Sasha's Grooming Salon

14/07/2024

For anyone who needs to get a muzzle for their dogs. These are made to measure so very comfortable and come in fun colours.

Muzzles should fit & feel good - ours look good too (but that’s only half the story) Designed & manufactured by leading dog behaviourist for optimum welfare.

20/06/2024

We’ll done ! A great natural product that can be used on cats too 🐾

14/03/2024

This is our complete daily multivitamin. Suitable for both raw/natural and dry fed dogs.

It provides balanced nutrition for dogs

*Ingredients:* Organic Wheatgrass, Barleygrass, Spirulina, Chlorella, Alfalfa and Nettle Leaf

12/03/2024

17/01/2024

POWER PASTE IS HERE!!
We have a new product ready folks - it's called Power Paste!

I know, awesome name, but it really does what it says on the tin.

Power Paste is a vital complementary feed that makes DIY raw-feeding a far simpler process but ALSO serving as a borderline-vital nutritional topper for kibble feeders (hence it's available in both raw AND cooked forms, hopefully bringing a few vets over to the dark side).

The idea actually came to me as one of my stockists says she weeps when they leave her shop with a sack of Royal Canin! Now, if pet shops sell a bag dry, particularly high-carb stuff, the client really NEEDS to add in a dollop of this each meal!

Then, the more I thought about it, it's the product I always wished was in the fridge when making his food. It's everything I think is pretty important.

Power Paste is choc full of all the bits we wish we had to hand when making food for them ourselves but are a bit of a pain to source or put together. It contains ALL the organs (grass-fed beef liver, heart, kidney, spleen, pancreas), fresh Atlantic sardines, some lightly steamed local veg, a number of awesome, organic power additions such as organic hedgerow items, mushrooms, pre-soaked seeds and a teeth-cleaning seaweed addition (yes, no need for any other seaweed supplement with Power Paste), even some collagen, blood and hair!

All DIYers have to do now is, for example, buy some chicken thighs, maybe add some beef meat (mince from shops, heart, tripe, etc), and you're done! Or a whole turkey, and you're done! Or some cheap lamb bits (necks, ribs, hearts, tripe) from a supplier, and you're done!

Twice as nice at half the price of a comparable pre-made (though now you KNOW your dog is getting lots of the good stuff).

Power Paste will also be handy for making a good meal from leftovers (stored in ice cube trays), making treats or even home made dry-food yourself!!!

Check out this link www.dogsfirst.ie/power-paste/ to have all your questions answered, including:
- exact ingredients and why each is used
- videos on how to use
- recipe ideas with total cost breakdown
- nutritional breakdown

Power Paste is NOT a complete raw. It's a complimentary feed, a power addition for meals. It retails around £6 per tray (a touch more for the cooked version). Yep, it costs more than most complete raws per kilo that's because it's lead ingredients are beef organs (3-4 times pricier than most other meat ingredients used in raw dog food) and all the power additions. It's not the WHOLE part of the diet, the rest of the stuff is much cheaper, this is just the nutritionally super stuff.

We (Dogs First) will not be selling individual units of Power Paste direct from our site beyond offering whole boxes of it (25 units) to the public. For now, it is available in pet shops. So far stocking it in the UK is (live links to these shops available in the piece above...):

Bark Raw - Gloucestershire
Bubbles Pet Care - Leigh on Sea, Essex (shop only, no online yet)
DoodleDales - Suffolk
Poochie Park - Leeds
Comfort & Nourish - Surrey
Paws Naturally - Kent
Rawsome Pets - Manchester
Leominster Pet Centre Ltd - Herefordshire
Petcayr - Ayrshire, Scotland
Thumpers Pet Care - Bedfordshire

Of these both Poochie Park and Doodledales have it ready for sale! For Irish customers, check out Barkin Bistro who will have it up on their site today.

