Dr Carol Q and A

Question: how can i naturally help my dog beat seasonal allergy symptoms?

A quality, a raw diet can be the single most important step toward an allergy-free dog! Just by eliminating “kibble” (aka DRY DOG FOOD), we’ve found that as much as 80% of pet allergies quickly go away. That’s because bagged dry food can contain a variety of allergens, not to mention dust mites. The best way to test this method is to simply transition your dog from dry dog food to a 100% SOJOS diet over seven to ten days. Chances are you’ll see a big improvement in no time—including healthy skin and coat, an end to runny and itchy eyes, and no more licking paws and legs!

Question: what should I do to make sure my dog’s transition to a raw diet goes smoothly?

Transition to raw diets should proceed slowly over a few weeks to make sure to avoid upsetting their system. For example, Week 1: 75% old diet with 25% new diet. Week 2: 50% old diet with 50% new diet. Week 3: 75% new diet with 25% old diet. Week 4: 100% new diet.

Question: my dog has IBD, can raw feed diet help?

Feeding a raw diet may be successful for certain cases of canine IBD once the diarrhea is under control and stools are well formed. Once this is maintained correctly with your veterinarian, I would always suggest going over to a RAW diet, as it is a minimal ingredient as compared to kibble, and offers the pet a higher quality of nutrition that can help to prevent frequent cases of IBD. Remember some dog’s breeds are more prone to IDB than others.

Question: do I need to feed my dog an age-specific diet?

In my experience, it is more important to feed a fully balanced diet that agrees with your pet and supplement accordingly. It is really not necessary to worry about feeding age or breed specific diets, but it is important to know the source and quality of your pet’s nutrition. Making sure they have a healthy body weight, and have a beautiful glossy coat free of dandruff, is more important.

Question: how much exercise should my dog be getting?

The daily minimal requirement for exercise for dogs is at least 20 minutes twice daily. Currently, animal obesity in American is a huge problem, as over 50% of dogs and cats in America are overweight. Being overweight can cause a multitude of problems for your pets, so being as lean as possible is preferred. If you can pinch more than an inch on each side of your pet’s rib cage, that is excess soft tissue, and you should consider changing your pets’ food. Make sure your feeding proper portions, and limit treats. Remember vegetables make great treats! The great thing about raw diets is that in most cases the excess weight on your pets just falls off!

Question: my dog’s breath is awful. can switching diets help?

Switching diets may help to improve your dog’s breath. Every dog is different so make sure that before you consider the bad breath to be diet related, make sure to check with your veterinarian to ensure it is not medically related. When that is ruled out, it would be a superior choice to change diets, and try to resolve the bad breath issue. Again switching to a RAW diet may help to fix this problem, as it is far more of a limited ingredient diet, with real food, and no fillers or bi-products.

Question: i know super foods are good for me but are they good for my dog too?

They certainly are, although as with any diet supplementation they should be done with care, and under the supervision of your veterinarian. Remember that since the DNA of the dog was decoded by scientists, dogs are in fact 99.9% identical to our own DNA. So as far as foods there is not much your dog cannot eat. Think of food as food, not people food, and not dog food, just FOOD! Dogs can eat and should almost all vegetables, which means Broccoli, Cauliflower, Spinach, Kale, Quinoa, Green Beans, Peas, and Carrots. Remember that Sweet Potato’s, and Potatoes are CARBS and are not considered Super Foods or Vegetables.

Question: my dog has extremely irritated skin. can a raw diet help?

Yes, about 85% of allergies seem to disappear when you use raw diets! That means that most of your irritated skin, eyes, and ears all disappear! This is because all of those grains, glutens, and additives that are in most kibbles are not present in raw diets. Not to mention the storage mites that are always present in bagged kibble, are not present in raw diets. The wonderful thing about raw diets is that it is REAL food, REAL ingredients, and REAL Nutrition. As there are no fillers, no preservatives, no GMO’s, and no salts and sugars. If you’re reading the back of a dog food label and you cannot understand or know of the ingredients, just walk away. In Sojos you will only see real ingredients, ones that humans also consume!