Digi is sick again... Can Vegan be an option?

Digi is eating hair again (she puked it up twice within 24hrs) & when I take her outside to play in the backyard shes eating a lot of dirt, to the point I have to keep her on a short leash away from the areas with dirt exposed, completely defeating the purpose of taking her to the backyard to run around & play.

Right now I'm waiting for a phone call from the vets office to see what I can do.

I fear she has more meat allergies.. But it could also be a plant/veggie in the kibble too... It is getting crazy hard to feed her to the point I'm debating if its possible to put her on tofu & other veggies as a diet.

In my mind this is the stupidest thing I have ever thought of, but I really don't know whatelse to do. I don't know how much more her body can even handle before crashing again or... permentaly... :(

I think putting her on tofu & simple veggies could atleast be a start to see if her tummy calms down.. Then once its stable, I can add something else.. or give her a piece of raw fish once a week so she can get some meat proteine in her, but not large amounts all the time.

So I REALLY REALLY REALLY need some help here.. I know there are some vegans here & I'm hoping I can get some nutritional advice, as I have little idea where to even start!

I need help making a large list of what veggies/fruits contain what vitamins & what vitamins a dog needs to be healthy.

I have all the equipment to prepare just about any kind of food oil free (if it needs to be cooked like Spinach).

I also need help making a list of what veggies/plants are toxic to dogs so I don't accidently find out.


Any help would be appreciated... I'm getting quite scared of Digi's future

OMG why didn't I notice this before!!!

Orijen 6 Fish

Fresh salmon (includes chinook. coho and sockeye species), salmon meal, russet potato, herring meal, fresh lake whitefish, sweet potato, fresh lake trout, fresh Northern walleye, freshwater cod, fresh herring, sunflower oil, salmon oil (preserved with mixed tocopherals, a natural source of vitamin E), sun-cured alfalfa, dried sea vegetables (brown kelp, Irish moss, dulse and bladder wrack), leeks, psyllium, crab shell, rosemary, lecithin, apples, black currants..


&&**&^##@$%&%& I feel like the WORST OWNER EVER!!!!! Shes allergic to shellfish!!!!!

:( Poor Digi. I've heard of people feeding their dogs vegetarian diets, and having their dogs do well on them. One of my co-workers in the past had an Anatolian Shepherd that had similar digestive issues to Digi from the sounds of it, and she had success with a vegetarian kibble (this one, but I'm not sure of the quality. She liked it a lot though.). I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with such a diet, but if Digi really can't tolerate most meats, then perhaps that is something to look into.

Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream might work though, if she does well on fish:

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Ingredients
Salmon, ocean fish meal, sweet potatoes, potatoes, canola oil, salmon meal, smoked salmon, potato fiber, natural flavor, choline chloride, dried chicory root, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, yucca schidigera extract, Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Saccharomyces cerevesiae fermentation solubles, dried Aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D supplement, folic acid

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:( I am so sorry to hear Digi is sick again.. Hey you might see if you can find some of the food Taste of the Wild.. Its grain free & shell fish free.. My babies all love it..

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Originally Posted by Orangutango

:( Poor Digi. I've heard of people feeding their dogs vegetarian diets, and having their dogs do well on them. One of my co-workers in the past had an Anatolian Shepherd that had similar digestive issues to Digi from the sounds of it, and she had success with a vegetarian kibble (this one, but I'm not sure of the quality. She liked it a lot though.). I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with such a diet, but if Digi really can't tolerate most meats, then perhaps that is something to look into.

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Thank you

I spoke to my vet office & they are going to send me recipes so I can make her a vegitable diet & add fresh fish & duck to it. They are also going to send me what special vitamins she'll need to be on to remain healthy.

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Originally Posted by lvpets2002

She can't have any food that has beef, pork, sheep type animals processed at the plant as shes that sensitive now... I tried Call of the wild a few months ago (before Digi was this bad) & she was puking it up :(

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I think its just safer to make the food myself, as I'll know whats in it 100%...

