The most important thing you can do for your dog is what you feed him on a daily basis. Over the years as I’ve learned more about what is put in human foods I also learned how much worse mainstream dog food.

Most of the common commercial brands you see in your local grocery store are loaded with grains. Dogs are carnivores not omnivores, they should be eating mainly meat in their diet! Grains are a common allergen for Dogs. These grains, especially corn, aren’t healthy for dogs or even humans. Corn and wheat are often contaminated with a natural fungus, so aren’t healthy for human or dog. Years ago, dog food used to be mainly meat, but now it is full of cheap grain and wheat and other things to cut costs.

In the meat they do use, it is inferior meat in most mainstream dog foods. Usually what is leftover of a carcass is what is thrown in dog food. The fatty or indigestable or unhealthy parts of the animal like ligaments or lungs or intestines is the kind of things that are put in dog food. Once again, it is a way to cut cost. It gets even worse, some of those animals have been euthanized and then ground up into the dog food. The drug that they use to kill them pentobarbitol is left in the dog food. According to this news story 43 common brands including Ken L Ration, Kibbles and Bits, Kibbles and Bits Puppy, Nutro, Walmarts “Ole Roy”, Trailblazer, and more had trace amounts of pentobarbitol.

Finally, another way they make pet food even less healthy is by adding dangerous additives like preservatives. Some of them are banned or not even allowed for human consumption by the FDA! None of these pet foods have any organic ingredients free from pesticides, antibiotics, or hormones just like mainstream human food.

You may be wondering what you can do to avoid inferior meats, grain filled dog food that is organic and full of natural ingredients. Well forget all the national brand dog foods. None are good for you. Instead I recommend you check out all the natural dog food’s at Only natural pet store. They only carry natural dog foods, none of the cheap or unhealthy stuff you find mainstream. There are different formulas and types of dog Food, the most expensive brands tend to be the most healthy for your dog, using only organic, whole high quality meat, and grain free.

Our German Shepherd Mix dog suffered from Hip Dysplasia for most of his life. We had always heard that German Shepherds are in particular suspectible to it. Genetics appear not to be the only cause though, weight gains as they grow as a puppy may be another factor.

Signs your dog may be developing Hip Dysplasia

From my personal experience I’m going to list some things I noticed that were caused by my dog’s hip dysplasia.

1) After very vigorous excercise your dog starts to limp.

2) Your dog has trouble getting up after laying down.

3) Your dog has trouble climbing things.

4) Your dog runs with his back legs suddenly in a different way, (i.e, not alternating his back legs properly or favoring one side of his back legs during running).

Our dog died of cancer and we didn’t have to put him to sleep because of hip dysplasia, but as he got older it did get worse. If you have a german shepherd or your dog is showing signs of hip dysplasia, I would put him on ArthroIonx.
I’ve heard things from pet owners and I examined the product in detail in my ArthroIonx Review. I had always thought Hip Dysplasia was genetically caused and there wasn’t much you could do to reverse it, once it developed. If I had known there were natural ways to actually help fix this condition through supplementation, I would have bought ArthroIonx for my dog.

Last year our family dog Rex, started getting very restless at night with heavy panting. He also was drinking a lot and he started losing his appetite for food, so we decided to take him to the vet. The vet noticed a tumour growth in his mouth. We had him stay overnight to have some of his teeth and the growth removed that had been bothering him. The next day we got a call from the vet, that during the surgery she felt some lumps in his throat area and she suspected cancer. I cried that day because I knew he wouldn’t be with us much longer most likely. Test results came a few days later and the vet said it appeared to be positive for dog lymphoma.

Lymphoma is cancer of the lymph nodes and happens in both humans and dogs. You can detect it by looking for lumps in common areas where the lymph nodes are located at. Our dog was already suffering from many fatty tumours throughout his body for most of his life, so it would have been difficult for us to realize he had lymphoma. He had the lymphoma lumps under his throat area.

