[Dog_Obsessed]

Don’t feel bad. It’s easy to make that mistake. I think you stated at one point the Tebow’s ideal weight was around 20 pounds. According to the Dog Food Calculator, for weight loss he requires about 366 calories per day. According to the Walmart Q and A, Pure Balance Chicken and Rice has 336 calories per cup. I can’t find the calories in the stews, does it say on the package? Depending on how many calories he’s getting from wet food, you could try feeding him a little less than one cup dry per day. Adjust the food if he is gaining or not losing weight. Also, remember to subtract food if he gets a lot of treats. Good luck!

[Peggy]

This morning my Jrt (Tebow) got a 1/4 cup of Pure Balance Salmon & Peas dry food, a 1/4 cup of Chicken & Brown Rice recipe dry (total 1/2 cup dry), and a small tub of Chicken & Veggies w/ gravy stew.

My Lab/Shephard (LadyBug) got 1/2 cup of Salmon & Peas dry, 1/2 cup of Chicken & Brown Rice dry (total 1 cup dry), and a can of Chicken (not stew).

Tebow ate all of his, as usual.
LadyBug ate everything but the chicken dry food. She just doesn’t like it, so she picks through and leaves that behind. ha.

[Dog_Obsessed]

What about copper proteinate? Is that similar? It’s in the Nulo dry food I have been giving Lily.

[Jamie H]

Greetings giant breed owners,

My current Dane is 10.5 years old and looks and acts like he’ll be around for a few more. He’s happy and and alert and active for his age. My buddy eats “Paleo” right along with me. Mostly Protein, (often red Pacific wild salmon–we live in Alaska) mixed with quality rice or root vegetables drizzled in olive oil and baked, carrots and celery (his fav) for snacks. He was boarded for a while when I couldn’t keep him and his caregiver gave him about 1/4 of fish oil in his dry food and and plenty of rawhide to keep him busy. When I got him back he was panting a lot and I assumed a heaet condition. X-ray showed a slightly enlarged heart. I did some research and discovered dry food is lacking in Taurine, L-Carnitine and Acytel L-Carnitine, among other critical amino acids and nutritional components. I started supplementing with the three amino acids, and adding squirts of liquid B-complex. His panting decreased and his eyes became focused and alert and his energy level increased. I abandoned my conventions on the focus of food “brands” and the idea of consistency. How boring. What do animals in the wild eat for dinner? Who cares? Its what ever gets them to the next meal! Variety and fluctuation is normal in the wild, and in fact stimulating for an animal. I mix table scraps with dry food. Dinner always taste different, what a pleasure for an animal whose sense of is also a form of communication! some days he doesnt get the dry food at all. Just after I started the supplemts I decided to feed him raw. I bought grass fed buffalo and he got 1/4 to 1/3 pound, give or take, twice a day. I’d recomend not using any grain fed meat for the reason it is sometimes 10x higher in the inflammatory Omega-6’s which is why we humans should avoid grain fed beef like the plague as well. Grass fed free range livestock has the balance of O-6’s to O-3’s that our paleo brethren grew up on and adapted to. But the most IMPORTANT thing one can do is treat your large breed friends as if they were your own grade school aged children. Get outside with them. Play with them outside like your own child. They DO have vocabulary you know. Just because they don’t show it in reciprocal speech doesnt mean they wouldn’t love to hear you talk to them about your activities. Label things when you are on walks. My buddy loves clover. When I get ready to drive him to a nearby trail i always ask if he wants to go smell “clover” or do you want to drink some water from the “stream”, excitement and anticipation dripping from my words. I don’t always know his choice but I always to to keep things varied. Satiate your large dogs with human interaction and variety. You’ll get more out of your companions than any top brand food can make a difference.

[Bridget A]

My Cairn was recently diagnosed with small kidney and bladder stones. We are going to try dissolving them by special diet. Vet recommended Hill’s Prescription Diet Canned food. Can you recommend another nutritionally comparably BRAND and also, a dry food that is grain and white potato free that is low in carbs?

[Gina D]

I have an 11 year pit/boxer mix named Kia. Before I list all her health problems, please don’t assume I should put her down; she is happy, plays ball, chases the cats and is obviously still enjoying life. The second she seems sick(er) I will put her down.

She has Cushing’s Disease, she was diagnosed probably about 4 years ago. She has been on trilostane and is doing fantastic. Her tests always come back normal for what she has health wise.

She was diagnosed with Diabetes about 2 years ago. We switched her food to Science Diet WD, a low protein diet. I took her sugar and gave her insulin twice a day.

About 3 months ago she was diagnosed with cancer, either a fibrosarcoma or osteosarcoma. From all the research I did, I decided the surgery would be too hard on her, especially with the type of surgery.

Okay, so now that you know most of her history, my vet wants to change her diet. I think her thinking is let’s treat what is (probably) bothering her most and to get some weight on her, rather than give her the low fat stuff.

