Mean Mommy

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Jamie

Trust plays a huge part in how far you can push a fearful dog.

Living with a fearful dog, you never know when something might ruin your day. For the most part, the places we walk are pretty safe as far as Risa is concerned. There is one place I pretty much stopped taking her because of the continuous banging noises she could hear on the trail. We weren’t there today. We were at Risa’s favorite walking place. Not even halfway through the walk, someone nearby set off some firecrackers. Risa was terrified. Her whole body trembled. Her ears were pulled back tight against her head; her tail pulled as far between her legs as it could go. She wanted outta there NOW. Unfortunately, we were not close to the car. And I hate the long walk back when Risa is in a panic pulling on the lead as we go.

I wasn’t sure what I should do. Comforting Risa has rarely worked; she just wants to leave. I tried petting her softly as we stood there but she was simply too panicked. I picked her up and headed back towards the car but stopped at a bench. At the bench, I held onto her for a while rubbing her shoulders and chest. She made it clear she wanted none of it, though, so I let her jump off my lap.

I decided that we weren’t going back to the car. I wanted to see if Risa could work through it so that we could finish our walk. I clicked her for offering calming behaviors and asked her for some nose touches. I knew she was not super stressed because she could work and was still taking treats. Had she been extremely panicked and refused food, I would have taken her back to the car immediately. But, because she was functional, we stayed at the bench.

You really have to know how to read your own dog to know how far you can push them. Subjecting a fearful dog to a terrifying stimulus can certainly backfire if you're not careful!

After some time, she calmed down a bit. Her tail was not as tightly tucked and she was no longer trembling. So I decided to try and continue our walk. For a while, she really wanted to go back towards the car but she did not pull in that direction. She was willing to continue moving forward with me so we kept on going. I encouraged her to lock on to the squirrels and sniff the trees to help her calm down and refocus on the joy of walking. I even ran with her for a bit. As we reached the turn around point, she was much calmer. She was certainly not back to normal but she seemed less insistent about returning to the car.

I expected her to pull hard when we finally turned around but she didn’t. I did have to remind her a couple times that pulling on lead is not okay (by simply stopping or walking backwards for a couple steps). But she was clearly no longer panicked.

Unfortunately for Risa, there isn’t always an easy escape from the scary things. Today, I tried to help her learn to cope with the sudden scariness that life sometimes brings. I don’t expect her to never startle or to overcome her sound phobias entirely. But I hope, after today, she will feel a bit less panicked the next time a scary sound attempts to ruin our day. 🙂

Posted in Fear | 1 Comment

Making the Switch

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Jamie

It doesn't matter to me what I'm eating. Just as long as I'm healthy!

I’ve been home cooking for Risa for almost a month now. I’ve only been doing it properly for about 2-3 weeks, though. 😉 I did some research in the Whole Dog Journal, had a friend send me a pamphlet and a book on home-prepared diets (I still need to read the book), and consulted with several online friends and websites to get an idea of what I needed to do.

As much as I complained at first, it’s really not so bad. Risa’s poops were horrible at first not because of the home cooked food. They were bad because of the kibble I had been feeding as well. Even just using the kibbles as training treats didn’t work for Risa at all. There was no way she was going to tolerate kibble as an entire meal (2.5 cups) when 20-some-odd pieces were causing such huge, smelly poops!! Although I was able to find a kibble without ingredients that would bother her, it just didn’t work out. (So, along with a freezer-full of raw food she can’t eat, I also have a bag of kibble. . .)

It hasn’t been as difficult to balance as I originally thought it would be. My main concerns were calcium, of course, and a source of omega 3s. The calcium I covered originally with ground eggshells but I eventually got some bone meal to use instead. I started off using flaxseed for the omega 3s but I was concerned that dogs might not actually be able to utilize a plant-based source of O3. With Risa’s issues with poultry, I wasn’t sure I would be able to use eggs so I took it slow. She never had an issue with the eggs which was a huge load off my mind! I’m still continuing to give the flax as well (it’s supposed to help with urinary incontinence issues which Risa has on rare occasion).