Interested in stocking Power Paste? It's available for Irish/UK stores now. We are working on a US supplier to open up that market, hopefully by summer. Sign up to our wholesaler page here where you will find Power Paste and our supplements and, in 3 weeks, our incredible new yeast range! https://wholesale.dogsfirst.ie/

***
There has never been a better time to learn how to feed a dog yourself. Ready to make the leap? Check out my popular masterclass showing you exactly how to do that...
www.drconorbrady.com/feeding-dogs-masterclass-1

11/01/2024

A brilliant alternative 🐾🐾

A natural and effective geraniol based tick and flea repellent and treatment. This product is based on essential oils and It is important to shake bottle until the contents are cloudy. Ensure that you empty the pipette fully and shake well before refilling the pipette. This ensures that the dose is properly applied. Fill the pipette completely, part hair and apply directly to the skin from the neck/scruff area down towards the base of the tail.

07/01/2024

24/12/2023

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas

31/08/2023

Sad day. I received this lovely testimonial a few weeks ago from a client, just days before she got some terrible news.

Despite multiple vet visits, this poor dog was in a very bad way when he came to us. Terrible, prolonged GI issues, in a lot of pain. He was utterly miserable. We made some dietary changes, recommended a few simple additions and seemingly got him back up and literally running in a few weeks. So great to see.

Unfortunately, it turned out the dog was suffering from some major cancer internally that went undiagnosed. It's great his last few months were happier and with less pain, but you can't help feeling the healing process began too late for this fella.

If your dog has terrible GI issues and a canine nutritionist can't get them right using some simple homemade meals it suggests something else is at play, which is really important information.

Before you leave food behind entirely (and assuming your vet has explored the "gut bug" end of things, such as giardia, they're great with that stuff), you might consider a biome test to see what's going on in there (€150) or MAYBE a food allergy test (eg Nutriscan, €250, though I assure you the very best, cheapest and most definitive way of determining what works for your dog is a well run exclusion diet).

This approach - tweaking the diet, running an exclusion diet and maybe acting on the results of a biome / allergy test if they don't work - should take you no more than 4-6wks to see some major leaps forward.

If you don't find your culprit with those simple solutions explored (which solve most chronic GI issues in pets as invariably it IS the diet), you then need to focus on what else could be causing the issue - starting with a blood test to rule out anything insidious going on.

Most important of all, if your vet is still recommending chemically preserved kibble or canned slop for a dog with stubborn GI issues, you need a second opinion ASAP. That is so far from what you should be doing for a dog in that state that it makes you wonder what they might be missing and if another vet may have some better ideas.

23/08/2023

I've had 5 dogs at this stage and have obviously encountered innumerably more having worked with them most of my life, and still I say, safe in the knowledge Duds isn't reading this, that the finest dog to ever walk the earth was Meg, my German shepherd cross rough collie. She was perfect in every way. Sadly, in my ignorance, and as most of us can relate, I made a few mistakes with her - from neutering too young to feeding poor food for the first few years etc, which left her with lifelong issues that I STILL feel bad about. I dearly hope to have another before I meet the first one again.

Interested to hear if anyone ever had such a mix themselves?!

19/06/2023

High starch (a.k.a. sugar) diets will fuel cancer in dogs. That is an absolute fact. When the average dry-fed dog consumes 50% sugar you are asking for it.

24/12/2022

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas and new year.

18/11/2022

Soups advise from people hearing this everyday …. Think twice before getting a puppy, they are not just for Christmas.

When did a pet become a disposable item?

What sort of example are we giving to our children and future generations when the family pet can be so easily disposed of.

We've heard it all...I just can't look after him anymore. She's getting too big. I didn't realised it would be so much work. I don't have the time for him and it's not fair on him. She's not toilet trained. She shed's too much. I can't afford to get her groomed. I'm allergic. She's digging up the garden. He's too strong on the lead. I can't afford a vet. She tried to bit me. We're moving and can't take him with us. He's not good with other dogs. She growled and now I don't trust her around my kids...

They will love you for their whole lives and you must do the same for them.

Owning a pet is a huge commitment and not one to be made on a whim or because the kids want one. It is YOUR responsibility to be a responsible pet owner. You must care for your pet and plough through the tough times and not give up on them at the first hurdle.

