Guest Blogger – Helen Moore from Who’s Yer Doggy
Who’s Yer Doggy – They Are What They Eat, Too …
Helen Moore
Phoenix Rising is pleased to welcome Guest Blogger – Helen Moore from Who’s Yer Doggy, Canine Lifestyle and Wellness services to discuss alternative diet options for dogs and the results on her own dog Seamus.
I got Séamus (pronounced shay•mus) as a chunky, little bundle of love at eight-weeks old. The poor guy had diarrhea for the first 2 – 3 weeks we had him. Even after numerous trips to the vet and eating the recommended prescription canned food (in addition to taking several medications), he still wasn’t any better. I knew he couldn’t possibly be retaining any nutrients from his food as it was just running out of him most days—I felt terrible for him being so young and so immediately unhealthy.
Being a recent graduate of a Holistic Nutrition program, I decided to investigate alternative diet options for dogs. After coming across the raw feeding movement, and after much reading and research, I decided to give it a go with Séamus: feeding him a species-appropriate diet seemed to make perfect sense.
That was over six years ago, and we have never looked back. Since then I have been able to combine two of my great passions—dogs and holistic health—to help other dogs in crisis. Séamus was the catalyst for me working professionally with dogs and I am forever grateful to him because I love what I do. Through my walking clients, I have seen dogs fed a range of diets: kibble, raw, home cooked, or a combination of these. I can safely say that dogs fed only kibble all seem to have some sort of health issues. The most common ones I observe on a daily basis are: poor-quality stools; itching and chewing of the skin; recurring ear infections; funky smelling coat, ears and feet; goopy eyes and plaque ridden teeth. Chronic health issues in our dogs are at epidemic levels, steadily rising since the explosion of commercial pet foods on to the market in the 1950s. As owners and consumers, we are at a watershed moment, and a step in the right direction is to be mindful about what we are putting in their bowls.
As humans, we intuitively know that eating a fresh, nutrient-dense, whole-food diet is good for our health; so why we do not extend the same courtesy to our beloved, four-legged family members? I have been blessed to help many owners transition their dogs to a more natural diet and the results have been consistently dramatic, and usually quite fast! When I started with Séamus, he had his first solid stool within twelve hours of his transition to raw.
The proof truly is in the poo!
To the health and happiness of your dogs!
Helen xo