My poor little dog :(

:love: Is is just dry that makes her sick?? Can she eat wet food at all??

I've been looking at vegan & vegitarian recipes for a few mins & so far it looks like its full of grain! No thanks....

I'm going to email Orijen to see if they can help me make my own version of 6fish that is Digi safe. I'm hoping they'll help.. They were awesome last time!

I'll keep everyone updated.

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Originally Posted by lvpets2002

:love: Is is just dry that makes her sick?? Can she eat wet food at all??

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She can eat wet, but almost all wet that I have looked at had things she cannot eat + if its made in the same plant that beef & other things shes allergic too, I can't feed it to her.. tiny traces of it are proving to cause issues.

I'm just going to make her food.. I just need to learn how :confused:

Oh no, poor Digi. And poor YOU!! I hope you can figure this all out so she will be happy and you won't be worried and stressed about her.

I´m so sorry.. poor Digi... I hope you can work something out for her...

don´t feel bad...we all make mistakes... but you sure noticed and will be fixing it ASAP... that makes you a good mommy

I know Digi will come out of this just fine. Mom knows what's going on and fixing it. Please don't beat yourself up over it. Humans eat the wrong foods all the time. It's something that you can correct and you've taken all the right steps. Best of luck with it and I hope Digi and Mom feel better real soon!!:)

Thank you everyone

I'm still researching what to feed her... Shes still eating her current food as I can't starve her to death. The vet said she should be "ok" for a while as long as I keep an eye on her... We just need a little time to get everything right so we don't hurt her by an unbalanced diet ...

I'm hoping to come up with something over the weekend.. Right now I'm sick as sin & doing my best to read but I can hardly keep my eyes open let along think straight... I haven't slept in 3-4 weeks, had the tooth pulled a couple days ago.. then woman hood visited me, drained the life out of me & now I have a nasty cold that took me over in 1 day.. I was cold free yesterday & now I'm 1/2 dead with it... blah... I'm so tired...

I'm sorry that Digi isn't feeling well. :( Poor little girl.

Have you ever considered a raw diet? It's quite easy and simple, once you get used to it, and it can work wonders with severely allergic dogs. A friend of mine had a dog who suffered from intense, severe allergies for years on every kibble in the world and even different home-cooked diets, but now he's symptom-free and healthy on a raw diet. There are ways to easily provide all of the vitamins she needs by adding a few inexpensive supplements.

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Originally Posted by bckrazy

I'm sorry that Digi isn't feeling well. :( Poor little girl.

Have you ever considered a raw diet? It's quite easy and simple, once you get used to it, and it can work wonders with severely allergic dogs. A friend of mine had a dog who suffered from intense, severe allergies for years on every kibble in the world and even different home-cooked diets, but now he's symptom-free and healthy on a raw diet. There are ways to easily provide all of the vitamins she needs by adding a few inexpensive supplements.

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According to Orijen's bag of food, If I do 70% meat & 40% veggies + vitamin/mineral supplements I should have a healthy balance for Digi


This is how Jordan & I would "like" to cook the food.

Whole duck &/or Whole chicken &/or whole fish (head, feet, body, everything, except feathers) + whole eggs with shell... turned into mush in a pressure cooker, & then blended to mix it evenly.

fresh raw mixed veggies + supplements, mixed in a food processor.

I'm kind of confused... do you mean Orijen tells you how to make a home-cooked diet?

http://www.dogaware.com/wdjhomemade3.html

That's a really good place to start, with some example meals/supplements. It also has lots of raw info. First and foremost, make sure you are balancing out phosphorus and calcium. That means, meat and bone. You must provide a bone meal in addition to meat, hence why raw diets are so easy (not to mention that bones are built-in teeth cleaners). I would not recommend pressure cooking bones into mush, as much of the nutritional value will be lost. It's way easier to just feed muscle meat, if you cannot feed raw bones, and measure out exact amounts of bone meal or ground eggshells.

It does sound like a really good idea to feed homemade. I would never, ever, ever force an opportunistic carnivore to eat vegan for life. Is there any reason that you have an aversion to raw? Just curious.

