There is a life-threatening digestive condition called “bloat” in which gas builds up rapidly inside a dog’s stomach, causing it to distend like a hard beach ball. If bloat occurs when nobody is around to witness it and get the dog into emergency surgery immediately, it will cause an excruciating death. Bloat occurs most commonly in large, deep-chested dogs — German Shepherds, Dobermann Pinchers, Greyhounds and Weimaraners come to mind, but there are also exceptions to this physical type.

Being someone who adopts rescued Weimaraners, the danger of bloat is never far from my mind — and when I get a dog who attacks his bowl with extreme gusto, I know I have an accident waiting to happen. Although the definitive cause or trigger for bloat has not been definitively proven, it is believed that dogs who gulp food or water and take in air while doing so are most at risk (think of a baby who gets air bubbles in with her bottle and needs to be burped — which happens with some children more than others).

Scooby Doo is the second of my large male Weims who eats like he hasn’t seen food for a week. I had a very large Blue Weimaraner named Billy Blue who was Scooby’s “big brother” for several years that their lives overlapped, and Billy Blue ate food so quickly that more than once I had to improvise a Heimlich maneuver because he inhaled his kibble so fast it could get stuck in his throat and cause him to choke!

Here are a few things I do to mitigate against the jeopardy that Scooby Doo is in at every mealtime and lessen the possibility that he might bloat.

I never let him get too hungry — three smaller meals is better than two large ones, and I give him small snacks between meals (a couple of pieces of Liv-a-Little dried chicken, a piece of apple or cheese).

I use one of the bowls designed to slow dogs down — there is a style that has three plastic columns that rise up out of the bowl and that the dog has to eat around to get the food. I found that style frustrated Scooby Doo and made him try even harder to get the food into his mouth! For him, I thought that design of “slow down” bowl made him more at risk for bloat because of the anxiety it caused him! (Yes, Weims are a very emotional intense breed!) Instead, I found a style of bowl that is divided into three compartments and Scooby Doo is willing to lick his way around to get the food that flows into each section. He gets fed first (or would have a coronary if he didn’t!) and with this bowl he is still working at getting his food long after the other two dogs have finished.

I never let him gulp large quantities of water — and when it is hot and he has been running around and is panting, I do not let him have anything to drink or eat until he has cooled off and his heart rate has gone down. This is something we know from horses: you never water a hot horse or you can end up with a very sick horse from colic, which in extreme cases is the equine equivalent of bloat in dogs.

I never feed him and take off — I stick around for at least half an hour to make sure there is no funny business going on in his tummy.

It is a good investment in your peace of mind to manage a dog who gobbles — especially compared to the fearsome situation of dealing with a bloat emergency.

–Tracie Hotchner

I am an avid listener of Dog Talk® and Humane Talk™, and would like to make a suggestion for a subject I’d love to hear you talk about. I was never really aware how much certain commercial pet food companies actually use rendered pets in their dog and cat food until I read an article on Dog Food Advisor (http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-industry-exposed/dogs-meat-meal/). Not only pet food, but also the other products (like soap and cosmetics) surprised me because these were commercial products I’ve been buying and had no idea.

I was disgusted to learn that when you put your pet to sleep and choose to leave them with the vet (maybe due to not being able to afford to get the ashes or lack of a place to bury), vets often sell the deceased animals to the rendering plants, tags and all. But the scariest part about this is that the Pentobarbital used to euthanize these animals never breaks down. And in 1996 veterinarians began to notice that it was requiring larger amounts of this drug to euthanize animals — the animals fed these foods had in fact, built up a tolerance over their lives! I couldn’t believe that these disgusting pet food companies are not only feeding our pets other pets (awful enough), but the chemicals we use to end their lives! And it has been proven that not even the rendering process can deteriorate pentobarbital. Sadly these companies include the biscuits on supermarket shelves which many people I know who spend tons of money on high quality dog food still give to their dogs. I have to say it’s an awkward conversation to have with your friend when you know what they are giving to their pet and they already think they’ve done everything right.

I would love it if at some point you would address this issue which could help listeners be more aware (as if the other reasons not to feed commercial pet food were reason enough) about this issue, especially the thought of your beloved pet going into commercial dog food when he passes away. Perhaps encouraging people to find out what disposal method their vet uses before they have to make this kind of decision.

