This sweet puppy now lives with my parents but before she came to live with them, she was severely abused and neglected. When she was returned to the breeder, she was horribly ill, a complete mess and very gross but the worst thing was the maggots living on her. Truly, I cannot imagine allowing a dog to be so mistreated. Thankfully she was returned to her breeder who worked very hard to help her. However she still struggles with major health challenges. She has to wear the collar b/c she tries to chew her tail off. It's in horrible shape right now and she stinks. Not the smell of a dog needing a bath but the smell of sickness. Poor thing, she just moans and cries sometimes b/c she itches so badly. My dad will rub her to help but her skin flakes off so it can't be done too much. We know her sickness is inside her body and we are just seeing the symptoms on the outside.
My parents have her on a raw diet which is THE diet to heal animals. Dogs are supposed to eat raw. Dogs were wild long before they became domesticated and in the wild they don't cook their food after they catch it. They eat it raw. That's the ways dogs stomachs are designed. Fortunately many forward thinking companies make raw food prepackaged... which is perfect for my parents. :)
She sees a holistic vet who has given her a few homeopathic remedies. While she has improved some since coming to live with my parents, she still suffers terribly. The vet said her immune system is shot and it will take a long time to heal it.
Boy, we know all about that! We have the kid version of that here. :(
So my parents spend much time, money and brain power trying to help this little girl. If anyone knows something that will help her, please email me or post here. It's hard to watch her suffer and we are on a steep learning curve with homeopathic and natural dog treatments. There has to be more for her than Elizabethan collars and misery. She has a sweet spirit (really!! which is surprising considering her past but I think she knows she safe here) and we really want to help her achieve health. Please, if you can help, let me know.
And thank you. :)
I have a foster dog that was very ill. I have read a number of books on dog nutrition and they all say when a dog is ill you should do a cooked diet until the dog is better and then go back to raw. I feed my sick beagle stewed chicken and put a number of bones in there, etc., along with carrots and celery -- I would not do more than 3 vegetables at a time. Also add a probiotic pill to his diet along with a b-vitamin. You can switch off from chicken to beef -- so the beef broth and chicken broth, etc. and even let them drink some of the broth during the day -- just stick to meat and vegetables and no starches until they are well and then you can wean them back to raw.
ReplyDeleteHolly
Thank you Holly. I was under the impression that raw was healing and haven't heard that cooked might be helpful in healing. It makes sense though as I remember now when our puppy (years ago) caught parvo, she ate cooked rice and chicken for weeks to get well. I will pass this info to my mom and see what she thinks.
ReplyDeleteDo you let your beagle eat the bones or just use them in the soup? I read cooked bones are bad for dogs b/c they splinter.
Do you have a book or website recommendation?