Dog Food Nazi

A friend told me recently ‘you’re a dog Nazi.’ While I’m not quite sure to what he was referring, I readily admit I have very strong opinions about dog care. I've always feed as good a food as I could find.

To start: most vets are the equivalent of MD's. That's not good, that's not bad, it's just what it is. The allopathic medical model does provide certain advantages. If you need drugs or surgery, you need an MD. MD's/DVM's are programmed to see the world in a certain way. I.e., if you only know how to use a hammer, then everything looks like a nail.

I believe in conservative care first. That means non-invasive approaches to health issues. Chiropractic, acupuncture, soft tissue work. Surgery, drugs = last resort to me. Viable option for certain situations, but last resort none-the-less.

Many MD's/DVM's think homeopathists, chiropractors, massage therapists are quacks, or have a placebo effect at best. Yeah, that's why I attended the equivalent of 5 academic years and am a licensed professional in the state of NY, VT & NH.

I work with 3 vets to keep my dogs hale and healthy – or as hale and healthy as I can. Two of the three are gung ho about me feeding the pups a raw diet. Keep this in mind: my dogs are fed meat that has been certified by the FDA for human consumption. The third is a local guy that I use for convenience for things like cleaning anal glands.

Recently I had some blood work done on both pups. Vet #3 wanted to run some expensive tests, and I questioned the requirement of spending additional monies.

He told me 'if you're so concerned about spending a lot of money on The Big Guy, give up that acupuncture stuff.' (He also thinks it's possible to fracture a vertebra through adjusting).

He shut right up when I responded 'Acupuncture is the only thing that is keeping K going. I've stopped giving him drugs unless he has a REALLY bad day. You said he looks great for his age and state - it's the acupuncture that's doing it.' (and thought 'a--hole!')

Likewise, diet. Three years ago I spent days researching foods, and settled on a (the) top grain-less kibble. Within a month, the pups coats were smooth and silky. The Big Guy, who used to get dozens of hot spots each summer, had one per summer. His anal glands needed cleaning half as often.

Because I was concerned about the Old Man’s kidneys, I began cooking organic foods for their meals last year, about the same time my sister began feeding her pups a raw diet. The dogs were wild about their new cuisine! However, I was spending hours each week cooking for the dogs, and began to hear more about feeding raw. In mid-January, I switched.

The Big Guy is over the moon about his food. The Little Princess, not so much. She doesn’t like chicken. Turkey is tolerable. She prefers organic hamburger and ground organ meat. Spare ribs – ok. Pork: maybe. Salmon: Yahoo!

I got harassed by a friend who works at a world-renown vet school. “Raw isn’t balanced! Your dogs aren’t getting the right supplements or any vegetables or carbohydrates.” Actually, the pups get a rigorous application of supplements.

As for a ‘balanced diet,’ dogs are kissing cousins to wolves. Canus lupus & their ilk are definitely not chowing down on gluten-laden products as they forage for themselves.

Larger, deep chested dogs are also prone to bloat. My first Akita succumbed to it -- a tragic, miserable way to die. Dogs on raw have less incidences of gastic torsion. Cagney's last hour was tortured, and I could do nothing to stop it; I'll do whatever I can to prevent another dog of mine ever experiencing that.

Most people feed their dogs kibble. The Kal Kans & Purinas – and any food purchased in grocery stores, Walmart, or Country Max-type stores – are crap-ola. I’m not sure they’re even rated on dogfoodanalysis.com. Hills/Science Diet, IAMS Eukanuba are incrementally better. Perhaps 2 stars (out of 6). For some light reading, check out this article: http://www.4pawsu.com/vet_dogfood.htm

As I've moved my dogs up the dogfoodanalysis.com star rating, we've gotten better & better health results.

Case in point: Kuro. Kerry Brown, DVM (ok with raw diet, has written books on holistic animal care), told me K was 7 or 8 when I adopted him in 2000. It's 10 years later. In December, Kerry said 'he's 15 or 16 years old.'

That's mighty old for a big dog. He attributes K's standing as a ‘senior senior’ to excellent care. A major part of that care is diet.