Welcome! This is a way for me to share about my experiences as they relate to myself, family, health, compassionate cooking, baking and yoga. Enjoy!

Monday, May 26, 2014

Puppy Love

For a few years now I have been researching and experimenting with making the switch to healthier foods for my fur babies.  Being a plant-based family I just could not shake the thought, if it's good for us, can it be good for all of my "other" babies?  I knew giving them raw meats was not going to happen.  Not only would it make me regurgitate, but I did not want to introduce pathogens, harmful bacteria/virus or worms into our home and bodies.  I also realized that giving them dry food was not a natural thing to do either, not to mention how boring it must be to eat the same food every single day for your whole life.  Correct me if I am wrong, but I do not see any dry dog food trees growing in the wild.  So my search for the best product to give my babies was underway.

Exploring various high quality brands, three years ago we finally landed on Natural Balance® due to finding out Mya, our Mastiff/Great Dane mix, had food allergies (with the main culprit being gluten).  Making the switch to a grain free brand seemed to do the trick.  Mya was no longer bringing her meals back up, the inside of her ears were no longer bright pink and the acne on her chin had vanished.  

Having Mya diagnosed with food allergies was my first wake up call that what we put in and on our fur babies matters for them just as much as it matters for us.  I felt like, DUH! It still amazes me how we, myself included, accept things as normal just because we have been doing them for decades.  I won't go all political by giving examples of things in the past, that were deemed "normal" for the time, but are now against the law.  The point I am making is that it is okay to question and educate oneself on things, even if that means going against norm.

I started questioning more and more if what we were doing for our babies was the best thing for them.  After moving to grain free, the next step was to get rid of the packaged treats, so I started making their treats.  I learned to tweak our recipes to make them muffins, pupcakes, cookies and dehydrated sweet potato chews.  This was not only healthier than the processed treats, but it was fun and actually a cost saver.  After this, I began investigating vegan and vegetarian options for dogs and cats.

I decided the next move would be to switch to a plant based dog food.  This led me to find V-Dog™, a plant-based dry kibble made in California by a family owned business.  I made sure to make the switch gradually, mixing the new with the old to avoid any upset stomachs.  They took to the new right away and seemed to actually prefer it over their old.  The problem I ran into was that none of our local stores carry V-Dog so I had to order it online.  It was free shipping and the cost was pretty close to their previous brand, but my orders were ending up on back order.  Good news that more people were trying to feed their pups a healthier choice, but bad news for me because then I ended up having to buy a different brand which led to some upset stomachs due to switching them on the fly.  I knew this arrangement of ordering their food on-line was not working for us so I went back to Natural Balance (who, by the way, does carry a vegan option, but it is not grain free).

One of our pups, Chevy, has an extremely weak stomach so if anything is different he gets sick.  We are very strict about what they get and the only processed thing they were eating was their dog food.  I still could not stop wondering if this was the healthiest, so I kept digging.  With Chevy having such a weak stomach, I wanted to find foods that would be gentle for him, especially when he would get into something outside that wreaked havoc on his body.  I knew, from experience, that bananas, oatmeal, rice, and probiotics helped to calm his body so this made me even more curious.  If whole foods could heal him when he is sick, then it should stand to reason that they would keep him healthy and sustained if given all the time.

For me, switching the cats over to plant-based is not an option at this time due to them being predominately carnivorous.  I have lots more to learn before, and if, I decide to switch the kitties.  Cats are highly sensitive in that if their bodies do not have specific minerals or too much of something they become sick quickly, which can be fatal.  For this same reason, I only use a limited number of essential oils that are highly diluted for the cats (but that is a post for another day :)

Dogs are actually omnivorous by nature, so I knew switching them to a predominately plant-based diet would not be life threatening.  As long as they were getting a varied and balanced diet, I knew they could thrive on whole foods similar to us.  There are a number of vitamins, minerals and amino acids that they require, but I found that reading too much into this was making things more confusing.  Just as we need certain nutrients, they do as well and those can be found in all the whole foods we eat.  Most people do not make it their mission to track every gram of each nutrient needed on a daily basis so why was I getting so concerned over knowing it for my babies?  To feel at ease in making the switch from processed to whole, I knew I had to learn the basics of what they needed and did not need instead of getting caught up in how much of each nutrient.

Knowing the basics…

They need a varied diet full of rich protein sources (peas, beans, lentils), dark leafy greens, red/orange/yellow veggies (bell peppers, carrots, pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes), whole grains (rice, oats, quinoa), nutritional yeast, high quality oil (unrefined coconut oil or flax seed oil), a daily probiotic, know-the-source eggs, a handful of unsalted seeds and some fruits.

They do not need and should never have chocolate (the darker, the worse), xylitol (nasty little sweetener added to many products), avocados, macadamia nuts, grapes, raisins, onions and garlic, these can all be life threatening, causing diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy, seizures, eventual kidney/liver failure and/or death.

So now that I knew the basics, the next part would be switching them gradually from dry to whole foods.  I do not even need to tell you how much they are loving the whole foods. Janie and Chevy will eat just about anything, so the real test was my picky eater, Mya. She was eating the whole foods, but turning her nose to the dry.  I was putting the whole food on top of the dry, but ended up having to mix it to get her to eat up the dry.  I knew this was the right thing to do.  Even if it meant spending a little more time preparing meals, they are worth it.  They get breakfast and dinner, with snacks/treats in between.  Having so many options with whole foods, and the fact that it is cleaner eating, it's hard to pinpoint an exact amount to give them per body weight.  To start, I increased the amount I was giving them by one half.  For example, Mya was getting 4 cups a day of dry (2 in the morning, 2 in the evening) so I switched her to 6 cups whole foods.  She seems to be thriving and not hungry.  Of course, I will still take them to their checkups and ask for blood work to ensure they are healthy and safe, and I will post results as to their progress.  Some recipes for homemade treats can be found in the back of my book, I'm The Chef Of This Kitchen.

More posts to follow regarding natural pet health so check back soon!

*Disclaimer - This information is not meant to replace your veterinarian. I cannot be held responsible for any results to recommendations contained in this information so I suggest each person seek a veterinarian (preferably holistic) for specific conditions that might warrant expert treatment.