Three months ago, I found myself at a crossroads with my oldest dog, Abby. A health issue preventing her from being a good candidate for surgery was the tipping point. In my quest for yet another supplement or something to add to her diet to help her, I found a healing diet that was nothing like what the experts recommend. I read up on it and decided we had nothing to lose, so I took a leap of faith and started Abby on it. Here’s why I recommend others look into taking that leap too.
Abby’s long history of health woes
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may have noticed I’ve written a lot about Abby, my Labrador. She was unexpectedly gifted to me in 2008 by my parents and is the only purebred dog (to my knowledge) that I’ve ever had. She has had numerous health issues that none of my rescues have ever had, including hot spots, seasonal allergies, and lipomas.
When Abby developed her first intramuscular lipoma behind her front leg when she was nine years old, I immediately researched the cause and found that lipomas are normally caused by toxins. Despite immediately switching her to a raw diet and trying different supplements, remedies, alternative treatments, and protocols for preventing and getting rid of the lipomas over the years, Abby has continued to get them.
Believing I was doing everything right for Abby, we plugged along, always in search of the best supplements to combat the seasonal allergies, lipomas, and as she aged, arthritis. I was always on the lookout for the magic pill or potion that would finally give her the life she deserved.
Surgery as the last resort
In early December, I finally broke down and decided to have Abby undergo surgery. For the last couple of years, I’d been trying hard to reduce or eliminate the large intramuscular lipomas, especially one in Abby’s armpit that was affecting her mobility. I’d given up hope on finding that magic bullet and just wanted her last years with me to be better than they were. Her awkward gait and inability to keep up on walks were heartbreaking.
Unfortunately, two pre-surgery blood tests showed abnormal liver and other numbers, preventing her from being a good candidate for surgery. Instead, to rule out anything serious, the vet and I agreed an ultrasound was a good idea.
Fortunately, Abby’s liver looked fine, but her left adrenal gland was twice the size it should have been. The vet said that could be the reason for the high liver numbers. She was kind of surprised Abby wasn’t showing any symptoms and was concerned Abby could develop Cushing’s.
As is customary for conventional vets, medication and more testing were recommended. I was so frustrated. How could I be doing what I thought was everything right for Abby and she still be having such awful health issues?
Just as I have been since the day I killed my beloved dog Sadie with a prescription medication, I was extremely reluctant to go down the medication path. I wanted to find a way to fix Abby without endangering her life.
Discovering the ‘Healing Diet’
Once I sat down and began researching how to help Abby and her enlarged adrenal gland, I found there was very little information about how to help her naturally. Then I stumbled across RMF (Rotational MonoFeeding) and a diet known as the ‘healing diet’. The premise was that the body can heal itself if given the right tools. But isn’t that what I’d been doing the past four years? Feeding Abby the best diet and all the right supplements?
Intrigued about finally finding something that could help Abby’s entire body and all her issues, I joined the accompanying Facebook group ‘Healing Diet for Dogs and Cats‘. I did a search of lipomas, adrenal gland issues, and seasonal allergies. I was kind of in disbelief when I read that just by tweaking Abby’s diet and stopping all the supplements, she would get better. That went against everything I’ve been reading and hearing from so-called “experts” for years.
As hard to believe as it sounded, I decided Abby had nothing to lose. I found comfort and motivation in reading all the testimonials people shared about how their dogs’ lives had been drastically improved by switching to this diet. I was especially encouraged when I read the testimonials from other former exclusively raw feeders. A common theme was that they all wished they had found and started their dog on the diet sooner.
Convincing myself to stop the supplements
The biggest hurdle for me to overcome with this new diet was stopping all the supplements I had Abby on. They included Vitamin C, Turmeric, MSM, Bilberry (for graying of her eyes), and a recently added liquid mix to help with her arthritis. I was scared that without at least one or two of them, Abby would be hurting and having a harder time walking than she already was.
