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National Animal Poison Prevention Week – Petcurean

March 25, 2018

Please note: This post is an educational resource for common pet poisons (i.e. not for emergencies). If you believe your pet has ingested something toxic, please visit the Pet Poison Helpline or ASPCA Poison Control site (includes horse toxicity information) for a more comprehensive list, or call them at 855-764-7661 or 888-426-4435 respectively.

It’s really scary to think about how many pet poisons there are in the world.

As a matter of fact, I am the one in our dog-friendly office constantly checking the floor to make sure there nothing poisonous for pets has been dropped (like coffee beans and chocolate). To some people I am sure I seem a bit crazy, but to others who understand what these items can do to pets, I’m sure (I hope :)) that they appreciate my diligence.

The truth is however, you aren’t going to have a former veterinary professional walking around with you making sure your pet stays safe and doesn’t eat anything poisonous. To be honest with you, even if you did have a veterinary professional with you, most veterinary professionals still have to look up the types of plants that are poisonous because there are SO MANY!

We have covered this topic a variety of times over the years, and yet, there is still more to share!

Today, our friends at Petcurean want to share with you some common pet poisons so that you can keep your pets (and other people’s pets) safe with your knowledge!

Top 3 Items to Avoid for Dogs: 

  • Chocolate – Most pet lovers know that chocolate is a big no-no for Fido. Chocolate is harmful because of a toxic agent called theobromine, which can make your pup extremely ill and even lead to death.
    • I would add that it really matters what type of chocolate your dog ate! A super handy tool for helping you figure out if your pet is in a dangerous situation is PetMD’s Chocolate Toxicity Meter.
  • Grapes – A lesser known fact, grapes can lead to kidney failure in dogs. If you want to give your pup a sweet and healthy treat, opt for blueberries instead.
  • Mushrooms – If you have a dog that spends a lot of time outside, it’s crucial to check your yard for mushrooms. There are many species of mushroom that are toxic to pets, such as the Amanita phalloides or ‘Death Cap’ mushroom, a potent poison at only 3 grams. Since there’s a multitude of other species that can harm your pet, it’s best to keep your lawn clean of any mushrooms just to be safe.
    • If you suspect your pet has ingested a poisonous mushroom, take them to the vet and bring the mushroom so the clinic can identify what type of toxin or poison they are dealing with.
    • In my own professional experience I have seen many dogs eat mushrooms, and the best thing you can do is act quickly and take them to the vet immediately! Mushrooms are very difficult to identify so it’s safer to assume that any mushroom your dog ate is poisonous and seek veterinary treatment!

National Animal Poison Prevention Week - Petcurean

Top 3 Items to Avoid for Cats:

  • Tuna – Although tuna is the classic delicacy for a cartoon cat, you should only feed your cat tuna when it’s produced in a cat food format. Tuna made for humans can cause digestive problems in your cat if fed as an occasional treat. Feeding them tuna on a more consistent basis can cause a painful condition called steatitis, or inflammation of the body’s fat.
  • Dairy products – Perhaps as iconic as cats and tuna, cats and milk are also a popular pairing. However, as cats age, they can become lactose intolerant causing them to vomit or have diarrhea after ingesting dairy.
  • Lilies – The most common type of lily is toxic to cats only. If your cat eats a lily, it can lead to kidney failure which, if not treated quickly, may result in death.
    • Unfortunately, these are particularly popular this time of year and it can be a very big concern for pet parents.

HARMFUL PLANTS: Many common household plants can have negative effects on your beloved pet. Check your home and make sure you don’t have any of these around!

  • Aloe – There are more than 500 species of aloe vera, all of which are poisonous to your pet. Its toxin, saponin, acts as a defense mechanism and will harm your pet if ingested.
  • English Ivy – English Ivy is one of the most common forms of ivy to grow along the sides of walls and fences, making them easily accessible by outdoor pets and therefore, especially dangerous.
  • Sago Palm – This plant is also a common landscape feature, but a little more difficult for your pet to eat. However, Sago Palm is highly poisonous to pets and can even be fatal.
  • Shamrocks – While relatively harmless in small quantities, a large consumption of shamrocks can lead to kidney failure in your pet.

