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Kate Bendix - Taking Itch Out Of Your Bitch
Pimp Your Pet's Food For Better Health (and save yourself a bomb into the bargain!)
by Kate Bendix
Answer yourself these two questions: If you could treat what ails your dog yourself, without stressful and expensive trips to the vet, would you? And would you like to wean your pet off repeated courses of antibiotics and steroids, if it appears they aren’t solving the problem anyway?
I’m guessing the answer is a big fat yes. And the simple answer is you can.
Pick a problem - fleas, worms, poor mobility, itchy skin, allergies, poor digestion, nutritional deprivation or recovery from illness (delete as appropriate.) For all these common problems there is a high quality supplement, and I cannot stress the high quality aspect enough, you can add to your pet’s food to treat it. It won’t cost you the earth, and what’s more they do work rather well!
I highly recommend that you get your dog checked out with a vet before using supplements to make sure there’s no underlying problem. For instance, you mustn’t use Plaque Off to keep their teeth clean if your pet has hyperthyroidism, too much iodine, so worth asking the question. At least two of the supplements I recommend were devised by vets but that’s no substitute for an individual check up on your own dog or cat before adding a supplement to their diet.
Why should I feed my dog supplements?
Because it’s a win win. You can stave off painful and debilitating conditions by introducing them into your pet’s diet. By pimping your pet’s food with a £13 bottle of cold pressed salmon and flaxseed oil your dog’s itching is significantly reduced, you’re a £100 better off in vet trips and steroids and you’ve treated the problem, not the symptom.
By mixing Billy No Mates (I kid you not) herbal flea, tick and mite repellent into their food every morning your dog or cat remains flea free, and because the ingredients are seaweed, neem, lemon balm, fenugreek and mint, fleas aren’t building up a resistance to Billy No Mates unlike their pharmaceutical counterparts, so it always works.
A year’s supply of Billy No Mates for a medium sized dog is £52 compared to nearly £90 for a leading brand of spot on flea treatment. Not only that, but both these products make fur so glossy you’ll be putting them up for L’Oreal ads!
What about the Pilchards?
Ah! I hear you say, but I give my dog a tin of pilchards in oil, why isn’t that good enough? And my answer will always be ‘remember high quality?’ The oil in a tin of fish will be poor quality to begin with and heated to such a high temperature in the tin, during the cooking process, there will be nutritional little value left in it to benefit anyone. As with most things you certainly get what you pay for with supplements.
When should you feed supplements?
Supplements treat the problem, not the symptom. So you only feed it when they need it, unless you’re talking about regular parasite control. As a for instance, if your dog is recovering from illness or long term medication then a pot of Resist, an Echinacea blend, is probably all you need to get them back up to full mischief mode. Essentially, trust your judgement. If your dog is alert and eating and drinking but itching and scratching, or is starting to stiffen up a bit with age or due to injury, try a supplement.
What if the dog won’t eat it?
Most supplements are pretty palatable. Yumove is the only supplement to contain glucosamine, chondroitin and green lipped mussel extract, but because there’s liver in it too that’s what the dog loves.
When Yumove was launched around 18 months ago owners noticed such an improvement in their dogs’ mobility they wanted the benefits for themselves and started taking it too. I’ve had them, they don’t taste of much to me but thankfully there’s a human version out now, sans liver powder, called Imove. I heartily recommend it.
One customer mixes the Billy No Mates with probiotic yoghurt and banana for breakfast. So she’s giving her dog’s digestion a boost too. Another lady has a pug who refuses to eat his breakfast unless it’s sprinkled on, she’s convinced he thinks it’s seasoning!
So to recap, the benefits of using supplements are these:
• Money saving
• Effective
• No known resistance build up
• East to treat the dog without suspicion or losing an arm
• Everyone stays calm
• Can be used alongside prescribed medicines
• No repeated vet visits required
• Hopefully you can get them off long term steroids and antibiotics because you’re treating the condition, not the symptom
Click 'Natural Dog Health Remedies' for a directory of suppliers
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