Health & Safety

Summer 2008

Casper’s “Miracle” Coat Restorer

By VWC Member, Linda Moore

We have many fond memories of our family dog, Casper, who passed away a couple of years ago.  He was a sweet and friendly pure redwood mountain flea and tick mutt with a shiny thick white coat of fur.  But that fur coat wasn’t always so lustrous.
In late 2000 he had an allergic reaction (we believe to fleas and food) which caused him to scratch-away patches of his fur.  Infection in the form of bacterial “crusting,” set in and soon he was hairless. 

We tried everything the vet could think of for poor Casper for nearly a year, but no amount of steroids or antibiotics would bring his hair back. As a last resort, I started preparing a special diet for him designed to boost his skin and hair health.  Within months, his coat was beautiful and fully regained. We were so lucky to have our happy dog back.

I’m sharing this recipe because during the course of our ordeal with Casper, our family had our eyes opened to the importance of the source and content of all processed foods, pet and human.  Preparing your dog’s food from scratch allows you to control how and where the components are grown and to thereby reduce the amount of fossil fuels and synthetic chemicals involved in its production and transportation.  You may not have the time to make your pet’s food every day, but you can educate yourselves and start buying your pet foods responsibly. Our local pet stores now carry a few very healthy dog and cat food choices, so using one of those may suffice for your pet’s needs. For those of you who have the time, inclination or a special or special-needs dog, you may want to try Casper’s recipe.

Casper’s Special Diet:

Mix together the following ingredients:

½ cup rolled oats
¼ cup rolled barley
1/8 cup rolled quinoa
½ cup rolled rye
1 Tbsp kelp
1 Tbsp brewer’s yeast
1 Tbsp sunflower seeds
1 Tbsp pumpkin seeds
1 – 2 Tbsps chopped pecans
1 tsp garlic powder

To each serving-sized portion of the above dry ingredients, add an equal portion of  the following fresh, or freshly cooked,  ingredients just before serving:

1 part chopped green beans (fresh or lightly steamed or frozen and thawed)
1part grated carrot
4 parts organic, ground turkey (lightly sautéed, baked or steamed)

To one serving of the food per day, add:

1 Tbsp Flaxseed, Omega-3 or Fish Oil

Serving size will vary according to the size and age of your dog. Because Casper was a large dog, his total serving size of the above was 1 cup, twice a day.  My current puppy pal gets ½ cup twice a day. The dry ingredients can be mixed and refrigerated for one or two weeks prior to use.

P.S. Please spay or neuter your dogs and cats.

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