[sadiesamie]

Well......... we had the visit today with the Holistic vet, He didn’t seem overly worried at all about the high lipase/amylase values. OR ANYTHING for that matter on the labs for the girls.

As far as the UPC ratio… he said that it could fluctuate based on diet. Sadie's UPC last month was 7.3 and when we tested her this past Wed it was 3.7.

I was so HAPPY to see that it came down.

So anyway on with the visit- we talk about protein loss and he says that we can try all of the different prescription diets and he named Iams, Hills Science Diet K/D or Purina NF and then he says these are all junky foods of course. I told him yeah we tried 2 of them (purnia NF and Hills Pres diet) he says well they make several different ones and you just have to find one that works- one that the girls could tolerate and one that actually helps with the protein loss. I told him that most of the pres diets contain corn and how I was not happy with them. He says well they make several different ones so you can see what one works best.

I told him NO -that I was not going to try any of the pres diets (i am thinking to myself "if" they are all junk! why in the H*ll even suggest them to me then) Then he says well... I always thought that it would be great if someone could invent a great food for dogs with Kidney problems but right now the prescription diets are the only ones out there"

This was where I started loosing faith in him and realized that this appt may just be a waste of time! ONLY because I also have researched and learned that pres diets ARE trash food, coated crap to get the dogs to eat it, and that it eventually causes problems with something else down the road.

He proceeded to tell me that Wellness was not a bad food at all and that we could continue that and start the girls on some supplements.

I had more questions about diet/nutrition so before we got off of that subject I asked him if we could feed “raw” and he said yes you can.
He says "Could it make the protein loss worse...??? there is only one way to find out" so now I am thinking that this was when he was going to tell me the benefits of feeding raw- but he didn't. I actually had to bring it up. that's when he said you can feed raw.... but just be careful when handling it. ALSO--- it could make the protein loss worse OR…. it could make it better??? And the only way to do it was to try it AND if we did---
to introduce it SLOWLY.

I did not GAIN ANYTHING from this visit and needless to say I was soooo disappointed. He is a Holistic vet... I thought for sure he would talk about raw but No- he says the Wellness is an ok food and you can add supplements. ????? Ok- holisic vet....supplements.... i see where this is going.

Ok so that's what we agree on I suppose- our visit ended and off to the receptionist we go... well- I didn't know we were going to have "4" different supplements??? 200.00 worth.

Oh let me back up to the visit and the only thing I gained.... the Holistic vet says you shouldn't give Frontline for fleas and tick unless your dog actually "gets" fleas and ticks.

And he also said that it is not necessary to vaccinate your dogs every year. (don't mind saying it but I already knew of course from my YT friends)

He saw NO red flags with the lab work. He reassured us that the lipase/amylase values are on the high side BUT....that they were nothing to be overly concerned with AT ALL unless the values were "tripled" and they are not. He also said that the blood work we had done was not the best test for pancreatitis. So he basically was not worried about the lipase and amylase AT ALL. Nothing on the labs AT ALL..

As soon as he mentioned that the protein in the raw “could” make the protein loss worse and also added that the dogs could die from ecoli or salmenella if we didn't handle it properly too.. and also that the kidneys could end up working harder bc the protein is different than the protein that is in kibble... what??? this makes no sense to me??? All the things I have read saying how that raw is a QUALITY EXECELENT SOURE OF PROTEIN and it's supposed to be EASIER on the kidneys. The ONLY thing I read about protein effecting anything was the liver.

I am so confused???? AND THENNNNN ALL of the convincing I did with my husband about all the things i researched on line and on YT about how feeding raw was an execelent choice was flushed right down the toilet LITERALLY because he just looked at me with a look on his face that I knew meant “we are NOT going to feed raw!”

So I "thought" this holistic vet had some knowledge on nutrition... I guess I was WRONG because right before we left the exam room I told him how our Specialist was adamate about his reasons for not wanting us to feed raw diet and how they even went as far as telling me that the Holistic vet (him) we were seeing to the best of their knowledge was NOT a nutritionist. I "ASSUMED" he knew a lot about nutrition though... But I guess his speciality is supplements and natural cures.

