Everyone knows how much I love dogs and how important my dog(s) are to me. Currently, I only have Bailey, my 9 year old Labrador Retriever. Bailey never learned that she is just a dog. . . to her way of thinking, she is a human with all rights and privileges therein!
Morgan, my 12 year old Lab who passed away several months back, had terrible allergies in her final years. Apoquel, an expensive medication for allergy in dogs, was no help. My vet recommended Purina Pro. That was some help but not entirely. Morgan got to the point where she was lethargic and had no joy in life.
Bailey showed no signs of allergies or other maladies while Morgan was alive. Soon afterwards, she developed bad skin irritations. She scratched herself raw, even to the point of bleeding. I incorporated coconut oil into her food and that offered some relief.
After a great deal of research and thought, I am gradually switching her to a homemade diet. Even though Labs tend to have a stomach of "cast iron" it is best to gradually switch to a new diet.
A homemade diet is not a matter of mixing up human foods, with the notion of "what's good for me is good for Bailey." It is MUCH more than that! I am keeping a food journal of everything I give her each day to see what works for her.
A good friend who has owned championship Labs for years, feeds her dogs a raw diet. I tried that quite a few years back but ran into the difficulty of being able to get all the ingredients I needed.
While I can't go into all the things I have learned so far in this post, here are a few recipes and important facts I do know at this point:
Foods that are bad for dogs: avocado, grapes, onion, garlic, corn on the cob, processed meat, raisins, chocolate, and citrus fruits.
Breakfast idea: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/4 cup chopped apple with peel but not the seeds, 1 tablespoon ground flax seed.
Dinner: 1/2 cup shredded cooked chicken, 1/2 cup chopped sweet potato, 1 tablespoon unsweetened plain yogurt
Of course, you adjust the amounts above according to your dog's size.
Here are two of the books I read that I think are excellent resources:
Homemade Healthy Dog Food Cookbook by Scott Meier
The Forever Dog Life by Becker and Habib
