My
journey into the world of alternative dog food was brought about
by necessity rather than choice. Before beginning to learn about
this subject I was a commercial dog food believer, I appreciated
the convenience of filling up a bowl with nice clean dry complete
dog food and leaving my dogs nutrition and health up to
the dog food manufacturers. Ookii changed all that.
When I brought Ookii home he was a normal chubby Akita puppy,
full of mischief and fun. I was feeding the same food that he
had been weaned on to, following the instructions carefully, all
was well. Then he had a few bouts of diarrhoea, tummy bug
the vet said. Ookii was growing at a phenomenal rate, one day
his bum was in the air, then a couple of days later his front
would catch up, he lost his puppy chubbiness very quickly. I could
see puppies the same age as he was, still chubby, Ookii was lean
and lanky, the diarrhoea persisted. His anal glands had to be
expressed, they were not being emptied naturally because of the
diarrhoea Getting him to eat anything was a battle, he would just
pick at his food with little interest, change the brand
the vet said. So I did, the diarrhoea continued punctuated by
bouts of vomiting, by now he was six months old.
I put him onto a high quality brand of gluten free food, he started
to gain weight, great I thought, two months later the weight just
fell off him again. Then he had his first bout of kennel cough,
he was put onto antibiotics because it developed into a chest
infection, he got over it, one month later he had it again, more
antibiotics and within a month he has his third bout. By now his
vomiting and constant diarrhoea was accompanied by sores on his
skin, smelly ears and breath, dandruff, thin coat and lethargy,
allergies the vet said. He said that we would have
to do skin sensitivity tests to find out the cause and he would
probably need steroids intermittently for flare-ups. I had his
blood tested and the vet was very worried by the results, they
showed that his immune system was badly affected as were his kidneys
and liver, in fact his liver results were so bad that the vet
said if he had been an Irish wolf hound they would have diagnosed
liver shunt problems.
At this point I decided to do some research for myself. I spent
hours reading veterinary literature on dog foods and canine allergies,
then I stumbled on several articles by an Australian vet called
Dr Tom Lonsdale, for years he has been advocating feeding dogs
and cats a natural raw food diet, he along with some other vets
blame the huge increase in unhealthy pets, dental problems, allergies,
immune system deficiencies and cancer on commercial dog food,
I continued to look into this subject and it was all beginning
to make sense. I started him on the diet when he was 13 months
old.
And the results, within one week of starting the diet Ookii had
his first solid poo, he had diarrhoea constantly since he was
about 12 weeks old. Within a month his ears cleared up and stopped
smelling, he put on 7.5kg in three months, his breath smelled
better, his teeth were cleaner, his sores cleared up. His energy
levels increased dramatically. For the first time in his life
he was actually digesting and getting the benefits from his food
instead of it shooting straight through him. He no longer peered
into his dish and giving me the oh not that again
now he was eating his food with enthusiasm. Now several years
on we have had our ups and downs, I started him off by feeding
only chicken until his symptoms disappeared then I gradually introduced
different meats to the diet for variety, when I tried him on beef
his symptoms returned with a vengeance, he developed such bad
sores on his feet that he became lame and the dreaded diarrhoea
returned. I have gradually worked out what causes his symptoms
and now I avoid giving him any dairy, any cereals, beef, tripe
or rice.
Raw
feeding guide
The
diet I feed my dogs is based on what dogs would eat if they lived
in the wild and were free to hunt and forage for themselves. Supplemented
with oils and natural sources of vitamins and minerals. It is
what dogs evolved to eat over millions of years. Dogs have been
domesticated for about 14,000 years and commercial dog food has
been around for about 60 or so years. In the intervening years
people have been giving their dogs adequate nutrition by feeding
home prepared diets. So this is not a new feeding fad it is a
very old one!
The
diet is made up of -
Raw
meaty bones - chicken/turkey necks, chicken wings and pork neck
bones.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT that these are fed RAW.
Cooked bones are brittle and dangerous to feed to dogs.
Muscle
meat - minced lamb, turkey, rabbit and chicken. Organ meat - kidney
liver and heart fed a couple of times weekly.
Vegetables
- a variety of different veg fed about three times a week and
mixed with the minced meat, it is important that the veg is very
well mushed in a food processor or juicer to help the dog to digest
it, the dog in the wild would get most of its veg and greens by
eating the partly digested stomach contents of its prey.
Additional
foods - eggs processed with the veg shell and all, seeds and nuts
also processed but no peanuts, a clove of garlic added to the
veg mush. I supplement with fish oil, cod liver oil, vitamin C,
kelp and alfalfa. I do not feed grains or dairy products to my
dogs as they are not species appropriate.
About
twice a month I spend a couple of hours processing and freezing
all the vegetables. Then just defrost a bag a day along with the
meat. It takes me approximately 5 minutes to prepare food for
six dogs, at first it was a bit complicated but now it is second
nature.
There
are books available which show you how to safely feed this diet
to your dog. It is imperative that the diet is fed properly so
purchasing one of these books for guidance is extremely important
before embarking on the diet.
RECOMMENDED
BOOKS
Give
Your Dog a Bone and Grow Your Pup With Bones are by Dr Ian Billinghurst