Changing Your Pet’s Diet Could Hurt More Than Their Appetite

Changing Your Pet’s Diet Could Hurt More Than Their Appetite

You’ve done a lot of research, spent a lot of money but you finally found something that is healthy for them to eat. And, they even like it! Just when you think it’s safe to go into the dog food aisle, you hear that there’s a new diet available and it’s supposed to be even more healthier and nutritious than their present food. Ah, but you know those Pet food manufacturers are always looking for new avenues to attract pet owners. Adding new ingredients that appeal to the owner’s human appetites, which may not be so healthy for your pet’s body.

Most of you know, you never to switch new foods immediately. It is best to add a small amount of the new food to the old food gradually over 7 days before totally switching over to the new food. This will allow your pet’s digestive system to adjust to the new diet with little to no adverse reactions. Your pet’s response to the new food depends upon the enzyme production by your pet’s pancreas.

The pancreas is like a biological ‘computer chip’ that determines the amount of digestive enzyme produced to deal with the various foods your pet ingests. The exocrine pancreatic enzyme production is designed for the breakdown and digestion of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Each time a new food is introduced to your pet’s system, changes in the enzyme production from their pancreas also occurs. There may be a delay before the pancreas adapts and adjusts it’s enzyme production to the new diet. During this time, diarrhea is likely to occur.

If your pet seems to react poorly to different proteins and carbohydrates, it could be because the food is badly formulated and/or the ingredients are inferior. If the quality of ingredients or the formula is not in question, it is possible (actually quite likely) that your pet has a food sensitivity. If this is the case, your pet is suffering from a hormone antibody imbalance, which is causing this reaction to the food.

If this is the case, changing foods, trying to find one food that agrees with your pet is fruitless and is slowly but surely pushing your pet to a point where nothing on earth can be eaten by them without causing horrible side effects. Yes, you might find a new food that your pet will tolerate for awhile, but within 3 to 4 months, your pet’s deregulated immune system will be creating antibodies to this food which will start causing adverse reactions all over again. If you don’t identify and control this hormone antibody imbalance, the day will come, when your affected pet will not be able to consume any food on earth.

Feline reaction to foods not only causes inflammation of the pancreas thereby damaging the exocrine function (external secretion) of the gland. Adverse reactions can include damage the endocrine function (internal secretion) of the pancreas, which effects the production of insulin. This may cause the cat to develop high blood sugar. This condition is referred to as Diabetes Mellitus. This can be a transient or permanent change in the cat, depending on the amount of cell damage.

To determine if your cat  has this type of diabetes, the pancreatic enzymes need to be checked along with the blood  glucose and the white blood cells called eosinophils. The eosinophils respond to an allergic reaction that allows for histamine release. Their percentage should not exceed 3 % in a normal cat or dog.

If this level is over 3 %, the cat or dog may be allergic to the diet, and a hypoallergenic diet should be considered.

Once this has been done, and the eosinophil and pancreatic enzymes count returns to the normal range and the inflammatory damage to the pancreas was only temporary, often the production of insulin will return to normal, and the cat may no longer be diabetic.

Often a bladder inflammation may occur due to food allergy causing a cystitis, with blood. Skin inflammation is also another sign of a food allergy. Most of the inflammation occurs in the flaps of the ears, the feet and the skin of the ventral (lower) abdomen. Areas around the eyes and face may also be included.

I should note that mast cells contain histamine and are concentrated in these regions. If the inflammatory reaction is more severe in one ear or the other, this is probably due to a greater concentration of mast cells in one ear as opposed to the other. If a urinalysis is done, and the urine is normal, the dog or cat has a hormone antibody imbalance causing the reaction which is ignited by the food.

The pet food industry continues to cash in on the need for "hypoallergenic" diets. Their cost effective method is to use “hydrolyzed protein”, which is protein that has been broken down so it’s particles are, supposedly, too tiny to arouse the immune system defenses. This type of protein is basically a flavor enhancer which contains MSG. MSG in this form does not have to be listed on the label but if you see “hydrolyzed soy” or any other “hydrolyzed” products listed, you’re feeding your pets (and Yourself) MSG.

Many of these "hypoallergenic" diets are also free of grains and contain sweet potatoes and other food stuffs which are high in estrogen. Excess estrogen can lead to estrogen dominance which can cause; behavioral problems, urinary incontinence, hormonal skin disorders  and other miseries for your pet, including catastrophic diseases.

The food industry is also pandering to the “organic” food market. You need to  realize that although “organic” is on the label, “organic” primarily means, cleanly grown without pesticides and petrochemicals. There is a new concern for all of us, in this age of our “corporately controlled food industry”. The danger is not just what is sprayed on the plants it is also, what kind of seeds are they using to grow the plants. More and more of organically (and non organic) grown products are coming from genetically modified seeds. These “modified” grains and vegetables are also being fed to our meat producing animals. This may not seem important to you now, but I guarantee it will be significant for your offspring.

For a more in-depth look at genetically modified seed products check out our article, Sowing the Seeds of Disaster?, in the Millennial Madness chapter. Make it a challenge to avoid all of these genetically modified food products. Who knows what effects they will have on the genetics of our planet and all living things on it, in the years to come.

‘Bon appetit’, choose only healthy things to eat!

Healthfully Yours,

Dr Al Plechner & David Spangenburg