[theBCnut]

I totally agree with InkedMarie and HDM.

[Hound Dog Mom]

The organic produce isn’t the only difference between the Natural Selections and the Zoologics – the Natural Selections has free-range meat that’s antiobiotic and hormone free, the Zoologics has conventionally raised meat. If you can afford the Natural Selections, I’d highly recommend going with that over the Zoologics. If the Natural Selections is too pricey, the Zoologics is still better than any kibble could ever hope to be. So your dogs will be better off than they were on kibble either way – imo.

[InkedMarie]

The Natural Selections is better, IMO. Free range met is almost always better. I fed the Zoologics strictly due to the price.

[NectarMom]

I know you don’t mean no disrespect Marie, I was trying to replace a can food that I did not like one ingredient in it and probably jumped the gun. I thought I was going about it slow which is why they only got 1 tsp each. I am not feeding kibble anymore but just wanted a little extra for the girls and that is the reason for the can food. I think what I will do is just do the raw twice a day and in between the feedings give them a marrow bone to chew on. Probably best if the least Variety right now I give them the better since they are so sensitive to change. We do transition slow so we don’t have that issue but from what Darwin’s told me a tsp of food is really not enough to make a dogs system react like that unless it just plain did not agree with them. I need to just stick to Raw. Thanks for your reply 🙂

We have been on Darwin’s since March 14th and just stopped the Brothers Allergy kibble about 3-4 days ago so my main concern is the acid reflux and I am trying to narrow that down. We were on Brothers for 8 months and itching did not stop nor yeasty smell on the skin and acid reflux and they would not eat the Brothers without can food mixed with it so really I have not switched foods a lot.

[NectarMom]

•Natural Selections™ Meals
– Free-Range Meat and Organic Vegetables
The highest quality USDA-approved ingredients, free of antibiotics, hormones or chemical pesticides.
•ZooLogics™ Meals
– Human-Quality, USDA-approved Ingredients
The same complete formula but with conventionally-raised, human-quality ingredients. It’s the most economical way to feed fresh food to your dog. Great for those on a tight budget or with several large dogs.

What is the difference and is Organic really that much better and I know there are different levels of organic quality and the price difference does make a difference when you are feeding 4 dogs Raw but at the same time I want my 4dogs to get the best that they can get. Right now we are getting the Organic but I am also wondering about the Zoologics and how many of you feed this over the Organic and vise vera if so? I do plan to contact Darwin’s to ask them the difference to see what they say but I would also like your opinions to compare? Is Organic all it is cracked out to be?

Also I am feeding the turkey but if I decided to switch to another Darwin’s protein meat should I mix or not?

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi NectarMom –

Darwin’s turkey formula is 46% protein and 27% fat.

[NectarMom]

Well I would say you sliced that up pretty well. I got my marrow bones from Darwin’s and they told me on the phone they were 2-3 inches each and might I just say these things are huge. I have no idea how my tiny girls would be able to do anything with these. They need chewing exercise and I have no clue now what to get. I gave them a mercola soft chew and that thing had my one girl so bloated and my other one has started chewing on her side again after not doing that for so long. Acid reflux is back also and I am not sure what has caused that. I gave Raw yesterday morning and yesterday evening and Raw this morning , they have had no kibble since tues evening and thats when they had the mercola soft chew. I dunno.

My vet said I may have to cut down protein and fat. Does anyone know how much protein and fat is in Darwin’s Raw turkey. They get 1/2lb total each a day of Raw.

[NectarMom]

I was feeding Wellness 95% turkey mixed in enough to coat the evening dinner but after reading up on it and seeing it has caraggeenan in it and it does not sound like a good ingredient to feed so I am ordering some Weruva kurbuta hero because it has organic turkey but also has some ham. I don’t feel completely safe feeding wellness. What does anyone think of Weruva. I still have enough kibble I want to use up and not waste so they need a can food to help them eat the Brothers allergy food or other wise it would sit there untouched. We are doing Darwin ‘s Raw in the morning and kibble with a topper in the evening until we run out of kibble and then it is all Raw.

[NectarMom]

Yep what they don’t know will not hurt them and I watch my dogs eat everything so its not like I would let them run in the corner of the backyard and me not see them eating something. They love freeze dried duck feet but we never tried the raw before but we just may 🙂 shhhhhh we won’t tell Daddy and the girls can have them when he is at work LOL

[theBCnut]

As I said somewhere else; There are some conversations I just don’t have with my husband.

[NectarMom]

Yeah I am so glad it is working for our dogs. I might have to try another protein next go round , my hubby made the comment that it was not that bad expensive but then I told him that was half raw and half kibble and then when I told him how much to feed the dogs for 5 weeks he bout hit the floor LOL

[theBCnut]

I get raw from 3 companies and the grocery store, but Darwin’s is the only “balanced complete” diet I buy. I really like it.

