A Path With Paws

What is doga you ask?

Well yoga with your dog of course! And it’s about time too – don’t you think about your dog sitting at home all alone everything you are in yoga class, especially while doing downward dog?

This week the first doga studio in the United States opened in my back yard! Brenda Bryan and Kelly Page just opened Westside Yoga/Doga in West Seattle.

What are the benefits of Doga?

from Westside Yoga’s website-
Doga strengthens the bond with our dogs by giving them our complete attention during class time by spending quality time engaging in a partnership activity. As we lift, stretch and massage our dogs during class we’re teaching them to trust in the relationship they share with us. They also receive physical benefits from the massage and stretching like relaxation, stress release, improved circulation and range of motion.

People also receive the benefits of stretching and strengthening through the exercise part of doga class. But there are other benefits that go beyond the physical.

The word yoga means union and dogs are pack animals, so they are all about union. Union means discovering a deep connection to all things. In doga we move toward union by first connecting to our dogs, then to the best part of ourselves, then hopefully opening up to a connection to all things. It’s a very heart opening practice and it’s a lot more fun to walk our dogs with us on the path to enlightenment.

Brenda also has a wonderful blog on Doga The Dog Yoga Blog.

Unfortunately my own little guy Mel doesn’t play well with other dogs and will not be able to attend but I am still excited to have this so near and will try to check out one of their non-dog classes.

While we slept last night someone plowed into my loyal little green honda civic and totaled it. It’s been a great little car taking me to visit many of my animal clients over the years but as it is getting on in years it’s not worth the cost to fix it.

The person who hit it did leave a note and is insured but I will be in the market for a new car very soon.

My husband, Adam Feuer, just started a blog on how people working together can help create a better society. Click on his name to go to his blog.

Adam has an incredible job at the Grameen Foundation making banking software for microfinance institutions around the world. As a whole the Grameen Foundation’s goal is to eliminated poverty in the world by 2050 through microfinance and technology.

It is sad to see our beloved animal companions get old and even harder to see them start to loss their mind. In many dogs the first sign of this is anxiety in the evening or throughout the night, although dementia or cognitive dysfunction syndrome can manifest in many different ways.

Not all dementia has an anxiety component to it and not all anxiety in older dogs is from dementia but the two often go together.

So what causes dementia in older dogs?

There are four main causes of dementia or cognitive dysfunction syndrome.

1. Free radical formation Free radicals harm healthy cells in the brain.
2. Hypoxia to the brain In other words there is not enough blood getting to the brain.
3. Alterations in neurotransmitters There is too much or not enough of certain necessary neurotransmitters in the brain. You need neurotransmitters to have your neurons or brain cells function together.
4. Neural infiltrates such as B amyloid and lipofusion These infiltrates destroy healthy brain tissue, similar to alzheimer’s disease in people.

In Traditional Chinese medicine (or TCM), anxiety in older animals is caused by too much heart fire related to the kidneys becoming deficient as your dog ages. Kidneys are considered to be the water element and as we age the kidneys get deficient and water in the body system decreases to a point that it allows heart which is a fire element to flare too much and cause anxiety especially during the heart peak hours of 11pm – 1am.

According to TCM, another issue is that older animals can become what is called yin deficient. Yin holds the yang at night so we can sleep. If there is not enough yin, the yang is not held and sleep doesn’t happen.

Sometimes these problems are reversible if caught early but even when they are not, there are things you can do to help slow down the progression of the disease and help with symptoms. Usually in spite of everything we do, dementia is progressive and eventually gets to the point that nothing helps anymore. This process can happen quickly or occur slowly over a number of years.

Here is a list of some things that I have found can help your older dog with dementia or anxiety. Please check with your veterinarian to come up with a plan that is safe for your dog.

