Holistic Approach to Dog Care

 

Apple Cider Vinegar for Dogs

WHO KNEW!?

("....keep some ACV in a spray bottle, and spray your dog before you leave home, and when you get back.")

 As written in an excellent, 1997 article by Wendy Volhard

"...If your dog has itchy skin, the beginnings of a hot spot, incessantly washes its feet, has smelly ears, or is picky about his food, the application of ACV may change things around. For poor appetite, use it in the food - 1 tablespoon, two times a day for a 50 lb. dog. For itchy skin or beginning hot spots, put ACV into a spray bottle, part the hair and spray on. Any skin eruption will dry up in 24 hours and will save you having to shave the dog. If the skin is already broken, dilute ACV with an equal amount of water and spray on.
Taken internally, ACV is credited with maintaining the acid/alkaline balance of the digestive tract. To check your dog's pH balance, pick up some pH strips at the drug store, and first thing in the morning test the dog's urine. If it reads anywhere from 6.2 - 6.5, your dog's system is exactly where it should be. If it is 7.5 or higher, the diet you are feeding is too alkaline, and ACV will re-establish the correct balance.
If you have a dog that has clear, watery discharge from the eyes, a runny nose, or coughs with a liquid sound, use ACV in his or her food. One teaspoon twice a day for a 50 lb. dog will do the job.
After your weekly grooming sessions, use a few drops in his or her ears after cleaning them to avoid ear infections. Other uses for ACV are the prevention of muscle weakness, cramps, feeling the cold, calluses on elbows and hock joints, constipation, bruising too easily, pimples on skin surfaces, twitching of facial muscles, sore joints, arthritis and pus in the urine. There are also reports that it is useful in the prevention of bladder and kidney stones.
Fleas, flies, ticks and bacteria, external parasites, ring worm, fungus, staphylococcus, streptococcus, pneumococcus, mange, etc., are unlikely to inhabit a dog whose system is acidic inside and out. Should you ever experience any of these with your dog, bathe with a nice gentle herbal shampoo -- one that you would use on your own hair -- rinse thoroughly, and then sponge on ACV diluted with equal amounts of warm water. Allow your dog to drip dry. It is not necessary to use harsh chemicals for minor flea infestations. All fleas drown in soapy water and the ACV rinse makes the skin too acidic for a re-infestation. If you are worried about picking up fleas when you take your dog away from home, keep some ACV in a spray bottle, and spray your dog before you leave home, and when you get back. Take some with you and keep it in the car, just in case you need it any time. Obviously for major infestations, more drastic measures are necessary. ACV normalizes the pH levels of the skin, makes your dog unpalatable to even the nastiest of bacteria and you have a dog that smells like a salad, a small price to pay!"

Senator loves Chinese Jerky Treats?!

U.S. Senator Calls FDA on the Carpet with Chinese Jerky Treats

Thank heavens!  Someone in Congress is taking a stance for pet parents with the situation of Chinese imported jerky treats; Senator Sherrod Brown.
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/us-senator-calls-fda-on-the-carpet-with-chinese-jerky-treats.html

Thanks to Truth About Pet Food for this article.
Stop by the website Truthaboutpetfood.com  and subscribe to PetsumerReport.com
for informative and educational articles about what's really in your dogs food.

Ask yourself who educates the veterenarian your dog sees. 

POSTMORE SPRING

WELCOME BACK TO POSTMORE KENNELS!

415-897-5892

Postmore Kennels has a new face and we're excited to share it with you!

New paint, new landscaping, fresh kennels and a new staff all add up to a great experience for you and yours!

Stop by to meet our Certified Canine Hairstylists

and see what's new for spring which is just around the corner and closer than you think!

We here at Postmore Kennels want to thank you for your patronage and hope you'll stop by to see all the new improvements.

Max is waiting to see you!

See What the Pet Food Co Says About their Product

Thanks to TruthAboutPetFood.com
They will be interviewing different Pet Food Labels on an ongoing basis.
This is the first interview....

Answers from Answers Pet Food

Answers Pet Foods are manufactured in Pennsylvania.  All ingredients are sourced from U.S. suppliers with the exception of cinnamon and green tea.  Shelf life is 12 to 18 months properly frozen; 5 to 7 days thawed and refrigerated.  Answers Pet Foods are available nationwide.

