Food and Treats

Question
I have two dogs who will not eat dog food can or dry.  I have on my own sliced Z/D in small pieces and baked it for an hour.  This makes it crisply and I use it instead of treats.  The dogs like it and I thought I was doing right by them but now I read on this web site that Z/D causes itching and licking of paws which both of my dogs are doing.  Can you suggest another dog food that will work well with baking, not fall apart and that will taste good to them.  Most of the canned dog food now have gravy, veggies or rice and they do not bake very well. Thank you

Answer
Science Diet Z/D is based on the allergy being from protein when indeed I've found that it's a lot more likely to be a problem with carbs. Since dogs have no nutritional need for carbs there is no need to feed them.

Think outside the box in this case. Instead of commercial dog foods of any kind consider a diet of real meat. For treats buy beef heart or liver, cut it up and dry it in the oven.

Paw licking is a sign of a yeast infection and not an allergy but it could be either one. If you stop feeding carbs and treat with some colloidal silver in the water it will go away.

Get back to nature and feed a species appropriate diet. Don't stop with just the treats. Raw red meat is the answer. Cooked meat would still be better than any commercial food but you do lose some of the nutrition.

And try giving fish body oil on a regular basis, adding in some vitamin E once or twice a week since fish oil depletes E. Make sure the E is the natural one and make sure the fish oil has no soy in it since soy is a common cause of itches too.

Feeding raw is not that difficult. It's mostly meat with some bones and organ meat added in. I will give you some links so you can learn about raw feeding. You will be amazed at the difference in your dogs in only a few days!

http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html
http://www.rawfed.com/myths/