The below is a modified version prepared for SFRAW from the Featured Article I wrote, published by BayWoof in Sept 2019:
THE BENEFITS OF THE KETOGENIC DIET FOR DOGS — BAYWOOF.
Prior to this, I also wrote on the topic of carbohydrates in the canine diet for my Featured Article published by BayWoof in October 2017:
You might be on a ketogenic diet or protocol right now, or have heard about or considered a ketogenic diet for yourself because “keto” has become very popular the past few years. We noticed that we are being asked about “ketogenic” diets and if our foods are “keto”, a lot these days. The truth is, even before this wave of interest started, for years, SFRAW has strongly promoted a nutrition, time-restricted eating/intermittent fasting and exercise program that easily supports ketosis/ketogenic state to address a number of health issues in humans, dogs, and cats.
To learn all about ketosis for pets, please learn more from the following excellent resource dedicated to providing up-to-date information on ketosis in dogs/cats:
https://www.ketopetsanctuary.com/ (check out their online diet calculator to building a very simple ketogenic diet for your dog, using easy to find ingredients)
SFRAW Specific Information on Ketogenic diets/Ketosis and Our Products
SFRAW does not market or produce a “keto” diet. This is because, while dietary change is the foundation of establishing and maintaining a ketogenic protocol, there’s a lot more to just feeding a keto-friendly diet when it comes to effectively transitioning your animal’s metabolism into a ketogenic state and achieving a state of metabolic ketosis. Please review the helpful information below when considering SFRAW products for your dog/cat’s ketogenic protocol:
• All SFRAW Grinds & Formulas are “keto-friendly”, simply by our original beneficial fat containing, low-glycemic, species appropriate formulation and design
• All SFRAW Grinds & Formulas can be easily adapted to provide an ideal foundation with all the nutrition required, as the full nutritional component of a ketogenic program
However, while diet is the foundation for achieving nutritional ketosis to address specific health concerns, there is actually more involved with putting your animal into a state of ketosis than diet alone. When feeding SFRAW Grinds & Formulas, you most likely will need to supplement your pet’s meals with added beneficial fat (our favorite is MCT oil, Red Gold, Ghee or Red Palm Oil) to ensure adequate ketone levels are being produced by your individual animal on a regular basis – especially when faced with a serious illness such as an aggressive cancer.
When is Being in Ketosis Most Useful?
Specifically, ketogenic diets are especially useful for the following concerns:
1) Fast growing aggressive cancers (up to 80% of the common cancers respond to the body being in state of ketosis)
2) Brain function, seizures and almost all other neurological disorders including senility and dementia
3) Diabetes and obesity (ketogenic diets improve glucose and insulin levels)
Becoming “keto-adapted” after a strict period of maintained ketosis using a ketogenic diet and protocols reduces inflammation systemically. This has a profound impact on overall health and well-being including better hair/coat condition, normalized immune function/reduced autoimmune reactions, supports balanced hormones and cortisol levels (related to stress), improved mobility, energy and mood.
What is Ketosis?
Ketosis is a metabolic state where our body becomes “fat adapted” – meaning it effectively metabolizes (“burns”) fat for energy, instead of sugar/carbohydrates.
Verifying ketosis:
Feeding or eating a “ketogenic diet” or following a keto-friendly nutrition plan does not independently ensure that an individual will achieve or maintain being in a metabolic state of ketosis.
In order to determine if your animal is in a state of ketosis, their ketone levels must be measured using a blood ketone monitor (we recommend the Precision Xtra monitors) and your pet’s measurements be maintained at or above 0.3mmol (ideally, over 0.8mml for cancer and other therapeutic effects to occur, if possible).
What Does a Ketogenic Diet Look Like?
A ketogenic diet is:
1) HIGH in clean and stable sources of FAT that promotes a ketogenic state in the body. For example, organic MCT oil, organic unrefined coconut oil, organic unrefined red palm oil, traditionally prepared ghee, raw animal fats/lard from truly-pasture raised sources, and our Red Gold – are some of the best options.
2) MODERATE amounts of useable, digestible, preferably raw, clean PROTEIN. It is important to use species appropriate animal proteins in their raw, wholesome/not denatured state and sourced from clean, truly-pasture raised/grass-finished/biodynamic, low in contaminants and easy for a carnivore’s system to assimilate.
