MySpace


blogs.myspace.com/thepughotel
MySpace.com | rss | sign in
The Pug Hotel



Last Updated: 2/21/2009

Send Message
Instant Message
Email to a Friend
Subscribe

Gender: Female
Status: Married
Age: 45
Sign: Sagittarius

City: BEACON
State: New York
Country: US
Signup Date: 12/29/2005

Who Gives Kudos:

Head Nurse (2)
(2)
Rachel Hone.. (2)
Sue (2)
Sharon (1)
Saturday, June 30, 2007 

Category: Pets and Animals

Diet is the most important component in keeping a pug healthy. Pugs are prone to diabetes, heart disease, blindness, obesity, skin allergies, breathing problems, and knee problems (luxating patella). A lowfat, lowcarb diet will help keep your pug healthy and will be the best preventative for any of the diseases mentioned above.

 

FOOD

Most dog foods are not made or measured to provide a pug with the best nutrients. They are measured out to feed dogs with other body makeups. Since pugs frames are short and stocky, I would not recommend feeding your pug the suggested amount on the packages. Pugs should eat no more than 1/3 a cup of dry food with maybe 1 tablespoon of wet food 2 times a day. I do not recommend free feeding or feeding once a day for a pug. A pug needs to metabolize his/her food like we do, so small feedings twice a day are better than one large feeding.

 

I recommend the following foods : Merrick, Wellness, Eagle Pack Holistic (only), and Solid Gold, all of these foods were not part of the recall. All of these foods are available in wet and dry.

 

SNACKS

I recommend no more than 2 dry biscuits along with one natural food treat a day. Some great prepackaged treats are : Eagle Pack Holistix, Natural Balance Duck and Potato Treats, Wellness Sweet Potato and Whitefish and the Rodeo Ring Treats. Sold Gold also has many great treats!

 

Natural foods as treats are also great. My list includes:

Baby Carrots

Papaya

Sliced Pears or Apples

Mangoes

Raw String Beans

Mashed Blueberries and Bananas (1-2 tablespoons)

 

EXERCISE

Keeping your pug at a healthy weight is very important because this will help keep your pugs knees from needing surgery in the future and will prevent your pug from having hip problems. My husband and I hike with our pugs a minimum of 5 days a week. We prepare for our hike by packing a lot of water, a squirt bottle with water to squirt their heads when they get a little overheated and take plenty of breaks. If your pug is overweight, start slowly and walk only in the morning or in the evening when it is cool.

 

Keeping your pug under 22 lbs is optimum unless he is a pug that is tall and with a large frame, if so then 27-28 lbs is good.

 

WHAT YOUR VET WON'T TELL YOU

Many pugs suffer horribly from skin allergies and vets are quick to prescribe antibiotics. Eating a clean and healthy diet will prevent your pug from skin allergies. If you pug is itchy, licks his/her paws, scoots their butt on the floor, has dark spots on his/her body, has stinky underarms, it is a clear sign of food allergies. Most vets do not pick up on this and will treat a pug with antibiotics for a very long time, I have even heard of vets saying, "Sorry, there is nothing else I can do". I have heard many stories of vets telling their patients that it is OK to eat foods like Beneful or Pedigree or any other food that is readily available at your local supermarket. RULE OF THUMB: IF YOU CAN BUY IT AT YOUR LOCAL A&P, IT MOST LIKELY IS NOT GOOD FOR YOUR PUG!!!!!

 

Keep your pug on a clean and healthy diet and you will not only save a ton of money on vet bills, but your baby will live a longer and healthier life. For those pugs with severe allergy symptoms, stay tuned, I will post my next blog with some helpful information to help rid your pug of yeast and food allergy symptoms!

11:05 PM
 
Print
Back to Blog List | Next Post: Housebreaking advice - Several dogs are given up due to housebreaking issues!
Head Nurse

 
Thank you for the info. With being a first time Pug owner, it helps. I do have a question though.... any idea about the age they seem to start developing allergies?


I am glad I did my research before I got him and found a great breeder with great genetics and references. I know my lil bug-eyed boy may have problems one day but I want to avoid the ones that are preventable. He has been the best addition to my family and well worth the time, effort and money spent. And I can't imagine our lives without him! We're hoping to add another Pug to the family next year!
 
Posted by Head Nurse on Sunday, July 01, 2007 - 12:03 AM
[Reply to this] 
The Pug Hotel

 
Pugs can develop allergies at any age, they can start as early as 4 months old to much later in life. The earliest signs would start off as frequent ear infections and scooting their butt on the floor, these are signs that allergies may be developing. Remember that licking the paws and scratching often are also signs of allergies. It is very important to immediatley change their food when they start showing symptoms. Remember that prevention is the best medicine, so feeding your pug an allergy free food is always the best thing to do.

