Keto for my little dog?

(Denise) #1

I see an old thread from 2018 so thought it best to start a new one, but not sure this is the right category.

I want to feed my dog “right” and healthy, so I buy the best I can of dog-food, but I’m not happy with it, and she longs to have what I’m cooking. I saw a great post by @Shortstuff (allie) so I hope she for one, will chime in and help me figure out how to go about this, I’m determined to do it, and found one recipe with lamb and pumpkin, one other ingredient I can’t remember now. Ideas and how to transition her off the dog food are so welcome.

She about 5, a rescue, and all up on her vet checks and shots. Right weight, I don’t over-feed her and she gets real exercise every day at least once a day an actual walk but we go out several short walks. Shes 7 lbs and pretty much deer chihuahua but a mix. I will also be using info from the 2018 thread . Just weighed her, found a calculator for doggies, she’s 8.6 lbs, vet said 7 was a little high, so yeah. Here we go. I’m ready to get her on a better diet, one she will eat and enjoy at the same time :wink:

:slight_smile:mimmie%201

Here are 2 more of Mimi before I was able to talk the owners into letting me have her. A friend of mine was there and took these picks. Her coat was dull and a humane friend of mine put coconut oil on her, but as you can see, she was neglected. I took her to the vet right away and had her have a special “little ladies” nail job, :wink:

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(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

Cute doggie! Don’t expect to get her into ketosis; human beings are really the only animals that can enter ketosis easily. For most mammals, ketosis only occurs in late-stage starvation. Inuit on their traditional diet give the lean meat to their dogs and eat the fatty cuts, because the dogs can do better on the lean than they can.

But I’ve known a number of people on the Net who fed their dogs raw meat and found it really promoted their dogs’ health. I think that’s probably more important than the percentages of protein and fat. And the grains in commercial dog foods can’t be doing the animals any good.

(Denise) #3

So raw meats rather than cooked is what I’m seeing in that 2018 thread. I didn’t really think my diet would be that great for mimi, not “exactly” and it is keto so good info on not really her being on keto, just more like carnivore like their ancestors were. She could have lamb, fish (some kinds maybe?) read meats, turkey, chicken? Things like that, but they should be all raw Paul? I guess since cooking takes out nutrients right?

I’m off to do errands but will be back to see if there are more replies including yours :wink: appreciate it, Denise

#4

While not real keto, I give my idiot Blue Freedom grain free, Its got real meat as the main ingredients, select fruits and veggies. No byproducts or filler garbage. The grain stuff destroys his stomach and my yard pays the price, his sensitivity is a good gauge of crappy foods. A little more expensive, but not crazy.

(Joey) #5

In the good old days (which weren’t really quite that good in reality), you’d go to the local butcher and get the “doggie cuts” - the stuff people wouldn’t buy but dogs would love, including the bones with marrow to gnaw.

With the demise of the stand-alone butcher shop throughout most of the western world, any modern supermarket with a butcher counter may still provide some dog-oriented products, either as a courtesy or at a modest cost since they can monetize them rather than just throw them out.

Happy hund-ing (<- see what I did there?)

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #6

It’s tricky. Cooking can damage nutrients, but it can also make them more available. I’m not expert enough to say. I’m sure a mix of cooked and raw will probably be fine, but that’s just a guess. I do feel more confident, however, saying that dogs shouldn’t get grains.

(Bob M) #7

@PaulL Paul, Paul, Paul. After being looking at people nutrition for a while, why believe that dog nutrition is any different?

Grain-free food supposedly causes dog cardiomyopathy:

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Since getting a dog where I’m trying to go grain-free and at least partially raw (or fully raw over time), there is no much misinformation in this area. Went to the vet, who told me to not go grain-free.

Sound familiar?

When you start looking into this, people are attempting to blame “pulses” (and genetics) for this, but when you look even more deeply, you realize they have no idea what’s causing it. Cardiomyopathy went up, as did grain-free foods. Correlation does not equal causation, but I see people all the time saying grain free diets cause cardiomyopathy in dogs. Often, I don’t respond, as I know that it’s a rabbit hole, and I’ll be arguing against someone who (1) knows nothing, (2) knows nothing about the companies and processes that go into making “grain-free” be bad, (3) knows nothing about epidemiology, and (4) won’t learn.

(Denise) #8

I can relate to the good ole days, which were only good because I was a kid and didn’t know any better. I need to find out what a hund is to put that together SG :laughing: If you’d said hound-ing I would get that :grin:

(Denise) #9

Well it evidently is different because dogs can’t eat chocolate, and that’s just one difference. My dog does not need any coffee in the a.m.'s :rofl: and she and I do NOT think alike. She reads pmail, and I read email. So there!:crazy_face:

(Joey) #10

Sorry … hund is dog, in German. Was just a play on wort.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

You guys, enough with the puns, already! You’re going to drive me barking mad! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

(Denise) #12

Really!! I don’t want any nightmares bout the Hund of the Barkervilles :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

(Todd Allen) #13

I have been feeding my dog the same food I eat for the past 6 years since going keto. She is 12 and aging well.

