January 2008
Holistic First Aid for Housepets
I feed my dog a natural diet. Not because I
want to spend time making it although I did make baby food when my
children
were young – it makes me smile inside when I see organic baby food
these days.
We all want what is best for our children even if we don’t give it to
ourselves. I feed by dog a natural diet because I understand that
animals with
white hair have more sensitivity. I also notice that my dog has no
crust at her
eyes but her brother, who resides at our neighbours, has a large brown
wet spot
at each eye. My dog has never been vaccinated either – we keep her at
home and
don’t encourage other dogs to visit. This obviously is a very personal
choice.
My veterinarian has helped me adapt the original recipe I was using to
better
suit my particular dog.
One of the programs that I studied was the
BARF
diet The word BARF is an acronym for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.
“ Every
living animal on earth requires a natural and healthy, biologically
appropriate
diet. And if you think about it, not one animal on earth, is adapted by
evolution to eat a cooked food diet.”
Check the internet for recipes or get a good
book. One that I started with was Dr Pitcairn’s Complete guide to
Natural
Health for Dogs and Cats.
A friend of mine has a cat that would not
stop
licking itself. The paws were bleeding and it had to wear a cone to
prevent
further damage. As soon as the cone was removed it began licking again.
She had
already visited the vet and had tried several things. I suggested a
change of
food to a natural diet. She used the recipe I suggested of cooked
turkey (yes I
know it is not raw but the changes of salmonella in raw turkey meat is
high and
I would not want to handle it), cooked yams or squash and some
vitamins. She
makes the whole recipe and freezes it in lumps – about two servings.
The cat stopped licking right away, within a
week she was healing. Six months later when they came home from
vacation the
last frozen portion was served the day they arrived home. Not wanting
to rush
out to get a turkey and make the recipe she fed cat food for two days
and the
cat started licking. They are away on vacation for 6 weeks you can bet
there is
an ample supply of turkey in the freezer!
Dog Food
2 lbs hamburger = 4 cups
1 cup barley in 11/2 cup water, cook for a
few
minutes, cool before adding to hamburger
4 cups hamburger Animals need more fat
than we do so get the regular not lean.
1 cup vegetables – double
shredded I use frozen vegetables as they have
been
blanched and slightly cooked is recommended. A variety is suggested. My
dog
loves peas, beans, squash, yams, carrots etc. Sometimes I add the
vegetables to
the top of the barley once it is cooked and leave the lid on so they
steam a
bit.
2 tbsp kelp or alfalfa - I alternate each
time
I make the recipe.
4 tsp cod liver oil My dog does
not
eat cod liver oil so I feed her fish occasionally
3 tbsp Essential Fatty Acid - I use hemp seed
oil in the recipe or I use a cap of flax oil daily, cut the end of the
capsule
and squeeze the oil into the food.
1500 mg Vitamin C ( I crush tablets or
buy it in powder form)
Vitamin E I use several droppers
full
¼ cup nutritional yeast for B vitamin
bone meal or 2 chicken necks daily I switched from the bone meal
to a
calcium that I use.
I feed fruit separately.
Diane Wiebe
Okanagan Natural Care Centre
#3 1890 Ambrosi Rd Kelowna BC
Naturalcare.bc.ca
(250) 763-2914
Investing in our health
makes retirement worth living!
Diane Wiebe is an herbalist
and natural health practitioner at Okanagan Natural Care Center in
Kelowna. www.naturalcare.bc.ca
