I have a 2 year old Golden Retriever who has been plagued with skin issues due to allergies her whole life. Food tests found she’s allergic to soybeans, corn, alfalfa, green peas, sweet potatoes and beef! I’ve used California Natural dry food her whole life, trying different ones until we determined the problem. I find that most quality dry foods contain many of these ingredients. Canned food seems pretty expensive. Can anyone suggest a dry food that does not contain these things? I’m seriously considering cooking chicken for her and storing portions in the freezer….! Any help is appreciated!
It’s mainly dry hard kibble I prefer not to feed more than twice a day. Other foods that are easier to digest or enzyme rich raw foods I’m less concerned about. Plus when I feed kibble or a food with lots of plant matter, I give enzymes with it.
Well this might explain why my 9 year old Lab was having trouble with her energy levels on the Core Grain-Free Dry Dog Food. She needed more carbs! She’s doing much better on Merrick Grain-Free. Thanks!
Thank you everyone for your comments. theBCnut I did not get my dogs from a breeder they are all rescues and up till now have been fed commercial prepared dry/wet dog food. I never even heard of Raw Dog Food until Chance came to us. Then I started researching and like I said above it is all so confusing one site contradicting the other etc.. so I appreciate any and all comments. I bought my meat straight from a butcher, it came pre-grounded. I was told that the 10lbs was a mixture of heart,brain which I understood to not be considered organ meats and then kidney, liver and spleen with I know are organ meats. I also know that tongues are included but wasn’t sure what they are considered. If I added lean ground beef to my recipe say 10-15 lbs would that balance it out better. I am making very large batches as I try to make at least a weeks worth at a time. My Danes range in size from 90-160 lbs so I have been feeding them approx 2% of there ideal body weight per day which is about 3.5 lbs if I worked it out properly, I feed them half in the morning and half in the evening. I will not add the extra egg shells next time and do what I normally do, add them to my garden instead. pugmomsandy the chicken I purchased was from my local grocery store and I ground it myself in a hand grinder at home. I believe I should have called them quarter chicken legs they were thighs with legs attached and bones still in. The next batch will be purchased from the butcher chicken backs with bone in pre-ground. I will look into those books as well, I have a tablet and an e-reader so I should be able to get them. Thank you all so much, I really do appreciate the comments !!! I’m so new at this and I find it confusing even though I did research. I’m still trying to figure out what meats are what hence the mistake with too much organ meats. I just want to make up for my past bad food mistakes and do what is best for my fur babies. Thank you !!
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This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by
Tanya C.
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This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by Tanya C.
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This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by Tanya C.
Only Natural Pet has a sample of 1 LB of PowerFood Red Meat Feast Dry Dog Food for $0.99 Shipped. Appears to me to be 5*.
Only Natural Pet PowerFood Chicken and Poultry Feast Grain Free Dog Food
Hi Laura, here’s a link to “Holistic Select” Anchovys, Sardines & Salmon meal, I know you’ve said no Salmon but this kibble has no potatos, have a look at the ingredients they may be as close as you’ll get to the Proseries, A few dogs from the dog park have skin allergies & they are on the Holistic Select Anchovys, Sardines & Salmon meal for their skin & ears…. http://www.holisticselect.com/dry-dog-food-anchovy-sardine-and-salmon-meal
Hello All,
I have a 12 year old dog that is probably a lab mix who has been having problems with hair loss. a year ago he was losing hair in patches on his face and the tips of his ears. also some dry cracked skin on the tips of his ears, that i picked off, and swollen ears from tips almost to base. i took him to the vet many times and eventually another vet suggested that it could be allergies.
I had been feeding him pro series hypoallergenic food in canada, but i have since moved to the states with him and i can’t get it here. the hair on his face had completely grown in and his ears were getting better as well. i just switched to pure vita salmon and potato, which he greatly prefers, but his ears are swollen again and no more signs of improvement with the hair coming back. i’ve been reading about this and it seems that ear infections are often triggered by food allergies, and this is a sign of the allergy (though the only problem with the ears is swelling, hair loss, and maybe some purple marks on the skin). i have looked everywhere for a food with similar ingredients but i can’t find anything that is just mostly herring, anchovies, and rice. i also supplemented with canned tuna to make the pro series more appetizing, and that seemed fine. if anyone can offer any suggestions of what to try or how to interpret this i would appreciate it so much.
You can also put dry through a coffee grinder and then add water, but that isn’t really the best solution. At her age, she needs to be eating foods that have plenty of moisture in them. And she may not produce the stomach acid that she once did so you might want to add 1/2 tablespoon of unprocessed apple cider vinegar for every one cup of food.
