Pet Vitamins are Essential for Your Dog's Health

Vitamins for Pets - How Essential Are They?

A vitamin supplement for pets is essential to your pet's wellbeing unless you're already feeding your pet its natural raw diet in precisely the proportions it would eat in the wild. If not, your pet is, to a greater or lesser extent, deficient in vitamins which it needs for optimal health. Certainly, your pet may get by without them, but if you want to ensure a long and healthy life for your pet, your pet needs a vitamin supplement. Vitamins can also be of enormous assistance if your pet already has an illness or health problem of some kind.

Just like humans, almost all pets do benefit from a vitamin supplement. And just as there has been considerable controversy in the medical fraternity over whether humans need extra vitamins, so too do many vets dispute the need for nutritional supplements for pets.

The argument usually goes something like this: "The majority of commercial petfoods contain added vitamins. So even though your pet's diet may be inadequate, the vitamins added to pet food compensates for this."

Wrong! Many human breakfast cereals contain added vitamins - they're sprayed on after the processing. And it has been established that you would ingest more vitamins by eating the packaging than you do by eating the cereal inside. It's a gimmick. A gimmick to get you to buy the cereal and feel comfortable in the "knowledge" that you're getting some vitamins even if you don't eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. But guess what? It doesn't compensate. Even the fruit and vegetables we buy today have very little in them by way of vitamins and minerals, by comparison to what they should ideally contain. Unless you're buying organic fruit and veges direct from the farm and eating them the same day, you're not optimising your vitamin intake from fresh food.

This is why many of us now routinely supplement our diet with vitamin tablets, even when we eat a balanced diet. If we don't, we're likely to be vitamin deficient to some degree. That's why cancer, heart disease, and other degenerative conditions are at an all time high, and are still on the increase. A hundred years ago these conditions were unknown.

It's the same for our pets. In fact, they're generally in a worse position than us in relation to an adequate intake of vitamins. That's because, contrary to what many of the so-called "authorities" will have you believe, the garbage that's sold to us as pet food is causing your pet irreparable harm. So the fact that it may have some "added vitamins" is just a complete gimmick, and absolutely worthless from your pet's health's point of view.

It's vital that you feed your pet something as close to its natural diet as possible, and in most cases that's still not enough. Supplementation is essential.

Your pet's natural diet is exclusively raw food. Is that what you're feeding your pet? Or do you opt for the convenience of commercial pet food some or all of the time? Unless you can replicate what your pet would eat in the wild, you owe it to your pet to give a vitamin supplement. And who can replicate exactly what they'd eat in the wild? In exactly the same proportions?

No one. So you know what that means? You do need to give your pet a vitamin supplement.

For information on vitamins for pets, go to:

http://www.HealthyHappyDogs.com/Vitamins

Vitamins for pets have produced remarkable results in animals with specific health concerns such as allergies or other skin irritations, dull coat, lack of energy, as well as much more serious problems like cataracts, epileptic seizures, tumors and leukemia.

Naturally, you should ALWAYS consult your vet with ALL health concerns, but if your pet does have a serious health problem, ask your vet whether a vitamin supplement could help. And if your pet is already reasonably healthy, keep him/her that way by giving a vitamin supplement. It can't do any harm! And you could well be ensuring that your pet has a longer life practically overflowing with health!

To read some truly amazing stories, go to: http://www.HealthyHappyDogs.com/HPTestimonials or for general information on healthy pet vitamins, go to: http://www.HealthyHappyDogs.com/Vitamins

(c) 2005, Brigitte Smith, Healthy Happy Dogs

Brigitte Smith is a dog lover with a special interest in holistic dog health. Her site, Healthy Happy Dogs, has pages and pages of information on improving your dog's health naturally. Brigitte is the author of several reports, articles, and the Healthy Happy Dogs newsletter

For your special FREE report - "How to Improve Your Dog's Health Within 30 Days - Maybe Even Lengthen Your Dog's Life!", Click Here: http://www.HealthyHappyDogs.com

Feeding Bearded Dragons: Essential Guide to Providing Your Beardie a Healthy Diet

Feeding your bearded dragons seems to be an easy process right? Many lizard owners will supply a food dish full of 'whatever' veggies they have in the fridge, fill up a water dish, and toss in some insects on occasion. They may even decide to use dry food pellets that can be purchased from nearly every pet supply store. This diet, as you may have guessed, will ultimately lead to poor health.

