Update from Auburn

Well, I had a very long call with Drs. Gillette and Barrett this morning. They believe that there may be 2 things going on, 1 easy to address and the other not so easy.

1. Potential urinary tract infection - I'll take Gata in for a cystocentesis tomorrow to get a sterile urine draw. Hopefully, that will be the explanation for red blood cells in her urine. I've been losing some sleep over this one since they did not identify any bacteria or crystals in the free catch samples that I provided for them down there. And the RBCs were consistently seen in every sample.

2. Explanation for collapses - There is no doubt that Gata is showing a variety of strange metabolic responses, as soon as she actually sees that it is time for work. She definitely displays an anticipatory phase. But even at rest her basic metabolic profile suggests that she is under stress without doing anything. What we can't tell from the results is the role of her diet (raw) versus her basic physiological metabolic capabilities. Dr. Gillette has shown in lots of his research that performance dogs require a higher percentage of fat and carbohydrate in their diet. He wants about 27 - 30% of the calories in her diet coming from protein, 23 - 27% from fat, and the rest from carbohydrates. 

I could switch her over to one of the kibbles he has lots of experience with, but we're all concerned about whether her system would be able to make the switch since she's been on raw all her life. I've given her kibble intermittently as treats, etc. over her life. She likes it well enough, but it does tend to give her loose stools/diarrhea. So, luckily enough, one of the folks that I am training with out here has a raw dog food company. He will make up a special batch of food for her, if I work with their veterinarian on staff to put together the recipe. First, I have to make sure I understand everything that Gillette and Barrett want in it. They are supposed to be sending some info on exactly what they want in the diet - everything - vitamins, minerals, all of it. I'm not leaving anything to chance this time.

I think I am headed for a crash course in canine nutrition. My head is spinning.

Anyway, once I get her stabilized on the new diet, we'll see what happens to her heat and exercise tolerance. If it increases significantly, we'll know we got to the heart of the problem. If it doesn't then we'll see about figuring out what is going on with her physiology/biochemistry.

We're expecting that it will take about 12 weeks to get to that point. It seems like a long time, but it will fly by. I've been increasing the fat in their diet since I got home from there. I'll start adding in some carbs in the form of cooked oatmeal or rice in the next couple of days. Now, I just have to figure out all the balance of everything else. Hopefully, by the time the new raw diet is ready they'll already be on a higher fat and carbohydrate diet and will make the transition easily.

In addition, they also want me to maintain and potentially even push her conditioning program a little so that I will be able to clearly identify a change. The 45 minute mark is a big deal to them. And they are interested in what happens around that time point even if I am just walking her for the first 10 - 15 minutes. In all honesty, I don't think that it will be a problem to determine whether or not the dietary change is working. Even if her physiological response doesn't occur during the summer season this year, it's easy enough to observe in the fall and will be clear again no later than next spring. She and Tor will probably end up being some of the best conditioned Belgians out there. As long as they don't keep wiping me out on the bike ...

An additional aspect of the conditioning is to help push her body to "learn" to utilize fat and carbohydrates as an energy source. Since she has gotten less than optimal amounts of fat and carbohydrate, we're not entirely sure that her physiology can utilize them. That's sort of the second part of the hypothesis, but first we have to rule out diet. So, I'll transition her diet relatively slowly, maintaining her exercise program as much as I can without risking collapses. After she is fully transitioned onto the new diet, we'll get more serious about tracking her exercise capacity.

Again, my experience with Drs. Gillette and Barrett was incredible. I know it is very hard to do this sort of stuff over the phone but they managed quite well. I hope that they remember to send me the information and presentations that we talked about. That would definitely help. I have no confidence in my ability to create a well balanced raw diet, even with the help of my friends. I feel like everything I've read and learned to get comfortable with putting her on a raw diet is now in question. 

So, for now, no clear cut answer. But we know that it is metabolic and are going to set about determining what the cause of it is. If it is the diet, it will be a relatively quick and easy fix. Though it will have been a very painful lesson and I will likely feel guilty about it for a very long time. But I'll have my crazy girl back to full speed soon :-)  If it's not the diet, there's really no guarantee that we will be able to get to the cause of it. We would probably try a few things but there are lots of possibilities, not all easily tested for. Either way, Gata and Tor will probably end up being some of the best fed and conditioned dogs around :-)