Unfortunately, there is no quick and easy blood test available for diagnosis. Currently the best way to diagnose a food allergy in dogs is through an elimination diet trial. This involves eliminating possible allergens from your dog’s diet and assessing their response. If done well this will help to determine if the skin and/or gut issues you are seeing are diet related. This blog answers all the most common questions that pet owners have about doing an elimination diet trial.
Another consideration is the age of onset of these symptoms, as this can give us a hint about the likelihood of a food allergy. Dogs whose symptoms began at less than 1 year of age or older than 8 years of age are more likely to be diagnosed with a food allergy.
Hydrolysed diets are currently considered the ‘gold standard’ option. As they are highly specialised diets they are only available on prescription from your vet. These diets contain a protein source that has been broken down at a molecular level into pieces that are theoretically too small for the body’s inflammatory system to react to. Due to the costs of manufacturing they are the most expensive option and some dogs don’t find them very palatable. However, I do recommend that you consider them as your first choice for a diet trial, especially if you have a rescue dog with an unknown diet history or if your dog has consumed most of the common novel protein sources.
Novel protein diets are a second, generally more cost effective, option. This involves selecting a diet with a novel (or new) protein and carbohydrate source that your dog has not previously eaten, which can be challenging. This approach relies on you having a good memory for what different brands and flavours your dog has previously eaten, as well as treats fed, dietary supplements and flavoured medications used! You can see why it gets tricky.
The other problem is that so many dog foods are now formulated using multiple meat protein sources in one food. This is done to appeal to the person buying the pet food, not because of any nutritional benefit for the pet itself. Yet another triumph of marketing over common sense! The worst offender I have seen recently had 5 different proteins in one flavour, including using Bison, mixed in with a bunch of the most common meat proteins know to cause food allergies, when it would have been better reserved for a novel protein diet.
Fortunately, fish is still a relatively uncommon protein used in pet food and so that is why we use fish, sourced from both New Zealand King Salmon and from wild caught, New Zealand sourced fish meal, in our diet. We also use rice, as for many dogs this is also a novel carbohydrate source, as again it is not commonly used in pet food.
Keep a record of what your dog’s symptoms were like before you started. For dogs with gastrointestinal symptoms that means noting down their symptoms including the severity and frequency, and maybe even taking some photos of their faeces for comparison!
For those with skin issues some photos of the main areas where their lesions are a good idea. There is also a great 10 point itch scale that you can use to rate their symptoms as you go through the trial. Just google Canine Itch Scale to find that.
During the initial phases of the diet trial for itchy dogs it’s important to try to resolve any itching and secondary infections that may mask the improvements from the diet. You will need to work with your vet to determine exactly what is needed, but for many dogs this means they will start their diet trial on an anti-itch medication such as Apoquel, Cytopoint or prednisone and possibly an antibiotic and/or medicated wash, ear drops or other topical therapy. Controlling fleas during a diet trial is also important.
Your vet will prescribe an appropriate course of medications and once these are finished you will be able to evaluate the dog’s response to the actual diet trial.
This is simple – yet hard! Select your diet (either hydrolysed or novel protein) and transition your dog onto this diet over a period of 1-2 weeks. It is important that once you’ve started the diet trial your dog must not eat anything except the food you’re using for the trial. This means no table scraps, no treats and no flavoured medications or chews. You need to be really strict on this, so make sure everyone in the household knows the rules! The only exception would be any prescription treats that go with a prescription diet or single protein treats that are from the same protein as your chosen diet.
Dogs with gastrointestinal symptoms usually respond pretty quickly to an elimination diet and you should see a good response in 7-10 days, but it may take up to a month for an improvement to be noticeable.
Dogs with skin issues usually take a lot longer to respond and it is generally recommended to trial the food you have selected for 8-12 weeks.
If your dog improves significantly on the diet you have chosen, then you can assume that their previous food was the cause of their symptoms. But to be 100% sure the best thing to do is to rechallenge with the former diet, or selected ingredients, to ensure that a food allergy diagnosis is accurate.
Realistically though most people don’t do this because it’s pretty stressful putting your dog back onto a food that has previously caused issues! However, if you choose not to rechallenge its important to realise that there is a small chance that the improvement is related to other factors like treating skin infections or a seasonal change, when it’s actually an environmental allergy.
If you do choose to rechallenge your pet then you will most likely notice symptoms recur within 72 hours, but symptoms may take up to 14 days to flare up again.
If the diet trial was unsuccessful, but you still suspect your dog has a food allergy then you can try another diet. There is no one best food that is right for every dog and some trial and error may be needed before you find the right one. If your first diet trial used a novel protein approach, then trying a hydrolysed diet would be my next suggestion.
Some dogs will show only a partial improvement. This may be due to concurrent environmental allergies, especially those that are non-seasonal such as house dust mites. The next step for these dogs and for those that have shown no improvement is further diagnostic workup, such as intradermal skin testing or endoscopy, depending on the clinical signs present.
This is often a good time to consider referral to a veterinary specialist. My personal opinion is that you are better to go to a specialist earlier rather than later and you certainly want to visit a specialist before you have tried every novel protein and every hydrolysed diet on the market!
]]>Before we move on to more complex strategies this little routine change up can be surprisingly successful for some dogs! Exercise is great for building up an appetite and may help encourage a picky eater to devour their dinner. Try a good walk, run or play session before a meal, but allow a 15 minute break between exercising and feeding for your dog’s tummy to settle.
Another simple change to try is to warm your dog’s food up to body temperature. Dogs are exquisitely sensitive to smell. Heating their food improves the aroma and stimulates their appetite. Just stir a small amount of hot water through your kibble and leave it to sit for a few minutes before offering the meal to your dog.
Enrichment feeding takes advantage of your dog’s natural curiosity and playfulness to make mealtimes a positive experience. Many picky eaters really benefit from making dinner time more interesting, as oftentimes they just need help getting started, but these enrichment feeding ideas are great for all dogs!
The ‘big deal’ game.
This game works with a surprising number of dogs, especially those that just need a little bit of encouragement to get started with eating. The idea is to get them excited about eating and to make them think that their main meal is a reward! Plus, many dogs actually do like working for their food.
Begin a short session of your dog’s favourite tricks (eg: Shake, High Five, Roll Over) just before mealtime. At the start reward them with their usual treat, then segue into intermittently using some of their kibble as a reward. When your session is done immediately put down your dog’s bowl. A lot of picky eaters will go straight into eating a food that they would normally reject simply because they are still so excited from being rewarded during play time. Once they are eating heap on the praise!
This is also a really good activity to use when introducing your fussy eater to a new food.
The ‘scatter and scavenge’ game
This game takes advantage of your dog’s natural scavenging instinct to encourage them eat their food, but it can take a few sessions to get this going well.
Start this game by using treats to reward a few tricks as above, then add in the kibble as a reward. Now go back to using the treat, but drop it on the ground for your dog to ‘scavenge’. Do this a few times, then try it with some kibble, mixing up the treats and the kibble as above.
Once your dog is responding to this you can start scattering the treats/kibble further away. Once you’re at this level you’re best to do this outside as it can get messy!
Most dogs enjoy scavenging their food like this. You can build up to feeding a whole meal this way and it is a great enrichment feeding activity for all dogs. My dog loves this and when the weather is dry he usually gets his evening meal scatter fed outside on the lawn.
Some fussy eaters prefer playing with their food over eating it! You can harness this play drive to encourage better eating by using one of the many puzzle feeders, snuffle mats and licky mats on the market.
You can even make your own version of these. Some favourites at our house include popping some kibble in a cardboard roll with the ends twisted up, an egg carton with the top closed down and a plastic bottle without the lid on. Obviously supervise them and don’t let them eat the cardboard or the plastic!
Before you consider changing your picky eater’s main diet, it is worth trying a meal topper or booster. A topper is simply anything you add to your dog’s diet to improve its palatability. Adding a topper often works well with those pets who just need a bit of help getting started on their dinner.
