Aside from the possiblity of traumatic injury incurred by
something like being hit by a car most dog issues today
result from something as controllable as poor nutrition. We
recently looked at some of the physical differences between
dogs and humans that might play on your dogs nutritional
requirements. The difference in the number of teeth. The
inability of the dog to work his jaw side to side and the
short digestive system that is reflected by the dog's
inability to digest raw vebetables and many uncooked
grains. We drew the conclusion that dog's, perhaps even
more than humans, needed a healthy natural food source. I
prefer to take it one step further and insist on human
grade dog food for my own 4-legged friends. Please do not
allow poor nutrition to cause challenges for your dog.
Certain additives that we take for granted, can create
liver and kidney damage. Liver and kidney diseases are
amongst the leading causes of illness in dogs. For example,
our water contains fluoride. Dogs definitely do not need
flouride in their water as they do not get cavities.
Although generally considered safe for humans 10 European
countries have banned flourination of water. In dogs,
fluoride alters serum calcium/phosphorous balance and can
damage bones and kidneys. Because of the high amount of
flourinated water in canned food, dogs should definitely
drink filtered water and avoid canned dog food whenever
possible. These contain high levels of concentrated
fluoride.
Are you aware that dogs actually produce their own Vitamin
C? Dogs use trace minerals in the liver to produce their
own supply of this vitamin. Humans cannot do this.
Supplementing Vitamin C for dogs can create pH imbalances
in the kidney. Adding Vit C can also damage the liver.
Many manufacturers use vitamin C because it is a cheap
preservative that prevents discoloration, not because it
benefits the dog.
There are many differences between dogs and humans and we
can take a look at them in later articles, dog's sense of
smell, sight and hearing is all dramatically different and
bears looking into. What you may not realize is that a dog
not only can see motion better than humans but they have a
third eyelid as well? It helps to remove debris from the
eye and protect it as well. Dogs have flatter lenses and
larger pupils so you see that when you delve a little
deeper into your four-legged friends physiology that you
need to learn more about how dogs are built in order to
understand the "why" of what they might need.
Despite highlighting the nutrional and digestive aspects of
your dog's needs we also need to know as much as we can
about our dog's physiology in order to insure they will be
around and healthy for as long as possible. I hope you have
enjoyed this comparison and that it helps you make informed
decisions about how and what to feed your best friend. We
all need whole, natural, unprocessed food. You can see
that dogs need high quality, human grade dog food for
healthy absorption and digestion.
Amongst other things we will be covering how to read labels
in future articles.
Dr. Janice Elenbaas
Always remember, Health comes from the inside out!
About the Author:
Dr. Janice Elenbaas DC - The first woman recognized to
adjust animals in Canada and a founding member of the
Ontario Veterinarian Chiropractic Association is a
passionate advocate of the benefit of whole foods for both
humans and animals. Her company Lucky Dog Cuisine provides
all natural HUMAN GRADE cooked meals for dogs. For more
info or to receive her FREE INFOSERIES on dog nutrition
please visit =>
http://www.luckydog
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