What Do You Feed Your Dog?

Kia

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Jul 5, 2013
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I am interested to hear if anyone has altered their dog's diet to fit a more Peat inspired way of eating. Surely dogs don't need grains and fillers/chemicals in their food either however, the nutrient requirements would be a bit different I imagine.
I have an older large breed dog and I want to keep her going into her late teens...
 

charlie

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During a radio interview Ray Peat mentioned that dogs would probably live longer if they had more sugar.(Or he might have said candy, but it was either sugar or candy)
 

jyb

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My butcher tells me most people nowadays only buy liver (which is cheap, except calves) for their dogs.
 

4peatssake

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I used to feed my dog a raw meat diet but it was very expensive, messy and one has to take precautions. It was too difficult for my children to manage and so I now feed him a dry, meat based dog food having no grains or filler. It's more expensive than other commercial dog food but he is healthy and we save on vet bills. He's a lab and will eat anything. ;)
 

Jenn

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Gelatin in the form of raw hide. I get it in bulk from Amazon 5 lb for $25 ish. Also coconut oil and raw milk, when there's extra. Otherwise, they get the least offensive, dry food I can find locally.
 

Asimov

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no grain dog food supplemented by butter, scraps of meat, and beef bones/gristle
 

DrJ

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My dog has been having apparent liver problems. He's a little over 9 years old, 35lbs initially, and the vet says his target weight should be closer to 30lb. My vet seems very unknowledgeable so I am switching. He was diagnosed with low thyroid about a year ago, and the vet only prescribed levothyroxine (T4). I asked her about one with T3, but she says it doesn't exist and didn't seem to understand its importance. A year later, his blood tests showed he had severely elevated levels of alkaline phosphatase, about double the normal max value, which is also indicative of liver problems. It also makes him pee a lot more. I made her run the T3 test, and it was just barely at the low end of 'normal' which tells me that despite getting daily T4, he is not really converting it to T3; again another indicator of liver issues. So I decided to switch his diet from away from an expensive grain-free dry dog food that unfortunately still has a lot of PUFA in it to something better.

Now I make his food and it is eggs, cheese, applesauce and just a tiny bit of his dry dog food b/c it seems to help keep him regular. I also add 0.1g powdered aspirin 2X a day, plus vitamin K. I am contemplating adding some other vitamins like niacinamide, maybe some more sugar, and glycine. He gets meat occasionally, and I give him bone broth once per week, and some coconut oil 2x/week. He also gets carrot shavings about every other night when I am prepping my carrot salads. He is doing much better. His energy levels are up, his coat is shinier, he pees back at his normal level, he has lost 2.5lbs, and his stomach has tightened up so he has more of a waist. He also had a small benign adenocarcinoma on his jaw-line/neck area which I affectionately call his 'dinger.' That also seems to be slowly shrinking (either that or his fur is hiding it better) which was sort of unexpected.

I've been feeding him this way for 2 months, and after 3 months of this, I will get his blood tests re-done and see where we are at. Except for some difficult to figure out regularity issues, he seems quite a bit better, so I plan to keep going this route and make small adjustments as makes sense. It's probably actually cheaper than his fancy dry food and we basically share groceries now that he's "peating."
 

Jayfish

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I feed my cat a dog food that is freeze dried raw whole animal meat with liver included. I also give him coconut oil and egg yolks and taurine powder. He's got the softest fur ever.

I know dogs arnt carnivores, they have learned from us to eat a more omnivorous diet. So start with a good mostly meat based dog food and then add whatever human foods your dog likes.
 
B

Braveheart

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for my dogs: chicken neck and back, kidney, heart, brisket, ground beef w pastured eggs, pork rinds, tongue

Excellent small book on subject: "Raw Dog Food, make it easy for you and your dog" Carina Macdonald
 

lindsay

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I make my dog food every week in either a crock pot, or in a regular cooking pot. I put some purified or spring water in the pot, sprinkle beef gelatin on that, and add some vegetables and one lb. of either lean ground beef or buffalo meat (or maybe it's bison - I'm not sure). For vegetables, I've use well cook sweet potato, kale, broccoli and carrot (usually a mixture of one green with either carrot or sweet potato). I feed him about one cup of this food twice per day. When I run out of his cooked food, I usually scramble a couple of eggs for him in Coconut Oil.