3) ZERO or very low in CARBOHYDRATES. Please understand that all vegetables, even low-glycemic options, contain some amount of carbohydrate. Our curated list of the best choices in veggies can be found here: https://sfraw.blog/2017/07/25/best-veggies-for-pets-according-to-sfraw/ And these will all be great choices for incorporating into your dog’s ketogenic diet. Net carbohydrate and sugar present in the food/ingredient should be carefully controlled to remain very low. Small amounts of properly prepared produce and resistant starches can benefit the gut microbiome (as a prebiotic food/fiber) and may be thoughtfully included. Please be sure to avoid ALL high-glycemic foods such as: apples/fruit, carrots, beets, potatoes, sweet potato, corn, beets, peas, grains, rice, oatmeal, etc. You can find an easy to read infographic type list of what to eat/feed & what to avoid here: https://perfectketo.com/ketogenic-diet-foods-to-avoid/ (HUMAN FOODS)
Ketogenic Diet Ratios
The ketogenic ratio is defined as the ratio of grams of fat to grams of carbohydrate plus protein. Higher ratios result in greater degrees of ketosis. Fat to protein ratios in the ketogenic diet will range from 4:1 (therapeutic for humans, some animals may require this level but it’s uncommon) to 2:1 (easy starting point and long-term choice for most dogs/cats).
However, precisely how much fat you include in the diet should be determined by not only the animals’ blood ketone levels and urgency of the specific health condition your animal is struggling with, but will need to be determined by their ability to tolerate (digest) the suggested amount of fat in the diet.
You may start with a 2:1 ratio, and work your way up to a higher ratio, only if needed. The KetoPet Sanctuary uses a 2:1 ratio to effectively manage their population of end-stage, advanced cancer animals under their program/care.
I like the explanation of how to calculate ratios available here: https://www.myketocal.com/blog/the-ketogenic-ratio-explained/
For example, they have this breakdown that may be useful for some:
A 4:1 ketogenic ratio describes a ketogenic diet that is made of 4 grams of fat for every 1 gram of protein plus carbohydrate.
In other words, for every 5 grams of food consumed, there are 4 grams of fat and 1 gram of protein and/or carbohydrate.
Therefore, a 4:1 ketogenic diet contains 80% fat (4÷5=80%) and 20% protein plus carbohydrate (1÷5=20%).
Likewise, a 2:1 ketogenic diet contains 75% fat (2÷5=75%) and 25% protein plus carbohydrate (1÷5=25%).
Notice that the ketogenic ratio compares the amount of fat, protein, and carbohydrates in grams, a measure of weight. This is because the diet is calculated in grams, since foods are measured by weight using a gram scale.
One example, using SFRAW’s Beef Grind + Bulletproof Brain Octance Fuel MCT Oil:
100 grams of the SFRAW Beef Grind provides an estimated: 111 Kcal, 0.9 g/carbohydrate, 3.33 g/fat and 19.24 g/protein. This food will require supplementing with fat to meet a ketogenic fat:protein ratio.
100 grams of Bulletproof Brain Octane MCT oil provides 928 Kcal, 0 g/carbohydrate, 100 g/fat and 0 g/protein.
To make 100 grams of SFRAW Beef Grind into a 2:1 ratio ketogenic meal, you will need to add the correct amount of Bulletproof Brain Octane MCT oil to tolerance and to the amount required to put your animal into a ketogenic state.
Achieving and Maintaining Successful Ketogenic State is Accomplished by the COMBINATION of three Key Components:
1) Ketogenic diet (nutrient dense, raw & well-sourced)
2) Caloric restriction/Fasting
3) Exercise
Simply feeding a ketogenic diet may be helpful, but it is typically not enough to accomplish the therapeutic effects of a ketogenic protocol
If your animal has been diagnosed with a serious illness, you cannot expect them to get into a ketogenic state by simply focusing on feeding “keto-friendly” foods. It is important to test your animals’ blood (not urine) ketone levels and adjust other aspects of their lifestyle with have dramatic influence on their ability to produce ketones. These aspects are:
1) Caloric Restriction – unless your dog in already very underweight, most likely your animal must be fed at a caloric deficit at first to get into ketosis. Then, after being verified through blood testing to be producing sufficient ketones, they should be fed just enough calories for them to maintain a LEAN and trim body condition. Every dog is different, and we don’t usually count calories – we prefer to feed less or more and look at our dogs body condition objectively in order to determine if they are getting adequate caloric intake to maintain a lean, healthy weight and good muscle tone.
