thoughts on diet and tremors

SamiSalo

Member
Aug 15, 2013
120
4
Vancouver, BC
Country
Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
Salo
First head tremor was months ago after throwing up several times. The ice cream episode. Figured it was a blood sugar thing. Gave him some honey and it stopped.

Second time last night. He's been on raw for 1.5 months now. Yesterday, he turned one. Gave him uncooked turkey (more about this later) for dinner, from the supermarket. I added veggies and carbs as per his normal diet. Tremors kicked in after he fell asleep and stopped when I got his attention. Gave him some honey. Fell asleep, tremors returned. More honey, sleep, tremors again. After the 3rd dose, they were gone for good. He didn't drink any water yesterday and had a very active day. His water intake has gone down big time since switching to raw. No big deal, lots of moisture in his food.

Third time tonight. Typical day wrt activity, less than yesterday. Had water after both outdoor/play sessions. Ate his regular turkey/veg/carb meal and tremors after he feel asleep. Grabbed my honey/squeeze bottle and squeezed lots into this mouth. Just the one session tonight.

More info...

He's not gaining weight - average 46 lbs +/- a couple. Vet increased his food a few times. We started at 750 grams/day and now its 1200 grams/day, always turkey. She used to say he's in great shape, great specimen, muscular legs, this is what bulldogs looked like before breeders screwed them up (her words, no offense). Now he's skinny based on her measure - how much bone you see - but not unhealthy. I take him out often but make sure he sleeps lots too. No more increases - if he doesn't gain weight, she's changing the mix and if that doesn't work, back to kibble. Right now its 60/20/20 (protein/veg/carb).

Vet ok'd another protein, to see if it makes a difference, so yesterday and today he had duck for breakfast. He had the supermarket turkey for dinner last night and his regular turkey meal for dinner tonight.

That's it I think. Thoughts?
 
Last edited:

RiiSi

Well-known member
Community Veteran
Sep 30, 2011
5,014
535
Sysmä
Country
Finland
Bulldog(s) Names
Taisto, Kylli, Salli, Angel-Usko and Angel-Voitto
One explanation to head tremors is vitamin B deficiency and if you haven't given any multivitamins with his turkey/veg/carb meals he most likely is deficient with that and a lot of other nutrients too. Also dogs main source of energy is fat, not carbs and turkey is low fat so to gain weight he needs fat. I'm guessing that he is on elimination diet for allergies? But 1,5 months with so limited diet is quite a long time.
 

aprilemari

Well-known member
Community Veteran
Sep 11, 2011
1,853
101
Boston, MA
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Lola & Fox
I'm sorry I'm no help with the tremors. I'm thankful Lola hasnt experienced them. But she was lower on the weight scale especially growing up, half because of her dislike of kibble, and half because, as you mentioned about your dog, she looks like a healthy bulldog before the change in appearance happened due to breeding. I'm with Riisi about the multivitamin. If Lola had eaten raw as a puppy I would have supplemented with Nuvet or the like. We also feed Lola at least three protein sources now (venison, lamb and boar). I have one suggestion about adding fat that many may disagree with, but add dairy. cheese, cottage cheese, string cheese, mozzarella cheese, normal fat plain yogurt. Lola eats string cheese as treats and it helped her gain alittle weight when she was under. I hope the tremors subside, like now. thinking of you.
 
OP
SamiSalo

SamiSalo

Member
Aug 15, 2013
120
4
Vancouver, BC
Country
Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
Salo
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #4
One explanation to head tremors is vitamin B deficiency and if you haven't given any multivitamins with his turkey/veg/carb meals he most likely is deficient with that and a lot of other nutrients too. Also dogs main source of energy is fat, not carbs and turkey is low fat so to gain weight he needs fat. I'm guessing that he is on elimination diet for allergies? But 1,5 months with so limited diet is quite a long time.

Thanks for replying!

He has multivitamins daily. Chatted w/my breeder today and I gave him yogurt. No tremors.

Diet, not allergies. He had crystals a while back, when he was on kibble, but I agree - she's taking too long to move on. She wants to check his urine one more time. I've given him 2 pheasant & 2 duck meals, each over 2 days, separate weeks. His stool was better with the pheasant. Duck, looser, but I could still pick it up np. I just ordered chicken. If that goes over well, I'll get a weeks' worth.

Thanks again!
 

