Frequently Asked Questions

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 Right where you are. You do not have to overhaul everything overnight, throw out the kibble, and start cooking gourmet meals by Tuesday. The single best first step is just adding a little fresh, real food to what you're already feeding. A spoonful of cooked egg, some sardines, a few blueberries, a little plain meat. Even a small amount of fresh food on top of the bowl makes a real difference. Start small, watch your animal, and build from there. Better beats perfect every single time. 

 I'm not here to shame anybody's bowl — feeding your animal at all means you love them, full stop. But here's the honest part: most kibble is highly processed, and processing strips a lot of the good stuff out. That doesn't mean you've failed your pet. It means there's room to do better, at whatever pace works for your life and your budget. Even shifting to part-fresh, part-kibble moves the needle. 

 You do not have to go all raw. Promise. Raw works beautifully for some families, but plenty of pets thrive on cooked fresh food, or a mix of fresh and kibble. The goal isn't a label — it's getting more real, whole nourishment into the bowl in whatever way you can actually keep up with. 

 Probably not—but we don’t solve that question by bouncing from protein to protein every few weeks. True food allergies are much less common than social media makes them sound, and plenty of itchy dogs are reacting to something other than chicken itself. The useful next step is to look at the complete pattern: the full formula, gut support, environment, season, treats, supplements, and the dog’s constitution. If food still appears to be part of the picture, a structured elimination-and-reintroduction process gives us much better information than another random bag swap. 

 Yes — in the right amount, fresh garlic is a wonderful natural supporter, not the poison the internet made it out to be. The scary studies used enormous, unrealistic doses. In small, body-weight-appropriate amounts of fresh raw garlic, it's a lovely natural deterrent for fleas and ticks. The key word is appropriate — dosed by weight, fresh only, never for puppies, and never for dogs on certain medications like insulin or blood thinners. Done right, it's a friend. 

 This one's so common and the answer surprises people: it's usually not pickiness — it's that the fat in the kibble has gone rancid. Once a bag is opened, the fats start oxidizing, and by the time you're near the bottom, your dog can smell that it's gone stale way before you can. He's not being difficult. His nose is just better than yours. Buy smaller bags, keep the food in its original bag inside an airtight container, and store it somewhere cool and dark. 

 So often, yes. Itchy skin, gunky ears, the constant scratching — a lot of the time that's the body waving a flag about what's going on inside, and the gut is usually where the story starts. Calming the inflammation and supporting the gut from the bowl can make a real difference over time. It's not overnight magic, but it's real. 

 Here's something that catches a lot of people off guard: constantly switching foods to "fix" loose stools can actually keep them loose, because the gut never gets a chance to settle. Often the answer isn't another new bag — it's supporting the gut itself. Simple additions like a little dehydrated carrot for fiber, or some plain goat's milk or kefir for the good bacteria, can help more than another food swap. If it keeps up no matter what, that's usually a sign something deeper needs attention. 

 There are gentler, more nourishing options than the old chicken-and-rice standby. Bone broth is my favorite — soothing, hydrating, easy on the belly. Slippery elm coats and calms the digestive tract. A little plain goat's milk or kefir helps rebalance the gut. And dehydrated carrots add gentle fiber. If the upset tummy keeps coming back or lasts more than a day or two, that's worth paying closer attention to. 

 TCVM stands for Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, and the food therapy piece is one of my favorite tools. The short version: it looks at food as more than just protein and calories — it looks at how different foods actually affect the body, warming or cooling, drying or moistening, and matches them to what your individual animal needs. It's been used for a very, very long time, and it pairs beautifully with everything we know from modern nutrition. Not woo-woo. Just a different, time-tested lens. 

 In TCVM, every animal leans a certain way. Some dogs run warm — they seek out cool tile, pant easily, maybe get red and itchy. Some run cool — they're always hunting for the sunny spot or the warm blanket. Knowing which way your animal leans tells us which foods bring them back into balance and which ones nudge them further out. It's like knowing whether someone needs a sweater or a glass of ice water — once you know, everything else gets easier. 

 It's basically your animal's blueprint — their individual nature, tendencies, and the patterns their body falls into. Once you know your dog or cat's constitutional type, feeding stops being guesswork and becomes a roadmap. You're no longer chasing symptoms or trying random foods; you're nourishing the actual animal in front of you. It's the difference between throwing darts and following a map. 

 Never — and I'd never want to. I work alongside your veterinarian, not instead of them. Think of me as the person who has time to sit down and really dig into the bowl, the part of the picture a packed vet schedule rarely allows for. Your vet handles the medicine; I help with the nourishment that supports everything else. 

 Nope! I work with dog and cat parents over phone and video, so I can help you wherever you are. Fresh food and good nourishment shouldn't depend on your zip code. 

 We start with a little homework — a short intake form so I can get to know your animal before we ever talk. Then we sit down together, virtually, and really dig in: their diet, their history, what's going on, what you're hoping for. Afterward, you'll get a summary with my recommendations so you're never left scribbling notes and trying to remember what we said. Simple, warm, and built around your animal.