-terrier-with-stick

A company called Vet-Stem, which is based in San Diego, California, has started offering stem cell therapy treatment for dogs with arthritis or tendon and ligament injuries.

The company claims to have successfully treated 3,000 horses with tendon and ligament injuries since 2004, and is now offering a similar treatment for dogs via veterinary surgeons trained by Vet-Stem.

The stem cell therapy treatment takes place as follows:

your dog is anesthetized and two tablespoons of fat are taken, usually from his abdomen or around the shoulder blade;
the fat cells are sent to a Vet-Stem laboratory where the stem and regenerative cells are isolated;
these isolated cells are returned to your dog's vet in ready-to-inject syringes; and
your dog is treated by a course of injections.

Studies by clinics using this procedure on dogs with osteoarthritis and orthopedic soft tissue injuries show the benefit of each injection to last from several months to over a year.

According to Robert Harman DVM and founder of Vet-Stem, the treatment works because stem cells do more than just morph into the required body tissue - they provide growth factors and chemicals that help the injury heal by, amongst other things, reducing inflammation and preventing scar tissue from forming.

This sounds good, but as with all new therapy treatments the long term effects are as yet unknown.

The treatment is costly - according to a Live Science article it ranges from US$2,000 to $3,000 - but may be worth considering as a treatment option if you have an arthritic dog who's in severe pain and has difficulty moving around.

The Vet-Stem web site has more information about stem cell therapy for dogs and lists the vet's it has trained to apply the treatment.

Keywords: arthritis treatment, dog health, ligament treatment for dogs, stem cell therpay for dogs

Filed Under Dog Health, Blog