My problem is finding food for her. I have always given her dry, vet wants to change to wet. Prescription diet makes nd for cancer,but it is $3 a can. I have no problem mixing it with something, but for a 75lb dog, it is just too pricey.

Vet said high protein, high fat, low carbs wet food. I think I may have to mix a good dry in because of $$$. Vet also suggested puppy food but it high in carbs. I am really frustrated trying to find a happy medium of nutrition and a high/medium quality wet/dry food.

Sorry for the book. You all know how our 4 legged friends are family! Any suggestions would be highly appreciated!

[CaneCorso15]

Yes, the food was pretty decent and a local company that I did not mind supporting. The new formula however, is something i’m not willing to feed my dog. Looks to me like they replaced the more expensive Protien sources with cheap alternatives. What gets me more is, they just posted on their Facebook page a link to dogfoodadviser showing they are one of the best dry dog food. But, when you compare ingredients, that doesn’t seem the case anymore.

[CaneCorso15]

Can someone please help me with how significant the formula change is for my current dog food. The food is Beaverdam Eli’s Choice Dry Dog food. The company is still advertising their 4.5 rating from dogfoodadviser but as a costumer, I feel like I was shafted when the unannounced changes took place.

OLD Formula:
Beef meal, Sweet potato, Chicken meal, peas, Chicken fat,pork meal, Alfalfa meal, Dried Egg product, Flax seed, Potassium Chloride, Dried Kelp, natural chicken flavor, Alfalfa nutrient concentrate, Montmorillonite, salt, vegetable&fruit pomace, pumpkin seed, blueberries, apple, spinach, and a long list of other ingredients.
New Formula:
Chicken Meal, Peas-Ground, Chicken Fat, Pea Starch, Pork Meal, Lentils, Pea Protien, Montmorillonite Clay, Sweet Potato, Alfalfa, Flax, Egg, salt, zucchini, carrot, papaya, blueberry, choline, vitamin a supplement, niacin supplement, D-calcium pantothenate, thiamon monoitrate, biotin, riboflavin supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folive acid, minerals, and a long list of other ingredients.

Thanks for your help.

• This topic was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by CaneCorso15. Reason: typos

[Bobby dog]

I think you are off to a very nice start for your best hairy friend! My dog loves Freshpet. My dog and cats also do great on Wellness products, canned and dry. Remember, when feeding kibble with a topper to reduce the kibble to avoid over feeding.

Freshpet has several lines and each line has a kibble shaped food, Freshpet Select, Vital, or Nature’s Fresh. In each line the kibble shaped food is packaged in a plastic bag. Here’s a link to a page featuring each line. Just choose a line and look for food packaged in a bag:
http://freshpet.com/our-foods/our-brands/

The Freshpet Select line also has a shredded chicken food that is packaged in a plastic bag:
http://freshpet.com/products/freshpet-select-fresh-kitchen-home-cooked-chicken-recipe/

Freshpet has a store locator on their site to help you find a retailer. It looks like Petsmart carries the Vital line of foods; grocery stores and Wal-Mart carry Freshpet as well.

Petsmart:
http://www.petsmart.com/gsi/webstore/WFS/PETNA-PETUS-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewStandardCatalog-Browse;pgid=bRZky3Uq7YZSRpWB6nh5Lmz30000nes-oeFm?CategoryName=800687&CategoryDomainName=PETNA-36&_t=pfm%3Dsearch%26SearchTerm%3Dfreshpet

[Mark S]

I’m interesting with Taste of the Wild Dry Dog Food on amazon, I’ve read many reviews, but I still not satisfied with it.
Anyone can give me more reviews?
I saw it here http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W5SLB8/
and also need an advice
thanks

[pugmomsandy]

Yes, Raw Meaty Bone (RMB) is actually raw meat and bones. My personal dogs are raw fed (ground to whole prey) and eat dehydrated foods and my fosters eat kibble, canned and dehydrated foods. I’ve used Amicus, Back to Basics, and currently use Muenster Grain Free and Pro Pac Ultimates Grain Free and Nutrisouce Grain Free regularly and all the dogs’ stools have been solid, even with the addition of canned foods. How much are you feeding of EVO BTW? Also, you might find a Rotational Diet beneficial. My dogs always have solid stool no matter what I’m feeding since I change regularly.

http://urbanpawsmagazine.com/archives/59

For a dry, shelf stable dehydrated raw product, check out Stella and Chewy’s, Primal, Nature’s Variety, and Vital Essentials.