Unless you are using a topper that is already formulated as a complete and balanced diet, and you are planning on using this strategy long term, then it is important to make sure any toppers make up less than 10% of the overall daily calorie intake of your dog, so as not to unbalance your dog’s diet. You also need to make sure that you don’t inadvertently feed too many calories overall by adding in a topper. If possible, calculate this out, but regardless I always recommend a weight check before and then 2 weeks after making any dietary change!
Some popular meal toppers include:
Just remember to stir any ‘topper’ through your dog’s food to reduce the chances of them picking out the topper and leaving the rest of their meal behind!
If you have ruled out any health issues and common feeding mistakes, tried all the tricks above and nothing is working, then it may be time to admit defeat and try a different food! But, constantly changing foods can have the perverse consequence of making your picky eater even fussier, if not done well. What we don’t want is to end up in an endless loop of trying one new food after another. I have seen this happen too many times and it is really stressful for both dog and owner. So, you need to go into this with a plan!
The first thing I always recommend, especially with small dogs, is to try a food that contains the same protein as your current food, but is a different texture. This helps rule in or out whether your dog has a texture preference. This is more common in cats, but dogs can develop this too. Eating a canned food is a very different sensory experience to crunching up a kibble. Try a canned/sachet food, dog roll, air dried diet or complete and balanced freeze dried or frozen raw diet made from the same protein as your current diet and see what your dog’s reaction is.
If a change in food texture doesn’t help, then it is time to look for another flavour of food and see if they have a flavour preference. Unfortunately, many dog foods are now made with 3 or 4 different proteins (this is a particular bug bear of mine that I will save for another blog very soon!), which makes this a bit challenging. Look for the first meat ingredient on the ingredient list as this is probably contributing most of the flavour. If your dog has been turning his nose up at a food with chicken as the main meat protein then try a food with fish, lamb, beef or venison as its main protein instead.
For picky dogs a fish-based dog food (such as our Ocean Fish food!) is a really good option as fish is not a commonly fed protein source. This means that for many dogs it is a new ‘flavour’ and they are unlikely to have developed a food aversion to it (see blog one of this series for info on food aversions). Fish-based diets also tend have a stronger and more enticing smell for dogs, whilst still being non offensive to human noses.
The number one most important thing is not to upset your dog’s tummy by changing foods too abruptly and too frequently. You don’t want to put them off the new food before they’ve even had a real chance to get used to it! This is particularly important if changing from one food type to another, such as raw to kibble and vice versa and if changing to a diet with very different macronutrient levels within a diet type, for example a low fat kibble (8%) to a higher fat kibble (20%) or a low protein kibble (18%) to a high protein kibble (38%).
When transitioning your dog to a new food, you need to do it slowly, keeping the majority of your dog’s food as its original diet for the first few days then gradually transitioning onto the new food as shown below.
With a picky eater, a dog you know has a sensitive tummy, or if it’s a significant change in diet, then you may want to go even slower and introduce over a 14 day period. It may be slow, but your dog will be more likely to stick with eating their new food in the longer term if you follow this process.
I used to always say to people to mix the new food in with the old food when transitioning. This works well with dogs that will happily eat anything. But with picky eaters I now tend to recommend that you introduce any new food you are trying as a ‘high value treat’ for a start. If your dog thinks their new food is a treat they are far more likely to accept it. Taking this approach also takes a lot of pressure off you for a start. Dogs pick up on our anxiety easily and we don’t want them thinking we are worried about their new food.
Make a big deal when you open the packet and introduce it in a way that your dog is going to think it is a treat!
This may be by feeding it as part of a trick training session, popping it in their puzzle feeder, or using it in the ‘big deal’ or ‘scatter and scavenge’ games above. It doesn’t matter if you’re feeding way less than that 25% for the first few days the aim is just to get them enthusiastic about their new food before we begin increasing it. Once they’re super keen then you can start mixing it in with their old food and working it into your daily feeding regime.
Hopefully these tips and tricks, gathered from years of experience helping owners of fussy dogs in my veterinary practice, can help your solve your dog’s picky eating issues! If you still have questions or need extra help please reach out via email at: paula@geniuspetfood.co.nz
Keep an eye out for my next blog which will cover my ‘rule of 3’ for protein selection – which will also explain why it drives me so nuts when I see pet food companies making diets that contain 3 or even more different proteins in the one food!
]]>If your dog has always been a good eater, then a change in their eating habits can be a sign of a health issue. If this is the case, and especially if there are other symptoms such as weight loss, poor skin and coat, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, lethargy, reluctance to move, smelly breath, pawing at the mouth or any obvious swellings, then you will need to see your vet.
There are many medical and surgical issues that can lead to a loss of appetite. Your vet will want to rule out any underlying issues such as infection, dental disease or oral injury, gastrointestinal disease or foreign body, constipation, cancer, kidney or liver issues, and pain.
If your dog has always been a bit picky with food and they have a clean bill of health, then read on for some more suggestions.
It might be that your dog is not actually fussy, they are just full already and are listening to their hunger signals.
Overfeeding is common in small and toy breed dogs who only need a surprisingly small volume of food. The feeding guidelines on pet food packaging are very general and every dog’s metabolism is different, so it is very easy to fall into this trap.
If you think you may be overfeeding then begin by weighing out your dog’s food on a set of kitchen scales at each meal, as using a measuring cup can be very inaccurate. Then monitor their food intake and weight. If they are eating enough to maintain a consistent weight, yet constantly leaving food in their bowl, then they are being overfed. If you weigh the remaining portions of food over a period of days then you’ll be able to work out how much to feed them.
Too many treats can also ruin your dog’s appetite. Treats should be restricted to less than 10% of your dog’s daily calorie intake. For smaller dogs, it doesn’t take many treats to reach this daily limit! Work out your dog’s daily treat ration and use them as a training aid only, rather than a constant source of snacks. If you think too many treats could be the problem, then eliminate them for a few weeks and see what happens.
Never give your dog treats if they haven’t eaten their food, this can inadvertently reinforce fussy eating behaviour as the dog quickly learns to wait out dinner as they know they will be given some treats later.
Dry dog food can go stale very quickly when exposed to the air. With their very strong sense of taste and smell many dogs will reject their food if it smells even remotely stale. This then leads to a food aversion, which is exactly what we want to avoid.
Never leave your dog’s food sitting in their bowl for long periods of time. Feed a measured portion of food and remove any food that remains uneaten after 15-20 minutes.
Improper storage will lead to kibble losing its taste, aroma and nutritional value. If you find your dog is getting halfway through a bag of food and then suddenly decides he doesn’t like that food anymore, then this could be a storage issue.
We recommend that you store your dog food in a cool, dry place. Modern pet food packaging is carefully designed to help keep food fresh, so keep the food in its original packaging, with excess air squeezed out and the top tightly closed. (We are hoping to introduce some new packaging with a zip lock top soon to help you with this). You could go one step further and store it in the bag and inside an airtight container as well. But we don’t recommend pouring your whole bag of kibble into an airtight container, as the more kibble that gets eaten the more air the remaining kibble in the container is exposed to and the higher the likelihood of it going stale.
Are you feeding your dog in a really busy, noisy part of the house? Are the kids distracting your dog at mealtimes? Some fussy eaters are just dogs that easily lose focus and need a quiet, calm space in order to eat. Some dogs are intensely private and don’t like to eat when there are other animals around, whereas some eat better in a competitive environment!
Could your older dog be finding it painful to bend their neck down to their bowl? If so, try an elevated bowl that matches your dog’s height to allow them easier access to their food.
If you have a flat faced dog such as a Bulldog or a Pug then the shape of their bowl can actually physically impact their ability to eat. You can now buy slanted or tilted bowls that suit these guys much better. There are also some dogs who just don’t like bowls! These dogs respond well to simply scattering their food on the ground or being fed on a flat feeding mat.
Back when I was at vet school I made the mistake of getting a chicken pie from a petrol station one day. The results were not pretty! It took me many years to consider eating a chicken pie again. The same thing can happen with our pets. Usually, it’s not an issue with their actual food, but an association. For example, they may develop vomiting or diarrhoea due to something yucky they have picked up off the beach, but then go on to associate feeling awful with the kibble they are eating at the time.
