Our Dog's Diet

In the early 1980’s, we purchased our first Newf. Shortly after that, Rascal began to have skin problems which quickly worsened. He had constant “hot spots” and was very itchy, chewing on himself all the time. We tried this food and that food, meanwhile, steroids were the only thing that kept him comfortable. But you can’t leave a young dog on steroids for the remainder of his life.

I was in the process of joining the Saratoga NY Kennel Club and attended a meeting where the program was on the Volhard Natural Rearing Diet. I had been raised on a small family dairy farm so the concept of feeding this way seemed pretty natural for me. I had gardened organically for a long time.

I put Rascal and, by now, a second Newf, Buffer, on this diet. The improvement in Rascal’s skin was dramatic. We were able to wean him off the steroids and until he died at about 11 years, he never had another “hot spot”.

I became a convert. I fed the Volhard diet for many years. Then I started having problems with Prima. She was hypothyroid and had severe and chronic ear infections. I tweaked the diet and was never able to really get a handle on her health problems. I even tried going back to commercial kibbles (what a mistake!).

After watching our other Newfs lose the good health they had enjoyed on the Volhard diet, I learned about Kymythy Schultze’s new book - The Ultimate Diet: Natural Nutrition for Your Dog and Cat. (Kymythy is a Newfoundland breeder on the West Coast.) I immediately ordered it, read it all in one night and had the supplies bought in several days. I have never looked back. Prima by this time had passed away, but I am now convinced that the major source of her problems was the grain which fed a chronic yeast infection. If she had been on a no-grain, straight raw diet, I know in my heart that her health would have been greatly improved.

The diet that I feed and promote to my puppy buyers consists mainly of raw meat (beef, turkey, chicken, lamb, etc), raw meaty bones (chicken frames, chicken backs, turkey necks, lamb ribs, pork neck bones, etc), small amounts of pureed veggies, a few supplements like salmon oil, Vitamin E and C, and a kelp mix. It is economical - comparable in price to the high end commercial foods - and easy to fix. It does take a bit of work to locate your sources and an extra freezer is handy. But the dividends far outweigh the drawbacks.

Your Newf will have clean shiny teeth, sweet-smelling breath, glossy hair and healthy skin. Puppies will develop slower and more evenly and be more sound. Energy levels are good and they seem to keep better muscle tone. I recently took a soon-to-be 10 year old bitch for a well-Newf check-up. My vet could not believe that this girl was that old. Her teeth were clean and shiny with no bad breath. Her coat was good with no gray on her muzzle. She was in great condition. We pulled blood and when my vet called later with the results, she stated that these results were those of a 4 year old, not a 10 year old bitch. Then she asked me how she could start her dog on raw! This was a vet who originally had severe reservations about what I was feeding! But she has seen the condition that my dogs maintain and the problems I have avoided and she is now convinced.

I won’t go into the specifics of the actual diet, it would take pages and pages to discuss everything. I highly encourage people who are interested in learning more about raw diets to read Kymythy’s book or Dr. Ian Billinghurst’s Give Your Dog A Bone, Grow Your Pup With Bones or The BARF Diet. (BARF stands for “bones and raw food” or “biologically appropriate raw food”). There are quite a few books out there on raw diets, but I feel that these are the best for “newbies” to cut their teeth! (so to speak!) I also have quite a few links to raw diet sites. Please take some time and scan through them also. The websites will also educate you about the terrible quality of ingredients in commercial kibbles and the problems they cause our animals.

I am a distributor of the Oma’s Pride Frozen Raw Food. Oma’s is a company based in Avon, CT. All the food produced is USDA inspected and approved. Quality control is the hallmark of Oma’s. All products are made from human grade foods, the same foods the Miller Foods (Oma’s parent company) sells to schools and other institutions. Check out Oma’s at www.omaspride.com. Many people make their raw diets from scratch, but sometimes, it is more convenient to have some ready-made in the freezer. Once in a while it can be a bit difficult to find sources for the raw meaty bones and Oma’s carries all of those items at a reasonable cost.