The biggest pain about home cooking is the preparation time. Granted, raw feeding takes a lot of prep time too. You have to portion out meals in advance and, if you buy in bulk, you can spend a good part of the weekend cutting it up! But it doesn’t hold a candle to home cooked time. Not only am I spending a lot of time around the stove cooking meat and veggies and cutting up food; it’s taking a long time just to get each meal ready for Risa. I have to add in her supplements along with mixing everything together. Rather than simply tossing her a chicken quarter (which I haven’t done in 2 years since she developed an aversion to poultry) and watching her chow down.

Still, she’s doing great on it. Her poops have been picture perfect. She’s gaining back the weight she lost. On top of that, she really seems to enjoy it.

Still well-muscled and shiny even with the change in diet.

I’ve found out that home cooking isn’t exactly all I expected it to be. I expected her poops to be much worse than they were on raw (they’re not quite as small and smell a bit more but not bad). I anticipated this would be a heck of a lot more work. I thought that home cooked diets were heavy on veggies but they’re really not. Probably 10-25% of Risa’s diet is veggie mush. The majority is meat which it should be. I was actually surprised to see how little fibrous veggie mush she needed to have nice, formed poops. Risa always needed a lot of bone in her diet to have good poos on raw. I figured it would be the same with home cooking–but I was wrong! I have yet to do the math to see how much more expensive this is than raw feeding was but, considering she was eating premade mixes for the past 2 years (which are more costly), it’s probably not as pricey as I think it is.

The formula I use for making her meals is pretty simple and based off the sample diet given on Home Made Cooked Diets for Dogs.

Meat – I’m using mainly beef as Risa does best on it. She’s tolerating pork okay (her poops are okay on it but I wonder if it’s not still bothering her) and has also enjoyed some buffalo and lamb. I want to have some variety but I’m planning on having beef being the staple of the diet due to her intolerance to certain protein sources. Poultry is out.
Veggie mush – I started using what our TCVM vet had me make as a cooling additive to Risa’s raw diet and built on it to create the veggie mush. It’s base is squash (though I’m going to have to switch to canned pumpkin now that squash is out of season again). I’ve added carrots, celery, kale, and/or green beans. I don’t give them all at the same time and, yes, it is a lot of variety to start with. However, the only ingredient I wasn’t sure if she’d tolerate was kale. Everything else she’d had before.
Eggs – Organic eggs high in omega 3s. She’s getting between 1-1.5 eggs daily either hard boiled or scrambled.
Organs – So far, it’s just beef liver. I’m giving about a spoonful daily. I am hoping to add in beef kidney in the future.
Ground flaxseed – As I mentioned above, it’s for omega 3s and to help with incontinence issues.
Black pepper – Just a shake or two to the veggie mix.
Garlic – I occasionally add a bit to her meat when I’m cooking it.
Fruits – In moderation. I will either add some dates to her veggie mush when I cook it or give her several frozen blueberries along with her meal.

As far as supplements and add-ons go, it’s pretty basic. Most of these I was giving when she was eating raw or 50/50 raw/home cooked.

Chinese herbs – I’m still giving her the herbs to balance her gut twice daily.
Cosequin – She’s getting one tablet daily
Bone meal – For calcium. I’m splitting it between her two meals so about 1/2 tsp twice a day.
Probiotic powder – Given daily with her nighttime meal.
L-glutamine – This is good for gut health especially with dogs with IBD. I give it when I remember to. 😉

I do need to sit down and analyze her diet and check for any major deficiencies but this seems to cover all the bases for now. I’m planning on giving as much variety as I can which, of course, isn’t all that easy with her food intolerences. But we’ll make due. I think it’ll be a lot easier when I have the freezer space back again. I won’t have to cook for her every week. I’m still bummed I had to ‘give up’ on raw. But Risa’s body was telling me it wasn’t working anymore. So I did what I had to do. And Risa’s quite happy about it. 🙂

Posted in Dog Food, Homecooked, Raw Feeding, Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, Veterinarian | 1 Comment

Homecookin’

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Jamie

Looks good enough to eat!

