Category Archives: Food and Nutrition

RECALL! Timberwolf Organics!

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Please take note of this latest dog food recall from
Timberwolf Organics!


Dakota Bison/Ocean Blue Reported Issues

Timberwolf Organics Customer,

Timberwolf Organics Dog FoodDue to recent reports from some customers, we have ordered that two formulas from three specific dates be pulled from the shelves. These are:

Dakota Bison with ‘best by date’ of 12 Feb 2009
Ocean Blue with ‘best by date’ of 20 Feb 2009
Ocean Blue with best by date’ of 8 March 2009

The reported symptoms include dogs refusing to eat, diarrhea or vomiting. While the problem is inconsistent (not every dog eating food from those dates/bag show the symptoms and not every bag), to err on the side of caution have decided to pull the formulas produced with the above dates. Initial testing has come back negative for problems and further testing is pending results.Timberwolf Organics Dog Food

As soon as the cause of this reported problem is determined procedures will be put into place to ensure that an event like this cannot happen again. Please be assured that no other formulas and Ocean Blue and Dakota Bison with dates other than ones listed above are not affected.

We apologize for any inconvenience or problems that this may have resulted in. If you do have a bag with those dates please contact the retailer you purchased it from for an exchange or credit. If you purchased it directly from us please give us a call or email us at customer.support@timberwolforganics.com, or you can download the Customer Complaint Form below and fax it to 866.796.8814.

Thank you for choosing Timberwolf Organics.

Sincerely,

Timberwolf Organics Team

Debunking the Myths of Rawfeeding

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This is for those of you who may be thinking about rawfeeding or are just interested in the subject I wanted to take some time to tell you about some myths and realities of raw feeding.

One thing that I can tell you, since I’ve had my Jezzie and Bruti on a combination raw/home-cooked diet, they are now in the best health they’ve ever been in. They’ve shed those few extra pounds, their skin and coats are wonderful, their energy level is high, much fewer allergies and ear infections, fresher breath, clean teeth. No, it’s not a cure all, but it has made an amazing difference.

Myth: DOGS ARE OMNIVORES

This is false. Dogs are carnivores, not omnivores. Dogs ARE very adaptable, but just because they can survive on an omnivorous diet does not mean it is the best diet for them. The assumption that dogs are natural omnivores remains to be proven, whereas the truth about dogs being natural carnivores is very well-supported by the evidence available to us.

1.) Dentition

Look into your dog or cat’s mouth. Those huge impressive teeth (or tiny needle sharp teeth) are designed for grabbing, ripping, tearing, shredding, and shearing meat (Feldhamer, G.A. 1999. Mammology: Adaptation, Diversity, and Ecology. McGraw-Hill. pg 258.). They are not equipped with large flat molars for grinding up plant matter. Their molars are pointed and situated in a scissors bite (along with the rest of their teeth) that powerfully disposes of meat, bone, and hide. Carnivores are equipped with a peculiar set of teeth that includes the presence of carnassial teeth: the fourth upper premolar and first lower molar.

Carnassial teeth

This is the skull of a weasel (also in Order Carnivora), courtesy of Centennial Museum. The carnassial teeth are marked with black arrows. You can find these same teeth in the mouth of your dog or cat or ferret.

Contrast this with your own teeth or the teeth of a black bear. A black bear is a true omnivore, as are we. We have nice, large, flat molars that can grind up veggies. Black bears, while having impressive canine teeth, also have large flat molars in the back of their mouth to assist in grinding up plant matter. Dogs and most canids lack these kinds of molars. Why? Because they don’t eat plant matter. Teeth are highly specialized and are structured specifically for the diet the animal eats, and the difference between a bear’s teeth and a dog’s teeth (both species are in Order Carnivora) demonstrates how this can be (Feldhamer, G.A. 1999. Mammology: Adaptation, Diversity, and Ecology. McGraw-Hill. pgs 260.). To see a visual comparison of the teeth of a dog to the teeth of a black bear, please click here. One can logically ask: If a dog (or cat or ferret) has the dentition of a carnivorous animal, why do we feed it pelleted, grain-based food?

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Supplementing Your Dog’s Diet – Glucosamine

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This comes from my For the Love of the Dog site;

Although I am not a proponent of commercial dog food, I will admit that most high quality dog foods do have most of the vitamins, minerals and whatnot your dog needs. As you stand in the store pondering the plethora of varieties of dog food for your dog’s diet, your mind can truly become overwhelmed. The numerous ingredients in dog food simply complicate things even further. Who really knows what all of those ingredients really mean? You see glucosamine on some of the dog food labels. That sounds a bit familiar. What exactly is glucosamine and why should it be in your dog’s diet?

You have probably heard of glucosamine in the news. Glucosamine has been beneficial to joint health in humans. Research has also shown that glucosamine in a dog’s diet can be beneficial to your pet’s health.

