Tag Archives: yellow lab

Table Talk: How to Feed your Pet the Natural & Healthy Way

Guest Blogger:  Many of our pet parents are interested in feeding their furry friends a healthy & natural diet so we thought we’d check in with the experts over at Boulder’s Natural Animal Hospital for some advice.  Boulder’s Natural Animal Hospital is a full service veterinary hospital located in Boulder, CO.

 

If you take some time to think about the trends and changes in the food products you find at your grocery store, you’ll notice that things are very different than they were even 5 years ago.

With more consumers adopting health-conscious and environmentally-conscious eating habits, natural and organic options have sprung up everywhere! Similarly, many companies have introduced ‘healthier’ options such as natural and fortified foods for your pet. With so many options to choose from, it can be hard to know what foods are right for your pet and what’s just plain hype. Have no fear: in this post, your friends at Boulder’s Natural Animal Hospital would like to help shed some light on the tricky subject of pet nutrition. We’ll discuss some things to look for as well as those to avoid and why, so you can be a savvy shopper and the best possible pet parent. Bon appetit!

Things to Look for

  • AAFCO Approved Foods: The motto of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) is  “Feed Safety & Consumer Protection – Over a Century of Partnership & Progress”. This organization certifies pet foods that meet at least the minimum requirements for nutritional content. As such, seeking foods that are approved by the AAFCO is a good baseline. It’s also important to note that the AAFCO has not established official definition for the words ‘holistic’ and ‘organic’. So don’t be fooled by fancy language on the side of a bag.
  • Please Pass the Meat! Many people have made the choice to eliminate the consumption of meat from their diets. Some may also choose to feed their pet’s vegetarian fare. As a pet owner who places your companion’s well-being at the top of your list of priorities, it is imperative to note that dogs and cats are carnivores. Biologically, they need real meat and the proteins that come along with it to thrive. On the same note, Fido and Fluffy have not evolved to utilize grains as a source of nutrition. This means that rice, corn, and other carbohydrates are unhelpful at best and downright dangerous at worst. The only reason they are added to most pet foods is because they are less expensive and make the meal chunkier.
  • Watery Food: Though it may sound a little bit strange, the “waterier” your pet’s food the better. Dogs and cat’s alike need a large amount of water in their diets to stay hydrated. For their more wild relatives, a large amount of their daily water comes not just from drinking, but eating as well. This is because the bodies of prey animals are composed of up to 70% water! Compare that to your standard dry kibble and you might see a problem developing. If possible, feed your pet wet food at least a few times per week, but strive to make the mushy stuff a daily part of their diet if possible.

Things to Avoid

  • Enhanced, Fortified, Blah Blah Blah: If you put our ‘Things to Look for’ list into practice, you can forget all of the hype-filled claims that fortified foods come with. Remember that dogs and cats are biologically programmed to derive everything they need for optimal health from a natural diet. Additives can be harmful whether they present a short term danger or cause complications over time. In dog foods you should strictly avoid any brands that contain BHT, BHA, ethoxyquin and propyl gallate, as they are known to be harmful and some are even carcinogens. For both dogs and cats, avoid foods that contain artificial preservatives in favor of those preserved with vitamins E and C.
  • By-products: The first ingredient in your pet’s food should be meat… and we’re talking REAL meat. Remember that your pet is a carnivore by nature and his body is fine-tuned to receive the maximum benefit by processing and using the nutrients from prey animals. Fillers and meat by-products sometimes contains additives that can be harmful to your animal companion. A good rule of thumb to follow is that if the meat isn’t human-grade, you shouldn’t feed it to your pet.
  • Overfeeding: This tip might be a bit different than the others that we’ve discussed so far, but we feel that it is just as important. America’s pets have a weight problem, just like many of our people. The key to a happy and healthy pet is feeding them the right things in the right amounts. Pets don’t have the mechanisms in their minds to turn town a delicious bowl full of food if it’s sitting on the floor in front of them all day. Make sure you feed your pet the proper amount of food for their particular size and breed and you’ll have a much happier camper on your hands.