Some of this problem is caused by uninformed first-time owners who make an impulse purchase of a "cool looking" lizard they saw while picking up dog food at their nearest 'super' pet store. Now obviously these first-timers have no idea on how to provide proper care for a bearded dragon, so they turn to the 'expert' pet store clerk for answers.

This clerk will most likely point them in the direction of the packaged products (pellets and dried insects) once the conversation becomes focused on food. They will then inform the customer that beardies will also eat crickets and vegetables and to have a nice day.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not that this information is incorrect...it's just lacking detail. This is what leads keepers to believe that their bearded dragon's diet is fine, when in reality it is severely lacking vital nutrients.

"So what am I supposed to feed my lizard?"

Good question. Before we get to specific foods let's first go over a few basic guidelines that should be followed when feeding any beardie.


All food items must be smaller than the space between the eyes. This prevents choking and digestion issues.
Offer as many feeder insects as the lizard will eat within 10-15 minutes for each feeding.
Remove any uneaten insects. You don't need them defecating in your enclosure, or gnawing on your pet.
Have a water dish available at all times. Not all dragons will drink from a dish and you may need to use an eye dropper if it appears your lizard is becoming dehydrated.
Mist all plant matter to enhance their hydration value. This is how beardies get their main source of liquids.
"Gut load" all feeder insects 24-48 hours in advance of feeding them to your lizard. Gut loading is the process of feeding high-nutrient items to your insects, making them a much healthier meal.
"Dust" all insects before feeding. This is the process of coating the insects with a multivitamin, or calcium supplement before giving them to your beardie.

Staple Insects include: crickets, superworms, silkworms, calciworms, even roaches. Make sure all insects are of proper size.

Staple Vegetables include: dark greens such as collard, mustard, dandelion, turnip and kale. All varieties of squash may also be offered as a daily staple along with cactus pads.

Fruits that may be offered on occasion include: apples, fresh blue and blackberries, pineapple, mango, fresh strawberries and cantaloupe.

The amount of feedings per day, the insect-to-veggies ratio, and the amount of supplements all depends on the age of your dragon. You will find that younger dragons may ignore their veggies, while adults rarely turn them down.

Follow these guidelines for feeder insects and vitamin supplements:


Babies - (0-6 months) Feeder insects 2-3 times daily. Dust insects with calcium everyday and multivitamin supplement 4-5 times a week.
Juveniles - (6-10 months) 1-2 times daily. Calcium daily, multivitamin 4-5x
Sub-adult - (10-14 months) 1 time a day. Calcium 5x weekly, multivitamin 3x
Adult - (over 14 months) Offer feeders every other day or so depending on your dragon's appetite for them. Calcium 5-6x, multivitamin 3x.

When feeding bearded dragons it is critical to provide the best diet that is available to them. As their owners, we have taken on that responsibility and our pets depend on us.

To Healthy Reptiles,

Joselyn Rhodes

Are Pet Food Feeding Trials Essential?

In the course of a year several new dog and cat food products will be launched onto the UK pet food market. Some of these will be manufactured by the big boys, Masterfoods or Nestle Purina, who will conduct scientific feeding trials, but others come from small companies who really are just marketing and distributing - they have no manufacturing facilities and make use of independent manufacturers who produce food for anyone. Several well known and well advertised UK brands and a host of smaller brands are produced centrally and simply distributed by the brand owners.

Small companies cannot afford the luxury of Research & Development facilities, they also do not have the facilities to do their own pet food feeding trials. Let's face it, they are up against the might of the Waltham centre for Pet Nutrition operated by the company that brings you Pedigree, Royal Canin and the like. Their publicity states

'Set in the heart of the English countryside, the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition is a state-of-the-art facility that unifies all of the research and development expertise of the Mars group of pet care companies worldwide.

Waltham collaborates with many of the world's most prestigious universities and academics in advancing nutritional research and worldwide the Mars Group employs more than 100 dedicated veterinarians and 500 scientists (plus several of the world's leading companion animal nutritionists).'

No small company can compete with the might of such a multi-national company.

So is the pet food I feed safe?

That's an interesting question! Large pet food companies can afford the facilities of a testing centre, so what goes on there?

Well, the rules for conducting feeding trials seem to be all based around AAFCO guidelines.

