Word at the dog park is that Trupanion Pet Insurance is now covering all the Hill’s Prescription Diet and Science Diet Healthy Advantage pet foods as part of its insurance coverage.

The insurance will cover about half the cost of therapeutic pet foods including Hill’s Prescription Diet pet foods for two months. As well, you will receive a discount on the monthly insurance premium for the therapeutic pet food, as long as it’s continued feeding of the brand, which is only available through veterinary hospitals. If you work in veterinary healthcare, you can find out more about the program by calling 1-800-569-7913 or by contacting your Trupanion Territory Partner. If you want to learn more about Trupanion’s pet insurance policy’s, you can visit the Trupanion website.

Question: Would you go with a pet insurance company just to get a discount on pet food? Leave us your comments below.

Chocolate

Chocolate is commonly known by many dog owners as being a toxic substance for pets. The reason chocolate is dangerous, is because it contains theobromine, which is a cardiac stimulant. Consuming large amounts of chocolate will cause a dog to become extremely sick, as the overdose of theobromine will cause the heart to beat irregularly. Chocolate can also cause extreme excitement in your dog, as well as hyperactivity (due to the high caffeine content). Death by heart failure is very common in dogs that have eaten a significant amount of chocolate.

Onions & Garlic

Onions and garlic both contain thiosulphate, which is extremely toxic to animals. Thiosulphate can cause haemolytic anaemia, which is an extremely serious condition. Dogs that are affected by haemolytic anaemia will have their red blood cells burst during circulation, which will show up in your dog’s vomit or urine. Symptoms include weakness, listlessness, vomiting and irregular urine. This is a very serious condition, and if your dog has eaten any products containing onions, it is strongly recommended to take your dog to a veterinarian immediately.

Macadamia Nuts

Macadamia nuts have only been recently discovered as a toxic substance that can negatively affect pet health. The specific element in macadamia nuts that is toxic for animals is unknown, however, several studies have proven that this is a very dangerous food for dogs. Ingestion of macadamia nuts can cause  swollen joints, labored breathing, and muscle tremors. Most dogs only need ingest a few macadamia nuts to have a negative reaction.

Large Amounts of Liver

Feeding your dog large amounts of “organ meats” (such as liver and kidney meat) can be extremely toxic. These meats are very high in Vitamin A, which should only be given in moderated amounts. Too much organ meat can cause Hypervitaminosis A (Vitamin A poisoning), which results in vomiting, nausea, and loss of muscle coordination.

Fat Trimmings

Though small amounts of fat are needed to sustain your dog’s overall health, large amounts of fat, especially in a single meal, can be extremely dangerous for your dog. Ingestion of a single high-fat meal can cause pancreatitis, a condition that is extremely dangerous if not treated. The pancreas is responsible for secreting digestive enzymes to help break down fats. However, with the constant ingestion of high-fat foods, the pancreas overworks itself, secreting an excess of digestive fluids. These fluids eventually begin to “digest” the pancreas and surrounding organs, sometimes causing complete failure of the pancreas.

These are just a handful of the many foods that can potentially poison your dog.  Always make sure that you do your research before feeding your dog a new food or even plant new shrub in your garden.  Also be sure that any poisonous foods are never left in places accessible by your dog.

1.    PURCHASE YOUR INGREDIENTS

The quality of the ingredients that you add to your homemade dog food formula is extremely important. Try to use organic, non-processed ingredients that do not have any steroids, growth hormones, preservatives or pesticides. As a general rule, you will need to choose one type of protein (per formula), two vegetables and one carbohydrate. Depending on the recipe you are following, you can adjust your formula to include many different ingredients.

2.    MIX YOUR INGREDIENTS

The mixing process for the ingredients in your homemade dog food formula is fairly straightforward. Chop the type of meat you are using (pork, beef, chicken, lamb, etc) into small bite-sized pieces, and add them to the bowl. Some people prefer to lightly cook the meat, but feeding your dog raw food is fine as long as you are certain that it contains no harmful bacteria. It’s essential that you do not use any seasoning ingredients, since there are some ingredients (garlic, onions) that are potentially toxic to your dog! If you decide to cook the meat, try to use a cooking oil that is high in omega 3 fatty acids, since this is the healthiest option for your dog. Vegetables do not need to be cooked and should be added to the food in raw form. If you decide to add grains to your homemade dog food, consider using high quality nutrient dense grains only, such as quinoa, millet or brown rice. Any grains should be cooked before they are fed to your dog.