You have two choices with a dog with lymphoma. Either give chemotherapy or just give him prednisone which isn’t a cure but helps temporarily shrink the tumour. We decided to not pursue chemotherapy because it costs thousands and usually only extends the life of the dog for a few months and our dog was already 11.5 years old. Life expectancy is only a few weeks on average without chemotherapy.

We took Rex home and we decided to try to give him the best time for what he had left. I wanted to fight it and tried everything I could think of to improve his health and maybe somehow fight it. I decided to even give him that prescription food by Hill’s diet, specially made for dogs with dog lymphoma. We also gave him healthy mix of food and vitamins in addition to it. He gave us 3 more weeks of his life. He seemed much better from the prednisone until one day he suddenly lost his appetite. He quickly then got very sick and barfed if he ate any food at all or even if he had a tablespoon of water. He also started getting diarrhea at about the same time. With the advice of a vet we decided it was time to humanely put our friend to sleep. I still miss Rex to this day and that was a year and half ago.

I never thought dog lymphoma would be the cause of my dogs eventual death, but apparently it is a pretty common disease in dogs. Dog Lymphoma seems to be partly caused by genetics because some breeds are more likely to get it. Golden retrievers are the most likely to get it than any other breed. Our dog is german shepherd mix. German shepherds are also one of the breeds that have a higher likelihood than the average dog breed to get lymphoma.

When I was searching for ways to naturally help with Rex while he was alive I started reading websites about how the rate of dog lymphoma has increased by a large percentage the last few years. I recently came across a study that I believe explains why dog lymphoma is even more prevalent. A study done back in 1992 Cancer Res. 1992 Oct 1;52(19 Suppl):5485s-5488s says that lymphoma has increased by 50% in the last 15 years. They cite multiple studies where certain pesticides, especially one type in particular, increases risk of lymphoma. They have also cite how dog lymphoma has been associated with lawn pesticide treatments using these chemicals.

I believe strongly that if you want to help prevent your dog from having lymphoma then you have to do a couple things. If you look at commercial dog food it is full of corn, wheat, and other ingredients full of pesticides and none of it is organic. These pesticides are getting in our food supply and causing cancers. I recommend you buy organic foods for yourself and your dog at a place called Only Natural Pet Store. Organic dog foods contain no pesticides of any kind including the meat sources. I also think you should avoid using herbicides or pesticides on your lawn or backyard where your dog plays. You also have to be careful about taking your dogs on walks because it means he will be running through lawns that may contain. Unlike humans, dogs like to rub their nose and fur on the grass etc. when they walk on lawns, so they are more susceptible to ingesting the pesticides than us.

Over the last few years I’ve become more health conscientious and I now look for organic food sources. Organic food is made without any pesticides, hormones, and anti-biotics. Knowing what I do now, I would never give my pet dog the traditional pet foods out there. They aren’t organic and they are full of grain and other preservatives, some additives that are even banned for human consumption. They aren’t banned for “animals” because profit is more important than a dog and no one can look out for them like humans. But to dog owners, our pet dog can become like a human companion and you only want what is best for him like yourself.

Most dog foods have corn and wheat as the first ingredients, meaning there is more grains than actual meat. I’ve read that grains are especially bad for dogs because dogs are made to eat meat, not corn and wheat like they put in dog food in large amounts. Corn and wheat often contain a toxic mold Aspergillus, that grows on it and releases aflatoxins, which are known carcinogens (cancer causing). This is the same mold that commonly grows on peanuts, which may have heard about. Corn is very common in dog foods and is especially susceptible to this fungus. Many times whole crops will be severely infected with it, depending on the weather conditions.

Since it’s hard finding natural and organic food in regular stores I always buy it from Only Natural Pet Store. They have a wide assortment of different types of pet dog foods from different natural blends. You can also find natural supplements, dog care products, and many things there too. If you want to extend the life of your dog, stop buying cheap dog food at wal-mart with pesticides, anti-biotics, dangerous additives, unhealthy grain, and instead find mostly meat based organic dog food. Yes, organic and natural dog food is more expensive, but I think it’s worth it if you care about your pet dog.