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Food energetics is a concept borrowed from traditional Chinese medicine, which holds that everything in the universe—including food—has its unique energy. This is largely based on the concept of Qi, or life energy, and the ancient belief that food can increase and decrease our own Qi depending on what we eat.
Proponents of food energetics believe that health problems can be better managed by consuming foods with different energetic properties; for instance, cooling, warming, stimulating, or sedating qualities. Ultimately, food energetics encourages us to tune into the body’s natural cues regarding what it needs and how certain foods may benefit us more than others.
Hot and Cold Dogs
Before diving deeper into food energetics, I would have classified most of our dogs as neutral. However, as I learned more, I found that my dogs leaned more toward cool or warm.
Neutral Dogs (Yin and Yang)
Neutral dogs have a chill, confident temperament because their Yin and Yang are in balance. To maintain this balance, it's suggested that we feed neutral foods. However, our dogs aren't limited to only neutral foods.
Cool Dogs (Yin)
Cool dogs are snugglers and can be found sleeping in front of a heater or fireplace or buried beneath the covers in our beds. Other signs that a dog may be a “cool” dog include:
- inactivity or fatigue
- poor appetite
- digestive issues
- weight loss
These symptoms can be serious, and a veterinarian should be consulted to rule out any health issues. Once you know your dog is healthy, these issues can be addressed by feeding warming foods. When a dog's energetic nature isn't addressed, a dog that is too cold can develop kidney disease, incontinence, anemia, and chronic digestive issues.
Hot Dogs (Yang)
Hot dogs seek out cool places to sleep and won't cuddle (or not for long) because they get overheated easily. Other signs that a dog may be a “hot” dog include:
- panting, even on cool days (not due to excessive exercise)
- drinks a lot of water
- becomes restless, especially at night
- has dry skin
- inflammatory conditions
These symptoms can be serious, and a veterinarian should be consulted to rule out any health issues. Once you know your dog is healthy, these issues can be addressed by feeding cooling foods. When a dog's energetic nature isn't addressed, a dog that is too hot can develop pancreatitis, arthritis, hot spots, skin rashes, and digestive issues.
Warming & Cooling Foods for Dogs
There are several charts online and after a lot of reading, I created the following classifications for various foods. Some foods fall into two categories based on how the animal was raised.
Cooling Foods
- Proteins: alligator, duck, duck eggs, wild goose, herring, mussels, oysters, pork, rabbit, whitefish
- Vegetables: alfalfa, asparagus, broccoli, celery, cucumber, mushroom, spinach*
Neutral Foods
- Proteins: beef, beef liver, beef tripe, bison, carp, cheese, chicken eggs (pasture-raised), mackerel, pork, quail, sardines, wild salmon, wild turkey
- Vegetables: cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, Shiitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes, yams
- Fruits: apple, banana, blueberries, honey, pear, persimmons, strawberry, watermelon
Warming Foods
- Proteins: chicken, goat's milk, pheasant, turkey (farmed)
- Vegetables: garlic, kale, oysters mushroom, pumpkin, squash
- Fruits: raspberries
Hot Foods
- Proteins: emu, lamb, shrimp, trout, venison
- Vegetables: garlic, ginger
*I feed store-bought mushrooms to my dogs (brown, Portobello, Reiki, Shiitake); not mushrooms picked in our yard. If a dog is prone to stones, high oxalate foods, like spinach, should be limited (or removed) from the diet. And, some of the foods are labeled with two energies; so I noted them both.
My Thoughts on Food Energetics
If you are trying to heal your dog through food energetics, I suggest working with a holistic veterinarian who practices Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Food energetics is more than feeding warming/cooling foods. Through TCM, I've learned how to prevent or resolve stagnation in the system, why it's important to feed food at room temperature, and what to do to cool down hot foods so I can still feed a variety of proteins to my dogs. A veterinarian experienced with TCM will direct you on this path while also ensuring that series health issues aren't ignored.
If you don't have a veterinarian in your area, look for someone in another town or state who can collaborate with your veterinarian and consult with you on health and nutrition.
You can find a vet through the AHVMA.
Resources on Food Energetics
My favorite resource is Yin & Yang Nutrition for Dogs by Dr. Judy Morgan, available on Amazon. I also have a food energetics chart in my kitchen that I reference.
