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Treats, Snacks and Supplements
Feeding yeast tablets
Problems with large bones as chew toys
Rawhide chewies
Nutritional Supplement
Veggie snacks
Carrots in diet
Doggie treats
Rawhides
also see Diet
also see Herbs and supplements
Feeding Yeast tabletsQuestion: Hi - haven't written to you in a while - Mileena my boxer who had the mast
cell surgery has an ear infection - staph - the vet says this is fairly
normal for dogs but it is our first. I have a question - I have been giving
them Yeast & Garlic wafers (supplements) - could the yeast have caused this
infection?Why is yeast good for them?
Thanks, Jane
Answer: Jane-
There are no particular benefits to yeast that have been proven. The yeast tablets do not
promote yeast infections in the body, either, though. Proponents of yeast tablets believe that
they help control fleas but this has been disproven in a number of studies. Yeast's are a source
of B vitamins but most dogs don't need the additional supplementation of this vitamin.Mike Richards, DVM
8/27/2001
Problems with large bones as chew toys in some dogs
Question: Hello!
Thank you for your offer to answer questions to subscribers.
I have a four year old mixed lab/ springer dog. I bought him a large smoked bone from the local
pet store. It is truly a leg bone from a cow (not rawhide), quite large and typically very hard for
my vigorous chewer.My dog went to town on the bone and didn't appear to break off any appreciable sized parts of the
bone. But two days later he had frequent vomiting and diarrhea with a dribble of red blood dripping from
his rectum. I took him to the vet and they ran a blood panel and took an Xray. They told me he had
bone chips in the ileum--cecal region - like appendicitis (per the vet)- and they would try to lubricate
him up and if he still had problems - then surgery would be needed the next day. He was better by the
next day, but I did request a follow up x-ray to make sure the bone chips weren't still there - and they
weren't. Here's my question: Do you think this is anatomically related, like a diverticulitis, or truly
related to the bone? Do I need to be concerned with recurrence? Is there a diet that you'd recommend
that will help prevent future digestive problems?
Thank you for your help!
NancyAnswer: Nancy-
We see this sequence of events pretty frequently, at least several times a year. Dogs that can chew
small pieces off of big bones get constipation that is related to the bone chips in the stool forming a
sort of cement stool. These chips sometimes feel sharp when a gloved finger is inserted into the
rectum but I don't remember serious complications from one of these episodes, except that these
dogs seem genuinely pained as they attempt to have a bowel movement. I do not know why some
dogs are able to produce this problem when they get bones and other dogs are not (or at least do
not have the problem). I don't think this is related to anatomical problems but can not be sure of that,
as we have not ever had to do surgery or pursue colonoscopy to resolve the problem. Dogs don't
learn from this experience so their companions have to --- in dogs that do this it is best to avoid
bones, or at least the types of bones that are known to cause the problem, after episodes of
constipation like this occur. I don't usually recommend dietary changes other than discontinuing the
use of bones as chew toys if a dog is prone to this problem.Mike Richards, DVM
12/6/2000
Question: My latest concern is something I read about two pet wolves
who died a horrible death, in spite of all veterinary attempts to
save them. It was guessed that a long-buried rawhide bone they had
dug up from the back yard (the owner saw them playing with it and did
not think it could harm them) probably loaded with bacteria or mold
from the soil.Naturally, I am wondering about this, in connection with the,
as yet, unsolved mystery of Sheila's death. I have decided to stop
pumping money into all these tasty shinbones and rawhide products,
but am running so scared, all the time, now wondering how folks' dogs
manage to escape death if permitted to be outside in the back yard
unsupervised. Can I let my dogs out in the yard, and if so, what
precautions ought I to take?Thanks so much.
Best, H.
Answer: H.-
There are a lot of hazards to health and it simply isn't possible to avoid
them all. I had not heard of the incident with the wolves but during the time
I have been in practice I haven't seen many problems associated with
rawhides, other than a tendency of some dogs to swallow them whole and then
throw them up. Some dogs will swallow the knots tied at the end of rawhide
bones and I have heard of an incidence of intestinal obstruction associated
with that. There is the potential for buried food articles to become
contaminated with bacteria but I don't think the risk of food poisoning
associated with this is very great. In the end, there has to be some fun in
life and so there has to be some risk, because just about everything that is
fun poses at least a small risk. I think you can let the dogs out and not
worry too much. I give my dogs rawhides but none of them like to bury them.Mike Richards, DVM
12/8/99
Question: Hello!
What is your opinion of a supplement (canine) that supposedly "targets the
nutritional gap between what nature provides and what is available in
commercial foods." This supplement (which must be refrigerataed) contains
the following:Flax seed
blackstrap molasses
rice bran dried yeast
sunflower seed
freeze dried liver
dehydrated alfalfa
dried carrot
freeze dried bone
dried fish meal
freeze dried oyster
sprouted green barley
dried kelp
lecithin
garlic
yucca schidigera extractDo you think there's any value in adding this to a dog's diet??? Thanks
so much for your time in answering this questionKristin
Answer: Kristin
I wish that I could answer this question for you with any degree of
certainty, but I can't. The truth is that I simply don't know if there are
enough advantages to any of these products, or if they are present in
quantities sufficient to help, if there are advantages, to make them
worthwhile.I have practiced long enough to see the average lifespan of my patients
increase dramatically while most of them were being fed commercial pet
foods. So my basic opinion is that commercial pet foods must be reasonably
good. Whether they can be "optimized" is a much more difficult question.I am sure that as more and more information becomes available about
nutrition in pets SOME of the current food supplements for which health
claims are made will actually prove to be beneficial. If you want to
supplement them while waiting to find out which ones really do provide
benefits I don't see a lot of harm in doing that. I don't supplement my
dog's food (well except for a Fig Newton, or a carrot, or a piece of fish I
didn't finish..... but just enough to share a little food joy with them).I really do wish I could provide a definite answer to your question. It
would make my life a lot easier. But the real answer is that I don't know
and that I don't think anyone else knows, for sure, either.Mike Richards, DVM
3/11/99
Q: We have on occasion fed our dogs tomato slices, since they seemed to like them, but recently I have heard that they can be toxic to dogs. Is there any truth to this? If so, are we likely to have caused health problems for our dogs down the road? Thanks in advance.....
