Dog allergies
Dog Allergies and what you can do to make your dog more comfortableHOW TO NOT GET BITTEN BY A DOG
If you’ve never had a dog or dislike dogs here is some information you need to know so that if you encounter a dog you don’t create an environment where the dog will bite you and it will be your fault.
Don’t approach an unknown dog that is alone without its owner.
Never pet a dog without asking the owner if you can touch his dog.
If you see an injured dog be very careful how you approach it. Wear gloves and heavy clothing. Usually dog in pain will bite.
Don’t go near a dog that is eating or sleeping or has it’s favorite toy. If he does not know you he will want to guard the toy.
Never tease a dog. Don’t yell at dogs. Don’t run at them. Don’t skateboard or ride bikes near dogs. If you have to, then be prepared for some barking.
If you see a dog running at you, stand perfectly still and do not look at him at all. Do not make eye contact. If you are attacked then fall to the ground and roll up into a fetal postion. If you can mimic the cry of a baby dog do this.
If you want to make friends with a dog talk in a very high voice, like a baby dogs sound. 99% of dogs will not hurt puppies.
Don’t put your self into a situation where you might get bitten by a dog. Walk the other way, cross the street, do something and do it quietly.
I’ve been trying out some new dog kibble for dog allergies
I found some great new kibble for dog allergies at the local pet shop.
My web site for dog allergies gives a rundown on what my dog has gone through with his dog allergies.
The first kibble we tried was Innova dog food. We tried both dry and wet and no body got sick after they ate it! Take that you vets who overcharge us for crappy food from Hill’s.
I also make some rice or potatoes to mix in with the new food so that it prevents your dog from getting the runs. So introduce it gradually and see what a difference it makes.
Check out my site on dog allergies with breeds
This is a Portuguese Water Dog that the Obama's just brought into the White House
Are you allergic to dogs?
If you are one of the many people, just like Michele Obama, who is allergic to dogs there are dogs that do well with human allergies. Also they do not shed and don’t have much dog dander, if al all.
Great new find for dogs with food allergies
I found some really good dog food and have been feeding my dog a mixture of all meat kibble, homemade chicken and cottage cheese. For some reason the cottage cheese calms the stomach and both my dogs love it.
Now my chubby dog is losing weight and my skinny dog is gaining weight. And all I had to do was stop listening to my vet and stop buying his Hills dog food and instead tried Innova Ancestral Diet. It has done wonders.
I’m not trying to promote the product, just telling people what I’ve found that works for my dogs.
I found a local pet store and tried about 6 different dog kibble. I looked at the ingredients and if I found corn or wheat I just put it back. But then I started trying some highly recommended kibble that had no grains in it. I also tried Innova meat and vegetables. I use the canned food more as a backup when I don’t have enough chicken left and the dogs are banging their dog food bowls around the kitchen. They think it’s funny!
My advice is to try different brands. All of these brands are guaranteed. And I would use up 1/2 a small bag and if it didn’t work out I took it back and exchanged it for the next trial. They even took back an empty can of dog food.
These dog foods cost more but they don’t cost as much as the vet food and I think are far superior to Vet food.
Find out more about dog food allergies at my site.
Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
Today while I was at the pet store, sampling different dog foods, I met a wonderful dog, the Soft Coated
Wheaten Terrier.
This terriers is very soft of coat with a short upright tail. A rather large terrier, about 45 pounds and filled with love. This terrier is very good for people with allergies to dog dander.
This lovely and sweet dog is perfect in every way
But like most terriers, they do get allergies. Ear infections, yeast infections, itching and scratching. You have to careful what you feed most terriers. Like most pure bred dogs, inbreeding has doubled the chances of this dog be susceptable to allergies.
I got down on my knees to meet this wonderful Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. She was sweet and loving and a wonderful mid size dog for people that are susceptable to allergies or have allergies.
If you don’t like the look or the clip on this terrier you can clip him differently. I don’t like the way the beard looks in the picture but the terrier I saw today had a more rounded clip around the face and she looked very cute with this cut. It’s your dog. Don’t be afraid with clipping your dog a little differently.
Today I visited the Vet & Was Apalled
I went to the Vet to buy some food because my dog has been losing weight and asked about getting a discount on their prescription dog food and asked for a prescription for the dog food so I could buy it on the web and was told that they could not give me a discount and had to purchase it through this particular vet.
They did not care how poor I was. I’ve spent at least 5K at this place and I know they mark up the dog food by 40% so I listened to him lie in my face saying that they had to sell it at that price. It was the agreement. I left. I then went to a pet shop that sells specialty dog foods (at half the price) and was told that California was the only state that charges $75.00 for a large bag of Hills prescription dog kibble. Other vets in other states are having a price war.
