Will My Dog Hate Me?

… Oh, wait, you do, your dog might say, if she were inclined towards philosophical musings. But does that mean you can — and should — try to change everything about me that you don’t like?

Those questions came to mind — mine, not Frankie’s, at least as far as I can tell — after I read an essay in last Sunday’s New York Times magazine titled “The Dog Who Hates Me.”

To summarize the piece: The author, John Moe, brings home a dog named Dave that his children adore — and vice versa. But Dave reacts badly to the author, barking hysterically whenever he comes home. Moe neuters Dave, hoping this will also alter the dog’s attitude towards him. The surgery is only marginally successful, and Moe decides to accept Dave’s behavior as an unalterable condition of their lives together.

Or, as Moe puts it:

He is who he is, just like all of us. I picked Dave’s name because it sounded human. I had no idea how prescient I was.

It’s a loving relationship, Dave’s and mine, but one in which one partner, without testicles, will always scream at the other, who has them, for no apparent reason.

My first reaction was irritation at the author, who gave training only a cursory try. But then the essay got me wondering: Where does one draw the line at trying  to change a dog?

Frankie shies away from other dogs and other people but is happy with me. Do I wish him to be braver because I think it will make his life better,  or am I just worried that his behavior reflects badly on me?

I asked Debbie Jacobs, author of A Guide To Living & Working With A Fearful Dog and blogger at  www.fearfuldogs.com, what she thought about the degree to which we should accept our dog’s personalities. Should I be trying harder to make Frankie less fearful?

She replied:

If a dog’s triggers [stimuli that bring on a reaction, such as fear] can be easily managed or avoided, then ‘working’ with the dog doesn’t matter so much. If someone lives in New England and is deathly afraid of zebras there’s probably no need to spend a lot of time on the problem, unless they plan on going on a safari. But if you live in NYC and are afraid of crowds, then that is a fear which either impacts you daily or limits what you can do in your life. If you are happy remaining in your apartment and have a full life, no problem, but if you live in dread of the times you have to leave and face the crowds, then that’s likely to contribute to stress and anxiety in your life.

Understanding that a dog that was not socialized or may be genetically predisposed to being fearful may never achieve the level of comfort another dog will in relation to its triggers is important. An owner can compassionately manage the dog’s exposure to things to minimize its anxiety. But every exposure to a trigger is an opportunity to help the dog change how he feels about it. It’s not so much about forcing a dog to deal with its triggers as much as realizing that in any situation something either good, bad or neutral is happening to a dog in regard to those triggers. By understanding how counter conditioning and desensitization work we can do our best to try to make these exposures be good things, or at the very least neutral. It’s a lifelong project for dogs like mine, but change happens, slowly, and I often say I hope both Sunny and I live long enough to see as much change as I’d like.

I don’t know Frankie so won’t speak specifically about what you should do. We need to be able to separate what our ‘dreams’ might be for our dogs and consider what theirs might be. I’m glad my parents weren’t set on me being a brain surgeon or concert pianist, they’d be disappointed and I’d probably have been miserable.

What a wise answer. Now if only I could get Frankie to write down his dreams…

Frankie is baaaad to the bone

Admit it. The word “grooming” sounds kind of frou frou, something that only poodles* and little fussy dogs get subjected to.

And it’s true, grooming does refer to parts of the dog’s body, including hair, nails, and eyes, that are often dealt with in human beauty salons.

But a recent post on DoggyBytes.ca, called Winter Care for Your Dog’s Skin, Coat and Paws, brought to mind just how important grooming is to the health of your dog.  And DoggyBytes is hardly a wussy site, what with owner Jim McBean feeding his dogs — one of them a pit bull, yet! — raw meat and all. (True, this was a guest post, written by a girl, Susanne Postill, whose blog Eco-Pup even shows small dogs in cute clothing. As does this blog, you may have noticed. And, when it comes to his dogs, Jim is a real softie.)

But I digress. The point is, we’re talking about essential procedures, not cosmetics. So in order to clear up any misconceptions about grooming, which does sound rather metrosexual, I suggest you think in automotive terms: body work (maintenance of the overall exterior, or coat) and detailing (focusing on the smaller but essential parts like feet, ears, eyes, and teeth).