Let’s add another thing to the ever-growing list of “things I had no anticipation of learning more about when I adopted Risa.” First raw-feeding (before I adopted her, actually). Then learning about rehabilitating a fearful dog, clicker training, dog body language, dog-dog reactivity, canine sports, GI issues, back problems/chiropractic care, traditional Chinese veterinary medicine, tick-borne diseases, and now homecooked food. Apparently, not growing up with dogs, I must need to catch up and learn all these things with a single dog! 😉

As much as I’m a raw-feeding advocate, it’s pretty clear that Risa can no longer tolerate raw food. My experiment with homecooking went well and then I tried giving her raw food only for a meal. Next day’s poop was horrible and so I decided to switch Risa to a homecooked diet. (I bought a bag of kibble to try that too but it doesn’t seem to be agreeing with her either. Even when I only give it in small quantities.)

"It doesn't matter to me whether my food is raw or homecooked. I'm ravenous anyway!"

I never wanted to do a homecooked diet with my dog. It’s a lot more difficult to balance than a raw diet. (Granted, raw feeding isn’t easy either. Unless you’re willing to do the research and learn how to feed properly, you’re better off sticking with kibble which IS easy.) There’s no raw, meaty bones to supply your dog with calcium. You can either grind up eggshells (my fingers are sore from crushing them with a spoon), give bone meal, or use a calcium supplement. You still need to feed organ meats like you do with a raw diet. You need to add omega 3s which, for Risa, is extremely difficult with her intolerance of fish. I’ve been using ground flaxseed (though there is debate as to whether or not dogs can use plant-based omega 3s) and am hoping she can tolerate eggs which are also a good source. You need to use a source of fiber as well; it can’t be all meat. So I’m cooking the hell out of veggies for her rather than using grains. I already know there are several grains she can’t tolerate and I feel dogs have no need for grains in their diets. However, I feel I may have to start using them on occasion to make this diet more cost-effective.

Already, it seems like Risa has to eat a lot more food with homecooking than she did on raw. And she ate a lot on raw too. She lost a couple pounds while I was figuring things out and she hasn’t gained any back since I switched her. So I’ve got to up the quantity even more to get her back to normal. And, speaking of quantity, oh how I miss the tiny raw-fed dog poops. 🙁

I’m only just beginning on this homecooked journey. I know, as time goes on and I get used to it, it’ll be less difficult. It’ll still be a lot of work and preparation but it’ll be worth it. It’s like I always say: “You have to do what works best for your dog.” Unfortunately for us both, raw is no longer the answer.

Posted in Dog Food, GI Issues, Homecooked, Raw Feeding, Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine | Leave a comment

Mr. Chewy

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Jamie

Loading up on the good stuff! I can't wait to dig in!

The other day, I was contacted by the awesome folks at Mr. Chewy and asked if I would be willing to check out their online store and write a review about it here on my blog. I love getting the opportunity to review things so I jumped at the chance. They gave me a credit to purchase some items so that I could get the full experience. The box just arrived today so I can write my review!

First of all, I would like to comment on how well-laid-out the site is. It’s visually pleasing; not overcrowded or hard to look at for long periods of time. It’s also well-organized into categories so you can find what you’re looking for. The search function is also great. There are a couple online retailers I’ve purchased from whose search feature is not quite as reliable as the one at Mr. Chewy was. The item I was looking for popped up on the first try!

Having a dog with food intolerances, it’s incredibly important that I know what is in the product I am buying before it arrives. I was quite pleased to see that everything I looked at on the site had an ingredients list. There is nothing more frustrating than needing to open up an additional browser tab to research what’s in something because a site didn’t take the time to put the ingredients up there.

