[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi beagleowner –

I’m glad to hear that Henry is having some progress. 🙂

As far as the diet goes, there are a few recommendations that I would make. First, I would recommend rotating through a variety of proteins rather than feeding just turkey. It would probably be a good idea to work in a red meat protein source occasionally or if you continue to feed predominantly poultry add 1 tbs. ground flax or 1 tsp. flax oil per pound of meat to help balance the fats. The ratio of protein to vegetables doesn’t have to be 2 to 1 – I personally feed much more protein and much less vegetables than that, about 85% – 90% meat/bone/organ to 10% – 15% plant ingredients (vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc.). It’s fine to feed the amount of vegetables that you’re feeding though – anywhere from 50:50 to 90:10 meat to vegetables is okay although I recommend keeping towards the higher end of the meat ratio. Based on what you’re feeding I think it would make much more sense to omit the vitamin a, d and e and add a multivitamin – any one a day type multi formulated for humans with 10% or less DV calcium would be fine, I would give a dog his size one half the recommended human dosage per day. It is possible to balance the diet with whole foods alone but it’s a lot trickier – I do this with my dogs’ recipes which are posted in the raw menu thread. How much meat are you using per 3 eggshells? You want to be providing between 800 and 1,000 mg. calcium per pound of boneless muscle meat to balance the calcium to phosphorus ratio. When using eggshell calcium you want to add about 1 tsp. finely ground eggshell per pound of meat. Why did your vet suggest a kidney formula and not suggest using the “dissolve” supplement that you were using previously? I’m not familiar with the dissolve supplement and don’t know what’s in it so I can’t offer any input but if it was working and it’s something your vet supports you may want to go back to it. I’ve heard good things about the use of turmeric (or curcumin) for dogs with lipomas – combining with bromelain can increase the effectiveness. I’ve also heard good things about IP-6 and Inositol for treating lipomas.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 4 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 4 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.