There are even macho-sounding tools, like the FURminator, that you may need to do the job.

With that in mind, stay tuned — as in tune up — for my  series of posts about this important aspect of canine health care.

*Poodles have gotten a bad rap, as I mentioned early on in this blog: See Of Poodles and Portuguese Water Dogs.

Catalina State Park, view from Canyon Loop Trail

Okay, I’ve got you halfway through your dog-friendly visit  to Tucson, with an introduction to the desert and our quirky — in that it has no river — river walk. This finishing lap adds a bit of local history. I know, dogs live in the moment, but they’ll like these forays into the past because they take place outdoors and, in one case, involve meat.

In my last post, I left you in the Trader Joe’s across the street from St. Philips Plaza — not a bad place to be stranded — buying picnic supplies for your visit to…

1pm …  Catalina State Park. I might ordinarily recommend Saguaro National Park West  to Tucson newbies; it’s a bit closer to my chosen dinner destination for this evening and a classic local attraction. However, even leashed dogs are not permitted on trails in the park, only on the paved roads shared with automobile traffic. So this gave me an opportunity to send you to a wonderful patch — well, 5493 acres — of pristine desert that’s off the beaten tourist path. Its lures include an ancient Hohokam ruin on an abandoned ranch compound. Read about the Romero Ruin interpretive trail and other state park activities here.

Moral bonus points: Arizona’s state park system is strapped for cash and only the most popular parks will continue to be funded. By coming here with your dog you’re helping to keep Catalina State Park open.

Alternatively, if it’s too warm for a midday walk and your pup is water- (and other dog-) oriented, head instead to Christopher Columbus Dog Park, Tucson’s first off-leash dog park and still its largest, with lots of shade ramadas and an agility course. It’s part of a larger park with a lake that is, theoretically, off limit to canines. Tell that to the many dogs  you’ll see splashing around and shaking themselves off happily at the shore.

Another advantage to this option, especially for those who want to cut down on their driving: It’s directly en route to my dinner pick.

Christopher Columbus Off-Leash Dog Park

5:30pm Where better to chow down after a hike or romp in the dog park than a casual steak and rib house with outdoor tables?  L’il Abner’s, on the site of a 19th-century Butterfield Express Stage Coach stop,  fits the bill to a T-bone. Although the city has encroached on this once remote setting, when you’re sitting out under a canopy of stars, listening to live country or bluegrass music (weekends only), it’s still easy to imagine you’re in the Old West.  Keep your dog close by you — that shouldn’t be difficult while you’re enjoying your steak — because  the outdoor mesquite grill smells mighty enticing.

9am After you’ve had breakfast and checked out of your hotel, it’s time to go downtown to the Presidio Trail — an easy two-mile loop that’s sometimes called the Turquoise Trail because its 23 historic sights are linked to one another by a painted blue line (which looks, in spots, like it was applied by a drunk on a unicycle — but your dog won’t notice or care). At this writing, the link to the online printable version of the Presidio Trail isn’t working, but you can write ahead or drop in for a map at the Tucson Visitor Center, which is an excellent source of information of all kinds.

Plaques detail the sites, among them the Spanish Colonial-style Pima County Courthouse (1929) with its striking cerulean mosaic dome; El Tiradito, a folk-art shrine to a pair of star-crossed lovers; and the Hotel Congress, built in 1919 as a railroad hotel. In 1934, two members of John Dillinger’s gang holed up here until a fire forced them out. This led to the eventual capture of the famed outlaw — and to an annual celebration of Dillinger Days at the hotel.

The Hotel Congress is also home to the Cup Cafe, where you and your pup can sit out on the patio and get an omelet to order or, perhaps, eggs with biscuits and andouille sausage, fortifying you for your journey home. Yes, it’s time to head for the airport if your canine companion is small enough to travel in the cabin — and if that’s the case, check out the excellent DogJaunt.com for tips on the best carriers (airlines) and carriers (bags) — or for the freeway, in which case GoPetFriendly.com can help you plot out your route and find places to stay along the way.

