Raw Diet and thyroid: a pain in the neck?

We've had some ups and downs in Luna's Adventures in Hypothyroid... Some potentially related to her raw diet... A bit of a long lead up, but I'll get to the connection, I promise.

AS I think I've discussed here, Luna had developed some crazy behavior that we believed was linked to her low thyroid. It showed up mostly as fear of all sorts of things she was previously unafraid of-- the kitchen, the car, her harness, loud noises, the agility tunnels... You name it.

Once we got her on Soloxine (.4mg BID), those issues sort of melted away. Kitchen was no longer an issue, she harnessed up and rode in the car with no problems, and she became an agility superstar...

Protocol is generally to monitor the thyroid levels periodically, since they change as the dog gets older. We didn't do the full panel this time-- just an in-house SNAP test. And she tested just above normal. Not a LOT above normal, but enough that her vet wanted to see how she would do on the next dosage down (.3mg).

Within a couple of days, she seemed a little more skittish. Over the next few weeks, she didn't seem quite right, but I thought I was probably imagining it.

In the heat of this August, we bought a couple of sprinklers for the pups to play in out in the yard. Andre took to it right away. He loved it.

Luna stayed in the background barking. Finally, she decided to attack the sprinkler. It was pretty funny to watch. But her focus on the contraption was way too much. WAY too much. Too intense. Too obsessive. TOO. MUCH.

To make a long story less long, the intensity over the sprinkler was the last straw in a list of Very Exciting Things in Luna's day and it seems that she snapped. She and Robin got into quite a fight. Puncture wounds, a broken tooth, and hurt feelings. And keeping the two of them separated while we work on lots of classical conditioning and desensitization and allow everyone's hormones to reset.

And while we allow her thyroid medicine to kick back in. As many of you may know, a low threshold for aggressive behavior is one of the behavioral signs of low thyroid. The vet agreed to put her back on the higher dose, and as long as her behavior is ok and she's not losing weight, we're going to be happy with it, "Tests be damned," as he said.

And she is better. Much less fearful. Calmer. Happier.

So what does this have to do with her raw diet?

Well!

I started trying to figure out why her numbers were higher than they were the last time we tested over the winter.

One thing that might be contributing is the spirulina supplement. That has some iodine in it.
The other thing I came across was this study from the Journal of Small Animal Practice. Basically, this study looks at a number of cases of dogs who exhibited symptoms of HYPERthyroid and were fed a raw diet. Turns out, they received higher quantities of neck material-- beef gullets, etc.-- in their diet, which contained, in some cases, the thyroid itself, and almost unavoidably thyroid hormone and other material.

This winter, we pulled Luna off of chicken and began using turkey as her primary bone source. Necks are the cheapest and boniest cut for us. And they frequently get a mix of gullet and tripe. So she's received a lot of neck material lately.

So what does that mean???

Don't worry. It doesn't mean that we will be stopping the raw diet. And no it doesn't mean we're getting rid of necks altogether. And it also doesn't mean that this necessarily had anything to do with her higher numbers. She's a young dog. Frankly, she probably should run a little high.

But it is an EXCELLENT reminder to diversify the diet. We're adding in more turkey legs. I'm also researching sources for duck frames and rabbit backs. And we may revisit chicken for her. It was kind of a random stab at seeing if she's sensitive to chicken as one of her allergies. And I've increased the amount of plain tripe that I buy and less of the mix with gullet.

It's also a good reminder that adding supplements to a diet willy nilly has the potential to cause some unintended consequences. While iodine is really important, when you're trying to balance the thyroid medically, pharmacologically, adding things like additional iodine can skew all of that and put it higher than it needs to be. Alone, adding iodine wouldn't be enough for her. So she needs the soloxine. So it's possible that me adding the spirulina put her over the top. I am still giving it to her. I think its benefits are good ones. But if we still have trouble after diversifying the diet, I might rethink the spirulina at that time.

