Five Easy Ways to Upgrade Your Dog's Diet

A class action lawsuit was filed this week against Purina Beneful, and it's caused an understandable stir in the dog community. If nothing else, this should encourage all of us to take a closer look at what we are feeding our dogs and find ways to improve upon it. It's never too late to make positive changes - when we know better, we do better - and there are simple ways to upgrade your dog's diet no matter what your budget or feeding philosophy. Here are five suggestions that I utilize myself:

• If it is not within your budget to upgrade full-time, try feeding one meal of higher quality (such as a better kibble, canned food, or dehydrated or freeze-dried raw) or using it as a topper. Some brands I love are The Honest Kitchen and Stella & Chewy's. 


• Add fresh or cooked meat and/or cooked or pureed vegetables (broccoli, sweet potatoes, green beans) to kibble meals. I will sometimes add small amounts of fresh fruit to The Ginger Sisters' dehydrated raw breakfast - Ruby loves apples, bananas and strawberries.


• Add a beneficial supplement such as camelina, coconut or salmon oil. I rotate between all three. 


• Educate yourself and learn how to interpret dog food labels - I highly recommend the book Dog Food Logic. Some formulas may be better than others even within a brand, and depending on your nutrition goals.


• If you use a rotation diet, watch for coupons and BOGO offers for adding variety and quality or trying something new. Click here to order a $1 sample bundle from The Honest Kitchen (affiliate link).

New Tug Toys for Ruby Mean New Training Tools

 Tug toy haul from the dog show.

Ruby lives to tug. She knows the word tug and she knows how to spell it, too. I've started chanting "OMG it's time for T-U-G" after supper. She knows where all her tug toys are kept, in the downstairs coat closet. Although it took some time to ensure that our tugging games did not result in finger loss due to over-enthusiasm, I have never subscribed to the myth that playing tug creates aggression. We use games of tug for indoor exercise, trick training, impulse control training and bonding. Tugging is a valuable reinforcer for Ruby since it is one of her most favorite things.

Last year at the big cluster dog show, I got her a tug toy at a vendor booth that was located next to the flyball demonstration area. That tug lasted almost a full year with use several times a week (rotated with other toys) and so my annual dog show visit this year included a mission to stock up on more. 

I ended up buying three tugs from that same vendor: a tennis ball on a stretchy pull, a colorful braided fleece and a squeaky blue fur. I debated getting her one of the tugs made with real rabbit fur but settled on the synthetic instead. As I was standing in line to pay, I heard a din of barking and thought at first that some dogs were in a fight - then I realized it was just the flyball dogs' pure, unadulterated joy. Satisfied with my purchase, I went over to watch flyball for as long as my ears could stand.

I couldn't resist one more toy at a booth in the agility arena: the one that looks most like something out of Fifty Shades of Grey, which is actually made of recycled rubber liners from milking machines! There was a time when my shopping sprees meant new shoes or trendy fashion accessories - now it's a bag full of dog toys that makes me happiest, knowing how much fun Ruby gets out of them.

So far we've tested out all four - Ruby took a while to show interest in the rubber one, but Boca likes it a lot. I think the fleece one is Ruby's favorite by far, and it would be so easy to make my own using a tutorial like this. Ruby is getting better at her release ("drop it") and I am incorporating more complex asks into our games, such as a string of cues or longer wait times. As we reserve tug toys for supervised play, I am fairly certain these new ones will keep us tugging and training through 2015. 

Do you play tug with your dog?

Boca's Ocular Ordeal: Part I

I love you even when you have a cone on your head.

I've been putting off writing this post. I thought if I waited long enough, I could tell the story start to finish and it would have a neat resolution and only one installment. It's been a month, and this will now be part one of Boca's Ocular Ordeal. Since adopting her officially last May after fostering her for three weeks, Boca has had a spot in her right eye. It is a tiny, jelly-bean shaped opacity that did not cause her any apparent problems and was diagnosed by our regular vet as a Florida Spot.

Toward the middle of January, I noticed that Boca was squinting quite a bit and her right eye was frequently tearing. Our regular vet prescribed eye drops and thought it could be allergies or some mild inflammation. We went back for a second visit in less than a week when I did not see improvement. While they did not see much uptake of the stain (which is a neon yellow liquid picked up by any abrasion on the cornea), they changed medications and said we would treat as a superficial corneal ulcer. Normally, these will heal within a few days on their own. 

Unfortunately, Boca's eye was still squinty and watering the following week, so I took her to a canine ophthalmologist at an emergency and specialty clinic where I've spent many hours with Freya, Lasya, Nina and Ruby. This was Boca's first visit. The ophthalmologist thought the spot was possibly scar tissue from past trauma and did not agree with the Florida Spot diagnosis. She did see a corneal ulcer with the fluorescein stain and recommended a procedure called diamond burr debridement, which was described as a tiny dremel that would create a new surface on the cornea to promote healing. It is a common and fairly succesful mode of treatment and although it sounded terrifying to me, only required a numbing drop. When I picked Boca up she was happy and seemed more comfortable, but in the weeks following she has still not improved. Her eye now has a large cloudy area extending over the pupil and despite being on pain medications it is clearly very irritated and continually teary. This is what is known as a 'complicated' or 'indolent' corneal ulcer. In my research I learned that they are frequent enough in Boxers that they are sometimes called 'Boxer ulcers.'

We've had several more visits to the ophthalmologist and have tried several medications including a very expensive, very heavy-duty antibiotic eye drop, all with disappointing results. Last week we tried a steroid drop but the results were not dramatic enough to warrant continuing. I can tell that the vet is as frustrated as I am and we just seem to be on the unlucky side of the statistics for this condition. Tomorrow we will see the third of three specialists at the clinic, and we are hoping for a fresh approach or new idea. There are several different surgical options and I think we may be at the point of discussing them. Because Boca already had an abnormality in that eye, it will not be covered by insurance, even though the vet wasn't able to say definitively whether the spot is the proximate cause of the issue.

The worst part of this has been seeing my poor, sweet Boca in pain and not being able to solve this and help her. Overall, I think she is handling things better than I am. She is wonderful about her three-times-daily eye drops and has a wonderful, joyous attitude. She loves getting breaks from the Cone of Woe when we go on walks and have cuddle time on the sofa. She has even figured out how to chew on Benebones and antlers with the cone on. The staff at the specialty clinic all adore her (one declared Boca her "favorite dog ever") and I've been extolling the virtues of Potcakes on the heels of her charm. The waiting game is a tough one when it comes to our beloved pets, and a medical mystery is not the prize you want to win from the veterinary grab bag. I'll continue to update as I know more, and if any of you have dealt with this eye condition I'd love to compare notes. In the meantime, I'll try to take inspiration from my easygoing island girl and keep my chin up through our latest challenge.

Further Reading:

Corneal Ulcers from Eye Care for Animals