By Marlene Nakamoto
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.
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.
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