The Nitty Gritty: Supplements

Don't get scared. I don't use all of those all the time.

Ideally, if you can offer lots and lots of variety, you probably won't have to worry too much about supplementation. But I'm always a little worried that I'm not giving them everything, and sometimes they need a little boost here and there for various reasons. Here is Mary Strauss's DogAware page on supplements for dogs.

**One quick note-- when buying supplements designed for humans, read the ingredients carefully. Many tablets or caplets will contain things like xylitol and other artificial sweeteners that may be toxic for your dog. Always be aware of what you're giving them, especially when they are not specifically designed for dogs.**

Fish Oil
Minimally, when feeding a raw diet, you'll want to make sure that they're getting the right Omega 3s and 6s. These fatty acids support skin and coat, eye health and brain development in young puppies, immune system health, decreased inflammation, and lots of other things. Fish body oils have these omegas in the right ratios and are a very bioavailable way for dogs to receive these nutrients. We give capsules of human grade Alaskan salmon oil a few times a week in addition to one meal a week where I take the lowest sodium cans of salmon and mackerel and split a single can of each between the 3 girls. I make up the rest of the meal with cottage cheese, eggs, and sometimes yogurt, keffir, or vegetables.

If you're wanting to feed raw fish, there are some that can be fed, but salmon and trout carry the potential for a fatal disease, so we just stick with cooked.

Vitamin E-- this is also important to supplement with when feeding fish oils. The body needs vitamin E to absorb these oils, and so the body's store of E can be depleted. We do roughly 1-2iu of E per pound, and I add that by giving 200iu every 2-3 days (my dogs range in weight from 45lbs-60lbs).

If fish oils aren't a possibility, there are plants that contain these same fatty acids. They are not as bioavailable or as conveniently packaged together as they are in fish oils. The correct ratio depends on who you talk to, and ranges from 5:1 to 20:1 (omega3:omega6). This is not something I've had to really confront, but now will need to because of Andre. It's clear that he is not tolerating the salmon oil, and so I will be trying flax, perhaps with some other oils or meals. Which brings me to my next supplements...

Multipurpose Supplements
When I began feeding raw, I rotated between 2 different blends: Missing Link (we will try the vegetarian blend with Dre) and Solid Gold Seameal.

Missing Link is mostly good for getting those omega 3/6/9s and some other vitamins and minerals, and it uses a more "whole food" approach-- in other words, giving them what they need without adding lots of synthetic vitamins.

The Seameal is great for probiotic help and for trace minerals-- lots of little things they might not be getting elsewhere.

I would rotate between these 2 brands. And if I wasn't able to add a lot of variety immediately, I'd probably also add in a multivitamin. This may become necessary for Andre, as well, so I'll touch on that if we have to make some decisions that direction.

Once I got more variety going, and was adding in more fish for the omegas, I switched to adding...

Kelp
Kelp is great for so many things. It has all those great trace minerals. We have found that it helps with allergies and digestion. It's also good for glandular health. That said, you should be careful with dosing. Because kelp can be high in iodine (and that iodine level is certainly not uniform for all brands of kelp), adding it to a commercial diet can be problematic in regards to the thyroid. Dr. Jean Dodds has written a great book about canine hypothyroidism and is worth a read on this topic. Since we aren't feeding a primarily commercial diet, we add it to the food, approximately 1/2tsp a day. I buy it in bulk at the co-op. Because it is such a fine powder, it lasts a long time, and even at $15/lb, it's not very expensive on a daily basis.

We have also been taking some of the Pet Kelp line of blends for a spin. River has been taking the Joint and Bone blend, and Andre has been getting the Wellness with blueberries. I can't say for sure whether they are helping or not, but the price point is good and so it's been worth a try. I'll report after we use them for a while longer.


