Raw Food Diet, Day 319- Oh. My. Dog.

I, Stanislaw, tasted squirrel yesterday. First. Time. Ever.

Mom, Big Pupi and I ran to the bark park for an afternoon romp. It was during our exit that I got a whiff of something delicious. I veered to the left, dipped my head beneath the snow, and came up with the most mangled, broken, bloody, frozen squirrel carcass you've ever seen.

IT WAS AMAZING!!!

I scooted about with my head held sky high, lifted my legs and pranced like I was King of the World. Just call me Sir Stanislaw, the greatest squirrel hunter alive!! This guy practically jumped into my mouth! HA! Stupid delicious squirrel!!

I offered him a warm home (in my belly) but I was brutally forced to drop my raw feasting fare and leave it there in the snow for another dog to find. My pallet is precise and refined and it told me that squirrel meat is the most delicious kind of meat there is. Even when it's frozen so solid that my taste buds go numb. But I know it was delicious. I mean look at the little tree lobsters. THEY ARE SO DELICIOUS.
Squirrel in my bowl, please.
Sir Stanislaw, the King of the World

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Big Pupi talks about the food in your bowl:

Hello to all my fellow feasters out there, beastly and mini. I have some important news about premade pet foods. I'm sure all of you have heard about the craziness with the pet food recalls these past few years. I lost my cousin to the stuff! Well, we JUST found out (and in case you didn't know!) that Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul has continued to be linked to pet deaths and illness as of 2/08.

This is most likely due to their 2007 recall on products with a "best before" date range of 8/08 - 4/09. PLEASE check your dog and cat foods for these dates if you feed this product. There's a chance that it hasn't all been taken off the shelves yet, or that folks purchased the food before it had officially been recalled and were never made aware.

We strongly recommend that humans avoid any foods manufactured by Diamond Pet Products. Diamond has food under its own name, as well as the Chicken Soup brands, Nutra Gold, Nutra Nuggets, Premium Edge, Professional Pet Food, Canidae (dry foods only), Artemis (Fresh Mix Line, Osopure Line, and AgaRx Line), Kirkland Signature Brand (dry food only), and Solid Gold Health Food (dry food only). They have had NUMEROUS recalls on their brands and in our minds one recall is one too many. There are lots of amazing brands of canned and kibble foods out there. Making a switch is as easy as a trip to the store or an online order.

This site is supposedly updated quite regularly and can help you sniff out the not-so-great non-feastables out there. We really recommend keeping up with the FDA Pet Food Recall website for the most accurate information. For the most up to date info try a plain old Google search of your food brand. Outraged people with sick pups usually get the word out first, so keep yourself tuned in. (Make sure to tune out the simply outraged folks that just like to holler about things online! They're out there blogging too.) Check The Pet Food List site to see which brands are linked to which companies and manufacturing plants. That way, when you hear about a recall with Menu Foods you'll know if the food in your bowl comes from their facilities. It's a small world of dog food makers, and you'll be surprised at what you can dig up. (No... we're not talking about digging up SQUIRRELS, Stanislaw. Dorkus.)

I know this is something that I've repeated hundreds of times, but the Whole Dog Journal's annual list of the best foods is the numero uno authority in healthy deliciousness. There are many outdated WDJ lists online, but it changes every year and often those edits reflect important events in the industry and are worth taking note of. While I cannot post the current WDJ list here, it is available on the official the website for $10. Ten pieces of cheese money is worth a healthy canine!

Get your 2008 Whole Dog Journal Lists here:
Dry Dog Food Review
WDJ's Approved Grain-Free Dry Dog Foods

Happy & healthy feasting to you,
Big Pupi

Raw Food Diet, Day 239- Vitamin A-OK

What's up doggie dudes? Mom is back so that means that I'm back online. Boy time with dad was pretty chill - we hung out mostly and snacked on some Cheeze-Its while dad read (not shred) his big juicy law books. He took me on a fast hunt one day which was totally awesome and we got to chase rabbits and squirrels. My slow poke brother had to stay home! Ha! This morning with mom home we all headed out for a fast hunt together, which meant that I had to put up with Big Pupi's short-leggedness. The dude slows me down. Cramps my style, you know?

I've received lots of awesome entries for my Very Tiny Competition and I'm totally stoked about the whole thing. Keep them coming! Some of you folks can get seriously tiny. Good work. You make my tiny look huge!

Time for some post-hunt, post-feast (goat & milk), tired-muscle nappies.

Howl at you later,

Stanislaw.

***

Big Punky Pupi talks about your belly:

Hello my fellow feasters! As I'm sure you know, I'm a major momma's boy and I've been super psyched since mom's been back. I think I carried my SingingChristmasTreeMouseToy and pranced around the apartment for hours when she opened that door! Oh happy day.

While she was gone I had to busy myself and so I decided to do a little research. After all... the original purpose of this blog was to provide my munching canine buddies with information about diet and nutrition. So here's a tidbit of info for those that crunch on kibble:

Let's talk about Vitamin K.

