\”How is your old girl then?\” I asked, after I\’d settled down on the couch. Their crazy Jack Russel was bouncing around the room like a pinball, so I had to gently let him know that yes, I did have personal boundaries, and yes! he was going to be required to respect them.
\”She\’s ok, but she\’s quite itchy again,\” came the reply.
I could see that she wasn\’t as well as last visit – her coat was dull again, and she had dandruff lifting off through her hair. I called her over, and had to spend a few minutes fending the Jack Russel off so I could have a look at her without being jumped all over. After I\’d made it clear that he needed to sit out of our space, I could have a good look at her. She was all hot, red under the tummy, and had some active little sores and hotspots.
\”She has slipped back again, hasn\’t she?\” I said. \”Have you changed anything at all? Is she still on her raw food BARF diet?\”
\”Well,\” she told me, looking a bit bashful, \”We ran out of the BARF food, and I did buy some special holistic dry food for her – it says it\’s grain free, and I thought it would be alright for her?\”
\”Unfortunately even the \’holistic\’ and \’grain free\’ dry foods still have a whole lot of carbohydrates in them,\” I explained. \”They source the carbs from things like peas, instead of grains. The trouble is that dogs simply aren\’t designed to burn carbohydrates, they have evolved to burn protein and fats. I\’ve found with dogs like your lovely old girl who have underlying allergy problems, the carbs heat up their system, and they tend to flare up and itch whenever you feed them high-carb foods. Our little dog at home is the same. If we ever run out of BARF and he has to have dry food, within two days he\’l be scratching and itching, without fail.\”
\”Ok,\” she said. \”We were trying to make it a bit more affordable, too. We\’ll just have to go back to the BARF food only for her, and be really particular about that.\”
\”I\’m sure you\’ll see her improve again, as she did when she was on the BARF before!\” I said.
Then I spent a good half an hour working with their crazy little JRT – getting him even better with me handling and massaging him, and a session on the gentle leader as well, teaching him how to behave himself on lead. He was so much better than when I First saw him, etting better and better behaved with each visit.
\”He\’s a different dog, isn\’t he,\” I asked as I worked on his back.
\”He sure is!\” his dad said. \”We actually enjoy his company these days, though you can\’t take your attention of the little bugger for half a second. He\’s too smart for his own good, I tell you. I finished up and made a time to come back and see them in two weeks.
– two weeks later –
\”How is she now you\’ve gone back to only feeding her the BARF food?\” I asked.
\”She\’s great- the itching has settled right down again, the hot spots have all dried up, and the scurfy stuff has cleared up as well,\” she explained. \”And best of all, she\’s so much happier, more playful, and has more get up and go about her, too. It\’s really clear that even the expensive holistic dry food wasn\’t doing her any good at all, so we won\’t be going back to that ever again!\”