We hope that you’ve found these tips to be helpful and informative. Some pet parents may decide that trying to navigate the complex world of pet food brands is too risky and preparing a home-cooked diet is the way to go. If you would like to explore the home-feeding option, schedule an appointment with one of the skilled veterinarians at Boulder’s Natural Animal Hospital – just call 303-494-7877.

– The Boulder’s Natural Animal Hospital Staff

www.bouldersnaturalanimal.com

 

 

Diahh-Roomba

Out-U-Go! staff meetings typically involve bagels, coffee, orders of business and staff members sharing  some of their experiences working at Out-U-Go!  It usually becomes clear that some of our Pet Parents’ homes produce more stories than others and at a recent meeting, one particular household of dogs proved to have A LOT of stories (mostly about poop).  Of those stories, one sticks out in particular…

To protect their anonymity, let’s refer to the dogs as Penny and Gretta G.  Now, Penny and Gretta share a special flare for life as well as anything and everything edible and not edible.  As such, it’s not uncommon for them to crap on the floor… but hey, even the best of us have the occasional accident.

Like most dogs, these two shed a lot so their owner purchased a Roomba to keep the hardwood floors clean while he’s at work.  If you don’t know, a Roomba is a Frisbee sized robot vacuum designed to roam the house cleaning the floor while you’re at work.  Between a mid day visit for the dogs from Out-U-Go! and a hard working Roomba, this Pet Parent had a lot to look forward to every time he opened his door after a hard day at work.

One day, like all days, Penny and Gretta’s owner kissed his two beautiful dogs goodbye, released the Roomba to do its thing and drove off to work.  A few hours later our walker arrived to find a house full of diarrhea and a hard working Roomba.

As it turns out, the standard Roomba is not equipped to clean a house full of diarhea, but not due to any lack of effort.  By following the parallel diarrhea tracks around the living room and noting the skid marks of partially-dry diarrhea with wheel tracks through them, our walker could clearly see the Roomba’s morning long effort to vacuum up diarrhea.  Because the Roomba has a sensor that determines whether an area is clean or whether it needs more vacuuming, it diligently attempted to clean several areas with back and forth motions until the sensor read clean.  Had the Roomba been mounted on a WWI tank it might have had a chance, but alas, the standard model uses plastic wheels and the sensor never read clean so back and forth it went.  Despite giving it the old college try, our walker wasn’t able to get the floor completely clean, just like the Roomba.

Upon hearing of this incident, our office staff picked up the phone and called this Pet Parent at work to inform him of what happened.  He responded with mostly curse words.  Penny and Gretta bounced back fairly quickly and were ready for their mid-day walk the very next day.  The Roomba, however, was never the same.

 

Doga Day for Charity is coming up fast on August 6th!!!

Out-U-Go! and Boulder’s Natural Animal hospital are teaming up again on an awesome event for charity!  Doga, otherwise known as Yoga for Doggies, will be featured.  On August 6th from 1pm – 4pm, we’ll all be hosting the Doga Day for Charity, a fundraiser for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.  For just $5 you and your pooch get:

  • A Doga lesson with Yoga instructor, Steph Schwartz, of the Bali Yoga Retreat
  • A massage for your dog by certified canine massage therapist, Lisa Simmerman, of Stella Earth
  • Fresh-baked dog treats from Paws Barkery
  • Grilled hot dogs, sodas, water, chips, and treats for the humans

What a deal, right?!  

This will be a great time for pups and people regardless of doga or yoga abilities and experience 🙂

When:  Saturday, August 6th from 1 PM to 4 PM

Where:  Outside of Boulder’s Natural Animal Hospital at 685 S Broadway in the Table Mesa Shopping Center

Who:  Co-hosted by Boulder’s Natural Animal Hospital (www.bouldersnaturalanimal.com) and Out-U-Go! Boulder (www.OUTUGO.com)

What:  A cooky, crazy canine event to raise funds for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley

The Highlands Street Fair was AWESOME!

