Feeds and Feeding, Gunner Edition

With the recent diagnosis of Gunner's heart disease, specifically endocardiosis and moderate pulmonary hypertension, I have an increased motivation to provide optimum dietary and environmental support. 

Gunner has an acquired disease that has caused thickening of the valves in the heart; over time this thickening has allowed a leak across the valves (causes the murmur sound) which has led to enlargement of the left heart chambers. Gunner is on medication (7.25mg enalapril every 24 hours and 2.5mg pimobendan every 12 hours on an empty stomach) in an effort to slow down progression and help the heart pump function. He additionally has developed moderate pulmonary hypertension or high blood pressure in the lungs.

My reading has included a literature search of the veterinary cardiology journals, and especially some interesting studies and recommendations from Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine about food and its relation to heart disease in dogs. 

I've re-read the revised and expanded edition of The China Study, The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell, MD (whose dad was a veterinarian) as well as re-reading Good Old Dog, Expert Advice for Keeping Your Aging Dog Happy, Healthy and Comfortable by the faculty of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. 

I have just finished reading the new book The Forever Dog: Surprising New Science to Help Your Canine Companion Live Younger, Healthier and Longer by Karen Becker, DVM, and it's been compelling and interesting. I've pre-ordered the soon-to-be-released book Discovering Your Dog, New Information on How To Give Your Canine Pal a Longer, Healthier Life by Chris Zink, DVM, PhD. 

All my reading leads to a few well-known and important conclusions:

• Maintaining a low body weight leads to a healthier longevity
• Daily physical exercise, in almost any form or function, is key to preventing degeneration of both the body and brain
• What you eat, and when, matters: dietary habits influence disease risk, and certain foods can trigger chronic health conditions, while other foods offer strong medicinal and protective qualities even if disease is inherent or already in process
• The collective genomes of the microbes (composed of bacteria, bacteriophage, fungi, protozoa, and viruses) that live inside and on the animal (including human) body known as the microbiome, is important and our diet can be optimized to feed our microbiome
• We should avoid contaminants and carcinogens in our environment such as pesticides, herbicides, processed foods, and off-gassing from household goods; our diet can and should be used to combat and protect us from these contaminants 

My reading also lead me to realize that the highly processed with high heat and "feed grade" ingredients (which can include substandard ingredients, and have had euthanasia drugs detected in the ingredients, which is horrible on several levels) may not be the healthiest option in dog food, so I began searching for the best possible healthy diets for dogs. 

The raw diet is compelling, but it is not at all convenient, becomes time- and cost-prohibitive, and mostly I do not want to risk upset tummy for Gunner or risk bones getting stuck anywhere in Gunner's gi system. Due to Gunner's heart condition, his veterinarian cardiologist has explained to me that Gunner is not a surgical candidate as his condition would likely not survive a surgical procedure, and neither is Gunner a candidate to receive IV fluids nor sub-cutaneous fluids so I do not want to risk dehydration from diarrhea or vomiting, or bones getting lodged. So that eliminates a raw diet for Gunner.

The next-healthiest food option is gently heated at relatively low temperatures 100% human-grade (not "feed" grade) dehydrated food. After communicating with three different dog food brands to suss out sodium and protein content, and even speaking a couple times over the phone with nutritionist Dr. Harvey Cohen (of Dr. Harvey's brand dog food), the dehydrated food that emerged as a good option is The Honest Kitchen brand Gourmet Grains Beef and Salmon Recipe.  

Of course I consulted with Gunner's veterinary cardiologist who approved this diet change, with the good advice to be sure to transition to the new food slowly over a few weeks to avoid any tummy upset. Gunner is already getting a good spoonful of pumpkin on every meal, so that should help with the transition as well. 

After slowly transitioning Gunner over a few weeks and it’s established that Gunner is tolerating the new diet well, I will gradually begin the additional supplements of Wholistic Pet brand Deep Sea Salmon Oil with vitamin E, and will consider a supplement that includes probiotic, glucosamine, collagen, turmeric, MSM, chondroitin, hyaluronic acid (in a SmartPak brand combo senior soft chew that Rosco has been taking successfully for years), as well as rotate organic, heart-healthy, immune-boosting, microbiome-feeding whole food toppers from the human grocery store. 