It's not something we think about often. Fish oil, Vitamins E and B, calcium, protein... those are all things I've discussed often in this blog when typing away about supplements and our nutritional needs. But this is the first time I've mentioned K here. It's found in abundance in dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale, and it has a variety of forms (K1, K2, ... ). Certain forms of vitamin K can be synthesized in the large intestine, meaning that the bacteria that live inside us can create the vitamin that we then absorb. Ensuring a healthy gut with lots of probiotics makes a big difference here. That means eat your tasty yogurt! K is fat soluble, so it is possible to overdose as the body holds onto the vitamin (versus a water soluble vitamin which is flushed from the body, like vitamin C).

Vitamin K1 is also used as a clotting agent, and is often administered if a pup has gotten himself into some trouble and feasted on rat poison. This causes internal bleeding and the K1 tries to counteract that. (If you eat rat poison go to a vet ASAP for that K1! Don't supplement at home!)

Now onto some info for the kibble feasters -

Read your bag of kibble and check for any menadione derivatives: menadione sodium bisulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite, menadione dimethylprimidinol sulfate, menadione dimethylprimidinol sulfite or menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite. These are commonly generalized as "a source of vitamin K..." or "vitamin K supplement." Menadione is K3, a synthetic form of vitamin K - or rather, it is a vitamin K "precurser." Translated, that means that K3 is really only the puzzle pieces and our bodies must put it all together in order for it to actually be considered a real vitamin. Confusing, no? Unlike it's counterparts, K3 is water soluble and has never been proven to actually be more stable or contain equal nutritional value to the naturally-occurring vitamin K.

K3 is widely used in livestock supplementation and in processed dog foods. Why? Well, because it's cheap. And there's never really been any research done to check for safety in long-term use. It has been banned by the FDA and by most international administrations due to its known serious side effects in humans, including severe birth defects, internal damage and death. Unfortunately dogs share most of these side effects when dosed with vitamin K3, or menadione. Here's a short list of known canine diseases linked to the supplement:

- Hemolytic Anemia

- Cytotoxicity in liver cells

- Hyperbilirubinemia (linked to Jaundice)

- Weakens the immune system

- Disturbs blood Calcium levels, which are super important for us dogs

...and so on. Fortunately, most of the high-quality pet foods avoid adding synthetic anything to their kibble mixes. Those are the foods that are usually grain-free or at least without corn, soy, and wheat, they contain human-grade meats and no animal byproducts. How do you know if you're feasting on a quality dry food? Well, read this article for a little 101 on how to identify the good stuff. And tell your humans to check out that ingredient label!

If you're concerned about your vitamin K intake or vitamin intake in general, consider supplementing with a whole, natural food. We recommend the Green Blend by B-Naturals, which is simply made up of dried sea greens and irish moss. Those dark green plants will be chock-full of nutrients, and they contain vitamins and minerals in their natural state.

That's all the learning for now, folks!

Big Pupi

Source:

The Dog Food Project: Menadione (Vitamin K3)

Lilly Update

all about my Lilly:
It's been a couple of days since the mini-Miss Lilly worries hit home. I couldn't be happier to say that she's doing great! She finished off her antibiotics like a champ, and her mom switched her to a much better food. The crystals are gone as is the concern for a bladder stone. She was on Science Diet before (ew!) and now she's scarfing down Innova dry food for itty bitty dogs. It's too bad that there aren't very many dry food options for little dogs out there, as the kibbles are usually way too big for their mini mouths and teeny teeth. But, Lilly's mom read all of the ingredients and found Innova to be the best for my little lady, and since she has made a big improvement. She even picked out all of her SD nuggets and threw them all over the floor, and would only eat the new food! I always knew my girlfriend had good taste. I know she has good taste in men.

Important Kibble Update!

Once when I was just a puppy and before I started eating a raw diet, my humans took me to PetSmart to look at the rats and hamsters. While I was there, this guy sold my human a few cans of wet Nutro puppy food claiming that it would reduce my poo volume up to 50%. I went home after a long day of trying to eat rats and feasted on my new food. That night started off pretty typically -- marking some territory, thrashing some stuff toys -- you know. But when I settled into my crate for sleepies, I soon realized that there was a massive poo in my bum. I mean, this was an emergency. Needless to say, I completely destroyed my crate and my human's carpet. Lucky they have a steamcleaner. And lucky I have never eaten Nutro again.

***
I'm sure you're sick of hearing about toxic dog food, but here we go again... There have been numerous complaints recently about Nutro kibble making dogs sick. Please let your kibble crunching buddies know that they need to keep an eye out for the following symptoms: diarrhea, lack of appetite, weight loss, vomiting, itching/allergy symptoms. Consumer complaints can be found here. There has been a sudden influx of these complaints during March 2008.

Feast smart!

