As I discussed in this video and article, while many celebrities are tremendously talented at certain things, making species-appropriate pet food hasn't yet proved to be one of them.

Celebrity branding is a very popular and successful marketing tool.

But it's important to keep in mind that product such-and-so isn't necessarily of high quality just because a celebrity says it is.

In the case of Halo pet food, not only is Ellen DeGeneres its celebrity endorser, she's also a co-owner.

As DeGeneres' legions of fans are well aware, she seems to genuinely care for animals and is an influential advocate for pet-related causes.

That's why the recent reports that Ellen is developing a vegan line of pet food alarm me.

Not only is DeGeneres hugely popular as a comedian, actress, author and talk show host, she's also admired as an animal advocate.

As such, my concern is that her creation of a vegan dog food could persuade pet owners to remove animal protein from the diets of their carnivorous canine companions.

This move has the potential to compromise the health of countless dogs – precious pets who depend on their humans to provide the right kind of nutrition for their biological needs.

I Know I'm Repeating Myself, but … DOGS ARE CARNIVORES

As regular visitors to MercolaHealthyPets.com know, I discuss the subject of nutrition for dogs and cats in the vast majority of videos and articles here on the site.

The reason I bring up the subject so often and in such detail is because nutrition supplies the very foundation upon which the fundamentals of health, vigor, longevity and quality of life are built. The right nutrition provides a rock-solid foundation for every other aspect of an animal's existence.

Conversely, the wrong nutrition contributes to a weak, shaky foundation – one that at a minimum will not enhance your pet's vitality or lifespan. And one that worst case, can destroy a dog's or cat's well-being and quality of life, sometimes rapidly … sometimes in small, agonizing increments.

Both cats and dogs are carnivores. However, felines are obligate carnivores, meaning they must eat meat to sustain life.

Dogs are scavenging carnivores. In general terms this means they are primarily meat-eaters, but can survive on plant material alone if necessary. The key word here is 'survive.' To survive is not to thrive. To thrive is grow vigorously … to flourish. To survive means simply to stay alive.

One of the arguments for feeding dogs vegetarian diets seems to be the distinction between obligate and scavenging carnivores. It's assumed, since dogs aren't strict carnivores like cats are, they can easily transition to a vegetarian diet (or in Halo's case, a vegan diet) at the whim of the humans who care for them.

In fact, I often see dogs referred to as omnivores rather than carnivores. I strongly disagree with this assumption. Just because dogs fed plant-based diets are able to stay alive doesn't make them omnivores.

It makes them carnivores with no choice but to eat a biologically inappropriate, suboptimal diet.

The Teeth of a Carnivore

Look into your dog's mouth.

Note the size and shape of his teeth. They're organized somewhat like scissors so he can quickly tear through the hide, meat and bone of prey animals. Those teeth are designed to rip, shred and shear animal meat. His molars are pointed, not flat.

Now look in your own mouth at your molars. See how large and flat they are? Humans are omnivores, and our teeth are designed more for grinding up plant matter.

Black bears, true omnivores, are another interesting example for comparison. They have both sharp, meat-tearing teeth and wide, flat molars. Dogs have no flat molars because nature didn't intend for them to eat plants.

The teeth of animals are specifically devised for the food they are born to eat.

The Jaws of a Carnivore

Your dog also has powerful jaw and neck muscles that aid in pulling down and consuming prey. The jaws open widely to accommodate large hunks of meat and bone.

Your dog's jaw is designed not to move laterally when prey is fighting against it. It allows only up and down movement designed for crushing.

In contrast, omnivores and herbivores have jaws that permit the lateral motion necessary for grinding plant material.

The Digestion of a Carnivore

Your dog has an expandable stomach which can hold large quantities of meat, organs, bone and animal hide.

Her stomach is short and simple in design, meant to move food through quickly.

Plant matter and veggies need more time to break down in the GI tract, which requires a different, more complex digestive design than your dog's body possesses. That's why whole vegetables tend to come out of your pet looking very much like they did going in.