Hi Dori,
Thank you for getting that info from BDN! I am glad that BDN is working out well for you and your crew.
You wrote:
“I just spoke to someone at Big Dog Natural. They air dry their food at 80 – 100 degrees Fahrenheit for 24 hours.”
24 hours is a very long time to keep a raw food at 80 to 100 degrees F. Imagine taking a couple of pounds of any raw food that contained meat and vegetables and placing it outside on a 100 degree F Georgia day. Then take a powerful fan and have it blow on the food. Leave the raw meat outside in the 100 degree temps with the fan blowing on it for 24 hours. That is not a food I would feed my dog.
And pugmomsandy wrote:
“They’re bags of food do not have an ingredient or GA label. Just the name of the product”.
This lets me know that BDN is not following the regulations for labeling dog foods. That is not a good sign for me.
You also wrote:
“As I have said often in the past…..these issues that are being questioned back and forth may very well not sit well with some if this is the ONLY food you are going to feed your dogs”
The way this food is air-dried and the potential it carries for bacterial growth along with the lack of proper labeling are issues that would prevent me from using this food regardless of how many other foods were in my rotation.
Again, I am very happy that BDN is working out for you and your guys!
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This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by
USA.
I have never seen any bone or bone pieces in the food. I agree with cindy q on the issue of bones.
USA and anyone else interested. I just spoke to someone at Big Dog Natural. They air dry their food at 80 – 100 degrees Fahrenheit for 24 hours.
I decided that instead of guessing, I would just pick up the phone and call. My call was returned within 20 minutes. I have never once been given the run around with any question I have asked. They have been nothing but forthcoming with me. I choose to have the food in rotation with my three dogs everyone else can make up their own minds. As I have said often in the past…..these issues that are being questioned back and forth may very well not sit well with some if this is the ONLY food you are going to feed your dogs. Most of us on DFA rotate foods, supplements, within the brands and different brands. Anyway, my dogs love the food and they have absolutely no issues with the food. No diarrhea, gas, no constipation, no itchiness, no bad breath, no tear stains, no gurgling stomachs, their poops are exactly the way they should be for dogs that eat raw-small well formed not too hard don’t stick to the ground no smell whatsoever.
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This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by
Dori.
Hi Everyone,
I read the ingredient lists for BDN foods and I took this off their website:
“The final product is air dried between 80 and 100 degrees in order not to destroy the integrity of the raw ingredients. All processes of humidity, wind velocity and temperature are monitored and automatically altered when necessary. In this way, we produce a very high end product, that is not only very bio-available but also very much liked by the ones we are doing it for, our dogs.”
My concerns are:
1) They don’t say if 80-100 degrees is F or C, if it’s C then the temps would be 176-212 F and there would be no issue with bacterial growth but it would not be a very gentle temperature. If 80-100 degrees is F, that is a good temperature for bacterial growth. So if the air-dried process takes 8 hours then that food is growing bacteria until the moisture level gets to its finished state of 12% or below. In order to turn fresh meat and veggies into the granola consistency that BDN is, the time of drying at 80-100 degrees F would be 8-12 hours? Without knowing their process I can only guesstimate but even with very high fan speed (air movement) it could take 12 hours or more.
2) Bone, they use ground bone in the chicken, turkey and fish recipes. How finely is that bone ground and how brittle is it after the air drying. How much does the air drying increase the danger of the bone to the dogs that eat it? I don’t know but it is something that would be of concern to me if I were going to feed my dogs BDN.
I’ve kept her on dry dog food as long as I could, but she just went through a bit of a sick spell and I noticed that when she threw up she had whole pieces of food in her tummy. I’m also noticing that she’s lost a bit of weight and when I popped into the vet today they confirmed she’s down just over half a pound. I’ve made my own food for her before when she broke her jaw but she seemed to have mild allergies to everything I used. (Except her banana oatmeal and cottage cheese breakfasts.)
What would you recommend for an alternative to dry dog food? She also eats apples, pears, bananas and blackberries as snacks so I’m looking for something that might be a bit higher in the meat/protein. I’ve always had her on some version of lamb dry kibble and was leaning towards either the Kirkland or the Castor and Pollex. (Both based on the review I read on this wonderful site!) She could stand to gain a full pound too but I have to be careful as she has a slight heart murmur and I don’t want it to get worse.
Thanks for the help!
