Teresa
Even though any organism can do its best on any diet, there is always a price to pay. This applies to every organism, and even objects eg., cars etc....
People feeding a dog or any pet the diet they consume is not logical and is unnecessary and lacking consideration for the needs of the creature.
With regard to incontinence, which remedy depends on what is behind it. If it is the grains, then removal of all grains should tell you that in time. However, in other cases there are specifics. There was a site that has the following to offer for dogs. I am sure there will be many more as well, and Lillienthal may be a good source to check those out:
Plantago Major
For leakage of urine during sleep
Gelsenium Semp.
For profuse clear watery flow especially related to fear
Cantharis
Frequent urination in small amounts
Causticum
Incontinence from excitement, also at the start of sleep, and associated with surgery
Alumina
Old age incontinence
Here is an exerpt from a BARF site. Not everyone will agree however, but I do:
BARF and the question of GRAIN
When I wrote "Give Your Dog a Bone", I was highly suspicious of grains as dog food, having observed that where grain is fed to dogs (not necessarily as commercial dog food - but even as 'healthy' whole grain human type foods) there is a high correlation with a range of degenerative diseases including arthritis, pancreatic disease and even cancer.
My research had lead me to discover numerous problems with grains, but at that time, I had not uncovered material regarding grains that would lead me to completely condemn them. In particular, there was insufficient evidence to condemn these foods on the basis of their starch content.
However, it would now appear that the apparently innocuous starch, widely regarded as a supremely safe, and cheap source of energy, is not the sweet innocent food ingredient it appears to be! It is the emerging information on the role of starch in producing poor health which has for me, put the last nail in the coffin holding the grain.
Our dogs, like ourselves should only eat those foods on which they evolved if they are to gain and maintain maximum health. Over the last several years I have revisited numerous theories regarding the damaging role of soluble carbohydrates in the mammalian body. This information blended perfectly with further information regarding the parallel evolution of dog and man and the association between grain eating and the development of degenerative diseases in both species. By correlating and considering all this information, I could only conclude that the dog is not a grain eater. On that basis, it has become clear to me that unless a particular breed has spent thousands of years on a mostly grain diet, there is very little justification in recommending grains for dogs, and every theoretical and practical reason to condemn it.
The biochemical/physiological basis for problems directly related to the ingestion of grains relates to blood insulin levels in response to blood sugar levels. The ultimate effects of high carbohydrate diets include swings in blood sugar and insulin, insulin resistance and high blood sugar. This in turn results in pathological alterations in eicosanoid production which in turn leads to obesity, hypertension, fluid retention, musculoskeltal, vascular, renal, hepatic, CNS and cardiac disease, and finally in many instances cancer. That is, the ingestion of grain and other starchy foods (including simple sugars of course) produces or helps in a major way to produce most if not all of the degenerative diseases. There are other factors which are involved, particularly when it comes to feeding commercial pet food, including a lack of protective factors, abysmally poor protein quality, the presence of toxins in abundance, and the almost complete absence of healthy fats.
In an evolutionary sense, a wild dog's diet contain almost no grains. They never eat cooked grain. In eating the intestinal contents of their prey they will eat some grain which is usually immature and green. Most certainly they do not eat a totally grain based diet like the modern dog, subjected to a lifetime of dried dog food. Even if their prey had been eating mature seed heads, by the time the grain is consumed, it has been ground to a paste and soaked in the juices of the herbivores intestines. A totally different product to the masses of cooked and processed grains fed to dogs today.
From:
minutus@yahoogroups.com [mailto:
minutus@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Teresa Kramer
Sent: Wednesday, 19 August 2009 2:19 AM
To:
minutus@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Minutus] my dog who is incontinent
I wrote recently for advice concerning homeopathic care for our dog who became incontinent about 6 months ago. Got a few suggestions, but in the end I had to settle for a local holistic vet (TCM and some homeopathy) and am waiting another 5 weeks for our appointment. Meanwhile, I had been treating Sally-Dog with Puls (no help), then Plantago (helpful but did not hold usually) and finally Gels (appears to be very helpful). The three choices were based on similarity, best I could figure it out.
I had been working with the homeopathic remedies for almost 6 months, with varying success, when my husband suddenly asked whether I thought the oatmeal that Sally-Dog was having every morning might be causing the problem. He thought he started giving it to her about the time she became incontinent. I did some research on line and then we cut out the oatmeal (it was whole grain, cooked from scratch, with no salt) and also cut out the slice of toasted bread I would give her every morning. She immediately stopped dripping and squirting for 7 days (longest period ever!). She started a bit again yesterday and I gave her another dose (dry) of Gelsemium 30c. I plan to change to water doses from the next one on. She immediately went back to being dry-dog.
I guess we found a maintaining cause? On the other hand, oatmeal is in her (expensive, high quality) dogfood (the 4th ingredient) and whole wheat is first ingredient in her (also high quality) dog biscuits. She seems okay with those. Maybe some day it will be worth it to try the two offenders again, but for now, I am just a happy Human with a dry-dog. Teresa (Northern VA)