The PetHQ Newsletter
Latest guides
- Label reading
Read Any Pet Food Label in 60 Seconds
Four checks in order, the three complete-and-balanced statements most guides miss one of, and the one calculation that makes two bags comparable.
- Grain-free
Grain-Free Dog Food: What the Science Says
An honest status update on the FDA's DCM investigation: what's confirmed, what's still unknown, and what to do about it.
- Training
Positive Reinforcement Training: Getting Started
Where "be the alpha" came from, why the man who popularised it spent a decade trying to unpublish it, and the timing that decides whether your dog learns anything.
- Health & Preventive Care
Pet Dental Disease: The Most Common Condition in Adult Dogs and Cats, and Almost Entirely Preventable
A routine vet visit found periodontal disease in 12.52% of dogs. A detailed exam under anesthesia found it in up to 63%. The number depends entirely on how closely you look, and that gap is the real story.
- Supplements
Omega-3s for Pets: The Supplement With the Most Consistent Evidence
Unlike CBD (no supporting evidence) or glucosamine-chondroitin alone (mixed), omega-3 fish oil has multiple randomized controlled trials behind it in dogs with osteoarthritis, and real dose-response data for skin conditions too.
- Gear & Products
Harness vs Collar vs Head Halter for a Dog That Pulls
A controlled study of 52 shelter dogs found harnesses didn't reduce pulling at all. Dogs pulled harder and more steadily in a harness than a collar. What a harness protects against, and what it doesn't fix.
- Life Stage
Puppy and Kitten Feeding: What the First Year Requires
A 1992 case-control study found high dietary calcium was a significant risk factor for a real bone disease in growing dogs. That's the actual reason large-breed puppies need growth food longer, not a vague "they need more nutrients" rule.
What are you trying to work out?
Jump to a topic, or scroll for every guide.
If you have a cat
Cats get a fraction of the care dogs do, and most pet advice is written for a dog. These four aren't.
Labels & Ingredients
Which Pet Food Terms Have Legal Definitions (and Which Anyone Can Use)
"Natural," "human grade," "holistic," "premium": AAFCO's own pages, quoted directly, sorted into what restricts a manufacturer and what's free for anyone to print on a bag.
Read Any Pet Food Label in 60 Seconds
Four checks in order, the three complete-and-balanced statements most guides miss one of, and the one calculation that makes two bags comparable.
What Counts as a "By-Product" in Pet Food
AAFCO's real definitions, word for word, what each one excludes, and the 4-D question nobody answers straight.
Food & Nutrition
Pet Obesity: What Reverses It
More than half of US dogs and cats are overweight or obese, and a 2023 survey found only 17% of dog owners and 28% of cat owners recognize it. What that gap means, and which interventions have evidence behind them.
Homemade Pet Diets: The Nutrient Gaps That Show Up Without a Formulator
Two studies, a decade apart, examined homemade dog food recipes for nutritional completeness. In the older one, only 4 of 200 recipes were written by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, and all four passed. The other 196 didn't.
How to Switch Your Pet's Food Without Wrecking Their Gut
The 7-to-10-day schedule is the same everywhere. What's missing is why it works and what to do when it doesn't. A 2023 study measured exactly what happens in a puppy's gut during a fast switch versus a slow one.
Raw Feeding: What the Evidence Says, and What the Bird Flu Recalls Changed
Cooking to 165°F kills H5N1 in pet food. Freezing does not. That distinction is the reason raw and frozen-raw diets carry a real, current risk that cooked food doesn't, confirmed by FDA's own recall records and a 2025 peer-reviewed review.
Grain-Free Dog Food: What the Science Says
An honest status update on the FDA's DCM investigation: what's confirmed, what's still unknown, and what to do about it.
The Cat Nutrition Essentials Checklist
What a cat's body genuinely cannot make, the two taurine numbers AAFCO sets, and the six-item check to run on a bag before you buy it.
Supplements
Calming Supplements: The Most Marketing, the Least Evidence
CBD is the most popular calming ingredient for anxious pets and has no supporting evidence for it. L-theanine has controlled studies behind it and gets a fraction of the marketing. A veterinary behaviourist's own review, read directly.
Probiotics for Dogs and Cats: Strain, CFU, and What Survives the Trip
A CFU count on a probiotic label tells you almost nothing by itself. The two questions that matter most: is the exact strain named, and has that strain been tested for surviving stomach acid?
Omega-3s for Pets: The Supplement With the Most Consistent Evidence
Unlike CBD (no supporting evidence) or glucosamine-chondroitin alone (mixed), omega-3 fish oil has multiple randomized controlled trials behind it in dogs with osteoarthritis, and real dose-response data for skin conditions too.
Does Your Pet Need a Multivitamin?
If a food's adequacy statement is real, the answer is almost always no, and stacking one on top carries a real toxicity risk. Which vitamins build up in the body, and why.
Your Pet's Supplement Isn't Working: How Long to Give It, What to Check
Different supplement categories have genuinely different timelines before you can fairly judge them. A cross-category reference table, built from this site's own supplement research, so you know how long is long enough.
