Lily's Diet

For those of you who have read the Service Dog Blog, you may remember the trouble I had trying to decide what to feed my Virtual Dog. Let me tell you, the real dog isn't any easier!

I read multiple books and was frustrated. Can it BE THAT hard??? Can't we come up with a number of calories for the day by weight + activity level, proportionate amounts of fats, proteins, carbs, and then just mix it up? This is NOT rocket science - the fact that there are dogs in 3rd world countries and that wolves survive lets us know that this is a rather hardy creature!



I was tinkering a bit with Lil's food, trying to decide if I really did want to cook home cooked after all of the warnings about possible imbalances, etc. when we had a bit of a hiccup. I fed her some Natural Balance Turkey roll as a training treat. This was an all natural, premium, commercial food, on par with the Canidae kibble I was feeding her while studying more about home cooked food. It gave her diarrhea that had me running down 3 flights of stairs multiple times in the middle of the night (in my pajamas, hair sticking up all wild ... what a sight!)



I switched quickly to steamed rice and chicken. Her tummy settled right down and, not surprisingly, I noticed within a few days that she was scratching less and her coat seemed to have gotten just a wee bit softer.



I did the Classic Move: "Well," I thought to myself, "that's going well. Why not mix some kibble back in?"



Does that sound smart to you? It wasn't. More tummy trouble, more itching, no benefit. I was worried that rice plus chicken wasn't giving her all of the vitamins she would need. Obviously, over the long run, this is true, but kibble is not the answer - at least not for Lily!



So I was back at the bookstore. I read through Pitcairn, Strombeck, and Brown. I decided upon Andi Brown's book for it's simplicity, attention to detail, ease of asembling ingredients, AND the foreward by Dr. Pitcairn. There are so many reviews on the internet - I found one this morning from a professed "dogaholic" who quoted some DVM sources but apparently has no credentials of her own. She endorsed Pitcairns book but specifically opposed "The Whole Pet Diet" by Brown for lack of complete nutrition. This seems self-contradicting given that Pitcairn himself endorses the book in his forward.



So I am following the "Whole Pet Diet" for the next 8 weeks. Who am I kidding? I'll do week one and two this week because I am impatient - but I will take the time to do the journaling and will keep you posted on the results!



My specific goals for this dietary plan?

• "Properly formed" stool


• An end to itchy skin


• No more eye boogers (yes, the vet checked them - they're fine but seem to be sensitive to some "allergen.")


• A healthy animal that lives a long, happy life!

There she is - doing a somersault on Couch with Blankie!