Several comments to the last blog brought up the issue of Delta's new policy of banning pets fed with "raw protein food" from being Delta Society Pet Partners. I'm guessing that although they were aware that an increasing number of people feed raw food to their pets, (Delta itself cites the "increasing use of raw protein diets" as a reason for their policy), they were not expecting the firestorm that blazed across the dog world once their policy was announced. Delta, as you probably know, cites studies that animals fed raw diets have increased amounts of pathogenic bacteria compared to dogs fed cooked food. Indeed a study out in 2008 found that dogs fed raw diets had increased levels of salmonella and E. Coli in their stool. However, as the excellent review of this issue published in Read More
Tender at the Bone
Well, Tender at the Bone is admittedly the title of a book about food (if you love food and good writing as much as I do, this is a fantastic book by food critic Ruth Reichl), but I borrowed the phrase to continue our discussion about dental health and chewing on bones. If you haven't followed it yet, read the comments from my A Fully Functional Tooth? post, they add lots of meat to the conversation (sorry). A few readers asked for more photos from Africa, so I thought I'd combine topics and send some more pictures of our time with the pack of African Wild Dogs. Relevant to dental health, here's a photo of the mouth of "Jones," the 4 year old breeding male who was darted and radio collared when we were there watching. What I think is interesting is how good some teeth look (keeping in Read More
“A Fully Functional Tooth?”
Good news. Mostly. Will has recovered from his 5 + hour root canal, but I remain a tad tweaked about the definition of a "fully functional tooth." I choose the root canal for Will instead of an extraction because the vet specialist said it would leave Will with a full set of "fully functional teeth." After the 5 hours of anesthesia and $1,600, the same vet said "His tooth is dead, and thus will become more brittle and more easily broken, so be sure to never let him chew on anything hard, like bones or hard toys or raw hides." Uh, no bones? Not even relatively soft, raw knuckle bones, like the big beef bones that Lassie and Willie get several times a week? "Nope." The rest of our conversation, in which I was far more polite than I was feeling, included me asking "Have you ever seen a dog Read More
Are Behavioral Problems Medical Problems?
I'm not going to answer this question yet, because I want to know what you think. This is an issue because the veterinary practice acts in some states have been re-written to say that only veterinarians can treat "mental conditions" in animals. The argument of some veterinarians is that 'mental conditions' include any and all behavioral problems, that behavioral problems are thus medical problems and anyone treating them who is not a vet is breaking the law. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. After you join in, I'll add my opinion to the mix. Meanwhile, back at the farm: The humidity broke for a few days, and how glorious it was. Regrettably most of the time I was stuck in a skanky-smelling hotel, but Friday evening was glorious. Saturday morning I reveled in picking Read More
Fear in Dogs and In-Utero Experience
I'm working on a column for Bark right now about the ontogeny of fear in dogs. The editors, Claudia and Cameron (the editors of Bark), adopted two sisters from a rescue organization down south. The girls are litter mates who might be BC/terrier X beagle crosses. Both came under socialized and shy, but one (Kit) has rapidly come out of her shell, while the other (Holly) is still profoundly fearful of any kind of novel event. Leaving the house is a trauma for her, as is the appearance of any object that she's not expecting. (Claudia's purse fell off a chair and Holly refused to go anywhere near it, even though it blocked her access to her favorite area of the house. Meanwhile, Kit jumped over it and continued on her way.) Claudia's question to me, and the motivation for the column, is "What Read More