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I have an 11y old labrador retriever. He weighs 83.5 lbs (down from 88 lbs!) with a BCS of 3.5 from our last vet visit. He has arthritis and per day is getting 75mg of carprofen for pain, 1000mg glucosamine-HCL, 1000mg MSM, 1000mg of microlactin, and 1400 mg of fish oil (900 mg of omega 3). For food he gets 2 cups of diamond natural large breed dry dog food (320cal/cup) and one cup of homemade food (estimated 200-300 cal/cup) per day. I make the homemade food using 1 cup of brown rice, 1 cup of white rice, 1 cup of quaker oats (like for breakfast oatmeal) as dry sources of carbs. For protein I use 4-5 lbs (before cooking) of meat without bones (including ground chicken, turkey or beef, chicken breast or thigh meat, or sometimes porkloin) with the fat drained off after cooking, 6 jumbo eggs, 8 oz of low-fat mozzarella, and 2 cups of low-fat cottage cheese or yogurt. I also add cooked and pureed veggies - about 1 lb each of carrots, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, zucchini or summer squash, and 3-4 stalks of celery. This makes a huge stew that I freeze in portions and it usually lasts about 3 weeks. I like making it for him and I'm pretty sure he will get more veggies from my homemade food than he will get from anything I can buy. He seems bright and healthy with soft fur but has a bit of dandruff - perhaps because he just finished shedding out. Since the homemade food is only 1/3 of his diet and has a couple sources of calcium do I need to worry about using a vitamin mineral supplement? Also he has lost some weight on this regimen which my vet is very happy about, but since I don't add any fat to his homemade food other than what is in the protein sources, should I try adding back a little of the fat I drain away or add some canola or corn oil to his homemade food to help with the flaky skin? What ratio of Carb/Prot/Fat would you recommend for an older large breed dog with arthritis? Thanks for any suggestions or advice!
It appears that the homemade diet as you have described it is not complete or balanced but needs to be if more than 20% of total daily intake. You could continue to feed a homemade diet if you wish but get it properly balanced. We have an automated module for owners to obtain a balanced diet for their healthy pet.

Go to www.petdiets.com and select ‘Homemade diets’ (upper left) dog and cat picture. You begin the process by opening an account and complete your information on your pet and vet. Select the “all options” to see all of our ingredient options+/- veggie mix or one of several specific diet types "low calorie".

You may select ingredients similar to those you are now feeding. The software will re-balance your diet properly and suggest vitamin & trace mineral supplements. The cost is $25 for the first recipe and $12 for each thereafter purchased at the same time.

The propaganda is that any advice given by vets against feeding raw is due to their (and I quote) one nutrition class that they're required to take, sponsored by Science Diet where they're spoon fed education inline with feeding and selling Science Diet's products. Since I don't believe everything I read on the internet, can you please clear up if any of this is remotely based on reality or just made up to malign anti-raw proponents? Thank you.
Thank you for a very intelligent question: As with most global statements, some parts are true and some are not.

Currently there are soon to be 30 Veterinary schools in the US. About 25% of them have Veterinary Nutritionist on faculty so in these schools, that faculty member covers the nutritional training. And contrary to another popular misstatement, veterinary nutritionists training are not funded by a pet food company as that would be in no one’s best interest (the student or the company).

Some schools hire veterinary nutritionist such as myself to do the nutrition course at their school and ~25% still use the free service provide by some of the major pet food companies to save money. This number is falling because of the negative backlash as you have described .... how those students will get their nutritional training if not from the Pet food companies veterinarians - is open for now. As for the "one nutrition class" in part true because if you look at the curriculum will see one or 2 courses named as such in the first or second yrs. Yes the 1 and 2 yrs nutrition courses are not optional regardless who teaches them.

However, nutrition training is not taught as a standalone in the 3 and 4 yrs but integrated into the medicine, surgery and specialty courses, so not named as such. For example, every two weeks at NCSU, the nutrition service meets with 3 yr students to discuss how nutrition should be integrated with general practice or medicine service. The service meets daily with 4 yr students and discuss how nutrition is integrated with the cases they are covering. Occasionally, maybe 4 times a yr for an hour over lunch, we will have a pet food veterinarian come and speak to the faculty and students about a particular product (usually a new one) to discuss the features and potential uses of that new product. Yes the rep usually pays for some food brought in to that meeting.