The Pet Supplement Label Decoder
Nobody signs off on these products before they ship. Five lines to read, in order, and the arithmetic to run on each one.
Health & Preventive Care
Why Is My Dog Itching? Telling Food Allergy From Environmental Allergy
Where a dog itches can't separate food allergy from environmental allergy, so this guide covers what the veterinary guidelines say the clues are worth, what to rule out first, and how to run the one diet trial that settles it.
Flat-Faced Breeds: Airway Grading, Anesthesia Risk, and What to Ask
Flat-faced dogs get a 0-3 airway grade after a three-minute trot, and their anesthesia risk is real but concentrated in recovery, so here are the numbers with their limits and the questions to ask your clinic.
Cat Grass and Cat-Safe Plants: What Helps, What's Enrichment, What's an Emergency
Cat grass is optional enrichment with no proven hairball benefit, but a true lily is a call-now emergency: which plants matter, the poison-line numbers, and what the research does and doesn't show.
Anesthesia-Free Dental Cleaning: Why Vets Advise Against It
AAHA's own guidelines call it "unacceptable and below the standard of care." The AVDC has opposed it since 2004. A real case: a dog cleaned anesthesia-free for years needed 15 teeth extracted once someone finally looked underneath.
Do Water Fountains Get Cats to Drink More?
A controlled study of 12 cats found a fountain raised water intake but not urine concentration. A second study found circulating bowls made urine more concentrated, not less. What moves the number that matters, with the data.
Heat Safety for Pets: The Watch-vs-Emergency Line
The 'asphalt hits 125°F, dogs burn in 60 seconds, source: JAMA' claim traces to a real 1970 study, but it measured human skin in a car crash, not dog paws. The real breed-risk numbers, the corrected pavement data, and the actual watch-vs-emergency signs split.
Getting a Cat to the Vet: What Carrier Stress Costs, and What Reduces It
A peer-reviewed study found a low-stress transport protocol measurably reduced the anesthesia dose cats needed before a procedure. The specific carrier design and training protocol behind the 2022 AAFP/ISFM guidelines, cited directly.
Dental Chews vs. Dental Sticks: Which One Reduces Plaque
Shape doesn't determine whether a dental product works; VOHC's seal does. We checked our own candidate recommendation against VOHC's current accepted-products list by name. It's not on there, so we're not recommending it.
Pet Dental Disease: The Most Common Condition in Adult Dogs and Cats, and Almost Entirely Preventable
A routine vet visit found periodontal disease in 12.52% of dogs. A detailed exam under anesthesia found it in up to 63%. The number depends entirely on how closely you look, and that gap is the real story.
Toxic Foods and Household Hazards: The Watch-vs-Emergency Line
Food isn't the top real-world poisoning risk. ASPCA's own 2025 data puts human medications ahead of chocolate, and household products ahead of most named foods. What's most likely to poison your pet, and when to call now.
Parasite Prevention: What Changes by Season and Where You Live
The actual recommendation from CAPC, the veterinary parasitology authority, isn't a seasonal on/off schedule. It's year-round, everywhere, and the reasoning is more specific than "better safe than sorry."
Pet Food Recalls: How to Find Out Fast, and What to Do
FDA offers a free email subscription for animal food recalls, and AVMA runs a dedicated recall-alert feed too. Here's how to get notified instead of checking manually, and what the Safety Reporting Portal does for you.
Is Your Pet a Healthy Weight? A Body Condition and Portion Check
Four hands-on checks (ribs, waist, abdominal tuck, fat deposits) to place your dog or cat on a body-condition scale, then a calorie calculator tied to the result, built on the same physiological checks used by the published veterinary scoring system, in original wording.
Where the marketing and the evidence disagree
A standing set for claims that sound settled until someone tests them independently.
How we researchRaw Feeding: What the Evidence Says, and What the Bird Flu Recalls Changed
Cooking to 165°F kills H5N1 in pet food. Freezing does not. That distinction is the reason raw and frozen-raw diets carry a real, current risk that cooked food doesn't, confirmed by FDA's own recall records and a 2025 peer-reviewed review.
Calming Supplements: The Most Marketing, the Least Evidence
CBD is the most popular calming ingredient for anxious pets and has no supporting evidence for it. L-theanine has controlled studies behind it and gets a fraction of the marketing. A veterinary behaviourist's own review, read directly.
Anesthesia-Free Dental Cleaning: Why Vets Advise Against It
AAHA's own guidelines call it "unacceptable and below the standard of care." The AVDC has opposed it since 2004. A real case: a dog cleaned anesthesia-free for years needed 15 teeth extracted once someone finally looked underneath.
Dog DNA Tests: What Independent Testing Found
A journalist told one company a 52-kilogram purebred Great Dane was suspected to be a chihuahua. The company's DNA test came back 100% chihuahua, the exact breed it was told to expect, not the dog's actual breed.
