Boulder Dog

Regular bouts of diarrhea and vomiting during Sadie’s first year of life (she’ll be 4 in August) plus a nearly fatal attack of pneumonia at nine months sent me scrambling for a healthy, immune supportive diet.

We traveled a twisted road full of detours through premium kibble and raw meaty bones. A variety of frozen raw meals proved to be dead ends. We took a wrong turn with grains. Finally we arrived at a feeding regime that Sadie loves and is (knock on wood) keeping her healthy. It’s homemade. Mostly. And, it might not be good for every dog. In fact, I’m sure it’s not. It’s just that I’m so relieved that after so much wandering, we found something that works for us.

I’d been thinking about writing about Sadie’s food saga since I started my blog over a year ago, but, tales about crossing troll bridges and dueling with dominance dumbinance pawed at me for my attention.

Then a few days ago, one of my favorite dog bloggers dished up a heartfelt query I couldn’t resist.

At Dog Food Dish Roxanne Hawn pondered whether she could be sure her beloved Lilly would eat a balanced diet if Roxanne made it from scratch. She wrote: “I still harbored fears of getting it wrong in the long term. Do you feed primarily homemade food? How did you overcome fears like mine?”

I TOTALLY get Roxanne’s dog food fears. I have them too, and I suspect that they are largely dog food industry induced. It is in their interest after all to make us feel utterly inept at making healthy meals for our dogs. I wanted to feed Sadie fresh food but I was petrified that I’d blow the phosphorous/calcium ratio. There’s lots of advice out there about how to get it right, but much of what I read was contradictory. And then there are micronutrients and the delicate matter of balancing fats.

Talk about feeling hoisted on the horns of a dilemma. I could feed Sadie processed food (Premium or not, kibble and canned foods are processed to death.) and feel reasonably sure she was eating a balanced diet. Or, I could feed her fresh food and live on tenterhooks that her diet would come back to bite her with a disease due to too much or too little copper because I fed her too much or too little liver.

Then, I got lucky. At the suggestion of a friend I googled “See Spot Live Longer.” I was looking for the book by Steve Brown, the originator of one of the first frozen raw foods on the market, Steve’s Real Food. (He has since sold the company.) I found the book all right, and read it, but I also found something else: Individually packaged packets of powder by the same name as the book that when mixed with one pound of raw or lightly cooked meat makes a complete diet.

I read and re-read Steve’s website and then emailed Steve a list of questions about his choice of ingredients, how they are sourced, and so on. I was more than pleasantly surprised when Steve responded with detailed answers to my questions.

In addition to the powder and meat, Steve suggested adding pureed vegetables so they amount to 20% of the total weight of the mixture. Every day Sadie devours a pound of fresh meat (grass-fed beef, bison, or turkey), ½ cup of veggies (spinach, Swiss chard, broccoli, red beet, romaine lettuce, carrot, green beans, zucchini, apple, berries and such), and 1 package (1/4 cup) of See Spot Live Longer. I feed her the red meats raw and, call me squeamish, the turkey lightly cooked.

Along the way I discovered the wonders of raw green tripe or cow stomach. Apparently it’s nearly a perfect food. The calcium/phosphorous ratio is ideal as is that of omega 3 to omega 6 fats. Fair warning, though–raw green tripe stinks! Really stinks. But, I don’t care. Sadie LOVES it and it’s good for her.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a source for fresh raw green tripe from grass-fed cows so I order it frozen (not great, but better than none at all) from GreenTripe.com. Mary Voss, the woman who runs the business, is very particular. I’m satisfied from the conversations I’ve had with her that she produces a high quality product. So for 3-4 meals a week, Sadie eats tripe.

I throw in a few eggs laid by truly cage-free hens that I buy from Windsor Dairy, a local organic dairy from which I buy raw milk for myself. And, Sunday is sardine day. Sadie eats a can of sardines once a week to be sure she gets her omega-3 fats.

You might be wondering, “Is Deborah shilling for these purveyors of fine doggie foods?” Nope. None of them have any idea they’re mentioned in this post.

I’m just thankful to have found a way to circumvent my dilemma. The bottom-line is that I trust these people and their products and, most importantly, Sadie is thriving. She hardly ever vomits or has diarrhea and when she does it self-corrects usually within 24 hours.

That said, you should know I tell this story not without a little trepidation. I worry that by blogging about how well Sadie’s diet is working for her, I’ll, well, jinx it. Who? Me superstitious?

Tags: Dog food, Dog Food Dish, Dog food pre-mix, Green Tripe, GreenTripe.com, Mary Voss, Raw green tripe, Roxanne Hawn, See Spot Live Longer, Steve Brown