As much as we worry if we’re doing the best for our dogs, any veterinarian can tell you that many of the problems they see are accidents, predictable and completely preventable., Around any holiday, that’s even more true, when people get busy, routines get changed and visitors come to call. All the changes put both people and dogs at higher risk of accident or illness.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that five simple steps will keep most pets from being hurt – and potentially hurting others.
1. Don’t knock Grandma down. One of my dogs, an agile and athletic young retriever, used to body-slam me for fun. She’d run up alongside me as I walked out to feed the horses, launch herself vertically, slam her body against mine in mid-air then race away with her tongue. lolling and a big grin on her face. Her greetings for guests were a little more restrained, but not much.
My mother is almost 80 years old and walks with a cane. Bouncy big dog, unsteady senior citizen: Now that’s a bad combination. I changed the pasture game to “fetch the flymasks,” giving my high-energy dog a job that fits her natural instincts (retrieving) and her natural drive (powerful). Inside, the alternative to her ill-mannered greetings became fetching a toy, sitting, and waiting to present it. Other dogs might do well when taught to “place” on a mat away from the door when guests arrive.
2. Watch for potential poisoning. The biggest problem at this time of year may be guests who assume pets will leave pill bottles alone, and set their medications on nightstands in their rooms. Common drugs, including those for humans and animals, prescription and over-the-counter, poison thousands of pets every year. Remind your guests to keep medications in drawers or behind pet-proof cabinet doors. Make sure purses and backpacks are out of reach, too; those medications and Xylitol-sweetened candies, mints, and gums tucked into carry-ons and other luggage can tempt even a well-mannered pet.
Other poisons to look out for are mistletoe and holly (poinsettia’s lethal reputation is an urban myth). Plain old garbage can mean a trip to the ER if your pet gets into it, too. Put leftover-rich garbage up or take it out.
3. Be ready for escapes. Your dog should wear an ID tag with your current home and/or cell number on it – and a microchip that’s registered, with current information. Yes, you can (and should) train your dog to wait at the door for your permission to go through it; that has prevented many a dog from being hit by a car. For now, though, crates and gates are your dog’s best friends when company comes calling. If your dog slips out despite your best intentions, don’t run after him. Run the other way to get him to chase you, then kneel and open your arms wide and encourage him to come to you. If you can get him close but not quite close enough to catch, don’t order him to “come” – especially if you’re pretty sure he won’t. Instead, say “sit.” Most dogs know “sit” far better and will be more likely to comply. Then make “train my dog” one of your New Year’s Resolutions.
4. Anticipate and prevent resource-guarding. If your dog is anxious around his dish, it’s not a bad idea to pick a more quiet, less-traveled place to feed him than the kitchen while company is in the house. Pick up and put away toys as well. And while you can ask the two-legged guests to give your dog respect and space, things are a little trickier with canine company. If you have any doubts whatsoever about your dog’s ability to handle other animals in his own home, don’t allow guests to bring their dogs along. Speak up for your dog!
5. Know where to get help. All-night emergency veterinary practices are common in big cities, but rare in small towns – unless yours is a college town with a veterinary school. In lieu of an emergency care practice, your veterinarian may share on-call duties, or handle them herself; be sure to ask now. When traveling, bookmark a veterinary-locator site on your laptop, or buy an app for your smartphone that will find the nearest 24/7 veterinarian. Better to know and not need the information than to need the information and not have it. But the fact is you probably won’t need an ER if you make sure to reduce the risk of danger to pets and people. A few simple precautions will make sure your holidays stay happy.
A resident of Northern California, Gina Spadafori is a syndicated pet-care columnist and the author of more than dozen books on animals and their care.
Sunday evening there is a knock at my door. It’s the neighbor across the street and a glance out the window shows that she is disheveled and crying. When I open the door, she bursts into fresh tears. Her dog has died, in front of the whole family eating their dinner. Poor woman is crumbling and weeps, “I don’t know what to do”.
I take her by the hand and say let’s go home and take care of things. I lead her to her house and see yes, the dog is indeed dead there on the floor of the silent, seemingly deserted house. Yellow haired Lab-mix, she has peed a bit in her dying. She is stiffening but still warm.
Where are your children, I ask. She has sent them to their room. I sigh. Here is my task. I look her in the eye. Get them. She hesitates. Get them, this is sad, but not horrifying. This is a lesson for them about death. Keeping them away will make them more afraid. Let them say goodbye to her.
She ushers three small boys into the room where their dog is now cooling on the tile floor. 6, almost 4, and 2 1/2, blondes that will turn brown haired as they grow. Mom sobs something like Trinity has died, we need to say goodbye to her. 2 says Bye Bye Trinity. 6 says nothing, holding himself together bravely. He is the only child who really knows what is going on. Almost 4 says, Is she with Jesus? Yes! I turn to middle boy, grasping at the first clue on how this family needs to handle this. Trinity is with Jesus now. Her spirit is, she is done with this body now, and we need to make it ready for her funeral.
Where is your husband? He is calling around seeing where a cremation can be affordable on a Sunday afternoon. The dog is leaking gas and I know she will poop soon. Get him, we need to wrap her in a blanket. Middle boy says, She peed! Woman crumbles again and hurries out of the room leaving me with her kids and her dead dog. I know her husband does not like this dog, he has said so more than once. I also know this is her dog, about 3 years older than her first child, both from her first marriage.
I have a moment to look around the home, noting crosses and plaques with bible verses. Me, in this so obviously Christian home alone with a stranger’s kids looking at death for their first time. The parents are useless in her grief and his irritation. Yes, I tell middle boy, she has peed and she might poop soon. Middle and little giggle, oldest still stoically trying to not cry. When our spirit leaves our body we don’t need our body anymore and so it forgets what it knows and it can make a mess.
Husband arrives with a blanket and we get the dog on it and wrapped just in time. Middle and little follow Dad down the hall and into a room. Oldest stays with me. No. Oldest stays with his dead dog. I start to cover her head and he sets a gentle hand on mine, stopping me. I nod. I remove her collar and hand it to him. This is for you to keep. Your parents are going to take her to the vet to prepare her body. Let’s go see what they have found out. I take him by the hand and lead him down the hallway.
Husband is googling dog cremations, getting hits for the human funeral homes that also do pets at truly phenomenal fees. Call your vet, I tell him. He tells his wife to call, she gets a recording. I give him the name of the weekend and evening vet to search. Oldest sits on the bed beside the computer desk. No one seems to notice the great struggle he is having controlling his face. I give Husband a significant look and nod toward the child. He gives the boy a manly hug, boy bursts into tears. Husband lets go and goes back to googling. Boy sits back down on the bed and renews his struggle with his face.
Husband asks if $180 is a good deal on cremation. It is, so he tells his wife to call that number. Woman calls and starts sobbing so hard she cannot speak. I take the phone and handle that part, too.
We are all crammed into a small bedroom/office, the youngest kids running in and out with toys. I sit on the bed next to the oldest, who is still trying to control his face but leaking tears and snot. I see the youngest two run into the family room, where the dead dog is partially wrapped in the blanket. No one else seems to notice, so I follow them. They are very curious about Trinity’s situation. I call Husband to us, we need to finish wrapping her and get her in the car. I finish the wrap while Mom sobs, oldest attempts his leaky stoicism, middle and youngest run off to play some more. Husband is mentally tapping his foot. He moves Trinity to the car. By this point I’m getting really irritated with him. All that is left to do is the driving, so I hug the Woman and go home.
