Hello, Im looking for some meal suggestions for my lab. He has been on the prescription dog food l/d, but went off of it when he had a GI problem. Just wasnt appealing to him during that time. So I started making him some home made meals from recipes I got from a book on dogs with liver disease. I went with the ones I felt were safest with his blood work up numbers at the time. These are some of the things I used, not necessarily in the same meal......some cottage cheese, white fish(cod) for the protein, pasta (barila plus as it has added omegas, etc), new potatos, sweet potatos for the soluble fiber, squash, carrots, peas for the veggies. Also bought and started using digestive enzymes and probiotics. When they did his last biopsy they also found and removed some bladder stones, so I also try to stay away from high purine foods. But I got lazy, plus fresh and even frozen cod was getting expensive, especially if you wanted it from the USA so you at least knew where it came from. So I found a canned food for allergy sensitive dogs that contained only one form of protein and one carb. I got the fish and sweet potato. But I still had to add veggies etc. And I think the type of fish mix in it might be to rich for him(not as low fat as I would like). Later I found another that had white fish, barley, carrots and sweet potato. He loves it!!!!!!! Price isnt bad compared to the 2 something a can we were paying for the l/d. But.......I cant take his breath anymore!!!!! It is really really bad!!!!! So I would appreciate any safe quality protein suggestions and some meal plans to go with them if you have them. Iffy on soy protein as we have *** cancer in our family and the news out there is still yes its great, no its not, no one has made up thier minds. Figure if guestionable for me, its questionable for how great it is for him and his liver. Anyway....ideas on food welcomed.

Also, what about his teeth and breath. We dont give him raw hide chews as Im afraid if he swallows to big of pieces it wont digest right in his stomach and we will have the GI problems again. I only get him nontoxic chew toys and they are soft and dont really get the gunk off his teeth. I brush them but the fish smell is still there, big time!!! Our vet says its not a good idea to put him out and do the detailed teeth cleaning as its not safe right now for his system and probably not ever. As it is we havent gotten his parvo shot done yet as we are waiting for better blood work up numbers. So breath ideas would be appreciated to (maybe even more then the food ideas!!!)

Marie (Sonnyspeople)

Hi Marie.

I just wanted to share some of my experiences with home cooking for my 2 Corgis, Eli and Dixie. They do not have liver issues, but, Eli has had some GI and allergy problems in the past. I cook a batch of food twice a week, using Dr. Pitcairn's recipe One on One for the base. The diet consists of ground turkey, chicken or fish(tilapia,  whiting, or cod), rice/quinoa/millet for grain, and beans or lentils to make up protien. They always have celery, carrots, apples or pears, squash, broccoli, spinach, bok choy, any organic veggie in season. I also have papayas that grow in my yard. They get ONP Super Daily Vits Plus Skin and Coat(has Vit C) brewers yeast and garlic, ONP Whole Foods Antioxidant Blend, ONP Icelandic Salmon Oil, In Clover K9 Connectin, and ONP GI Support.

For the dental routine, I use Proden Plaque off. It's a blend of certain types of kelp. The kids teeth and breath are great. They also get dried chicken feet, salmon skin rolls, munchy stix, and Twistix to chew on. Per Jay at Call of the Dog, beef knuckles bones are also the way to go. I just haven't gotten to the butcher yet.

As for soy, Jay and I had that discussion under Quinoa, in Natural and Organic Food a while back. There is a lot of info in that post, so you may want to check it out!

All the best.

Remember that the B vitamins, as well as Vit C are water soluble. the body will use what it needs and excrete the rest in the urine. The ONP super daily vits + skin and Coat have those vits, plus dicalcium phosphate, which is supposed to provide the proper calcium/phospherous ratio. L-arginine is an esential amino acid, if I remember correctly. Part of the building blocks of life. As for kelp, the dose for the Plaque Off is so small, about 1/8th a teaspoon for a 30lb dog. I think Jay from Call of the Dog extolled the virtues of kelp in the post Millet, under organic and natural dog foods. That's a good one to look at.

I really do think my dog's health has taken off since adding the quinoa to the diet. They don't itch at all, and don't need flea drops. One of The Honest Kitchen's new formulations has quinoa as the grain content, I just can't remember the name. It may be Force. You can look it up on their website: thehonestkitchen.com.  If you don't wish to home cook, they are the best alternative. As for the home cooking...I cook for my family every day. On the days I need a new batch of puppy food, it's not that big a deal, as I am already in the kitchen cooking all sorts of good thinds for my family.

I do wish you the best of luck, and let us know how things are going.