The breed specific diet for dogs
When I was a kid, I did not have a chance to grew up in the house with a dog although I had so many chances to have many kinds of animals in the house.
Therefore, everything I do with Palette is all new to me.
When we welcomed our dog “Palette”:The Pembroke Welsh Corgi, to our house, I had to learn about dogs from start. During her 3 years of life,so far, I leaned a lot about them but I think I am learning a lot more on diet these days.
By now,you all know that I feed raw diet to Palette,but when you look around,you would notice there are plenty of feeding method.
Kibble is one, Canned dog food is one, Raw diet is one, Homemade diet is one, and I think that these days, many many more people are focusing on feeding their dogs with the way they can customize for their own dogs.
Good thing about it is that you see with your eyes what is going to be in your dog’s stomach and free from preservatives, artificial coloring/flavoring,sugar etc and you have a complete control over the food ingredients,which is good.
It is because if the dog reacted to what you feed by vomiting or diarrhea or loose poop,then,you need to be a detective to find the cause of reaction but,once you find the cause,you can tweak the diet very easily.
When you start looking into customizing the dog’s diet, you may have heard of “Breed Specific Diet for dog”.
And, there IS “Blood type specific diet” too for human by Dr D’adamo.
It says with my blood type, I should eat more meat with vegetable,less grain.
Well,I am a Japanese,how can I live without rice!!
By the way, if you would like to eat rice that is very similar to authentic Japanese rice,try “Kokuho Rose Rice”.
I like the brand very much because its texture is very similar to what I used to eat back home in Japan.
To read full article on human blood type specific diet,please click here.
Back to the Breed specific diet, idea is to feed your dogs meat/fish/vegetable/grain depending on where your dogs originated from geographically.
This idea came from Kate Solisti,after she learned about Dr D ‘Adamo’s blood type diet for human. She researched and found out that dog thrived by eating local prey and human leftover.
Her idea is that dogs are opportunist so,they eat whatever they could find dead or alive in local area.
To read her full article on breed specific diet,please click here.
Here are some example what she suggests.(listed just protein)
Beagles,Basset hound,papillon,Rottweiler,Cocker spaniel etc:do well on lamb,rabbit,chicken
Sheltie,Corgi,Border collie etc:do good on halibut,cod,salmon,lamb, chicken
Huskies etc breed from cold climate:do good on fish,elk,buffalo
Greyhound,whippet etc: do good on rabbit,Turkey,venison,chicken
Chihuahua: chicken,fish
Great Dane,Shepherd etc:do good on beef,lamb
and list goes on.
I think that to decide what are good for dogs need to go back to very basic:the anatomy. Dogs would eat rice,vegetable,meat whatever you give to them whether they are good for them or not.
Case in point, some dogs love eating paper (inedible) or animal poop etc.
So,what they eat is not necessary be good for them, and not necessary be something that let them thrive on them.
I rather think that if one dog was put on this type of diet,dogs may eat it and show no ill effect but,to me,it is for them to survive,not thrive.
People or dogs eat what are available at where they live (present,not past), and some dogs may not do good on particular protein source but I think,it will be specific to that specific dog not breed.
Huskies that live in the states can eat beef,lamb,Turkey,chicken,Pork etc because those are available where they live. And I do not think every single Huskies react to one specific type of protein by digestive problem,or itchy problem.
I know I can eat lot more amount of rice compare to my husband. I grew up in Japan,and main diet is rice,and we eat lots of fish,vegetable,some meat. And my husband cannot eat as much rice as I can,but he can eat lot more amount of pasta/bread than me.
I think that I am getting used to eat rice daily base while he isn’t and, I am not getting used to eat pasta more than he does.
I do not think this is because I am a Japanese. It is because I did not grew up here in US.
On the talk of breed specific diet, some kibble companies have several dog food designed for specific breed.
It has glucosamin in the food if the breed were prone to have joint problems.
However, to me, preventing is good thing but vitamin and such are very sensitive to air,light,heat etc.
For example, fish body oil is sensitive to Air,Heat,and Light.
Therefore,I have to wonder,you buy this specific dog food enriched with glucosamin or vitamins and you bring them home and store it. But you keep opening the dog food bag everyday,which means,kibble gets contact with Air and maybe light.
I have to wonder how effective the glucosamin in the kibble would be… I feel the same with treats that are fortified with vitamins or Glucosamin for preventing the joint/hip problem.
Personally, if I were to give glucosamin,I prefer to give in the form of food (natural source).
Palette gets poultry feet,Gullet (weasand),cartilage and Trachea in her diet and/or as treats.
We, Yassy’s Gourmet Dog Kitchen, carry treats that are great source of natural glucosamin. chondroitin .
We have poultry feet available with choice of chicken, or duck.
With gullet, we have beef,lamb,and venison variety.
With trachea and cartilage, we have beef, lamb, buffalo, and venison variety.
For her, it is kind of the way to prevent her from having joint problem again. She used to limp before. I feed those regularly.
For me,fresh food is the best,and it should not be limited to based on history of origin of the breed.
I think the dogs did good with such breed specific diet item just because they were living there,they were getting used to eat those things.
What do you think about this breed specific diet? Are you for or against,and why?
