The most incredible thing about dogs is their ability to love and care for those in need.
Debby Cantlon, who plans to release Finnegan, the young squirrel, back into the wild, bottle-fed the infant squirrel after it was brought to her house.
When Cantlon took in the tiny creature and began caring for him, she found herself with an unlikely nurse’s aide: her pregnant Papillion, Mademoiselle Giselle.
Finnegan was resting in a nest in a cage just days before Giselle was due to deliver her puppies.
Cantlon and her husband watched as the dog dragged the squirrel’s cage twice to her own bedside before she gave birth.
Cantlon was concerned, yet ultimately decided to allow the squirrel out and the inter-species bonding began.
Finnegan rides a puppy mosh pit of sorts, burrowing in for warmth after feeding, eventually working his way beneath his new litter mates.
Two days after giving birth, mama dog Giselle allowed Finnegan to nurse; family photos and a videotape show her encouraging him to suckle alongside her litter of five pups.
Now, Finnegan mostly uses a bottle, but still snuggles with his ’siblings’ in a mosh pit of puppies, rolling atop their bodies, and sinking in deeply for a nap.
Finnegan and his new litter mates, five Papillion puppies, get along together as if they were meant to.
Finnegan naps after feeding.
Finnegan makes himself at home with his new litter mates, nuzzling nose-to-nose for a nap after feeding.
The love of a dog is limitless. Truly man’s [and animal's] best friend.
“He has a skin problem; itchy, flaky, like cerises. Smells and loosing hair, the vet gave me medicated shampoo, and said he had mites, so a bath once a week in miteicide shampoo and after spray. This seemed to make him itch more. I did this for a month. I have been adding salmon oil and garlic olive oil to his food. I even tried tea tree oil and diluted it to brush him out. He is somewhat better. I know he needs a good diet, I tried to choose the ones with high fish & protein, he was on one for 2 months, and then they were out of stock so back to PC brand. This has been going on for over 6 months. He is still suffering and scratching, especially his elbows and neck. The breeder recommended Orijen dog food, but it is sold in the states, we are in Canada.”
Answer:
“The most important thing to do in this case is to make sure the mites are gone. This can only be done through your veterinarian. Mites are very difficult to treat and can take weeks to months to treat them successfully. The skin will never be normal if the mites are still there, so this needs to be addressed first.
“Using the right diet or supplements or topicals, when there are mites present will never result in long term success. The mites need to be treated repeatedly over many weeks to months. Once the dog is successfully mite-free, then diet and supplements can be used to restore the skin and coat back to health. The Orijen brand food you mention is a great choice and is made in Canada, so with a little research, you should be able to get it there. Their website is www.championpetfoods.com for more information.
Good luck with the mite treatment – it is challenging but hang in there!”
Name: Melodie Elston Pets’ species and breed: husky/lab Pets’ age and weight: not quite 2-47 lbs Pets health status: diagnosed with histoplasmosis Are they spayed or neutered? Yes Brand of food: science diet-z/d Animal owned for: 1 1/2 years
“Nala has been diagnosed with histoplasmosis in the GI tract. My vet says this is rare but she has bloody diarrhea and has had for about a month now. She seems to feel ok but I am so worried about her. She has just started taking itraconazole today. They tell me this is not a guarantee but I was wondering if I gave her a better diet with supplements if she would be able to fight it better. What would you suggest for her at this time? Please help.”
Melodie
The Answer:
“While a quality diet is always important in obtaining optimum health, during times of illness it is harder to switch the diet. The body is already busy battling the illness and now you change the diet and give it more work to do. Changing a diet should always been done slowly but going from a prescription diet to an all-natural diet may require some supplements just to help them properly digest the food.
So, in this complicated case, please contact your local holistic veterinarian for complete assistance is making this a successful switch.”
“I”m a loyal customer, and one of the reasons is that you seem to really care about keeping on top of the pet food field. One of my 4mo old puppies (frenchie) was just diagnosed with Megaesophagus – which is a bad thing. His is not bad, but I want to keep it that way. My vet suggested I feed him a “slurry”, which is food that is wet, pulverized, water down, etc. Anyway, if you happen to hear about a wet food that might be better for a puppy with this condition, please email me. Supposedly raw is out, and high protein is not advised because of high-bacteria count in the former, and harder digestibility of the latter.”
