You want the best for your precious furbaby – we get it. When your furbaby suffers from a medical condition, such as an autoimmune disease, it makes your heart cry. See, we told you we get it. The good news is a raw food diet for dogs with autoimmune diseases can help your dog immensely.
Many dog owners choose to feed their dogs low-quality, processed food, which can lead to many medical conditions. We don’t blame them for what they don’t know. You’re different though, you’re about to learn how a high-quality raw food diet for dogs with autoimmune diseases can help make your dog’s life happier and healthier.
A Dog’s Immune System
Just like humans, a dog’s immune system protects the body from viruses, diseases, infections, foreign bodies, etc. It’s what helps a dog remain healthy.
The problem is that when a dog’s immune system isn’t functioning optimally, it can’t do its job well. What happens when the immune system isn’t working well? The body starts to suffer, which is what leads to medical conditions, such as autoimmune disease.
How a Raw Diet Strengthens the Immune System
Many illnesses dogs suffer from are due to poor nutrition. Processed food lacks the nutrients needed to keep your dog’s body in tip-top shape. The lack of nutrients has a huge impact on maintaining a healthy immune system.
In addition to the lack of nutrients, some dry dog foods contain toxins and chemicals that deplete the operating systems of a dog’s body even more. The two-fold attack is way too much for a dog’s body, which is why autoimmune disorders occur along with other diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, degenerative joint disease, and heart disease.
If you’re reading the above in horror, don’t get too upset. You can’t help what you didn’t know – now you know so you can do better for our pup. You can feed your pup a raw food diet for dogs with autoimmune diseases.
The Benefits of Raw Feeding for Your Pet
Raw feeding is a beneficial way to improve and maintain the health of your pet. Some of the many benefits of raw dog food are:
- Strengthening Immune System
- Improved Skin and Coat
- Better Dental Health
- Reduced Stool Volume and Odor
- Reduced Body Odor
- High Energy Levels
You can read more about the benefits of raw dog food for your pet by reading:
Health Benefits of Raw Dog Food
Canine Autoimmune Disorders
Autoimmune diseases begin with a poorly functioning immune system. The type of autoimmune disease a dog suffers from depends on the weakness of each area of the body. The following are some of the most common autoimmune disorders.
Hyperthyroidism: Affects the thyroid gland and can cause disruptions in hormone production resulting in skin thickening, obesity, intolerance to cold and exercise, and mental dullness.
Lupus: When your dog’s immune system attacks the body’s major organs such as the skin, blood, and nervous system. Lupus is life-threatening.
Immune-Mediated Polyarthritis: The immune system attacks the joints causing pain, swelling, and the ability to walk.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Causes inflammation and gastrointestinal symptoms because the immune system overreacts to bacteria in the intestines.
Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia: Antibodies destroy their own red blood cells and often occur with another condition present such as cancer.
Immune-Mediated Thrombocytopenia: A primary or secondary disease in which the immune system destroys platelets. Platelets help the blood clot to stop bleeding.
Diabetes: The pancreas stops making insulin because the immune system attacked it and that destroyed the insulin-producing cells. Learn More: CBD for Diabetes in Dogs
Myasthenia Gravis: The antibodies of the immune system attack neurotransmitters that control muscle function.
Rheumatoid Arthritis: Chronic inflammation in the joints that lead to pain and swelling.
Addison’s Disease: The adrenal glands are attacked by the immune system and can’t produce enough cortisol and aldosterone.
Bullous Autoimmune Skin Diseases: Autoimmune diseases that attack the dog’s skin.
Periodontal Disease: Inflammation of the teeth-supporting structures in the month. It can cause tooth loss.
The best way to prevent the above autoimmune diseases is to feed your pet a nutritious diet that keeps the immune system strong and functioning properly.
How to Feed a Raw Food Diet for Dogs with Autoimmune Disease
Pet owners can feed their dogs a raw diet easily with the help of raw dog food companies. Many of these companies will deliver a raw diet to your home for just as much or a little more than what you’re spending on your dog’s diet now.
The Cost of a Raw Food Diet
A raw diet is not as expensive as most pet owners believe. When pet owners calculate the costs of a dog’s diet raw vs. dry, they often are surprised by the difference. Not to mention that with a healthier diet of raw meat, fruits, and vegetables, many pet owners end up saving a lot of money over their dog’s lifetime.
Raw Diet Delivery Services for Dogs
To maintain a healthy immune system for your dog, a raw food diet for dogs with autoimmune diseases is the answer. Although, you should always speak to your veterinarian whenever you make any changes to your dog’s diet.
Raw dog food delivery services have made it incredibly easy to feed dogs a raw diet. They also make it less uncomfortable for pet owners who don’t like to handle raw meat and wash their hands constantly throughout the preparation process.
Dog Ownership Guide recommends the following pet food companies when deciding to switch to a raw food diet for dogs with autoimmune diseases.
Only Natural Pet
Only Natural Pet offers freeze-dried pet food. Their organic food includes raw meat, fruits, and vegetables. The packages come freeze-dried, which means you’ll have to add water to them to prepare them for your dog. That is all the work that goes into preparing it, though. It’s just as easy as scooping dry food out of a barrel.
Veterinarians are part of the Only Natural Pet team to ensure that recipes contain all of the wonderful nutrition dogs need for a healthy, happy body and life.
Read additional information on Only Natural Pet here:
Only Natural Pet EasyRaw Dehydrated Dog Food Review
Only Natural Pet Product Reviews
Happy Dog Food
Happy Dog Food‘s products only contain healthy fruits and vegetables. Pet owners will have to add raw meat to the recipes, which is pretty easy if you’re against handling raw meat and washing your hands frequently. The great thing about Happy Dog’s products is that you have the freedom to choose what meats to add to the recipes depending on your dog’s needs. For instance, if your dog needs a bit more omega fatty acids in his/her diet, you can add more salmon or tuna.
Read More about Happy Dog Food:
Ollie Dog Food
Ollie is a popular fresh dog food company. They deliver their products frozen. The hardest part is defrosting the food before feedings, which isn’t really hard if you remember to put it in the fridge the day before feeding.
If you’re considering Ollie, read our article on Frozen Raw Dog Food Left Out Overnight because bacteria can grow on meat when left out of the fridge for an extended period of time.
You can also read:
Ollie Healthy Turkey Feast Fresh Dog Food
Pros and Cons of Ollie Dog Food
Spot and Tango Fresh Dog Food
Spot and Tango is another trustworthy brand for fresh dog food. They offer customized packages of fresh food and a formula that surprises many dog owners – dry dog food. Spot and Tango call their fresh dry dog food – Unkibble. It’s just like kibble but not like commercial dry dog food. You can learn more about it by reading these articles:
Feed a Raw Food Diet for Dogs with Autoimmune Disease
The great thing about fresh raw dog food is that it can be fed to smaller dogs to extra large dogs. Only the amount needs to change when feeding it to a smaller dog vs. a larger dog.
Now you know that a raw food diet for dogs with autoimmune disease is best and why it is the best. If you have any other questions or just want to learn more about feeding your dog a raw food diet, read these articles:
Is Fresh Food Better for Dogs?
How Much Raw Food to Feed a Dog