Your dog's body also doesn't make the necessary enzymes in her saliva to begin to break down carbs and starches. Herbivores and omnivores make those enzymes, but not carnivores.

Because there are no salivary enzymes available to handle carbs and starches, it falls to the pancreas to produce enough enzymes to deal with the contents of plant matter. Over time, the extra strain on the pancreas can compromise its ability to function properly.

Your dog's pancreas is designed to produce only the amount of enzymes necessary to process fats and protein.

Dogs also don't produce the varieties of gut bacteria that break down cellulose and starch in plant matter. This means most of the nutrients in plants are useless in terms of nourishing your dog.

The Palate of a Carnivore

Most dogs don't care for the taste of vegetable-based dog foods, which is certainly more evidence of their carnivorous nature.

In order to make these foods more palatable, it is common for pet food manufacturers to add flavor enhancers like liver or other meat flavors, garlic, and fat.

There are also meat and poultry-flavored digests, made from animal byproducts, which can be added to non-meat diets to entice dogs to eat them. Of course, adding one of these digests means the meal is no longer vegetarian/vegan.

Nutrition for a Carnivore

Dogs require 22 essential amino acids to handle all their metabolic and energy requirements, but their bodies are only able to produce 12 of the 22. The other 10 must come from the food they eat.

Herbivores, with their multiple stomachs and lengthy GI tracts, are able to produce amino acids in huge numbers.

But dogs, with their short, simple digestive tracts can't accomplish this feat and must obtain preformed amino acids directly from their diet.

In addition, a dog's protein sources should provide a wide spectrum of amino acids. The protein sources with wide-spectrum amino acid profiles include beef, bison, chicken, eggs, fish, lamb, turkey, duck, venison, elk and goat.

Protein is a crucial component of every cell in your dog's body. Essential amino acids from high quality animal protein build healthy cells, organs, muscles, enzymes and hormones.

Dietary fat provides energy, essential vitamins and fatty acids. Fatty acids from animal sources are important for healing, normal cell membrane synthesis, reproduction and a healthy coat and skin.

Allowing for Nature's Design

Since carnivorous canines don't have a natural appetite for plant material, don't care for the smell or taste of it, and can't chew or digest it efficiently, how does it make sense to force them to eat non-meat diets?

Does it make sense to feed a biologically inappropriate commercial pet food with added flavor enhancers and digestive aids, when you can feed your dog whole, unprocessed, species-appropriate nutrition?

Is it intelligent or humane to dismiss nature's design for our canine companions in favor of a human belief system that supports vegetarianism or veganism?

I don't think it is.

I'm a vegetarian. Many of my Natural Pet clients and pet-loving friends and associates don't eat animal products. But we feed animal products to our dogs and cats because we have witnessed first-hand what it means to the well-being of our beloved pets to be nourished as nature intended.

If you can't tolerate the thought of feeding meat to a pet who is a carnivore, I strongly encourage you to acquire a pet that will thrive on a plant-based diet instead.

"Like women, female dogs in our study had a distinct survival advantage over males," said the lead researcher David J. Waters, associate director of Purdue University's Center on Aging and the Life Course and a professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences. "But taking away ovaries during the first four years of life completely erased the female survival advantage. We found that female rottweilers that kept their ovaries for at least six years were four times more likely to reach exceptional longevity compared to females who had the shortest lifetime ovary exposure."

Because death from cancer is so prevalent in rottweilers, researchers conducted a subgroup analysis of only dogs that did not die of cancer. This focused research further proved the strong association between intact ovaries and longevity.

Even in dogs that did not die of cancer, the female rotties that kept their ovaries the longest were nine times more likely to achieve exceptional longevity (13+ years).

Simply put, study results indicate removal of a dog’s ovaries significantly increases the risk for a major lethal disease.

Interestingly, the rottweiler research lines up with findings from another recent study of women who had undergone hysterectomies. In that study, women who lost their ovaries prior to age 50 were at greater risk of death by causes other than breast, ovarian and uterine cancer than women who kept their ovaries until age 50.