Raw Food Diet, Day 17- President's Day Stinks

So I've been sitting here all weekend waiting patiently for the raw goat meat I ordered to come in the mail. Then I find out that there is no mail on President's Day because it is a national holiday! I refuse to recognize any holiday that prevents raw goat meat from getting into my mouth. In addition, most holidays are associated with feasting and apparently Presidents' Day has absolutely nothing to do with feasting. It has something to do with sales at car dealerships. Riding in cars makes me puke. In fact, even watching the Daytona 500 yesterday made me carsick. President's Day and everything associated with it stinks like my poo. The only good thing that happened this weekend was that the top broke off my humans' kitchen garbage can, making it easy for me to conduct stealth garbage raids. Although garbage is good eating, I've got to eat me some goat meat as soon as possible! I am one sad raw meat-eating boy.

Stanislaw

***

Presidents' Day is a good day for learning, by big brother:

When I was first adopted I was a very sick boy. I had heart worm, crystals in my urine, and funny kidney readings when i had my blood tested. My doctor put me on a special food that he sold in his office. I got worse. He changed my food. I lost 1/3 of my body weight and began having diarrhea episodes that weren't so much diarrhea as they were blood. I saw the inside of the emergency room on more than one occasion, where these doctors told my human that it couldn't be the food, and they wrote another prescription for antibiotics. This continued until my little ribs were painfully visible, and only came to an end when my food changed.

No, I wasn't on the raw diet yet. I was put on Canidae, a whole food dog kibble that had no corn, soy, wheat, preservatives, and only contained human-grade ingredients. Over night the blood stopped and I began to put weight back on. Energy came trickling back and I no longer felt or acted like I was starving. I was lucky that my grand-human knew about this food and fed this to her dogs, and influenced my human to make the switch. It's difficult to go against what a vet says! And these doctors were, in fact, very good in all other respects. It turns out that I am dangerously allergic to corn. Why didn't they catch this?

While I am sure there was no intent on their part to cause me harm, my humans wonder why this happened. They did a little research, and were surprised by what they found. It seems that while most vet schools are very good and can produce wonderful surgeons and doctors, there is very little focus on pet nutrition. Furthermore, pet food brands like Science Diet contribute massive funds to veterinary institutions, and subsidize these nutrition courses and offer their own research. I'm sure Science Diet is something you've seen at your vet's office before. I know I have!

According to an article from LEDA at Harvard Law School, the Science Diet brand, which is owned by Colgate-Palmolive, promised "hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund research at each of the 27 U.S. veterinary colleges... Practicing veterinarians selling Science Diet pocket as much as 40% of the profits" (section is available here). This is really not much different than your human's dentist suggesting they use Colgate toothpaste and handing them a Colgate toothbrush -- it's all clever marketing. My human and I made a trip to the Science Diet website, and a quick view of the "Adult Original" ingredients reveals the top 4 to be (in the proper order) chicken, ground whole grain corn, ground whole grain sorghum, ground whole grain wheat. Now, I know that if you've been researching the raw or a homemade diet for a while, you'll see something wrong with this! While some people do decide to feed their pups grains, the majority of this food is corn, sorghum and wheat. It's a far cry from what our bodies truly need. I know we're picking on Science Diet here, so I will mention that there are many other brands out there that fall into the same patterns...

...and some stuff that's even worse. I'm talking about those discount brands, which includes anything you'll find at a Wal-Mart or the local grocery store. Most of those have been victim of recall and have even killed pets in the past year. They are full of grains and sugars, and even worse things that not even my brother would want to feast on. Ever wonder what's in that commercial pet food? Check out this ingredient list, which uses AAFCO's definition guidelines. More about pet food regulation can be read in the Harvard Article, with the AAFCO section located here.

Since the pet food poisonings, there have been many investigations into what those kibbles actually contain, and the discoveries have been frightening to say the least. According to NBC's news station in Virginia, low amounts of pentobarbital, the active chemical used for euthanasia, were found in dog foods. How did it get there? The meat used in the foods was horse, and these animals had been put to sleep with the drug. Many animals that fall into the "4-D's" categories are sent to rendering plants, where they are then made into pet foods. These 4 D's consist of dead, dying, diseased and disabled animals, which are deemed unfit for human consumption. There has even been mention of deceased dogs and cats being used! But that's just to horrible to get into, and my human avoided that bit of research.

The Whole Dog Journal is a wonderful resource for dog owners, and every year they come out with a list of the top canned and dry dog foods available. Here is their list of the top 10 dry foods out there. You'll see that none of them are the grocery store variety! A complete list of wet and dry food can be found on the website, and are available at the start of every year. You can also find their list criteria explained in depth on the site.

Well, what all this comes down to, is that if you must be feasting on a commercial food, make sure you know what you're eating. While the food itself may be a bit more expensive, what it will save your human in vet bills and heartache down the road will be immeasurable. However, I bet that if your person is checking out this blog, chances are that they've already put you on a homemade diet or are thinking about it. Knowing exactly where your meats come from, and seeing every bit of what winds up in your belly -- from the veggies to the eggs to the chicken wings -- is really the most premium pet food out there. I love it.

Happy feasting!

Additional resources:

FDA pet food recall list (updated quite regularly)

Identifying Better Pet Foods

What to Avoid in Pet Food