[DoggieDoc22]

Mom2cavs, it’s great that you have parameters as to what you will feed your dogs. You clearly have good intentions and want what’s best for your pets which is great. I can understand your stance against artificial preservatives and some of the other things that you mentioned but I’m curious as to what you have against corn wheat and soy. Unless your dog has allergies there is honestly no reason to be against any of those ingredients. Corn in particular, being that it is the one you singled out earlier. Why the anti corn stance?

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Janet –

If you’re sure the “scooting” is not due to anal gland issues I would bring a stool sample to the vet to check for parasites just in case (certain worms – such as tapeworms – can cause “scooting”).

To help with the stools and the transition to a new food I would add a spoonful of plain canned pumpkin to each meal and supplement with probiotics and digestive enzymes (there’s no need to buy a “pet” supplement, something from the health section for at the grocery store with suffice and likely be cheaper). You can continue the pumpkin and supplements permanently if need be.

Grain-free foods are, unfortunately, pricier than grain-inclusive foods. Earthborn is probably one of the most budget-friendly grain-free foods available. Some other options would be Nutrisource, Taste of the Wild, The Source, Victor, Authority and 4Health (note: Taste of the Wild and 4Health are manufactured by Diamond). NutriSource, Taste of the Wild and Source run about the same price as Earthborn while Victor, Authority and 4Health are slightly cheaper. Authority Grain-Free is available exclusively at Petsmart. The Source and 4Health are available exclusively at Tractor Supply. Earthborn, Taste of the Wild and Nutrisource can be found at most high end pet specialty stores and online. Victor will likely be the most difficult food to locate – I haven’t been able to find an online retailer and it’s not sold in my area but if you can find it, it looks like a fantastic food and it a great bargain.

You’re correct that dry food doesn’t really clean teeth, that’s a myth. I wish it wasn’t though – I’d eat potato chips and cookies all day and use the excuse that it’s for my dental health lol. 🙂 Canned food is actually healthier and more species appropriate (higher moisture content and higher protein levels) so if you can afford to occasionally buy some quality canned food (4Health has some grain-free varieties that are a bargain at only $0.99 per can) that would be great for your dog. Healthy “people food” is good to add to kibble too – eggs, tinned sardines, leftover lean meat, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, low glycemic veggies, etc.

I think raw bones are best for dental health. My dogs eat a raw diet and get raw bones daily – beef ribs, pork necks, turkey necks, chicken backs, etc. If you’re going to buy something from the store I’d go for “natural” chews (make sure they’re made in the US) such as dried tracheas, bully sticks and pig ears – these are species-appropriate (high protein, grain-free) and great for dental health. As far as “treats,” I’d go with high protein meaty treats such as jerky (made in the US of course), grain-free biscuits or freeze-dried raw foods. I’m a big fan of Nature’s Variety Instinct dog biscuits, EVO biscuits and Darford Zero-G biscuits (although I’m not sure if the Darford biscuits are being made anymore 🙁 ). I also feed freeze-dried raw (such as NV Instinct and Stella & Chewy’s) as treats.

[mydogisme]

hi, I had the same thing with dixie and she has been so sick i watch every sneeze. I had her on Earthborn then switched her to Instints. I gave her only a lttle dry with her wet food and the licking started so I know for sure there is something in the dry Earthborn.I bought the dry Instints to mix with the can Instints and she was still licking! so I took her off of all dry and she is eating 1 full can of eather chicken or beef Instints and she has stopped all licking. There is something in the dry foods,even the hosistic,grain free,the top of the best she cant eat. Somaybe its best to stay with a wet food.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi hassiman –

Your breeder could not be more incorrect. You can’t feed a dog “too much” protein – excess protein that is not used by the body is passively excreted though the urine causing no stress on the organs. Protein is very important for all dogs and especially growing puppies. I wouldn’t even feed a food with 21% protein to an adult dog, let alone a puppy. I always recommend picking a dry food with at least 30% protein and topping with high quality canned foods, raw foods or healthy “people” food (sardines, eggs, lean meat, etc.) to boost protein further. I have 3 bloodhounds – an 8 month old puppy, a 2 year old adult and a 7 year old senior – that all eat a raw diet with protein levels in the 45-55% range. It is now known that reducing protein levels does nothing to prevent renal failure and that protein levels should only be reduced in the late stages of renal failure. Orijen is a wonderful food (the best dry food available in my opinion) and I think you made a great choice that you should stick with regardless of your breeder’s (incorrect) beliefs. If you go to the “library” on Orijen’s website they have some wonderful articles about the importance of dietary protein and the myths surrounding high levels of dietary protein. I’d highly recommend you read these articles to ease your mind. The three I’d recommend you read are: “Myths of High Protein” which was written by Kenneth C. Bovee, DVM, MMedSc at Penn State’s veterinary school; “Effects of High Protein on Renal Function” by Delmar R. Finco, DVM, PhD for the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Georgia’s school of veterinary medicine; “Pet Food Safety: Dietary Protein” by DP Laflamme, DVM, PhD, Dipl ACVN. To get to the articles from Orijen’s homepage click “FAQ” on the top menu, then click “Library” on the new top menu that appears. You may also want to refer your breeder to these articles before he/she provides any more unknowing puppy buyers with such misguided advice.

[Hound Dog Mom]

A balanced raw diet would be best, canned would be second best, dry would be worst (granted they all have the same rating). Pick something that’s convenient (some people don’t have the time to prepare or properly research a raw diet) and affordable (raw and canned foods are much more expensive than dry foods) to you. If you go with kibble for convenience and budget reasons (which is understandable), I’d recommend picking a 4 or 5 star kibble and, when possible, topping the kibble with a quality canned food and/or healthy fresh cooked or raw leftovers (lean meat, eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, tinned sardines, low glycemic veggies, etc.).

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi hwballew –

If you go to the review section of DFA and read the reviews for Purina and Iams you’ll see that they are all very low quality foods. Dry food is definitely more convenient, but a balanced home prepared food is the healthiest. By type – from worst to best: kibble < canned < dehydrated < commercially prepared fresh food < balanced home cooked < commercial raw < balanced homemade raw (granted the foods are rated the same). If you want to stick with kibble for convenience reasons, I'd recommend picking out 2 or 3 (or more) 4 or 5 star dry foods and rotating – top the dry food with a quality canned food, raw food or healthy "people" food (eggs, tinned sardines, leftover lean cuts of meat, etc.). Canned foods, dehydrated foods and commercially prepared cooked and raw foods would be a step up from kibble and wouldn't require the time and knowledge that a home-prepared diet requires. These options are more costly than dry, but if cost isn't an issue they'd be a big improvement over dry food. If you do want to home prepare her meals, research first. It's not difficult to prepare a balance diet but it does take some research. There are many great books available with recipes formulated by veterinarians and nutritionists. Dogaware.com is probably the best online resource for homemade diets. The homemade food and raw food forms here have some useful information – my dogs' menus are posted on the suggested menu thread in the raw food forum.

For digestion problems I would supplement with a high quality probiotic supplement, enzymes and a little bit of plain canned pumpkin. Remember, because she's eaten lower quality foods for so long she may experience some digestive upset when you switch foods. These supplements will help a bit – make sure to do a gradual transition.

Is she on a joint supplement? I just posted some supplement recommendations to another poster on the "Mercola Joint Supplement vs. Others" thread under the "Dog Supplements" forum.

Good luck!

[hwballew]

I have a 7 year old Clumber Spaniel.