In a study of 24 shelter dogs published in Current Biology, the goal was to determine if dogs with separation-related behaviors have underlying mood disorders which also affect other aspects of their conduct.

According to the New York Times:

They placed the dogs in isolated settings and observed their reactions — many barked, jumped on furniture and scratched at the door.

Then they placed bowls in two rooms. One bowl contained food, while another was empty. After training the dogs to understand that bowls can sometimes be empty, and sometimes full, they began to place bowls in ambiguous locations.

"Dogs that ran fast to these ambiguous locations, as if expecting the positive food reward, were classed as making relatively 'optimistic' decisions. Interestingly, these dogs tended to be the ones who also showed least anxiety-like behavior when left alone for a short time," said Professor Mike Mendl of Bristol University, who led the research.

The researchers concluded the more separation anxiety a dog exhibits when left alone by his owner, the more likely it is he suffers from an underlying, generally negative mood.

According to Professor Mendl, “We know that people's emotional states affect their judgments and that happy people are more likely to judge an ambiguous situation positively.”

"What our study has shown is that this applies similarly to dogs – that a 'glass-half-full' dog is less likely to be anxious when left alone than one with a more 'pessimistic' nature," Mendl said.

These results could prove valuable in understanding how to better help dogs with behavior problems as a way not only to improve their quality of life, but also to reduce the number of troubled canines relinquished to shelters.

Dr. Becker's Comments:

It seems there are two ways to look at the issue of a ‘pessimistic’ dog.

Most of the media in the U.K., where the study was done, approached the subject from the perspective of human genetics, as though a certain percentage of dogs are born with a natural tendency to view life negatively.

In this country, however, writer Elizabeth Lopatto of Bloomberg.com whose article on the University of Bristol study was picked up by several other U.S. media outlets, dug a little deeper, conducting a telephone interview with one of the researchers. 

According to Emily Blackwell, an animal behaviorist at the University of Bristol in the U.K. and an author of the study, dogs with separation anxiety misbehave because they weren’t trained as youngsters to know that being alone isn’t something to be concerned about.

“The process of training a dog to know how to behave, called socialization, is best done during puppyhood,” Blackwell said. And she adds that although proper training of an adult dog can extinguish bad behavior, it’s a lot more work and effort to train an older pet.

Writer Lopatto also talked with the director of the Pets at Risk program for the Humane Society of the U.S., Adam Goldfarb, who feels the University of Bristol study shows a direct link between poorly or unsocialized dogs and a negative attitude about life.

“This tells us something that isn’t reflected in the way every dog is cared for,” Goldfarb said in a telephone interview. “A dog who is being destructive is a dog whose needs aren’t being met.”

So Which is It … Nature or Nurture?

In my experience as both a dog owner and veterinarian, there is almost always a reason for a dog’s inappropriate behavior or inability to adapt to certain situations.

You may never discover what the reason is, especially with a pet that arrives in your life as an adult dog, well past the formative stage. But if your beloved pooch has separation anxiety or another unfortunate behavior, odds are something happened — or didn’t happen – to create and reinforce it.

If you’re dealing with a case of separation anxiety in your pup, I recommend you read What to Do If Your Dog Panics When You Leave. You’ll find helpful advice and tips you can begin to implement today to get the problem under control.

If you’ve just added a puppy to the family or are planning to, I hope you’ll read The Critical Importance of Socializing Your Puppy. Nothing you can do for your new little four-legged family member is as important as insuring she’s properly socialized at the right time in her puppyhood, which is before she reaches 14 to 16 weeks. Continued training and socialization should occur well into your dog’s first year of life.

Resources for Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

There are literally millions of precious dogs in the world with varying degrees of separation anxiety or other behavior problems that need to be resolved for the sake of the animals and their families or other caretakers.

Behavior problems are the number one reason dogs are relinquished to shelters. It breaks my heart to see a new dog parent of a shelter or rescued pet look helplessly on as their frightened, or aggressive, or hyper, or oblivious dog acts in ways they have no idea how to cope with.