3.    BLEND YOUR INGREDIENTS

Once all of your ingredients are properly prepared, you can make your dog food formula! You can either opt to mix all of the ingredients together to make a single formula, or you can keep them all separate, and add them together as-needed to feed to your dog. Since your formula needs to be refrigerated after it’s prepared, it’s important that you have enough space in your refrigerator for your dog’s finished formula.

4.    SUPPLEMENTAL INGREDIENTS

If you wish, you can also add supplemental ingredients to make your homemade dog food formula more nutritious. This includes flax seed oil, cod liver oil, or ground vitamins. It’s important not to overuse these ingredients, however, since they can be detrimental to your dog’s health if given in large amounts. For example, if you use too many vitamin supplements in your homemade dog food formula, you run the risk of your dog overdosing on certain vitamins that are only designed to be given to your dog in small quantities. It’s best to carefully monitor the amount of any supplement you add to your homemade dog food formula, so that you are able to provide a diet that is properly balanced in nutrition for your dog.

Home-made dog food takes some time and effort to prepare, but you will sleep well at night knowing that your dog is not eating potentially harmful ingredients.

Have you ever tried making dog food at home?  Do you have any recipes that you would like to share?

Dogs are starting to live longer and longer. Why? It’s due to the fact that pet owners are becoming more educated on what they feed their pets. In this post we are going to look at what we believe are the ten best dog food brands you can buy. We would like to mention that these are our recommendations and views and by no means the standard for all dogs, we would encourage you to browse our site and read through our various dog food reviews before making a decision.

Depending on your dog’s needs, age, lifestyle, allergies and other factors, the best food for your dog may be very different that the best brand for other dogs. At Dog Food Chat we strive to provide you with our recommendation, ratings and advice on finding right food to meet your dog’s needs. For please visit these pages to see a complete list of all our dog food reviews and dog food ratings .

The lists below are the brands that we feel consistently produce dog foods that contain the highest quality ingredients, in appropriate proportions. These dog food brands are also the ones that avoid preservatives and contain lower amounts of “filler ingredients”.  The following list of the top 10 dog food brands and the “next best bunch of brands” are the dog foods that we have the most confidence in recommending and the foods that we most strongly consider when feeding our own dogs.

While doing research on the best brands of dog food, it is also important to remember to research and test what specific formula fits your dog the best. Each brand produces a wide variety of formulas based on age (puppy, adult and senior), dietary restrictions (grain free, low protein, weight loss, check out our hypoallergenic dog foods article) and preferences (type of meat, dry dog food or wet dog food). If your dog has special needs, it is even more important to factor in their restrictions and requirements when choosing the “best dog food for your dog”.

Lastly, we’d like to proactively address the comment we’ve received from many of our fans – “My dog has been on brand X for x number of years now and has been healthy and loves it, brand X isn’t on your list but I think it’s the best dog food out there!” We want to make clear that we are not trying to persuade anyone to switch out of a brand that works great for their dog if it’s not listed here. Every dog is different and will respond differently to each brand, there really is no one, two or 10 best universal brands and formulas. If you already have a brand that works wonders, that’s great news!

Without further ado, please see below for Dog Food Chat’s editor’s list of top ten best dog food brands. We encourage your comments, questions and feedback and hope that this site and our reviews are helpful to you and your dogs!

10 Best Dog Food Brands

1. Orijen Dog Food
2. Horizon Legacy Dog Food
3. Acana Dog Food
4. Artemis Dog Food
5. Merrick Dog Food
6. Taste of the Wild Dog Food
7. Wellness Core Dog Food
8. Instinct Dog Food
9. GO Dog Food
10. Fromm Dog Food

The Next Bunch of Best Dog Food Brands

1. Timberwolf Dog Food
2. Evangers Dog Food
3. NOW Dog Food
4. Precise Holistic Dog Food
5. Nature’s Logic Dog Food
6. ORGANIX Dog Food – Castor and Pollux Dog Food
7. Solid Gold Dog Food
8. Blue Buffalo Wilderness Dog Food
9. Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Dog Food
10. Kirkland Dog Food (honorable mention due to good value)

When devising a feeding schedule for one’s pet, it is important to consider your dog’s health and age. Make sure that the schedule you come up will supplement the diet and nutritional requirements of your pet. Generally, adult or grown dogs may eat one to two times in a day. Senior or aging dogs may also follow the usual feeding schedule of adult dogs. Puppies, in contrast, need to be fed several times in a day. Puppies that are still nursing, in particular, should be allowed to nurse whenever they want to. The shift in their intake from milk to regular dog food may not be initially easy, and may range up to four or five meals in a single day. This is absolutely normal however. There is no need to be alarmed when you note this type of behavior from your pet. Once the puppy had become used to its new diet, it should be easy to reduce the number of daily feeding number to three instances per day.

