Food for thought (and diabetic dogs)

As predicted, things are getting back to normal: Tony is eating his usual amount, getting his shots on time, and -- thank goodness!-- sleeping through the night, which means that I can, too. His incision seems in good shape, no oozing or pulling, not inflamed, etc., so I'm feeling pretty positive. I have noticed one other change. His tail is up all the time now. I hadn't realized how often it was down before, until I saw him wandering around in the yard with it up. I guess that this should go on my list of things to watch for. Now I can get back to the main discussion, starting with food.

Before Tony was diagnosed, I had him on an inexpensive dry food (Ol' Roy's Dinner Rounds from WalMart). I am now, of course, horrified that I did that, but at the time, I didn't know any better. Tony loved Dinner Rounds, and after I got a good look at the ingredients, I wasn't surprised, nor was I surprised that his weight had gotten up to 15 pounds. I was only concerned that they did not contain meat by-products (these can include brains -- ick -- and have been implicated in several diseases, including mad cow disease). Well, there was none of that, but there was:
"Wheat Flour, Soybean Meal, Water, Cereal Food Fines, Corn Syrup, Beef, Meat and Bone Meal, Animal Fat (Bha Used As A Preservative), Dicalcium Phosphate, Propylene Glycol, Salt, Potassium Sorbate (Used As A Preservative), Potassium Chloride, Phosphoric Acid, Choline Chloride, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Iron Oxide, Caramel Color, Dc Red #40. "
In other words, lots o' carbs (more corn syrup than beef?!), which led to the weight gain and screwed with his blood sugar. Shame on me.

When he was diagnosed, I discovered this problem with his food and went looking for a better choice. At that time he also had a UTI, so when I found a food that had cranberries, I tried that immediately. The food was Lamaderm, from Natural Life (website at Lamaderm.com). I went with the canned food, since a friend of mine had had a dog that developed a twisted stomach from dry food, and I figured I had all the canine health issues I could handle already. Lamaderm contains:
"Lamb, Water Sufficient for Processing, Lamb Liver, Rice, Rice Flour, Flaxseed, DiCalcium Phosphate, Guar Gum, Carrots, Peas, Salt, Lecithin, Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Carageenan, Cassia, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Cranberries, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Niacin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin Supplement, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Folic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Calcium Iodate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D Supplement. " This food is especially recommended for dogs with skin problems, which he had right then (he had lost a lot of fur-- more about that in a later post), and he liked it. Within a few months, we had his condition under good control and from then until a few weeks ago, he never had another UTI. Unfortunately, he's almost certainly going to have to change foods again as soon as the analysis of his stones comes back from the lab. I'll let you know how that turns out.