The top 10 reasons to add coconut oil to your dog’s diet:

Coconut oil can have many health benefits for dogs – for their skin, digestive and immune systems, metabolic function, and even their bone and brain health.  As more and more Americans discover the wonderful flavor and benefits of coconut oil many more excellent brands show up on our shelves to choose.  
Coconut oil is extracted from the kernel of coconuts, and when bought raw appears as a thick butter-like substance. 

Raw coconut oil appears in a liquid oil form, meaning it’s quite a versatile ingredient.  
While consumption of large quantities of coconut oil is not advised – as a result of high levels of saturated fat – it is still ideal for use in occasional meals and snacks, or as a part of your beauty routine.

The top 10 reasons to add coconut oil to your dog’s diet:
1.    Coconut oil improves overall skin health and clears skin conditions such as eczema, flea allergies, contact dermatitis and itchy skin.
2.    Incredibly emollient, coconut oil helps moisturize the driest skin and makes a dog’s coat gleam with health – whether you add it to her diet, her shampoo or both.
3.    Applied topically to the skin, coconut oil promotes the healing of cuts, wounds, hot spots, bites and stings.
4.    The antibacterial and antifungal properties of coconut oil help reduce doggy odor, and its pleasantly tropical aroma imparts a delightful scent to a skin and coat.
5.    Coconut oil prevents and treats yeast infections, including candida.  Its antiviral agents also help dogs recover quickly from kennel cough.
6.    Digestion and nutrient absorption are improved by the addition of coconut oil to a dog’s diet.  It can, however, cause a stool to loosen; if that happens, just add a few spoonfuls of canned pumpkin to your dog’s diet.
7.    Coconut oil reduces and sometimes eliminates bad doggy breath.  Some dog lovers try to brush their dogs’ teeth with coconut oil and that makes the chore less arduous for brusher and the brushee.
8.    Like cinnamon, coconut oil helps prevent diabetes by regulating and balancing insulin.  It also promotes normal thyroid function and helps prevent infection and heart disease.
9.    Helping to reduce weight gain and increase energy, coconut oil also promotes mobility in dogs with arthritis and other joint issues.
10. Again, like cinnamon, coconut oil is excellent for brain health.  It is being used to stave off dementia in humans and it is a must to keep senior dogs’ minds from becoming cloudy.

How Much Coconut Oil Should I Give My Dog?
As you would with any change or addition in diet, start feeding your dog coconut oil gradually. The recommended dose is 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil per 10 pounds or 1/2 tablespoon per 30 pounds daily. To start off, give your dog about a quarter the recommended dosage and build up to the recommended level over a four-week period. Cut back on the dosage amount if diarrhea or other complications occur.
Dogs usually like the taste of coconut oil, so it can be added to their food at any meal. Some dog parents just let their dogs lick the oil off from a spoon.

How much coconut oil to give to a dog depends on the size and health condition of the dog. 

As a general guideline, give about 1 teaspoon per 10 pounds of body weight per day.
Remember not to start with the suggested amount. Add coconut oil to your dog's diet a little at a time in divided doses. Because coconut oil kills harmful bacteria, viruses, and fungi, the burden of removing dead organisms can trigger symptoms of detoxification. Too much coconut oil at a time may also cause diarrhea and greasy stools in dogs.
As a start, try giving 1/4 teaspoon/day for small dogs or puppies and 1 teaspoon for large dogs, and gradually increase the amount every few days.  Once again, reduce the amount if your dog has diarrhea.
Coconut oil can also be used in a dog’s bath. Melt about 2 tablespoons of coconut oil into a cup of hot water. Once you’ve finished the shampooing portion of the bath, refill it with clean lukewarm water and add in the melted oil. Using a cup or jug, pour this oil and water mixture over your dog’s body and rub it into his skin. Not only will with soothe and moisturize your dog’s skin and give him a healthier looking coat, he’ll smell yummy!

Have you had a positive experience using coconut oil with your dog’s health?  Please take a few moments and share in the comments………………..
Credits:
Daily Natural Remedies
PetGuide.Com August 29, 2013

Boston Terriers make the top list for best dog breeds for busy people.    What makes a Boston so livable?  There’s a reason these little dogs are so popular. Boston Terriers are often described as clowns. 

 Their personality is almost always described in positive terms.  They have the energy and intelligence common to terriers, without the hard-headedness or confrontational attitude.  They are highly intelligent and often seem to know exactly what their pet parents want.

 
This makes them a great addition to busy families. They are very smart, so giving them tasks to learn and safe things to chew can be very helpful.

 

 They adapt extremely well to both active and less-active lifestyles, get along with everyone, and by most accounts, are simply delightful pets. Boston Terriers can weigh between 10 to 25 pounds and their average lifespan is 13 to 15 years.

 

 
Who else made the top 20?

 Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier, Rottweiler, Bassett Hound, Miniature Dachshund, Clumber Spaniel, Puli, Rat Terrier, Chihuahua, Golden Retriever, Pug, Greyhound, Beagle, Japanese Chin, Cava-tzu, Puggle, Morkie & Cockapoo.

Written by:  Julie Bradford

Credits:  Big Huzzah, January 5, 2016

Microchipping saves lives. This is an accepted fact among those in the veterinary and animal welfare community. However, some microchip companies may now be compromising a system that's reunited countless numbers of pets and their owners.

Reprinted with permission
MAY 13, 2015, 2: 30 PM
Steve Dale TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY

A small chip (approximately the size of a grain of rice) is injected into the pet. If a pet is lost, a universal scanner can "read" the data on the chip (no matter which company originally sold the chip), ideally providing current contact information for the family of the pet, or at least identifying the chip provider.

The handful of established microchip providers have always made it easy for shelters, vets and pet owners to contact them; they can reach out online and typically dial a 24/7 "hotline" phone number. Once reached, the company may have information that can help locate a lost pet.

Until recent years, each microchip company had a distinct company ID prefix number. Today, however, there are at least six microchip companies with the same 900 company ID prefix number, making them nearly impossible to distinguish from one another. These companies appear to play by their own rules, rather than by industry standards.

Increasingly, animal shelter officials are voicing their frustration, even outrage over these 900­only chip businesses because they mislead consumers and reduce the chance that lost pets will be returned.

"I can't figure these companies out; how they're even allowed to operate this way," says Abby Smith, executive director of Felines and Canines, a Chicago, IL animal shelter.

The established microchip providers have dedicated ID numbers associated with their individual companies. For example, if scanned, PetLink chips read, 981; HomeAgain chips read, 985, etc. These numbers are used to look up contact information for a pet's owner.

With the 900­only chips, the number on any individual chip could be associated with any number of companies. "Animal shelters don't have the time to sit on the phone and try five or six or more companies (when there's a 5/14/2015 Microchip coding controversy could be putting pets' lives at risk) -

We don't even know for sure who all these companies are," Smith says.

Meghan Conti, Virginia Beach, VA Animal Enforcement Officer adds, "We've called these companies when lost pets have a 900­only chip prefix number, if there's a phone number to even call. Of course, we leave a message, and to date, not ever a single phone call back. We sure don't get pets back to owners this way. Who are these people?"

Conti answers her own rhetorical question: "The 900 companies are in the business of selling chips, all right, but (they're) obviously not in the business of recovering lost pets, which is the entire idea."

The appeal of the 900­only chips, by all accounts, is that they simply cost less for unaware veterinarians or shelters to buy. Sometimes that savings is passed on to the general public, but perhaps at the expense of a pet's life. (Microchips typically cost from $40 to $60, including registration of owner contact information.)

Buying a 900­only chip may be no bargain.

One of those 900 companies, K9Microchips, has this wording on its own website: "We make no promise to keep information on who purchases microchips, nor to document which microchips are shipped to which customers." The implication is that the company makes no promise to maintain a database of customers. (My emails to K9Microchips have generated no response. Reaching out to two other 900 microchip companies likewise yielded no response).

Conti and Smith aren't the only ones who've been unable to reunite any dogs or cats with their owners using the data from 900­only chips.

"I've lost sleep over these issues because I have no doubt that pets have lost their lives," says John Bowman, supervisor Norman, OK Animal Welfare. "Municipal shelter systems only have so much space. If an animal can't be identified, then there's a cost associated for an animal to be housed in a shelter. And if the pet isn't claimed by the owner, the reality is that not all pets get adopted."

Conti adds, "And that poor family who lost a pet thought they were doing the right thing by microchipping, not knowing that they may have purchased one of these 900­only chips. In reality, they may never see their pet again."

Several years back, to help everyone involved navigate the often confusing world of microchipping, the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), a leading proponent of chipping, began a non-­branded online "pet look up service." By entering a microchip number on the AAHA website, individuals have another way to determine the company a chip belongs to. However, some 900­only companies don't participate in this program.

Dr. Michael Cavanaugh, AAHA executive director, didn't know about the 900­chip issue. And he's not alone.

"I've not spoken with a veterinarian who's aware of the issue, or a pet owner who knows about it. That's why it's so essential we get the word out," Smith says.

The lesson here is, buyer beware.

"Of course, companies must be reputable. Microchipping is more than about getting a microchip into a pet; it's about pet owners updating their information when they move or change contact information, and it's about pet recovery," says Cavanaugh. "A microchip without a responsible recovery service means little."

(Steve Dale welcomes questions/comments from readers. Although he can't answer all of them individually, he'll answer those of general interest in his column Send e­mail to PETWORLD(at)STEVE DALE.TV. Include your name, city and state. Steve's website is http://www.stevedalepetworld.com; he also hosts the nationally syndicated "Steve Dale's Pet World" and "The Pet Minute." He's also a contributing editor to USA Weekend.)

(c) 2015 DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.