I’ve been feeding her Purina her whole life, switching between Pro Plan and One. She has also been fed Iams.
She’s very active for her breed (which to any other breed would still be incredibly lazy), and has never been overweight.
She is having digestion problems recently, and with the death of her littermate last Thanksgiving, she has dropped to 48 pounds when she should be between 55-65 pounds.
She shows signs of hip dysplasia, and I was wondering if there is a better diet for her. She just had entropion surgery a month ago to preserve the eyesight she has left, and is doing very well, but I would like to know if there is a diet out there to help protect her eyes.

As a college student, I would prefer dry food recommendations for convenience, but would be able to prepare food for her if it would be best. I’m not worried about cost, I will do anything to lengthen the life of my best friend and keep her healthy. I would love to have my dog for many years to come.

[ptoe]

I have a very picky 15 mo CH Cardigan Corgi.
He will go days without eating.
Turns up his nose at Purina Pro-Plan, Artemis, Taste of the Wild.
He loves 4Health dog biscuits.
Tough love started yesterday. No treats, just kibble.
Didn’t eat last night, so sick in the night.
Today around noon he chose some (very small amount) Nutro Max over Artemis and Pro-Plan.

Any suggestions on irresistible kibble?
He is just a bad about canned food.

I’d love it if you would include a palatability rating on the dry foods as well.

[Mom2Cavs]

Yes, it is your decision and your dog. You are doing what you feel best and I’ll refrain from commenting anymore. We all do what we feel is best for our pets because we love them.

[Anonymous]

I have done what I thought was best thru all of his years and fed him all the natural foods, but always had problems from bloody stools and/or vomiting. Finally, I’m listening to my Vet and feeding him this brand. I’m sure you all are going to argue about how Vet’s don’t get the nutrimental education and etc. But I go to the best Vet in the city and fly in from all over the USA to have them care for their pets since they care for more than dogs, cats & birds~!

[Hound Dog Mom]

doggiedog –

No single food meets all of a living thing’s needs and whole food derived nutrients are far superior to synthetically added vitamins and minerals. I “supplement” my dogs’ food – but not with synthetic vitamins and minerals. They get super foods such as spirulina, chlorella, bee pollen; healthy fats such as fish oil, coconut oil, etc.; foods rich in enzymes and probiotics; healthy herbs like turmeric and garlic; etc. What I feed my dogs is so naturally rich in vitamins and minerals that I don’t need to add anything synthetic. I don’t trust a dog food company to add everything needed to keep my dogs’ immune systems in peak condition – because there is no dog food that does this. Chemically synthesized vitamins and minerals are more likely to be tainted, pose a greater risk for overdose and aren’t utilized as efficiently by the body – in whole foods, nutrients work synergistically with hundreds of other compounds and many of these compounds have different forms in nature and can only be found in whole foods. Synthetic supplements have been linked to increased risk of cancer and increases in lifestyle diseases in people – why wouldn’t it be the same for our pets? Many medical organizations advise against the consumption of synthetic vitamins and minerals for humans. This is why foods should be rotated so a dog isn’t overexposed to anything. Your statement that different breeds need different foods isn’t accurate – or at least shouldn’t be accurate if a dog is eating an appropriate food. “a bulldog, which is prone to digestion issue, excessive gas, and weight gain” – probiotics and enzymes address digestive issues and gas, if a dog were eating a fresh species-appropriate diet rich in natural enzymes and probiotics this wouldn’t be an issue; dogs that are overweight don’t need a special food, they need their portion size (calories) reduced, weight loss is based on calories in and calories out not fat content or caloric-density of a food. “Poodle, which is prone to cataracts, dementia, and has a fully curly coat” – again, if eating a high quality species-appropriate foods the chances of any of these “tendencies” causing an issue would be greatly reduced. High quality foods have balanced ratios of quality omega 3 and 6 fatty acids for the coat health and whole food antioxidants help with health issues such as cataracts and dementia. Low-grade foods like RC, SD, Purina, etc. have to add supplements because their base ingredients are so low quality and nutritionally devoid. Luckily for these companies there are tons of people out there like you and veggienut that actually believe synthetically supplemented corn puffs with a picture of your breed on your bag are the best thing to feed.

[weimlove]

All of the brands you’ve been feeding are very low quality. The best diet for your dog is a raw diet. If you don’t want to go the raw route, try to find a kibble where atlesdt the first three ingredients are meat and that is grain free. Some quality brands are orijen, acana, taste of the wild, natures variety, and blue wilderness. Another great option is freeze dried food which all you do is add water and it re hydrates. A great one is the honest kitchen. When transitioning dry dog foods, gradually mix in the new food and then add more new food and less of your old brand over a one or two week period. If you are switching from a low quality to high quality, you may experience some loose stool at first, but you will be very happy because you don’t have to feed as much because there are more nutrients in higher quality foods. Hope that helps!

[Anonymous]

I am by no means a canine nutritionist, merely someone who has put a bit of thought into what I feed mine. My knowledge is not specific to the medical condition and sensitivity of your dog. The guidelines that I found with a superficial online search for cardiac diet were:
– Provide your pet a high-quality natural meat-based diet with at least 25-30% protein (DM basis)
– Make sure your pet LIKES the food so that (s)he consumes enough calories to maintain BMI
– Mild to moderate sodium restriction (severe restriction in advanced cases)
– Supplements: omega 3 fatty acids, taurine, carnitine, B vitamins and Magnesium.
http://www.1800petmeds.com/education/diet-tips-pet-heart-disease-32.htm

I am going to assume that you are looking for a dry kibble based on your previous food choice. I feel that the top of the line dry kibble RIGHT NOW is Orijen. However, it does retail for $80/35lb. As I feed about 400 lb of dog, the budgetary compromise at my house is Merrick Grain Free at roughly $50/35lb.

Prior to Merrick Grain Free, I was feeding Taste of the Wild, but have decided that I prefer Merrick for not entirely nutrition-based reasons. While the protein content is slightly higher and the starch from sweet potato (rather than white), they are reasonably equivalent foods (in nutrition and price). However, Merrick uses all US-sourced ingredients (nothing from China). This is a political issue and safety concern of mine. The larger scale pet recall in 2007 due to melamine contamination was traced to Chinese product, and the more recent Petco recall of stainless steel bowls manufactured with radioactive Cobalt-60 scrap was most likely (while never publicly disclosed) of Chinese origin. Merrick also happens to be manufactured in Texas, where I live. Those variables may not factor into your decision at all, but are important to me.

I could not find a cardiac specific diet offered by Hill’s in their Science Diet or Prescription Diet lines and based my quick comparison on the Adult Advanced Fitness formula. The Advanced Mobility contained more Omega 3’s and Magnesium, but was lower in protein and higher in sodium. Orijen appears to be the best choice, but may not be an option for you dependent on your personal budget. Merrick Grain Free is my compromise, but is based on a few tertiary considerations that may not matter to you. I will be interested to hear what other posters have to contribute. (The following information was retrieved from those companies’ official website product pages and is as vague or detailed as they provided.) The summary comparison is this:

Hill’s Merrick Orijen
Protein 24.2 38 38
Fat 16.4 17 17
Carbohydrate 51.5 ? 25
Sodium 0.32 ? 0.4
Omega-3 Fatty Acids 0.67 0.4 1.1
Omega-6 Fatty Acids 3.33 4.8 3.0
Taurine (yes) ? 0.35
Carnitine ? ? ?
B Vitamins
B1 – Thiamine (yes) (yes) 0.9 mg/kg or 50 mg/kg?
B2 – Riboflavin ? (yes) 45 mg/kg
B3 – Niacin (yes) (yes) 450 mg/kg
B5 – Pantothenic Acid ? (yes) 50 mg/kg
B6 – Pyridoxine ? (yes) 38 mg/kg
B7 – Biotin ? (yes) 1 mg/kg
B9 – Folic Acid (yes) (yes) 5.2 mg/kg
B12 – Cobalamins (yes) (yes) 50 mg/kg
Magnesium 0.099 ? 0.1

Since the foods that I mentioned are simply those that I am familiar with and not anything that I originally researched with cardiac issues in mind, I would recommend that you use this as a springboard for your own research. Maybe there is a better option in Innova EVO, Artemis, etc. Finish out a chart similar to that above on each of the brands that this website lists as top-tier choices. Feel free to call companies like Merrick or Hill’s to ask about specific quantities of items on their ingredients list, but not in their analysis (like B vitamins).

