Dolittler

Counting canine calories (23 of 30/89 of 274)

April 23, 2009 by kathi

Dr. Patty Khuly at Dolittler had a great post today about calorie counting for fat dogs. The following excerpt is something that really hit home, related to the lovely Freya and the handsome Axel:

The first sticking point? It always comes down to measuring everything the dog eats and does. The kids might have fed X. I didn’t know the treats counted. (Seriously?) My mother-in-law sneaks her food under the table.

While we of course know that treats count, we haven’t been monitoring the types and amounts of treats, as well as food used in training sessions, as closely as we should. I am sure that as I start keeping track, I will be surprised and somewhat dismayed, much as I was when I’ve kept a food diary for myself and realized how much mindless snacking happens during a typical workday.

As you may recall, Freya has some weight to lose and Axel has some weight to gain.

In the month since he’s been home, Axel’s put on several pounds. Once we got a good handle on the amount of energy he expends when spending part of the day in a kennel run and part as a house dog, as compared to being a full-time house dog, it was pretty easy to recalculate the amount of food he needs when living with his handler, and the smaller amount of food he needs when living at home with us.

I must admit that I have not been as diligent as I should have been about getting enough additional exercise for Freya (and myself). I just found a nearby source for the low fat formulation of California Natural Lamb and Rice, which is one of the only foods that Freya can eat due to her mild IBS. I was quite relieved to find that she likes it, and that she can eat it with no tummy troubles, so that will be a help in reducing her calories and still letting her eat enough to feel full.

I mentioned in my earlier post that Freya’s vet calculated her calorie requirements. At the time I did not ask for the details (math is not my strong point and I do trust our vets), but I can now double-check using the information in today’s Dolittler post:

Base calories/day (resting energy requirement) = 30 x (your dog’s weight in kg) + 70
* Weight loss needed, neutered/spayed = 1 x base calories
* Weight loss needed, intact = 1.1x base calories

Freya: [(30 x 42 kg) + 70] x 1 = 1330 calories
California Natural Lamb and Rice = 430 calories per cup
1330 / 430 = 3.09 cups per day (if no treats or extras were fed)

She gets 2 to 2.5 cups per day, plus treats, so that should be fine, which agrees with our vet’s calculations. That is, unless the treats I’m using turn out to be more caloric than I thought. I’ll need to track down the information on that, which was another suggestion from the Dolittler post. It is very true that caloric information for treats is not always on the package, but often easy enough to find on the manufacturer’s websites, so it is time for me to do some research and maybe switch some treat choices. I often use “people food” for training treats, usually hot dogs or frozen meatballs, so it will be easy enough to switch to the low fat versions of those items as well.

I’ll stop at the vet on the way home from training on Saturday and get a current weight for Freya, and see how we are doing so far.

(PS: This is also the Day 7 assignment for 31DBBB. Yes, I’m a bit behind, but still working through this excellent series!)

Growing a place on the ‘net (5 of 30/71 of 274)

April 5, 2009 by kathi

During the last few months, I’ve thought about refocusing this blog completely on pet-related matters. So the title of a recent post on the Dolittler veterinary blog, How to start and grow a top pet health site…with love, intrigued me. My original blog was devoted almost entirely to pet health. As I am not a veterinarian or a journalist, it was a personal blog discussing only the pets owned by me and my husband, and occasionally those of family members or friends. At the time, our pets numbered four dogs, three cats and two birds, so there was ample material for me to write about. After the two oldest dogs passed on, I didn’t have it in me to keep writing regularly. Effective tools for fighting comment spam were not quite ready for prime time then, and trying to keep up with it sapped any enthuasiasm still remaining.

Comment spam isn’t the problem it once was. I would probably need to expand the focus of a new version to include dog training, dog showing, dog sports competition and pet-related legislative issues, because most of my pets are thankfully young and healthy, and I won’t have many health issues to write about, hopefully for a while yet. I’ll need to give this a bit more thought before I make any changes. My pets are my favorite subject, but I do enjoy writing on other topics now and then, too.

Back to the Dolittler post, though. One of the pet health sites profiled was Tripawds, a site inspired by and supporting all three-legged dogs, primarily cancer patient amputees. My own three-legged dog Jake passed away in 2002, so I had no idea this site existed until this week. Back in 1998, there was not much information on the ‘net to help owners of amputee dogs. I think I found just one site, Cassie’s Three-Legged Dog Club, which still exists and has expanded quite a bit since then. Back then, I wrote to Cassie’s Club founder Cynthia Davis, got some good information, and had Jake join the club (he is the bottom Jake on this page). I updated my then-website to add a page about Jake’s accident and amputation, which I have never taken down.

I still get email from that page occasionally, and as I have done since the beginning, I always try to respond to those emails as quickly as possible. I never thought of the possibility of an entire site to support tripod dogs, but I am very glad that Jim and Rene were inspired by their Jerry’s illness and amputation to create the Tripawds site to provide an awesome resource for those facing the same issues.

Times are tough for all of us, but if by chance you have a bit to spare, please consider visiting the Tripawds site and donating towards their server upgrade. Back in 1998, I would have loved to have a site like that, with not only information available, but a forum and chat to actually talk to others in the same situation. I was glad to be able to make a small donation today in Jake’s memory.

Giving information: canine parvovirus (18 of 31/53 of 274)

March 18, 2009 by kathi

Oprah Winfrey’s loss of one of her two recently-adopted cocker spaniel puppies to canine parvovirus is a sad story on many levels. Although I have disliked Oprah for years, I do truly sympathize with her loss. Parvo is a horrible thing for both dog and owner to go through, and it is a sad fact that even those with the financial means to provide the expensive and intensive care needed will sometimes have to face the loss of their beloved pet. The fact that canine blood bank Hemopet was contacted suggests that no expense was spared to provide excellent treatment.

There have been questions regarding whether the shelter followed proper quarantine protocols, as the timeframes involved suggest that the puppies contracted parvo at the shelter. Parvo is highly contagious and lives for a long time in the environment, so it’s not impossible that the puppies got it somewhere else either.

As a psycho dog person, I also wonder about things like why a shelter would adopt out two puppies of the same age to the same person, even (or should that be especially) a famous person. Or why puppies that were basically too young to have received more than one vaccination in the recommended series of 3-4 shots would be allowed to go to the filming of a television show, where they would come into contact with who knows how many people.

I am not a veterinarian and thankfully I have no first-hand experience with parvo. Rottweilers are one of the breeds that are most susceptible to parvo, so it is definitely a major concern of mine until my dogs are over a year old and getting their first annual booster.

Oprah’s sphere of influence means that many more people are now aware of parvo and how serious it can be. I hope there will be some follow-up to also make them aware of how to prevent and treat the disease as well. Here are some links if you don’t want to wait:

Adopting puppies can be devastating: Dr. Patty Khuly’s commentary on the incident from her excellent “Dolittler” veterinary blog.

How my puppy survived the PARVO VIRUS: The BAM Parvo Treatment: Sina Norris is a veterinary technician and a Rottweiler breeder. This is a day-to-day medical diary detailing the treatment that saved puppy Jarci’s life.

Intervet’s Progard vaccine is the vaccine of choice for many Rottweiler owners as it is the one that appears to be most effective in preventing parvo when administered on the proper schedule. If you do have parvo on your premises, be aware that even with proper disinfection with bleach or Parvosol, most veterinarians will recommend that you not bring a new puppy (or an older dog whose immunization history is unknown) in until at least 6 months to a year have passed.