[Kelly T]

Phoebe, our 10 year old Boston Terrier has had diarrhea since last October! She has been to the Vet many times and testing has been done to rule out obvious reasons for the diarrhea, but we haven’t done allergy tests yet. We started trying hypo-allergenic dog foods with no success. The Vet recommended making her food with 1 part horse meat and 3 parts lentils.

Needless to say I was a little shocked at the horse meat but I was desperate to try anything! I live in Quebec and you can actually buy horse meat in the grocery store. Within 2 days her diarrhea was gone. The Vet told me to keep her on this diet for 12 weeks and then start introducing other foods one at a time to pin point the allergy. She could not stay on the horse meat/lentils diet forever as it is not balanced.

Does anyone have a balanced recipe for home made dog food that includes horse meat? I’m really not sure where to go from here as I worry about keeping her on this unbalanced diet for 3 months. It’s been 4 weeks and I can see her coat becoming dull and she now has dandruff from really dry skin.

[pugmomsandy]

Ask your vet about giving an omega 3 supplement from algae. It’s non-fish and non-meat. Dogaware dot com has a section on homemade food.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Kelly T –

I’m a little shocked that your vet didn’t provide you with a balanced recipe to go along with this recommendation and I’m equally shocked at the ratio of lentils to meat recommended. The general rule of thumb is to use between 15% and 25% fruits/veggies/starches – with a ratio of about 50:50 being he highest I’ve seen recommended. But since this is what your vet suggested we’ll go with it!

What I would do is as follows:
1/2 C. Horse Meat
1 1/2 C. Lentils
1 Multivitamin Crushed*
1,000 mg. Calcium
1 tsp. Fish Oil
1 tsp. Hempseed or Walnut Oil or 2 tsp. Canola Oil

*My multivitamin of choice is Twinlab Daily One. I’m not sure if this is available in Canada. If not you want something designed as a “one a day” type multivitamin for humans. Look for one with under 10% DV calcium so it doesn’t skew the calcium to phosphorus ratio. If you do choose a multi that has a significant amount of calcium that’s okay but you need to account for it by reducing the amount of added calcium. For example, Centrum brand would be acceptable but contains 200 mg. calcium per capsule so you would only want to add 800 mg of calcium.

This recipe will provide roughly 300 calories per cup (will vary slightly depending on how lean the meat you’re using is).

The oil shouldn’t bother her – it’s generally the protein in an item that causes the reaction not the fat (although it’s possible). Getting the fats balanced should help out her coat issues as well.

By the way, nice name! My grandmother has a yorkipoo named Phoebe. 🙂

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.

[Susan]

Hi Kelly T, I belong to a yahoo group called “IBDogs”, a lady on the site uses horse meat, I too was a bit shock & thought poor horses but she said its been the only meat that has stopped the diarrhea & allergies with her boy, she uses Gabazo beans aswell, she has a balanced diet but I cant remember what it was..If I’m on the site I’ll ask her.. I remembered that she lived Perth Austraila, so it wont be too hard to find her again as we have to sign name & address at the bottom of our post…..I wanted to try a fish oil or Flaxseed oil with Patches itchy skin but I was worried about the oils giving him diarrhea again, I read when introducing a oil use an eye dropper at first & just add a couple of drops of oil with meal then after 2 days if poo is still good then slowly increase drops till you reach proper amount needed…

[Hildie V]

I’m sorry but I can’t get past the horse meat!!!

The way the horses are handled, and then killed, is disgusting and inhumane. They hit them on the pole between the ears which paralyzes them then cut their necks off and they bleed out.

It is painful for them, and not quick. It a not the same as butchering other animals.

Why not try venison? It is an uncommon meat and you can usually find a hunter who will have access to lots. Lots of butcher shops can order it in for you too if they don’t carry it.

You need to make the diet complete. Check out the Whole Dog Food Journal and they have a guide for making it properly.

[Susan]

Hi Hildie, Yes Im a horse lover but these dogs have Irritable Bowel Disease, they just don’t have diarrhea for 1-2 weeks & get better from a prescription vet diet like my boy finally did, I was lucky, I read some of the post on the IBD site & its heart breaking, when a dog has terrible diarrhea becomes real thin & their owners have tried every vet prescription vet diet, & every cooked protein, it’s probably their last resort, when their dog is really sick….. the French eat horse apparently….yuk.

[Hildie V]

Yes they do and some Asians eat dog and cat… That would be like saying to feed a dog a diet of cat meat and lentils…

It’s an endless debate…could go on and on I suppose, I eat beef and cows are sacred to some East Indians

I guess it’s the nature kingdom. That is why I could never videotape lion packs because I would save their prey

[Michele A]

Horse meat should not be consumed by either humans or our pets. Horse slaughter is unethical, cruel and inhumane and the meat from horses is not safe for consumption.

From the Humane Society of the United States:

“Horse slaughter, whether in U.S. or foreign plants, was never and cannot be humane because of the nature of the industry and the unique biology of horses.

Slaughter is a brutal and terrifying end for horses, and it is not humane. Horses are shipped for more than 24 hours at a time without food, water or rest in crowded trucks. They are often seriously injured or killed in transit.

Horses are skittish by nature (owing to their heightened fight-or-flight response), which makes accurate pre-slaughter stunning difficult. As a result, horses often endure repeated blows and sometimes remain conscious during dismemberment—this is rarely a quick, painless death. Before the last domestic plant closed in 2007, the USDA documented in the slaughter pipeline rampant cruelty violations and severe injuries to horses, including broken bones protruding from their bodies, eyeballs hanging by a thread of skin, and gaping wounds.”

Furthermore, most of the horses that wind up being slaughtered and in your dog’s food were never intended to be used for food. Many of them were young horses used in sports such as rodeos and horse racing and then discarded into the food chain. Most of the horses were given drugs that are listed as prohibited for human consumption. Drugs that are known to cause cancer such as Bute. And Bute is only one of many drugs found in the meat of horses. Even de-wormers and fly spray can wind up in their flesh. These drugs are certainly not something I would want my dogs to ingest.

[Author]

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