Update: I just learned Loews Ventana Canyon Resort & Spa, my recommended lodging, is running a Pumped-Up Pet special, to help you get your pudgy pup — and you — back in shape. Love it!

Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, dwarfed by the Santa Catalina Mountains

Sometimes I’m way ahead of the curve. For example, I’ve been blogging about doggie dental care since the beginning of this month, well in advance of the designated Pet Dental Month, February. (Of course, I’m not big on designated months; see November Is Pet Diabetes Month: Oh the Irony).

Sometimes I’m far behind it.

On January 3, the New York Times published one of its travel wrapups, 36 Hours in Tucson. This, in turn, generated spins on the story by several Tucson bloggers. At Tucson Cowgirl, writer Monica Surfaro Spigelman took readers off-the-beaten-path. Donna Hull at My Itchy Travel Feet directed active baby boomers to her favorite local attractions. Then Vera Marie Badertscher at A Traveler’s Library explored Tucson’s northwest side in a laid-back fashion, adding  a literary twist.

Now I’m going to give the pup’s eye perspective, a tour that provides plenty of dog-friendly fun while ensuring that human visitors savor Tucson’s special flavor, too.

For a brief video overview, see my pet travel segment on KVOA TV (extra incentive to watch: Frankie’s in it).

4pm Check into the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort. It’s not only a world-class lodging in a spectacular setting, but it accepts dogs — in fact, all domestic pets — of any size for a one-time fee of $25. Which is as it should be.

After settling into your room, head over to the Ventana Canyon trailhead, which branches off from the entryway into the resort. You can’t hike more than half a mile or a mile into the canyon with your dog — to protect the pronghorn sheep, according to the Sierra Club, which details the entire hike here — but it’s a nice long walk from the resort back to the road, so you and your pooch will get plenty of exercise and a brief introduction to the desert (careful, it bites) before dinner….

… which you can order in if you don’t want to leave your pup alone; there’s a doggie room service menu. When Frankie and I stayed there, I ordered a brown rice, veggie, and salmon combo for his dinner. When it arrived, I realized it could have fed a Great Dane. I gave Frankie his fair share and ate the rest. It was a bit bland until I added some hot sauce, but fresh and filling.

Alternately,  post pup-feeding, you can dine at the resort’s excellent, Southwest-oriented Flying V Bar and Grill. A friend and I recently shared their bison-and-blue cheese sliders, achiote-rubbed salmon and mole-roasted pork chops.  (Shhhh…I didn’t bring any home for Frankie.)

9 am (that’s late for us Tucsonans but you’re on vacation so sleep in). Head for St. Philips Plaza, a lovely Spanish-style shopping center with some of Tucson’s best restaurants. One of them, Acacia, recently opened a gourmet market where you can buy takeaway breakfast burritos, quiches, and sandwiches. If there’s no room at the sole table in front of the restaurant, you’ll find several benches and tables arrayed around a fountain on the west side of the plaza.

Note: If you come on a Sunday morning, the city’s best Farmer’s Market is doggie central, with lots of meeting and greeting and sniffing of food and rear ends (the dogs, not usually the humans).

10am Take a walk with your dog along Rillito River Park.  Out-of-towners tend to be disconcerted by this name because the park consists of trails flanking a riverbed that’s almost invariably dry. But if you don’t see water, you do see  plenty of desert scrub (mesquite, creosote, palo verde), the soaring Santa Catalinas, bike riders, horseback riders… and of course people walking their dogs.

An entrance to the trail is right behind The Windmill Inn, which is another great place to stay if dog-friendly rooms are available (they’re in limited supply). But it’s best to walk south of the plaza across the pedestrian bridge to the river park entrance marked by a sign for the University of Arizona Agriculture and Life Sciences extension. On this (east) side of the river walk, you’ll come to a newly revamped area in the Rio Vista Natural Resource Park that’s particularly dog friendly, with pup-height fountains and a large open space to run.

Warning: Many people take their dogs down to the dry riverbed where there’s even more space to run. But coyotes like to play — and eat — there too.

Noonish Trader Joe’s is right across Campbell Avenue from St. Philip’s Plaza. When you return from your walk, go there to pick up supplies for a picnic at… well, you’ll just have to wait for my next post to find out.

