[LexiDog]

Wow! Your pup is sooo lucky to have found you!! Some people on here have suggested Satin Balls. They are high calorie treats/supplement food to help dogs gain weight. You make them and I am sure you could modify the recipe so that they are grain free.

I’m so glad he ate last night!! That is progress! Are you going to try to thaw it out a little bit more each day so he will be eventually eating it thawed? That might work.

[chris]

I wanted to add I fed him some ricotta cheese today on top of his Merricks and he enjoyed that a ton. I know one of you posted a link to taking kefir and fruit and making frozen treats out of it. I was wondering what fruits are best or are allowed for that matter. I know some fruits including grapes especially dogs can’t really have. I have a garden of my own that I have strawberries and blueberries growing all naturally as I don’t use pesticides or anything. Was wondering if they would be okay to use.

I also have home made sweet potatoes growing and was going to mash them up and put them on his food once in a while. 🙂

[zcRiley]

I haven’t heard that. Your dog is lucky to have different food types per day. Can you imagine eating the same food for years and years? I feed raw dehydrated for breakfast, a 5 star kibble for lunch and another 5 star brand for dinner. As a side (not mixed in), I rotate a canned food daily. The stools are medium sized firm and I make sure the total daily amount matches their activity level for the day (lots of swimming as summer approaches!). Dasuquin Advanced as treats and deer shank bones in between. Vet visits are a thing of the past. Just watch for any allergic reactions when introducing a new food.

[Jen W]

My dogs all enjoy Nylabones, they’re a bull terrier x basenji cross and two pit bull type dogs. They are between 44 and 79lbs, respectively. They all can chew for hours and get a variety of goodies.

I have nylabones for all of them and they all use them frequently, you can sandpaper them down a little bit to get them smoothed out and not so horrible to step on.

We also use bully sticks, bully slices, pig ears, cow ears, and like – my little one doesn’t always care for them, but the two larger ones love the flavorful real treats. They also all get knuckle bones and such once in a while as well and if a small piece is broken off they’re tossed.

My little one, Kay has an antler and she enjoys that sometimes, but it isn’t her favorite treat. she is very selective, one day she loves it the next she could care less.

If antlers, and something strong is what you are after, I would steer clear of the deer and go for a larger animal. My friend’s lab mix annihilated one of Kay’s antlers within twenty minutes. It was a split shed, you could see the spongy inside and they just tore it to bits.

Acadia Antlers has moose antlers, natural sheds and they come in flavors and have other projects. for the items it really isn’t a too bad deal. I’ve had it on my mind to order from them just haven’t but their reviews seem to be great. Just have to worry about power chewers who will do it at any and all costs and will break a tooth.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Ron-
Your dog is very lucky that you saved her! Sounds like she is living the good life. 20lbs overweight is probably hard on her though. You could definitely cut back on the treats! The dog food calculator reads that she should be getting about 950 calories a day for a dog with typical activity that should weigh 40lbs. Do you know how many calories are in a cup of her kibble or the cup of wet food that you are feeding have?

Yes, think about having a full senior blood panel done at the vets on Monday. Sometimes older dogs can have thyroid issues that make it very difficult to lose weight. Let us know how the vet visit goes.

[Lisa M]

I have a poodle that I’ve been through food and skin allergies with also, so I feel your pain. I have been going through this for six plus years, and within the last month, I came upon a lady with a holistic pet food store in Boca Raton, FL who has been invaluable. I had been feeding my dog venison and I believe he has become allergic to it. He’s also allergic to all novel proteins. She recommended rabbit and a probiotic, and it appears to have taken care of not only the allergies but the reflux he was beginning to have. Her web address is holisticpetcuisine.com. After years of reading pet food labels, and having to email the parent companies to see what “liver” or “flavor” might refer to, she speaks the language fluently. Her name is Barbara. She sometimes recommends a raw diet, which I have heard mixed feedback on from both sides, but tend to cook the food. Be sure no treats from China, and no cross over ingredients in treats that have proteins your dog might be allergic to. I feel your pain. I have found that not even vets can deal with these issues very well. Email/call Barbara. She will be a new best friend.

[Naturella]

Pitlove, if I fed my RMBs in a yard, I would not be worried one bit about grass and/or soil getting on them unless I’m using some chemical or toxic pesticides. If you are not, i think grass and dirt are ok. Maybe someone else can confirm or refute that though.

As for Chris, I second Bobby Dog – adding fresh foods to kibble is pretty good. I add coconut oil (UNREFINED raw organic extra-virgin cold-pressed is ideal but as long as it’s at least unrefined it should be okay), yoghurt/kefir, raw egg, canned sardines in water, and the RMB in addition to the canned/pouches I mentioned earlier. I also use some treats and natural chews here and there.

[Naturella]

Oh, and Chris… Orijen told me they won’t send me samples as you can buy their trial sizes from a few places online or in stores that carry Orijen. So if they send you some, let me know!

But I have had luck with Annamaet (samples of the GF foods and a full-size bag of treats – which are formulated almost like the foods themselves, so they are close to complete and balanced, if not that), Wysong (many samples), Canidae (a whole small bag of Pure Sea and a full-size bag of PURE treats), Dr. Tim’s (one Sample), Brothers’ Complete (bought samples from their website, they sent me double the order), Victor (bought samples from sportdogfood.com and ordered 5 of each instead of 3 (the limit), but they still sent them to me), Dr. Tim’s (sent me one sample), and I think this is it.

