Thursday, November 17, 2005

Special Diet

This diet has worked very well for our pugs over the years, however, I recommend you check with your vet before switching your dog’s food.  We worked very closely with our vet to determine what to feed our pugs and since every situation is different I strong encourage you to work with your vet if you want to create a special diet for your pug.

Well, as you can see by the above photo there is a lot of work that goes into the preparation of the boys’’ meals.  Their special diet began when Benjamin developed Pancreatitis.  He was a very sick little boy and had to be in the hospital for 4 days.  Pancreatitis is difficult to diagnose and really to this day we aren’t completely convinced that the diagnosis was correct.  It occurred at a time when we were unable to get in touch with our regular vet and had to rely on a family member’s referral.  It was not a vet we were completely comfortable with but we really did not have a choice but to go on her advice.  After the whole ordeal was over and Baby Benny was safe at home with brother Henry again we were able to see our regular veterinarian and she told us that it may have been Pancretitis but we could not be sure because it was so far after the onset and the first vet had not done a lot of truly necessary lab work to give an accurate diagnosis.  However, our favorite vet did recommend that we switch to a special diet for both boys.  Our favorite vet, (we’’ll call her “Dr. H”) is more of a holistic type of vet and very into using foods and dietary supplements to solve many of today’’s medical problems before trying medications that may be unnecessary and cause unwanted side effects.  (I don’’t know why but I am embarrassed to say that I do this for the dogs but not for myself.)  Anyway, Dr. H gave us a list of homemade foods that we could try to keep the boys healthy.  She recommended a low fat diet.  This was especially important for Benjamin because if the diagnosis of Pancreatitis was correct, then a diet high in fat would cause serious relapses which may include death.  We knew there was really no other choice.  Of course, Henry would also benefit from the high quality meals.  However, it is a lot of work and somewhat expensive.  Personally, I justify the cost in what it saves in vet bills and the sheer fact that you cannot put a price tag on good health.  Anyway, here is the “secret recipe”:

1½ cups of browned ground turkey (97% fat free)
1 heaping tablespoon of canned pumpkin
1 heaping tablespoon of plain fat free yogurt
1 heaping tablespoon of cooked plain oatmeal

The boys eat 3 meals per day.  They have been on this diet for about 2½-3 years (they will be 4 years old in late March and early April).  Benjamin weighs in at 20 pounds and Henry is a hearty 23 pounds.  They do get the occasional table scrape but it is most often a very healthy choice (i.e carrot stick, bite of banana, Cheerio) unless it is time to clip their nails in which case, all the stops come out and the baggie of Chinese noodles are used for wiggle control. We have often been asked how we keep the boys in such great shape and that is when we discuss their special diet.  They also go for at least 2 walks per day for at least ½ mile each walk.  It is a big job keeping the gluttons in good condition but that is the job of a dedicated pug mommy.  So, this job is done with a smile!