You might also want to consult with a veterinarian that specializes in cardiac issues regarding dietary recommendations and possible supplements. Maybe it is more cost-effective or bioavailable to top-dress your pets dinner with certain vitamins (L-carnitine perhaps). As wonderful as your veterinarian my be, my experience is that the time constraints of their day-to-day rigamarole does not allow time for general practitioners to be current and thorough on more specific issues. Reading journal articles falls to the wayside. Specialist consultation and personal research are important any time you have a specific veterinary/medical diagnosis of concern. Your vet has to have a working knowledge of EVERYTHING. You can concentrate on the single issue that is of prominent importance for your pet.

Good Luck

[kmarron]

I am following Dr. Becker’s Real Food recipe for my dog’s raw diet. She says to add dry vitamin D 400 IU as a supplement. Which type of vitamin D is best? Thanks for your input!

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Betsy –

No, coconut oil wouldn’t be considered a significant source of linoleic acid. The best sources of linoleic acid would be: safflower oil, evening primrose oil, sunflower oil, hemp oil, wheat germ oil and walnut oil (all >50% LA).

Coconut oil did indeed used to have a very bad reputation. This was partially due to the fact that most of the studies done involving coconut oil’s effect on the body were done using partially hydrogenated coconut oil which is loaded with trans fatty acids, unlike virgin and extra virgin coconut oil. It also wasn’t recognized that not all saturated fats have a negative effect on health, so because coconut oil is comprised primarily of saturated fats many condemned it. Coconut oil is far superior to common vegetable oils (such as corn, soy, safflower, sunflower and canola oil). These vegetable oils are high in omega 6 fatty acids and the omega 6 to omega 3 ratios in the diet of most individuals is already skewed – so adding more omega 6’s merely raises the total amount of omega 6’s consumed further skewing the ratio. In addition, coconut oil is preferable for cooking because it’s highly stable under heat – most other oils oxidize when heated and oxidized fats cause a myriad of health issues.

[Hound Dog Mom]

A food with only 21% protein wouldn’t be quality. That’s way too low, hardly enough to survive on! Unless your dog has liver disease or is in late state kidney failure I wouldn’t recommend feeding a food with any less than 30% protein. Most of the 5 star grain-free foods will fit the bill. All three of my dogs eat 45% – 55% protein – they range from 7 months old to 7 years old and are all extremely healthy.

Check out Dr. Becker’s articles on picking a quality food – the #1 think to look for is HIGH levels of HIGH QUALITY protein!

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/10/21/selecting-the-best-cat-pet-and-dog-pet-food.aspx

[DoggieDoc22]

@Bryan at this point your level of ignorance is reaching a comical level. You have done nothing but spout opinions with no basis behind them at all. I at least have backed up my position with an article posted by a well respected veterinary school. I will take what they have to say over the opinion of some random label reader on the internet.

@Hounddogmom. If you want to argue raw vs. kibble that is a completely different argument. The original poster asked a question about dry foods, and that is what I responded to. Raw diets have their advantages for sure, and anyone that has the time and dedication to go the raw route gets my respect. Although feeding kibble may not be the best route, it is the most convenient for the majority of pet owners out there.

The point I have been trying to make is this, don’t fall for the typical bs that dog food manufacturers try to throw out there. All of this talk about grain free, and no byproducts etc. is nothing but marketing. What is important, as I said, is the nutrients found in the food. Royal Canin, although they may use controversial ingredients, spends more money than any manufacturer out there on research, quality control, and feeding trials. This isn’t opinion, this is fact. I much prefer a company that is going to invest their time and money actually trying to find a scientific basis for the amount of each individual nutrient they put into their food, rather than one of the “holistic companies” that bases the formulation of their diets on a preference to certain ingredients.

[DoggieDoc22]

“There is also such a thing as consumers fooled by marketing tactics”

It’s funny that you mention that because that’s exactly the way to describe people like yourself, backyardwolf, and BryanV21. Who exactly is it that you ever hear bashing corn, wheat, soy, etc? Let me guess, Blue Buffalo commercials, Wellness commercials, etc. There is absolutely zero research out there that shows that any of the ingredients you list are harmful or of lower quality in any way than potatoes for instance (since that is the carb of choice in Natural Balance since that brand was mentioned in a prior post). The whole “grain-free”/anti-corn kick that has been going around lately is nothing but marketing spin by pet food manufacturers.

The reason is simple, humans, dogs, cats, gorillas, whatever animal you choose to speak of don’t need ingredients. They don’t consume food to fulfill a need for any particular food. They need nutrients. You could put together the most expensive pile of ingredients you could find, mix them all together and feed them to your dog. If they don’t meet your pets nutritional requirements then you just fed them a crap food.

I think a lot of you would benefit greatly from listening to someone other than the Blue Buffalo or Orijen rep at your local pet store and look at the science. Some companies actually spend money researching what is best for your pet and conducting feeding trials to make sure the animals they are intending to feed thrive on their diets. Believe it or not, you can find some actual research based information on the internet, rather than the usual baseless spin put out there by manufacturers. For your own benefit, here is a good place to start: http://www.tufts.edu/vet/nutrition/faq/general_pet_nutrition.html

You might find this section in particular quite enlightening:

“Is the ingredient list a good way to determine the quality of a pet food?

Although ingredient lists are commonly used by lay people to determine the quality of pet foods, this approach has many pitfalls and is very subjective to intentional manipulation by the food manufacturers. Ingredients are listed on labels in order of weight, including water, so ingredients with high water content (like fresh meats and vegetables) are going to be listed higher than similar amounts of dry ingredients even though they may contribute fewer nutrients to the overall diet. Additionally, ingredients from the same source (such as chicken meat, chicken fat, chicken by-product meal) can be split into component parts, further complicating assessment.

Pets require nutrients, not ingredients; a diet full of great sounding ingredients can be less nutritious than a diet containing less appealing (to people) ingredients.”

[backyardwolf]

I have to agree with Hound Dog Mom. When did corn gluten meal and brewers rice become quality ingredients? Corn, Wheat, and Soy are the first 3 things you want to be certain are not in any food you feed your dogs. You will notice that all the foods that are 4-5 star foods do not have these three things. So that is always a good place to start. We all want what is best for our pets and time and time again we have found that these 3 ingredients don’t provide anything good to our dogs.

[DoggieDoc22]

Best dry food to feed Yorkies hands down would be Royal Canin’s Yorkshire Terrier, or their Yorkshire Terrier Puppy if we are talking puppies.

If you aren’t familiar with Royal Canin, they are the industry’s leader in science and research, accounting for over half of all research done in the dog and cat food industry. They develop diets based on thorough feeding trials and scientific studies to meet the specific needs of the pets that each of their diets target.