I really admire your journalism and your will to spread the word of what is right. As a former vet tech (before switching gears to go to medical school) I always shuddered at the “vet diets” the vet gave out, but had I ever said anything I would have been fired. So I always hoped people could find the information in other ways. I hope you know how indirectly you have influenced the lives of so many animals through your listeners who spread the information to other pet owners.

Thank you for everything you do!

When I read this letter aloud on my Sirius/XM satellite radio show CAT CHAT® last week it was right before my guest for the show — Dr. Annie Forslund, a veterinarian from Tustin California who specializes in home pet euthanasia (www.homepeteuthanasia.com) came on. (You can hear her on DOG TALK® this week discussing end-of-life issues and “when it is time.” She will be coming back on the show soon to share her own knowledge about the presence of companion animals in rendered meat products.)

Even though it was a Sunday my vet came into the office to examine Teddy to make sure he was not in the process of “bloating” or developing pancreatitis and if not, if there was something she could do to alleviate his suffering. It wasn’t until he threw up in the office that I saw what a massive amount of grass he had found under the snow and swallowed, which triggered the vomiting. My vet listened to his stomach and saw that his temperature and heart rate were normal. She determined that the pain he was experiencing was from intestinal gas that was trapped. She gave him a shot for pain and for nausea/vomiting and then recommended that I walk him around to get the gas to move inside. I asked whether I could give him some of the gel caps I had at home for people that break up intestinal gas; she looked up the safety and dosage and said to go ahead and try it. She also said to start him on some food to help move things along in the digestive tract. In fact she said getting some food in Teddy in frequent small portions would be the best remedy. Chicken and rice are always what vets (and my own book) recommend, but it’s usually a mad dash to the supermarket for chicken breast with a drooling sickly dog in the car! I was grateful that I had some shredded roasted chicken meat in the freezer so I rushed Teddy home and boiled some basmati rice, which cooks quickly, and stirred in the chicken. But Teddy would not touch it. I added a little cottage cheese for enticement. No go. I offered just a piece of chicken but he turned his head aside. He was stretching and twisting in pain. I felt so terrible. I knew that if I could get him to eat something it would get that painful gas to start moving inside him. I lifted the lid off the dog biscuit jar (where Liv-a-Little biscuits are kept to reward the dogs for returning from far away ramblings) and Teddy looked up with curiosity in his pain-filled expression. I broke one in half and held it out to him. He took it gingerly between his teeth and chewed uncertainly, as if he wasn’t sure it would go down okay. Then he looked up for the second half. He chewed that one with more confidence. I was so relieved! I offered him one biscuit after another and he kept on accepting them (my other two dogs came around in no time, having heard the biscuit jar lid being removed so I had to give them a few, too, which made the whole evening Christmas morning all over again for them). For Teddy, the Liv-a-Littles must have been like crackers are to a person who feels sick, and boy was I glad I had them to help him feel better. From now on I don’t have to knock myself out to make chicken and rice that doesn’t even appeal to a guy feeling lousy. Now I know I have his own secret remedy right in the biscuit jar! (But I’m also going to start giving him an acid-reducer pill every night before bed just to see if that helps avoid another scary belly event.)

Guess what? The very same issues apply to our dogs, who are anywhere from chubby or plump to outright obese — usually because we over-indulge them with treats and overfill their dinner bowls. Most of us have lost a clear picture of what a healthy dog looks like because most of us have let our pets expand too much. The problem with this is that all of the problems that extra pounds can cause in humans can have even more impact on the quality of your dog’s life, especially if she is a larger dog, say above 50 pounds. Dogs tend to carry extra weigh behind the neck and across their shoulders. The swiftest way to find out the truth about whether your dog is too fat is whether you can grab a handful of flesh behind the collar. Don’t kid yourself that this is “just his skin” because if that handful feels plump and spongy, you’re looking at handfuls of extra fat, attractively concealed beneath your handsome dog’s skin or fur. This weight puts extra pressure on the front legs and can cause joint and tendon problems. Since so many larger dogs get torn ligaments in their hind knees, reducing that extra weight and pressure on the front end will go a long way to reducing the likelihood that your dog will suffer from this debilitating and costly problem of a torn ACL. If she has already torn her ligament and had surgery, reducing her weight will assure you of a better recovery and long-term soundness.