The next day after work she is at my door again, looking her usual pretty self. She thanks me for helping and tells me what happened at the vet. She invites me to the dog’s funeral Saturday. Of course I will be there. She says she is so grateful I took charge. I smile, and tell her I was grasping for some direction until her middle boy said is Trinity with Jesus now. Then I knew to take the Christian route. She looks puzzled. I tell her, Oh, I’m not Christian, I’m pagan. She says, but that was such a Christian thing to do! I smile and hug her and say, yes, but being nice and helping neighbors predates Christianity by a long time. I tell her I am honored to be invited to the funeral. Her face sort of falls and freezes, then she smiles a sad smile, says thank you again and goes home. I say let me know what time. She lifts the corners of her lips and waves her fingers, turning for home.
Well damn, Cyn, open mouth, insert foot.
Saturday comes and goes. I did not go ask what time they have their ceremony, I know I have been uninvited. Poor Trinity. Poor Oldest Boy who loves her. Poor Woman who accepts the kindness of strangers who do not share her dogma in an emergency, but does not welcome them into her home when the crisis has passed. I am sad, but it is not my place to intrude.
That night I go out in my yard under the moon and cast a circle. I ask Jesus to look out for Trinity, she is a good dog. I ask him to look out for her people, because they surely need his most wise counsel. I ask my gods and goddesses to help them in the same way. I write Trinity Is A Good Dog on a piece of paper, set it in a bowl of sand and light the paper with a short candle. As the smoke and ash rise, I say Trinity is a good dog, thank you for helping with that most excellent child and for loving his mother. The paper burns down to a smolder, then black. I crumble the ashes under my rosemary bush and rub them into the dirt. I blow out the candle. I break the circle. The night is clear and starry.
copyright 2012 by Cynthia McCollum
Cynthia McCollum is a dog trainer, writer, and poet. She lives in the Clearwater, Florida area. She can be reached through www.TrainWithCynthia.com.
You can help prevent resource guarding in a dog who does not display signs of the behavior by teaching him a give-and-take game. NOTE: Do not do this if you dog lunges and aggressively tries to grab treats out of your hand.
Start by offering him a toy that he likes (but is not extremely valuable to him). When he opens his mouth, say “Take it!” When he does, tell him he’s a good boy, then offer him a treat.
When he opens his mouth to take the treat and drops the toy, say “Give,” (or “Trade,” or “Share”) and let him nibble at the treat while you pick up the toy. The nibbling part is important. If you let him eat the treat and then try to pick up the toy he will race you for it, which may actually encourage resource guarding.
While he is nibbling, slowly and calmly pick up the toy. Let him finish eating the treat, then offer him the toy again and say “Take It!” as he puts his mouth around it.
Practice several times a day, a few repetitions at a time, this game will teach your dog the very useful behavior of “Give” on cue. He will also learn that if he gives something up for you, odds are good that he’ll get it back again, or something even better.
For more details on this game and other training techniques to reduce, eliminate and prevent resource guarding, purchase and download Resource Guarding.
Just a few years ago, I lived in a densely populated city in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I was , by and large, dependent on dog parks for my dogs’ off-leash exercise. You know how when you see something all the time, you become accustomed to its quirks, to the point where you don’t see them so much? That’s how I was about dog parks a few years ago . . . but not now. Today I’m lucky enough to live in a small town that is literally surrounded with public open spaces, wildlife areas where dogs can be walked off-leash.
Recently, I spent the better part of a morning at a large, nice dog park in the town where I used to live. I wanted to get some new stock photos for WDJ’s files; it’s been literally years since I did this at a dog park. Perhaps because I have been absent a few years, some of the things I saw shocked me! Such as:
–How most of the people who brought their dogs to the park stood in one spot, not far from the entrance, and talked with each other (or on their cell phones!), mostly ignoring their dogs. How few people walked with their dogs to the far corners of the park.
–How much poop there was that was lying around, un-picked up.
–How many of the dogs were wearing all sorts of gear that is unsafe for playing in groups, including pinch collars, choke chains, and harnesses. (It’s all too easy for a dog to grab another dog by the collar or harness, and get his teeth or jaw stuck in the other dog’s gear, leading to panic and injury – or even death by strangulation, if the panicked dogs cannot be freed quickly enough.)
–How many “bully dogs” there were. (I’m not talking about “bully breeds” – pit bulls, bulldogs, and the like. I’m talking about dogs who seem to enjoy picking on and harassing other dogs. There is a big difference between a dog who likes rough play and a bully. The most significant one is that the bully won’t ever be caught rolling on his back or playing the “submissive” dog role. Many dogs who like to play rough but are NOT bullies will voluntarily take their turns at the bottom of a wrestling match.)
–How the most aggressive dog I saw was owned by the most aggressive human I saw. When a scuffle broke out between two other dogs, this one man’s dog dove in and attacked one of the dogs who was involved in the original skirmish. Given that the new aggressor was a mastiff, his owner had to literally throw himself on the dog’s body – twice – in order to pull the giant dog off his much-smaller victim. (Shortly afterward, a woman who watched this whole scene from outside the park called to the mastiff owner to put his dog on a leash. However, he, at least, if not his dog, was still quite “amped up,” and he started yelling at her to mind her own business, with a few curse words thrown in for emphasis. When she said it WAS her business, as she wanted to enter with her dog but didn’t feel his dog was safe or under control without a leash, he cursed at her some more. And even though the pack was populated by a number of people and their dogs, no one else either came to the woman’s defense – even though she was right, the dog should have been put on a leash following the fight – nor attempted to calm the obviously upset, out-of-control mastiff owner.)
Dog parks can be fantastic resources for people with well-socialized dogs who have energy to burn and need space — and other well-socialized dogs – to play with. But they are not without drawbacks.
Do you still use dog parks for exercising your dogs? How do you feel about them?
Visual though primates may be, we humans often miss the signals that our dogs are sending us. For example, in my seminars I do a demonstration in which I pet and praise my Border Collie Pip for giving me a ball back. Pip is my sleeper Border Collie, who looks a bit like a goofy Labrador cross when in fact she’s from pristine sheepdog lineage. But she loves balls like life itself, so to reward her for giving me the ball back, I coo to her and lavishly stroke her head. People watching respond to my efforts to praise Pip and seem to feel really good when I’m done. They feel so good that they give me an A+ when I ask them to grade my efforts to make Pip glad that she gave me the ball.
But I give myself a D, because although the audience enjoyed hearing my praise and seeing me pet her, Pip just wanted the ball. I repeat the exercise, this time telling the audience to pay careful attention to Pip’s face. Her reaction is obvious once you focus your attention on her. She ignores my sweet words, squints her eyes, ducks her head away from my hand, and presses forward, staring like a laser at the ball. Pip is no different from most of our dogs, who love petting and praise in some contexts but not others.
After all, even if you adore a good massage, do you want one in the middle of an important meeting or a close tennis match? Why on earth would a dog, even one who lives to be stroked, want petting in every possible context in her life? We wouldn’t, no matter how much we love a good rubdown.