The important things to keep in mind when feeding Yorkies are that:
1. They are notoriously picky eaters – The reason for this is that Yorkies actually have a reduced sense of smell when compared to other breeds. They have a lower number of the neurons used for sensing smell than the average dog. Royal Canin’s Yorkshire Terrier formula has a unique blend of aromas and flavors to stimulate the Yorkie’s fussy appetite.

2. Yorkshire Terrier’s, as I am sure you are aware, are well known for their long, silky coats. The Yorkie, unlike most other breeds, do not have an undercoat, and instead have long individual hairs. This makes them susceptible to breakage, and feeding a diet that strengthens their coat is extremely important. The Royal Canin diet is rich in Omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil to help support their delicate coats.

3. The Yorkie, being a smaller breed, has a longer life expectancy than the average dog. Royal Canin’s Yorkshire Terrier formula contains antioxidants to maintain healthy cells and help to fight the effects of aging.

As far as supplementing, it is important to choose a diet that is complete and balanced, if you choose the right dry kibble there is no need at all for supplementing, and doing so will actually have a negative effect.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi sheeklouch –

Orijen is a wonderful food (it’s actually the best dry food out there – imo), however (unfortunately) none of their formulas are appropriate for large breed puppies – they are all much too high in calcium. For this reason, I’ve never fed Orijen to any of my pups but I have fed it to my adult with great success.

Gertie my now two year old female ate The Honest Kitchen (Zeal, Love, Thrive) and Tripett until she was 8 months old. Mabel, my newest addition, who just turned 7 months old has been on a controlled calcium homemade raw diet since she came to me at 8 weeks (my other two dogs eat raw now as well).

I think that most dogs do well on high protein foods (Gertie and Mabel both ate >40% protein on average) – if your dog is having loose stools with high protein foods I’d suggest trying a spoonful of plain canned pumpkin, a multi-strain probiotic and digestive enzymes at each meal.

Assuming you want to stick with a dry food, here is a list of recommended foods. Sometimes it’s trial and error and you may need to try a few foods before you find on that works for your dog. Some dogs are just more sensitive than others.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwApI_dhlbnFY183Q0NVRXlidWc/edit

[sharyorkie]

Hi I have never posted before.But I am on here all the time reading the dry food reviews.I Am now totally confused? I currently feed Pro-Plan small bites chicken and rice I now know it is not the best.My Yorkies are VERY PICKY and I usually have to add canned food to get them to eat.ANY suggestions on a good dry food for small Yorkies that are very picky!! I have tried Nutro, Taste of the Wild and Acana and they will not eat any of these.If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate them
Thank You

[pennypea]

I have a cockapoo ( cocker spaniel- poodle) and I was wondering what type of food we should use because he doesn’t seem to like the food we are using now (Purina one beyond dry). It is hard to find a good type of food for my dog because of his sensitive skin. Advise would be appreciated.

[soho]

Hi Krist

A lot of dogs seem to be on only one type of insulin and it is usually a medium acting insulin which has a slope like a long in distance, short in height hill. This type of insulin makes it pretty impossible to control diabetes well. A dog must eat at the same times each day and the same amount of food at each meal.

In humans the best control of blood sugars is achieved using a very long acting insulin like lantus combined with a short acting insulin like humulin R. The short acting insulin is taken about 30 to 45 minutes before meals and the long acting insulin is taken once or twice daily to cover the glucose that is constantly being produced by the liver.

This type of insulin regimen requires more daily injections but it allows for several things that are not possible with a more simple insulin regimen:

1)Meals can be eaten at any time of day or night.
2)Meals don’t always have to be the same size and contain the exact same amount of carbs.
3)If your dog is sick or not eating you don’t have to freak out because you are worried that your dog will have low blood sugar because they didn’t eat.
4) You can adjust one of the insulins without also increasing or decreasing the size and content of meals.
5) Your dog will have much better control of his/her diabetes.

With the more intense insulin regimen meals and liver metabolism are handled separately allowing for a more effective control of blood glucose.

FOODS

I believe that carbs are the enemy of anything (human, dog or otherwise) that has diabetes. I don’t agree with the Glycemic Research Institute that dry foods such as Nutrisca and Orijen are optimal for a dog with diabetes. Nutrisca has an estimated 36% carbs on a dry matter basis. Orijen has 25% carbs as estimated using the NFE (nitrogen free extract) method (this is extremely reliable). I think either % of carbs is waaay too much for a diabetic dog. If there were several foods with let’s say a carb content below 15% then I would look for the one with the lowest glycemic load. But if one food has 35% carbs and another food has 15% carbs it wouldn’t matter to me what the glycemic load of the first food was, I would choose the food with only 15% carbs!!!!

In dry foods (kibbles) the lowest carb content I have found is EVO which ranges from 12 to 18% carbs depending on the variety and Epigen (Thank you Hound Dog Mom) which has only 11% carbs in either of the 2 formulas.

In wet foods maybe you could just add some fresh meat which is in the same family (red, poultry or fish) that you are feeding at any particular meal. You are guaranteed a much higher quality topper if you add your own rather than a canned food.

Good Luck!!!

[soho]

Hi Mike,

I would love to see more disclosure about the ingredients in a companies foods. All companies use the prettiest marketing terms to describe the quality of their ingredients “only the best” “highest quality” “human grade this or that” etc.

I like the way the Whole Dog Journal won’t review a food if it doesn’t disclose who manufactures it. In the beginning some companies balked at this idea and refused to disclose the manufacturers name and the location of the plant. They used terms like proprietary information as an excuse not to disclose. WDJ stood firm and now they all disclose because they all want to be in the WDJ’s dry food list of top foods!!

Many companies use your websites rating to promote their foods. “fill in the blank” received a 5 star rating from the Dog Food Advisor. You could easily ask a manufacturer to disclose more info to be reviewed on DFA. Who actually manufactures their human grade this or that. Where do their meat meals come from, their vitamins, their meats, their fats etc.

This would accomplish several things. Manufacturers would start to disclose more, consumers would get a chance to learn more, companies that use inferior ingredients would start to upgrade their ingredients in order to get your coveted 5 star rating and people would start to avoid the companies who refused to disclose.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi dave and AngieH –

The difficult thing with colitis is that it can have many different causes and it can be acute or chronic. Dietary changes often can help ease the symptoms of colitis. Most dogs with colitis respond well to increased levels of dietary fiber and/or a hypoallergenic diet. Many dogs with colitis also seem to better tolerate foods that are lower in fat. When trying a new food make sure that you don’t feed anything else to your dog during the trial period (no treats!) and give the diet three to six weeks to see if there is improvement (remember, the improvement won’t be immediate and in some cases your dog’s diarrhea can even worsen in the initial stages of the switch as the dog is becoming accustomed to the new food).

For increasing the fiber level, rather then looking specifically for a high-fiber food, I would recommend just adding some canned pumpkin or psyllium to a high quality food. Both are high in fiber and will increase the overall fiber content of the food being fed.

For choosing a hypoallergenic diet you want to pick a food that has a protein source and carbohydrate source (if applicable) that your dog has never been exposed to. Making a homemade food is a great option here.

Two supplements I would definitely start immediately
1. Probiotics – these will help replenish the good bacteria in the dog’s digestive tract and keep pathenogenic bacteria in check.
2. Digestive Enzymes – These will give the dog a boost in digesting their food so the dog’s already stressed digestive system doesn’t have to work as hard at producing its own enzymes.