Here’s the raw feeding pictures topic:

/forums/topic/pictures-of-dogs-eating-raw-raw-meals/

[Cheryl Pepper Millie Sophie]

Robert,
I would also like to add a dry food that you can order online & have it delivered right to your door.
The name of the company is Horizon Pet Food Co. they are located in Canada
you will want to look at the “AMICUS” line small breed Kibble, good co..
I think Dori mentioned Orijen also small kibble size -a bit higher in fat than Amicus (i don’t know if that is a concern or not) both excellent companies.
Websites: k9cuisine.com
petflow.com
I know k9cuisine sells the 5 lb bags-i prefer smaller bags since my girls don’t eat that much-I also ALWAYS top it with lightly cooked meats (i boil) -I forgot to add these are all grain-free kibbles, I don’t know if you want a grain inclusive kibble or not.
I have to agree with Susan a little plain pumpkin is excellent for the tummy or a bit of a cooked sweet potato just maybe 2 tsps. to coax him to check out what’s inside the bowl!
Good luck, i know how you feel I had a Samoyed Nicholas who never left my side when I was sick- He was the best! I wish I knew then, what I have learned now , I didn’t do enough for him, there wasn’t a site like this with such wonderful, knowledgable people to help.

[Bobby dog]

Have you had a dental exam for your dog? Kind of sounds like he might have trouble with harder foods.

Hard food does not keep teeth clean and wet food does not harm teeth. Wet food is a healthy addition to a kibble diet. Brushing his teeth several times a week is one of the best ways to care for his teeth.
Here’s some info on feeding canned foods and dental care.
/choosing-dog-food/canned-or-dry-dog-food/
/choosing-dog-food/dry-dog-food-cleaner-teeth/

[Robert B]

The reason is sometimes, Louie just doesn’t want to eat. Isn’t best for him to not to eat wet
food with dry food because of decay of the teeth? He is very picky eater when it comes to dry food, he will not even it a HARD dog treat….I just don’t know.
Now, every time I make his food, I start to stress because I don’t know if he is going to eat the food and if he doesn’t eat….I feel sorry for him.

Robert

[Jill T]

Hi, I have a Bischon and I believe she is allergic to poulty, she scratched quite a bit and she has dried brown tears below her eyes. The vet wants to charge me over $300 for allergy testing, which I don’t have. Do you suggest any brand of dry dog food that will help alleviate her symptoms? Thank you!

[JJ H]

Is there an all life stage dry dog food designed for large breeds, with larger nugget sizes? Should I be feeding my 12 month old great pyrenees/anatolian shepherd large breed puppy food since technically he is still a pup? Just rescued him. When actually being fed, he was fed a crappy dog food that at least had perfectly sized nuggets.

[Dori]

Please read review on Blue Buffalo and google complaints about Blue Buffalo. Maybe your do is trying to tell you something. As to any suggestions for a dry food I’m sorry that I can’t be of any help there. I feel commercial raw foods to my three toy dogs as well as organic fruits and veggies. I know that quite a few posters seem to like Victor’s Grain Free, Nature’s Logic, Annaemaet (?), Brothers Complete, Nature’s Variety Instinct, Acana, Orijen. Those are just a few that I have read dry food feeders compliment. I’m sure there are others but I don’t know. What you can also do is switch to a dry food (for economic reasons I would suppose) and use a canned or freeze dried food as a topper. Your dog would get better nutrients than merely feeding a dry food. There are many other things that you could add to a dry food to make it more palatable and nutritious.

I hope this bumps up your question and kibble feeders will see and respond. 🙂

[Carol M]

My Aussie has epilepsy. Some recommend grain free, rosemary extract free. what is a good dry food that meets these requirements?

[Robert B]

Hi, I have a serious problem with my pet not eating. He is an 11 pound silky terrier, name Louie and he is my best hairy friend I have in my life. He said alone my side when I was sick….unconditional love. But, he is a very, very picky eater. I feed him the best……Blue Buffalo dry food mix with hot chicken or some other flavor meet. It’s driving me crazy that I have to heat up some meat and mix it with his dry food. I have been doing it for 6 years now and I’m starting to get all stress out.
I know it’s my fault and I take all the blame. I was looking at some other dry dog companies that sell small kibbles with FLAVOR. But the problem that I’m finding the dog food isn’t really that good for him, they have by-products and other ingredients that’s not good. I really need help on this one and I do appreciate all the help I can get.
My main goal is to get him of the wet mix food and put him on just dry food, that
has flavor, small kibbles and great dog food.

Again, thank you for your help and will check back for your replies.

Bobbart

[Sarah W]

Katy,
The vet assumes it’s a food allergy because that is usually what it is. I feed them Merrick canned and dry and they both have Mike’s 5*’s. I can try a different meat because it is chicken which can usually be a culprit in food allergies. I’m going to try the Wellness turkey or duck. I give Sammy fish oil the vet suggested and he get’s it with breakfast. I have organic certified coconut oil in the house. I’ve never heard of giving that.

[Sarah W]

My vet said it’s not processed with other meat and dog foods. Is that a good choice for my 2 small dogs with allergies? I’m not happy giving my dogs Royal Canin or Science Diet prescription wet and dry food.