**Those are the ones that I personally see as truly essential. They are the ones that I provide to really make up for what the diet is missing. But there are several things that I add on a case-by-case basis or as "bonus."**


Coconut Oil
We love coconut oil. It's such a great addition to their diet. It has helped with allergies tremendously and has improved their skin and coat qualities immeasurably. As I discussed before, Luna used to have a terrible flea allergy, and really is allergic to everything. She now has only very mild reactions to bites and her allergic reactions clear up very quickly, and usually without the use of antibiotics, etc.

And the better their coat and skin quality, the less frequently we treat for fleas. Fleas don't really like healthy skin; broken skin is easier to infiltrate, so the reduction in fleas was a nice surprising bonus for us.

It's good for digestion, immunity, skin; it can be used topically. It's a medium chain fat and so it's processed differently by the body and has no cholesterol. It's just amazing stuff.

We buy it on a subscription from Amazon. It's solid below 76ºF, a bit like the consistency of candle wax. I just start a dog off with a very small amount, maybe 1/4tsp, and slowly increase that until they are getting a small spoon of it once a day. We increase and decrease this as necessary.

Probiotics/Digestive Enzymes
We stuff Kongs with yogurt (when I have time, I prefer to make my own) and we use keffir when I need to get a dog's gut back to good (after a round of antibiotics, etc.). I have also used a variety of doggie probiotics, and I can't really endorse one over another. They seem to work about the same.

I have found that often the dog needs digestive enzymes, rather than probiotics-- In Clover Fresh Digest is the one that we've found and like. I like the company, and while the product may look pricey, we buy it cheaper on Amazon and you use very little of it per meal. It's also a very fine powder and somewhat sweet, so it tends to be pretty easy to administer. It tends to make a big difference in stool quality and flatulence. Andre gets this at every meal; the rest get it when needed, after antibiotics or when adding in a brand new protein or changing foods or they received an abundance of treats, etc...

Cranberry
My girls who are prone to UTIs get cranberry capsules. Cranberry doesn't so much cure UTIs as make it more difficult for bacteria to take hold in the bladder. Same as for people. I just use CranActin capsules, just one day. I also occasionally give d-mannose specifically.

Glucosamine/Chondroitin/MSM
River and Robin are the two oldest, and they get joint supplements. River gets the Pet Kelp, as well as Dasuquin with MSM; Robin gets Dasuquin, though she'd probably be fine with something a little less robust. When River's having a hard time, we increase her fish oil and MSM, as these two help with joint inflammation, as well. Nutramax, who makes Dasuquin, is also the same company that has made Cosequin for many years. Their process is supposedly better than others. The Dasuquin is much like the Cosequin, but it contains avocado soybean unsaponifiables (ASUs), which are extracts that are supposed to help with the inflammation. We've felt like it's helped better than almost any brand we've tried. But there are many other brands-- Glycoflex is another good one, and we've like the Green Dog Naturals Healthy Motion.

L-Theanine
This is one that I take, and that my girls with anxiety take. It's an amino acid that just helps to level things out. It's marketed for dogs under the name Anxitane. I buy Enzymatic Therapies for people and we all share. This is one, though, that you should talk to your vet about if you want to add it.

Bonemeal
And when we have to go a while (like more than several days) without bone-in meals, I add bonemeal to the diet to make sure they are getting all their calcium. Here's some more information on how much bonemeal to add...


So that's a long post-- and I have used other supplements at various times for various things, from incontinence to anal gland issues. I'll touch on those as I have time. But these are what we regularly feed. Again, I'd say the fish oil and kelp are the only things that we add across the board and that I feel are quite necessary; I have long considered the addition of spirulina and alfalfa and will make note of that if I do make that change. But the others serve a great purpose for us and we tailor these to each dog. One of the great things about a home-prepped diet is the ability to tailor it as we see fit. And again, just like supplements for people, you should let your vet know about these things when they are prescribing medications or diagnosing problems.

The Nitty Gritty: Basic decisions

So I read, and read, and read, and read...