Unfortunately, this list of poisonous plants is only the beginning! If you aren’t sure about the plants in your yard, it’s important that you take inventory and revisit the design of your yard. I will say that many pet parents think to themselves that their pet isn’t going to eat the plants in their yard because they haven’t yet. But the truth is, you never know. Your pet may feel mischievous, or bored, or stressed one day and start eating items in your yard.

For Renters:

We rented a home for a few years and the yard definitely had some poisonous plants in the back yard. Thankfully, all of the plants were considered mild to moderately toxic. The problem was that we weren’t able to rip up the plants because it wasn’t our yard.

If any of the plants were extremely toxic, we would have made a formal request to have them removed. However, we opted to have Rooney’s time outside monitored. We were always outside with him and provided him with distractions so that he wouldn’t try to eat the plants. Rooney is very mischievous and will definitely try to eat anything that looks interesting.

I would love to know what other solutions renters have used to keep your pets safe, so please share in the comments!

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I want to thank our friends at Petcurean for sharing this valuable information with our readers. Have you had a pet poison learning lesson? Please share in the comments! Your story could help other pet parents keep their dogs and cats safe!

Every My Kid Has Paws reader can enjoy a $5 off coupon to try any Petcurean recipe using coupon code PAWSOME8 which can be redeemed at Petcurean.com/pawsome!

Disclaimer: I am a Petcurean blogger. I was provided with food and compensation so that Rooney and I could provide our honest opinion. However, Petcurean is the food we feed Rooney every day. My Kid Has Paws only shares reviews we believe benefit our readers.

How to Reduce Your Dog’s Barking

March 19, 2018

Barking is a common topic of discussion among pet parents. It’s also a complex behavior that can determine the quality of a relationship between a dog and their human.

An over simplification of this topic would indicate that most pet parents want their dogs to bark as infrequently as possible and only under very specific circumstances. Reality would tell us that barking is a vocalization technique that all dogs use for a variety of reasons. Additionally, the frequency and pitch of every dog’s bark changes with breed and individual. Therefore, there is often a gap between expectation and reality, which causes many dogs to be re-homed. In an effort to reduce this scenario, and improve the human-animal bond, we put together this blog post.

Our goal for today’s post is to improve your understanding of why dogs bark, and provide you with some tips on how to reduce your dog’s barking behaviors, while also sharing some of my personal experience.

Breaking Down Barking as a Form of Communication

Neutral versus Stressed

In the book, “A Dog Who’s Always Welcome”, Lorie Long describes “Vocalization Behavior” in two categories: Neutral and Stressed. Neutral barking is described as “Silent, playful barking, or moderate alert barking”, and Stressed is described as “Whining, barking, growling, snarling, howling, or keening”.

To better understand your dog’s barking and communication requires a two-part effort. Firstly, you will need to understand why and how your dog is communicating, and understand what your communication is telling your dog.

“Verbal and visual signals based on human methods of communication only tell your dog the state of your emotions. There is no information about what you want him/her to do.”

Different Barking Scenarios

In Tracy Libby’s book titled, “High Energy Dogs: A Practical Guide to Living with Energetic & Driven Canines”, she describes barking in the following scenarios:

  • Protection: which will include a deep bark
  • Barking to Get Attention
  • Boredom
  • Frustration
  • Excited Behavior
  • A Release of Excess Energy

In a book titled, “Dog Lover’s Daily Companion: 365 Days of Tips, Tricks, and Techniques for Living a Rich Life with Your Dogs”, Wendy Nan Rees and Kristen Hampshire describe barking in 10 different ways, accompanied with phrases that I think can help pet parents understand the different types of barking. Here are 5 that I hear used most frequently:

  • Warning Bark is characterized by a deep loud noise as to say “Hey, Mom — look out!”.
  • Request Bark is characterized by something not too loud or pitched as to say “Hey, please come get me. I want to go out”.
  • Whine Bark, a friendly reminder of basic needs as to say, “Hey I have to relieve myself right now!”.
  • Happy Bark “Come play with me, — let’s go to the park”.
  • Anger Bark “Hey, look at that squirrel! I must go get it!”.

