Happy Doggies Make Happy Humans

Compassionate Action

By Simon Davidson

This is an update of my previous post, Abandoning Your Dog.

I'm happy to see the compassionate and generous ways people are responding to these difficult economic times.

Compassionate action is being taken by the Wake County SPCA in North Carolina, with its response to a dramatic 30% increase in the number of cats and dogs left at their shelter.

Emotions can be high as pet owners reach the wrenching decision to leave their companion animals in the care of others. Many people tell the SPCA they have lost a job. Or they've lost their home, and are moving to an apartment that doesn't allow pets.

These distraught people offer their stories. They cannot afford the vet bills, or they cannot even afford to feed their beloved dog or cat. With the estimated annual cost of a pet approaching $1000, this is very understandable. Many of these people are living on extremely tight budgets.

In response, the Wake SPCA recently started a Pet Food Pantry, assisting people trying to keep their pets. The SPCA asked for donations of high quality pet food for the Pantry to distribute.

The SPCA Pet Food Pantry opened last Saturday and was a huge success. Hundreds of dogs and cats each received a month's supply of food.

Added to that good news, is that today the Wake SPCA has a notice on its website that they received so much donated food that their storage capacity has been reached--they cannot accept any more food donations (monetary donations are always appreciated.)

My heart is warmed by this active compassion and open generosity.

This is an update of my previous post, Abandoning Your Dog.

Adventures in Dog Food

from MShades

Krystal and I have been on a dog food adventure lately. As often happens with these kinds of adventures, there's been more confusion than fun.

Krystal has a tender digestive system, which has been ably taken care of over the last year by her wonderful vet.  A major element of that care includes a "low residue" food, which is easy for Krystal to digest. Once Krystal started eating this food, life improved significantly.

There's an interesting industry practice in the US veterinary universe whereby these types of special foods (low residue, urinary etc) are only available for purchase from vets by prescription. It appears that this is one way the pet food companies support the vets--by giving the vets unique products to sell that are not competitively available at PetSmart or on the web.

We've spent the last month dealing with this particular issue.

A little over a month ago, it was time to buy more food. I went to the vet's office to pick up a new 30 lb. bag, and was informed that in the time since my previous purchase the vet had changed food providers.

This meant I was no longer able to feed Krystal the low residue food she had been thriving on. We'll call this Food #1.

Because her food is only sold by prescription, I now had to purchase Food #2. I was assured there would be no difficulty transferring Krystal onto this new food. With reservations, I purchased Food #2.

For several days I presented her with a half-and-half mixture of both foods. Krystal gobbled down Food #2. For a dog on a restricted diet, new food was like manna from heaven.

Within 48 hours Krystal was a bundle of new energy. While she previously sat in my lap all day while I worked on the computer, she now was jumping up and down all day long and moving throughout the house at a brisker pace. She was increasingly distractible.

I mis-interpreted this as an energy burst that came from the new food--probably she was able to digest the food better, and was truly receiving more nutrients that with Food #1. I figured her metabolism would sort itself out.

At the end of the third week, with an increasingly distractible dog who barely visited my lap during the work day and who was doing her Terrier best to test several well established house rules, I was lonely and confused. To be honest, I had lost the connection between Food #2 and her changing behavior.

It wasn't until Krystal got car sick for the 4th time that I started making connections. She's always loved car rides, and has always been glad to accompany me on errands and take walks outside our neighborhood. Getting car sick just wasn't in her repertoire.

While I was cleaning out her travel crate it dawned on me--Food #2 had brought a lot of changes, and throwing up in the car was only one of them.

What to do?

1. Go find Food #1.
2. Once Krystal was back on Food #1, watch her behavior carefully.
   
   1. IF she returns to her previously lovable self, then there would be happiness and joy for all of us.
   2. IF her new behavior continues, we would go to the vet and see what's causing this behavior change.

Thankfully, my neighbor's daughter has a white boxer, Annabelle, who was being fed Food #1. I went to her vet and purchased Food #1. (FYI, Annabelle's vet had to call Krystal's vet to confirm there was a valid prescription.)

The results are amazing. Within 24 hours of returning to Food #1, Krystal was moving out of her distractible-ness. It was wonderful. My sweet lovable dog was returning to her former self. Over the next week she sat in my lap for increasing amounts of time, remembering it was her favorite perch. She began to behave much better on our walks. And, it was clear she was enjoying herself much more. We could play games and walk through the park. Her former glee was finding it's way back into her emotional repertoire.

One of the things we've learned over the last few years is how little understanding there is about:

1. The ingredients in dog food.
2. The actual nutritional needs of dogs.
   

We also need to add to our lack of understanding, how much the ingredients in dog food can affect a dog's behavior. Perhaps when a dog is misbehaving or has difficulty being trained, a change in food might be in order?

I would love to hear your observations and stories on the relationship between dog foods and their behaviors.