In 2005, my partner and I decided to adopt a new dog. She’d had a Rottweiler in her previous relationship who she had to leave behind and missed terribly. There happened to be a female Rotti named Pearl, at our local SPCA shelter and I was persuaded to go and have a look at Pearl.
As it turned out, we did adopt a dog, not Pearl however, but rather a deaf male Dalmatian named Zack. We knew absolutely nothing about the breed, but I’ll tell you, Zack is without question the most handsome Dalmatian I had ever laid eyes on, before or since!
Zack did have his issues understandably, having been bounced around from shelter to shelter, and finally having been abandoned by his previous owner who moved out of his apartment, leaving Zack to fend for himself for about a week or so, as we were told by the shelter people.
We had become the guardians of this beautiful deaf Dalmatian. We worked through most of his issues and the challenges of living with a deaf animal, and his wonderful personality started to shine through now that he knew he was in a loving home.
We’d been feeding Sweety (my 14 year old Border Collie) a raw diet, mostly chicken back and neck, and rainbow trout when it went on sale, and decided to put Zack on the same diet. They loved the raw diet, and we loved that they loved it! For me at least, it’s a really good feeling knowing that I’m giving them nutrition as close to as what nature had intended, but about a year into the raw feeding, Zack suddenly developed a potentially life threatening case of urinary crystals. As a result, the poor guy couldn’t pee for almost two days, and ended up in the hospital for about a week. Of course the vet recommended that we immediately switch Zack to a veterinary prescription food specifically “designed” for dogs with urinary tract problems, to which we were reluctant, but did so, for fear that if we didn’t, his dangerous crystal problem would return.[amazon-product align="right" alink="9E1D27" bgcolor="FFFFFF" bordercolor="6B6B6B" tracking_id="dogbyt03-20"]0609803727[/amazon-product]
As we began to research the urinary problems that can afflict the Dalmatian breed, we learned that some Dalmatians (and a couple of other breeds) can be very sensitive to “purines”, (components of certain foods – primarily found in animal proteins – that metabolize into uric acid in the body). In fact humans, apes and some dog breeds are unique in the way in which they metabolize “purine-yielding foods.” “Not every human will form urinary stones or crystals (in the case of dogs), and neither will every Dalmatian”, says the Dalmatian Club of America. We learned that to keep your Dalmatian healthy and stone and crystal free, they require a diet rich in high-quality, human-grade protein sources but low in purine content with access to LOTS of water!
While chicken rates middle of the road as far as purine content is concerned, organ meats – kidneys, livers, brains, hearts, etc. are “Red Light” purines, which means that at least on a daily basis, those foods should be excluded from a Dalmatian’s diet. As soon as we discovered that organ meats should be given sparingly in the Dalmatian diet, it all made complete sense, chicken back and neck usually have some organ meats still attached, that had to be it!!
It wasn’t until we moved to Calgary in mid 2008 however, that I discovered a raw food store called Healthy Hounds near where we lived, we decided to take another crack at putting Zack on a raw diet again. Jody, the owner of Healthy Hounds happens to own two Dalmatians whom she feeds a raw diet to, and after some discussion with her, we made the switch back to raw, feeding Zack Pets Go Raw full chicken or turkey meals, which consists of the meat, vegetables and fruits, liver, eggs, alfalfa and kelp. We also supplemented with salmon oil, and once a week or so we’d give him a beef meal. Feeding a dog a meal of organ meat once a week or so is a good idea according to Donald R. Collins, D.V.M. who says, “veterinary nutritionists have long referred to unidentified liver fractions and their dramatic effects on animal health”. Raw beef and chicken liver are rich in protein, amino acids, phosphorus, potassium, copper, vitamin A and B- complex vitamins including folic acid, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6 and choline.We also made sure that Zack always had fresh water available, and made sure to add a cup of warm water to each of his meals, ensuring adequate hydration thereby keeping his urine dilute to help avoid any further crystal problems.
So in the end, we were able to uncover and optimize Zack’s unique nutritional needs. Of course we, (Zack included), learned the hard way, not having researched the Dalmatian breed before bringing one into our home. To that end, I have three words. Research. research, research!!
Dalmatian Resources
Dalmatian Breed History
Dalmatian Club of America
Purine Chart
I'm a dog guardian to Sweety, my 15 year old Border Collie & Zeus a stray American Pit Bull Terrier that I rescued in October of 2009. I write about canine health and nutrition focusing mainly on topics relating to feeding a raw meaty bones diet.
