Iʼve been practicing for many years now (donʼt really want to reveal my age), and have decided to share with you some of my personal interests. No, this wonʼt quite be a James Herriot story about C-sections with 13 puppies and only the owner as my assistant, or the amazing toughness of Pomeranians or even cats that leap from eight-story balconies and walk around the exam room as if no big deal. I have lots of stories, as does anyone who has the good fortune to work with pets. Instead, I would like to give my two cents on several topics that I frequently discuss with my clients, while I hold their pet hostage in the “treatment” area so they wonʼt leave before Iʼm finished.
About Pet Food
There are more 3,000 brands (not manufacturers) of pet food in this country—most of which we have never heard of, as they can be regional. No one can be expected to be knowledgeable about different brands of food and which is the best. I tend to be a skeptic by nature, and so I take what manufacturers say about their products with a large grain of salt.
Who actually knows what goes into the food. Has the clerk at the pet store been to the plant where the food is made? Has the worker seen the source of the ingredients? How about testing the finished product to see if it meets federal guidelines for nutritional value, vitamins, minerals, and bio-availability of protein? The truth is, pet food companies are not required to test the final product; the product must only meet the guidelines before it is processed.
A study by a veterinary nutritionist looked at 23 different brands of canned cat food made both made domestically and foreign. She looked at vitamin B-12 levels in the food after the products were made and found that 23 percent were deficient. I spoke with her directly and asked her about dog food and other components in the foods. She only tested for this one vitamin but had no reason to doubt that many other essential parts could also be deficient. The one thing she found is that in general the foods that came from large corporations—those grossing more than $1 billion per year—most often were not deficient, because they could afford to test their products after being made to assure they still met the guidelines.
Now here is where Iʼm sure to get some flak: I recommend to my clients, and anyone else who is a captive audience, to supplement their petʼs diet with quality table scraps. I donʼt mean the parts that you wouldnʼt eat yourself or any that are starting to rot but your pet thinks smells great. I mean some of your leftover meal, including vegetables, some fruit, meat, and tofu, and if youʼre my dog, you get some of my dessert. I donʼt recommend feeding them from you plate, as you will most certainly instill begging behavior, table surfing, and garbage-can scavenging. I save pieces of my meals and add them to my petsʼ food bowls.
Granted with finicky cats, this can be impossible, but worth a try. I feel strongly that this can supplement what might be missing in the animalsʼ canned or dry food that may have been manufactured and stored for months prior to its purchase. Now if your pet develops gastro-intestinal disturbances, or has an allergic reaction from this practice, then this may not be in your petʼs best interest. Enough about food.
Puppies, Vaccinations, and Socialization
This topic is one that if you discuss it with three people, youʼll probably get six opinions. For me, there is nothing more important than having a dog properly socialized. This means being able to get along with other dogs while neither being the aggressor nor the victim of an attack. The process of socialization starts very early on in a dogʼs life. One cannot wait until a puppy has completed its series of vaccinations to start this process. If you wait until all the vaccinations are completed, at around 16 weeks, for some dogs, problems are already embedded in their behavior.
Owners/guardians of dogs will hopefully have them for many years, and it is distressful to have a dog you cannot take on off-leash hikes or hang out in front of a café for fear that your dog may fight with another dog, or worse, bite a person.
For almost all dogs, this can easily be prevented with proper and early socialization with both unfamiliar dogs and people. Puppies will be taught by adult dogs what is appropriate and inappropriate dog behavior. Humans cannot teach dogs how to speak dog language. Other dogs will be the best teacher. It is very rare for a well-socialized adult dog to hurt a puppy in the course of his education. The adult may snarl, snap, and even grab the puppy that is not acting appropriately, but wonʼt injure the puppy. This is how dogs learn to get along.
Unfortunately, all too many people and veterinarians scare puppy guardians from ever taking the puppies out to meet, greet, and play with other dogs. In the Bay Area, we have wonderful parks that allow for off-leash hikes, and itʼs great to be able to take our dogs with us. Itʼs good for us to be out, and even better for most dogs who require exercise. Ian Dunbar, D.V.M., the world-renowned animal behaviorist who resides here in the Bay Area, is a big proponent of early socialization so our puppies become well-behaved dog citizens.
Arnold Gutlaizer, D.V.M., owns Broadway Pet Hospital in Oakland. He has lived and worked in Oakland since graduating from veterinary school. An avid bicycler who also likes skiing and “fixing things,”he is married and has two boys, two cats, and a dog. A natural enthusiasm for and curiosity about animal science and veterinary medicine position him well for ever-expanding veterinary expertise.
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