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Cutting dangerous salt from diets?

2K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Dallas Gold 
#1 · (Edited)
A chiropracter that was jogging on the street stopped to let me know my pup needed some massages for her hips/back. He also suggested some pure mineral salts as dogs need that in their diet. He then continued his jog (wasn't trying to sell anything!)

I then told my Doctor friend and he said not to give salt to dogs because their kidneys/bodies don't know what to do with all of it and can cause other problems.

This leads me to wonder the amount of salt or sodium in dogfood and treats. Anyway to find out or monitor (rarely specified on the packaging). Or am I jsut being overly paranoid
:bowl:
 
#2 ·
After my Golden was diagnosed with hypertension I went on a mission to eliminate excess sodium from his diet. It was not easy. The treats were fairly easy to determine. Peanut butter can be very high in sodium, sugar and added oils--that's what makes it creamy and tasty to most people (not me). I finally found two brands of peanut butter that did not add any other ingredients other than peanuts (Arrowhead Mills and one brand of Smuckers Natural that is hard to find in grocery stores--try health food stores). I eventually started making peanut butter myself with my food processor. Getting an accurate sodium picture of his kibble was more problematic and I ended up calling the dog food manufacturer and speaking to one of their employees by phone. We settled on one formulation. Eventually we put him on hypertension medication anyway, but I feel better knowing that I'm limiting his sodium as best I can and possibly helping stave off kidney damage.

Question--what did he mean by "pure" mineral salts? Epsom salt? Do you personally know this guy or was he just spouting his "expertise" to make himself look good? I find it odd a "professional" would do something like that.
 
#3 ·
What would a chiropracter know about dogs to give that advise? That would be my first question.
He is not a vet and if I am not mistaken, a lot of chiropracters are not even doctors. Or am I wrong?
Anyway, this is ment for Dallas Gold, how did you find out that your golden had hypertension? Was he in for a surgery and hooked up to the monitors? I am just curious, because truthfully I would not know if my dog had hypertension. Thanks in advance!
 
#4 ·
What would a chiropracter know about dogs to give that advise? That would be my first question.
He is not a vet and if I am not mistaken, a lot of chiropracters are not even doctors. Or am I wrong?
Anyway, this is ment for Dallas Gold, how did you find out that your golden had hypertension? Was he in for a surgery and hooked up to the monitors? I am just curious, because truthfully I would not know if my dog had hypertension. Thanks in advance!

I agree, he is out of his professional training. And while chiropractors are doctors, they are NOT MDs and are certainly not nutritionists. Just remember that while some dogs like Dallas Gold's Toby need reduced salt because of hypertension, all beings need salts in their bodies for important metabolic processess.
 
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#7 ·
It was a real random encounter. He was jogging and I was walking with my bf. The salt would be pure sea salt, not the iodized salt. Something close to nature I guess lol.

I guess dogs do need salt in their diets overall just not any Added salt. now i need to worry about how much salt is in dogfood (Fromm). It's also tough when folks give her treats!
 
#8 ·
I wouldn't worry about it. The doctor (assuming you mean human doctor) knows no more than a chiropractor would about the canine diet.
Dogs rarely suffer from hypertension (much less so than in humans) so any excess salt in their diet simply would be filtered out by the kidneys. Unless they have some sort of kidney disorder this is of no consequence.
(No I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn last night but I do have a masters degree in animal nutrition.)
 
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