A friend of mine recently wrote me about her dog. Below is an edited account of a recent meeting that she had with her dog’s vet:
“You might be interested in this- yesterday I had a 2 hr consult with a vet who practices alternative medicine on animals- some traditional medicine too, of course, but is really into the whole food/nutrition thing as a means of preventing/treating illness.
My sweet dog is not sick (but has had tremendous medical issues in her past- being an abandoned dog left to die after a miserable life of abuse and neglect) but I am worried about her in her old age. She is 6 now, I ‘ve had her for 4 years- she has recovered fully. Anyway, this vet was wonderful. She is really into the whole Paleo thing for dogs- believes we are killing our pets with a high carb high grain content diet that is completely unnatural for them.
She wants me to start feeding my dog raw rabbits- once a week for one meal- as a means of naturally cleaning her teeth so she won’t have to be anesthetized to have dental done. Her teeth(well, gums) are really in bad shape and this will lead to heart and kidney disease eventually, which will kill her. We know this to be true and even ‘regular’ vets agree that cleaning teeth is necessary. They just want to do it with modern technology and drugs- and I have a big fear of anesthesia. Especially since this dog had stage 4 heartworm disease (should have died from that) and somehow survived with a special ($$$$$$$) treatment for it. Anyway, suffice to say she has a damaged heart and therefore I am afraid to anesthetize her especially just to clean her teeth.
So the answer is to eat bones and muscle which will naturally clean her teeth and gums. I am going to do it- although the thought of it repulses me. But the vet assures me that they come all cut up and skinned (no head or tails) just like grocery store chicken. She also encourages a very Paleo like diet for animals- so I told her about your experience and your health benefits etc from following the low carb and no grain plan. She agreed completely.
Dog food is full of crap- just like packaged human food. Lots of cheap grain fillers, especially gluten (which she told me to NEVER feed to an animal) so I am going to take her advice. Ever since the Chinese gluten in pet food scare of several years ago I have only purchased pet food made in the USA and without gluten or corn in it, mostly buying only organic products. But I am going to gradually wean her off of all the cereal based stuff except for the ones that have millet barley in them, apparently that is good for dogs.
Anyway, it was a very interesting conversation with her and I just thought you’d be interested to know that (some) vets are on the side of the Paleo diet. She agreed the whole pet food thing was about cheap product that made max profit, just like human junk food.
BTW- I don’t know if you have a dog or not, but she told me that you should NEVER give a dog a bone that has been cooked.”
What great advice, and a great story. Wouldn’t it be great if there were more nutritionists and dietitians out there for us humans with the perspective that this vet had on how to care for a dog’s health!? Of course there is a long story regarding where dogs and wolves came from, but it’s helpful to remember a wolf’s diet probably isn’t too far off from what we should expect our domesticated dogs to thrive on.
It’s very much in the same way that we use the hunter-gatherer diet/lifestyle not as being written on a tablet taken down from the mountain, but as a template to think about how we have eaten, moved, and slept for millions of years. Perhaps, this is key to understanding why we may get sick if we deviate too far from that “energy in/energy out” human development story. Here’s an update from my friend:
“I am already seeing a change in my dog after 4 days of just reducing the dry grains. I’ve got her on about 1/2 dry 1/2 canned (all meat no grain) food. Her eyes are brighter, she pants less (as she is not as dehydrated- which dry food causes in dogs) and her paws are not as scaly and cracked (also a sign of dehydration). I haven’t found a place that sells rabbit meat yet, but am looking. I will give her that twice a month for her teeth.
BTW- you might also want to add a warning to your dog owner friends about MilkBones. My dog loves them (most dogs do) but was told that they are all sugar and wheat flour- very little “bones” in them, and have the calorie equivalent of a Snickers bar.”
Sometimes it takes a bit of reflection to not instinctively fall back on your conditioned knee-jerk response that echoes:
-you need to COUNT calories,
-you need to CONTROL yourself,
you need to eat 6-11 SERVINGS OF GRAIN.
But living and eating our natural way doesn’t force you to count and control and eat 11 servings of grain, corn, beans, and rice at the expense of restricting vegetables, fruits and meat.
However, conditioned “COUNT, CONTROL & 6-11 SERVINGS OF GRAIN thinking” forms a wall around people’s brains about a foot thick. So, when we try to pass on the good news about our rediscovered paleo health and don’t get a trumpet of praise as a result, don’t be surprised. After all, most of the industrialized world is feeding their dogs the equivalent of a snickers bar to clean their teeth and can’t figure out what’s the problem with them when their mouths start rotting!. It will take some time for people to understand n=1 regarding their own health. If eating “non-paleo” is making you sick, there’s something wrong. It doesn’t mean that you’re at fault that the granary approved food pyramid isn’t working for you. You’re not lazy, or feeble, or weak willed. It’s not your fault that this low-fat/high sugar/high carb/non-human diet isn’t working for you. It’s not your fault!
