[Christine S]

hi everybody-

new here and in a bit of a panic. i’ve been feeding raw to all my pets for over a decade with no issues. sadly, my 8-year old siberian husky has had issues eating things he’s not supposed to. he had a blockage where they needed to remove 30 inches of his intestine. because of stricture from that surgery, they just needed to removed 8 more. the vet said that i can no longer feed raw or homemade foods because i can’t possibly “give him all the nutrition a prescription diet can.” she wants me to feed either hill’s prescription i/d or royal canin gastrointestinal high energy, because he needs somethign highly digestible with easily absorbable nutrients that he can digest and absorb quickly in his upper gut since most of his intestines are gone.

the ingredient list in both of these scare me. i tried to at least find something comparable in a natural or organic form, but none of the major natural food companies seem to have prescription lines.

what do you think? should i just feed this presciption diet? any other recommendations? my boy needs to put on weight fast!

thank you,
christine

[anonymous]

There is nothing wrong with prescription food. http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2016/07/more-nonsense-from-holistic-vets-about-commercial-therapeutic-diets/

[crazy4cats]

Yes, please use the prescription food. Your dog has been through enough!

[anonymous]

So, you would prefer to believe people (unknown to you and that have not examined your dog) and articles on the internet rather than the veterinary surgeon (minimum of eight years college, 2 years internship, countless surgeries, ongoing education for CEUs) that saved your dog’s life?
It’s up to you.

[Christine S]

actually, it was the vet tech that made the recommendation, not the surgeon.

[anonymous]

The vet tech can’t make any recommendations without the veterinarian’s approval, the veterinarian is the one that signs the order for the prescription food.
The veterinarian probably told the vet tech to discuss the diet issues/prescription food with you after consulting with the surgeon. The vet tech can’t prescribe anything.

Your own words: “the vet said that i can no longer feed raw or homemade foods because i can’t possibly “give him all the nutrition a prescription diet can.” she wants me to feed either hill’s prescription i/d or royal canin gastrointestinal high energy, because he needs somethign highly digestible with easily absorbable nutrients that he can digest and absorb quickly in his upper gut since most of his intestines are gone.”

PS: You might want to leave a message for the vet to call you when she has a minute to clarify the diet recommendations. I’m not sure you realize the gravity of the situation.
Best of luck.

[Christine S]

but the VCA did not give me an order for prescription food, the tech just said to feed either of those two brands, and that homemade diets were bad. i thought this was a raw dog food forum? i don’t want to feed junk with questionable meat sources, or anything i wouldn’t eat myself. i am able to source local grass fed organic meats without additives or fillers and have worked with a raw food nutritionist in the past so feel confident the meals i make are nutritionally complete, but i was curious if someone could recommend something similar to a highly digestible prescription diet that doesn’t use crap meat in it.

[anonymous]

As long as you buy the food from the clinic the vet that is treating your dog is affiliated with you won’t need a prescription , as the vet signs off on it. Otherwise, you will need a prescription to purchase the food.

[crazy4cats]

Have you thought about a homemade COOKED diet? Check out balanceIt.com. It helps you formulate balanced diets using their supplements. It is run by veterinarians. Good luck!

[pitlove]

Hi Christine-

This is not a raw feeding forum. Yes, there are raw feeders who post here, but this website is not dedicated to raw feeding and many of us here do not feed raw.

Your dog just went through a serious intestional surgery and at least until you know he/she is stable, I would use the theraputic diet as recommended and then perhaps in time, discuss crazy4cats suggestion of BalanceIt.com with your vet.

[Susan]

Hi Christine, yes you would be stressing out, I know I would be… sometimes a dog just can’t eat a raw diet, a dog needs to be healthy with a healthy gut/bowel & not have a compromised immune system to be feed a raw diet, I have a boy with IBD & I went thru a Naturopath to put Patch on a raw diet, I had to add digestive enzymes, a probiotic & a supplement to the raw also I couldn’t add any bone or organ meats to the diet, I added the supplement that replaced the bone & muscle meat until we slowly introduce everything to his diet…..The raw diet didn’t work out for my boy, he kept regurgitating up digested raw meat & water kept coming back up into mouth 20mins after eating causing bad acid reflux..
Maybe look for good Animal Nutritionist & she can make up a few balanced cooked meals for him that are very easy to digest, here’s the link for “Balance It” click on the “Click on” link, you fill out the quick 40 sec form asking what are your dogs health problems but if your dog has too many health problems more then 2 health problems you have to contact Balance It & one of the vet Nutritionist makes up a special diet for your dog….this way he’s eating a proper balanced cooked diet…
https://secure.balanceit.com/
For now feed the vet diet till you work out what you want to do, is the vet diet dry (kibble) or wet (Tin food)???
Have a look at “Wysong” here’s their link & contact them ask about their Epigen starch free diets in the wet tin foods there’s organic chicken, Rabbit, turkey, duck, salmon & beef these diet would have better ingredients then the vet diets have you may feel better feeding them… http://www.wysong.net/epigen-canned

