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In 2014, I decided to start sharing my journey as a raw feeder. I had been feeding my dogs a raw food diet for a year and wrote about what I had learned as part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. Looking back, I cringe at how little I knew about raw feeding and decided to update each of those blog posts in 2018-19.
Enjoy.
When I first began learning about raw feeding, I learned about warming and cooling foods and I was pretty excited because I was convinced that food energetics was the solution for Rodrigo's digestive issues, food intolerances, and environmental allergies.
Yes!
However, over the years, I've seen people jump on the warming and cooling topic with the same enthusiasm and I began to realize that while food energetics may be part of the solution, it's not the only solution. In fact, I personally think that it's a bad idea for someone to tackle food energetics as the first step on their raw feeding journey.
If you clicked on this link to learn more about Warming and Cooling Foods, check out the video I did with Dr. Chris Bessent of Herbsmith, LLC.
What are Warming & Cooling Foods for Dogs?
Food energetics is a bit more complicated than what I'm sharing here and I prefer to keep things simple. The theory of warming and cooling foods comes from Chinese Medicine and when we apply food energetics to our dogs, we're told that there are ‘Hot' dogs and ‘Cold' dogs.
The ‘Hot' dogs (Rodrigo) 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 show signs of anxiety
The ‘Cold' dogs (Sydney) 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 overheated)
- 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 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.
My Thoughts on Food Energetics
If you are trying to heal your dog through food energetics, I suggest working with a veterinarian who practices Chinese Medicine. In my experience, incorporating food energetics has helped my dogs, however, I work with an experienced, local veterinarian who is experienced in food energetics and guides me on my way.
You can find a vet through the AHVMA.
Resources on Food Energetics
- 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
Dr. Morgan also has a book with recipes that take incorporate the energetics of food for dogs. You can now order Yin & Yang Nutrition for Dogs: Maximizing Health with Whole Foods, Not Drugs on Amazon.com
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.