After reading more testimonials and more information, my mind was made up. It actually all made sense. By feeding our dogs like they’d eat in nature and stopping the covering up of symptoms with supplements, the body can heal itself. While hard to do, I wanted this diet to work so badly for Abby, I did as the diet protocol instructed and put the supplements away.
The amazing results of the new diet
Within a couple of weeks of starting the healing diet, I began to notice Abby seemed to be a bit more energetic. Her hearing also seemed to improve. I watched in amazement as she never missed a beat getting around despite being off all of her supplements.
The amazement continued as Abby started having an easier time walking and became more agile. While I’ve not seen any noticeable reduction in her lipomas, something is going on that is making it easier for her to walk, despite her still lopsided gait from the large intramuscular lipomas in her right armpit and left thigh.
The group does say that the older a dog is, the longer, if ever, it may take for lipomas to shrink or disappear. Plenty of people did report their dogs’ lipomas shrunk within a couple or so weeks of starting the diet, but so far, Abby has not been so lucky. Part of me thinks her lipomas are more genetic than from toxin buildup, but time will tell, I guess.
Given how much energy Abby now has and how much better she’s getting along, I’m really looking forward to the future instead of dreading it. I’m also cautiously optimistic that we are halfway into March without any signs of her environmental allergies that have plagued her for 10+ years and have required treatment as early as February in the past.
The details of the diet
To mimic how Abby would eat in the wild, per the diet’s protocol, I reduced her meat intake from seven days a week to two. The rest of the days she eats only fruit or sweet potatoes and quinoa. Rotating between meat and plant days is known as Rotational MonoFeeding or RMF for short, and is a vital part of this diet.
You might think that going from seven days to two days sounds like a drastic meat reduction, and I’ll admit, I did too at first. However, given Abby’s age, the severity of her health issues, and based on all the information I read, I could see how this reduction in meat made sense. Freeing up her body from the energy of digesting all that meat, has allowed it to focus on healing.
While the group strongly advocates fasting in many instances, Abby hasn’t done well in the last year with going too long without eating. She will forage disgusting things outside that come back up inside, so instead of fasting her, she just has several fruit and plant days.
The recommended feeding protocol is 2.5% to 3% of ideal body weight in meat and 5% of ideal body weight in fruits/plants. Being a senior and not overly active, I give Abby 2.5% of her ideal body weight in meat on her meat days. She gets around the 5% in fruits/plants, but I’m not as stringent on exact measurements there and mostly just monitor how she looks.
The transition from only eating meat
I knew that when they are in season, Abby is a voracious persimmon and blackberry eater around here, so I really didn’t worry too much about her eating fruit. I figured my biggest obstacle would be to figure out what other kinds of fruit would appeal to her. My personal take on the fruit trying situation was to buy fruit that I’d eat if she wouldn’t.
While I did have to eat several apples and a couple of watermelons in the beginning, the rest of the journey has been pretty smooth. While there is a very wide variety of fruits and vegetables that can be fed, I found that for fruit days, Abby has been happiest eating D’Anjou pears, frozen blueberries, dates, and after initial hesitation to them, bananas.
To get her to suddenly start eating fruit, I cut it into small pieces and while she watched, ate some myself. Then I offered some to her. For emphasis, I chewed loudly and made “MMMMMHMMM” noises. For the most part, that technique worked. After a week or so of hand-feeding, we transitioned to her eating her fruit off of a paper plate and eventually to her eating her fruit out of her bowl.
The sweet potato and quinoa mix was another matter. With the quinoa, if your dog is a licker of it, like Abby’s preferred way to eat it by herself is, you have to have plenty of sweet potatoes mixed in. That gives the mix a glue-like consistency and prevents your kitchen from being covered in quinoa. Most days, I find it easiest to just hand-feed Abby the mixture in ball-like chunks to prevent her from getting frustrated at her own slow eating method.
In the beginning, I boiled the sweet potatoes, but steaming is ideal, so once I determined she would eat them consistently, I bought this steamer pot, https://amzn.to/38JAMQE that works very well. I usually make the quinoa in another pot while I steam the sweet potatoes and they both get done about the same time.
