THE CONNECTION BETWEEN DOG FOOD, PAIN & ANXIETY

I recently helped a client and his cute low rider doggie who we’ll call Zephyr. Zephyr is getting older – aren’t we all – and was starting to feel some aches and pains.

He also didn’t have the best digestion.

As we went through the initial intake, Zephyr’s anxiety came up.

We talked about what stressors worsened his anxiety and many ways to mitigate it, of course, but it’s a tough issue that can’t usually be solved overnight.

As we kept talking, though, I asked lots of questions about Zephyr’s diet, lifestyle and environment – that’s what we do as holistic health coaches.

The session was on the phone, but I had images of Zephyr and could see he wasn’t at an ideal weight. 

That extra weight was problem #1 for his long back’s pain. 

The extra weight also impacts longevity negatively, so there were two key reasons to get him on a diet. 

Then I found out he was eating a certain kibble with high carbs as kibble tends to have.

So, losing weight could be faster if we didn’t just cut calories, but if we upgraded his food. 

And the bonus would be possibly adding time to his life – quite possibly, in fact, per the data.

When I looked up his food recipe, it was grain-free and had a lot of legumes or pulses, which often substitute not just for grains, but for animal proteins. Not that they should, but that’s what a lot of brands do since legumes are cheaper than animal protein. I’m not against lentils, garbanzo beans and peas, but there are some issues at play here.

First off, Zephyr’s digestive issues might’ve been caused by the legumes and pulses. 

Secondly, dogs benefit more from animal protein than plant protein.

Third, those legumes and pulses have a lot of carbs, a lot of starch. And when high up on the ingredient list, they’re giving dogs more carbs than is good for them, and the dogs like Zephyr can gain weight or fall short of an ideal body condition.  

And carbs turn to sugar and sugar causes inflammation that’s at the route of major diseases that we don’t want our dogs to get. 

Legumes may also block the essential amino acid, taurine, and taurine is critical for heart function.

Now, the food had lots of other issues like synthetics and fish oil that was likely rancid since it had been cooked at high heat.

It was time to find better options for Zephyr. I’ve spent hundreds if not thousands of hours researching dog food processes and brands, so it was easy for me to recommend options that would be upgrades no matter my client’s budget.

But the wins kept coming beyond weight loss.

That better food gave Zephyr more energy as did being lean.

And he showed less signs of pain. He slept less – apparently, some of those hours asleep were to deal with the pain. He also twitched and twinged less when petted or brushed on his back.

His digestive system worked better – let’s just say less stinky smells were wafting through the air.

Some of his anxiety went away – because his old food was negatively impacting his gut health. And gut health is tied to brain health and hormone health … and anxiety. So being alone didn’t stress him out as much nor did walking by bigger dogs.

If this isn’t a perfect example of food as medicine versus food as poison, I don’t know what is. Food matters. Dog food matters. Do your research or hire someone who does it for a living like me so you save time and save your dog from mistakes you may make. Your dog will thank you for years to come.