A while back I mentioned that I was changing up Curly's food to address some common old dog issues - mainly weight gain and arthritis. Ever since my dogs have entered this house, they have become a part of the product development team as taste testers. I'm still trying to find a way to put them on the payroll. The first part of R&D is, of course, the research. We make sure all ingredients used are safe and healthy for dogs. Since my background is in Food Science, I tend to read a lot of human nutrition articles, especially information about how some foods and natural health products can help with some common health issues. So I decided to do a little testing on Curly to see if the same rang true for dogs. I started with Bonnie's standard make at home recipes featured here.
But I made the following changes.
Instead of all hamburger, the staple in Cooper's diet, I selected fish and poultry bits (heart, liver, gizzards) along with some extra lean ground beef. First off, fish is lower in fat than hamburger. Not that fat is a bad thing because all dogs need fat in their diet, but I wanted to control the amount and type of fat in Curly's diet. There is some human research that indicates that the type of fat found in red meat, in particular a fatty acid called arachidonic acid, more commonly known as omega-6 fatty acid, can contribute to increased inflammation. BUT and this is a big BUT, animal require some omega-6 fat in their diet. It is an essential fatty acid so to make sure he stays healthy, he is still getting some in his food. Fish, on the other hand, is high in omega-3 fatty acids which are said to have an anti-inflammatory effect. And there are some affordable and environmentally friendly fish choices you can make if you desire. I start with my favourite fish resource - The Monteray Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program or the Canadian version called the SeaChoice. Both sites are great resources if you are concerned about your health and the health of the oceans. And they have these great wallet sized cards that you can take shopping or to restaurants to ensure you remember which choices get the green light. Other good sources of omega-3 fatty acids come from flax and hemp oil and seeds.
So I pick out a couple fish choices like pollock or tilapia. Both are white fish so fairly low in omega-3, but then I top it off with some sardines, flax oil and every once in a while - canned salmon. I know, he is spoiled. Truthfully, if you buy canned food anyway, a large can of salmon isn't that much more. From here on in I roughly follow the recipe Bonnie provided here. I add a few more veggies for bulk and fewer calories. I also add in a glucosomine/chondritin/MSM combo for good measure. Dosage for glucosamine for dogs is 500 mg/25 lbs of dog/day. You can grind that up and put it directly into the food once you are done cooking, or add it just before the dog eats. I also add in extra ground flax and blueberries or saskatoon berries. Lignans in flax and anthocyanins in blue-coloured berries also have an anti-inflammatory effect. And I top it off with turmeric. Turmeric has some very strong anti-inflammatory properties and provides very little flavour (so no worries if your dogs are picky about spices).
So my recipe looks a bit like this:
Dog Food Recipe #2
- 2 lbs ground fish
- 1/2 lb of lean ground meat
- 1/2 lb of chopped chicken livers, hearts, gizzards
- 1 1/2 lb green beans, peas, spinach
- 1 sweet potato
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup blueberries
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric
- Calcium supplement - 4500 mg
- Glucosomine supplement - this depends on your dog's size so may be best to crush it and add it directly to the food when serving.
Curly's coat looks fabulous (if I do say so myself) and it may have helped his joints. It's hard to tell with all of the medication. It is actually better to start using these ingredients long before you get to an advanced arthritic stage. Prevention is always good practice.