Ok Feed in Tucson, my source of Frankie's food, though he's not a horse

I know, I can get up on a soapbox. And, hey, that’s what blogs are for. But I’ve also been known to step down from mine if I find a good reason for doing so.

I’d like to report I’ve made tentative steps towards soapbox descent on the topic of raw feeding.

I argued in a recent post that, with Frankie’s compromised immune system, I wasn’t going to feed him any raw bones or meat that might contain bacteria. And I haven’t changed that stance. But two people who wrote into that post’s comments section suggested a compromise: Commercially prepared raw food that was vetted for food safety.

Rod Burkert of GoPetfriendly.com wrote a guest post on the topic at DoggyBytes.ca, advocating for The Honest Kitchen brand.

It sounded appealing in some ways, but I once tried dehydrated food on Frankie, a brand  (I don’t recall which it was) suggested by a holistic vet. Neither of us was very pleased with it. It took too long — about 10 minutes — to reconstitute; Frankie was tapping his paws impatiently waiting for breakfast. And when it was done, Frankie didn’t like it. I don’t know whether it was the smell, or the texture, but he took a couple of mouthfuls and walked away.

So I had my reservations about trying Honest Kitchen.

But Robert, who blogs at Jealous of Angeles, had another suggestion:

There are options like Stella & Chewy’s that is pre-made and pathogen free! You will not get all the benefits of RAW since you do need to get the RAW meaty bones with them….but that definitely would be a more trusting route.

The name Stelly & Chewy’s was familiar because, I realized, I give Frankie the company’s Carnivore Kisses — freeze-dried chicken and bison — for treats. No question; he’s extremely fond of them.

The clincher, however, was when I went to my favorite pet store, OK Feed, to buy Frankie his usual high-grade kibble and a probiotic. I noticed bags of Stella & Chewy’s  raw food patties near the checkout counter. Reading the feeding instructions, I saw they don’t require the addition of water because they are freeze dried, not dehydrated. According to Stella & Chewy’s website:

When you freeze-dry a product, it starts out frozen. The ice crystals turn directly into water vapor, skipping the liquid stage. Through this process, practically all the nutritional value of the raw meat and produce is retained. In contrast, dehydrating a product requires high temperatures to evaporate the water. Since dehydrating is similar to cooking, many of the vital nutrients are lost.

That makes sense. And the Chewy’s Chicken Dinner I decided on contained the probiotics that I was planning to buy separately for Frankie.

So I’m going to try it. As recommended with all dietary changes, I’ll be taking it slowly, topping my usual kibble with the raw food patties mixed with my standard cooked meat toppings.

I’ll report back, I promise.

Corneal ulcers, periodontal disease, diabetes…  sometimes it’s hard to separate the dog from the health problems.  Or, I should say, my emotional reactions to the problems from Frankie’s far more laissez-faire attitude.

I’m thinking in particular of my first experience getting Frankie’s teeth professionally cleaned, which I introduced a couple of posts ago.

Frankie's tooth cleaning looms large in my mind (from www.aidanimaldental.com)

The Trauma

To recap: When several vets suggested Frankie needed the procedure, I decided to go to a clinic that charged $150 rather than my regular vet’s fee of $400.

The vet at the clinic was extremely nice when I consulted with her in advance about the issues surrounding Frankie’s diabetes: There’s not supposed to be food in the stomach when anesthesia is administered, but Frankie needs to eat in order to get his insulin. If I fed him and gave him his shot at 5:30am, she assured me, an afternoon anesthetic should pose no problem.

She was great in person too. When she examined Frankie, she told me he would do fine under anesthesia, because he was svelte. She didn’t think Frankie’s teeth looked too bad either.

Still, I worried all day after I dropped him off. At about 4 pm I got a call from the receptionist that Frankie was fine. He was groggy, she said, and would need pain meds because he had had 7 teeth extracted.

I was in shock. Why didn’t I get any advance warning, I wondered? I hadn’t seen this coming.

Poor, poor detoothed Frankie.

I spent months feeling guilty. I should have taken Frankie to a better, more expensive vet, I berated myself.  Did he really need all those extractions?