1. Walking is the most important thing you can do for your older dog. Walking just ten minutes twice a day can significantly increase brain blood flow and reverse symptoms of dementia from hypoxia. Plus it can help prevent muscle atrophy and help with arthritis.
2. Ginkgo Biloba does three important things. It helps increase blood flow to the brain by vasodilation , it helps regulate dopamine in the brain and it helps prevent amyloid deposits. I dose ginkgo at 100mg per 50lb of dog or more. I sell a powdered herbal formula called Brain and Heart Support Formula through my etsy store Kingdom of Basil which can be added to food. In animals with picky appetite you can also use the Animals’ Apawthecary Hawthorn Plus
   which contains hawthorn and ginkgo. Another option is to use the product Senilife
   which contains ginkgo and other antioxidant ingredients (see Peggy’s comment in the comments section). I find ginkgo can help slow the progression of dementia
3. Fish or Cod Liver Oil and other antioxidants help prevent and repair free radical damage and stimulate brain function. In addition Fish Oil also help with arthritis and dry coat problems in older dogs. I dose Fish Oil at 500mg per 40 lb of dog. I prefer the Nordic Natural Cod Liver Oil. Extra vitamin B and E can also help these dogs.
4. SamE helps increase dopamine function in the brain, stimulates brain function and works as an antioxidant. It also helps with joint pain and liver function which many older dogs have problems with. I dose SamE at around 425mg per 50lb of dog. I prefer to use the dog product Nutramax Denosyl.
5. Remove any compact fluorescent or fluorescent lighting. Fluorescent lighting can cause a high pitched hum that humans can not hear but dogs and cats can. Older dogs loss their high frequency hearing last so even almost deaf dogs can still hear very high frequency noises. In addition fluorescent lighting can affect brain function and can cause headaches. See The danger of compact fluorescent lighting.
6. Get rid of the dry food. Many older dogs do better on home cooked food or canned food. I don’t recommend switching an old dog to raw food if they have not been on it before. From a Chinese medicine view, dry food is too processed and dry for an older dog who already is kidney deficient.


One of my patients, Luna wearing a T shirt

7. 5.Wearing a T-shirt, Thundershirt, or Anxiety Wrap can help your older dog if they have problems with anxiety. It sounds weird I know, but it actually does work.

   It is based around the ideas from Tellington TTouch of using an ace bandage. See the article Put an ace bandage on my dog?. Wearing the shirt enhances your dog’s sense of their own body and makes them feel more confident in their movements and behavior. You can use a snug fitting human T-shirt, a Thundershirt, or an anxiety wrap. I have found however that if your dog has a lot of arthritic pain the anxiety wrap is too hard to put on, so try the Thundershirt or a T-shirt in that case. This is also an idea that can work in young dogs with anxiety.

8. Melatonin can help old dogs sleep at night. Sometimes older dogs can get confused between night and day and end up sleeping all day and then pacing and panting at night. This can make it very hard for us humans to sleep also. Giving Melatonin in the evening can help regulate night and day for these guys and get everyone a better night’s sleep. I dose Melatonin at 3-4mg per 50lb of dog.Many brands of Melatonin contains xylitol which is highly toxic to dogs. Make sure your brand does not!
9. Small meals more often and right before bed are sometimes better for these older dogs. A small meal of wet or cooked food right before bedtime can help get these dogs through the night and help them sleep better.
10. Acupuncture can help decrease anxiety especially at night time by treating the yin, kidneys, and heart fire. In addition acupuncture can help with arthritis pain, weakness, and kidney function and help your dog age more gracefully as they get older. I often combine acupuncture with Chinese herbs for these dogs.
11. Reiki can help to relax older dogs and calm anxiety. Reiki is a nice calming way of helping improve health and well being as animals age.



12. Bach Rescue Remedy and other flower essences can help with anxiety and fear. Flower essences are homeopathic in nature and very safe for older animals. Rescue Remedy is the best know but there are many lines for treating a variety of behavior and emotional issues.

    You can dose flower essences by putting 3-4 drops in your dog’s drinking water every time you change their water. It’s ok to use flower essences in the water even if other animals drink from the same dish.

13. Other herbal medications are out there for helping with anxiety in older dogs.

    Making a tea or tincture from hops leaves can help calm some older dogs. You can also buy hops leaves and sprinkle them in your dog’s food. Animal Apawthecary makes a Tranquility Tonic that if used at their recommended dosage is safe in most animals. I also have a formula I make and sell in my store, Kingdom of Basil, which helps to treat anxiety in older dogs and also contains ginkgo to help with brain function called Calm and Peaceful Formula. Also see my article Helping anxiety in an old friend – calm and peaceful formula.

    I recommend consulting with a holistic veterinary to decide on what is right for your dog.

    Some of the calming herbals can be dangerous if used incorrectly or in the wrong animal.

    To use Chinese herbs correctly you should consult with a veterinarian with a background is Chinese herbal medicine or Traditional Chinese Medicine.

14. Western Drugs are always an option. There are may drugs that help with anxiety and can be given if the natural alternatives do not work or are not enough. There are also drugs out there that help with dementia such as Selegiline (Anipryl). Most of the western drugs like the herbs are not cure alls but can help make things better.
15. Some dogs are anxious because they are painful . This is an important thing to rule out before assuming there is a dementia component.

    If your dog is not on pain medication have them evaluated by your veterinarian. If they are on pain medication talk to your vet about increasing the dose or trying something else if there may be a pain factor. Dogs can’t always tell us when they are in pain and pain certainly can cause sleep disturbance and anxiety.