It’s not canned, but rather dehydrated, look into The Honest Kitchen Zeal. Fat is a big issue. Usually when you lower carbs, you raise protein and fat. THK Zeal is the best one I know of with good levels, though in your case, I still might add lean meat to lower the carbs even more. Zeal comes as a dry powder that you add water to. If you add water right before feeding then you have a soupy mixture. If you prepare it a while ahead of time, it is more like a thick paste or pate style food. My dogs love all of THK’s foods.
Hi:
Pennywisepaws posted a Natures Recipe dry cat food $3 off coupon on any one bag valid until 11/15/14 and info on how to stack with another coupon:
http://www.pennywisepaws.com/petco-31-natures-recipe-grain-free-cat-food-printable-coupon/
or enter coupon code “cnature3off” to redeem online.
Hi SunnyD,
Looks like the NVI raw duck bites are a good choice with sodium at .27%.
The product also includes heart, which is excellent glandular therapy.
Here’s a couple of threads you might also be interested in:
/forums/topic/food-and-supplements-for-my-cavi-with-heart-murmur/; /forums/topic/dry-dog-food-with-low-salt-and-low-fat/
Glad they liked it! I always liked how NutriSource looked for the dry dog food. I used the Super Performance once for the big dogs and thru did great on it.
Hi Kayla-
For sure you want to make these changes gradually. I have incorporated all these add-ins as I’ve been learning, over about a two year period! I feed my dogs by calories. I calculate most canned foods at about 400 calories. So about 100 calories per quarter of can. I also compute dry at about 400 calories per cup. So 1/4 cup less dry food for 1/4 of a can. Obviously not all canned and dry have the same calories, but to make it simple, I just took an average. I also use the Pure Balance canned food. We especially like the stews. Good questions! Keep up the good,work!
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This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by
crazy4cats.
Hi Kayla-
I always mix something in with my dog’s kibble. I have two golden labs. Both male and about 80 pounds. Every morning they get a few heaping Tbs of canned with their kibble. In the afternoon, they get either eggs, sardines, dehydrated or fresh meat with their dry food. I don’t think that dry kibble is the best to feed regardless of how many stars it gets. However, it is convenient and budget friendly. I do believe that a premium canned food is healthier, but also much more expensive. Especially with two large dogs. And oh yes, four medium cats! Good luck and welcome to DFA!
Can I mixed dry and wet food or too much? Austrian Shepherd breed Dog, around 40 to 50 pounds and around 1 year old. Slowly changing him to Pure Balance Dog food because the last two brands made him sick.
Have you ever heard of wellness, acana, Orijen…. Are you kidding? Yes everyone here has heard of them, and yes, they are still high in carbs, and yes they are still considered kibble, as all dry food is kibble. Maybe less carbs than all the low quality corn and soy kibble, but still carb heavy none the less.
The thought process that wet food rots teeth is a very old wives tale. And forgive me for saying so, but you did already tell someone that this message was just for hdm so Not to respond.
Spaniel39, I recommend a bit more research before making comments like your last one
Seriously, if dogs eating dry food have to get their teeth cleaned all the time, what makes you think that canned food is worse? Kibble does not clean teeth. When a dog crunches down on kibble, it explodes. It does not scrape along the surface of the tooth all the way to the gum line, and if by some miracle it did, it would slice up the gums too. Canned food does not rot teeth. Carbs are responsible for the junk left on teeth. Kibble is carbs.
If you really want clean teeth, you let your dog gnaw on something like a meaty bone that will scrape the whole length of the tooth and work under the gum line too, or you learn how to brush.
Hound Dog Mom
I know this is off topic but I actually joined this forum to ask you this (so hopefully you get this post!). I have a wonderful little 2 year old Yorkie boy and he’s 6.4lbs of extremely picky when it comes to eating. He’s gone as long as 1.5 days without eating, then he’ll finally give in and eat. I only feed him dry dog food – Fromm. I chose not to give him anything wet as I’m scared of him having dental issues later on. Anyway, he was on Natural Balance for a few months when I first got him – right at 1 years of age. He took to the Fromm really well at first then he stopped eating as quickly. I figured maybe he just wanted soft food (I even switched flavors of Fromm), so I started crushing the food and adding water to make it more like wet dog food. That worked. On occasion I would mix with a tad bit of banana or some other healthy fruit for him. He liked that. But now he’s back to not wanting to eat. I read another article where you posted in response to someone else in a similar position as me. I just want your opinion on what you think I should do or try. I will spend whatever to make sure he’s eating healthy and also enjoying his food. What would you suggest? Do you recommend Fromm? Thanks so much.