Fascinating, insightful, and compelling, The Other End of the Leash is a book that strives to help you connect with your dog in a completely new way so as to enrich that most rewarding of relationships. Click here to purchase The Other End of the Leash.
If humans are understandably a bit slow at responding to the visual signals that our dogs are sending, we are downright dense about the signals that we generate ourselves. Your dog, however, is a pro: he or she notices just about every move that you make. Here’s an experiment that you can try, focusing on the signals that you give to your dog, whether you mean to or not. This one is really easy, because now you’re the actor, and your dog is the observer. Your job is to identify the visual signals to which your dog has learned to respond.
Take yourself and your dog to a quiet place, away from the hubbub of the rest of the family and other dogs. Stand relaxed but immobile and ask your dog to “sit” without moving anything but your lips. The first thing I notice when I do it is how hard it is to keep from moving. Did your head go down just a tiny bit when the dog approached? Did you raise your eyebrows a millimeter? All of those movements are easily seen by your dog and could possibly act as cues. Now sit down on the floor, stop moving as best you can, and ask the dog to sit. Now leave the room and ask the dog to sit when she can’t see you (peek or ask a friend to see what she does).
Now ask you dog to sit in the way you normally do. Allow yourself to move freely; let your body do what it normally does. There’s little doubt that you’re going to move somehow. While you’re playing this game, don’t worry whether your dog sits or not, because I want you to pay attention to your behavior. Did you raise your hand or your finger? Did you step forward a bit? Tilt your head? After you’ve observed your own behavior, see if you can find a pattern to what movements your dog sits to and what he doesn’t (beyond Fido’s getting sick of your asking for a “sit” over and over!). Experiment with different movements and you’ll probably discover that your dog is keyed in to specific actions, just as much as, or more than your voice.
Fascinating, insightful, and compelling, The Other End of the Leash is a book that strives to help you connect with your dog in a completely new way – so as to enrich that most rewarding of relationships. Click here to purchase The Other End of the Leash.
My Ella is a chow hound. Not only does she eat everything I offer her, including lemon slices, but she thinks the purpose of walks is to see how much food she can find. It’s amazing what she comes up with. In the first year and a half that I had her, we spent one night at the emergency vet after she ingested paintballs, and she also had to see a specialist to remove a peanut fragment that she tried to cough up but which got caught above her soft palette in the back of her nose instead.
I mention this so that maybe you’ll understand why I panicked when the cap from a container holding a fly paper strip disappeared after I dropped it. I didn’t think much of it at the time, just finished putting the strip up, and then looked around to pick up the cap, which I had heard fall, but it was nowhere to be found. I wouldn’t have been overly concerned, except that the top had a thumbtack pushed through it for hanging the strip. Normally, Ella would be unlikely to eat anything that wasn’t food, but the top also had some of the sticky stuff from the fly paper, and I thought that might have attracted her to it.
I must have spent half an hour searching my small kitchen for that cap. I got down on hands and knees, felt around the bottom of the lower cabinets in case it had somehow bounced up and stuck, checked the box it had come in, checked Ella to make sure it hadn’t somehow stuck to her, even took off my shoes and walked around barefoot, figuring that if the thumbtack was in the vicinity, I would find it that way, but nothing turned up.
Reluctantly, I finally called the emergency vet (of course, this would happen on a weekend), who suggested I bring her in for an x-ray. $350 later, the mystery remained — while a plastic cap might have been hard to see on an x-ray, that thumbtack would have lit up like a Christmas tree on the film, and it simply was not there.
So, back home we went, and I began the search again. In frustration, I decided to check inside the dishwasher, even though it had been closed at the time I dropped the cap. As soon as I went to open the dishwasher door, I saw it — sitting on top of the door, the black of the dishwasher completely camouflaging the black of the cap, which had the thumbtack pointed up so that it was almost invisible. It was a relief to know what had happened, and that my dog was safe, but I felt like an idiot for taking her to the emergency vet.
How about you — has anyone else had a scare that turned out to be nothing?
Mary Straus is a regular contributor to the Whole Dog Journal. She and her Norwich Terrier, Ella, live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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I just finished reading a book about the life – and death — of a special dog, a much-loved Border Collie. Of course, I cried like a baby at the end of it, knowing how hard it is to lose such a very special dog. I have to say I haven’t cried like that in a long time, and even as I think about it now . . .
Somehow it really hit me especially hard, since the description of the dog reminded me so much of my dog DeeDee, who I still always think about. The dog in the book was independent, didn’t care much for cuddling, kept her own counsel, but always aware of her owner’s presence, whereabouts, and predicaments, and always wanted to work. DeeDee always wanted to be with me, though she, too, was not crazy about hearing sweet nothings. And when I took her to try out some sheep, she made my jaw drop; she knew exactly what she was supposed to do without having any prior experience. And yet, she wouldn’t work with the sheep and the instructor unless I was in the ring. Once I entered the ring, she was ready to get to work. When her time was up, she ran over to me with the biggest grin on her face that I had ever seen, albeit an exhausted grin! She didn’t get to work with sheep for a living, but she was a lucky dog in that she got to live on six acres with a swimming pool that she took great advantage of, other dogs that she got to harass, and enjoyed lots of games such as obedience and agility. She was also lucky in that I had the luxury of not needing to work 40-plus hours a week, loved to go running and hiking, and loved doing pretty much anything with her.
Both of these dogs were very lucky to land in the homes they did. I wonder how they would have survived if they had been adopted into a suburban or city pet home, occupants busy with work, kids, social lives. It really makes me sad when I see dogs who end up in circumstances that just don’t work for them, don’t meet any of their needs, and yet they try so hard to adapt, having no other choice. Their people try to make it work: condition, desensitize, habituate, DRI, DRO, extinguish, shape, Premack, reinforce, punish, chain, bridge, medicate, and so on. Sometimes everyone comes to a middle ground, it works to an extent, everyone continuing to work hard, yet the fit is never really right, the haunting existence of a whole different life somehow being missed. DeeDee would not have been the right fit for so many. My family was often amazed and puzzled by her level of intensity, and never would have wished for it. I loved her beyond compare.
I have seen these intense dogs become neurotic, exhibiting behaviors that are anything but normal. The behaviors come up out of necessity, as a side effect of a life not fulfilled, because they are jammed into an existence that has no way to meet their needs. I have seen it with some of the sporting breeds as well as the herding breeds. Their owners then have to try to get help for issues that percolate up because due to the mismatch. It’s not unlike kids placed in the wrong adoptive environments, the situations that have no connection to their needs. They, too, are often medicated to try to make them fit where they just don’t.
I always hope that breeders and rescues are sensitive to the results of their placements. I also hope that people searching for a dog understand that, although they had a young Brittany pup many years ago, and had the energy to tend to its needs, at a later point in their lives, it might make sense to look for a dog with less horsepower.
Tricia Breen has been involved with horses and dogs for most of her life. For the past five years, Tricia was the Director of Animal Care and Adoptions at Marin Humane Society, always keeping an eye toward helping dogs and volunteers with shelter life. She recently left this role and went back to assisting people with their dogs to build relationships, consulting with behavior and training issues. She can be reached via www.trishking.net as a new partner in this endeavor.
