Toxic shock in dog! Help!!

[dreamrawalwz]

My dog just had emergency surgery to remove her uterus that was severely infected. She had the beginning of toxic shock as it began to leak into her abdominal cavity. The vet put her on "very strong and very long antibiotics." wihch I cringe about. I am telling my parents I refuse to let her eat meat an animal products. I want to put her on a raw vegan diet, at least for the time being as she recovers (i get her home tomorrow). Is there anything I should know or do? Any advice would be very appreciated!

[dreamrawalwz]

anyone? bumping

[Drawn]

I wish there was a vet on the board who could help. I feel bad for your dog and family as you go through this ordeal.

Personally, I don't know if I would switch her food at this point. Her body is under a lot of strain and switching food on animals is stressful even under the best situation. Also, you would be forcing her to doggy detox when she needs all her strength. A switch in diets might "put her off" food and thats definitely not what she needs right now. I would comfort her, do more research, and then gradually switch her diet after she has regained strength. That's my opinion; nothing more. There are many on here who feed their dogs raw; vegan and not. I'm sure they will help you with what they feed their dogs.

[RawFoodieMom]

I'm not sure about suddenly transforming her diet totally, she's already in trauma. I think it depends on the dog. I'm saying this because I have offered my dog raw foods, from fruit, veggies and nuts, and she won't eat any of it. I could one day take her food away until she gets hungry enough to at least try it (I wouldn't let her starve though) but I don't know about doing that to a dog in recovery. Hopefully someone who's had a similar experience can better advise you. But I'm really not sure this would be the best time to change her diet so drastically. But then again, it would be the best healing foods. It depends how she takes to it.

Debra

[RawFoodieMom]

I feel so bad for her, poor little doggie, I hope she recovers quickly!

[jenna rose]

no idea about feeding a dog a raw vegan. i just know it takes time for them to adjust when switching food and that's just on one meat brand to the next. it's not something that can be done in a day because they usually end up with upset stomachs. she's already trying to heal herself and doing that much of a bold switch - from processed meat brand to a raw vegan brand is liable to make tummy do a loop.

if you want her on something raw you could try the Prairie brand. they have a frozen kind that you can feed just that or you can mix it up with dry food. you could try mixing that in with her current food.

there are raw food brands in a dry kibble form, as well.

i wouldn't try doing anything too drastic right at the beginning. do you know if your vet is raw friendly? i lucked out that most of the vets at my place recommend raw food for cats and dogs, though it's not vegan. you should talk with the vet tomorrow about it and see what they recommend.

[ryana]

I would try to transition her to a cooked vegan diet making your own organic food for her. food heals and the stuff she's eating now will only make is more difficult to heal. my opinion anyways. i'm no vet.

[chilove]

The best thing to do for her while she is healing is to fast her. And then put her on a raw meat and veggie diet. As an ethical vegan, I would love to be able to feed my dogs a raw vegan diet but all I have to do is look at their anatomy and see that they are meant to eat meat. Feeding a raw diet is not that difficult or mysterious. Here is a good site to get you started:
http://rawfed.com/myths/

Also, Nora Lenz does phone consultations about feeding dogs raw. Her email is nmlenz@speakeasy.net if you want to ask her about doing a consultation. I did one with her and highly recommend it.

Best to you and your doggie!!

Audrey

[Faithfullyfit]

My dog just had emergency surgery to remove her uterus that was severely infected. She had the beginning of toxic shock as it began to leak into her abdominal cavity. The vet put her on "very strong and very long antibiotics." wihch I cringe about. I am telling my parents I refuse to let her eat meat an animal products. I want to put her on a raw vegan diet, at least for the time being as she recovers (i get her home tomorrow). Is there anything I should know or do? Any advice would be very appreciated!

Poor Thing :(

Juice Plus sells a canine supplement that has pro-biotics, Fruits and veggies low heat dehydration (starch/sugar removed) oat fiber

http://www.getjp.com/jpdogsandcats

Hope this is of interest to you!
Blessings,
FF

[dreamrawalwz]

Thank you everyone. I think I'll transition her slowly. She LOVES fruits, vegetables, everything anyway. Instead of biscuts she begs for baby carrots and broccoli stalks. Before she got ill I got her to eat spinach (an accomplisment on my part!). She has beniful right now and i guess it's OK, but they have sugar and sorbitol on it as well as many preservatives. She's a maltese if that makes a difference.