The Highlands Street Fair 2011 was a blast!  This event gets better every year which is why we were so happy to help our friends down the road at Out-U-Go! Denver host an awesome booth.

Thousands of local residents toured 32nd Street in the Highlands to visit with a lot of the businesses from the area.  The Out-U-Go! booth was very popular- hundreds of people enter our raffle to win free dogs!

We’re already looking forward to next year!

Stay tuned for information about Out-U-Go!’s next awesome event- DOGA for Charity 🙂

The Highlands Street Fair!!!

The Out-U-Go! Booth

Out-U-Go! at the Highlands Street Fair

Out-U-Go! Boulder is thrilled to help our friends down the road at Out-U-Go! Denver host a booth at this year’s Highlands Street Fair!  Held annually in the heart of NW Denver, the Highlands Street Fair has booths from hundreds of local businesses as well as 3 stages for music, food, drinks, dogs and fun.  Stop by our tent to say hello, enter our raffle and let us pass out tasty treats to your pup(s).

We are looking forward to our second year in a row at this awesome event!

The Highlands Street Fair is taking place all day long on Saturday, June 18th.  The street fair will be up and down 32nd Street in the Highlands in NW Denver.  You can find out more about the entire event here http://www.highlands-square.com/StreetFair/index.htm.

 

Doga Anyone?

Out-U-Go! & Boulder’s Natural Animal are once again teaming up to host Boulder’s next awesome outdoor charity event!  Our last event, the Pampered Pooch Spaw Day for Charity, was such a huge success (we raised over $1200!) that we’ve already begun organizing Doga for Charity!  Stay tuned to our Facebook page for the exact date and time, but this awesomely fun and hilarious event will take place this summer outside Boulder’s Natural Animal hospital.

All funds raised will be donated to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.

Plan on a day of fun in the sun, canine massage, food and drinks and…. DOGA!

Any pup can participate, no matter how long they are able (or not able) to stay in one place 🙂

The team at Out-U-Go! and Boulder’s Natural Animal are looking forward to keeping everyone posted as more details develop, but based on the level of success we had with the Pampered Pooch Spaw Day, we think you’re in for a treat!!!!

Two Weeks with Sam

Back in November I met a Yellow Lab named Sam from Villa Park. Sam was 14 years old and in good shape despite two back legs that would occasionally give out due to arthritis. His parents were planning a trip to Hawaii for two weeks in February and needed someone to take awesome care of him while they were away.

Months went by and it was finally time for the first visit. Everything went just right! He ate all his food and snacks, we went on a short walk and he even grabbed his tennis ball for a short romp. Two days pass of perfection and then Mother Nature decided to step in with the third biggest snow storm in Chicago’s history. As the storm was approaching, I was getting scared and nervous. I knew no matter what, I had to get to Sam for his last visit of the night at 9:30pm, which was when meteorologists were predicting the storm would be at its worst.

As I was driving to Sam’s that night, the wind was so strong it was blowing a speed limit sign back and forth like I had seen during the coverage of Hurricane Katrina. I hit blackout conditions, skidded down the road and at one point almost got stuck in the snow. A drive that should have taken me ten minutes, took about 45 minutes but I got there safe and sound. I opened the door and there was Sam, sleeping on his bed. Sam had no idea the craziness that was going on outside until I opened the door to let him out for his last potty break. He looked outside, looked at me, turned around and went back to his bed!

I wasn’t mad at him for not going outside. I would not have gone outside either if it was not for Sam. The funny thing is after the storm was over, I was happy I left my house. I can say I really experienced one of the biggest storms in Chicago’s history. It was an adventure and a night I will never forget. I will also never forget my two weeks caring for sweet Sam.

Sam