Pet Food Information
We all know that you are what you eat. The number of pet food choices today is staggering. However, it is very difficult for the consumer to get reliable information on canine or feline nutrition. Marketing efforts by the pet food companies are aimed at selling food, not at providing the best, most accurate information. We can help you de-mystify commercial dog food labels, decide if a raw or home cooked diet might be appropriate for your pet, or help you balance a home made diet. Since every animal is an individual, there is no one perfect food. We can also provide a rational approach to dietary supplements and help you decide what would be appropriate for your particular pet’s condition. Five Elements carries a variety of natural domestically made foods and treats available for purchase.
Weight loss plans
Owners frequently become frustrated when so-called “lite” or “weight control” foods fail to provide obvious results. Many of these diets are high in carbohydrates which may prevent some animals from losing weight, specifically for cats. In other cases, it is often the volume of food and treats combined.
A custom weight loss plan with specific diet instructions will be designed for your pet. This may involve either an appropriate commercially available diet or a custom, balanced home made diet. An exercise therapy plan will be developed to help shed the extra weight and improve lean muscle mass. Monthly “weigh-ins” are scheduled to track progress and re-assess the plan if necessary. Again, we stress an individualized approach to each animal’s diet to optimize health.
Food Therapy and Chinese Medicine
In Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, food is medicine. Specific foods may be used to help balance the body to aid in healing while treating specific conditions with acupuncture and herbal therapy. Many foods have different thermal properties – some foods are warming and some cooling to the body. Depending on the animal’s diagnosis, a diet with warming or cooling properties may be prescribed as part of the therapy.
Websites worth checking out are:
Herbal Therapy
Herbs are natural medicines that typically originate from plants, minerals and other natural sources. Rest assured that all of our herbal medicines are ethically sourced and come from top herbal suppliers that use Good Manufacturing Practices to ensure quality and safety.
Medicinal herbs are occasionally used individually, but more commonly combined with other herbs to create a formula. Different cultural traditions have developed numerous formulas to treat common health conditions. Herbal formulations can be provided as tea pills, capsules, powders or liquid tinctures. We have veterinarians trained in both Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine as well as Western Herbal Medicine. While most of our Chinese herbal formulas are prepackaged, Dr. Jen can create custom Western herbal liquid tincture formulas to meet your pet’s specific needs.