Answer:
“I don’t have any recommendations for a commercial food to feed to a 4 week old puppy, as they are all processed. I don’t agree with the high bacteria count and difficulty digesting protein as a reason not to feed raw dog food. Yes, meats do have a higher bacterial count than vegetables…which is why humans become chronically ill when eating meat and dairy, but a carnivore’s digestive tract is much more acidic. You can make a baby food consistency slurry out of raw or partially cooked meat and the puppy should do just fine. I would definitely add food enzymes – possibly even pre-digest the food with enzymes first, even before giving it to the puppy. Hope that helps.”
Have you ever seen an owner ask their dog a simple math question have the dog bark out the answer?
It’s not all that hard to learn. If your dog knows how to SPEAK and STOP on command, you should be able to teach them this trick!
The trick is to use a barely noticeable gesture, such as a head nod, to let them know when to start and stop barking.
When you first begin to teach your pet this trick, start with exaggerated gestures [a DEEP head bow] and combine that with your command for SPEAK and STOP.
Gradually you can minimize your gesture and stop using the verbal cammand all together.
Many of you may have already seen this, but no matter how many times I see it, this dog still amazes me.
This dog was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002. He was born with 3 legs – 2 healthy hind legs and 1 abnormal front leg which needed to be amputated. He of course could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not want him.
His first owner also did not think that he can survive. Therefore, he was thinking of ‘putting him to sleep’. By this time, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met him and wanted to take care of him. She is determined to teach and train this dog to walk by himself. Therefore she named him ‘Faith’.
In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfing board to let him feel the movements. Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and reward for him to stand up and jump around. Even the other dog at home also helped to encourage him to walk. Amazingly, only after 6 months, like a miracle, Faith learned to balance on his 2 hind legs and jumped to move forward. After further training in the snow, he now can walk like a human being.
Faith loves to walk around now. No matter where he goes, he just attracts all the people around him. He is now becoming famous on the international scene. He has appeared on various newspapers and TV shows.
There is even one book entitled ‘With a little faith’ being published about him. He was even considered to appear in one of Harry Potter movies. His present owner Jude Stringfellew has given up her teaching post and plans to take him around the world to preach that ‘even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul’.
“Hi, my dog loves to eat and seems to never get enough; so I feed him 1 cup of dry dog food in the morning and evening with 1 1/2 cups of steamed green beans each feeding. Within the last 3 months he seems to not to have a lot of energy to play. I was wanting to change dog foods but don’t want him to gain any weight. Could you suggest a low calorie dry dog food? And do you think I should feed him more than 2 cups total a day. Many of the brands say to feed a dog this size 4 to 5 cups of dry food a day but when I do he seems to gain weight. My dog Cort is trained for the hearing impaired, I got him when he was 2 years old from Caine Champions in CA and they said to feed him Eukanuba dry food. We do not feed him any treats except for doggie popcorn low calorie, dry chicken jerky and 2 times a week pork rawhide bone. We do not feed him any people food. About 3 to 4 times a week we go on a 45 minute to 1 hour hike in the mountains. The other 3-4 days he stays in the office with me, my husband and I are age 55 & 63. Do you have any suggestions on how to keep him more active without atrenning us? I appreciate any help you can give me.”
~Sara Childre
The Answer:
This question brings up a number of “myths” in the nutrition field, both human and animal. First of all, we are feeding a carnivore here. This means “meat-eater” and the main part of the diet should be meat (protein). However, in most commercial pet foods, the manufacturers cut corners and put far too much grain/carb/sugar sources in the diet (hence the weight control issue in most pets).
There aren’t great regulations on pet foods so they can get away with this, at the expense of our pets. Also, our pets are left feeling unsatisfied and still hungry at the end of the meal.
Secondly, dogs are scavengers and will eat whenever the next meal presents itself. So, feeding based on hunger level is never a good idea. They will generally always seem hungry (especially Labs and Golden Retrievers). They should feel satisfied right after the meal, however.
Third, calories are NOT the issue. Appropriate amounts of proteins, versus carbs (sugars) versus fats will control weight. The amount of calories in the wrong form (sugar) will only amount to a weight gain. Most ALL treats are SUGAR based (especially the ones that you mention) and only compound the problem of too much sugar in the dog food.
This could actually turn into a 60 page answer so I am going to leave you with a couple resources at the end for more info. But, the bottom line for your pet is to SLOWLY switch to a clean, natural, properly formulated product like Nature’s Variety or Orijen, for example. The proper balance of nutrients will result in optimum weight without “cutting calories” or sacrificing. As for the treats – toss everything you have and reach towards carrots, broccoli, turkey or chicken chunks, eggs (boiled) or other fresh veggies or meat sources. Be sure to give small amounts at first so as to not upset the stomach. After 6 months, re-evaluate the weight and if you are not making any progress, please have the thyroid levels checked.