Now would be a great time to pause and assess the different scenarios in which your dog barks the most. Which of these would you like to reduce?

For example, with Rooney I would like to reduce the whine bark or the “Barking to Get Attention”. I don’t mind that Rooney barks in other scenarios, because to be honest, they are rare. But when Rooney wants attention, he vocalizes until he gets it.

Addressing the Barking

In her book, Long describes some of the Canine Calming signals that dogs use to communicate with each other, and how you can use them with your dog. Here are some of the signals specific to barking:

  • “Sliding the eyes to the side and looking away, turning the head away: When an upset dog barks at you, turn your eyes and head away.”
  • “Sitting or lying down: If your guests make your dog nervous, ask them to sit down. When Chase wants Dash to stop asking him to play, he lies down and turns his head away.”

In addition to the tips mentioned above, Long also mentioned the importance of speaking softly and with encouraging language when your dog is completing a behavior you want. In this case, encourage the “non-barking” behavior with positive language. When we are at work and Rooney is being quiet, I often check in randomly and provide him with positive verbal praise or a treat.

How to Reduce Your Dog's Barking

Additional Advice

While I think the above tips will definitely help reduce an unwanted barking behavior, I wanted to learn a bit more about how to address what Zak George calls, “demand barking” which seems to be very common among the more boisterous breeds like Corgis!

I’m super excited that he made this video with a herding breed, because I think that made it a bit more relatable for me as a Corgi parent.

What I learned from Zak’s advice:

  • Give the reward during times of silence
  • Get their attention on you and reward for compliance
  • Acknowledge small victories
  • Set up training scenarios to work on and be consistent on your training (for this dog specifically, Zak recommended 3-4 weeks of daily training sessions that are at least 5 minutes each).
  • If your dog is energetic they are likely brilliant and very trainable
  • Don’t forget about daily exercise! This plays a significant role is dog behavior.
  • Mental stimulation is important for intelligent breeds, don’t forget to integrate it in your dog’s daily life!

Have you struggled with, or achieved, reduced barking behavior with your dog? Share your experience in the comments below!

A Dog-Mom-Friendly Wristlet + A Giveaway

March 13, 2018

Have you ever found yourself walking your dog to the coffee shop and you feel like you are inundated with items?

I can’t tell you how many times I have dropped my phone while walking Rooney because I am carrying too many things. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to walk your dog somewhere and struggling with a purse or other items in your hands. The more places our dogs want to go with us (and the more we want them there), the more likely we are to need a dog-mom-friendly wristlet.

A Dog-Mom-Friendly Wristlet + A Giveaway

I want to introduce you to A Pet with Paws, a company that is creating dog mom solutions for travel and style.

A Pet with Paws is an innovative collection of stylish, sustainable pet carriers and accessories. Our commitment to pet travel is essential to our holistic approach of creating responsible, sophisticated products. We combine chic contemporary styles with safety minded designs to create beautiful products that’s a living pawprint of our core values. People, Pooches and The Planet. That’s our cause.

A Pet with Paws has not only this amazing Scarlet Poop Bag Wristlet, but also solutions for training bags and pet carriers.

A Dog-Mom-Friendly Wristlet + A Giveaway

Why Do I Love this Wristlet?

Not only is this wristlet designed to act as a wallet on the go, but there is also room for poop bags and an opening to access them without opening your wristlet. Rooney poops a minimum of twice on any walk, so I can’t, and won’t, leave the house without poop bags. Additionally, there is enough room to carry my phone, keys, and debit card.

Lastly, the material is made from recycled plastic bottles which makes this wristlet a sustainable purchase for dog moms!

I LOVE the Scarlet Poop Bag Wristlet so much, I am giving one away!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tell me, would this wristlet make your life easier? Do you take your dog places where you also need your wallet?

