Healing Yeast and Ear infections
Nacho Before RMF
When Nacho came home at 8 weeks, at the urging of his breeder and vet, Nacho was kibble-fed for the first year, despite my natural intuition to feed a whole food, raw diet. During this time his initially lush, flawless coat became spotty and matte. He often had a runny nose with yellow discharge, and excessive, dark brown eye goop. Besides receiving all the puppy shots, Frontline for fleas and Heartgard for heartworm, his neutering surgery and a procedure to correct a cherry eye, he was also medicated twice during that time for ear infections. Additionally, his appetite declined consistently over the course of that year, with him pretty much ignoring his food towards the end of August 2019. Early September, I decided to move him to pre-made raw.
I decided to stop Frontline and sparingly used essential oils instead. His fur looked healthier and he ate his food with great pleasure. In February 2020 he was diagnosed with another mild ear infection and giardia, which had cleared 2 months later with the help of herbal supplements. Sadly, his ear infection came back in May of 2020 and he was once again given antibiotic eardrops. Although the treatment worked temporarily, the infection reoccurred again, worse than ever, requiring a visit to the emergency room in the middle of the night, as the pain became unbearable for him. More antibiotics and steroids followed, both topical (drops) and in tablet form. I also saw some itchiness return and his belly showed that I felt was an unnatural, very dark, almost black color. His paws always had a bit of rusty redness to them, with periods of frantic licking every few weeks.
At that time, Nacho was fed what I believed was one of the best available pre-made raw foods with high-end supplements and liver support. I started to research alternative feeding options because it didn’t make sense to me that my dog had to continue to suffer despite the best of care. In November I came across RMF. Although part of the concept felt a bit unusual, and was in direct contradiction to what I had always read, the entire approach overall made a lot of sense to me, and on December 21, 2020, I decided to switch Nacho to RMF, which included stopping all medications.
Nacho After RMF
I followed the guidelines in the book exactly, and at his next vet visit in 2021, Nacho was given a clean bill of health! The vet said was at a perfect weight (although he had lost some since his pre-made raw days), that his ears looked fantastic (nice, soft pink throughout the ear canal), and that his eyes were bright and clear, and his teeth were pearly white.
Overall, RMF transitioned our dog from generally healthy, but with persistent, although mild, itchiness and regular ear infections from mild to severe, to a happy, healthy and energetic pup. In addition to achieving amazing results for Nacho, RMF is very convenient for us as well. The food is easy to obtain, quick to prepare and uncomplicated to feed, even when traveling. I could not be happier to have found Nora Lenz, her team in the RMF Community that helps support dog owners every day of the year, her invaluable book and of course her amazing diet. I will never feed any of my pets any other way and only wish I had found RMF sooner.
With the help of Nora and her team. I’m also very confident how that I have been given all the information I need to resolve any minor issues that may arise along the way. RMF is about complete independence, rather than having to constantly rely on advice from the experts, although their insight is available at any time, if needed. I am happy to answer any questions or provide additional details to anyone who wishes to contact me directly for more information.
Roman Kesseli