ANIMAL
For a long, healthy life!
WELLNESS ARE
RAW DIETS THE ANSWER TO PERIODONTAL DISEASE?
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CANINE CONDITIONS
ACUPUNCTURE
PET THEFT:
WHY IT’S WORSE THAN EVER, AND PROTECTIVE STEPS YOU CAN TAKE
CAN HELP WITH THE DANGERS OF
ELECTROPOLLUTION FOR YOUR PETS
STUCK INSIDE?
CREATE AN INDOOR OBSTACLE COURSE FOR YOUR DOG! FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 Display until March 29, 2021
$6.95 USA/Canada
VOLUME 23 ISSUE 1
CATS AND
COVID-19
– SHOULD YOU BE WORRIED?
THE ART OF DOG WALKING
HOW TO TURN YOUR AMATEUR STROLL INTO A MASTERPIECE
AnimalWellnessMagazine.com
CONTENTS February/March 2021
Columns 14 SPOTLIGHT Vaccinating your adult dog or cat
Rather than having your adult dog or cat vaccinated every year, consider these important factors and make an informed decision that will optimize his health and well-being.
34 Features 10
Raw meat and bones — the answer to periodontal disease?
34
raining your dog — it’s about T more than obedience
A look at how nutrition impacts your dog or cat’s dental health, and why a raw diet may be the best way to prevent periodontal disease.
52
Training should involve a science-based positive approach that encourages dogs to learn through discovery, play, and reward.
H ow chiropractic care can help dogs with digestive upsets
Chiropractic care isn’t just for back problems — it can also help relieve digestive upsets in your canine companion.
72
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Animal Wellness
he art of dog T walking
Dog walking isn’t just a task… it’s an art! Here’s everything you need to buy, do and know to turn your amateur stroll into a brilliant masterpiece.
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20 FUN & GAMES Create an indoor obstacle course for your dog!
When winter weather drives you indoors, entertain your canine companion by building your own indoor dog obstacle course.
22 NEED TO KNOW Pet theft
Pet theft is a serious problem and the pandemic has made it worse. Luckily, there’s lots you can do to protect your dog or cat from being stolen.
38 HEALTH ALERT Cats and COVID-19
It’s true that cats can contract COVID-19. Let’s look at how, and what you can do to protect your own feline companion.
40 AT THE VET
Managing your dog or cat’s emotional state takes the stress out of vet visits Recognizing and managing your dog or cat’s emotional state and primary needs can help take the stress out of vet visits.
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26 SAFETY FIRST How disinfectant and sanitizer use may be affecting our animals During the pandemic, we’ve been spending extra time disinfecting and sanitizing our homes and hands. Is this chemical exposure having an adverse effect on our dogs and cats?
28 DENTAL CARE Homeopathic help for your dog or cat’s dental problems Discover how homeopathy can help treat dental disease in your canine or feline companion.
44 LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD
A 15-minute weekly dog grooming routine Make grooming your pup quick and easy with this 15-minute weekly regimen!
46 AT HOME
How electro-pollution affects your dog or cat Electromagnetic radiation from wireless technology is having an adverse impact on human and animal health. Here’s how to help protect your dog or cat from this electro-pollution.
54 ALTERNATIVE
62 ANIMAL
68 MODALITY
Ayurvedic health for your dog
How Tui Na can help ease your cat’s arthritis
Canine conditions that respond well to acupuncture
APPROACH
Incorporating these ancient Ayurvedic principles and techniques into your dog’s lifestyle will help prevent illness while increasing his everyday health and well-being.
58 MOBILITY MATTERS
Choosing a wheelchair for a dog with mobility issues If your dog has mobility problems, the right wheelchair can make a huge difference to his quality of life.
HIGHLIGHT
ACUPRESSURE
Tui Na, also known as acupressure-massage, is an effective way to alleviate the discomfort of arthritis in cats.
66 YOUR
RESCUE DOG
Preparing your home for a new dog Adopting or rescuing a new dog? Here are six ways to prepare your home and family so the newcomer’s arrival goes as smoothly as possible.
76
Many health problems in dogs, from allergies to kidney disease, respond well to acupuncture. Here are the most common conditions this ancient modality can help treat.
76 SELF CARE
De-stress with a cat coloring book! There’s a reason we loved to color so much as children — it’s relaxing as well as fun! Add a cat coloring book to the mix and you have the perfect solution to stress.
Departments 7 Editorial 18 In the news 32 Product picks
57 Beat the February blues!
60 Wellness
resource guide
37 Training tips
75 To the rescue
43 From the NASC
78 Let's get social
50 In the news
79 Marketplace
Social Media
79 Events 80 Must reads 81 Classifieds 82 Newsworthy
Tips, contests and more! AnimalWellnessMagazine
News, events, and tips! @ AW_magazine
Tips, pet photos, and more! AnimalWellnessMagazine
Crafts, laughs, and more! AnimalWellness
Animal Wellness
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RAW MEAT & BONES
D gs Cats
THE ANSWER TO — PERIODONTAL DISEASE IN DOGS AND CATS? By Ian Billinghurst, BVSc (Hons), BScAgr Dip Ed
A look at how nutrition impacts your dog or cat’s dental health, and why a raw diet may be the best way to prevent periodontal disease.
