Switch to Home Cooked Diet

[rottnreba]

I have a 15 year old Dobe/Lab who is recovering from some intestinal upset. A week ago, he vomited several times and then developed diarrhea.

My vet put her on an antbiotic(metronidazole) and Loperamide for the diarrhea. She has perked up and firmed up the bm. But she abolutely refuses to eat her dog food. Prior to the tummy trouble she ate dry canidae with some canned. I would add a bit of water and mix it all up. She usually ate with gusto. I have been feeding her Hills I/D(from vet)and things like cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, couscous, toast,a bit of salmon and tuna. I use some peanut butter or liver sausage to get the pills down. She will also eat Mother Hubbard treats. But when I offer the canidae it goes uneaten.

She is scheduled to go back to the vet on the 27th as the blood test showed a slightly low thyroid and she is on Thyrozine for that. He wants to retest.

I have searched for a home cooked diet and am a bit confused. I don't want to upset her stomach by offering the wrong things. but at this stage of her life I know she needs proper nutrition.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I will contact my vet also.

[mmgy]

I'm fighting a battle similar to this right now. My 12 1/2 rott mix has cancer, low thyroid, and an extremely irregular appetite. Prior to October, she ate exactly the same Canidae diet as your dog. Then she quit. I tried cooking, first just turkey and rice with broth, that lasted two days. Then just canned food led to loose stool. Then on to a salmon recipe I have. One day cheese is a big hit, the next no way. I started putting everything I could find in front of her, and one day I had a sample of Innova that she suddenly showed an interest in. That lasted about 3 days. Then back to the vet, and this time I requested pain meds. We had kept her off of prescription meds because of possible side effects, but this time I decided side effects weren't the priority. He gave her Deramaxx on New Year's Eve, and her appetite has been steady since. I leave Innova out for her most all the time, then she gets canned food and a bit of people food twice a day. This is the longest spell of regular eating she's had since September!!!

I know I'm not exactly answering your question, but I just wanted you to know you're not alone! Also, it helps that I have 5 other dogs that love the fact that she rejects all these things, so they can have her leftovers. Good luck, and contact moondog on this list. I think she home-cooks.

Mary Mac

[Roscoe's dad]

If you read the thread "help Barron is sick" there is a member who home cooks and listed the books to research. It might be quicker to do a search under "home cooked meals" :)

[rottnreba]

Thanks Mary and Roscoes's Dad. I'll do that search. I am so happy that Roxy has reached the ripe old age of 15. I'll do what I can for her. And good luck to you, Mary.

[CarolineS]

I have been homecooking for Maggie for over three years because of food allergies and intestinal disease. I started homecooking for Dresden a year ago because of pano. Though totally unscientific, I think that dogs sometimes know what's not good for them. If Maggie is presented with a food that she's violently allergic to, she will almost retch and walk away. Maybe your dog just knows that kibble is not the best thing for her digestive system at the moment. ;)

Dresden was eating Canidae when I first got her and she just stopped eating it one day. She'd pick and pick but never finish it up. I switched her over to homecooking and no more problems (it also cleared up her pano!). Some dogs just don't like Canidae and it doesn't take much to put them off. I think at your dog's age, she deserves some pampering and I definitely think homecooked is easier on their digestive systems.

You won't go wrong feeding homecooked meals. You need to make your meals about 1/3 protein foods (meat, eggs, fish, dairy) to 2/3 carbs (rice, pasta, oatmeal, potatoes) or 1/3 veggies and 1/3 carbs. Since you were feeding Canidae, it'll be easy to figure out how many calories your dog was eating before (466 per cup) and then make sure your dog gets the same amount of calories when you switch to homecooking. You can look up the calorie content of the foods you feed in a book or at the USDA nutrient analysis site www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl

You'll need to add some bonemeal to supply the right amount of calcium/phosphorus and you'll need to add a multivitamin/mineral tablet, a bit of oil and a little salt. That's it in a nutshell. One book that I can highly recommend that is really down to earth and easy to understand is "K9Kitchen, Your Dog's Diet: The Truth Behind the Hype" by Monica Segal. You can buy it on this website www.doggiedietician.com/ Another really good book is Dr. Strombeck's "Home-prepared Dog and Cat Diets". It is a little more scientific and a bit heavier going. You can buy it at Amazon.

Hope this gives you a start in the right direction and if you have any questions, please ask away. :)

[anni's.mom]

another big YES to home-cooked diets. if you follow dr. strombeck's plan you can't go wrong. i bought the book on the advice of moondog, and i've been cooking for my anni since late october. not only is her state of health terrific, but it's gratifying to see how joyful she is at meal time now. another thing i like is that, since the natural foods she's getting aren't so calorically dense as commercial dog foods, she can eat a larger volume of food -- so now she gets to enjoy the comfort of a full tummy. and another terrific side benefit is, she poops less frequently and in less quantity than she did with any of the commercial kibbles that i'd tried. the time involved to prepare nutritionally balanced food that she really likes is minimal, and it's more than made up for when i see her so happy and healthy.

good luck to you!

[moondog]

anni's.mom ~ I am SO happy to hear the home-cooking is working for Anni! :D There's nothing better than a happy dog, except a happy dog that feels great and has a satisfied tummy, too!

rottnreba ~ Once you get the hang of home-cooking, it really is pretty easy. I think in the beginning, the hardest part is the stress we feel from assuming the responsibility, LOL. Dr. Strombeck's book has very easy to follow diets. It sounds like your dog doesn't have any huge health issues, but is getting up there in age and just needs something that's easier on her digestive system. Home-cooking is a good choice for that and since she's able to eat such a variety of fresh food already, she'll probably take to it easily. Caroline gave you some great guidelines, so nothing to add there. ;)

I'd love to hear back from you on how she does with it. :)