I was so freaked out that I avoided going near his mouth. That’s generally not a bad thing — except when it comes to brushing your dog’s teeth.

The Procrastinating Tactic

So now, two years later, I vowed to brush Frankie’s teeth as my New Year’s resolution. But — there’s always a but — I hesitated. Two years of tartar have accumulated. Would scrubbing tartar-laden teeth do any good?

Surely I need another professional cleaning before I get my program in gear.

An economic downturn, a severe talking to by a sensible friend — not to mention the establishment of a public guilt-free zone — have all made me rethink my initial, irrational reaction to the clinic.

They only offer cleanings and vaccinations once a week, I realized, providing a low-cost service to dog owners. If they stopped to phone people mid-procedure, they wouldn’t be able to provide that service to as many of them.

More to the point, as my friend asked, “Why would the clinic vet pull Frankie’s teeth if they didn’t need pulling? They weren’t charging per extraction, were they?”

“No,” I had to admit. It was just a small extra fee — maybe $20 — for all of them.

Was Frankie traumatized? No. Sure, he was droopy for a few days. But he recovered. And he wasn’t upset about his tooth loss, as far as I could tell. Of course, I pretended that it was now impossible to pull the squeaky toys out of his mouth, in order to salve the doggie ego that he doesn’t have.

The squeaky carrot, when not in Frankie's strong teeth

The Dilemma

Purging guilt from the past (well, almost) didn’t resolve the problem of the future cleaning, however. I started obsessing about where to go.

During the two year interim, I discovered the existence of certified veterinary dentists, members of a field that is that is relatively new. There are fewer than 125 in the entire country, but Tucson is anomalous in having two. I phoned and discovered that both charge about $800, without extractions, which are extra. As it happens, one of them goes to the same classes I go to at the gym and, I’ve been told, thinks my book is fluffy because of its title.

Not that this would have any influence on my decision.

Maybe I should go for something in between? When I took Frankie in to get his eye checked, I asked my vet about their cleanings.  They now charge $550  — a pretty hefty hike from $400.

Next, I called the clinic. The fees are currently $230, with a little extra for extractions — which, the receptionist assured me, the vet avoids whenever possible. That fee includes blood work and careful monitoring of the pre- and post-anesthesia but no X-rays. Or phone calls mid-procedure.

I’m still on the fence. Yes, a specialist would be great, but since I can’t afford it, I would probably do nothing. And I trusted the clinic vet.  Are a phone call and X-rays worth an additional $500, at minimum, for a simple cleaning — which would lead to daily tooth brushing at home, I swear?

And maybe, maybe even a change in diet.

Or — and this is a distinct possibility, guilt-free mandate notwithstanding — will I beat myself up that I didn’t somehow scrape together the money to do it right this time, now that I know that veterinary dentists exist?

What do you think?

I like to be open minded. That’s why I gave Jim McBean at DoggyBytes a forum for his advocacy of raw feeding the other day. But I’m not convinced its benefits outweigh its risks and here’s why:

• Dogs are no longer living in the wild. Yes, they are equipped for eating raw meat. So are we.  Just because we can doesn’t mean we have to — or even should. Because…
• Most meat we buy today comes from animals that eat corn and other unhealthy feed and that are injected with hormones and chemicals (not to mentioned slaughtered in inhumane conditions). Just watch the movie Food Inc. — if you have the stomach for it. If a raw diet were to consist of meat that came from animals that were free-range, grass-fed and not subject to any growth hormones or other chemicals, great. But don’t tell me that feeding such meat every day wouldn’t be expensive.
• The more raw food you eat, the greater your chances are of getting some that has harmful bacteria in it. I eat sushi. I eat steak tartare. But not every day because I worry about mercury. And because I’m not in France.
• A dog with a compromised immune system, as Frankie’s is because he has diabetes, shouldn’t be taking the chance. Here’s what my pal Susanne Fritz wrote in response to Jim’s earlier comments:

I personally don’t give Jasmine raw bones for her teeth any more. I did for many years, and they did the job, but they also gave her the occasional stomach upset. Then a couple months after she was diagnosed with diabetes I gave Jasmine a big juicy bone as a treat just before Christmas. I consequently spent an expensive Christmas eve at the vets because she had been vomiting frequently, had diarrhea, and wasn’t eating (not good in a diabetic dog). The gastrointestinal bug was traced back to the bone, Jasmine got a couple of weeks of antibiotics, and my pet insurance company got yet another big bill (phew!). Since then bones have been off limits, and I have found Jas’s teeth have done fairly well feeding her a largely dry food diet.

