Is a mixed homemade and commercial diet safe for my diabetic dog?

Hi there! I'm so sorry to hear that Daisy has diabetes. Daisy could definitely have some whole grain brown rice, but the amount of it in her diet is what is important, since she is diabetic. It is still a starch, and she needs to have a low carb, high fiber diet. If she eats a diabetic dog food, then she definitely doesn't need anything additional. However, if you prefer to make Daisy a home cooked diet, I would make sure it is balanced. There is a fantastic website for making pets home cooked meals, and you can streamline the diet, so you keep the carbs, fiber, fat, and protein in check based on if your pet has any sort of health problems, like diabetes for example. https://secure.balanceit.com/recipegenerator_ver4/index.php?rotator=EZ It's called Balance It, and will help you make a balanced, home cooked diet for your Daisy, if that is what you would like to do. They also have supplements available that you can order to add to the food, to insure that Daisy gets the right amount of vitamins and minerals. I hope you find this answer helpful. Best of luck!

A high protein/moderate fat/low carbohydrate diet is recommended for many cats with diabetes (such as hills m/d or royal canin diabetic). A meat only diet however is not suficiently balanced and would be lacking in many trace elements, vitamins, minerals and fiber. If you wish to prepare a home cooked diet which is safe and effective in any pet, and especially a diabetic such as Tiger, I recommend scheduling a consult with clinical nutrition service at Tufts (http://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/) - this can be done in person or by phone as far as I am aware and will help to tailor a safe and effective diet recipe for his condition and takes into account what is likely to be available to you

You can do a combination of things to help Caesar lose weight. It's just like losing weight in people, increase activity and lower caloric intake. That being said, you can't do it all at one time. Gradually increase activity by going on longer walks, introduce a little jogging from time to time once he's gotten a little more fit, play fetch with him, arrange playtime with other dogs he gets along with, whatever you can do to help him get up and get moving. Also, the best food I've seen for gradual, healthy weight loss is a Science Diet product called Metabolic. Take your dog to your vet and ask them to do measurements and weight for you. If they aren't familiar with the program, everything is explained on the Hill's website. By entering your dog's measurements and weight into the Hill's website, you will get a customized feeding schedule for your dog that tells you exactly how much to feed for him to gradually lose the weight he needs to. Also consider getting him a slow feeder or puzzle feeder to slow him down when he eats and help keep him mentally stimulated as well.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! While this would be a good short term diet, this lacks some key nutrients, vitamins and minerals. For that reason, a more complete commercial diet such as any of the Purina Pro Plan or Science Diet foods would be more appropriate. Good luck!

Hi there! It's certainly possible to feed Titus a homemade diet long-term if you want to - but you do need to be sure that what you're feeding him is complete and balanced. This can be more complicated than it sounds, so it's hard to give a good answer here - especially since he has some health conditions to take into account. I really like the website www.balanceit.com for clients who want to feed a home-cooked diet to their pets. It's run by a veterinary nutritionist, and will walk you through how to put together a balanced diet for Titus.

While it is beneficial when a dog eats the diet for diabetic dogs, it is more important that the dog regularly eats his food so she can be given her insulin on time. That said , if you look for feed with low carbohydrate content (go to a petfood store and compare labels, or do it on the internet) you can pick a food that may be suitable, You can also take the ingredients of the wd food down and then compare ingredients with other foods and pick the closest to the wd. If you cannot find anything at all you can also cook your own, however that is a lot of work and not cheap. If you intend to try cooking your own check with this site: https://secure.balanceit.com/tools/ez2/index.php?

No, meat is not a balanced diet. Even raw meat is not balanced. Balancing a home made diet is difficult and is not recommended unless you work with a veterinary nutritionist. When online, home made recipes where tested, 97% were found to be unbalanced and lacking in 1 or more essential nutrients. Unless you plan on working with a nutritionist, I recommend to feed a normal commercial diet that is AAFCO certified. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.