Switching my dogs to a raw food diet

[TaylorD]

I have two dogs, a 3 years old standard Goldendoodle, and a 6 year old toy poodle. I feel like I have tried so many different foods for my dogs and haven’t had much luck with their allergy symptoms improving. My toy poodle has gotten severe she staining in the last 2 years. He never use to have eye staining. My Goldendoodle seems to have had allergies since he was a puppy. I am looking to switch them to a raw food diet and would like to support and guidance in doing so.

 

[Dr. Christina]

Wonderful, Taylor!!

I am sure now that you are thinking about it, that it makes so much more sense to feed every dog and cat real food, not the same processed (even if organic) day after day. Most humans would not be happy or healthy eating even organic stew twice a day.

There are many resources here at HA!. Start with our fundamentals course. One is on feeding. Do a search on feeding and food and nutrition to see the many empower hours, classes and posts on feeding. Members have shared their challenges, successes and experience on the forum.

A few basic keys may help you get started.

• There is no RIGHT way to do this.
• Think what they eat in the wild and how their digestive systems are still designed - muscles, meat, organs, pureed, predisgested vegetables and fruits, scavenged carcasses, even slightly spoiled. They eat different things each day, or week, not a single recipe daily.
• It should be easy - if you are stressing about it be sure to post again.
• Feed the biggest hunks possible to help keep the teeth clean.
• If not feeding raw meaty bones you need to give supplemental Calcium.

your dogs will be so grateful for this,
Dr. Christina

 

[TaylorD]

This is very helpful thank you! As far as portion size how do I know how much is enough? do I follow the measurements on other foods they've had or is it different?
My toy poodle is 10 pounds and currently gets 1 cup of food daily divided into 2 servings.
My golden doodle is 66 points and gets 2 cups of food daily divided into 2 servings.

 

[Dr. Christina]

Actually, Taylor, the guidelines on the food bags are very misleading. remember, your job now is to think about each animal as an individual, just as you would for any adults or children. Twins weighing the same may eat very different amounts. They may have many different desires for foods.

Factors influencing how much to feed include weight, breed, health conditions, age, activity level, and brain satiety levels.

There are very detailed calculators, and books like ones by Karen Becker, Steve Brown, Jean Hofve and Ihor Basko go into details on this, too. I do recommend you purchase a few books as general guidelines. We do not use calculators for us unless there are problems, so I would start by feeding the same volume of food that you were feeding. Often they are full with even less.

Some days they may want to eat more, and somedays less. My 10 pound cat would eat about 1/4 C of a raw meat/vegetable/bone/organ meat mixture, or some days one chicken neck, or a hunk of fish was sufficient.

Dr. Christina

 

[LauraR]

Hello Dr. Christina,
I do currently feed raw and find that even the weather (especially now that its blazing hot here in CT) will sometimes determine how much they eat, if they do....our Akita will sometimes skip a meal and accept snacks--organic egg yolks, cooked organic turkey pieces but will skip his beef or turkey neck raw when its this hot...and they--the Akita and Shepard much prefer their raw conventional beef partially frozen or turkey necks completely frozen, although the Shepard will eat his turkey neck partially thawed---it changes every day, kinda like humans I guess! I know Dr. Karen Becker likes organic egg yolks and our dogs surely agree with this, fresh from the chicken house--they usually sit behind me, licking their lips at collection time.

 

[Dr. Christina]

Good for you, Laura.

You are demonstrating two important keys for physical and mental health - changes happen and the context is important.

While some may worry about lack of appetite, if the BEAM is fairly normal and you can find a possible reason for the decreased appetite (or any other symptom) - heat, noise, human problems, renovation, etc - try some alternatives rather than panicking.

Also, there is no one right food for any animal or person. There are some each likes and does not like. There are, from experience, some that physically are not good for one individual.

Dr. Christina

 

[LauraR]

Good Evening Folks,
I wish to follow up on some things from last week's Q&A forum....Dr Sarah Chapman listed a topical that can be made and applied to a cancerous tumor and I wish to double check on this as it says Herbals of hydrastis, phytolacca and calendula-into a saline solution-does that mean homeopathics or herbal tinctures or herbal oil extractions--like for the calendula--as I would like to try this as well? It just says 1 ml of each, so I was not sure of this....

I also wish to ask a separate Q--when is a dogs liver most active? I know a human liver is considered more active, in terms of detoxification---from 3 am to 12 noon or so....just wondering if this is true for dogs as well?

 

[LauraR]

Also--someone was asking at the end of the Mondays call about a salve topical for a cancerous growth----I did make a plantain salve--plantain from the grass/ground rather than fruit---in coconut oil. I ground up the plantain leaves after I washed & dried them and simmered them on low in coconut oil for about 40 minutes. This recipe was given to me by a trained herbalist and it has helped my dog with reducing much bleeding and oozing, not all of it but greatly reduced much of it and helps slow bleeding if he bumps it and it starts. I apply this a few times a day and just before bed.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

@Dr. Sara, I wonder too about cancer salve? Sounds awe-some!