Some other supplements you may want to try that have proved successful for some dogs suffering from colitis:
1. L-glutamine – An amino acid that helps to repair the mucosal lining of the digestive tract.
2. Slippery Elm – An herb that helps to sooth the digestive tract and relieve inflammation.

I think in the case of colitis, that a high quality home-prepared diet would be best and most easily customizable to the dog’s individual needs. However, here are some commercial foods that are hypo-allergenic and lower in fat that may be worth considering:
1. The Honest Kitchen’s Zeal – Dehydrated, fish-based food, 9% fat on a dry-matter basis.
2. Grandma Lucy’s Pureformance Rabbit – Freeze-dried food, 15% fat on a dry-matter basis.
3. Nature’s Variety Instinct – Limited Ingredient dry foods are all under 20% fat on a dry-matter basis and include a turkey, duck and lamb variety.
4. Addiction’s Dry Foods – salmon-based, venison-based and lamb-based options, all around 13% fat on a dry-matter basis.
5. Addiction Dehydrated Foods – brush-tail, kangaroo, venison, lamb offerings, all around 9% fat on a dry-matter basis.
6. Addiction Canned Foods – brushtail, venison and salmon are only 10% fat on a dry-matter basis.
7. Great Life – Dry foods Buffalo Rx and Duck Rx are both 13% fat on a dry-matter basis.
8. Tiki Dog – canned food with some low fat hypoallergenic options.
9. California Natural Grain-Free – kangaroo, salmon, lamb and venison options, all 13% fat or less on a dry-matter basis.

*Some of the foods I recommended are a little low in protein for my taste, unfortunately when feeding a commercial food most of the foods that are lower in fat and that contain a novel protein also contain less overall meat and thus less protein – this is why I think homemade is the best option. If you are feeding one of the lower protein dehydrated or kibbled foods I’d highly recommend adding one of the recommended canned foods to boost the overall protein content. Also, this is not an exhaustive list – check out the foods Dr. Mike has reviewed on DFA and you’ll likely be able to find more – these are just some brands that first came to mind.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I need the best cat foods, canned and dry for my cats. I have switched over to the Nature’s Logic dry, they like, and I am still feeding two cans of the pate Fancy Feast a day due to finicky cats. I want to upgrade to a better canned that they will eat, that is key!! and does not cost much more than $1 a can. Only one cat like the Bravo raw, but I couldn’t really afford to go completely raw with the dog on raw. Thank you for any info! Beth

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Dr. Mike –

This is a great question and I think it will make for a great discussion as everyone’s criteria are so different.

First off, in answering it for myself, I’m going to assume we’re looking for dry dog foods – otherwise I, obviously, would give preference to raw foods.

1) The first thing I look at it protein content. I won’t typically consider a food with under 35% protein – however if the food fell between 30% and 34% but had several other exemplary qualities I may make an exception (I would never go under 30% though).

2) I then look at fat content. I typically like dry foods with at least 15% fat (I feed much higher fat levels with raw, but dry foods are generally fairly low in fat).

3) I then look at ingredients. I always want a meat ingredient first – no exceptions. I prefer a fresh meat followed by at least one meat meal – but I would not rule out an otherwise good food if it only contains meat meals. Although there are some exceptions, I typically won’t feed a food that contains by-products. I never feed a food that contains any unnamed animal ingredients – such as animal fat, animal digest or animal by-products. I won’t feed foods with grains and look, instead, for foods that use potato, tapioca, legumes or pseudo-grains (or some combination of these) as a binder. Other ingredients that I look for and would not feed to my animals are: chemical preservative (such as BHA), menadione, artificial colorings, propylene glycol or any sort of sugar (sugar, molasses, honey, etc.). I also prefer to see a short list of added vitamins, minerals and amino acids – this tells me that much of the nutrition is derived from the ingredients in the food itself and there’s less reliance on synthetic supplements.

4) I then look at the company. I won’t rule out a company if it’s had recalls, but I do take into consideration how many recalls the company has had, how far apart they were and how the company handled the recalls. I like a company that is open about where they source their ingredients and that doesn’t source from China. I typically call or email the company’s customer service before feeding a food and if either a) I don’t get a response b) the customer service rep seems knowledgeable c) customer service is rude or d) I get the impression the company is giving me the run around when I ask a question – I will not feed the food.

[InkedMarie]

As some of you know, we adopted a 9yr old sheltie on Saturday. She has no teeth and has been eating Grandma Lucy’s PureFormance chicken since she got here. She loves it, thankfully! Since day one, I have been giving her Mercola’s probiotics and digestive enzymes. She was on amoxicillin but got the last one yesterday morning.
These are the other supplements my other two get, in addition to the Mercola products:

apple cider vinegar
salmon oil (I use one by Vital Choice)
coconut oil (one of them gets this)
Bug Off Garlic

Her coat is disgustingly dry: the dandruff just flakes off & rains down to the floor. She is scheduled for a bath on Monday February 4th (or whatever that Monday is). What is best to use, internally, for her coat? Both the salmon and coconut oil? If yes, both daily?
Her poops are pretty soft, which I assume is from the dehydrated food. Should I add some pumpkin to her meals? With every meal? I don’t know if I should attempt to add in a dry food or not, with her having no teeth.
I think she has some hip problems. She’ll be ten in June so can use some type of a joint supplement. Any suggestions for one that is powder or liquid? No teeth, don’t want her to attempt to chew something.
She does have an appt at the holistic vets in three weeks. She has a little hair loss on her eyelids, that and the icky coat have me wondering if she has a thyroid issue but she seems to be at a good weight.
Also, when should I start adding more stuff in? I started putting the Mercola stuff in on Sunday morning.
thanks all!

[setrina]

I have a 76 pound White Boxer name Blanca. She has thee worse gas ever. LOL … I feed her the best food but starting to wonder if I should consider switching her to grain free. She currently eats Innova dry food and Merricks wet food mixed. I am trying to figure out the benefits of grain vs. grain free. I know Innova and Merrick both have a grain free option but trying to first see if that is the best route for her to help decrease her gas. She loves the food and looks forward to feeding time every day! 🙂 Anyone have any thoughts of the benefits of grain vs. grain free?

[amydunn19]

krist117 – I don’t have experience with Cushings but I have a diabetic JRT who was diagnosed five years ago. I have friends who have dogs with both conditions and I know once you get the Cushings under control, the diabetes will be easier to get regulated. I am worried that your vet admits his lack of experience with dogs – if it is possible, I would find a vet with dog and diabetes experience. If it is not possible, you will have to do the best you can. IMO you need to test your dog’s blood sugar at home. This dog needs to be monitored to determine how his body uses insulin. Buy a human meter(I use the One Touch Ultra) and buy your strips on Amazon or eBay. I test at fasting(before eating), six hours after that and then 6 hours after that at the evening meal. Take your meter with you to your vet and check against his lab. Human blood and canine blood are different but you will get an idea of how to adjust your number based on the difference between your reading and his reading. Testing is vital and don’t waste your time with urine strips – they are not reliable. As for food, I prefer Nutrisca which is low glycemic and my dogs love it. I top it with Nutrisca wet food or Merrrick wet food. I also use Grandma Lucy’s Pure Performance, another low glycemic option to change it up but worry about variety until you have him regulated. I stay away from potatoes and tapioca. Also, remember the most important thing is to find a food your dog will eat willingly. This is not a battle you want to fight – your dog must eat. You can also top the food with boiled chicken or homemade broth(not canned ) to make any dry more appealing.