[Olayemi P]

Hi all,
I have a three year old Pomeranian, a pretty big guy at about 17lbs (no overweight just larger than the average Pom) I changed his food about a year or more ago to Evo dry when he appeared to have a skin condition where he was chewing on his paws etc. The results were almost immediate which was great! His poops have become much looser though, even if I feed him a little at a time and I’m concluding that the Evo is just too rich for him. What other choices do I have? I can’t keep wiping my dog’s fuzzy backside off, it’s driving me nuts!!! ;O)

[Susan]

Hi, another thing to do is lower the fat% in diet, I found this helps heaps & a low fat dry biscuit at night, I feed 1/2 a thick Rice cake biscuit around 9-10pm…
My new vet said do not use Losec for more then 4-6 weeks, he said Zantac (Ranitidine) or Pepcid (Famotidine) are better to use for stomach reflux as they don’t affect the bowel in anyway like the Losec does also Losec takes 24 hours to start to work, its not quick relief drug like Zantac or Pepcid….Losec is more long term that you must take daily 1 hour before food best taken in the morning & its a newer drug & we don’t really know the side effects on dogs yet, they’re finding it causes osteoarthritis in humans when taken for long periods….also when stopping Losec you can not just stop the drug you need to wean off slowly & use another ant acid medications like Zantac or Pepcid if needed…
My dog reacted to the Losec he did black/green poos after 5 days on Losec, he had a dry mouth & seemed to have more pain after eating cause there was not enough acid in the stomach to digest his food…

[Patrick S]

I don’t worry about my Saint no liking her food or skipping a meal. Frankly, I think over weight is the biggest health problem for large breeds. A dog will not starve because he doesn’t like the dry food. I think I’m going to try the Pure Balance from Wal Mart. I get Cosequine DS from BJs when they have a coupon. I get the Milk Bone chewies the same way. I have recently started the omega 3 and discussed using people capsules with the vet. When I use up my current supply I will order from Puritans Pride or somewhere. Omega 3 has definetly helped with her itchy skin.
You can put a drizzle of gravy or broth on the food. I would get low or no salt. I make broth for her when we have scraps or giblets.
I once had a trainer tell me that you should train dogs to eat at specific times by picking up food after 10 minutes. Never followed this, but if she doesn’t eat her breakfast until late in the day, I short her supper.

[Andi G]

I’m looking forward to the catfoodadvisor.com too! So many sites seems to contradict each other about what foods are good. I guess it’s all just opinion but I value the opinions on DFA because they seem well-researched and don’t seem to be just trying to snub store-brands or push the expensive stuff for no reason except to be snobby.
I used to feed my cats Purina One SmartBlend for Sensitive Systems. It proved better for them than regular Purina for indoor cats but then I had to go and read all about cat foods and now I’m always stressing over whether I’m feeding them good enough or not. So, currently, my cats eat Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost Grain-Free Duck & Turkey Meal Formula Dry Cat Food twice a day and a spoonful of the Nature’s Variety Instinct Beef Canned food twice a day. They are loving it but still fat as ever! haha

[RescueDaneMom]

Hi Andi,

Some very good budget friendly dry food brands are Dr. Tim’s and Victor. Chewy.com has Dr. Tims. You can get Victor on Amazon. Both brands have large bags 40-44 lbs for $50-65. Plus, they will last you longer because they are high quality and you will feed less of them. To stretch out the canned food, try adding other tasty things to his kibble like eggs, canned fish (sardines or salmon), plain yogurt or kefir, or healthy bits of your leftovers (veggies or meat if not seasoned to heavily.

I hope this helps. I know how expensive it is to feed big dogs. I have a 150lb Great Dane.

[Andi G]

I too am having a hard time deciding on what foods to try next for my giant dog (a mastiff/lab mix) who also happens to be picky eater. It’s so not fair, the neighbor’s dog comes over from time to time and eats up my dog’s rejected food like it’s the best thing ever (HAHA). Affording quality dog food in such large quantities is definitely a challenge that I didn’t think would be quite so challenging when we first got him. 🙂
I’d love to buy him the best of the best no matter the cost, but that’s not possible 🙁
I’ve been giving him Cosequin DS (double-strength) Plus tablets that I find on Amazon for $19 for 60 tablets or $35 for 132 tablets. I give him 2 a day in his food. It seems to make a difference in his stiffness. I ran out of them for a few weeks and couldn’t afford to get more and I can tell he is moving slower and looking like an old man trying to get up from laying down. He’s 6 yrs old.
I used to feed him Purina Pro Plan dry food until the day I became informed on DFA and so now I’m trying to find something I can afford and still be in the 4 or 5 star range. I’ve been giving him Authority Grain-Free dry food and canned food for a few months. He likes the canned food okay but he will leave the dry food in his bowl all day and then give up and eat it eventually when he finds out I’m not giving him anything else. I want so bad to give him food that he enjoys and looks forward to eating but switching around foods is stressful (on him and me) and expensive 🙁
I gave him Blue Buffalo Life Protection Chicken and Brown Rice dry food this past month. He seems to like that a little bit better but still not “loving” it. I’m looking around to try different canned foods to supplement but gosh, they are expensive! Authority is often on sale for $1 a can. Everything else is close to $2 a can or more.
Just now I was checking out Whole Earth Farms canned food on Chewy.com. They are rated 5 stars on DFA and are $1.69 per can on chewy. They look tasty but I’m sure that’s just good marketing! ha I might try it though. If he won’t eat it, it looks good enough that I could make a meal out of it. HAHA just kidding