Masterfoods say this about their feeding trials 'Adult maintenance trials may take six months to complete. A full veterinary examination is also conducted to ensure the pets used in the trial are healthy. Food intakes and body weights are recorded throughout the trial period along with other important indicators such as oral health, skin and coat health, body condition and faecal quality.

'At the conclusion of the trial a blood sample is taken to detect any nutritional deficiencies or excesses. As a further measure to assess palatability, in home feeding trials are conducted as we have access to approximately 8,000 households. This ensures we get a true reflection of pets' acceptance and preference of the product range. Some pet food products may take up to three years to develop because of this rigorous three-step testing process.'

What about a small company?

You will probably find that small companies tell you that they do not conduct feeding trials because they do not consider them necessary - usually a new food is given to staff and family to try out on their pets. If there are no adverse comments from users over a four or six week period then the food is launched to the general public.

This can work out fine, but essentially they are using pet owners around the country to do their long term food trials. I know of occasions where a food has been launched in this way and then caused health problems that were not picked up during the initial food tasting.

However, it also has to be said that all new pet food recipes have their origin at feeding trials which have been done in the past. The AAFCO nutritional guidlines have been used for years as the base figures for formulating pet food recipes, and you or I could probably put together a fine quality pet food based upon those guidlines - but we have to bear in mind that these were established through nutritional feeding trials, and have been amended no doubt since based upon current knowledge.

For this reason, unless a recipe is using very novel ingredients, or formulated with proportions of ingredients that vary greatly from other foods on the market, it is generally assumed that these foods will be perfectly safe for the pets that they have been created for.

So, maybe pet owners do need to ask themselves a question. If I am trying a new pet food, am I happy that this food has been extensively trialled over a period of 6 months to 2 years and proved by scientific methods to be beneficial to health - or am I comfortable that a food has been formulated to a similar recipe to others on the market, given out to a dozen or so pet owners and over a short period of time no adverse comments made?

The choice is ours!

The author, who originally trained as a food technologist has, in his time owned dogs, cats, hamsters and birds, sold pet food and spent the past decade marketing it. Now down to one cat, one dog and running Pet Food Choice, a website full of information on pet food choices, money-saving ideas and much more - http://www.pet-food-choice.co.uk

Essential Items For Living in an Apartment With Pets

Living with a pet in an apartment isn't always easy. Since these pets usually don't have as much space as pets with full yards, they need extra care to keep healthy and entertained. Review the following tips on essential items for pet care in your apartment.

Feeding

It's important to regulate your pet's eating schedule. Dogs should be fed at a time that correlates well with a bathroom break following soon after, and both cats and dogs that are left home alone all day with a full bowl may develop weight problems, increase the incidence of bathroom accidents in the apartment and let your pets grow bored. For water, the problem is the opposite - you should always make sure that water is available for your pet.

Luckily, today's modern world provides a variety of tools that let us regulate our pets' feeding environment. Automatic feeders allow you to program times to feed your pet, and more advanced models will even allow you to specify how much food to release at specific times. Automatic water dispensers work the same way, and pet water fountains make sure that water is always flowing for your cat or dog.

Entertainment & Exercise

The best way to keep your pet entertained while you're not around is to have some really great toys. For dogs, Kongs are a great toy that provide hours of entertainment. By sticking a treat (such as a spoonful of peanut butter), you can entice your dog to bite, lick, and roll around with a Kong for hours. Cats will respond well to a scratching post and some catnip toys - and a scratching post will pull double duty by providing an alternative to furniture and carpet for your cat to scratch at.

Another great tactic to make sure your pets don't become bored with their toys is to make sure that you have a variety of toys that you put out on an alternating schedule. This will keep toys fresh and new, and keep your dog or cat's interest for a longer period of time.

And of course, the most essential tool you need to keep your dog healthy and entertained is a leash. Your dog will need regular walks around the apartment community or neighborhood for exercise and to go to the bathroom. A good, quality leash will let you lead your dog while giving him the option to run around and enjoy the outdoors.

Apartment Care

While all the above will help you keep your apartment in good shape while living with a pet, there are two tools that will really help you control your apartment's appearance. A good pet brush and a litter box. The litter box is essential if you have a cat - and daily upkeep will keep smells out of your apartment. As with feeding, there are litter boxes that will automatically clean themselves, but you will still have to maintain the removal process. Regularly brushing your pet will help prevent your cat or dog's fur from ending up on your clothes, sofa, and carpet.

The Blairs is a pet friendly apartment community located in Silver Spring, MD near Washington, DC.