Uh-oh. What’s this lump? Any growth on your dog’s body deserves attention, especially one that wasn’t there last time you checked. It could be a sebaceous cyst (a sac filled with sebum, a cheesy or oily material, caused by clogged oil glands in the skin), an abscess (a pus-filled swelling caused by infection), or – everyone’s worst nightmare – a cancerous tumor. But in most cases, the lumps we discover as we pet and groom our dogs are lipomas, which are benign (non-cancerous) fat deposits, also known as fatty tumors.
An estimated 1.7 million dogs are treated in the United States for lipomas every year, and according to one survey, American veterinarians average 25 lipoma removals annually at a cost to owners of $635 million.
Lipomas tend to emerge as dogs reach middle age and increase in number as dogs get older. A dog with one lipoma is likely to get more. Lipomas are most often found on the chest, abdomen, legs, or armpits (axillae). These fatty lumps aren’t painful and they usually stay in one place without invading surrounding tissue. Dogs aren’t the only animals with lipomas, as they are common in humans and parakeets, and they occasionally develop in cats and horses.
While canine lipomas are frequently associated with overweight females, their greatest risk factor may be genetic. “I’ve heard all kinds of theories,” says Tia Nelson, DVM, of Helena, Montana. “Some veterinarians are convinced that lipomas are the result of over-vaccination, commercial pet food, grain-based diets, and exposure to environmental toxins. Although most dogs with lipomas fit that description, I can show you plenty of lumpy dogs who were holistically raised on grain-free raw food and minimal vaccinations, including some of my own. The simple fact is that some dogs are going to develop lipomas no matter what you do.”
Any dog can be affected, but lipomas seem most common in Labrador Retrievers, Doberman Pinschers, Miniature Schnauzers, Cocker Spaniels, Dachshunds, Poodles, Terriers, and mixed breeds.
What To Do Most lipomas are subcutaneous (occurring just beneath the skin’s surface) and are moveable, not attached to skin or underlying muscle or tissue. They are usually small and either round or oval, the size of a marble or marshmallow, and soft or rubbery to the touch. A few feel more solid due to fibrous tissue or inflammation. Some grow to golf-ball size, and very large lipomas can resemble baseballs. A few grow long and wide.
Because there’s no way to tell whether a lump is a lipoma just by feeling it, veterinarians remove and inspect fluid from inside the lump in a biopsy procedure called fine-needle aspiration to confirm that the growth contains only fatty cells. Some are concerned about the potential for fine-needle aspirate to spread cancer if the lump is not benign, and this concern is reasonable for tumors in the abdomen or heart (especially if they are filled with fluid, which can be determined with ultrasound) or in the urinary tract, including bladder and prostate. When aspirating subcutaneous solid tumors that might be confused with lipomas, however, the risk is small and outweighed by the advantages of having an accurate diagnosis.
The usual recommendation for fatty tumors is to wait and watch. Sometimes lipomas develop rapidly but in most cases their growth is slow. They rarely cause problems unless they become exceptionally large or their location creates mechanical problems. For example, a lipoma in the armpit can affect a dog’s gait, while one in the sternum (chest area) can cause discomfort whenever the dog lies down, and a lipoma in the neck area, if it grows large enough, can interfere with breathing and proper collar fit.
“I never do surgery on benign lipomas unless they are physically impeding ambulation or other function,” says Stacey Hershman, DVM, of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. “I never remove a lipoma for cosmetic reasons since I have seen dogs get ill or go into liver failure after lipoma surgery even though their pre-op bloods were normal. Therefore I recommend to my clients that we leave them alone unless there is a medical reason to remove them. A few years ago a dog came in with such a huge lipoma under his armpit that he could not walk, and I removed it for functional reasons.”
Some lipomas grow so rapidly that they might be something else, such as a liposarcoma. This rare, malignant fatty tumor usually does not metastasize (spread to other parts of the body) although it can be aggressive and fast-growing. Other tumors that occur on or under the skin that could be mistaken for lipomas include sebaceous adenomas, mast cell tumors, hemangiosarcomas, and hemangiopericytomas. If there is any question about diagnosis, removal may be the safest option.
Occasionally lipomas invade con-nective tissue between muscles, tendons, bones, nerves, or joint capsules. Called infiltrative lipomas, these usually occur in the legs but can affect the chest, head, abdominal body wall, or perianal region. Infiltrative lipomas can cause pain, muscle atrophy, and lameness by interfering with movement. Unlike normal lipomas, infiltrative lipomas can be difficult to remove completely and often regrow. Infiltrative lipomas are most common in Labrador Retrievers and Doberman Pinschers.
Not all infiltrative lipomas cause problems. Suzi Faulkner is president of the Atlantic Rottweiler Rescue Foundation (ARRF), which rescued Gus, a 3-year-old Rottweiler, in January 2011. “Gus was pulled from a shelter in Tennessee,” she says. “When our volunteers picked him up, they discovered a cluster of lumps around his shoulder blade. A veterinarian removed the small lumps, but the large lump had infiltrated Gus’s shoulder and removing it would mean removing part of the shoulder. It tested benign, so it was left alone.”
Faulkner feared that his lipoma would prevent Gus from finding a home, but Scott Adelman of Owings Mills, Maryland, fell in love with Gus and adopted him as soon as he recovered from surgery. A year and a half later, Adelman reports that Gus is able to run and play normally, and he is not in pain. “Gus is the best dog in the world,” he says.
Medical Treatment Some lipomas can be removed with just a sedative and local anesthetic. Surgery for large, inconveniently placed, or multiple lipomas requires general anesthesia. Ordinary lipomas rarely grow back after removal, but others may occur. Surgery for infiltrative lipomas is more complicated and these growths often recur within 3 to 16 months. Radiation therapy may prevent or delay their recurrence, while chemotherapy provides no benefit.
Small lipomas used to be injected with a 10-percent solution of calcium chloride, which caused the tumors to become smaller, but this treatment is no longer recommended because of the irritation and severe skin damage it causes.
Liposuction, the same procedure that vacuums fat out of humans in cosmetic surgery, is in many cases less invasive, less painful, and faster healing than surgical removal.
In 2006, a 12-year-old Kelpie-cross named Patch made headlines in Sydney, Australia, for being the first Australian dog to undergo liposuction. Patch had several lipomas, one of which, on his hind leg, threatened to cripple him within months. Remembering a European veterinarian who performed liposuction on a dog using the suction tool normally used to clean up fluids during surgery, an Australian vet suggested trying this approach on Patch. The hour-long procedure removed six fatty tumors weighing two kilograms (4.4 pounds, or 10 percent of Patch’s body weight). He was soon happy and playful again.
In January 2007, the Journal of Small Animal Practice reported the liposuction removal of three giant lipomas from a dog in Leipzig, Germany. The extremely obese patient suffered from arthritis and hind-leg lameness plus irritation caused by an armpit lipoma. Previous treatment involving dietary weight loss and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs had failed. Liposuction of the three lipomas resulted in a three-kilogram weight loss (6.6 pounds, or 10 percent of the dog’s body weight).