[dave]

We have a client who has with a dog with Colitis. She want to change food but use looking for a food with very low fat. Please list a few foods dry and wet if possible. Thanks

[mbigdogs]

Hi Everyone
I guess I don’t have to mention that two dogs over 200 pounds can eat a significant amount of food. I want to buy them the best food I can afford and still pay my mortgage 🙂 The bull mastiff is under a year old and the saint bernard is almost 3. They are amazing loving dogs and I want them to stay healthy as long as possible. It is difficult to buy enough cans for dogs this size. I watched the video about which kind to buy. How about a mixture of canned and dry? With all the recalls now I am just getting confused on what I should purchase that is good for both of them. I am also scared about treats since Petco just literally pulled almost the entire dog section off the shelves. I do make some of my own treats for them. It is just difficult to make homemade food for dogs this size and work full time. Can someone suggest some good options for what would be cost effective and yet as healthy as I can get for them? Thank you very much for your help.

• This topic was modified 12 years, 11 months ago by mbigdogs.

[matt1186]

I’m a manager at a pet store and I’m continually trying to improve my knowledge on pet food so I can help people as best as I possibly can. My problem is that I have a lot of customers that feed their dogs vegetarian dry dog foods and every seemingly factual article I find advises against it. I wanted to know if there is anyone on the forum that does and if there is any proven benefits to it.

Thanks,
Matt

[Mom2Cavs]

While I’m not familiar with Canyon Creek’s food (I believe it’s fairly new), I do know that their chicken jerky treats are “accused” of causing illness in pets. SORRY…I do realize that is not the question you have, though I just wanted to let you know. My opinion on food is this…..if a food works, then it’s technically a 5 star for the dog! I do want to clarify a little, though. I personally won’t feed below 3 star, won’t even try it for one of my dogs. I have, and would again if necessary, use a 3 star food if it worked the best. Believe me, I have fed the gamut of foods to my 4 dogs. They are all technically seniors now. Currently, I’m feeding Merrick Classic (“gasp” a grain inclusive food!) and will top it with canned food or freeze dried raw food that is rehydrated. I also use Fromm GF dry, and Simply Nourish (both dry and canned), which is Petsmart’s house brand. I will use Weruva canned and Merrick canned, as well. I have an old Cavalier that only eats the freeze dried raw now. In fact, she is the reason I started with it (just trying to get her to eat again as she has a neurological issue). So sorry for the long rant lol….just remember no food works for all dogs, and your dog is your responsibility and it is your decision on what works, what you can afford, what your dog will eat, etc. I’m thrilled you have educated yourself on dog food, though, and can make an informed choice. You have the best interest of your dog at heart! 🙂

[soho]

Hi Everyone,

I would like to discuss diet and diabetes. Diabetes is a huge subject to tackle whether it is in regard to people or to pets. I wanted to start the conversation with the question;

“What should I feed my Diabetic dog?”

Without going into the science of Diabetes which would be a very long and complex conversation let’s just discuss what you can do in regards to your dog’s diet to help them live a longer and healthier life.

I have been dealing with my own diabetes for 28 years now and I worked for a Doctor of Osteopathy as a diabetes educator in her Manhattan, NY office. For the last eight years I have counseled many dog guardians on the subject of canine diabetes. I have seen literally thousands of dogs with every kind of health issue through my work with the non profit FreePlay which educates the public on the benefits of off leash recreation areas and with The Pet Wash a local grooming and retail establishment.

The good news is you can really make a difference in your diabetic dog’s well being through their diet. The bad news is diabetes is an insidious disease that can rob your dog of their sight and their life if left unmanaged.

The Canine Ancestral diet which is approximately 55% protein 25 to 30% fat and 15% carbohydrate or on a calorie weighted basis 50% of calories are from protein, 44% from fat, and only 6% from carbohydrate is a good starting point to consider in trying to help the diabetic dog through diet.

The ancestral diet is so low in carbohydrates that it is tailor made for a diabetic dog. You can prepare this type of diet at home using human grade meats and vegetables which we will discuss in another post or you can try to feed your dog a similar diet using commercial foods. I would recommend starting with a balanced raw diet that does not contain bones and lightly cooking it. I would cook it lightly because a lot of diabetic dogs are not in the best health and their ability to deal with the bacteria and microbes that are in the raw food is probably compromised.

Second choice would be a dehydrated food such as The Honest Kitchen. THK is a quality food that uses only human grade ingredients in all of their formulas. The problem with THK is it is lower in protein that what I would suggest. This can be remedied by adding about 20% lightly cooked meat to each of the recipes. I would stick with similar proteins like fowl for the turkey or chicken formulas, fish for the fish formulas and red meat for the beef formulas.

Next would be a canned food that has no grains or other starches like potatoes. I would look for a canned food that was mostly meats with a little vegetables.

Lastly would be kibble. Kibbles require starch to bind the ingredients. They also are the most processed of all the commercial diets available for dogs. They also are dry and nutrient dense. I would suggest that a diabetic dog be fed a high moisture diet like a fresh food or a dehydrated after it is rehydrated or a canned food. Moisture helps ease the burden of the kidneys which are one of the organs that are affected by diabetes.

If you must feed a kibble for whatever reason then I would look to a kibble like EVO which is only 12 percent carbohydrates. The lowest carb highest protein kibble would be the only kibble I would consider feeding a dog with diabetes. Unfortunately once a dog has diabetes the controlling of this disease would be of paramount importance to me and I would no longer be as concerned with considering all of the qualities of an individual dog food and I would mostly focus on feeding a high protein, low carbohydrate and high moisture diet

Questions anyone?

• This topic was modified 12 years, 11 months ago by soho.

[Toxed2loss]

Tapioca is one of the alternative starches being used in higher end kibbles. Its gluten free, non-GMO, and when properly processed, non-toxic. In order to make, and bind kibble you must use a certain amount of starch. Tapioca is a good choice in that it is nontoxic, gluten & lectin free.

There is a lot of misinformation being disseminated about tapioca, so lets review the facts and set the record straight. There are no poisonings from properly processed tapioca flour. In fact, most poisonings occur in famine stricken areas where the starving individuals try to take short cuts in processing the raw cassava or manioc root. This is well documented. Tapioca has been safely consumed for thousands of years and is the main staple starch in African, Indonesian and South American diets. “500 million people rely on cassava as their main source of calories, among them subsistence farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa…”Richard Sayre, a professor of plant biology at Ohio State University
—-

“The Culprit in Cassava Toxicity: Cyanogens or Low Protein?
by G. Padmaja

The starchy roots of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) are already a staple for about 500 million people of tropical Africa, Asia, and Latin America, but countless others might also benefit from this food if it were not for the sensationalism that sometimes surrounds the crop’s potential toxicity.
The cassava plant carries two cyanogenic glucosides, linamarin and lotaustralin, in its edible roots and leaves. The amounts of these potentially toxic compounds vary considerably, according to cultivar and growing conditions. “Sweet” varieties usually have such small amounts as to be innocuous, whereas “bitter” varieties have sufficiently high levels to require domestic processing to remove most of the toxins.

In situations where famine or extreme poverty may force a population to eat poorly processed cassava in a diet that is also deficient in nutrients such as protein, the plant’s cyanogenic glucosides can lead to poisoning. A classic case was the infantile kwashiorkor epidemic in famine-stricken Biafra in 1968, but there have also been recent examples of spastic paraparesis, or konzo, in drought-stricken regions of Mozambique and Tanzania.

Detoxifying cassava

Farming populations who cultivate cassava have developed many methods of detoxifying cassava. Boiling and drying are sufficient to make low-cyanogen cultivars safe for consumption, but more rigorous procedures such as grating, fermenting, and sun-drying, are necessary to effectively remove cyanogens from cultivars of higher toxicity.