16. Talk to your dog about the change in their position in the house. Many dogs especially the herding breeds take their job of watching the house very seriously. As they get older and can not do it the way they would like to anymore they can become quite anxious. Explaining that your accept them in their old age and making changes to help them, can ease anxiety. See the article Love me for who I am today.



17. 13. Take care of yourself!. This is very important when you are caring for an elderly or sick animal. To be a good caregiver you need to be healthy and well rested.

    If you have a dog that is anxious at night and you are not sleeping consider putting them in a different room than you sleep in, crating them if they are ok with crating, or finding another solution. If you get sick because you are not taking care of yourself you will not be able to care for them.

    It may seem mean to kick them out of your room but it is kinder than letting them sleep with you and being a grumpy caregiver. I had to do this with my old dog Jake and it actually ended up with us both sleeping better. Before we slept in separate rooms, his anxiety made me anxious, which made him more anxious and by the morning we were both a mess.

Dementia and anxiety are some of the most frustrating and painful problems I see in older dogs and can be very difficult to deal with. Be gentle on yourself and your dog companion and try to find a healthy way to work with these problems for everyone in the household.

When dementia progresses to a point where you beloved companion is no longer present and enjoying life or in pain sometimes the greatest gift we can give them is to help them to go through euthanasia. This is not an easy decision to make and there are no set guilds that tell you when it is time. This can differ from dog to dog. The best we can do is to look into our hearts for what is right.

Also see Follow up to Dementia and Anxiety in Older Dogs – Sadie’s Hospice Care.

Please join me in the Path With Paws forums for more discussion of dementia and with any questions.

So what do I feed my cat? And how do I change their food?

Anyone who has been owned by a cat knows that changing their food can be one of the hardest projects to undertake. Of course there are those cats who will eat anything but they are rare.

So how do you choose what to feed your cat and how do you find something they will eat?

Many of these rules you will recognize from my dog food article but cats are still cats and there are differences.

Here are some rules of thumb to follow with the kitties:

1. Always feed high quality food – So how do I tell what is high quality you ask

• Ideally cats should be on a raw diet but if not…
• Feed canned or homemade food or mostly canned or homemade food
• Make sure meat is the first ingredient and that it is real meat. It should be chicken or turkey or some other recognizable meat or fish(not animal which can be euthanized cats and dogs- yuck!). There should be no by products which can be diseased meat, feathers, blood, pus, etc.

  In cats this is especially important. Cats are true carnivores meaning they will die without meat. Because of this meat should be most of their diet. They absolutely should not be on a grain heavy diet. And cats should never be on a vegetarian diet.

• Stay away from corn and wheat. Many animals are allergic to these and usually only low quality foods have corn. The one exception I can think of to this is that Weruva has a couple foods that have chunks of corn in them. I still think this is a high quality food.
• Learn how to read labels. You want to see a list of foods you recognize at the top (in cats this should be mostly meat), and then a list of vitamin and minerals you may not, closer to the bottom. Avoid dyes, preservatives like BHA, BHT, and erythoxyquin, food stabilizers like propylene glycol, and sugars and salt. For more information on how to read a label see the article What is really in pet food? from Born Free USA.

2. Here is a list of my favorite brands There are other good foods out there also but these are the ones I recommend most often. Here is a good article from Rad Cat on Transitioning to Raw Food.

• Rad Cat is one of the best raw foods out there. This company only focuses on cats and they make a great food!
• Weruva This is the only cat food that looks good enough that I would eat it! Made with whole foods and there is no question when you open the can. There fish favorites are very yummy and a good starting food to switch over the picky cats.
• Homestyle by Prairie, Instinct, Nature’s Variety raw foods are all made by Nature’s Variety. Prairie is their main line, Instinct is grain free and they also make a great raw line I recommend under the Nature’s Variety name. I have been happy with all their foods.
• Merrick makes a great line of canned and dry foods. Their foods are yummy to many cats and they have a very cute marketing campaign.
• Avoderm and Pinnacle are both solid good natural foods. Avoderm is marketed for animals with itchy skin and can make a difference in cats with environmental allergies.
• Orijen My top choice if you have to feed dry food. Orijen is a great company with a tasty, very high quality grain free food. They locally source all their ingredients and package their own food.
• Felidae is a good and solid food with some added cranberry for urinary health. Many cats really love it.
• Evanger’s makes a mackerel and gravy that many sick cats will eat when they will not eat anything else.
• Darwin’s Pet is a great northwest company which makes raw diets. If you live in the Seattle area they will deliver to your doorstep. They have a very good quality product and because they are a small company a lot of control on what goes into their food. Some cats seem to not tolerate their food as well as the Rad Cat because of the small pieces of bone in it. My cats would spit them out and leave them in the dish for me which made me wonder if they were getting enough calcium. However some cats do very well on their food.
• Go! and Now!Moderate protein diets with grain free varieties, these two foods are good solid options. Tasty options if the higher protein Orijen doesn’t work and a very good canned option
• The Natural Pet Pantry is located in Burien, Washington. They have a great cooked and raw product and will make to order if your cat needs a special diet.
• Wellness is a good solid food with good ingredients.
• Paw’s Cafe is another great local company in the Seattle area which makes homemade food, raw diets and custom diets. Great folks and very high quality diets. So far they only deliver to the Eastside but there is talk they may come over to Seattle soon. If they do they will be up there with Darwin’s.
• Update 5/20/10 Because of the recent buyout of Natura pet by Proctor and Gamble I no longer recommend Innova, Evo and California Natural and will be switching my kitties over to Orijen for dry food.