I hope this has helped!
Pug hugs,
Eev & The Pug Hotel
 
Posted by The Pug Hotel on Monday, July 02, 2007 - 4:09 AM
[Reply to this] 
The Pug Hotel

 
Hi to you and little Roxy,
Your pug should only be eating about 1/3 a cup of food twice a day, so that is 1/3 a cup in the morning and another 1/3 a cup at night. Be sure to supplement her food with yummy snacks. My guys go bonkers over baby carrots, they hear the word carrot or hear the plastic bag and they come running like a herd of cattle for their baby carrots. I hope this helps.

pug hugs
eev & the pug hotel
 
Posted by The Pug Hotel on Monday, July 02, 2007 - 3:47 AM
[Reply to this] 
Rachel Honeybee

 
thanks tons for the info. It's good having a pug advisor right at the click of a button. It's a very sensitive type of little friend. I wanted to know. Where do you buy the dog foods you mentioned?? Not local...at the vet?? or at a health food store?? Please let me know. hugs Rachel
 
Posted by Rachel Honeybee on Sunday, July 01, 2007 - 12:40 AM
[Reply to this] 
The Pug Hotel

 
All of the foods I mentioned : Wellness, Eagle Pack Holistic, Merrick, Solid Gold and Natural Balance are pretty easy to find at Petco and Petsmart, some indie dog food stores also carry alot of Allergy Free foods such as these. They do not necessarily label themselves as Allergy Free , but if you find that the first few ingredients listed are not corn, soy, eggs, dairy, wheat or gluten, they are most likely allergy free. My two personal faves are Eagle Pack Holistic and Merrick, you can actually see the veggies and fruit in them. You can also buy alot of these foods online. I feed my guys Merrick- Grammy's Chicken Pot Pie Dry and I add a little water and they absolutely love it, there is no need to even give them canned food because they are satisfied with the gravy they get from adding a little warm water to the dry food.

Best of luck with finding the food!
And thanks for reading my blog!
pug hugs
eev & the pug hotel
 
Posted by The Pug Hotel on Monday, July 02, 2007 - 3:40 AM
[Reply to this] 
Kelly

 
I feed my pugs Canidae. What is your opinion on that?
 
Posted by Kelly on Sunday, July 01, 2007 - 2:52 AM
[Reply to this] 
The Pug Hotel

 
Canidae is a very good food, so I have heard. I do know it is a good allergy-free food. Be sure to feed your pug only about 1/3 a cup of food in the morning and another 1/3 cup of food in the after noon. Best of luck and you are doing great at making sure your baby gets the right food!
pug hugs,
eev & the pug hotel
 
Posted by The Pug Hotel on Monday, July 02, 2007 - 3:28 AM
[Reply to this] 
Rachel Honeybee

 
Dear Pug Mommy,

I've switched to the Wellness Sweet Potatoe and Whitefish mix. They absolutely love it. I have a question though. They are still licking their paws at night like crazy and one of my pugs is itching like crazy in the wrinkle above her nose. I hate to give them allergy meds from the vet because I'm afraid it will shorten their lives. What do you think I should do. I thought you said something about a soak for their paws.....is that for their allergies? I used witch hazel in the wrinkle and it irritated it. Let me know if you have any more advise please. Thank you and much love your way..Rachel
 
Posted by Rachel Honeybee on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 12:48 AM
[Reply to this] 
The Pug Hotel

 
Hi Rachel,

Forgot about the licking the paws and itchiness. This is a symptom of severe allergies, once it hits the paws, it is bad. So be patient, this may reverse itself in about 2 months, at the very least, you are helping it get better. Only use the Wellness treats and veggies as treats for now, or boiled chicken with no seasoning is good as a treat as well.

You can give your pug a great footsoak every week to help with allergies, or more aften as needed. Use the Tropiclean line of Puppy and Kitten Shampoo and the OxyMed Rinse. You should bathe them once a month with these shampoos and rinses and then follow up with footsoaks once a week. Be aware that if your babies are older, they may do this as a nervous tick. Even though my guy is no longer itchy, he still licks his paws because he is 14 and has had bad allergies most of his life due to prior owners. So now it is just a nervous habit he does before he goes to sleep and after he wakes, it has diminshed alot though.