Another interesting fact was that some of the first Hills dog food kibble that was sold had as it’s main ingredient, peanut hulls, not peanuts but the hulls. And we wonder why our dogs are having more and more health problems and allergy symptoms.
This week we are trying Wellness dog food
After having problems with the cost and the quality of Hills Prescription dog food we (I) decided to try some speciality dog food kibbles found only in the smaller private pet shops.
We tried Innova dog food which I thought was quite good except both dogs wouldn’t eat it unless it was disguised as chicken or beef.
I remember holding some of Hills dog food in my hand and later my hand was reaking of funky grease smell. I had to wash my hands but my dogs seemed to like the taste. Obviously Hill’s was coating the dog food with some cool dog smells. Remember dogs don’t taste then decide it’s good. They smell their food and taste it with their nostrals.
I decided to taste the Hills food. YUK! It was bitter and nasty. I just knew I was tasting chicken guts and cow lips.
Then I tasted Innova dog food. What a difference. It tasted fine. I looked at the ingredients. I couldn’t find any meat or chicken meal in the list.
Innova is a good food. They even have a kibble that has no grains in it what so ever. They also have a low fat diet for porkers like my female Westy’s. She was OK with eating the kibble. My male dog (who is incredibly picky and skinny) wouldn’t eat it.
Next we tried Wellness for allergies. It is an excellent dry kibble. I mix it with chicken or turkey and my picky dogs have had no bad reactions. The price isn’t too bad. Around $10.00 compared with $25.00 for Hills.
So far so good!
Update on Home cooked meals for dogs
As you all know I am an advocate of feeding good food to your dog and letting the big dog food industry go bankrupt.
Investigating specialty store dog foods.
I have been looking into some interesting brands of food out there that don’t seem to get a lot of attention because they don’t have the big money for advertising campaigns. These foods are often sold in speciality pet shop stores. You won’t find them at the grocery store or Wal Marts or the local Petco. I think it’s because the grocery stores can’t make much of a profit off of them and they are far superior to any other food out there. So try some of these dog foods out and let me know what you think. They will be a little more expensive but far less expensive than those you will find at the vet’s office.
Save Money on Dog Food and Receive a Healthy Pet
All of us are worried about the economy and the cost of dog food for allergic pets.
One of the essentials for me is feeding my dogs. I cut back on everything I can but going to the vet is very expensive and the food for allergies are typically around $56.00 per large bag and around $24.00 per case of canned hypoallergenic dog food.
This is a healthy dog
That is too much for me to pay right now. It is too much to pay when you have to pay the electric bills and the rent and the bare necessities. So I cook for myself and at the same time cook for my dogs.
Here is what I cook for me and my dogs. It’s really quite simple. I go to Costco and get those giant bags of broccoli. I hope you don’t hate broccoli because it has some of the most powerful anti cancer properties of all the vegetables.
I steam broccoli and cauliflower in a big batch, chop it and put into containers. I buy some peeled carrots and steam them and chop.
I buy chicken breasts without bones because you are not paying for skin, bones, fat and it’s fast and easy to prepare. I can poach it or boil it. Don’t cook too long or it will get dry. Remember it doesn’t have very much fat at all.
After the chicken has cooled, I chop it up. I put part of it into containers for myself and the rest for my dogs.
Now I have a good mixture of cancer fighting vegetables and good low fat protein.
For my dinner I make a salad of chopped apples, shredded carrots, sliced celery and some of the chicken breasts.
For the dogs dinner I mix together the chicken, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower together and add a tiny bit of dry kibble if you can afford it. Kibble is mostly corn or wheat so it’s not essential for a dogs diet but it will stretch the food you prepare for them.
Something interesting has happened since I started cooking for my dogs. They seem to love what I cook and their coats are shinier and their eyes are sparkling and ears pricked. And most importantly, their bouts with allergies has lessened.
You will have to experiment with the vegetables because your dog just might have an allergy to one of them so try them out and see what works.
Good luck in these hard times.
“License to Kill” Bush plan to kill Wolves
Bush Administration Takes Aim at Endangered Wolves
In America’s last wild places, endangered wildlife such as polar bears, wolves, and whales are already facing mounting habitat destruction from industrial development, global warming and other harmful activity. Now, the Bush Administration wants to weaken the Endangered Species Act – our nation’s safety net for plants and animals on the brink of extinction — by allowing government agencies with no formal wildlife experience to decide the fate of imperiled species. If enacted, endangered wildlife would be even more vulnerable to threats from logging, drilling and other development.
Last spring, the Bush Administration moved to strip gray wolves in the Northern Rockies of their endangered species protection and leave them vulnerable to mass killing. In September, it withdrew that plan under legal pressure from NRDC. Now, in its final days in office, the Bush Administration wants to ram through a new “License to Kill” plan that could lead to the massacre of hundreds of wolves in the Northern Rockies.
