Archive for the ‘Supplements’ Category

Back in the day it was unusual for a new raw feeder to be able to find ANY information to help them get started.  It was a new way of feeding that spread mostly by word of mouth with information gleaned from scattered books that were hard to find such as Give Your Dog A Bone by Dr. Billinghurst or Raw Meaty Bones by Tom Lonsdale.   Usually one of these books would be passed along from person to person and in that manner a whole new generation of raw feeders were spawned.  Today, its a different story.  The internet and a new crop of books that deal specifically with raw feeding, natural remedies and natural rearing of pets, have made their presence known and are collected and devoured by raw feeders everywhere.  Information is plentiful – some good, some not so good – and more and more people have seen the light when it comes to feeding their dogs and cats the natural way.  Sometimes it can be hard to wade through all the “information” that is out there  – what and who can you trust?  Is this person right?  Is this internet article for real? Which online raw feeding group do I choose????!!!  For the most part, we all have to make our own decisions based, hopefully, on lots of research, advice from knowledgeable peers and personal experience.  At A Place For Paws we have narrowed the search, somewhat, for our customers by choosing two books that WE think hit most of the important points while remaining easy to read and digest.

Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats – The Ultimate Diet by Kymythy R. Schultze is a comprehensive book that gives, in great detail, the ins and outs of feeding a natural raw diet.  Filled with testimonials, Schultze offers a guide that not only gives the basics but also delves into specifics that can answer just about any raw feeding question you might have.  She discusses supplements and their uses paying special attention to those that can help OR hinder your pet’s health.  She also investigates at length various vitamins and minerals that your pet needs and what whole foods they are best available in as well as specific foods and what your pet can get from each of those foods.  Complete with a diet calendar and suggested feeding regimes, this book is chock full of the specifics you haven’t been able to find else.  Perhaps most importantly, it illustrates how Schultze herself feeds her own dogs.

Raw Dog Food – Make It Easy For You and Your Dog by Carina Beth MacDonald is one of the easiest most enjoyable reads you will ever have!  Full of humor and real life situations, MacDonald takes raw feeding and brings it to the masses.  She expounds on the basics with particular attention to what sorts of foods are going to be easy for you to obtain, where to get them, how to get them for less and how to turn all of that into a balanced natural diet for your dog.  She hits on all the myths and fears that every newbie to raw feeding experiences in one form or another and lays those myths and fears to rest.  Humorous throughout, reading this book is akin to sitting down and having a conversation with an experienced raw feeder.  This book is an easy way to introduce just about anyone to the practicality and common sense of feeding a raw diet – for those people who want to know the basics and the realities of feeding raw but aren’t looking to become absolute experts in the field.  Don’t be surprised though – even you “experts” out there will get plenty out of this well written exceptional book.

Occasionally, just like people, dogs get nauseous.  You may notice your dog wanting to go out more so that they can eat vegetation, grasses, sticks, weeds.  They may lick lick lick – your couch, carpet, bedding, your clothes – anything they can get their tongue on.  Perhaps your dog is drooling (with regular droolers we’ll just say its MORE than normal) and you aren’t sure why.  Licking their lips more than normal, being generally restless and out of sorts.  While these

Sometimes continuous licking of their lips or licking strange objects can signify a dog suffeing from nausea

symptoms can mean different things, they can also mean that your dog has what we would call an upset tummy.

Oftentimes an upset stomach is just that – an upset stomach.  They may have eaten something that didn’t agree with them or caught some sort of bug that is flying around the dog world.  Can this be serious?  Certainly – if your dog is exhibiting these signs and others you need to be observant – he could be bloating OR could have ingested something poison or toxic.  Know your dog and know what else to look for in these cases.  What we speak of here?  Regular old upset stomach, usually lasts less than a day, may only last a couple of hours but if a persistent type of bug could go on for days.  You may see diarrhea, you may see vomiting, you may see neither.

Depending on who you are and what problems you may have experienced in the past, your reaction to this may be to make a call to the vet.  That’s fine and its ALWAYS prudent to get things checked out.  In fact, a vet visit is definitely warranted where they problem persists more than just a few hours/single day.  Here we simply want to talk about steps you can take to help your pup out in minor cases of stomach upset – nothing more.

Usually, whether you take the trip to the vet or simply make the phone call to get advice, the first thing they will tell you is to fast your pup.  Usually for the day (approximately 12 hours) in order to allow their system to rest.  This is perfect advice.  Some dogs will naturally turn their noses up at their dinner when they aren’t feeling right.  Others, piggies that they are, will continue to eat whatever you put in front of them regardless of the fact that it may bring on more vomiting, more diarrhea, more nausea.  Fasting them for a short 12 hours is a great way to give their digestive system a bit of a rest and to let some of the natural flora repopulate itself.  Generally, if you just keep on feeding, they have no time to recoup and the vicious circle will continue.

