The Budwig Diet for Dogs

The Budwig diet has been used by dog owners for many years as part of a natural approach to supporting their dogs’ health. As canine cancer and other chronic conditions have become more common, more people have chosen to adapt the principles of the Budwig diet for their dogs.

Many dogs enjoy the taste of good-quality flaxseed oil, making it easy to include in their daily meals. Flaxseed is also known as linseed, but throughout this article the clearer term flaxseed is used.

Quick Guide: How to Feed the Budwig Diet to Your Dog

The practical method is simple. Feed one or two Budwig meals each day, depending on your dog’s size, appetite and normal feeding routine.

• Thoroughly blend good-quality cold-pressed flaxseed oil with quark, cottage cheese, Skyr or a suitable very-low-fat cultured dairy product.
• Add freshly ground flaxseed.
• Add suitable fruit, berries and low-glycaemic vegetables.
• Feed a separate main meal of lean meat, poultry, fish or eggs with vegetables.
• Do not feed added sugars, refined starches, processed foods, artificial preservatives, colours or flavourings.

Budwig Cream for Dogs

The cornerstone of the diet is flaxseed oil thoroughly blended with a sulphur-rich dairy food. The mixture must be blended until no oil is visible and a smooth, homogeneous cream has formed.

Basic ingredients

• Cold-pressed flaxseed oil
• Quark, cottage cheese, Skyr or plain fat-free Greek yoghurt
• Freshly ground flaxseed
• Suitable fruit or berries
• Low-glycaemic vegetables

Fresh fruit can include apple, pear, banana or peach. Grapes, raisins, currants and sultanas must never be given to dogs.

Breakfast

Ingredients for a dog of about 20 kg

• 15 ml Flax Farm cold-pressed flaxseed oil
• 40 g quark, cottage cheese, Skyr or mild fat-free Greek yoghurt with around 10–12% protein
• 1 dessertspoon freshly ground nuts, seeds or tahini
• 1 teaspoon raw cold-extracted honey
• Half a small apple, finely chopped or grated; alternatively, use half a banana, pear, peach or similar fruit
• A portion of vegetables about the size of half an apple, especially broccoli, cabbage or carrot, either cooked or blended to a purée
• 1 dessertspoon berries
• Freshly ground flaxseed

Method

Using a stick blender, thoroughly blend the flaxseed oil with the quark or other suitable dairy product until no oil is visible and the mixture has become a smooth cream.

Place the finely chopped fruit, vegetables, berries, honey, ground nuts or seeds and freshly ground flaxseed in a bowl. Add the flaxseed oil and dairy cream, then stir lightly.

Lunch

Lunch can be a smaller portion of the Budwig breakfast mixture or a small portion of the evening meal. Only feed lunch if your dog needs help maintaining weight or is genuinely hungry.

Supper

Supper should be varied and based on good-quality, nutritious food. Lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, offal and suitable vegetables can all be used. Avoid fatty meat.

• On most days: small amount of raw turkey, rabbit or game; green tripe; other offal; or cooked fish, with mixed cooked or puréed vegetables and a tablespoon of freshly ground flaxseed.
• On one day each week: three or four lightly scrambled eggs with mixed vegetables and a spoonful of ground flaxseed.
• A small portion of homemade dog biscuit can be included occasionally.

A little probiotic powder or kefir may also be added. Small amounts of raw sauerkraut can be used if your dog tolerates it.

Foods Excluded from the Budwig Diet

The Budwig diet excludes:

• Added sugars
• Refined starches
• Processed foods
• Commercial treats
• Artificial preservatives
• Artificial colours and flavourings

Choose fresh, natural ingredients only.

Foods Dogs Must Never Have

• Xylitol
• Chocolate
• Coffee and caffeine
• Grapes, raisins, currants and sultanas
• Onions, garlic and chives
• Macadamia nuts
• Avocado

Out for a run in spring 2020: Hebe, eighteen and a half, in front, with Mack, eight and a half following

Homemade Healthy Dog Biscuits

These biscuits are wheat-free, high in fibre and intended only as an occasional extra. I make them roughly by eye rather than weighing every ingredient.

Ingredients

• Three parts of a mixture of equal parts porridge oats, ground almonds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, flaked brown rice, quinoa flakes and buckwheat
• One part freshly ground flaxseed
• Nutritional yeast for flavour and B vitamins
• Enough water to make a stiff dough

Method

Mix the dry ingredients and add enough water to make a stiff dough.

Roll the dough out thinly to about ¼ inch or ½ centimetre. Place it on a baking sheet and bake in a fan oven at 150°C until it begins to dry.

Before it browns, reduce the oven to just over 100°C and continue drying it slowly.

If the biscuits are completely dry, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three weeks. If they remain soft or pastry-like, freeze them and remove only the amount needed.

A Note About Dogs with Cancer or other serious illness

Many owners use the Budwig diet as part of a wider nutritional programme for dogs diagnosed with cancer, other serious conditions, or are becoming old and frail.   There is some magic about the Budwig Diet; it’s also highly nutritious and anti-inflammatory.
The diet can work very well. How much reliance you put on an alternative treatment, so long as you are responsible and objective out how well your dog is, is between you and your dog.

Veterinary diagnosis and treatment are not automatically a panacea. Modern veterinary medicine can often prolong life, but dogs cannot tell us how they feel or how severe the side effects of treatment may be. As owners, we have to judge not simply how long our dogs live, but how well they are living.

It is a hard fact that dogs have much shorter lives than we do, and every owner must eventually face that reality. Whatever treatment a dog has received, there comes a point when euthanasia, sooner rather than later, sooner rather than later, is a hard but kind decision.

To quote my sister: “Better a week too early than a day too late.”

Further Reading

Nikki’s Story: A Healing Journey is an account by a dog owner describing how the Budwig diet was used as part of a dog’s cancer care.

Read Nikki’s Story: A Healing Journey.