Lots of daily exercise, species-appropriate food and calming herbs and flower essences can help, but these steps won’t cure a deep-seated behavior issue. Most of these dogs need professional, positive help. And the sooner you address a pup’s behavior issue, the more successful you’ll be at managing the condition.

If you have a dog with behavior problems or are considering offering a forever home to an adult dog with a less-than-ideal history, please don’t be discouraged!

There’s a great deal of help available out there for dog parents who need to ‘teach an old dog new tricks.’

The following is a short list of resources I think you’ll find useful, and please accept my personal thanks for opening your heart and home to a pet that needs a little extra help to become the perfect dog for your family.

The Canine Behavior Series

Dog Training Tips

Training an Adult Dog

• Tufts University Animal Behavior Clinic – Explains the role of animal and veterinary behaviorists and what they can do for you.
• American College of Veterinary Behaviorists — You can sort the directory alphabetically by city or state to quickly locate an animal behaviorist in your area.
• Animal Behavior Society — A directory of Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists (CAABs). Many of these experts have websites and do phone and online consultations.
• DiamondsintheRuff.com – Offers a great article on the importance of early puppy socialization.
• The following are links to dozens of behavior-related articles at VeterinaryPartner.com, which is the public website of the Veterinary Information Network, an invaluable online resource for veterinary professionals.

Most pet owners do not think twice about spending big dollars to buy their dog premium dog food, the best health care or even blissful days at a doggie day care facility. Most pet owners also don't think twice when it's time to give Bowser a bath. Grab the Head and Shoulders and fire up the backyard garden hose. But lets give it a bit more thought than that.

But a proper dog bath is key to maintaining your pet's vigorous good health. The skin is the body's largest organ and a perfect dog bath is key to stimulating blood circulation and keeping the skin healthy. Improper bathing can cause a matted condition in the coat which is uncomfortable to your dog. The first step in the perfect dog bath is a good brushing.

For short-haired dogs brush in a circular motion with a curry comb made of rubber with teeth cut into the edges. It will pull the dead coat out. Slicker brushes will take out the dead undercoat. Start on the legs and hold the outer hair so that you can brush from the skin outward. If it is not removed, the coat will easily mat. Use this technique all over the dog – legs, body and tail. Dogs resent the tail being brushed so save it for last. For fine-haired dogs use a natural bristle brush. Moisten the area to be worked with a good coat conditioner.

For long-haired dogs use a pin brush if the coat is not tangled, a slicker brush if the coat is tangled. Start at the legs, again brushing from the skin out and brushing only a few hairs at a time. The secret to thorough brushing is to brush only a few hairs at a time. Check each area with a comb; if the comb goes through without stress continue all the way up to the middle of the dog's back. Go to the loin area and to the back legs; then move to each side of the back of the dog.

You are now ready to wash. Never use human shampoos to wash your dog. Dog shampoos are specially formulated to match the pH level of a dog's skin. Human shampoos can strip a dog's coat of essential oils. The right way to bathe a dog is determined by the texture and length of the coat. Short-haired dogs are washed with a vigorous circular motion which will pull out the dirt. On dogs with a medium- length coast, use a back-and-forth motion. As the hair gets longer, go only in the direction the hair grows.

Step 1. Rinse the dog completely.

Step 2. Apply the shampoo along the back, working up as much lather as possible; do the same with the belly, legs and tail.

Step 3. Rinse the coat with one hand to run water on the dog and the other hand in a kneading fashion to work the soap out. Make certain all the soap is out as dried soap will dull a coat and cause skin problems.

Step 4. Before towel-drying, squeeze as much water out of the coat as possible by pulling the hair straight out and squeezing at the same time.

Step 5. Use a washcloth to clean the dog's face and avoid getting water in his ears. Moisture inside the ears provides the conditions for fungus infections.