I wish I had realized I would be buying a bag of kibble before I placed my order so I could have reviewed that aspect of their site more thoroughly. But, having just purchased a small bag at the local pet boutique, I can say that the prices on Mr. Chewy’s site are pretty comparable to what I saw there. In fact, the bag I just bought yesterday is the same price on Mr. Chewy that I paid at the store. The treats that I did purchase were a bit higher than what I spend at other online retailers but lower than what I would pay locally. Adding in shipping costs at the other online stores, and the prices are pretty close.

What I really liked was the free shipping for orders over $50. Especially if you’re buying kibble, which is heavy to ship and usually costs pretty close to that, this is a great deal. The package arrived quickly and within the time frame they said it would (I’m assuming Saturday didn’t count 😉 ). In fact, this is a much quicker delivery window than I get with other online retailers.

Overall, I am very pleased with my experience with Mr. Chewy and I would probably purchase from them again in the future.

Posted in Dog Treats, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Nothing Works

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Jamie

Skinny mutt. GI issues cause weight loss in Risa quickly.

Though I experience a lot of success in general when it comes to Risa’s behavioral issues, Risa’s gastrointestinal issues cause me nothing but failure.

I’ve struggled with Risa’s gut issues for almost as long as we’ve been together. She was underweight when I brought her home but she adapted to a raw diet well and was fine for about 6 months. Then the diarrhea started. At the time, I had no idea what set it off. She’d been perfectly fine on the foods I’d been feeding her (raw meats, hot dogs, peanut butter, cheese, anything!). But then she was having diarrhea daily and losing weight. Every day she had loose stool (no urgency, though). This went on for a while as I tried increasing her bone content and feeding her a bland diet (boiled rice and chicken) to no avail. I eventually took her to the vet to be evaluated. Her fecal came back negative. The vet gave me some metronidozole and endosorb tablets to give Risa; both of which didn’t touch her diarrhea. The vet blamed her raw diet. . .and I switched to a more open-minded veterinarian. She had Risa tested for giardia (negative), gave her panacur (didn’t work), and ran the TLI/Cobalamin/B12 digestive bloodwork through Texas A & M to determine if Risa had endocrine pancreatic insufficiency or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (she tested positive for SIBO). I started her on tylan powder, the antibiotic most commonly used to treat the bacterial overgrowth in SIBO dogs, and saw immediate results.

As time went on, I realized that certain foods caused Risa gastric upset. The first food I noted was salmon. Feeding Risa salmon would result in super loose, orange-colored poos. Even salmon oil in small doses caused the same result. Once I eliminated salmon from her diet, she rebounded. I was able to stop giving the tylan powder daily and she was back to her old self. Until next spring when it started all over again. And, this time, the tylan didn’t help at all.

We tried B12 injections which also didn’t work and were no fun for either of us. After a while, the issues simply went away and her poos returned to normal. Until they came back again several months later. I tried slippery elm bark which did help calm her gut. I started adding probiotics to her food and giving her L-glutamine for gut health. Still, no matter what I did, she would be fine for months and then back to loose poo for months.

During that time, I discovered many more foods that bothered her. Too much fat in her diet caused loose poos so I started skinning her chicken and feeding less pork (I can only give pork if it’s bone-in). While salmon was initially the only fish that bothered her, soon jack mackerel was added to the list along with sardines. Now she can’t even have any fish oils without experiencing gut issues. Too much dairy also bothers her so cheese is no longer a training treat (though she still gets a bite once in a while). Peanut butter is a no-no. Duck shoots right through her. Two years ago, chicken and turkey started bothering her so they’re off the menu now as well. Certain grains bother her (like barley) and those Milk Bone dog biscuits as well.

Raw feeding worked so well for Risa for all these years.