Redsmom

New member
Aug 17, 2013
34
1
Pleasanton, CA
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Shakespeare
Have you considered adding Coconut Oil to his diet? It is supposed to really help with tremors, seizures, etc... I give Shakespeare about a teaspoon nightly and he loves it. When I was researching a diet for EB's, I found that many EB's will experience those issues and that coconut oil was recommended as both a treatment and a preventative. (I also give it to my kids and myself as Parkinson's runs in my family and it's supposed to help us, too!) Hope he's improving. :)
 
B

Baxter Tiberius

Guest
I had baxter on (basically) raw since he was a puppy, and despite mass amounts of animal fat in the food, he was skin and bones. No amount of fat increased his weight at all. In fact, as the fat increased, his digestion got worse. And then I was told he was eating the mixture with too much fat in it. Still skin and bones. The only thing that has given Baxter any normal amount of mass/filling out, has been carbs. I added some safe kibble (after mucho research) and it contains about 45% carb content (via some sort of sweet potato mix). Once he started on that, he lost his emaciated look and filled out just enough to look healthy and normal.

I could be 1,000% wrong but I have come to the conclusion that dogs, just like humans, who are on animal protein-only diets ... no matter how much animal fat is in it ... will be extremely thin. And adding animal fat does not make them fatter at all. If anything maybe clogs the arteries! Just like humans. Careful amounts of "safe" carbs did the trick, just like it does with humans. And if its safe (complex) carb based carbs, then it a beneficial thing for their body mass and metabolism (just like humans). This is my theory at least lol.

-B-
 

RiiSi

Well-known member
Community Veteran
Sep 30, 2011
5,014
535
Sysmä
Country
Finland
Bulldog(s) Names
Taisto, Kylli, Salli, Angel-Usko and Angel-Voitto
I had baxter on (basically) raw since he was a puppy, and despite mass amounts of animal fat in the food, he was skin and bones. No amount of fat increased his weight at all. In fact, as the fat increased, his digestion got worse. And then I was told he was eating the mixture with too much fat in it. Still skin and bones. The only thing that has given Baxter any normal amount of mass/filling out, has been carbs. I added some safe kibble (after mucho research) and it contains about 45% carb content (via some sort of sweet potato mix). Once he started on that, he lost his emaciated look and filled out just enough to look healthy and normal.





I could be 1,000% wrong but I have come to the conclusion that dogs, just like humans, who are on animal protein-only diets ... no matter how much animal fat is in it ... will be extremely thin. And adding animal fat does not make them fatter at all. If anything maybe clogs the arteries! Just like humans. Careful amounts of "safe" carbs did the trick, just like it does with humans. And if its safe (complex) carb based carbs, then it a beneficial thing for their body mass and metabolism (just like humans). This is my theory at least lol.

-B-

I like my "mass" in muscle rather than fat, in my dogs and in me, lol.
 
OP
SamiSalo

SamiSalo

Member
Aug 15, 2013
120
4
Vancouver, BC
Country
Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
Salo
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #8
Have you considered adding Coconut Oil to his diet? It is supposed to really help with tremors, seizures, etc... I give Shakespeare about a teaspoon nightly and he loves it. When I was researching a diet for EB's, I found that many EB's will experience those issues and that coconut oil was recommended as both a treatment and a preventative. (I also give it to my kids and myself as Parkinson's runs in my family and it's supposed to help us, too!) Hope he's improving. :)

He gets 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil with every meal. He eats twice a day.
 
OP
SamiSalo

SamiSalo

Member
Aug 15, 2013
120
4
Vancouver, BC
Country
Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
Salo
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #9
I had baxter on (basically) raw since he was a puppy, and despite mass amounts of animal fat in the food, he was skin and bones. No amount of fat increased his weight at all. In fact, as the fat increased, his digestion got worse. And then I was told he was eating the mixture with too much fat in it. Still skin and bones. The only thing that has given Baxter any normal amount of mass/filling out, has been carbs. I added some safe kibble (after mucho research) and it contains about 45% carb content (via some sort of sweet potato mix). Once he started on that, he lost his emaciated look and filled out just enough to look healthy and normal.

I could be 1,000% wrong but I have come to the conclusion that dogs, just like humans, who are on animal protein-only diets ... no matter how much animal fat is in it ... will be extremely thin. And adding animal fat does not make them fatter at all. If anything maybe clogs the arteries! Just like humans. Careful amounts of "safe" carbs did the trick, just like it does with humans. And if its safe (complex) carb based carbs, then it a beneficial thing for their body mass and metabolism (just like humans). This is my theory at least lol.

-B-

I sometimes cheat and give him extra carbs. Vet intends to increase the carbs in his diet. Seeing her next week. Meantime, he's on pheasant starting tomorrow for... 15 meals? His poo was fine when I tried it last week, 2 meals. Will try chicken in a few days and if that goes over well, I'll get more and try it for a week and see what happens.
 

Most Reactions

📰 Latest posts

Members online

No members online now.
Top