By Tamara Low
Co-owner of Tail Blazers
Getting ready for a new puppy felt a bit like preparing for an arrival of a human baby!
Buying puppy things, getting the home ready, and letting everyone know with so much excitement and anticipation. The excitement of counting down the days until his arrival was palpable! I had not had a puppy in 18 long years. Skylla was with us when we opened Tail Blazers in 2000. Kobe joined us in 2002.
Continue readingThere have been a lot of discussions lately regarding dogs’ diets and what they should be eating. I have seen people recommending that the diet must be grain-based, avoiding exotic meats and grain free foods. They are also recommending the avoidance of “boutique” foods and that the food should be a diet that meets The World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) guidelines, which would only include Royal Canin, Purina, Hill’s Science Diet, Eukanuba, Iams, and all veterinary prescriptions diets. They are saying companies should have full-time veterinarian nutritionists on staff and that the diets should be complete and balanced.
Continue readingHello Pet Guardians,
By now you have probably heard about the FDA release of updated information related to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Primarily they are reporting nothing new, other than a list of companies that have been reported to be the food source for diagnosed pets. That list includes a few brands that are available in our stores.
Your pooch is smelly and dirty! Time for a bath. It’s easy to pick up any bottle of pet shampoo and wash your dog with it. But have you stopped and read the ingredients on the bottle? Do you know what those ingredients are? Does the bottle even list ANY ingredients on it?
At Tail Blazers we take our product selections very seriously, including shampoos and coat care products. We analyze the ingredients in all the shampoos and conditioners we stock to ensure it meets our strict safety standards.
Continue readingTaurine is an amino acid that both dogs and cats require for health. For cats, it is an essential amino acid because their bodies cannot synthesize it, so it must be acquired from the diet. Dogs however, can synthesize taurine from two other amino acids, methionine and cysteine (which are found in meat). For cats, taurine is necessary for brain, nerves, eyes, heart, digestion, immune function and fetal development. For dogs, taurine is needed for eyes, reproduction, bile acid (for fat digestion) and for healthy heart. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs and cats is associated with inadequate taurine levels.
Continue readingTail Blazers was founded on sourcing and offering the most species appropriate diets available in the market. We have always heavily promoted raw (meat/bone/organ-based) diets as the most species appropriate – what do wild canines and felines eat if not raw animal prey-based diets? These are the most species appropriate for our domesticated dogs and cats as well.
One of the most common arguments against raw food diets is, you guessed it, BACTERIA and the dangers that those bugs can potentially pose to our pets and ourselves. But, how harmful is bacteria in raw pet food, and food in general? Is raw more dangerous? Are humans really at risk? Continue reading
With marijuana (pot) now being legal in Canada, the potential for pets to be exposed to this plant is much higher. For example, in the US, the Pet Poison Helpline has seen a 448% increase in marijuana cases in the last 6 years as more and more states legalize. (source: petpoisonhelpline.com) Let’s discuss the effects of ingestion and what we can do as pet parents to avoid exposure.
Many of you have probably heard about the recent “trendy” ketogenic (keto) weight loss diet for humans (a variation of this diet popped up in the last few decades as the Atkins Diet). It is otherwise known as a Low Carbohydrate/High Fat/Adequate Protein diet or lifestyle. The ketogenic diet, as it is known today, was developed in the 1920s at the Mayo Clinic to treat epilepsy. However, fasting, which mimics ketogenic-type diets, has been used by humans in attempts to treat illness since 500 B.C.
What is a ketogenic or “keto” diet?
The mammalian body (be it human, canine, feline, etc.) has two major metabolic pathways involved in energy production. The body’s main two pathways use either glucose (sugar derived from carbohydrates, and in some cases protein/amino acids through a process called gluconeogenesis) or ketones (derived from fat) to power its cells. We generally think of the glucose pathway as the “standard” pathway for bodies to derive energy.
© 2021 Tail Blazers Pets – Blog
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
