Cooling Dog Foods: The Best Options For Your Furry Friend
Did you know that the food you give your dog or cat can help keep them cool? This article will show you how to use cooling foods for dogs to manage allergies, balance energy, and regulate body temperature. We will also give you information on cooling or warming your pup when they need it.
Food is important for life. The right food gives your dog the nutrients his body needs to stay healthy and grow. But your pet’s diet might also help him in other ways that you don’t know about.
What is Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine?
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCVM) is a different way of thinking about medicine than what we are used to in the west. TCVM is based on the idea that you can improve your pet’s health by changing their diet.
Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine asserts that everything has an inherent energy that promotes the body’s overall function and health. In animals, this vital force is known as Qi.
The world has two sorts of energy: hot and cold. The balancing of these energy promotes improved health. If your dog has a fiery disposition, feeding him cooling foods might help him achieve equilibrium and improve his general health.
A Dog Food Energetics Breakdown
The purpose of TCVM is to create balanced or neutral energy that better supports the body through the usage of nutrition. The energy of foods can be either cooling, neutral, warming, or heated. It is known as food energetics.
You can give your dog foods to help them stay healthy. For example, there are cooling foods that you can give a dog who has too much energy. This is more common than a dog who has too little energy.
Another good reason to give your dog cooling foods during the summer is the soaring temperatures. These foods will help make your dog more comfortable and support them in regulating their body temperatures.
Proteins typically have a greater effect on our bodies than other types of food. That’s why it’s important to choose a protein first when you’re looking for something to eat. Then you can add in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains to support the protein.
Three Primary Types of Dog Food Energy
1. Cooling Food for Dogs
Some foods can help cool a dog down when they have too much energy.
Here are several indications that a dog may benefit from cooling foods:
- Severe allergies
- Chronic illness
- Anxiety
- Restless or hyperactive behavior
- Overheating
- Inflammation
One of the benefits of cooling foods for dogs is that it can help reduce inflammation. This can decrease allergic reactions, digestive problems, arthritis pain, and better skin and coat health.
Some foods can help calm down dogs. Dogs with a lot of energy can be easily excited, anxious, or even aggressive. This is because they are always moving around and have a lot of energy. Feeding these dogs cooling foods can help them be more relaxed and passive.
Cooling foods can help a dog feel cooler on a hot day with a lot of energy. However, cooling foods are not enough to protect your dog from overheating. You should also try using a dog cooling vest and limit the amount of time your dog spends outside, especially on hot days.
Here are some cooling foods that may be found in most dog food:
- Proteins: Duck, Rabbit, Whitefish
- Grains: Barley, Buckwheat, Wheat
- Produce: Broccoli, Kelp, Cranberry
2. Neutral Food for Dogs
Neutral foods have little or no effect on your dog’s Qi. This means that they are a good way to make sure your dog has a variety of ingredients and they will not be too hot or cool. You can mix them with warming or cooling items and feed them regularly to help balance your dog’s Qi.
Here are some common neutral ingredients included in dog food:
- Proteins: Beef, Pork, Bison
- Grains: Rye, Brown Rice, Lentils
- Produce: Lentils, Carrots, Papaya
3. Warming Food for Dogs
These foods make your dog’s body heat up and lead to inflammation. They can even contribute to dehydration in a dog with naturally hot energy. Many warming and hot foods are common ingredients in dog food, so it’s no wonder so many pets are showing symptoms of hot energy. A hot diet includes foods like lamb, sheep, venison, and trout.
Some foods can help dogs who have cold energies. Consider the following characteristics of dogs that could benefit from consuming warming proteins:
- Constantly chilly or actively seeking heat
- Low strength or vitality
- Shaking or trembling
- Insufficiency of breath (in more severe cases)
Here are some common warming ingredients used in dog food:
- Protein: Chicken, Turkey
- Grains: Oats, Sorghum
- Produce: Squash, Sweet Potato
Different spices can have different effects on your body. If you use them for their health benefits, choose foods that have a similar effect. For example, if you use spices like turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger for their warming effects, eat cooling or neutral foods.
Some foods, like a lamb, venison, and spicy foods, have a bigger effect on your dog’s energy balance than other foods. These foods can be useful for dogs who have cold energy. They should be avoided in a diet meant to cool the dog down.
Finding the Right Balance
Qi is a spectrum. Some dogs may have a few minor symptoms, like skin issues or looking for cool surfaces to lay on. While others may have many more symptoms.
