Have you ever seen the movie 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'??

Remember the dad who thinks that 'Windex' can cure anything... well.. I'm going to start sounding a bit like the 'dad'.

Fleas - Mix up 1/2 White Vinegar and 1/2 Water into a spray bottle and spray your cats and dogs with it daily until the fleas are all dead and gone.

Puppy pee on the carpet - Mix up 1/2 White Vinegar and 1/2 Water into a spray bottle, spray on affected area to remove stain and odour.

Smelly dog bedding - Mix up 1/2 White Vinegar and 1/2 Water into a spray bottle, spray dogs bedding to remove odour.

Pets with urinary tract problems - give them a teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar twice daily.  Alternatively you can mix it in their water.  This also helps with dog pee staining the grass.

Hot spots, dandruff/dry flakey skin, rashes - Bath in diluted White Vinegar.

"He's a Labrador so he should be fat"

"She's getting older now so I like to spoil her and let her eat a bit more if she wants to"

Ok.. First of all a Labrador is just a breed of dog... there is NOTHING DIFFERENT about their anatomy or dietary needs to any other breed of dog - they do not require extra fat around their vital organs and do not require extra weight pressing against their bones and joints... it's just an absurd statement to make...

That myth is BUSTED!

Secondly - Yes, older dogs probably do like being given a bit of extra special attention... but again, this doesn't mean feeding them so much food, that their already old and degrading bones and joints need the added pressure on them... Do your older dogs a favour and keep them lean.  It's like expecting your 95 year old grandfather hobble around with his zimmer frame and a 50Kg back pack. 

As you can probably guess - i'm going to be talking about a BIG problem amongst a lot of dogs in this country.  OBESITY!!

For many of the same reasons that humans become overweight and suffer health problems, pets can become obese.  Humans commonly rate their body weight according to the BMI (Body Mass Index), although this method presents some degree of inaccuracy especially for athletes and some body types with lots of muscle.  Take my dog King for example (he is a Lab), nearly 4 years old, and weighs just under 40Kg.  Now for a labrador that is heavy, however, he does agility and flygility and spends a good part of the week training and running.  He has very little fat on his body, in fact he is probably a bit on the leaner side than most dogs should be, but every muscle in his body is pronounced - that is why he is so heavy.  So in his case, something like the BMI would say he was morbidly obese, but in reality he isn't. 

Measurements of lean body mass versus fat mass with bioimpedence devices or water displacement tanks provide more accurate measurements of fatness versus lean tissue.  This applies to both humans and companion animals.  However, when it comes to our pets, we can rely on a much less scientific method (OUR eyes and hands), with can provide some pretty good guidance if we stay tuned in to their state of fitness on a day-to-day basis. 

A fit dog will live longer, experience better life quality, and require less vet visits. 

Fat accumulates throughout the dog's body (and I keep talking about dogs but this applies to cats too) but tends to collect around the neck and along the ribs and flank and underside.  An animal with short hair should show a muscular neck and at least a hint of its ribs.  The ribs tend to give more visible clues.  If the ribs are covered completely by fat, your dog is likely crossing over to fatness rather than fitness, altough rib appearance does vary from breed to breed.  Bulldogs for example tend to have a smoother appearance along the rib cage.  (If you are unsure what your dog should look and feel like, we are happy to help you out and set a benchmark you can use).  Although there are breed standards (mainly for show dogs) that indicate what weight and height range your dog should be in, when it comes to each individual dog, rib appearance is a much better guide than weight scales.

Generally, an animal with a longer or coarser coat will hide the ribs but you should be able to feel them by probing with your fingers.  If you cannot, your companion is at risk of over-fatness or obesity.  Your pet should be physically fit to maximise health, happiness and longevity.  Feed intake can be varied based on activity level on a daily basis.  Don't feed the same meal and volume day after day.  I keep an eye on the fitness level of my animals and if they begin to lok a bit softer or fatter, I back off on the amount of food they are getting for a few days until they assume a fitter appearance, also over the holidays when I am not doing as much training or competing with the dogs, I also cut their intake back because they aren't as active as normal.  The changes either way occur very quickly.

For an obese animal, exercise can be painful and increase the risk of injury to joints.  A sudden lunge by an overweight animal to fetch and play can cause cruciate ligament, cartilage and tendon damage.  Obesity is usually accompanied by increasing insulin resistance, which can lead to inflammation and diabetes as well.  In saying that, insulin efficiency declines with age, even if the animal is not obese, so it is again important to keep the weight off older cats and dogs.

So... summing up... keep your cats and dogs at a healthy size - you aren't doing them any favours at all by letting them get overweight.  If you are unsure whether your dog is underweight or overweight, feel free to bring them in to the shop and we can help you.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a lady in Australia asking us if we knew of any raw feeding specialists over there, there aren't any that we know of, but we told her that we could help her with stuff she wanted to know. 

I am pleased to report, we got a comment on our facebook page about how she has changed her dogs over to raw feeding, she got some kangaroo for them as well as some tripe and "I have noticed such a good change in them since beginning the raw food that I just want to see their health keep on improving.  Thanks woofles for getting me started on the change for my babies :)"

It's always great to hear success stories from customers both locally and afar.