Unfortunately, we have all (veterinarians included!) become accustomed to puffy, inflamed, overweight and obese pets. We have an altered perception of what a healthy weight for dogs and cats actually looks like. A lean, trim healthy dog/cat will show some ribs, and have a prominent tuck to their waist and tummy. There will be just enough padding to barely cover their hip bones, in fact. According to research on longevity, slightly underweight pets will live longer, too – so do not be concerned when your dog becomes trim and lean in order to be in ketosis. They simply cannot get into a ketogenic state when they are being overfed or eating the wrong foods.
2) Fasting (OMAD = one-meal-a-day eating and reduced feasting window/periods) – every time you eat, your body is put through stress – the stress related to eating/consuming and metabolizing nutrients has an immediate impact on inflammation levels in our body, and immunity/immune function. Yes, living beings obviously all require and certainly benefit from the various nutrients and fuel/energy provided by our diets, but eating/digesting also puts a lot stress on our system and organs (especially the pancreas/liver/kidney).
Our Suggestion: Fasting your animal every day for an 16-hour (or longer) period with no food/treats – only water, and either feeding your pet one meal a day or feeding within a 4-6 hour “feasting” window, when they can enjoy multiple meals, and treats (for example, using keto-friendly training treats or when they can enjoy keto-friendly snacks). This is the best way to support your pet in producing ketones, and just overall, to managing/preventing many diseases. Fasting allows for our bodies to enter a wonderful state called autophagy – this is an innate, effective and safe natural and normal detoxification process, whereby our own bodies “clean-up” our DNA/cells, priming and rejuvenating of various vital organs, dispatch and remove/eliminate accumulated toxins, rebalance flora/microbe balance, and can effectively renew/repair of various cells within the body. It’s pretty amazing and quite powerful what this natural process of autophagy can do for us!
So, when do I feed them? You may choose to fed a moderate meal at the start of the 4-6 hour feasting window and then a small meal toward the end, or let them eat a large prey-model type meal over the 4-6 hours period, or just feed one meal a day (most popular and easiest option). If you continue to feed your animal on a standard twice a day + treats type schedule, even with ketogenic friendly-foods, they most likely will never be able to produce ketones or get into a ketogenic state. Thus, be sure to follow the protocol as a new lifestyle/routine, and then be sure to test blood ketone levels to actually verify that your animal is in ketosis!
3) Exercise – this has a significant and direct influence on your animal’s ability to get into a state of ketosis. Yes, even older and very sick animals should be encouraged to practice gentle exercise every day. Exercise should preferably occur in open natural areas with natural flora, earth/ground/water and direct exposure to natural/unfiltered sunshine daily. Short high-intensity sessions of exercise (“high intensity workouts”) that involve jumping/dock diving/vigorous swimming, sprints/fetching, running up hills, pulling/sledding, etc. according to current research, appears to provide the most benefit for entering and maintaining a state of ketosis over slow, long-distance exercise, at least from what we know about humans and ketosis right now. New research has hinted that blood glucose/ketone levels may be improved with some forms of endurance activity, however – so our understanding of this aspect is ongoing. In any case ketone levels are influenced by the amount of exercise your animal gets – so increasing their exercise (considering their ability, safety and comfort levels of course!) as much as you can and continue to measure blood ketones, accordingly.
Getting Started & Staying in Ketosis: Our Suggestions
We recommend starting every animal with the following steps, for an ideal and proven protocol as you transition them onto a ketogenic program:
1) For the FIRST 2-3 DAYS: start with a water-only fast. Fasting = no food at all, with free access to fresh, filtered water. The truth is, fasting ALONE works well to put us into a state of ketosis. Fasting gives your animal’s body an opportunity to enter into a ketogenic state, as well as allowing for autophagy to occur, which is incredibly beneficial.
