Even With a Measuring Cup, Food Portions Are Way Off

Measuring food by weight rather than volume is a much better way to make sure your dog gets the right amount.

January 2020 - How do you measure your dog’s food portions? With the bowl you happen to put her food in? With your hands? Simply by eyeballing it as you pour the kibble out of the bag? If you use any of these unreliable methods, you’re not alone. More than one out of five people participating in a study about the best way to measure dog food reported using one of these three approaches.

Retractable Leashes Present Very Serious Risks

In the wrong hands and attached to the wrong dog, a retractable leash can cause irreparable harm.

For an ill-trained dog who won’t come when called or gets into scrapes with other dogs or people when off leash, a retractable leash may seem the perfect solution. It allows an unruly pet more freedom than a regular leash as the line unfurls — 10, 15, or more feet. But an untrained pet is the very dog for whom a retractable leash is a bad idea.

In Dogs, Two Types of Lupus

Different presentations, different approaches to treatment.

Just like people, dogs can get lupus. It’s an autoimmune disease, meaning that the immune system mistakes the body’s own tissues for foreign “invaders” and starts attacking and destroying them. Two types of lupus strike our canine pets: systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE). The first is much more devastating, with worse symptoms that can have life-threatening implications. The second is not as dangerous but needs to be brought under control to avoid serious complications down the line.

Which Bones Are Safe to Chew, Which Are Not

The wrong bone can cause a medical emergency.

Dog owners often hear they should never give their pet a chicken bone. The worry is that a dog can easily crush a chicken bone with his teeth, causing it to splinter and then perforate the intestine. “But that’s largely an urban myth,” says Your Dog editor-in-chief John Berg, DVM. “Chicken bone will almost inevitably dissolve in the stomach and never even reach the intestine.