[PyrNet-L] Cody and Natural Food

[Carol Brescher Boyle <carol@NaturalDogFood.com>]

Dan,

Dr Collins in "The Collin's Guide to Dog Nutrition" states that
a dog's body must be "taught" to accept new foods. If your
dogs have been on commercial foods all their lives, they may
need to learn to accept different kinds of foods. Introduce
them to the foods slowly and in small amounts and be prepared
to back off if necessary. Take a full two weeks to do this,
first adding fresh protein in the way cheese, eggs or meat. 
Then begin with the carbos/grains, then on to adding the
veggies. Record the foods and back down whenever necessary.
You might want to add digestive enzymes such as Prozyme to
help in this part. And a tablespoon or two of pureed pumpkin
(canned is fine, just not the pumpkin Pie filling), for fiber
and some cultured yogurt will also help.
  
There are many good ways to feed a dog, and you have to take
into consideration your life style, and what you are comfortable
with. I do not feed raw, except for an occasional bone or an
almost raw piece of beef that has just been seared the grill.

In dealing with excretory problems, your main concern is to
tax that system the least. See if you can get a copy of
Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats
if you don't have it already.  It is an absolutley wonderful
resource for anyone looking for other than allopathic,
traditional vet care. 

Pitcairn states that you want to put the least amount of
stress on the kidneys, so avoid any "additives" or coloring
agents, etc. In other words do what you are planning to do,
and feed home prepared food. Further, make certain that the
water is pure,  and filter it if necessary, or use bottled.
Avoid as many pollutants as possible in the form of car
fumes, second hand cigarette smoke, etc. (good advice for you too).

To further stress the kidneys the least, keep the protein to the
bare minimum. Cornell recommends 1/3 cup of meat per 25 lb of
non-stressed non-working dog as adequate protein. This is not
much. And for the Pyr, being a rather thrifty keeper, this will
be more than generous.  Make the meat as high a quality as 
possible, and supplement with rice and some vegetables. 

Pitcairn also recommend a good brushing daily, to stimulate
the skin, and mild exercise.

If you don't have Pitcairn's diet, below is what he recommends:
This would be the approximate amount for one main Pyr meal.

        2 medium eggs
        1/2 c lean or organ meat
        2 cups cooked barley or brown rice
        1/4 cup vegetable

Take the two weeks to get to this stage, while weaning them off the
commercial foods. Stabilize them for two weeks before considering
adding any supplements or vitamins.

If you have any further questions, or I can help you in any
way, please feel free to email me privately.

Good luck with Cody. You are on the right track.


Daniel Rice wrote:

> As I am sure you have seen with my post we are having some trouble with
> our Cody. We have not accepted all that the vet seems to be guessing about
> with Codys Kidneys. We have been looking at a natural diet for him and
> were considering raw. We gave each of our guys some raw chicken once about
> a year ago and they both got very sick, (diarrhea for two days.) 
 


-- 
  Carol
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 Carol Brescher Boyle                Improving the health of our dogs,
 carol@NaturalDogFood.com                          one meal at a time.

 Need a wholesome dog-friendly recipe? See the "Recipe of the month"
        at the our web-site http://www.naturaldogfood.com
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-