For snacks, I give him raw carrot, fruits (we have a cocker spaniel who will eat just about any fruit or vegetable I offer him - raw or cooked) and in the evening he gets a special treat of a little ice cream, yogurt, or Peanut Butter. The Peanut Butter is incredibly effective and alleviating constipation, but we found a brand that's made with Coconut Oil and has way less PUFA, so you could just try Coconut oil. PB doesn't give him diarrhea though.

Cooked sweet potato was another fantastic food for improving his bowel movements.

Sometimes I make my dog liver - he adores the stuff and it's really good for them!

If you are worried about the T3, you could order a combo yourself and dose your doggy accordingly. I've been wanting to give my dog Thyroid, but he's on a prescription now and I am nervous about how they might interact. Still, if you can get regular T3, you can add in a little as needed.

Hope this helps!! My dog is in the same weight range and keeping his weight lower is a huge struggle.

P.S. I also give my dog one baby aspirin every day. He has a bad ear that's always getting infected and it seems to help the inflammation.
 
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my dog has low platelets and weird liver issues and I've been giving her T3, T4, taurine, progesterone and K2. Not sure if it's helped but it hasn't hurt.
 

lvanderb

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Oct 3, 2016
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Our dog is 6 and on a totally raw diet, I think I'll start cooking her veggies and giving her some raw carrot. I was already adding coconut oil with the fish oil (probably should drop that), and am thinking of replacing some of her raw meat with a raw egg. Or maybe replace some of her veggies with egg? Sigh...
She's only 34 lbs, so... She gets other supplements too for her osteoarthritis... Would be very cool to stop having to buy those.

Her raw meat includes organ and bones ground in.
 

Regina

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My dog has been having apparent liver problems. He's a little over 9 years old, 35lbs initially, and the vet says his target weight should be closer to 30lb. My vet seems very unknowledgeable so I am switching. He was diagnosed with low thyroid about a year ago, and the vet only prescribed levothyroxine (T4). I asked her about one with T3, but she says it doesn't exist and didn't seem to understand its importance. A year later, his blood tests showed he had severely elevated levels of alkaline phosphatase, about double the normal max value, which is also indicative of liver problems. It also makes him pee a lot more. I made her run the T3 test, and it was just barely at the low end of 'normal' which tells me that despite getting daily T4, he is not really converting it to T3; again another indicator of liver issues. So I decided to switch his diet from away from an expensive grain-free dry dog food that unfortunately still has a lot of PUFA in it to something better.

Now I make his food and it is eggs, cheese, applesauce and just a tiny bit of his dry dog food b/c it seems to help keep him regular. I also add 0.1g powdered aspirin 2X a day, plus vitamin K. I am contemplating adding some other vitamins like niacinamide, maybe some more sugar, and glycine. He gets meat occasionally, and I give him bone broth once per week, and some coconut oil 2x/week. He also gets carrot shavings about every other night when I am prepping my carrot salads. He is doing much better. His energy levels are up, his coat is shinier, he pees back at his normal level, he has lost 2.5lbs, and his stomach has tightened up so he has more of a waist. He also had a small benign adenocarcinoma on his jaw-line/neck area which I affectionately call his 'dinger.' That also seems to be slowly shrinking (either that or his fur is hiding it better) which was sort of unexpected.

I've been feeding him this way for 2 months, and after 3 months of this, I will get his blood tests re-done and see where we are at. Except for some difficult to figure out regularity issues, he seems quite a bit better, so I plan to keep going this route and make small adjustments as makes sense. It's probably actually cheaper than his fancy dry food and we basically share groceries now that he's "peating."

Hi Dr. J, How is your dog doing with your plan? It sounds really good.
In what form and dose are you giving Vitamin K?

My dog has suffered from seizures and itchies from the day I met him at the shelter 7 yrs ago. I gave up on Vets. Even though the last time I saw one they said he had a heart murmur.
He's doing pretty well these days -- considering the states he has been in. Plays great frisbee still but not the endurance he use to have.
I am feeding raw whole duck and raw green tripe (free-range stuff from Darwin's Natural Pet Food). Since discovering Peat, I have added a tsp of coconut oil, honey, sometimes eggs and cheese and table scraps. And giving him one 450mg capsule of pau d'arco daily. He's probably the same age-ish as your dog; 60lbs though.
I might try some adding some aspirin now and it K sounds like a good idea too.
Regina
 

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DrJ

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Hi @Regina ! In short, my dog has done awesome! I went back for his blood tests and the news was more fantastic than I could have imagined. Normal range for alkaline phosphatase in dogs is 10-150u/L. Prior to starting the diet, my dog's alkaline phosphatase level came in at 347u/L!!! More than double the high end of the normal range! After being on the diet for what ended up being 4 months, I had his blood work done again and his alkaline phosphatase had fallen to 98u/L, right in the normal range. The vet couldn't believe it and just told me to keep doing whatever I was doing. All his other levels were normal, including thyroid.

