PATCHES and SHANTI

In 1999 our Austrailian Shepherd was 8 years old, eating Nutra nuggets, and in the next year his health went down hill quickly. He could no longer jump up on the bed to sleep with us. He would put a paw on the bed, look at us with resignation and agony, and collapse on the floor. If we tried to help him on the bed by lifting up his hips, he would groan in pain. He was also getting cataracts.

About that time, I found your website and I was shocked. I followed your recipes and made up a few of my own, and within about 6 months, he was a pup again, jumping on the bed again. He went out in the garden, ate an entire head of cabbage, and his cataracts cleared up. We fed him cabbage after that and he loved it.

We also have a border collie (Shanti) and her health improved quite visibly. We found her at a trail head, think she'd been there for a month. Her coat was stiff and dull and full of stickers and stuff, and she was terrified of people, but she looked us over, considered her options, and jumped into the back of our station wagon and came home with us. After 6 months on veggie food, her coat got all wavy and shiny.

I have three basic recipes. One uses Oatmeal and wheatgerm. One uses Brown rice or Black Japonica blend from Lundberg Farms and tofu. The biscuits are whole wheat and soy flour. I add peas and carrots to the brown rice recipe, along with some tomato sauce. They love it the most. We also give them omega 3 eggs and in his last months, we added some wild catch salmon and albacore tuna, since he liked the smell of fish so much.

Patches began to show signs of aging in the last year and we put him down this morning, after he woke up and couldn't walk anymore. He was the most incredible dog. Never demanding, he simply lived in our home and was always neat and clean. Even in the last year, he never peed on the carpets, he either went outside or peed while he was lying on his bed, which we covered with thick towels. He seldom complained and wasn't a barker. I thought about him reaching doggie heaven, and I saw the other dogs stop what they were doing to pay him homage. He was a noble dog, a loyal companion to my husband. Ray found Patches in his driveway when he was a puppy. I fell in love with him the first time I saw him, when he was 5.