I have been vegan since around 3years and it has made a big
difference to my health. However I never thought that this cruelty-free diet
would change my dog's life too. Angel is my 7 and a half yea old golden
retriever and this is a story about how it helped change her life for the
better. When Angel was around 4 years old she was diagnosed with an enlarged
heart condition. The doctors informed me that the heart was enlarged to a great
extent and she used to get breathless and could not even climb one floor of stairs.
She loved playing ball but could not chase it like she used to. I was asked to
start her on a whole course of allopathic medicine which I did. A few months
after her diagnosis I happened to attend the Peas vs. Pills workshop and there I
spoke to Dr Nandita about Angel's condition. She advised me to make Angel vegan
but I felt that since dogs are carnivorous animals, it would not be fair for
her to give up meat. However I decided to stop all dairy products for her , especially
ice-cream, her all time favourite food.
This helped her to a great extent as the heart stopped enlarging and
during one check up her cardiologist felt that the size of the heart had even
shrunk a little!
Then when she turned 7 she was diagnosed with a kidney
problem. Her creatinine was 1.9 and the doctors said that I could cut down on
meat as that would help reducing the creatinine to some extent. I did do that
for a few months but it did not help at all and I was told to keep increasing
her allopathic medicine. I then decided that some major changes needed to be
made in her diet and decided to meet Dr. Rupa Shah. During our first meeting I realised
that one cause of her kidney problem could be the allopathic medicine. We did
some research and found out that one of the side effects of the drugs she was
taking were kidney failure. From that day onwards I made Angel vegan. I began
to give her small meals in a day along with lots of fresh fruits and
vegetables. Along with Dr. Rupa's flower remedies, we slowly weaned her off all
allopathic medication and after just 3 months of this new diet her creatinine
dropped to 1.09! Angel enjoys her new diet and her new favourite foods are
steamed sweet potato and red rice idlis. She is now able to run up a flight of stairs
and chases the birds and of course her ball. Angel was also overweight by around
10 kilos just before she became vegan. She has now lost all that weight looks
slim and trim. She also looks younger and behaves like a younger dog!
Now Angel is a healthy vegan dog and off all her medicines
including the flower remedies that she took for awhile. What a transformation!
God bless Angel, Rohini Fernandes, Dr. Rupa Shah and all our global vegan brothers and sisters.
ReplyDeleteA Vegan from New York and Mumbai.
Wonderful story, thanks for sharing and many happy years together to you and your family
ReplyDeleteI wish everyone would just accept that meat and animal products are just NOT good! So happy that Angel is well and enjoying her life again. xoxo
ReplyDeleteHi Rohini,
ReplyDeleteI am happy for Angel and it's great that the diet is working good for her.
But I do hope that instead of advocating a vegan diet for pedigree dogs, the lesson should be to adopt Indian breeds who are more adapted to Indian conditions who don't develop such conditions in first place.
And feeding ice-creams to dogs was not such a great idea too.
Nature does not want us to be cruelty-free, it just wants us to be greed-free.
Thx
Thanks for your article.
ReplyDeleteCan you please suggest some vegan food items for dogs as mine does not eat sweet potatoes and rice. Nor does she eat raw vegetables. But she does enjoy fruits, so wanted to know some more vegan food options that your dog enjoys :)
Thanks again!!!
You can give your pet all types of fruit except grapes as they are poisonous for dogs. Angel also likes dalia and I add some roasted flaxseed powder to it before serving. In fact now she refuses to eat her dalia without the flaxseed! Ritika who runs the vegan bakery 'Green Stove' makes her multi grain vegan treats which she drools on especially cause they are baked so they get nice and crunchy.
DeleteHi Rohini!
ReplyDeleteIt was nice seeing you and Angel at the dinner party on Sunday. And now I am here to read this! Such a wonderful inspiration, this. I am a vegan in the making and every time I read something like this, my inspiration gets renewed. Thanks to you and Bow Wow to Angel!
- Aparna
This chokes me up coz our 10 year old Golden Retriver Tweety was diagnosed with a Kidney problem n high creatinine n she didnt make it :( . We have three of her amazing pups and one of them is named Angel ...so this hits home for me.. thanks for sharing and I am soooo glad u'r Angel is doing better. A hug for you n a tum-scratch for Angel.
ReplyDeleteSapna