Blog – Alaula Tenterfield Terriers Kennel

Food Glorious Food……

It is just mind boggling the amount of information out there these days about dog food. Today’s blog I’m going to focus on what’s available, how to choose your food and some interesting facts that you may not know about feeding dogs in general. So firstly, lets discuss some pros and cons of dog food. The most common types are as follows:

HOMEMADE
Pros
• Sky’s the limit when it comes to variety
• You are in control of what your dog eats
• Dogs usually enjoy the taste better than commercial foods
• Ingredients are normally minimally processed and fresh
• All the above, can contribute to marked health improvements in your dog
Cons
• It can be easy to neglect certain necessary ingredients resulting in nutritional deficiencies
• Special attention is needed for a “complete and balanced” meal and supplements are often needed.
• Takes longer to prepare
• Can potentially be more costly

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Our new digs!!

The “Berry Boys” as they have become affectionately known as, got some extensions added to their whelping box this weekend. They are now living in luxury with the expanded play area where new things will be added as needed. Kona has started to wean them so goats milk and food has been added to their diets and although they arent to fond on eating this new thing called “food” they do love standing in it and will hopefully get the hang of putting it in their mouths instead of making cute little milk or food paw prints in the new digs.

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The dreaded dew claw…

At some point most TT owners have had to deal with a torn dew claw. It just one of those hazards that these little guys have to contend with, they are low to the ground, agile, super fast and typically fear nothing. The result is when chasing a ball or any other object they can be prone to tearing the dew claws and at times they won’t even help or show signs that this has happened.

Today Dawn chased the ball 3 times to run a total distance of 15 metres and she ripped her right dew claw. The only sign it happened was her licking her foot when she reached the top of the stairs. Then the tell tale signs of blood dripping from the foot.

It’s relatively easy to treat, if the nail is completely off and hanging then take it all the way off. If it’s just bleeding then you can pad and wrap the foot, they heal fast so its normally a big issue. The nail will grow back, it may be malformed at first but eventually after clipping it will start to grow out straight. Use some antiseptic solution if you have some before wrapping. This does not constitute vet advice, always seek the advice of a vet, if you’re not near a vet this is step one before you get to your vet.

Consider full dew claw removal. This is a point we usually make to our new puppy owners, at some stage you will usually be desexing and during that procedure it’s a quick couple of cuts and sutures and you can remove this potential hazard from your TT life forever. Discuss with with your vet.

Daddy wrapped dew claw

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Have you ever wondered why puppies twitch when sleeping?

Many people are fascinated when they come and see our puppies about why they twitch so much when they sleep and is it normal?. The simple answer is yes, it is totally normal and in actual fact we would be worried if they didn’t twitch a lot when asleep. Many studies have found that twitching while asleep is very important when raising healthy, well developed puppies. This ‘activated sleep’ or REM sleep in which twitching, kicking, rapid eye movement and or vocal noises occurs, is said to help strengthen, develop and build muscle as well as creating neural connections to help motor coordination. If you wish to read more about why puppies twitch you can find more information in the following links:

https://www.puppyculture.com/twitching-puppies.html

https://pethelpful.com/dogs/Why-do-Puppies-Twitch-in-Their-Sleep

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