Food That Is Good For The Heart..

[Guest suzanne]

...any thoughts?

[Guest june]

Physically or emotionally?

Foods that make me feel good when feeling down are: mac and cheese, mashed potatos and gravy, chocolate, cookies; home baked, home made soup and pasta.

 

Physically good for the heart; just the opposite of above. Low fat, low cholesterol foods. Low fat home made soup (can you tell l like soup?), veggies, low fat meats like chicken breast, white pork, white turkey; baked or boiled not fried.

 

Or did you mean for your grey ?

Edited November 19, 2012 by june

[sarabz]

Beans! (Beans, beans, they're good for the heart / the more you eat, the more you fart / the more you fart, the better you feel / so let's have beans for every meal!)

 

Sorry - couldn't resist.......

 

 

I think a little more info would be helpful to help you get the answer you're looking for

[Guest suzanne]

haha, sorry I did mean for my grey!

 

He is 9.5 and was diagnosed as having early heart failure. I do not know if this is true until we see our own vet this week and get appropriate tests done, this vet had diagnosed this from a stethoscope alone.

 

Currently he eats Fish4dogs food (not sure that's available in the usa?) with salmon oil and a spoon of uncooked porridge oats. He also regularly eats raw chicken legs/wings, lamb and or pork heart and lamb kidneys. He also has kefir on top of his food from time to time and some tinned sardines in sunflower oil maybe once a week.

 

I just want to add anything helpful to the diet in terms of additives (meat, offal? veg?!).

[RedHead]

I have a couple of books with homemade health diets (Monica Segal, and Lew Olsen...both great books btw with heart healthy recipes!), so I took a quick look at both. They both said similar things:

 

1) sodium restriction is usually recommended, but only in late stage heart failure (both books mentioned sodium restriction can have a negative effect during early stages). Do try to stay away from things like canned meat, salty cheeses, etc.

 

2) Salmon oil (or an animal based omega 3 oil) is also good for general heart health

 

3) Dogs don't get the same cholesterol problems that humans do, but sticking with lower fat when possible is good.

 

4) Feed high quality proteins...sometimes you may need to cut back on protein but in general the heart and muscles NEED protein, and the higher quality, the better.

 

5) Some heart supporting vitamins are taurine and l-carnitine..both of these are found in raw meat (especially beef or lamb heart, if you can feed that a couple of times a week that is good). Note that if meat is cooked these are destroyed so you would have to supplement with pills. It also suggested feeding organs a few times a week. Veggies, dairy, etc. are also fine.

 

Good luck!

[Guest suzanne]

thank you very much! sounds like i am on the right track :)

[Guest grey_dreams]

Lamb heart is very good, but don't feed too much of it. Fish oil is very good, like salmon oil.

 

You really should start giving Coenzyme Q10, usually about 100 mg per day for a greyhound. It's good to give CoQ10 supplements to older dogs too, not only for heart disease, but especially for heart disease it is crucial. Once you start giving CoQ10 supplement, you have to continue throughout the rest of his life, because the metabolism adjusts to the supplement. I like the CoQ10 from Solgar that is specially suspended in lipids (http://www.solgar.co...1x-Softgels.htm), but don't give the soft gel capsule. Cut a very small hole at one end of the capsule, squeeze out the contents onto a bit of something tasty (e.g., sardines canned in spring water no salt added), and serve.

 

Once you have a diagnosis, if he is found to have heart disease, then you will want to start adding in carnitine and taurine (500 mg each per day to start). D-ribose will be good too, but first you need to get the diagnosis.

Edited November 20, 2012 by grey_dreams

[Guest grey_dreams]

It's best if you don't use tap water for your animals, especially if he has heart disease. Spring water is best.

 

To keep his metabolism from becoming acidic, it's good to add wheat grass powder to his food, or the best possible is this combination of vegetables+sprouts+grasses:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garden-Life-Original-10-6-Ounce-Canister/dp/B000GWG7X6/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353411922&sr=8-1-fkmr1

 

You mentioned that you give tinned sardines in sunflower oil, but its better to use the ones prepared in spring water with no added salt.

 

And please hydrate the oats (use a bit of boiling water) before feeding so that it doesn't expand in the stomach. Best to give some water with the food anyway, and it's easy to hydrate the oats before feeding.

[Guest suzanne]

Thanks for the tips all, he gets heart infrequently, say one a week, and same for the sardines. I have never seen any here that are done in water, just oil or brine He gets salmon oil already and loves it

Edited November 20, 2012 by suzanne

[Guest grey_dreams]

You could probably get fresh sardines too from a fish seller or an ethnic market. When I could get them, I used to feed fresh raw sardines. Ask where they come from. The ones I used to get were from the Black Sea. I washed them really well in water before serving. The oils are even better in unprocessed fish.

[Guest sirsmom]

_{your vet will most likely put him on some diuretic and low sodium prescription food.}