I used to feed multiple brands of food to my own cats and switch flavors and brands daily. If your cat’s stomach allows it I recommend switching brands and varieties of food. This also helps if you do need to switch their food for some health reason later in life. Now I make my own raw food and switch ingredients between meat sources.

If I have missed the food you feed your cat add a comment and I will give you my opinion on it.

3. Cats should not be on exclusively dry food ever and any cat over eight years of age (or a younger geriatric animal) should get no or very little dry food.

Cats have a funny relationship with water. They don’t drink much of it. In fact cats on dry food only are always in a slightly dehydrated state. This can lead to kidney failure, urinary tract problems and other health issues.

Dry food is cheapest and some people can not afford to feed anything but it. If dry food is all you can afford, adding a little water, chicken broth, wet food or good quality table scraps will help. There are also some animals that simply do not do well on anything but a dry food or will not eat anything but a dry food. If you feed only a dry diet make sure it is high quality and grain free.

High quality dry food with water or broth is better than low quality wet food.

4. Grain free foods vs foods with grain

Our cats should be on a diet with a high protein content and should be eating almost all meat. I prefer cats to be on grain free diets. However, if they are feed a food with grain, meat should be at least 2/3 of the food.

Animals with allergies, cancer, or epilepsy should absolutely be on a grain free diet. Many animals with chronic vomiting also do better on a grain free diet diet.

If you feed a food with grain, oats, barley, quinoa, and brown rice are ideal grain sources. Corn and wheat should not be feed to cats.

Healthy animals can be on a high quality diet with a little grain or without grain but I recommend dry food be grain free in cats.

5. Senior diets, weight loss diets and overweight cats

Just say no to senior diets! Senior diets usually reduce the amount of protein and add more grain. Older cats do not need this! Avoid anything labeled a senior diet unless it is grain free.

Weight loss diets also reduce the protein and add more bulk in grain. This is not how you get a cat to loss weight. The best way to reduce weight on your overweight cat is to feed a high protein, no grain, raw, cooked or canned food only diet! Also know as the Catkins diet.

Evo and some of the other good quality foods now have weight loss, grain free diets with reduced fat, high protein and no grain. These are ok but avoid any weight loss diet with grain.

5. The least processed the food the better (also known as dry vs canned vs raw vs cooked)

In the ideal world we would all have time to come home each day and cook for ourselves and our pets. However many people don’t have time to cook for themselves or their cats.

If you do have time to cook for your cats see my article Making crazy awesome homemade cat food.

If you can, start your cat on a raw diet or cook for them at home. There are also companies like Paw’s Cafe and Natural Pet Pantry that make homemade cat food. If you are against feeding raw food or your cat doesn’t tolerate it, raw foods can also be cooked. Crock pots and steamers are ideal for this. Although you can always throw it in a frying pan.

If you feed a raw diet make sure you use a commercial product that is frozen or if you make your own freeze it before using it to kill of any potential parasites.

In cats if you make a cooked food, you must add a supplement with taurine to it. Cats will die without taurine and while they get enough on raw food there is a debate on if they get enough from cooked. To be safe always add some to homemade cooked food. Commercial foods already add it.

In general the less proceeded the food the better. With raw being on the top, followed by cooked, canned and finally dry. But do what works for your household.

There are almost no overweight cats on raw diets. If your cat is overweight get them off the dry food.

<Any cat who has had urinary tract problems should be on a diet without dry food and the best way to prevent urinary problems is to avoid dry food.

My own cats cats used to eat high quality canned food with a little dry Orijen overnight. I only added the dry after I discovered that my older cat needed a little at night or he would vomit up bile. My older cat has since passed away but I have a new girl who loves her “crunchies” so I still feed little dry in the evening along with homemade raw.

While I have a number of animals on homemade or raw diets, many of my clients feed their cats a mixture of high quality dry and wet because of convenience and cost.

