[Dawn R]

Thanks all!

She is an English bulldog… And will be joining my existing crew of 2 pugs that are 5 and 6 years old. It’s been a while since I’ve had a puppy so want to make sure I start out on the right foot. My pugs have been on raw for years and stay healthy and lean on it. Back when I was a newbie dog owner I used to feed beneful so I’ve come a long way in dog nutrition.

I’ve picked out a few foods…..stella and Chewys raw, some ziwipeak dehydrated, and acana and Origen dry food. The breeder has her on Royal Canine mini starter and not sure if I should transition right away to new food. Any suggestions?

Should I be feeding 2 or 3 times a day….. ?

I saw a few products online geared to puppies, has anyone used Whollistic Pet colostrum, missing link for puppies, or Puppy Gold. They all seem like transition type products.

Getting excited….. I get her in 12 days!

[Qi X]

Hi Hound Dog Mom
I have a 8 weeks old standard poodle puppy (she is 11 pound now,her dad mom are about 50 pound)and a 4 years old toy poodle(8 pound).Any suggestion of which brand dog dry food good for poodle? Sorry maybe you had wrote about it to somebody eles before, but I didnt read all the 70 pages, english is not my first language, It is kind of hard to read all that pages and it will take a long time to read and do translate at the same time..Thank you so much!

[crazy4cats]

Hi-
I remember the link also, but I don’t have it. However, I just looked through the Solid Gold dry food review thread because I remember HDM stating a few times which lines were not made by Diamond. This is what I found: Barking at the Moon, Sun Dancer, Holistique Blendz and MMillennia are not made by Diamond. She (HDM) really likes Barking at the Moon and Sun Dancer. Hope this helps!

[Michele N]

I have a 5 year old German Shepherd who has had allergies since he was just a pup. We have tried just about everything out on the market to relieve his itching. He has itched his fur off at times, and it is black underneath. He has a yeasty smell to him. He had to be on steroid shots when he was younger due to his terrible outbreaks and skin infections. He gets worse in the summer, but his problem went year round. Until I got sick of having him on high doses of Benadryll and taking him to the vet for the allergy medicine, which really didn’t help the problem, just gave him a little relief. After a year of me spending hours of researching nutrition , and yeast problems in dogs, I stumbled upon a dog food, that pretty much saved my dogs life. It is Dr. E’s Limited Ingredient Grain and Potato Free Food. It only contains 5 ingredients. For the first time in his life, my dogs fur grew back and he stopped itching and he didn’t smell anymore. I also have him on supplements, probiotics, digestive enzymes by Mercola, Jointsaver, & Lysine. This spring came all the pollens and grass which he is also allergic to, and he started itching again. Although this time he didn’t scratch off his fur. He just had some hot spots, and so I had a friend suggest trying Dinovite, because he said it was helping his dog. I can say that since I put him on this supplement, about a week and a half, he has been itching himself until he bleeds. I emailed the company and they said that was not enough time for the product to work. So I continued a couple more days, and now I am ready to toss this stuff in the garbage. I am so steaming furious, that this company would put out a product that contains yeast as an ingredient, and a ground grain sorghum, and then tell you to put your dog on a yeast and grain free diet, makes no sense to me. I don’t know where they source their ingredients, maybe China, I don’t know, but what I do know is that my dog hasn’t been this bad off in years. He has red bumps all over his legs, back, stomach, groin, even his tail. He is so miserable, that now I may have to have him go back on the terrible medicine I wanted him off of. He has bad hips and elbows and arthritis, so the last thing he needs to be on are steroids. But now it seems as if he has a horrible skin infection after being on this product. We haven’t changed anything else in his diet , so I know for sure, that this reaction is caused from the Dinovite. I absolutely DO NOT recommend giving ANY dog this product that has allergies, immune disorders, pancreatic disorders, or skin problems. He was doing oK, with his allergies, he was itchy, but he didn’t have these red bumps all over his body, and he wasn’t scratching himself bloody. Now I am going to have a huge vet bill, on top of a very miserable dog. I am One very UNHAPPY customer. I should have known better. The less ingredients he has in his diet , the better. There is no miracle cure for allergies, and any product that claims to be, is lying. The only thing you can really do, is limit your dogs ingredients, find a food that has limited ingredients or feed a raw diet so that you know exactly what your dog is eating. Use human grade supplements recommended by a holistic vet, and research dog nutritionists and find one and talk to one if you can. And if you dog is allergic to pollen and grass like mine is, give them baths frequently after they’ve been outside. I use Zymox enzymatic shampoo and rinse. I also have used Dermagic and all of their products are fantastic, especially the hot spot salve. It doesn’t just sooth the itchy skin, it takes the hot spots away. I am mad that I got sucked in to this SCAM at my dogs expense!

[Akari_32]

Daaaang, that is a good price! I may look into that…. lol I have so much dry food right now, and probably 20 cans, for the big dogs that I don’t know if I even have the space for anything else! I wonder how long it’ll be on sale for….? I’ll swing by in a couple days and check it out lol

I was really liking the looks of this canned food for Bentley because it was salmon based, which should give him some extra good stuff for his skin, but I see that it has Selenium Yeast in it. Thoughts?

http://www.petflow.com/product/Artemis/artemis-osopure-salmon-formula-canned-dog-food

[Bobby dog]

C4c & Anita:
Those amounts that C4c wrote in her post about feeding her cats is almost exactly how I feed my cats and they are mostly outdoor kitties.

