Just spent my birthday at the emergency vet. Note to self: Cheese is NOT the ideal training or any other treat for the dog! Allie is not doing well, to say the least. Oh, she's happy as a clam and very proud of herself, but oh the diarrhea, the barfing ... and we have to keep an eagle eye on the blood values. Carnivores, yes, but scavengers too ...
Why do trainers tell us to bring hot dogs and cheese to class??? Every school should get a bulletin from the kidney people re: CRF and pancreatitis. It is just not worth it, really.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Cheese emergency!
Help!
Ms Allie the Malamute, champion countersurfer, just stole and ate up almost a whole pound of swiss cheese! According to NATS, a pound would give her 2428.97 mg of phosphorus! Obviously I immediately gave her an extra hit of calcium carbonate, but what do I feed her tonight? And tomorrow? Should I give her some pumpkin just in case? Normally a Malamute would digest a pound of cheese without noticing it, and she seems happy and very proud of herself, but I'm worried about longer-term effects. I'll give her an extra 250 ml NaCl tonight, but what else can I do?
Ms Allie the Malamute, champion countersurfer, just stole and ate up almost a whole pound of swiss cheese! According to NATS, a pound would give her 2428.97 mg of phosphorus! Obviously I immediately gave her an extra hit of calcium carbonate, but what do I feed her tonight? And tomorrow? Should I give her some pumpkin just in case? Normally a Malamute would digest a pound of cheese without noticing it, and she seems happy and very proud of herself, but I'm worried about longer-term effects. I'll give her an extra 250 ml NaCl tonight, but what else can I do?
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Rowan's head and Allie's diet
>Rowan's photo: beautiful head
Dear Lynne
Thank you. Unfortunately, what's inside that head is pure concrete -- or else I'm just a useless trainer. In any case, I'm having no luck at all teaching him the basics: stay. no, stay. really, stay. stay where you are. no, don't jump up in my face. don't run around the yard in circles. stay. >sigh<
At least he can now run around without falling down. This is great progress. I attribute it to his freestyle obedience class, where we are not succeeding in doing anything we are told to, but we are trying and having fun.
You can always feed Stocker home-cooked on alternating days or something. I just cooked up a big stock-pot for 12 days -- HEB was having a sale on chicken breast tenders, with the veg the whole thing cost $15. I will steam up the rice separately.
Isn't it funny how the older ones get to us? You are probably the only person who understands. Allie's eyes are getting so big, and she's like a puppy in many ways. I'm so happy when she gets a wild hair and decides to race down the block for a bit, pulling me along like a kite. She has a kooky sense of humor and loves stealing things and hiding them in my bed. She esp. loves sleeping on my pillow where she isn't allowed. I'm not an affectionate person and had no idea I would ever feel this way about anyone. I feel like the Grinch with my heart growing bigger whenever I'm around her. How did I ever get so lucky?
Best to Stocker,
C
Dear Lynne
Thank you. Unfortunately, what's inside that head is pure concrete -- or else I'm just a useless trainer. In any case, I'm having no luck at all teaching him the basics: stay. no, stay. really, stay. stay where you are. no, don't jump up in my face. don't run around the yard in circles. stay. >sigh<
At least he can now run around without falling down. This is great progress. I attribute it to his freestyle obedience class, where we are not succeeding in doing anything we are told to, but we are trying and having fun.
You can always feed Stocker home-cooked on alternating days or something. I just cooked up a big stock-pot for 12 days -- HEB was having a sale on chicken breast tenders, with the veg the whole thing cost $15. I will steam up the rice separately.
Isn't it funny how the older ones get to us? You are probably the only person who understands. Allie's eyes are getting so big, and she's like a puppy in many ways. I'm so happy when she gets a wild hair and decides to race down the block for a bit, pulling me along like a kite. She has a kooky sense of humor and loves stealing things and hiding them in my bed. She esp. loves sleeping on my pillow where she isn't allowed. I'm not an affectionate person and had no idea I would ever feel this way about anyone. I feel like the Grinch with my heart growing bigger whenever I'm around her. How did I ever get so lucky?
Best to Stocker,
C
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Kidney diet stuff
Hi, Lynne
We talked in SA about kidney stuff. Here is some info from the kidney diet list. It is really easy to figure out the diet for your dog once you get started. The key values that you need to have checked all the time are for PHOSPHORUS and CALCIUM. Your goal in life is to get the phosphorus level down.
I am lucky in that Allie's phosphorus level is in the normal range and I can keep it there by adding 1/4 tsp of calcium carbonate powder to every meal. I keep an eagle eye to check for hypercalcemia. She does not need a phosphorus binder. However, if I were feeding plain Evo, she probably would. I haven't investigated exactly how much phosphorus is in Evo -- the percentages re: calcium look good, http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=nutrition-facts&pxsl=//product%5B@id='1246'%5D , but I would have to write to them to get the exact amounts.