6. Pick the meat which is best for your cat. If possible rotate meat sources.

If your animal has obvious allergies then this choice is made for you. If not, I am highly in favor of switching protein sources routinely. This reduces your animals chance of developing allergies and adds some variety to your their diet. Imagine if you had to eat the same thing over and over again. Boring!

Chinese medicine also has an energetic system for working with food. See my article The dance of life and the energetics of food for more information.

I do not recommend feeding pork to cats because of the way pigs are raised and the energetics that go along with that. Pork must never be eaten raw because of the diseases that pigs carry.

Tuna should be limited to one can a week. For foods with just a little tuna for favor use your own judgement. Tuna is high in heavy metals and can also lead to problems with vitamin B deficiency. The exception to this is when you are working with a picky cat who doesn’t like canned food. Many times starting with the tuna flavors will help switch them over and then you can add in other canned foods. Never feed straight human tuna because without the added vitamins you end up with vitamin B and E deficiencies.

7. Table scraps are ok

No really, I know we as a veterinary community have told you they aren’t. But if you eat healthy food it is fine for your cat to have some. Just remember – no onions or chocolate.

8. For animals in kidney failure, the quality of the protein is much more important than the amount of protein.

For years the veterinary community has recommended low protein for cats in kidney failure. The new studies out however show that diets moderate in very high quality protein are best for these animals.

The best thing you can do for your cat in kidney failure is to keep them off the dry food. Feed high quality canned or home cooked with moderate protein. I do not recommend switching a cat with kidney failure to a raw diet if they are not already on one.

Avoid the low quality, low protein prescription kidney diets.

For more information on kidney failure and cats see my article Kidney failure in cats – how Chinese medicine and diet can help

9. Avoid the addictive grocery store brands like Friskies and Fancy Freast

These foods are highly addictive to cats and it is very hard to get your cat off of them once they are on them.

High in wheat, corn, soy, and salt and with animal by-product (euthanized cats and dogs with a little euthanasia solution in it) this is the last thing you want to feed your cat. Yuck!

However many cats love these foods. The high salt and artificial flavors make them highly addictive. Stay away from these at all costs!

Not only are they not good for your cat’s health but there also seems to be a higher rate of urinary tract disease in cats on these foods.

10. How do I switch over my picky cat to a new food?

Cats can be hard to switch over to a new food. Sometimes nothing can seem more impossible. Here is a few things that can help.

• If you are switching to raw, cook it and salt it first. And then mix a little in with their normal food.
• Get free samples at the pet store or buy many small cans of food to try. There may be one magic flavor that does it for your cat’s pallet.
• If your cat likes fish and you are switching to a canned food try Weruva’s fish flavors or Evanger’s mackerel with gravy. If your cat is into poultry try Weruva’s chicken and gravy or Instinct’s chicken.
• If your cat will not eat canned food, add a little salt. You can take it away slowly after they are eating the wet food.
• Mix the new food in with their old food. Just add a little at first and then increase it
• If they are not sick, give them three days not to eat. Most cats will eat what you offer on the third day. If your cat is overweight absolutely do not fast them for more than three days. If overweight cats do not eat for more than three days they are at risk of a disease called hepatic lipidosis which can be deadly!



• If you are switching their dry, try Orijen – most cats like it’s flavor and will eat it, even the picky ones
• Some cats get soft stools when being switched over to a new food. This should improve in a week. If it doesn’t try another food.

I hope this information helps. Do the best you can with it and try to have fun! After all, you know your cat better than anyone else!

Helpful links
Dog Aware’s dog food page More information than you could ever use about dog food!. While this is a dog site much of the information on it is also relative to cats.
Born Free’s What’s Really In Pet Food A great article about pet food companies and processing.

Books about cat food and diet
Dr. Pitcairn’s New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats
The Whole Pet Diet: Eight Weeks to Great Health for Dogs and Cats
The Natural Cat: The Comprehensive Guide to Optimum Care
Natural Nutrition for Cats: The Path to Purr-fect Health
Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food
Not Fit for a Dog!: The Truth About Manufactured Dog and Cat Food
Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets: the Healthful Alternative

Update – Since writing this article I’ve gotten to participate in a great thread of questions about it on the West Seattle Blog. Please check out the post How to pick a good cat food where I also explain how to figure out the exact amount of food your cat needs.

Also see How do I pick the best food for my dog’s health?.

Gone are the days when we jumped at the chance to get a three cans for a dollar deal on Alpo at the local grocery store and a bag of Kibbles and Bits. Most dog folks know that feeding good quality food can be one of the most important decisions you can make for your animal friend. These days many people who come to my clinic are already feeding a high quality food.

So how do you choose?

