Always consult your vet if you are concerned about your dog’s health or diet.

As owners we are usually the best at knowing when our dogs aren’t quite right but there are little signs we might be missing from time to time and this is when we can make a huge difference to our beloved friends’ life no matter what their age.

With Ted the biggest issue is scratching. All he needs is a small ‘doggy biscuit’ or a scrap of toast crust and the scratching may commence. His system goes in to overdrive and I can spot ‘that scratch’ a mile off!  As a Labrador he’s supposedly able to process anything or so the old stories go, but Ted can’t process a lot of things and we were I suppose lucky enough that it was very obvious Ted had no way of digesting his food although it used to come out every night all over my floor.

5 years ago, I asked my husband and the vets for canine guidance, neither worked it was calling in to my local Just for Pets before I worked here that helped, and we haven’t looked back since!

Now after some years of researching and relating canine health issues to diet Ted and I have a passion for promoting healthy canine nutrition (you can understand why Ted would be passionate about this subject). So, going back to spotting those signs we can quite often spot that the dog is limping, we definitely spot when the dog has the runs but what about those other signs they’re giving us which so many people put down to them being a dog.

1) Does he smell? Having that overwhelming ‘dog smell’ in your house, making hands smell when you pat him is a huge sign being excreted from your dog in that gross smell. That can be fixed.

2) Tear staining – Oh this breed are famous for tear staining! Nope! They’re not! That can be fixed!

3) Stop that licking! Licking and chewing the paws is another sign of discomfort which can be a thorn or a grass seed etc but it can also be something else when there are no signs of a wound there’s  something else that can be changed to fix it.

4) Better get that dog a wormer he’s running his bum across the floor. Really?! but you always worm your dog regularly so is that really what the dog is telling you.

Yes dogs must be flea & wormed regularly but when you’re already doing that perhaps that’s a sign? That can be fixed.

5) Better make sure we get some ear drops! Inflammation in the ear or over producing ear wax is a sign and it can be fixed.

If your dog is experiencing the above symptoms personally, I would recommend you start by changing one thing DIET

It’s simple and effective it’ll make the world of difference to your best friend and for all those signs you can see there’s things going on inside that may not show until it’s too late.

We’ve seen all these convenience foods appear on shop shelves for dogs but is that really what is suitable to feed them?

Jenn Hughes

Ted’s Mum and a member of JFP Droitwich