Training & Behaviour
Separation Anxiety: What Helps, and What Makes It Worse
Punishment and "tough love" don't just fail to fix separation anxiety, they make it measurably worse. A review of 91 dogs found systematic desensitization plus counterconditioning succeeded in all of them.
Enrichment and Puzzle Feeders: What Reduces Problem Behaviour
A randomized shelter study found food-toy enrichment measurably increased calm behavior in dogs. A cat-specific study found no activity increase from food puzzles at all. The evidence isn't uniform, and treating it that way misses the real finding.
When Reward-Based Training Stalls
Progress stopped isn't a mystery; it's almost always one of three things: the reward lost its value, the criteria got too hard too fast, or the environment changed. A diagnostic to run before assuming your dog "just isn't getting it."
Positive Reinforcement Training: Getting Started
Where "be the alpha" came from, why the man who popularised it spent a decade trying to unpublish it, and the timing that decides whether your dog learns anything.
Gear & Products
The Best Dog Collars & Leashes (Built for Durability and Safety, Not Just Looks)
Five real, well-reviewed picks including an independently Wirecutter-validated budget collar, screened against real hardware-safety criteria (D-ring, stitching, buckle, snap gate), not picked on price or looks alone.
The Best Dog Doors (By Installation Type, Not Just Price)
Five real, well-reviewed PetSafe dog doors, one for each real installation situation (solid door, sliding glass, thick wall, selective entry), screened against real security and wildlife-entry criteria, not picked on price alone.
The Best Dog Beds That Actually Look Like Furniture
Five real, well-reviewed dog beds for owners of medium-to-giant dogs who don't want a plastic pet-store product in the living room, plus a genuinely differentiated calming and cooling pick, not a reskin of the same generic roundup.
Coat Care and Matting: What Regular Brushing Prevents
Shaving a double coat can trigger a real, named condition where the fur stops growing back on schedule. The at-risk breed list, the honest prognosis, and a brushing routine that prevents matting in the first place.
Harness vs Collar vs Head Halter for a Dog That Pulls
A controlled study of 52 shelter dogs found harnesses didn't reduce pulling at all. Dogs pulled harder and more steadily in a harness than a collar. What a harness protects against, and what it doesn't fix.
Litter Boxes and Litter: What Cats Prefer
A controlled 28-cat study found no real preference for covered versus uncovered boxes. A second study suggests the "cats prefer covered boxes" claim some sources repeat may in fact be a surface-area confound.
Dog DNA Tests: What Independent Testing Found
A journalist told one company a 52-kilogram purebred Great Dane was suspected to be a chihuahua. The company's DNA test came back 100% chihuahua, the exact breed it was told to expect, not the dog's actual breed.
Life Stage
Senior Pet Mobility: Ramps, Stairs, Traction, and What Helps
AAHA's own guidelines name ramps and traction aids as a real intervention, not product marketing. A study of 455,557 dogs found joint disease on X-ray in 20-40%, but formal diagnosis in only 2.5% a year. What that gap means for what to do at home.
Puppy and Kitten Feeding: What the First Year Requires
A 1992 case-control study found high dietary calcium was a significant risk factor for a real bone disease in growing dogs. That's the actual reason large-breed puppies need growth food longer, not a vague "they need more nutrients" rule.
"Puppy," "Senior," "All Life Stages": What Those Claims Legally Require
"Growth" and "all life stages" are real, AAFCO-defined claims backed by an actual feeding trial or formulation standard. "Senior" is not. AAFCO has never defined it, on any species, at any age.
What to Ask For at a Senior Pet's Wellness Visit
AAHA's own guidelines name specific tests and frequencies most vets never spell out unprompted, including one that should be run before any procedure requiring anesthesia. What to ask for, by name.
Multi-Pet Households: Feeding, Resource Guarding, and Keeping the Dog Out of the Cat Food
A bite of cat food won't hurt a dog. A whole bag can trigger pancreatitis, a real emergency. The severity depends entirely on amount, and on whether your dog already has a risk factor for it.
Travel & Boarding
Flying With a Pet: Cabin vs Cargo, and How to Verify the Rules
Small pets in the cabin and big pets in cargo is no longer how it works at some large US airlines, so here is a dated look at what carriers say, what the federal incident numbers can't tell you, and how to confirm the rules for your own flight.
Dog Car Safety: How to Read a “Crash-Tested” Claim
“Crash tested” on a dog harness, crate or carrier can mean a company's own test, a named standard, or independent certification, and this guide shows how to tell them apart, who paid for the best-known studies, and what the law says.
Trends & Reports
The Cost of Care: What's Driving Vet Prices, and What Owners Are Doing
70% of pet owners have delayed or skipped a vet visit over cost, per a 2025 survey of 1,000 owners. Pet insurance, sold as the answer, covers barely 5% of US pets, against 95% of dogs in Sweden. There isn't a clean fix, and pretending otherwise doesn't help.
The State of Pet Parenting in 2026
Where the $158 billion goes, why a record total and owners cutting back are both true at once, and the gap between dogs and cats nobody prices in.