Sometimes just a very rapid diet change can be enough to cause a problem, especially if you are changing to a diet with very different protein or fat levels. If a sudden change in diet causes a tummy upset, then a dog will often develop a food aversion to that diet and diets that taste similar (commonly diets with the same protein type) due to the negative experience they have had.
Finally, if your dog frequently has loose stools or is constantly farting then they may have a food intolerance or food allergy. Sometimes these dogs have concurrent skin issues. There is some more advice on managing potential food allergies here.
In all of these situations the best thing to do is to change (very slowly!) to feeding a different food, with a different protein source.
Having a pet who is not eating well can be very stressful and pet owners can get pretty anxious about their pet’s eating behaviours. Sensitive dogs can pick up on our anxiety and begin to associate this with mealtimes, making things worse.
If you think this is happening, then try getting someone else in the household to feed your pet for a while and see what happens. You can also reduce human contact at mealtimes by using a timed automatic feeder or just placing your dog’s food in another room in the house and letting them wander in and eat on their own, without the pressure of you watching over them.
Many dogs appear to be fussy eaters, but really they have just outwitted us! What commonly happens is that your dog suddenly decides he doesn’t want his food. Your concern leads you to tempt him with whatever you have on hand. It could be treats, some table scraps or maybe it’s a tin of cat food. Whatever it is, some dogs are smart enough to make the connection that if they decide to not eat their food a smorgasboard of further options will appear and they milk it for all its worth!
Most healthy dogs will not starve themselves so the best way to sort this problem out is to play hard ball. Before you do this you are obviously going to ensure that you’ve covered all the bases above – your dog is healthy and you’re confident they have no genuine food aversions, the food you will offer is fresh, you’re certain you’re feeding the correct amount of food and there are no issues with distractions, physical feeding issues or your own anxiety playing a part.
Start with having a set mealtime twice a day for your dog. Offer a measured amount of food at this set time and then take away any food left after 15-20 minutes. At the next mealtime offer a fresh meal and follow the same process. Usually, a dog will not miss more than 2-3 meals before realising the game is up and it’s time to eat.
This is a fairly gentle version. For those who want to try an even more hardball approach I have seen this version recommended in numerous dog groups.
In part two of our series on fussy eating, out next week, we will cover off some extra tips including:
Despite their marketing claims, the efficacy of these nutraceutical products can vary greatly and it can be pretty confusing trying to figure out which one is the best for your dog. Fortunately, a new study published in 2022 can help.
The authors of this study assessed the efficacy of 38 compounds by analysing a total of 57 trials, which tested the effects of either nutraceuticals or diets enriched with nutraceuticals on the pain associated with arthritis. They assessed these trials very thoroughly, taking into account the quality of the trials done and the strength of scientific evidence.
They looked at nine trials which evaluated the efficacy of glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate. Only one of these nine trials showed any improvement in the dogs that were treated and the study design of that trial was found to be of poor quality. They note that many of these products are not absorbed well by the dogs' body.
The conclusion of the systematic review was that glucosamine-chondroitin nutraceuticals should not be prescribed for canine arthritis.
The omega 3-enriched therapeutic diets and omega 3-based nutraceuticals had the greatest number of high quality trials and these trials showed that they are highly effective. The authors concluded with certainty that:
"the use of omega-3 products beneficially modulates the painful condition of osteoarthritis in dogs"
Unfortunately a lot of the nutraceuticals that have been investigated for the treatment of canine arthritis did not have a sufficiently large number of trials for a reliable assessment to be made.
The scientific evidence for the efficacy of collagen for treating arthritis was low. This was mainly due to the poor quality of the trials, which tended to be done with low numbers of dogs over a short time frame.
The authors looked at seven trials which tested cannabidiol treatments. Although these were high quality trials they concluded that, while the results were promising, "further investigation is needed to determine the efficacy, doses, formulations and combinations recommended for the treatment of canine osteoarthritis pain." *Please note - the feeding of cannabidiol compounds to pets is currently illegal in New Zealand
Read the full meta-analysis: “A 2022 Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Enriched Therapeutic Dies and Nutraceuticals in Canine and Feline Osteoarthritis”
]]>Here are some tips for those of you who are stuck at home with anxious and/or bored dogs, as well as some information on evacuating with animals, and where to go if you're in Auckland and need somewhere for your pets to be safely cared for temporarily.
Some dogs get highly anxious during stormy weather. For them the same sorts of suggestions apply as for dogs with fireworks anxiety:
Being housebound because of the stormy weather is not much fun for anyone. You can obviously grab out the usual toys, but also consider looking up some fun new enrichment options. I recently came across a fabulous new group on Facebook called Canine Enrichment New Zealand, who have heaps of great ideas, or just google 'homemade enrichment toys'.
Obviously if you need to evacuate take any medication your dog is on, as well as plenty of their normal food. If you are staying with friends or family their pets may well be eating diets that contain significant ingredient and macronutrient (protein, fat and carbohydrate) differences. The last thing you want is the stress of having to change your pet's diet, especially if you have a dog with a sensitive tummy.
Don't forget to take their normal bedding, as having their own stuff, with their own smells, is really calming for our canine companions. If they have their own dog crate this is when it will be worth its weight in gold as it will provide a calming den for your dog. And toys - take lots of toys!
HuHa (Helping You Help Animals) have set up a temporary animal shelter in Auckland at the Dogs NZ show facility in Ardmore. I have worked with the HuHa team previously during the Nelson fires several years ago and they are very professional and experienced in helping in these emergency situations. They will have vets and vet nurses checking on the animals and will be able to administer any medications your pet may be on.
Prevention is better than cure and the most important period for preventing obesity is during puppyhood. So how can we best set up our puppies to stay at a healthy weight for life?
Beyond the basics of selecting a good quality diet that is AAFCO tested as suitable for puppies, the most important thing to do is to feed the right quantity of food for YOUR puppy. You can read more about how our food has now passed AAFCO testing for puppies and access our feeding guide here.
I’ve written before about how the feeding guide on the back of your bag of dog food is just a starting point and this is especially true for puppies. What makes it even harder with puppies is that they start off growing very rapidly until about 4 months of age, then their growth rate starts to slow down as they head towards adulthood and skeletal maturity. Compounding this their energy requirements drop even further if they are neutered.
The best thing you can do is to monitor their weight and body condition score (BCS) regularly and chart their pattern of growth. We now have some really good growth charts that we can use with puppies, which are much like the growth charts used to monitor babies’ growth.
Before selecting the right chart for your pup and getting started, I recommend both watching the video and reading the first PDF entitled ‘Complete Guide to Waltham Puppy Growth Charts’ as between them they give you all the pointers you need to complete the chart accurately and to know what changes are abnormal and need to be followed up with your vet.
In addition to that I highly recommend learning how to body condition score your dog and doing this at the time of each weigh in. There is a good video which covers the basics of this here.
I do recommend that you weigh and BCS your puppy more frequently than what they say in the Waltham guide. I think a monthly weigh in at the vet is essential until they reach their adult weight and after neutering I would even weigh a couple of times 2 weeks apart just to make sure they are not putting on excess weight as their hormones change and their energy requirements drop a little after neutering.
One other really important thing to know is that if you are measuring out your pup’s food using a cup this is not very accurate. So if you are finding your pup is getting a wee bit chunky and you feel like you have been giving the right amount of food, but you’ve been using a measuring cup, then try switching to using a set of gram scales for a while and see if this helps. We now stock smart feeding bowls that can weigh your pups food as you put it straight into their bowl. Problem solved!
]]>The answer to this really depends on the specific reason that you are feeding Genius. We have many customers who are just looking for a premium quality, well formulated, New Zealand made dog food that is high in real meat protein but their dog does not have any specific health issues. For these customers their dog will be fine eating any food for a few days.
However many of our customers have their dog on our food due to food allergies or intolerances that manifest as skin disease or bowel issues. For these dogs a change in the components of the diet, even for a few days, can be a problem.
In this situation you have three options:
1. Check if you have a local Genius stockist
We are slowly building up a network of stockists throughout the country and so check on our stockists page on our website to see if there is a local stockist. We can always recall you order back to our depot in Tauranga so you don't end up with too much food!