“Science diet info is spoon fed” …not really Science Diet is an over the counter product and reps do not waste time talking to vets about over the counter products – they come talk to us about the prescription diets - those specifically designed for a particular disease …Owners cannot buy these diet without a vet involved, so it makes sense that the company would educate the vet on the uses and limitations of specialized diets. Pet food companies are doing nothing different than the pharmaceutical or vaccine companies that come to the vet (and med) schools and speak with seniors and staff over lunch about medications and vaccines. It’s usually over lunch because it is voluntary and not part of any required course to attend. In general, faculty have found this type of education to be very helpful to students who will soon be entering the real world. Students are exposure to all kinds of products in the presence of skeptical academicians who often ask very tough questions of those reps and so the students learn how to evaluate all kinds of products that they will have to make a decision on very soon for their practice.

As for anti-raw ..... actually in the vet schools, the veterinary pathologist, medicine and epidemiologists, not necessarily the nutritionist, are speaking to the students about the food poisoning aspect because any nutritionist can correct the imbalance of any diet (cooked or raw). Major pet food companies really do not care about raw food products or homemade diets. The raw food feeders like to think they are a “big deal to” or a “thorn in the side of the” or “anti” establishment but in both 2000 and 2010 APPA National Pet Owners Survey, only 2% of the pet owners were feeding raw. So it’s a very small part of the market, and has not grown in the last 10 yrs ….. so it’s not worth chasing.

That’s my cents worth from being at 5 different Vet schools over the last 20 yrs either as a student or faculty member.

My 13 pound Shih Tzu has mild MVD, with no shunt. I make a low protein food for her that is specific for her condition, based on a Yahoo Group that got it's information from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, which specializes in dogs with shunts and MVD (1 cup cottage cheese, 4 oz chicken, 3 TBS canola oil, 2 oz frozen mixed veggies, 2 cups white rice. It is supposed to last many days, but she either eats more of it than that, or doesn't eat much at all and I have to throw away. It usually lasts 3 days). However, my dog does not like the BalanceIT Canine vitamin which they recommend. And the chewable Pet-Form vitamin that I got from my vet may have made her sick to her stomach so that she wouldn't eat this week and had to bring her in to the vet.
What are other vitamins that I can purchase for her to make sure that she eats a balanced diet, and where might I buy them?
Thank you so much,
We are most willing to make appropriate commercial nutritional recommendations or formulate a HM diet for your dog using human vitamin and calcium pills or a different BalanceIT product. A diet for MVD should be tailor to the case based on fundings in the medical record - one diet does not fit all. I doubt the nutritiontist at UT would have provided that diet knowing that it was going out on the net. You may begin the consultation process with us yourself online at any time. If necessary, we can send you the form to complete and return to us instead. I will need more information about your particular pet, dietary history and current medical data to make specific suggestions. Diets for pets with a medical condition are done individually. We most often can incorporate current dietary recommendations and principles into one diet and complete that request within 10 business days of receiving all the necessary information.

We can, on paper, balance most any reasonable dietary request. The HM diet instructions are quite detailed yet give options and allow for substitutions if appropriate for the medical problem(s). Unique dietary requests for individual patients are what we do best. The HM formulations usually involve a cooked meat, cooked grain, +/- vegetables and a single, readily available specifically designed vitamin/mineral supplement. We give the daily food amounts in both grams and common kitchen measures for each patient.

Please go back to the www.petdiets.com web site, click on the "Nutrition Consultation” - “for owners” and complete the information. We work as a specialty consultant to your veterinarian. Your primary care veterinarian is a vital partner in the care of your pet and must provide us with the most recent or relevant medical records (fax 800-649-2043, post or email petdiets@att.net).

We can in addition set up a phone consult time ($200/hr) after I have your completed request and a copy of the medical record so that I will be better informed on the case.

We will send our written letter of recommendations to your veterinarian via fax. You will be asked to provide this contact information. Our charge for a personalized Nutritional Consultation is $250 for your first pet, but then discounted ($100) for second pet or discounted further ($50) for the third pet in the same household IF different diet formulations are required. Most times, we can design a diet that accommodates more than one dog or cat in the household if needed.

This fee covers review of medical information, product research, and a diet formulation. It also covers all questions you may have about our diet recommendations. Please understand there is an additional charge of $100 to reformulate another diet if you should later request a major change in ingredients, foods or supplements that were not previously specified or if the pet should develop another medical condition.