If you have a dog or cat with periodontal disease, you’re familiar with the signs. They include bleeding and painful gums; foul breath; tartar-covered teeth that loosen and may even come out; and receding gums with pus-filled pockets round the tooth roots. Needless to say, periodontal disease is very unpleasant — and very painful for your dog or cat. On the plus side, maintaining good dental health in your animal companion may be as easy as providing him with a diet of raw meat and bones.
PERIODONTAL DISEASE IS ENDEMIC Periodontal disease is one of the first degenerative disease processes to afflict today’s domestic cats and dogs; in fact, it often starts before the animals even hit puberty. By the age of five, around 85% of dogs and cats are exhibiting some degree of periodontal disease. This problem is reaching epidemic proportions in the canine and feline population throughout the
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Animal Wellness
Western world. And it is also a far more dangerous problem for our furry family members than it is for we humans. One of the first signs that a dog or cat has periodontal disease is a line of red, inflamed tissue along the gum-line. Unfortunately, this is not something most people notice. Over time, however, particularly when people fail to take suitable preventative measures, the signs of advancing disease become difficult to dismiss. These can include excessive drooling, pawing at the mouth, pain when eating, reluctance to chew, and food dropping from the mouth when eating. Facial swelling, a reluctance to be handled round the head, and even aggression may also occur. Periodontal disease starts insidiously as simple gingivitis, an inflammation of the gum-line with no damage to the supporting tooth structures. At this stage, basic hygiene
Your dog or cat’s oral
MICROBIOME
To best deal with any health problem, it is vital to understand how it arises in the first place. What are the inciting factors and what, if anything, can we do about them? This is the deceptively simple approach to dealing with every health problem we might encounter in ourselves or our animals. In the case of periodontal disease, however, we need to look a little more closely at the canine and feline mouth before we can gain that understanding.
measures (teeth cleaning) or even a change in diet may be enough to halt it in its tracks. But left untreated, the problem can become progressive, and to a degree, even irreversible, including actual loss (resorption) of the jawbone itself. Worse yet, periodontal disease can have long-term and debilitating consequences for other parts of the body, including the cardiovascular, respiratory, and immune systems, the kidneys, and less commonly, the reproductive system (the latter is less common only because most dogs and cats are spayed or neutered at a young age). The mouth has become a focus of infection that is quietly and insidiously spreading blood-borne bacterial infections around the body.
SO WHAT’S THE SOLUTION? Many experts will say that the only way to prevent periodontal disease dogs and cats is by daily cleaning their teeth with a toothbrush and specially-formulated toothpaste. But that isn’t the only answer. In fact, periodontal disease, as bad and as common as it is, does not have to be. It can be prevented, and (to a degree) even reversed and obliterated once established. The clues to the solution lie in some simple epidemiological observations. When I was a veterinary student in the early to mid-1970s, our lecturers stressed that we wouldn’t see a lot of animals with diseases of the periodontium if we practiced veterinary medicine here in Australia. Should we choose to practice in North America, we would find periodontal disease to be one of the most common problems we would encounter. After graduating as a veterinary surgeon, however, I witnessed a gradual increase in the incidence of periodontal disease in Australia, most particularly in the smaller dog breeds, with the Maltese terrier being a prime example. Now, we
The first thing we notice is the millions upon millions of bacteria that inhabit this space. This moist, warm, and foodfilled cavern with its enamel-covered teeth and its many nooks and crannies is the perfect environment for supporting this bacteria. And yes, they are supposed to be there; we have labeled this group of creatures the oral “microbiome”. These single-celled organisms have lived in harmony with creatures like dogs, cats, and humans since multicellular life began some 600 million years ago. And the key to this harmony (health) or disharmony (disease -- in this case, periodontal disease) is food. In a healthy mouth, the bacteria are principally air-loving species, the so-called gram-positive bacteria.* But when conditions are ripe for disharmony, air-hating, gram-negative bacterial species* tend to predominate. So what factors determine the makeup of the oral microbiome in our cats and dogs? When healthy bacteria predominate, they will stimulate a healthy immune response and ensure that the unhealthy bacteria do not thrive. If dental health is neglected, a biofilm of unhealthy bacteria begins to build up on the tooth enamel. As a film of plaque (made up of bacterial bodies and food debris) builds up, the increasingly anaerobic conditions begin to favor the presence of gram-negative and hostile bacteria. These bacteria love the lack of oxygen and begin to thrive, out-competing the healthy bacteria and taking over as the principal organisms within the oral microbiome. It is at this stage that the secretions of these unhealthy bacteria, together with the immune system’s over-reaction to their presence, begins its damaging effects on the tissues that support the teeth. Periodontal disease has begun. *When pathologists stain bacteria in order to see them under the microscope, they can use the gram stain procedure. Gram-negative bacteria (found principally at the back end of the animal…e.g. in the colon) stain red, while gram-positive bacteria (found principally at the front end… e.g. in the mouth), stain purple. Animal Wellness
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