Rotten dogs and herbal remedies

Those two things don't really have to do with each other. I'm just annoyed slash pissed off slash worried sick about River. She raided the bathroom trash can this morning. She may have eaten some tampons (gross). Or maybe not. Too late to induce vomiting, so we shall see what, if anything, comes out the other end. She makes me want to pull out my hair. I'll spare you the photo.

So two things happened with her. One, she got an Adequan shot about 10 days ago, so it should still be going good in her system, and two, her Herbsmith Soothe Joints ran out late last week. I decided to just wait and see how she's feeling without it. It's cheap enough that I'll keep giving it to her if it works, but expensive enough that I don't want to feed it unnecessarily.

I've noticed some creakiness, less enthusiasm to come upstairs, and she seems to be holder her head down a little more than she was recently. So while she feels good enough to get into trouble, I think the Soothe Joints was helping her after all. I guess I will go ahead and spend the money on the big canister. 

I mentioned several posts back that some interesting things were going on with Robin.


First, I want to brag on her success. Robin is extremely fearful of strange people. After many years of counter-conditioning (using clicker training) and some agility for confidence classes, we had a gorgeous, successful walk at the park this week. With people! Pushing strollers!! And children!!! I'm so proud of her.

Now onto the less fun stuff. She had some strange bowel upset recently. Not sure what she got into, but it involved some bloody stool and vomiting, which are fairly unlike her.

When these things happen, we always go back to basics-- super bland meat and bone, in Robin's case, chicken. And good quality probiotics.

That seemed to do the trick.

I know I've discussed her ongoing problems with UTIs. I had recently noticed that she dripped on occasion, but it wasn't enough for me to move to using Proin. Proin is basically Dexatrim, so it's not exactly my first choice for her if I can figure out something else. I ended up doing nothing, as it was really just a few drips here and there.

I did notice, however, that the dripping was causing her to lick herself a LOT. I think this may be the cause for continued UTIs over the years. Switching to raw reduced the frequency, and it nearly eliminated the crystal issue. But her dripping became more persistent, until it was finally puddles.

Poor girl was finding herself in little puddles on the bed.

My old guy Simon had old age incontinence, possibly brought on by some neurological problems and spinal arthritis. But I used a number of natural herbs to help him-- a blend made by NaturVet (Senior Bladder Support) and things like saw palmetto and corn silk to encourage complete bladder emptying. These things worked very well for a long time.

Now, spay incontinence, which is likely what Robin's issue is, is a hormonal issue. But I figured these herbs were worth a shot. Some folks treat it with soy isoflavones, and the bladder blend I'm giving her currently includes soy (I ran out and couldn't pick up more right away).

Still, even before that addition, it worked. I haven't been dealing with puddles and the dripping is pretty nonexistent. it may be that she needs the prescription stuff some day, but the later we have to deal with that, the better.

Andre has just this week been introduced to plain pork. He's been eating hearts and organ for a while now, but I cleaned out the freezer and found some old freezer-burned chops that I'd bought for us and he seems to have handled it like a champ. Normally, I'd say that most grocery store pork is pumped full of sodium and so not appropriate, but this was not the entirety of his meals-- he got organs, heart and turkey necks, none of which are enhanced with sodium, so I figure it shakes out in the end. No one at my house reacts badly to a little extra salt, and so the occasional inclusion is ok for us. Not to mention, I hate to see meat go to waste. I'll use it whenever I can!

And on that note, now that agility is over for Luna (did I mention she's a freakin' ROCK STAR???) Robin and Luna are turning their attention to the World Cup semis this afternoon. Who are you rooting for?

 

Going raw

The other two reasons for switching to raw, and the real tipping points, came in the form of out pit bulls-- Robin, our APBT rescue, and Luna, a pit/shar pei mix (best guess).

Robin
Not long after we found Robin, she had a series of urinary tract infections with struvite crystals.

We knew a bit about struvites because our cats had experienced them. Our male cat, Chester, had a complete blockage that required surgery and an open catheter for a week. A big cat with a constant drip of urine is a less than pleasant event. Some of the others had also had these crystals.

I'd read quite a bit about this and about the benefits of raw feeding for this condition from the CatInfo website. While the cause for these crystals is somewhat different in cats than in dogs (in cats, the crystals, which form in an alkaline environment and dissolve in an acidic one, tend to be a result of diets high in certain nutrients and low in moisture-- we'd fed the cats a lot of fish and mostly dry food-- sometimes accompanied by infection; however, with dogs, the crystals are a result of an infection that creates an alkaline environment conducive to crystal formation), the principles remain the same: more moisture means the UT remains flushed out more frequently, and a diet higher in meat creates a more acidic environment that is hostile to crystal formation. For more info on crystals, University of Minnesota's vet school has a whole center devoted to urinary crystals. A whole freakin' center!!

When Robin experienced her second or third run-in with the crystals, the vet pushed hard for us to feed her the prescription food. By this time, we've been feeding the dogs Taste of the Wild, Simon's been getting home- cooked foods, and feeding Robin a food where actual meat product was 4th on the ingredient list didn't sit well with me at all, much less all the corn (filler), brewer's rice (cheap filler), fat (flavoring), and very low protein. We had her eat it for a while, but we saw our once muscle-bound, athletic dog's rippling muscles wasting away. Plus, she hated it. Just hated it. She liked the canned version better, but it DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A MEAT LISTED. Only by-products.

I convinced the vet to allow me to try and find a diet that recreated a similar profile with better ingredients. We used a lot of the Natural Balance foods; California Naturals low-fat; Innova senior; some of the Castor and Pollux varieties. Even though it's not necessarily diet-related, we went with foods that had similar mineral profiles, just in case, and began preparing a raw meal for their evening meals. And voila. We went a very long time without crystals or UTIs.

After a while of this, I got busy. And lazy. They were only getting a few raw meals a week. And then Robin started hating her kibble. I had to mix wet food or cooked turkey with it to get her to eat. And even still, she would shuffle to the bowl, ears down, tail tucked, like she was being beaten. Seriously, like someone was torturing her physically to make her eat.

Then she had another UTI. This time, with crystals. We used the Rx food just long enough to dissolve the crystals and that was it. No more dry food. No more canned food. No more miserable meals.

A diet high in meat creates that acidic urinary environment hostile to struvites (not calcium oxalate, which are a different story altogether). A raw diet is also extremely high in moisture, so there's that flushing that we want to keep a clean UT.

So we switched to all raw. We have yet to have a UTI with crystals since then, knock on wood. And even if she did, it wouldn't warrant a change to the Rx food unless she had recurrence after recurrence like she was before--a UTI and crystals every 6-8 weeks. As is, she's had a couple of UTIs. No crystals, and the UTIs have been mild.

Best of all, this is how she is for every single meal. I should have started filming at the top of the stairs because she literally dances the whole way down... Look at that wagging tail.