While there are no set answers to this question, here are some rules of thumb to follow:

1. Always feed high quality food – So how do I tell what is high quality you ask

• Make sure meat is the first ingredient and that it is real meat. It should be chicken or turkey or some other recognizable meat (not animal which can be euthanized cats and dogs- yuck!) and it should not be by-product.
• Make sure there is no corn, corn meal or other corn products. Many animals are allergic to corn and usually only low quality foods have corn. The one exception I can think of to this is that Weruva has a couple foods that have chunks of corn in them. I still think this is a high quality food.
• Learn how to read labels. You want to see a list of foods you recognize at the top, and then a list of vitamin and minerals you may not, closer to the bottom. Avoid dyes, preservatives like BHA, BHT, and erythoxyquin, food stabilizers like propylene glycol and sugars. For more information on how to read a label see the article What is really in pet food? from Born Free USA.

2. Here is a list of my favorite brands There are other good foods out there to but these are the ones I recommend most often.

• Weruva This is the only dog food that looks good enough that I would eat it! Made with whole foods and there is no question when you open the can.
• Wellness is a good solid food with good ingredients. In addition to their traditional and grain free lines, they have a simple ingredient line for dogs with food allergies which is a much better alternative to many of the expensive and low quality prescription diets
• Homestyle by Prairie, Instinct, Nature’s Variety raw foods are all made by Nature’s Variety. Prairie is their main line, Instinct is grain free and they also make a great raw line I recommend under the Nature’s Variety name. I have been happy with all their foods.
• Merrick makes a great line of canned and dry foods. I have used their canned line in many inflammatory bowl disease dogs with good success. And they have a very cute marketing campaign.
• Avoderm and Pinnacle are both solid good natural foods. Avoderm is marketed for animals with itchy skin and can make a difference in dogs with environmental allergies.
• Orijen and Acana are the best grain free dry foods out there for dogs. If you feed just a dry food or mostly a dry food these would be my top recommendations. They only make dry food but have their own packaging and processing plant for their food which gives them better control on keeping contaminates out of their food lines.
• Darwin’s Pet is a great northwest company which makes raw diets. If you live in the Seattle area they will deliver to your doorstep. They have a very good quality product and because they are a small company a lot of control on what goes into their food. For raw diets in the Seattle area they are number one
• Go! and Now! Moderate protein diets with grain free varieties, these two foods are good solid options. Tasty options if the higher protein Orijen doesn’t work and a very good canned option
• Paw’s Cafe is another great local company in the Seattle area which makes homemade food, raw diets and custom diets. Great folks and very high quality diets. So far they only deliver to the Eastside but there is talk they may come over to Seattle soon. If they do they will be up there with Darwin’s.
• Taste of the Wild is a newer food on the market. It is grain free with excellent ingredients and seems to be tasty.
• The Natural Pet Pantry is located in Burien, Washington and makes a great product, both cooked and raw. They also will make special diets from scratch for your dog.
• Update 5/20/10 Because of the recent buyout of Natura pet by Proctor and Gamble I no longer recommend Innova, Evo, California Natural, Karma, or Heathwise.

I feed multiple brands of food to my own dog and switch flavors and brands daily. If your dog’s stomach allows it I recommend switching brands and varieties of food.

If I have missed the food you feed your dog add a comment and I will give you my opinion on it.

3. If you have an animal over eight years of age (or a younger geriatric animal) they should not be on an exclusively dry food. Ideally they should have little to no dry food. If your dog loses too much weight on a diet of no dry food try adding in an egg a day and canned sweet potato or pumpkin.

Dry food can be hard on the kidneys of older animals. Home cooked and high quality canned food are the best option for these guys. Older animals can be on raw food although some older dogs have a hard time switching to raw late in life if they have been on processed food since puppy hood. If possible find a holistic vet to work with on diet for older dogs or move very slowly as you switch them.

Dry food is cheapest and some people can not afford to feed anything but it. If dry food is all you can afford, adding a little water, chicken broth, wet food or good quality table scraps will help. There are also some animals that simply do not do well on anything but a dry food or will not eat anything but a dry food. If you feed only a dry diet make sure it is high quality.

High quality dry food with water or broth is better than low quality wet food.

4. Grain free foods vs foods with grain

Our dogs should be on a diet with a high protein content and should be eating mostly meat.

Animals with allergies, cancer, or epilepsy should ideally be on a grain free diet. Many animals with chronic vomiting also do better on a grain free diet or low grain diet.

Some animals prone to diarrhea do better with a food with some grain.

Healthy animals can be on a high quality diet with or without grain but if you feed just a dry food I highly recommend it being grain free.

5. So if grain, how much grain?

There should always be more meat than grain in the food you feed your animal.

Meat should be the top ingredient but also beware of the multiple names for the same thing. If there are three corn or grain based ingredients right after meat then there is probably more grain in the food. Also stay away from foods with corn and wheat if possible.