[Ivchister]

Cheryl,

Q: What do you mean gastro sensitive?
A: She vommits immediately when she eats something she can’t digest, for eg. raw meat, any kind of fruit or when my mother gave her some inappropriate food. She ate grain free food with salmon but was stressed out when we were moving and had very bad gastritis that culminated by blood in vommit. We gave her Hills i/d after which she had a bad case of skin allergy so we tried with z/d and it worked for a while..
Q: Does she eat a grain free diet?
A: Not now..
Q: Is she sensitive to certain proteins& or grains that you are aware of?
A: I’m not sure because she first reacted badly while eating grain free food (with fish).
Q: Did your vet culture the ear discharge to see what it was exactly(yeast, fungal, some other infection)?
A: The vet said that there is no inflammation or otitis just a lot of dark brown ear discharge. But A LOT, like there is mud in her ears. I clean it with Otifree fluid.
Q: Do you think the ear discharge is diet related?
A: Yes, it might be related..
Q: Have you changed foods recently and this happened?
A: It is happening for a while now.. It started before the horrible gastritis period and I can’t connect it with anything else but food. We moved, the aparment is clean and new.
Q: Have you been feeding the same food(s)? I know lots of questions
A: No, because of the gastritis episode and the allergie reaction..
Q: Does the food have to be dry? If so, have you ever tried soaking the kibble in warm water before feeding? softer foods might be easier on the stomach.
A: Yes I have and there is no difference because she just doesn’ drink water if I soak it. She normally chews the dry food and drinks some water, she’s not only swallowing..

• This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by Ivchister.

[simmy]

Free range is a small part of it.

I don’t think it is humane to force animals to eat something they are not suppose eat to gain more body weight fastest possible to get ready for slaughter.

for me, humanely raised means:
– proper animal husbandry
– have access to grass and open pastures
– not given antibiotics or hormones
– must travel less than an hour to the slaughterhouse not in a crowded truck
– slaughterhouses must be committed to humane slaughter practices.

I believe the pet food industry is one of the biggest contributor of animal abuse since they are all trying to source their meat cheapest possible. We all count ourselves animal lover and most of us are participating this practice too even when we buy premium brands without even knowing it. I am not criticizing anyone though, it’s just what it is.

I was wondering if any raw food brand are paying attention any of these or they are just new members of the industry using touchy marketing words…

• This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by simmy.

[Margaret D]

I just recently started feeding my Chihuahua wellness dry dog food and she has been pooping all over the place and it is soft.
Does anyone have any suggestion.

[Barbara C]

Susan is the chicken & pumkin actual dry food, can or the real food.

[Dori]

Thanks RescueDaneMom. I’m always on the lookout for foods to add into rotation but have never known anyone that fed Tucker’s. If I can find it locally I might give it a try but it does seem high on carbs. No??? I feed a high protein, probably pretty high fat (higher than I would like) but really low carb rotational diets. I was concerned with the high carb % on the DFA’s dry matter review. Any thoughts? Thanks again.

[l h]

What an excellent read on this! I too am leery of this food had e-mailed back and forth and kept getting scripted vague answers, such as bone content is not important we use the whole carcass, fermented veggies and fruits are more digestible. Anyway, finally got no response when I said I found it very odd that there was no nutrient panel, and no bone, muscle, organ ratio something disclosed by most every raw company I have dealt with.

As for the fish formula and peoples dogs getting ill, I for one would not feed raw fish, and there are varying opinion, but many who say fish, and pork are two meats to stay away from in raw, dehydrated or frozen for various reasons, bacterial level and other.

Yes their food calculator is way off, but then I have found the same thing with a number of brands… including darwins and vital essential freeze dried. A food with high protein and fat GA … yet food like Stella and Chewys, Primal with added veggies etc and lower fat I need LESS of, but with VE, a richer food, which you would assume you need less of, in fact you need MORE calorically.

Hard to trust so many foods, one of my dogs has major allergies, and GI sensitivities. I had hoped to add BDN into the mix, but am leery as to their lack of forthcoming info that is easily disclosed by other companies.

On their positive side, the whole bacteria and air drying process.. that is a catch 22… any food that is air dried( think people that used to make jerky long ago not in an oven) will risk that. Even frozen raw has bacteria once thawed… you cook the meat over a certain temperature, and BDN having supposedly bone in content, then you risk cooking the bone, and making your pup very ill. Plus a healthy dog, should be able to eat all these forms of raw… no issue and digest.

