DOG FOOD And NUTRITION

For puppies and older dogs especially, and also for dogs who are pregnant or nursing, meals prepared by you in your own kitchen can be extremely dangerous.

My dog, a 25-pound mixed breed, happens to love popcorn. Is there any reason I shouldnt give it to her as a treat?

While a home-cooked diet can be a healthful alternative to commercial pet food, it can be very time-consuming and expensive to make sure it meets all your dogs needs - and should never be done without help from a board-certified veterinary nutritionist.

The reason efforts to slim down an overweight dog often fail is not because of a nutrition problem like too many calories per serving. Rather, most dogs have weight problems because of emotional issues - yours, not theirs.

Many tend to think of consumption of dog meat as something still going on only in undeveloped, far-off nations. But the import, export, and slaughter of dogs (and cats) has been legal in 44 states.

Tufts veterinary nutritionist Cailin Heinze, VMD, is only too familiar with scenarios like the following: We had this little dog who needed surgery to remove bladder stones made of calcium oxalate, she says. After that, she was prescribed a diet that would make the stones less likely to recur. Even so, the stones kept coming back. She had to undergo two more operations to remove more stones. We asked the owner what was going on. Well, Im feeding the diet you recommended, he said.

You love your dog and dont mind giving him table scraps here and there. But it has gotten to the point that every time you sit down to eat, hes there - begging, nudging, drooling, and beseeching with wide eyes for some of your meal. How has something that you thought was cute and tried to be nice about - and loving about - turned into such a persistent, annoying problem?

Does rawhide have any calories in it, or is it like chewing gum - not digestible and therefore not containing calories? Even if it did, would it be irrelevant because the calories would be burned off in the chewing?

You may have heard recently that certain types of diets, including those that are grain-free, have been linked to a type of life-threatening heart disease in some dog breeds that dont commonly become afflicted with it, including golden retrievers, Labrador retrievers, mixed breeds, and others. Called canine dilated cardiomyopathy, or DCM, it results in an enlarged heart.

Healthy dogs who do not have a skin condition do not require bathing. Oils on their skin and hair retain moisture, and scents that cling to them during their travels help them let other dogs know where theyve been and what theyve been up to; dogs communicate with each other via their noses.

What a difference a couple of generations make. From the 1960s to the early 1970s, Vietnam was engaged in a protracted war with the United States that led to devastating mortal and social consequences for our country. Today, Vietnam is a travel destination for adventurous Americans, celebrated in part for its lively street food culture and best exemplified by 2016 images of President Obama and the late chef Anthony Bourdain breaking bread on an episode of Mr. Bourdains television show. But it seems there is about to be a shift in the countrys vibrant food scene.

I know youre not supposed to feed your dog any grapes, raisins, onions, or garlic, but is it really true that even one raisin or grape is poisonous? Or one slice of onion or a bit of garlic? I mean, after all, while they say not to feed your dog chocolate, I know anecdotally that a tiny piece of chocolate is not going hurt most dogs.