Step 6. Towel dry your dog and use a hand-held hair dryer on thick-coated dogs but never use a human hair dryer as they run too hot and can burn the dog and damage the coat.

Voila! A clean, healthy dog.

By Doug Gelbert  copyright 2006 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Doug_GelbertArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/156064

By Dr. Becker

The only FDA-approved heartworm treatment drug, Immiticide, has been in 'temporary' short supply for about two years now.

The shortage, according to Merial, is due to "unforeseen technical difficulties during a planned manufacturing site transfer."

As almost all dog owners know, a heartworm infection is serious.

Adult heartworms can grow up to a foot in length and live as long as five years inside a dog.

They can clog pulmonary arteries, and if there is significant infestation, the worms back up into the heart itself and eventually fill it.

They cause blood clots, and the heart has to work abnormally hard to pump blood through plugged arteries.

Heartworms also cause serious inflammation in the arteries that can affect important organs like the liver and kidneys.

As is often the case when 'desperate times call for desperate measures,' in the face of the Immiticide shortage, the pet healthcare community has been faced with finding other means for treating active heartworm infections in dogs.

And as it turns out, one alternative therapy in particular is effective and much less costly and potentially deadly than the old standby treatment with Immiticide.

Why I Made the Switch from Immiticide

My own experience with Immiticide is that I've bought a small supply of it every year for several years, only to throw it away, unused, on its expiration date.

A few years ago it occurred to me this was a totally wasteful and expensive exercise, since I've never encountered a case of heartworm that couldn't wait 48 hours for me to order and receive a box of Immiticide.

Shortly after this revelation, the economic downturn descended upon us. The owners of the four heartworm-positive dogs I've seen since then have all opted for the less costly 'slow kill' treatment with a combination of ivermectin (heartworm preventive drug) and doxycycline.

As it turns out, low-dose ivermectin therapy in dogs with no sensitivity to the drug, in combination with the antibiotic doxycycline, can be an extremely effective, inexpensive option for treating heartworm infection.

The cost was about 50-75 percent cheaper than Immiticide  and all four cases of infection cleared beautifully.

The only time I'll consider using Immiticide in the future (once it becomes available), is when I have an ivermectin-sensitive patient.

Why Doxycycline?

Heartworms are parasites, and it was recently discovered that another organism called Wolbachia lives inside heartworms.

Per VeterinaryPartner.com:

"Wolbachia is a genus of rickettsial organisms (sort of like bacteria, but not exactly). They live inside the adult heartworm. These organisms seem to be protective or beneficial to heartworms and treating the dog with the antibiotic doxycycline seems to sterilize female heartworms (meaning they cannot reproduce). Wolbachia is also thought to be involved in the embolism and shock that result when heartworms die. The role of this organism is still being investigated."

Research indicates Wolbachia organisms worsen the effect of both the heartworms themselves and the adverse events associated with heartworm treatment, including allergic reactions, inflammation and embolism.

Doxycycline, a member of the tetracycline antibiotic group, kills Wolbachia. It also simultaneously weakens the heartworms and sterilizes them so they cannot reproduce, which lessens the damage they can do inside a dog's body. It also dramatically reduces the risk of adverse reactions to heartworm treatment.

A study published in 2008 demonstrated that treatment with a combination of ivermectin and doxycycline has the following effects on heartworm infections:

• Sterilizes female heartworms
• Prevents the infected dog from infecting other dogs via mosquitoes
• Hastens the death of heartworms
• Limits inflammation and other damage caused by the presence of heartworms in the body
• Reduces risk of serious adverse reactions to Immiticide

These effects are significantly improved when the two drugs are used together rather than one without the other.

The doses used for the study were ivermectin (Heartgard) given weekly at the usual monthly preventative dose for 33 weeks, and doxycycline given at 10 mg/kg daily during weeks one through six, weeks 10 and 11, 16 and 17, 22 through 25, and 28 through 33.

Questions about Dosing

Different theories and protocols exist for how much, how often and how long ivermectin and doxycycline, should be given in treating heartworm infections.

