Castor and Pollux Organix (Dry)

I just swithced from Wellness to CP Organix last week. This week my brussels griffon has an ear infection, and has thrown up his breakfast twice. Is it true that food allergies can cause ear infections?

Had fed Purina Pro Plan (yuck) for years before finding this website and learning about some of the ingredients I was feeding my dog. Switched to Organix (dry adult) after reading and reading and READING! My dog loves it and has had no problems. Yes, it’s expensive but I print the online coupon (at foodforpets.com) and use a Petco coupon at the same time. Plus, she doesn’t eat as much of this food as the old food.

Hi Sandi ~

That is crazy. I would have expected better from a company like Castor and Pollux that prides themselves on their organic ingredients. At this point, I have no intention of going back to kibble, but was curious to see what they had to offer. It really has been easy to do away with kibble with this small guy. I think it was yesterday, someone was mentioning dogs “inhaling” kibble. Our guy did that with Acana and Instinct. He did crunch a bit with Wellness Core, but other than that, he ate his kibble whole. Long story short ~ I think we are done with kibble ~ at least at this time. Never say never. : )

Checked the Organix grain free out of curiosity. Poultry meal! Orgainic soybean meal!

Yeah Antonio, sometimes there just seems to be no other way. With these types of wild fauna our countries try to contain, it isn’t feasible or practical to catch such one by one, and euthanise same, the painless and quiet way in which out Veterinary clinics can do with terminally ill domestic pets.

Michelle – As cruel as that sounded, like Antonio and Mike P said, that’s how most achieved the decrease in numbers of certain animals, back in those old days of our parents and grand parents. However, this even still occurs today. Rabbits, ferrets, rodents, even fruit bats etc, are endorsed by governments nowadays from time to time to be killed (they can term it ‘culled’, but it is killing as far as I’m concerned), in order to control the numbers.

ATM, in Oz, we have two main problems, that state governments are analysing. One, cane toads from the North which are toxic, are growing in numbers and are said to be migrating out of their usual habitat and traveling south. Governments and scientists are at a loss as to how to stop them. Two, we have recent fruit bats (flying foxes) that carry the Hendra virus and their droppings are mixed with the grasses around treas where many horses eat from in the country, then contract this virus, who in turn, can spread it to human handlers etc. There is no cure and this virus is deadly. Of course these types of animal population problems are on a much bigger scale, however, resolutions of such problems can not mirror those of our modern day control of the domestic pet sterilisation. I wish I had the answers as does anyone else who loves animals, but such is the harsh reality of life sometimes.

On a side note, the ideology of human vs inhumane is purely the opinion of the individual, most meat eating individuals have never saw how a slaughter house is operating (it’s not for the weak of heart), but it’s pretty much accepted by the general public w/ the few exceptions out there.

Michelle , You can’t call out someone for child abuse on something that happened 60 years ago . That’s the way things were done back then . Today some people don’t even kill bugs . They catch them and let them go free in the backyard . We grew up poor as a family and when one of our dogs got sick they were put down . When I was a kid , I would come home from school and the dog would be gone . Before pets became family members ( as mine is ) , they were just viewed as animals . People came first , animals a distant second . I like todays way better . But it’s hard to blame our parents or grand parents for the way they did things back in the day .

@ Michelle I didn’t say I was the one culling the animals I was pretty much just a child during this time, I’m saying that is how it was done during those times. Ask any of your old time breeders or look online at some historical information regarding not just dog breeding but livestock breeding in general and you will see this was common practice. Although it’s destestable now days, it was commong practice during the time of our grandparents and parents.

Antonio- that is just evil……and inhumane.

Sandi – Regarding my comment you quoted, “You may as well feed your dog full time raw and be hapy knowing your dog will be unlikely to ever see the likes of a Vet again.”. This is quite a statement, however its born not from me, but experts of likes of Dr. Ian Billinghurst B.V.Sc (Hons) B Sc Agr Dip Ed, Dr. Tom Lonsdale B.Vet.Med, and actually many more. It is based on these practicing Vets’ clinical experience. And whilst it is their anecdotal evidence, it is derived from expert empirical ones.