2. Find a commercial diet that has a similar novel protein and novel carbohydrate ingredient profile as Genius Ocean Fish
What you are looking for is a diet with only fish as it's protein source and a novel carbohydrate such as rice or potato. The diet with the most similar ingredient profile to ours that we would recommend in this situation is Blackhawk fish and potato. This is widely stocked in vet clinics and pet stores throughout the country.
Most of the other similar diets are unfortunately grain free diets containing high levels of legumes, as such we wouldn't recommend long term feeding of these diets. Short term feeding of several weeks should not be a problem however. Our food is made in the same factory as the Addiction range and so for a short term measure we would recommend Addiction Salmon.
3. Make your own homemade diet to tide you over for a few days
Often this is the easiest stop-gap measure. All you have to do is grab some fish, rice, veges and fruit from the supermarket and mix them all together. You can feed this mixture either cooked or raw.
The main ingredients in our diet are NZ King Salmon, white fish, rice, peas, potatoes, tapioca, carrots, blueberries, kiwifruit and apples. So you can try to make a mix of these or you can keep it simple and just use a fish, rice, peas and potato mix.
Obviously long term feeding of a homemade diet that is not complete and balanced can be a problem, but so long as you are only feeding your homemade mix for a week or so there should not be any issues.
If you are aware your delivery is likely to be late, but you still have a small amount of Genius Ocean Fish left, then you can also use a homemade mix added to what you have left to stretch it out and make it last a bit longer.
How much pet food should you keep on hand?
What we've learnt through the Nelson floods is that if roads are knocked out then courier deliveries can easily take 4-5 days longer than you would usually expect. Add in a normal delivery time frame and realistically you would want to have up to 2 weeks worth of food on hand at all times if you can, especially if you are on rural delivery.
Where is your pet food sent from?
Currently all our food is stored with our distributor in Tauranga. We are looking to add some additional South Island distribution early next year when we expand our range of bag sizes. This will speed up deliveries to our South Island customers.
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There is no minimum requirement for Omega 3 fatty acids in adult dog food, so most foods don’t report their levels. For growing pups the minimum requirement is 0.05% of eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA), so any All Life Stages food will have at least this amount. Any food with added fish oil will also have some level of these Omega 3's.
There are several prescription therapeutic diets on the market for dogs with arthritis. Hills Science Diet Joint Diet has been around the longest. From their online material the best I can tell is that it contains a total of EPA+DHA of 0.99%. Royal Canin Mobility is another option available in New Zealand. Again, their marketing is a bit vague, but it appears that their EPA+DHA levels are 1.03%.
We have had the EPA + DHA levels in our diet tested and we have an EPA+DHA of 0.28%. So it is around 1/3 that of the prescription therapeutic diets, but also signficantly higher than the minimum 0.05% for an All Life Stages food.
Whilst the therapeutic diets are more convenient in terms of getting Omega 3’s into your dog, one of the downsides is that the amount they are ingesting can vary wildly depending on how much of the food your dog eats to maintain a healthy weight. Often with arthritic dogs you are trying very hard to keep them on the light side, so they can end up eating 20% less than the feeding recommendation on the packet and so are getting far less Omega 3 than recommended. And of course, you can’t increase the amount without adding extra weight to your dog.
The other disadvantage is that with these diets the rest of the ingredients aren’t always that great and they’re not New Zealand made.
A standard diet that your dog is happy on, plus a good quality supplement that you can play around with the dose of, is potentially more beneficial than a therapeutic diet.
There are numerous joint supplements on the market right now and the quality can vary a lot. I’ll give you some options that I either have experience with personally or have had clients report back on favourably below.
With all of them it is important to note that it may take 8-12 weeks to notice their full effect and during that time if your dog’s pain is really bad then it is worthwhile having them on another pain relief option, such as a non steroidal antinflammatory (NSAID) and/or Synovan injections as well.
In terms of supplements, here are my recommendations, what you choose may come down to price, availability and palatability for your dog:
Bomazeal Mobilize: this is one of the original green lipped mussel products on the market. Made in NZ, excellent quality and has some clinical studies behind it to back it up. Largish tablets, but pretty palatable for most dogs. If you were wanting something on the cheaper end but still efficacious, I would start here. I used it for years in my patients and it worked well. The only thing I don’t like is that they still put deer velvet in it, from an ethical point of view the harvesting of deer antler doesn't sit well with me now that we have better natural pain relief options.
Antinol: this is also Green Lipped Mussel. Although very pricey, it now seems to be thought of as the most clinically effective form of supplementation as it is extracted as an oil https://antinol.co.nz/
4Cyte: this was very popular for awhile, I used it on my old Labrador and it did seem to work quite well. Also, quite expensive.
Korure pets: This is a very new company that I came across recently as a customer told me about them and raved about their products. Their products do look good and they have powder and oil options.
Fish oils: You can of course just use a standard human fish oil supplement if this is palatable for your dog (the human ones are designed to be palatable to humans so not that fishy!) – the generally recommended dose rate is 75-100mg/kg of bodyweight of combined EPA/DHA. There are many fish oils on the market specifically for dogs now. They’re a bit variable in quality, I’d avoid any that have other oils mixed in, especially flax seed as this is mainly alphalinoleic acid (ALA) which is not useful for arthritis. The Nordic Naturals oil is generally regarded to be the best quality, but if you want a NZ made one then the Omega Plus salmon oil would be a good option too. Start with a low dose and work up as you can give them diarrhoea.
Other: deer velvet, chondroitin, MSM – avoid – not enough clinical evidence for any of these.
I highly recommend having a good look through the Canine Arthritis Management (CAM) website from the UK. It is very detailed and so could be quite overwhelming, but has heaps of really useful and practical advice on caring for dogs with arthritis and covers all treatment options from surgery through to home care.
They have lots of downloadable resources on this page here - the home assessment checklist is especially good.
And they do give a very short summary of supplements here: https://caninearthritis.co.uk/managing-arthritis/diet-and-nutrition/
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While there is a long list of reasons that a dog may develop itchy skin, this blog is going to give you a broad overview of the most common causes of an itchy dog and how your vet might go about diagnosing and treating these.
The most common causes of itching in dogs are parasites, infections and allergies and your vet is going to ask you a range of questions to try to narrow down the likelihood of each of the potential causes into one of these areas. You’ll be asked questions like:
Here’s a brief summary of the most likely causes of itching, signs you may see and how your vet will go about diagnosing and treating them.
The first thing your vet is going to want to rule out is parasites. Unsurprisingly these are the most common cause of itching. These little rascals can often be spotted in a quick search of the tail base and the groin area, which is where they most love to hang out. You may see the fleas themselves or the gritty, black flea poo they leave behind. And often other family members are aware of their presence! If we strongly suspect fleas, but can’t find them, brushing with a flea comb or even running a wet cotton wool swab can sometimes pick up evidence of their presence.
There are many effective flea treatments available these days and often it is wise to treat both the dog and the house.
Sarcoptic mange (scabies) is caused by the sarcoptes mite, which burrows into the dog’s skin causing severe itching and hair loss in a fairly characteristic pattern over the ears, elbows, hocks and chest area. They are highly contagious and can also infect people.
The best way to find these mites is through skin scrapings, but because they burrow deep they can be hard to find. If we have a strong index of suspicion for sarcoptes, but can’t find them, we will do a therapeutic trial and treat your dog with an appropriate parasiticide and assess their response.
Bacterial skin infections, also known as pyoderma, are very common in dogs and have many presentations. They are usually caused by Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, a bug that is normally resident on healthy skin. When something disrupts the normal healthy skin barrier this bug proliferates and sets up an infection.
Hot spots are a common bacterial infection that tend to start in the skin folds in very hairy breeds. They are particularly common after swimming or washing if the area is not properly dried. Hot spots can progress very quickly into a severe infection.
Fungal infections are usually caused by a bug called Malassezia pachydermatitis, which just like Staph bacteria is present on healthy skin, but will take advantage of any disruption to the skin barrier to set up an infection. Fungal infections often start in folds of skin before spreading further, usually have a characteristic ‘yeasty’ smell and affected skin will be quite greasy.
