Barkn' bath wa in Perth, Western Australia | Pet service

Barkn' bath wa

Locality: Perth, Western Australia

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Address: Wanneroo 6031 Perth, WA, Australia

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19.01.2022 Some info on Bloat Bloat by Peter dobias What you may not know about fruit... Did you know that dogs should never be fed fruit and protein together? The main reason is the digestive time for fruit and protein is different. Fruit digestion time in the stomach is much shorter than protein. If they are fed together, the stomach does not empty until the protein portion is digested, which can cause fermentation and gas build-up. I have heard some people say the fermentation process causes alcohol production, which can make your dog drunk, but I have never seen this. Ideally, one should feed fruit at least one hour or longer before a meal and at least four hours after eating. ****** Bloat Summary: Feeding dry kibble alone increases their risk of GDV. Simply feeding raw is not enough to protect from GDV but adding in real ingredients is protective against GDV. The two chief food suspects for bloat in dogs is 1) the presence of more-difficult-to-digest ingredients and 2) the often high calcium carbonate content of dry food. Water intake may exasperate the issue. 1. Dry food. The widespread practice of extruding dry dog food began in 1957. An epidemic of GDV in dogs was reported in the United States from 1965 to 1995 Raghavan et al. 2006 During the past 30 years there has been a 1,500 percent increase in the incidence of bloat, and this has coincided with the increased feeding of dry dog foods. There is a much lower incidence of bloat in susceptible breeds in Australia and New Zealand. Feeding practices in these countries have been found to be less dependent on dry foods. Bell 2014, Tufts University Numerous authors have highlighted the role of kibble in bloating (Van Kruiningen et al. 1974, Kronfeld 1979, Morgan 1982). To prevent a first episode of GDV, their advice is to avoid feeding exclusively dry, cereal-based and and specifically soy protein-based commercial dog foods. Raghavan et al. (2006) set out to examine this further. Using dry dog food label information, they checked if the risk of GDV increases with an increasing amount of soy and cereal ingredients (and a decreasing number of animal-protein ingredients) used in the food. They found no effect. Unfortunately, the study only tested the first four ingredients, which neglects the use of some of the more fibrous and indigestible ingredients further down the ingredient list such as beet pulp and corn gluten nor was the total plant fibre content assessed. The reason for this, they cite, is their need to balance accuracy, ease, and convenience in data collection with the need to collect data that would be meaningful and informative. I think they missed a beat. Plant-protein and animal protein ingredients contain nonprotein substances such as fiber, carbohydrates, and fat that were not accounted for in the data analysis. Raghavan et al. 2006 2. Raw dog food? I admit, the above findings were more than enough to stoke my suspicions that it’s all dry’s fault (you should always start with the usual suspects). So, I again polled owners of GDV dogs on the Dogs First Facebook page asking them simply if their dogs were dry or raw fed at the time of the attack. More than 420 responded. 77% of GDV patients were dry fed but 23% were raw fed. This spread is somewhat as you would expect for a ‘no effect’, considering the spread of dry to raw feeding in these large breeds is now estimated to be somewhere around 4:1 today (this is based on the fact the UK PFMA reports 10% of sales are now raw. However, this figure does not account for the multitude of smaller businesses that are not obliged to report their sales or those feeding DIY using various non pet food manufacturer sources). We can however expect this raw figure of 24% to be inflated due to the fact I am a raw-feeding page with a raw-feeding fan base, particularly as real ingredients are seen to alleviate the harm in feeding dry food to GDV at-risk breeds. Glickman et al. (1997) found that the addition of table foods or canned foods to the predominantly dry food diet of large and giant-breed dogs resulted in a 59% and 28% decreased risk of GDV, respectively. Other authors note adding fish or eggs may decrease the risk (Elwood 1998, Pipan et al. 2012). It seems that, as ever, decreasing the amount of dry food fed to your dog the better they will be. An epidemiological study found that Irish setters consuming a single food type were three times more likely to develop GDV than were Irish setters fed a mixture of food types (Elwood 1998). But still, that it happens in raw-fed dogs is interesting and implies that simply raw-feeding, whatever your definition of that may be, is not a suitable protector from this horrible disease. When we now know the gas is coming from internal fermentation, the attention is now very much switches to ingredients that are difficult to digest and known to increase gas in both humans and dogs. Calcium carbonate content? Raghavan above did report finding a trend of decreasing risk of GDV with a higher number of protein ingredients of animal origin in dry food but this was not statistically