Another directive that is usually heard almost immediately is to feed your dog a bland diet.   To most vets, this means feeding boiled chicken or ground beef along with rice.  Is this a magic diet?  Not really.  Looking at it from a realistic standpoint, we know that MOST dogs are fed a diet of commercial kibble.  Whether admitted or not, vets realize that kibble isn’t the most digestible food in the world.  A bland diet is one that can be easily digested – boiled burger/chicken and rice is relatively easily digested by our canine companions – especially when compared to the work that goes into digesting dog food nuggets from a bag.  If you already feed a raw diet, there is absolutely NO reason to switch your dog to boiled chicken/beef and rice.  You see, you ALREADY feed the blandest diet there is.  For some reason, people think that because the dog is eating raw meat, its some sort of ultra rich diet, too much of which can make a dog ill.  Not so.  Its, in reality, the most digestible diet you can feed.  After all, its what nature intended our dogs to eat – housewolves that they all are.  If you choose to follow along and when your dog exhibits some sort of GI upset start to feed them cooked meat and rice you are more likely to see MORE problems.  Its harder for your dog to deal with than his normal diet would be.  Tougher to digest than raw (though easier than kibble).  The rice?  Just a filler.  It makes the dog feel full but really serves no purpose at all.  They don’t use it, they don’t need it.  Empty calories and useless grains getting in

Raw Green Tripe is one of the best things to give your dog when he is suffering from GI upset. Its gentle and full off good bacterias that will get him back on track

the way of your pup getting back to normal.  Stick with something easy and stick with one thing until your dog is back to normal.  Generally speaking, if you can feed raw green tripe at a time like this, all the better.  Tripe is gentle, complete, full of good bacterias and probiotics.  All perfect for getting your dog’s system back on track.  Barring the use of tripe, try picking one item such as chicken or beef and after your 12 hour fast, stick with it for a few days.  Introduce variety back into your pooch’s diet slowly.  If you remember how YOU have felt after having a bout of upset than you’ll appreciate the fact that your dog probably feels much the same way.  Easy does it.

Another way to help your pet recuperate is to give them plenty of probiotics such as DogZymes Canine Paste (for use in acute circumstances such as when your dog first starts to exhibit symptoms of diarrhea or nausea) and continue with use of DogZymes Digestive Enhancer as a supplement thereafter.  Chock full of prebiotics, probiotics and digestive enzymes, it will help to repopulate your pup’s upset gut with all the things that KEEP him from having an upset gut.  Often, if given at the first sign of digestive distress, the Canine Paste will head the problem off at the pass and correct whatever imbalances are causing the issue.

Stay away from rich treats when your dog is fighting an upset stomach.  Don’t give marrow bones – marrow is incredibly rich and even a dog who is used to it can have a hard time handling it when their system is in disarray.  Simplify, give his system a chance to heal itself.  Generally, with a random case of GI trouble, doing these simple things will go a long way to quickly bringing your pet back to normal.  Remember, sometimes these symptoms are NOT a problem that you can deal with on your own and if it seems that your pet is in acute distress or that things are lingering far longer than they should, a visit to the vet is absolutely important.  The vet can rule out things like parasites, blockages and other infections.  If you think for even a second that your dog is bloating, RUN don’t walk to the vet.  We all know our dogs relatively well.  We can tell when things are a little off and more often than not we can catch a minor problem when it happens, treat it as such and solve it to our dog’s benefit.  When in doubt, call the vet, but if your dog is struck by a little minor nausea, a trip to the vet isn’t always necessary and there are things you can do to get him back to normal relatively quickly.

With the myriad of supplements out there, its sometimes hard to decide what is good versus what isn’t quite so good.  Many people feed unnecessary supplements, some make the mistake of feeding none at all.  We all must decide what is right for our dogs and as individuals, our dogs often help us to make that decision.  The one supplement, above all others, that, to us, is most beneficial and shouldn’t be overlooked by anyone, is fish oil.

Fish oil.  Humans take it for various reasons, chief among them heart health, but what does it do for our dogs?  Can’t

The Omega 3's that fish oil provides makes for a shiny healthy coat, bright eyes and so many other benefits

they just get it from their food whether its raw, cooked or kibble?

Fish oil contains Omega 3 fatty acids, most notably EPA and DHA.  Foods for our pets tend to contain plenty of Omega 6 fatty acids but a decided dearth of the all important Omega 3′s.  Supplementing with fish oil can give your pet’s food the correct balance of 3′s and 6′s and optimize health benefits.