With antibiotic resistance now becoming a serious issue it is really important for your vet to get the diagnosis and treatment of any bacterial or fungal infection right. This requires cytology which is where we take an impression smear or tape strip of an infected site, or a swab from an infected ear, and look for bacteria and fungi under the microscope. This allows us to make a decision on medication options, but in some cases we may also send samples off to the lab for culture and sensitivity to confirm the exact bug and which medications will work. This is particularly important with chronic skin and ear infections.
With both bacterial and fungal infections we try to use topical medications, such as medicated shampoos, as much as possible. Where infections are deep seated then we may need to use systemic antibiotics or antifungal medications and these may need to be given for a longer period of time.
As bacteria and fungi live on normal skin, something needs to happen to the skin’s defence mechanisms to allow them to set up an actual infection. This is known as a secondary infection because it happens secondary to some other inciting factor. Most commonly in dogs the skin barrier is weakened by either a contact allergy, atopic dermatitis or a food allergy.
These are allergies caused by something your dog has physically come into contact with, usually a plant, although I have seen dogs with allergies to sheepskin blankets and concrete! The most common plants that cause contact allergies are grasses such as Kikuyu and Wandering Dew. These will cause itchy, red skin in the areas that have come into contact with the allergen, such as the paws, belly and groin.
Treatment involves settling down the inflammation, using some of the medications discussed below, and avoiding the allergen in future.
Atopic dermatitis (Atopy) is a genetic predisposition to developing allergies to environmental allergens such as pollens, dust mites and mold spores. It is a complex disease and one that is lifelong. The breeds most commonly affected are Golden Retrievers, Bulldogs, Dalmations, and most terrier breeds, but even mixed breed dogs can be affected.
Symptoms of atopy typically begin to appear at a young age, usually between 6 months and 3 years of age. Atopic dogs present with scratching, licking, chewing and/or rubbing of either their face, ears, perianal area, belly, under their armpits and their paws or any combination of these! At the very start you often can’t see any lesions, but all that itching damages the skin surface, bacteria and/or fungi invade and they progress to having very red, inflamed skin which may be either dry and crusty or oily and there is often significant hair loss.
There is unfortunately no single test that can be used to diagnose atopy - it is what we call a diagnosis of exclusion. So, your vet will need to rule out the other likely causes of your dogs itching and scratching before feeling confident to give this diagnosis.
Treatment involves controlling the current itch with medications, eliminating secondary infections, and then making a long-term plan for lifelong management.
For some dogs with very mild atopy shampooing with a medicated shampoo may be enough, but even these dogs may have allergic flare ups, which can often be seasonal, and require something stronger on occasion.
Steriods have been our traditional ‘go to’ medication for allergic dogs and they are highly effective at controlling the itch. But, they come with potential short and long term side effects. In up to 50% of dogs steriods cause increased appetite, thirst and urination and sometimes these side effects can be very difficult to live with! Longer term, dogs who have been on steroids are also more likely to develop diabetes and Cushings disease.
Apoquel (oclacitinib) is a newer generation drug with a better safety profile than steroids, although it cannot be used in dogs under 12 months and those with serious infections. It comes in pill form and is initially given twice a day for 2 weeks before tapering down to once a day for maintenance therapy. The major downside of this drug is its cost, but is very effective.
Cytopoint is an injection that can control itching for 4-8 weeks. It is a very different form of treatment as it is a monoclonal antibody. Allergic dogs have very high levels of a specific protein which causes their itch and a monoclonal antibody will work on just that protein to neutralise it.
This is also a more expensive treatment than steroids, but can be used in dogs of all ages and those with existing infections.
Although EFAs will not treat itch they can be effective at improving the integrity of the skin barrier and so are worthwhile considering using as an adjunct therapy in atopic dogs.
Allergy testing allows us to identify exactly what in the environment your dog is allergic to. This can be done either via a blood test or intradermal skin testing, which is where an area of skin is clipped up and a small amount of each potential allergen is introduced under the skin and then assessed for signs of a reaction.
Allergy testing is not diagnostic for atopy, as even normal dogs will react to some allergens but not have signs of clinical disease, but in a dog with clinically diagnosed AD it can be useful to know what the dog is allergic to and the extent of allergies. Your dog may only be allergic to one or two things which may potentially be avoided in the environment, especially if they are highly seasonal, or may be allergic to things like house dust mites, which will be harder to control.
The results of allergy testing can be used for allergen specific immunotherapy. This is a process of desensitisation using a tailored protocol of injections over a period of about a year. The injections contain the offending allergens and the idea is to desensitise the immune system over time so that it no long over reacts. Studies have shown that around two-thirds to three-quarters of dogs respond well. The protocol is used under the supervision of a veterinary dermatologist as it often requires tweaks in the volume or frequency of injections, but pet owners give the injections themselves at home.
The downside of immunotherapy is its expense but it is the only real potential ‘cure’ we have for atopic dogs. Given atopy is a life long condition it is worth considering, especially in large breed dogs where the costs of antibiotics and anti-itch medications can quickly add up.
Food allergies can develop at any stage of life, even if your dog has been fed the same food for its whole life. Pet food companies have done a good job of marketing grains as the major cause of food allergies, but research shows this is not the case and most food allergies are caused by chicken, beef and lamb, with wheat a distant fourth place.
Animals with food allergies can show very much the same pattern of lesion as those with atopy. This can make diagnosis tricky. In addition, about 30-50% of dogs have both atopy and food allergy. The likelihood of a food allergy being part of the problem is raised if the itching continues all year round and/or if there are gastrointestinal symptoms as well.
Elimination diets are the best way to diagnose a food allergy. This involves feeding a specific veterinary therapeutic diet for 8-12 weeks to see if symptoms resolve. If they do, then you rechallenge the dog with the original diet (called a provocation trial) and if the skin flares again you have confirmation of a food allergy. You can then find longer term diet that will be suitable for your pet.
As you can see, getting to the bottom of skin conditions can be tricky. It can take several vet visits to definitively diagnose a problem and to get the treatment plan right for your dog. One of the keys to success here can be to make sure you always see the same vet, as it can be really hard for a vet that has never seen your dog before to pick up a long and complicated case history and be able to give you good advice in the space of a 15 minute consultation.
If your dog’s skin problem has become complex and ongoing, your general practice vet may recommend seeing a specialist veterinary dermatologist. There are skin specialists throughout the country and although they may cost more at the outset, if you have a dog with a skin condition that is proving hard to diagnose or difficult to manage then they can be well worth the extra cost. As many skin conditions, such as atopy, are lifelong expert treatment from a specialist can end up being cheaper in the long term than constant vet visits and endless courses of antibiotics.
We’re going to be putting together further informative articles for you which go into many of these areas in much greater depth so make sure you are following our social media or signed up to our newsletter to be notified about these as they are published.
]]>How much you need to do in advance to get organised will depend somewhat on your own personal situation, but here are a few things to think through:
We’re recommending our customers have at least 2-3 weeks supply of pet food at all times, especially as courier delivery times are now being impacted by covid. Supermarkets and pet stores are also becoming more affected by stock outages, so if your pet is on a particular food that you need to stick to, you may want to stock up a little more than that.
If your pet is on any medications make sure you have at least 1 month’s supply. Don’t leave it until the last minute to ring the vet for a repeat prescription, as their ability to fill your prescription quickly may be impacted by reduced staffing levels and slower than normal stock deliveries.
Make sure that you have all medications and their dose rates well documented in case someone who doesn't normally do this ends up needing to care for your pet while you are unwell.
This is going to vary depending on your personal situation, but make sure you have a well thought through plan for managing this. If you live alone then this may involve organising for a friend or neighbour to care for them or potentially a boarding facility if necessary.
If you have covid in your household, you will be trying to minimise contact between family members and you may want to extend this to your pet as well, if this is practical and not too stressful for you all. Your pet can get covid from you, but it is not common and would likely only be mild and self-limiting. Ideally get someone who is not symptomatic to care for your family pet
Check in with any dog carers you have outside of the home about what their covid policies and contingency plans are.
Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) need to be kept out of reach of pets as they may contain a preservative called sodium azide that is toxic to animals if ingested in large quantities.
