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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Eating Liver and Red Meats
| I'm trying to find some information regarding feeding Tessy Liver and Red meats. The vet said that it would be alright to feed her a cup of liver throughout the day but I'm not overly certain if this is a good choice. She also gets generous portions of red meats and chicken/turkey thoughout the day. Veggies and rice she hates. Should I try to hold back feeding her to see if she gets hungry and then eats the veggies and rice? She also gets 2 vitasorbs (multivitamins) per day. Thanks Tessy and Johnny |
| Jonathan NS |
| Tess, Aiha is not an iron deficiency, so I don't understand your vet saying it is ok to give a cup of liver a day. That sounds like an awful lot. The gals or guys here may have more information. Dolores |
| Dolores Wi |
| Sorry the post should have read Jonathan I'm sure Tess can't read but then again.....Dolores |
| Dolores |
| Jonathan, Take a look at this diet. http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/Liver%20cleansing%20diet.htm I'm not sure where I read this but, I recall a vet on a webpage saying not to feed too much organ meat that "filters" such as liver, kidney, etc. Ren eats white fish and potaotes daily as well as chicken, carrots, peas, and lean beef. SUE |
| Susie Delaware |
| Jonathon, I am sorry you are getting such conflicting information. I hope I can help you. I have been making homemade food for my dogs for many years and have done extensive research on it. The best place to get canine diet information is the k9nutrition group on yahoo. Dogs are in essence really related to their wild brethren in respect to diet. They are opportunists and will eat anything they can. This is a survival skill. But for optimum nutrition, they really are designed to digest protein and fats the best. Their digestive tract is very short so they don't have the time to digest complex foods like grains in the same way that humans do (it moves mostly undigested to the colon and creates gas). They douse the food in their stomachs with a very acidic bath and this is sufficient to help them digest even bones. It also allows them to eat all kinds of nasty bacteria and not have it bother them (if they are healthy). Dogs can survive on kibble ok but it's not idea. They don't really need grains/starches like grains and in fact can develop allergies to things like wheat, corn or soy. If you go to k9nutrition and survey folks there, you will find each person that feeds homemade food has a different version of the diet. So there is no one correct way to feed nutritious food to your dog. The basics are the same though. The diet should contain a goodly portion of protein, a moderate amount of fat and some kind of calcium, whether it be a raw meaty bone or bone meal. Many people use small amounts of vegetables. Some still add foods like rice or barley. I personally use some vegetables, multiple raw meats, eggs and raw meaty bones for both dogs. Liver and heart are considered (on k9nutrition) to be excellent additives to the diet that provide many important nutrients. The hard rule is: no more than 1 oz per 10 pounds of dog per week. Any more than this can cause diarrhea. So Chance is around 100 lbs, so he gets a little more than an ounce a day. He likes it raw, Cassie looks at me like I am out of my mind when I expect her to eat it raw, but she loves it cooked. The confusing connection with anemia actually comes from old geratol ads on tv that told us that iron poor blood can make us tired. The truth is that *some* folks develop anemia from low iron, but not all. In fact, there are some people who have a disease that stores too much iron in their body and they must donate blood regularly or it will seriously impact their health. *Some* dogs can have anemia from low iron stores, but not all. This is easily determined by looking at the M values on a CBC. A dog that has smaller than normal red blood cells and lower than normal hemoglobin are considered to have microcytic hypochromic anemia, most often related to iron deficiency. But this often is not necessarily a dietary deficiency but rather a malabsorption problem in the small intestine. Go ahead and give moderate fat meat and eggs. Eggs especially are excellent food, easily digestible and full of nutrition. Small amounts of steamed veggies like carrots, green beans and spinach are what I also add. If you can't deal with raw meaty bones, get some food grade bone meal and add that to the diet. There must be a proper balance of calcium to phosphorus. Solid Gold has a bone meal product for dogs. my best patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
| Thanks Patrice, you're a savior! I'm going to cut back on Tessies liver intake and mix it up with more healthier alternatives. She seems to like scrambled eggs so maybe I'll add them in daily. I have not tried her with white fish yet, that'll be tried next maybe. I'm going to check out the K9nutrition group on yahoo also. Thanks again from both me and Tessy. |
| Jonathan |
| Jonathon, Glad to be of help. I think that feeding a homemade diet is pretty easy. *I feel* that the part that makes most folks turn away from feeding their dogs home prepared meals... they think it is too hard. They are afraid to do something wrong. And most vets and dog food companies would have you believe that you are not capable of feeding a balanced diet this way. Can you imagine if baby food companies told mothers that they might injure their baby if they made their own food at home? The person who used to moderate k9nutrition on yahoo has a wonderful website devoted to everything about canine diet. Mary Strauss's dogaware is an excellent resource. http://www.dogaware.com/dogfeeding.html The part of this page devoted to making a balanced home made diet is: http://www.dogaware.com/dogfeeding.html#Balance There are nearly complete instructions there on how to do either a completely raw diet that includes raw meaty bones or a raw or cooked diet that does not include bones. There are several sample diets. The current moderator of k9nutrition Lew Olson also has a good page for fixing a balanced homemade diet: http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/cooked-diet/?main_page=Apr2006.php And as always, k9nutrition on yahoo is available all the time for questions. It is a very active list with 5300 members. (and 5300 different versions of homemade diets!) If you join this list and post a sample diet that you have made, Lew will look it over and advise changes that will make it more balanced. patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
This thread was discussed between 27/02/2009 and 28/02/2009
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