A: Tony- I tell people who try to feed me tomatoes that they are poisonous, too. I know I'm lying but it is so much better than telling them I just don't like tomatoes even though they carefully grew such beauties themselves.
To the best of my knowledge and after a search through databases available to me, I know of no toxicity associated with eating tomatoes. There is some controversy over the toxicity of eating tomato plants (the green parts) but I doubt this applies to your dogs.
I don't think you have or will harm them feeding them an occasional tomato.
Mike Richards, DVM
Michal Response: Dr Mike likes his tomatoes cooked into pizza sauce. My dog Buster and I prefer to eat them in a salad with Romaine (almost every night.) - and we're fine.:)
You might offer your dogs raw carrots as well - they make a dandy treat.
Q: I have a 4yo Munsterlander bitch who gets 'hot spots' from just about everything. She will be fine for ages and ages and her coat will come back nicely, then something sets her off and she nibbles herself raw. I have had skin scrapes done but they were inconclusive. They are caused not by anything hormonal. She is kept flea free also. At present I have her on 'Nutro' which is a specifically formulated all in one dry food for dogs with problem skin. I may be a big softie, but I figure she will get bored with this. Her fave food is raw carrot and I was just wondering whether this is ok to give her with her dry food. I dice it up and drizzle safflower oil (1 tbsp per 500gms carrot) over it. Is there any reason why I shouldn't be doing this? Her skin has cleared up well on Nutro is the past. Abi - Auckland. NZ
A: Abi- I see no harm at all in giving carrots. We recommend this to owners whose dogs are overweight and need low calorie snacks. Many dogs really like carrots. If she started losing weight I might suspect she was getting more carrots than she should but otherwise this should be fine.
Mike Richards, DVM
Q: Dear Vets: I have three small dogs. A 5lb poodle/maltese, a 15 lb poodle and a chiuahuaha. I just got the latter one so I can't spell it yet. My question is about treats that you buy at the store. Are any of them any good or bad? I used to buy "hot Doggies", which my dogs went crazy over but the company quit making them as they said they didn't sell well. Funny thing wal-mart could not keep this product in stock as it sold out as soon as the new shipment arrived. Snausages went over like a dead frog, as did pepperoni type sticks. Hard bisquits are out as the small poodle is 14 yrs and is missing a lot of teeth on the right side. (His tongue falls out the side of his mouth. Really cute??) I've heard that most of the treats are really bad for pets. Could you give me some advice?
A: I hate to admit this, but I do not have much knowledge of the dog treats available currently. I know that some meet the total nutritional needs of pets, the most notable being "Milk Bones". The only way I know to be certain that treats do this is to look for a statement on the bag that says the food meets the AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials) standards. It would surprise me if many of the treat companies get this approval. Of course, Milk Bones would be hard on your older poodle with teeth problems. I suspect that the treats probably are high in salt or fat or some other thing that makes them taste good and be less than ideal as a food. Despite this, if you keep them to a small amount, they are probably not a major problem (less than 10% of the diet). Many dogs like carrots. These make a nice treat with some nutritional value. Green beans and similar foods also are OK if your dogs like them and are probably better than commercial treats. But maybe less satisfying. I wish I knew more about this subject. I'll have to go to the store and look at the treats and see if I can figure out which ones are the better ones.
Mike Richards, DVM
Q: My 10 month old shih tzu is not a very aggressive chewer--but she loves rawhide. I've heard some people had dogs who had all kinds of digestive problems. She has all kinds of other chewing toys--but really loves rawhide. I'm afraid she'll have stomach problems.-- Also she has a bed made of fleece (like lambswool). She tends to dig in it and then eats the fuzz. Can this also be harmful --like getting a lump of this stuff in her stomach??
A: I have been in practice for 18 years and I have only treated one dog that I remember for problems associated with ingestion of rawhide. This dog swallowed one of the formed rawhide sticks whole. This caused her to begin vomiting and it continued long enough that we surgically removed the rawhide chew toy. I do not consider this to be a high risk and give my dogs rawhide chew toys (but I do have to admit that I avoid the pressed rawhide sticks because of that problem).
It is interesting to me that a number of veterinarians I have spoken with do say that they have seen problems associated with these toys. Their experience differs from mine. I practice in a rural area and sometimes I think that I just don't have enough patients to see all the problems that vets who practice in more crowded areas do. Still, my personal experience is that rawhides appear to be a reasonably safe chew toy.
When dogs chew really fuzzy toys or objects it seems to wear their teeth down sooner. The fibers sometimes build up between the gums and teeth, too. I haven't yet seen many digestive problems from these things, either. I do have at least one or two dogs that have some vomiting episodes that relate to eating wool or fuzzy fabrics.
Mike Richards, DVM
Last edited 12/05/02