• Because the alternative to feeding raw is not always feeding commercial kibble. A false dichotomy is posed by raw food advocates. There are other alternatives to feeding raw than supermarket brands. I feed Frankie Wellness Core topped with cooked lean beef or chicken.
• Because BARF (Bones and Raw Food) is a ridiculous acronym and the name for the website is even worse: Barfworld. I’d be embarrassed to feed my dog a puke-referencing diet. If I were to come up with a raw diet, I would call it BARC: Bones and Raw Comestibles, a dining plan that has a far better, and vocabulary enhancing, acronym.

Update: As it happens, my Aussie pal Susanne Fritz, who is quoted above, came up with a far more scientific — and far less childish than “because it uses the word ‘barf’” — contribution than mine to the raw food debate, which she sent to the “pro” post. As you’ll see, she is not opposed to raw feeding; she just urges people to use caution. I’m including it here:

A word of caution – dogs have evolved as omnivores and to state they are meant to be solely carnivorous is incorrect. “Dogs are opportunistic eaters and have developed anatomic and physiologic characteristics that permit digestion and usage of a varied diet.” Source: Hand, M. and Novotny, B. (2002) Small Animal Clinical Nutrition, 4th Edition. Dogs require a diet that in addition to protein and fat includes a carbohydrate source, some fibre, and nutrients that they will not get eating meat alone. Wolves achieve this through eating the stomach contents of the herbivores they kill, and it has been documented that this is one of the first parts of the kill they will devour. In times when prey is scarce wolves also eat seeds and berries to supplement their diet.

It is possible to feed a domestic dog a vegetarian diet as long as it contains the appropriate levels of protein, carbohydrates and other nutrients to meet the dog’s daily metabolic energy requirements…. And there is nothing wrong with feeding your pet dog on a diet of raw foods you put together yourself at home as long as it meets all the dog’s nutritional needs i.e. contains enough protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber etc. A vet could give you suggestions on how to achieve this, or an animal nutritionist could also provide feeding plans. The area where care needs to be used if doing this is when substituting ingredients from the recommended diet plan, say due to a listed ingredient being unavailable, or deciding to use other ingredients because they are cheaper etc. This can result in nutritional deficiencies, which over time can cause health problems.

Sorry to get academic on you, but I had to clarify the dog – carnivore issue as it is a common misconception and can result in a sick pup in the long term. There are many excellent texts available, including the one I mentioned already, or the likes of “Animal Nutrition” by Mc Donald, Edwards, Greenhalgh and Morgan – a more technical text that goes into calculating daily metabolic energy requirements to develop appropriate diets for a variety of domestic animals (lots of boring calculations and such, but if you are into that sort of thing it’s a great book). I have a feeling what I have said is going to rile some people up so I’ll throw some qualifications out there to back up what I said (at the risk of being all academic yet again)

Susanne Fritz B. Science (Biology) B. Arts (Science Communication) Grad Cert Food Science There you have it – the science geek has been outed!

Posted by Edie Jarolim

My pal Jim McBean over at DoggyBytes commented extensively on my recent post, Why Anesthesia Free Cleaning is Really Costly — so extensively, in fact, that I suggested he shed more light on the topic by doing a guest post. He agreed. One note: The $1000 in the title alludes to the price that a veterinary dentist Jim consulted charged for a teeth cleaning.

***

What is Periodontal Disease?

Periodontal disease is an inflammatory disease that affects the tissues surrounding the teeth, gums and bone (alveolar bone). If left untreated, periodontitis will eventually lead to loosening of and loss of teeth and can also damage the kidneys, liver and heart.