The protein link

Whenever a chronic disease has been linked to cassava consumption, the victims have also been found to suffer from protein deficiency, suggesting a relationship between the two.

Protein is essential for all the body’s vital functions, and for eliminating certain dietary toxins. With the help of the enzyme rhodanese, the human body detoxifies cyanide by forming thiocyanate. When the body is regularly exposed to cassava cyanogens, the increased synthesis of rhodanese makes extra demands on the body’s reserves of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. To detoxify 1.0 mg hydrocyanic acid (HCN), the body also needs a daily supply of about 1.2 mg of dietary sulfur (S) from S- containing amino acids (SAA). If the demand for rhodanese and SAA is prolonged, as in the regular consumption of cassava, and the diet is inadequate, the synthesis of many proteins vital for bodily functions may be impaired, leading to the development of protein deficiency diseases.

Cassava – low protein source

Cyanogens alone cannot be blamed for toxicity because other cyanogenic crops, such as sorghum and Lathyrus bean, which are widely used as food, cause few toxicity problems. But the protein contents of these two crops (11.0% and 18.7%, respectively) are higher.

Many cassava products contain very low amounts of cyanogens, which can be efficiently eliminated by the body, if the protein intake is adequate. Cassava roots, being bulky and rich in carbohydrates, free dietary proteins from having to meet the body’s energy needs, thus allowing them to be used more efficiently. However, the level of protein in cassava lags far behind the levels found in rice, wheat, and tuber crops (Figure 1). An adult consuming 1 kg of cassava has to ingest 52 g of protein from other sources to obtain the U.S. recommended daily allowance (RDA) of 65 g protein per adult. In contrast, 1 kg of wheat supplies 121 g of protein and rice, 61 to 64 g of protein.

If protein intake is more than adequate for both general metabolic requirements and cyanide elimination, toxic effects are lessened or even eliminated, even if cassava is improperly processed. (Fatal poisoning can result from ingestion of large amounts of unprocessed or poorly processed high-cyanogen cassava.) Hence, the lack of protein in cassava roots is probably responsible for most non-fatal cases of cyanide poisoning associated with cassava.”
http://www.worldbank.org/html/cgiar/newsletter/Oct96/6cassava.html
——-
Notice it was cassava and not tapioca, that caused the poisonings. Notice also that they weren’t in the US, but in impoverished areas, in developing nations, and there was a lack of sufficient dietary protein.
——-

Nutritional profile of cassava
Cassava root is essentially a carbohydrate source.[27] Its composition shows 60–65 percent moisture, 20–31 percent carbohydrate, 1–2 percent crude protein and a comparatively low content of vitamins and minerals. However, the roots are rich in calcium and vitamin C and contain a nutritionally significant quantity of thiamine, riboflavin and nicotinic acid. Cassava starch contains 70 percent amylopectin and 20 percent amylose. Cooked cassava starch has a digestibility of over 75 percent.
Cassava root is a poor source of protein. Despite the very low quantity, the quality of cassava root protein is fairly good in terms of essential amino acids. Methionine, cysteine and cystine are, however, limiting amino acids in cassava root.
http://www.ask.com/wiki/Cassava
——

THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF TAPIOCA
Aug 5, 2011 | By Kristi Wray

Conventionally, tapioca, derived from the cassava plant, is best known as a creamy pudding dessert with little sustenance. However, in some in areas like Africa, Asia and South America, tapioca is known better for its nutritional benefits than as a sweet treat. When eaten raw or incorrectly prepared, the plant releases poisonous properties. Thus, tapioca must be prepared correctly to prevent harm and ensure safe eating.

STARCH EQUALS ENERGY
The cassava plant is a root vegetable and a healthy source of carbohydrates. In many countries, it serves as a main dish because of its high starch content. Even better, it is considered a healthy starch because it is low in cholesterol and unhealthy fats. Tapioca can be included in dietary plans to promote healthy weight gain.

GLUTEN-FREE
People suffering with Celiac disease or other conditions that restrict the use of gluten-based foods can use tapioca as an alternative to recipes that use wheat flour. Tapioca flour, which does not contain any gluten, is a healthier alternative to wheat flour. Both tapioca flour and tapioca starch can be used as a thickening agent in cream-based sauces and gravies.

MINERALS
Calcium, phosphorous, potassium and magnesium can be found in tapioca in varying amounts. If you are preparing a more processed form of the root, like a pudding mix, you will receive a smaller amount of these minerals than if you were to consume tapioca starch or flour. Tapioca is also a good source of iron, and, in particular, dry tapioca pearls contain up to 13 percent of your daily value of iron. B-vitamins, including folic acid, which is extremely vital for pregnant women, are also found in tapioca.

DIETARY FIBER
Over the years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has placed extreme importance on the consumption of dietary fiber on a daily basis for a healthier lifestyle. The cassava root has a significant amount of dietary fiber in its natural form. According to the USDA, foods high in dietary fiber can help lower cholesterol, decrease the rate of colon cancer, and lower the risk of diabetes and heart disease.” http://www.livestrong.com/article/509033-the-health-benefits-of-tapioca/
—–

So there you have it. A factual picture of tapioca starch, without the scare tactics.

[Shawna]

Hi poochie1059 — I agree with everything Hound Dog Mom wrote. Many better quality foods are appropriate for puppy, adult and senior dogs.

I wanted to add, MANY of us here on DFA, including Dr. Mike, believe in rotational feeding. We switch our dogs food regularly. Some switch daily, some with each new bag of kibble, some every other month and so on. If you start when the dog is a puppy and feed the same quality of foods you can switch between foods without having to “transition”. Dogs should be able to eat whatever (that is appropriate) you put in front of them. By only feeding one food we actually create sensitive tummies.

I rotate with every new bag of food and buy the smaller 5 and 6lb bags. I rotate proteins as well as brands. I use a variety of 5 star “all life stage” foods for all the dogs in my home including the foster puppies the adults and the seniors (I have 8 dogs and foster for Boston and Papillon rescue). The foods I use include Acana, Orijen, Brothers Complete, Merrick, Earthborn, Nature’s Variety, Nature’s Logic etc.

Additionally, many of us put “toppers” on our dogs’ foods. The topper can include canned foods, dehydrated, commercial raw, sardines, raw or lightly cooked egg etc. All these add extra nutrition and variety — sardines as an example are a great source of extra protein and omega 3 fatty acids.

Good luck with and best of health to your puppy!!!

[Jackie B]

/best-dog-foods/best-puppy-foods/ Read this article, all the way t the end. It explains how an All Life Stages food is right for both dogs and puppies. If you’re worried about it still, you can always switch to a puppy food.

[Toxed2loss]

Hi Sophia,

Insects are far more resilient than mammals. So much so that by the over use of chemical insecticides we’ve inadvertently produced pests that are immune to them. The chemical companies keep producing and selling more harmful chemicals in response. These poison our pets. So I’m copying a post that I originally shared on the Mercola Healthy Pets forum. Just in case you want to go that route.

“IPM Fleas
I use a method that my daughter and I developed when she went off to college (with her dog) and discovered her apartment and yard were infested from the previous renter’s cat and the abundance of ferel cats that frequented her yard. My daughter is an IPM entomologist and started her professional career at age 15. Here’s what we worked out.:

The first thing to consider is breaking the flea life cycle, which is: hatch out of eggs laid in textiles or litter, feed as nymph, metamorphasize to adult, hop on dog, mate/feed, hop off, lay eggs, repeat…

Bathing your dog regularly is a great way to interrupt the flea reproductive cycle… if they don’t reproduce, no resident fleas.