Why I’m sharing this now
Normally, I like to get through whatever it is I’m healing/curing before I share it here, but because Abby is doing so well on this diet, I decided to go ahead and share it. I know there are so many dogs out there that are suffering from all sorts of health issues, and I didn’t want to delay getting this information out any longer.
In the testimonials on the ‘Healing Diet for Dogs and Cats‘ Facebook group, there are countless dogs out there who have suffered, sometimes for years, with skin issues, allergies, eye issues, arthritis, digestion issues, seizures, and on and on. All have been helped, completely healed, or have recently started and are doing so much better on this diet.
My advice to anyone with a senior dog who is slowing down from arthritis, or to anyone who has a dog with any health issues at all, please look into this diet. Join the Facebook group, read the posts and information in the files, then come to your own conclusion. If you are completely new to raw feeding and why all of this makes sense, or want even more information, there is an e-book available you can purchase.
Conclusion
I was recently kicked out of a holistic wellness group for cats and dogs without any warning or explanation after sharing Abby’s story and mentioning this group and diet. I’m not sure why I was kicked out and frankly, I don’t care. The travesty is that there are now fewer dogs who may be helped by this diet. Instead, they’ll just be given a supplement recommendation or worse case, told to prepare to put their dog down.
While everyone is quick to recommend an unhealthy food, a product, or a supplement that helped their dog, I want people to know that there is a diet out there that may actually CURE the problem, not just treat it. I can’t say for sure that this diet will help every dog with any condition, but why not at least look into it and consider it? If you’ve exhausted all of your other options, what do you have to lose?
Seeing such a drastic improvement in Abby from just a simple change in her diet has been so exciting. I want other dogs out there who may be suffering to have this turnaround in their health too. In the meantime, I’ll continue to share Abby’s progress on Facebook and possibly in a future blog post here, if the improvement continues.
Disclaimer
While this diet recommends no supplements including homeopathic remedies, or anything cooked, including bone broth, I will say that I will not be that strict. While I do believe this diet has many healing properties and understand why they want to avoid the band-aid or hindrance of healing caused by supplements, I don’t necessarily agree that the body never needs intervention. To each their own on following that part of the diet protocol with their pets, but that’s where I stand on not ever using any sort of treatment or remedy while on this diet and I wanted to be clear about that.
Is your pet already on this diet? If so or if you are considering it, please be sure to share your experience (good, bad, or ugly) in the comments below. I’ll continue to share Abby’s updates on my Facebook page and any big milestones or negative issues will also be shared here on the blog.
For my list of favorite things I (mostly) own and/or recommend to fellow pet parents and occasionally random strangers, you can visit my Amazon store page here, https://www.amazon.com/shop/savingscatsanddogswhilesavingcash. I’ve included little notes about the products also.
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Thanks for sharing this. I think I need to try this. I have been a little hesitant because it would be such a big leap for me, and seems like a lot of work. Also they insist that you can only use this ebook from only this place. Just wanted to confirm the ebook is worth it?
Hi Carla,
As I’ve been feeding raw to most of my animals for a few years now, I didn’t purchase the e-book, I just read up on the information in the files in the Facebook group. If you are completely new to raw feeding and don’t have time to read through the files, the book may be helpful for you. I’m doing fine without it and I have two dogs on the diet.
As far as it being a big leap, I know it feels like it is, and I was also hesitant to take my dog from seven meat days down to two, but her health issue (the enlarged adrenal gland) warranted something pretty drastic to prevent her from developing Cushing’s. I will say that I have since put one of my other dogs on this diet who is younger and had no health issues and she’s doing fine on it also. She actually took to it easily.
Your concern about this diet being a lot of work is valid. If you are used to just putting kibble in a bowl, then yes, it will be more work. I think it sounds worse than it is and once you get into the hang of this new routine, you’ll find it’s not that bad. If your dog is suffering from any sort of health issue, it’s definitely worth any extra trouble. From my own experience and from a number of the posts I’ve read, just figuring out what plants/fruit your dog likes is the hardest part. Once you figure that out, you just have to have a kitchen scale to weigh out the proper amount of food for that meal.
