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?

 

Moving to home-cooked foods

As I mentioned before, there were several main tipping points for the move away from commercial foods...

Simon
Simon was our old man. He was extremely fearful, and due to some poor training and socialization (or rather lack of), he lashed out when he was afraid. Meaning he snapped. Or he just bit. We had inadvertently trained the growl out of him (a very bad thing. Please research clicker training if you have a fearful dog and APPRECIATE a growling dog) so his warning signs were subtle, at best.

He had become intolerant of handling by us as well-- primarily due to painful arthritis and neurological problems-- and he had some moments where we weren't sure he fully recognized us. The vet was fairly certain he had canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD), ie, doggie alzheimers.

I had read a study about "aggression" in dogs being related to high protein. The study dealt with the use of tryptophan, and studied the effects on dominance and territorial aggression. I knew that Simon's problems weren't really those things, but I thought it couldn't hurt.

One of Simon's symptoms from his neurological problems was also urinary incontinence. Grain-free foods had been touted to help, at least anecdotally.

So I put him on grain-free, low protein foods. We started with a formula from Pinnacle. We also went through a variety of the Natural Balance foods.

Several things happened.

Learning about dog behavior, canine communication, and becoming more hands-off with Simon took us much further in terms of his "aggression." Helping him feel safe in our home did much more than low protein ever would. His aggression was fear-based. Not "dominance." Not "territorial," though he had become a resource guarder (again, more than likely due to a history of having things unceremoniously taken away from him).

We noticed muscle-wasting from the low-protein. And several herbs for incontinence did more for that than grain-free had.

He also hated the food. Hated it.

I picked up a copy of Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health.

First and foremost, it is an invaluable resource for basic health and diet information for our pets. The recipes have been analyzed, so you can rest assured that your home-prepped food is supplying everything they need.

I started cooking some of the simpler recipes for Simon and mixing them with his kibble. The recipes here are much more grain-heavy than I was comfortable with (not for the incontinence, but simply because dogs don't need quite that much grain). So I leaned toward things like quinoa and whole grains like oats brown rice. We used turkey and ground beef and eggs; green beans, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes. And he got a spoon of canned pumpkin, because just like any other little old man, he needed his fiber to keep him regular. :)

As old as he was, and as green as I was at all of this, I was uncomfortable with raw. But he was immediately thrilled with his meals again. Happy to see his bowl, great appetite, and no more loss of muscle mass.

A note on protein:
This is my understanding; I will try to come back with some links to the research I did on this (again, why I should have been documenting all this from the start)...

A raw or cooked diet is very high moisture content-- I want to say 70% or more. Plus there's bone and there's fat. It's not a massively high protein diet, in terms of the base %.

However, when you get kibble, it does not tell you where that protein comes from, plant or animal; plant protein is certainly cheaper. It's also very low moisture. A higher percentage of protein that comes directly from an animal source with a higher moisture content is going to be more bioavailable to the dog. So even though it might seem like a lower-protein food %-wise, it might be higher than even a high protein kibble. It's not totally clear in most cases, given the information we have about the commercial kibble.