Archive for the ‘Pet Health’ Category

If your dog isn't eating, is depressed, uncomfortable and just generally "off" it could be something as serious as pancreatitis - don't take a chance, get to the doctor!

Many dog owners have found themselves dealing with a dog that has suffered a bout of pancreatitis.  It is one of the most common exocrine pancreatic diseases in both canines and felines.  Dietary indiscretion, surgery and various drugs can all be causes along with certain specific diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism and Cushing’s disease.  Some drugs include those used to treat epilepsy (potassium bromide and phenobarbital), certain antibiotics (sulfa drugs, tetracycline and metronidazole), hormones, long acting antacids, acetaminophen and aspirin to name a few.

Perhaps the most common cause falls under the dietary indiscretion label.  Most usually from eating fatty scraps from the garbage, on the street, from the table.  You tend to see more cases around holidays like Thanksgiving when folks are often slipping a little something (like turkey skin) to their dog under the table.  Low protein diets are another culprit – commercial prescription diets for problems like kidney failure or for dissolving urinary stones are two of the biggest of those.

While any dog is susceptible, most often the illness is seen in middle aged, old, inactive and overweight dogs.  Even breed can play a part (and this means a mix of ANY of these breeds as well, there is no such thing as hybrid vigor in reality!).  Some regularly affected breeds include Miniature Schnauzers, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Collies, Boxers, German Shepherd Dogs, Shetland Sheepdogs, Miniature Poodles, terriers and other non-sporting breeds.  Injuries to the pancreas, gallstones, various infections, vaccinations, bloat and heredity can all cause the disease.  In reality, while we have tons of information as to where it MAY come from, actually figuring it out with a certainty isn’t easy and often doesn’t happen.  We must often simply make and educated guess and hope we hit the mark.

Sometimes pancreatitis happens and we don’t even realize it.  Symptoms can be confused with any number of other problems but since its a deadly illness its something we must consider whenever we see certain things from our pets.  Watch for loss of appetite, vomiting, depression, lethargy, belly pain, and general weakness.  You may also see loose stool, whining and crying and drooling.  Do the appearance of one or more of these symptoms mean that your dog HAS pancreatitis?  Not absolutely- but why take the chance when its so much easier to treat when caught in its early stages?

Getting your dog over a bout of pancreatitis is usually the first step and great care should be taken when doing so.  Cooking a bland diet for the first 10-14 days is recommended adding ingredients as you go.  Eventually, most dogs, can return to their normal diets – with a few tweaks for safety.  Often, a dog who suffers an acute bout of pancreatitis, has no future problems BUT if it was caused by an over abundance of fat than keeping them on a relatively low fat permanent diet may be wise.  When feeding raw, its relatively easy to control your dog’s fat intake.  You KNOW what you are giving them, there is no guessing involved.  Turkey and Beef Tripe are probably the best foods to start with  as neither is very high in fat and tripe is one of the gentlest foods you can find.  The naturally occurring pre-biotics, pro-biotics and digestive enzymes found in tripe are incredibly helpful for digestion and this is even more important for a dog recovering from pancreatitis.  Various commercial kibbles and canned foods are full of things not easily digested by canines – this puts undue stress on the pancreas and raises your dog’s chances of a recurrence.   Chicken necks (minus the skin) are another viable alternative for feeding a fat sensitive dog.  Remember that you want to feed low fat NOT no fat.  Dogs use fat for energy – they need it.  Remember as well that oftentimes when a raw fed dog suffers a dietary pancreatitis it is because they were giving something OUT OF THE ORDINARY.  Usually cooked fats – quite different from raw fats in truth.

There are supplements that will help your pancreatitis prone dog as well.  Chief among these is a Digestive Enhancer.  Pro-biotics are not recommended for dogs in the throes of pancreatitis (acute pancratitis) but as a maintenance measure, Digestive Enhancers will help your dog handle his food overall with their mix of pro-biotics, pre-biotics and digestive enzymes.  Fish oil is another supplement that has been shown to be beneficial in cases of pancreatitis by lowering fat levels in the blood.

Finally, EXERCISE YOUR DOG.  Overweight and inactive dogs are most susceptible to this illness.  Don’t be fooled – pancreatitis is DEADLY. For every dog who survives another does not.  Scary.  If your dog is more likely to get this disease because he or she is fat than who really is to blame?  Even if your dog is older, exercise is a GOOD THING.  Just modify it to fit their abilities.  Don’t overfeed and keep your middle aged and older dog active.  Lean dogs are healthy dogs and not only will you lessen your dog’s chances of getting pancreatitis, you will also give him a chance at a longer life – fat dogs generally die far younger than they should.