The great thing about this diet is that you will start seeing improvement quickly. My Lab has had environmental allergies for 11 years. I have tried so many things to stop or minimize them over the years. While I got them down to manageable, this diet has finally completely stopped them. That’s without any baths, supplements, anything. All I changed was how I fed her.
My advice is to give the diet a try. I don’t make that recommendation lightly, but I’ve seen overwhelming evidence in the group and with my own dog that this diet absolutely works. Maybe if you read more of the testimonials on the page, it will help give you the courage to take the leap? I’m always here or on Facebook to help however I can as well, though I will tell you, our leap into this has been pretty easy. Both of my dogs had very little toxic buildup, so detox has been very minimal, so has weight loss, and they were both easy to adjust to the new diet that included fruit. Only the one dog had any health issues to overcome. Many owners aren’t so lucky with their dogs, and that’s ok. We’re all on our own journey with our dogs, but regardless of what your dog’s history is, I’m confident you will wish you’d started the diet sooner.
Thank you for taking the time to reply in so much detail. So very appreciated.
When I click on your Amazon shop link I get a French Amazon page & can’t understand a
word I see. It this the way its suppose to come up??https://www.amazon.com/shop/savingscatsanddogswhilesavingcash
PLEASE help me clear this up.
Hi Bette,
I’m sorry you are having trouble. I checked and had another person check and we both got the U.S. version of Amazon when we clicked on the link. I wonder if you logged into Amazon at their amazon.com address and make sure you got the correct version before clicking on my link, if that would make sure you got the U.S. version? I’m sorry I can’t offer any better advice. I’ve never had an instance of anyone telling me they’ve had an issue.
Very interesting to learn about this.
Thank you for taking the time and effort to share this valuable information.
Hi Ivan,
I’m going to try to do an update here (I’m already giving them on my Facebook page) at Abby’s one-year anniversary of being on this diet. I will say that we are now 10 months in and while her hearing has gone back to how it was before, she continues to do well without any supplements at all at nearly 13.5 years old. This year was the first year in 11 that she didn’t struggle with environmental allergies, either. The only change I made this year was keeping her on this RMF (Rotational MonoFeeding) diet.
While my other indoor dog is much younger and didn’t have any health issues, I went ahead and put her on this diet as well after seeing how well it worked on Abby. I have noticed that her wiry hair (she’s a terrier mix) is much softer on this diet.
If you have any questions or if I can be of any help regarding the RMF diet, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Thank you for sharing, I’m a reader from Malaysia. I’ve read from Dr.Karen Becker’s Forever Dog Book that dog actually doesn’t have any carb requirements and the majority of their meal should consist of protein. You being an only raw fed before this, just like I am now, I wonder how RMF (Rotational MonoFeeding) diet made sense to you coming from only raw fed, as RMF also has “vegan days” , which also what Dr.Karen Becker has mentioned in her book that dog shouldn’t be fed a Vegan diet at all. Hope to hear from you, also if you have FB that I can add to be friend? ps: Thanks for sharing regarding Roxie, my condolences for your loss, wishing to see you write a post on cancer prevention or how you’d have done differently for her if were to start over again.
Hi Jason!
The truth of the matter is that I’m not sure anyone knows 100% exactly what the “perfect” diet is for dogs. I do know that when I was researching how to help Abby after her enlarged adrenal gland diagnosis, I discovered that some very prominent well-recognized raw feeders had lost dogs to cancer or had dogs with tumors. So if the “experts” can lose a dog to cancer, there is clearly more to it than one thing, like something in the diet.
Just like people, animals are different also. Some are just born healthy, while others struggle. I think ultimately, we just have to use our best judgment and what works with our particular dogs and their health issues. Until her UTI at 13 years old, Roxie, who was kibble fed, was never unhealthy, while Abby has had health issues since she was two and continued with them even after being put on a raw diet and lots of supplements over the years.