Adding supplements to homemade diets for dogs or cats can be cumbersome and difficult to do properly. We primarily and most often suggest an all-in-one supplement designed specifically for dogs or cats fed a homemade diet. This line of supplements is called BalanceIT®. However, other supplement options are possible if appropriate. Our guarantee is that our dietary recommendations will be nutritionally complete and balanced for your pet’s medical condition.

Let me know if you have trouble ordering the consult online.
Thank you for your interest,

Can adding corn or safflower oil to a dog's complete and balanced dog food help his skin or coat in any way whatsoever? Also, aside from added calories, can doing this hurt the dog in any way long or short term? Thank you.
Safflower and corn oil contain fairly high amounts of linoleic acid which the dog does need to obtain from the food. Any Complete and Balanced dog food will by definiton contain adequate amounts of linoleic acid. Adding more is not harmful if the dog is not overweight or fat intolerant. Will it do some good ..... more is not necessarily better so unlikely.

I have an 8 month old miniature poodle who is a very picky eater. I have tried all of the "tricks" to get her to eat and at times she will eat the food for approximately 4 weeks and then will not eat it at all even with putting it up after 15 minutes, adding cheese, peanut butter, etc. We have tried all high quality foods (Amicus, Stella and Chewy's, Blue and Natural Balance) and have even moved to lower level foods, Bil-Jac and Nutrish. Do you have any recommendations.
What was the she raised on from the breeder or whereever you got her from? If she underweight, then you may have a medical problem. If she is normal weight and growth, then you are probably over estimating how much she needs to eat per day.

What foods are bad and should not be fed to your dog
It is not safe to feed onions or garlic (cooked or raw), macadamia nuts, chocolate or grapes/raisins to your dog. Please see www.aspca.org animal poison control site for updates.

My dog is a 26 pound, mixed breed altered female. She is currently on Royal Canin LP dry and sometimes canned. She gets a supplement of fish oil w/ vitamin e once a day. She gets 5mg of Pepcid a half hour before breakfast, hidden in a tiny drop of sugar/salt free peanut butter. She was just prescribed Pet-Tinic supplements due to borderline anemia, but she hasn't starting taking that yet. She has been diagnosed with kidney failure. She just had her blood work and urinalysis done yesterday. Her creatinine is 4.9 (down from 5.9 last month) and her BUN is 40 (down from 45 last month). Calcium is 12.6 (range 8.9-11.4 mg/dL) and Potassium is 6.1 (range 3.6-5.5 mEq/L). She gets 400ml's of subcutaneous fluids daily.

That's a lot of information, but my question is pretty simple. Is there anything I can give her as a snack/treat? It is difficult finding something she would like that doesn't have a lot of protein, sodium or phosphorous in it. Her appetite has not changed - she would still eat the house if I let her, but I feel like she's desperate for food. She has lost a little weight since I have completely stopped giving her anything but the LP. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. :-)
Yes, in most cases, rice cakes, original flavor Cheerios, air-popped popcorn, vanilla wafers, MilkOpet or low salt cheese pieces are acceptable treats for renal dogs.

hi,do they have pet supplements/vitamins if you want to start a homemade raw diet or can i use human supplements/vitamins?thanks
You can options for either when making a dog or cat homemade diet.

i'm wondering what your position is on switching dog food routinely? do you believe that "if it's not broken, don't fix it" or do you believe that dogs should have different foods on a rotational basis?
Those who rotate the protein source to "avoid" food allergy do not understand how the immune system works. If one is rotating the diet because one may have something the other one does not .... maybe but if both diets are complete and balanced by definition than it is more like mixing two different shades of red paint - the paint is still red and the diet is still complete and balanced. If you are mixing two products of which neither are complete and balance the chances that the two will gete a complete and balance intake are quite remote. So if it's not broken, don't change it.

My 2 year old Maltese was recently diagnosed with corneal lipid dystrophy and has to go on the lowest fat diet as possible. This disease causes fat deposits to gather in the her corneas and will impede her vision. The eye specialist recommended managing it by cutting as much fat as possible out of her diet to help slow the deposits in her eyes. She is only allowed to have raw veggies as treats and the vet prescribed the Royal Canin Gastro Intestinal Low Fat food as it was the lowest fat content she could find in any food besides a homemade diet. Are there any better quality foods out there that are a close substitute as low in fat as this Royal Canin line?
Yes Royal Canin GI Low fat (canned or dry) is the lowest fat content on the market in a commercial product.
There is no comparable options. Yes a homemade diet can be made ultra low fat if needed.