I got really bold asked him if he was a licensed nutritionist he said "No I am not" he said I believe there is maybe what??? 30 in the state of Texas and THEN he added "I am not going to spend years researching all that and go to school for 10 more years" (oh how that made me frown)

I told my husband on the way there that I wasn't sure what to expect from this visit today ANYWAY.... and so on the way home I told him how I was STILL wanting to call Dr Susan Davis. Well he got upset bc he says I just paid 250.00 today!!! we have all of these supplements................ why not try this at least and recheck sadie in 4-6 wks and go from there???

He said I have heard it from the vet, the specialist and now the holistic vet nothing all that good about feeding raw.

Why the holistic vet suggested pres diets is beyond me???? AND.....We left there with 4 different supplements: UT Strength,Proanthozone, Whole Kidney System, and RX Zyme. Why so many I have no idea?? but I have NOT given them yet I know nothing about ANY of these.

And now my husband is irritated with me bc I have spent endless hours on the computer reseaching every second I have to spend on here. He is mainly irritated with me bc I am not too sure I want to start giving all of these supplements. 2 of the supplements are 2x a day and the other 2 are once a day. I don't even know what in the heck all of these are for. I think just by reading the one RZ ZYME it has Amylase 4000 DU and Lipase 100 FIP. this could help the pancreas values?? but I still have some researching to do i guess.

The Holisitc vet didn’t say that we could NOT feed raw he just said it “could” make the protein loss worse OR it could make it better. And that we would need to be careful when handling Raw otherwise yes-- they 'could" get very sick and die. THIS IS WHAT is sticking in my husbands head! URGHHHHH....

Sooo now I don’t know what to do??? My husband says if I want to talk to Dr susan davis then fine. He does not want to know anymore what I do. (man he makes me mad sometimes) BUT I HAVE been beating this to death! I have spent countless hours on line.... in the library and YT. He is also missing his wife also because I have been spending a TON of time with this.

So QUESTION I HAVE TO ASK MYSELF..... Do we still feed the Wellness and MAYBE add the supplements and retest UPC in 4-6 wks??????? I am so confused on what to do ??!!??!?!?!

WELL............. I decided to go on my way home from work tonight and I bought 2 bags of Natures variety- Venison and Chicken (I used the buy one get one free coupon) Part of me wants to try it for 4-6 wks and retest the UPC...

I called someone today at Natures Variety and asked her about how "slowly" we should do this if I decided to go with it. She said 4-6 wks.

Part of me wants to just do this and do exactly that- introduce it slowly and retest UPC in 4-6 wks to see what happens.

We can always switch back to the Wellness. I don't know if at this point he will get further upset with me bc I want to talk to Susan Davis now or what. He told me while we were argueing about it. FINE- if you want to call her then DO IT! But don't include me. :-(

and... I do want to call her and I am thinking that I will talk to him about it again and hopefully sometime this week I can talk with her.

In the mean time.... I gave the girls a super small amount of the venison and they LOVED it. I couldn't help it! And for as bad as I wanted to give them more of it- I am going to do this slowwwwwwwwwwly.

MY PLAN: I took out 1 medallion and cut it in half and froze the rest. I will only give them 1/2 of the medallion for the rest of the w/end. then next week increase it a little more. Then once i talk to Susan Davis we will see what she says. At this point I am going superrrrr slowwwwwww- we aren't adding much of the raw anyways so we'll see what she says.

if she says no to the raw then I will stop. but I was just too anxious and too freaking excited NOT to try this!!! you know I was!! Plus it could bc we are doing a UPC test in 4-6 wks and we will see what this does. If it raises then we know it's wasn't a good choice.

Ok- I'm done. SORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY this is so long-
but husband wont listen to me anymore, so ya'll is all I got. :-(
If you made it though this entire post...
I thank you for that and I will listen and look forward to any responses.

Also any info on any of the supplements. I am so in the dark with these.