I use a fragrance free, non toxic detergent. I am currently using naturoli’s soapnut shampoo. Its extremely mild and nourishes the skin and coat. All the pet shampoos (even the hypo-allergenic ones) at pet stores have stuff I wouldn’t use, therefore, I won’t put it on my dogs. Occassionally I use a few drops of a REPELLENT, non toxic pet shampoo along with the detergent. I use Earthypet, for the drops. I get it at http://www.allnaturalcosmetics.com Its very fragrant, and more than 1 drop per small dog, 2 for med-large hurts me. I can only imagine how much it offends the dog. (For your sick dogs, I’d avoid the aromatics until they recover!) One of the ways you can monitor if the VOCs are too high for your dog is, “do they rub their face on the carpet?” That indicates that it is hurting their noses.

Keep in mind that your dog could still have gotten flea born diseases when you used a pesticide, as it takes a while for the resident fleas to get killed. A repellent, like lavender and rosemary oils, keeps the blood feeders away, and therefore prevents insect vectored diseases.

When I bath my pom. I fill up the laundry sink and have her sit in it for 3-5 min. I protect the ears and nose. I also watch for fleeing fleas and squish ’em. Make sure they pop. You will also see them swimming in the tub. Squish those too. Washing them down the drain isn’t enough. They hop back out. Also for the first several weeks, check your dog, down to the skin in a well lit area for fleas. Use a desk lamp. The fleas will come to the warmth. You’ll still have to comb through all her hair and examine all of her skin. If she’s picked up a tick, or cheat grass, you will find it during this procedure. Don’t forget to squish the fleas. When you aren’t seeing them or their “dirt”, you can move your bath times to less frequently, but monitor to find the best schedule. I bath more frequently during heavy hatches. Contact your State University, Experiment Station Entomologist for the timing of the heaviest hatch(es) in your area.

Next: frequent laundering (weekly to every 2 weeks) of your dogs bedding, with borax as a laundry booster: 1/4 to 1/2 cup per load. Borax residues form crystals in the fabric, which scratch through the exoskeleton and cause the adults to suffocate. I love that part! (dry on Hot) Fleas lay their eggs near where your dog habitates, in fibers: Carpet, upholstry, bedding. Flea nymphs hatch out and start feeding on what’s in their environment. Residual borax is consumed and kills the nymphs.

For control in carpets and upholstery, I wash them (steam clean) with borax solution. Its also a great way to get out petroleum and oil stains… as well as odors. Unless something happens, I shampoo a couple of times a year, like during major hatch cycles. (spring) and at the end of the summer to minimize the indoor population. The borax crystalizes after this too, and kills both adults and nymphs.

So, this method kills by drowning or suffocating the adults, poisoning the nymphs, and drowning/frying the eggs. It is an intergrated, (non invasive) pest management practice or IPM.

There are a number of things you can do to deter mosquitos from feeding on your pet. The aromatics work by repelling, but you can use garlic, (one of Shawna’s favorites!) Or complex Bs make the blood unpalatable to insects. I have frequently fed brewer’s yeast to get the Bs, but I’m hearing some downsides. Get a good supplement. Healthy raw foods with lightly cooked broccoli and other cruciferous veggies (see Dr. Becker’s book for amounts) are high in sulfur, and that repels mosquitos. Tumeric and curry (garam masala) have healing properties as well as making you “not a biting insects preferred snack.” Hope that helps! 🙂

I also mix up a spray bottle with water and some of Dr. Bronner’s Castile, mint oil soap. It repels mosquitos. I use this as a spray-on during peak seasons or heavy hatches. I went to the coast a few years back in May. I used this and everyone else in the campground was slapping mosquitos, regardless of “off” and deet, and I didn’t have even one, near me. It lasted all night. As you probably know mosquitos vector heartworm. So this little preventive measure goes a long way in protecting pups from heartworm.”

Hope that helps!

[Toxed2loss]

Both dietary and environmental toxins contribute to tear staining. That includes cleaning products, laundry products and everything with a fragrance. So can Pesticides, lawn and garden chemicals and petroleum products. Vaccines and worm Meds, and all other meds can also cause cause staining, as well as ear discharge, skin eruptions and seizures. Feeding the best specie appropriate diet, sans grain, potatoes & food additives goes a long way to helping keep your pet healthy, but its implant to remove environmental toxins as well. 🙂

[Hound Dog Mom]

clm86 –

Considering your dog’s issues I think Abady granular would be worth looking into. It would be a great food for putting weight on a dog – it’s high fat with around 800 calories per cup (about twice as many calories per cup as kibble). I’ve also heard dogs with sensitive stomachs do well on it.

Wet food is definitely a good addition to dry food, but it wouldn’t help much as far as adding calories. Due to its high moisture content wet food is generally much less calorie-dense than dry food.

I had issues getting my female bloodhound (now two years old) to gain weight and it wasn’t until I switched her to a high protein, high fat, low carbohydrate homemade raw diet that I got her to gain anything (she’s still skinny but looks a lot better than before she was on raw). She eats 2 lbs. of meat per day with extras – such as eggs, cottage cheese and kefir – plus supplements and veggies and I was able to get her to put on 5 (much needed!) pounds after three months on raw and now she’s maintaining nicely. I aim for her meals to be 40-50% protein and 30-40% fat. So if you’ve got the time and money a high fat homemade diet would probably be the best option. The other benefit of homemade is you can tailor it to the needs of your sensitive dog since you control all the ingredients that go into it.

[BryanV21]

Thanks for pointing that out… seriously. It’s interesting to read things like that. However, since I can find studies to prove anything, whether they are contradictory or not, I don’t put a whole lot of stock in them. Just another example of science failing or confusing people. Which is why I’m an advocate of the ancestral or evolutionary diet.

Besides, it’s not as if a dog owner doesn’t need to practice good oral hygiene anyway. And if an owner is doing that, then it doesn’t matter. The more important thing is which food is best, not which is dry or wet.

[BryanV21]

Yeah, if a food doesn’t have that much protein or other nutrients, or has inferior ingredients, then it doesn’t matter whether it’s dry, wet, dehydrated, freeze-dried, raw, or whatever.

I don’t think kibble is best for dogs by any means, but I totally understand the cost and convenience of it being more attractive to dog owners. But I like that you top the food like that.

[Anonymous]

NEED HELPFUL ADVICE: I have a full blooded blue pitbul champion Gotti line, he is four months old, and off course he is one of my kids, I am trying to find the best food to feed him that can also help with his skin, right now I feed him “Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream” which is suppose to be TOP LINE and is ridiculous expansible but worth it for my baby, pitbuls are very known to have sensitive
skin. And my baby has really really sensitive skin specially since he is blue, so he gets a lot of rashes, the vet told me to shower him more often with a special shampoo and I do, to use ointment/lotion and i do, to also give him benedryl and I have but nothing helps, benedryl only helps for a few hours. I really think if I find the right food for him it can help. Last night by baby woke up at 230am itching at his rashes (yes he sleeps in my bed) and crying in fustration. be bites at it to the point it bleeds so to help him and sooth him I bath him in warm water which helps, and rub ointment on it until he falls asleep. yes he is very spoiled but the rubbing helps so he doesnt itch at it so I was up all night with him. SOOOOOO my point, does anyone of the pitbul lovers out there has experience the same and what did you do to help it go away, what food do you feed your little guy/girl? Searching the internet has been useless because there is just so much information out there you just cant tell what really works. HELP