 

[Dr. Sara]

Ulcerated tumors and non-healing wounds
Tumors with an ulcerated surface and non-healing wounds are unpleasant, though often they are not uncomfortable to the patient. Such tumors can occur when:
1 - The tumor has outgrown its blood supply and ruptured
2 - The tumor type has a surface that oozes because of its type
Often the best choice is to remove the tumor. Sometimes the patient is not sufficiently healthy to undergo surgery.
Non-healing wounds can occur when the patient has poor circulation, and sometimes all they need is a little help to heal.

Tumours that rupture have generally outgrown their blood supply, so there is not much normal circulation to the edges of the tumour to promote healing. Whenever we are cleaning any ulceration, we want to be very gentle. There will be debris that should be removed, but the healing cells migrate into the wound and lie in a thin layer just on the surface. Vigorous cleaning, or strong substances like peroxide, will kill these cells, further slowing healing. My method for cleaning an oozing, slow healing wound with debris is as follows:
1 - Prepare a solution in the proportions of:
1 cup distilled or reverse osmosis water (no chlorine or fluoride),
1/2 teaspoon salt,
10 drops Calendula flower herbal solution,
10 drops Echinacea herbal solution.
Alcohol based herbal solutions are OK as they are diluted enough to prevent any stinging from the alcohol.
Another good gentle cleaning solution is cooled strong black tea. Tea has tannins, which are naturally astringent and antiseptic. I use black tea for routine scrapes and rashes, and the herbal solution for wounds with healing problems.

2 - Soak a thin clean cotton cloth in the solution, and gently place it over the wound.

3 - Allow the cloth to sit on the wound for a few minutes, and resist the temptation to rub.

4 - Gently lift / peel the cloth off, rinse it thoroughly in plain warm water. If you can’t rinse off the debris thoroughly, use a new cloth.

5 - Soak the clean cloth in the herbal solution again, and repeat this procedure until all of the debris is lifted off.
DO NOT at any time rub the area. That will just rub off any cells that are trying to heal. Think of it as a blotting procedure.

6 - If there is bleeding, either apply Yunnan Pai Yao powder (available in capsules, open the capsule and dust on the powder) or ferric subsulfate powder, such as Kwik Stop powder. You may need to gently blot the bleeding area, dust the powder and repeat.

7 - To prevent discharge from sticking to the hair, you can apply a thin layer of coconut oil around the mass. Rub the coconut oil between your fingers until it becomes liquid, then wipe it right around the area.

8 - If necessary to protect the area, apply a bandage. Studies have shown that most wounds heal better when they are kept clean, dry, and open to the air.

**If the wound is clean, just staying open and oozing, a solution to stimulate healing can be blotted on with a moistened cotton ball, without the cleaning process. You may choose to prepare this solution in a glass dropper bottle, as you will only need a few drops (enough to moisten a clean cotton ball) at each treatment.
Best Botanicals has high quality herbal extracts of the extracts below in 50% alcohol, which will not be irritating in this dilution; they sell at least some of them through Amazon as well.

Best Botanicals

Best Botanicals, Highest Quality Herbal Products

www.bestbotanicals.com

iHerb is a good on-line source for many herbal solutions as well.
Combine ten drops each of:
Goldenseal root extract (Hydrastis)
Calendula flower extract
Poke root extract (Phytolacca)
in a half cup of non-chlorinated water, and blot on to the wound up to five times daily. Refrigerate the unused portion; pour or squirt it on to a clean ball of cotton for each treatment.
This is not intended to be taken internally, but small amounts are not toxic.

These herbal solutions are either homeopathic mother tinctures or herbal tinctures (alcohol or glycerin) in a 1:2 to 1:5 dry herb : menstruum (solvent) ratio.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Wow, fantastic post Dr. Sara, thanks. Lets make your great post a separate thread so it can be found more easily.

 

[LauraR]

Hello Dr Sara,
Sorry for my delayed response here, I appreciate this information and feedback very much, thank you for the indepth information. I enjoyed the forum you did on intact vs neutering/spaying...toward the end you did speak of a case of dogs that are intact can sometimes develop peri-anal tumors, which appears to be the case in my dog. I am working with a holistic vet that gave him some TCM and this along with Dr. Jeff's suggestion on Arnica has helped him make significant strides these last few weeks, even the last week....which I am grateful for. I wish to ask for you opinion regarding the tumor--which is the size of a racket or lacrosse ball, slightly smaller than a tennis ball, above his anus. Do you suggest it be removed, I read that this can regrow back? I have not had the tumor tested, however the holistic vet suggested it was cancerous. I am trying to determine if homeopathy or Cryo-surgery is my next step with him.--if he would qualify for this, as I think a formal surgery would be too much on him.

 

[Dr. Sara]

Dear Laura,
Your decision regarding the tumour depends on your boy's overall condition, BEAM, and the tumour state. Perianal adenomas are not cancerous, though there are other perianal tumors that may be. That sounds like a large tumor, though if your dog is massive, perhaps it is not troubling him. If the tumour is affecting his quality of life it is more of a concern.

I would always prefer to improve a patient's overall well being with homeopathy or skilled Chinese herbal prescribing. This should lead to an improvement in the tumour situation.
When removed surgically, perianal adenomas will recur in intact dogs. This is why most people elect to have their dog castrated if the dog has perianal adenomas that are not responsive to treatment, and the growths are severely affecting quality of life.
Dr. Sara