Tail Wagging Nutrition Discovering the Benefits of True Meals Pet Food

By Isabella Storyclaire

last updated September 16, 2024

Contributions sourced from

DNM Pet Food Nutrition Course Review

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My cat got stomach cancer from eating red and yellow dyes in 9 lives. Poor thing. I assumed it was safe. ~ Facebook User

I see stories like this on social media all the time. Pet parents are learning the dangers ofthe ingredients used in commercial pet food and treats the hard way.

Kibble Destroyed My Dog's Gut

Three years.

I fed Rodrigo a kibble diet for three years until I finally accepted that kibble was the reason for all of his health issues allergies, chronic ear infections, itchy paws, and daily loose stool/diarrhea. I didn't know. The veterinarian told me that the food I was feeding my dog was healthy. Many veterinarians told me that chicken allergies weren't real; it was just something people were saying to demonize kibble. And I put my dog through many rounds of antibiotics not understanding that I was just making his health issues worse, not better.

Why Kibble is Bad for My Dogs

I switched my dog to raw before fully understanding why he couldn't eat kibble. Today, nearly four years later, I clearly understand why the food I chose for my dog didn't work. Below are the ingredients in one of the foods I fed to Rodrigo:

Chicken, Chicken Meal (source of Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate), Brewers Rice, Rice Bran, Whole Brown Rice, Split Peas, Whole Grain Oatmeal, Natural Flavor, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols), Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols), Soybean Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols), Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Pea Protein, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols), Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, Salt, Zinc Sulfate, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B2), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Selenium Yeast, Biotin, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Folic Acid, Rosemary Extract, Decaffeinated Green Tea Extract, Spearmint Extract
Ingredients in a dry dog food I used to feed my dogs.

I bought this food because the package showed a whole chicken and vegetables; the first two ingredients are chicken. This is what I know now

A whole chicken is the first ingredient; the reason why it's first is that water is heavy. This ingredients list is misleading there isn't a ton of chicken in this food, but there's a ton of water in this food.

The chicken meal would be an excellent ingredient because since it's listed as second, there is a lot of chicken (without water) in the meat. However, since the chicken meal is a source of glucosamine and chondroitin, I am left to wonder if this chicken meal is made from chicken by-products (chicken necks are a source of glucosamine and chondroitin), not awhole chicken.

This food is grain heavy: Brewer's Rice, Rice Bran, Whole Brown Rice, Whole Grain Oatmeal; dogs don't need grains in their diet. They can be tough on a dog's digestive system, especially if a dog has GI issues.

Chicken fat means the food will go fast quicker (2 weeks); once a bag is opened, the fat will begin to oxidize. I used to pour my dogs' kibble into a new container, making it go bad even faster.

Soybean oil tends to come from genetically modified crops. Soybeans are linked to GI issues in dogs, seizures, and other health issues.

Dried plain beet pulp is added for fiber, but many think this ingredient is just a filler. And some breeds can't consume foods with dried beet pulp, like Great Pyrenees.

Pea protein is added to beef up the protein content because the food cheats dogs of protein in the earlier ingredients by adding whole chicken (with water), falsely giving you the impression that this is a high-protein food.

The fish oil in this food isn't enough for dogs to get the benefits of fish oil, and, like with the chicken fat, once the food is opened, the fat will begin to oxidize, and the food will go bad faster (in a couple of weeks).

This food is using synthetic vitamins, which are harder to digest. Although AAFCO standards may balance the food, an ingredient that can't be digested easily and therefore absorbed isn't giving our dogs the vitamins they need.

I learned all this by taking the Pet Food Nutrition certification course offered by Dogs Naturally Magazine. Although I've been doing research for years, what I learned in this course over a few weeks taught me what I could share in this post today.

Source: DepositPhoto

Why You Should Take a Course

The Pet Food Nutrition Specialist certification is impressive. Dana Scott and Meg Smart put together a thorough program full of fantastic information that made me a more thoughtful and informed pet parent.

Here are a few reasons to take the Dogs Naturally Magazine course about pet food.

You will understand the pet food industry and the roles of AAFCO, FDA, and other organizations. Many people are involved in the pet food industry, and not all are in the game to protect our pets. The AAFCO statement on bags of dog food doesn't hold weight for me anymore.

You will understandwhat goes into pet food; from the grocery store to the quality pet food brands. A fellow pet blogger once told me that there is no such thing as quality cat food. I understand now what she means; cats shouldn't eat a diet of kibble. After taking this course, I now see that quality dog food isn't always quality.

If you have a dog (or cat) that struggles with commercial pet food, you'll now understand why. Rodrigo lived with GI issues on a kibble diet for years, and I couldn't understand why the food didn't work for him. Now I have a better understanding of the problem and no longer blame myself for his health issues.

