Newsletter - August 2013

Save $1.30 Per Bottle of Vitamin E 100 IU While Quantities Last

We have an overstock of vitamin E (d'alpha tocopherol) 100 IU. Expiry date: June 2014. Capsules are made out of vegetable gelatin which means that there's no need to worry about a possible reaction to gelatin that includes animal protein. The lab assay on the page above shows the high quality of this vitamin E, and in case you're wondering - yes, I take it myself. Now is the time to buy and save more than ever on this great supplement for your dog and yourself.

Dietary Help For Fly Catcher's Syndrome

Dogs with this disorder look like they're snapping at invisible flies. Some snap the air, some leap and snap, some do it for a minute or two every so often during the day or night, and some are affected so badly that they can barely find enough peace to eat. The leaping and snapping are exhausting to the dog in every way, and heartbreaking for the owner. Thought of as a seizure type of disorder, many dogs are put on anti-seizure medication(s). So, how can this have a dietary link?

Let me take you back to the time when we had our Cassie (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) who was about 6-7 months old when she began to snap at the air in the evenings when the living room lamps were on. Then it escalated. Lights made things worse, but her snapping happened during the day as well. I was new to the breed and hadn't heard about Fly Catcher's Syndrome. The breeder explained more about this to me and as upsetting as it was, Cassie had been diagnosed with eosinophilic IBD about the same time, so my focus shifted to getting her GI tract under control. It was an easy fix for her. She happened to respond perfectly to a diet of beef and potato, but what made this really odd was that her Fly Catcher's stopped cold. I noticed the change, but thought she'd outgrown it, or lived under a lucky star.

Since then, I've had several cases of dogs with Fly Catcher's who also had GI problems that weren't always recognized as that. Perhaps because the Fly Catcher's was overwhelming, a little sloppy stool, some mucus in the stool, and/or a bit of vomit seemed like no problem at all to the dog owners. Or maybe because the connection wasn't at all clear as was the case for three dogs with pancreatitis. Yet, when the diet was changed and the GI tract seemed more robust, the snapping at invisible flies calmed down in some cases, and stopped entirely in others. While the connection seems obvious now, I missed it entirely back then. That is, I could see that diet impacted things in a positive way, but couldn't believe it and wrote it off as coincidence. Thankfully, the Canadian Veterinary Journal shows an article that makes for very interesting reading. Rx diets were used in the cases presented whereas I use home-prepared diets, of course. My experience has been positive when feeding a novel protein and carbohydrate diet. Is success rate 100%? No, but it's been very good for so many dogs. I hope you'll read the study and keep it in the back of your mind because it shows how powerful diet can be.

Monica

" Why does watching a dog be a dog fill one with happiness?" ~ Jonathan Safran Foer