A Healthy, Happy, Fido ~ Food & Lifestyle Habits for the New Year
January 17, 2013 • Health & Wellness
It’s a new year, which means a new you and of course, a new FIDO. While assembling your New Year’s resolutions this year, did you remember your furry companion? It’s important for a pet to stay healthy, not only for their own happiness, but because an energetic pet will be a pleasure for you to be around as well. Our friends at The Honest Kitchen, a family-owned company that makes healthy, dehydrated pet foods, believe that FIDO's food and lifestyle should be just as good as their own and have shared the following with us!
Start Fido with new habits of eating right, taking supplements and making lifestyle changes that will keep him healthily, happy and strong.
1. Exercise more – This is a simple and easy way for you and your dog to stay healthy this year. It’s free, and provides psychological benefits as well as health benefits. Schedule in some time for walks and runs, daily – your pet and your waistline will thank you.
2. Lose those extra pounds! – Is your dog overweight? Companion animal obesity is becoming increasingly common. Those extra few pounds do more than provide extra fluff, it places unnecessary burden on their joints and organs. Further, overweight pets are at high risk for Osteoarthritis, Type 2 Diabetes, Respiratory disorders, Hypertension (high blood pressure), Heart Disease and many forms of Cancer, according to the APOP. This year, offer your pet a resolution to get to a healthy weight through diet. A newer, alternative approach has been to limit carbohydrate intake to help achieve and maintain a healthy body weight. This, surprisingly, is a logical choice for a canine – most people agree now that dog’s GI tracts are not designed to process an overload of processed ingredients or an excess of grain. Embark™ and Love™ are very high protein and fat with low carbohydrate content – ideal for maintaining lean body mass in more active dogs.
3. Eat a healthier, more nutritious diet – Wholesome, healthy food is a cornerstone of well-being for all living things, and there are numerous benefits from feeding a natural diet to your puppy. In many cases, getting off to the right start with good nutrition will set a pup up for a lifetime of great health. Many of the poorer quality pet foods contain so many cheap fillers and indigestible ingredients, that a pup has to eat a huge amount in order to obtain the nutrition he needs. Read about The Honest Kitchen’s foods here and you’ll probably be motivated to start eating as good as your pet companion is.
4. Take your vitamins! – Would you like to improve your dog or cat’s skin and coat health or give your dog a pick-me-up? The Honest Kitchen has just the thing. Sparkle, a mix of dandelion leaf, rosehips, burdock root, nettle leaf, and nutritional yeast, is designed to support healthy skin and a shiny coat for both dogs and cats. Invigor is a "natural pet supplement made from herbs that help to combat free radicals and support the proper function of the immune system, cleanse and revitalize for overall health and vitality.
5. Eat More Fatty Acids - In addition to drastic improvements to skin and coat, high levels of Omega-3′s improve cardiovascular health, fight inflammatory diseases, retard development of certain cancer cells, inhibit progression of kidney disease, enhance the immune system, reduce the symptoms of "allergic dermatitis and reduce joint stiffness", which is especially beneficial for older dogs.
6. Find Time to Relax - Our animal companions provide infinite amounts of unconditional love, devotion and friendship. Massage is a wonderful way to give back to our animal friends all the joy they bring to our lives each and every day. Massages will help your dog relax, of course, but also improve their circulation, increase their mobility and much more.
Want more tips? Get more information here.
