Pet Grub

Throughout the duration of The Sick Pet Project, Jumbo the sick Chihuahua, was fed based on my method of feeding. The primary meats fed were beef and chicken. The supplements used were EggShellent Calcium, FloraZyme LP, Pet GO, Rena GO, Thyro GO and Trace AniMinerals.

Jumbo is a Chihuahua, even though at first glance, you might not believe it.

Like many dogs (and cats) in the Philippines, where Jumbo lives, they are not very healthy. There is not much information in the Philippines about natural health and nutrition for pets. In fact, many people keep their dogs in cages all day, every day. It's sad in many ways. With this in mind, Jumbo has pretty good life, as he is not locked in a cage ever. He is allowed to walk around the house and yard. Truly, his owners really care for him. This is obvious. However, saying that, for many reasons — cultural, financial along with not totally realizing the importance of wholesome nutrition — the owners don't feed Jumbo or their other dogs a wholesome and nutritious diet.

One could argue that compared to other dogs in the Philippines, Jumbo and the other dogs in their house eat quite well. For sure, compared to the stray dogs that walk the street eating garbage and anything else they can find, Jumbo does eat quite well.

In fact, when you walk the streets here, you will see dogs (and cats) whose health is really horrible. To be honest, it will break your heart. The dogs on the streets constantly scratch; many are nothing but skin and bones. Many more have lost all of their health — truly, these dogs are not healthy at all.

Compared to the stray dogs, Jumbo doesn't look that bad. However, compared to a healthy dog, Jumbo's state of health is not very good at all.

Since Jumbo is a domesticated dog that lives in the same compound as I do, I thought Jumbo would be an excellent candidate for The Sick Pet Project. Clearly, his lack of hair and horrible skin condition can be improved upon. Although the pictures below show how Jumbo looked on day one, the pictures don't really show just how dry and scaly his skin is.

Here's what I noticed beyond the obvious about Jumbo starting on day 1:

1. Jumbo has 4 to 6 noticeable swollen lymph nodes around his neck
2. Jumbo's skin is dry, scaly and he has very little fur.
3. Jumbo's nose is incredibly dry.
4. It's safe to say that Jumbo has a major case of allergies.
5. My goodness, I have never been so close to a dog that really stinks beyond description (a sign he's got lots of bad bacteria inside his body).
6. Jumbo's eyes are cloudy as if he has cataracts. Although the pictures of Jumbo on day 1 don't show his eyes, later pictures will show how cloudy his eyes are (before they begin to detoxify).

Prior to me feeding Jumbo a wholesome raw meat diet, his diet would consist of white rice, bread, banana, cooked bones, cooked fish bones, cooked chicken skin and cooked pork fat. Essentially, Jumbo (and the other dogs in the house) is fed table scraps along with some commercial pet food.

In rating his diet before eating a wholesome raw meat diet, well, giving his diet an F would be too kind. Really, his diet was horrible and the cause of his health problems.

In feeding Jumbo a wholesome raw meat diet, I hoped not only to help Jumbo get healthy, but also to show the owners how to feed dogs (and cats) properly — and indirectly, I hoped to show the owners how important wholesome nutrition is for their own health using Jumbo as an example. Correcting the minds of the owners has been far more difficult and a greater challenge than healing Jumbo.

After just 4 days, some mucous has already begun to ooze out of Jumbo's anus — an early sign of detoxification or just a mild cleanse?

Whether it be a mild cleanse or the early signs of detoxification, this is a positive sign and shows his body is ready to begin the healing process already.

Bon Appétit Mon Ami — that's French for enjoy your food my friend. Today, Jumbo really started to have a good appetite and really wants to be fed. He's got a great appetite, which is excellent because wholesome nutrition is fuel for the body. It's this fuel that's going to start the healing process. Jumbo is really starting to enjoy his diet.

Amazingly, we're only on day 7 but already all of his lymph nodes are no longer swollen except for one. I believe it's only a matter of time before that lymph nodes disappears too!

It's really hard to believe but the skin, although dry and scaly, is starting to improve. There is less dryness and less scabby skin. However, Jumbo's urine was a strong color today indicating his body is starting to cleanse as the toxins are being flushed out in his urine. Jumbo continues to have a great appetite and most importantly, he's excited to eat. Usually around this time, some dogs (or cats) tend to slow down a little as they begin to detoxify, but Jumbo's body obviously has other plans. So for now, Jumbo has good energy and he has some signs of hair growing back in. It's still too early to tell, but I suspect this is the calm before the storm — in literature, the last sentence would be considered foreshadowing. So in case you didn't get the clue, this in fact is the calm before the storm because as you keep reading, you are going to see just how powerful Jumbo's detoxification was.

Jumbo thoroughly loves eating beef. His appetite was exceptional again today. He ate his beef fast and with pleasure. What's interesting is that today, you can see the hair growth is far more obvious today. This is not what I expected but this illustrates how each healing is different. Anyway, you can really see new and significant hair growth.

It's now day 13 and today, Jumbo has begun eating manok, which means chicken in the local dialect known as Cebuano or Visayan. Normally, I would have fed chicken by now, but the owners believe that chicken is the cause of his health problems, his allergies, etc. So to keep them calm and relaxed, I have held off feeding chicken until now. The reality is, raw chicken is not the cause of his problem — but cooked chicken, now that has caused him problems along with the white rice and the rest of the horrible food he has been fed.

Since Jumbo has been doing good, I thought this would be a nice time to introduce chicken especially since the owners are feeling positive with how things are going.

I know chicken is not the problem, but part of the healing process also requires that the owners be calm, relaxed and at ease. So although I have to do what is necessary to help Jumbo heal, I am also trying to work within the limitations of the owners.

After enjoying chicken yesterday, Jumbo didn't want to eat beef today. Jumbo just wanted chicken and so that's what I fed him today. I am not sure if we are at the point where his food intake is reducing or not, but either way, he ate about 50% less food today. In fact, he has been eating generally less food now as compared to day 1.

To continue reading my notes or to view pictures of The Sick Pet Project, just choose a link. You can start from the beginning, the middle or the end — the choice is yours:

• Introduction
• The Sick Pet Project Begins
• It's Starting
• It Takes 30 Days For The Skin To Heal
• A New Clue
• Eye Witness Healing
• He Smelled Like Death
• The Mystery Has Been Solved
• It's Mating Season, Not To Mention A New Beginning
• The Hair Is Growing