In a retrospective study published in July 2011, the Journal of Small Animal Practice reviewed the use of liposuction on multiple lipomas from 20 dogs. The treatment successfully removed 73 of 76 lipomas (96 percent). Simple, encapsulated lipomas measuring less than 6 inches in diameter were the easiest to remove and resulted in minimal risk of complication. Giant lipomas contained fibrous material that interfered with the removal of fat and had a high risk of bruising, hematoma, and seroma (fluid-filled swelling), especially in the groin area. Regrowth occurred nine months to three years later in 28 percent of the lipomas. Liposuction is not recommended for infiltrative lipomas.
The newest lipoma treatment for dogs and humans is the injection of collagenase, an enzyme that breaks the peptide bonds in collagen, the fibrous protein that connects body tissues. Developed by BioSpecifics Technologies Corporation and marketed as XIAFLEX® in the U.S. and XIAPEX® in Europe and Eurasia, collagenase is being tested in clinical trials.
One preliminary trial tested three healthy dogs with multiple subcutaneous lipomas that were benign, superficial, and easily measurable. One lipoma on each dog was injected with collagenase and another was left untreated for use as a control. Ninety days after injection, a CT scan showed that the treated lipomas on two of the dogs had disappeared completely and the third dog’s treated lipoma was only 7 percent of its original size. By contrast, the control lipomas had grown. Altogether, the treated lipomas showed a 97-percent reduction in size while the untreated controls increased by 23 percent.
BioSpecifics has initiated a placebo-controlled, single-injection randomized Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of XIAFLEX for treatment of benign subcutaneous lipomas in 32 canines in a study to be completed in 2013. This will be followed by a Phase III clinical trial before the product becomes commercially available.
Complementary Therapies Because lipomas are so common in overweight dogs, one obvious treatment is weight loss. In some cases, diet and exercise have reduced the size of existing lipomas and may have helped prevent new ones from developing. Even if your dog’s lipomas don’t shrink as a result, helping an overweight dog trim down should help her feel better and be more active.
Switching to a raw, grain-free diet has been said to help some dogs, although most raw diets are high in fat, which may be counterproductive.
Limiting vaccinations may help some dogs, especially if lipomas tend to occur after vaccination.
“In my practice I have been following numerous dogs who are now 6 to 14 years old,” says Judith K. Herman, DVM, of Augusta, Maine. “So far these dogs, all of whom received minimal vaccinations and are fed raw, have not developed any lipomas. Most are Jack Russell Terriers, Belgian Tervurens, Labrador Retrievers, and Golden Retrievers.”
Acupressure While acupuncture involves the insertion of needles along the body’s meridians, acupressure applies finger touch or massage to the same points. As Amy Snow and Nancy Zidonis explained in “Truly Healing Touch,” (WDJ, March 2009) and other WDJ articles, the basic principle underlying the healing process is that vital substances nourish the body while moving harmoniously through it. Two of these vital substances are chi (or qi), which is life-promoting energy, and blood, a nutrient-rich body fluid. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, “blood” includes other body fluids, such as synovial fluid in the joints or the nutrient-rich fluid within the spinal column.
“My dog Oak was a lipoma creator of great dimension,” says Snow, “and acupressure worked to resolve them for most of his life. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, a lipoma is a stagnation of body fluids. The challenge is to bring chi through the area to move or disperse the fluids. The longer they stay, the more difficult it is to resolve them because they become ‘cold.’ Additionally, the younger the dog, the more quickly lipomas can be resolved. As the dog ages, his system naturally slows down and this slowing leads to an increase in developing lipomas.”
Even as a 2-year-old, Oak, who was an affectionate, easy-going Golden Retriever, created lipomas. “I’d run my hands over him almost every day to see if there were any new ones,” she says. “I had him checked for hypothyroidism to see if his metabolism was normal, and it was. Oak’s lustrous coat often hid the lipomas until they were obvious. But I did my best to locate them and get to work with acupressure massage, also called Tui Na in Chinese, as a way to increase the movement of chi and body fluids through each lipoma.”
For six years, Snow resolved Oak’s lipomas with these techniques. After age eight, although they remained small, his lipomas became a management issue and were not completely resolved. At age 11, one had to be removed because it hindered walking. The following year, Oak passed away with only a few minor lipomas.
“Lipomas are relatively superficial, just beneath the skin, and so are the meridians,” says Snow. “That’s why working along the meridians that pass through a lipoma works. If people use acupressure around a lipoma but not on meridian points, it will not be as effective and in fact may not be effective at all. Graduates of the Tallgrass Animal Acupressure Institute training program have shown the guardians/owners of dogs with lipomas how to perform some of these procedures on a consistent basis. Applying acupressure massage every day for six days, then taking a one-day break, then continuing for another five or six days and repeating the pattern until the lipoma is resolved seems to be an important element in ridding dogs of lipomas.”
For best results, consult a canine acupressure practitioner who can show you exactly which acupoints affect energy flowing through a specific lipoma, or practice on your own with the help of Acu-Dog: A Guide to Canine Acupressure.
Herbal Medicine Herbs have been used for millennia to treat every type of condition, and today’s science confirms the effectiveness of many ancient remedies. Turmeric (Curcuma longa), the root that gives Indian curries their distinctive color and flavor, has a long history of use in Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of East India, especially for digestive disorders and arthritis. Curcumin is the active ingredient responsible for turmeric’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
Andrew Stowe of Fairfax, Virginia, gave turmeric root powder to Cayman, his 13-year-old yellow Lab/hound-mix, as part of a treatment for arthritis. Cayman had developed six large and medium-sized lipomas, and while he was taking turmeric, three of them disappeared and the others shrank. After six months the arthritis treatment stopped working (Cayman began limping again), so Stowe discontinued the treatment. The dog’s lipomas returned and he developed even more. Stowe thinks the turmeric may have suppressed their growth.
The protocol Stowe followed for 80-pound Cayman combined turmeric powder with other supplements, beginning with a four-week dose of 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder morning and evening; then two weeks at 1/2 teaspoon twice per day; then 3/4 teaspoon twice per day.
It’s a good idea to begin any herbal treatment with small doses and increase gradually to the recommended amount, which in the case of turmeric is often 1/4 teaspoon for small dogs, 1/2 teaspoon for medium-sized dogs and 1 teaspoon for large dogs daily. Give with food to prevent stomach upsets. Be sure your turmeric is Curcuma longa (verify the herb’s Latin name) and not an inexpensive substitute, and, because turmeric dyes everything yellow, wash your hands after handling.
Curcumin extract is much more concentrated than the powdered root. Recommended dosage varies, but one product made for dogs suggests giving 20 to 60 mg per 10 pounds of body weight daily. Higher doses, up to 2,000 mg twice a day for a large dog, are used to treat dogs with cancer. Combining curcumin with bromelain may increase absorption.
Herbalist Ingrid Naiman developed “Stone Free” Herbal Support for Kidney and Gallbladder using turmeric and other herbs. “It emulsifies fat,” she says. “We have seen it completely remove fatty deposits under the skin.”
Alyssia Greiner of Manassas, Virginia, tried a Chinese herbal treatment for her 9-year-old Border Collie, Zippity, when she developed a large lipoma on her right shoulder, another on her right ribcage, and a small one inside her left leg. Her vet prescribed “Cluster Dissolving,” a traditional blend of 11 Chinese herbs.