Cyndi:
First your dog is beautiful! I love the way he looks right into the picture! And with seeming purpose! 🙂 I know he’s a sweet one.
Thank you for your post also. You all are really helping me. My GSD was gone for three months for training and while he was gone I decided on RAW. Like you, I read the major books, watched Becker’s videos, took notes, read on line, and my binder is jammed. He had all those troubles on Origen and Acana and i just decided kibble was not worth it.
I will brush his teeth in addition to doing the bones. Thank you for that info. Have some HARE TODAY turkey necks frozen now but he is not YET on raw. I am working with a Homeopathic Vet who is wonderful and who has recommended Big Dog Natural although DFA people did not feel good about what BDN not coming forth with info re GA. I asked BDN about it and they said they could not tell their “secret” (which she inferred had to do with the fermentation of the veggies and the air drying process). The Homeopath vet feeds BDN to his 6 dogs – several are Great Danes – and he loves the food and the company. He also feeds Darwins. He has suggested that I go cold turkey when I transition the GSD using chicken and the turkey formulas (BDN) to begin with for several weeks. One Protein. (THat is what Tracy at HARE TODAY also suggested.) Once he’s doing great on that I will pull out the Turkey necks. After that I think I can start veering out a little. Tracy at HARE TODAY emailed me to take my time and NOT PUSH IT — that getting in a hurry will mess up his digestion. She’s SELLING RAW and TOLD ME TO SLOW DOWN! (That’s a sign of a good person!)
The woman who 1/2 owns Ziwipeak has two labs and she said she feeds them Ziwi at breakfast everyday and then gives them a raw very meaty bone for supper at night. I never got into Ziwipeak myself but it was interesting to hear that she does that. Says they are a picture of health.
Now it appears I must find out about CALCIUM so I do not overdo it. Any references about that?
Thank you again for your input. This is such a great site and I have met wonderful people.
With Gratitude,
Nancy C.
Thank you for your response. Green beans are canned so cooked. Carrots are raw baby carrots mostly without skin. It’s been very hot here until lately, hopefully fall and winter will cool us off to walk more than once a day in the cool A.M. He loves the dog park and runs a lot there, but again not cool enough yet. I play tug of war with him at home in doors or I throw his squeaky and he runs and brings it back. This is upper desert so lots of rocky yards, no grass. He’s going in for obedience training this saturday so hopefully that will also help. I found the list of carbs in Wellness foods that was posted on one of the forums and the Wellness Core Reduced Fat is As Fed 34.19 and Dry Matter 37.16. Is that high?
The As Fed values are just that, they include the 10% or whatever moisture the food has. The Dry Matter values mathematically remove all moisture from the food.
Thank you, Akari: This is exactly what I wanted to know. I need the amount for Wellness Core Reduced Fat dog food and now I’m wondering if “As Fed: 34.19 and Dry Matter: 37.16” is high or low. Does anyone know if this could be keeping Jack from losing weight? Thank you.
Oh, Victoria, I am so very sorry you and the poor dogs have been placed in this position. Is your local ASPCA ‘friendly’ ..can you ask them if they have a doc with no charge or little charge for those with limited income and can perhaps see the lab and recommend inexpensive and grain free food? Also, when my St. had hotspots vet recommended we use human benedryl tabs rolled into a bit of peanut butter. I know for our St. 120 lbs, we gave her one full tab. We were also given a spray to stop the itch, can’t remember the name. Hope this helps.
Hi all,
I’m new here, so hello! Lots of good reading here! I have a 5YO Cavalier female named Willow, who was just diagnosed with a grade 3 heart murmur, which seems to have developed very quickly (our regular vet did not hear it just 6 short months ago, but the cardiologist found it this past saturday at a heart clinic). I’m trying to research what the best food and supplements are for this condition. I really prefer feeding her a dry/kibble food. The vet recommended a low-sodium food (have no idea what I should choose – nothing seems to be marketed specifically as low-sodum), and supplementation with CoQ10 and Vit E. My head is swimming with everything I’ve found in just a short amount of time researching. Are these the only supplements you’d recommend? I’ve also read quite a bit about glandular therapy for heart health and am wondering what everyone here thinks about that and what a good supplement for that would be.
I found this website when searching for glandulars. http://www.pethealthandnutritioncenter.com/natural-heart-cardiovascular-remedy-treatment-dogs-cats-pets.html wondering about the Heart Tonic product and the Daily Multi Complete (which has glandulars in it). Anyone have experience with this supplier or these products?
