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Dog Health Guides: Kidney Disease, Skin and Itch, and More

The Guides

One condition at a time, mapped from both directions: the bloodwork and the pattern, the science and the food.

Every guide here takes a single health condition and walks it end to end, from what the diagnosis means, through what the labs are saying, to what belongs in the bowl. Each one combines evidence-based canine nutrition with Traditional Chinese Medicine, and each one is built to be read in pieces rather than all at once.

Open a guide

Start with what your dog is facing

Each guide is a full map, not a single article. Start anywhere inside it.

Complete guide Kidney Disease Your dog got a diagnosis. You got a fog. Read the bloodwork, find the stage, pull the food levers in the right order, and see how Chinese medicine reads the kidney dog. Bloodwork · IRIS stages · Phosphorus · Protein · Appetite · Anemia · Sub-Q fluids · Supplements Open the guide → Complete guide Skin and Itch The scratching has a reason. Rule out what your vet can rule out, understand what the drugs actually reach, and learn to read the itch as a climate rather than an allergy. Fleas · Vet testing · Atopic dermatitis · Apoquel and Cytopoint · Damp-Warmth · Yeast · Topicals Open the guide → Complete guide Gut Health One symptom, ten reasons it could be happening. Rule out parasites, read the diarrhea pattern, and see why acid reflux, leaky gut, and probiotics all trace back to the same center. Diarrhea patterns · Vomiting · Acid reflux · Parasites · Leaky gut · Probiotics · TCM patterns Open the guide → Complete guide Traditional Chinese Medicine Not a disease. A whole different way of reading the body. The elements, herbs matched to the pattern instead of the label, and the lens that runs underneath every guide here. Five elements · Six excesses · Herb safety · Finding a practitioner · Vomiting and reflux patterns · Hot spots Open the guide →
In progress
PancreatitisThe fat question, the flare, and feeding afterward Senior DogsWhat changes with age, and what does not need to
The tools

Reference you will come back to

The pages that get used again and again, whichever guide you are in.

The CalculatorsTurn targets into grams, calories, and portions.Open → Food Energetics ListWarming, cooling, neutral: where every ingredient sits.Read → Complete and BalancedWhat NRC and AAFCO actually require, and where home bowls fall short.Read → What Element Is My Dog?Constitution first, because two sick dogs are rarely the same dog.Read → BUN in Fresh-Fed DogsWhy the reference range may not fit the dog in front of you.Read → Leaky GutThe gut wall, the immune system, and the skin that reports on both.Read → Preparation MethodsCooked, raw, gently warmed: how the method changes the food.Read → When to Hire SomeoneThe point where doing it yourself stops being the cheaper option.Read → The RecipesFormulated meals to cook from, condition by condition.Cook →
Or browse

By topic

For when you know the subject but not the article.

All articles Chinese medicine Kidney disease Itch Yeast Damp and heat Digestive IBD Leaky gut Pancreatitis Cooked Parasites Ingredients Supplements Raw Home cooked
Why it is built this way

The goal is not to be your dog’s nutritionist

I love being your dog’s nutritionist. What I love even more is sharing how Traditional Chinese Medicine sees the body.

It is to help you become the person who understands your own dog. There is a moment I watch happen with clients, when someone stops following instructions and starts seeing why a food helps, why the combination works the way it does, why the thing they suspected about their dog was right. That is the moment these guides are written for.

So read them as a foundation rather than a prescription. Question them. Then set what you read here against what you actually see in the dog sleeping next to you, because that is where it becomes useful. Nothing here replaces your veterinarian, who holds the medical lane. What I bring is the bowl, and a second way of seeing the animal it belongs to.

When you want help

The labs are the safety boundaries. Your dog is the compass.

When you want a bowl built around your actual dog instead of the average one, bring the bloodwork and we will build it together.

Book a consult
About the Author

Hannah Zulueta obtained her Certificate in Canine Nutrition from CASI Institute. She is also studying for her Doctorate in Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Herbalism from the esteemed Pacific College of Health and Medicine. If you’re as keenly interested in health for yourself, visit her website for human health: Satori Acupuncture and Herbs.

She resides in San Diego with her three dogs, Maggie, Orbit, and Mr. Higgins.

She is available for one on one consultations. She develops evidence-based recipes that meet both NRC and AAFCO nutritional standards while integrating the therapeutic food principles of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine into her formulations.

Additionally, you can find her sharing free content on Instagram.