Her current diet is:
1 lean, skinless chicken breast and the broth it was cooked in, 1 cup broccoli and carrots cooked in the same broth, 2/3 cup egg white, 1/2 cup sticky rice, about 2/3 cup Evo. I vary the veg -- she loves sweet potatoes, squash, peas, green beans ... She is slightly overweight on this. She also gets: 1/4 tsp Calcium Carb, 2 Omega 3, B-50, B-12, Co-Q 10, glucosamine and MSM. The Omega-3 is esp. important, as is staying away from Omega-6. Her only treats are Evo and Natural Balance roll cut up, in small quantities, for drill team.
I cook up her food a week in advance in a big pot, except the rice which I steam in the steamer, yummy.
Allie works out to
80 lbs = 36.4 kg
needs 1400 kcal (except lower for low-activity Arctic dog)
163.8 grams protein using 4.5 g/kg
880 mg phosphorus allowed
chicken breast = 8 oz (1 cup) 374.22 cal 70.31 g protein 517.10 mg p
egg white one large 16.7 cal 3.51 g protein 4.34 mg p (about 8/cup)
broccoli 1 cup 44 cal 92 mg p
carrots 70 cal 47 mg p
sticky rice 1 cup 233 cal 4.8 g protein 19.2 mg p
treats:
Evo 1 cup 537 cal plus protein & p (I'm not sure how to figure this)
So she gets around 93.71 g protein, 644.64 mg phosphorus plus whatever is in the Evo.
I don't weigh it out precisely, obviously, since if I went by the real guidelines, she'd be hideously fat, and we also don't have to watch phosphorus as closely. I am enclosing The Box for doing the actual calculations. Also a few sample recipes for small dogs that I have multiplied. The Box is according to Dr Stromberg and very conservative; I use slightly higher protein, the recommended levels for senior dogs. Am tending that way anyway since the U Georgia study. Enclosed is a short excerpt from Stromberg. Again, the main thing is phosphorus and HIGH QUALITY protein. Bioavailability is everything.
Cheers
C
We talked in SA about kidney stuff. Here is some info from the kidney diet list. It is really easy to figure out the diet for your dog once you get started. The key values that you need to have checked all the time are for PHOSPHORUS and CALCIUM. Your goal in life is to get the phosphorus level down.
I am lucky in that Allie's phosphorus level is in the normal range and I can keep it there by adding 1/4 tsp of calcium carbonate powder to every meal. I keep an eagle eye to check for hypercalcemia. She does not need a phosphorus binder. However, if I were feeding plain Evo, she probably would. I haven't investigated exactly how much phosphorus is in Evo -- the percentages re: calcium look good, http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=nutrition-facts&pxsl=//product%5B@id='1246'%5D , but I would have to write to them to get the exact amounts.
Her current diet is:
1 lean, skinless chicken breast and the broth it was cooked in, 1 cup broccoli and carrots cooked in the same broth, 2/3 cup egg white, 1/2 cup sticky rice, about 2/3 cup Evo. I vary the veg -- she loves sweet potatoes, squash, peas, green beans ... She is slightly overweight on this. She also gets: 1/4 tsp Calcium Carb, 2 Omega 3, B-50, B-12, Co-Q 10, glucosamine and MSM. The Omega-3 is esp. important, as is staying away from Omega-6. Her only treats are Evo and Natural Balance roll cut up, in small quantities, for drill team.
I cook up her food a week in advance in a big pot, except the rice which I steam in the steamer, yummy.
Allie works out to
80 lbs = 36.4 kg
needs 1400 kcal (except lower for low-activity Arctic dog)
163.8 grams protein using 4.5 g/kg
880 mg phosphorus allowed
chicken breast = 8 oz (1 cup) 374.22 cal 70.31 g protein 517.10 mg p
egg white one large 16.7 cal 3.51 g protein 4.34 mg p (about 8/cup)
broccoli 1 cup 44 cal 92 mg p
carrots 70 cal 47 mg p
sticky rice 1 cup 233 cal 4.8 g protein 19.2 mg p
treats:
Evo 1 cup 537 cal plus protein & p (I'm not sure how to figure this)
So she gets around 93.71 g protein, 644.64 mg phosphorus plus whatever is in the Evo.
I don't weigh it out precisely, obviously, since if I went by the real guidelines, she'd be hideously fat, and we also don't have to watch phosphorus as closely. I am enclosing The Box for doing the actual calculations. Also a few sample recipes for small dogs that I have multiplied. The Box is according to Dr Stromberg and very conservative; I use slightly higher protein, the recommended levels for senior dogs. Am tending that way anyway since the U Georgia study. Enclosed is a short excerpt from Stromberg. Again, the main thing is phosphorus and HIGH QUALITY protein. Bioavailability is everything.
Cheers
C
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