How to Improve Your Pet’s Dental Health with Their Food – Petcurean

March 3, 2018

February is National Pet Dental Health month. Which means, I couldn’t let too much time go by without at least briefly discussing Pet Dental Health!

Today, I am teaming up with Petcurean to share with you how choosing your pet’s food can affect their overall dental health.

Now, any veterinary professional will most certainly want me to reiterate that brushing your pet’s teeth is the #1 way that you can improve your pet’s dental health. However, many pet parents already brush their pet’s teeth, and are likely interested in additional ways that they can improve their pet’s dental health.

If you aren’t already aware, Pet Dental Health is imperative to your pet’s overall health and is wisely summed up in this quote from Petcurean:

Similar to humans, poor dental hygiene causes bad breath, plaque, tartar, gingivitis, periodontitis, and tooth root abscesses in dogs. At its worst, bad dental health can contribute to more serious health issues. Inflamed gums, for example, can cause bacterial infections that can affect organs such as the heart and kidneys with extreme cases being fatal.

Petcurean recently released a new brand of food specifically designed to help small dogs with poor dental health. Why small dogs? Well, generally speaking small dogs are more prone to dental disease.

[I]f you’re thinking of adopting a small breed, be prepared for more trips to the vet. With small breeds—generally anyone shorter than knee height—periodontal disease is a huge problem, says Dr. Donnell Hansen, a veterinarian with BluePearl Veterinary Partners in Blaine, Minnesota.

I know all my fellow Corgi Pet Parents out there are wondering; “Does this ‘small breed’ definition count for Corgis too?”. I have always thought of Corgis as “medium dogs with half the leg length”, which would actually mean that they aren’t as prone to periodontal disease as small dogs, but they certainly aren’t immune to dental health problems. According to the AKC:

“Small and large dogs differ in the type of dental disease they can encounter. Small dogs are especially prone to tartar formation, gum recession, and eventual loss of teeth… In contrast, large dogs are more likely to suffer from a fractured tooth from aggressive chewing. If the fracture exposes the interior of the tooth (the pulp cavity), infection travels down the tooth to its root, causing an abscess and loss of the tooth.”

Some of the research I read claimed that Corgis were prone to dental health disease, other articles didn’t include them on the list as one of the top breeds with dental problems. Regardless, we Corgi parents want to do everything we can to improve our dog’s dental health! If you still aren’t sure of the importance of dental health, perhaps this case study from VetWest Animal Hospitals can persuade you!

If Your a Pet Parent of a Small Dog (Defined as <25lbs by feeding Guidelines)

One of the ways your can improve your pet’s dental health is by changing to a food that supports pet dental health! If you are the pet parent of a small breed dog, the new Petcurean NOW FRESH Small Breed recipes are formulated with ingredients that help support oral health and fresh breath, including sodium tripolyphosphate, which binds calcium to protect teeth from tartar formation. Peppermint and parsley are also included as natural ingredients to promote fresh breath. In addition, the small clover-shaped kibble is one of the smallest in the market, contributing to high palatability, easy chewing, and effective digestion.

Every My Kid Has Paws reader can enjoy a $5 off coupon to try any Petcurean recipe using coupon code PAWSOME8 which can be redeemed at Petcurean.com/pawsome!

I wouldn’t classify Rooney as a small breed dog. Not only because I think he is a medium dog with short legs, but also because Rooney is 30lbs and lives and behaves much more like a medium dog, therefore, he wouldn’t necessarily benefit from small kibble.

If you are interested in reading more about Pet Dental Health, don’t forget to check out some of our top pet dental health articles here:

What You NEED to Know About Pet Dental Health – Interview with Dr. Burr from Trupanion

Why Do Dog Dentals Cost So Much?

February Challenge! 20 Days of Dental Health #MKHPFebruaryChallenge

Why Shouldn’t My Pet Have a Gentle Dental?

Disclaimer: I am a Petcurean blogger. I was provided with food and compensation so that Rooney and I could provide our honest opinion. However, Petcurean is the food we feed Rooney every day. My Kid Has Paws only shares reviews we believe benefit our readers.

