Pup Holiday Guide
Vet visits spike during the holidays, but let's stop fearmongering!
Over the holidays you might see lots of warnings about pancreatitis by vets and lay people alike. They warn against feeding your dogs “people food” like turkey and ham. What is it about this time of year that leads to increased vet visits? This newsletter helps to answer this question and provide practical tips to help avoid any gastrointestinal issues over the holidays.
Before that here are this week’s recipe. Pup Butter Cookies is free for everyone, plus a repost of our holiday feast from last year.
We have news — you can now get a seasoning TRIO!
All Pups Seasoning - natural nutrient blend to enhance homemade food with commonly missed vitamins & minerals
Pupto Barko - tummy soother with psyllium husk, slippery elm and immunobiotics
Brain Food Seasoning - mushroom blend to add brain-healthy nutrients to your dog’s diet
These are now available to help you pamper your dog this holiday season, while keeping them feeling their best. We hope you love these new seasonings as much as we do!
We don’t like fear-mongering :(
If you’ve been following us for a while you probably know that we think the scare tactics around pancreatitis are silly. The reason we are skeptical of pancreatitis fear-mongering is that it’s actually really hard to diagnose. Here are the reasons.
Researchers who study pancreatitis categorize most cases as idiopathic, meaning that there is no identifiable cause. (We’re no experts, but our guess is it’s probably the long term effects of kibble.)
The most common test for pancreatitis has a false positive rate of up to 40%!
Pancreatitis symptoms overlap with many other conditions. (It doesn’t help that healthcare providers are notoriously bad at statistics, see post below.)
It is true that there are spikes in vet visits for dogs over the holidays. The same is also true for people and hospital visits. According to studies there is a 25% increase in heart attacks with 40% more heart attack deaths over the holidays. (To be fair it could be spending time with family and not just the food.😝)
What is it about the holidays that leads to increased vet visits?
While we can’t know for sure, our guess is that dogs who normally only eat kibble are all of sudden being fed highly greasy, salty, or sugary scraps that they aren’t used to. Their guts (and critters that live there) don’t normally encounter these foods, and the sudden influx of novel foods causes a reaction and they fall ill.
Sneaky pups also tend to get into trash cans full of rotten or inedible food. The excitement leads them to indiscriminately wolf down whatever they can get before they get caught.
Here’s a list of best practices for keeping your pups safe.
Trash disposal. With increased cooking, guests, and eating comes increased amounts of trash and scraps. Whether something gets dropped on the floor or the trash lid is left open by mistake, it’s easy for pups to sneak a bite, especially if they are normally deprived of the good stuff. In one retrospective cohort study, getting into the trash was the single biggest risk for a positive pancreatitis diagnosis (not just the test). Make sure to secure the lid on your trash can, place it out of reach of your dogs, and get it out of your house quickly.
Communicate with guests: especially kids. Dogs are so good at looking cute and starving even when they are full. Guests who like dogs but don’t have any themselves, might feel bad for the pups and try to give them something extra. When dogs and people overeat, the risk of gastrointestinal issues increase. Make sure your guests know not to feed anything without your explicit approval. Keep an eye on kids who may not understand or are extra messy eaters! :)
Provide safe treats and a safe space. Provide a special treat bowl (plain turkey, sweet potatoes or liver) that you and your guests can feed to the dog in moderation. You can also use puzzle toys to keep them occupied in a separate space away from the cooking and eating.
Recognize dangerous foods (don’t worry, there are only a few). Cooked bones can splinter and cause injuries, while foods like dark chocolate and raisins can cause illness. While chopping raw onions, make sure that they don’t fall onto the floor.
Make the dogs their own dinner! Throw a few items from your grocery haul (turkey, eggs, green beans, brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc) into a pot to make a simple meal for your pup to enjoy. This way they can share in the fun and no one feels bad.
Even if pancreatitis is often misdiagnosed, the data shows that chances for holiday illness are higher than normal. It doesn’t take too many extra steps to drastically reduce the risks of your pup falling ill over the holidays.
Happy Thanksgiving!
All the best,
Joelle and The Precious Creatures Team