We are sad to hear that a number of rescues have had to close their doors recently due to overcrowding. Please pause and think long and hard before you bring a pet into your life and make sure you can invest in training and socialisation, it is so important. Read the link below and ask yourself, "Are You Ready For A Pet?" before you do. If you are not in a position to treat them like a valued family member, then it's simple, do not get one. If you are always Adopt Don't Shop.

If you are struggling with unwanted behaviours from your dog, go and ask for professional help like you would for any member of your family, don’t just give up on them. DSPCA Dog Training
are here to help you if you are struggling with your pet.

Are You Ready For A Pet https://www.dspca.ie/what-we-do/adoptions

08/11/2022

Dr Emily McAteers' clinic is in Portmarnock, Dublin, Ireland, but good luck getting in there. As with all vets promoting fresh food, they're all absolutely mobbed.

30/10/2022

MOST VETS TODAY DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCIENCE AND ACADEMIA...
People today confuse the art of science with academia but they're two very different things.

Science is the process of discovery. It has simple enough rules and absolutely anyone can do it. In essence, it allows us to see what causes what or, if someone has already looked at the issue, to verify if what they say is happening applies in your population (this is testing their hypothesis).

Eg: someone says this herb solves this issue. You find 10 people with the issue, give them the herb and see what happens. If it does, you accept their hypothesis. If it doesn't, you question it. Didn't work in my population. That's science 101.

Academia is a different beast. This is where scientists take their findings and get them published for the world to see. We know today it's riddled with issues and fraud, so much so that at least 50% of the studies published in our top journals are utterly false (imagine what it's like in the lower ones...), but for now it might help if you look at academia as premiership football.

The Premiership is the pinnacle of football complete with footballing brilliance, terrible amounts of diving and copious amounts of crooked cash ensuring those with the most win, but the vast majority of football happens outside of it, in your back garden, in the local park, at school. It's all football. Anyone can play, anytime.

The problem we have today is that our vets, scientists by trade, believe that if it's not the premiership then it's not football.

A vet came on to my page last week, chastising me for sharing the newspaper article that quoted the CEO of Brisbane Guide Dogs saying when they changed to raw their veterinary bills fell by 82%, most of which coming from savings in recurring skin, ear and gut conditions https://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/charity-putting-animal-health-first/news-story/7a35ca26cabb7fe00ca07c5d9dfbe20f.

The vet said that the information was anecdotal.

OK, fair enough (though when a CEO of a massive charity says in a main paper that she got these results when shifting 200 dogs from dry to raw I have to admit, that makes me think...it was in fact enough to make this scientist swop a few of his worst dogs over to raw and hey presto...a fanatic is born...!)

I said I saw the data.

She said that's just your opinion.

Well no, it's my word, and it's not good enough here for this vet which again, in the game of science, is absolutely fair enough.

I said chronic skin conditions are #1 reason dogs visit the vet today and studies show that dry food not only inflames dogs but aggravate skin conditions (studies below, don't want to bog down the piece).

Whether the vet read the studies presented to her or not, she said I have no way of verifying what you, Brisbane Guide Dogs or these studies are saying!!!

Can you believe that?

What this vet is saying is that despite being trained in football she can't actually play football as she'd never play in the premiership.

This vet clearly has a multitude of sick dogs coming into her clinic daily, many with chronic skin conditions. All she has to do is to take 10 of these poor creatures, change them to a simple turkey or lamb raw dog food (ideally with a fish oil tablet and some probiotics) and SEE what happens. Act like a scientist!

This isn't a publishable study. It's better. It's real science that you see with your own eyes and do with your own hands. When you replicate what someone said would happen, you have verified their hypothesis, the fog clears a little and you are a step closer to accepting it.

Sadly the vast majority of vets cannot seem to bring themselves to do this.

Despite a scientific background, the idea never even crosses their mind. They already KNOW dry food is the answer...which is incredible as this highly trained scientist, this slave to the literature, has never read a SINGLE STUDY that suggests dry food either decreases inflammation in dogs or improves skin conditions (over real food) as that study does not exist.

Their stance is not taken in science, it is taken in dogma and huge amounts of cognitive dissonance is deployed daily to keep that belief in place.

