A natural food diet for Addison’s dogs
Filed under: Diet, General, Treatment | 7 Comments »Addison’s dogs have a compromised immune system; it goes without saying that you should feed your pet the most nutritious ingredients available. By providing your dog with a home-made diet, you’ll avoid some of the shocking ingredients found in commercial food, including euthanized animals.
After reading Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food
These products were found to contain pentobarbital:
- Pro Plan Beef and Rice Puppy
- Nutro Premium
- Ol’Roy Krunchy Bites & Bones
- Ol”Roy Premium Formula with Chicken
- Ol’Roy High Performance with Chicken
- Ol’Roy Meaty Chunks
- Ol’Roy Puppy formula
- Ol’Roy Lean
- Trailblazer Chunk Premium Quality
- Trailblazer Bite Size Ration
- Dad’s Bite Size Meal
- Weis Value Chunky and Moist
- Weis Value Puppy Food
- Weis Value Crunchy
- Weis Value Gravy Style
- Weis Total High Energy
- Super G Chunk Style
- Rich Food Chunk Style
- Rich Food Gravy Style
- Rich Food High Protein
- Pet Essentials Chunk Style
- America’s Choice Krunchy Kibble
- Ken-L-Ration Gravy Train
- Heinz Kibbles and Bits Jerky, Puppy, Lean, Beefy
- Champ Chunx Bite Size
- Kibble Select Premium
- Pet Gold Master Puppy
Are there Euthanized Animals in Your Addison's Dog's Bowl?
Note that the FDA didn’t test every dog food. In fact, they just took samples from one store. So just because your brand isn’t on there does not mean it doesn’t have euthanized animals in it!
You can try a vegetarian dog food for your Addison’s dog, like Nature’s Recipe Vegetarian Dog Food, which provides complete nutrition. It’s the only vegetarian product recommended by R.M. Clemmons, DVM, PhD, Associate Professor of Neurology & Neurosurgery for the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences at the University of Florida, who specializes in the nutrition of immune compromised dogs, such as those dogs with Addison’s disease. You’ll be guaranteed of no euthanized animals in your pet’s bowl. But that may not rule out moldy grain and other nasty by-products.
If you want to feed your Addison’s dog a more natural diet, Dr. Clemmons recommends the following complete diet for dogs:
- Basic diet: (1 serving size equals 1 can of commercial food, provides 1160-1460 calories per serving, and feeds a dog approximately 30-50 pounds)
- Boiled, baked, or fried (olive oil), chicken (20z)
- Tofu (4oz)
- Long Grain Brown Rice (3 oz, prepared in 6 oz water)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil (2 oz)
- Molasses (¼ cup)
- Boiled and cut up Carrots (2)
- Cooked Spinach (1 cup)
- Chopped and Steamed Green Bell Pepper (4 Tbs)
- Boiled and Chopped Broccoli Spears (4)
The above ingredients can be frozen for up to one month, and defrosted before serving. Before serving, add:
- Dry Ground Ginger (1 tsp.)
- Crushed Raw Garlic Cloves (2)
- Dry Mustard (½ tsp)
- Bone Meal (1 tsp)
Dr. Clemmons recommends that you weigh your dog while following this diet, and feed more or less each week depending on whether your dog is losing weight or gaining weight. Make sure to introduce the new food gradually into your dog’s diet.
Tofu, Dr. Clemmons states, is full of flavenoids and other ingredients to promote overall health. Garlic and ginger are natural anti-inflammatory substances, antibiotics, and anti-fungal agents. Ginger also calms the stomach. Mustard improves digestion and bowel function.
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deserves to live well with
Canine Addison's Disease
I have a two year old german shepherd mix that I adopted from the humane society. Brodie, was only 7 weeks when I brought him into my life and at his young age he was fixed. Do you think the young age has anything to do with him getting this disease? I found this “all natural food” by nature’s Recipe. What is your opinion on this particular brand? Thank you for your time. Hope to hear from you.
-Mary
Mary,
The only thing I know about Nature’s Recipe is that the vegetarian formula is recommended by R.M. Clemmons, DVM, PhD Associate Professor of Neurology & Neurosurgery
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences at the University of Florida for dogs with Addison’s. I don’t know about the meat-based formula :/
I haven’t come across any research at all that suggests Brodie may have Addison’s because of the young age–but being at a humane society surely must have come with some stress…and while stress has been shown to have brought Addison’s to the surface it isn’t a cause of the disease itself.
Sorry to hear that Brodie has Addisons but I do hope you find some useful info here,
Stephanie
Does red meat antagonize Addisons?
RM Clemmons, DVM recommends pork loin chop and other good cuts of meat for immune compromised dogs, so I don’t think there’s any evidence against red meat. We feed our dog a vegetarian diet recommended by Dr. Clemmons because 1/we’re vegetarians ourselves and 2/even if we ate meat, we couldn’t afford to feed pork chops to our dog at every meal!
Penny, it depends on what you mean by red meat. If it’s part of a balanced diet, then red meat like pork chops wouldn’t be a problem. If it’s part of commercial dog foods, then yes, it could be a problem. See: http://www.addisonsindogs.com/articles/a-natural-food-diet-for-addisons-dogs/ Hope that helps! Stephanie
Hello,
I’ve been on the internet all day since yesterday my 7 lb. 2 year old, Chihuahua/Jack Russell
was diagnosed with Addison’s.
I’ve been feeding him Wellness brand,
with some boiled chicken to make it appetizing. Is that ok? The natural recipe you posted sounds amazing. But I don’t have time to cook all that. Will he really
thrive on that recipe? I don’t know what to do. Help!
I personally use Nature’s Recipe vegetarian dog food, and Shakti loves it (and looks great)!
Good luck with your little one!