From the Gluten Connection...a word about Fido

Sensitive to gluten?  Borrowed this book to educate myself and learn why gluten (carbs) may be affecting my health.  It was a pleasant surprise to come across this chapter:  A Word About Fido, yes, gluten affects our dogs too.
"Poor Fido, He gets blamed for all sorts of things, including passing smelly gas...Some flatulence is normal, both in ourselves and in our pets.  but when the condition is chronic and the smell is extremely offensive, it's time to look into its causes.  Veterinarians agree that flatulence can be caused by several different conditions:

• Dietary intolerance
• Eating foods that are high in soybeans or fiber
• Eating spoiled foods
• Infections
• Overeating
• Swallowing air too quickly--usually from gulping food

Dietary sensitivity or intolerance in pets is well documented.  Most cases show up in dogs and cats as skin or gastrointestinal disorders, with the majority of dietary hypersensitivity reaction caused by proteins.  And the most common of offending proteins:  The researchers list:

• Beef
• Dairy
• Eggs
• Lactose
• Other meat products
• Gluten

Keep in mind:  Just as in "people food", pet food ingredients are listed in order of volume.(some ingredients may include, yellow corn , corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, soy flour etc.) 
...after GC discovered that the main portion of her dog's diet had been wheat cereal, GC took him off commercial dog food and began to feed him home-cooked chicken, carrots, and rice.  She occasionally mixes in other vegetables and even fruit.  The result:  No diarrhea, no bloating, no  smelly flatulence. 

What's in your can or bag of pet food?  Is your pet suffering from arthritis?  Passing a lot of gas? Having diarrheic accidents on the carpet?...Maybe it's time to put him on a gluten-free diet. (yes, you can buy gluten free dog food, yes, but Read the label carefully). 
Your best bet to guarantee a gluten-free diet for your pet is...to cook the food yourself.  You'll have a healthy and happy pet."

The Glueten Connection  Shari Lieferman, PhD, CNS, FACN

from Island Scene July 2012

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• My little pack has a personal chef.

By Marlene Nakamoto

RelatedCanine Cuisine Redux

In our summer 2009 issue, I confessed that I cooked food for my three schipperkes. Perhaps I should not have been so embarrassed to admit that, because my intention is to keep them healthy, which is nothing to be ashamed about.
That’s why I was excited when “Kim” (not her real name) called to tell me that she had read my article and that she, too, cooks for her dogs. Five golden retrievers. Five. I was in awe.
Kim buys ground turkey and quinoa in bulk, which she cooks every other day. Every other day. I was amazed.
So I asked for her recipe.
The recipe called for quinoa, ground turkey, peas and carrots, and olive oil. Eager to feed my dogs the highly nutritious quinoa, I cooked up Kim’s recipe and fed it to my girls. They loved it.
But a couple of hours after her dinner, Dusty suddenly stiffened and drooled. We panicked and took her to animal urgent care even when the symptoms had vanished and she had seemingly recovered. The veterinarian on duty said that Dusty had had a seizure. We took Dusty home and watched her carefully. Thankfully, she was fine the rest of the evening.
The next day, we followed up with our own vet, Wendy Asato, D.V.M. She recognized immediately what had happened. “That was just gas,” she said, and helped us determine that it was apparently an allergic reaction to the quinoa.
Same Food, Different Goal
I began cooking for my dogs about six years ago on Dr. Asato’s recommendation. She suggested that additives in commercial dog food could be causing Dusty’s allergic reactions – rashes and red spots – which had no obvious triggers.
Surprisingly, Dusty seems to have outgrown her allergies. But she has developed a new health concern – she’s overweight. Chalk it up to her dad’s penchant for feeding the girls snacks, often tidbits from his own plate. And while Dusty still loves to play, she seems to prefer snoozing more often.
One Size Feeds All
While Dusty, Shadow, and Cricket are all schipperkes, their body types are very different. Nine-year-old Dusty is an athletic tomboy with a solid muscular build. Her littermate, Shadow, is a sinewy little thing who can’t keep an ounce of fat on her body because she is in perpetual motion. And 10-year-old Cricket, the least active of them all, has a decidedly soft, huggable physique.
Regardless of their shape and activity level, the girls are fed the same formula of 40 percent protein, 40 percent vegetables, and 20 percent carbohydrates. They also get a doggie multivitamin and calcium supplement, flax or salmon oil, and a tiny bit of coconut oil. And we still rely on commercial food as a backup.
There may come a day when their individual health needs require specialized diets. Am I looking forward to cooking three different dog meals? Of course not. But I’ll definitely, gladly do it to keep them healthy.

 

Canine Cuisine Redux

Related

• Still Cooking for Dogs

2 lbs. ground turkey, chicken, or beef
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 lbs. frozen spinach and/or french-cut green beans
Handful of dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and finely chopped
2 – 3 cups water
1 lb. Okinawan sweet potato or
  3 cups cooked brown rice
Kabocha, cooked and mashed, or canned pumpkin puree
In a Dutch oven, brown turkey, chicken, or beef in oil over medium-high heat. Add frozen vegetables, mushrooms, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook, peel, and dice Okinawan sweet potato. Remove Dutch oven from heat. Stir in potatoes or rice. Divide mixture into two large plastic containers and cool quickly. Refrigerate one container and freeze the other.
Serving size for my girls is 1/2 cup twice a day topped with two rounded tablespoons of kabocha or pumpkin puree. Shadow gets slightly less than 1/2 cup because she weighs about 4 pounds less than her sisters.
Important! Please remember that this is the diet our veterinarian approved for our girls. If you’re thinking of cooking for your dog, please consult your vet.

Cook’s Notes

This recipe feeds my three girls for two weeks. Sometimes I’ll cook up a double recipe in my big stockpot so I’ll have a stockpile in the freezer.
The kabocha or pumpkin puree provides fiber and prevents hard, dry stools.
I cook the sweet potatoes in a pressure cooker, although the microwave oven also does a fine job.
I also cook the kabocha – seeded and cut into chunks – in a pressure cooker until very soft. Mash flesh and skin together. (I eat kabocha skin, so I figure my dogs can, too.) Don’t use the skin, however, if it has hard little bumps.