Don’t forget that we still have our 30% off Stock Up and Save promotion running this month to help ensure you have plenty of dog food on hand. Just enter code SAVE30 at checkout for 30% off a 9kg bag of food.
]]>Fortunately living with 2 young boys he is well used to loud bangs and screeches! We also did a bit of desensitisation work with him as a pup using some excellent fireworks desensitisation videos on You Tube.
Our family is not big on fireworks, so we won’t be letting off any at our place or attending any public displays. Nevertheless, we’ll be following some of these steps on the night to keep Tyson calm and safe should any neighbours decide to make some noise:
He’ll be all good with this – a nice long walk, well before any fireworks are likely to start, will tire him out and help him settle for the night.
Never one to turn down the opportunity for a night on the couch, he’ll be inside with us with the noise of the TV muffling any fireworks noise and the curtains closed so he doesn’t see any bright flashes.
He’ll be stoked to see his Kong and his treat balls come out! Whoopee! These will keep his brain busy and distracted from the noise.
Tyson is crate trained so we’ll have his crate set up for his night inside and covered with an old blanket. This will give him a nice, safe den to retreat to if he’s feeling nervous.
We’re expecting that he will be fine, but for the many dogs out there with genuine fireworks phobias there are a few other options that can be used. One is to try anxiety relief products such as Adaptil, which is a replica of the dog appeasing pheromone and is scientifically proven to help dogs remain calm in the face of loud noises, or a compression wrap, such as a Thundershirt. For dogs who don’t respond to these products, working with a dog behaviour specialist is a must. This needs to be started well before Guy Fawkes night to be successful.
Guy Fawkes is a good annual reminder to check that your dog still has their registration tag attached to their collar and that all microchip details are up to date.
]]>While Genius Ocean Fish does meet the AAFCO standards for gestation and lactation (and for feeding puppies), these standards are a minimum and aren't necessarily optimum for all dogs.
This blog which explains the ideal nutrition for dogs from mating through to weaning.
Dogs have no special nutrient requirements before mating, the most important thing is to have them going into pregnancy at an optimal body condition score. Dogs that are underweight at mating are more likely to have low birth weight puppies, whereas overweight dogs are may have problems during whelping and poor milk production.
The World Small Animal Veterinary Association has some excellent information on body condition scoring (BCS) on their website, including a video which walks you through how to do it. I recommend that you get familiar with body condition scoring before mating and regularly weight and condition score your dog whilst she is pregnant to ensure she is maintaining an optimum weight and BCS.
Anecdotally there have been reports of fertility issues in dogs fed grain free diets. I am not aware of any studies on this as yet, as much of the research effort is currently focused on the issues with dilated cardiomyopathy, but my recommendation would be to play it safe and feed a grain inclusive diet to your dog prior to mating.
The gestation period of the dog is on average 63 days and can be divided up into 3 trimesters of 21 days.
In the first 2 trimesters nutritional requirements aren’t that different from normal as the foetuses are growing very slowly. The most important thing at this stage is to maintain an ideal body condition score, in particular to ensure that the dog does not lose weight. You do not want a dog going into the energy intensive 3rd trimester underweight.
So, you can continue to feed your dog’s normal diet until towards the end of their 2nd trimester, but if you have a large/giant breed dog or your dog may be carrying a large litter then you may want to switch over to a higher energy density food earlier. An xray at day 42+ of pregnancy is a good way of ascertaining litter size.
Also remember to leave adequate time to make a slow transition to a new food, especially if the macronutrient content differs significantly from what you have been feeding.
Learn more about transitioning to another food in this blog
This is when the action happens! From about day 40 the foetuses are growing exponentially and energy requirements skyrocket. Typically, a dog will require 30-60% more energy depending on the size of the litter. Lactation is a hugely energy intensive period. After whelping the dog’s energy needs steadily increase as the pups grow and drink more milk. Energy requirements can be 2-4 times higher than normal and will peak at around 3-5 weeks after whelping.
In late pregnancy as the puppies get bigger and take up more room in her abdomen, it gets harder for the bitch to eat more as her abdomen is already so full! After whelping energy intake is no longer limited by abdominal fullness, but an enormous amount of food must be consumed to make enough milk for the rapidly growing pups.
This is where the energy density of the food is really important, especially for large/giant breed dogs and dogs with larger litters. Whilst lower energy foods (around 3,500 kcal/kg) do meet the AAFCO standards for gestation/lactation they aren’t ideal for bitches in the 3rd trimester of gestation or lactation because many dogs will not be physically able to eat enough of a lower calorie food. You should be aiming to feed something that is at least 3,700 kcal/kg or above - 4,000 kcal/kg is ideal for large/giant breed dogs and those with large litters.
Protein needs also increase substantially during this time to 40-70% above maintenance requirements, so a diet that is higher in protein quantity and quality is needed. The minimum crude protein allowance to meet AAFCO is 22% DM, but between 25-35% DM is considered to be optimal at this stage.
The AAFCO minimum recommendation for fat in foods for late gestation and lactation is 8% DM, however the optimum fat level is thought to be around 20% DM. As well as providing the bitch with more energy, higher fat levels in her food have been shown to lead to higher fat levels in her milk, which is advantageous for growing pups.
Carbohydrates are also important as dogs have a high requirement for glucose during the last trimester. Feeding a carbohydrate free diet may lead to weight loss in the bitch and reduced birth weight and lower survival rates of puppies. It can also lead to significantly lower amounts of lactose in the milk. It is recommended that 20% of the energy in the diet come from carbohydrate. As kibble diets require carbohydrate in order to bind the ingredients together, carbohydrate levels in dry diets are unlikely to be low enough to cause a problem.
Its also crucial to get Calcium and Phosphorus levels correct during pregnancy and lactation and these require tighter control than a typical adult maintenance diet would provide, but fit within the profile of a puppy food. The recommendation for calcium is 1.0-1.7% DM and for Phosphorus this is 0.7 - 1.3% DM, with a ratio of between 1.1:1 and 2:1.
Generally pups begin to be weaned from about 5 weeks. As this happens the bitches nutrient requirements slowly return back down to maintenance by the time the pups are 8 weeks of age.
There are now many dog foods on the market promoted as 'All Lifestages'. Often these foods are from smaller pet food companies who are basically wanting to sell as much food as they can, with the smallest range of products possible.
Clearly pet food manufacturers can make all life stages food which meets the minimum requirements for AAFCO for marketing purposes, but that doesn't necessarily make them ideal food for a pet in a particular lifestage.
Genius Ocean Fish is a high protein, moderate calorie, moderate fat diet, which is high in omega 3 fatty acids. Our energy density, protein levels and fat levels well exceed the AAFCO minimum for pregnancy and lactation, but they don't quite meet the ideal, as described above.
So here's my recommendations:
Here's a helpful chart of our food compared with the AAFCO minimum and what are considered the absolute ideal nutrient profiles for late pregnancy and lactation.
*Note this is based on dry matter (DM), so is a little different to the guaranteed analysis on our bags which is on an 'as fed' basis.
AAFCO min | Genius Ocean Fish flavour | Ideal, esp for large/giant breeds & large litters | |
Energy | 3,720 kcal/kg | 4,000 kcal/kg | |
Protein | 22 % | 31 % | 25-35 % |
Fat | 8 % | 13 % | 20 % |
However, because of the ingredients used, being high in real meat protein and in omega 3 fatty acids, I have always thought that it could well meet the requirements for pups. Now that we have our own new pup, the beautiful Tyson our tricolour border collie, I reached out to our nutritionists to get them to crunch the numbers on our Ocean Fish product to see if would meet the AAFCO requirements for puppy food.
So, if you would like to feed Genius Ocean Fish to your pup, or have a household with both an adult dog and a puppy, this is absolutely fine.
Puppies do have different energy requirements to adult dogs and so we have a separate feeding guide for them.