The RMF diet works along the lines of what dogs eat in the wild, but goes a step further to not mix meat and plants. While I’m sure in the wild, a wolf will eat whatever it can, including a rabbit and wild berries on the same day, even in the same hour, it’s more about giving the body a break from digestion. Some folks completely fast their dogs instead of feeding them fruit days, but with so many animals, that’s just very hard for me to do. Besides, Abby was never subjected to a lot of toxins (no Apoquel, Bravecto, yearly vaccines, steroids, etc.), so her toxin load/symptoms didn’t really warrant her needing any really deep healing that extended fasting provides.
The RMF diet made sense to me in that I read A LOT of testimonials where it had worked miracles on dogs with a variety of different health issues. I was down to really not having much of a choice for Abby besides putting her through more testing and going the prescription medication route. I wanted to avoid that route at all costs if there was any way I could. I looked at RMF like “What do I have to lose?”. Abby was only 12 years old at the time and that was pretty young to have slowed down so much and to have had so many health issues compared to my previous dogs. I was in unchartered territory and decided to try the diet and see if it helped any. One year later, she’s still on it and still doing great, aside from her lipomas still not going away, which the group had said was a possibility from day one.
As far as following me on Facebook, there’s a link at the end of the article or you can click here, https://www.facebook.com/savingscatsanddogswhilesavingcash. I just posted a one-year update the other day on Abby and will be writing a post here on my blog about it as well.
Thank you for your condolences on Roxie. I miss her and her dedicated watch over the place every day. I honestly think for cancer prevention, I would have put her on the RMF diet (had I known about it) as a 9 to 10-year-old senior. My situation is a bit harder than most because I have so many animals (currently 10, with 9 RMF/Raw fed) and most are indoor/outdoor, or in Roxie’s case, she preferred outdoor 99.9% of the time, which makes the RMF diet a bit harder to strictly follow. After learning with her that 50% of dogs over age 10 get cancer, I absolutely will put all of my future senior dogs on RMF if they aren’t already on it, which at this point is only one dog. As I always have, I will continue to avoid/limit toxins (vaccines, medications, flea/tick products, etc.), and recommend others also do that as well in addition to looking into the RMF diet.
Hi! This is very interesting subject! Just heard this method yesterday from a Telegram group and immediately checked it out. I have had dogs and other animals nearly all my life and I know what you mean by saying that every expert have their opinion. What the last two years have taught me, is that absolutely everything can be possible, especially the things you thought can never be possible 😀 My whole life picture has changed and I don’t listen any “experts” of any kind anymore. I rather go with my senses and try what feels right. Not more or less.
I have 12,5yo German shepherd lady who has a perianal fistula. It has been in remission most of her life but now it has started to bother her and she has to have a medicine for that that costs 100e per month. Well, she deserves that so I’m not complaining. However, if this diet would help her and at least stabilize her condition and get her medicine free, I’d be super happy. I rather use the money to buy different food for her than that medicine. I don’t want to support big nasty pharma anyway 😉
Sorry that this is a bit long post but can you open up few things? My girl is a bit picky eater so how did you get Abby to eat something she didn’t wanna taste no matter how you tried to convince her?
I think that if i start this diet for Hekla, i will put my two swedish vallhunds for same diet. For Hekla it works always the best that she sees that other ones are eating the same food and not dying of it 😀 A bit suspicious lady I’d say ;D
Did you add any taste like a hint of fish oil or salt or anything or just softly convinced her that eating bunny food is ok?
Also, could you specify Abby’s diet a little bit more? Like just an example diet plan for week and ingredients listed? I don’t have Facebook so i can’t join the group and see anything from there. I’d really appreciate if you could tell some more about the diet, i will definitely try this for her and other girls too. Her condition has gone slowly down though she still is her happy self but if i can do anything to slow down the inevitably process and try to keep her here longer, i will absolutely try that.
Greetings from Finland in the meantime! 🙂
Hi Marika!