[Naturella]

Chris, that sounds like a good lineup! Don’t sweat it too much, just make sure that the unbalanced additives (sauerkraut, yoghurt, kefir, frozen treats and other unbalanced treats, and unbalanced canned green tripe) altogether do not constitute more than 10% of the dog’s diet. For me, I feed about 1tsp or 1tbs (depending on how generous I feel) of unbalanced toppers, but Bruno only gets those at breakfast Monday-Saturday, for dinner he gets balanced canned as a topper so it’s fine. On Sundays he gets a balanced breakfast of kibble and canned and for dinner he has RMB, and now will be getting some AllProvide raw too! 🙂

And farm-made human and doggie ice-cream sounds great! 🙂

And I love me some free dry and canned samples! A lot of the samples I got are lower-protein – in the 20s %, or up to 31%, but that’s fine by me for sporadic surprise meals or treats, which is what I use samples for too.

[chris]

So for supplements I wrote down to try:
Sauerkraut
Plain Yogurt
Swanson’s soil-based Organisms
Canned Green Tripe
Kafir

I’m going to try each and see how it goes. I read a lot up on it earlier and heard from a good amount that I should start very slow in it to get there stomach use to it. So figured I might give 1/4 cup each time for now.

I’ll definitely be trying those frozen treats Bobby Dog! I have a dairy farm near by that started it’s own home made ice cream straight off the farm. They recently started making there own dog ice cream and I was buying him a container of that here and there the past few weeks.

Naturella- Yeah, my local pet store has boxes of free samples soon as you walk in the front door and he tells us to take as many as we want. There mostly little sample bags of natures variety, natures balance, and canidae, no canned food or treats sadly.

[Pitlove]

Thank you Naturella thats exactly what i was talking about as an idea for Chris to do! You stated it perfectly. Rather than blending the foods just feed ANY food you find interested that you’d like Sparky to try for a couple weeks or however long it lasts for then switch!

Chris- The supplement I have is made by the Honest Kitchen and its called Perfect Form

http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/treats-supplements/supplements/perfect-form

i have the 5.5oz jar. I dont follow their instructions for how much to feed. i just do about one pinch on my kittens food and two or three pinches for the dog. i felt it their guildlines where far too much. maybe im wrong but idk this has been working for me. you can feed it however you want. I got the Kefir at walmart for a little over 3$. there are feeding guidelines for that on the internet too. they tell you to cut the number in half when first giving it to get their stomach used to it.

[Naturella]

Chris, hi. For my Bruno, I use quite a few things – deer or elk antlers (not the split ones as he can power through them pretty quickly), and stuffed and frozen Kongs and Kong-like toys (like C4C said, they do last a while, and you can stuff them with anything you can think of – from canned food, to wet kibble, to canned pumpkin, yoghurt/kefir, peanut butter, or any mix of the above). Right now I stuff mine with canned green tripe. I have used Himalayan chews when he was a puppy, and even more recently, but the most recent ones would splinter and not last him very long. So I may not get him any more of those, unless I buy a Medium or Large ones (he is a small dog, but the small Himalayan chews don’t put up a fight with him). So for long-lasting, digestible, and beneficial chews, I’d go with antlers.

I think hooves are my second favorites, and they are stuffable too! Bully sticks are my third favorite, as well as fish skins (for the skin and coat benefits), but they don’t last as long. However, all of the natural chews and treats seem to be easily digested by Bruno – tracheas, pig, cow, and lamb ears, tendons, etc. Chicken and duck feet work too but he’s really quick with those. They all seem to digest very well. Tripe swirls and freeze-dried chews/treats work well too.

Also, I think Halo has a pumpkin-based “dental” chew that may be easy on the tummy. Good luck!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by Naturella.

[Pitlove]

Ill also note that aside from the yak chews and deer antlers the only treats in my house for my cat and dog are freeze dried raw treats. very easy to digest, made with only one ingredient and made in the USA. I use PureBites, however there are many out there. Nature’s Variety makes them for example as well and I know Blue Buffalo just came out with some but I would stay away from Blue products.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by Pitlove.

[c-monkey]

Hi Heather, my Buddy has Osteosarcoma (not Mast Cell). We just found out that the cancer spread to his lungs. He’s on a second round of “chemo”, and believe it or not, he’s feeling better than he was before starting the chemo (chemotherapy is very different for dogs, they seem to tolerate it far better than we do). I feed him FreshPet grain-free slice and serve on top of good dry food which I vary from month to month. I don’t worry as much about the treats (I did at first, but grain-free treats start to get expensive, and many of them he wouldn’t eat).
I strongly recommend a curcumin supplement. I use Curcuvet, found on Amazon. Buddy was given 1-3 months to live last October after his amputation surgery, and he’s still happy, jumping around and enjoying life today. I also give him “k-9 Immunity plus” treats, about 6 per day (he’s approx. 71lbs after the surgery).
I understand about being “in his face” too much, LOL! I am forever fretting if Buddy behaves in any way different than usual. Just don’t forget to relax and enjoy your time with him too (that’s what everyone tells me too, sometimes we forget when we are all bunched up with worry).

