Moosie (left) and Monty (right)

Our French Bulldogs Monty and Moosie have been on mORIGINS for over three years now and the results are very impressive. People often approach us just to ask us what we feed our dogs! But, It took us and our vets some time to get up to speed with the raw diet. There was definitely a learning curve, but now we are all wiser because of it.

Our problem started when our youngest dog, Moosie, began regurgitating and re-consuming every meal he ate when he was about 9 months old. With the help of several vets, we decided to proceed slowly and to rule out all the really scary things that might be present. We had him scoped and a Barium swallow performed. Endoscopy revealed nothing unusual other than a large amount of bacteria in the pylorus and the duodenum (the lower third of the stomach and the beginning of the small intestine) which is not uncommon for any creature that has a problem with chronic regurgitation. We were told that inflammation from the bacteria combined with stomach acids creates a functioning hiatal hernia which further complicated his issues. Fortunately, there was no Myasthenia Gravis, no Megaesophagus or any other chronic condition that would commonly cause Moosie's problem. Every vet arrived at the same conclusion - that he must be allergic to the raw diet, but no testing was ever performed to back this up.We wanted more tests performed and weeks later a different vet performed a second Barium swallow that did reveal something unusual - Moosie's esophagus stopped pumping down towards his stomach about half way through his meal. Now it seemed we did have a chronic condition (unrelated to any known allergy) and one that we assumed would only get worse as he aged. Medications (Reglan, Cisapride) were administered but were ineffective. Although Moosie was active and happy and he maintained his weight we felt horrible that he had to suffer through this. With no other information to help us, we had to face the fact that it could be his diet. We consulted Laurie at mORIGINS who was very supportive and eager to help in any way, including providing us with separate ingredients of the mORIGINS formula in order to determine what component of the diet might be the culprit. Nothing was conclusive.

Vets all suggested the same remedy - to put our dogs on a hypoallergenic "engineered" protein for at least four months. Desperate to help Moosie, we were happy to do so. Moosie's problems worsened and our older dog Monty (who had no health problems prior to this change in diet) developed bad breath, constipation and skin rashes. We had to feed our dogs as much as 40% more of the canned food in order for them to maintain their ideal size and weight. Of course, the more Moosie ate, the more he regurgitated. The canned diet was now costing us more than the raw diet and the health of my dogs was deteriorating. Clearly, this was not a solution for us. We tried cooked and raw chicken diets, whitefish diets, lamb, venison, rabbit, etc. We began making their food at home. Nothing changed.

Left with no remedies, we tried to understand why one of our two otherwise very healthy Frenchies had this problem and the other did not. There was one big difference between the two of them. Monty is a "rangier" (longer bodied) dog, Moosie is quite cobby (shorter bodied) and actually fits his breed standard more closely. But knowing that the breed standard doesn't always consider the over-all well-being of a dog, we began to think that we had been overlooking a simpler problem.We wondered if generations of dwarfing down these dogs from Mastiffs, etc., could have produced a dog whose digestive system required more room to function than his body provided. So, we decided to simply change some basic routines. Both dogs go for a long walk BEFORE every meal so that Moosie can evacuate before he eats. The logic seems to be that an empty lower bowel allows more room in his stomach and esophagus. Now that esophageal problem that turned up during one of the Barium swallows seems to make sense - if his digestive system is getting overly full, perhaps his esophagus will naturally stop trying to cram more food into his belly. He began to improve within a few days and now he is symptom free as long as we follow our modified routine. For dog owners and for the medical community, the lesson is to avoid jumping to the conclusion that a raw diet has inherent problems and risks, and become your dog’s or cat’s advocate even when you are told there are no more options. Our nature seems to require an immediate answer to complex questions. But as our vets will now attest, this tendency may lead to covering up the real issue.

Both dogs have been consuming mORIGINS and thriving for months now. Credit goes to our entire support group: Medical professionals and especially Laurie Montean who is never too busy to offer her support.

Jim Amburn and John Curry
St. Helena, CA

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