- Herbsmith Inc Food and Dietary Charts
- Helping Allergies In Dogs With Food Energetics, Dogs Naturally Magazine
- Feeding Your Pet from the Perspective of Chinese Medicine, Dr. Patrick Mahaney
- The Yin & Yang of Pet Food: Preventing pet disease with Traditional Chinese Medicine, The Honest Kitchen
- TCVM Energetically Cooling Dog Food Recipe: Food Therapy Backed by Veterinarians, Becki Baumgartner for Pet|TAO
- Feeding your dog from a TCVM perspective, Dr. Judy Morgan for Animal Wellness Magazine
Interesting article, never knew about warming and cooling foods only all the controversy over organic and plant based diets. However, I do believe in acupuncture because I have heard about all the wonderful benefits for animals. I have also had good results with it myself.
Carna4,,,,non extruded,,,,gently baked,,,,,vitamins and minerals etc come from organic sprouted seeds,,,,exceed the Aaafco standards,,,,,no I don’t work for them,,,,and yes raw is best,,,,but,,,,one thing tho,,,,,I grind the kibble first and add liquid to right consistencency,,,,and then,,,,shhhhh,,,,,I add some raw kangaroo meat from Natural Instincts. I’ve preached for years that one doesn’t mix raw and kibble but I’m hoping grinding and letting the powder soak up all the liquid plus the better quality of this kibble will soothe my conscience. My toy dogs weren’t gaining weight on a straight raw diet,,,,anyway,,,,check out CARNA4,,,,if you need a break from raw or……..whatever.
Hi Helen
I’m not an expert in food energetics; I just find it interesting. For recommendations, I recommend working with a veterinarian who practices Chinese medicine. That’s where I get my information from.
Hi,
I believe in TCM but so far have only applied it to myself. I would also like my dog to benefit from a TCM based diet. He has been suffering from constipation on and off for nearly 6 months. I have changed his dog food brand couple of times. Also, I have put him on cooked white rice, chicken and vegetables meal. It seems nothing helps. He was constipated again over the weekend to the point we had to administer enema.
Do you have any recommendations on what I should feed him? I understand that constipation is due to excess internal heat. He is also quite aggressive around strangers and other dogs. Can I say that he is more of a “hot” dog than a cool dog?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated because I really don’t want him to be on kibbles if possible.
Thank you.
Heidi,
I have 3 shih tzus I feed All Provide it can be purchased in a gently cooked or raw formula. You will be able to read every ingredient on the bag, no mystery stuff in this food.
For us Turkey definitely a warming food! We switched away and poop problem
cleared up……everywhere you hear it recommended as a bland food .
Not so much!
I have a Shih Tzu and my dog is on Zignature canned whitefish it’s grain free no chicken or potatoes and she does great on it.
I have been told by my holistic vet, and confirmed by another source, that kangaroo is a NEUTRAL food. (Here we go again, right?)Have to go with somebody’s advice, so I go with my vet, who is amazing.
Hi, have you considered feeding your dog a raw food or homecooked diet? That is the only way that you’ll be able to control the ingredients. You can learn more about raw feeding here: https://keepthetailwagging.com/rawfooddiet/
I can’t find a kibble with cooling foods in it for my dog it has a lot of other things in it not sure if they are cooling food do you recombed a food
Is peas and pea flour a cooling food items?
I treat emu as a hot or warming food.
I’m trying to find out about emu. Is it hot/warm/cooling?
I feel your pain Ann, It all gets rather murky. I had my dog on a raw diet which was great, and then he just completely quit eating and throwing it up. So now he is back on kibble and doing really well, but now I am reading that the lamb is a warm food. He is doing really well and I hate to mess with it because I have been dealing with food issues since I brought him home and it is really challenging.
Hi Ann
Unless a veterinarian has instructed you to start following the warming/cooling chart, I wouldn’t stress out over this. When feeding raw, it makes our dogs’ gut so much healthier that we can safely try any protein. If it doesn’t work for our dog, then we scratch it off the list. According to all of the information – Rodrigo is a hot dog and shouldn’t be able to eat lamb or venison, both hot proteins. He does great on those proteins.
Also, kangaroo is hot, I checked with a canine nutritionist in Australia.
I am soooo confused. The more I search the worst it gets. I am told kangaroo is cooling protein so I fed my dog on that.then one site says its not and to feed lamb.now i read lamb is warm. Then there’s turkey. One says its hot, the other site says its warm! What should i do? I have been buying so many different meat.
Which site to follow??
I have a Shih Tzu. he’s a very picky eater right now he’s on Earthborn coastal but i’m concerned about the protein level it’s 32% and he’s not real active. he use to be on Fromm Pork and applesauce i’m thinking i might go back. Does anyone have a Shih Tzu or small breed similar that has good food? i usually do the grain free with him.
While Nature’s Logic may not use premade mixes from China, it’s still a kibble which isn’t species appropriate for dogs and ultimately leads to poor health, compromised digestive and immune systems, a chronic state of dehydration, joint issues (because kibble is an inflammatory), and more. I understand that dogs have been eating kibble for years, however, it’s not an ideal diet and something that I no longer recommend to anyone if they want to raise a happy, healthy dog. Please watch the movie Pet Fooled.
