Just Had A 1-hr Consult w/ an Animal Nutritionist!!!

[diggy4]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Diggers - she is a big proponent of the canned pumpkin for diarrhea! She also said just the diet I'm putting Marcel on "rests" the entire digestive system bc there are no allergens in it. SO, I would think for your friend's pup - white fish and pumpkin and a little potato would be the prescription. Susan did not mention eggs - except that she likes the eggshell version of calcium supplementing OVER the bone meal - so I'm starting that as well! Geesh!

Tell her to PM me too if she'd like.

Okay is it just me or is anyone else scared of homecooking?? Not that homecooking is bad, I want to do it very bad, but I am very afraid I will screw it up and not give them enough of something. I cook all the time for my skin kids, with total confidence in their diets so why can't I just do what your doing for Marcel?? Do you have to supplement? Does all homecooking require supplements? It sounds like you are sooo confident and got such great advice Your doing sucha great thing for Marcel...I hope it all works wonderfully for you and lil fur butt cutie pie MARCEL!

oh by the way I STILL stop everytime you post and stare at that lil face!!! CUTE CUTE CUTE

[YorkieShadow]

When Mickey and Minnie got sick and I thought it was from the recall foods and put them both on boiled chicken and rice, and we headed for the vet, the vet asked what i had been feeding them becaus etheir stomics was so tore up, I said the dry food untill they got sick then went right to boilded chicken and rice. he said dont give them the boiled chicken when they have upset tummys and or runny poops. But it always seem to help, well i thought that it did. He said to much chicken is hard on their tummys.

[MyFairLacy]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

For those asking for more info - her name is Susan Davis and her website is here: http://www.askariel.com/. I did a phone consult, but I sure wish I could've met her in person. She is just lovely and smart and caring! A portion of any profits go to charity.

MyFairLacy - I'm sure she'd be THRILLED to talk to a soon-to-be vet!

YorkieLuv - Yes, she mentions MVD and shunts on her site - if you click on the "specific illnesses" tab, there is more info there

Patti - she doesn't recommend prepared food; her choice is home cooked (she also supports raw in some cases) - she suggests, for ibd and even allergies in general (which are so related to ibd), whitefish like tilapia/cod/trout/sole - then adding salmon in (bc they need fat) after a couple weeks if they're doing well. (plus there is more to the entire recipe, but fish is the protein)

She has seen miracles..and I'm hoping for one. I paid $75 for the consult, and I feel it was very well spent!

Thanks for her website. I saved it for future reference. The vet school really encourages us to shadow vets and do internships and externships during summer and our 4th year (which seems so long away right now LOL). I would love to talk to and spend time with a holistic vet and animal nutritionist to learn more. I know most vets don't know much about nutrition and It's a priority of mine to learn all I can about it. I plan on incorporating both traditional and holistic medicine into my practice one day.

[Yorkieluv]

That's wonderful, MyFairLacy!! I love vets who incorporate both aspects of veterinary medicine.

[sweetr72]

Interesting stuff...

Dawn

[yorkiesmiles]

Thanks for all the good info & the link

[myboy]

Thanks for all the info. Deiter has been sick now for almost a month. And he is on a special diet Hill food also. Which I don't like. but right now we are giving him both his reg food with the hills per the vet to see how he does on his own food again. If this doesn't work then we will have to keep him on Hills per the vet. Keep us posted. And Thanks again for the web.

[lara2913]

She sounds really fantastic and her website looks great, nice to see that she mentions about raw feeding being beneficial.

[Yorkiekids]

That's a lot of good information. What did she advice you to give when they have an upset stomach?

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by MyFairLacy

Thanks for her website. I saved it for future reference. The vet school really encourages us to shadow vets and do internships and externships during summer and our 4th year (which seems so long away right now LOL). I would love to talk to and spend time with a holistic vet and animal nutritionist to learn more. I know most vets don't know much about nutrition and It's a priority of mine to learn all I can about it. I plan on incorporating both traditional and holistic medicine into my practice one day.

