What are cool proteins for dogs with allergies

Cooling Foods for Dogs: A Basic Food Energetics for Dogs Guide

Did you know the food you feed to your dogs and cats can help keep them cool, among other things? In this article, we will show you how to use cooling foods for dogs to manage allergies, balance energy, and regulate body temperature, as well as information on cooling or warming your pup when they need it.

When we say that food fuels life, we mean it quite literally. The right dog food gives your pooch the nutrients that his body needs to function and thrive, but your pet's diet might be helpful in more ways than you know.

What is Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine?

The philosophy behind Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCVM) can be complicated, and its a very different idea from the western medicine practices that we are familiar with. We are going to break down how these traditional practices can be used to improve your pets health using their diet.

According to Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, everything has a natural energy, or Qi (pronounced chee). In animals, this energy supports the overall function and health of the body.

We refer to these energies as cold or hot. Think Yin and Yang. Balancing these energies helps to promote better health. This means that if your dog has hot energy, then cooling foods can help balance his natural energy and, in turn, improve his overall health.

A Dog Food Energetics Breakdown

The goal of TCVM is to use their diet to create balanced or neutral energy that better supports their body. Foods have energy too. Foods can be cooling, neutral, warming, or hot. This is called food energetics.

By choosing foods that balance your dogs qi, you can effectively address certain health issues. We want to focus on the benefit of cooling foods for dogs, as dogs with hot energy symptoms are more common than those with cold energy symptoms.

Plus, with soaring summer temperatures upon us, cooling foods can help to make your dog more comfortable and support them in regulating their body temperatures.

All foods fall somewhere on the spectrum of food energetics, but proteins typically have a greater effect. This is why its best to choose a protein first and then look at supporting ingredients like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

Let's look at the three main classifications of dog food energetics:

1. Cooling Food for Dogs

Cooling foods can be fed to dogs with hot energy to help balance that energy better.

Here are a few symptoms of dogs that may benefit from cooling foods:

• • Severe allergies
  • Chronic illness
  • Anxiety
  • Restless or hyperactive behaviour
  • Overheating
  • Inflammation

One of the most desirable aspects of cooling foods for dogs is its ability to reduce inflammation, which can contribute to several problems, including allergic reactions, digestive issues, arthritis pain, and overall skin and coat health.

Cooling foods can also have a calming effect on dogs. Dogs with hot energies are often easily excitable, anxious, or even aggressive. This is due to the restless nature of active or hot energy dogs. Feeding cooling foods can help to counteract those behaviours with more passive energy.

They can also come in handy for breeds that can't handle hot weather well. A cooling food can help a dog with typically hot energy feel a little cooler on a hot day. Cooling foods alone isn't enough to protect your dog from overheating. Try a dog cooling vest and limit the time spent outside on especially hot days.

Here are some cooling foods that are commonly found in dog food:

2. Neutral Food for Dogs

Neutral foods have little to no effect on your dogs Qi. These are an excellent way to ensure a decent variety of ingredients and to soften a very hot or cool diet. Neutral foods can be fed regularly and mixed with warming or cooling ingredients to help balance your dog's Qi.

Here are some neutral foods that are commonly found in dog food:

3. Warming Food for Dogs

These foods increase body heat and inflammation and can even contribute to dehydration in a dog with naturally hot energy. Many warming and hot foods are some of the most common ingredients in dog food, so its no wonder so many pets are showing symptoms of hot energy. A hot diet, for example, includes hot foods like lamb, sheep, venison, and trout.

These foods can be helpful for dogs that have cold energies, though. Check out a few things you may notice in dogs that could benefit from warming proteins in their diet:

• • Constantly cold or seeking out heat
  • Low energy or stamina
  • Shivering or shaking
  • Shortness of breath (in more severe cases)

Here are some warming foods that are commonly found in dog food:

Spices can also have a warming effect. Supplements like turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger can contribute to hot energies. If you use these spices for their other health benefits, make sure you are also choosing cooling or neutral foods to feed with them.

Foods considered hot, like lamb venison and spicy foods, will have a more significant effect on your dogs energy balance than warming foods. They can be useful in dogs with cold dog food energy and can be fed during colder months to assist in handling extreme cold temperatures but should be avoided in a cooling diet.

Check out this in-depth food energetics chart for even more examples of cooling, neutral, and warming food.

Finding the Right Balance

Qi is a spectrum. Some dogs may show minor hot energy symptoms, like skin issues or searching for cool surfaces to lay on, while others may have many more symptoms.