I have suffered the problem of added weight in both my rescued Weimaraners. My big tall Scooby Doo tore his second ACL joint last year and the fantastic orthopedic surgeon Faulkner Besancon (at Upstate Veterinary Specialties in Latham, New York) put him back together. But he also admonished me to take some serious weight off of Scooby. Dr. Besancon grabbed a big fistful of skin behind Scooby’s collar and was able to do the same on his ribcage. He said Scooby’s life depended on me getting off this extra weight, which I had been telling myself was “all dog, just a big dog.” Scooby has such pronounced arthritis in his front knees that the vet said the extra weight would literally be the death of him and at some point would limit Scooby’s ability to walk. He said Scooby needed to lose at least 10% of his body weight (129.5 lbs. at the time).

I took his advice seriously and applied the “high protein low carbohydrate” concept to Scooby’s dinner bowl. For three months I removed all dry food and fed him increased meat (or cottage cheese, eggs, yogurt etc) and vegetables. Let me tell you that it was a revelation because we went WAY beyond 10%. It took six months of steady loss but Scooby was 89.5 lbs. yesterday and feeling fine. He’s back on his portion of Halo Spot’s stew kibble now as part of his two daily meals, and he still gets Liv-a-Little biscuits and freeze-dried chicken and salmon as treats, but I will never overfeed like I had been.

Yesterday I had to take my other enormous Weimaraner to Dr. B. because Teddy has been off-and-on lame on his front leg for over six months. It appears to be a problem with shoulder tendonitis and more tests have to be done, but when Dr. Besancon grabbed a big handful of Teddy behind his collar, and squeezed another handful on the side of his ribcage, I knew Teddy was headed for the high protein diet too. He is now 103 lbs. and my goal is a 10% reduction in his weight to 90-something lbs. I hope you’ll be inspired to do the same for your dog before that extra weight causes health problems.

Of course we could apply the same program to ourselves and wind up pretty satisfied, too! I’m about to make a lunch of cottage cheese and raw vegetables for myself. I want to go on the Doggy Diet too!

But then I came upon a booth for SEER Farms Sanctuary from Jackson, NJ, and discovered a one-of-a-kind temporary home for cats, dogs and other pets. I discovered that this uniquely brilliant facility was created as a safe haven for the dogs and cats of people whose lives were in upheaval but who were determined to save their pets by finding a safe place for them until they could be reunited again. Folks going on military duty, those in financial distress (including home foreclosure), divorce, domestic violence, medical issues — you name it, any of the misfortunes or obligations that can befall people and put their pets in jeopardy, were all welcome at SEER Farms. You can be sure that I showered them with all the Halo treats I had left, knowing they would be put to extremely good use and appreciated not just by the dogs, but by all the volunteers who walk and play with the animals to keep their hearts light until their original families can reclaim them.

Please go to DogTalkTheRadioShow.com to listen to my recent interview with Laura Pople, who heads up SEER Farms, to hear the wonderful story of how many of these pets go back to their families (who pay a sliding scale fee to have them at the Farm) and the growing network of volunteers who come from all over to keep those pets well loved and cared for until their families are ready for them again.

–Tracie Hotchner

[P.S. SEER Farms Sanctuary also benefited from the incredible kindness of Dr. Elsey’s Precious cat litters, who sent a whole truckload of Cat Attract litter to help keep the hundreds of kitties at the Farm using the litter boxes, followed by a second donation of another huge pallet of litter this year. To learn what you might be able to do for SEER Farms (or how to create a similar sanctuary in your own area!) go to www.seerfarms.org.

At one point I got him some Spot’s Chews and he loved them. They were easy on his teeth, while at the same time having a design and ingredients that actually clean the teeth and gums. Furthermore, like everything else that HALO makes, the ingredients were healthy and did the job as described (not like some popular commercial chews that advertise they “freshen breath and clean teeth” when in truth they are made of inferior ingredients like glycerin, wheat gluten, corn products and a ton of chemicals).

However, I ran out of the Spot’s Chews and thought, “Ah what the heck — live dangerously! I’ll let Scooby have another cow hoof. What’s the worst that can happen? They already removed that broken tooth!”

Well I am here to tell you that the worst that could happen was that the cow hoof could break the big chewing tooth on the other side — and that is exactly what happened. However, I didn’t realize it at the time, so who knows how long Scooby was carrying on with a deeply cracked tooth that had to be causing him a lot of discomfort.

It was only when I was at the vet for another of my dog’s teeth that I asked the vet tech to take a quick peek at Scooby Doo, and wouldn’t you know, he had, in fact, cracked another major tooth through and through with that rock-hard cow hoof.