[NectarMom]

Thanks as always for the info Patty. There are so many options out there. I was looking at another website for stuff “Steve’s Raw” and they just had a recall so moving on to the next supplier. I hope Darwin’s never runs into a recall but if they do I will be forced to buy and make my own which will probably end up being the case just with the expense. But right now Darwin’s is working and is so convenient for us.

[theBCnut]

Turkey hearts are all meat, very little fat even.

Oh, and you can edit for about five minutes after the original post. The edit option shows up as a button by the post number.

[InkedMarie]

Patty,
Boone’s can’t eat chicken in kibble but he got got a tablespoon of Hare Today’s chicken in with the turkey. Hopefully he can eat raw chicken just fine. We’ll find out!

[pugmomsandy]

NectarMom,

Pork baby back ribs are smaller! Only about 4 inches. Since you have small dogs they might not eat them.

[NectarMom]

I need something about 2-3 inches big because my dogs are carpet rats. Patty you might be right on the chicken since Raw is so much more different than kibble. Have you tried turkey hearts before? I have a few places in mind that I want to order from and then I might need another freezer too LOL! I need something that cleans my dogs teeth and something they can gnaw on to keep them busy instead of them up my rear all the time.

[pugmomsandy]

LOL! I’m using 2 freezers right now not just one! And I’m thawing out (to repackage) 40 lbs of skinless chicken necks and 20 lbs of whole chicken legs!

[theBCnut]

One of my dogs can’t handle chicken in kibble, but he can handle it raw as long as I only give it for one meal every few days. Once you go raw, it is amazing the changes you see in what your dog can handle.

I have 3 different companies raw in my freezer and 3 different homemades too. I also have beef ribs, goat ribs, and sheep ribs. And duck necks, turkey necks, and chicken necks. Close to 100 pounds total.

Which is nothing compared to what Sandy has…

[pugmomsandy]

The trachea/gullet/tripe mixture is ground so no chewing needed. The beef ribs I bought at Kroger. 3 ribs in a package. They were about 6 inches long and when the meat has been eaten off, it’s about 3/4 inch wide. The trachea from GT.com you would definitely need to cut up. It was wrapped in plastic but it appeared to be about 10-12 inches long and pretty wide on one end. I was going to cut it one up into 3 or 4 pieces. But after I thaw one out, it might look different!

[NectarMom]

What about turkey hearts? They are small enough that my girls could probably handle those and the Trachea and gullet mixture with green tripe? Ok now you got me being a food hoarder LOL!

[NectarMom]

I am avoiding chicken because I know whenever my shihtzu eats it she starts chewing on her side really bad. I am venturing out on a limb here and trying other types of protein in hopes that I can rotate between proteins. Next I think in the Darwin’s meals I will try duck but slowly mix it with the turkey and see what happens. I might give Trachea a try since it has no bones.

We so need an edit on here LOL!

[theBCnut]

Trachea is almost all cartilage with a little bit of meat. It’s a good chewing workout, so I believe it helps with teeth. But aren’t you sticking to just turkey? Or are you avoiding chicken, but other proteins are OK?

[NectarMom]

Darwin’s told me when the dogs are done chewing on themto put them back in the freezer to use for another day. Sandy where did you order the rib bones and how big are they? What about Trechea does it have bones?

[InkedMarie]

Sandy, I never thought about reusing the marrow bones, great idea!

[pugmomsandy]

NectarMom,

We have several empty marrow bones and rib bones and a couple antlers just laying around the house! You can also fill the empty marrow bones with something like yogurt or whatever and freeze it. All the necks have small bones 🙁

[NectarMom]

Thanks Sandy! I will try those sometime. Darwin’s recommended Marrow bones because my one piggy chihuahua swallows things whole and has choked before and they said that with the marrow bones as small as my dogs are they cannot bite off big pieces and choke on them so I added a couple of bags of those on my order and we will see how the girls like them. In the past we got the basted knee cap bones ( not raw) and they loved those so hopefully they will like these and they will stay busy chewing on these. I wanted to order the Duck necks but Darwin’s said they have bones in them and my dogs could possibly choke on them if they tried to swallow the whole thing.

[pugmomsandy]

NectarMom,

Try a beef rib bone. My dogs don’t eat them, just gnaw on them. They are too hard to eat and also too large to choke on. What about antlers? They come in many sizes also. I also had some bison ribs and they are too hard to eat and too big to choke on as well. I bought the bison ribs commercially and they didn’t have meat on them, just the bone.