Check out this helpful article to learn more about how your dog's diet can affect their behaviour.

Feeding cooling foods for dogs is more of an art than a science, but remember that you are aiming for neutral energy. A dog that is closer to warm than hot will benefit from more cooling foods than warming, but that doesnt mean that you cant occasionally feed foods with warming properties. You want a balance of both to produce neutral energy.

A dog with very hot energy will need a more drastic diet change. Eliminating warming or hot foods and feeding only cooling or neutral foods may be necessary to correct the health issues caused by their hot energy.

Raw Dog Food

The nature of most commercial dog foods, like kibble, is a combination of many different ingredients. This makes it challenging to find good cooling food for your dog. You can choose cooling proteins for dogs, but the food will likely contain a few warming vegetables or grains.

The practice of food energetics works best with a raw diet. This is partially due to the quality of nutrients in raw dog food. Many cooked foods are subjected to high cooking temperatures or multiple processing practices, which can denature or destroy some ingredients and nutrients.

The more important reason raw diets are ideal for using food energetics to support your dogs health is that you can choose a raw diet with way fewer ingredients, and the diets can be customized to suit your dogs needs.

A whole prey raw diet will contain only meat, bone, and organs, with a small amount of produce or none at all. You can choose each ingredient in your dogs diet and add your own ingredients to ensure that they follow your food energetics plan.

Trial and Error

Though Traditional Chinese Veterinary practices are unlike what we are used to in the west, many pet owners, holistic veterinarians, and nutritionists support these practices.

Balancing your dogs energy will not happen overnight, and your feeding plan may require some tweaks and alterations along the way. Dont get discouraged if you dont see immediate results.

If you can use your dogs diet to improve his health and behaviour, theres no harm in trying it. Try one thing at a time and be consistent to see results. Changing too much at once will make it impossible to narrow down the successes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are cooling foods for dogs, and why are they important?

Cooling foods for dogs are items that have cooling properties and help regulate body temperature and reduce inflammation. These foods can be great for dogs that struggle with hot weather but are also useful for helping with allergies, hip and joint issues, and even immune function.

What types of foods are considered cooling for dogs?

Cooling foods for dogs often include water-rich fruits like watermelon and cucumber, as well as leafy greens, yogurt, and lean proteins like rabbit.

Can cooling foods replace proper hydration for dogs?

Cooling foods can contribute to your dog's hydration, but they shouldn't replace access to clean and fresh water.

Are there specific cooling foods that are best for dogs in hot weather?

Watermelon, cucumber, and cranberries are often considered excellent cooling treats for dogs. You can also offer iced treats made from cooling ingredients as a tasty treat to beat the heat.

Can all dogs tolerate cooling foods equally?

While most dogs can enjoy cooling foods, introducing new foods gradually and monitoring your dog for any problems, such as allergic reactions, is important.

Can cooling foods be given to dogs year-round?

Cooling foods are particularly beneficial during hot weather but can also be included in your dog's diet year-round for their nutritional value and to create balance.

Should I Feed my Itchy Dog a Cool Protein?

If you use social media, or dog health forums, you may have heard fellow pet parents mentioning cool, warm, hot and neutral foods. The recommendation for itchy dogs, tends to be to use cool foods if we look at nutrigenomics and the principle of food energetics. Here at My Pet Nutritionist, we wanted to dedicate a blog to cool foods, and feeding them to itchy dogs, so we hope this blog post answers any questions you may have!

Yin-Yang Nutrition

Yin-Yang Nutrition is a Traditional Chinese Medicine concept which categorises foods into four pillars Cool, Neutral, Warm and Hot. Which category each protein is linked to, depends on that foods characteristics.

Balance is the basis of Yin-Yang Nutrition, and is what determines whether an individual should eat cool, neutral, warm or hot food sources. Lets take a look at the clinical symptoms of and abundance and deficiency of yin and yang.