If BGN ever decides to disclose more info I may try, but I find their responses and secrecy very strange… sad as it does look like a good option, with the fermented veggies and all as a better way for the dog to process and digest, rather than pooping them out the other end. That being said, not fond of the potato in it although they insist only 3% as everyone knows starch and raw meat and bone digest at different rates.

Oh, and lastly for those that feed pre made raw, MOST companies Darwins, S&C, Primal with their added vitamins the vitamin E/tocopherol mix, and any Lecithin of course are most always soy based. So if you have a dog with soy among their allergies like mine, many of these foods are a no go, one of the reasons I had hoped to try BDN no synthesized vitamins, which again, unless a company claims are usa sourced are usually from China.

Yes I have researched and contacted many companies… sigh…

[Dori]

Freeze dried is typically more expensive than raw but it works well as a treat or for traveling, camping, long hikes, whatever. The freeze dried is typically exactly like the raw, just freeze dried. All the moisture is taken out but it is not cooked in any way so it’s like raw but not. Ingredients are the same. Dehydrated is a totally different process. There is heat involved therefore taking some of the nutritional value out of the food. Not that much but enough to no longer get the benefits of feeding raw. Dehydrated I also like because it’s great in a pinch for traveling for sure, but if you’ve forgotten to defrost their food. Sometimes I’m running home just to feed them and I don’t even have the time for the Primal Pronto or small size raw to defrost so I start to rehydrate their food, take them for a walk, feed them and run out the door again. Freeze dried is the most expensive, then typically raw, then dehydrated, then canned and last but not least is kibble. Typically that’s the way the pricing scale goes. Not always, but most of the time.

Also with this particularly freeze dried the bits are so small that you don’t have to add water to them if you don’t want to. If you squeeze them they’re sort of like dusty, dry like. You can add water to them if you want. Just depends on how you like to feed. If your dog doesn’t drink a lot of water then adding water is always a good way to get more moisture into them.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by Dori.

[Patrick S]

I have a St Bernard. She is six years old. I’ve been told to only feed her food specified for large breeds, though I don’t know why. Anybody have information and recommendations for dry food.

[Bobby dog]

Hi Peggy,
I haven’t fed the dry, but do feed the stews & tubs; don’t feed the 95% canned anymore. Wal-Mart may have changed the labels, however on the stew cans I have “Premium dog food by Ol’ Roy” is written below the Pure Balance name. On the tubs & the one 95% canned I have left “The best ingredients pure & simple” is written under the PB name.

Wal-Mart CS would be the ones to ask about the Pure Balance brand, Ainsworth is only a co-packer. FYI, Simmons is the manufacturer of the canned foods.

[EDDIE d]

Is it ok to mix dry and canned dog food?

[LD L]

Newbie here, just joined this site. I’m currently researching some possible options to replace my Diamond Performance food. I searched (clicked) around on this site but didn’t really find anything that could quickly get me any ideas? with out clicking through a lot of links? For the moderators – I would like to suggest breaking down the Editors Choices even more if possible i.e. HiPro, Overweight, Adult, Allergies, Puppies, categories, etc… I’m not trying to be critical, just some thoughts.

Thanks, LD

[Dori]

Akari. I’m so glad Bentley is doing better with his skin issues. He’ll continue to get better. If his paws are still itchy I would suggest what BC has stated in other posts and that is that you keep some sort of container….rubbermaid rectangular type or any brand for that matter, right outside the door you taken him in and out of and rinse his paws in the water just before bringing him back in the house. Keep a towel inside the door to dry his feet. That should help if it’s due to environmental issues.

Just another thought. Don’t forget to remove carbs from his treats. We so often forget that most store bought treats are full of carbs and other inflammatory ingredients. Which is another thought….try to remove all inflammatory ingredients from anything he eats. Some are white potatoes, tomatoes (all night shade plants). Rice is another pro inflammatory ingredient. Every little bit that you can remove from his diet is going to help. Some commercial raw foods contain white potatoes which is an ingredient that, if your dog isn’t allergic to, you don’t think to remove. Just google inflammatory foods, fruits and veggies. I’ve had to do that because of Hannah’s arthritis so Katie benefited from the removal of inflammatory ingredients which wreak havoc on the allergy prone animal and human.

[Dori]

Cheryl, thanks for your kind words. I’m hardly an expert on raw feeding or animal nutrition I can only relate my experiences with my dogs.

I don’t feed kibble and I don’t feed canned. The only canned I was somewhat ok with is Weruva but it contains caraggeean (can never spell that word) and it’s also made in Thailand. A very good trusted by most company that makes raw and dehydrated is Vital Essentials. Vital Essentials sells (as treats I believe or at least that’s how I’ve fed them) a bag of tripe. That’s a way you could go if you wanted to introduce some tripe into their diet. I don’t use commercial treats (too many carbs and ingredients that allergy girl, Katie, can’t have and I also just don’t trust them with all the recalls out there) so I’m always on the look out for something I can give them as a dry quick treat for training purposes. The dogs love them and they have not caused any gastro upset either.