Hi, Janie! You are right on target about the Chinese premix issue. Because of it, several years ago, I did some pretty extensive research about which commercial dog foods did not use ANY Chinese premix in their formulas and unfortunately, there were very few. I DID, however, find the Nature’s Logic line of pet foods that have an excellent track record with a variety of pet food advisors AND they don’t use Chinese premix as a source of vitamins and minerals. Instead, all of their nutrients come from natural plant and animal sources. I switched my critters (dogs and cats) to Nature’s Logic that very day and they are still doing great on it! I love that the line has a wide variety of single-source proteins to choose from so if your dog/cat has an allergy to one type of protein, it’s easy to switch to another. Don’t mean to sound like a commercial here, but I really love this line and recommend it highly to anyone looking to avoid feeding their pets foods with the Chinese pre-mix! 🙂
🙂 HOT
My dog is highly sensitive to food and he doesn’t react the same way to goat as he does with lamb, so I’ve always considered goat to be warming or neutral and lamb to be warming or hot. Turkey is definitely warming. I know that these charts are just a starting point and that each of our dogs are different; plus more goes into allergies than the temperature of the food.
According to Herbsmith’s Food Chart, Hot proteins include lamb, mutton (sheep), sheep’s liver, and venison. I don’t like to assume anything, but in this case I would ere on the side of saying goat is either a warming or hot protein considering the similarity between goats and sheep.
Also, their chart lists turkey as a warming protein, although I’ve seen listed under cooling on other charts.
I too need to know about goat. My Westie eats Sojo’s goat, and I need to know, if it is a warming or cooling food.
I’m not sure. I’ve been searching for goat, emu, and alpaca for months.
Hi Kimberley – where does goat fit in with raw fed dogs – warming?
Great question. Because Rodrigo has a tough time eating turkey, I would put it in the Warming Food category.
I am finding the same problem with how to define turkey. What were your findings when you removed it from the diet?
I need to know where goat and emu fall on the Hot/Cool/Warm/Moist list.
I enjoyed your article. I love learning about the different proteins. Thank you for posting
Thank you for letting me know about kangaroo. I like to change their protein and thought kangaroo would be good. I will not go that route. I need cooling/neutral foods. Thank you again for your help.
I don’t know where brushtail fall on the Hot/Cold/Neutral list. Kangaroo, however, falls on the Hot/Warm list.
Thanks for simplifying this issue of what is hot and cool. I am looking at alternative meats, such as kangaroo and brushtail(Austrailian “possum”). Would you know if those are warming or cooling. The descriptions you gave helped me figure out which foods to give to my dogs that would be beneficial to both since they are opposite.
Hi Tobey
I don’t sell food. I’d recommend visiting your local pet store (not Petco or PetSmart) and working with a holistic vet with experience in Chinese medicine on your dog’s diet. My vet has been really crucial in getting our dogs’ diets right.
Best of luck.
Kimberly
Hello —
I am looking at putting my GS on a diet with Cooling Foods. I am wondering if there is a good product available to purchase. If not, how much should I feed him each day? He is about 100 pounds. Thank you!
Hi Kimberly-
I am crazy about raw food so that’s why I STRONGLY recommend it. I discuss more crazy stuff that goes on in the pet industry. Awareness is important. :o)
Thank you so much, Janie! I had no idea about where the premix is sourced. Thank you.
This issue I have with kibble is that most of the vitamin premix is sourced from China. Vitamin premix is the mixture of vitamins & minerals which show up on the label of dog food. After kibble is cooked at such high temperatures and then processed further, it leaves the product void of nutrients. Premix is added. China’s premix product is problematic because it is contaminated with melamine. The FDA lead us to believe that salmonella is an issue. They discovered that it is the melamine that is making dogs ill and killing them. Raw food should not a problem for dogs with healthy immune systems. Approximately 30% of dogs already carry salmonella in their systems. It is natural for them. I have written EXTENSIVELY on this subject on my website essentiallydogs.com. Just use the little search bar and type in keywords like China, salmonella, FDA, and raw.
Yeah, turkey is definitely one on which experts don’t seem to be able to agree.
I know. I’ve asked so many people about Turkey and everyone has a different answer.
Fabulous!
This is so good. I only know human have hot and cold.
Thanks.
I know I told you previously that I needed to research these things. Well…I still haven’t, so this post is super helpful to me. Thank you!
The TCVM properties of food is one of my fascinations. It’s kind of interesting that not everybody agrees on the properties of some of the foods, though.