Good luck and keep us posted!

[chris]

I think this would be an excellent idea. There are tons of treats as I can understand it would take some time. But overall I believe at starting at the most commonly top rated ones would be great to leave those know what treats are excellent for there pets. For instance I actually just started a thread asking about a good treat for a dog that has stomach/bowel problems. Hopefully I can get some feedback relating to that sort of problem. So, yes I really do hope this gets added in the future as i’m sure it will help! Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I might rethink the bully stick, for a dog that has a sensitive stomach….you do know what body part it comes from, right? Greasy, fatty and treated with who knows what. Just saying.

I would give no treats to a dog that was having frequent bowel movements. A healthy dog usually has one or 2 bms a day, in my experience.

I give my senior dog 4 small meals per day, he’s bored and has a little dementia going on, sometimes he goes to the fridg and barks at it? If I ignore him he goes back to his dog bed and naps till the next meal time.

[Naturella]

I also love feeding a variety of foods to my terrier mix Bruno. Since my husband and I have adopted him in 2013, he’s had, in no particular order of dry foods: Nutro Natural Choice Small Breed Puppy, Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy, Nutrisca Chicken & Chickpea, Dr. Tim’s Kinesis GF, Holistic Health Extension Original, Blue Allergix, and Lamb & Brown Rice, Earthborn Holisitic Coastal Catch, Primitive Naturals, and Great Plains Feast, Back to Basics Open Range, Wysong Nurture with Quail, Nulo Medal Series Lamb & Lentils, Castor & Pollux Ultramix Duck, Victor Salmon, and samples of Fromm, Victor, NutriSource, TOTW, Wysong, Orijen, Acana, Nature’s Variety Instinct (the Rabbit formula he was supposed to eat but it made him very sick, but other samples he did great with), Hi-Tek, Nature’s Logic, and many other foods I can’t recall ATM. Lined up we have Wellness CORE Ocean and Original, more Earthborn, Canidae Pure SEA, Castor & Pollux Organix GF, and right now he just got on Dogswell LiveFree Salmon.

For toppers we used The Honest Kitchen Embark, Force, Keen, and Love, and Big Dog Naturals Green Tripe (air-dried). I have used various canned foods too, like Weruva, Green Cow by Solid Gold, and Green Tripe from Petkind, and also some more dehydrated/air-dried like Sojo’s. Now I use some small Merrick dog cans and some cat food pouches and cans for some of the toppers along with coconut oil, yoghurt, raw egg, canned sardines, and a RMB for his Sunday dinner. I also almost always add extra water to the food when served with a topper so he eats “soup” most of the time. Sometimes I just give him plain kibble as part of a training routine or from a puzzle toy to stimulate his brain. He likes it just the same!

He gets regular treats (Fromm, Canidae, Yummy Chummies, and Think! Alligator and Crawfish Jerky, and also kibble as treats (a different brand and flavor of the main food he is on at the moment), He also has a few natural chews like cow and lamb ears, beef tracheas, bully sticks, pig snouts, fish skins, antlers, hooves, etc.

Sorry for the rant, lol, but yeah, rotations are awesome, and Bruno loves the daily variety, and I love how he looks and feels (shiny and soft). I used to take 10 days or so to transition from one food to the next at first, then about 7 days, then 3, then 0. Now he switches so quickly because he eats a constant variety of foods and treats.

And LM, I guess you can see the replies of a person, but it will be hard to follow an Editor’s Choice topic reply by reply from individual authors. And some topics are EC exclusive.

[Pitlove]

I don’t know much about Cloud Star, however I do know Zuke’s just got bought out by Purina, so they might have started adding cheaper ingredients. The only treats I feed in my house hold (if they get treats) are freeze dried raw treats you can get at places like Petco called PureBites. Its just one ingredient (i do turkey breast for the kitten and beef liver for the dog), made in the USA etc. They can be broken into smaller pieces to use for training. i used them for clicker training my kitten.

PS just realized I mentioned these treats in my above post

[Bea]

I have an 11 week old puppy and I have tried Cloud Star Chicken and Zukes training treats and they both gave him soft stools to almost diarrhea. I don’t know what to use to train him maybe just his dog kibble.

[Pitlove]

does your vet think that it could be environmental? i thought for a long time that my dog was allergic to chicken because of him constantly licking his feet. came to find out he A) had a yeast infection under his nails and B) my vet felt it was most likely environmental. possibly grass and pollen. ive been trying to get better about wiping his feet off when he comes in from outside and we did a anti-fungal shampoo soak and meds for the yeast infection. he licks still but its not NEARLY as much as before and he eats whatever protein source he wants including chicken.

i would suggest switching the food and the treats and finding a food that is completely devoid of the same ingredients that are in the BB Wilderness and the treats. If you notice a change then it i’d say its the food, if not talk to your vet about the possiblity of an environmental allergy. those are far more common than food allergies.

also I would check into the recent problems Blue has been having and decide for yourself if you still want to support them as a company. you can find the info on google about the outcome of their lawsuit.

[Karen K]

She eats Blue Buffalo Wilderness for small dogs and their cookie treats, and some beef jerky treats, so she is grain-free. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. These ear infections just keep coming back…..the vet puts her on Mometamax ointment, which takes care of it in the short-term, but it comes back within a month of stopping the ointment. Poor thing is constantly itching her ears and licking her feet, which are quite red most of the time. Has anyone ever tried coconut oil on their feet for the irritation? I really wish I could get to the source of the problem. My vet thinks food is not an issue, and I completely disagree with him, but don’t know what else to do.

