I have been told that Raw foods (chicken etc) Nature's Variety is better for my 12 year old diabetic Westie. Has only been on insulin 1 month. My Vet say NO only Hills Pres. w/d can food, and nothing in between meals. I bake him snacks made from the Hills dog food. I want him to be happy and that of course would be with REAL food. Would love to hear from people who feed real raw foods. Thanks Lynn
What food is your Westie on now? How big is your dog? What type of Insulin and how many unit per shot?
It seems to be a growing trend for people to feed raw meats to their dogs. Personally, I’m not fond of raw meats. Too many ways for your dog to become sick from salmonella or parasites, or from other pathogens such as E. coli. Looking at the Nature’s Variety – Instinct Raw Frozen Diets they grind up the bones along with the meat. At first, that is a huge red flag for me. 1. Bones will not break down in digestion. 2. You never feed your dog any sort of poultry bones no matter how small. The bones splinter and will cut and puncture the digestive track. Cow and Lamb don’t do that.
BUT, it depends on how fine they grind everything.
As for Hill’s Science Diet W/D, I personally don’t like it for diabetics. It has a bunch of corn in it, which is high in sugar. Bender was on Hill’s Science Diet W/D and he was getting 30+ units per shot twice a day. After making home made food (cooked chicken and veggies/fruit), then switching back to store bought. I’ve finally settled on Blue Buffalo Healthy Weight and he is down to 20 units per shot twice a day. Not bad but I know I could do better if I bought even better food. But the important thing is Bender is stable and has a good glucose curve. Which is the important thing.
Find a food that works for you and your dog. Something with higher protein, high fiber, and low fat with a good mix of nutrition and vitamins.
There is no published research that says raw feeding is bad for dogs. Not one. I tried to find it and asked many phds in the field and not one could cite me any published research.
Also note that Hills donates money too ALL the vet schools in the U.S. and maybe that explains why no one has researched this topic.
I researched online and found many sites where they talk about how dogs and cats have different immune systems that are designed to deal with samonella etc. How many cats who catch mice and rats and _____ have gotten samonella poisoning? None that I knew of and I had many cats growing up who were big hunters.
Also you will find lost of places that warn just as you are about not feeding a diabetic dog raw due to compromised immune system and again no published research on this one way or the other. I found countless folks doing it anyway with success. I have been raw feeding for weeks now and my dog LOVES chicken hindquarters and the bones are really good for them. If you have to clean up back yard poop the poop is much nicer to deal with too once they adjust to it. It also cleans their teeth. I feed my 90lb lab two raw chicken hindquarters twice a day and so many improvements.
I am looking into possible adding porcine (pig) enzymes to help with processing the fat in meat. Pig insulin is also best for them too since it is closer to what they make but I can’t find it and it is really expensive if you import it.
I would love to see if I can get my dog into remission and off of insulin. They have done it with cats and humans, dogs are more similar to humans so it may be possible since folks never thought it was possible for humans. Many people are doing it here at http://www.diabetes-warrior.net.
You should only be following your Vets advice. If you don’t trust your Vet, find a new one. Don’t play Doctor with the life of your animal. A small, Diabetic Dog is very hard to control when it comes to blood sugar. I’m sure your Vet has much more knowledge and experience with Diabetic animals than you would have for your newly diagnosed dog. We just got our Yorkie from the University Hospital where they had pretty much told us the same feeding advice. The idea of raw foods wasn’t even brought up by them. Please don’t ‘Play Doctor’ if you love your Dog :/
Turnip,
From what I have learned. All dogs that become Diabetic are Type 1. That means your dog will always be diabetic. It isn’t like a human with Type 2 and they can eat right and exercise and get off insulin. Once an animal has Diabetes, it has it for life! You are playing ‘russian roulette’ with your animals life.
Can I ask if you fed your dog dry or wet food?
I’m also having a hard time regulating my dog’s blood glucose level and bc of it, he has gone blind.
On a side note, I’m doing a fundraising campaign to raise funds for a cataract eye surgery. Does anyone know good places to post it?
I mean dry or wet W/D. That’s what my dog is on now.
Lisa,
I feed Bender dry food. Wellness Core Grain Free Reduced Fat. It works well for him. It doesn’t matter if you feed wet or dry food. Just find a good quality food that works for your dog.
Check out my comments about W/D: http://www.diabeticdogblog.com/?page_id=2&cpage=1#comment-12952
I have 2 Doxies and feed them raw meat. You are supposed to feed a variety of meats, even fish, they dont care for raw fish but eat sardines from a can that have tomatoe sauce, they lick it up!! Mine eat chicken with bones, yes, bones, they need to be defrosted naturaly, not by the microwave or hot water. Bone is important in their diet. If I buy chicken without bone, they look around for the bone. If you have a working dog or a young energetic dog, its o.k. to give them the skin. I dont feed the skin since its high in fat.
I do not agree in feeding any dog a raw diet, healthy or diabetic. I do agree that dogs are carnivores and have been from the beginning but our food supply has changed over the centuries. If you live in Alaska or on a farm in the lower 48, then I would agree with a fresh kill and the dog eats the animal immediately. I do not agree with eating any meat that has been processed in our current food supply.
Our diabetic dog ate lean cooked meat such as turkey, lamb and salmon. She never ate grains, white potatoes or fatty meats such as chicken thighs, etc. We added oats to help regulate her blood glucose and vegetables like kale and green peas. Sometimes she ate green beans, a little beets and/or a little sweet potatoes. We limited the sweet potatoes and beets because of the natural sugar in them.
Turnip….never give a dog chicken bones!!!! They splinter. They will eat up your dog’s intestines.
Raw poultry bones are absolutely fine for dogs!
A properly transitioned to raw dog digests bones fed correctly perfectly well. Bone should not exceed 10% of the diet roughly.
As for bacteria- raw pet food undergoes all manner of tests before being sold to the public. General good hygiene practices prevent any issue. Most of you prepare raw meat for your selves in the kitchen, a dogs meal is no different.
Read up on how many kibble brands are recalled for salmonella.
A raw diet requires research and correct feeding. Done well it’s far healthier , additive free, naturally teeth cleaning and a great mental work out for a dog.
Rawsome and holistic is a good face book group for info or the dogs dinner by Ann ridyard in book form or on line.
I used CBD Oil for my dogs when we go to our Vet. They are so excited when we go outside. I gave them CBD Oil 15 to 30 minutes prior. CBD oil for our pets can treat health issues such as digestive or upset tummy, inflammation, joint pain or even allergies. I tried this in my dog, I gave it when I know he faced a stressful situation. And as I done researching, I came across to this article about Cannabis and Mj kylekushman.com/topic/how-to-foliar-feed/
Can someone here give me an advice about my condition? Currently have a Glaucoma and I want to try this cannabis method on healing it because of its good feedbacks https://www.bonzaseeds.com/blog/orange-cookies/. God bless!!