Periodontal Disease

• has been a known problem in domestic pets for at least 70 years and affects 8 out of 10 dogs 3 years and older. It coincides with the advent of commercial pet food. Coincidence?
• is worse in smaller animals
• progresses with age
• causes loosening of and loss of teeth
• is very common in dogs fed soft diets who have little dental activity by way of cutting and tearing raw flesh and breaking and crunching bones
• leads to pyorrhoea (an advanced form of periodontitis), 100 % of the time in dogs fed soft diets if they live long enough

From Bad to Worse

Due to the vascular nature of the gums, secondary diseases can develop as bacteria from the mouth enter the blood stream and make their way to the liver and kidneys. The bacteria then colonize in these organs wreaking havoc! Bacteria reaching the heart can cause vegetative endocarditis (infected heart valves).

Diet is the Main Cause of Periodontal Disease

It should really come as no surprise that diet is the main cause of periodontal disease given that so many other ailments, canine and human, are as a result of subpar dietary practices.

Numerous studies have looked at the effects of hard and soft food diets on the oral health of domestic pets, all concluding that soft foods contribute to periodontal disease and that more abrasive hard foods (raw meaty bones), help prevent it.

Two groups of dogs were fed either hard biscuits or the same biscuits ground and mixed with water for 14 months. At the end of the study, the dogs eating the hard food still had healthy teeth gums, while the dogs fed soft mush developed gingivitis, plaque and calculus. (Burwasser and Hill 1939)

Another study compared feeding raw whole bovine trachea with attached oesophagus, muscle and fat, to the same food finely minced. Plaque accumulation and the onset of gingivitis were observed in the group of dogs fed the minced food. (Egelberg 1965)

“…periodontal disease may be uncommon in wild canids and felids, and suggestive evidence (alveolar bone disease) was found in only 2% of 1157 canid jaw bone specimens examined by Colyer (Miles and Grigson 1990).” – Undoubtedly because they eat non-processed foods in the form of meat, connective tissue and bone.

Plaque will form on teeth regardless of what types of foods are eaten. However, it stands to reason that softer foods can stick to teeth speeding up the formation of plaque, and that soft foods are inefficient in removing existing plaque from teeth.

Foods that require tearing, cutting and crunching (such as raw meaty bones), are nutritionally beneficial for your dog and are much more likely to be effective at keeping periodontal disease at bay by abrading teeth as they are consumed.

“Raw meaty bones have good characteristics to promote oral health….” – Australian Veterinary Journal Vol. 71. No. 10. October 1994

3 Ways to Help Prevent Your Dog from Developing Periodontal Disease

1. Take your dog for regular dental checkups.
2. Feed your dog size & type appropriate raw meaty bones on a regular basis, if not daily, especially if you feed canned food or kibble. Go here to watch a couple of dogs eating RMBs and a cat devouring a chicken wing. There are lots of options, but do your research.
3. Brushing may help, if your dog will let you do it, but remember, just like the dentist tells us, brushing won’t clean below the gum line.

There is no guarantee that feeding raw meaty bones will prevent an individual animal from developing periodontal disease, but feeding raw meaty bones is guaranteed to be less expensive than dental cleaning at your vet – with or without anesthesia.

For more Raw reading visit DoggyBytes.ca.

Update: Jim posted the following in the comments section, which I’m bringing up here:

There’s not a ton of research being done on raw diets for dogs and cats. For obvious reasons the pet food industry (who fund most of the “studies”) isn’t particularly interested in pouring a lot of money into that kind of research, except when it benefits from the spread misinformation.

I understand there are reasons that people don’t want to feed their pets a raw diet; they believe it to be too expensive (it’s not), they don’t like handling meat or whatever, that’s fine. What I don’t understand is the unwillingness of some to even explore the topic – and the degree to which they oppose the notion of raw feeding .

Needing large “controlled studies” to learn what we already know, that carnivores (which include dogs, wolves and cat) eat flesh and bone and have been equipped by nature to do so, seems sort of odd to me. How on earth have dogs been able to survive for hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of years without commercial kibble?