What benefits?  Plenty.  Omega 3′s have been shown to help with heart, vision, skin and joint health as well as brain function.  It has been shown to advance immune system health as well.  All inflammatory diseases such as kidney disease, heart disease, allergies, arthritis and cancers, are beneficially affected by the addition of Omega 3′s as well.  In essence, Omega 3′s have a hand in keeping all systems functioning well and effectively.  It is a total body supplement that should figure prominently into your pet’s diet no matter what you are feeding.

What is the best way to get Omega 3′s to your dog?  Feeding fish itself would work BUT many of us don’t have access to good fish to feed and more often than not it has been frozen or canned and isn’t fresh caught when we do feed it.  Due to these processes, the Omega 3′s in most fish have been compromised and probably aren’t the most efficient way to get them to your pet.  Fish oil and its fatty acids is a volatile substance.  Not in that its going to suddenly blow up on you, but in the way that it breaks down quite easily and readily as soon as it is exposed to air, heat, cold, processing of any kind.  Yes, it still exists, but it is compromised and not as readily available to your dog as it should be.  If you have a good supply of fresh caught raw fish than by all means, feed away.  If, like many of us, you don’t, your best alternative is to give a pure natural wild salmon oil such as Grizzly Salmon Oil.  If you cannot get actual salmon oil, fish oils from other fish such as anchovies, sardines and mackerel.  You can use human fish oil capsules, such as those found at most drugstores and health food stores, as well.  Look to the ingredients to make sure that there are specific fish species (as listed above) in the capsules rather than a generic “fish oil” or “marine lipids” designation.  Dosages vary, depending on who you talk to.  If you are supplementing a healthy dog, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000mg per 20 pounds of pet should work well.  These dosages can be higher for dogs suffering from an illness and they should be dosed accordingly.   For dogs with kidney problems, for instance, as stated on www.dogaware.com, “Use an amount that provides 300 mg combined EPA and DHA per 10 pounds of body weight daily, preferably split into two doses. Pay attention to the amount that the analysis applies to — some supplements will show a combined 600 mg EPA and DHA for two gelcaps rather than just one, for example.”

There are other “oils” that people give their pets.  One is cod liver oil – often because they mistake it for fish oil.  They are NOT the same thing.  Cod liver oil can have benefits for your dog and is indeed a place where you would find Omega 3′s, but, put simply, it is not the best substance to turn to.  First, it contains very high levels of vitamin A and vitamin D neither of which should be given in excess to your furry friend.  Both A and D are fat soluble vitamins and therefore cannot be shed from the body like a water soluble vitamin can (such as Vitamin C).  The build up of either can cause

Grizzly Salmon Oil is one of the best fish oils you can buy for your pet - made from wild Alaskan salmon, it provides all the Omega 3's your pet needs

problems for your pet.  Secondly, cod liver oil is just that – oil from the liver of the cod fish.  The liver works as a filter for toxins that enter the fish’s body and therefore the oil of the liver can bring those same said toxins that are within the fish, to your pet.  In truth there is no reason to give cod liver oil to your pet when you can easily and safely get all of the same benefits and more from fish body oil.  Its generally easier to just avoid it. (www.fishoildaily.com)

Flaxseed oil is also rich in Omega 3′s – just not for dogs.  While flaxseed oil may contain Omega 3′s , “…the Omega-3 fatty acids in flaxseed oil are the inactive form (ALA). In order to convert flaxseed’s ALA into a usable form of Omega-3 for a dog, your dog must produce a specific enzyme in the body. Most dogs, like all carnivores, do not produce the enzyme needed to convert flaxseed oil ALA to EPA and DHA.” (www.bestfishoilfordogs.com).  Therefore it makes little sense to rely on flaxseed oil to provide necessary fatty acids to your pet when the fatty acids in fish oil are immediately usable to your little carnivore.

So do we supplement daily, every other day, every three days – how much?  It depends.  Of all supplements, fish oil is perhaps the one that you should give the most often.  Generally speaking its not optimal to give any supplement daily unless there is a need for it such as an illness or condition that necessitates daily dosing.  With that in mind, skipping a day here and there when giving fish oil is fine and probably beneficial to your dog in the end.  In truth, the benefits of supplementing with fish oil are great – even if you feed kibble, perhaps ESPECIALLY if you feed kibble.  Though we may feed a natural diet we must always keep in mind that as time passes the foods we feed become less and less potent in many of the substances that can provide optimal health – we must remember to make up those differences for our pets as well as ourselves.