[InkedMarie]

Karen,
What are you feeding your dog? What treats & supplements does she get?

[Naturella]

I can’t help but wonder if maybe they get a lot of food during the day (dry and canned mixed, AND treats)? I know that some dogs become less motivated to switch back to kibble if they get a lot of food, or the kind of food they are used to (wet vs. just dry). And while I am a huge proponent of feeding moist food all the time, while implementing some of the great advice above, maybe you can think of whether you could find interesting ways to feed just kibble by putting it in a treat-dispensing toy such as a Kong (Wobbler), a Barnacle, or some sort of interactive toy/puzzle for dogs. For my dog, I do this once or twice a week, and sometimes, I just scatter his portion of kibble all over the floor and let him go all over the place to eat it. Lucky for me, he is very food motivated, and would eat just dry from his bowl at feeding time if I served that (I’ve tried). So you can try to introduce some interest by putting kibble in some toys and seeing if it works.

Also, if/when you do training, you can use kibble as treats and feed them their portion, or some of it, during training time. That works for me too.

But do try to stick with wet kibble (even with just water or chicken broth), it is much better for the dogs for the reasons other stated above. 🙂

[idunnowhat2callmyself]

Okay, I’m just going to throw this out here because I’ve found this to be a remarkably useful website, and if there’s anyplace I might productively ask my question, it’d be here. I apologize in advance for the length of it.

My family’s got four dogs currently: One small, one medium, one medium-large, and one large. It’s a nice range. I try to order higher-quality kibble brands to offset the lower-quality ones sometimes brought home by other people. A month or two ago, I had a two-hour phone conversation with my aunt, who’s got one small dog on a raw diet (with wet canned stuff in the mornings.) I’d hoped to simply be able to follow her precise regimen, adjusted for our pack…and got a half-page worth of notes during that convo in Microsoft Word. I should’ve figured it wouldn’t be simple, and I suppose I could start ordering some whole rabbits or tripe or turkey necks and supplements or any of the other various things I jotted down from the site she mentioned…but the whole thing still seems so overly, excessively complicated and worrisome. She said that she hadn’t even told her vet about the switch, but had been at it for about a year now.

A few benefits stood out: Cleaner teeth naturally, because no matter how much toothpaste or how many correct-ingredient-inclusive wipes I use, nothing removes the ‘icky’ stuff (which is worst on the oldest dog.) My aunt also noted that cleaning up after them is much easier thanks to the raw–and since that job typically falls to me, I’d really appreciate that. AND potential weight loss/healthy-weight management, as well…I almost always opt for the low-fat variety of everything to be on the safe side. Fortunately the hefty Brittany did recently move down to a smaller dosage of heartworm med, and can suddenly fit behind the sofa again–so I guess it finally paid off.

I’ve given the pooches everything from the raw-coated kibbles to Stella & Chewy patties to Fresh Pet to Honest Kitchen “green slop” (we’ve had that huge box for over a year now), to dozens of kibble brands that all seem essentially identical–and so on and so forth. When I try to look up which kibble or commercial raw food to try (assuming that cans would disappear far too quickly to be worthwhile), I am instantly overwhelmed and confused–I see loads and loads of brand names and packaging and shapes, but all of the food and flavors appear to be the same. I have no idea how to even tell which to buy. The sizes and portions and pricing baffle me–how am I to tell what will feed multiple dogs of various sizes and breeds for more than a couple days? We usually get a new big kibble bag about twice a month. I simply cannot tell what the raw equivalent would be…and even for dry food, I’m now kinda stumped. Every time I’m asked to order another bag, I freeze. How to choose?!?! My list’s grown so long, and we’ve tried so many…now I usually go with whichever has the best price per pound at the time, and a decent rating/reviews. I wish I could just find the perfect brand to consistently turn to, and continuously rotate through their flavors and treats. (Deciding which treat to pick up becomes a whole other can of worms, and I’m just like, “Gods, why, why, why must this be so bamboozling?! Why the hundreds of redundant choices? The dogs don’t even care, they just want our stuff!”)

Only one of the four dogs eats neatly (my Saluki, who has a snood. 😉 The other three are slobs, knocking the bowls around and splashing before they even touch the floor. The little Beagle frequently flat-out refuses to eat from a bowl, insisting that the food be spilled onto the floor for him. Also, my mom’s a clean freak–and I’m a bit of one myself at times. For these reasons, I knew that any attempt to transition would be tough and drawn-out, if not impossible. I knew I’d have to discover the cleanest, neatest, easiest, least odiferous method.

Now, before I got older and started performing more research into these areas, my parents…well all right, let me just put it this way. The two Beagles we had at the time I was born ate cheap supermarket kibble and human leftovers, lived in the backyard, never once to my knowledge had their teeth brushed (the one had green teeth and rancid breath) or nails trimmed or even saw the vet…yet both lived happily & health-problem-free for 16-18+ years (we can’t be exactly certain because they were adopted from a shelter.) Thus it can be very difficult for me to convince these guys, no matter how many times I reiterate what the healthy-food brochures say, to go out of their way for “special frou-frou dog food” or anything they’re unused to.