Autophagy is a natural detox process your body undergoes when fasting to clean out damaged cells and regenerate new ones. This process repairs and cleans accumulated “junk” within our cells – it is very supportive for the management of cancer and normal accumulation of toxins/viruses/bacteria, and cell damage that occurs over time. Autophagy is very powerful innate, completely natural process that promotes healing and restores health. The benefits of autophagy include: reduced inflammation and improvement in daily bodily function; prevention or delay of neurodegenerative diseases; and increased longevity. http://www.anti-agingfirewalls.com/2013/04/19/autophagy-the-housekeeper-in-every-cell-that-fights-aging-2/
FASTING TIPS: If you have any reservations or concerns over fasting your animal, we recommend:
- Liberal use of a very safe “always a good idea” flower essence blend called Bach’s Rescue Remedy. We recommend dosing by mouth, spritz/spaying and/or petting your animal with a few drops on the palms of your hands: give 2-4 drops, at least 6 times/day. Use as needed. Also add 16 drops of Rescue Remedy to their water bowl every day (be sure water is filtered). Frequent dosing of a few drops at a time is more important and effective. If you miss a dose of Rescue Remedy, do not give extra drops, but you can dose a few drops each as frequently as every 15 minutes, if they seem physically, emotionally or behaviorally stressed. Rescue Remedy is very helpful if/when you or your animal are experiencing stress or having trouble emotionally/behaviorally/habit-wise with fasting, changes in diet or routines.
- If they are asking/begging for food, simply use upbeat, engaging distraction to refocus their attention on favorable and enjoyable activities. Depending on the animal, this may involve: extra love, massage, T-Touch or reiki sessions, cuddling/attention, grooming, going for extra walks (every time they ask for food, suggest & take a walk instead!), going out to favorite places in nature, playing games/training practicing obedience or tricks/sports and use toys or tug sessions as reward.
So long as your animal’s energy is normal (not dramatically concerning or lethargic) and they are not experiencing symptoms of illness (vomiting or shivering), then you can rest assured that fasting is helpful and providing great benefits to them. Usually by the 2nd or 3rd day, your animal will start to feel *fantastic*! After a day or two of fasting, your pet’s energy will increase, mood will elevate, and they will usually be buzzing around feeling absolutely fabulous. This is the power of fasting at work!
BENEFITS OF FASTING: Fasting may be the single most healing step your daily protocol and transitional process, so don’t skip giving it a try with your animals! Indeed, fasting may be used as often as needed throughout your animal’s lifetime and health journey. Fasting is an incredible, powerfully healing, inexpensive (free!), and side-effect free, completely natural tool that is particularly beneficial for cancer and allergy/immune dysfunction patients, even for animals undergoing chemotherapy treatments or experiencing muscle or weight-loss/cachexia.
Employ a schedule of time-restricted fasting/feasting (also known as daily intermittent fasting) for best results. We recommend the following 24-hour schedule: water-only fast your animal for 18-hours/day; provide nutrition/meals and snacks within a strict 6-hour feasting window.
For example, here are two fasting/feasting window schedules that are commonly used:
FASTING WINDOW FEASTING WINDOW
10PM until 4PM (next day) 4PM-10PM (therapeutic)
7PM until 1PM (next day) 1PM-7PM (ancestral)
Start the day breakfast-free. No food/treats from waking until the afternoon. Filtered, clean water should be freely offered and available at all times. Don’t worry if they don’t drink much – they only need access to water if they need to drink, but if they don’t drink much, that’s ok!
Between 4-10pm or 1-7pm, you can feed them their main daily amount of nutrition/meal(s) and treats/snacks. You can choose to either feed them a single meal at the very start or the middle of this feasting window, or a larger meal around the midway point, and then a small meal or small snack offered before bed. Or, just feed them their main meal given at any time during the 6-hour feasting window. Treats can be used/fed during this time, but if you feed treats & snacks to them, you will then need to adjust their caloric intake form the main meals to maintain caloric restriction.
For most people, it is easiest to not feed treats or snacks at first, and just get accustomed to the schedule and new meals alone. But if skipping treats/snacks is a problem or creates undue stress for you and your animals, you may use treats/snacks. Remember: you absolutely must consider each bite of anything (even broth) that your animal takes in as being part of the ketogenic diet; foods must be keto-friendly, and you will need to reduce an equal quantity from from the main meals for every treat or snack they ingest to maintain caloric restriction.
CALORIC RESTRICTION – important! Using your dog’s target/ideal weight, calculate how many calories or how much food they will need to meet and maintain a lean, trim body condition. We suggest feeding 1.5-2% of your animals’ target/ ideal body weight in SFRAW Grinds or Formulas/daily or, if you want to count calories, you will want to feed your pet 15 calories per pound of their ideal/target body weight per day.