One recommendation is to give doxycycline at normal doses for 30 consecutive days before starting (in this case) Immiticide.

However, a laboratory study conducted in 2005 indicates intermittent treatment with doxycycline is more effective in killing Wolbachia than continuous treatment.

In another study published in 2010, 11 heartworm-infected dogs were given doxycycline daily for 30 days and ivermectin every 15 days for six months, with the following result:

One hundred percent of dogs became negative for circulating microfilariae by day 90, while 8/11 (72.7%) of dogs became antigen-negative by day 300. Of the 7 dogs that were positive for visualization of parasites at echocardiography, 6 (85.7%) became negative by day 300. Treatment was well-tolerated by all dogs. These results suggest that a combination of doxycycline and ivermectin is adulticide in dogs with D. immitis.

Using this therapy, the gradual death of adult heartworms dramatically reduces the risk of pulmonary thrombosis — blood clots in the lungs that pose a serious adverse effect associated with other adulticides. This is the protocol I have used in my practice with 100 percent success.

The American Heartworm Society has its own set of dosing and care guidelines, which you can find here.

Surgery to Remove Heartworms

Also in response to the ongoing Immiticide shortage, veterinary cardiologists at the University of Florida are offering surgical extraction of heartworms from dogs with severe infections.

Using specialized instruments, these doctors can manually remove heartworms from the heart and pulmonary arteries by way of the jugular vein.

The UF DVMs consider the surgery a minimally invasive technique and an important option for dogs with severe symptoms and/or significant infestation with heartworms.

The procedure isn't without risk, of course. Dogs must be heavily sedated or undergo general anesthesia, and the surgery is costly. But according to Herb Maisenbacher, VMD, a clinical assistant professor in cardiology at UF:

"… for dogs with extensive disease, it could be another option to consider at a time when there are limited treatment options available."

If Your Dog Has a Heartworm Infection

The best advice I can offer you is to work with your veterinarian to determine the most appropriate course of action based on the level of infection and the health of your dog, as well as financial considerations.

Your vet may be able to treat the infection with ivermectin and doxycycline. Or Immiticide may be the better option and hopefully your vet knows how to source it given the shortage.

Some dogs also need a drug like Benadryl or a course of steroid therapy to mitigate the side effects of heartworm treatment.

And no matter whether you opt for a 'fast kill' or 'slow kill' approach, your dog will need to be kept inactive (which generally means confined to a crate or other small space) during treatment. So it's extremely important to understand what your pet can and can't do while undergoing heartworm drug therapy.

Surgery to remove the heartworms instead of waiting for them to die may or may not be an option for your pet as well.

The decision about the best way to treat a precious pet infected with heartworms is never easy, so I encourage you to work closely with your dog's health care providers to decide the best and safest treatment for your canine companion.

A Word about Natural/Holistic Heartworm Infection Treatments

At my practice I have had many owners request holistic options for treating heartworm. I have also had clients who decided to treat their pets with nutraceuticals purchased online.

Unfortunately, entirely drug-free heartworm treatment protocols have ranged from moderately successful to epic fails (dogs were still positive after treatment and their heart disease was worse).

From Dogaware.com:

Treatment for heartworm infection is one area where conventional veterinary medicine offers valuable options. Whether you elect to do the fast-kill method using Immiticide, or the slow-kill method using monthly Heartgard, either is preferable to leaving the dog untreated, or using unproven, alternative methods that may have no effect or even be harmful.

Because I have not found one specific entirely holistic protocol that is consistently successful at treating moderate heartworm infection, I recommend you discuss options for natural protocols with your holistic vet. There are some adjunctive protocols that can be beneficial, but they are tailor-made to each patient and must be designed and monitored by your vet.

Please keep in mind that heartworms are blood-borne parasites, not GI parasites. Natural remedies effective in treating GI parasites don't work on blood-borne parasites. A natural 'wormer' won't work for heartworms because heartworms live in your dog's bloodstream, not in the gastrointestinal tract.