One way that people discover the availability of great raw food for their dog is after battling a “sensitive tummy” for a long time and doing their own research to try to help their dog.
As a veterinary nurse, it makes me really sad that it can take people so long and so much worry when there are vets who would advise starting with improving nutrition almost no matter what is wrong with your dog.
What IS a sensitive tummy?
Sensitive tummies can be anything from a dog who is occasionally a bit miserable, or vomits, or has diarrhoea, or is a bit itchy after eating certain things – to a dog who is seriously ill with persistent vomiting or diarrhoea, is losing weight and/or has dreadful skin problems. I’m talking about eating actual food items, here. Things a dog definitely shouldn’t consume are a subject for another day!
Clearly, everyone would notice if their dog was experiencing the more serious symptoms but not everyone can make the connection with a particular food item. The more subtle sensitive tummies often go by without a big concern by all but the most diligent of owners. They are very often only spotted when help is sought for a skin problem, the dog’s behaviour or something else which might not be obviously connected to the gut. Intermittent bellyache can make a dog less tolerant, for example, and this can appear random until someone really drills down into what’s happening.
Dogs can be diagnosed with many of the same gut diseases that we humans can suffer from. Often extensive investigations, biopsies, elimination diets, and loads of medications which may or may not be beneficial (but often have difficult side effects) are needed to get to a diagnosis. Just like us, there are very serious diseases of the gut which really do require medical management and it’s vital to bear this in mind when a dog has a sensitive tummy.
There are other dogs who can undergo the same barrage of investigations, and still not be absolutely well and still not have a diagnosis. Very often, these are the dogs whose worried owners eventually discover the benefits of feeding real food.
Why are some dogs seriously ill and others “just” a bit sensitive?
Just like humans, dogs can have intolerances or even allergies to certain food substances which cause very serious or even life-threatening problems. In this situation, then identifying the problem food is essential (and tricky). This is much more complicated than simply not being able to eat certain things, because if you really dig down into the problem, it can go back to illnesses with the dog’s sire or dam, problems when they were weaned as a puppy, or a poor diet being offered at weaning and whilst growing up. All of which impact on the dog. If these historical problems are thoroughly addressed, the dog’s problem can sometimes be completely resolved.
It’s an area where there is a lot of research about humans, and lots of forward-thinking vets are extrapolating this information to their canine patients but as yet, there is not a lot of proper, peer-reviewed research. This will change through the work of such groups as Dogrisk at the University of Helsinki and the Raw Feeding Veterinary Society but will take time and money.
Like doctors, whose studies are confined to one species, vets are educated to base their decisions on current evidence. Poor vets have to know everything they need to know about numerous species of animals. It’s absolutely impossible for them to keep up with every piece of evidence. This is why I feel so strongly that it’s best to find a vet who has a particular interest in nutrition for a dog with a persistent sensitive tummy, whether or not that turns out to be because of something very serious or something relatively easy to sort out.
How can I help my dog?
Good nutrition is the root of healing, no matter what is wrong. The body needs good materials to be able to repair itself. Many centuries ago, the early physician Hippocrates said “Let food by thy medicine”. * Why not begin to help your dog by improving its nutrition? They will benefit if even they have nothing specifically wrong. I would really love to see more vets taking this very practical approach early on in conversations about sensitive tummies in particular. After all, to quote Hippocrates again “all disease begins in the gut” and modern research most certainly bears out his thoughts.
At Cotswold RAW, tale after tale is heard of dogs getting completely better when they are offered really nutritious food which has hardly been processed at all. The top-quality raw ingredients are mixed together in the right proportions and popped in a package and frozen whilst they are super fresh. No need for additives or preservatives or cooking. These tales are often dismissed as anecdotes, the lowest of the low as far as scientific evidence is concerned but when you hear so many similar tales, and see so many dogs getting better, I’m very happy to suggest good raw food to my behaviour clients (and my veterinary colleagues).
Morag Sutherland RVN DMS Cert SAN
*I’m told this is an inaccurate translation – I’m not a classical scholar, so I can’t argue the point, and it seems to me that what I’m told is the correct translation can be neatly summed up in this phrase, so I hope Hippocrates will forgive me for misquoting him!