[NectarMom]

)

[NectarMom]

What can anyone recommend as a dental bone without bone LOL…My DH will not allow the dogs to eat any part of an animal that has big bones that they might can choke on. I really want to stick with Raw things but it looks as though I am limited since we are on just turkey Raw. Also don’t they need Omega 3 and 6? What should I get for that? I just got my order from Mercola and I am adding the Spiralina tablets in with the Raw.

[NectarMom]

Wow I thought I was the only one with a dog with such horrible symptoms as this. My chihuahua is like a walking epi pen I have to keep injectable steroids and injectable Benadryl on hand in case she gets stung by or bit by an insect. Shes highly allergic to them. I could loose her in. Matter of 2 seconds if I don’t inject her. We were using Acana and she had bad gas and bloat ( she has intestinal food allergies too) I don’t know what ingredient she is allergic to but I know for certain chicken does not agree with her. She also got bad acid reflux on it and so did my other 3 dogs. From what I gather they could not handle the high protein. We switched to Brothers Allergy kibble and the Allergy symptoms eased up but did not totally go away but improved a lot but the acid reflux stayed. ( For a kibble I would still recommend this food) I am still feeding it until I run out and we are now feeding Darwin’s Raw which in only 2 weeks doing a half Darwin’s half kibble a day plus probiotics and enzymes the results for all 4 dogs is amazing. Acid reflux is gone and no gas and stools are always firm. No licking feet and they all seem to have more energy. My oldest just got her teeth cleaned yesterday and my vet made the comment about her fur and asked what I was bathing her in because she had the softest fur. I told him its not the shampoo it is what I am feeding her “Raw”

Seriously, I am not one to push food on anyone with they’re pets but I swear by Raw now and only wish I would have started mine out when they were puppies on it. But if you just cannot feed Raw then I recommend Brothers Allergy or at least a limited ingredient kibble and possibly grain free. Good luck to you. This is one of the best sites and the people on here are very knowledgable and wise.

[shelties mom]

My dogs like the Mercola gentle chews, but then they like everything. The chews don’t last more than 5 mins for my small shelties. I don’t think they are as nutritious as raw necks or wings.

[NectarMom]

Thanks Patty , That gives me an idea of how much to feed. darwin’s wasn’t sure because like you said each dog i different. The good news is we have decided after our next batch arrives we are going all Raw with all 4 of our girls. JRT are a bit more active than chihuahuas and shihtzu’s so I think 1/4 twice a day will be fine. My husband sees the difference in our two problem girls and he agrees lets go all Raw but he says no way are we feeding chicken bones or any Raw whole bones because one of our chihuahuas inhales her food and she has almost choked before on pig ears (we fed those a long long time ago and read up how bad they are and stopped. He does not want any of the dogs choking and dying from eating a chicken neck or wing (rolls eyes) but at least he has agreed to all Raw. My freezer will be here tomorrow and just in time for me to fill it with my new 20 lbs of Darwin’s .

Question, has anyone tried mercolas gentle chews? Are they safe for dogs with allergies?

[theBCnut]

I can tell you that I was feeding my JRT 1/2 cup of Brothers and when I started feeding raw I substituted 1/4 cup of Brothers for 1/4 cup of raw which is 1/4 of a pouch. That maintained her weight for months, but recently with the cold weather I’ve had to up her feed some.

The amount is going to vary dog to dog so the only way to know for sure is to see how much each dog needs by feeding it and seeing how they do.

[NectarMom]

Sheltiesmom , couldn’t you cut the turkey necks to the appropriate size for your dogs? I plan to use PVC cutters when I feed bones to my girls but I just need to get brave like when I switched to Darwin’s , which was a HUGE step for me. I think we are headed in the right direction though 🙂

[NectarMom]

Well I am super impressed with the way they put that away so quickly. Gosh I so want to do this with my girls. I don’t have a clue where to begin though and where to get organic turkey anything around here. We have a fresh market but I doubt they would have turkey necks. My girls are so much smaller that your big beautiful hounds so I am just a bit intimidated by the bones. My smallest chihuahua was eating some of the Darwin’s and I heard her crunching on a bone so I called Darwin’s to ask them if that would hurt my girl and of course they said no. I know I will look back at this in a few months and maybe a year and laugh at myself.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Generally for raw you want to feed 2% – 3% of your dog’s weight. I’d start there. To be more accurate, however, you could just figure out how many calories your dogs were eating before and figure out how much Darwin’s they’d need in order to be eating the same amount of calories – Darwin’s provides calorie content on their website.

[InkedMarie]

I suggest you give Darwin’s a call….I don’t know that I’ve seen a food calculator on their site.

[NectarMom]

I meant each dog gets 1/4 of the Darwin’s meal pouch. There is 4 pouches and one pouch cut into 1/4 for each dog , I hope that made sense.

