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, 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 ultimately your dogs are counting on you.
FOOD
Home 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.
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
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.
Drop Ship to your Door
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.
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.
Kibble Research
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.
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.
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
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