Glucosamine is a dietary supplement that has been shown to encourage good joint health. This supplement helps to maintain good joint cartilage. Glucosamine is one of the key building blocks to produce joint lubricants. The joint lubricant helps to keep the joints moving and functioning with ease. Glucosamine in your dog’s diet will ensure your pet’s joints work at their peak performance levels for years to come.

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What You Need To Know About Natural Recipe Dog Food

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The various dog food recalls has caused most dog lovers to look closer at what they have been feeding their much loved pets. The vets normally recommend that you give your dog a recognized brand of dog food, and all of their dietary needs will be met. Most dog food labels say they are formulated by veterinarians, and contain all the crucial nutrients for health and well being. We all have discovered this is not true.

The publicity surrounding the pet food recall has let us in on the dirty little secrets of the dog food industry. It is all made in the same place, and the difference in price is due to good marketing. The ingredients are bought in foreign countries, and there is obviously no quality checks for the imported ingredients.

The federal regulations about labeling dog food are a different standard than it is for human food. Pet foods that are labeled as premium, gourmet, or super premium are not required to contain any higher quality ingredients, or have any higher nutritional standards that any other complete product.Read more→

Don’t Let Halloween Be a ‘Fright Nitght’ for Your Pets!

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Most people don’t realize how scary and actually dangerous Halloween can be for our pets. They tend to think of it as just a mostly fun filled entree to Fall for children and adults alike but what about our furry companions?

It can actually be quite frightening for them, the constant knocking or door bell ringing, strange looking people showing up at the door making sounds, sometimes in sizable groups. This is especially noticeable in pets that are more accustomed to a relatively quiet routine.

You need to really watch for frightened or excited pets darting out an open door and racing into the street. Incidences of animals being hit by vehicles sadly tend to escalate due to this. You may see evidence of fear based aggression triggered by territorial or fear responses to all the ghouls and goblins, the laughter, the noise, the yelling and excitement.

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Dog Treats – Good or Bad?

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Oh those puppy-dog eyes . . .who can resist them? There’s a reason that turn of phrase “puppy-dog eyes” is used to describe the very deliberate emotional blackmail specifically tendered by basically anyone with the wherewithal to ride the cute train to anywhere. The phrase most assuredly originates with its namesakes. You know the look — the slight head tilt, the pleading eyes, perhaps a barely perceptible whimper, just for emphasis.

From your pup, that look can say a lot of things, but often it’s a transparent plea for a treat. He seems to be saying, “see how cute I am? Don’t I deserve something special?”

So of course you yield to his entreaties, because what kind of a dog owner would you be if you didn’t agree wholeheartedly?

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Counting Calories for your Dog

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Your dog is fat. OK, possibly not.

But there’s a very good chance he or she is, and you don’t even know it.

Statistics vary, but veterinarians report that as many as 25 – 44% of all dogs are overweight, and that obesity is the number-one canine health disorder. Obesity is defined as weighing over 15% more than the standard accepted weight for the dog’s height.

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Is ‘Fluffy’ in our Pet Foods?

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If you’ve been reading my ‘Dog Food 101’ series, you’re probably waking up to what’s really in the ‘commercial’ foods that are manufactured for our pets to eat and to be honest, the more research I do, the scarier it gets.

One thing that I mentioned in Part 2, in discussing proteins and meats that were used in pet foods, was the usage of 4-D animals; dead, diseased, disabled or dying. One aspect that I touched lightly on is the fact in the past, the use of rendered euthanized shelter animals was an ‘open secret’ in the pet food manufacturing industry. As for now, it is highly denied but since it’s not against the law, who knows? Some say that no source of protein, regardless of the source or quality goes unused.
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Let’s Talk Dog Food – ‘Dog Food 101’ – Part 3

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In Part 2 of my ‘Dog Food 101,’ I discussed some meat/protein sources, now I’d like to go over some information on carbohydrates.

The first thing I would like to say is that dogs, being carnivores, do not require grains and cereals in their diets. Secondly, they are not well processed by their bodies which means nutritionally, they are of little value. If you recall, in Part 1, I said that dogs “have short digestive tracts and their bodies lack certain enzymes which make it difficult, if not impossible for their bodies to process grains and vegetables unless they are ‘predigested’ by processing; cooking, mincing, grinding, breakdown by enzymes, or fermentation through bacteria.”

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the carbs; cereals and grains, that are in our pet’s food.

One of the most prevalent is corn in a variety of forms. Most are ‘by-products’ left over after processing what can be used for human consumption and are usually to add bulk or fiber and are seldom of much if any nutritional value. They are basically just cheap fillers. Another thing to keep in mind is that corn is one of the highest reported food allergens in dogs.

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