[Sharon D]

Hi! I’m a retired scientist (biology/ecology) and I’m interested in this topic because my 8 year old Chihuahua, Poncho, has been diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis and we’ve started him on a low-fat diet, Royal Canin Gastrointestinal, low fat canned and kibble, the only brand my vet carries for this. Like some of you, I was also not happy with the ingredients with “animal bi-products” high on the list, but was going to use the product until I could find a better one. Then I saw comments by some of you about increased urination and I cancelled the order I placed today for monthly repeat delivery of a a 24-can case from Pet360.com (great prices!) so I could research this a little more. Even in the two days I’ve had Poncho and his brother, Tank, on this food, I think I’ve noticed them peeing more, too. Then, in thinking about the issue a bit I have this question for you:

Have you noticed an increase in water INTAKE?

It occurred to me that the explanation may be as simple as “this food makes them more thirsty than other, “regular” foods”. This makes sense to me when I think about the thick, gummy consistency of the canned food. With less protein and fat than regular foods, this food is like eating a dry piece of very dense bread. It’s a thought! It would be a nice benign explanation that could put our minds at rest about it. Maybe we can all watch water intake and see if there’s a noticeable increase… Anyway, there is still the food quality issue with its ingredients, so I think I’ll continue to look for an alternative. I’ll be keeping an eye on this thread for your ideas and suggestions about this dog food, too. Thanks for being here! 🙂

[Susan]

Hi Dee, its a really good thing your doing taking on an 2 elderly dogs & they are getting a 2nd chance in life…. You can cut up the chucks of meat in the chucky foods & put thru a blender maybe try & see if he’s OK on a thicker wet food, I found the thicker wet tins were better then the pate wet tin foods, stayed down better….
Just be careful with the fat %, 5%min fat in wet tin food or raw food when converted to dry matter(kibble) is around 20-25% fat, if it were a kibble…..
When I rescued my boy he was regurgitating raw, cooked & wet tin foods back up into his mouth, onto the floor or ground while walking or playing I had to keep him still for 20-30mins, this seem to happen more when the wet tin or raw was too grounded like a wet mince consistency, very sloppy & not chunky…. over the years Patch has gotten better & now can hold any wet tin or cooked food down, nothing comes back up no more & he was put on a acid reducer (Losec) to stop the acid reflux that comes with it, the vet seem to think he had Hernia the diaphragm where the food pipe joins the stomach flap wasn’t closing when it was suppose to close…lower fat diets with no grains, no rice, no oats, no barley etc, are best, add some boiled sweet potato or potato & pumkin added to the wet tin or cooked meals also helped the food stay down with Patch…..
I was soaking a kibble that was easy to digest “Taste Of The Wild” Sierra Mountain, Roasted Lamb in warm water, (Not boiling hot water), as soon as the kibble was soft all the way thru swollen (a good easy to digest kibble should only take about 20-40mins to become soft all the way thru) then you drain all water out of the kibble bowl, I was putting about 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of the soft wet kibble on the side of a bowl & cuffing my hand & squeezing out all the water from the kibble, then adding the squeezed kibble to the blender then I’d just squeezing another 1/4 to 1/2 cup wet kibble after squeezed adding to a blender & you just pulse blend for a few seconds & the kibble becomes real light & fluffy when kibble isn’t squeezed properly, it is like slop but that might work for your boy you’ll work it out, I was feeding about 1/2 a cup per meal, for a 40lb dog, your dog is bigger so he’d probably eat under 1 cup of the blended wet kibble per meal, I divided meals into 5 small meals a day, 7am, 9am, 12pm, 5pm & 8pm…..blending the wet drain kibble works out cheaper then buying the wet tin foods & his dad can eat the dry kibble or have some of the wet soaked drain kibble as well…
Taste Of The Wild has wet tin grain free food & the fat % starts at 3% fat which is 11% -13% fat when converted to dry matter, http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/#our-brand
You can email the company & ask any questions you may have…..
Just don’t feed any wet tin food that is higher then 5%max in fat, it may be tooo much fat & may cause bad acid reflux…you’ll know when he starts eating grass or my boy grinds his teeth & swollows & swollows & licks his mouth when he has acid reflux…. I’d stick around 2-4%max fat in wet tin foods, if he’s on a vet diet like Hills wet tin food the Hills wet formulas have already been converted to dry matter, I think that’s what confuses people coming from a Hills vet diet…

[Christie]

I ordered a bag of the lamb formula from Chewy (the one local store that I found who carries the brand only has the multi protein formula that has turkey in it).

I looked at Zignature’s website and the food does look good. My only concern is intestinal issues if I switch them cold turkey. Zignature states that dogs can usually switch immediately with no issue, but I don’t know what’s worse: possible stomach pain/diarrhea with both dogs or the skin/ear itching with my big guy (I have been using OTC cortisone eardrops and the ear looks 90% better).

I literally have enough Wellness dry food for 2 more feedings…do I buy another small bag of it to transition with or take my chances when the Zignature arrives tomorrow?

And does anyone have suggestions for toppers? My dogs are super picky eaters. Neither dog likes kibble very much. One of the reasons (according to the vet) that both gained weight last year was due to me mixing in canned (quality) dog food. Or do I just feed the dry solo and hope they like it and if not leave it until they get hungry enough to eat it?

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

[Christie]

My 8 year old American Bulldog/Pit mix is 115 pounds and my 2 year old Catahoula Leopard Dog Mix is about 45 pounds. My vet thinks their healthy weight should be around 90 and 35 pounds, respectively. To address the weight issue, I slowly transitioned both dogs to Natural Balance Fat Dogs, because it had much lower calorie counts than other reduced fat/weight loss foods. My big guy has had some issues in the past with food allergies and I noticed that within a few weeks of eating the new food, he was having issues with his ears and licking his paws. I looked up the food on this site and saw that the carb percentage was very high and my vet had said in the past that high carb foods can cause allergy induced ear infections.
I tried transitioning to Wellness Core Reduced Fat with the same results. I don’t know if he has a poultry allergy or just a chicken allergy but both of those foods list chicken and turkey as main ingredients. And I have yet to find a quality dry food weight loss formula that uses a different protein source (and yes I do know that chicken and turkey are the leanest animal protein choices)

Does anyone have a suggestion? I was going to just try transitioning to a quality food (maybe the beef based Victor hero) and just limiting the amount of food that they consume. Both dogs prefer smaller sized kibble and I heard Victor is pretty small.

[Acroyali]

Melanie:
If the Kangaroo diet was helping, is there any way you could get another novel protein source that your dog has not had (venison, rabbit, etc?) There are some dry and canned varieties on the market that might fit the bill, as well as some pre-made raw diets (many raw food suppliers have exotic proteins–my cats vote for Hare Today’s rabbit chunks.)

