Fidelity K9
402-983-3436
Fidelity K9
402-983-3436
  • Home
  • K9 Camp
  • Diet and Health
  • About
  • Services
    • Custom Dog Training
  • Equipment
  • Grooming
  • Puppies
  • Families
  • KIDS
  • Schools
  • Police K9
  • Protection
  • First Aid
  • Events
  • History
  • Members
  • Day Train
  • Questionnaire
  • Kearney
  • Gretna NE
  • Areas We Serve
  • Board and Train
  • Boarding
  • Career Opportunities
  • Aggression
  • Positive VS Balanced
  • More
    • Home
    • K9 Camp
    • Diet and Health
    • About
    • Services
      • Custom Dog Training
    • Equipment
    • Grooming
    • Puppies
    • Families
    • KIDS
    • Schools
    • Police K9
    • Protection
    • First Aid
    • Events
    • History
    • Members
    • Day Train
    • Questionnaire
    • Kearney
    • Gretna NE
    • Areas We Serve
    • Board and Train
    • Boarding
    • Career Opportunities
    • Aggression
    • Positive VS Balanced
  • Sign In

  • My Account
  • Signed in as:

  • filler@godaddy.com


  • My Account
  • Sign out

Signed in as:

filler@godaddy.com

  • Home
  • K9 Camp
  • Diet and Health
  • About
  • Services
    • Custom Dog Training
  • Equipment
  • Grooming
  • Puppies
  • Families
  • KIDS
  • Schools
  • Police K9
  • Protection
  • First Aid
  • Events
  • History
  • Members
  • Day Train
  • Questionnaire
  • Kearney
  • Gretna NE
  • Areas We Serve
  • Board and Train
  • Boarding
  • Career Opportunities
  • Aggression
  • Positive VS Balanced

Account


  • My Account
  • Sign out


  • Sign In
  • My Account

Diet and Health

We care about your dog

  

     Having a vet we trust as a dog owner is of utmost importance but in many years of owning dogs I have learned a few things. One big thing is that even after many years of school Veterinarians don’t know everything. Don’t get me wrong I’m not suggesting you don’t take your dog to the vet! Rather, don’t take everything they say as the gospel truth! Vets are people too and as such they can be wrong.  As your pet’s advocate it is ultimately your responsibility to take care of them to use your best reasoning skills to make good decisions. 


In this information age we have access to more information than any generation who has come before us. It is true that the internet is full of misinformation too and we have to be careful of any one source. At Fidelity K9 we get a lot of information from the internet and it is an easy form for us to share with you. However, I strongly recommend we all use our ability to reason and ask questions, read and talk to colleagues and friends as well as having a vet we trust. 


Here on this page I want to share what I find about illness, safety, nutrition and mental health of our dogs. At Fidelity K9 we are blessed to have access to hundreds of dogs we know, love and have a vested interest in. But please don’t just take our word for it, ultimately your dogs are counting on you.


click on the picture to see what proper weight looks like ------>

Say "No" to dog parks

Many trainers agree with me on this, just avoid them, your dog will be happier in the long run!

Find out more

Stop over-exercising your dogs!

Find out more

Kennel Cough

We don't have much of a problem in our programs with kennel cough but dogs pick it up in lots of places. Here is a great article that explains what it is.

Find out more

These dogs survived by kennel in the car

over-vaccinations is really a thing

You can know if you are about to over-vaccinate your pets!

About Fidelity K9

Heat cycles

 A dog's heat cycle, also known as the estrous cycle, typically lasts between 2 and 4 weeks. The cycle consists of four stages: 

  • Proestrus:Lasts about 7-10 days, during which the vulva swells and bloody discharge appears. 
  • Estrus:The fertile period, lasting about 5-13 days. The discharge becomes lighter and the dog is receptive to males. 
  • Diestrus:Lasts about 10-140 days, depending on whether the dog becomes pregnant. The discharge ceases and the vulva returns to normal size. 
  • Anestrus:A resting period between heat cycles, lasting several months. 

It's important to note that the duration of the heat cycle can vary depending on factors such as breed, age, and health. For example, small dogs may have shorter cycles, while giant breeds may have longer ones.  

Bloat

 Bloat is often caused when dogs gulp too much air while they eat. Dividing your dog’s food into 2-3 smaller portions served at different times of the day can help prevent overeating and minimize the amount of air he swallows at mealtime. Waiting at least 90 minutes post mealtime before exercising your dog can help prevent bloat, too. #workingdogmagazine 

Panosteitis and young dogs

 Panosteitis is the long form for what breeders call "Pano." Pano is a growth disease which is more common in large, big boned dogs. It can show up as young as 5 to 9 months and usually does not occur after a dog is 18 to 20 months. It is more of a growth disorder than a disease, but it is very painful to young dogs. At FidelityK9 we don't agree with the authors views on Rymadil as a whole but we do agree that it is not the only treatment for Pano. The source of the problem could be early spay and neuter and should certainly be addressed  with diet.

full Article

FOOD

Home cooked food

Steve Brown on Raw Food Diet for Pets

Purchase Professional cooked food

 Greg Martinez DVM   has been cooking home made meals for his dogs for many years. He has a cook book on Amazon called the "Dog Diet Answer book". Here's a free sample of one of his recipes.for a fast and easy healthy alternative to store bought food. 

