March 23, 2020: National Puppy Day!

This year for my blogs, I am following a NAVC calendar highlights for each month. It was exciting to see the March theme National Puppy Day. I want to encourage everyone to post a picture of their puppy online on March 23rd. These canine friends fill our lives with joy and happiness daily. Let’s celebrate them by posting pictures to show the world how special they are.

Have you ever googled the most common names of pets? Have you ever googled the most popular breed of pets? Have you ever googled the average lifespan of pets? The list is endless of the information available on these topics. Do you ever wonder how they get this information. I do. An interesting subject that we hear about often is the Dog Food Advisor. People will inform me that they googled the food they were feeding their dog and the “Dog Food Advisor” said this or that. Did you know the man behind the “Dog Food Advisor” is a Dental Surgeon? I find it interesting that so many people put their faith in a website about Dog Food that originated by a dentist. This link is his disclaimer which is interesting to read because he makes certain to indicate he is not an expert and if anything is inaccurate please contact him and he will correct the information.

Yet he has put himself and his website in front of a HUGE number of people. It is a profitable business for him I am sure.

When we attend continuing education events and nutrition is discussed, they inform us that they cannot even compare foods by looking at the labels on the bags of pet food. They are trained in the field of pet nutrition and will not make claims about foods based on what is available to them. Why would we trust a website not even handled by a veterinary nutritionist?

I believe is it crucial that when searching the web we recognize the limitations these sites contain. We consider the source and remember with everything there can be “fake news”. The web can be a source of interesting information and is great when considering trivia questions. Yet in this day, we need to not rely on it as our soul source of information. Find the true experts and look for solid sources before believing what you are reading or hearing.

Hope everyone has a Happy St. Patrick’s Day and first day of spring, let’s flood our social media with the pets that help make our daily lives great! Looking forward to the posts on March 23rd.  Stay safe!

Drawing by Alice Madsen