Did your dog enjoy Canine Fitness Month?

The weather is getting warmer and your four legged best friend is ready to get outside to play. It's a great time to incorporate new activities for you and your pet to get into shape. Whether your pet is perfectly trained and plays fetch, or just likes to run around in the back yard, there's plenty of things you can do together. Gainesville has several dog friendly parks to visit and romp with other active dogs.

Long, slow walks are great for older dogs and helps them keep their muscles toned. Younger dogs might enjoy an obstacle course or a controlled run. If you have a ladder around your house, you can place that flat on the ground and have your dog walk over the rungs. This works his muscles in a controlled manner and can help with coordination.

How about playing hide and seek? You can play a more traditional hide and seek game where you hide and he comes to find you, or try hiding his favorite treat in places around the yard or park so he has to use his nose to find his treat!

Enjoy this beautiful spring weather with a run and a good, strong leash. We at Newberry Animal Hospital encourage excellent pet health by staying active, so they live a long and wonderful life!

Friday was National Dog Biscuit Day

Everyone has heard about national doughnut or taco day, but have you heard that February 23 is National Dog Biscuit Day AND International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day?? Is it biscuit? Or bisquit? We found both...

It only makes sense that our four legged friends would get their own national day for their special treats. Yum. What kind of biscuits do most dogs like? Crunchy peanut butter cookies or soft pumpkin treats? No matter what your dogs preference, there are plenty of great places here in Gainesville and the surrounding areas to purchase great doggy biscuits. Earth Pets Natural Pet Market (located next door to our Holistic and Wellness Center) has some great options. They even have frosted cut-out cookies in their bakery section.

If you don't want to purchase biscuits at the grocery store, you can always make some tasty treats at home. Have you considered thinly slicing sweet potatoes and baking them for a couple hours at 250 degrees? You get a crunchy, nutritional treat you can share with your dog. A lot of dogs like cut up pieces of apple, baby carrots or even frozen green beans. If you're not sure what size of a biscuit is okay for your dog to eat, just contact your local veterinarian in Gainesville, Florida. Or, feel free to contact any Newberry Animal Hospital location.

Dogs around the world are enjoying this day by getting an extra biscuit or two, so make sure you include your dog. Or check out our https://www.newberryanimalhospital.com/pets-are-life page to find a place where he can go WITH you to pick out his own treat. Cheers to National Biscuit Day!

DNA Testing For Your Dog?

Do you stare at your dog and wonder what his parents must have looked like? At Newberry Animal Hospital, we are firm believers in our clients knowing as much as possible about their pets. For this reason, we have chosen to carry the veterinary-exclusive Royal Canin Genetic Health Analysis DNA testing kits! These DNA tests not only provide you with your pets ancestry information (going back three generations), but also specific genetic health markers so that you and your veterinarian can develop a health-and-wellness plan that is specific to your pet.

The Royal Canin Genetic Health Analysis DNA testing kit has four major benefits:

• It can determine up to 250 types and varieties of dog breeds using unique genetic signatures.

• It can help create a proactive plan for your dogs health by testing for more than 130 different genetic mutations including the MDR1. This mutation can decrease your pets ability to limit the absorption and distribution of drugs and may cause your dog to have severe adverse reactions to some commonly prescribed drugs. This mutation is generally found in herding breeds, sight hounds and some mixed breeds.

• Predicts your dogs likely weight and size as an adult and provides benchmarks to ensure your pet maintains a healthy weight.

• Offers nutritional guidelines and feeding recommendations, based on your dogs ancestral breed information.

Please visit http://marsveterinary.force.com/royalcaningha/ for a full list of breeds that are tested as well as all individual diseases and mutations that are tested with the Royal Canin Genetic Health Analysis DNA testing kit.

The Royal Canin Genetic Health Analysis DNA testing kit can be preformed with a simple visit to see us!

• Your veterinarian will take a blood sample from your dog to mail into the Royal Canin USDA accredited laboratory as well as activate the test kit online.

• The sample then gets processed and analyzed at the laboratory.

• Within 2-3 weeks your veterinarian will receive your dogs full Genetic Health Analysis DNA report.

Your veterinarian will contact you with the results so that you can develop the best health and wellness plan possible for your dog.

While this test cannot be used to register your dog with the AKC, it provides you and your veterinarian with a comprehensive report based on your pets ancestral DNA results. If you are interested in finding out more about your pets history (and possible health and genetic mutations that could be present) please give one of our veterinary hospitals in Gainesville or Newberry,

Florida a call to schedule your pets Royal Canin Genetic Health Analysis testing kit appointment today!