Puppy weight | Less than 4 months age | Over 4 months of age |
2 kg | 95 grams | 65 grams |
4 kg | 160 grams | 105 grams |
6 kg | 215 grams | 145 grams |
8 kg | 270 grams | 180 grams |
10 kg | 329 grams | 215 grams |
12 kg | 365 grams | 245 grams |
14 kg | 410 grams | 275 grams |
16 kg | 455 grams | 305 grams |
18 kg | 495 grams | 330 grams |
20 kg | 535 grams | 360 grams |
22 kg | 575 grams | 385 grams |
24 kg | 615 grams | 410 grams |
26 kg | 650 grams | 435 grams |
28 kg | 690 grams | 460 grams |
30 kg | 725 grams | 485 grams |
32 kg | 760 grams | 510 grams |
34 kg | 795 grams | 530 grams |
36 kg | 830 grams | 555 grams |
38 kg | 865 grams | 580 grams |
40 kg | 900 grams | 600 grams |
Please note: puppy growth is a really important time to get nutrition correct. For that reason we don't give our feeding recommendations for puppies in cups, only in grams. Studies have shown that using cups is a really inaccurate way of feeding. We recommend that you use a gram scale to weigh out your pups food.
The main differences between the different life stage diets available for adult dogs and puppies are the minimum amount required of:
And, crucially, the amount and ratio of Calcium to Phosphorus in the diet. This is especially important for large breed pups.
It's really crucial to get these nutrients right for growing puppies as you are setting them up for life!
With the discovery several years ago of a link between grain free dog food and nutritional related dilated cardiomyopathy (heart disease) in dogs, I personally wouldn't recommend feeding a grain free dog food to a puppy. A growing pup needs to be absorbing the right nutrients from it's diet to grow into a healthy, strong adult dog and until such time as the cause of these cases of heart disease is fully elucidated it would be risky to choose a grain free food.
Genius Ocean Fish is a healthy alternative to grain free dog food. It contains New Zealand King Salmon as it's number 1 ingredient and New Zealand Fish Meal as it's 2nd ingredient and so is high in real meat protein. It contains rice as its main carbohydrate source and this is balanced with a range of vegetables and fruits.
Our next blog post is coming up soon and will cover:
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A food allergy is a hypersensitivity reaction which occurs when a dog’s immune system overreacts to a particular food ingredient and mounts an immune response to that substance. This is most commonly a protein, but can also be a complex carbohydrate.
True food allergies (also known as adverse food reactions or cutaneous adverse food reactions) are thought to make up only around 5% of all skin disease in dogs and about 15% of all allergic skin problems in dogs. So, they’re not as common as you might think. Fleas (flea allergy dermatitis) and canine atopic dermatitis (a genetic predisposition to reacting to allergens in the environment) are the most common causes of skin disease.
Unfortunately, canine atopic dermatitis, presents very similarly to food allergies in dogs and this can be a real challenge for diagnosis. To make things even more confusing studies have shown that 13-30% of dogs with food allergies have concurrent atopic dermatitis. So, atopic dermatitis is an important differential diagnosis to consider in any itchy dog and I will cover this in more detail in some future blogs.
The internet will tell you that ‘grains’ cause most food allergies. In actual fact, research has long shown that proteins are the leading cause of food allergies. Here are the results from a recent paper (Fiora et al, 2013):
Ingredient |
% of dogs allergic |
Beef |
32 |
Chicken |
26 |
Lamb |
20 |
Pork |
16 |
Dairy |
14 |
Rice |
6 |
Wheat |
2 |
* It is also important to note here that it is extremely uncommon for dogs to be allergic to gluten, with the exception of Irish Setters (who present with gastrointestinal symptoms not skin problems) and possibly Border Terriers.
Dogs can present with signs of food allergies at any age, but they most commonly seen before 6 months of age and over 6 years of age. This can be useful when trying to differentiate food allergies from atopy, which more commonly presents in dogs between the age of 6 months and 3 years.
There is no doubt that food allergies make dogs pretty itchy. Vets use the term pruritis for this. Our dogs show us they are itchy by scratching, rubbing, chewing, licking, scooting along on their bottoms and head shaking. Common sites affected are the paws, ears, armpits, groin and around the anus. And you guessed it, a similar pattern of distribution is seen with atopic dermatitis.
Dogs presenting with these clinical signs may also have secondary bacterial and/or fungal infections caused by self-trauma and chronic inflammation. By the time we see these secondary signs we usually have a pretty smelly, sore, sad pooch.
Food allergies can also cause gastrointestinal signs such as vomiting, diarrhoea, straining to pass a bowel motion, increased frequency of bowel motions and flatulence.
Food allergies are non-seasonal. So as long as the dog is eating the same food they will occur year round. In contrast, many of the environmental allergens which dogs with atopy react to, such as pollens, tend to be more seasonal, although things like dust mites will be present all year round.
Diagnosis of food allergy can be tricky as, despite what you might read on the internet, there are no commercially available tests that are actually accurate. The only way to truly rule in or out a food allergy is to do a dietary elimination trial.
An elimination trial involves putting the dog onto a diet that it is highly unlikely to be allergic to for 8-12 weeks and assessing whether the symptoms settle down. If there is a marked improvement in clinical signs you then refeed the dog with the original diet and if there is a flare up of symptoms then you can conclude that the dog is allergic to an ingredient in that diet. We then pop them back on the elimination diet until the skin has settled again and then run some provocation trials. This involves selectively introducing 1 new ingredient at a time back into the diet to see what the dog will react to. The decision on what ingredients to use is usually based on what the diets the dog has previously eaten or that prevalence table above.
The most accurate way to do an elimination diet trial is to use a prescription diet such as RC Anallergenic or Hills Z/D. These are hydrolysed diets, meaning their constituent proteins have been broken down, using a special enzymatic process, to be of a size that the body’s immune system cannot react to. In addition, the companies that make these diets have strict quality control and testing procedures to ensure that there are no trace amounts of other ingredients in their diets, which may affect the validity of the trial.
This is all pretty technical, so I’ll write a more detailed post on this in the future.
Once we’ve finished our elimination diet and provocation trials we will know what foods an individual dog is actually allergic too. We then select a diet that doesn’t contain any of those ingredients. With the huge variety of dog foods now on the market is has become a lot easier to select a diet with the right ingredient profile for individual allergic dogs.
If you don't want to commit to the time and expense of an elimination trial you can attempt to rule out potentially offending ingredients by trying a range of ‘hypoallergenic’ or low allergy diets. These are diets which have been specifically formulated using ingredients that are less likely to cause food allergies. This is a much less accurate method and involves more trial and error than undergoing a strict diet elimination trial using a prescription product.
Our Ocean Fish formula contains NZ King Salmon and fish meal as its protein source and rice as its carbohydrate source and so is ideal to try if you are in this situation.
Most grain free foods will tout themselves as being hypoallergenic, blaming wheat as the main cause of food allergies. But from our table above we can see that protein source is by far the more likely cause of a food allergy. So a grain free food containing beef, chicken or lamb is unlikely to be true to this claim.
Having read all this, I’m hoping that you’ve picked up these key messages:
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Fortunately, Barclay’s case ended well. His owners were aware that chocolate can be poisonous to dogs and got him into the veterinary clinic as quickly as possible. We evacuated what was left of the chocolate in his stomach and supported him through an uncomfortable night with intravenous fluids and lots of TLC (tender loving care).
However, many dog owners are not aware of the potential problems caused by ingesting chocolate.
Why is chocolate toxic to dogs?
Chocolate contains a compound called theobromine which humans can metabolise and excrete, but dogs unfortunately cannot. Theobromine is a stimulant and a toxic dose of it can cause a rapid and/or irregular heart rate and in very severe cases can lead to death.
The concentration of theobromine differs between the various forms of chocolate with cocoa powder and dark chocolate containing the most, milk chocolate a medium amount and white chocolate very little.
Signs of chocolate poisoning
Symptoms of chocolate toxicity can be seen anywhere between 30 minutes and 24 hours after ingestion and may include:
What to do if your dog has eaten chocolate
If your dog has eaten chocolate don’t wait until they are showing symptoms call your veterinarian immediately. Your vet will want to know:
Based on that information your vet will estimate the likelihood of toxicity.
Unfortunately, there is no specific treatment or antidote for chocolate poisoning. If your dog has eaten the chocolate within the last few hours then your vet may simply induce vomiting and possibly follow this up by administering activated charcoal to limit absorption of any theobromine that may remain in the intestines. In more severe cases supportive care is necessary with intravenous fluids, anti-seizure medications if indicated or cardiac medications for dogs showing severe cardiac symptoms.