“Zip has been on it for about six months,” says Greiner, “and there is a definite difference in size and softness. The one on her shoulder used to feel like a softball and people would freak out when they felt it, but several people familiar with her think it feels smaller, softer, and more pliable. The one on her leg felt like a large marble but is now softer and smaller. The rib cage lipoma feels very loose and fluid now. I don’t think they will dissolve completely, but as long as they are not getting bigger, I’m happy.”
Homeopathy Although homeopathy is often recommended as a support therapy for lipomas, many veterinary homeopaths report little or no success with homeopathy as a stand-alone treatment for fatty tumors.
Dr. Judith Herman in Augusta, Maine, is a veterinary homeopath, former president of the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy, and chair of its certification committee. Classically trained homeopaths such as Dr. Herman use single remedies (not combinations) in response to their patients’ specific symptoms. “The correct remedy is the one that matches the patient’s whole picture,” says Dr. Herman. “Lipomas are part of the chronic disease picture, not single entities.”
In 2004, Dr. Herman treated Anna, a 1-year-old Golden Retriever, for masticatory muscle myositis, an inflammatory muscle disease that produces jaw pain or an inability to open the jaw. At the time, Anna was eating grocery store kibble and taking prednisone. “Because she had diarrhea and her owners weren’t ready to forego allopathic treatment,” she says, “I suggested changing her food to a raw, home-prepared diet.”
Prednisone was discontinued after symptoms resolved, but when they returned, Dr. Herman treated Anna homeopathically. Within two months, her mouth functioned normally, but Anna later returned with a soft lump on her chest, which was diagnosed as a lipoma, and she again showed mild signs of myositis. She received the same homeopathic remedy as before but at a higher potency. One month later her mouth was back to normal and the lipoma had disappeared.
“Anna has had normal yearly visits since then without any sign of illness,” says Dr. Herman. “In 2010 she developed a yeast infection in her ears and I treated her with the same remedy as in 2004 because her symptom picture still matched the remedy. Her ears were fine within a month, and she is still doing well.”
Stephen Blake, DVM, of San Diego, California, reports, “I had a case at a no-kill shelter where an 8-year-old Shepherd-mix had a lipoma almost the size of a basketball on his back, hanging over his side. It was so big that the dog had problems running. I treated him once with homeopathic Thuja 10M and within a month it dissolved. After two months all that was left was a large sack of skin hanging on the dog’s back.
“My reasoning for prescribing the Thuja was the fact that he had been vaccinated prior to the appearance of the lipoma. Homeopathic Thuja is a good choice in cases like this, where a lipoma appears after a vaccination.”
Aromatherapy Aromatherapy’s essential oils may help lipomas in some cases. Dr. Blake says, “As part of the healing protocol for all tumors, I use a combination of frankincense (Boswellia spp.), sandalwood (Santalum album), and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) to aid the body in its detoxification and healing process. I have the owner massage a small amount of these oils into the tumor daily until the body has no need for it.”
Canine aromatherapist Frances Fitzgerald Cleveland of Littleton, Colorado, uses full-strength grapefruit essential oil (Citrus x paradise), which is not a distilled essential oil but rather cold-pressed from the peel of fresh fruit. “This is a very cooling, cleansing, and decongesting oil, like lemon,” she says. “Grapefruit oil helps the body eliminate excess fluids and break down fats, plus it promotes a lightness of spirit. It is my first choice when working with lipomas. I find it aids in clearing the lymphatic system, helps with congestion of the skin, and is a tonic to the system. I have used it on two of my dogs with great success in keeping their existing lipomas from getting any larger and shrinking some to a smaller size.
Essential oils are usually diluted before being applied to dogs, but one or two drops of therapeutic-quality frankincense or grapefruit essential oil can safely be applied to an adult dog’s lipoma once or twice per day.
No Treatment Needed While lipomas can be unsightly, they are generally harmless and rarely cause problems. This is one situation where doing nothing is a completely acceptable option, once the diagnosis has been verified. Be thankful knowing that your dog has nothing worse than a lump of fat and not a cancerous tumor.
CJ Puotinen lives in Montana. She is the author of The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care and other books and a frequent contributor to WDJ.
Mary Straus is the owner of DogAware.com. She lives with her Norwich Terrier, Ella, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The highest possible inclusion of top-quality animal proteins. Look for a whole, named source of meat as the first ingredient (meaning the product contains more of that ingredient by weight than anything else). There are some good foods that list water or broth as the first ingredient and a meat ingredient second – but we’d choose a product with meat first on the label over one that listed meat second.
“Named” sources of any animal protein or fat, whether it’s a muscle tissue (in which case it will appear as chicken, beef, buffalo, etc.) or an organ meat (in which case it should specify which species it came from, for example, “beef liver”).
Whole grains or vegetables (if any are used in the formula).
Limited (if any) use of grain or vegetable by-products. For example, a food containing potato starch as the sixth ingredient would be preferable to one with the same ingredient in the third position on the ingredients panel. And a food that contained just one grain or vegetable by-product (such as oat bran) would be preferable to a product containing several (such as potato starch, oat fiber, and tomato paste).
The words “complete and balanced.” Some manufacturers produce a few wet food products that are meant for “supplemental or intermittent” use only. These products do not meet the specifications for a “complete and balanced diet” as defined by the model regulations developed by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) and adopted by each state. While these “supplemental” foods may be useful as part of a varied diet, they can’t be relied on to provide all the nutrients your dog needs.
Traits of Low-Quality Wet Foods
Unnamed animal sources, such as meat, meat by-products, poultry, poultry by-products, or animal fat.
Meat by-products or poultry by-products. There is a wide range in the quality and type of by-products that are available to pet food producers. And there is no way for a dog owner (or anyone else) to find out whether the by-products used are kept clean, chilled, and used fresh within a day or two of slaughter (as some companies claim), or are comprised of ingredients that were literally swept off a floor, dumped down the floor drains at the processing plant, and kept for hours or days on unrefrigerated loading docks and trucks. Because you can’t know, avoid by-products.
Wheat gluten. Wet foods often contain some sort of thickener or binder. Various types of “gum” (such as guar gum, from the seed of the guar plant, and carrageenan gum, from seaweed) are common thickeners. Whole grains, potatoes, and sweet potatoes also can be used to thicken wet food. But wheat gluten (and some other glutens) are generally used in wet foods both to augment the protein content of the food (albeit with lesser quality amino acids) and to act as a binder, to hold together artificially formed “chunks” so that they resemble chunks of meat. In other words, it’s a signal that the real meat content of the product is less than ideal. If chunks of meat are present in a wet dog food, they should be actual chunks of meat.
Sugar or other sweeteners. A food that contains quality meats shouldn’t need additional palatants to entice dogs.
Artificial colors, flavors, or added preservatives. Fortunately, these are rare in wet foods!
Pet Food Brand Examples
This one is easy.
This is Beneful’s “Savory Rice & Lamb Stew,” and it’s chock full of the “traits to avoid.” We won’t hold the fact that water is the first ingredient against the product; there are good foods with water as the first ingredient, too. But wheat gluten is the second ingredient. WOW. Think about that: By weight, there is more wheat gluten in this food than meat – which is crazy, because meat is full of moisture, which is heavy!