I asked questions on every forum I belonged to...

I read every sticky that related to dog food on every other dog forum I came across...

I visited every grocery and club store, called every chicken-only store (we have a lot of those in Arkansas), called every butcher and abattoir...

I culled all this new information, waded through the various options, and decided on a plan forward.

It's changed quite a bit, but here's what we landed on to begin with...

The Schedule
At the time, I was still afraid of not giving them the right balance. I was also concerned that any place we boarded them for vacation wouldn't be willing to feed raw. So we decided to split the difference, and do half raw, half kibble. They got kibble in the morning and raw in the evening. Many people will tell you it's bad to mix kibble and raw in the same meal because of the different digestion rates, increasing risk for bloat. I don't know if this is true or not, but why risk it?

I started for a week or more giving only boneless chicken thighs with no supplements to try and acclimate their tummies to it. The important thing is to move slowly, adding in new proteins, new supplements, and new organs, a bit at a time so as not to cause tummy upset. Some dogs take to it right away and some take a number of weeks to transition.

We also made the switch cold turkey with the three girls; just, one day, gave them a raw meal. That was that. No one had problems, and in fact, almost all the dogs' stools firmed up immediately. It was like their intestines were saying, "What took you so long!?!" When switching Andre, because he has such a sensitive system, I switched him slowly from kibble to cooked meat, and then slowly from cooked to raw. That's another way of going about it if you have a sensitive soul and don't want to mix kibble and raw.

The vast majority of sources suggested roughly 50-65% of the meal be raw meaty bones, RMBs-- meaning bones with a lot of meat on them-- and the rest boneless meat and organs. So we chose to do 4 meals per week of RMBs and 3 meals of organ and boneless. When we switched to all raw, we chose to feed an RMB meal in the mornings and a boneless/organ meal in the evenings. We now do what they call a "Frankenprey" model, where we have a mix of many things, from many protein sources, in each meal. 

**One important thing that nearly every source stressed is that this is a diet emphasizing balance over time. No need to cram everything in every meal; it's not how we eat, it's not how any animal eats, it's just not necessary. Try to be as balanced as possible over small spans of time (days/weeks-- not months).**

The Mix

The diet we chose is based on a 10/10/80% ratio-- 10%bone/10%organ/80%meat, give or take (again, balance over time). I sometimes give them more bone than that. 

For a long time, they got a ground chicken leg quarter/liver meal in the morning and a boneless/other organ meal in the evening. 

One meal every week to 10 days, they also got a mix of canned salmon or mackerel, cottage cheese and eggs. Eggs are best served soft-boiled, but raw is fine if it's not all the time, in large quantities. 

Especially in the beginning, when I didn't have the variety of organ meats that I do now, I liked for them to get some veggies for fiber and filler and for the nutrients they weren't otherwise getting. I would either mix one green and one root/squash, or alternate weekly. I lightly cooked them, ran them through the food processor and put them in muffin tins and froze for easy use later. 

Now that we do the Frankenprey, I usually use a mix of very bony grind, boneless meat and organs in each meal.

To Grind or Not To Grind
Many people will tell you that NOT grinding is the only way to REALLY do raw right. And some dogs handle whole RMBs very well. River does. I give River a chicken neck-- a little ol' chicken neck for my 60lb lab-- and she delicately crunches and chews, never guarding it from anyone or hiding it under the couches. Allowing them to really chew, rip, and shred their meals has the bonus of mechanically cleaning their teeth and giving them a mental workout, as well.

However, I'm terrified of them choking. Little miss 45lb Luna swallows chicken backs WHOLE. Silently. In one gulp. I'm pretty sure Andre would, too. No idea how she'd handle larger pieces, but I don't entirely trust her judgement. I do know people who have had to pull a stuck piece out of a choking dog.