I’m so sorry to hear about Hekla’s health issue! I had to look up what ‘perianal fistula’ was and it sounds awful for her, poor thing. I then went to the RMF Feeding Facebook page to see if there was any mention of that condition being cured or even mentioned in the group. All I could find was someone in the group had inquired about whether anyone in the group had success curing it in their dog with the RMF diet. She had seen a young German Shepherd with the condition in a rescue group she was in and wanted to pass along anything helpful she could. Unfortunately, that was in Jan. 2021 and no group members responded, but a couple of moderators did and felt sure that a species appropriate diet could, as there were cases of humans being cured by the appropriate diet in as little as a number of weeks.
That all being said, what works for one dog doesn’t mean it will work for others, but when I decided to take the leap with Abby, I just asked myself, what do we have to lose? She’s not going to get any better doing what I’ve been doing, which I thought was the best I could do for her, so I decided to try it. I’m very glad that I did. Her energy, hearing, eye brightness, and agility all improved within the first couple of weeks. All without ANY of the supplements she was on that I thought she needed to be as healthy as possible.
Abby has now been on the RMF diet for 15 months and she will be 14 years old next month. Unfortunately, her very large intramuscular lipomas (fatty deposits) in her armpit and thigh have not decreased in size (which isn’t surprising), which has made her life much harder than it would be if she did not have them. Walking and getting up are cumbersome for her because of the size and location of her lipomas. The good news is that I do believe that this diet has been more beneficial to her otherwise good health and longevity than anything else I could have done. That is just my opinion in this one case, but I have yet to see any negatives from feeding her, or my other dog, this way.
For anyone else reading the comments, Abby is now in her 2nd Spring with no signs of the environmental allergies that plagued her from age two years to 12. I tried so many (natural only) things over those years trying to stop or minimize them the best I could, that I lost count. Bee pollen and local honey were the two products that worked the best, but even they didn’t completely eliminate them. The only thing that ever completely worked 100% was the RMF diet. That alone tells me that there is something to this diet and its ability to heal the body.
As far as getting Abby to eat bananas, pears, blueberries, and dates, I already knew that when blackberries where in season, she would eat them like candy. I figured just finding the right fruits that she also enjoyed would be our path. I bought a variety of fruits that I would eat in case she didn’t. Yes, it took a little trial and error and some trickery, but we figured it out and it honestly wasn’t that hard. This is a dog that went from eating meat 7 days a week to only two. Hunger also plays a role in convincing them to at least try a piece of fruit. Other than nowadays very occasionally drizzling a little bit of honey on old bananas pieces Abby didn’t eat at an earlier meal, I didn’t have to add anything and the group doesn’t encourage doing it.
To start Abby’s journey of fruit eating, I literally sat on the kitchen floor and took a bite of the banana/pear/watermelon/date, etc., etc., chewed it loudly and made MMMMM! sounds before breaking off a small piece and offering it to her. There were some hits and misses, but we figured out what she liked best and went from there. All dogs seem to be different in that aspect and Abby has gotten pickier in her older age. She currently eats only bananas mostly with a few blueberries and dates at each non-meat day meal. I feed twice a day, but two pounds of fruit is a lot at each setting, so she tends to graze a bit more nowadays. In the beginning, she ate it all up without hesitation, but again, she’s almost 14 now, so I just don’t worry about the amount of her food so much as making sure she has it if she wants it. She’s all in though, on meat days! 🙂
My little terrier mix saw all the hoopla about Abby eating fruit and wanted to try some too, so seeing how easily she took to it and given how well Abby was doing, I put her on the diet as well. She had no health issues, but she has wiry hair that was kind of coarse and it’s much softer on the RMF diet. She’s also not picky at all, while Abby has become pickier over time, not liking pears at the moment and taking longer to finish her meals. I entice Abby by giving her plenty of dates, which she likes the most.
One key will be to just to make sure the fruits are ripe. They will be sweeter and more palatable to Hekla. Many people also find sweet potato and quinoa (abbreviated as SP/Q) is enjoyed by their dogs. Abby was more into it at the beginning, but not quite so much now, and I did find it made her gassy. My other dog eats it just fine though, so it really does just depend on the dog.