Prevention is better than cure
Of course no veterinarian really wants to spend their Easter cleaning up chocolately vomit, so here’s some tips for keeping furry paws away from your chocolate stash this Easter:
Of course, these tips are relevant all year round, especially at Christmas, Valentine’s Day and even Halloween.
As for cats, veterinarians seldom see cases of chocolate toxicity in cats. This is probably because they are more finicky about their food choices and do not have the ability to taste sweetness.
So this Easter, remember that when it comes to our pets sharing is not caring.
]]>The British Veterinary Association recently released a survey that showed that eight in ten companion animal vets (82%) across the UK saw at least one case of toxic ingestion over the Christmas break last year. My experience would suggest that the stats here in New Zealand aren’t too different to this, but there are a few other things that pet parents on this side of the World also need to be mindful of during our summer festive season.
Here are my top tips for keeping our Kiwi pet’s safe through the holidays.
Most people are now aware that chocolate can be poisonous to dogs. Dark chocolate which contains the highest levels of theobromine, an ingredient that dogs cannot metabolise, is the worst culprit but even milk and white chocolate can cause problems if they eat enough. Christmas cakes and Christmas mince pies which are loaded with raisins and sultanas can also cause toxicity issues.
Although I love nothing more than the aroma of Christmas lilies wafting through the house they are highly toxic to cats and mildly toxic to dogs. Illness is most commonly caused by chewing on the leaves, but there are also reports of cats becoming sick from ingesting the pollen and even drinking the water that lilies have been in. Poinsettas are also mildly toxic to pets.
Steer clear of feeding the leftovers of that fatty Christmas roast to your pet. A sudden increase in the fat content of their diet can cause pancreatitis. Even just a lot of fatty meat can be a problem, but beware of the fat from the roasting pan as well! I once saw a poor Labrador whose owner had tipped the fat out of the roasting pan out in the back garden. He’d quickly sniffed it out, hoovered it up and then spent several days at the veterinary clinic recovering.
Christmas ham can be fatty too, but the high salt content may also upset sensitive tummies when eaten in excess.
Cooked bones are another a no-no as these can splinter when chewed causing damage to your pet’s mouth and digestive tract if eaten.
You would not believe the places I have removed fish hooks from! They don’t even have to have any bait attached to them to be attractive to some pets. Keep them out of your pet’s reach. In the simplest cases they will end up through a lip, a tongue or up a nose, but worst case scenario is one gets swallowed and ends up lodged in the oesophagus or stomach.
Most councils are now regularly providing updates over summer on the status of local rivers and streams, but it pays to know what toxic algae looks like and be aware that it can often be found not just in the water, but also on the banks of rivers. This algae seems to be particularly attractive to dogs and they are extremely sensitive to its effects with ingestion of only a small amount of toxin sometimes causing death within as little as 30 minutes.
This article has great information and pictures of the algae:
Lastly, if you’re taking your pet away with you over the holidays make sure that you have the contact details of your nearest veterinary clinic and any pet insurance information you might need with you. Having worked for many years in the popular summer holiday spot of Motueka you would be surprised how many pet owners need to contact the local vet while they’re away on holidays.
]]>All good quality pet foods should contain a detailed feeding guide on their packaging, as well as clearly stating the product's Metabolisable Energy (ME) content in kcal/kg of food.
The feeding guide gives you a starting point for working out how much to feed your pet, but many people end up inadvertently over or underfeeding their pet’s by sticking too religiously to these recommendations. Let me show you why!
Feeding guides are based on a formula that calculates the amount of energy required by the average pet each day. Unfortunately this requirement can vary hugely, even among animals of the same breed, age and size, due to your pet’s genetics, activity level, environment, life stage and especially whether they have been neutered.
One of the major problems with advising on energy requirements is that there is no consensus amongst pet nutritionists and pet food companies on what is the right formula to use to calculate the feeding guide. Recommendations vary massively and I have no doubt that every pet food company is using a slightly different formula.
The best indicators of how much your pet needs to eat are their:
Body condition scoring is a process of visually assessing your pet’s body fat levels. When they are in ideal body condition:
The World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) have created a great body condition score chart. It is available on this page under charts, checklists and guidelines. There is also a good video on here showing you how to do a body condition score.
After many years in veterinary practice I’ve found the 3 keys to getting your pet’s weight right and keeping it that way are:
If in doubt, drop into your local vet clinic. Most clinics will have a set of scales in their waiting area and well trained vet nurses able to weigh your pet and assess their body condition score. Your vet should also be checking and discussing your pet's weight at every visit.
1. Not measuring out food properly
The most common mistake I used to see in my veterinary practice was not measuring food out properly. An enormous coffee mug full to the brim with dog food does not equal 1 metric cup! Many pet food companies give away measuring cups with their food. Ideally, they should be easy to read and see through. When using these, food safety is important – so don’t forget to wash them regularly.
HOWEVER – I actually recommend that you consider weighing out your pet’s food on a gram scale.
Why? Well numerous studies have shown that even a measuring cup can be wildly inaccurate. One study showed that accuracy ranged from an 18% underestimate to an 80% over-estimate in portion size.
I know this is a bit of a faff, but if you have a small dog (for which even a small overestimate in portion size can quickly add up), a dog that is prone to being over or underweight, a dog that you are dieting right now or a dog on a therapeutic diet then I think it is a really good idea to accurately weigh out each meal on a gram scale. Just a simple set of kitchen scales will suffice for this.
2. Feeding really high calorie food to dogs that don’t need it!
The energy content of pet foods is highly variable. They commonly range from around 3200 kcal/kg to up over 4000 kcal/kg. Energy density is important. If you have a working dog on a high country station then you’re going to want a food that's well over 4000 kcal. But if you feed too much of this to a fairly sedentary old Labrador he’s going to hoover up a lot of calories before he starts to feel full!
However, there can be quite significant differences between pet foods in terms of macronutrient (protein, fat, carbohydrate and fibre) content and also digestibility, so it is important to slowly transition your pet to a new food in order to give their gut microbiota (the good bugs in their tummy that do the hard work of digestion) time to adjust to the new diet.
Most pets are fine with making the transition to a new food over 7 days. Here’s a good rule of thumb to follow:
The key to successfully transitioning your dog's diet is to monitor their individual response to the new food. If, at any point during the diet transition, your dog displays concerning signs such as changes in appetite, vomiting, diarrhea or soft faeces, then pause the transition until their stomach has settled and then resume at the slower transition process below, to allow more time for the gut microbiome to adapt.
If you know your pet has a sensitive tummy or you are switching from a very low quality food or a food with very different ingredients than Genius pet food, then take it even more slowly right from the start. Try this protocol:
Our packaging is specifically designed to keep your dog food fresh. Once you’ve scooped out your food simply squeeze as much air out of the bag as possible and roll the top down tight.
You do not need to store it in a plastic container. However often this makes sense to keep persistent little doggy mouths out of a bag of highly palatable dog food! If you do so then leave it in the bag inside the container and continue to roll the top down tight to remove air.
I don’t recommend pouring your kibble into a large plastic bin as the plastic itself can absorb fats and oils from the pet food. Plastic bins are notoriously difficult to clean well and so often new food gets mixed in with the old food residue and crumbs, thereby increasing the risk of contamination and rancidity. Also as your food level gets down it will be exposed to more and more air.
Excess heat and moisture can cause the nutrients in pet food to deteriorate and changes in temperature and condensation may lead to mould growth and contamination.
So find somewhere cool, dry and out of the light to store your food.
I recommend choosing a pet food dish made of a durable, non-porous material that is easy to clean, such as stainless steel. Ideally, wash and dry this after every use. Use a dedicated serving scoop or cup and wash after each use as well.
Always make sure you wash your hands well after handling pet food and treats.
This happens rarely these days due to increasingly stringent manufacturing regulations, but should you have any issues if you’ve stored your food in its original packaging then you will have a product batch code available for the manufacturer, which makes it easier for them to address any issues.
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