The more whole grain the better. Oats, barley, quinoa, and brown rice are ideal grain sources. Corn, wheat and white rice are not as good.

5. The least processed the food the better (also known as dry vs canned vs raw vs cooked)

In the ideal world we would all have time to come home each day and cook for ourselves and our pets. However many people don’t have time to cook for themselves or their dogs.

If you have the time and/or money start your dog on a raw diet or cook for them at home. There are also companies like Paw’s Cafe which make homemade dog food. If you are against feeding raw food or your dog doesn’t tolerate it, raw foods can also be cooked. Crock pots and steamers are ideal for this. Although you can always throw it in a frying pan.

If you feed a raw diet make sure it is a frozen commercial product or that you freeze the meat or the food before you feed it to kill of any parasites that may be in the food. Pork and fish should never be fed raw to dogs.

In general the less proceeded the food the better. With raw being on the top, followed by cooked, canned and finally dry. But do what works for your household.

There are almost no overweight dogs on raw diets. If your dog is overweight get them off the dry food.

My own dog, who is a cancer survivor, eats high quality canned food. He doesn’t tolerate raw and I don’t have time to cook for him. We found that he also needed some grain to keep his digestion healthy.

While I have a number of animals on homemade or raw diets, many of my clients feed their dogs a mixture of high quality dry and wet because of convenience and cost.

6. Pick the meat which is best for your cat or dog. If possible rotate meat sources.

If your animal has obvious allergies then this choice is made for you. If not, I am highly in favor of switching protein sources routinely. This reduces your animals chance of developing allergies and adds some variety to your their diet. Imagine if you had to eat the same thing over and over again. Boring!

Chinese medicine also has an energetic system for working with food. See my article The dance of life and the energetics of food for more information.

I do not recommend feeding pork to dogs because of the way pigs are raised and the energetics that go along with that. Pork must never be eaten raw because of the diseases that pigs carry.

7. Table scraps are ok

No really, I know we as a veterinary community have told you they aren’t. But if you eat healthy food it is fine for your dog to have some. Just remember – no grapes, no raisins, no onions, no chocolate.

8. For animals in kidney failure, the quality of the protein is much more important than the amount of protein.

For years the veterinary community has recommended low protein for dogs in kidney failure. The new studies out however show that diets moderate in very high quality protein are best for these animals.

Avoid the low quality, low protein prescription kidney diets and feed a canned or whole cooked food diet with moderate protein and some grain or potato instead. Try your best to not feed dry food to these guys.

9. Do what is best for your dog and you.

If all the diets I recommend give your dog diarrhea, find something else to feed. If you can’t feed a raw diet it’s ok. If you don’t have time to cook, well you’re just like me. These are recommendations, not rules that are set in stone.

Do the best you can and try to have fun with it! After all you know your dog better than anyone else!

Helpful links
Dog Aware’s dog food page More information than you could ever use about dog food!.
Born Free’s What’s Really In Pet Food A great article about pet food companies and processing.

Books about dog food and diet
Dr. Pitcairn’s New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats
The Whole Pet Diet: Eight Weeks to Great Health for Dogs and Cats
The Healthy Dog Cookbook: 50 Nutritious & Delicious Recipes Your Dog Will Love

Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food
Not Fit for a Dog!: The Truth About Manufactured Dog and Cat Food
Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets: the Healthful Alternative

Also see How do I pick the best food for my cat’s health?.

My business has been very busy since the new year and it’s been awhile since I’ve written a new post.

Right now I am in the middle of writing

• a detailed article on what to feed your cat and dog

and

• an article on old age dementia and anxiety in dogs.

Hopefully both will be up in the next couple weeks.
Stay tuned!

Please support this bill to help end overpopulation and the killing of cats and dogs in our shelters every year.

See Save Washington Pets for more information.

Do we have to kill nearly 50 percent of the animals that go into Washington’s shelters, year after year?

Homelessness is the single leading cause of death for healthy cats and dogs in the United States. About five million animals are killed in our country’s shelters each year.

In Washington State, a survey of shelters revealed that over 60,000 cats and dogs were reported euthanized in Washington shelters in 2005. The number of animals actually euthanized is higher, since only one third of the survey recipients responded. Between 2001 and 2005, large shelters that consistently responded to the survey reported euthanizing between 45 and 48 percent of the animals brought to them each year. The euthanasia rate has remained at these levels for the last several years.

It’s not just a matter of being humane. It costs a lot of money to handle homeless animals in shelters and through animal control agencies and rescue organizations. Washington State taxpayers spend millions of dollars each year to handle these animals.

The Sensible Solution

Spay/Neuter. The most effective and humane way to reduce the number of animals dying in shelters is a targeted, statewide spay/neuter program.

