Newsletter - September 2013

Seminar Announcement

Join me on October 19th at the Red Barn Event Centre from 9 am - 4 pm. I'll be speaking about nutrition (is there anything else?) We'll discuss why some diets - even those that seem great- can backfire in the long run. We'll walk through some options and focus on balancing a diet, but the most exciting part is that we can be proactive. Considering your breed, genetic dispositions, and feeding with all of that in mind can help your dog to be all that s/he can be!

Registration Fee:

Regular Rate - $55 = $62.15

RBEC Klub K9 Member Rate - $50 + HST = $56.60

Includes lunch, coffee/tea and water. Day of registry add $10.

For information or to register contact: info@redbarneventcentre.com or 705-812-3467 8464 County Road 27, Barrie, ON

Did You Fall For a Fish Tale?

Most people add some fish oil to their dog's home-made diet, and many feeding commercial foods add it as well.Fish oils are a good source of omega 3 fatty acids, but they're also a good source of vitamin D. Yes, even farmed salmon oil (tell me you're not feeding that!), wild salmon oil, sardine oil, etc. The hiccup is that vitamin D is a very expensive vitamin to test for at a lab, and you have to run many samples in order to find the average amount per 100 grams, so not all companies do it.

I use both cod liver oil (known for being a good provider of vitamins A and D) as well as wild salmon oil in some diets. Puppy diets are an example. Puppies can eat only so much food before they become overweight, so a nutrient dense supplement like cod liver oil can come in handy. One tiny capsule can provide 1,200 IU of vitamin A and 100 IU of vitamin D. It would take about 2 capsules of wild salmon oil to provide the same, and yet, wild salmon oil has such great benefits for the brain, eyes, heart and skin that using both makes good sense. That's not the case for adult dogs because they can usually meet the recommended allowances from wild salmon oil alone. I've heard it said that adding cod liver oil to a dog's diet is an absolute must, but once you know that wild salmon oil can provide both vitamins A and D, you also know not to buy into that. In fact, using both can escalate the vitamin D content of the diet to unacceptable amounts. If you happen to feed fish which is also a good source of vitamin D, you can overdo it even more easily. If feeding a diet based on fresh fish, chances are that you don't need to add any kind of fish oil.

Both cod liver oil and wild salmon oil have proven benefits if you use high quality products. It's not that one is better than another so much as knowing why and when to use one or both.

One last word about fish oils - add a little vitamin E to the diet when feeding them. You don't need an awful lot, but the greater the amount of fat in the diet, the more vitamin E is required. This applies even more so when fish or fish oils are in the diet. PUFA (polunsaturated fatty acids) oxidize more easily than saturated fat. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that counteracts this. The more PUFA, the more oxidization and free radical production, the more vitamin E is needed.

Attention Florida: Dr. Martin Has Arrived

The veterinarian who saved Tori's life three times is now in Sarasota Florida. The clinic's website is being updated, so let me give you Dr. Dawn Martin's credentials. A graduate of the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island Canada, she fulfilled a rotating internship and internal medicine residency at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, completing concurrently with a DVSc graduate degree, including research of platelet function and hemostasis.

Dr. Martin was awarded Diplomate status in the American College of Veterinary Medicine in 2006. Since that time, she has worked in a busy multispecialty referral hospital with a large caseload. This hospital was featured on the reality TV series "ER Vets”. She is looking forward to bringing this experience and expertise to the Critical Care and Veterinary Specialists practice.

Morley, Tori and I consider Dr. Martin to be family. Her compassion is as great as her knowledge and positive attitude. Please say hello for us when you see her.

Personally Speaking

Learn more on my blog:

Feeding a Dog During Chemotherapy

Monica

"I am not your dog, but if every time you saw me, you gave me a backrub, I would run to greet you, too." ~ Robert Brault