I’m also wondering (and these might be ultra-basic knowledge to most, but I can’t find anything that will tell me): If I do a Fish Oil like this one http://www.pethealthandnutritioncenter.com/nordic-naturals-fish-oil-supplement-for-pets.html do I also still supplement with Vit E and CoQ10?
I hate researching this stuff because there always seems to be such conflicting information out there. Any help anyone could give me would be SO appreciated! TIA!
Wendy
mom to Willow
I bought a bag of the exact same formula Authority dry for cats kibble awhile ago on a great sale and just started feeding it a week ago or so. So far so good. It’s not as high quality as what I usually like to feed but I will use this bag up then switch. They also get lots of high quality canned food which is important.
Try giving ,libbys 100% pure pumpkin pura,1or 2 table spoons a day in their food.
That will stop the problem of runs,I don’t give my four dogs vit or probiotic,I just feed
them, back to basic dry food,and healthy treats,thank God no problems,and they are all happy campers.
walt123.
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This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by
WALTER M C.
So I have been pretty broke, and I was almost entirely out of dry cat food when I realized that I still had some bags stashed that I have been meaning to get over to the local feral TNR group, including three 4lb bags of Authority that I picked up for 99cents each. So I decided to just open up one of those babies and feed that to get me until I get paid at the end of the week, since it at least has no corn, and no by-products.
http://www.petsmart.com/cat/dry-food/authority-senstive-solutions-adult-cat-food-zid36-23724/cat-36-catid-200028?var_id=36-23724&_t=pfm%3Dcategory%26pfmvalue%3Dfaceted
So I went back to look at the nutritional info online today, and saw that the calories are actually not bad at all at 379/cup, so now I am thinking that I might just use this bag up, (which will take me a couple months) instead. Its not too bad right? They get canned food too, I feed them together, they get about 2 5.5oz cans and just under 1/2 cup of dry food per day split into meals. One cat eats almost all wet food, and only a little dry (I think sometimes none at all) , and the other cries and cries for his crunchies and I think he eats all of the dry food, but he also eats wet.
Hi everyone! I am so glad I found this forum 🙂 I have a Chinese Shar Pei who just turned 1 yr old (yesterday) and she has had recurring yeast infection problems (in ears, mainly and now in the folds of skin near her mouth and between toes) every 2 months since she was 4 months old. My vet gave her some kind of medicine that went in her ears for 2 weeks, and it cleared it up at first, then gave her Chlorpheniramine 4 mg pills to take -I pill 2x daily. She then increased it to 2 pills, 2x daily. Angel has been on Hill’s Science Diet (canned and dry) which I now see could be at least a big factor in this 🙁 We thought it was a good quality food 🙁 Anyway, my vet still thinks it’s just seasonal allergies, not food related. Can anyone tell me appx guess how long it would take (after switching brands) before there might be an improvement? Any and all comments, suggestions, about fighting yeast infections very much appreciated!
Hi-
I don’t have a new food for the budget friendly list, just a new format. I’ve suggested before and I’m going to give it one more shot. LOL! It would be nice if the list would contain two different columns. One with the wet food and one with dry. It would make it easier when printing and taking to store with you. Thank you!
Have you tried ZiwiPeak? It’s very expensive, but they ONLY use meat sources in their food, and one of their foods is Venison flavor.
Here are the ingredients:
Venison Meat, Liver, Tripe, Heart and Kidney, Chicory Inulin, Green-lipped Mussel, Fish Oil, Lecithin, Kelp, Vitamins and Minerals, Parsley, Naturally preserved with mixed tocopherols, Vitamin D3, Vitamin E, Copper proteinate
ZiwiPeak Daily-Dog Cuisine Venison Real Meat Dry Dog Food
Does anyone have recommendations for a toy poodle who can only have venison as the sole protein in his food (no chicken meal, eggs, or proteins from other animal sources) due to allergies? We’ve been through Natural Balance (didn’t help with allergies and he didn’t like the taste of any of it), Wellness (VERY fishy and made his allergies acutely worsen), Evangers (which was discontinued). Right now we use Evo 95% wet food, which has had recalls, and California Natural dry venison (which has had recalls, and seems to be being possibly discontinued? or at least it is very hard to find). I have a source for venison ground hamburger meat with ground bone, but I also have been unable to find vitamin supplements to add to it. I’d ground up some of the dry CA Natural and called it “sprinkles”, and he would eat it that way sometimes. He’s seen 2 vets, consulted with a vet internist, and has seen a veterinary dermatologist, so yes, it is documented that it is both food allergies and skin allergies. He did not go for any of the freeze dried stuff. Thanks so much.