When coming up with a feeding schedule for your pet, it is a must to provide food for your pet at regular intervals every day. Pet owners have the prerogative to choose during what time they will give food. What is important is that a regular feeding schedule be established with each day. That is, feeding should be done at the same time every day. Do not vary the feeding times of your pet as it may cause your pets to behave erratically when their hunger catches up with them. Just like human beings, our pets also feel antsy as they anticipate taking their meals, especially when they have grown used to being fed at a particular time.

After establishing regular feeding schedules for your pet, it should make monitoring or keeping track of your pet’s diet easier to do. These fixed feeding times will also help you predict your pet’s daily excretion schedule. By knowing the latter, you will know at what time you should keep your pet outdoors for potty stops.

“WHY do we have to give our dogs these supplements”?

Back then I had thought that  these supplements were nothing but additional expenses and I believe there are some dog owners who
share the same sentiments I had back then.

So today, I want to inform other dog owners WHY these supplements are not just additional expenses but investments
in the health and happiness of our dogs.

Let me explain…

Why Your Dog Needs Supplements

Firstly, you need to realize that not all dog food is created equally.  Many lower quality dog food contains low quality grains, fillers and preservatives.  Also, they often use meat from dead and/or diseased animals that is not safe for human consumption.

Will this kill your dog?  In the short term it usually won’t, but it can lead health problems for your dog further down the road.

Simply put, most dog foods lack enough of the nutrients that are essential to your dogs long term well being.  Yes, they contain enough for your dog to survive, but by no means enough to increase their vitality, lifespan, and fight off disease.

Just like humans, dogs can benefit from supplements for many of the very same reasons we do.

Dogs need a well rounded diet combined with the right amount of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and essential fatty acids in order to prevent illness, disease, and promote longevity.

Deficiencies in these essential nutrients often shows up in poor health, illness and/or behavioral problems, disease, and even premature death.

Many dog owners, in general, only supplement their dogs when an illness (caused by a  vitamin or mineral deficiency) arises.

Though this is better than not supplementing at all, bit bear in mind that you may not see any immediate results if you leave it  until an illness occurs ( even the manufacturers claim otherwise.

It requires time for the supplements to take effect and some owners do not have the patience to see it through.

My advice to any dog owners is to consider a dog supplement for their dogs before an illness strikes.

Prevention is always  better than cure.

Not only will this save you money and headaches in the long run, but your dog will enjoy many more healthy and happy days.

Remember since your dog cannot make their own health decisions, they rely on us to do what is best for them.

Benefits Of Dog Supplements

The benefits of dog supplements are similar to the benefits we humans also experience.  They will ensure your dog receives the additional supplementation the current diet may lack, as well as best prepare the immune system for dealing with common ailments.

The potent antioxidants found in quality dog supplements will help fight off potentially damaging free radicals that can cause irreversible damage at a cellular level when left unchecked.

Other supplements such as Glucosamine and Omega 3 will improve your dogs joint health and decrease the development of arthritis in your dog later in life.

Think of dog food supplements as nutritional “insurance” for your dog.  Since most dogs are not getting all of the nutrients they require from their food supplements will help bridge this gap.

Which Dog Supplements?

Here is a list of the supplements that dog nutrition experts agree to be the most important:

1. Multi-vitamin & Mineral supplement – Essential to your pet’s sense of vitality.  Vitamins are rich in antioxidants which fight free radicals. As you may know, free radicals can cause cancer.  Found in higher quality foods but often not in beneficial amounts.
2. Omega 3 Oil – Helps maintain your dogs cardiovascular health, improves coat.  Becoming increasingly difficult to find in foods both for humans and dogs.  Most humans and pets are deficient.
3. Glucosamine – Maintains joint integrity and decrease risk of arthritis.  Very important for larger dogs or breeds that are prone to hip problems.  Some foods contain this, but in very small amounts.
4. Probiotics – Strengthens the immune system, helping fight off illness before it gets too serious.

I don’t recommend that you purchase supplements form your vet unless you have deep pockets however. Checkout  “The Only Natural Pet Store”, as they have high quality products and the lowest prices I’ve found online.  Be sure to use coupon code CJ15 for 5% off your first order

Please leave a comment below!