Increasingly, pet owners are embracing a holistic, natural lifestyle for their pets. The quality of ingredients a pet eats and the quality of its environment are the foundations of excellent health and well-being. Providing nutritious high quality natural food with essential supplements, healthy treats and natural chemical-free grooming aids are the tenets of this healthy holistic lifestyle.

While Halo foods are well balanced for achieving optimal health in older pets, daily supplements are still recommended. Some older dogs have picky or poor appetites or younger dogs in a household may challenge an older dog and end up eating the “lions share” of the food. Both of these situations may result in an older dog not receiving adequate nutrients. Supplements act as a daily nutrient insurance policy in these dogs. Even if an older dog is eating a high quality diet in adequate amounts, the additional nutrients coming from supplements may benefit many age-related conditions. For example, supplemental fatty acids can improve skin suppleness and minimize itchiness and shedding in older dogs. Supplemental vitamin B may help counter fatigue and improve appetite. Vitamin C enhances immune function and glucosamine often benefits arthritis patients.

Halo has also created a new line of functional treats that offers the benefit of a supplement while still being “just a treat”. These treats are low in calorie and high in nutritional value as well as provide antioxidants, vitamins and/or fatty acids that may be beneficial in a number of conditions that affect senior dogs (skin and hair coat problems, arthritis, kidney disease, etc).

Click here to read more about supplements available for older pets.

We know how great our VitaGlo Dream Coat is.

Vitamin Retailer, the bible for retail sales, thinks so too, and named Dream Coat the top animal health supplement of 2009!

Click here to read more.

Q: My cat has been pulling his fur out for the past 4 years. The first vet kept giving him cortisone shots that lasted maybe 6 weeks. I changed vets. This vet changed everything: food, litter, flea meds, everything. He also put him on Prednisolone. It worked for a couple of years but has stopped working. Last year this same thing happened and I was able to leave off the pred for a few weeks and that seemed to help.

In January of this year, he started back biting the hair off his stomach again. From January until late March he got a little worse every week. I took him into the vet and he gave him an allergy shot (cortisone). Four days later he was constipated and dehydrated. We almost lost him twice: in March and again at the first of May. I have since changed his food (from Royal Canin Duck and Green pea to Purina Naturals). When I would give him the Duck and Green Pea, he would throw it up every time. After his episode in May, I started him out slow with just canned food. I did not give him any hard food. I started his hard food last week. I wanted to get his stomach stable before graduating to hard food. He has done really well. Last week I also started putting the Halo Herbal Salve on his skin. Before I started putting the salve, he had his skin raw from licking and biting and scratching. He has bloodied his skin on his head and neck and his stomach. He looks absolutely terrible.

Last night I started putting Dream Coat in his food. I’ve started out slow with just 1/4 tsp. I will eventually work up to 1/2 tsp like it says on the bottle.

Do you think between the Dream Coat and the Herbal Salve that this will help his skin condition? He’s also still taking the Prednisolone. The cortisone shots are out of the question. It seems to me the cortisone was the reason for him becoming constipated and dehydrated twice after taking the shot. Each time there was four days in between.

The vet doesn’t know what to do except run up another bill. By the way, since March we have spent $1300 with this vet. Please help!

A: Hi Christy, thanks for your inquiry about our Dream Coat and Herbal Salve. There can be many things that cause skin irritations like what your cat is dealing with. These include flea allergies, food allergies, inhaled allergies–called atopy, and even some neurologic and behavioral problems. Given the severity of your cat’s problem and the non-responsiveness to therapies tried, I would recommend that you see a board-certified dermatologist. They can often pinpoint the problem and get you on the right regimen. You can visit www.acvd.org to locate a specialist in your area.

However, I certainly feel that your cat may benefit from both the Dream Coat and the Herbal Salve. While your cat has a rash or visibly crusty skin, the Herbal Salve will provide gentle relief and naturally help to ease the itchiness he is feeling. The Dream Coat is a blend of 6 virgin oils that provide critical fatty acids to keep skin supple, soft and non-inflamed. These fatty acids have proven beneficial in many cases of allergies in cats. Although they don’t target the underlying problem they help ease many of the symptoms. Barring any major food allergy, I also recommend the use of a natural diet (like Halo cat foods) that does not contain synthetic chemicals (such as dyes and preservatives), as many time these things can stimulate an allergic-type reaction.

Hope this helps.
Keep us posted.
Dr. Donna Spector

Q: My dog was diagnosed with hepatitis in Feb. I have been cooking chicken and rice for him and recently started him on canidae. He also has been biting his feet due to allergies? Is the dream coat something that might help this? Would HALO be good for his liver failure? I am leery starting any new food, but your product seems to be a positive idea for Quinny.

He is a 6 yr old rotty lab who is a big mush!

Thanks much..
Cheryl

A: Hi Cheryl:

Allergies are a very common cause of foot biting in dogs (especially this time of year). However, just to make sure we aren’t overlooking anything in Quinny, I would also recommend you ask your veterinarian about “Hepatocutaneous Syndrome”. Although uncommon, it is a condition that affects the feet and skin in dogs with hepatitis and other significant liver or endocrine diseases. Sometimes the earliest signs we see are foot biting and itching. There are specific treatments that we recommend for Hepatocutaneous Syndrome that wouldn’t be the same as allergy treatment…so just ask your vet to be complete.

The Halo Dream Coat is a blend of 6 cold-pressed virgin oils that provides an excellent spectrum of essential fatty acids. Fatty acids have proven beneficial in many cases of allergies as well as other inflammatory conditions (such as hepatitis, kidney inflammation, intestinal inflammation, arthritis, etc). It is likely that Quinny may benefit from fatty acid supplementation for several reasons. Please review my article Supplements for Skin and Coat: How to Achieve a Dream Coat in Your Pet for more information on fatty acids and Dream Coat.

Halo dog foods are natural foods that lack synthetic chemicals, artificial dyes or preservatives. Almost all chemicals that dogs eat must be metabolized or broken down by the liver, so I definitely recommend a natural or balanced home-cooked diet for dogs with liver problems.

Hope this helps. Good luck with Quinny.
Dr. Donna Spector

Nothing warms our hearts like the stories of four-legged companions thriving and loving life! This review from JC in Boulder, Colorado made us feel like puppies again too! Here’s JC’s review of Halo Vitaglo Xtra-C from Only Natural Pet Store:

We Love Halo!
I bought this product in hopes it would help my dog’s hip problems. I mixed some of it in with his food and it practically disppeared! After only a few weeks I noticed a difference in my dog. He looks and feels like a whole new dog! Sometimes I mistake him for my puppy! hahaha I’ve noticed his urine no longer smells so strong and is lighter in color. He is doing much better, gets around great, and seems like he is in love with life again.