[NectarMom]

Patty how do I know if I am feeding my dogs enough Darwin’s at each meal? I don’t want the ones that I have worked so hard to get the weight off of gain it back. I have 3 chihuahuas and a Imperial Shihtzu, none weighing over 11lbs. Right now in the morning I am feeding 1/4 of one of the squares of Darwins in the morning with enzymes on it. Then I divide up they’re evening dinner of kibble and can topper. They get 1/2 at 2pm and the other half at 6pm with probiotics mixed in. They are never excited with the kibble and can topper but they eat it. I think they are wanting all Raw but I want to make sure they are getting the amount they require to maintain weight and not loose or gain. I am confused on the eating amount. I just called Darwin’s today and went ahead and told them to send my next order because these foo foo dogs of mine are loving this food so much. I cannot get over the acid reflux is very minimal right now and my girls seem much more active than they have in a very long time. WOW

[theBCnut]

Thanks, I’m actually ready to order some in a few days.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Doggiefood.com is where I get mine. If you order direct from Urban Wolf they charge an arm and a leg for shipping – free shipping from doggie food.

[theBCnut]

HDM
You once posted where you found Urban Wolf cheapest. Now is a good time for a repeat.

[Hound Dog Mom]

I love Urban Wolf! It’s my favorite pre-mix. I love that it doesn’t have synthetic vitamins and minerals and the dogs seem to digest it better than other pre-mixes I’ve tried. I always keep a bag on hand for when things get hectic and I can’t make their meals completely from scratch.

[NectarMom]

HDM, I am seriously leaning that direction. In a million Years I would have never said I would feed my dogs Raw! Now it is all I want to feed them. The thought of filling up my garage with freezers and hearing my husband tell me ” What are you up to now??” Makes me chuckle. I am just so glad they are lovin the Darwin’s. After I am completely comfortable with the amount of Darwin’s I am feeding then I plan to introduce other Raw things on my own. I am now looking at Urban Wolf’s website….LOL!!! I may need rehab when it is all said and done.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi NectarMom –

I’m so glad to hear the raw is working! Personally, I’d go all Darwin’s if you can – you’ll probably get results a lot quicker than with a kibble. I started with a 5 cft freezer too and now I’ve added three more full-size upright freezers – I’m a frozen meat hoarder lol. I truly believe once your dogs get going on a quality raw food like Darwin’s you’ll see such great results you’ll never want to go back to kibble. I know I’d never even consider feeding kibble again unless I got into a situation where financially I had no other options.

[NectarMom]

LOL! Go ahead and say ” It tried to tell you so” I have a small 5cft freezer that I am waiting to pick up this weekend 🙂 After all this time I may have found my miracle cure food for my intestinal allergy pup 🙂 Whewwwwww lets knock hard on wood!!!

[InkedMarie]

I’m trying to figure out if I should say I’m glad I was right, lol. I am but only because I want your dogs to continue with Darwin’s! Glad the dogs are better.
Do you have a freezer for storage? I ask because if you can get 40 pounds at one time, you get a 10% discount.
Keep us posted!

[NectarMom]

Well Marie you were right and when I am wrong and someone is right I say so and Marie we tried just giving Raw in the morning feeding and then In the evening I give them the kibble and no one threw up any frothy stuff. We did the same yesterday and the same today and no vomiting froth. Actually symptoms of acid reflux have been less too. I am debating going all Darwin’s. My dogs love Darwin’s. I may try to add the Darwin’s duck slow with the turkey and see how it goes. Darwin’s called today to check in with me and I let them know that everything has calmed down and I believe the issue was mixing the kibble with the Raw. Thank you to Marie, HDM and Patty for your support and advice 🙂

[InkedMarie]

Thanks Sandy and Patty!
This class was mostly a joke, I’m so thankful it was only 2hrs long. I couldn’t even leave because Steve had dropped me off. When she started talking about alpha dogs, I wanted to be out of there. She never talked about raw foods but instead talked about cooked foods. Had Pitcairns (sp) books there so that was a good thing.
Someone brought up constipation in dogs and she mentioned chia seeds. She also mentioned psyllium but said some dogs don’t like the taste. I don’t know if you gals remember a couple weeks after we adopted Gemma, she was “stopped up”. I still don’t know if it was from eating a stone, from too much or too big bone in the Darwins she ate at the time or what. She has not had that problem again but it does take her awhile to poop. No straining but she does stand in the poop pose, for usually a couple minutes, before she goes. Stool is not hard, not soft, nicely formed. No idea what causes this but I wondered if the chia seed might be worth trying. She eats The Honest Kitchen’s Embark in the morning and Bravo Balance pre made raw in the afternoon. Gets various supplements and a dollop of pumpkin on top of her meals.