The Reality vs The Hype of Hydrolyzed Diets

Sunday, April 25th, 2021
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There has been a lot of recent negative social media buzz on hydrolyzed diets. There’s very little that will put pet parents (myself included) into an emotional tailspin than information regarding something that can harm our four-legged family. This is especially true when the opinion comes from vets that many dog parents see as authority figures and thus the message gets repeated by their followers. Eventually, fear replaces factual information. I’m asking you to hit the pause button on all emotional reactions and consider the following.

 

What may lead a dog parent down the road of hydrolyzed foods?

 

The typical scenario starts with a dog owner who is frustrated as their dog deals with various allergic responses to food. Read more The Reality vs The Hype of Hydrolyzed Diets

IMHA, Thyroid, UTI, Supplements and More: Lessons Tori Taught

Wednesday, April 29th, 2015
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Our Tori’s health challenges brought so much to the table that learning how to manage everything provided lessons she allows me to share even now that she’s gone. For example, Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia is exceptionally expensive to treat, and if there are relapses it becomes worse. Pet insurance was a must-have and thankfully we had it. I appreciate that it may be considered inappropriate/crude to talk about money, but I think it’s unrealistic not to. All in all Tori experienced 5 relapses, the last of which became a runaway train that no amount of money or medications could push back.

Read more IMHA, Thyroid, UTI, Supplements and More: Lessons Tori Taught

Boosting The Immune System

Thursday, April 25th, 2013
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This relates to the way some people think of boosting the immune system via diet. First, we need to understand what the immune system really is because people seem to talk about if as if it’s a sagging muscle that needs to be lifted in some way.

 

The immune system involves interferons, chemokines and interleukins – signals that stimulate/activate certain cells.  There are antibodies like IgE, IgM, as well as IgG and IgA which have 7 subtypes in total, and all 7 have a preference for parts of different pathogens. There are blood components like cells called lymphocytes, neutrophils, macrophages, eosinophils, monocytes, and more. Read more Boosting The Immune System