Crockpot dog food

Purchase Professional cooked food

Steve Brown on Raw Food Diet for Pets

Purchase Professional cooked food

Dan Benigno a local chef who has been in the food service business over 25 years.  He uses only human grade food products. Food fit for you and your best friend.

He's moved those skills and standards to the canine world to provide a better product than the store bought food often purchased for our best friends

9 PUPS

Steve Brown on Raw Food Diet for Pets

Steve Brown on Raw Food Diet for Pets

Steve Brown on Raw Food Diet for Pets

  Dr. Karen Becker, a proactive and integrative wellness veterinarian, interviews Steve Brown, founder of Steve’s Real Food. Steve has a very interesting background that led to his passion for creating raw diets for dogs. 

Information on Kibble

Drop Ship to your Door

Drop Ship to your Door

Steve Brown on Raw Food Diet for Pets

A great way to get Quality Kibble drop shipped to your door. They offer discounts for putting it on a schedule that you can change or stop at any time. It really is a win/win for busy people! They also sell lots of training supplies, treats and dietary supplements.

Click for chewy.com

Pet Food Documentary

Drop Ship to your Door

Pet Food Documentary

I recommend everyone watch this documentary on pet food.  An investigative expose of the inner workings inside the commercial pet food industry, which has went largely unchallenged until now.  This video is an hour and 10 minutes long but I think it is well worth the time. You can watch the whole expose on Netflix just search for Pet Fooled.

Tubitv

Kibble Research

Drop Ship to your Door

Pet Food Documentary

 If you must feed kibble this is one of the go-to spots to get information 

Dog Food Reviews & Ratings Dog Food Reviews A to Z Best Dog Foods, Best Dry Dog Foods, Best Wet Dog Foods, Best Grain Free Dog Foods ... well you get the point. They will also put you on automatic notification of dog food recalls so you can be informed.

dog food advisor

Dog Food Scandals

 

How Hill’s Secrets and Lies Hid a Catastrophic Failure That Led to the Illness and Death of Dogs Worldwide

  

When Hill’s Pet Nutrition, the world’s top manufacturer of prescription pet foods, found that some of their dog foods contained lethal amounts of vitamin D, the company hid the problem leaving veterinarians and consumers ignorant of the severity of the crisis.

Hill’s, a company whose empire was built on treating the maladies of sick dogs and cats, failure to test high-risk ingredient before being used in their Science Diet and Prescription Diet pet foods caused the premature and preventable death of dogs in the more than 80 countries.

read the whole story

Genetics and behavior

I don't feel the need to reinvent the wheel here is a great article on the role of genetics on behavior.

click here

You may not want to Spay and Neuter

Here at Fidelity K9 we often recommend you don't spay and neuter your pets.  HOWEVER,  

To quote Dr. Becker:

“As responsible members of society, we owe it to our communities to proactively protect our intact pets from unplanned breeding at all costs. We must hold ourselves to the highest standard of reproductive control over the intact animals we are responsible for.

Clearly, there are health benefits to be derived from waiting until after puberty to spay or neuter your dog. However, there are also significant risks associated with owning an intact, maturing pet.

How seriously you take your responsibility as a pet owner is the biggest determining factor in how risky it is to leave your dog intact until he or she matures. If you are responsible enough to absolutely guarantee your un-sterilized pet will not have the opportunity to mate, I would encourage you to wait until your pet is past puberty to spay or neuter.

If you are unable to absolutely guarantee you can prevent your dog from mating and adding to the shameful, tragic problem of pet overpopulation, then I strongly encourage you to get your animal sterilized as soon as it’s safe to do so”.

Check out this article for more information.

https://dogsfirst.ie/health-issues/dog-neutering/?fbclid=IwAR2zLuGdJKD1B0r7zgdBciiG-Fvv0nlKjEy0MQNAPI91gnKFsue3-kwuPXU


 

The Documentation

 Neutered dogs, whether male or female, had a higher prevalence of CCL rupture than did sexually intact dogs. 

 https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/8226247 


 Prostate cancer has been reported to occur more commonly in neutered than intact male dogs in several case series. 

 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pros.20590 


  

David J. Waters, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVS
Director, Center for Exceptional Longevity Studies
Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation   

We found that female Rottweilers were 2 times more likely than males to achieve exceptional longevity [Odds Ratio (95% confidence interval) = 2.0 (1.2 - 3.3); p = .006]. However, removal of ovaries during the first 4 years of life erased the female survival advantage. 

http://www.gpmcf.org/hro2015.html


 

Swiss Canine Cancer Registry 1955–2008: Occurrence of the Most Common Tumour Diagnoses and Influence of Age, Breed, Body Size, Sex and Neutering Status on Tumour Development


 Neutered animals were at higher risk of developing specific tumours outside the genital organs than intact animals. 