If your dog has an abundance of Yangthey have excessive heat as theyre unable to counteract warming properties. Heat needs to be removed, so cool foods are required. Clinical signs of dogs with an abundance of yang include:

• Acute onset, usually at a younger age
• Short course
• No general weakness
• High fever
• Hyperactivity
• Elevated heart rate
• Strong heartbeat
• Tongue discolouration usually red or purple

If your dog has a deficiency of Yang the body lacks warming properties enough to combat the normal level of Yin in the body, so warming foods are required. Clinical signs of dogs with a deficiency of Yang include:

• Chronic onset, usually at an older age
• Long course
• Low body temperature at the extremities
• Loose stools
• Urinary incontinence
• Swelling of the limbs due to trapped body fluids (Oedema)
• Chronic weakness and pain
• Generalised weakness
• Discolouration to the tongue usually pale
• Weak heart rate
• Deep heart beat
• Infertility

If your dog has an abundance of Yin they have excessive coldness, and are unable to counteract cooling properties. Warmth needs to be gained, and cold removed, so hot foods should be given. Clinical signs of dogs with an abundance of Yin include:

• Acute onset, usually at a younger age
• Short course
• High pain levels
• No general weakness
• Swelling of the limbs due to fluid retention (Oedema)
• Loose stools
• Slow heart rate
• Strong heart beat
• Tongue discolouration usually red or purple

If your dog has a Yin deficiency the body lacks cooling properties, enough to combat the normal levels of Yang, so cooling foods are required. Clinical signs of dogs with a deficiency of Yin include:

• Chronic onset, often at a younger age
• Long course
• Generalised weakness
• Fever, but not high fever
• Anxiety
• Increased thirst
• Seeks cool areas
• Tongue discolouration usually red and dry
• Increased heart rate

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If your dog is in perfect balance, then the above clinical signs will not be apparent, and the dog will be healthy, with pink, moist tongue, normal activity levels, a formed stool, no pain, and normal heart rate and beat. When looking at the Yin-Yang theory, these dogs should eat a balance of Cool and Hot foods, and unlimited Neutral foods.

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You can learn more about general Traditional Chinese Medicine

here

.

Which Foods are Cool?

So, when we speak of cool proteins/foods, what do we actually mean? Which foods are cool?

Protiens

• Duck
• Frog (perhaps not the easiest to source in most countries, but frog meat can be used as part of a balanced DIY raw diet)
• Rabbit
• Cod
• Scallops
• White fish
• Eggs
• Pork
• turkey

Plants

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Turnip
• Lettuce
• Cucumber
• Seaweed/kelp
• Dandelion
• Spirulina
• Swiss chard
• Wheat grass
• Button mushrooms
• Apple
• Banana
• Melon

Supplements

Itchy Dogs and Cool Proteins

Itchy dogs may benefit from being fed cool proteins, in some situations. It can very much depend on the reason the dog is itchy food intolerances/allergies, or environmental allergies. The problem with food related itching, is that the immunological response to a protein can vary between sources, and isnt necessarily down to heat in the body. In these situations, working on gut health is important, as is working out which proteins need to be eliminated from the diet. If the dog is suffering with environmental allergies however, the bodys response to an environmental allergen is inflammation, which can often be linked to imbalances in the Yin and Yang.

Dogs with itching and allergies tend to have excess Yang.

The main element of this, and what we will focus on in this blog, is seasonal allergies. When a dog presents with seasonal allergies, a number of conditions can occur, which can be down to heat invasions with damp elements. Conditions often coming hand in hand with seasonal allergies, as well as occurring independently include generalised itching, eczema, hot spots, interdigital furunculosis, dermatitis, and seasonal alopecia. Dryness during old age can also cause coat and skin changes which present as itching.

For itchy dogs suffering with these conditions, feeding a cool diet may be hugely beneficial to getting on top of the itch. While alternative therapies are often frowned upon by the medical community, there are studies to prove the efficacy and safety of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and other natural therapies.

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By looking at the dogs clinical signs closely, you may see some of the less obvious signs of a Yin-Yang imbalance. Once an imbalance is detected, you can tailor the dogs diet to include more cool proteins, and eliminate any warm or hot ones.

As the cooling proteins have an anti-inflammatory effect for those with inflammation in and on the body, the reduction in inflammation will help reduce itching. Ultimately, the Yin-Yang balance will align, and the body will have equal amount of both Yin, And Yang. Theoretically, this will present as perfect health, and eliminated itching.

Its important to bear in mind, that itching could be caused by food sensitivities, which can require a more western approach, and a full elimination diet to be completed. Some evidence does suggest that pruritic dermatitis, associated with food sensitivities, can be helped using cooling proteins, but due to the complexity of food sensitivities, we would recommend speaking to us before acting on this.

Findings HereIf your dog has seasonal allergies, or any of the other itch-inducing conditions mentioned in this blog post, and you wish to try the Traditional Chinese Medicine approach with cooling foods, please dont hesitate to book in with one of our team where you will be given a tailored recipe for your dog, using cool proteins and other cool food components!Team MPN x