The vitamin K I give him is 25mg chewable tablets from VetOne. I give him one per day.

Also, I should mention, since I last wrote, I ended up settling on adding 2g glycine twice a day to his food, and 0.2g taurine twice a day. He still gets 0.1g aspirin twice/day. I also cut back on the bone broth considerably because it seemed to make him start peeing more after a while. Also, I tried to simplify his diet a bit, so now he gets eggs occasionally when I have time to cook, but otherwise (in addition to above-mentioned supplements) he mainly gets 200g cottage cheese each meal (2 meal/day), with about 1/3 cup hard food added since that's the only way I can figure out how to keep him regular. He still gets coconut oil a couple times per week, and honey occasionally.

Hope you can figure out how to keep your dog healthy also!
 

X3CyO

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My puppy loves skim milk with gelatin, sugar, and a liiiittle coconut oil

She gets liver once a week, and when shes sick, we mix activated charcoal and garlic into her food in small amounts.

Other than that... regular wholefoods chow.

Just remember that dogs arent obligate carnivores or herbivores and youll avoid a lot of health issues.. unless otherwise proven.

Im also not so sure whats right and not so im keeping it peatish and simple.

She likes a little coffee too sometimes. Never more than half a cup with the milk gelatin
 

Regina

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My dog has been having apparent liver problems. He's a little over 9 years old, 35lbs initially, and the vet says his target weight should be closer to 30lb. My vet seems very unknowledgeable so I am switching. He was diagnosed with low thyroid about a year ago, and the vet only prescribed levothyroxine (T4). I asked her about one with T3, but she says it doesn't exist and didn't seem to understand its importance. A year later, his blood tests showed he had severely elevated levels of alkaline phosphatase, about double the normal max value, which is also indicative of liver problems. It also makes him pee a lot more. I made her run the T3 test, and it was just barely at the low end of 'normal' which tells me that despite getting daily T4, he is not really converting it to T3; again another indicator of liver issues. So I decided to switch his diet from away from an expensive grain-free dry dog food that unfortunately still has a lot of PUFA in it to something better.

Now I make his food and it is eggs, cheese, applesauce and just a tiny bit of his dry dog food b/c it seems to help keep him regular. I also add 0.1g powdered aspirin 2X a day, plus vitamin K. I am contemplating adding some other vitamins like niacinamide, maybe some more sugar, and glycine. He gets meat occasionally, and I give him bone broth once per week, and some coconut oil 2x/week. He also gets carrot shavings about every other night when I am prepping my carrot salads. He is doing much better. His energy levels are up, his coat is shinier, he pees back at his normal level, he has lost 2.5lbs, and his stomach has tightened up so he has more of a waist. He also had a small benign adenocarcinoma on his jaw-line/neck area which I affectionately call his 'dinger.' That also seems to be slowly shrinking (either that or his fur is hiding it better) which was sort of unexpected.

I've been feeding him this way for 2 months, and after 3 months of this, I will get his blood tests re-done and see where we are at. Except for some difficult to figure out regularity issues, he seems quite a bit better, so I plan to keep going this route and make small adjustments as makes sense. It's probably actually cheaper than his fancy dry food and we basically share groceries now that he's "peating."
Oh my gosh. What fabulous news!! I'm so happy to learn.
Color me inspired.
 

johnsmith

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Mar 30, 2017
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During a radio interview Ray Peat mentioned that dogs would probably live longer if they had more sugar.(Or he might have said candy, but it was either sugar or candy)

Any ideas on how to get sugar past an old dogs teeth without irritating them?
 

DenMarker

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Jul 31, 2018
Messages
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i feed raw meat, raw eggs.
love to feed them raw organ meat as it is nutritious for them.
i know some may feel there are tons of bacterias, but i been feeding them for years and they are healthier than in the past when they eat kibbles
 

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