After striking out with vet after vet and getting no answers as to why Risa’s gut was so off kilter, I sought the help of a traditional Chinese veterinary medicine vet. She felt Risa’s pulses and determined that she had an excess of heat in her body. (In traditional Chinese medicine, health issues are caused by an imbalance in the body; too much heat or too much cold. By restoring balance, you eliminate the disease. It treats the root of the problem rather than the symptoms of it. Sort of like positive-based rehabilitative training. Fixing the cause of the behavior not just the expression of it.) So Risa started on food therapy involving cooling foods (squash/pumpkin, dates, barley–which was later eliminated). Her doctor wanted her to eat a cooling meat as well but that didn’t pan out. Duck is a cooling food that she cannot eat and I had no source for rabbit (and now I think that bothers her too). So she ate beef which is neither warming nor cooling.

I saw some good results with the new gut stew being half of her meals but it wasn’t quite enough. So the vet put Risa on herbs as well. Much like before, some months Risa has perfect poos. Other months, not so much. It seems no matter what supplements and GI stuff I add to Risa’s diet, it fluctuates independent of it. The only thing that consistently works is removing what is bothering her. Though discovering just what that is is next to impossible. The list of foods Risa can’t eat grows larger and I worry that, some day, there will be nothing left that she can eat.

As it is, I’ve already found myself unable to feed a completely home-made raw diet anymore. Risa’s main source of edible bone was poultry which she cannot eat anymore. I started buying the premade ground mixes so that she could still get a source of calcium from beef which has bones too hard for her to consume. I started with Bravo! blends but they soon started bothering her. I switched to Answers Straight beef and she did great on it for a long time. Until the distributor ran out and I had to find something else. I tried Vital Essentials beef which worked great as well. However, they changed their ingredients and now have herring oil in them which is bothering Risa. I was able to get Answers again but, ever since it came back in stock, it’s been bothering Risa again. And there is nothing but beef in it so I have no idea WHY.

Last week, I thought maybe raw food was just not going to work for Risa anymore. It can happen so I made her a quick home made diet just to try an experiment. I knew it wasn’t balanced but, since it was only for a week, it didn’t matter. I took some ground burger, green beans, and shredded carrot and cooked it into a stew. I added it to the gut stew our TCVM vet designed. Risa’s poops were still loose and soft but slightly more formed. If nothing else, there was no longer mucus in it. But the poos were incredibly smelly and Risa lost a fair amount of weight in the 5 days I ran the experiment. It seems she would need to eat a LOT to maintain her weight on a home cooked diet. And I’m not sure I would be able to balance a home-cooked diet with her issues. Supplementing calcium with bone meal would be relatively easy (if not ideal) but getting her a source of omega 3s would be difficult between her issues with fish and some trouble with grains.

Home cooking has helped too but even it has its limits with Risa. And kibble, with its multiple ingredients, is pretty much not an option.

With Risa’s recent diagnosis of Lyme disease, I’ve been worried her on-again-off-again gut issues would play a factor in whether or not she would be able to keep the Lyme bacteria at bay after her course of antibiotics was over. I wasn’t even able to keep her gut under control during the 2 months of treatment. And now I’m worried that the Lyme may rear its ugly head again and cause irreparable damage to Risa. I’m already seeing some of the behaviors Risa was exhibiting before she was diagnosed that I’m hoping are just random Risa quirks and not the sign of something more sinister. 🙁

But, when it comes to Risa’s gut, I can’t help but feel like a total and utter failure. How difficult is it to feed your dog? There are thousands of people who simply open a bag of kibble or drop raw meat in front of their dogs without a second thought. Diarrhea is caused by dietary indiscretion or bacterial infections. They don’t try and pick up loose, wet, slimy poos with poop bags on walks despairing over the inability to get it all. They don’t watch their dog get skinnier even while her activity level and demeanor remain the same. I’m just so frustrated and I honestly don’t know where to go from here. I want the best for Risa and I try my damnedest to give her the best. But, it seems, I fail no matter what I do.

Posted in GI Issues, Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, Veterinarian | 2 Comments