This month, Dr. Al answers your questions about weight management and keeping a healthy skin and coat.

Holistic Select Staff Vet - Dr. Al

Q: My dog needs to lose weight. Can you suggest a daily regimen to help him get on track to a healthier weight?

There is no mystery concerning weight loss and maintaining a slightly lean body condition. That said, we all may know how to do it but doing it is another matter. We have to commit ourselves to doing the very best for our pets in order to give them the best chance for a long, happy and healthy life.

A: Regular exercise and an appropriate diet for the specific needs and the particular life stage your pet is in. Exercise should be on a regular basis and not stress the dog beyond it’s ability. Walking, chasing a ball, swimming and many other activities that you can share with your pet will encourage weight loss and at the same time, strengthen the bond between you and your pet.

Generally speaking, you should be feeding less than you are now in order to lose weight. Keep in mind that we never feed amounts needed to satisfy the dog’s appetite as they will surely over-eat. Start with the feeding guide on the bag, understanding that it is merely a guide and not exact for every pet. Breed, sex, activity level, age time of the year and many other criteria make it impossible to develop a guide that works for all pets.

Weigh the dog regularly and if you need to lower the amount of food in order to get into a weight loss program you must reduce the amount of calories until your pet is slowly loosing weight. There are diets that help you achieve weight loss. Diets that satisfy the dog’s appetite while helping you to limit calories. Holistic Select^® Weight Management Recipe is such a diet. It has all of the high quality nutrition and Select Actives™ you have come to expect in the Holistic Select recipes and, at the same time, is designed to encourage weight loss. This special recipe has 30% less fat than our Chicken Meal and Rice Recipe and contains contains pea fiber to help your pet feel full longer.

Q:  My long haired Dachshund has very dry hair. What may be done to bring back the sheen?

A: Feeding a diet designed with all of the essential fats necessary for a healthy skin and hair coat is the first step in a lustrous hair coat. There are certain conditions that may be affecting the diet’s ability to produce that healthy skin and hair coat.

- The humidity is generally lower in the winter and tends to encourage dryer skin and hair.
- End of summer when nature tells the body it’s time to prepare for winter and shedding as well as some scaling of the skin can occur.
- Unexpected stress such as an illness of injury can draw nutrition from the body.

In those cases and others, try a food with such as Holistic Select Anchovy, Sardine & Salmon Meal Recipe. This recipe, like all Holistic Select dry recipes contains our special Omega Health® Fatty Acid Blend to aid in a healthy glossy coat. As a mixer you  may want to add Holistic Select Tuna, Salmon & Shrimp Canned Recipe. This delicious canned recipe contains Flaxseed for additional Omega 3 fatty acids. If you choose to supplement this diet temporarily with additional essential fats, Omega 6 and 3 fatty acids are found in many supplements in pet stores and veterinary hospitals. Check with your veterinarian so that he might help you decide on the best supplement for your pet. Keep in mind that any change to the skin and hair coat is slow and can take as long as several months before you begin to see a difference.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 at 10:24 am and is filed under Pet Health, Pet Nutrition, Vet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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