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Originally Posted by bckrazy

I'm kind of confused... do you mean Orijen tells you how to make a home-cooked diet?

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Not really.. what it does tell me is that 70% of the recipe is meat & 40% is veggies/fruits... I was going to use it as a ratio to aid in how to make food for Digi. I was also going to try to get all the veggies they list so I could add it to my recipe. This way I know what veggies are safe & prob the better to have.

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Originally Posted by bckrazy

http://www.dogaware.com/wdjhomemade3.html

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I only skimmed through the site to take a quick peek at it.. It looks awesome!! Its the best site I have seen so far. I haven't been impressed with most sites so I have felt quite lost & somewhat helpless.

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Originally Posted by bckrazy

That's a really good place to start, with some example meals/supplements. It also has lots of raw info. First and foremost, make sure you are balancing out phosphorus and calcium. That means, meat and bone. You must provide a bone meal in addition to meat, hence why raw diets are so easy (not to mention that bones are built-in teeth cleaners). I would not recommend pressure cooking bones into mush, as much of the nutritional value will be lost. It's way easier to just feed muscle meat, if you cannot feed raw bones, and measure out exact amounts of bone meal or ground eggshells.

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What I was planning on doing was buying a whole chicken, as I can get them for 5.00 for 1 or 2 birds (LOVE the area I live in!). The bird is typically gutted & de-feathered & thats it.. it has its head, wings, tail, legs & neck still attached (they are not easy to look at). Some might come with the gizzards, but I can buy them in small packs of a specific organ (heart/liver).

So I was going to Pressure cook the whole bird (no veggies, just bird) so the bones would be safe.

After reading the site quickly I saw the ratio of egg shell I can use... 1/2 /1lbs meat.

My next plan was to cool the meat & then blend it into nothingness. Add the powdered eggshell (can't use bonemeal) & mix together.

Then I was going to blend a mix of raw veggies & cooked Sweet Potato (read somewhere today that potato has to be cooked for dogs) together.

Add 70% of the cooled meat mixture to a container & then add 40% of the blended veggie mixture to the container.

& in theory that should be a healthy meal... What do you think?

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Originally Posted by bckrazy

It does sound like a really good idea to feed homemade. I would never, ever, ever force an opportunistic carnivore to eat vegan for life. Is there any reason that you have an aversion to raw? Just curious.

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I don't have an aversion to raw. But with Digi's gut we can't afford to add any sort of "bad" bacteria to her gut, & giving her something easier to digest is best (raw bones take time to digest & her body might try to pass it onto the intestines too quickly or her system could freakout).

Also Digi has no body fat (zip) so there is no padding on her belly to absorb any shock to it, so when shes playing, she easily can put a lot of pressure on her stomach where the bone can be forced to hit the stomach wall roughly (which happened in the past when I fed her raw).

This is why I'm going with cooked. Its just safer for her gut. I plan to buy supplements to help with the food loosing some nutrition as its being cooked (well the meat anyways). So in theory this should work, or at least I hope it does :(

The vet office called me back a few mins ago. They sent me 2 vet approved sites for making homemade dog food.

www.petdiet.com
www.balanceit.com

I'll go over these 2 sites when I get home, as I'm swamped at work.

Sorry to hear about Digi being sick again. Seems like, good dog mum that you are, you are on the right track in sorting out what to feed her to avoid further upsets. Kudos to you.

Prayers and good thoughts on the way that you find that exact recipe and all is well.

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Originally Posted by ChrisH

Sorry to hear about Digi being sick again. Seems like, good dog mum that you are, you are on the right track in sorting out what to feed her to avoid further upsets. Kudos to you.

Prayers and good thoughts on the way that you find that exact recipe and all is well.

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Thank you Chris :love:

I'm now glad I bought those 2 whole hens (heads n all) for 4$ a month ago & froze them. We were planning on eating them tonight at Jordan's parents house. Nope, they are now dog food :D

Just need to get some veggies, & eggs for her & we're good to go :)