There are more “traits to avoid,” too: meat by-products (could be anything); “liver” (no species named); artificial and natural flavors (if the food contained a lot of meat, the maker wouldn’t need to add flavors to make it palatable); and added color (to make it pretty for you!).
Any “desirable traits”? Lamb and chicken are in there, but since they appear 6th and 8th on the label, their contributions are actually not very significant. Same goes for wild rice, peas, and carrots; appearing in the 9th, 10th, and 11th spots on the label, they aren’t contributing much.
Here is one of those mixed bags of good and undesirable traits.
This is Iams’ “Proactive Health Chunks with chicken in Gravy” and the ingredients start out nicely: Water (okay), chicken (great!), and then meat by-products and chicken by-products (sigh). Check out the addition of broccoli and spinach, way down under all the vitamins and minerals. Why bother, at that level of inclusion? (We can’t even imagine what such a tiny amount of broccoli and spinach would look like in a cooking vat full of this food!)
This next one is one of our approved canned foods.
It is Natural Balance’s “Limited Ingredient Diets Chicken & Sweet Potato Formula.” It has a lot going for it, including the fact that chicken appears first on the ingredients list, and the moisture (2nd) that’s been added for processing purposes is chicken broth: nice! Look what’s next, however: sweet potatoes, potatoes, and dehydrated potatoes. By the time you add up all that potato, does it outweigh the animal protein (even with chicken liver and chicken meal in 6th and 7th positions)?
One more thing. Look a little lower on the label, at the guaranteed analysis: The fat content is just 3.5 percent. That may make it highly appropriate for dogs who need a lower-fat food. And this is why you need to be aware of how much fat and protein you currently feed your dog, whether or not he needs to gain, hold, or lose weight, and given those factors, what effect this product may have if added to his diet.
Here is another one of our approved canned foods.
This is Natura Pet Product’s Innova. We love that there are two whole, named meats first on the ingredients list, and that the moisture that has been added (3rd) is chicken broth. There are more carbohydrates in here than there needs to be (brown rice, potato, carrot), but they are all whole and not repetitious (like when you see brown rice and white rice in the same formula), so as long as they work for the dog we are feeding, we’re fine with that.
However, look sharp: Check out that fat content, a whopping 8.5 percent! That might be super for your working Border Collie or field hunter, or a major problem for your Poodle with pancreatitis. Always read the label!
In the “Whole Dog Journal’s 2012 Canned Dog Food Review“ you will find a list of companies that make foods that meet all of our selection criteria for healthy, high-quality canned foods. Again, they all make great foods, but not all of the foods they make are appropriate for every dog, so check the ingredients panel and guaranteed analysis for every variety you consider feeding to your dog. The list is ordered alphabetically by the manufacturer, so if you don’t see the name of your favorite food, look at the label of the food to see what company makes it! As you try different products, keep track of your dog’s weight, and adjust the type and amount of food you feed accordingly.
Recently, a neighbor asked me for advice about her dog, who was vomiting and subdued. As part of our discussion about the dog’s upset stomach, I asked what kind of food she fed to the dog. She responded that she fed him high-quality wet food, “not the cheap stuff.” When I pressed her for the name of the brand, she said it was Beneful. Thankfully, her dog recovered quickly from whatever malady caused his vomiting, but our conversation haunted me for days. How does a person get the idea that Beneful is a high-quality food?
She’s not alone. There are apparently millions of people who buy Beneful and other pet foods made by Nestle Purina Petcare; the company is second on the list of highest grossing pet food manufacturers on the planet. Purina’s global retail sales in 2010 (the latest year for which complete figures are available) exceeded $14 billion. They must be doing something right, right?
In our opinion, what they are doing right isn’t optimum nutrition, however. The company may excel at marketing and manufacturing efficiency, but none of their well-known, popular wet foods are what we would consider healthful (we’ll explain why in a minute). But then, what global corporate behemoth makes truly healthy food? Companies with gargantuan production volumes can’t use ingredients of the highest quality in their foods; there isn’t a large enough global supply of ingredients of that quality!
Seriously, ingredient sourcing is a hot topic in the pet food industry right now. Increasingly educated and ever-more emotionally connected owners want to feed their pets foods with high-quality ingredients. Pet food makers that utilize top-quality ingredients have to compete with human food producers for those ingredients, and prices for all types of foods are rising dramatically. Drought in the U.S. has severely impacted corn production; high temperatures in Russia have affected its wheat crop. Both of these things affect the price of cattle, pork, and poultry feed, and thus the price of dairy products, beef, pork, eggs, and poultry. And yet, somehow, the price of the lowest-cost pet foods don’t seem to rise much, while the price of the highest-cost foods seems to spiral ever-higher. What’s up with that?
The answer is ingredient quality. While the price of a product shouldn’t ever be considered the sole indicator of a quality food, you have to keep in mind that products that contain high-quality ingredients will necessarily be priced a lot higher than bargain brands. If that can (or pouch or plastic tray) is inexpensive, what’s in it can’t possibly be “what’s best for dogs,” which is meat.
Mighty Meat
We strongly believe that there is nothing more nutritious and healthful for dogs than a well-formulated, home-prepared diet containing fresh, “human-quality” ingredients. If you’re not up for home-preparation, however, there are some compelling reasons to feed canned food to your dog as part or all of his diet.
The main reason is that good canned foods contain far more meat than any kibble can be manufactured with. Dogs have absolutely no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates – they can not just live, but can thrive on diets that contain only protein and fats. The fact that they are wondrously able to make use of just about any type of food we give them, grains included, doesn’t mean that grain-heavy diets are what’s best for them. Many holistic practitioners believe that the canine obesity epidemic and rising incidence of canine diabetes and allergies are due to the biologically inappropriate diets we feed to dogs. Animal proteins (meat, fish, and eggs) are what dogs have evolved to eat; we’re asking for trouble, many believe, by feeding them such an unnaturally carbohydrate-rich diet.
Other Benefits
It’s also unnatural for dogs to eat such a dry diet. Most kibble contains about 10 percent moisture. Meat and fish contain anywhere from 50 percent to 80 percent moisture. Feeding canned foods, which contain (on average) about 78 percent moisture, is therapeutic for dogs who have any sort of kidney ailment, and may be beneficial for all dogs.
Most dogs digest wet foods with far fewer digestive problems (such as excessive gas, diarrhea, or constipation) than dogs who eat dry kibble.
Wet food is far more palatable to most dogs than dry food. This is a huge benefit to any dog who needs to gain weight, whether due to illness, age, or high activity. (It can be a hazard, though, to dogs who are fat or prone to becoming overweight. Most canned foods are much higher in fat than most dry foods, so if your dog is fat or at risk of pancreatitis, look for canned foods with lower percentages of fat.)
Canned foods (the term describes all wet foods that are cooked inside a sealed container, whether it’s a can, pouch, or plastic tray) enable us to feed a diet that is biologically appropriate (with a high moisture content and a high inclusion of animal protein) and yet is shelf-stable – without the need for artificial or natural preservatives. (That stability lasts longer than even artificially preserved kibble, too.) When vitamin/mineral supplements are added to ensure the diets are “complete and balanced,” the overall benefits of canned food are compelling.