significant (they only used 85 cases in their analysis). On this, there is rumours in the literature that date back to Billinghurst’s ground-breaking book Give a Dog a Bone in 1993, that calcium carbonate (used in dry food) is a factor. In human, it is used to neutralise excess acid in the stomach (think Tums for humans) as it takes a lot of acid to absorb it, reducing acid levels in the stomach. The body doesn’t just sit back and let that happen, however. We have known for some time, (Levant et al. 1973) that small single doses of calcium carbonate (as little as 0.5g) stimulate the production of gastrin, a hormone responsible for requesting more extra gastric acid to the stomach. All this takes time, increasing the potential for a delaying in gastric emptying. Normal food digestion is thus affected. It is for this reason that, compared to other calcium supplements (calcium phosphate, calcium citrate), calcium carbonate is associated with gastrointestinal side effects in humans, including constipation, flatulence, and bloating in humans. Calcium carbonate is a commonly used in dry food. Tests show many dry and canned foods are very dangerously high in calcium, with one magic kidney formula by Hill’s containing as much as 7.7% when independently tested (the maximum permitted is 1.6%). In fact, Thixton’s work shows many dry and canned foods made by different companies are commonly high in calcium. Why? Because pet food relies heavily on meat and bone meal which they label meat meal but is more bone than anything else (they don’t make money sending meat to rendering plants). Meat and bone meal is largely animal carcass and heads stewed up in rendering plants. As such it is approximately 30% calcium carbonate (half of you bones is calcium, give or take). This ties in with the finding by Raghavan above that animal ingredients are a border-line issue. 4. Fat? Interestingly, Raghavan did note that dogs fed dry foods containing fat among the first four ingredients had a 170% higher risk of developing bloat. This makes sense however their significance threshold of P=0.14 was, in my opinion, far too low to for such a small sample size to make any such leap, particularly considering they stated corn was not a significant risk for GDV when it’s P value was a similar 0.16. Still, the (processed) fat bit is interesting. Lena Palmer, MD, gastroenterologist, assistant Prof. in Dept. of Med, Loyola University Chicago. Fat slows the functioning of your intestines, so if you don’t process gas very well, fatty foods could make that worse So, perceivably, if you feed an at-risk dog the wrong diet which increases flatulence (later) then yes, a fatty meal being held in the gut longer may increase the risk of at least bloat. Potentially. But the fact remains, that bit of fat off the steak should be absolutely no problem to a normal dog. Dogs are protein and fat eating machines. They are far better with fat than we are. There is surely something else at play here. 5. Water Some owners of at-risk dogs are wary of their pets water intake. Two GDV sufferers note their GDV episode soon after drinking a large volume of water. The role of water is absent in the literature. There are two possible risks of water intake and GDV in dogs. First, drinking too much may weigh down the stomach. The issues here is that meal size by weight is not yet a risk factor for GDV in dogs and I doubt a large dog would drink nearly as much water as he eats in food by weight. Further, water does not reside in the stomach too long, it passes quickly into the intestines. However, if we run with the fermentation hypothesis, drinking too much water can certainly interfere with digestion. The body relies on stomach acids to digest your food. When you drink too much water, certainly during or soon after a meal, you dilute those acids, meaning food is less efficiently digested in your GI tract, potentially fuelling the growth of the wrong bacteria. Gas and / or bloating may result. And God knows, high salt dry food makes you drink a lot of water, particularly after a run. Hypothesis 8. The Gut Biome A study by Hullar et al. (2018) of Great Danes with GDV found the patients had significantly more diverse faecal microbiome than healthy control dogs. Dogs with GDV showed a greater number of Actinobacteria and Firmicutes and a significantly lower abundance of Bacteroidetes. This is interesting and somewhat as you would expect based on studies of humans which reveal the very same bacteria (Firmicutes and Actinobacteria) are among the chief culprits for increased gas production in humans (Manichanh et al. 2013). In fact, these authors wanted to test the effect of their flatulogenic diet on healthy human patients. This diet was based on a greater intake of more fibrous items including whole grains, beans, soya as well as a variety of fibrous fruit vegetables including good old cruciferous vegetables (Brussels’ sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage). ***** When it comes to using home remedies to prevent stomach bloat naturally, here are a few things you can try: * Using a slow feed bowl if your dog tends to eat too fast * Opting for smaller, spaced out meals * Keep their level of activity to a minimum right after meals * Give your dog probiotics to balance their gastrointestinal tract and help reduce gas buildup