I am also a germophobe, to a small degree. I could feed them in their crates, but then I have to remove the bedding and spray everything down. I tried giving Robin a bone-in thigh, and she picked it up out of the bowl, set it next to the bowl very suspiciously, ate everything else, then looked at me sideways while she ran out of the room with it to the couch...

Which brings me to the other problem I, personally, have with whole prey feeding. It wasn't easy getting that back from Robin while she dragged chicken juices all over the place. She resource guards on a occasion. Not terribly, but enough that I'm not thrilled with the idea. And Luna resource guards from the other dogs. She already doesn't want them near her crate; I didn't want to add one more high value thing to the mix. Our house at the time was tiny.

So if you've got a chewer, live in a temperate climate where they can eat outside all the time (I didn't have time to police that situation), or are cool with cleaning the crate all the time, or can teach them to eat on a mat, etc., be my guest. I'm too much of a worrier/germophobe/crunched-for-time-with-an-hour-long-commute-in-the-morning to do any of that. So we grind. I'll do a post on all our equipment later...

To Supplement or Not to Supplement
Again, you'll find people who sit on both sides of that fence.

**One other thing that most everyone will point out is that variety is key. Variety, variety, variety. Variety in proteins, in cuts, in organs, in sourcing, in everything. Every cut from every animal offers something different, and so the more variety you can lend, the less (theoretically) you should need to supplement.**

As I began, liver was about the only organ I could reliably get, and cost dictated that chicken made up the bulk of their meals. So I added in the veggies and supplemented, alternating between a couple of different blends. One was a seaweed based blend, offering trace minerals: Solid Gold Seameal. Another was a general flax based blend: Missing Link. Nearly every source will also suggest, even if they are opposed to supplementing for the most part, that you add a source for omegas, usually fish oil. This can be in the form of salmon oil or in whole body fish fed regularly, or flax if they can't tolerate fish oils. We've altered this some, but this was the basic starting point.
____________

So those were our primary decisions. A basic formulary, a basic RMB, a schedule, a consistency, and supplements. Again, remember, these aren't the only way to go. Its what we decided was going to work best for us at the time, and as I've hinted at here, as our living situations, finances and sourcing have all changed, our methods have changed. But I wouldn't hesitate to go back to the way we began if that is what would suit us best for whatever is going on.

The Nitty Gritty: Research Part 2, The Reading List

What have we got for dinner, mom?

For those of us who grew up feeding the dogs whatever was on sale, and just pouring kibble into the bowl, going to a totally homemade diet is daunting.

For one thing, we've been told over and over by pet food manufacturers (and many vets) that we're somehow not capable of providing everything a dog needs in homemade food. That, to me, is like saying that I'm not capable of providing myself with a complete breakfast unless I only eat Total Cereal. Does that sound right? The cereal and kibble industries both grew out of manufacturers finding new ways to conveniently market and use their products. That's it. 

As I pointed out in my last post, many people don't provide a complete diet for their dogs-- or themselves or their kids, for that matter-- so the research is important. But just as it isn't an exact science for people, it's not an exact science for dogs, either. The best you can do is read a wide variety of material, find the areas of commonality, and make decisions for what feels most reasonable, logical, comfortable, etc. for your individual situation. 

Here is the list of things I read in preparation for feeding raw. I'll get to the decisions I made for myself and why I made those choices later. And one of these days, I'll dedicate a full blog post to reviewing each one. For now, you make your own decisions:

--The Yahoo raw feeders group; The majority of this group advocates a whole-prey model with minimal-to-zero supplementation. This is not the route I chose, but I learned a ton of the basics.

--Lew Olson's book, RAW AND NATURAL NUTRITION FOR DOGS

--Steve Brown's UNLOCKING THE CANINE ANCESTRAL DIET 

--Also talked to folks who use the Volhard diet, but did not read the book... 

