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You ARE WHAT you eat and digest. The same holds true for our pets. Holistic veterinarians regard diet as the basis for health and treating any condition. It’s the foundation. Everything else they do for an animal builds on this foundation. Some say they have treated dogs where all they could do was get the owner to switch from a mediocre commercial food to a higher-quality product, and that was enough, just a diet change, to see dramatic improvements in the health of an animal.
“I find that by changing diet I can make a big impact against many conditions,” says Ron Carsten, DVM, of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. “A good diet provides me with a powerful pillar of support for all my treatments, even when I am treating very chronic and very sick cases.”
The reason for this is simple and has been known since ancient times. In the words of Hippocrates uttered 2,500 years ago: “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” This is timeless advice, more relevant than ever in today’s age of junk food and rampant chronic disease.
We all need to understand that the energy we call life animates the cells that make up our bodies and directs the countless biochemical functions in our bodies. Foods are the fuel of life. Poor fuel makes for little momentum in life. Our bodies do not function well on poor-quality foods, any more than a finely tuned automobile functions well on poor-quality gasoline. Many of the illnesses of people can be prevented or minimized through better nutrition, and it’s the same for our pets.
But wait a minute here. You may be thinking: My dog has no problems, and all I do is feed it every day from the bag of food I buy at the supermarket. You may be right, because just like the person who smokes, drinks, and eats poorly and yet lives a long life without suffering from debilitating illness, many resilient animals seem to thrive and live long no matter how poor the quality of their food. “If you have such an animal, you may want to experiment with a better diet and see if you can notch up the level of health,” says Christina Chambreau, DVM, of Sparks, Maryland. “Most animals are hugely benefited by being on a high-quality diet. The benefits show up as increased vitality, improved hair coat, and decreased illness.”
Now that you have had a glimpse of some of the issues related to commercial pet food, this chapter is intended to help you shift your food choices in a healthier direction. Let’s move on and consider your options from the angle of what type of food can you and should you feed your dog. Carvel Tiekert, DVM, a longtime observer of the pet food scene, has compiled a simple yardstick for judging the quality of food.
There is a whole landscape of pet food, from generic inexpensive to higher-quality “natural” products. The following guidelines are based on a scale of 1 (the poorest) to 10 (the best) to help you determine a better diet for your dog:
1. All meat. Animals in the wild don’t eat just meat. They eat everything when they kill their prey, including the intestinal contents. In a rabbit, the intestinal vegetable contents amount to about 40 percent of body weight. Animals also eat bones, a source of calcium for the body.
2. Soft-moist food. These diets are high in sugar, chemicals, dyes, propylene glycol, and other additives to give them shelf life, softness, and an artificial look. Their labels make for interesting reading, and that’s about the most you can say about them.
3 and 4. Soft-moist and dry combinations—“generic brands.” The cheap generic and store brands have been incriminated in veterinary literature for their poor quality. They are infamous for mineral deficiencies, particularly zinc.
5 and 6. Standard commercial diets—the “name” brands. They are adequate in most cases for most normal, healthy, young to middle-aged animals, but they are not optimum. They are merely adequate. These products are reasonably well researched, but quality comes second to price and palatability. They are made to be competitive and are usually loaded with chemicals. An average thirty-pound dog eating this food regularly will consume nine pounds of chemicals a year!
7 and 8. Top shelf lines. These products, including Science Diet and Iams, feature higher-quality ingredients but still have artificial preservatives and other chemical additives. I place some “natural” products in this category because they are made with inferior ingredients such as “wheat flour” (a euphemism for white flour). If the product is made with whole grain, it will say “ground whole wheat” or “whole-wheat flour.” There are, unfortunately a number of low-quality products that come with high-sounding names.
9. The so-called natural lines. This category includes Precise, Natural Life, and Verus, products made with the finest-quality ingredients. They use vitamin C and vitamin E as natural preservatives instead of using artificial preservatives, and the added minerals are chelated with amino acids for better absorption. For most dogs, I recommend their “senior” formulas, which contain lower quantities of protein.
10. Homemade. The very best food you can feed your animal is the homemade diet made with fresh foods. You can’t do better for your animal.
Never feed a diet below level five. I recommend that you feed either a homemade diet or a level nine food with supplementation, to make sure you are giving optimum nutrition to your pet. You can read all the labels and figure out the ingredients, but both good and bad manufacturing plants are making these products. I can answer for some but not for others. So it is very hard to really know the absolute truth of what’s inside the bags and cans. For a basic food, such as Precise, Natural Life, or Verus, I recommend switching from one brand to another. Buy one brand one time and another the next. That provides some variety in the basic ingredients.
The next three chapters are devoted to diet-improving options, starting with doing the minimum (for very busy people) to doing the maximum—that is, feeding an entirely home-prepared meal. You will find that within these options are practical approaches that will work for you and improve the health of your animal. Feel free to mix and match the options in whatever way is most convenient for you and that your animals likes. Always keep in mind that each pet is an individual with individual tastes and reactions. One dog may prefer chicken to turkey. One may like steamed vegetables. Another may not like vegetables at all. So in following the ideas here, always keep individuality and variety in mind as long as you don’t forget quality.
Before introducing your options in the next chapter, it is worthwhile to consider two important points:
Switching the diet.
Preventive shopping—foods to avoid.
Many animals become accustomed and virtually “addicted” to a set diet. They may not appreciate overnight change. Also, sudden changes may cause digestive upset. This is especially true with the young and the old, and also with dogs that tend to vomit or have diarrhea. So go slow when you replace the old food with new foods. In most cases you can usually have your dog eating something different within a few days, but the recommendation is to make the switch over a period of seven to ten days. Here is a simple timetable to guide you:
Add 10 percent new food the first day or two.
Increase on subsequent days to 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent, 90 percent, and finally 100 percent.
When you improve your pet’s diet, don’t think you have to put a burden on your budget. Organic food is great, and many holistic veterinarians recommend it, but it’s not necessary if you can’t easily afford it. Some owners think they have to feed organic, range-fed meat and organic vegetables if they are going to do it “right.” It’s not true. Do what is comfortable for you. Straining for what is not easily obtained may cause stress and justification for stopping a more natural diet. Start from where you are and improve the level of nutrition for your pet comfortably and affordably. Don’t forget the other vital things necessary for the health of your animals—the air, the water, the companionship, the exercise, and a nurturing environment. They all add into the equation of health.
Read labels, the veterinarians advise, and listen to the veterinarians’ advice, and avoid products with chemical preservatives, dyes, and additives and, in particular, the following:
Cheap, plain-wrapped “generic” pet food products. It is likely they contain highly questionable ingredients and are often reject or substandard chows sold “out the back door” by major manufacturers.
Semimoist foods. These products appear red, moist, and pliable like real hamburger meat. They contain a full complement of sugar and chemical additives that you and I would avoid if we are truly interested in our health. They frequently cause allergic or allergiclike reactions and may contribute to pancreas or blood sugar problems.
Foods containing too much protein. Dogs don’t need as much protein as we feed them, and certainly not the kind of poor-quality protein used in most commercial foods. Excess, inferior protein stresses the immune system, kidneys, and liver. Many veterinarians suggest that 18 percent protein is adequate for most stages of life other than the puppy stage. You can feed perhaps even less protein to older animals. Just be sure the product contains high-quality protein. Read the labels. Switch to senior diets that offer no more than 18 percent protein.
Canadian expert Edmund Dorosz, DVM, of Fort MacLeod, Alberta, author of Let’s Cook for Our Dog, instructs dog owners how to evaluate appearance, behavior, stools, and other signs, as a guide to feeding a good diet. Here’s how to do it:
Appearance. Start with the skin—the largest organ in the body. A dull hair coat and shedding are typical signs of unhealthy skin below. If you part the hair and have a direct look at the skin, you will often find skin that is dry, flaky, and inflamed. This kind of a condition is associated with problems such as fleas, mites, ringworm, and inflammatory allergies.
Behavior. A healthy, properly fed dog receiving all the necessary nutrients and water it needs should be happy, active, and responsive. Always consider the diet if the dog is irritable, dull-appearing, hyperactive, nervous, or restless. Behavioral changes normally do not appear until several weeks after a new diet has been started.
Stools. A good-quality diet and properly functioning digestive system produces a small amount of formed, dark brown, firm stools. The small amount tells you the food has been digested and there is little waste left. Color may indicate food dyes, internal bleeding, or disease problems. If not enough water has been consumed, stools may be dry, hard, and difficult to pass. Poor-quality food results in undigested material passing into the large intestine, where fermentation from bacteria produces gas and loose stools. If the intestines are inflamed or infested with worms, the stools will be abnormal. Liver or pancreas problems cause digestive imbalances and also result in abnormal stools.
DR. DOROSZ’S GOOD FOOD-BAD FOOD CHECKLIST
| SIGNS | GOOD | BAD |
| Eyes | Bright, alert, clear | Dull, cloudy, tearing, red |
| Nose | Cool, moist, clean, soft | Hot, dry, hard |
| Teeth | Clean, white, shiny | Dirty, yellow, foul-smelling |
| Ears | Clean, dry | Inflamed, waxy, foul-smelling |
| Hair | Shiny, soft, clean | Dull, dry, dandruff, hair loss |
| Skin | Soft, pliable | Dry, greasy, inflamed, itchy |
| Muscles | Firm, developed, defined | Soft |
| Condition | Can feel ribs | Obese, pot belly, waddles |
| Paws | Smooth, resilient | Cracked, sore, nails brittle |
| Anus | Clean, dry | Inflamed, itchy anal glands |
| Urine | Light yellow, average volume | Dark or clear, large amounts |