I have a Siberian husky and an Alaskan malamute on Earthborn Holistic bison dog food for the last 2 years. Both dogs coats became fuller within a few months of trying this food and the malamute’s coat became much softer and still is to this day.
Over the last 4 months, however, my husky (6 1/2) has begun to slowly develop bare spots on his hind legs and to a lesser degree on his sides. My vet noticed some matting near those areas and his skin was fairly dry and flaking but saw no other red flags. His blood work showed no issues. I brushed out the matted fur over the next couple weeks and bathed him with an anti-bacterial/anti-fungal shampoo as a precaution a week ago. His skin feels softer and doesn’t appear to be flaking anymore, but his coat is still dry in those areas. His coat has also lost some of its color over the last few months and has become dull on his rear legs. He has not been scratching at all.
I was told by a dog food rep in Petsmart last week that dogs tend to build allergies to the same pet food over a period of about 2 years and suggested trying a different formula in the same brand. Is there some credibility in this?
Kristin C. As others have posted, the food is air dryer which would be a dehydrated food. It’s different than any dehydrated food. When rehydrated, as others have said, it looks and smells like ground meat. Also as cindy q. said, you do need to add water, but I also don’t add as much as they say. This is basically a personal decision as to how much water to add. Depends on how your dog likes his food. Some like real mush and don’t want to have to chew anything at all, lol, and others like a more substantial chunky food. As I’ve mentioned before I food rotational so the GA and analysis don’t really make a difference to me and my dogs. I rotate with every meal.
Cindy q. The trick with THK is to either not add as much water as stated on the box (I never do) or make up a batch that will last two or three days and put in the fridge. At meal time scoop out as much as you need for the meal. If your dog doesn’t like cold food then just leave it out on the counter until room temperature. I do it both ways but overnight works best. Also Cindy q. before spending money on actual size bags or boxes of the foods you’re trying out ask for samples at your local small pet stores, they always have samples or email or call manufacturer of food. They’ll pretty much always send you out samples for either a very nominal fee or others just have you pay for the shipping which is also a small fee. You’re going to go through way to much money buying the actual boxes or bags of the food. Also, if you rotate your foods you should try to buy the smallest size so that the individual foods won’t go bad. I realize the small bags/boxes will cost you a little more but you’ll be sure to be able to rotate and not have the bottom of bags or boxes go bad before you get to the end. That’s important with rotating foods that are not frozen and kept in freezer. Also BDN is less expensive than Sojo’s. I don’t particularly care for Sojo’s so I don’t feed it. The only foods I presently feed other than commercial raw foods are THK, BDN and in a pinch if I won’t be home or dogs left with someone else who refuses to feed raw (jeesh) I use Nature’s Logic dry. Excellent as kibbles go. They also have a good canned food but the canned foods all contain something or other that my allergy/intolerant maltipoo, Katie, cannot tolerate. It’s the only kibble they do well on and that I don’t feel awful feeding them.
Hi! I have a 19 month old French Bulldog (Gigi). She developed small, crusty bumps under her fur (on back and upper legs). She was not scratching them. The vet said it’s staph infection and gave her 2-weeks on antibiotic. They cleared up about 95%, but within a week off the antibiotic they were back. So vet put her on another 2 weeks; they’ve started to clear again, and he will reevaluate this week. In the meantime I ordered Dinovite. Gigi is a small Frenchie, 16.3 pounds, so I have been giving her 1 tablespoon (or 1/2 scoop) with both meals, am/pm. She eats Orijens “6 Fish” dry food and loves it. Occasionally she has an itchy butt and licks her paws, and has some eye goo, too. I’m hoping that the Dinovite will help. I also got the Omega oils, but am finishing up the brand I already have for her first.
Any suggestions would be helpful. Also… do you store Dinovite in the fridge?
Thank you so much!
When I search 5 Star dry dog food, ◾4Health Performance Formula Adult is not listed. When I go to 4Health Dog Food (Dry) review page, with an overall rating of 4 stars, 4Health Performance Formula Adult has 5 stars. Is this a typo on the review page?
Hi Liz S. NV Instinct raw is one of the foods I use in rotation feeding with my three toy dogs. I also use Answers Detailed, Vital Essentials Raw, Stella & Chewys Raw,
Primal Raw Formulas, OC Raw. In rotation feeding I also use The Honest Kitchen which is a dehydrated food and BDN which is another dehydrated food. The only kibble I have fed recently is Natures Logic Sardine Formula. The food is teeny tiny and they love it and have had no issues. The reason for the kibble after almost three years on raw is that if I have to leave them with someone or travel with them it would be more convenient than traveling lots of raw food which means a number of coolers with ice packs and I’m not Sure I feel completely safe with the food that way. I’ve also tried some freeze dried from a couple of the raw food companies. It’s an expensive process to freeze dry apparently so that’s the reason for freeze dried being so costly.
Hey, T. I second Sue on not giving leftovers. When you first said “human food”, I thought you meant things like raw/cooked lean meats and veggies (no seasonings or only such that are dog-friendly, like cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, a little bit of garlic). Yoghurt is ok, but only if it is plain – not the sweet-ish, fruity-ish stuff a lot of us eat. Noodles are sometimes okay if that’s all they are – one noodle (he really doesn’t NEED it though), and not covered in pasta sauce and seasonings. Cheetos are not very good for humans or pets (they contain formaldehyde and burn like they’re made of pure petrol if you set them on fire).
Bottom line – anything on your plate for dinner is PROBABLY not good for your doggie, especially cooked bones of any kind, because they could splinter and cause all kinds of internal disasters if he/she doesn’t choke on them first.
Good news though! What you CAN give to your dog are raw or lightly cooked lean meats (no bone) and veggies/fruits, eggs (probably just 1 egg/week for a teeny dog like a yorkie), canned sardines in water with no salt added (their spinal bone is okay to give), plain yoghurt/kefir, and safe seasonings like the ones mentioned above (a pinch of cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, garlic are totally fine). Also coconut oil and canned pumpkin (the plain one, not the pie-filling cans) – the latter can help your dog’s tummy when introducing new foods. You can add a teaspoon of canned pumpkin with every meal at which new food is present, and watch the stool. If it is still bad, back off the new food, and give just pumpkin or just his BB kibble until the stool is normal. Sometimes probiotics and digestive enzymes may help strengthen his/her gut too.
It is really good to supplement a dry kibble with canned or otherwise wetter food, or any of the fresh foods mentioned above. So maybe try that for your pup, and good luck!
I would like suggestions for dry dog food that helps produce firmer stools.
Thank you! I copied and pasted it to an email I sent myself. Aren’t you proud of me? Hee hee! You are going to make us all techies yet!
However, I just realized it is only for dry food. Darn!
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This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by crazy4cats.
I think you should put your dog on a dehydrated food like The Honest Kitchen. Their ingredients are all high quality and manufactured in the USA in a human food plant. The only other company that can say that is Weruva. I agree that canned would be the more expensive way to go, but as Marie alluded to, you are spending quite a bit of money at the vet I would imagine. Whichever way you go, I would definitely get your dog off dry kibble. Try dehydrated and give it a chance. Good luck and please post back and let us know how things are going.
Koda likes acana, this is the only food he will eat. Fit and Light. I think I am feeding him too much of it, as he still isn’t losing weight. He is sooo fat, I need your help fast. Thanks ahead of time for your assistance 🙂
I can’t help with the leakage but I wanted to comment on the crystals. A previous dog had recurrent crystals. My vet said special food wasn’t necessary. It’s very important to get enough fluid into your dog. Dry food is the worst; wet food is best: raw, dehydrated, canned. If you must feed dry, please add canned & water to it. Aldo make sure he has ample opportunity to urinate. My vet also told me to give my dog one vitamin C tablet but don’t do that without talking to your vet.
4 year old lab mix 70 lbs. in April 2013, she had a bladder/urinary track infection. Found out she had struvites. She had been eating EARTHBORN Whitefish. Some time later, leaking began. After talking to makers of EARTHBORN, we switched to adult vantage. Also began supplementing with Solid Gold cranberry powder. Struvites and leaking continued. In June 2014, had urine tested and everything came back normal, even the pH. Except she still had struvites and was still leaking. Finally gave in to putting her on Royal Canin OS. Vet has been insisting for a year that she has to be on it, and for the rest of her life! Called 2 other vets that said it was the only option for struvites. No one would address the urine leakage as long as she had the crystals. After 2 months, crystals were gone, but but still leaking. Tried INCURIN for 3 weeks, still leaking. Switched to PROPAC GRAIN FREE, and started PROIN ON 7/22/14, and also started the Solid Gold again. On 9/13, she leaked. Did a urine test at the vet and pH was 7. Vet says only option is the ROYAL CANIN, bc pH is going up. I checked pH at home today and it said 8. She leaked even when struvites were gone, but we keep being told leaking is bc of crystals and pH going up. I can’t afford, and don’t want our dog to be on the ROYAL CANIN for life! Isn’t there any affordable, dry dog food, that will lower pH? And prevent crystals? PLEASE, PLEASE, HELP! I don’t understand why this is so hard to treat and don’t believe the only option is ROYAL CANIN.