How Important is it to Keep Your Corgi in Shape? – Petcurean

February 5, 2018

Disclaimer: We are part of the Petcurean Blogger Advocate program. However, we feed Rooney Petcurean every day. My Kid Has Paws only shares information about products we like and we believe our readers will enjoy.

A few months ago I was taking Rooney to a Corgi meetup in San Francisco and I heard someone say, “Look at that chubby Corgi!”. I wanted to turn around and say, “He’s just fluffy and his body condition score is perfect!”, but I refrained.

How Important is it to Keep Your Corgi in Shape?

Corgis are one of those breeds that can easily look overweight. With their fluffy double-coats and low-to-the-ground stature, it’s easy to seem chubby. Regardless of general appearance to the public, maintaining and managing your Corgi’s weight is one of the most important things you can do as a pet parent.

Obesity & Excess Weight

Obesity and excess weight are most commonly brought on by overfeeding, a lack of exercise, or both. Additionally, obesity and excess weight can lead to a variety of health issues for your Corgi including, but not limited to diabetes, arthritis, and a shortened life span.

Obesity is a significant risk factor for many life-threatening diseases that affect dogs and cats. For example, diabetes and obesity in cats often go hand-in-hand, and in dogs even a slight increase in weight has been shown to decrease their lifespan by about two years. – Dr. Jennifer Adolphe, Petcurean

For Corgis, proper weight management is especially important since they are prone to IVDD (Intervertebral Disc Disease) and DM (Degenerative Myelopathy).

In dog breeds that are predisposed to IVDD, keeping them at a lower weight will help reduce the stress on their backbone and neck. – PetMD

Body Condition Score

The proper way to determine if your Corgi is at a healthy weight is by measuring their Body Condition Score. A good Body Condition Score is characterized by a distinct waist line from above and the side, as well as, the ability to easily feel (but not see) ribs and vertebra.


To see what a proper Body Condition Score looks like for Corgis, please visit Little Cooper Bear’s blog where Cooper explains what a Corgi’s body condition score should look like, with photos which are really helpful!

If you are unsure of your Corgi’s body condition score, you should definitely ask your veterinarian at your dog’s next annual exam.

via GIPHY

 

Keeping Your Corgi in Shape

Now that we have established the importance of keeping your Corgi in shape, let’s discuss ways to do so.

  1. Exercise: Regular and consistent exercise is the cornerstone of keeping your pet in shape. Rooney gets his exercise on frequent walks, weekend outdoor adventures, and weekly doggy daycare. Even when the weather is bad, don’t forget that exercise includes stretching, training, and engaging with puzzles.
  2. The Right Food: In college I used workout DVDs to stay in shape during the offseason. Every DVDs said that you could workout as much as you want, but you have to eat the right foods to stay in shape. The same is true for your dog. Make sure you are feeding them quality food designed to fuel their activity. We feed Rooney Petcurean GO! SENSITIVITY + SHINE™ Duck Recipe, and at 7-years-old people still say he looks and acts like he is 2! Enter code: PS141ZW997 to get $5 off any bag of NOW FRESH, GATHER or GO!
  3. Reduce Table Scraps: If you take the time and invest the money in feeding your dog the best food, it doesn’t make sense to then feed them non-nutritious table scraps.
  4. Hold Everyone in the House Responsible: If you are increasing your dog’s exercise and feeding them a balanced diet, and their body condition score isn’t changing, often, there is a family member who is feeding your dog something they shouldn’t (or it could be a sign of hypothyroidism). I hate to point fingers, but its really important that everyone is on a fitness journey with your dog.
  5. Supplements: If you haven’t already, consider adding supplements to your dog’s diet to support digestive and bone health as they age. Glucosamine and Omega 3’s are very popular among dog parents, but I recommend working with your veterinarian before adding anything to your dog’s diet.

How do you keep your Corgi in shape?

All photos of Rooney in this post are courtesy of Pawpawrazzi Pet Photography. 

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