So note that I did state “…..be unlikely…..” This is based on a lot of anecdotal evidence and the word “unlikely” is even more the case, regarding already healthy and strong breed lines.

Remember that the era well before commercial kibble, dogs lived off the land and of a diet closer to their ancestors. Those born of ill-fated weaknesses, were phased out via Natural Selection or Survival of the fittest. They never saw the likes of a Vet, let a lone an unnatural processed food source like doggy biscuits (kibble) regardless of whether grain free or not.

It wasn’t until mankind bred dogs over hundreds of years changing their Nuclear DNA, hence creating different shapes, sizes, appearances etc, in creating various breeds, small and big, as well as in-breeding, that came with the downside of inferior this or that in most breeds created over time. This produced various breeds, then cross breeds with weaker immunity, or particular inferior physical attributes, or greater allergy vulnerability, or altered particular physical aspects of the body compromised and open to greater physical ailments, etc etc.

Therefore, I do share the opinions of pro-raw and holistic experts who believe (as I said before, through their own day day out experiences) that biologically appropriate raw foods, can and do dramatically improve the overall health and immunity of most dogs over such long term diets.

Of course there are exceptions and are in the minority.

Sandi
You got sent to the Brothers Complete web site when you clicked on my picture because I’m the Dad of the Brothers Complete Family as well as THe Doggy Store. One push and your there. It’s a miracle of modern technology.

I am certainly not claiming that if you feed your dog raw or get them off grain/potato they will live forever or that is the only thing that can effect them adversely. THere are certainly other factors that affect health.

However, in 1932 Dr Royal Raymond Rife discovered that bacteria are pleomorphic and not monomorphic, as the AMA believes to this day. The AMA believes that all disease is caused by an outside “invader” and that existing bacteria in the body cannot change into a pathogenic condition (pleomorphism). You can read the history of his amazing discovery (the Rife machine) in the book “The Cancer Cure That Worked”. The short version is that almost all pathogenic disease begins in the body when a normally beneficial bacteria “morphs” into a virus that can cause a disease state, when the environment of the area that the bacteria lived in was altered by something (pollution, stress, ingesting a pathogen, bad diet, etc.). He was able to turn cancer off and on in rats.

So my contention is that diet can be a contributing factor in many disease states because it lowers the immune function and can alter the internal chemistry to the point that things that might not normally affect the dogs health now cause a problem because the dogs “system” is weakened or compromised and it is more prone to disease states.

We’ve found that dogs with Candida overgrowth will itch, get loose stools, have allergic reactions, et., etc. from things they would otherwise NOT react to when in a vibrant healthy state. Dogs who react adversely to something because they have Candida will, upon getting Candida back in balance, have no adverse reactions from those same things. Not every problem will be completely resolved all the time but such a large majority of problems, (including conditions like colitis and bloody stools that you would not suspect connected to grain perhaps) have been resolved over the years that I just keep doing what works and try to figure it out later.

But what the Hey, let’s clean up the environment, eliminate poisons in our water supplies, stop spraying our lawns, and fix everything else if we can – I’m all for it.

“The dog I had as a boy lived to be 23 yrs old and other than one vaccination and rabies shot never went to a Vet until the day he was put to sleep. He had only people food and was spared a constant diet of grain and potato which so many of today’s dogs are fed. So if you feed your dog a natural diet free of constant grain or potato and give it lots of exercise (Patches ran free most days and busied himself sharing the affections of willing neighborhood females – this was way back before leash laws) I suspect that your dog will be fine. ”

“You may as well feed your dog full time raw and be hapy knowing your dog will be unlikely to ever see the likes of a Vet again.”