One of my dogs had seasonal allergies completely unrelated to food. We did the testing route, and while identifying at least some of his triggers certainly helped it wasn’t a cure all. For awhile we did allergy shots and prednisone. It lasted 4-5 days and he’d be miserable for the rest of the month. As he got a little older, we worked for a few years with a wonderful vet on building a healthy immune system any way we could. We added a few things (mostly in the form of probiotics and other nutritional supplements, as well as medicated baths, etc). More importantly (I feel) is that we subtracted things that we suspected could possibly be linked. We gave him only clean, filtered water. We stopped using fabric softener (that helped tremendously!), and stopped giving annual booster vaccines (he was older, even our allopathic vet agreed with us on this) and stopped using flea prevention on him (as it seemed to be doing no good anyway). We let his immune system rest as much as we could. I can’t say it “fixed” him and I can’t put my finger on the one thing we did that did the most to help, but it seemed that the combination of factors helped him build an immune system that knew what it was doing. He had occasional break-outs, but I’d say he was 85-90% better. Just my personal experiences of course. I wish you luck with your little dog.

[Kevin Davies]

The Wellness Complete Health Natural Dry Puppy food is made from natural ingredients and designed to provide everything that your growing Lab needs. Some of the benefits of feeding your lab this puppy food are bone and teeth strength, energy and vitality, brain development, healthy muscle growth and optimal nutrition absorption. Aside from these amazing benefits, it has a great taste that puppies love.

According to reviews from Lab puppy owners that have bought this puppy food, they feel it is a better quality puppy food than most other brands out there, since it contains actual ingredients instead if filler. One of the first signs that any puppy or dog food has too much filler is very frequent and more stools from your puppy. The consistency of stools may even be loose or runny and this is how you will know that the filler is simply passing through your puppy’s system. You will also need to change his diet immediately.

Read more at https://petloverguy.com/best-puppy-food-for-labs/

[Kevin Davies]

There are various types of dog and puppy foods out here. You can choose to feed your dog dry dog food, canned dog food or natural food. It all depends on your discretion as a puppy owner and also your dog’s needs.

Like humans, dogs are all different. So what works for one puppy might not work for another and what tastes good to one puppy may not taste good to another. Luckily, there are enough choices on the market for you to chop and change your dog food, until you find the right one.

It is also vitally important that you do research on the breed of your puppy and give him dog food accordingly. Each breed has its own unique genetic makeup and some breeds are pre-disposed to certain diseases and medical conditions.

So if you know that your Lab has more body fat than muscle and is prone to obesity, you will invest in puppy food that is low in fats and carbs but high in calcium and fiber. This ensures that your puppy’s diet is complete, balanced and nutritious enough to keep him happy and healthy.

Read more at https://petloverguy.com/best-puppy-food-for-labs/

[Linda W]

I am going crazy going through dog food websites looking for a good quality low protein, low fat, low phosphorus diet for my miniature schnauzer.

As a breed, miniature schnauzers need a low fat food because they do not digest fat well – my rule of thumb has always been <15% fat.

Now I need a low protein and low phosphorus diet as well as she has recently been diagnosed with renal disease. The canned prescription renal diets have too much fat for miniature schnauzers – I do not want to throw her into pancreatitis and quite frankly, she will not eat the canned renal diet without me force feeding her – that is not a long term solution as it breaks my heart when she sees me coming with her food dish and runs away. It seems like all of the renal diets compensate for low protein by increasing fat and for miniature schnauzers that just doesn’t work – the dry food I looked at had brewers rice as first ingredient and chicken fat as the second and was above my rule of thumb for fat at 16%.

I am hoping that someone can point me in the direction of a good quality low protein, low fat, low phosphorus diet. It is clear that she prefers kibble as she will by-pass a bowl of wet dog food and eat the kibble next to it.

[John L]

Thanks for the tips! I’ve definitely noticed a lot of people mentioning Zignature with high favorability. I’ll keep that on my short list. We ended up visiting a couple local retailers, one pet store and one natural food who was the local Annamaet reseller who had about a 5′ section of shelving dedicated to kibble and I think there was one bag of Annamaet along with Acana and Origen. At the pet shop we narrowed our choices down (since we wanted to start them on something else to replace the Pro Plan sooner rather than later) to Wellness and Nutro. Since Wellness still had chicken and Nutro did not we went with the Nutro. That may not be the long term solution but after a couple of days they are likely what little we’ve mixed in so far.

We also picked up a coconut oil based canine skin lotion the pet shop recommended. We’re on day two of that, plus the weather here is much improved from a dryness perspective, so hopefully we’ll see some results soon!

[Gerritt A]

I joined looking for some advice on senior dog foods. Our senior is about 12 – 13 years young and is a 14 lbs poodle/bichon mix – or something thereabouts. She is used to walking 3 – 5 miles per day and is out in front, not being pulled along so she seems to be enjoying it. She was eating a dry Wellness adult dry and wet mixture. Vet suggested she get on a senior diet and we did this about six months ago – again Wellness. Since then she has had two UTI’s. Urine pH was 8.5 on the current one. Vet was concerned that we were perhaps not getting a good urine sample so we had some draw from he bladder and it was consistent with the “caught” urine. Also had her bladder ultrasound to check for stones or a tumor. Nothing (good news!) Granted this is my first day of looking around on the site but i see nothing specific about selecting a senior food. Did I miss it?

[anonymous]

FAQs about house dust mite and storage mite allergies
By bringing pets into our homes, we’ve increased their exposure to these common skin irritants.

Mar 01, 2013
By Alice M. Jeromin, RPh, DVM, DACVD
DVM360 MAGAZINE
Excerpt from above article below, unable to provide direct link, if you google DMV360 MAGAZINE and then search “dust mites” at the search engine at that site it will take you to the full article.

Where are storage mites commonly found?
These particular mites (Tyrophagus putrescentiae, Lepidoglyphus destructor, Acarus siro) are present in dry foods, cereals, grains, straw and cheese—i.e., substances that can get moldy. Like dust mites, storage mites can cause nonseasonal signs, including pruritus, erythema and recurrent otitis in dogs and cats. They’re well-known in humans for causing asthma and allergic rhinitis (“baker’s lung”).
Data have shown that storage mites live in conjunction with house dust mites and can be found in bedding, mattresses, upholstered furniture and fabrics. One study in humans found storage mites to have overtaken dust mites as a leading source of allergy.

A popular misconception is that storage mites are present in bags of food or cereals from the manufacturer. In one study, out of 10 bags of dry dog food, one was found to have storage mites, but the rest developed the mites after being in the owners’ homes.2

[anonymous]

Where are storage mites commonly found?
These particular mites (Tyrophagus putrescentiae, Lepidoglyphus destructor, Acarus siro) are present in dry foods, cereals, grains, straw and cheese—i.e., substances that can get moldy. Like dust mites, storage mites can cause nonseasonal signs, including pruritus, erythema and recurrent otitis in dogs and cats. They’re well-known in humans for causing asthma and allergic rhinitis (“baker’s lung”).
Data have shown that storage mites live in conjunction with house dust mites and can be found in bedding, mattresses, upholstered furniture and fabrics. One study in humans found storage mites to have overtaken dust mites as a leading source of allergy.

A popular misconception is that storage mites are present in bags of food or cereals from the manufacturer. In one study, out of 10 bags of dry dog food, one was found to have storage mites, but the rest developed the mites after being in the owners’ homes.

Excerpt from http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/faqs-about-house-dust-mite-and-storage-mite-allergies?id=&pageID=1&sk=&date=

[anonymous]

Where are storage mites commonly found?
These particular mites (Tyrophagus putrescentiae, Lepidoglyphus destructor, Acarus siro) are present in dry foods, cereals, grains, straw and cheese—i.e., substances that can get moldy. Like dust mites, storage mites can cause nonseasonal signs, including pruritus, erythema and recurrent otitis in dogs and cats. They’re well-known in humans for causing asthma and allergic rhinitis (“baker’s lung”).
Data have shown that storage mites live in conjunction with house dust mites and can be found in bedding, mattresses, upholstered furniture and fabrics. One study in humans found storage mites to have overtaken dust mites as a leading source of allergy.

A popular misconception is that storage mites are present in bags of food or cereals from the manufacturer. In one study, out of 10 bags of dry dog food, one was found to have storage mites, but the rest developed the mites after being in the owners’ homes.
Above is an excerpt from: http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/faqs-about-house-dust-mite-and-storage-mite-allergies?id=&pageID=1&sk=&date=

[anonymous]

Environmental allergies tend to wax and wane, so, you may think a diet change is working….
Also the storage mite is in the same family as the common household dust mite that exists on the skin of all living things and is constantly being shed (airborne) including you.
Often the dog has allergies to both, not just one.

Below is an excerpt from an article that you may find helpful http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/faqs-about-house-dust-mite-and-storage-mite-allergies?id=&pageID=1&sk=&date=

Where are storage mites commonly found?
These particular mites (Tyrophagus putrescentiae, Lepidoglyphus destructor, Acarus siro) are present in dry foods, cereals, grains, straw and cheese—i.e., substances that can get moldy. Like dust mites, storage mites can cause nonseasonal signs, including pruritus, erythema and recurrent otitis in dogs and cats. They’re well-known in humans for causing asthma and allergic rhinitis (“baker’s lung”).
Data have shown that storage mites live in conjunction with house dust mites and can be found in bedding, mattresses, upholstered furniture and fabrics. One study in humans found storage mites to have overtaken dust mites as a leading source of allergy.

A popular misconception is that storage mites are present in bags of food or cereals from the manufacturer. In one study, out of 10 bags of dry dog food, one was found to have storage

[crazy4cats]

Hi John L-
The Editor’s Choice is a list of bands. Any of the brand’s flavors or recipes would be included. That being said, make sure you choose one that is appropriate for large breed pups. The calcium amount is crucial for them while growing. There is a great article on this subject on the review side of this site. I frequently feed my two labs Whole Earth Farms. I think their puppy food is ok for large breeds. Please double check though.

The weather is probably a big factor with the dry skin. I give my adult dogs a can of sardines per week. Maybe split the can for your two if you want to try it out.

Good luck with your new bundles of joy. Got mine together too. They are littermates and there was certainly never a dull moment for a couple of years. Good and bad, they are literally inseparable now. They love each other, but at the same time, insanely jealous!

Again, check out the large breed puppy article and have fun with those pups!

[Natasha C]

Hi. I have a 2 1/2 year old lab who itches constantly in the face, behind his “elbows” and between paws. He would scratch his face so badly, it would bleed. I had him allergy tested a year ago and he tested extremely allergic to storage mites. I had never heard of them before but they are little bugs that live and breed in dry dog food. There is nothing you can do to get rid of them, even the limited ingredient foods have them, so I started cooking homemade food for him. It made HUGE difference. Then, when, due to a busy lifestyle, I couldn’t cook for awhile and started him back on kibble – his itching started up again. So maybe give a try to homemade food. I used potato, sweet potato, frozen veggies (carrots, peas, kale, spinach), ground turkey. And add a supplement for vitamins. You could also try raw or freeze dried food, but I couldn’t afford that so I got busy in the kitchen! Good luck!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 10 months ago by Natasha C.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 10 months ago by Natasha C.

[anonymous]

What you describe sounds like environmental allergies, food would have little impact, if any, on this condition.
I would continue to work with your veterinarian, however, for best results, I would go to a specialist, a veterinary dermatologist.
Have you tried the search engine here? This subject comes up frequently.
Example: /forums/topic/irritated-skin-food-allergy/
/forums/topic/dog-chewing-nails-till-they-bleed/
“Food allergies are rare. Food sensitivities tend to result in GI disturbances such as vomiting and diarrhea. Environmental allergies tend to show up as pruritus, ear infections and such”.
“You could try a limited ingredient grain free food. My dog does well on Nutrisca Salmon and Chickpea. Wipe down her feet with water and gently dry when she comes in from outdoors”.
“Bathe her using a gentle shampoo, I use Malaseb (see chewy dot com).
I tried all kinds of things times 1 year (including going back and forth to the veterinarian), but, did not get results till I took her to a dermatologist for testing. Allergen specific immunotherapy worked in her case”.
Unfortunately, steroids and such are often necessary (for brief periods) to stop the suffering and prevent infection.
Allergen specific immunotherapy is the most natural treatment.
Also, I have heard that some dogs do well on apoquel, you may want to consider staying with that, talk to your vet.

[anonymous]

Per the search engine here:

What you describe sounds like environmental allergies, food would have little impact, if any, on this condition.
I would continue to work with your veterinarian, however, for best results, I would go to a specialist, a veterinary dermatologist.

Have you tried the search engine here? This subject comes up frequently.
Example: /forums/topic/irritated-skin-food-allergy/
/forums/topic/dog-chewing-nails-till-they-bleed/

“Food allergies are rare. Food sensitivities tend to result in GI disturbances such as vomiting and diarrhea. Environmental allergies tend to show up as pruritus, ear infections and such”.

“You could try a limited ingredient grain free food. My dog does well on Nutrisca Salmon and Chickpea. Wipe down her feet with water and gently dry when she comes in from outdoors”.

“Bathe her using a gentle shampoo, I use Malaseb (see chewy dot com).
I tried all kinds of things times 1 year (including going back and forth to the veterinarian), but, did not get results till I took her to a dermatologist for testing. Allergen specific immunotherapy worked in her case”.

Unfortunately, steroids and such are often necessary (for brief periods) to stop the suffering and prevent infection.
Allergen specific immunotherapy is the most natural treatment.
Also, I have heard that some dogs do well on apoquel, you may want to consider staying with that, talk to your vet.

[LadyUplandHunter]

“….my almost 2 year old, female German Shorthair Pointer is suffering from a skin condition that causes her to scratch behind her ears with such force that she’s losing her fur in that area and now the same itch is beginning under her legs. I’ve taken her to the Vet twice, switched to a grain free food and now a limited ingredient grain free food will be started soon, the Vet asked me to try daily doses of Benadryl and while it was a temporary fix, it’s no longer working as well as when I first started dosing her. The Vet has now suggested that I try Claritin but I feel as if continuing to try over-the-counter drugs is not the answer, I feel that the answer lies in getting to the bottom of what’s actually wrong, in other words, a real diagnosis and I’m just beginning to research skin testing methods and any holistic methods that may be available. I’m wondering if any of you have had similar issues with your own dogs and if so, if it was food related, what was the solution and also if anyone has tried a holistic method of solving a skin issue. Thank you very much for your attention to my thoughts and questions!”

[Jane E]

I think dryness can be seasonal and linked to the colder dryer air. That being said it is not always the protein either,meaning salmon does not always offer a higher fat content (which would affect the skin). Larger breeds can do well on adult formulas too…this allows for slower growth. There are many brands which a great,Pure Vita,Canine Caviar,Fromm and I have even heard good things about Victor or Costco’s brand of dog food. Adding some fish oil to the existing food may be a way to go too

[John L]

We recently adopted two 12 week old lab mixes, currently on Purina Pro Plan. Both have VERY dry skin. Vet agrees to switch food, trying a salmon based food, as a good step since there was no sign of any other cause. Looking over the EC puppy lists most seem to be chicken based. Is it safe to stay within the brand and family of food choosing a salmon based variety instead? Anything else I should look for?

[Susan]

Hi, have you tried another dry kibble with lower fat% & a different protein with limited ingredients, also is his kibble a fish kibble??
My boy is 8yrs old & went off any kibbles that is fish/salmon, he seems to get acid reflux from the fish kibbles now, especially when they have fish or salmon oil, he grinds his teeth he has IBD, over the years I’ve learnt what all those weird things he does mean…..

As dogs & humans get older we don’t make as much hydrochloric acid in our stomachs, it’s called “Hypochlorhydria” low stomach acid, so it can be harder to digest food & food sits in stomach causing acid reflux…
I would not be feeding the Raw Hide, google, “how is Raw Hide is made”, Rodney Habib has a excellent video, it will shock you.
Can you cook a cooked diet for him, even if you buy tin tuna in spring water & add boiled sweet potato & veggies a couple days a week & the other days buy lean grounded pork or lean beef mince…. I make rissole, I add 1 whisked egg to 1kg (2lbs) lean pork mince or lean beef mince, finally cut up 1/3 to 1/2 a cup broccoli, 1 teaspoon finally cut up parsley, 1 grated carrot mix all together & make 1 cup size rissoles & bake in oven on baking tray 15 mins into baking take out drain water/fat & turn rissoles over put back in oven, I boil sweet potatoes & freeze the rissoles & sweet potatoes in sections…. When a dog stops eating something is wrong & its normally their stomach or pancreatitis… he’s telling you this kibble is no good & would prefer to go hungry then have his pain or acid reflux or have whatever he’s getting… If they could talk life would be so much easy, I would not want to be a vet, a lot of the times test results don’t show anything wrong, & its a guessing game until you work out a diet that agrees with him….

[Marjorie L]

I have a 12 year old German Shepard/Lab mix who is allergic to wheat and chicken. We’ve been feeding him NurtoSource for a couple of years now, mixed with wet food. Up until recently he’s always been a hardy eater. But lately he’s been turning his nose up at his kibble. He’ll still eat the wet food, cooked veggie and rice, and likes to chew on toys and raw hides, so I don’t think its a lack of appetite issue or a problem with his teeth. Has anyone else run into an issue like this before? My vet doesn’t even know what to make of it.

[Susan]

Hi Ryan, sorry about your little dog losing a leg, lucky the other dog couldn’t get thru the fence all the way there may have been a different outcome….
Start looking for LOW CARB kibbles, high protein, low fat kibbles & wet tin foods….a lot of Hills, Royal Canine & Purina formulas are very high in carbs causing the dog to gain weight….
This is how you find out the carb % in a kibble, find & add the Protein% + fat% + fiber% + moisture% + ash%, if there’s no ash % just add 8% for ash, add all together now take away score from 100 & you have the carb% in that kibble, try & stay under 40% for carbs under 30% would be better…..dogs have short digestive tracts made to digest meat not high carb diets, over the years our dogs have become accustom to these higher carb diets but some dogs just don’t do to well…

Hills prescription vet diet has a new low carb-36%, weight loss & joint care kibble & wet tin food on the market, called “Hills Metabolic + Mobility Canine” for weight & joint care & in the Wet tin Metabolic + Mobility wet tin canine vegetables & Tuna stew.. http://www.hillspet.com.au/en-au/products/pd-canine-metabolic-plus-mobility-dry.html
If you want a grain free kibble & wet tin food look at the Salmon/Whitefish formulas the omega 3 will be higher so better for joints, heart, brain, skin & coat…

“Holistic Select” has a really good Senior Health kibble has everything for aging dogs, easy to digest the kibble size is nice & small & the fat & fiber % is lower then the Hills Metabolic + Mobility Care formula…you can rotate between the 2 formulas & see which gives better results.. http://www.holisticselect.com.au/recipes.aspx?pet=dog

[Susan]

Hi Donna, read the ingredients to the Hills I/d formula then start looking for better quality brands with similar ingredients & fat %, one problem Hills have already converted their wet tin foods fat% & protein% to dry matter (Kibble) normal wet tin foods & raw haven’t been converted to dry matter (kibble) yet…. Which I/d formula is she eating?? there’s a few Hills I/d formulas, there’s I/d Low Fat Restore, fat is around 8%max, converted, then there’s their normal Hills I/d wet tin formulas where fat is around 14%-15%max, converted, so when you look for a wet tin food it can’t be over 3-4%max-fat, if you see a wet tin with 5%-fat when you converted 5%min fat it’s around 20-25% fat if it were a kibble & can cause pancreatitis if your dog is prone to Pancreatitis…. you might be best using the Hills wet tin food as a base & cook lean white meats like turkey, chicken & pork grounded mince or tin tuna in spring water & add some boiled pumkin, carrot make a batch & freeze small meal sizes & add 1/2 Hills wet tin & 1/2 cooked mix together, it will work out cheaper cooking, if just a hassle…

[Debbie G]

After reading the forums comments about avoiding potatoes in dog food, I went to the pet store to buy a new brand for Lucky, my 12 yr old 83 lb lab. All the Editor’s choice 5 star dry foods had potatoes as an ingredient. I talked to the manager and he said Zignature doesn’t have any potatoes or grains in their food. I’d never heard of this brand, but is there anyone who has their dog on this food? I ended up getting the Duck formula. Mainly because my 1 year old puppy ate a hole in the large bag while I was comparing labels and I felt like I had to buy it!

• This topic was modified 8 years, 10 months ago by Debbie G.

[Crystal T]

Hello! I’m new here. Our dog is 11 months old and his name is Winston. Winston prefers dry dog food. He is also overweight.
I need help finding or devising a recipe for dog food. I found the perfect premade food for him but unfortunately it is crazy expensive. Here are the ingredients. Can you help me figure out a recipe from it or suggest one? It must be 1. organic 2. end up a dry food or mostly dry and 3. help with him being overweight.

Ingredients (in order of quantity):
-USDA grade, Ethoxyquin-free, Deboned Turkey & Chicken
-high quality (low Ash) Turkey & Chicken Meals
-Chicken Liver
-Potatoes
-Dried Ground Potatoes
-Pea Fiber
-Whitefish Meal
-Tomato Pomace
-Natural Chicken Flavor
-Chicken Liver
-Salmon Oil
-Flaxseed
-Carrots
-Sweet Potatoes
-Kale
-Broccoli
-Spinach
-Parsley
-Apples
-Blueberries
-Vitamins
-Minerals
-Choline Chloride
-Chicory Root Extract
-Yucca Schidigera Extract
-Glucosamine Hydrochloride
-Chondroitin Sulfate
-Lactobacillus plantarum
-Enterococcus faecium
-Lactobacillus casei
-Lactobacillus acidophilus
-Mixed Tocopherols
-Rosemary Extract

Calories Analysis (on an as fed basis)
350 cal/cup ME
Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (min) 33%
Crude Fat (min) 9%
Crude Fat (max) 10%
Crude Fiber (max) 8.5%
Moisture (max) 10%
Calcium (max) 1.9%
Phosphorus (max) 1.3%
Vitamin E (min) 500 IU/kg
Omega 6 Fatty Acids* (min) 2.2%
Omega 3 Fatty Acids* (min) 0.50%
Glucosamin Hydrochloride* (min) 250 mg/kg
Chondroitin Sulfate* (min) 200 mg/kg
Beta-carotene (min) 5 mg/kg
Total Micro-organisms* (min) 80,000,000 CFU/lb

[Kira M]

Tonk is my first pit and he was given to us when my friend passed away recently. He is 8 years old he is a white pit. Sweetest boy ever, he thinks he’s a puppy and likes to take over my bed at night. The problem I am having is he is chewing on his back by his tail real bad, to the point it bleeds. Is there something I can do for him to help. I thought he might of been allergic to my laundry soap, I changed that to dreft. I have tried different foods, different shampoos, but nothing seems to be helping.

[anonymous]

Another previous post:

What you describe sounds like environmental allergies, food would have little impact, if any, on this condition.
I would continue to work with your veterinarian, however, for best results, I would go to a specialist, a veterinary dermatologist.
Have you tried the search engine here? This subject comes up frequently.
Example: /forums/topic/irritated-skin-food-allergy/
/forums/topic/dog-chewing-nails-till-they-bleed/
“Food allergies are rare. Food sensitivities tend to result in GI disturbances such as vomiting and diarrhea. Environmental allergies tend to show up as pruritus, ear infections and such”.
“You could try a limited ingredient grain free food. My dog does well on Nutrisca Salmon and Chickpea. Wipe down her feet with water and gently dry when she comes in from outdoors”.
“Bathe her using a gentle shampoo, I use Malaseb (see chewy dot com).
I tried all kinds of things times 1 year (including going back and forth to the veterinarian), but, did not get results till I took her to a dermatologist for testing. Allergen specific immunotherapy worked in her case”.
Unfortunately, steroids and such are often necessary (for brief periods) to stop the suffering and prevent infection.
Allergen specific immunotherapy is the most natural treatment.
Also, I have heard that some dogs do well on apoquel, you may want to consider staying with that, talk to your vet.

[Paige C]

Hello everyone!
I adopted my first dog, Beast, in October. He is a 1 year old Cattle Dog mix.
We noticed pretty much right away that he is always scratching his mouth/ears after eating his breakfast. He doesn’t have any hives or hair loss or anything like that. Just always itching his mouth (it looks like he is trying to get something out of his teeth but theres never anything there) and itching his ears after eating. He also seems to have lots of eye boogies.
We completely eliminated poultry and potatoes(white and sweet) from his diet but he seems to still be doing it. Right now he is eating Taste of the Wild Southwest Canyon so I’m wondering if it’s a sensitivity to peas.
At the same time I’m not sure if it even is an allergy. We’ve discussed it with his Vet who has been understanding of us switching his food, and suggested Benadryl for possible environmental allergies, but that seemed to make it worse so we stopped.
His previous owners were feeding him chicken and rice, so I’m thinking I may put him on a chicken/rice based kibble if possible. Or a lamb/rice since we haven’t given him lamb yet. What do you guys think? Everything I’ve heard for allergies have been red/swollen skin, hair loss, diarrhea, vomiting, etc. and he doesn’t seem to have that. Could it just be mild allergies or am I just being a crazy dog mom?

[Annie J]

Pancreatitis can be a pretty severe disease and can ultimately end a dog’s life, so now is not the time to experiment. A dog with panc needs to be restricted to a low-fat diet, at least until the pancreatitis has resolved. If Patchy doesn’t like canned food then try the dry versions of the low-fat diets (Hill’s I/D low-fat, GI low fat Royal Canin, Purina EN, etc). Pancreatitis can be the primary problem from dietary indiscretion (“garbage gut”, table scraps, bacon, etc) or secondary to another disease so if it’s not from her eating weird things then resolve the panc first then have her reassessed. Definitely avoid raw food, at least until her panc is taken care of- there are a plethora of pathogens in raw diets so don’t give her body anything else to fight off at this point in time. If you want to do raw in the future just make sure it is “AAFCO” approved on the label and sear the raw meat for a few secs before giving it (studies show it reduces the infectious bugs considerably). This certainly wouldn’t take care of toxo or parasites, just enteric bacteria. My friend’s dog got incredibly sick while eating raw food and when she was hospitalized they had to keep her in isolation (addtl $$$$$) until her antibiotic treatment was long enough for her to stop shedding salmonella. Cod liver oil in the future is a good source of omega-3s but is fatty so definitely not for a dog trying to overcome pancreatitis. Digestive enzymes are really only needed if they have a different pancreas-related disease (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) so if Patchy can make her own enzymes no need to feed her another animal’s. Sounds like your vet provided good advice and since they assessed Patchy’s overall condition I’m sure they’d be happy to give you guidance about how you want to manage her condition 🙂 hang in there Patchy! lay off the fatty foods

[HoundMusic]

A lot of these things have a genetic component, the puppy mills and backyard breeders that continue to breed dogs even when they are aware of hereditary disorders, doesn’t help

To an extent, yes, but environment plays a more drastic role, IMHO.

For instance, I lost a gorgeous show CH male Beagle at 10yrs from a line of extremely healthy, long lived hounds who averaged 16 years. Not long after I bought him @ 5yrs, he had a focal seizure. Nothing I had seen before purchasing this dog indicated anything of the sort was in the bloodline, and when I questioned his former handler and owners of littermates, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., no light could be shed on the problem. The seizure he had with me was apparently his first and only. A dog that seizes at such a late age either has been in contact w/ environmental contaminants, has been poisoned, has an underlying health issue such as a tumor or Cushings, or is being exposed to something in the food either directly or indirectly causing the issue.

Lo and behold, this dog’s littermate sister also had the occasional “hypoglycemic fit”. She was also the only other dog of about a dozen or so relatives that also ate raw. P.S., I have had, on two other occasions, have dogs with violent seizures immediately after starting the raw diet, when ideopathic epilepsy was unheard of in the bloodline.

Genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger.

To answer the OP’s question:

My youngest dog was a 4yr old GSD euthanized due to complications from degenerative myelopathy. At the time of death, however, she had been on Eukanuba dry/canned foods, and died about 2-3 months before their massive melamine recall. A friend of mine with 3 retired police S&R dogs who also fed Euk dry was experiencing the same symptoms as I was with all my dogs. So yes, I believe in this instance, diet contributed to her early death.

My oldest, incidentally, was a 15yr old black GSD mix who also died of degenerative myelopathy, after battling it for three years. He was switched back to raw after I first noticed symptoms, and made some major improvements in overall health and mobility afterwards. He was NEVER paralyzed. He was treated homeopathically with green tea and ginkgo biloba, and did better than most dogs on conventional meds who’d had the disease half the time. He did “go down” 48hrs before we made the decision to euthanize, but he walked, with assistance, the six blocks to our vet. I will be damned to Hell if diet did not prolong and increase the quality of his life.

And yet, 100% raw + Beagles = inevitable catastrophe. And it fed my Beagle bitch’s mammary tumor like I’d thrown gasoline on a fire.

[m r]

Our 5 pound, 10 year old Papillon had 3 bladder stones removed last month. The analysis showed that they were Calcium Phosphate Carbonate. I was only able to find limited research matching the specificity of her condition, and have lots of questions. I would love guidance from someone who has experience with this specific type of stone? What have you done that’s worked? Our Vet told us there’s a 50/50 chance of recurrence, and even after surgery, there is still blood in her urine.

She goes on a wee wee pad – so can urinate freely, which she does, . . . frequently! The blood in her urine appears pinkish/red. She was on Carprofen immediately following surgery – but bloody urine persisted, so Vet switched her to a different anti-inflammatory – Meloxidyl. This seemed to work because we weren’t noticing blood in her urine 10 days after we started Meloxidyl, so we were told to stop. But shortly after stopping Meloxidyl, we noticed the blood in her urine resumed. The Vet took some additional X-Rays and did a Sonogram, and told us that she still has some clotting and debris from either the surgery or from ongoing cystitis (bladder inflammation); and that while she still may be creating some sediment, thankfully stones have not developed over the last 3+/- weeks since surgery. How long does it take for the sediment to form? Is it possible for sediment to form merely weeks after surgery?

Our Vet prescribed Hill’s C/D (stating she needs a diet lower in protein, phosphorus, and calcium). She was on a diet of Natural Balance – variety of flavors since we got her (only weeks old). We’ve been feeding her the Hill’s C/D food for one week now (she wouldn’t eat the canned, so we feed dry soaked in water . . . soupy consistency). Vet did a unrinalysis yesterday, which showed pH of 8.5. How long should it take for the food to alter her pH? He suggested we use a dipstick (which he said we can purchase online and touch it to the urine on the wee wee pad) to test her urine daily. But, if we determine that her pH is not where is should be, what else are we supposed to feed her to help manage the pH to around 6.5/7 (where the Vet would like it to be)?

Urine culture results are not yet back, but last time they didn’t show anything out of the ordinary.

In addition to suggesting Hill’s C/D prescription diet, and monitoring the urine pH at home daily, the Vet also recommends diagnostic testing at his office including urinalysis ( every 3 months), urine culture( every 3 months), radiographs/x-rays (every 6 months). We still aren’t clear what to do if pH doesn’t go down? i.e. how do we get it to decrease? I read somewhere that we’re supposed to be feeding a diet rich in animal-based protein to help increase acidic pH vs. alkaline, but based on the type of stones she had (CALCIUM PHOSPHATE CARBONATE UROLITHS), we’re supposed to feed her a diet low in animal protein. So what to do?

Also, how do we get her to drink more water? We already soak the dry kibble in hot water an hour +/- before serving. We also refresh her water throughout the day and night. I don’t want to add sodium to her diet, because I read somewhere that dogs with her type of stones are also supposed to stay away from salt.

Thank you in advance for any guidance you can provide!

[Susan]

Hi Susie, yes Patch was also licking & licking his front paws after eating, I forgot about that, when I first got him he had skin problems, food sensitivities & environment allergies & was put on vet diet Royal Canin HP, the fat was really high at 19% & only 18% protein, then he got real bad acid reflux but I didn’t know back then what was wrong with him, his first vet was an idiot, Patch started wrecking his toys, shaking, chewing & ripping them, then a new vet said sounds like he’s in pain & Patch ended up with Pancreatitis from the vet diet R/C was too high in fat, 1 yr later we thought he had stomach ulcers he was still having acid reflux, chewing, ripping toys & whining while lying on his stomach & hungry 24/7, so I had an Endoscope & Biopsies done, when I picked Patch up from vets, vet said stomach looked really good & there’s no ulcers, I said but we still have the 2 biopsies, when will the results be back, I bet it’s Helicobacter-Pylori, I’ve had the Helicobacter-Pylori bacteria a few times & you feel so hungry 24/7 when the acid gnaws at your stomach, so you keep wanting to eat to take away the burning pain but 20mins after eating your in pain again with bad acid burning & gnawing in your stomach….& I was soaking Patches vet diet for IBD in water cause he’s a gulper with food & was gulping his kibble in 5-10 seconds, vet said just add water to his kibble, again I didn’t know until I read an article a few years ago around the same time those new stop gulping food bowls started coming out, the article said, why adding water with kibble can be a bad thing, especially if the kibble hasn’t soften yet, the dog gulps up the water & gulps air trying to get to his dry kibbles….years ago they were saying add water to your dogs kibble it was suppose to slow dogs eating down that gulped their food….then I was softening all his kibbles & draining all the water out as much as I could & making it like wet tin food with his dry vet diet.. I just knew something wasn’t right after Patch ate the kibble with water, he was burping, farting whinging after eating, he got worse….Those go slow food bowls didn’t work either for Patch he couldn’t get the small kibbles out cause of his big fat snout, then he was gulping air again trying to lick up the little kibbles, so now I just add a few kibbles at a time to his normal stainless steel bowl & tell him to chew, then when he’s has chewed all the kibbles I add more kibbles to his bowl & his bowl is on a stand level with his stomach…
It’s taken me 3-4 yrs to finally find foods that work, stop him itching, licking, whinging & have no acid reflux, that Helicobacter is very hard to kill, high fiber diets are no good, you need low carb, low fiber diets & no sugar diets, the fat can be around 15%max & no fish/salmon oil in food but all dogs are different it all depends on your dog…..

[Susan]

Hi my Patch keep waiting in kitchen near the food cupboard to be feed again when he had his acid reflux… he was put on Losec an ant acid reducer & his diet was changed (no grains) & touch wood he’s all good again until I feed a something that causes him to get his acid reflux…Have you tried feeding something else & see does this continue? have a look at the Zeal (fish) the protein is a bit higher, the fat is lower at 8.5% & the fiber is 5.8% isn’t as high as the Love is & feed 4 smaller meals a day & feed the same time everyday….. can you cook? peel & boil sweet potatoes & buy 1kg (2lbs) of lean grounded beef mince, I make beef rissoles baked in the oven, I add 1 whisk egg, finally cut up about 1/2 cup broccoli no stems, peel & grate 1 small carrot, 1 teaspoon finally cut up parsley mix all together & make 1 cup size rissoles, put on a foil lined baking tray & bake in oven then about 15mins when 1/2 cooked take them out rissoles & drain any excess water/fat & turn them all over then bake till cooked, boil some peeled & cut up sweet potatoes cool & freeze the rissoles & sweet potatoes then take out the day before & thaw in fridge & feed the next day, do this for 3 days & see is he still acting hungry….
I was feeding Sunday Pets, a New Zealand dehydrated dry big biscuits, Patch loved them but I think cause they were higher in fat & I was adding water cause they were dehydrated they swelled up when water was added, then it was causing his acid reflux to come back again, something wasn’t agreeing with him but he kept eating & wanting them, the nut……
It’s hard to tell when they get acid reflux, they can’t talk & tell us, some dogs start licking & licking their lips & swallowing, Patch grinds his teeth & makes weird mouth expressions & he gets his toys/balls & bites & bites & shakes them… the only way to know is feed something else that’s lower in fat for a few days & stop the Honest Kitchen & see does he stop doing what he’s doing….

[Melanie B]

Susan,
I was looking into the Wysong dry kibble on amazon. It did not have great reviews due to diarrhea. Did your dog ever get diarrhea? It seems that they have changed their formula or something of that sort. Sigh. It’s so hard to find a good brand of dog food. I spend 3.5 hours in the kitchen cooking for one week’s worth of food yesterday. With my mother’s help!

[theal]

I came to this discussion in my search for a quality grain-free fish-based dry food but it raised even more questions.

Specifically I have a question for GSDsForever.
Can you please explain why you say “Orijen’s 6 Fish formula has a pretty poor overall dry matter digestibility”? I looked at the ingredients list and I don’t see any red flags.

Also, Wellness Core Ocean has a very low Omega-3 content for fish-based food; only 0.8% even though it has Canola Oil and Flaxseed Omega-3 fillers.
Orijen has 2.2% Omega-3 with no additional Omega-3 supplements.
Should this lead to conclusion that Wellness Ocean uses less fish and/or lower quality of fish that was de-oiled?
Low percentage of Omega-3 can also be found in these well-reviewed fish products: Hi-Tek Naturals Grain Free Alaskan Fish, Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch Grain-Free Natural Dry and Merrick Backcountry Raw Infused Pacific Catch Recipe.

With a current fish over-harvesting and fish prices going through the roof, food processing companies seem to compromise on fish quality to keep product price lower.
So I wonder if I should go with a quality meat-based feed and to use a fish-oil supplement instead.

[Samantha P]

Hi,

I have a 6 month old Lab/Australian Cattle Dog mix. She consistently turns her nose up at dry dog food and will get bored of a new dog food after 2-3 meals. I initially had her on Royal Canin Maxi Puppy (the large bag was given to me when i first got her), and then she got bored of it after about the 2nd bag of it. I wanted to move her onto a better food anyway so i got her Wellness Core which she liked for a day or two. Now, I’ve just gotten the Blue Buffalo Wilderness (the one with the baby wolf on the front) and she thoroughly enjoyed it the first 2 times she had it and now she seems over it. I want to try the tough love approach with her but I feel bad (go figure aha!). When I just tried feeding her lunch she wasn’t having it so I took the food away and will try again at dinner. I know that if she was given something (like table food) she’d eat it with no issue! Her energy levels are still great, stool is firm and doesn’t seem to have any sores etc in her mouth.

I’ve tried high grade, low sodium chicken stock when she was eating the Wellness Core which would work 75% of the time, but I’d rather not have her reliant on that.

Any other suggestions? I’m pretty open to anything.

Thanks!

[Susan]

Hi Christine, yes you would be stressing out, I know I would be… sometimes a dog just can’t eat a raw diet, a dog needs to be healthy with a healthy gut/bowel & not have a compromised immune system to be feed a raw diet, I have a boy with IBD & I went thru a Naturopath to put Patch on a raw diet, I had to add digestive enzymes, a probiotic & a supplement to the raw also I couldn’t add any bone or organ meats to the diet, I added the supplement that replaced the bone & muscle meat until we slowly introduce everything to his diet…..The raw diet didn’t work out for my boy, he kept regurgitating up digested raw meat & water kept coming back up into mouth 20mins after eating causing bad acid reflux..
Maybe look for good Animal Nutritionist & she can make up a few balanced cooked meals for him that are very easy to digest, here’s the link for “Balance It” click on the “Click on” link, you fill out the quick 40 sec form asking what are your dogs health problems but if your dog has too many health problems more then 2 health problems you have to contact Balance It & one of the vet Nutritionist makes up a special diet for your dog….this way he’s eating a proper balanced cooked diet…
https://secure.balanceit.com/
For now feed the vet diet till you work out what you want to do, is the vet diet dry (kibble) or wet (Tin food)???
Have a look at “Wysong” here’s their link & contact them ask about their Epigen starch free diets in the wet tin foods there’s organic chicken, Rabbit, turkey, duck, salmon & beef these diet would have better ingredients then the vet diets have you may feel better feeding them… http://www.wysong.net/epigen-canned

[Danielle B]

