The theory behind a fast is that when you eat a tremendous amount of blood is diverted to the gut to carry digested nutrients to the body. By fasting that blood can be directed to other tasks. In most cases of injury or of contained infection the first thing that happens is a marked increase in blood flow. The blood contains the blood products that the body uses to fight infection, as well as the nutrients required to repair damage to the tissues.

Jason,

Keep in mind the the average life expectancy for the ancient greeks you mentioned was 35 years. People over 30 were considered old.

Glenn,

No I think you are right to question this. Hell I question almost everything!

The problem is that I don't seem to be qualified to answer your questions in a way that's going to make you a believer. I only know how fasting makes ME feel. I feel it has changed MY life for the better. I don't see any reason that it doesn't or wouldn't do the same for my dogs. It is definately something that I needed to experience for myself before I was convinced, believe you me. I guess I was further off from being able to explain it than I thought I was when I started this thread. As Brendan would say, at least I stirred up the possum a bit!!!

Richard,

Lets also keep in mind what infamous gluttons the Greeks were in all matters of life. I will bet you that the ones who lived to be truly old fasted regularly and were not such gluttons. Nature always punishes a glutton.

Milt,

One day won't do much for a human. This is how long it takes for the body to get the green light to start pouring all of the accumulated toxins into the bloodstream for elimination. Believe me you will feel terrible for the first three days or so until your body starts to catch up on eliminating these toxins. After three days though, it's all gravy, and you will have a whole new definition for what "feeling good" REALLY means.

Fasting is not a new concept to many and most holistic veternarians and people. Every book that I have on diet/nutrtion talks about the benifits of fasting.

This is especially not a new concept in the process of healing the body.

Here are a few excerpts:


"Fasting is one of the oldest and most natural methods of healing. Normally, the body constantly eliminates waste products, along with any tainted or toxic materials there were consumed. Fasting greatly reduces the body's usual assimilation and elimination load, allowing it to break down and expel older wastes that may have accumulated in the liver and fatty tissues. The body also gets a chance to unload the products of inflammation, tumors, and abscesses. Once the body has cleansed itself, the overworked glands, organs and cells have a chance to repair and restore themsleves. Dogs have been fasted formany days with excellent results and amazing recoveries" (taken from Dr. Pitcairns, Natural Health for Cats and Dogs)

"Digestion requires a lot of the body's energy, and an adequate break between meals is necessary to use that energy for healing and other body functions. Never leave food available all day." (taken from Kymythy Schultze's ,Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats...The Ultimate Diet)

"Fasting is necessary to give a dog's digestive tract a break and the kidneys a rest from dealing with the nitrogen waste from meat" (taken from Wendy Volhard & Kerry Brown's, Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog)

"Fasting is considered primary in healing diesease, particularly viral and bacterial illness, fever, skin problems, and digestive disorders in dogs. The theory is that when an animal or human is ill, the energy spent on the digestion process robs us of our healing ability and can worsen the disease. A pet fighting an acute illness needs detoxifying to support thier process of healing. Without food for a few days, the pet's body detoxifies rapidly and releases the disease quickly" (taken from Diane Stein's The Natural Remedy Book for Cat's and Dog's.)

"Wolves in the wild have a basic instinct to avoid food when they are ill or fighting something to allow thier bodies to heal. All creatures in the wild have enough sense to do this when they don't feel good. It's only when they get domesticated and have food put before them all the time by doting masters that they lose this sense of fasting. A fast enable's a dogs system to do some internal housecleaning and throuw off any debris that may have accumulated from constant eating. Fasting also gives the digestive tract a much needed rest, while the rest of it's body begins a process of healing itself" (taken from Dr. Heinerman's Natural Pet Cures)

And for those who want the more 'scientic' explanation on digestion....