16.01.2022 ROSIE’S LEGACY [31.3.16 - 30.12.16] Rosie died in December 2016 from over heating whilst playing ball. She was a healthy 9 month old kelpie pup and died becaus...e she was exercised in the evening just after 5pm on a 34 degree day with high humidity (54%) - a lethal combination. Rose was only playing for 10-15 minutes before she crashed to the ground whilst chasing the ball and went into seizures and within an hour of making it to the vet she died. The tragedy is that it was all preventable. There were no symptoms. However l didn’t allow her to stop & rest in between throwing a ball as far as l could in an open space with no shade. I didn’t take water out with us. She had no chance. I’m sharing this to educate owners on heat stress as it does kill. A dogs resting body temperature is between 38/39 degrees. If it reaches 41 degrees it will be fatal. I urge dog owners to not exercise their pets on warm days. Playing ball or exercising a dog on days above 30 degrees is dangerous. Let a dog play in a pool or in the sea on a hot day. Never feel guilty for not exercising a working dog if it’s a warm day. We are their protectors & it’s our responsibility to keep them safe. I have heard people say but my dog was born in a hot climate so they are climatised. This is absolute nonsense. A dogs core temperature should be kept around 38/39 degrees. Make sure they have a cool place to rest and escape the heat if you live in a hot climate. I hope by sharing Rosie’s story l can help educate dog owners on how quickly heat stress can happen. Help Rose raise awareness on Heat Stress by sharing this important message. A share could possibly save a life.

16.01.2022 https://www.facebook.com/107477281301553/posts/115702053812409/

06.01.2022 THIS IS A PSA Puppies bite. They bite a lot. They bite hard. Their teeth are sharp. You might bleed. It might seem relentless. Scaring the pants off them by ye...lling, pinning, shoving or shouting will not only do precisely zero, it will potentially create a fearful adult dog. Puppies bite more when; They are tired They are hungry They are bored They are overstimulated They are teething Read that again. They bite MORE when they are the above. They will also bite when they are absolutely fine. They are dogs not dolls. Be compassionate not scary. They will grow out of it but only if you teach them a good alternative. Trade for toys. Use a pen or a crate. Teach calmness. Reward gentle interactions. Grit your own teeth and ride it out while reinforcing good stuff and proactively managing bad stuff. Be proactive when you know biting happens like after some play, when excitement goes up, when they are overtired (7-9pm witching hour anyone?) and give them a good chew or help them settle, or channel that energy into some training. It does get better basically. Don’t panic. Most puppy biting isn’t aggression. Be CONSISTENT and PROACTIVE and expect more than a few bites along the way. Signed, Aalto the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (aka the ginger shark)

04.01.2022 Not everyone crates their dog.. Even if maybe they should To each their own though and whatever your choices, always be safe and as much as possible set your ...pups up for success! So for those who don't crate, or for those who do but when the dog is out they can sneak in a cheeky nom on furniture. Here's a super awesome solution to manage the environment and prevent reinforcement from undesirable behaviours.