I am a big proponent of pet insurance and Pets Best has saved my life financially many times, but pet insurance does not cover dental! That meant that Scooby was suffering — and had to go through a big dental surgery and healing period — while I had to bite the bullet and pay for another big procedure without the help of insurance.

From now on I’m keeping a stash of Spot’s Chews and pulling one out whenever he has the urge to chew. I think of them as his after-dinner cigar! No more “jaw busters” for us!

–Tracie Hotchner

Low quality or excess amounts of carbohydrates contribute to gassiness. It is normal for a dog to make gas inside the intestines, but in a healthy dog the gas escapes her body unnoticed. The dog’s large intestine is where normal, harmless bacteria break down those parts of the dog’s food that weren’t digested in the stomach and small intestine. This bacterial fermentation naturally produces normal gases like carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane — but can also create hydrogen sulphide, known for its odor of rotting eggs. Your dog may be over-producing this gas as a result of eating an excessive amount of highly processed carbohydrates — which can happen on an all-kibble diet of lower quality dry food made primarily of corn and “food fragments” — the leftover debris after starchy foods are processed for human use.

Two common reasons a dog will produce nasty-smelling ga is from an improper diet or from parasites. Some breeds of dogs are renowned for having their “foot on the gas pedal” — the English Bulldog being the most frequently blamed for emptying a room with a symphony of tooting. You may believe this is one of the less-charming but unavoidable attributes you have to tolerate for love of a breed — yet in many cases all you need to do to achieve an emission-free dog is improve the overall quality of the food.

The first remedy is to switch to a higher quality, more digestible food with low carbohydrate and fiber content. Giving canned food as a third or half of the meal is also important to get your dog’s digestion working odorlessly. Temporarily stop adding fruits, vegetables or other “extras” to the food you choose for your dog, which could make matters worse.

Intestinal parasites are something your dog can pick up from drinking standing water, including puddles, ponds and lakes. The single-cell organisms “giardia” and “coccidia” can be responsible for chronic, malodorous gas; an infestation with roundworm and whipworms is also a possibility. Medical conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatic insufficiency, or even a lack of specific digestive enzymes may also cause a dog to produce excess intestinal gas.

Your first order of business is to improve your dog’s diet by lowering the amount of kibble (even a really good one like HALO) and making up the difference with a good canned food (like Spot’s Stew).

If your dog is still gassy after making those adjustments, you need to consult with your veterinarian to rule out medical issues. However, one way or another you need to treat a “gas-powered” pooch as having a problem you can solve. Your dinner guests will thank you for it!

–Tracie Hotchner

Although the food value of ingredients can be somewhat compromised by the kibbling process, you still want to look for whole foods that went into making that dry food. You want to look for a protein source by its name (lamb, salmon, chicken) and also any whole grain. There is a lot of misunderstanding out there about grains in dry dog food when it is not the grains that are the problem — a “grain free” kibble is not necessarily better nutrition for your dog. You won’t see corn in any quality kibble because it is rarely whole corn that is used in pet food and corn “leftovers” are not nearly as nutrient rich. The worry about grain in dog food usually refers to wheat which can be allergenic. But many pet food companies use the leftovers of grains, the nutrient-depleted parts that are left after the good part has been used for human food. Look for words like oats, oatmeal, barley, millet, and white or brown rice, which are all good because they are easily digested and all good sources of complex carbohydrates, which supply fiber, along with a consistent level of energy.

All of us need to learn to read the label on bagged dog food and be able to recognize all sorts of ingredients to avoid. My favorite saying about dry dog food is: Res Ipsa Loquitor (the thing speaks for itself). You can easily see when a food is made up of many highly processed chemical-laden ingredients — if you aren’t sure, look up the ingredients list in my book THE DOG BIBLE to find the “Ingredients to Avoid.”

Many brands of kibble utilize the protein portion of their recipes from a rendering process, by which a wide variety of very different meat ingredients (some from decidedly unsavory sources which are discussed in THE DOG BIBLE) are reduced down into a kind of Mystery Meat soup through extremely high heat cooking. This is done to kill any bacteria or diseases in the ingredients (since many of those “meats” are actually parts of animals that may have been sick or died before being rendered). This rendered meat concoction is the final product, which can also be used in making kibble. Some original sources of protein for dry dog food are even subjected to irradiation to neutralize the toxic or rotten ingredients, which means at that point they have removed whatever true food value was in those elements to begin with. Then the extruded kibble dough that has been cut into circles or triangles and been baked or fried is sprayed with fat (for flavor) and with man-made versions of the vitamins and minerals that would have been in the ingredients in the first place.