Senate Bill 5329/House Bill 1406 Will:

• reduce the killing of homeless cats and dogs through an effective, targeted statewide spay/neuter network
• reduce the burden on shelters, rescue organizations, and other public and non-profit animal welfare organizations that are overwhelmed with cats and dogs needing care and good homes and thereby reduce the costs to Washington taxpayers;
• reduce injuries and death, costs, and liability resulting from dog attacks, through financial support for spay/neuter surgeries; and
• save lives and humanely reduce the population of free-roaming, homeless, and feral cats through spay/neuter surgeries.

How This Will Be Accomplished

Using a network of private, public, and non-profit clinics and services around the state, spay/neuter surgeries will be performed on the categories of animals most significantly contributing to the overpopulation crisis: cats and dogs belonging to low-income residents of Washington, and free-roaming or feral cats.

There are an estimated 1.66 million to 1.86 million unaltered cats and dogs in Washington State. The goal of the bill is to help fund 70,000 or more spay/neuter surgeries per year under this program. The majority of surgeries would be performed on cats and dogs belonging to low-income residents of Washington. Low-income pet owners are the least likely to be able to afford spay/neuter surgery costs for their pets, and are most likely to own pets that have unplanned litters of kittens or puppies.

The estimated cost of this program is $11.56 million per year. The program would be funded by a fee on pet foods distributed in Washington state. The fee would not be applied at the retail level. The direct cost impact of the fee on a 5.5- ounce can of pet food would be less than one cent. The direct impact of the fee on a one-pound bag of pet food would be less than three cents.

The Benefits

Similar programs have been established in other states, including Connecticut, Delaware, Ilinois, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont. The New Hampshire program was started in 1994 and in its first few years a 34-percent decrease in shelter admissions and a 75-percent decrease in euthanasia were reported. New Hampshire has also reported a savings from animal impoundment costs due to its program. As these states have shown, there is a better way to address the pet overpopulation crisis. An aggressive spay/neuter program is the more humane and effective solution.

Ending euthanasia of healthy dogs and cats is the primary goal of the bill. However, there are other key benefits to establishing a statewide spay/neuter program.

Reduced animal care and control, and shelter costs. Controlling the cat and dog population will help save taxpayers’ dollars by reducing the number of animals handled by local animal care and control agencies. One Washington shelter reported the average cost to handle an animal is $93. Stray animal pickup and delivery to the shelter costs an additional $150 to $200. For every animal that is not handled by animal control or shelters, the savings can be significant.

Reduced dog bites, suffering, and costs. Nearly two percent of the US population, or 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs each year. In 2003, the Insurance Information Institute reported that dog bites accounted for a quarter of all homeowner’s liability claims, totaling $321.6 million. In 2007, the claims total had risen to $356 million. Research has shown that unaltered dogs are much more likely to cause human injury from bites than altered dogs. A study using data collected in Multnomah County, Oregon, showed that unaltered female dogs were about ten times as likely to be reported for bite injuries than spayed female dogs, while unaltered male dogs were about seven times as likely to be reported for bite injuries than neutered male dogs. (Overall, male dogs were more likely to cause bite injuries than female dogs.) Although several factors are related to dog bite incidents, the status of dogs as either intact or spayed/neutered is significant. By increasing the spaying and neutering of dogs by making surgery accessible and affordable, we can expect a reduced number of dog bites and injuries, less pain and suffering, lost time, legal costs, and liability.

We Need Your Help!

What can you do?

• Contact your legislator! To find your legislator see District Finder. This bill is in committee right now and two of the legislators in that committee are Brian Blake 360-786-7870 and Brian Hatfield 360-786-7636.
• Check out Save Washington’s Pets website to help them promote this bill.

From time to time, people tell me, “lighten up, it’s just a dog,” or, “that’s a lot of money for just a dog.” They don’t understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for “just a dog.”

Some of my proudest moments have come about with “just a dog.” Many hours have passed and my only company was “just a dog,” but I did not once feel slighted.

Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by “just a dog,” and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of “just a dog” gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day.

If you, too, think it’s “just a dog,” then you will probably understand phases like “just a friend,” “just a sunrise,” or “just a promise.”

“Just a dog” brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. “Just a dog” brings out the compassion and patience that make me a better person.

Because of “just a dog” I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future. So for me and folks like me, it’s not “just a dog” but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment.

“Just a dog” brings out what’s good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day. I hope that someday they can understand that it’s not “just a dog” but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being “just a man.”

So the next time you hear the phrase “just a dog.” just smile, because they “just don’t understand.

-Richard Biby

Thanks to a forum poster on the West Seattle Blog for this wonderful quote.