You will be able to make better nutrition choices for your pet (this is for dogs and cats). My dogs are raw fed, but last year, I transitioned my cat from kibble to canned and freeze-dried raw; I now understand why this is a superior diet.

You will be able to educate your friends on pet food, speaking intelligently about ingredients and processes. I'm not the type of lecture friends about what they feed their dogs, but I love answering questions when they approach me. Gaining my certification has helped me intelligently show them why commercial dog and cat food may not work for their pet. I no longer come across as a crazy raw feeder who hates kibble.

This certification will give you more credibility if you're a pet blogger or work in a pet store. I saved the certificate to my site (in the sidebar) and changed my email signature to reflect that I'm certified as a Pet Food Nutrition Specialist. The difference was immediate. People take me more seriously.

You'll be glad that you feed raw or home cooked; or ready to make the switch. As I went through each module, I was thankful that I switched to raw when I did, and I'm looking forward to the raw feeding certification. The pet food industry is like the Wild Wild West, andthe Sheriff is crooked. With recent stories of pentobarbital found in pet food and the recent news that a well-known pet food brand was calling their canned food beef when, in actuality, it was euthanized horse meat, I am beginning to wonder, who can we trust?

Although I earned my certification, I'm not a certified nutritionist or certified raw meal formulator. That is NOT what this course teaches us, and if you live in the United States, you cannot become a certified animal nutritionist unless you first attend veterinarian school. However, this course did push me to want to continue educating myself about my dogs' nutritional needs.

Thanks to this certification course by Dogs Naturally Magazine, I have a clear understanding of what goes into pet food, which helps me explain why a food isn't good rather than saying because it's crap, which, surprisingly, isn't that compelling or convincing for many people. The course was fun to take, my brain was bursting with information, and I'm thankful that I'm in a position to be able to make my dogs' food.

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Dog Tail Signs: What That Wagging Means

You can understand a lot about your canine companion from his dog tail signs. That wagging or thumping on the carpet? You know your pup is feeling great. That feeling of dread when you walk through the front door and that same tail is tucked low? That tail tells you something has been destroyed by a bored pup while you were away. Whether you consider yourself fluent in wag or you're still learning how to decode dog tail language, read on to learn more about how your pet communicates.

Spotting the Signs: A Guide to Dog Tail Language

A dog's tail originally evolved to help him stay balanced, like a tightrope walker's pole. It serves as a counterweight to the front part of his body when he's making a high-speed turn while hunting and helps keep him from falling off narrow walkways.

Now that a dog hunt generally involves finding the last piece of kibble that fell behind the bowl, that wagging tail is largely thought of as a communication device. Here are five key things the placement of a dog's tail can tell you, according to the Center for Shelter Dogs at Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

Circular swish: A dog whose tail is swishing back and forth or in a circular motion is one happy and relaxed pup.
Lowered or tucked tail: A dog who is frightened or feeling submissive will often lower or tuck his tail between his hind legs.
Tail wagging stiffly: A dog who is excited may wag his tail stiffly while jumping, spinning or sticking his rump in the air. His excitement may be from a positive source like an upcoming walk or a negative source like an intimidating stranger.
Tail held horizontally: A tail held straight out indicates a dog who is attentive and alert or perhaps curious about something nearby. Traditional hunting dog breeds like pointers or setters also hold their tails out straight when they point at an animal or object.
Sudden tail raise: When a dog moves his tail from a down position to a vertical or raised position, it could indicate he is feeling aggressive.

Reading Wag Speed

The speed of a dog's wagging tail might also give you an indication of his mood, Psychology Today reports.

Quick wag: A short wag usually happens during greetings when a dog is feeling tentative.
Big, broad wag: This indicates a friendly dog who is not threatening anyone.
Slow, reluctant wag: This might indicate a dog who is feeling anxious. Other signs of anxiety include avoiding eye contact, refusing food or ignoring what's happening around him.
Tiny, high-speed wag: A tail that moves in short, vibrating bursts can be a sign a dog is about to run or fight. Be careful!

Dog Tail Language Barriers

Some dogs wag with long, expressive tails, but what about dogs with small, stumpy tails or no tails at all? A truncated tail may make it more difficult for dogs to communicate with their pet parents and with other dogs, writes Psychology Today. An observational study of more than 400 dogs greeting each other off-leash in a dog park showed a higher number of aggressive incidents involving dogs with short tails. This doesn't mean that your corgi will inherently pick more fights than your shepherd mix, but it could be something to watch out for. Overall, the study found that only 12 percent of dog park incidents resulted in any kind of aggression. That's a sign that dog communication has a pretty high success rate.

The tale of the tail? Dog tail signs help pups communicate not only with us, but also with other dogs. Knowing the meaning of how a dog is using his tail can go a long way to showing you how your pet is feeling.