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Personal Experience Example Of How Natural Diet & Healthcare Choices Can Make A Huge Difference For Your Dog
I am on a few breed lists for the breed I have which is the German Shepherd Dog. One of the ones I am on has members who use all different types of diets, and healthcare choices for their dogs.
Many dog owners tend to very quickly become fanatics about their breed, so there are lots of people on these lists, and one health issue which comes up time and again, and is helped a great deal and often even cured with a natural diet and healthcare approach is pancreatic weakness/issues.
My own Jess was the reason we found out about raw feeding all those yrs ago, she spent the first 6 yrs of her life very skinny, and underweight, with a constantly gurgly tummy, and vomiting and diarrhoea [v&d] on a daily basis with mucousy stools and seizures.
She was also highly nervous and skittish.
We spent years constantly changing from food to food periodically, trying to find one she would be o.k. on, to no avail. Our vet said she had Pancreatic Insufficiency, and, not realising at that time, that this was not something which he could diagnose ‘by sight’ I believed him and we followed his advise and started cooking for her ourselves. This helped a great deal, but she was still having the occasional bouts of v&d, and still would not put weight on and still was nervous [we actually believed she was just a highly nervous dog], and still had seizures albeit not as often.
We then found out about the barf version of the natural rawfeeding diets, and began also to learn about how damaging the usual flea/worm/tick treatments are on a dogs body, and that they are actually quite strong pesticides. We researched this further, not liking what we were finding out, and found the natural alternatives which can be used in replacement of these toxic treatments.
The barf [biologically appropriate raw food] diet is a diet of fresh raw meaty bones and raw meat, fish, eggs and vegetables. She was switched very suddenly to the natural diet, as we felt things couldn't get any worse than they already were, for any of us [!] and from day one the gurgling stopped dead, there was no more mucous, and no more vomiting or diarrhoea ‘at all’ and she suddenly filled out to look like a 6 yr old dog - instead of a skinny pup ! We had lovely small, firm, properly coloured stools which could so easily be picked up and leave no mark.
It was amazing - the weight came on seemingly 'overnight', the nervous, skittish disposition just totally went, the seizures totally stopped over a short period of time, and she became instead one of the most loving, calm, motherly dogs we have had the privilege to share our lives with.
Was it pancreatic insufficiency?
I believe it was, as this breed is susceptible to it, and the more I have heard about it over the years, the more the picture fits - and a natural, and more species appropriate diet and more natural healthcare choices which were kinder and gentler on her body, was the only answer we found in 6 yrs of looking.
J.Arnold 2008
Many dog owners tend to very quickly become fanatics about their breed, so there are lots of people on these lists, and one health issue which comes up time and again, and is helped a great deal and often even cured with a natural diet and healthcare approach is pancreatic weakness/issues.
My own Jess was the reason we found out about raw feeding all those yrs ago, she spent the first 6 yrs of her life very skinny, and underweight, with a constantly gurgly tummy, and vomiting and diarrhoea [v&d] on a daily basis with mucousy stools and seizures.
She was also highly nervous and skittish.
We spent years constantly changing from food to food periodically, trying to find one she would be o.k. on, to no avail. Our vet said she had Pancreatic Insufficiency, and, not realising at that time, that this was not something which he could diagnose ‘by sight’ I believed him and we followed his advise and started cooking for her ourselves. This helped a great deal, but she was still having the occasional bouts of v&d, and still would not put weight on and still was nervous [we actually believed she was just a highly nervous dog], and still had seizures albeit not as often.
We then found out about the barf version of the natural rawfeeding diets, and began also to learn about how damaging the usual flea/worm/tick treatments are on a dogs body, and that they are actually quite strong pesticides. We researched this further, not liking what we were finding out, and found the natural alternatives which can be used in replacement of these toxic treatments.
The barf [biologically appropriate raw food] diet is a diet of fresh raw meaty bones and raw meat, fish, eggs and vegetables. She was switched very suddenly to the natural diet, as we felt things couldn't get any worse than they already were, for any of us [!] and from day one the gurgling stopped dead, there was no more mucous, and no more vomiting or diarrhoea ‘at all’ and she suddenly filled out to look like a 6 yr old dog - instead of a skinny pup ! We had lovely small, firm, properly coloured stools which could so easily be picked up and leave no mark.
It was amazing - the weight came on seemingly 'overnight', the nervous, skittish disposition just totally went, the seizures totally stopped over a short period of time, and she became instead one of the most loving, calm, motherly dogs we have had the privilege to share our lives with.
Was it pancreatic insufficiency?
I believe it was, as this breed is susceptible to it, and the more I have heard about it over the years, the more the picture fits - and a natural, and more species appropriate diet and more natural healthcare choices which were kinder and gentler on her body, was the only answer we found in 6 yrs of looking.
J.Arnold 2008