WHEW. Ever so sorry to unload all that frustration here. Any advice, recommendations, or assistance that anybody ever feels like dropping would, of course, be most appreciated.

[L T]

Check your local (not chain) pet stores, they may stock this or get it in for you routinely. Champion has a free bag program after 10 bags your 11th is free. Doesn’t have to be the same kind, but the free will be the smallest size you have on the card. My local one in Virginia deals directly with Champion and manufacturers of other high quality food, in other words they don’t sell food you can find in the chains. Also, as I said before the feeding guide for Declan at 87lbs is 3 1/2 c daily. I feed him roughly 2 1/4 c daily and he has maintained that weight for over 1 1/2 yrs. He goes to doggy day care (play time) 3x week and is considered pretty active. My local pet store rep and I talked about the amount and he recommended factoring in other food/treats and underfeeding the kibble. Declan does not seem hungry, but as a typical Lab he will never turn down the opportunity for a morsel. Good luck. I have tried the 6 fish and it worked out fine (you definitely know it’s fish in the bag), but since Declan doesn’t have any allergies I went back to Regional Red (Orijen) or Ranchlands (Acana). Keep us posted!

[Dori]

Sorry James S. Just saw your earlier post. I’m glad at least the diagnosis was for the more treatable one. What treatment has your vet suggested? Yes, Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Frozen is a frozen food and one of the one’s I feed my dogs in rotation.

As to a list of commercial raw frozen foods, these are the ones that I use in rotation. I rotate brands and proteins within brands with the exception of fowl. One of my girls is intolerant of all fowl.

Answer’s Detailed Raw Frozen (Not always easy to track down but any store that carries any of the products can usually order it in for you from their distributor)

Primal Raw Frozen Formulas (My favorite of all frozen raw foods)
Vital Essentials Frozen Raw
Nature’s Logic Raw Frozen
OC Frozen Raw
Darwin’s Raw Frozen (only available on their site on auto-delivery plan)
Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Frozen
(Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Frozen will be the easiest to find as pretty much everyone carries it including the large stores like Petco and Petsmart.)

The others on the list are typically found in smaller more local type pet food stores.

I’ve recently won a bag of Steve’s Real Frozen Raw (very excited about that) and I’ll see how that works out with the girls. It just arrived yesterday so I’ll defrost some for their dinner tonight. I’ll let you know about that one after they’ve eaten it for a while.

The only two freeze dried foods that I use, but only infrequently, is Primal Freeze Dried and Vital Essentials Freeze Dried. I use Vital Essentials Freeze Dried Tripe Treats as their treats when I call them to “come” from the yard. I keep a jar with them near the back patio door and it’s the only time they get them.

I forgot to add that once in a while, not often, I feed The Honest Kitchen Zeal formula. It contains no fowl, no potatoes, no alfalfa. Is GMO free. The Honest Kitchen is made with all human grade ingredients and made in a plant that only processes human food. It’s all documented and the FDA allows them to use the information on their packaging. It’s the only company that the FDA has given it’s approval to.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Dori.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Dori.

[jella]

Dear LT, I finally found the list with ingredients. Thank you for your help. I did receive an email back from Orijen an Acana telling me that all their products including the treats contain alfalfa. Fiber for the dogs. What do you think about the alfalfa being in it? With so many pesticides, etc. in grains I am not sure. I didn’t realize that dogs needed extra fiber or that much. Still undecided about this one because of the alfalfa.

[Pitlove]

glad to hear hes doing better! Im really careful with treats usually. the only ones ive got in the house at the moment are PureBites freezed dried raw treats. there is only 1 ingredient and they are made in the USA. I use the turkey breast for my kitten and beef liver for the dog. you can break them up into smaller pieces for training if you still are giving treats for pottying outside.

[jella]

Thanks everyone it sounds like I am getting some great advice. But I can’t seem to find out where these ingredients lists are for these brands. My vet would like for me to bring a copy of what I choose along with his treats. Big Hoss does need dog food to help his hair grow back in places. He is a short haired lab so he has a few places where he scratched. I heard give coconut oil with a food or cookie for their hair. I guess it is ok for him. They didn’t mention it on his list. Well he is shredding a paper bowl that I fed him his egg in this morning. I sometimes let him do that for entertainment so I guess I better sign off for now and go pick up the pieces. LOL

[jella]

Dear zcRiley, I emailed your company to ask about their treats and dog foods this morning. Haven’t heard anything back yet. Would you tell me where you got the list of ingredients for that KiwiPeak so I can show his vet if I choose this one. I am supposed to take her a copy.

[jella]

Dear LT, I emailed Orijen this morning asking for them to tell me where to go to find all the ingredients in both their dog foods and treats. I haven’t heard back yet but it has just been a day. Is it the freeze dried Orijen Tundra that you said doesn’t contain anything on his allergy list and also no barley so I guess this is grain free then and gluten free right? Did you say a cup of freeze dried twice a day? I was trying to get a copy of all the ingredients so I could email to his vet but couldn’t find ingredients listed for all their products on their website. Also I suspect you know what you can substitute for (milk) ice cream that I used to give him in the summer a lot. I got fooled by his blood test results. The vet said he guessed it was ok for Hoss to have milk unless it gave him messy stools. It didn’t so I assumed ice cream and cheese were ok for him. He can’t have any of his Baconology treats anymore. They contain corn and corn gluten. I guess Pup-Peroni is ok didn’t look like any of his allergies. But not sure what they meant by meat by products. ??