[lissomllama]

My dog just had emergency surgery to remove her uterus that was severely infected. She had the beginning of toxic shock as it began to leak into her abdominal cavity. The vet put her on "very strong and very long antibiotics." wihch I cringe about. I am telling my parents I refuse to let her eat meat an animal products. I want to put her on a raw vegan diet, at least for the time being as she recovers (i get her home tomorrow). Is there anything I should know or do? Any advice would be very appreciated!


This worries me a little. I keep hearing about people wanting to put their dogs and cats on vegan diets and it makes no sense. Dogs (and cats) are carnivores. Just look at their teeth and claws. They are designed to eat raw meat and some veggies (cats shouldn't be eating any veggies other than some grass to cleanse their tummies ever so often), but dogs' diets should consist of at least 95%, meat. Putting your dog on a vegan or even vegetarian diet would be bad for her health. Carnivores need meat, it's that simple. Dogs and cats are not humans, they aren't supposed to eat like us and we aren't supposed to eat like them. I know you're worried about her health but changing her diet could be a shock and she might refuse to eat altogether. I'm an advocate of feeding an organic, raw meat and veggie diet to dogs and a raw, organic, meat diet to cats but it takes some research and work if you're going to do it yourself (for instance, cats need bone meal, vitamin E and taurine ground up in their meats because that's what they would get from an an animal they would catch and eat raw). Dogs should only have certain veggies and I'm not even sure about whether or not they need some bone meal. As a vegan, it's hard to feed and prepare meat for your dogs or cats but that's what they need to eat so you should provide it for them. I think that the petfood industry is disgusting, BTW, most of the companies' food consists of stale corn flakes and other unnatural fillers and a little bad quality meat and is completely processed, not to mention that alot of those companies test on animals. I sincerely hope your dog gets better soon and that you find a good diet for her and some veggies are great for dogs but please don't take away what is natural to her.

[goodbeets]

I found a websight today called (really!) www.barfworld.com!! Bones And Raw Food. I don't know how to link to it but it looks quite informative. It goes along with raw but not entirely vegan. Good luck with your beloved pooch.

[akh78749]

I believe it is terribly dangerous to require that a carnivore not eat meat. I have heard of people killing their dogs and cats by requiring them to eat a vegan diet. Dogs and cats need to eat meat. Period. Fruits and vegetables are good additions to the meat diet. The best diet for your dog would be a raw diet including raw meat. This is a really good company that provides very health meat for dogs and cats:

http://www.biljac.com/store/dogmain.asp

I also agree with everyone else about changing your dog's diet right now when it is under so much stress. Not a good idea.

[dreamrawalwz]

Thanks for opening my eyes. I feel so stupid and I should've known! I knew cats need meat but didn't think dogs did (for whatever reason, I don't know why lol). I'm going to definitely switch her dog food first and then incorporate raw organic meats and veggies.

[lissomllama]

Don't feel stupid, sometimes the things right in front of our faces are the hardest to see. You're obviously intelligent because you realized your mistake! I've actually heard people try to argue that dogs and cats can be vegan and healthy. That is stupidity. Anyway, at first I was all worried that I would have to buy that pre-made ground up raw stuff but they are designed to be able to rip apart a carcass and eat it whole. It's a good workout for the jaws and cleans the teeth and they get all their nutrients. With both dogs and cats you can start out with small bits of boneless meat mixed into their regular food so they get used to it slowly. Take your time, it needs to be gradual or they could stop eating and that's dangerous. Then you can move to pieces or whole, raw organic meat with the bone in it. Warm it to body temperature so it feels more natural to them and put it on a flat surface, not a bowl so they can fully investigate it. Soon they'll be loving it. My cats are doing great. I started with small bits of organic, raw, free range beef and then added boned meats and organ meats and they love it and they are the healthiest they've ever been. It's actually cheaper than buying bags of catfood all the time as well. When I get a puppy some day I'll be starting out immediately with raw meats. With dogs, makes sure you give them big boned meats and never give them free bones that arent attatched to meat because they could choke. They will not choke as long as the bones are attatched to a good amount of meat. Good luck!

[rawpriestess]

Oh, I am so glad to hear this,


Dogs are naturally raw meat and veggie eaters, people will tell you they only eat meat, but that isn't true, they are by nature into grass and fruits, I've seen my little doggin eat so many.

and every dog I've ever had or seen, has love fresh veggies and raw meat, so you may wish to give her only raw organic meat, and allow her to chew on the good bones that are excellent for you teeth.

Please know that we are all learning, so we all have different ideas of what is good or not so good for our pets.

I hope she gets better soon, ask your vet about probiotics for her intestinal tract, as if she goes on antibiotics, she can get a yeast infections just like a human can, and she's got enough to worry about right now.

much love to her and you, she sounds like a sweetie