A sardine every day is imo way too much! Only two or three times a week is more than sufficient. That’s probably why Pepper was no longer doing well with the sardines. You can go back to feeding her sardines if you want to but maybe a couple of times a week, not every day.

If Millie is already eating a freeze dried food and doing well with it then she should have no problem with raw at all. Freeze dried is raw. I would certainly switch her as soon as possible to the raw and get her off kibble. You can then feed both dogs the same foods.

Cheryl, you are not asking too many questions and you are certainly no bother. We all started where you’re at now. It takes a while to get the hang of it. Anyway, we are all still asking questions as we should be otherwise how else would we continue to learn.

I’m a Virgo. Perfectionist would be a kind description of me and, I too, suffer from migraines. I’ve had them since I was 10 years old. Hereditary I believe because my mother always had them. Anyway, ask all the questions you’d like. If I can’t answer any, I’m sure others will. Eventually you’ll be the one answering posters questions. That’s how it works around here. Learn and pay it forward.

[Dori]

Hi Cheryl. I started Hannah on raw when she was 12 years old. She was 15 last Sept. 9th so I certainly don’t think Pepper’s age is an issue. If she were my dog I would give her a taste (just a tiny taste) and see how she does and probably eventually have them both on raw. As to rotation, you need to do that slowly. When I first starting rotation with my girls I rotated with each bag, then I would have a couple of different raw foods in the freezer from the same brand at the same time and rotated weekly, once I realized that I could do that with no issues whatsoever I realized that I could introduce different brands. Then I realized I could switch and rotate daily and, of course, now I rotate with each meal or sometimes daily. Whatever happens to be in the fridge as far as fruits and veggies and whatever commercial raws are in the house. Twice a week I also give them sardines in water that you buy in any grocery store. I open the can and split it with the three of them. I also keep in the refrigerator a bottle of Nature’s Logic Sardine Oil. On days that I don’t give them sardines I add a tiny splash of the sardine oil, from the fridge, to one of their meals of the day just before I put their bowls down for them. Great source of omega 3’s.

Until you know how Millie (and Pepper) do on the different foods, I would feed the foods for different meals. It’s easier to keep track if they are having an issue with a particular protein or ingredient in a food.

I will say that there are many thoughts about feeding different foods together in the same meal or should they be fed separately at different meals. I’m one that feeds at different meals. I don’t ever mix different foods together. Even when I first started feeding raw, I had been feeding grain free kibble, I did not mix kibble and raw.

Also on THK it did take a while before their poops became normal size. Initially I questioned whether I would continue with it due to the size of the poops but as I had the box which is as you know very expensive and that was the only issue I had with the food I kept feeding it and then without my even really realizing it their poops were a normal size like when I fed grain free kibble. Now it’s a none issue. Of course raw poops will always be smaller, dryer, and no smell whatsoever. Another advantage of raw feeding.

[Peggy]

Update on the Pure Balance.

LadyBug and Tebow are both still lovers of Pure Balance Salmon & Peas grain-free dry and all varieties of PB canned and tub.

Thinking I’d see if they’d like the Bison/Veggies grain-free, when I was at Walmart a couple of days ago, I purchased a small bag of the Bison and Veggies dry food.

I fed that (PB Bison & veggies) to them that night (Thursday night), again with 1/2 tub each of wet PB. LadyBug does NOT like the Bison. She ate the little bit of tub food and walked away from the dry. I tried it again Friday morning and evening. Tebow ate it, but vomited it up in the middle of the night.

Did I give them something different too soon? Or is Bison just going to be out of the question? Thoughts?

[Cheryl Pepper Millie Sophie]

Weezerweeks,
I always put cotton in pepper’s ears before a bath, don’t know if that’s ok, but it helps-just remember to take it out & don’t push the cotton in too deep.
My puppy Millie shakes her head, I ordered some zymox w/enzymes to see if it helps.
i got the earth bath ear wipes & after their baths I use that, i would love to dig in,but wouldn’t dare.

IvanaR,
What do you mean gastro sensitive? Does she eat a grain free diet? Is she sensitive to certain proteins& or grains that you are aware of?
Did your vet culture the ear discharge to see what it was exactly(yeast, fungal, some other infection)?
Do you think the ear discharge is diet related? Have you changed foods recently and this happened? Have you been feeding the same food(s)? I know lots of questions
Does the food have to be dry? If so, have you ever tried soaking the kibble in warm water before feeding? softer foods might be easier on the stomach.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by Cheryl Pepper Millie Sophie.

[Ivchister]

Hey guys.
Has anyone had an problem with dark brown ear discharge. My vet told me that we have to find the cause of that problem but I still have no results. My dog also has some gastroint. problems so it is veeery hard for me to find an opimal diet solution..
That is one of the reasons I joined this site. 🙂 But I’m still a bit lost because there is just way too much info. I have to study.