" Digestion begins in the mouth. Chewing begins to break down the foods, with the assistance of saliva, which contains mucin (a lubricant) and ptyalin (a form of amylase, an enzyme that digests starches). The stomach continues the breakdown of foods into a sort of mush. Hydorchloric acid plus enzymes provide the major chemical force, along with mechanical contraciton of the stomach walls, changing the food into a consistency that is ready for further digestion in the small intestine. In contrast to humans, dogs produce stomach acids only when they eat. Having evolved as predators, carnivores gorge themselves when they have the opportunity and rest between kills. Due to the high meat diets, fasting between meals provides the important benefit of allowing the system to empty somewhat and clean itself. As seen in humans, residue from meats can be carcinogenec(this is a factor in colon cancer), thus periods of cleansing are essential. Additionally, carnivore systems are not used to the constant presence of stomach acids that occur with continueous feeding. Intermittent feeding is essential to maintain health in carnivores."

Taken from Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs by Don Hamilton D.M.V.


Well, after writing all this out, I have once again decided to start fasting my dogs! Thanks for the topic!

Another interesting note that I have written down a couple of times now, is the importance of not feeding your dog more than once a day! Especially if you are feeding raw. I only feed once a day but I do know many others choose to feed at least twice a day. I personally have always felt that once is 'better'....glad to see that is supported
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Thanks for all the info guys. This has been interesting.

This has been a great topic ... I also fast my dogs.. have been feeding raw for almost 5 years now.. In those years we have not had to have a vet visit. I also agree that you shouldn't fast young pups or lactating moms. I have 5 dogs of different ages.. 2 which have been on raw feeding all thier lives.. my two older bitches, age 10 and 11 are both very active and healthy.. I do still fast them.. but only once every 2 weeks..

Jody

Shandar,
What is the appropriate age to start feeding once a day? I have heard one year of age.

Jo Ann

For myself, I'm not comfortable feeding only once a day, since IMO it somewhat increases the potential for bloat. Granted, bloat would seem to be less likely on a raw diet, but why take the chance?

BTW, Jason, I've been away from this topic for a little while. Just wanted to say I tend to agree with the gist of your explanation as regards the energy burden of digestion vs. "repair." As I noted, the life-extending effects of a low calorie diet have been confirmed experimentally in rats, although no one is sure why it works.

In general, I start feeding once a day around one year of age, but I will also let the dog decide. If they are not eating everything in their bowl in the morning or evening, I will go to once a day. However, this is not set in stone either. I will on occasion feed a morning meal to the younger dogs, depending on thier condition, activity level etc.

As far as feeding once a day vs. twice a day and bloat, I suppose it all depends on one's perspective.

I heard a lecture many years ago from a veternarian in Denmark. He believed in a raw diet and took more of a holistic view in his practice. He said that he could tell in surgery which dog had been on a raw diet and which ate kibble by looking at the stomach and it's lining.

He beleived that bloat/torsion was/is caused by a weak, unhealthy stomach lining and he said that 2 things contibuted to this. 1) feeding kibble and 2) feeding several small meals to a dog.

In his perspective, the stomach muscle needed to be worked to stay healthy and have the elasticity it needed. To get that, it was imperative that you fed raw and that the stomach was worked properly. Again, he felt that in order to work it properly you needed to have it expand and then shrink back to its small size. You don't get that kind of exercise when you feed several smaller meals. It is never expanded to it's fullest and it never goes down to its smallest.

In order for that to happen you had to feed one large meal (he actually advocated feeding once every 2 days and for the dog to eat as much as they wanted in that meal). THis expanded the muscle and then it needed time to empty and go back to it's regular size. This takes at the very least one day.

Now, I don't know if what he says is true. I do know if I fed kibble, I would not follow this. But, I feed raw and have always fed one large meal a day. I personally have never experienced bloat in any of my dogs but that certainly does not make this the 'norm'.

I personally also beleive that vaccines eat away at a healthy stomach lining, so feel that could also play a factor in a weak stomach.

And...I also would not rule out a genetic factor either. However, I do not beleive that every dog that bloats will pass this on genetically.