For example, for a 50-lb dog, you will need to feed 12-16 oz/day of the SFRAW Grinds or Formulas, and since each flavor has different nutrients naturally present, including fat and calories, and to minimize the risk of food intolerances, we suggest feeding a nice variety by rotating between at least four different proteins over time. Or, when counting and calculating using calories: a 50-lb dog will require 750-Kcal per day.
Calories and weight of the meals/food must include ALL nutrition they are consuming that day — including all nibbles of treats, bones, snacks, meals – everything! All those calories/grams really do count.
Adjust to feeding more or less food, as needed, to maintain a LEAN weight in your pet – you will want them to look, frankly, slightly underweight by *most* people’s common standards (yes, even by most veterinarians that are simply not accustomed to seeing lean, healthy dogs in their practice!)
Feed a strict ketogenic diet/nutrition & foods with a 2:1 or higher fat to protein ratio. Do not feed treats or other foods that are not keto-friendly. Get creative to make/prepare keto-friendly treats and snacks, at home or come down to SFRAW where we have a LOT of ever changing, fresh single-ingredient, zero-carbohydrate treat options available. The avoidance of non-ketogenic foods or ingredients is very important; allowing for even small amounts of high glycemic, starchy or higher carbohydrate ingredients or treats/foods can completely undermine the therapeutic effects and derail your efforts entirely.
LASTLY, but important, TEST TO VERIFY: To verify that your animal is in ketosis, you must actually TEST and monitor blood ketone levels by using a blood glucose/ketone monitor. We recommend the Precision Xtra monitors (http://a.co/cXcrFxV ), test strips and lancets are sold separately.
Your goal: ketone test results need to be 0.3 mmol or higher. Ketone levels that are below 0.3 mmol means that your animal is not in ketosis, and you will need to quickly make adjustments to the diet and/or the protocol. You will need to regularly test your animal’s ketone levels to verify that they have entered into a state of ketosis and are maintaining a ketogenic state. We will not be able to know or determine if your animal is actually in ketosis unless you test their ketone levels — especially in the beginning as they transition.
TIPS: Test as frequently as you can without stressing your pet or damaging your relationship with them. Testing requires just a tiny drop of blood and is simple to do! Ideally, you will test ketones once a day or once a week. We recommend that you test at the end of their daily fasting window, right before breaking their fast and just before their main meal. This is a great time to draw blood for their ketone test because you can then use their healthy keto-friendly meal as a celebratory, healing, happy reward! Make testing as fun and stress-free as possible; treat the blood draw procedure like a nice little massage routine, or like a fun game or new trick! Testing should be quick and painless. The monitor, lancets and procedure to collect/test glucose and ketones are the same; the difference is in the test strips. The purple ketone strips are used for testing ketones; the blue glucose strips are used for testing glucose.
There are lots of videos on YouTube on how to do this easily at home — here are some examples:
Test at the same time of day for consistency. Ketone levels are influenced by hydration, nutrition and digestion (best to test in a fasted state – at the same time in their fasting window for each test).
BTW: testing and monitoring blood glucose is a GREAT idea, while you’re at it! Monitoring their glucose levels can be very helpful to know how your animal is doing with their new protocol. Glucose results should be 75 mg/dL or lower.
Long-term Idea: Ketogenic Cycling (after the initial health threat is put into remission or condition is under control):
Once ketosis is achieved and verified through testing, and if the health issues have improved/gone into remission – it is possible, and perhaps may even beneficial, to move to a more moderate fat ratio of a ketogenic/low-carbohydrate diet for a long-term basis. Alternatively, some find that moving between the ratios during the treatment plans and illness periods is necessary for patient stability and maintaining adequate ketone levels. Let your testing guide you along the way — as well as your animal’s response to the foods. Your individual animal’s well-being is the ultimate determining factor — they should be feeling good most days and responding well to this protocol. If they are not responding well or having trouble with a ketogenic protocol, make adjustments as needed.
There is a strong case to be made that cycling in and out of ketosis is beneficial for the long-term. This doesn’t mean going back to feeding high-carb foods like kibble, denatured or processed foods or ingredients (certainly continue to avoid all grains/starches or sugary high-glycemic foods like rice, sweet potato, carrots, ripe bananas, etc), but it may be perfectly safe to include more nutrient-dense, low-glycemic veggies, and to maintain a moderate or variable, high quality protein to fat ratio for periods of time. Alternatively, it may even be beneficial to make changes to their caloric intake, fasting/feasting schedule, and exercise routine.