[InkedMarie]

PitLuv,
The op IS posting in the raw food subforum here.

[pitlove]

Hi InkedMarie-

I can only assume based on context that the OP believed this forum in its entirety was devoted to raw feeding since she was surprised as to having been met with opposition from those of us who do not feed raw. That or she misunderstood that all members of this forum can post in the raw feeding section regardless of if they feed raw or not.

[Christine S]

No, I believed this subforum under the umbrella of a general dog food forum was for discussing raw food diets and therefore might contain some members skilled and experienced in raw and homemade diets. I figured those uninterested or inexperienced with raw/organic/homemade diets would not bother commenting, but, this is the internet. thanks for everybody’s helpful suggestions, i’ve opted to go with the advice of my nutritional mentor. she wrote a blog post about it here in case anyone also finds it useful:

https://sfraw.wordpress.com/2016/11/16/qa-recomendations-for-healing-after-major-abdominalintestinal-surgery/

[InkedMarie]

Gotcha PitLuv but its just Marie LOL. Strangers add the Inked but we’ve been here together a long time!

[pitlove]

Hi Christine-

I can’t speak for the others, but I personally thought you were asking for advice on what would be best for your pet after a major surgery, not for confirmation that you should continue feeding raw after advised not to by your vet. Clearly you had made your decision before even posting here. Best of luck!

[anonymous]

I thought the OP was posting a cautionary tale to warn others about the dangers regarding raw diets. I had no idea that she would want to continue this practice, especially after what her veterinarian advised.
PS: I have tried raw diets, supplements etc. No thank you!

[Christine S]

“I thought the OP was posting a cautionary tale to warn others about the dangers regarding raw diets.”

Absolutely not. Raw feeding had nothing to do with my dog’s blockage, either the first time or this time. This last time was the previous surgeon’s fault.

[HoundMusic]

new here and in a bit of a panic. i’ve been feeding raw to all my pets for over a decade with no issues. sadly, my 8-year old siberian husky has had issues eating things he’s not supposed to. he had a blockage where they needed to remove 30 inches of his intestine.

In this situation, I would have to agree with your Vet. Raw might cause more trouble than it’s worth in this instance. Particularly the bones, but also, keep in mind there can be a greater risk of infection with a dog who has just undergone major surgery and could very well have a compromised immune system for a while.

BTW, I was also a very long time raw feeder, but around April/May of last year, an older dog ate a raw pork neck that caused an obstruction. He would have been long dead if castor oil and force feeding him broth had not worked, as I cannot afford such a major surgery. Then, towards the end of the summer, that same dog was diagnosed with osteomalacia, which is basically the adult form of rickets. And I am more careful than most about balancing the calcium:phos ratio and including foods rich in Vit D. I ditched raw for home cooked, and let me tell you. My dogs were pooping out old, stagnated bone fragments for a week after being on a diet higher in fiber and of a very soft, digestible consistency. So there is a risk of blockage, and there is a risk of improper nourishment as well.

There is also some evidence that kibble does actually digest faster than raw:

https://therawfeedingcommunity.com/2015/01/08/digest-this-kibble-may-actually-digest-faster-than-raw/

And besides that, bones are going to give this dog an unduly hard time after having had such a surgery. If I can make a suggestion, crock pot food can be very mushy and is incredibly beneficial for sick or recovering dogs. So, if you don’t want to go the prescription diet route, that might be a better alternative.

Otherwise, Science Diet is not exactly my favorite brand, but I have one with chronic prostatitis (also caused, or at least aggravated, by raw) who can eat nothing but SD Sensitive Skin & Stomach or the lower protein/fat Advanced Fitness formula. I mean it. He even has a hard time with boiled chicken & rice. So don’t entirely rule out SD, because it can work wonders on sick dogs.

Just my 2 cents.

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