Question About Preparing Homemade Food For Pets

Q: My dog was recently diagnosed with kidney disease and lymphoma....I have to get his kidneys in better condition before he can start treatment for the cancer. Of course he wont eat the food the vet recommended...is there a homemade food recipe that you can pass on to me, so I can get sammy into better shape.

A: So sorry to hear that your dog is diagnosed with these two conditions. We understand how stressful it is when a pet isn't eating. There are much healthier alternatives than using the prescription veterinary food but you need to be very careful in constructing your diet. One of the problems we see frequently is that when a pet is inappetant, people start feeding them anything--ice cream, cheese, bacon, etc--None of these are good for pets with cancer, kidney disease or anytime.

We don't use "canned" recipes for different health conditions because what works for one pet may not work for another. What we found to be most effective is to carefully construct, ingredient by ingredient a custom diet specifically for that pet. We interview you first and get insight into all of your pet's health concerns, e.g. food preferences, allergies, pancreatitis concerns, etc and then construct a diet that your pet will thrive on. We use mathematical models to determine the exact ingredients to make sure the diet is balanced. Just getting recipes from books or off the Internet, you most likely run the risk of giving your pet the wrong diet---one that might have worked for another pet, doesn't necessarily mean it is right for your pet.

Tales From Tessie: Cancer Diagnoses

Today, we discovered that our beautiful Tessie has very limited time left with us. We rescued Tessie from a horrible life as a breeding dog in a puppy mill. Her cruel owners threw her over a 6 foot fence into a high kill animal shelter after she could no longer have puppies. She had no front teeth from chewing on the cage where she had been locked for years. We heard her plight and our rescue, Ariel Rescue saved her along with another husky male. We didn't know her exact age, but the veterinarians estimated her to be about 5-6 years old. That was only 3 years ago.

Tessie never had a lot of energy and tired easily. She had bursts of hyperactivity but for the most part has been a very mellow dog. Always, from the time we had her, there was a slight cough.....

For so long , we checked on the cough, had bloowork, XRAYs and really not much ever showed up. Through great nutrition, supplements and lots of love and patience, we transformed this ragamuffin into a beautiful dog (Tessie's before and after pictures can be seen on our Testimonials page). However, in the past 6 months, her cough progressed.

Pets often don't display their pain because of their survival instinct in the wild. We are so grateful we continued to follow through with the laboratory work and went back over/over until today we received our sad news: Tessie has cancer. Because the tumor is located around her heart, there is nothing that can be done from a conventional veterinary standpoint. The veterinarian said it is either canine chemodectoma or canine hemangiosarcoma but we may never know for sure. Of course, we will do all we can to keep Tessie comfortable using diet and supplements but the prognosis is bleak. We thought by sharing our heartbreaking story with others, that somehow, it might provde insight to all pet owners. We will provide regular updates to Tessie's tales and hope that by following our story, it will be helpful to you.

Pet Nutrition Seminar To Help Homeless Animals

Volunteers from Ariel Rescue will be hosting a fundraiser at VCA Arroyo Animal Hospital (Lake Forest, CA) on Saturday September 13th from 10:30 to 12:00. Susan Davis, Pet Nutritionist and Dr. David Gordon, Medical Director, VCA Arroyo, will be speaking about how holistic veterinary medicine and pet nutrition can enhance your pet's health. $15 entrance fee with 100% of proceeds going to Ariel Rescue, a 501 (c) (3) public charity that saves the lives of shelter dogs in impoverished communities.

Special Note about Ariel Rescue: With the current state of the economy, we have been doing our best to stretch donations to help get the dogs out of the shelters and into loving homes. But, overall, there has been a big shortfall. Yesterday, we hosted a bake sale at PETsMART in Aliso Viejo which helped to pay for veterinary bills for the 4 dogs we had available for adoption. Happy to say that 3 of the 4 dogs were adopted yesterday! Ariel Rescue has saved over 1000 dogs that would have otherwise been euthanized over the past 9 years. For more info about Ariel Rescue, please visit http://www.arielrescue.com/ To make a donation, please send to Ariel Rescue, P.O. Box 723, Dana Point, CA 92629 We will send you a tax deductible receipt.

Feline Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Terms: Feline Inflammatory Bowel Disease/Cat IBD/Feline Irritable Bowel Disease

If your cat has been diagnosed with feline inflammatory bowel disease, this is a term that describes a variety of gastrointestinal disorders which can occur in the small or large intestine or stomach. While the diagnoses is characterized by inflammation of the mucosal lining in the digestive tract, pet owners may simply observe symptoms such as weight loss, vomitting, lack of appetite or diarrhea. What can be frustrating to pet parents is that their cat may have eaten a variety of foods for many years and now with age, the cat is displaying this intestinal discomfort. For some cats, the symptoms appear when they are young kittens but many times, it appears in older cats. Sometimes the symptoms can be a sign of another health disorder such as pancreatitis, kidney disease, intestinal lymphoma, for example, so it is very important to see your veterinarian right away if your cat is displaying any of these symptoms. Please don't just disregard it as simple pickiness or hairballs, there could be an underlying serious problem.

Many times, this is good wake up call for a pet parent. This is especially true since feline inflammatory bowel disease can often respond well to dietary changes. I have spoken with many pet parents who for years were feeding lower quality (albeit popular name--well advertised) commercial brands without ever looking at the ingredients. Now, that their cat is having problems, for the first time, they are finally realizing that feeding foods just because their kitty "likes it" isn't always the best for their cat's health. It can be tough to transition your cat away from some of these brands, in the same way as it it tough to take a child off junk food and introduce fresh fruit in place of candy. But, it can be done and many, many pet parents have been amazed at how much better their cats look and feel. Sometimes it means eliminating poultry, fish and a variety of other potential allergens. Each case is different however, so for best results, it is recommended that you seek the advice of your veterinarian or pet nutritionist. Click here for more information about feline inflammatory bowel disease at AskAriel.