Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (21 page)

*See information on calcium supplements in the
Table of Calcium Supplementation Products
.

Soak the beans overnight. Drain, rinse, and pick out any broken or damaged beans. Bring the beans to a boil in 6 to 8 cups of water. Simmer, covered, for 1½ hours or until you can blow the skin off a bean. (To reduce intestinal gas, discard cooking water after first half-hour and start over with fresh water for the final hour). Meanwhile, prepare the millet. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add the millet, cover, and simmer on low for 20 to 30 minutes, or until soft. Combine when both are done; then add the remaining ingredients and serve.

Yield:
About 14 cups, with about 337 kilocalories
per cup
.

Daily ration (in cups):
Toy—½ to 1; small—about 3; medium—4 to 5; large—5½ to 6;
giant—about 7 cups+
.

Grain substitutes: You may use 2 cups (before cooking) of bulgur, brown rice, or barley.

Bean substitutes: You may use equal amounts (before cooking) of lentils, pintos, soybeans, or white or black beans. Or to save time, you may use a 16-ounce package of tofu. In this case, it’s okay to use creamed cottage cheese instead of low-fat, and you’ll still have plenty of protein.

NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION OF RECIPES FOR NEWBORN FORMULAS & VEGETARIAN DIETS

CHAPTER 6

HELPING YOUR PET MAKE THE SWITCH

M
ost pets love their new diets. But some may run into a few snags along the way—snags that can be prevented or remedied. Here are some examples of the common problems I’ve encountered over the years.

One reader phoned to tell me that her cats would not eat the foods in the diet I suggested.

“What have you given them?” I inquired.

“You name it! I’ve tried adding supplements like bone meal, nutritional yeast, and wheat germ. I’ve offered them meats, dairy products, grains, vegetables, everything you can think of!
But practically all they will touch, especially the older cat, is just canned tuna and chicken. Not only that, but it has to be one
certain
brand, if you can believe that!”

Similarly, a client reported back after following a course of natural foods and remedies for her dog’s chronic problem: “Henry was doing okay and then suddenly he just stopped eating and began acting like he was sick. He just lay around and didn’t seem to have any energy.”

Another owner who had started to feed the natural diet called for reassurance and advice: “My dog liked the new food, and he’s been on it a few weeks. But yesterday he just passed a whole bunch of worms! What do I do?”

In the first instance—a cat who turns up its nose at new foods—we are dealing with the fussy feline, star of cat food commercials. Many cats have become habituated (“addicted”) to the particular foods they were given as kittens or foods they’ve been fed over a long period of time. Under such circumstances, the body’s natural instinct for selecting a healthy, balanced diet diminishes considerably. Similarly, among humans, narrow food preferences that were learned early in life often become deeply entrenched habits.

In cases like the last two—the dog that stopped eating and the dog that passed worms—I am actually happy to hear about these responses to the switch. I know from experience that such signs can be favorable omens in terms of natural healing. After a brief period on a higher-quality diet, it is fairly common for an animal in sub-optimal health to discharge accumulated toxic material or to undergo a brief aggravation of its symptoms (often called a healing crisis). These apparent setbacks are normal, often necessary, bumps on the road to well-being.

Nearly all the snags your pet might encounter in a change of diet will be of these two types—getting a finicky eater to like nutritious food or helping an animal through the sometimes uncomfortable stages of a natural cleansing process.

THREE WAYS TO INTRODUCE THE NEW FOODS

When you have a finicky eater on your hands, first make sure you serve the food in an appealing manner. Rather than serving refrigerated food cold, warm it up a bit, which greatly increases aroma and appeal. Also, be sure to serve the food in a safe place, not in the middle of your path of movement around the kitchen. Beyond that, you can choose one of three strategies: Introduce new foods gradually until they’re accepted, let your animal go without eating until it’s hungry enough to try the new fare, or compromise with a combination of the natural diet and your pet’s old favorites.

The gradual transition.
This not only helps your pet get used to the taste of new foods but also gives the animal’s digestive system time to adjust. Whenever the diet is changed abruptly, even from one commercial
brand to another, temporary diarrhea or loss of appetite might occur. That’s because the bacterial flora in the digestive tract is still adjusting to the new material. By switching over gradually, you can reduce or avoid acceptance problems and the possibility of discomfort for your pet. If the gradual method doesn’t work, you probably have a food addict on your hands, and more drastic measures will be necessary.

Fasting for a few days.
This stimulates a lagging appetite, helps cleanse the body, and deconditions old taste habits all at the same time.

To fast, your pet needs a healthful setting—plenty of fresh air, quiet, access to the outdoors, and some moderate exercise.

Here’s the process.

1. Begin the fast with a break-in period of one to two days. Feed a smaller quantity of the usual food during this first phase, perhaps adding a little meat, cooked grain, and/or vegetables.
   
2. Move to a liquid fast for the next two to three days. During that time give your animal only liquids, such as pure water, vegetable juices, and broths.
   