[Pitlove]

somebodysme- are you really surprised that your dog can’t tolerate popcorn? not even sure why you would feed a dog popcorn at all. some dogs and cats will LET you know if the food is the culprit. My kitten as an example throws up instantly after she eats (this has happened only 2 times in her life) when she cant tolerate the food. And from there on out I simply stay after from that food because I don’t want to play russian roulette with her stomach.

From the sound of it the OP did pin-point that it could be the treats. Or it could be feeding TOO many treats, say because of a training class that uses a treat based reward system.

And Im with Marie on this one. Why throw away your money? Blue is one of the most overpriced 5 star foods out there for what it actually is. Their treats included. Theres much better choices out there that are 4 or 5 star quality.

[Pitlove]

ya guess they finally admitted that there was meat by-product in some of their foods and that it had not been correctly labeled on the bags. I don’t feed Blue either or get their treats at all anymore. My dog hated Blue Wilderness. Most people on here will not feed anything made by Blue.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Pitlove.

[Pitlove]

Hi jake’s mom-

I don’t have any older animals (dog is 1 yr old on Monday, kitten is 7mo), but I do give them the Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form for their digestion and also because I want to get my dog’s stomach healthy enough to transition dry foods without blending.

I was highly considering giving him Dogwell’s Healthy Hip treats with Glucosamine or some type of supplement for it because of my fear of him getting hip dysplasia. He comes from a bad breeder and I know I wasn’t feeding him food with proper calcium levels and he is a large breed dog. I don’t feel like preventitives can hurt, but thats just my opinion. I’m still fairly new to proper animal care. When I was younger we always had cats but neither my mom nor I really knew anything about animal needs health wise. Now that I’ve got animals that I am soley responsible for I’m trying to do the right thing by them.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Pitlove.

[Susan]

Hi Lila, I noticed your vet put ur boy on Hills Restore Low Fat, the fat in the Restore is only 8.5%-fat when u change diet make sure the fat % the Fiber % is around the same as the vet diet Hills also why not feed wet tin food your dog is telling you something when he doesn’t want to eat his kibble, its crap & probably has a harder time digesting the kibble….maybe use the kibble as treats & stop the treats as a lot of treats are high in fat%
When you buy a limited ingredient wet tin food look at the fat % the fat % needs to be around 2% & under when wet is converted to dry matter (kibble) that’s around 8% fat… here’s a face Book group to join “Dog Allergy International Group” sounds like your boy has food sensitivities, look in the files & there’s heaps of limited ingredient kibble/wet food with their links, so you can look at ingredients & fat% also & salvia & hair testing kits to find out what foods ur boy is sensitive tooo… https://www.facebook.com/groups/dogallergyinternationalgroup/

[Lila S]

We’re going through some food issues with our rat terrier. He’s 1 year old and 11 lbs. I’ve tried a few different dry foods, most recently Natural Balance Ultra and Merrick Grain Free. He’s done okay on them, though he’d always have some inconsistency with his poops, which I attributed to a variety of treats for training or other treats (no more Greenies for him).

Recently he had some pretty bad GI troubles, and right now he’s on an antibiotic, a probiotic/stool firmer, and the Science Diet Low Fat GI Restore food. He’s doing fine, but I’m going to be transitioning him back to the Merrick Grain Free soon, but I’m not sure if that’s what I want to stick with.

Problem is that he’s picky and sometimes he just won’t eat his kibble. If I add some wet food he’ll eat, but often leave the kibble. Mixing Stella & Chewy’s in with water has worked the best. But I’m worried about the S&C’s fat content, because his GI problems were mostly attributed to too much fat. And apparently he does have a pretty sensitive system, so changing things up too much will keep causing problems.

On top of all this, in a month or so we’re taking in another dog from a family member who is moving and can’t take her: a 6 year old min pin, also about 11 lbs. She’s currently eating Iams, and I’d like to transition her to something better, and also ideally feed both dogs the same thing. I definitely don’t want her diet to be too high in fat because she’s getting less active.

Any recommendations for a good small breed (or small kibble-size) food that would be suitable for both of them with their different ages and energy levels? Also topper options to keep them interested without being disruptive to their systems?

[Susan]

Hi here’s just a few Limited Ingredients foods in the “Dog Allergy International groups” files that may work for dogs with food sensitivities… also when on a limited ingredient diet no other foods are given, nothing, no treats, no peanut butter to give meds nothing just their limited ingredient diet for 3 months, then if dog is doing real well then add a new ingredient & see if there is any reaction with new food..
Petcurean GO Sensitivity limited ingredients Venison.. Michele Dixson from Petcurean is in group & helps dogs with allergies..
Farmina Vet Life Hypoallergenic Fish & Potato
Performatrin Ultra Limited ingredients
Lily’s Kitchen Recovery recipe wet food limited ingredients
Canidae Grain Free Dry & Wet
Rayne Maintenace Diets
Addiction Nutri-RX Allergy HS
Natural Balance limited ingredient Dry& Wet
Zignature limited ingredient formulas
Merrick limited ingredient Dry & Wet
California Natural Hypoallergenic limited ingredients dry & wet
Darwins Raw
Ziwi Peak

[Pitlove]

For both my cat and dog I have been using PureBites freeze dried treats. I love that its just one ingredient (I do beef liver for my dog and turkey breast for my cat), I can get them at work (Petco) and they do say they are made with US meats.

