• Other Issues

November 2011

Whole Dog Journal's 2011 Canned Dog Food Review

Subscribers Only Wet dog food is much more “natural” for dogs to eat than dry kibble. Its moisture content is closer to that of meats, eggs, fruits, and vegetables – the sort of things that canines have eaten for the tens of thousands of years before commercial dog foods were invented. Wet foods usually contain more animal protein – the optimum base of a carnivore’s diet – than even very high-quality dry foods. Even the varieties that are formulated with grain – not at all what dogs have eaten as they evolved – contain far less grain than dry foods.

Training Proper Barking Behavior to Multiple Dogs at the Same Time

Subscribers Only It’s feeding time at the Miller household. All is calm until I pick up Scooter’s bowl to carry it to the laundry room where the little Pomeranian can eat without harassment from the larger dogs. As I lift the bowl from the counter, Scooter erupts with high-pitched barking and spinning, and Lucy the Corgi joins in with her deeper-but-still-sufficiently irritating vocals. It’s more of an annoying bit of ritual than a dangerous or disturbing one, but it’s annoying just the same, and one that would be nice to extinguish.

What to Do When Your Dog Hates His Crate

Properly used, the crate is a marvelous training and management tool. Improperly used, it can be a disaster. Overcrating, traumatic, or stimulating experiences while crated, improper introduction to the crate, and isolation or separation anxieties are the primary causes of crating disasters. If, for whatever reason, your dog is not a fan of the artificial den you’ve provided for him, and assuming he can’t be trusted home alone uncrated, here are some things you can do...

Diagnosing Cushing's in Dogs

Subscribers Only Sometimes life-threatening illnesses develop so slowly that no one pays much attention. An older dog who’s always thirsty drinks huge quantities of water. He’s hungrier than usual and has developed a thin coat and pot belly. He pants all the time, and now his hind legs are losing muscle tone and getting weak. Many owners dismiss these as normal signs of aging, but they are classic symptoms of Cushing’s disease, which affects an estimated 100,000 dogs in the U.S. every year.

Iatrogenic and Pseudo-Cushing’s

Subscribers Only A very small percentage of Cushing’s cases result from medical treatments for other conditions, such as the use of prednisone or other corticosteroid medications to control allergies, arthritis, or autoimmune conditions. This is called “iatrogenic” (doctor-caused) Cushing’s. In these cases, the Cushing’s is treated by gradual discontinuation of the corticosteroid drugs (if the drugs are withdrawn too quickly, an Addisonian crisis can result). Patients can take as long as three months to recover after corticosteroid drugs are stopped.

Diagosing Atypical Cushing’s

Subscribers Only What if your dog has all the symptoms of Cushing’s – excessive drinking, urination, and appetite; pot belly; skin problems; elevated alkaline phosphatase; etc. – but the tests say no? Veterinary endocrinologists at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (UTK) have been investigating this phenomenon. They found that many dogs have elevated steroid intermediates (also called steroid precursors or “sex steroids”) with normal cortisol. They call this condition “atypical Cushing’s disease,” or “adrenal hyperplasia-like syndrome.” It has been suggested that cases of atypical Cushing’s disease may be caused by a problem in the steroid production pathway.

Complementary Care for Dogs with Cushing’s

Subscribers Only Because the diagnosis and treatment of Cushing’s disease can be confusing, expensive, and fraught with adverse side effects, many caregivers turn to alternative or complementary therapies. For those who prefer treatments that have been proven in double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials, unconventional therapies are themselves fraught with peril. Product testimonials and anecdotal reports don’t prove anything, and by turning first to an herbal preparation or glandular extract, one might deny the patient an opportunity for effective treatment.

Pet Food Peeve

A recent headline for an article on petfoodindustry.com read, “Thank goodness for the humanization of pets.” The article discussed how industry sales data and recent surveys of pet owners suggest that pet foods that are made to appeal to human appetites are responsible for most of the growth in the industry.