3. To break the fast, add some solid foods to the liquid regime over a day or two, perhaps vegetables (for dogs) or eggs, yogurt, or small amounts of fresh meat (for dogs and cats).
   
4. After a day or so, increase the amount of meat and add a grain, gradually adding other ingredients until the recipe is approximated; then add the supplements (often the least-accepted part of the diet, except for nutritional yeast, which many animals love).
   

In stubborn cases, it often pays to continue fasting the animal a few more days. One client reported worriedly that her cat wouldn’t eat any of the natural foods offered in the “breaking-out” period. I advised her to keep the cat on liquids for a while longer. She did, and in a few days she called back enthused to say that her formerly finicky cat was now eating all kinds of things it would never touch before—like vegetables, grains, meats, nutritional yeast, and even soy grits! In addition to the longer fast, she found it helped to mix a little bit of fish (an old favorite) into the new diet.

Some people are frightened by the idea of fasting their pet. At first it does seem that some animals would rather starve to death than eat anything but the food to which they’re addicted. But the instinct for survival is very strong. Sooner or later, the pet comes around. Somehow we have convinced ourselves that a day or two without food will take a cat or dog close to death’s door. Not true. Cats, being true carnivores, actually prefer a 28-hour eating cycle. In fact, healthy cats trapped in moving vans and such have been known to survive without any food or water for periods of up to six weeks. Because they live with people, they have adapted to eating two or even three times a day. This eating schedule, however, is not natural to them, or even desirable.

Obese dogs have been known to fast on just water and vitamins for as long as six to eight weeks without ill effect. Wild carnivores fast naturally, since the prey they live on may elude them for days at a time. So don’t worry about trying the fast on your pet for a few days.

How long should you let your animal go hungry before giving up and returning to the old diet? With dogs, two days should be enough. Cats are different, however, and going without food for a while seems to be no big deal for them. Many of my client’s cats do not really become hungry and willing to try a new food until 5 days of fasting have gone by. I have not seen healthy animals go longer than that before they become truly hungry.

Your veterinarian may have told you that cats must eat every day or run the risk of liver disease and jaundice. This does happen, but only in those cats that already are not well. These animals will often be overweight, have a finicky appetite, and a history of other problems. If you have a young, vigorous cat of normal weight, it should be fine to fast them for a while. If you are not sure or your cat is older or has a history of other health problems, then run it by your veterinarian first. Many holistically minded veterinarians have experience with fasting animals and can guide you.

Some cats or dogs, however, simply do not develop a normal hunger even after several days of not eating. A weak appetite like this is often a symptom of chronic illness. I do not mean that these animals are necessarily ill with symptoms or a defined disease. Rather, they are in a sub-optimal or low-grade state of health. In such cases I use individualized homeopathic treatment to improve the animal’s overall level of health. Afterward, the animal begins to eat more normally. If your pet won’t eat and you don’t have access to a vet who practices homeopathy, you may want to try the third approach.

“The compromise.”
Suppose you’ve tried a gradual transition and your pet just won’t convert to a new diet. Or perhaps fasting just doesn’t work for you. It is difficult for some people to let their animals get hungry. They can’t handle the agitation that the animal shows in asking for food. And in other cases, the cat or dog is not healthy enough to undertake a fast. In such situations, it is best to compromise by mixing the new food into the old.

Sometimes even a small bit of the pet’s familiar fare makes a difference. One woman I know finds that mixing just a spoonful of her pets’ favorite canned cat food into the natural recipe does the trick. “There seems to be something about the sight and sound of the old familiar can-opening process that gets them excited,” she told me. Another trick you might try is to pulverize some of the usual dry kibble in a food processor or blender and then sprinkle it over the natural food recipe, perhaps mixing some in as well. This is just the kind of catalyst that some finicky felines need to get them started eating a natural diet. Then nature takes over.

It’s likely that after eating a compromise mixture of both natural and commercial foods for a while, your pet will become so
used to the new foods that the old ones will be forgotten. Eventually, many pets turn up their noses at their old favorite canned food or kibbles.

T
AKING
C
HARGE

Don’t allow your animal’s habits to run your life. Remember, for the average healthy animal, the most important factor in accepting a new food is hunger. Many animals will not accept a change in diet simply because they are not really that hungry. They lack the motivation to try something new. Cats, in particular, are well-adapted to cycles of feast and famine, and it often takes several days for them to reach a state of true hunger. When food is available several times a day, they learn to just nibble, but seldom develop a decent appetite.

Ideally, cats should be fed once a day. Most people, however, prefer feeding them twice daily. This can work out fine as long as the food is available for no more than 20 minutes at each feeding, morning and evening. Practitioners find that cats fed frequently during the day and those with constant self-feeding access to kibble are not in tip-top health, have a poor hair coat, and tend to form “gravel” in the bladder, with resultant cystitis (bladder inflammation). Carnivores need a certain interval between meals so that the body can digest food properly and eliminate the many toxins associated with a meat-based diet.