Why types of pet food do you produce?  (example: both cat and dog foods, kibble, can, and raw)
Raw diet for dogs and Raw frozen Goats Milk for dogs and cats. Straight Answers (meat grind, 60% muscle, 30% organ and 10% ground bone. Detailed Answers, complete without the use of synthetic vitamins, both are formulas for dogs and our Additional Answers raw frozen goats milk for dogs and cats.

Tell pet parents why they should consider your pet food?   What makes your pet foods different?  Better?
Our products are designed by raw feeders with over 50 years combined  experience feeding raw diets and 7 years experience in the raw food manufacturing industry. Researched and formulated by a food scientist, specializing in the meat and dairy industry. Through experience, research and science, Answers is formulated by design to provide superior nutrition. Answers Pet Food has unique ingredients, like eggs from 100% cage free and pasture fed chickens, kombucha and Azomite®, that bring healing nutrients that no other raw diet provides.

What makes your manufacturing process different?  Better?
No pasteurization or high pressure treatment. We only buy USDA, human grade, inspected meat that has never, ever been treated with antibiotics or hormones. Our facility is equipped with high power grinders allowing Answers to grind the bone to a fine (for small dogs ) safe easily digestible form.
Why do you make the style of pet food you do?  Example - why kibble or why raw dehydrated?
Digestibility. We only provide raw food. Answers pet food understands when food is processed, no matter how good the raw ingredients are the processing creates toxins and allergens and makes it difficult for the dog to digest.
    
Please provide some of your reasoning for particular ingredients used in your pet foods; example - why chicken versus chicken meal?
Eggs from pasture fed chickens provide every essential nutrient that dogs require, and provide an enhanced immune stimulator, glutathione.  Kombucha provides fermented nutrition, whole food probiotics, prebiotics, and bacteriocins (which naturally protect against pathogens such as E. Coli, Salmonella, Lysteria, Heliobactor pylori). Azomite® provides synergistically balanced minerals that trigger metabolic enzymes and naturally detoxifies heavy metals from the body.
How do you select vendors - suppliers of ingredients?
We carefully research and inspect all of our vendors. We require written affidavits and letters of guarantee from ALL of our suppliers that they are truly adhering to the specifications that we require. We also get copies of all third party audits that are conducted on our suppliers to monitor humane handling and slaughter practices. We ONLY use suppliers who implement and abide by the HFAC (Humane Farmed Animal Care) guidelines. These affidavits and third party audits can be made available to our retailers and end consumers upon request.

What are your routine tests done on ingredients and on the finished product?  Maybe we could supply some of our recent results?    Do you test ingredients for heavy metals?  Fluoride?  Any other contaminants?  Are these results available to the public?
We routinely test our formulas for macronutrient content and about once per year for the complete micronutrient breakdown. We also routinely test for bacterial content, including pathogens. Because our beef suppliers are human grade, and USDA inspected facilities, this is the same beef that will end up in many of the high quality brand meats and burgers a human would purchase at the supermarket or a restaurant. Therefore, ALL our beef is tested for E. Coli O157:H7 before it ever leaves our supplier and ships to our manufacturing facility.
Does your manufacturing facility have any specific certifications?  If so, can you explain why these certifications benefit the pet parent consumer?
Our manufacturing facility is USDA certified and also processes many human meat products. These certifications are a benefit because this means that the facility has an onsite USDA government inspector who is present during most operating hours. This also means that the facility is held to high quality processing standards such as GMPs and HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) to insure that products are processed safely, ingredients are stored and handled correctly and labels and ingredient statements are checked on all end products.

Are your foods manufactured at your own facility or do you use a co-packer?  If you use a co-packer...
  (a) Do you choose ingredient suppliers or does the co-packer?
We choose ALL of our own ingredient suppliers. We not only choose all of our suppliers but we personally place all the orders for our raw ingredients.
  (b) What measures do you take to assure your co-packer is following your recipe specifications?
Roxanne Stone, our Food Scientist, wrote detailed specifications and QA/QC standards and then spent over a year teaching our manufacturer how to process Answers Pet Food down to every detail.
  (c) Do you have a company representative at the co-packer or do you do drop in inspections?
We drop in and attend product runs. We are closely located to our facility and are present for most of our runs.