More About This: Our History (as it relates to this specific nutritional issue and our recommendations)
The founder, Kasie Maxwell, started feeding raw foods and practicing Natural Rearing for her animals in 1989. What she fed during these first years/generation of dogs & cats, compared to what she feeds and recommend now, is quite different – it has been a long, fascinating, engaging journey of discovery!
She founded SFRAW in 2003, and has always advocated for feeding species appropriate, fresh, wholesome foods with a primary focus on exceptional sourcing for ingredient purity, safety, and quality. Over the years, she has changed her position on the inclusion of even small amounts of grains, legumes, beans, and high-glycemic foods, fruits and vegetables. Up until 2009, SFRAW recommended the need to eliminate these foods entirely from the diet only if/when the animal had developed skin/allergy/ear issues, cancer, and other inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, and autoimmune diseases.
Research over the past 10-15 years has clearly indicated that we can significantly increase longevity, and reduce the risk of our animals getting cancer and suffering from many age-related ailments, autoimmune diseases, and inflammatory conditions by feeding well-sourced (pasture-raised, organic, grass-finished, wild meats handled and produced with attention to safety and nutritional integrity), wholesome, authentically natural (raw, fermented or gently cooked), low-carbohydrate/low-glycemic diet with moderate amounts of high quality fat and protein.
With this information and after years of experience, we changed our position so that, as of around 2010-2011, we began to recognize there were simply too many high risks associated with including these foods, even in healthy animals. Over time, our position on the exclusion and complete avoidance of high-glycemic foods/ingredients, grains, beans and legumes has only solidified in this regard so that we now even see feeding treats and occasional high-glycemic ingredients as potentially problematic in all dogs/cats (and usually not worth the risk!)
SFRAW Formulas & Grinds are Inherently “Keto-friendly”
When Kasie first formulated/developed SFRAW Grinds and Formulas many years ago, they were all specifically formulated to be what she felt was the perfect diet for our dogs/cats — no compromises — the BEST imaginable (no restrictions, no compromise!) Focuses on traditional healing through food, species specific nutritional requirements, and with the best/most desirable ingredient sourcing possible – they were her “dream” diets from every aspect that would impact our animal’s health. This meant that they were all 100% low-glycemic and “keto-friendly” by design, even though this was not a term being used at all.
At the time, we did not know much about ketogenic diets for dogs and cats, but were learning about the connection to cancer, diabetes, and brain/neurological function in humans. Without the specific aim of creating “keto” meals, all the SFRAW Grinds & Formulas were formulated to be broadly well-tolerated by all dogs/cats – even those with yeast related skin/yeast issues, autoimmune diseases, cancer, incontinence and arthritis/inflammatory conditions.
Thus, SFRAW Grinds & Formulas are:
• low-glycemic
• grain/legume/starch-free
• antinutrient-free
• animal protein based/dominant with very minimal amounts of non-animal ingredients
• only using whole foods to provide balanced and safe naturally occurring nutrients (no vitamins-minerals added or worse, pet food “vitamin-mineral” packs, which we think are incredibly harmful to long-term health)
• not removing the skin/connective tissues or fat provided naturally by the animal (SFRAW Grinds & Formulas are not “low fat” – but vary from low/moderate to moderate/higher in fat)
• including health promoting fats and nutrient-dense offal for the nutritional benefits they provide (sourcing only truly pasture-raised, wild sourced, and grass-finished meats/poultry/seafood/dairy/eggs)
At the time, we already knew that we needed to eliminate potentially problematic ingredients that were otherwise natural and wholesome for animals experiencing, or at-risk for experiencing, inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, or common health disorders such as: incontinence, cancer, skin/allergy/itching, diabetes, and digestive illnesses. We already knew that starches, sugars and carbohydrates should be completely avoided in these populations of dogs and cats. So, when we created our foods we ensured that high-carbohydrate ingredients such as pumpkin, carrots, apples/fruit, potato, etc. were not included, and even set us on a long period required to reformulate the very popular Healthy Powder and Healthy Powder with Bone Meal supplements that we make. This was something we knew was important at the time, even before ketogenic diets were looked at as an option for dogs/cats.
With new information and the latest research we now know that a low-carbohydrate, high-fat ketogenic diet can be very useful and beneficial for dogs/cats. Being in a ketogenic state (in a state of ketosis) is possible for our animal companions, and is proving to even be curative in the management of certain conditions (especially seizure disorders and aggressive cancers).