Pancreatitis can kill.  It can also be upon your dog before you even know it.  Watch what your dog eats – especially at holiday or busy times when you have new people in the house who might just think its cute to slip your dog some food under the table.  Be aware, watch for symptoms and don’t delay dealing with those symptoms.  Pick up the phone, call your vet – it could mean the difference between having your dog for years to come and losing him less than 24 hours after he “was totally fine”.  Be smart.

Considered a “near perfect antibiotic”, colloidal silver can be an outstanding natural way to deal with many problems suffered by pets (and humans as well but that is story for someone else!). With such a dependence on regular antibiotics in our world, many have seen their dogs become somewhat immune to them.  As certain antibiotics become less effective in your pet, stronger drugs are needed.  Eventually your pet will reach a plateau where no amount of drugs are going to help him.  Before something like this happens to you, it would be wise to explore other alternatives.  Colloidal silver is a substance that may just be the answer to your pet’s problems.

Colloidal silver has been shown to be incredibly effective, not only on bacterias, but also on viruses and fungi.  In topical spray form, it is great for use on burns, abrasions, open wounds, bacterial infections, skin rashes and dermatitis.  It helps to relieve pain, itching and inflammation while promoting rapid healing.  Also great for mange suffers, the uses are many and varied.  Allergy and hypothyroid dogs who are prone to hot spots will benefit greatly from the soothing spray and it is incredibly handy to have around for those all too common nicks, cuts and scrapes that so many of our dogs experience.  The silver essentially suffocates pathogens in a safe and natural way and has a far broader spectrum than individual antibiotics.  While it is not meant as a replacement to antibiotics (as ALWAYS the advice of your veterinarian should be heeded), it can work as a supplemental treatment alongside antibiotics and a replacement for things like antibacterial ointment where the injury or condition is minor enough for home treatment.

The colloidal silver available through APFP is, in reality, even BETTER than most you can find.  Nature’s Farmacy Chelated Silver is perhaps the most useable silver product you can obtain.  More effective than colloidal silver, the chelation process increases availability in use – in the case of the silver, the chelated silver is absorbed and utilized more readily than the colloidal silver.  See the magic even more quickly!

If you prefer to use natural remedies as often as you can, if you are tired of buying sprays and creams and lotions that hardly ever work than check out Chelated Silver.  So great for so many things – rashes, allergy and low thyroid dogs and their inevitable skin issues, bumps, hot spots, cuts and scrapes.  Natural, easy to use, 100% non-toxic – Chelated Silver is something every pet owner should keep in their first aid kit!

In general, the proper ratio of veggies to meat, bones and organs should be approximately 5:1 (meat to veggies).  Now that its YOUR choice you can play with that ratio to find what works best for your individual dog BUT using the 5:1 ratio as a starting point is easy and perfect.

This means that for every 5 parts of meat, bones and organs, you are adding 1 part veggies.  Its not rocket science by a long shot and getting somewhere in that general neighborhood is fine.  Most importantly -don’t stress about it!  Most of the time its sufficient to estimate and throw in a spoonful (what size spoonful depends on the amount you are feeding of course) straight from the container.

In general we recommend dividing your order in the following manner with the following combinations:

• 50# boxes combined with 12# Veggies
• 40# of meat (20 two pound containers) with 8# of Veggies
• 20# of meat (10 two pound containers) with 4# of Veggies
• 10# of meat (5 two pound containers) with 2# of Veggies

These combinations will give you approximately a 4:1 – 5:1 ratio of meat to veggies for your dog’s meals.  We recommend simply thawing out a one pound container of veggies and keeping it on hand in the fridge for easy mixing.  The veggies will last up to a week in the fridge and for most people it won’t even be as long as that before you are through them.  For smaller dogs, partially thaw your veggies as you would your two pound containers of food and keep half out and ready to use while you put the other half back in the fridge.  It won’t hurt the veggies and gives you a more manageable amount to work with.

Some people add veggies to their dog’s tripe.  We don’t find it necessary being that tripe is just about the most complete food that you can give and adding veggies is overkill BUT it won’t hurt to add them and some dogs may eat their veggies better when they are mixed with something as irresistible as tripe.  If you choose to not add veggies to tripe but tripe is part of your order, reduce the number of veggies ordered proportionally and you will still have the right amount of veggies for the amount of meat you have.

In order to make things a little easier for all of our customers we have developed several packages for ease of ordering.  Check out our raw packages page to see if any of these meet your dog’s needs!   If none of these packages are exactly what you are looking for than please give us a call and we will be more than happy to walk you through your order and figure out what is going to work best for you.

Though it may seem daunting to some customers, adding your own veggies is actually one of the best things you can do for your dog.  YOU decide what works best because YOU know your dog the best.  We supply the building blocks and you construct the perfect natural diet to ensure your pet’s optimal health!