There are no hard and fast feeding rules for this diet, other than not mixing meat and fruits/vegetables on the same day and feeding melons apart. You can feed meat once a week, twice, three times, or a number of other variations. It really all just depends on the dogs condition and how toxic her body is. More fruit days can cause faster and worse detoxing symptoms. Abby was in a bit of a dire situation due to her enlarged adrenal gland. If it had not been for us needing to get that direction turned around quickly, I may have done meat three times a week for her in the beginning. Both dogs have done fine on meat twice a week though and fruits or SP/Q the other days. Some folks even fast their dogs after meat days, so it’s all about your situation, the severity of your dog’s health issues, and what works best for you both.
My recommendation to you since you aren’t on FB and don’t have access to the helpful files there, would be to buy the ebook and start reading. Depending on Hekla’s medical history (vaccines, medications, flea/tick meds, etc.), the severity of her medical condition, as well as her individual eating preferences, you may have to take a different path on RMF than Abby has taken. There are several feeding protocols and like most things, no two RMF feeders do it the exact same way, but still get great results. The ebook will discuss what fruits and vegetables are recommended for best results and many other things that will be helpful to new RMF feeders, especially since you don’t have access to the group files or conversations by other members who are also trying to learn and navigate this new way of feeding. If you need more help, they have a paid membership group that I believe they administrate on their website as opposed to Facebook, but I’m not positive of that. You’ll find all of that information on the website I shared in the post.
Because Abby (and Ruby’s) history hasn’t included hardly any medications or treatments of any kind and only one round of vaccines, their toxic loads were very low and haven’t had as hard a time with detoxing as many other have who have a history of lots of medicating and vaccinations, etc. have. Your journey may be similar or harder, but I still think you will like the results you get from feeding RMF.
I hope I answered all of your questions and have given you the courage and motivation to try RMF feeding with Hekla and possibly your other dogs. 🙂 If I can be of any more assistance to you on your journey, just let me know.
Thank you greatly for your long and specific answer! ❤️ That already helped me a lot. I am so new in this that I actually don’t even know what was that book you recommend 😅 Can you recommend some link where to get that e-book? I will definitely buy that as soon as possible.
In the meantime, I think I will start this process as soon as possible but I need to ask some questions more. As we live in Finland, sure we are able to get fruits and sweet potato and quinoa but they are not in every store in huge varieties. Does it matter, what sort to veggies you feed, is for example normal potato, carrots etc ok to give? Those we do have an access year round. Also, because of the current world situation, might be we are soon lacking many items in stores so if potatoes and carrots are ok to give, that would solve many problems.
Then, you mentioned bilberries and black berries. So berries are ok overall? Because those we do also have an access in the summer from the nature and in the winter from freezer. Does it matter what sort of berries to give or in general all eatable berries are ok? We have bilberries, raspberries, strawberries, lingonberries, cranberries naturally growing around 😅
When giving fruits and veggies, are they all ok to cook, eg steam? I think that makes many of them easier to offer, as she is quite sceptical everything new I try to give her 😂 But ofc, like you mentioned, hunger plays a big role when and what dogs want to eat.
Is fish and eggs considered here also as meat? In normal “world” they are ofc but as I’m so new in this method, have to ask stupid questions 😅
Is giving eggs and fish ok in meat days? I usually have been giving normally many varieties of meat but like I mentioned about world situation, I have a feeling that even getting meat might be an issue in the near future so trying to figure out other “meats” what to use. We live next to a lake so fish would be easy to get year round 😅 I’m also having chickens this summer so eggs we would also get easily.
