When I make a cup of tea, or pour a bowl of cereal for breakfast, my dog looks at me expectantly. He knows that I’ll give him some milk. But milk has, of course, got fats in it. So it isn’t going to make him any slimmer.
As a result, I’ve changed to fat-free milk, and that’s what my dog gets too.
I never thought I could make the move – after all a nice cup of tea is one of life’s little pleasures. But as one of my children said, you can get used to it.
I have to add more milk to my tea, because fat-free doesn’t taste as milky. But since it’s fat-free, it doesn’t matter.
As for my dog Clifford, he doesn’t seem to have noticed any difference. And he still asks for it. So, over his lifetime I’ve cut out a whole lot of fats, which can only be good.
NOTE: Some dogs are lactose intolerant, and in some dogs milk can irritate the stomach and cause diarrhoea. So if you’re concerned, check it out with your vet, and only give your dog a small amount.
Meg, a one year old black Labrador, had a lucky escape last week after eating a 1kg bag of raisins. According to the Wells Journal, Meg had got into the kitchen cupboard and had eaten the raisins.
Meg’s owner, Di Harris, rang the vet because, unlike most people, she knew that raisins were poisonous to dogs.
Lou Brooker, veterinary surgeon at Axe Valley Vets, who treated Meg said, “It was lucky for Meg that her owner was well informed because raisins and grapes are potentially lethal for dogs, causing acute kidney failure.
“The problem is that although we know that raisins are toxic, we cannot be certain what quantities need to be consumed to be dangerous.”
When the vet examined Meg, she decided that they needed to treat her quickly. Ms. Brooker injected her with a substance to make her vomit.
Raisins are quite slowly ingested, and as they knew more or less when she had eaten them, they were fairly confident that they had not entered her blood stream.
“To be on the safe side, afterwards we put her on a drip with a high dose of fluids to flush out her kidneys and minimise any long term damage,” said Lou Brooker.
Meg was kept in overnight, and appeared to have recovered fully the next day, but she is still being monitored for any long term effects.
Now I never knew that raisins and grapes were posonous to dogs. It just goes to show – you learn something new every day.
I visited nine stores in the Warwick area yesterday. You get the impression that the garden centres are doing well with dog food. They have the car parking and the space to stock. Plus it’s a pleasant day out for people. The town centre pet shops, by contrast, are finding it harder. One store I visited was closing: they couldn’t sell pet products any more. It’s not surprising with two Pets at Home stores close by, and garden centres selling more dog food.
Specialist pet shops have to work hard to keep their customers. Providing the customer with reasons to visit is essential. I have some ideas on this which I’ll talk about when my plans are further advanced.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Some town centre pet stores do very well, and you can feel the buzz when you arrive.
Many people think you judge a dog’s weight by weighing it. Actually, that’s not so. Weighing a dog tells you very little. It merely provides a benchmark – so that when you weigh the dog a fortnight later you can see if the dog is gaining or losing weight.
Yesterday we were filming our local vet assessing five dogs for weight. This was for a DVD that shows owners how to judge whether their dog is overweight.
Now the only way to tell if a dog is overweight is by doing what vets call ‘condition scoring’. That means looking to see if:
1. He has a waist when viewed from above.
2. He has a ‘tuck when viewed from the side.
3. You can feel his ribs, but not see them.
If none of the three apply, your dog is overweight. Try it yourself. On your dog, I meant. It’s like humans. You know if you’re putting on weight by the presence of ‘love handles’, or if your belt is on an extra notch.
I was trying to borrow some overweight dogs today. Why? For a DVD I’m making that will teach dog owners how to recognise if their dog is a bit porky.
But I’ve had great difficulty persuading dog owners to turn up. Admittedly, I didn’t go out into the streets and accost people. Though I might still do that if I don’t find enough dogs. No, a rescue shelter didn’t want to help in case the former owner recognised their dog. Huh? If they gave up their dog, and it was overweight, why would we worry about the remote possibility that they’d spot the dog on a DVD?
Then there was someone’s mother in law who started a rant about her dog not being overweight.
I popped into a pet shop on Saturday to talk to the owners. Lying in front of the counter was an overweight dog. It seems remarkable to me that even pet shop owners have obese dogs. How can we expect the general public to manage their dogs’ weight when even the trade’s animals are fat?
On the other hand, the pet shop has lovely people, and they adore their dog. So you can’t be too cross about it.
Formula K is Britain’s first weight-loss dog food. In this blog, I hope to share some of our experiences of launching a little new product in a sea of mighty brands owned by Mars, Colgate and Nestle.
More importantly I’d like to help people understand the importance of keeping their dog’s weight down.
