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The News At Home
You’d need to be here in order to visualize the following so let me start by giving you a tour of the ground level of our home. This is a center hall plan. You’ve walked through the front door and the living room is to your left. Behind that is the dining room. Turn right and you’re in the kitchen. Turn right again and you’re in the hall that leads you back to the vestibule. Got it? The kitchen is the center hub of the house.
I was in the backyard with the dogs. Tori was on a leash, Cassie was walking about when I noticed that she was moving her jaw in an odd way. Upon inspection, I realized that a stick was lodged in the roof of her mouth and stuck between her front teeth. She started shaking her head back and forth when I tried to dislodge the stick so I removed Tori’s leash and placed it on Cassie in order to get a better hold of her. The stick was removed, Cassie ran indoors with leash attached. Remember that Tori is a puppy and everything is a game to her. She’s taken to walking on a leash and holding a piece of it in her mouth.
Seeing the leash behind Cassie, Tori grabbed it and started running throughout this center hall plan. She zoomed round and round, not realizing that Cassie was attached. It must have seemed that Cassie was chasing her because Tori was very excited, increased her speed and Cassie had no choice but to follow. The look on Tori’s face as she sped by me, seemed to say “ Is this fun or what?!” and Cassie’s eyes showed nothing but shock and amazement as if she would say “ What the heck? Who’s dragging me around?”
What’s New at monicasegal.com
Vitamin E (100IU, 200IU & 400IU)
We’re happy to announce vitamin E in strengths of 100 IU, 200 IU and 400 IU under the Monica Segal label. Vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin that works as a powerful antioxidant. Our products are in the natural from of D’Alpha Tocopherol and do not contain artificial preservatives, color, milk, corn, wheat or yeast.
We feel that the quality of a product should be the motivating factor when deciding to add it to your dog’s diet or take it yourself. For this reason, we’re very selective about our supplements. According to US pharmecopia, the capsule should disintegrate in no more than 45 minutes. Our vitamin E capsules disintegrate in 4 minutes. While the product could pass standard testing if it contained 10% less vitamin E than stated, our products produce laboratory test results showing that the label claim is exactly what each capsule contains. We’re proud to bring you this high quality product and hope that you will enjoy using it with confidence.
Fact of the Month
FAQ about the GARD ((glutamate-aspartate-restricted diet) in our November 2004 newsletter and in the files of the K9Kitchen group.
Q: Can this diet be fed for life?
A: Yes. It's a balanced diet, suitable for adult dogs - not puppies.
Q: Can I substitute another food or supplement for something in the diet?
A: Substitutions will change the nutrient profile of the diet. To understand the impact of a substitution, please see our 'Diet Info' file in the K9Kitchen group at Yahoogroups and follow the steps to analyze the diet.
Q: My dog needs to eat more/less food per day than what's noted in the diet. Do I change the supplementation of the diet as written?
A: There is no need to change the amount of a supplement if you feed approx. 10% more or less food. A need to feed much more or less, translates to greater or fewer amounts of nutrients being fed so yes, supplementation may change. See our 'Diet Info' file in the K9Kitchen group at Yahoogroups and follow the steps to analyze the diet.
Q: Can I add more fat to the diet?
A: As long as your dog can tolerate more fat, yes. Concurrent disease, especially pancreatitis and GI tract problems may contraindicate that more fat be added.
Q: Someone on a chat list said that this diet doesn't provide enough protein. Is this true?
A: 33% of the calories are derived from protein with high biological value. This diet provides ample protein to help the liver regenerate and is not considered to be low in protein by any means.
Q: Someone on a chat list said that this diet is too high in carbohydrates. Is this true?
A: I consider this to be a high carb diet with a purpose. Carbohydrates have a protein sparing effect, leaving less 'waste' for the liver to deal with. They also help to slow down the build up of ammonia and provide a good amount of selenium (acts as an antioxidant) and manganese.
Q: Someone on a chat list said that that unless the dog has a certain kind of liver disease, there's no need to feed GARD. Is this true?
A: There are many possible reasons for elevated liver enzymes. Only a biopsy can define the type of liver disease if indeed liver disease is present. In reality, most vets and dog owners do not put a dog through a biopsy unless the situation warrants it. For this reason, we can't know what the cause is and dietary success is based on a confirmed diagnosis. What we do know is that fish is a top notch source of high quality protein and provides branch chain amino acids that may be helpful to the liver and that carbohydrates have a protein sparing effect. We also know that without a biopsy and confirmed diagnosis, feeding GARD is safe and feeding red meats may or may not be.
Q: What is the purpose of GARD? A: This is more than 'just' a liver diet or 'just' a diet to help address seizures. While it is low in the amino acids that may be associated with increased seizure activity and offers branch chain amino acids that may help the liver, it assumes that dogs with seizures require medications that are tough on the liver so, is positioned to provide nutritional support for this tougher two-fold problem.
Q: Can I feed cottage cheese? A: This will change the nutrient profile of the diet but if your dog has only liver disease, cottage cheese (ricotta is better because it has a good calcium to phosphorus ratio where as cottage cheese does not) is a good food. However, it is high in glutamate and aspartate and is not recommended for a dog with seizures.
Until next time...
Monica
“She had no particular breed in mind, no unusual requirements. Except the special sense of mutual recognition that tells dog and human they have both come to the right place.” -- Lloyd Alexander, American writer
