Your dog ate chocolate. The first thought is usually: how bad is this? The answer depends more than anything on three things: what type of chocolate, how much, and how large the dog is. A small piece of milk chocolate in a large dog is not the same situation as...
A bag of dog food costs €100. Is that expensive or inexpensive? The more useful question is what that hundred euros actually pays for. Better ingredients, manufacturing, transport, the work of several intermediaries, packaging, or simply a familiar brand name? This article grew out of a price comparison Irene and I...
A single small Baltic herring can be far more than a piece of fish flesh. When a dog eats the entire fish, including skin, head, eyes, soft tissues, bones and organs, it receives several kinds of animal tissue at once. That is what makes whole fish such an interesting addition...
Vitamin D is an essential nutrient for dogs, but this is one of those cases where “more is better” simply does not apply. Dogs need vitamin D, among other things, for normal calcium and phosphorus metabolism and to support bone health. Vitamin D receptors are also found in cells of...
Your dog vomits once, looks at you, shakes it off, and five minutes later asks for food. Panic? Usually not. With vomiting, however, there are always two questions: is there a red flag that needs prompt veterinary attention, and if not, how can you gently support an upset stomach and...
Apoquel is probably one of the best-known medications for itching in dogs. In some dogs, its effect can be impressively fast: a dog that was licking, chewing and scratching itself yesterday may be noticeably less itchy after a short time. That matters. Severe itching is not merely uncomfortable. A dog can...
These days, probiotics are recommended for almost everything. Dog has diarrhea? Probiotic. Had antibiotics? Probiotic. Gas? Probiotic. Sensitive stomach? Probiotic. Stress? Probiotic again. And on the pet-store shelf, jars stand side by side: one promises one billion, another ten billion, and a third contains such a bacterial army that the packaging makes it look as if...
Some dogs look at their food bowl, think for a moment and eat calmly. Others inhale an entire meal before their owner can finish saying “enjoy”. I've been fortunate with my own dogs: none has been a truly unstoppable food gulper. Ossu sometimes cannot be bothered to chew his kibble...
Dogs are remarkably talented at finding exactly the thing they should not eat. Chocolate left on a table, sugar-free chewing gum found in a handbag, or rising yeast dough in the kitchen can turn into a veterinary emergency within seconds. At the same time, not all “dangerous foods for dogs” are...
Sometimes it feels as though dogs should never eat anything from our plates. In fact, quite a few fruits and vegetables can be shared as small treats. After reading Dr Karen Shaw Becker's overview of ten such foods, I also looked at veterinary nutrition and safety guidance. There is an...