We are contacted nearly daily by pet owners asking for the studies to show to their vet who has just said to them raw is inflammatory or they must feed dry food for a skin condition etc, that the pet owner must PROVE raw is better but I explain to them that no amount of studies is going to make this vet shift. We have had these inflammation / skin studies for 7 years (10 years for pancreatitis, 20 years for kidney disease and cancer, see my website for articles on each of these diseases complete with studies https://dogsfirst.ie/). In these instances, all studies point the finger at dry food (as always, feel free to link to a study below that shows complete dry food outcompeted complete fresh / raw for ANY malady...).

IF you are going to show them studies you must first say - OK, I'll happily play the academia game with you but here's the deal - we'll go study for study. I'll present to you the science that convinced me raw may be good for INSERT ISSUE and you show me the science that convinced you dry is better for that condition. We'll see who wins. Fair enough?!

Say that first before running off to find studies because if they won't play by the rules then you're wasting your time. You're never going to win. They're playing a completely different game.

***
When it comes to inflammation and skin conditions as a whole dry food has MANY issues, including:

🕵️‍♀️ ultra-processed, antigenic protein, shown to be many times more antigenic to the body than fresh and thus inflammatory
🕵️‍♀️ studies show contains MRP's which are highly inflammatory
🕵️‍♀️ studies show dry food has terrible omega 3:6 ratios (too much omega 6 as largely plant ingredients and not enough omega 3 from animal fat)) making it inflammatory
🕵️‍♀️ studies show 1 in 4 "complete" foods contain zero EPA DHA omega 3's
🕵️‍♀️ Studies show dry food alters the gut biome, decreasing species richness, likely an effect of the chemical preservatives used to sterilise the product but these na**lm the gut flora also, driving inflammation
🕵️‍♀️ Studies show dry food is insanely high in glyphosate which is highly inflammatory
🕵️‍♀️ Studies show dry is full of inflammatory chemicals
🕵️‍♀️ Studies detect the presence of mycotoxins in the majority of dry foods which are highly inflammatory
🕵️‍♀️ Presence of storage mites in bags open longer than 2wks which aggravates allergies
🕵️‍♀️ No bioactive compounds which might mitigate some of the inflammation if they were present
🕵️‍♀️ No vit C which immune systems do not appreciate (especially when inflamed and needing vitamin C)
🕵️‍♀️ Studies show 2/3 of "complete" dry foods and 94% of "complete" canned foods sold in the UK do not meet the MINIMUM standards set out by the industry....nutritional deficiencies are...you guessed it, inflammatory.

On and on and on. I have numerous studies for all the above, but most important / telling are the studies that ACTUALLY COMPARES dry to raw-fed dogs (isn't strange that a vet never needed a single study that proves dry is better than fresh food before recommending dry?!! Which is good as it doesn't exist...how very scientific of them...) shows FEEDING DRY FOOD IS HIGHLY INFLAMMATORY:

🧠 At rest, dry fed dogs have 10 times the level of homocysteine in their blood than raw-fed dogs. This drops by a factor of 5 when moved to raw.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311321747_Investigation_of_Homocysteine_Levels_in_Healthy_Dogs?fbclid=IwAR0JyIcvbw_rxgW_494eink_XKDnO__cBhlQ3QUbPe4MJYjCpQcx_irs-NI

🧠 Another study compared dry and raw feeding and found that dry feeding significantly inflames your dog.
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211642

🧠 As a result of all the inflammation, dry-fed dogs have more gene expression for histamine in their skin layers.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29680397/

🧠 Dry-fed dogs have aberations of the skin flora (linked to atopic dermatitis in humans).
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362198863_Fresh_Food_Consumption_Increases_Microbiome_Diversity_and_Promotes_Changes_in_Bacteria_Composition_on_the_Skin_of_Pet_Dogs_Compared_to_Dry_Foods

🧠 Colossal survey reveals pups born to dry-fed dogs have more Canine Atopic Dermatitis.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0225675

🧠 All this should come as no surprise as ultraprocessed food does the same in humans.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36014818/