Selecting a Good Canned Dog Food
If you’re sold on the idea of canned food, great! Now it’s time to look for good ones. As always, the best way for a consumer to do this is to examine the label, skipping the pretty pictures of steaks and the marketing verbiage. Don’t allow yourself to work up an appetite by descriptions of spring vegetables, rosemary chicken, seared beef, grilled lamb, and other phrases; trust us, none of those things appear in the food in the form you envision when you read those words. The only thing you should pay attention to is the fine print of the ingredients list and the guaranteed analysis. You need to know what is actually in the food, and how much protein and fat will it deliver to your dog. Ingredients appear on the label in order of their presence in the formula by weight. And the protein and fat content appears in the “guaranteed analysis” portion of the label.
What should the food contain? What ingredients are less-than-desirable? See the chart below for a guide to the traits of top-quality and low-quality foods.
What about the products in the middle, the ones that contain some good and some undesirable traits? That gets trickier, but your budget – and most importantly, your dog’s response to the foods – may tip the balance for you one way or the other. Let’s look at some labels and do some comparing.
Traits of a Good Wet Dog Food
The highest possible inclusion of top-quality animal proteins. Look for a whole, named source of meat as the first ingredient (meaning the product contains more of that ingredient by weight than anything else). There are some good foods that list water or broth as the first ingredient and a meat ingredient second – but we’d choose a product with meat first on the label over one that listed meat second.
“Named” sources of any animal protein or fat, whether it’s a muscle tissue (in which case it will appear as chicken, beef, buffalo, etc.) or an organ meat (in which case it should specify which species it came from, for example, “beef liver”).
Whole grains or vegetables (if any are used in the formula).
Limited (if any) use of grain or vegetable by-products. For example, a food containing potato starch as the sixth ingredient would be preferable to one with the same ingredient in the third position on the ingredients panel. And a food that contained just one grain or vegetable by-product (such as oat bran) would be preferable to a product containing several (such as potato starch, oat fiber, and tomato paste).
The words “complete and balanced.” Some manufacturers produce a few wet food products that are meant for “supplemental or intermittent” use only. These products do not meet the specifications for a “complete and balanced diet” as defined by the model regulations developed by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) and adopted by each state. While these “supplemental” foods may be useful as part of a varied diet, they can’t be relied on to provide all the nutrients your dog needs.
Traits of Low-Quality Wet Foods
Unnamed animal sources, such as meat, meat by-products, poultry, poultry by-products, or animal fat.
Meat by-products or poultry by-products. There is a wide range in the quality and type of by-products that are available to pet food producers. And there is no way for a dog owner (or anyone else) to find out whether the by-products used are kept clean, chilled, and used fresh within a day or two of slaughter (as some companies claim), or are comprised of ingredients that were literally swept off a floor, dumped down the floor drains at the processing plant, and kept for hours or days on unrefrigerated loading docks and trucks. Because you can’t know, avoid by-products.
Wheat gluten. Wet foods often contain some sort of thickener or binder. Various types of “gum” (such as guar gum, from the seed of the guar plant, and carrageenan gum, from seaweed) are common thickeners. Whole grains, potatoes, and sweet potatoes also can be used to thicken wet food. But wheat gluten (and some other glutens) are generally used in wet foods both to augment the protein content of the food (albeit with lesser quality amino acids) and to act as a binder, to hold together artificially formed “chunks” so that they resemble chunks of meat. In other words, it’s a signal that the real meat content of the product is less than ideal. If chunks of meat are present in a wet dog food, they should be actual chunks of meat.
Sugar or other sweeteners. A food that contains quality meats shouldn’t need additional palatants to entice dogs.
Artificial colors, flavors, or added preservatives. Fortunately, these are rare in wet foods!
This one is easy:
This is Beneful’s “Savory Rice & Lamb Stew,” and it’s chock full of the “traits to avoid.” We won’t hold the fact that water is the first ingredient against the product; there are good foods with water as the first ingredient, too. But wheat gluten is the second ingredient. WOW. Think about that: By weight, there is more wheat gluten in this food than meat – which is crazy, because meat is full of moisture, which is heavy!
There are more “traits to avoid,” too: meat by-products (could be anything); “liver” (no species named); artificial and natural flavors (if the food contained a lot of meat, the maker wouldn’t need to add flavors to make it palatable); and added color (to make it pretty for you!).
Any “desirable traits”? Lamb and chicken are in there, but since they appear 6th and 8th on the label, their contributions are actually not very significant. Same goes for wild rice, peas, and carrots; appearing in the 9th, 10th, and 11th spots on the label, they aren’t contributing much.
Here is one of those mixed bags of good and undesirable traits:
This is Iams’ “Proactive Health Chunks with chicken in Gravy” and the ingredients start out nicely: Water (okay), chicken (great!), and then meat by-products and chicken by-products (sigh). Check out the addition of broccoli and spinach, way down under all the vitamins and minerals. Why bother, at that level of inclusion? (We can’t even imagine what such a tiny amount of broccoli and spinach would look like in a cooking vat full of this food!)
This next one is one of our “approved canned foods”:
It is Natural Balance’s “Limited Ingredient Diets Chicken & Sweet Potato Formula.” It has a lot going for it, including the fact that chicken appears first on the ingredients list, and the moisture (2nd) that’s been added for processing purposes is chicken broth: nice! Look what’s next, however: sweet potatoes, potatoes, and dehydrated potatoes. By the time you add up all that potato, does it outweigh the animal protein (even with chicken liver and chicken meal in 6th and 7th positions)?
One more thing. Look a little lower on the label, at the guaranteed analysis: The fat content is just 3.5 percent. That may make it highly appropriate for dogs who need a lower-fat food. And this is why you need to be aware of how much fat and protein you currently feed your dog, whether or not he needs to gain, hold, or lose weight, and given those factors, what effect this product may have if added to his diet.
Here is another one of our “approved canned foods”:
This is Natura Pet Product’s Innova. We love that there are two whole, named meats first on the ingredients list, and that the moisture that has been added (3rd) is chicken broth. There are more carbohydrates in here than there needs to be (brown rice, potato, carrot), but they are all whole and not repetitious (like when you see brown rice and white rice in the same formula), so as long as they work for the dog we are feeding, we’re fine with that.
However, look sharp: Check out that fat content, a whopping 8.5 percent! That might be super for your working Border Collie or field hunter, or a major problem for your Poodle with pancreatitis. Always read the label!
In the “Whole Dog Journal’s 2012 Canned Dog Food Review” you will find a list of companiesthat make foods that meet all of our selection criteria for healthy, high-quality canned foods. Again, they all make great foods, but not all of the foods they make are appropriate for every dog, so check the ingredients panel and guaranteed analysis for every variety you consider feeding to your dog. The list is ordered alphabetically by the manufacturer, so if you don’t see the name of your favorite food, look at the label of the food to see what company makes it! As you try different products, keep track of your dog’s weight, and adjust the type and amount of food you feed accordingly.
Years ago, I had high hopes for participating in dock diving sport with my now-9-year-old dog, Woody. But it turned out that my high-jumping, strong-swimming dog absolutely hates getting water in his ears!
