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I'm adopting a young sir this weekend (a 2 year old Boston, through a breed rescue). I've been reading up on tons of little things here and there and one thing I want to do is cut down on the dude's dander as much as possible. He doesn't have any strong allergies or skin problems from what I've been told, but I also haven't seen him in person yet. I'm going to be using a curry brush on him for a light brush down every other day or so, but I've been reading about introducing a bit of fish oil into food or buying food with fish oil in it can help. He's eating Blue Buffalo, I think (not sure, he's on a high quality kibble diet but I haven't delved into more specifics than the brand), so he's on pretty good food from what I gather. Any brand or specific types of a brand of kibble people would recommend on reducing dander? Anecdotes? Any other strategies nutritionally that PI peepz can offer that googling just can't produce? McStephenson fucked around with this message at May 15, 2013 around 00:36 |
| # ? May 15, 2013 00:32 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 06:03 |
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I work in a pretty wealthy yuppie area ("purebred" frenchies galore!) So we typically get more people ordering from some company that has never done any nutritional testing because its just made in a garage, or something like that. They're the pet owner equivalent of gluten free dairy free organic moms.
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| # ? May 15, 2013 00:34 |
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McStephenson posted:I'm adopting a young sir this weekend (a 2 year old Boston, through a breed rescue). I've been reading up on tons of little things here and there and one thing I want to do is cut down on the dude's dander as much as possible. He doesn't have any strong allergies or skin problems from what I've been told, but I also haven't seen him in person yet. I'm going to be using a curry brush on him for a light brush down every other day or so, but I've been reading about introducing a bit of fish oil into food or buying food with fish oil in it can help. Generally there's not enough Omega 3's and 6's in even premium quality pet food to make a difference in dander in a dog that is already eating premium quality pet food. I use salmon oil for all three of my guys and my cat and not only are their coats shiny and smooth, the amount of dander and hair in my house has gone down, and they love it.
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| # ? May 15, 2013 01:04 |
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oddeye posted:Generally there's not enough Omega 3's and 6's in even premium quality pet food to make a difference in dander in a dog that is already eating premium quality pet food. I use salmon oil for all three of my guys and my cat and not only are their coats shiny and smooth, the amount of dander and hair in my house has gone down, and they love it. Was it a little dab'll do ya, or do you have a specific amount you give? I don't want to have this boy be the fartiest dog ever to exist or have the grossest shits. also, how big dem dawgz McStephenson fucked around with this message at May 15, 2013 around 01:50 |
| # ? May 15, 2013 01:47 |
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simokon posted:Let's back up for a second - what is the relationship between diet and hairballs, particularly in relation to wet food and/or diet changes? And is it preferable for hairballs to be coughed-up or passed through? I don't think hairballs in cats are all that well understood. Obviously we know that they're collections of undigested hair and mucus/bile/whatever, and the hair is normally passed unobserved through the system - not coughed up. There is debate about whether or not coughing up hairballs should be considered normal, and why some cats seem predisposed toward getting them. There are anecdotal reports on both sides about whether dry food or wet food helps control hairballs, and I think in the end it just comes down to the individual cat. There are a lot of suggestions that are supposed to help with hairballs. You probably already know about them. To my knowledge, none of them are definitively more effective than the rest. The common ones I know of: 1. Brush or comb your cats more often and regularly vacuum/clean anything else they might lick while they're grooming. This won't work as well if the excess hair is coming from overgrooming or some other unusual behavior, so then you'd have to identify that behavior first. 2. Add fiber. High-fiber diets make claims that they reduce hairballs, although I'm not sure how regulated that claim is or how much research has been done to back it up. You can try adding a little bit of canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling, just plain canned pumpkin with no spices) to their diet to add more fiber and see if that helps, but the other side of the argument is that cats don't usually need much plant fiber in their diet. Too much fiber might cause other problems. Your cats may be special. 3. Try a flavored hairball remedy lubricant, often sold by your vet's office or pet stores. Usually these are treats or gels and they are supposed to help the hair pass through. I would personally be wary of doing this without talking to your vet if they're ingesting a lot of hair daily, because a hairball that gets stuck farther down in their system is a big problem. I'm also not sure if these are okay if your cats happen to be on another medication for something else. Hopefully I'm not completely off-base and some of that info helps you. Even though it's shedding season, I wouldn't think it's normal to go from almost 0 hairballs to nightly hairballs because of a diet change 2 months ago. That's why ultimately I think talking to your vet would be a good idea. Maybe that's typical for your area this year and your vet will just think you're silly for asking, or maybe they'd want to do some tests to rule out weirder causes.  Shnooks posted:Edit: Time for my dumb question. My cat is switching to an all-wet diet and we're not feeding him enough for him to maintain his weight. We're giving him Natural Balance Premium Salmon or whatever it's called, and it's calling for 1-1/2 cans of food per day. What I'm trying to do is find a higher calorie wet food so I can go through the food slower :| Any suggestions? If no one else has any good alternatives, you could try supplementing with a little bit of his old kibble (unless for some reason you aren't supposed to feed him that at all anymore) or check out larger cans, like the 6.5 ounce or 12.5 ounce cans from some companies. LoreOfSerpents fucked around with this message at May 15, 2013 around 03:35 |
| # ? May 15, 2013 02:09 |
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McStephenson posted:Was it a little dab'll do ya, or do you have a specific amount you give? I don't want to have this boy be the fartiest dog ever to exist or have the grossest shits. Looking at the bottle, it says to give two full pumps for my border collie, and my border collie/jack russell mix because they are over 25lbs, my other mix is under that so she gets one pump. One pump equals approximately 3.5 ml. It's not a lot and they don't get gassy or loose from that. My cat has been getting a full pump even though it says to only give her half, because she sheds heavily. Over 75lb it says 4 full pumps. You can buy it in volumes ranging from 4oz to a full gallon, with the gallon obviously being cheaper per pump. I buy the 946ml(32oz) bottle of Grizzly Salmon Oil for 39.95(Canadian). I use 6 strokes daily at 3.5ml a stroke. That's 45 days worth of salmon oil, so after taxes (again, Canadian) I pay a dollar a day to keep the shedding down and their coats nice. Also Omega 3s are anti-inflammatory and are great for the heart as well, which I think is important when you have big dogs, or dogs that play high impact sports like mine do.
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| # ? May 15, 2013 15:35 |
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Omega 3s are great things. Just be sure that you're not buying a supplement with too much added Vitamin D. "Some" of the Omega 3 supplements have added Vit D, sometimes enough that it over time can lead to Vitamin D toxicity. It's not too common of a problem, but it's something to keep in mind.
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| # ? May 15, 2013 17:05 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 06:03 |
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There's a new thread over here.
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| # ? May 16, 2013 02:09 |
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