A Word About Salmonella

“At all events, the evidence in which the antibody response takes place suggests that the host-parasite relationship is not saprophytic but of latent infection. If there is no primary factor which produces harmfull effects on barriers within the body, dogs may not fall ill.” Source: Studies on Salmonella in Dogs

Definition: Latent Infection – “The state in which a host is infected with a pathogen but does not show any symptoms.”

Today was the day I was going to tidy my house and to teach myself social media, to Digg and Stumble my way into the blogosphere and wave at my tech savvy pals via Google.

This was not to be.

First, I decided that I’d really better take Frankie to the vet. His eye has been bothering him ever since I took him to the groomer to gussy him up for our trip to the Ritz Carlton, Dove Mountain. I kept wavering because of, well, money, and because he seemed to be improving. And then not improving.

Turns out he has a corneal ulcer. The vet thinks it might be superficial enough to clear up with antibacterial drops, to be administered every two hours.

diagram from Veterinary Vision Animal Eye Specialists

Then again, because of his diabetes, he might not respond as well as he should. In which case he’ll need surgery.

Fiddle dee dee, I’m not going to think about that now…

The vet also said the ulcer was square rather than round, and that this was weird. I guess it’s better than when she called Frankie weird because he wouldn’t pee for the vet techs. Still, it’s a bit disturbing to be told your dog — or his corneal ulcer — is peculiar. On top, of course, of being told that your dog has a corneal ulcer in the first place.

When I came home from the vet, Chris the repair guy was there.  Chris was going to fix the hole in the wall above the sink that the plumbers made and left gaping. I had told Chris when I phoned him that I needed the hole drywalled because the plumbers who had left the hole said, “Sorry, we don’t do drywall.”

It turns out that the hole needed to be plastered, which Chris doesn’t know how to do. If only the plumbers had said, “Sorry, we don’t do plastering,” Chris could have saved himself a trip. And I might have found a repair guy who does plastering.

Did I mention that the hole in my wall seems to be emitting toxic fumes, which Chris suggested I stifle with plastic bags?

So… I have a dog who needs to get eye drops every two hours and a hole in my wall that can’t be fixed, at least not today, and that is stuffed with plastic bags that I’m semi-convinced will combust from the toxic fumes.

Damned if I’m going to tidy a house that has a toxic hole in the wall — that just goes against every aesthetic principle — or try to do something that is bound to make me feel obtuse. I’ve got some cold beer in the fridge, and maybe there’s something good on cable…

I promised to continue my story of staying with Frankie at the Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain, so I will, but I’m not quite sure how it ends: Frankie’s eye, which has been bothering him ever since the trip to the groomer to gussy him up for his debut at the posh property, is little improved.  It looks like a trip to the vet is in the cards today.

The takeaway message(s) might be: Home grooming — at least for shaggy chic Frankie — is best. And there’s no such thing as a free hotel stay. Had I not wanted to improve on Frankie’s natural good looks, his eye would be fine (ok, deep breaths: This is a guilt-free zone, guilt-free zone…).

So… we arrived at the resort in time for a cocktail reception and dinner with the other media guests, including Joan Lunden, former host for Good Morning America.

Evan Agostini / Getty Images

Being not only a luxury hotel slut, but also a celebrity whore, I had hoped to get Frankie to the cocktail reception in order to  photograph him with Joan for my KVOA TV slot. This was not to be. The reception was indoors, in the resort’s signature CORE restaurant, a dog-free zone.

No worries, I figured. I’d have plenty more time the next day to get Frankie — who of course is famous in his own right — his celebrity shoot with Joan.

So Frankie stayed in our hotel room, watching the flat screen TV. I did interrupt the (amazing) six-course dinner to walk him and give him a bit of purloined buffalo steak.

That’s when I began noticing he was pawing at his eye. It continued through the night. By the next morning, it looked red and he could hardly open it.  There was only one thing to do: Check out so I could have Frankie checked out.

As I prepared to drive off, the whole media group returned from a morning hike. They stopped by the car and said hi, and Joan  got a peek at Frankie, but he was not looking his best. This was no time for a photo op.

Sigh.

Incidentally, Joan Lunden, who was scouting out the Ritz for her Camp Reveille, is not only extremely nice but someone who does not have to worry how she’ll look on HDTV, unlike some pet travel correspondents I might mention…