0 items - $0.00 US
The News at Home
Our dogs are not speaking to each other. It started with mail delivery being an hour earlier than usual. This caused a sleepy Cassie to leap from the bed and run to the back door. Mail arrives at the front door. Hey, I never said that she was the brightest Cavalier on the planet.
Zoey ran to the correct door, confusing the heck out of Cassie and causing her to race in the opposite direction, bashing into Zoey. The dogs growled at each other for only a second before returning to the hard job of protecting me from mail. But the tone of the day had been set. Both of my girls have done the staring thing that dogs do when they mean business with another dog. They've squabbled over who gets to curl up on a favorite chair, which one gets to go through the door to the yard first and finally, the insult of all insults: piddle wars. Each dog insists of urinating over the other's urine to have the last say about who's boss. I've left them to work it out but sure hope the mail delivery is on time from now on.
What's New
New Booklet: Every Dog Has a Story
A new booklet, Every Dog Has a Story, is now available at www.monicasegal.com. This addition to our Writings section, discusses 16 of my consulting cases and the lessons that each dog taught us. A variety of signals pointing to nutritional distress and the detective work that went into discovering answers, have helped me to appreciate more than ever that each dog requires an individual approach to health.
Every Dog Has a Story" in conjunction with all other material in the Writings section, helps to support our selected charities, Hemopet and Animal Trackers, (see About Us on the web site) through a portion of sales.
Animal Trackers Has Great News!
Animal Trackers, a no-kill shelter (Registered Canadian Charity #14098-4915-RR0001) rescued a dog named Sonny. We are proud to support Animal Trackers on any given day but even more so now. Sonny has become an official Hearing Dog of Canada and is presently assisting a family in Alberta, Canada. Go, Sonny, Go!
As always, Hemopet and Animal Trackers are in need of support. Please do what you can to support these wonderful organizations and thank you for helping us to help them!
Myth of the Month - Systemic Yeast
There is a never-ending circle of myths that make their way around the Internet. The printed word seems to have a lot of impact on people. The more we continue to read the same thing over and over, the more believable it may seem.
We can all agree that making decisions on behalf of our dogs is a serious responsibility and that deciding what to believe should be based on facts rather than myths. A myth that is repeated again and again, no matter how loudly, remains a myth. Our monthly newsletter is going to discuss some of the myths and attempt to balance this with a reality check. Please feel free to write to us about subjects you would like to see addressed in this area in the future.
Systemic Yeast
Yeast problems have been discussed on my Yahoogroups list, K9Kitchen. New members, having read elsewhere that carbohydrates feed yeast or even cause it, often bringing this point up. They are usually convinced that "sweet" vegetables such as carrots are part of feeding yeast and grains are absolutely connected to problems.
Here's the scoop:
Before deciding that your dog has a yeast "problem," it's probably best to visit your veterinarian. Get a culture and sensitivity done and see what comes back. At one point, my vet was sure that Zoey had only yeast in one ear. The culture showed yeast AND bacteria at the time. Yeast is a secondary problem. Had we just solved the yeast issue, heaven knows how much the bacteria would have proliferated and in what shape Zoey would have been in. We treated the bacteria - the yeast calmed down by itself.
In dogs, the most common form of yeast is called Malassezia. This is not systemic! The skin is one organ. Regardless of whether we see yeast in the ear or on the belly -- we're looking at skin. A systemic problem involves the "system" i.e. many organs within the body.
Since yeast is a normal resident of the skin, we can only see an overgrowth. The cause of this overgrowth is an underlying problem and the "cure" is to find it and deal with it. The overgrowth can be caused by any number of problems including disease factors and food allergies. For our purposes, food allergies are the focus.
A dog that is allergic to oats and has a yeast overgrowth is likely to have the yeast calm down when oats are removed from the diet. However, a dog allergic to beef and dealing with a yeast overgrowth will have the same positive reaction when beef is omitted from the diet. In other words, there is no direct connection between carbohydrates and yeast problems. Instead, the link is that we have discovered the problematic food and eliminated it.
One of the reasons that some people claim a direct link between carbohydrates and yeast is that the body converts carbohydrates to glucose. Like other organisms, yeast feeds on simple glucose. However, the brain has an absolute requirement for glucose. It stands to reason that no matter what is fed or not fed, the body has mechanisms in place to support brain function. Even when we omit carbohydrates from the diet, glucose is part of the picture. The body converts fats and if necessary, protein into glucose in order to support the brain.
Feeding more or fewer carbohydrates does not impact yeast overgrowth unless the dog is allergic to a certain carbohydrate. The allergy is the underlying cause of the yeast problem – not the carbohydrate itself. In this case, a certain carbohydrate is no more the cause of a yeast problem to a dog that tolerates this source than lamb would be the cause of yeast problem to a dog tolerant of lamb.
Systemic yeast and Candida have been blamed for everything from diarrhea to cancer. Systemic yeast in dogs is so rare that it makes medical reports in journals! In cases of systemic yeast, the dog is so sick that we're not talking about an inflamed ear or an itchy paw. There is reading material that clearly shows yeast in dogs to be a secondary problem and not the primary issue. The links below are of particular interest.
Good article on yeast and dogs:
www.dog.com/vet/dermatology/05.html
A report of one of the rare cases where Candida was a problem:
These notes pertain to dogs and farm animals:
education.vetmed.vt.edu/Curriculum/VM8334/TomInzana/Lecture7.html
Nutritional Tip of The Month
Acorn squash has a good ratio of calcium to phosphorus. Including it in your dog's diet is good for this reason alone but adding to the benefit for some diets, it provides a fair amount of copper compared to other veggies.
Dogs with sensitivities to fiber are often at two ends of the spectrum. On one side is the dog that tolerates very little fiber while on the other we have a dog that needs extra fiber in order to have consistent stool. A half-cup of cooked acorn squash provides 0.49 grams of soluble fiber and 3.81 grams of the insoluble variety. Insoluble fiber can help keep the bowel clean. Some gastroenterologists believe that insoluble fiber helps acidify the bowel, making it less friendly to bacteria.
Until Later…
Here's hoping that wherever you are, March leaves like a lamb. Play with your dogs, feed them a great diet and have a wonderful month. See you in April!
Monica
My little dog -- a heartbeat at my feet.
--Edith Wharton.