The higher price of HALO is a result of using whole ingredients and never using rendered meats or by-product meat meals. I know I am getting what I paid for — and glad to do it for my dog’s long-lasting health!

People are a little confused about how kibble is made and what goes into it. It’s true that the ingredients in a dog food factory are heavily managed — by frying, boiling or crushing — as part of being turned into a dough that is then made into the small nuggets you find in the bag. Kibble is made by subjecting even good quality ingredients to high heat in order to make the dough, so which then passes through an extruder (like what is used to make pasta if you have ever seen a machine for home use). After it exits the machine and is cut into the appropriate shape, it is baked or fried. All this processing can break down the nutrients in any food but a high quality pet food company has studied how to retain or replace those nutrients — and in some cases, to make them even more digestible and usable by the dog’s body.

Good kibble is perfectly fine as long as it is not the only thing your dog ever eats. People who want to feed their dog the best quality meals and use whole, real food will still continue to use the best kibble they can find as about one-third to one-half of their dog’s dinner. This is especially true of larger, more active dogs who really need those extra calories and quality carbohydrates to feel full and have energy. Dry dog food can satisfy hunger over many hours and supply a nice balance of nutrients, even in their processed state.

If you wish, you can supply a variety of other food (in as unprocessed a form as possible) to complete the meal, in addition to a good kibble. Myself, I like Halo and I rotate amongst the three protein sources in every bag of dry food I buy — chicken, fish or lamb. I round out my dogs’ dinner by also putting in their bowls quality protein (from canned dog food, cottage cheese, eggs or protein I cook for them or myself), real vegetables and even some fruit.

“Oh I don’t feed any dry food,” Jimmy explained. “Buddy will only eat Halo in a can.” “Wowie,” I said, genuinely amazed that he could afford to feed nothing but the Spot’s Stew in a can — as a relatively young guy with a wife (who is also a Sirius/XM radio engineer!!) and the high cost of living in New York. “That’s really nice of you to splurge on him like that.”

“Hey, Buddy’s worth it: nuthin’ but the best for my boy. It’s expensive, but you get what you pay for. Besides, now he’s so spoiled by that delicious Halo food — he won’t touch anything else!”

I guess Jimmy only has me to blame for putting him in this “predicament,” but I really don’t think he minds. “I think of it the way you explain good nutrition on your show: it’s an investment in his long-term health.”

I actually feel humbled that Jimmy trusts my opinion — and the high-quality look and aroma of Spot’s Stew in a can that he can see and smell for himself.

Pet owners believe that the words “crude protein” and the number with a “%” sign next to it (as required by the regulatory body AAFCO) refers to how much animal protein there is in the food. Instead, “crude protein” is actually a chemical analysis of the food whereby the amount of nitrogen present is used to estimate the amount of protein in the food. While nitrogen does come from animal protein, it also comes from non-animal proteins like grains, as well as other non-protein nitrogen (NPN) sources. This obviously creates a gap between what you think you are buying and feeding your dog (especially thinking you are getting a food with a high percentage of animal protein) — and what has actually been used to determine that number.

In addition to this problem, for many dry food manufacturers, “crude protein” includes carcasses and other waste from slaughtered animals and the word “meal” on a pet food bag may indicate the inclusion of such ingredients, along with meat not fit for people. This certainly helps clean up the slaughterhouse floor without having to call the garbage company! Unfortunately, inferior meals can also make a mediocre dog food high in protein — but not high in quality protein.

Since pet food can include a variety of questionable ingredients, and crude protein measurements will always include non-animal protein, I have included some tips on finding a high quality protein dog food:

1. Choose a food that lists real whole meat on the bag as a primary ingredient – chicken, lamb, salmon, etc. — because then you are getting true quality protein, not ingredients used to manipulate the nitrogen levels. The same applies to whole vegetables, whole grains and real fruits — all hallmarks of a higher quality nutrition source.
2. Read the entire label and make sure you understand all of the ingredients. Keep in mind that melamine was added to pet food as a non-protein nitrogen source to increase the protein content of pet foods.
3. Call the pet food company and ask about their protein or any of the ingredients you have questions about. A company should have a well-trained customer service staff as well as a veterinarian or nutritionist that can answer your questions.

Personally, I choose HALO! They oversee their ingredient sources and other environmental variables and promptly answer phone calls from interested customers. I believe Halo kibble is a great foundation for the quality dry portion of your dog’s nutrition.