[Guy N]

I have a suppressed immune system due to organ transplant. Among the multitudinous advice I’ve received via the transplant center and other qualified medical professionals, a veterinarian once told me that feeding raw to my dog might be hazardous to my health.

My Australian labradoodle’s breeder whelped him on raw food and I continued for a couple years, until the transplant happened and the vet gave me this opinion. Aside from occasionally creating our own raw food from inexpensive parts my wife and I obtained, we mainly bought from our local Top Quality Dog food people. My wife however felt uncomfortable doing so based on this warning from the vet. So we’re back to kibble.

I’ve asked around and usually get the “holistic” mystical answers, but I was wondering if any forum members had qualified thought on this. Our dog did very well on raw food, poops could be obliterated by smashing them with a shovel, good clean teeth, a very lively and happy dog (not that that’s changed much), etc. A healthy dog in other words.

So does anyone have any advice on this. A medical option would be nicee–GuyN

[Patricia A]

Oh I feel so badly for your fur baby and also for you. I would have went to that breeders door and handed the bill for at least half of the vet expenses and never mind for the suffering you and this poor dog is going through most likely from poor breeding. I went through this with my Chloe years ago. I didn’t know any better and purchased from a large pet shop Yuppy Puppy. She had so many problems immediately and I knew if I took her back they would have euthanized her. The place ended closing down a few years later because of all the complaints about sickly pups and dogs. Now I realize they were all shipped from puppy mills. Chloe lived though to 13 with many vet visits through the years because of health problems.
Please keep in touch and let me know if anything was found to be causing her symptoms. Also I know many people who’s dogs get very ill from flea/ticks meds . Very toxic and he doesn’t need this causing other symptoms possibly.
I found this regarding common diseases in labs/doodles. Don’t know if it fits exact symptoms.
Addison’s Disease
Addison’s disease is found in poodles and Labradors and has been passed on to Australian and multigenerational Labradoodles. In this disease, the pituitary gland malfunctions and fails to create an important hormone called ACTH. This hormone regulates a steriod called cortisol. Without cortisol, a dog cannot manage stress or digest food correctly. Dogs with Addison’s disease may suffer from weakness, an abnormally fast heart rate, diarrhea and excessive thirst and urination. Your vet can test your ‘Doodle to detect the presence of the ACTH hormone.
Melissa keep me updated and I’m Praying they find out what is causing her symptoms and she gets healthy.

[Dena F]

Help! I switched my dog to Zignature Salmon as it is their flavor that is best for weight loss (my dog is about 5-7 lbs overweight) but I just learned about all the grain free concerns and am not sure I want to keep him on it. I’m also finding him very hungry but not sure if that is just his nature to always beg and want food (hence why he is overweight).

He is an 18 month 55 lb. Australian Labradoodle.

Most of the highest rated weight loss foods here are grain free. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Dena

[Anne A]

My sweet Australian Labradoodle was hit by a car last week which resulted in 70% removal of her small intestine. I am interested in learning about what others have experienced with this disorder and what food would be best for her. Would a raw diet be best and homemade food? Does anyone have recipes to share?
She is still in the hospital but we hope she will be able to come home soon.

Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Anne

[Jessica J]

Ahhhhh…. so glad I stumbled across this thread. As a store manager of a grooming salon & pet boutique, I literally spend my day surrounded by high quality dog food and have successfully advised countless dog owners. I have spent hours respectfully arguing against the “my vet says Science Diet” is the best food argument. My 8 year old Australian Labradoodle has mostly eaten Acana or the Fromm 4-Star GF line. She’s a finicky one and tends to prefer the Fromm. Well… 3 weeks ago a friend of a friend found a baby Lab on the side of the road. Cold, slightly malnourished, and scared. After confirming that nobody was looking for this sweet little lost soul… I made her a permanent member of my family. In desperation the first night I got her, I brought home a bag of Orijen Puppy kibble and Primal Raw Goats Milk. My only thought being that this little girl needed some good nutrition asap. After a week of thriving but with loose explosive poops, I realized that the Orijen was probably a little too rich for her belly. So I did a little research and checked some numbers and trusted my intuition- and put her on the same Fromm kibble my Doodle eats. She is gaining a perfect 2lbs a day, solid stools, looks great, etc. I have occasionally supplemented with a little Primal Raw Goats Milk. Saw the new vet at my beloved practice today and was chastised and lectured that she should be on a Large Breed Puppy food so that she doesn’t end up a dysplastic disaster at a young age. Then I came home and found this thread as well as confirmed for myself that the numbers hit where I wanted them to. Thank you for the knowledgeable common sense advice and all your wisdom!!

[Jeff S]

So I have a 14 week old Australian Labradoodle puppy who I was possibly transitioning to raw or at least mostly raw—want to keep some kibble to make it easier for travel and friends watching her. Anyway started transitioning her to Raw about a week ago. Have been using a sample pack from Darwin’s as well as some Primal Raw frozen–both chicken. She seems to be doing generally ok, although it seems that for about 1/2-1 hour after she eats, she gets very hyper–sometimes running in big circles with her tail between her legs and/or being very restless. Spoke with Darwins’ but they said they haven’t heard of this. has anyone experienced this? So far I have been only giving her commercial raw, except for yesterday when I gave her a piece of raw turkey wing (which she enjoyed and chewed up pretty well). Yesterday about 3 hours after eating the turkey wing she did regurgitate with much of the turkey looking undigested (she re-ate it). She then seemed fine. After playing for a bit and taking a nap she seemed very hungry so gave her a handful of kibble (Acana). About another 2-3 hours after, she threw up agin–mostly partially digested kibble. She was good the rest of the night (slept through until morning). Fed her kibble this morning and she was good most of the day. Fed her some more raw (Darwins chicken at lunch) got a bit hyper again but was good most of the rest of the day until after dinner–which was some more Darwins and a bit of Allprovide. Again shortly after eating she got very hyper, racing around the yard picking up sticks, etc.

So, is this normal? Am I transitioning her too quickly? is the hyper ness possibly an upset stomach (she sometimes seems to run and sit quickly–once and a while dragging her butt a bit (has been dewormed plus saw a tapeworm before i stated the raw and she was dewormed for that as well).

Also, since we’ve had her she has been a bit itchy/biting around the base of her tail and back legs, although the vet could not find any fleas and didn’t think it should be any more worms. Since starting the raw nothing has really changed with the itching (I realize it is kind of soon to expect any change in that–just bringing it up in case it’s a sign of something else).

Anyway, anyone have any thoughts. Not while I’m writing this, she has been panting a bit heavily and looked like she was going to vomit again although nothing happened.

Thanks

Jeff

[Katie K]

Thank you!

Australian Labradoodle, adult size estimate 35-40 lbs. Which adult formula? What other brands would you recommend??

[Michael G]

I feed my 8 month old Australian Labradoodle Origen Adult plus raw chuck. He’s 35 lbs. and gets a heaping cup of Origen + ¼ cup of raw chuck cut into cubes in the AM and just the Origen for dinner. I also add a heaping teaspoon of nonfat plain yogurt to each meal. He’s doing great on that diet and stools are easy to pick up. I expect his adult weight to be about 40-45 lbs. The chuck is not expensive since I buy about 4 lbs. at a time.

[Andrea K]

We are starting a Australian Labradoodle family business and are looking for a dry dog food with higher protein and no peas. We used Innova Puppy Fish when Scarlet was a puppy then recently changed to Pioneer Naturals Grain and Potato Free Chicken and it did not go well. Does anyone have any suggestions? We found some through the lists, but they seem mostly in the $80 range for 30lbs. Was hoping for something not so expensive. Thanks