For more studies to show vets, check out Dog Risk. From the University of Helsinki, they are still pretty much the only group of scientists coming up with the dry v fresh-fed dog comparative works...which goes some way to explaining why vets are not coming out better trained in this discipline.
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/dogrisk-health-nutrition-epidemiology-and-disease-detection-dogs/research/research-dogrisk

LIKE WHAT YOU'RE READING?! CHECK OUT MY BOOK...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feeding-Dogs-Science-Behind-Versus/dp/1916234003/

06/07/2022

A brilliant book for your dogs health 🐾

LOOK WHO'S NUMBER ONE!! 🥳🥳🥳

29/03/2022

Jo's consultancy work helps to improve dog health and well being throughout the world. She is a leading authority on the veterinary use of herbs in a safe and effective way. A consultation with Jo can help you and your dog access the highest levels of both preventative and proactive holistic care.

29/03/2022

For all dogs (but specifically the smaller ones) the best advice for vaccine boosters is to ask for a blood titre test.

For no more cost than the booster itself, your vet can check for antibodies from their puppy vaccinations (which will invariably be there for viruses, the whole point of vaccinations you might say, as challenge studies show the core vaccines for viruses last at least 7-9 years...) and then you're good to go for another three years.

Bacteria (such as Leptospirosis) is another matter. These wear off and annually is advised (if your vet considers the known side effects from Nobivak to worth the risk versus the known prevalence of the disease in your area).

WSAVA, the world veterinary governing body, now recommends not only for vets to ignore the advice from pharma that enthused upon them the apparent "need" to "boost" dogs annually for viruses (they didn't need a single study of virus vaccines "wearing off" to convince them to do that either, I'm happy to be corrected below) but actually recommends serological testing over needless vaccine shots into a fully-vaccinated animal. Specifically, they state:

"...we should vaccinate against the core diseases no more frequently than every three years. This is often taken to mean that we should vaccinate every three years - but this is not the case. If the dog is already immune to these three core diseases, re-vaccinating will not add any extra immunity....Two new in-practice titre-testing kits are now available which will allow your vet to do a titre test very quickly, without sending the blood sample to a laboratory. Ask your vet to look into this less expensive option. One kit is called VacciCheck (Biogal Laboratories) and the other is called TiterCheck (Zoetis)."
https://wsava.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/WSAVA-Vaccination-Guidelines-2015.pdf

If you would like more advice on canine vaccinations please check out RawPetMedics Facebook Live on Tuesdays nights. Using the most recent literature, two of the UK's top vets - Dr's Nick Thompson and Brendan Clarke - have covered the topics many times for us.

Or, if you'd like a read of the current advice from the top veterinary immunologists, please check out our article below.
https://dogsfirst.ie/health-issues/dog-vaccinations-part-3-puppy-vaccinations-best-practice/

20/02/2022

NEW!!! GIARDIA AND PARVO RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS, NOW IN STOCK
Check out what we just got in! Using the same rapid testing tech with which we are now all familiar (termed a sandwich lateral flow immunochromatographic assay!) these tests provide us with a rapid and reliable home method of detecting the presence of giardia or parvo in your dog's faeces.

A swab of the faeces is taken, it's mixed with the reagent and you drop it in the hole on the device. The liquid will laterally flow through the surface of the test strip and react with the pre-coated monoclonal antibodies on the surface of the test, letting you know if the baddie is present.

How handy is that?!! Without tooting our own horn, this is surely a vital bit of kit for breeders. But also, we get all the chronic gut issues here. In dogs with chronic diarrhoea, Giardia is often suspected. We have to at least rule it or all the things you try won't work. So we send them to the vet for tests which will cost well over €100. But these kits cost only €15 each (2 for €25!).

Each kit includes:

- Test device with disposable dropper
- Assay buffer
- Cotton swabs
- Instruction insert

https://dogsfirstshop.ie/collections/test-kits/products/canine-giardia-virus-rapid-test-kit

How accurate are they? Well, if the disease is present it's expected the sensitivity of these tests is at least 92%. That's pretty good. Particularly if you do a second one a day later. The chances of both of them missing IF it's present is then quite low.