Feeding cooling foods to dogs is more of an art than a science. You want to aim for neutral energy in your dog. If your dog is closer to warm than hot, they will benefit from more cooling foods. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t feed them foods with warming properties every once. You want to balance both so their energy stays neutral.
If a dog has an abundance of energy, its diet will need to be altered. They should stop eating foods that make them warm and only eat foods that make them cool. This will help them be healthy.
Raw Dog Food
It can be hard to find good food for your dog that is cooling. This is because most commercial dog foods, like kibble, are made with many different ingredients. However, you can choose proteins that are cooling for dogs. The food may also contain a few warming vegetables or grains.
A raw diet is the best way to use food energetics. This is because raw dog food has high-quality nutrients. Many cooked foods have lost nutrients due to high cooking temperatures or are processed multiple times.
The most important reason to use a raw diet to support your dog’s health is that you can choose a raw diet with few ingredients. The diets can also be customized to suit your dog’s needs.
A whole prey raw diet means that your dog will only eat meat, bone, and organs. You can select each ingredient in your dog’s food and add your own to guarantee that their diet adheres to your food energetics plan.
Trial and Error
Even though Traditional Chinese Veterinary procedures differ from their western counterparts, many pet owners, holistic veterinarians, and nutritionists endorse them.
Energy balance will not be achieved overnight. You may need to adjust your feeding plan a few times to get it right. Do not get discouraged if you do not see results immediately.
If you want to improve your dog’s health and behavior, it is good to start with a diet. Try one change at a time and be consistent so you can see results. If you make too many changes simultaneously, it will be difficult to tell which ones were effective.
Read more: What Is Fresh Pet Food and Is It Actually Better?
Frequently Asked Questions About Cooling Dog Foods
Pet food companies recommend that their products be served at room temperature so that your dog can taste and smell them properly. However, it can take a while for an already-opened can to reach room temperature. You can set the can on the kitchen countertop to speed up the process.
There are some foods and drinks that can help you cool down. These include sweet fruits like bananas, watermelons, and strawberries. You can also eat raw foods like uncooked vegetables. And drink cold drinks like iced water or peppermint tea. Finally, you can also eat bitter herbs like mustard greens, chicory, and dandelion leaves to cool down your body.
If you can’t eat beef, you can try using duck, fish, or rabbit. You can also use fish as an alternative. Some good choices for small fatty fish include whitefish, Herring, sardines, smelt, or wild-caught fish like mackerel or salmon.
It’s okay to reheat the rice. In fact, it’s better to reheat brown rice because it’s healthier for your dog. Brown rice has a lengthy cooking period, but the wait is well worth it.
Do not microwave pet food. Microwaving changes the fat molecules, making them harder to digest. This could be harmful to your pet’s health in the long run.
Some good cooling meats are turkey, ocean fish, rabbit, and whitefish. Some good cooling vegetables are spinach, broccoli, celery, kelp, cabbage, cucumber, and melon. Some good cooling oils are sesame oil and flaxseed oil. Some good neutral meats are pork, bison, duck, beef liver, and pork liver.
Yeet Hay is believed to be caused by a ‘heat’ in the body. To cure it, you need to consume cooling foods, which will bring yin and yang back into balance. In many Chinese households, the go-to remedy for Yeet Hay is herbal tea.
Eggs produce heat in the body, leading to indigestion and discomfort. However, eggs can be a healthy and beneficial food choice if eaten in moderation.
There are a lot of warming foods that you can eat to feel more balanced. These foods are beef, cinnamon, caffeine, eggs, garlic, ginger, onions, peanuts, and sweet potatoes. If you feel like you are always cold and have a light complexion, adding some yang foods to your diet might help.
Lamb ground meat is a great, healthy, natural treat for your dog. Lamb meat is especially good for dogs with sensitivities and allergies to other meats.
Some fruits and vegetables help cool you down, while others will heat you up. Be careful with the foods that will heat you up, like fennel, raspberries, cherries, pumpkin, peaches, mango, leeks, red cabbage, and onion. Spicy foods like chili pepper, ginger, and cinnamon will also turn up the heat in your body.
There are many different kinds of vegetables that you can add to your salads or eat with hummus. Some examples are cucumbers, radishes, celery, and zucchini. There are also numerous varieties of fruits that can be consumed as snacks or desserts. Some examples are strawberries, papaya, and mangoes.
Turmeric is a healing spice that is widely used in India. It has a cooling effect during the summer, and it also has health-boosting properties for the human body.
Yeet hay is a term used in Cantonese that means “hot air.” It is used to describe the feeling you get after eating too much of a certain type of food. This can cause pimples, canker sores, sore throats, and itchy or red eyes.