Note to self: save money for bribery to entice MyFairLacy to open practice in my city after she finishes school. End.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by diggy4

Okay is it just me or is anyone else scared of homecooking?? Not that homecooking is bad, I want to do it very bad, but I am very afraid I will screw it up and not give them enough of something. I cook all the time for my skin kids, with total confidence in their diets so why can't I just do what your doing for Marcel?? Do you have to supplement? Does all homecooking require supplements? It sounds like you are sooo confident and got such great advice Your doing sucha great thing for Marcel...I hope it all works wonderfully for you and lil fur butt cutie pie MARCEL!

oh by the way I STILL stop everytime you post and stare at that lil face!!! CUTE CUTE CUTE

Marcel has a crush on you too, so stare all you want!

I know exactly what you're saying above! I felt the same way when I started about 5 mths ago. Finally, just about a month or so ago - my common sense knocked and said "is your own human diet an exact science?" and "do animals in the wild have an exact diet every day" and I thought "duh".

It finally dawned on me that, like us humans, dogs have ideal nutrition requirements and if we have an understanding of what they are - we should be able to fulfill those requirements within some basic guidelines. Sure, kibble may contain a pretty good spectrum of ingredients - but it would truly be the same as if someone put all of our "human" ingredients in a bowl, mixed, put in a bunch of additives and preservatives, baked, and gave us kibble. Ya know?

It did take me a good while to feel good about homecooking. The supplementing really scared me. But basically, if you have a good multi (I use one that has muti vit/mineral, EFAs, digestive enzymes, probiotic) AND a calcium supplement - you're set.

Now, if you feed RAW, you usually don't supplement at all bc they're getting all of the needed nutrients, including calcium from the bones.

[lara2913]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Now, if you feed RAW, you usually don't supplement at all bc they're getting all of the needed nutrients, including calcium from the bones.

Yep thats true, I only give salmon oil and vit e. Although I do keep some digestive enzymes in the house to give them if they are ever feeling unwell or recovering from an operation.

[diggy4]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Marcel has a crush on you too, so stare all you want!

I know exactly what you're saying above! I felt the same way when I started about 5 mths ago. Finally, just about a month or so ago - my common sense knocked and said "is your own human diet an exact science?" and "do animals in the wild have an exact diet every day" and I thought "duh".

It finally dawned on me that, like us humans, dogs have ideal nutrition requirements and if we have an understanding of what they are - we should be able to fulfill those requirements within some basic guidelines. Sure, kibble may contain a pretty good spectrum of ingredients - but it would truly be the same as if someone put all of our "human" ingredients in a bowl, mixed, put in a bunch of additives and preservatives, baked, and gave us kibble. Ya know?

It did take me a good while to feel good about homecooking. The supplementing really scared me. But basically, if you have a good multi (I use one that has muti vit/mineral, EFAs, digestive enzymes, probiotic) AND a calcium supplement - you're set.

Now, if you feed RAW, you usually don't supplement at all bc they're getting all of the needed nutrients, including calcium from the bones.

Okay so the calcium supplement can be the eggshells right? And when you say you give a good mulit, whats that? Do you mean mulit vitamin? I thin what is so hard for me is like I said I cook for my kids everyday, we are plain eaters no fish, seafood, game meat, nothing...chicken pig and cow is it. they love fresh veggies and are carb-a-holics. Both are athletes so the crabs are important.

So cooking for a fur kid is no different?? I feed them the basic food groups, use a multi vitamin, use calcium and thats it??? Is Missing link or force a multi?

[diggy4]

ummm by any chance do you feel like you have become my nutritionist??? lol maybe I should pay u 75 bucks an hour!!!

[laurenr]

MARCEL'S MOMMY:
Great info here and thanks for the link, now for something totally off-topic. Can you please, please post some pics of the absolutely adorable Marcel Verdel Purcell?? This little guy is just my favorite YT little stud muffin, and I have done a search and come to the conclusion that you definitely need to show us more pics of him.... haven't seen one in ages.That little face and attitude never fails to make me smile.

By the way, I still laugh when I think of you returning home each day and calling for "Mr Marcel Verdel Purcell....!" I remember laughing months ago when the subject of his name came up and he was just this tiny little morsel of puppiness. Argh! You can see I just need a Marcel fix OK? I think my Mango will simply fall head over heels when she sees him.