(Denise) #14

This is actually what I wanted to do Todd, thanks for bringing it up. Do you mainly share your meats, vegies, eggs?? I did buy some grass fed beef today and lamb to give her but waiting to know how to transition her over to raw/cooked etc.

(Todd Allen) #15

Hardly any veg as she isn’t much interested in most other than sweet potato or squash which we don’t have often. I eat a lot of beef especially cheaper cuts like chuck roast, cheeks and heart often sous vide or slow baked. But also other meats, eggs, fish and cultured dairy. She only eats raw the things I eat raw which is mainly just eggs from our hens and a small amount of premium meats and fish. I give her raw beef liver from sources I trust and have tried raw myself though I prefer it gently cooked. She also likes a few fruits and nuts but we don’t have much of those either. We also give small amounts of freeze dried meats sold as pet foods/treats.

(Michael) #16

Dogs work best on pure carnivore diet. My dogs eat raw hamburger with a taste of whatever I cook for myself. While cats need pure carnivore, dogs just work best with it. Tons of diabetic pets thanks to non carnivore foods, try not to get tricked. Meat and more meat is all a dog should eat.

(Bob M) #17

Here’s more information about cardiomyopathy and dogs:

Basically, they don’t know what causing increased cardiomyopathy. Personally, I highly doubt it’s pea protein or whatever they think it is, but even if it is, it says nothing about truly meat-based diets.

I bought some lamb chunk food (frozen) for my 18 week old puppy. Refuses to eat it. Still on kibble from the breeder. Will try raw beef with ground bones tonight.

For treats, we’re tying to do cooked beef and chicken, though at some point, we’ll try raw with those too. (“Treats” = things for training. Going to two dog classes per week and I’m doing Susan Garrett’s crate training.)

(Denise) #18

Ok, first video I found on my own this a.m. sort of made me sick, I there was a chicken head, a chicken’s foot, and several other unidentified raw body parts, I can’t feed my dog that. I’m sorry, I’m just not up to doing that.

With that said, I can feed her some cooked meats I eat, and can afford, some cooked vegies, or raw if she likes them, and maybe some raw liver as I read those are very good and healthy. But I need to just try a little for raw meats as we go. Mostly, I don’t want to make “her” sick, and secondly, I can’t afford to buy super expensive meat cuts for myself or her.

I can afford, so far, a lot of Wildcaught fish, organic vegies, Grass Fed beef, and Free Range eggs.

I need to know how to transition her from her “I guess they call it kibble” but it’s just dry, small pieces of dog food. I’ll put the link below of the brand I’ve fed her since the beginning when I got her in November 2021. I’ve seen one video that says you can go cold turkey to transition her, or mix the food in together.

I have grass fed ground beef, and the ground Lamb is just “raised free of antibiotics and no added hormones” I got the lamb just for her as I’ve never tried it. Maybe I should though. Feedback welcome on eating Lamb.

Videos, articles, or personal experience on transitioning very welcome. I’d like to start today if possible :wink: BTW, is feeding her some of my breakfast sausage and eggs ok? The sausage is not hardly seasoned, I add Flaxseed, nutritional yeast and chia seeds to the concoction :wink: She gets 1/2 a cup of her kibble a day so how much people-food for her?

I don’t expect anyone to tell me how, but if you can point me to something/someone online that is trustworthy, that would be great. There’s an overwhelming amount of videos, along with opinions :wink: as you know.

Mimmie’s Food she’s being fed now

#19

Vets are sponsored by dog food manufacturers … Sigh

I feed my dogs on raw food. They love it. Have done it since they were 8 weeks when we got them. Now 10 and 7. Wouldn’t change. I’m in the UK. I use Natural Instinct but theres more and more these days. Nothing processed. To work ratios out myself seemed a bit of a faff. It comes frozen. All very simple and healthy.

(Denise) #20

I am ok with just meats, I’m not into giving her vegies unless there’s something in them she needs. I know she’s like a little taste of a scrambled egg on occasion when I just didn’t have the heart to eat in front of her but I’ve been very strict about her diet because I didn’t know any better. She is so healthy right now, just being fed the food I linked to. She her poop is always regular and healthy, and she drinks a good amount of water, zero gas, healthy coat.

Energy galore as well, she’s like a puppy and she’s 5 or 6 years old which I don’t think should be unusual but with some dogs her age, they’re overweight etc. :frowning: It’s a bit scarey to change her diet to what I’ll just call carnivore for now but selfishly, I would feel better knowing she doesn’t have to suffer smelling the good stuff I’m cooking and she doesn’t get to eat, just her dry old crap :frowning: