[TmMura13]

Shadow is my 10 month old German Shepherd mix with diarrhea, demodex mites, demodectic mange, is extremely picky, needs to put on weight, might have a food allergy (possibly needs to stay from birds), is very high energy and has a low immune system. Please keep in mind that I live in Florida and I’m surrounded my national pet store retailers. There are very few small speciality pet store retailers around. Also I would prefer not to order online unless it’s truly necessary.

Shadow – Hill’s® Science Diet® Puppy Large Breed / Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance® L.I.D. Limited Ingredient Diets® Sweet Potato & Venison / Nutro Natural Choice Limited Ingredient Diet Lamb & Whole Brown Rice Formula Large Breed Puppy Food / Wilderness™ Chicken Recipe for Puppies

We feed him what ever he will eat at the time. This also may include canned food, treats mixed in and even sometimes table scraps.

[jpjhooper]

Any word on this food? I keep seeing posts about dogs getting sick within the last 6 months. We feed him the Life Protection Formula with the Life Source bits as a secondary food source. Main food source is Grandma Lucys freeze dried chicken. We mostly use the dry kibble as “treats” for training as we thought it might be lower calorie then actual treats. Also if we happen to run out of GL then we supplement with BB until we can get to the store.

[puppylove]

We always gave our little maltese bully sticks and never had any choking issues. It was either that or my $200 shoes. lol

[Mom2Cavs]

One of my Cavaliers (in my avatar pic, Laverne) has anal gland problems off and on. I attribute it to allergies with her. I have taken her, all the dogs, off all poultry. She is now eating for kibble Holistic Select grain free. It is a poultry free, fish based kibble with a pretty decent fiber content at around 6% max, I believe. It does have potatoes, but they don’t seem to be a problem with my dogs. I do top with canned foods and have been keeping them poultry free, as well. So far, I’ve been using Wellness for the majority….95% Salmon or Beef or Lamb, Beef Stew, and Simple Salmon or Lamb. This seems to be working. She hasn’t had any issues since I switched to doing this. I was using Zignature kibble, and will probably keep it in the rotation. I just bought some Big Dog Natural dehydrated raw in beef flavor that I plan on trying in the mix. I also add probiotics and enzymes to my dogs’ food. There are lots of them recommended on this site. Currently, I’m using Wholistic Pet Digest all Plus (or something like that lol!). This is all I do, no other supplements atm. Oh…I almost forgot, I do give a biscuit at night before bedtime. I’ve been using Wellness Lamb grain free or Whitefish (not grain free). Any soft treats given, usually during therapy dog visits, are Wellness Pure Rewards beef. As you can see, I like Wellness hahahaha. 🙂 I’m not saying this regimen would work for your dog, but to think about allergies….perhaps do away with chicken and definitely grains. Go from there. I’ve been battling this with Laverne for awhile now and I feel I finally have a handle on it.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 7 months ago by Mom2Cavs.

[beagleowner]

I get soup bones at the grocery store. They do not splinter but are hard as a rock. After our beagle removes the little bit of meat on the face of the bone and any inside meat residue, I spoon out all marrow and fill it with pumpkin, freeze it and give to him as a nightly treat. He cleans them out and knows on the bone itself. We have about 5 of them and when they have been filled 4 times I toss them and then get a new bone at the store to replace it. No problems at all.

[newmom]

I wish I had read all of these posts before sending mine in. Oh Well, live and learn. I am concerned about letting a dog have a marrow bone. This would be a wonderful treat for Sgt. Charlie but I’m concerned about the open “doughnut hole” once the marrow is gone. Isn’t it possible for the dog to somehow such this bone into the esophagus and choke? Many years ago, my vet told me not to give our then dog a marrow bone for this reason. If there is little likelyhood of this, I will give Sarge one immediately. I think he would love it! Those of you who give their buddies/kids(4 legged)/babies the butchers bone do not seem to be concerned about the ends splintering as I am. Am I worrying too much? The Sgt. would love to have another big bone!
I do not see positive responses regarding dental sticks, does this mean they are best left out of the picture? I’ve already learned a lot from all of you. Thanks a bunch.

[newmom]

In the past, I gave my dogs pig ears and calve hooves…the odor was terrible but they loved them. I’ve seen so many recalls for these and jerky, so I don’t know what to give Sgt. Charlie to chew on. He loves gnawing on bones but I fear for his teeth. I would like to give him dental sticks if they are safe. Sarge spent a couple of months on a huge real butchers bone but I finally took it away from him as the ends became jagged and I feared the pieces would cut or damage his intestinal tract, or worse! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[theBCnut]

BTW, I use Spirugreen. My dogs think the tablets are treats. I always add green superfoods and some other antioxidant rich foods, but I’m not sure how much of that sort of thing THK already has in it.

[Lori]

I should add that Chuckles was evaluated by the nutritionist, Teddy was not. They have him eating 1-1/2 cups of the OM twice a day (266 cal/cup). I give Teddy 1 cup, which I think may not be enough. They allowed Chuck 20 calories in treats per day (that was a tuffy one for me!).

[somebodysme]

OH yes, sounds just exactly like my dog with allergies too. She’s a “lab mix”…AKA no one knows!

The vet did the same thing. What I did was go with a limited ingredient diet. I have her on Nature’s Variety LID Turkey which is doing an adequate job of keeping it under control. Remember that everything he consumes can contribute, not just their dog food. Treats and rawhide etc. even vitamins and supplements. People food…it can all cause problems.

Really the antiboitics help heal it up but then it just will come right back because they are killing the dog’s immune system.

I chose the NV food because it had the least amount of ingredients and not potatoes of any kind. I don’t even want her on sweet potatoes either.

Does he stink like strong cheese? If so that is yeast too so you don’t want a food with too many carbs or it will get worse. You’d also want to give a probiotic.

Just out of curiosity, what are you feeding him now?

[BijouMama05]

I’ve had the same problem with my dog eating these treats. I gave him one very tiny piece of freeze dried chicken (less than 1/2″) and within 12 hours he was vomiting bright yellow bile. I didn’t make the connection with ROSEMARY EXTRACT, though until later after I gave him a small bite of boiled organic ground turkey & he had the same reaction about 12 hours later (vomiting bright yellow bile). I dug the package out of the trash & it contained two ingredients (organic turkey & ROSEMARY EXTRACT). These treats also contain two ingredients (chicken & ROSEMARY EXTRACT). My dog doesn’t eat any other food that contains ROSEMARY EXTRACT with the exception of these two items. He used to be fed Nutro Puppy Food & was switched to their Toy Breed Adult Formula when he turned one year old and had no problems with it, either until they changed the formula and added ROSEMARY EXTRACT to it (This brand now has almost 1500 complaints for the same symptoms on consumer affairs). He immediately started vomiting and having diarrhea which became bloody. When he started having Grand Mal seizures & his liver enzymes became elevated we switched his food to an organic limited ingredient diet & his symptoms disappeared. We didn’t realize that the ROSEMARY EXTRACT was the problem until recently with the feeding of the Full Moon Freeze Dried Chicken Treats & the Organic Ground Turkey Meat (both of which had only two ingredients, one of which ROSEMARY EXTRACT). This ingredient is a neurotoxin/neurostimulant, a blood thinner, and also stimulated bile production (which might explain the vomiting & diarrhea). I have done some research on the Internet & there are hundreds of thousands of complaints about dog foods, cat foods & treats that contain ROSEMARY EXTRACT & all of the symptoms are the same (vomiting of bile, diarrhea [often bloody], seizures, itching, elevated liver enzymes, refusal to eat, & weight loss). I believe that this is one ‘natural’ additive that has no place in pet food or treats & probably hasn’t even been properly tested to see if it is even safe or not. Just because it is safe for the majority of healthy humans (not diabetic, pregnant, taking blood thinners/aspirin/NSAIDs, epileptic, etc.) doesn’t mean it is safe for dogs and cats.

[Mom2Cavs]

Marie….I’ve done both. I’ve spoken up and I’ve been silent. It just all depends on the “vibe” I feel coming from the other person. Once I saw a man take a huge bag of those chicken jerky treats that have been a problem (don’t remember what the brand was exactly) and put it in his cart. I just couldn’t let that one go and spoke up that it was a shame the store still had them on the shelves when they were causing a lot of problems for dogs. He was shocked at what I told him and in the end I believe he put them back. I also told him of several sites online where he could find out stuff about recalls, etc. He seemed very appreciative. I also helped a few people at Petsmart. One was a younger couple who was adopting a pup from the adoptions they were having that day. They seemed kinda lost and were wandering around trying to buy supplies. I steered them in the direction of the “good food” aisle and told them about some of the different foods and why they might be good choices. I also suggested a certain kind of harness (instead of collar) that was easy to use. This was a very small breed and I told them about trachea issues when using a collar, etc. Again, they were very thankful. Then there was the lady who declared Science Diet was the “best” food going because her vet said so….she overheard a conversation between me and a friend talking about dog food. We tried to convince her otherwise but it was clear that we were wasting our energy….so I just shut up about that one. There have been others that I’ve not spoken up about just because I could sense that it would do no good. Sometimes it’s hard to not come off sounding like a know-it-all snob, too!

• This reply was modified 12 years, 7 months ago by Mom2Cavs.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 7 months ago by Mom2Cavs.

[MommyToCash]

Awesome! Thank you so much– I feel so guilty. I always give him a little bit of my food (not much, because I know I shouldn’t), but he was going to have to go cold turkey (hardy har har…). But, what I think I’ll do is bring these doggie treats to the table and give him some when I’m done, so he THINKS he’s getting what I’m eating.

I know, I am insane.

Thanks a lot–I’ll look these brands/treats up, as they are new to me. 🙂

[pugmomsandy]

You can use freeze dried meat and tripe treats like Stella & Chewy’s Carnivore Kisses, Fresh is Best, Bravo, Vital Essentials, etc.

You can also make easy homemade pumpkin treats:

http://www.all-natural-dog-treat.com/pumpkindogtreatrecipes.html

[poconnell]

We have a Westie and a Cairn Terrior, they both have allergies to Wheat (as I do)! We feed them dry dog food that we buy from our local Pet store and we mix chicken thigh meat in with it and they will not eat the food without it. We feed them once a day, I leave the dry dog food in their dish as they basically just eat the chicken, but they do get the dry food as well. Is one time a day not enough, this has always been a concern of mine. Oh, and they do get treats, maybe too much. Thanks for any help you can give.

[apriliamille]

hello all, i just read the entire thread and whew tons of information. i have a few questions but wanted to also make a few comments if they would help as well.

my 7 month old doberman girl is a rocket eater. so fast she throws up. i found i was able to slow her down by using one of our deep wall cookie sheets for her food. prior to this she would eat so fast that she would finish in time, throw up, eat again and then go and try to ninja the boxer’s food while he was eating. now the boxer finishes first and stares at her eating. a nice cheap solution to speed eating.

i saw a couple posts on high value treats. i live in central utah and we have a meat and game processing locker here called fords. they sell dog jerky treats that my girl goes bonkers over during our track training. i messed up a small ziplock baggie thats in our training pack and whew, the leash harness and toys smelled like the jerky the next session. they sell them on ebay for 15 bucks / 2 pounds free ship

hound dog mom, thank you soooo much for the information docs. one of the pages back i saw where dr tim was removed from the 2nd list but man it took me 3 hours to get through the whole thread. was it due to it not saying puppy or ALS on the packaging? i cant remember. This list came at a very fortunate time for me. we love our food we feed but due to a short term financial crisis emergency i have to reduce costs untill i get back on my feet. luckily i have 70 pounds of her current food available for her to help with a transition. im hoping to find something i can supplement her current with until i get back on my feet (i hope that makes sense). i was starting off thinking after the first doc of either earthborn or dr tim. but then the 2nd doc came out. any suggestions on this?

also we have a facebook group that is for our zip code regional for pets. may i share your doc on that for others to look at?

[Hound Dog Mom]

Kiwi is safe for dogs. I’ve used baby food purees with kiwi and I’ve seen dog treats with kiwi.

[dog34747]

I have an 8 year old male, retired racing greyhound with a very sensitive stomach and allergies. He’s had severe ear infections, nasal congestion, compulsive licking and digestive problems. He is also hyper allergic to flea bites, with them even turning in to mini staph infections at each bite. Over the past 3 1/2 years I have tried nearly every brand on the market from Purina on up to Orijen. If it’s sold anywhere between the specialty boutique shops and PetsMart, I have probably tried it. I’ve tried grain-in, grain-free, corn-free, soy-free, gluten-free, chicken-free… etc. etc. I have tried chicken, turkey, fish, lamb, beef, bison, and I think one even had ostrich or something. Basically I’ve tried everything. I have even tried the high-end frozen raw diet food, he just simply won’t touch it. He does not appear to be allergic to chicken specifically, I’ve tried poultry based foods and foods with absolutely no poultry of any kind and the result is the same.

Every single grain-free food causes, horrendous breath, loose stool and severe gas. No amount of pumpkin, yogurt, supplement pro-biotics or pre-biotics seems to fix it, sometimes those relieve things for a day or two but never permanently. It seems directly linked to the percent of protein, above a certain point and these issues start. He seems ok around 22% but usually anything in that range is not grain-free.

The grain-in foods (and treats) increase his nasal congestion (like a kid sucking the snot in vs. blowing his nose, not the same as a reverse sneeze) and the obsessive licking, and they also exacerbates the ear infections. He has had the ear infections recurring, or perhaps even continually but low level, since I got him. He was on a grain-in food when I got him and I immediately switched to grain-free but the ear never fully cleared up even on grain-free. The ear is finally cleared up (for now) after lots of meds though I’m worried his diet will bring it back.

I have tried some raw foods and veggies but they seem to pass through him without even being digested at all.

Any kind of food with potato as a major ingredient seems to act as an immediate diuretic, causing him to be constantly thirsty, panting and drinking and therefore needing to go out 7+ per day every few hours and even having accidents in the house which otherwise he has never had before. This includes all those limited ingredient foods because they all seems to be potato based.

The only time I have had any luck with a food is with Iams Sensitive Naturals Ocean Fish. Yes, I know it doesn’t rank highly and many people here are against it, but it was literally the only food that stopped the breath/stool/gas problems in their tracks, nearly overnight. I’ve heard others say they had similar good luck with Iams and attribute it to the beet pulp, not sure if that’s really true but I can say it worked for my dog. He went about eating it with no digestive issues for 9 months or so but the silent ear infection got worse and worse and the nasal issues got worse. Then we tried Eukanuba Wild Salmon/Rice and the ear/nasal continued to get worse and the licking started. The only benefit to the Eukanuba was his coat was suddenly full, fluffy and soft and the traditional greyhound bald spots were even filling in. I was bothered by the increase in allergies so I’ve gone back to looking for something else.

So I’ve since re-tried several other grain-free foods and the Biljac Sensitive formula, all produce the same old problems. Re-tried a limited potato food, same problem.

I’d like to note he has been tested repeatedly for worms, giardia, heartworms, etc. and all negative. He has had bloodwork taken regularly and it is all absolutely perfect, including thyroid. His teeth have been cleaned by the vet recently and are good. He has absolutely no medical issues outside of the allergies and stomach sensitivities. Also, several vets and others suggested giving him claritan or benedryl to relieve the nasal and skin related reactions but it seems to do nothing for him.

I’m sorry this post is so long, thanks for reading all of it, I was trying to give the full background so folks know what I’ve already tried on this great food adventure. I’m looking for any suggestions, advice, testimonials, whatever on food and treats. I’m willing to try any food to get him to be comfortable, as long as it doesn’t require a second mortgage to pay for it. Thanks in advance!

[theBCnut]

Hi BluesMom

Just a couple things and a boost of your post up to the top where more people will see it. The thing with the partially solid stool is it can be from a few different causes. Early stages of some intestinal parasites will cause this. Treats that are difficult to digest can cause partial soft stool. Overheating can too, if it isn’t so bad as to cause full blown diarrhea. Also a dog may not make enough of the enzymes they need to fully use everything in the food.

Some people call a food too rich, because it is too high in fat or because they believe it is too high in fat for their dog. Some because their dog needs longer for it’s body to adjust to the change in nutrient levels, but they don’t know that is the problem, adding enzymes helps. Some because they believe the story about this that or the other having too much protein.

What probiotic are you using? Please consider adding digestive enzymes to your dogs meals, you may find this to be a real quick fix for all your concerns. In the wild, canids would get enzymes from the prey animal they were eating. Some dogs don’t make enough of their own enzymes or they don’t adjust to new foods without a little extra help.

And people food isn’t bad as long as you are sharing the good stuff, not a lot of the fatty trimmings and poultry skin.

[emchide]

Hi everyone, and thanks for such an informative site with a lot of informative posts by those willing to share their hard-learned experiences. I’ve been poring over a lot of the discussions and digging in to the facts presented, and I’m trying hard not to duplicate questions already asked.

One manufacturer I came across seems not to have a presence on this website yet – it’s listed in the topic, GreenTripe.com. What particularly intrigues me are their various formulations using trachea, gullet, and pancreas, among others. What do you experienced raw food people think of this variation? At a glance, it looks like shipping costs might be somewhat prohibitive unless ordering in serious bulk.

I’m thinking my best bet to start is simply checking with the local grocers for various RMBs and organs on the cheap and using those as well as eggs, yogurt, and so on as a topper for grain-free kibble (currently rotating among Halo Puppy Salmon, Halo Surf and Turf, Nature’s Variety Instinct Duck, and Nature’s Variety Instinct Rabbit with canned toppings like Wellness Core and Solid Gold Green Cow Tripe). Ideally I would eventually transition to all home-prepared ingredients but I definitely need to read up more on vegetables and supplements for a while first.

Oh, and my dog is a four-month old boxer/pit mix – he’s growing like a weed and I’m slightly concerned we’ve been using a few too many treats for training in addition to his three meals a day as he’s gone from 13 lbs on June 12 when we adopted him to 32 currently, but he seems healthy as a horse and has great energy. The only issue seems to be some scratching and itching which has somewhat receded as his flea treatment has kicked in (I still find fleas on him but they seem unwell and are easy to catch and crush), but he came home on SD of course from the SPCA so I am hoping that dietary improvements might eliminate any potential skin issues if they exist.

I look forward to gleaning a lot more valuable knowledge from these discussions, and thanks again for expending the energy to inform more people – I really appreciate the love-driven data!

• This topic was modified 12 years, 7 months ago by emchide.
• This topic was modified 12 years, 7 months ago by emchide.

[EHubbman]

I should clarify a bit, haha! The things I was reading were more along the lines of 50% meat/bone/organ and 50% raw fruit and veg (or other ratios around those amounts), which is why I was wanting to stay away from those, because that kinda seems like an obnoxious amount of fruit/veg. I was finding these ratios on pages for the BARF diet, where prey model raw pages were more towards meat/bone/organs with supplements.

More what I mean by feeling more towards prey model is what I’m seeing more frequently here and among those I know that feed raw. The main majority of the meal is meat/bone/organ, but they do supplement with good stuff. (Am I calling it the wrong thing by saying prey model?)

Patty, that mix sounds like a good treat! I’m sure Dom would love it, he loves frozen treats.

HDM, Thanks! I’ll definitely be checking in on those books. A good friend just recommended “Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs: The Definitive Guide to Homemade Meals” by Lew Olson, so I’ve been trying to read that.

Random thought, since I’ve seen it a few times on forums: Garlic for dogs? I would think that since it’s a member of the allium family, wouldn’t it be bad for dogs? Yet I see people saying “add it to the food to make your dog eat it!”

[theBCnut]

ebk

How old are your kids? The reason I ask is because from the time mine were old enough to understand that their hands were dirty I had them help me feed the dogs and then we went and washed our hands because dog food can make our hands dirty. If they found a stray piece of dog food on the floor, they knew that they had to go wash their hands after they gave it to the dogs. Same with dog treats. The oldest will be 18 in a couple days, the youngest is 13. They have never gotten anything from the animals and they have always had their own chores to do, but the lesson about washing stuck. We have a ton of animals.

[theBCnut]

Thanks for the good thoughts and especially the prayers everyone.

My favorite treats and my dogs too are the freeze dried foods, lots of meat and not much else, very little processing.

[Hound Dog Mom]

My favorite training treats are ZiwiPeak food, Vital Essential’s freeze-dried nibblets and Nature’s Variety Instinct freeze-dried raw (in the nuggets). I like to use complete and balanced foods for treats whenever possible and the dogs seem to really like these foods.

[pugmomsandy]

This is from their website:

“Performance Pet Products along with Canine Cattle Company, a respected name in dog treats for years are brands of the 4th largest meat processor in the U.S., American Foods Group. We are a company devoted to quality. Due to numerous pet food recalls lately, quality and safety have been concerns. We take these concerns very seriously-that’s why we have built a plant in Mitchell, South Dakota devoted to the production of human grade dog and cat food from the highest quality
ingredients available”

http://www.performancepet.net/index.asp?lid=1

[Hound Dog Mom]

My dogs love the grain-free buddy biscuits. I like them because they’re so big – I have a hard time finding treats that are big enough for my girls. Most are so small that they just swallow them.

[pugmomsandy]

My giant toy dogs are 24 and 30 lbs! And still eat 2/3 cup total per day plus treats.

[theBCnut]

For people feeding grinds, they are a convinient way to get some fruit and veg in the diet. They have some good ingredients in them. I like the idea, but mostly I’m too cheap.

[Rudy_Chloe]

What are your pets experiences with Fruitables Dog Treats? I recently bought Pumpkin with Apple Flavor and my puppies love them as treats. And they have an overwhelming smell to them which they love as well. I looked online for reviews, but there weren’t too many. To the plus side, they are USA made so that’s awesome and they totally smell homemade. Any thoughts? Positive or Negative?

[somebodysme]

My dog loves to eat too but only gets her allotted amount of food and out of that I use kibble for training treats. If I put down 50 cups of food, she would eat it all, get sick and be looking for more I do believe. You have to be their guardians and control that for them because some dogs just will eat and eat. My dog is definitely a garbage disposal, she will eat anything she gets hold of!

[alsmomma]

We need to find a way to contact the company if this is happening, especially to this extent, to other dogs. Regardless of whether or not they’re processed in China, if the product is toxic to dogs in some way it needs to be addressed and removed from the shelves. I stopped giving my beagle those treats and she’s a lot better. She hasn’t thrown up one time since then. I have found a couple of other brands of treats made in the USA and she loves them and hasn’t had any issues with them.

[Hound Dog Mom]

I’d consider it a chew. I give them as treats occasionally, they keep the dogs busy for awhile.

[somebodysme]

Gosh there must be some bad a$$ stuff in there to make all the dogs so sick off just a tiny piece of one treat! I didn’t catch that part about it just being a sixth of a piece. That’s crazy! Again, I sure hope they recover! I tell ya, every time I open a new bag of dog food, I worry there’s something wrong with it!

[theBCnut]

I have no idea how much “one stick” is or if this is essentially a jerky or a ground up chicken product, but one stick split between six dogs, even if it is all fat and skin, still sounds like too small an amount to cause all of that. Of course, she may have four schnauzers, all prone to pancreatitis, for all I know. Chihuahuas certainly are tiny.

[labgirl]

rawhides do “blow up” in the stomach and expand a lot.. my dog used to get very sick from them. ive not started using more natural treats like Bully sticks/bullwrinkles – they chew like a rawhide but are 100% digestible and cause no bloating like rawhides do. id use that instead of rawhides. more safe in my opinion

[mkirsche]

I have six dogs. I decided to try this because the bag says its human grade, made in the U.S. FOUR of my dogs are very sick, sh#tting all over the house. Extremely concerned, I checked bag for an 800 number to call and there is nothing on the bag!!! Unbelievable. Do not buy this. I have receipt and am returning it. I am going to call the FDA and report this. Two of my dogs are terminally ill and I’m not sure they’re going to survive. One is 17, diabetic and very frail and the other was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but was doing very well till I fed him this treat!!! I am horrified this treat is a fraudulent toxic import from China. My God. My two sick dogs were doing great (I’ve spent thousands in vet bills) and this one treat may have cost them their lives!!! My god…even two young healthy chihuahuas are sick. Most alarming is that I only gave them one stick broken into six pieces. Very little.

[CharlieBrown]

Hi All,
I am a new Yorkshire Terrier owner. He just turned one on June 26th. We received him from my sis in law who for a variety of reasons couldn’t keep him any longer 🙁 With him I received a bag of Purina and a bag of Kibbles and Bits dry food. Also some cans of Mighty Dog canned food. Ive never been a dog owner but after finding this site I see that those foods are not good at all. Can you please recommend a good food for him? I am on a budget but want to feed him good food.

Also she told me she mixes half a can of the wet food with some kibble twice a day. Is this a good feeding schedule with good amounts of food? Should I always mix the wet and dry foods or keep them separate?

And finally, she also sent a small beefhide bone that he seems to love and spends alot of time gnawing on. It actually came in a pack of four and he he has 3 left. Are these any good?

Thank you in advance!! I will love your suggestions on good budget friendly foods and treats. Also any suggestions from veteran Yorkie owners on any topic about them not just food!!

[ZeeAndPalmer]

Enjoy your new little doxie! I have two rescued doxies, ages about 6 and 7 years, and every time we go to the vet they comment on how great their weights are. I am careful about the amount of food they get, but it’s the treats that add up! Mine LOVE carrots, fresh or canned UNSALTED green beans, and ooooo blueberries! I went to a dachshund race event a few weeks back and was stunned at the number of grossly overweight, unhealthy dogs I saw there, and these people purportedly knew how to care for dachshunds! Now I understand why my vet loves me so much 🙂
I have fed Wellness Super5Mix Small Breed for most of their lives; the smaller one is now on PUrina JM (joint mobility) food (I am not a Purina fan but the vet visited the company and recommends it highly – she IS less creaky in the hips since we switched) – I am considering a switch/addition to either Taste of the Wild or Innova EVO – it’s been suggested that a slightly higher protein level with different protein and carb sources would be beneficial. Still studying!

[somebodysme]

She does have a nylabone and that’s about all she can have now, she does have an antler that’s cut in half/split, she loves that thing.

Since I posted this, I’ve come to figure out that is wasn’t the rawhide that is causing the rash but it was causing her to scratch and her hair to fall out. She has not had any rawhide since and I will never give her another. There must be some chemical they use to process the hide that she is allergic to. Her scratching is gone but the rash on her back is still there. I can’t help but think it’s the Demodex that came back even though the vet said he didn’t find any evidence of it when he did a scraping. It just all adds up to Demodex, plus it doesn’t itch on the back. I’ve seen google images of Demodex that look exactly like what is on her. All of her other itching has totally gone away with a new dog food and no treats…everything BUT that stupid RASH! ARGH!!!!!!! 🙁

[theBCnut]

I’ll second the Vital Essentials!! My dogs are crazy about them.

[NOSH]

Thanks Sandy… I love these treats you have suggested. It’s even better when I can get them through Amazon.com’s Subscribe & Save program or use their Prime membership so I can get them within 2 days. I have added the Stella & Chewy’s to my list also. I just read an article today about Stella & Chewy’s…..

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/08/02/pet-food-safety-plan.aspx?e_cid=20130724_PetsNL_artTest_HP4SetB&utm_source=petnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=artTest_HP4SetB&utm_campaign=20130724

NOSH

[mah4angel]

I UNDERSTAND ABOUT LIVING WITH YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW OMG. Mine says that my dog is too skinny when he’s THE PERFECT WEIGHT AH. When we went to Vegas for four days two weeks ago I gave her very specific instructions about his diet and she let my nieces feed him AN ENTIRE PACKAGE OF HIS FAVORITE, MOST EXPENSIVE, IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND dog treats because he’s “too skinny” UGH. She also keeps buying him snacks and treats (like Beggin’ Strips omg) and once bought him Cesar’s food (which is such bad food oh my goodness) -_____-
I would say to give it time! I was lucky in that my baby has LOVEDDD every bit of raw food that I’ve given him. I gave him some green tripe today and oh my goodness it was like the gates of Heaven opening up for him he just gobbled it up!
Let us all know how it goes ^_^

[pugmomsandy]

Stella & chewy’s, Bravo, Fresh Is Best have meat treats and I also like using Vital Essentials freeze dried nibbletts as treats and Instinct freeze dried for treats.

An easy homemade treat is pumpkin dog treats:

http://www.all-natural-dog-treat.com/pumpkindogtreatrecipes.html (grain free)

http://www.all-natural-dog-treat.com/dogtreatrecipe.html

[NOSH]

Thanks so much…I will order some today. I do occasionally use the ZiwiPeak lamb as treats, but mostly for puppy training class. But hey, they are so expensive !

Thanks for the good advice…and suggestions !

NOSH

[theBCnut]

Can I suggest that you take any meat, thinly sliced, and dry it on a low temp in your oven and use that for treats?

[Hound Dog Mom]

Some biscuits I’ve used that don’t contain guar gum or carrageenan are: Cloudstar’s Buddy Biscuits, Sojo’s Grain-Free Biscuits, Darford Zero-G Biscuits and Max & Ruffy’s Grain-Free Treats.

[Brewski]

Sorry to hear that. That is one downside to our biscuits, but haven’t had many issues as of yet selling to dog owners. We are thinking of creating a biscuits with all the other great ingredients without the brewer grain. The upside is that spent grain is broken down and is easily digestible. Thank you for your feedback.

[NOSH]

Can anyone recommend dog treats without guar gum or carrageenan ? I’ve been using the Nature’s Variety treats the past month, but realized they have guar gum in them and I want to change to a treat without these two ingredients.

Thanks.

NOSH

[InkedMarie]

Unfortunately, I have a dog who can’t have grains so these are out.

[Brewski]

Our web address is http://www.brewskibiscuits.com