Hello, I am new to this forum and am hoping to find answers. We recently brought home our new puppy. The breeder was feeding Blue Buffalo fish and oatmeal “adult breed” with royal can in puppy mousse. After coming home we stuck with the exact same regimen and changed nothing. Our puppy developed horrible diarrhea for about 3 weeks. After putting him on a prescription diet, vet recommended along with a digestive supplement, cooking for him and adding pumpkin, it seems that his gut has normalized. It is now time to slowly get him off of the prescription diet however I am still overwhelmed by the choices here. I am looking for a dry kibble in the medium price range. I went into this thinking Blue Buffalo was a decent brand but after reading this website it doesn’t seem to be the best choice. Any suggestions on where to start my bulldog. Being a breed prone to health issues, skin irritations, joint issues, etc,, I would like to get a jump on feeding him properly now before things get out of control. I am looking for any and all suggestions on food, suggested supplements, additives, routines, etc… I also am not clear as to why the breeder feeds his puppies adult food instead of puppy food, any thoughts on this. Also, are english bulldogs considered large breed or medium breed on this website? Thank you for any and all help.

[Meagan T]

Our almost 9 year old yellow lab has IBD. Our vet switched him to prescription Hills z/d when he was diagnosed because it’s a hydrolyzed protein and he has done great on it. He’s been off of all antibiotics for 5 months and off his prednisone for 3 months and he’s still doing fantastic. We’ve been talking with our vet about switching him to a different dry dog food because it’s very expensive to continue Hill’s z/d for a dog his size. Zignature Kangaroo Formula has been discussed as an option because it’s a novel protein (we know he’s had chicken, lamb, fish, and beef before, probably some duck in treats). He’s never had any specific allergy testing done. Any suggestions on a dry dog food? We’d love to lower the cost of his food but we definitely don’t want to have him flare again. He’s also on Fortiflora, Metamucil, and vitamin B12 for the IBD.

[Susan]

Melaine B,
Try not feed kibble, kibble is higher in carbs, if you want you could feed about 1/4 to 1/2 kibble & other meals food the cooked meal….have a look at Wysong Epigen Wet & Dry, Wysong is Starch free & lower in carbs, the wet tin food has 15%Carbs, it will help with less cooking… I was cooking a big batch enough to last for 8-9days & freezing small meals but it still became a headache… http://www.wysong.net/

[Susan W]

Hi LJ – I am so sorry for your loss. What a fantastic dog! You were obviously a great doggy parent to have a dog that sensitive.
Melanie, I am sorry for your dog’s diagnosis, as well. To be honest, the only thing I know about Hemangiosarcoma is that it is a cancer. I will look it up here shortly. As for a food to recommend, I suggest you contact the people at VeRUS Pet Foods. I used to make my dogs’ food, too, because I had a problem with a commercial 4-star dog food & felt I couldn’t trust anyone else to make a good food. When feeding 85 lb Golden & 15 lb mutt became too much w/work, I started looking for a commercial food I could trust. VeRUS was on a list from BarkPost of companies who had never had a recall. I contact them – and several companies from that list – and only VeRUS was caring enough to contact me, ask questions, and send free samples. I’ve been feeding VeRUS for over 2 years now & my dogs are doing great. The food – I only feed dry – always smells fresh, even at the bottom of the bag. The cost is reasonable when compared to other holistic dog foods and they have several canned and dry food formulas. They have a contact form so you really don’t do anything but invest a few minutes of time to get to try out a good food.
Good luck with your doggy-baby.

[marilyn s]

After more xrays, her stones have reduced in size , but there is stll one medium sized one. I would like to avoid surgery, so she is now on a stronger antibiotic, Baytril. Her culture tests came out OK and her PH is good. I hope this works. I am still giving her Crananidin by Nutramax. She is still on the Hill’s perscription diet dry food (she would not eat the wet one). urinary care c/d.

[Nesil N]

Thank you so much Stephanie for the recommendation as well as the book.. Right now he is in a blend food diet for a week.. then we will introduce the dry food..

[Cheryl J]

Thank you for all of the info. My vet has recommended The Hills W/D dry food. She says he needs the high fiber to fill him up since he is always hungry. I have just started him on this gradually changing him over from what he has been on. I will look at Dr. Judy’s site too. Thank you again!

[Andrea O]

I have read in several places where it states that raw diets allow the dog to grow at the rate they’re naturally suppose to. Commercial dry dog foods have too many proteins, carbs and make the dogs grow too quickly which in turn causes serious structure issues in the dog like hip dysplasia for example. It’s a good thing he has slowed down. It’s just like the chickens they feed in feed lots, they over do the carbs, proteins, steroids etc to get them unnaturally big fast. Dry dog food works in same way with puppies. Check out Dr Karen Becker on facebook. She’s amazing and goes into great detail in her short videos about this. She also has a video out called Pet fooled, highly recommend.

[Tessa R]

I have a 5 month old APBT. He recently began eating his feces (gross.) I was advised by a vet tech, not a vet, to put him in a vitamin supplement. They stated that majority of puppies that do this are lacking certain vitamins in their diet. I researched the best foods, and amazingly I already feed him 4.5 star rated food. He eats Taste of the Wild puppy, with a mix of 4health puppy formula, both dry food. I’m not sure what could possibly be missing from his diet, but need something to help with the problem. We clean it up ASAP, but we have half an acre (open to range,) 1 senior dog, and the new puppy so sometimes it’s harder to keep up with. Just wondering what suggestions I can get. Thank you to anyone willing to help!!

[Stephanie W]

Nesil,
You’re most welcome. I’m glad I could help. Between the hose two brands I like open farm a bit more. They are both good but the synthetic vitamins in weruva are sulfates, proteinates are better and that is what open farm uses.

If you want to do a combination of dry food and home cooked I highly suggest the book “Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet,” by Steve Brown. ($9 used on Amazon) his book specifically covers that option. The first half is for people that want to do a combo of kibble and cooking and the best way to go about that.
Each recipe is broken down to show what nutrients are in it and to show that they meet NRC guidelines.

[Susan]

Hi,
if you can afford it, contact a Animal Nutritionist & have a few freshly balanced homemade meal made up for him, it will be better then feeding the dry Hills W/d food, the Hills W/d is very very high in fiber, maybe that’s could be why he’s drinking & drinking water or try feeding the wet tin Hill W/d food instead of the W/d dry kibble… What has the vet said??
I just posted this link on another post, google Dr Judy Morgan DMV she has a few dogs with Cushing’s, go to her F/B page & ask does she have a video recipe on You-tube for a dog with Cushing’s… I’ve seen Judy making a recipe & adding a supplement for her 2 girls with Cushing’s….she also used the Honest Kitchen base meal to balance one of her meals, I think that was the meal for her girls with Cushing’s…. also have you joined the Cushing F/B group??