If the allergies are really bad and your dogs are itching uncontrollably, then I recommend going to 1-800whiskers.com and ordering Aller-DMG it is an allergy tab for humans, start off by giving 1/2 a tab in the morning and 1/2 at night for about 4 days and then increase to one full tab in the morning for another 5 days and then increase to 1 tab in the morning and one tab in the evening for about 1 month. Only increase the tab if you see he is doing better. Keep them on this for about 2-3 months if needed. If they are still really itchy after that, then let me know, we will need to proceed with a major cleanse. It will suck really bad, I fainted during a yoga session when I went through a cleanse, but it was worth it. The only problem with a cleanse is that the toxins will fly all over their little bodies, they will itch like crazy and scoot their butts for about a week or two and then, it will get better after that.

One more thing to help the itchiness, keep their ears clean and make sure their anal glands are cleaned out, you should do this about every 2 weeks while they are on the allergy meds. Make sure you bathe them the day their glands are cleaned out, they may still scoot their butts for about a week after, but they will get better. Hope this all makes sense and keep me posted! But please, and I mean please, do not let you vet presribe antibiotics, this will make things worse.

Pug hugs!
Eev & The Pug Hotel Gang of 7
 
Posted by The Pug Hotel on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 11:16 PM
[Reply to this] 
Rachel Honeybee

 
I went to the 1800whiskers.com and tried to find the Aller-DMG. I couldn't find it anywhere in the links. What other products that they sell would you reccomend? I had no idea there were so many holistic options!!
 
Posted by Rachel Honeybee on Sunday, July 08, 2007 - 9:17 PM
[Reply to this] 
The Pug Hotel

 
Hi Rachel,
I'll be posting a new blog on wrinkle care soon, but for now I can tell you a couple of things.
If the area in the nose fold smells bad and is raw, almost bloody, I recommend using the Stridex Pads to dry it out and then the vet can give you an anti-biotic cream like Vetropolycin to put it in the fold ONLY AFTER the nose fold has dried up, otherwise, it will not heal properly.
You need to make sure that the area in the fold did not get irritated because it was wet with water. because water and not the WitchHazel may have caused more harm. Also, putting vaseline on an already raw and irritated fold is not good, it will harbor the bacteria in there as well, so here are the steps you need to take.

1. Dry out the area in the nose fold with the Stridex Pad (they do not contain alcohol, we need the nose fold to dry up in order to start attacking the bacteria and keep it from getting worse.
2. Then after it is dried up, you can either buy some Colloidial Silver from the health store to kill the bacteria, or use the Vetropolycin (an antibiotic) from the vet to kill the bacteria, if it is severe, I strongly suggest going to the vet for the antibiotic gel.
3. Once everything has healed up, keep that nosefold clean by using witchhazel and then going back over with a dry makeup pad after that, clean once a week.

If the area is simply a little stinky and moist and just a little pink, you may have some luck just using the Stridex Pad to dry it up and help it heal.

Keep me posted. I hope this helps!

pug hugs
eev & the pug hotel
 
Posted by The Pug Hotel on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 10:58 PM
[Reply to this] 
Rachel Honeybee

 
I can't begin to tell you exactly how helpful it is getting your advice. When taking care of them you get so much advice from your vet to drug them up to take care of everything. And they convince you it's a matter of being humane. They said to me "well it's not the quantity of life, it's the quality." I was thinking.....these are allergies...why do I want a drug that's going to kill them eventually???!! So your advice is refreshing and so helpful. I will do all of the above. I'm doing to 1/3 of a cup of wellness in the morning and one in the evening and I've told the family absolutely no snacks... they also recieve a walk every day and wrestle during the day some. However this breed sure likes to nap ALOT! They are so porky from the previous bad habit in our home of caving in to their begging. Should I narrow down the food a bit more? The black pug really is slow when walking now and I"m sure it's fromt the weight on her knees.

hugs from Ping, Akbar and JUJU
 
Posted by Rachel Honeybee on Sunday, July 08, 2007 - 8:34 PM
[Reply to this] 
The Pug Hotel

 
Hi Rachel,
If you would like, you can bring down the servings to 1/4 cup in the morning and 1/4 cup in the evening. I did this to get weight off of my guy and his metabolism has gone way up now. After he lost all his weight (7 lbs) I started talking him on even longer walks and he is also much more playful, he is back up to 1/3 a cup of food a day now. But do remember to let them have some snacks, like the baby carrots, some dry allergy free biscuits and papaya (it has a digestive enzyme)

You can buy the Aller-DMG at the following site:
http://www.evitamins.com/product.asp?pid=4271

But you can get the Tropiclean Puppy and Kitten Shampoo and Oxymed Rinse from
1-800whiskers.com.

Best of luck with your babies, you are doing a great job!
pug hugs
Eev & the Pug Hotel
 
Posted by The Pug Hotel on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 - 12:09 AM
[Reply to this]