Episode 407: Food as Medicine for Dogs with Laurie Johnson, DVM

Are you curious about how to apply food-as-medicine to your furry friends? Want to know more about the optimal diet for dogs? Looking for information on reducing toxicity when it comes to flea, tick, and heartworm prevention? Tune in to hear us interview Laurie Johnson DVM, Integrative Veterinarian and cover all this and more! 

 

In this episode, we pick Dr. Laurie’s brain about everything from assessing your pet’s constitution to how to transition to a raw or real food diet. We discuss supplementation when it comes to your pet, how you can individualize your pet’s preventative regimen, and how to best work with your veterinarian to get the best care for your pet! 

 

Dr. Laurie’s Bio:

Dr. Laurie Johnson is an integrative veterinarian practicing in Austin, Texas (AcuDog HerbalCat Vet). She is certified in Acupuncture, Food Therapy, and Tui Na from the Chi Institute, and Integrative and Chinese Herbal Medicine through the College of Integrative Veterinary Therapies.

 

She has over 15 years of experience with a diverse background in wildlife, emergency, shelter, small animal medicine, dermatology, soft tissue surgery and dentistry. 

 

Find her at: AcuDog HerbalCat - Veterinary Medicine in Austin, Texas

 

Also in this episode: 

• Keto Reset Program Starts 8/21
• Dr Laurie’s Story
• TCM and Assessing Constitution
  • Episode 383: Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine
• Optimal Diet for Dogs
  • SoCal Raw Fed Dogs
  • Instinct Dog Food
  • Smalls (cats)
  • A Pup Above
  • Chi Dog
  • Farmer’s Dog
  • Petdiets.com
  • Nom Nom
  • Barking Creek Kitchen
  • Just Food for Dogs
• Why Consider Delayed Spay and Neuter
• Gut Health for Dogs
  • Rebuild Spectrum Probiotic
  • GI Immune Builder
• Supplementation for Pets
  • Nordic Naturals Omega 3 Liquid
  • Herbsmith
• Heartworm Prevention
• Flea Prevention
  • Wondercide

 

More Resources from Dr. Laurie:

• VDIlab.com:  lab that has a lot of special testing that most integrative vets have access to. I use them most for GI vitamins and allergy screening. Much more affordable than a standard lab. 
• DNA heartworm testing-  I've sent to Canada in past- very tricky with customs. Apparently Auburn offers this test. Any vet can set up an account with Auburn's lab to be able to run the test. Ideal when pet parents choose not to use a preventative. Detects living heartworm DNA - positive much sooner than standard testing. Heartworm - Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine.
• Animalbiome.com is an excellent company. tons of high quality research on microbiome health in dogs and cats and specific research on gut health with raw fed animals. Pet parents can test their pet's biome. I tend to recommend this with all of my GI cases, chronic skin, immune health cases. Results vary a lot. Some pets have severe e-coli overloads and practically zero beneficial bacteria so they need fecal transplants and specific pre/probiotic and fiber sources. Inulin might be a better fiber source than psyllium in some cases. Some pets don't have pathogenic bacteria but they have no good flora so they will also need fecal transplants. Best to work with a vet when this is needed as most of my patients need more support when they are undergoing fecal transplant. I reach for S boullardi /FOS a lot. This is not found in standard small animal formulas. Their product line is amazing!
• Vax/Titers: puppy /kitten vaccine protocol with titer testing recommendations from Dr. Jean Dodd's foremost authority on endocrine disease and immunology in small animals. One of her projects is the rabies challenge fund. vaccine protocol | Hemopet
  • Puppies and kittens need their vaccine series per the protocol to protect them from deadly diseases. We think of these as core vaccinations. We start them earlier in Texas because of the much higher risk here. These vaccines are extremely effective. I usually run titers when the pet has already had one 3 year vaccine because they tend to be better protected and if they are protected, we can run the titers every 3 years when the vaccine would be due. 
  • Rabies is a legal requirement to prevent human exposure to this deadly disease. We have  a lot of rabies in Texas! Every year, there is at least one pet dog and multiple kittens or adult cats who test positive for Rabies in Austin. They are tested because of human exposure and they are euthanized so their brain tissue can be tested :( All healthy pets should be vaccinated at least twice before titers are run. 
  • Titers can still be run but many clinics won't accept the titers. I am rabies vaccinated because I used to work with wildlife. We tested our titers regularly and when they were low, we got a booster. This is standard practice in the human field and may someday be the standard with small animals. 

• Interceptor dose example: Sharing this with y'all so you can see the calculation for Interceptor (milbemycin oxime) **Please note- the chewable pill cannot be broken because the medication is not evenly distributed**

• Jax weighs 80 #

• We convert his weight to kg= 36.4kg

• 36.4 x 0.1mg/kg = 3.64 mg- this is the bare minimum dose to prevent heartworms. I don't like to have such a narrow margin in case the dog gains weight or there is resistance to the drug and because we can't break the tablet, so I tend to dose at 0.2mg/kg - 0.3 mg/kg (instead of 0.5mg/kg) 

• So, his more appropriate dose is 7.3 mg- we round up to 8mg. 

• The 50- 100# dose is 23mg. 

• • The 26-50 # dose is 11.5mg. It's the next size down. 
  • 11.5mg divided by 36.4 = 0.3 mg/kg dose so we're good!
    • Note: The lower dose does not protect against hookworms according to the study, so you would need to be aware of this. Any dog with a history of hookworms needs the higher dose until 100% clear on antigen testing. 

 

This episode is sponsored by:

Noble Origins, an animal-based organs focused company serving up Nose-To-Tail Protein With Organs, Collagen, & Colostrum. Our Noble Organs Complex is a powdered blend of high-quality beef organs from New Zealand-sourced grass-fed Beef liver, heart, kidney, pancreas, and spleen. Bring Nose-to-tail nutrition to the masses that need it most: Americans. We do this through a delicious once-a-day shake that the whole family can love. Check it out here and use code ALIMILLERRD to get a free bag of Noble Organs Complex at checkout.