I’ve seen a couple other people mention them here. I have gone through a lot of other treats and truthfully treats have become just that in my house…a treat. It is a rare and not every day thing they both get. But they both love PureBites.

[Dog_Obsessed]

Each category of topics (e.i. Dog Treats, Diet and Health Issues, etc) will contain many different threads, listed in order from most recently posted on to oldest, regarding that general topic. Each individual thread will have a title, which should give some insight about the particular question or discussion. The first post in a thread is the original post, where the poster will generally be asking a question and/or starting a conversation. While things sometimes do get off-topic, we generally try to stay on the topic that the original poster (OP) brought up. Also, you may want to avoid posting the same thing on multiple threads, even if it is relevant on them. I hope this is helpful!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Dog_Obsessed.

[Mike Sagman]

Hi Dave,

Sure. A Dog Treats Advisor would be a great idea. It’s been under study for a while. Yet there are many challenges unique to treats. For example, and unlike dog food, there are no AAFCO nutritional profiles (standards) for dog treats. So, we’d have to establish our own. We’d also need some important parameters and guidelines for rating treats fairly.

That is why we launched these treats forums and topics over this last year. We’re using what our readers are asking for along with other articles we’ve collected from around the Internet to help guide us on our plans.

We’re also having an adapted version of our nutrient dashboard (the yellow box with the gauges found inside every dog food review we write. This tool would allow us to highlight controversial ingredients and analyze the dry matter nutrient in each product.

We continue to study how we would roll out this new service. In any case, this would most probably be added later this year.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

Mike Sagman, Editor
The Dog Food Advisor

[LabsRawesome]

Hi Dave, typically the better brands of dog food also make treats. So if you’re using a 4 or 5 star dog food, take a look at their treats, check labels to make sure there isn’t anything in there that you don’t want. Look for labels that says USA made and sourced. A few budget friendly treats that are available at Walmart are Blue Dog Bakery and Riley’s organic. Merrick also sells a large bag of mixed chews for like $10 or $12.

[Candyce M]

I find the best way is to make your own healthy low calorie dog food. You know every ingredient is benefiting your pups well being and the only additives are love. 🙂

Be careful of the amount of treats you are feeding your dog as well as that can heavily contribute to how much he is pooping. 🙂

Good luck!

[Tiffany K]

What are thoughts on proportionate sized frozen raw chicken legs and thighs? Just plain and given frozen?

I have done this with success after doing a lot of research. I feed them in the fenced in back yard so they are not smearing chicken bacteria all over the house (they would head straight to my bed) and monitor everyone (4 dogs). I check their stool, no problems and it really knocks off any tarter and plaque. Most importantly, they love them. It is a HIGH value treat to them.

Am I playing with fire? They are so many conflicting accounts of feeding raw that I can’t find the thread of truth.

Another treat I am using more and more are human grade low sugar peanut butter granola bars. Again, broken in half for the little guys. But I am skeptical about all dog “treats” at this point. I am going to real food every time.

My Shih Tzu has been “tricked” to believe that a carrot is the height of dining, as I have given him lots of fruit and veg since he was a puppy. I am skeptical about all dog “treats” at this point. I am going to give them whole, human grade food every chance I get.

[Dave V]

Oops, I appologize. This is in the wrong place. I meant for it to be in a forum on the possibility of a dog treat advisor. Now I can’t find it. If the moderator can repost it would be appreciated.

I agree with all the others but what I’d really like to see is a review of treats the same as you do for dog food. Your dog food reviews have, quite literally, saved my son Fred’s life. He had elevated liver levels and our vet in Falls Church, Va NEVER once asked what dog food I was feeding him. My sister in law told me about Dog Food Advisor, I checked the food I was giving him and discovered that not only was it only rated one star but one of the ingredients was known for increased liver levels. Switched to a four star food, levels got stabilized and five years later our NEW vet is happy with his health.

If we all knew more about what was in treats and had a rating system for them as well our “children” would be a lot better off. I’d be more than happy do donate to offset the cost.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Dave V.

[karen k]

All such good suggestions! I have been making their treats for some time, I may as well do some of the food as well. Even the “good” food only has about 17% protein, and it should be higher for these urinary issues.

I feel blessed to have found this forum, great folks and wisdom. But that is how us dog and kitty owners are!

[karen k]

I am new to all this, but now will be adding water and broth to all feedings. All commercial dog food and treats are very expensive here in Mexico, as it is all imported, so I have not used canned food. I know some folks that feed their dogs meat, as it is less expensive than bagged food. I also think the water we use is very alkaline and may be a factor. It is well water but we have a reverse osmosis system for our and the doggies drinking, so it is purified but still may be very alkaline, as it is all limestone here. Distilled water is about $1 a liter, not good.