--Kay Laurence at Learning About Dogs has a great little $8 ebook, COME DINE WITH US. HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book, particularly for the principles. I am not keen on giving large dogs chicken wings, as they can choke if they are gulpers like my Luna. But lots of good info, and Kay is very laid back and very reassuring.

--And Whole Dog Journal has a LOT of info. A year's subscription is $20 and gives you access to the entire searchable archive. ESPECIALLY GREAT if you like a more holistic approach to wellness. One of the best decisions I've made.

--Kymythy Schultz's book NATURAL NUTRITION FOR DOGS AND CATS is definitely a good one.

--And for those with puppies, I haven't read it, but if I have puppies in future, this will be on my list: GROW YOUR PUPS WITH BONES, by Ian Billinghurst.

--For cats, check out www.catinfo.org.

The Nitty Gritty: Research Part 1, Working with your vet

Robin waits for dinner back in the early days of home-cooked
food for her and her crystals. 

When you first start reading about raw (or home-cooked) feeding, it sounds either impossibly complicated, or suspiciously simple. Be wary of both tracks. And know that once you get going, once you settle into a system, it becomes so much easier. 

If you have a vet who isn't overly familiar with raw feeding, or who is opposed to it, be courteous and respectful. Vets went to school to care for animals. It's easy for us to just chalk up the food that they recommend to kick-backs or a lack of education. But I firmly believe that the overwhelming majority of vets only want what's best for our animals, and in the grand scheme of animal health, THEY KNOW MORE THAN WE DO. No, they do not get a large amount of diet or behavior training in school-- but that's largely a reflection, I think, of our current society that doesn't yet place a premium on the importance of diet and behavior. I do think that's changing. Whole Dog Journal wrote an article a while back about the research put into prescription foods-- it gave me a much rounder view of the big picture. And including our vets in this process makes it a learning experience for all of us-- which, regardless of outcome, can only be a good thing.

My point is, try to work with your vet and be honest about what you're doing-- whether it's raw or home-cooked feeding. My approach was to stress that this was something I wanted to try and that if I couldn't make it work, I would move to the Rx foods. I also promised to monitor the situation closely. In Robin's case, it was due to her urinary crystals. So I promised to monitor her urine pH and to have her urine tested regularly. One of the women who works in the vet's office has dubbed me The Best Urine Collecter in Town. I wear that badge proudly. 

We've also started monitoring River's blood work, and I will plan to check it annually. This is a good idea for senior dogs, anyway, but it also eases my mind that she's getting what she needs. 

The thing is, no one is really able to tell you how to do it "right," and so it comes down to learning as much as you can and then finding a method that works for you and your dogs-- or buying premade. This is probably a vet's number one complaint with raw; many people don't do the research or put in the effort, and so they wind up providing incomplete diets or risking their and their family's health by eschewing proper food hygiene practices. 

There's a misconception that dogs can't get salmonella or e. coli. It's true that their digestive tract was designed to be highly acidic and short-- to kill bacteria and move it through the body quickly. But too much bacteria, or a dog with a compromised immune system can be problematic. This is one of the things that we think may have been Andre's problem. He was sick when he came to us, had several surgeries over the course of 3 months, multiple rounds of antibiotics, antifungals and lots of stress-- all of which have an impact on the immune system of a dog. We'll know more through our food trials as to whether he's just finally over the hump and can tolerate raw bacterial loads now, or whether it was food specific.

But humans CAN obviously get salmonella easier than dogs. And the fact that we are all susceptible means that good hygiene practices are just as critical as they are when we cook for ourselves. Use a light bleach or vinegar solution on surfaces. I also use Method AntiBac sprays, which are a citric acid solution. I also have a sponge that is for the dogs' bowls only. And I wash their stainless steel bowls after every meal.

Assuring your vet that you understand these things and following through goes a long way, too.

So it's definitely more work than dumping kibble into a plastic tub just in a logistical sense. But we've found the payoff to be worth it. 

...unless you have a kitchen helper. And then it's, well...
even more complicated. :)