When considering any dog's diet, most veterinarians agree that 10% of a dog's diet can be "junk" and not upset the status quo, so I'm using that 10% margin to put health-boosting additions such as blueberries, carrots, and mushrooms (which serve as probiotic food to the microbiome) as toppers on my other dogs' food, and will begin doing that with Gunner after he has successfully transitioned to the new diet. 

Gunner's current diet, away from which he will be transitioning to the new Honest Kitchen brand food, is Fromm brand Salmon A La Veg dry kibble, with the aforementioned dollop of pumpkin on each meal.

Pearls:

• See bulleted list above
• Some of the books in my library I've found to be helpful are pictured here:

• A book that has been recommended by Patricia McConnell that I've pre-ordered for when it is released:
  
  
  
• After doing some reading, and with approval from Gunner's veterinarian cardiologist, the dog food that I've chosen for Gunner:

  

  
  

Gunner Rally Lesson

In an effort to take a deeper dive into correct basics for obedience games, Gunner and I had a private lesson with our coach Robin Barber today at Cowtown Dog Sports. Robin gave us several good ideas to build solid obedience behaviors.

Robin introduced the use of platforms for playing heeling games.  The first step is to find the correctly sized platform, which for Gunner is nine inches wide by about four feet long; long enough for Gunner to lie down on, and only just wide enough for him to sit perfectly straight.

The handler begins with the dog on the platform in heel position, and I reinforce for being in that position.  Then I release Gunner "Break!" and toss a cookie behind me and let him eat it off the floor. Then I say "Heel!" and he returns to heel position on the platform.  Eventually the handler's left arm bent at the elbow becomes the cue for the dog to maintain heel position.

We explored using perchwork to reinforce heeling behavior. Gunner places his front paws on an overturned small rubber feed pan.  At first I'll get Gunner to independently pivot his hindquarters around the perch while his front paws stay on the perch. Once he is smoothly pivoting around the perch while I keep my hand about a foot or more above his head, I can step in toward the perch and reinforce him for pivoting toward me in heel position and click and treat as his shoulder or hip bumps my leg. I'll work to fade any verbal or hand cue, so that the cue for Gunner to pivot toward me is me stepping away from him around the perch with my left elbow bent in the cue for heel position.

Pearls:

• Platforms and perches are useful tools for practicing obedience games
• A platform nine inches by four feet can be made by cutting mats into the correct size then duct taping them together to form about a four inch platform height
• Gunner autonomously pivoting his hindquarters toward me to assume and maintain heel position from a visual cue of my left arm being bent at the elbow or the verbal cue "Heel!" is the goal of current perchwork 

Gunner demonstrating the use of an overturned goat-sized rubber feed pan as a perch:

Photo Session

In response to an online promotional, the other H. sapiens I live with and I took the dogs to have professional heirloom quality portraits made at Platinum Portrait Artists in Dallas.  It was a fun experience; the co-owner and photographer Shane did a great job moving quickly through the session and keeping it interesting and easy for us and the pups.  

The experience exposed an idea for a useful trick, which is: getting the dogs to look at a camera while someone else is holding the camera, and while I am in the picture with the dogs.  Gunner, good boy that he is, has been so reinforced for looking at me that he won't take his eyes off my face if I'm in the photograph. 

We weren't able to get any good pictures of the five of us, which is ok since we wanted pictures of just the dogs anyway.  Another useful trick idea is working with the dogs as a threesome to get simultaneous behaviors, like a triple sit, down, or stand stay. The circus act is growing. 

Pearls:

• Getting everyone cleaned up and groomed, and in front of a camera with no leashes or collars was interesting, and exposed some ideas for new tricks
• Photographing animals is challenging; today I learned that a small, heavy ball the size of a ping pong ball wrapped in cloth with short streamers attached to it makes a good object for the photographer to toss up lightly into the air to make good ears and cute expressions
• When all else fails, there's always photoshop