[Ellen D]

I have a SUPER picky puppy, and he will eat anything if I pour a couple tablespoons of this stuff on it: Honest Kitchen Pro Bloom

I did search around for a brand of food he would eat without it since he goes to doggy day care a couple days a week, and they won’t add anything to his food. But he really likes the Pro Bloom, it’s good for him, and it’s helping me use up the leftover kibble from the bags he didn’t really like.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by Ellen D.

[Ellen D]

Hello –

I have a 3 month old labradoodle puppy. He was 20 lbs a week ago, so I’d think he’s between 20 and 25 now. He’ll be about 65 pounds full grown most likely.

I’m currently feeding him Nature’s Variety Instinct Large Puppy kibble, which I’ve now realized is even too high in calcium for him. He gets some Stella & Chewy meal mixer in with breakfast and I always give him either a scrambled egg, cottage cheese, pumpkin, or some plain meat chunks with dinner – lunch is plain kibble, as that’s at the day care most days. He gets a raw chicken wing or thigh as a treat a couple times a week right now.

I’m going to plead ignorance and admit that I thought I was doing a great thing by getting him “fancy” kibble and only realized a week into having him that there’s much, much more to dog food than dry kibble.

So my dilemma:

–I need to provide him with some form of kibble or dry-fed food for various reasons – the day care can’t mix his food, I do travel from time to time on business so he may need to be boarded 3-4 days per month, and I’m afraid if I stop kibble altogether he might refuse it while I’m away and be a very hungry boy when I return. However, this doesn’t have to continue to be a significant portion of his food. I am happy to keep it just to stuff Kongs/food toys so he stays used to it, but I need to have some on hand. I’ve narrowed this down to – Annamaet Salcha, Avoderm Turkey, or Fromm Beef Frittata.

–I am very interested in a raw diet for him, but I can’t decide what to do here. I’d like to have some freeze-dried product on hand (narrowed down to NRG Maxim and THK Love) for convenience. But ultimately, once he’s down to 2 meals per day from 3, I’d like to go as full raw as I can do – whether it be commercial or homemade or a combo. I have found what I am confident is a very good and versatile homemade recipe (from Ottowa Valley Dog Whisperer – are we allowed to post links here?). My one and only issue with this recipe is I need to sit down and do some maths and figure out what to add in terms of calcium – if I need to alter the recommendation in the recipe based on having a largish breed puppy.

–I am also interested in supplementing with raw meaty bones, as my dog really enjoys his chicken wings and chews them very nicely. Is it okay to just use rmbs as a supplement/treat kind of deal? Could/should I give him one daily or just a few times a week or is it better to just replace a whole meal with them? I would vary the meat/bone source often.

I’m trying to do the right and best thing for my puppy, and I’m 100% open to suggestions and criticism about my plans. I welcome any and all advice, as I’m new to this and my head is just spinning. Added to this is that my wife travels 5 days a week, I work full time outside the home, and we have a 4 year old (human) daughter as well as 2 cats and about 200 fish haha! So I’m a single parent 5 days a week. I’m really at the mercy of convenience. However, I can manage an evening cooking session once a week or a couple times a month and can freeze portion sized amounts. It’s just a matter of figuring out that pesky calcium balance. The recipe calls for powdered eggshell or bone meal. OR I can add whole prey meat to the recipe – I assume I would grind this – and omit the eggshell.

If I were to make the homemade diet, I feel like I would probably feed that for 2 meals per day and continue with kibble for 1 meal. And then when pup’s down to 2 meals, perhaps full homemade with kibble in the kong or as hand fed treats so he stays accustomed to it.

Last question – there doesn’t seem to be a lot of question/issue with feeding raw meaty bones or prey model diets to large breed puppies. Does the nature of a raw diet negate the need to watch the calcium levels so closely?

[DogFoodie]

Starting them on the Blue Buffalo (while I would personally never use Blue Buffalo products) actually helped to give you more information. What you need to do is compare the ingredients in all of the foods they’ve eaten and reacted to see what common ingredient they might have. Through trial and error, and many, many different foods, I’ve determined that my dog reacts to all fish (including fish oil), chickpeas, lentils, flax, probably garlic and likely tomato. Keep in mind that what might be a problem for one dog might not be the problem for the other and dogs that have food intolerances frequently have more than one. Randomly choosing a brand’s food labelled ” hypoallergenic,” will do nothing to help your dog if he’s intolerant of the ingredients in it.

I would look for a truly limited ingredient food with a meat protein and a starch that your dogs haven’t eaten before and see how they do on that for a while. Nature’s Variety Instinct LID is one of the foods I’ve found that my dog does very well on. Keep in mind anything you offer them could be a problem; ie: treats and edible chews.

[LabsRawesome]

Sam, please don’t Alpha roll your dog. That is one of the worst things that you can do to your dog, and is likely to end with you being bitten. This is what I would do. Get a child that your dog knows and likes to help you. Have the child walk past (not toward) your dog and toss high value treats to her (several times) Then have the child walk by your dog with a raincoat (no hood) on and toss treats (several times). Next I would have the child put the hood on and pass by and toss treats (several times). *Don’t let the child confront, or try to touch the dog.* Keep the dog on a leash at all times, during the training session. If you do this it *should* desensitize the dog to children wearing coats with hoods and “strange” things that your dog is not used to seeing. If you do try this and it works well, I would do maybe daily (if you can) or at least weekly training sessions with the child and dog. Also, if possible, get different kids to help with training.