Canine Nutrition

 

As much as we love horses, we deeply love dogs, too, and we're happy to offer nutritional supplements that can help support your dog’s health and quality of life. We're often asked which dog foods we recommend, whether we feed raw or kibble, if we feed grain or grain-free, and for advice on overall canine wellness, so let's dive in.

Every Parent - Including Pet Parents - Must Become a Researcher

We must look past marketing and learn ingredients, including the impact these ingredients have on animal health. Diet is critical and supplements can be tremendously helpful, but everything we allow into and onto our dogs' bodies will have an impact on his or her overall health and longevity - or lack thereof. This includes topical treatments for flea/tick prevention, injections, vaccinations, etc.

A Strong Foundation: High-Quality Dog Food

Dogs function on a cellular level just like we do, and high-quality nutrition is required for the body to function optimally. Although kibble is the most common type of dog 'food', the unfortunate truth is it's the junk food of the dog food industry and it's particularly taxing on the kidneys, liver and digestive tract. So then what do we feed them? 

By aligning more closely with how a canine would feed in the wild, striving for biologically and species appropriate meals, our dog's health can be rejuvenated, quality of life can improve, and we can have years more time with our precious companions. This includes considering a raw diet, as this is how they would feast in nature.

Some of our favorite options for raw or gently cooked dog food are Primal Pet Foods, Steve’s Real Food, Small Batch, Ziwi Peak, All Provide, and Raised Right. We feed our dogs Primal's raw, grain-free patties and they're absolutely thriving. We have no affiliation with any of these brands, but appreciate that they include grass-fed meats, organ meat, raw bone, organic whole fruits, vegetables and seeds. This means synthetic, isolated nutrients typically aren't required in the ingredient list, as the high-quality meats, organ meats and produce offer a dense variety of naturally occurring nutrients that are highly bioavailable to the body. These brands also use zero fillers and zero by-products last time we checked.

Ingredient Sourcing: Wild/Organic or Factory-Farmed?

When researching dog food, it's important to identify how the ingredients are sourced. Are they grass-fed, free-range and wild-caught or are they factory farmed / conventional? Is the company using whole foods or by-products (i.e., chicken meal)? If the label doesn't specify grass-fed or wild-caught, you can safely assume it is factory farmed and the nutrition will not be the same.

Wild, organic food sources are pure, deeply nutritious, and more anti-inflammatory.

Factory-farmed, conventional sources typically contain pesticides, stress hormones, toxins, are more pro-inflammatory and often depleted of nutrients. 

If your dog can't digest raw food, perhaps he's older or has digestive challenges that you have to correct first, you can research home cooking organically for your dog or try the gently-cooked options.

In the past, when we homecooked for our dogs, we rotated proteins and made meals similar to below, gently cooking the meat in extra virgin olive oil and maybe adding a little grass-fed butter and a dash of Redmond's Salt.

> Grass-fed ground beef, sardines, sweet potato, zucchini, blueberries, organ meats* (liver, heart, kidney, tripe) + herbal supplements

> Wild-caught fish, butternut or acorn squash, green beans or asparagus, strawberries, organ meats* (liver, heart, kidney, tripe) + herbal supplements

> Grass-fed chicken, spaghetti squash, spinach or broccoli, cranberry powder, organ meats* (liver, heart, kidney, tripe) + herbal supplements

Raw, organic goat's milk can also be beneficial for many dogs. You can seek this locally if it interests you.

If you have no choice but to feed kibble, Orijen's grain-free options would be my choice at this time. 

Grain or Grain-Free? DCM Fear

A canine in the wild wouldn't consume grains, but they would eat the organ meats, bone, hide and muscle tissue of the kill they hunted. The heart is the most plentiful source of taurine, as well as, the brain. A taurine deficiency can contribute to the development of DCM (dilated cardio-myopathy) in dogs. To avoid this, it has become our practice to feed grass-fed organ meats, especially heart and brain, to naturally support sufficient taurine levels, or make sure taurine amino acid is included in the ingredient list of their food.

Grains are generally pro-inflammatory, often contain Glyphosate (RoundUp) pesticide contamination, and can be problematic for digestion and numerous other aspects of the immune system. Grains can also create a yeast problem fueling chronic ear infections, skin itching and other problems. 

If you’re ready to take an honest look at other potential culprits of DCM in dogs, it can't hurt to research what is often routinely injected into dogs. Research the ingredients, the synergy of those ingredients, the impact of injection vs. ingestion, read the package inserts, read the side effects, and follow the scientists and doctors who have risked it all to reveal the truth.

Learning how to support the body naturally and following God's perfect design for canines has benefits our dogs immensely over the years! They are remarkably healthy and thriving. We believe in strengthening the immune system through diet, and doing so without compromise.

Flea and Tick Prevention

To be honest, we have never dealt with fleas before and have never used flea prevention, but if I had to, I would use an all-natural, safe alternative to the common chemical products. Some of these chemicals have been said to cause seizures, cancer, and other very serious health issues in dogs. 

Ticks, however, are a very common nuisance here in New England. Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis and other tick-borne illnesses have become much too common and pose a very real threat. 

We use an herbal tincture that has successfully eradicated Lyme and Anaplasmosis in our dogs and horses, and we have lab results to share if you’re interested. We now include this tincture in our animals' daily regimens as prevention when the ticks are rampant and they all remain radiantly healthy and clear of tick-borne illnesses, even if they’ve had ticks latch.

I choose not to use synthetic antibiotics (pharmaceuticals) for these cases as it has been my experience and is my understanding that they cannot fully eradicate the spirochetes, only weaken them, which is why these diseases can become cyclical and rear their heads again later, or why some animals and people cannot recover even while on multiple ABX. Synthetic antibiotics are also very taxing to the liver and the gut, whereas the herbs support the liver, heart, digestive health, etc. The cost also ends up being either more affordable (for dogs) or nearly the same price (for equines), when you provide the herbal tincture for 2-3 months. Please email us for a link to this product, we are very happy to connect you!

At the end of the day, I encourage you to deeply research and question everything, blindly trust no one, and always follow the money. You are your dog's only gatekeeper - your best friend is counting on you!

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*We source grass-fed organ meats mostly from Ancestral Supplements, as needed.

Shop our growing …For the Canine Collection to compliment your dog’s strong foundational diet and help address his or her unique needs. E-mail us with any questions and please keep an eye out for new canine product launches!