A note on the difference between sensitivity and specificity:

Sensitivity is the probability that the test result will be positive when the disease is present (true positive rate). Specificity, on the other hand, is the probability that a test result will be negative when the disease is not present (true negative rate).

The specificity of these tests is lower. What does that mean?

It means that if you do a test and it's negative for say parvovirus, it does not completely rule out parvovirus infection in an animal with clinical signs of that baddie. But if it's there, particularly in any quantity, these tests should identify it. This is why you should hit it again a day later.

As always, particularly with parvo, nothing replaces the advice of a good vet. While we have time with Giardia, parvo is a killer. If your pups are having terrible diarrhoea (it's particularly foul-smelling), they can dehydrate themselves quicker. In such cases, you need the vet, no matter what your test says! Always ring them in advance, and now particularly if your test is positive. They do not want that in the clinic waiting room.

14/01/2022

Great advise for healthier dogs

Its best to avoid dry, high-carb food products when rearing puppies. The best puppy food is made with lots of fresh meat and bone. Here's how and some FAQ!

24/12/2021

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Sasha’s Grooming Salon 🎄

12/12/2021

Brilliant book 🐾

Who doesn't love a book for Christmas? 😁

Karen

(The hardback was £34.95, now £29.95, enjoy!)

02/12/2021

15/10/2021

Honey's Real Dog Food do a free quarterly magazine called The Alternative Dog. It's really well put together. I just did a piece for the Autum edition called "Why the Vet Resistance to Raw?". You can check out all the previous issues here.
https://honeysrealdogfood.com/newsletter/

Did you see they also do FREE dietary consultations, you don't even have to be a customer!! That's a serious offering considering they have vets, nurses and nutritionists on the team.
https://honeysrealdogfood.com/advice/free-advice/

09/10/2021

Fireworks, they can be hell for some dogs and of course, the humans they live with. It can be hard for us to see what makes our dogs so scared sometimes, I mean, it's just a few bangs right? Well, it's all fine when you actually understand what's going on....

Just for a second imagine that you arrive in a completely alien environment, no one talks the same language as you, even their body language is different. You are really struggling to understand what is going on in this strange world when suddenly in the sky there is a mass of light and huge, terrifying bangs. Do you need to protect yourself? Do you need to run away? You feel scared and uncertain. You are trying desperately to make sense of it, all the while feeling utterly confused and petrified, looking for someone who can help you understand what is happening and show you that you're safe.

This is how it feels to some dogs during Firework season. Living alongside humans, in a world they struggle to understand at the best of times, can suddenly become utterly terrifying at this time of the year.

So how can you help your dog through this?

• You can download sounds of fireworks and loud noises from YouTube or your go to music app. Play these at a low level weeks before hand whilst playing games and giving treats to your dog, turning up the sound slightly once your dog is happy with each volume level. Make those noises have a positive association way before the real thing starts.
• Only walk your dog if they want to go out for a walk during the day. If they have a garden to relieve themselves, then just let them do that. If they are too scared to walk even in the day time then just stay home. A nice juicy raw bone to eat and some enriching games to play instead.
• Close curtains, put lights on and turn up the TV or music before the fireworks begin, all with no drama and nice and calm.
• Let your dog do what they need to do to feel safe, if that's hiding in the washing basket (a favourite of my Jack Russell's many years ago) or sitting next to you on the sofa, just let them seek out what they feel is safe
• Don't react to them looking at you when a bang goes off. If you react by constantly saying "it's ok" or making constant eye contact whenever there is a bang, this will only heighten your dogs anxiety, almost proving to them that there is something to be worried about. Once your dog sees that you, the person they trust most, isn't bothered, they won't be either.
• It's absolutely fine to offer comfort to your dog but only if they want it and there's no need for constant words, cuddling and eye contact. Just being next to you or a gentle hand on them is enough for some dogs. Be guided by them and what they need. Every dog is different and you will find what works for your dog.
• Never ever get angry or punish your dog, remember, they have absolutely no understanding of what is happening and think they and their family are in danger, just like us in that alien world.

What have you found helps your dog through this season? Are there some natural calming herbs you swear by?

We'd love to know!

Karen