I think Hekla’s autoimmune issue and some itching problems are due to toxics from vaccines and some medication she have had in the past. I just decided few months ago that I will never vaccinate my animals ever again but obviously it doesn’t help the current situation. So I think I will try to make it quite fast like you with Abby, I have a feeling that I don’t have too much time to waste here. I’m quite eager to see what results this might bring as I don’t want nothing so much than help my absolutely perfect girl to feel better in her last years ❤️ It’s also easier for me to put all dogs in same diet as Hekla eats better if other girls are eating the same and not dying of it 😂 But also if they benefit from it overall, why not anyway give everyone the same. I’m really keen to start this soon, I’m really grateful if you can still help me to get started 😊
Marika,
Here is the link to the website with more information about the diet, the ebook, the private group, etc., https://rotationalmonofeeding.com/. Since I have been raw feeding my animals for a few years and my budget and free time are very limited, I opted not to buy the ebook and instead read up on all the free information in the files of the Facebook group. In your case though, I think you will find the ebook very helpful.
As far as the foods allowed, I’ve actually forgotten a lot of the information about feeding that I originally read. All of that will be in the ebook and will go into detail about why certain foods are discouraged. Many people do opt to feed fruits that are available in their area, so what I have to choose from to feed will probably be different than what you have. I just started with bananas and dates because both were popular among a lot of the group members, they are pretty inexpensive and readily available compared to other fruits. Most dogs tend to like them also.
We have blueberries here, which are good for helping to prevent cancer. As you may or may not know, 50% of dogs over age 10 get cancer. That’s a scary statistic, so that’s why I include a few blueberries in both Abby and Ruby’s non-meat meals. I’m not sure about all of the other berries and things you mentioned, but it’s probably all discussed in the ebook.
Yes, fish and eggs are allowed. The book should also give more details about how to feed them. As a rule, the group doesn’t recommend anything cooked, including bone broth, so raw or steamed is how most of the food you feed will be. There are many options, so don’t worry that what I feed or most of us in other parts of the world feed, is not available to you. I think people in the group mentioned barley maybe, as an alternative to quinoa. Hopefully that topic is also covered in the book. I know it’s a pretty comprehensive guide.
Making notes in a notebook or tablet for future reference as you read the ebook and the key points to remember will probably be helpful, because I do think all of this can be overwhelming to those brand new to raw feeding of any type and especially this diet. I made several notes about various things, including what percentages were recommended to feed of fruits/vegetables and meat with each of my dogs’ amounts calculated so I could quickly and easily reference those numbers when I was preparing their food.
I understand your concern about food shortages. Many people have tried to find local farmers to buy meat and fruits from, which are usually healthier than the stuff bought in grocery stores. Of course, growing/picking your own food is also a good option. As a side note, dogs can go for 30 days without any food and be fine. Many group members do short fasts with their dogs that experience health issues related to detoxing from a former life of inappropriate food (kibble) and medications. You just have to make sure your dog has plenty of fresh water to drink at all times.
You definitely want to avoid adding any more toxins like vaccinations, flea/tick medications, etc. to your dog. This diet will help eliminate those previous toxins stored in the body, usually through the skin, which is the largest organ. It’s not uncommon for dogs on this diet to have some detox symptoms that include dirty ears as toxins are expelled from the body.
I’m sure the ebook will probably cover it, but dogs can detox too fast, which can be miserable for both the owner and the dog, so don’t feel like you have to follow Abby’s exact path. If your dog has had years of vaccinations and other medications, starting slower is probably a good idea, but you can always slow back down if the detox symptoms become too much. It seems like whatever way people start, they all still seem to notice a positive difference in their dogs in just the first two to three weeks.
The only downside that I can think of that I should warn you about is that most dogs tend to be hungry on this diet. That means that if your dogs are left alone in the house with a chicken thawing on the counter or smelly things in the trash, you could have an issue. I’m home all the time with my animals and they know better than to ever get into the trash or get something off the counter when I’m outside or not home, but I do read about stuff like that happening pretty often in the group. Be aware that that may be an issue with your dogs, so don’t throw your steak bones in the trash where they can easily smell and get to them. 🙂
The ebook is digital so if you go to the link I shared at the beginning of this comment, you should be able to purchase it and have it quickly via download to begin Hekla’s healing journey. I hope I’ve covered most of your questions in the meantime and given you some helpful information. Let me know if I can be of any other assistance.