A specialist on CNN, or Oprah or Rachel Ray may tell you all of these new fangled ways to count the number of calories you’re gorging on in the process of eating your 6-11 servings of grain per day… if you’re one of those people who have high insulin and are gaining weight on this “lowfat/high carb” diet, counting calories and buying your meals in boxes isn’t the answer. Well, I’ll just say, it wasn’t the answer for me.
Perhaps, though… you could try eating just vegetables, fruit and meat for 4 days? Change your diet by avoiding grains and sugar for just a week like this dog has done and see what happens? Or is the wall built with the bricks of COUNT/CONTROL/6-11 SERVINGS OF GRAIN too thick still? Don’t worry, that’s alright. Just think about it some more. We’ll be on this side of the wall waiting for you if you want to climb over and give it a try.
Do any of you have any stories about how your paleo lifestyle influenced one of our canine friends? Or, perhaps, how one of our canine friends influenced you to find your kairos moment? 
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 7:15 pm and is filed under Dogs, Kairos, Paleo Dogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I wish my vet were more paleo minded! Every time I bring one of the dogs in, he gets in something along the lines of how he’d feel better if I were feeding them something normal…like Puppy Chow. *sigh*
My parents have Black Labs that have fought the typical “pure breed” fights, the allergies, the thyroid problems, the hip problems… We’ve all heard that pure breeding makes for bad health in dogs because of the breeding for looks and not health, but our breeder was a good breeder that breed for personality and viability and not for looks or color. And we still had issues. Now that I’ve gone paleo I’ve learned about how the modern diet does things like destroying joints and thyroids. Shockingly I’ve only put the thought of the dogs problems together with their diets together lately. As my parents dogs are getting on in year (13+14) there aren’t as many health issues that could be resolved now for life extension… But that being said, how heavily could their life comfort be changed if they went paleo now? It is an interesting question. And as the modern dog was domesticated by man via the pack hunt it is almost guaranteed that they ate what we aate, and that if we thrive on a paleo diet, then so will they!
Jenn, very interesting story and excellent points. Yes, in the same way that something akin to a wolf’s diet could be compared to the optimal diet for a domesticated dog, you’re right, given the long relationship between mankind and dog, it would make sense that much of the paleo human diet would have been the same for their companion paleo dogs… if indeed one is looking at it in that direction! Yes, very good point.
Heather,
Yes, indeed. “Normal like Puppy Chow” some day may be as silly as the 1950’s ads with 9 out of 10 doctors recommend Lucky Strike for the cool smooth taste. I was thinking that if you can’t afford to feed your dog his/her birthright diet, and chow and/or gluten-filled cheap dogfood are the only things that fit in your food budget for the dog… knowing what we paleo-minded people know now…. is it fair to own a dog? In other words, along with the slogan of spading and neutering your animals, perhaps a comment or two about being financially able and knowledgeable to feed the dog the right way would be helpful. A dog is a big investment, it needs to be fed correctly. If that can’t be done, perhaps, owning a dog is something that should be put off until you’re able to feed him/her like it was meant to feed.
Did someone say something about wolves, and dogs?
I have a 17 month old wild offspring of a wild parent pup that was caught at about 3 mo after her mother was killed by a car. She looks like a Carolina dog. She went primal about 6 months before I did, I wanted to make her diet closer to what it should be. She is on Innova Evo grain-free dry and has some Before Grain 100% (whichever meat) wet. The first thing it did was get rid of her awful gas. She has always been strong, energetic, intellegent, and a heck of a jumper so I cannot quantify changes in her behavior but she is happy. She is a great beggar though and manages to get too many scraps from my husband that are inappropriate and I am a sucker for feeding her my meat. But she is generally not as receptive to foods that she should not be eating with one exception… candy corn. She goes crazy for the stuff. I mean that I can tell if anyone has any in their pockets just by her behavior. I will admit that we do use it sometimes when someone new comes into our home. We let the newcomer give her a few of them to let her know that the person is OK.
TPSW,
Excellent story. You know, I had a small poodle when growing up that was fed a grain chow diet, and without going into detail, also had horrible gas. Along with the great health for your dog, I’m sure a more natural passing of air (as has been the case with most paleo diet human adherents too I’ve talked to) is greatly appreciated around the house. Yeah, don’t mean to dwell on that too much, but the reduction in odorous flatulence is an excellent point that I think would resonate with many dog owners. I remember reading that cows eating corn emit 5-10 times more methane than grassfed cows. Whether one agrees with the call for action for global warming reduction efforts or not, just putting our cows on their natural diets would go lightyears further than the type of restrictions that were discussed in Denmark. Until then, you and paleo dog owners like you are doing their part one lil’ doggy at a time! Thanks for stopping by, glad your dog is doing well. I’m looking at becoming a dog owner again this summer.
Best Regards,
Zach
Milk from a healthy mother provides the building blocks necessary for puppies and kittens to develop strong immune defense systems. Unfortunately, most female cats and dogs that are bred have not gotten neither the diet nor the supplements necessary to fortify and nourish their bodies, before, during, and after pregnancy.