Menu Close

A Community Of Ryman-type Setter Enthusiasts

 

Reply To: What do you think makes a difference?


The Ryman Setters Forum Forums Health What do you think makes a difference? Reply To: What do you think makes a difference?

#1425

Katie, our experiences with grain free foods follows yours. Grains are not immediately bad, but are cheap, cheap cheap…. and their use as fillers results in high carbohydrate levels which in turn mean a lot of excess energy for the dog to dump out of there system. Dogs do not need carbs for energy. There is some recent hub bub about grain free diets and death or one or more dogs known to researchers. I picked up guidance at my vet’s clinic this week which does suggest this really may be a taurine deficiency caused by other choices of components in the formulation. Whole dog Journal had a great piece on diets a few months ago I hope I can find again for this discussion.

 

Ticks – can’t be said oftern enough that we know these days that ticks mean many diseases above and beyond Lyme. Many of those diseases can transmit shortly after attachment of a tick, not just after a 24 hour attachment. I use Brevecto now as a baseline preventative, and apply a permethrin based spray on my clothes and dogs when in the field. Seresto collars seem to be highly effective too, but some of us have heard one or more truly awful stories about ingested collars. I also don’t like seeing multiple collars on a dog. On this account I have no science, only my belief a multi-barrier approach that greatly reduces the number of live ticks making it back to my truck, dog b0xes, or home is better than the insult I or the dogs may suffer from exposure to permethrin. One we reach mid-September, we have tick activity anytime the temperature is above freezing. That means I see ticks crawling on dogs in January if its 35 degrees out after 2 weeks of bitter cold weather.

 

Enough from me, I look forward to what others offer here too.

Ryman Setters Forum