Friday, August 2, 2013
Dear Ask Ariel:  My doxie is on a homemade diet with cooked turkey and dehydrated veggies. I'm wondering if he's not digesting the cooked turkey well? He has itchy ears, runny eyes, gas, burping, squishy poop and is CONSTANTLY licking his boy parts. He's had blood work and urine done and nothing is wrong? Confusing!    Jordan

Dear Jordan:  There are a couple of issues going on here.  First of all, while we would like to think that cooking a homemade diet is optimal to using commercial food, this is not always the case.  Dehydrated vegetables for example, are much higher in carbohydrates and lack the vitality, nutrients and enzymes that fresh or steamed frozen vegetables would have.  Think of a comparison between a dried apricot and a fresh apricot--the sugar level is different.  More carbohydrates and sugar in the diet feed bacteria and yeast overgrowth in the diet.  Commercial frozen raw diets are now very balanced, fresh and highly nutritious, that unless there is a specific reason why you would need to use a homemade diet (e.g. a liver or kidney issue), then it is far better to use those along with some fresh vegetables and/or some homemade fish to round out the diet.  The raw foods are highly digestible and along with products such as K9 Digestive Enzymes, should really help firm up your dog's stool.

Second, turkey and all poultry is a big allergen.  If your dog has severe allergy symptoms, then you need to feed a novel protein source such as rabbit and fish.  Finally, right now is the height of allergy season.  So, supplements that would help your dog include Power Probiotic, K9 Yeast Defense, Notatum and AllerEaze.  You can find them on this link for allergy treatments.  The Power Probiotic is essential for all cats and dogs---it replenishes the natural "friendly bacteria" in the intestines which make up the majority of your dog's immune system.  Licking at the genitals is usually due to yeast overgrowth so using the K9 Yeast Defense along with the Power Probiotic should really help.  Use Notatum because it helps control odors, fight infection and works synergistically with the K9 Yeast Protocol.