A to Z Challenge – W - Sponsored by Natural Pet Pantry

Disclaimer: I am not a veterinarian or a nutritionist.  This is something I learned through reading and consulting with a holistic veterinarian.

When I first started researching raw dog food, I learned about warming and cooling foods and I was pretty excited.  It came up again recently when our dogs got sick from raw meat.  We removed grocery store chicken from their diet, because of the bacteria and because it’s a warming food.  This is information that can also be used when choosing the right protein kibbles; Rodrigo wasn’t able to eat kibble made from chicken or lamb.

According to Chinese medicine, there are ‘Hot’ dogs and ‘Cold’ dogs.

The ‘Hot’ dogs exhibit the following symptoms…

• they seek out cool places to sleep, rest
• they may be hot to the touch
• they pant even when at rest
• they suffer from allergies
• they may have red skin and eyes
• they may shows signs of anxiety

The ‘Cold’ dogs exhibit the following symptoms…

• they seek out warm places to sleep, rest
• they are relaxed and calm
• they love blankets and snuggling; they’ll have no trouble sleeping in bed with their humans (won’t get over heated)
• they exhibit a lack of appetite at times
• and despite the image I used, they aren’t fans of playing in the snow

Chinese medicine tells us that the food we feed our dogs is partially based on which category they fall into – hot or cold.  Avoid warming foods and seek out cooling/neutral foods if you have a ‘hot’ dog.  Avoid cooling foods and seek out warming/neutral foods if you have a ‘cold’ dog.

* I’ve been told that turkey is warming food, a neutral food, and a cooling food; the reason it’s identified as cooling here is because our holistic vet categorized it as cooling during our consultation.  We’re waiting to see if there is a change if we remove turkey from Rodrigo’s diet.

* I’ve seen salmon identified in different areas, so I’m not sure about this one.  We don’t feed our dogs salmon due to the risk of salmon poisoning; but we do give them canned salmon on occasion as a treat.