Hi melissaandcrew:
Ray T started a thread asking for advice on Miniature Schnauzers; I remember reading you have owned several (and maybe still have one or two?) and I hope you see this.
/forums/topic/low-fat-dry-food-for-a-minature-schnauzer/#post-53029
Hi katj813:
Look into C4c’s suggestion about Freshpet. Freshpet is a refrigerated food that is not canned, not raw, would mix easily with a dry food, and it is a kibble shape that pours easily from the bag. It is also easy to find at pet stores, grocery stores, and Wal-Mart.
USA — I am looking at the fructosamine test from March and it says the reference range is 260-358. I remember my vet saying that he was in the range that might require us to lower his insulin but she didn’t want to do that because he was doing so well. The specialist always tells me to not treat the numbers but to treat the dog. Per the explanation on the results, 260 is just above the range that might mean prolonged hypoglycemia. I am home all day so I observe his behavior. He does not drink a lot or act like he’s unhappy. He is quite content. The specialist says a happy dog is the goal so to stop worrying. (easy to say!!!) Neither vet was the least bit concerned about the 250 glucose reading when he was off insulin. They expected him to be much higher. My vet talked to the Vetsulin people and many other specialists. She calls anybody and everybody to get consultations on this little dog. He goes for his thyroid and fructosamine test in a couple weeks so I will have new numbers and will post them here. As for the thyroid, since he has been on the thyroxine, he has tested normal every time. I really hoped that was the problem but the full panel done last year showed everything was normal. In fact, the most frustrating part of this whole story is that we can’t get my dog to test positive for anything that will give us a new idea for how to treat him. He is the most abnormal “normal” dog in the world.
sue62b – I paid big bucks to two different companies that specialize in vet formulated recipes for dogs. When I saw the final results, I was a bit skeptical. The amount of food they advised was less than what I feed now and it was so amazingly healthy. Yes, that’s a good thing, but maybe not for a skinny dog??? For example, lean chicken breast – broiled, with a tiny bit of chickpeas and a dash of corn oil. It came to about .25 cup. (with a vitamin supplement added but no calories in the supplement) I don’t like corn oil due to GMOs but that’s another story.
Another recipe had lots and lots of broccoli. Does anybody have a very picky dog who would willingly eat broccoli?? And, of course, I researched every single ingredient they told me to feed him and I had a few issues with broccoli. They told me I wasn’t feeding enough to cause harm but why would I feed anything that might be dangerous? There was a study done that showed broccoli could cause problems in dogs but they told me it was not a proven fact and many dogs eat it and there are no problems at all. That’s not good enough for me. 🙂
I did try the Wellness Duck and Oatmeal. Duck is a preferred protein per my Traditional Chinese Medicine vet. Duck is “cool” so it counters the “hot” diabetes. Turkey is also “cool”. Lamb is “warm” but I may try that one too. My boy was not super crazy about the Duck and Oatmeal. It would be great if he’d eat it because there is a store that sells it right by my favorite grocery store. I am keeping Chewy.com in business with my many orders of almost every food they sell! I had good luck with ZiwiPeak canned food but only one type was considered tasty by my boy and that one became unavailable in January. It cost $5 per can, by the way. 🙂
I do use didgestive enzymes, plus coconut oil because my TCM vet said it adds calories and is another “cool” food.
He has always preferred dry kibble and right now he likes the Nulo food but he used to like Fromm and he was heavier at that time so I just ordered more Fromm. (they have a duck recipe)
Thank you for the info on K9Kitchen. I will check it out!!
Good luck with Patch. If you have access to vets who went to the Chi Institute, they have all sorts of herbal supplements that might help you. I used Liver Happy back when my boy had slightly elevated levels. His next test showed a reading of 45, as I recall, which was fantastic. Even the Chi TCM vet was amazed. Unfortunately the Chi blends for diabetes contain cinnamon and my boy will throw up cinnamon every single time. That is really a shame because that herbal remedy gets rave reviews from other parents of diabetic dogs.
Thank you both!!!!