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021997516300500 


It's not just Dr. Becker  more people are saying and confirming the studies check this out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCxY2fz7ebs



https://healthyandhappydog.com/


AVMA admits it


 “Our most important finding was that longer duration that gonads [ovaries or testicles] were present, regardless of reproductive status, was associated with fewer general health problems and [fewer of] both problematic and nuisance behaviors. It was also associated with an increased lifespan. Because VS and OSS permit dogs to experience longer gonadal hormone exposure times, these data suggest that, when electing surgery to prevent reproduction, dogs might benefit from these alternative surgeries with respect to general health and experience better behavior outcomes compared to undergoing traditional spay-neuter surgery. Delaying traditional spay-neuter surgery could offer similar benefits.”217 


 

Joint disorders, cancers, and urinary incontinence

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2024.1322276/full?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0TtFJn00Bc0-XAhQeMK6S1B57sysddUKkVeAywF-J4JAfH2tVEGpNyusE_aem_AbCApsRRnuMqYHtgnfkQNyUqQtSRzuI_ElEwqopQy1alZuZJQIamRYteA8X7S9u7PhD7RX0bQ9iCQpQmCcI0NjEX


 

Psychology Today

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/canine-corner/201805/neutering-causes-behavior-problems-in-male-dogs#:~:text=Key%20points,are%20on%20the%20dog's%20behavior.


Other Parts of the World Studies

Use the translate function of your browser

Brussels, Belgium

 Castration (joeldehasse.com) 

Dr. Becker's video click here

Reasons to Spay or Neuter

 One of the most common reproductive emergencies seen in a veterinary emergency room is a condition called pyometra.  The name of this disease is Latin for “pus-uterus” and describes a life threatening uterine infection that most typically affects older, intact (or unspayed), female dogs. As intact female dogs age, the hormones that fluctuate during each heat cycle change the uterus – it becomes thicker and engorged with tissue to support potential pregnancy.  As these changes occur year after year, the uterus can be permanently changed – it becomes thicker and engorged with excess tissue. These changes make the uterus especially prone to developing infection and quite poor at fighting off infection if it does occur.  More info

Taking your dog to the Vets Office

We train everywhere

Dew Claw removal in sport dogs

 

Javier Torres

 · Do the Dew(claws)?  M. Christine Zink DVM, PhD, DACVSMR  I am a vet that works exclusively with performance dogs, developing rehabilitation programs for injured dogs or dogs that have had surgery as a result of performance-related  injuries. I have seen many dogs now, especially field trial/hunt test and agility dogs, that have had chronic carpal arthritis, frequently so severe that they have to be retired or at least carefully managed for the rest of their careers. Of the over 30 dogs I have seen with carpal arthritis, only one has had dewclaws. The others have all had them removed.  If you look at an anatomy book (Miller’s Guide to the Anatomy of Dogs is an excellent one – see figure below) you will see that there are 5 tendons attached to the dewclaw. Of course, at the other end of a tendon is a muscle, and that means that if you cut off the dew claws, there are 5 muscle bundles that will become atrophied from disuse.  Those muscles indicate that the dewclaws have a function. That function is to prevent torque on the leg. Each time the foot lands on the ground, particularly when the dog is cantering or galloping, the dewclaw is in touch with the ground. If the dog then needs to turn, the dewclaw digs into the ground to support the lower leg and prevent torque. If the dog doesn’t have a dewclaw, the leg twists. A lifetime of that and the result can be carpal arthritis. Remember: the dog is doing the activity regardless, and the pressures on the leg have to go somewhere.  They can be absorbed by the dewclaw, or they will move up and down the leg to the toes, carpus, elbow, and shoulders.  Perhaps you are thinking, “I never have had one of my dogs have carpal pain or arthritis.” Well, we need to remember that dogs, by their very nature, do not tell us about mild to moderate pain. If a dog was to be asked by an emergency room nurse to give the level of his pain on a scale from 0 to 10, with 10 being the worst, their scale would be 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Most of our dogs, especially if they deal with pain that is of gradual onset, just deal with it and don’t complain unless it is excruciating. But when I palpate the carpal joints of older dogs without dewclaws, I almost always elicit pain with relatively minimal manipulation.  As to the possibility of injuries to dew claws. Most veterinarians will say that such injuries actually are not very common at all. And if they do occur, then they are dealt with like any other injury. In my opinion, it is far better to deal with an injury than to cut the dew claws off of all dogs “just in case.”  Anatomical diagram viewing the medial side of a dog’s left front leg demonstrating the five tendons that attach to the dewclaw. 

For questions Please feel free to call 402-983-3436

  • Privacy Policy

Powered by

This website uses cookies.

We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.

Accept