Any Keto Pets?

#21

Just want to add that there is an amazing difference between cleaning up after a meat only dog and a kibble dog. :poop:

(Nicole Silvia) #22

Thank you so much! I will shop around. My dog currently eats a high quality game bird dry diet. He’s in great health, but I do think this could be better. Good food and treats are expensive, so I agree that the price will likely be comperable

I know raw is good, but would cooked meat be just as benefcial? It would be easier for me.

Still, I think I need to get the cat’s on a real meat diet. Just need to figure out how to feed the kitty with 1 kidney, since he is pretty weak.

(Nicole Silvia) #23

I remember my neighbor practically bragging about the poop :wink:

#24

Cooked meat is fine, that’s what I do. As long as you can find a way to give them bone as well. Like I said, I will give cooked bones, but it’s frowned upon so do some research first. It’s like mentioning carbs on a keto forum lol. I’ve seen ground bone meal in some pet stores that some people use for home cooked.

That being said, we fed our first dogs Origin dog food for a while (we tried raw, but one of my dogs would get bad diarrhea) and they seemed to do just as well on that. Their poops were just as good.

(Heather~KWOL for life!) #25

:joy: dogs and babies… gotta watch the :poop: to monitor their health … lol…but real question, I have started researching sites @Mangusdog, do you believe that a keto diet for dogs would help the skin issues she seems to have inherited from the lab side?

#26

I’m sure whole-meat is probably healthy. However, I’d be careful with the grease. I added some hamburger grease to my dog’s regular food as a special treat. He loved it. However, the next evening when I got home from work I opened the garage door_ (as in there was still a locked, insulated door between me and the interior) and I stopped to check my shoes to see if I stepped on something. Opened the door to the house and almost threw up. The poor guy had made about 6 piles/puddles in the downstairs and it was horrendous. Truly horrendous. The carpet is still stained…

(Heather~KWOL for life!) #27

Oh nooooo! So sorry for that! I don’t give her grease, but I do give her salmon oil, from the pet store, to put on her food but she is always scratching and I think it is inherited from the Lab side, but that has not helped her skin condition, no fieas so that isn’t it.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #28

I consulted Peter, the vet with the complicated surname who writes the Hyperlipid blog, and he says it’s very difficult to get rats into ketosis. Apparently you have to restrict calories and supplement with choline, and in the end it doesn’t extend their lifespan, although they do stay healthier longer. It’s almost impossible to do at home, and the commercial lab diets I’ve seen are dreadful.

Peter just sent me a recent study this morning on ketotic mice, which I haven’t had a chance to get into yet. The little that I saw when glancing at it sounded very interesting.

I read something or watched something the other day about how most animals don’t enter ketosis readily at all; that human beings are nearly unique in being able to do so almost at will.

(Jane) #29

One of my cats eats a partially raw diet - she eats all the birds, lizards and mice she catches! The other 2 are lazy and it would be more of a chore to get them over to a raw or all-meat diet, but worth it.

#30

My pup has been raw fed since he was 9 weeks old. Raw meaty bones…nothing else. Also unvaxed. He is now 12 years old, healthy as a horse :grinning: He has never darkened the door of a veterinarian. They hate this kind of care, no money it for them.

So to answer your question: yeah, I guess he is a keto pet!!!

(Jane ) #31

Not specifically Keto, but grain free and moe real food than kibble. Woking on getting rid of the grain free kibble soon as well. He is 11 and also on Canine CBD oil.

(Nicole Silvia) #32

Yes, better diet will absolutely effect skin and coat. So long as they are not having allergies

(Nicole Silvia) #33

Yea, you have to be careful with that. They can develop pancreatitis from eating highly fatty foods on a whim.

(Nicole Silvia) #34

Domestic rats are completely evolved to eat a variety of things. I wouldn’t bother.

I’m not necessarily looking to put my pets into ketosis. I was curious because so many develop diabetes these days and cats specifically should not be eating any grains or gluten. They are carnivores and they are always having urinary and kidney issues. Since becoming strictly indoors, one has become very fat. Did I mention 2 of them are on anti-depressants as well!??

My dog is very healthy on his dry food and dogs evolved to eat more variety, but I think he would be thrilled to switch to meat and he would benefit.

I will probably also start feeding once a day as well. They can fast with me :slight_smile:

(Duncan Kerridge) #35

We tried our cat with raw food and she was having none of it. Quite happy to munch down a mouse she’s caught though. We’ve found some grain free dry food that’s mostly meat to give her and my wife has fish most meals so she gets fish nearly every day as well. Diabetic cats is a sad state of affairs.

#36

Absolutely I think it would help.

Also, I know what you mean when you say keto for pets, but incase anyone out there is reading this and not participating. . . Keto is high fat moderate protein, a prey model diet for pets would be more protein than fat. You don’t need to measure the ratios or cut the skin off the chicken etc, but feeding large amounts of only fat could potentially (not saying it will) lead to pancreatitis.

I think everyone participating in this thread understands and this is more of a clarification for the general public.

#37

Sorry, I didn’t see you already addressed this

(TJ Borden) #38

I have a little schipperkie that is about 13 years old (he was a rescue so we’re not sure). He was having seizures and after reading that dogs are geared towards protien the same way humans are geared towards fat, I switched him to a nearly pure protein diet. Not only have the seizures stopped, but he’s at about a year past when the vet said he’d be done, and he acts like he did when we got him as a puppy.

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(Nicole Silvia) #39

So I read a cat in kidney failure needs high fat and low protein… totally keto. Diseased kidneys can’t process the protein fast enough causing build-ups.

However, if your cat isn’t in end stage kidney disease, than they should have the more balanced protein / fat ratio.

I noticed that hairball remedies are mostly fats and gelatin.

Also, the salmon oil is important for the urinary issues. I’m still researching this, and will start a different thread based on switching my cats. For now, they are being switched to grain free wet foods, but I’m going to continue it to something I can make at home. Eventually raw meatballs.

I found a site by a vet who is a huge advocate for cats on raw diet.

My dog will be easier to figure out, so I’ll get to that another time.

(Carolyn aka stokies) #40

I have english bulldogs. IT can be a problematic breed with health issues, but my two are pretty phenomenal. Does anyone worry about salt levels with their doggos on keto? Just curious. So happy this thread came up when I searched it :slight_smile: