There are over 1 million ship wrecks in the sea; with some ships offering amazing preserved relics trapped in a liquid time capsule. We are approaching the 100th year anniversary of the Titanic  disaster, and it seems that its intrigue and popularity shows no signs of decreasing. The allure of the Titanic’s sinking is linked to the boasting of its builders and owners that it was unsinkable, and the fact that so many rich and poor people died. Some  massive “unsinkable”  pet food companies are sinking, taking rich and...

Size matters especially with your dog’s health.  Dr. Gary Pusillo Mary Poppins sang “A teaspoon of sugar helps the medicine go down;” she did not say a huge lump of sugar helps the medicine goes down. About 5 grams of “normal” particle size (granulation) white sugar can fit in a teaspoon. If you are making a cake that calls for two teaspoons or 10 grams of sugar, putting in a single 10 gram piece of sugar into the recipe will not work. Particle size of the granulated sugar allows it to be blended throughout the cake...

White is hot! Dr. Gary Pusillo According to PPG, a leading international coatings company, white is hot for the 2011 car colors. Twenty-one percent of 2011 model year cars around the world are white. Black and silver were tied for second place with 20 percent, with gray coming in next at 13 percent. Silver ranked #1 last year. What has this to do with pet nutrition? White is also very “hot” in the world of commercial pet foods. The amount of “white fish,” “white tuna”  foods and treats is increasing in availability...

Your pet food is probably not addressing the phosphorous shortage and excessive  runoff of phosphorus into our environment. Up to 5 tons of phosphorus are flushed down toilets each day at the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Facility in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. (Imagine the numbers for larger urban centers, such as Los Angeles, New York or Washington, D.C.)  In addition to human and livestock waste, our pets excrete huge amounts into the ecosystem, and no one is doing anything to reverse the trends except for a small...

By Dr. Gary Pusillo ©2011 The sudden horror of instant flames engulfing   most of the area around my friend Blaze (yes, that is his real name) when he poured gasoline from a container onto our campfire, was a lesson well learned without much pain and suffering. I will never use gasoline to start a fire. Dogs and cats that make it through the stressors associated with the floods, wind, power outages and changes in daily activities are prime subjects for opportunistic pathogens. One that will likely show up is CP (clostridium...

Dr. Gary Pusillo After losing buckets of sweat while removing some of the tornado ravaged fallen trees around our Iowa home, I decided to enjoy a small cup of French Vanilla ice cream. I typically do not eat sweets, but since my college aged daughter is still home for the summer, she makes sure only the best French vanilla ice cream is stocked in our freezer. While I enjoyed the cold creamy texture, I took a look at the nutrition label to see how much water I was paying for. For the top of the line, expensive French Vanilla ice...

Organic vegetables and sprouts is not without risks; the e-coli problems in Europe should be a concern in pet diets also. Dr. Gary Pusillo Poop is to an organic farm as liquid nitrogen fertilizer is to an Iowa corn farm. With the e-coli outbreak in Europe, we should be careful in believing that the term organic guarantees safe, risk free foods. All sorts of human and animal waste are used in organic farming operations throughout the world. Human waste; sometimes called night soil;”has been used to raise vegetables in Europe...

After the destructive forces of tornados, hurricanes and flooding, how do I salvage my pet’s foods? The recent tornados and flooding in the US will require many pet owners to adapt their individual situation to the destruction at hand. Having survived several tornados, and massive flooding in the last 31 years in Iowa, I have both practical and scientific knowledge of salvaging foods and sanitizing a pet’s living space after the disaster. The first thing to do after a disaster is to only keep those pet foods that can be safely...

We all love to spoil our pets with tasty treats and chews but we always wonder what, if any, are the consequences of buying the ‘low end’ products on the market.  We are always told to buy products that are made in North America and that are sourced from reputable manufacturers (like Complete Natural Nutrition) and not from places such as China.  Dr. Pusillo, being an animal forensic scientist, hears first-hand about the dangers with overseas products.  Below is a ‘repeat offender’ that has Dr. Pusillo shocked and...

If you own a high energy Terrier like me, you know that they are prone to something called a cruciate tear.  This issue, unfortunately, is not specific to Terriers and many owners have felt the helplessness when this issue suddenly occurs.  The ligaments in dogs were never really set up very well by mother nature and if the muscle around the ligaments are not properly developed then the likelyhood of this issue happening doubles if not triples in incendents.  The best prevention is exercises that help build the back leg...