Can you please suggest a dry food for a gastro sensitive dog that in your opinion doesn’t contain stuff which causes that specific ear problems?

btw I hope my english is understandable, it is not my mother tongue..

[Cheryl Pepper Millie Sophie]

Hi Kelly,
My 11 1/2 y.o. mini schnauzer has similar issues -bad bouts of gastritis IBD/IBS just suffered a bad bout in December.
I came to the conclusion that she can no longer process kibble any kind-she was on the Amicus Grain-free Senior,did very well on it. But as they say things change
But it seemed every so often the problems reappeared.
In December after every single test was given except an endoscopy -i changed her to lightly cooked ground turkey breast with canned organic pumpkin -then switched from the pumpkin to sweet potato, nothing else for 3-4 weeks ,now your kid may have an infection have you had her stool tested to rule out any infection?
Now I was told she should dry a vet diet-hydrolozed protein-she she was also vomiting and reguritating. I choose to try something else and if that didn’t work ,well to go ahead & try what the vet recommended.
She is on The honest Kitchen now a rehydrated food i buy her grain free, they have various types.
my thoughts are stop the rice-rice can cause inflammation, and she has an inflammatory process occurring with the colitis episode.
Dr. karen Becker has some excellent articles just on this subject-its on the Mercola.com website.
If you can buy some organic canned PLAIN PUMPKIN -stop the kibble completely. You might also offer her a cooked sweet potato, with the ground turkey. I know this may sound odd, but pepper does better on Ground turkey ,chicken & beef than she did on lightly boiled chicken breast. Maybe try a ground version of the turkey or chicken. She could have developed an allergy to egg or even the chicken. You might want to try her on a novel protein,a protein that she never ate, I bought a rabbit at Whole foods & boiled it for her. Her tummy needs about 3-4 weeks of rest, that’s why I say the soft low residue foods-no treats nothing that cause cause the inflammation to linger.
I just personally think, that as they get older the kibble is just too hard on them, and I soaked her kibble to make it easier. When they have this inflammatory disease, I think they need a softer diet.
There are some canned foods also that you may want to try, on that I really don’t know, i have never fed canned. I know people have good things to say about WERUVA & other people can guide you on that.
I hope some of this helps you, I will be glad to help further if you have any more questions.
Good Luck
Fondly,
Cheryl
I see you provided your email I will email you the site to Dr. becker and all you have to do is put in the search IBD/IBS

[Giles123]

Does anyone know of a good food for a senior dog with liver issues. We have our 14 year old Rottweiler mix and she already takes denamarin for her liver. She’s been on chicken and rice for a while since she gets some type of colitis intermittently. She literally has water coming out her back end at times. Currently she gets her chicken and rice and a bit of the brothers complete turkey and egg allergy food. Lately she has trouble with that food. Her vet recommended a senior food that is easily digestible. Thinks the other food is possibly too nutrient dense and hard for her to process. Anyone know a good dry food to put her on that hasn’t had recall problems?

Kelly james
[email protected]

[Akari_32]

Dori, Bentley doesn’t drink much water since we switched him to canned and then raw. He takes a few laps every couple days or so, maybe even once a week.

I’m gunna look into that ProDent stuff and see how the prices are. If it goes over the food, I can give it to all the furry creatures if it’s cost effective.

Cheryl, I wash the dogs and cat bowls after every meal. Bentley gets raw, Ginger gets wetted dry and the cat gets canned.

[Naturella]

I have noticed Bruno doing this in the summertime, when he was on Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural (chicken/poultry based) first, and then Back to Basics Open Range (red meat and organ based). They are both high-quality foods so I was not worried about him not getting good nutrients, and his stool output did not seem abnormally large for me to think that the food was not being absorbed. I just didn’t know what it was, but then I figured, maybe it is because we always did our walks/exercising right before eating, so he was getting hungry by then, and was just picking random grass stalks just cause? Not sure, but I didn’t do anything about it, and now that the grass is all yellow and dry, he doesn’t do it anymore. We don’t exercise like we used to either though, so I don’t know if that is a factor. Can’t wait for the weather to warm up just a bit… I really prefer working out outside rather than in a gym, plus, this way I can work out with my dog! 🙂

• This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by Naturella.

[Anita W]

My 23-kb 3- yr old Lhasa Mix has tartar on his back teeth. Our vet said to switch to a large-kibble dry dog food. We have been using high-quality dry food, but I’d like to find one with large kibble. The labels aren’t clear except when specifying “Large Breed”. Can anyone make a recommendation?

[mike s]

We are fostering a bear-hound dog that has a tumor on the outside of his scrotum that bleeds a lot. The vet wants to castrate and do an ablation but his red blood cell level is too low to undergo surgery. We are feeding him high iron foods such as beef livers. Does anyone know of a superior dry dog food high in iron or a supplement that we could give him? Thanks. Mike