Has your company done feeding trials of each product before it was released on the market?
Yes.

Official or unofficial feeding trials?
Unofficial and currently doing a Vet feeding trial.  
If so, how long were the trials, how many animals participated? 
Official feeding trials use beagle colonies or other facilities that Answers Pet Food feels are not appropriate environments for dogs to live their entire lives and we will not financially support these facilities. The owners of Answers Pet Food have many years of experience in the raw food category and have worked with other raw food manufacturers. The one and only AAFCO nutrient profile is for dry kibble diets and not appropriate for raw diets. AAFCO understands that nutrients like zinc in dry kibble diets are inhibited from being utilized. Only 20 to 25% of the zinc added to dry kibble will be utilized so excessive amounts of zinc are added. In raw diets zinc and other nutrients are not inhibited from being absorbed (in fact absorption is enhanced) and if these nutrients were added at AAFCO requirements it would overdose the dogs in zinc and other trace minerals. Other raw food manufacturers have done AAFCO feeding trials which set the nutrient profiles for complete and balanced for raw diets. Answers Pet Food nutrients are parallel to other raw diets who did the AAFCO feeding trial.

How does your company go above and beyond?  
Product protocol then education....  With safety protocol, quality of ingredients, manufacturing processes, and so on. Answers Pet Food goes above and beyond by offering environmentally friendly recyclable packaging. Other raw diets use plastic bags and plastic containers that are not recyclable and leach toxins and heavy metals into the product.

Do you use any genetically modified ingredients?
No.  

If yes, what ingredients are GM and why do you use them?  If no, why do you avoid GM and what extremes do you go through to assure your foods are GM free?  
We do not support genetically modified organisms in any way. We feel GMO products are insufficiently researched and pose a great threat to our environment, as well as human and pet health. We scrutinize every supplier to assure nothing is sourced from anything genetically modified. It is important to know how to ask the right questions and dig deep into the source of every product to be sure everything is GMO free.

Any other information you'd like to share?
It is important to understand that we at Answers created this product line because we are and have been passionate raw feeders for many years.  Our mission is to be able to provide the healthiest raw diet available that we ourselves use for our loved pets.  We also wanted to help secure that availability through education, research, science and reaching out to the pet owners, by traveling across the country teaching the benefits of raw, whole food diets. The raw diet is no longer the 11th hour resort to recovering a pet’s health, but a way of life.  We are addressing all issues including, proper handling, our convenient green packaging and the positive results from feeding.  Please contact any of the Answers family to answer any other questions you have about our products.  We truly feel people need to ask questions of their manufactures, so they know exactly what is going in their pets bowl.

It's Only Shampoo!?

Unless you are a bottle of good wine a grassy, wet dog smell, is neither pleasant nor welcomed! So bathing and grooming is a no brainer right? Well, check out these contrasting articles Max was reading on the net.

A QUALITY DOG SHAMPOO

VS.

       FDA WARNS PET OWNERS OF PET SHAMPOO

OH! And who's Max you ask?
Max of Max-imizing at www.postmorekennels.com of  course!
That colorful dog in the pictures to your right!
Keeping you informed and up to date on all things Kennel and Dog!

BE KIND TO ANIMALS WEEK

CELEBRATE
BE KIND TO ANIMALS WEEK 

WITH

POSTMORE KENNELS

 Postmore Kennels wants to help you celebrate by offering you a free treatment to help your dog's health and well being!

Just cut out the coupon below and bring it to any Postmore Kennel and they'll give you a free treatment when you have any service by Postmore Kennels. Whether your pet is groomed, boarded, or in day care, this coupon will be honored.

Fresher breath and a healthier mouth is what your friend will get with a PlaqcInz treatment.

We wouldn't be surprised if it even made your dog smile!

Treat Mom's furry friends for Mother's Day!

Watch for our upcoming blog "MEET the GROOMERS" and see some talented Style and Trim tricks from our friendly, certified, groomers! Or visit us on FACEBOOK and see just what our talented groomers can do!

  Just clip out the coupon below and bring it in when you pick up your dog from a fun day at daycare, or are having that much needed, after holiday trim, or after a comfortable week-end of boarding! We'll freshen their breath and send them home with a healthy smile!