Richard & Gordon – That’s quite the claims. I don’t think there are studies that show feeding raw vs. kibble will keep your dog from seeing the Vet. If feeding raw, you know there are antibiotics/hormones in the meats – so how healthy is that? Going organic would be more healthy. Also, times are certainly different since I grew up. Air pollution, use of pesticides, antibiotics, etc. play a big part in everyone’s health. Did you know secondhand smoke is just as bad for pets as people?

Richard, did you spray your lawn with pesticides where Patches played? I think what kept him youthful was his home visits in the neighborhood.

IMO I don’t think we can safely say because we feed quality kibble without grain/potato a dog will never get sick. There’s so many other factors that contribute to illness. I totally agree feeding a quality kibble or raw is the way to go. I was buying Hundenflocken back in the 90′s when you could only buy it through a distributor, not in Big Box or Mom/Pop stores.

One of my Vets is feeding Purina to her 18 year old dog – go figure!!!

If those prices on this brand’s new to be released grain free versions are going to be that high, anyone would have to be ‘nuts’ to pay for such over any of the 5 star rated raw foods. You may as well feed your dog full time raw and be hapy knowing your dog will be unlikely to ever see the likes of a Vet again.

The bbq in Arkansas rivals that of neighboring states Tennesee and Texas. We have kind of a mix bbq culture here. Heck I do a bit of outdoor grilling weekly ,, I sit out a few hours yesterday doing it. If you decide to visit Arkansas come at a good time of year either college football season or during the horse racing season so I can take you up to the Oaklawn Park in Hot Spings, it’s only about 35min from my house. BTW, I’m assuming in your last posts you didn’t mean the average vet costs was $5,900 year and $15,000 year in FL, I’m pretty sure you meant lifetime costs. As I’ve stated previously I think Brother’s brand is likely a good food, I could likely afford the costs, but being that I grew up near a dog food manufacturing plant I wouldn’t pay $80 for any type of dog kibble no matter what the claims on the bag are. But more importantly I prefer the convenience of being able to drive a few miles and pick up a load of feed when I need it. And I’m sure the customers that are using your products are using a top rated kibble, and their pets will live long healthy lives while on it, so it’s a win-win-win, for them, their pets, and yourself.

Wow Sandi, based on that article, my avoidance of over vaccination might actually have some merit as shown in the link above. That’s interesting.

Hey Richard come on over the gas prices where $3.35 last night for a gallon of the 87 . @ Sandi, it’s really not uncommon for people here not to incur 15k on vet costs over the life of a dog, but then again I’m not a person that takes my dog to a vet everytime it sneezes or have a little bit of diarrhea. I’ve been involved with caring for dogs about 25 years and during that time I’ve learned that dogs like people tend to live healthier lives w/ fewer vaccinations <–(Purely My Opinion), but it seems that people and dogs alike have developed a lot of allergies and other issues from generations of living in a over vaccinated society. I live a simple life for myself and dogs basic trial/error for the most part, and a life of faith in God, that has been a winning combination and when something works why change it right? So I guess from reading the comments I'll just have to consider myself fortunate that I've avoided many of those costly bullets that many others have seemed to experienced.

No we used to live in Boynton ,not far from the Boca snobs . We used to go to a Boca vet . Butzer I believe …He was awesome. I never saw so many Cadilac Suv’s in one parking lot Lol .

Mike P – LOL – you’re not too far off about Boca but, it’s not just for shots – they must buy the Hills prescription food and that’s enough to qualify as robbery and puts the cost of Vet “care” in the stratosphere – just kidding (I think).

Antonio – I may have to move to Arkansas if this economy gets much worse. Your prices there are very attractive. What’s a gallon of gas going for? We’re up over $4 bucks a gallon in Fl. Can you point me in the right direction? I know I go north until Georgia then turn left but I’m not sure after that. Do I have to cross the mighty Mississippi? How you doing with the
tornadoes and nasty weather this year?