My big hyperthyroid kitty gets a little more canned food when he wants it. His weight is good and since he has health issues I figure he needs a little extra nourishment. He eats the best out of all my kitties because he is not finicky. My other kitties are still addicted to fish, dry food, and kitty crack (a.k.a. Purina). lol

Akari:
Pick up some more by Nature since it’s still on sale along with the EVO 95%. IMO that’ll do for a rotation for now and both foods are within your budget.

I quickly looked at PS selections and keeping your budget in mind and ruling out Simmons I believe EVO is your only choice for a balanced 95%; nice choice IMO. I’ll check out the GF selections to see if there is something you might want to consider as a back-up when I have a bit more time.

I don’t blame you for wanting to stick with 95% foods, I am sure this is really helping to heal his skin. I fed (and still do) PB 95% for two months straight, maybe more, without rotating any other canned foods while I was getting Bobby’s yeasty/dermatitis skin healed. That was the only 95% that fit my budget other then when I could find other brands on sale. I think Bentley having two nice brands is pretty good! 🙂

Do you need to stock up on canned food for your guys? Did you see the awesome deal they had on Solid Gold canned food? If there was a PS near me I would be buying out their stock of Solid Gold! 😉
http://www.petsupermarket.com/products/petsupermarket/dog/dog-food/solid-gold-dog-food.aspx

[crazy4cats]

Anita-
I’m going back to your how much to feed the cats question. There is a formula on the catinfo site that helps. I determined my cats (4) are fed between 110 to 150 calories each. My big male who is about 15lbs. gets the most. I figure that the average canned food is about 30 cals per ounce. My average dry food is about 390 cals per cup. They each get about 3.5 to 4 oz of canned per day. The extra calories needed are made up with kibble that I measure with a table spoon so I don’t over feed. My cats are indoor only so they are more apt to get chubby. I don’t mix the dry and canned together in case they don’t like one of them they will eat the other. I had to mix together for a while with my shelter kitty to get him to eat canned as he was a crunchy addict. Lol! I don’t have the formula written down in my notes, sorry!

Akari-
I like the By Nature canned food. It stays soft which makes it easy to mix. I use it now and then in addition to Pure Balance and the Kirkland canned. Good luck!

[Regina D]

Betsy: What is “ACV” and What is “avid”?

Got results back on stool specimen – negative. I will check with my regular vet early next week (there is a sub vet on Th,Fr,Sat) to see what was tested & where to go from here.

I am currently treating it as food intolerance. (He has no skin problems, so I don’t think it is a food allergy). He has had 2 meals of Home-cooked chicken & rice with a chicken & rice only canned food (Canidae). So far, so good, He didn’t do well on Dr. Tim’s dry.
If that doesn’t work, I will try an “unusual” protein, like lamb & rice or duck & rice.

[Regina D]

Thanks. I took a stool sample to vet this AM. Alf was treated about 10 days ago with Metronizadole for giardia. Today I asked them to check for worms & parasites, including coccydia.
I had just finished another 2 days with chicken & rice and started adding dry food back (Dr. Tim’s) yesterday. This morning Alf had the rumbling stomach again and won’t eat. We gave him a Pepto Bismal (per vet advice) and took the sample to the vet. The saga continues…
Everyone has been so helpful.

[Bret O]

Found the answer in another reply. Thanks to Hound Dog Mom:

Hi yevincent –
Yes – calcium needs to be converted to a dry matter basis for wet foods due to the high moisture content. Calculating calcium levels on a kcal. basis (versus percent of weight basis) is the most accurate way to evaluate the appropriateness of foods as it accounts for varying caloric densities between different foods. For a large breed puppy you’d want to feed a food with 3.5 g. calcium per 1,000 kcal. or less. I’ll walk you through the calculation. Let’s say the food comes in a standard 13.2 oz. can, has 400 kcal. per can and the company tells you there is 0.3% calcium on an as-fed basis.
1) Convert 13.2 oz. to grams (easier to perform calculations using grams): (13.2 oz.)(28 grams/1 oz.) = ~397 g.
2) Calculate how many grams of calcium are in the can of food: (397 g.)(0.003) = 1.19 g. calcium per can.
3) Calculate how many grams of calcium per 1,000 kcal.: (1.19 g. calcium per can)/(400 kcal. per can) = 0.00298 g. calcium per kcal. (0.00298 g. calcium per kcal.)(1,000 kcal.) = ~2.98 g. calcium per 1,000 kcal.
————————————
If you wanted the calcium level on a percent basis:
1) 100% – % Moisture = % Dry Matter
2) [(As Fed Calcium %)/(% Dry Matter)] X 100%
BTW – I’d highly recommend Tripett as a canned topper for large breed puppies. It’s not a complete and balanced food as it’s green tripe only but it makes a great topper if you’re feeding a balanced kibble. Green tripe is high in protein and naturally has a balanced calcium to phosphorus ratio but contains very low levels of each (only about 0.3% calcium on a dry matter basis if I recall correctly). The best part is dogs go nuts for it.

[Linda H]

I just joined this “Editors Choice” section – glad I did because I was spending many hours reading reviews ! I want a dry dog food that is 4 or 5 stars – possibly grain free – but I don’t want chicken and turkey at the beginning of the ingredient list. He has issues with chicken and turkey. His present food has pork and beef – so I was really happy to read about Whole Earth Farms Grain free recipe with Beef and Lamb….even though that is the name of it – the first ingredient is Pork. Well now I am going to see if it is available where the website said it is -that info sometimes not reliable, so I will call tomorrow.
Was this company bought by Merrick ? I hope it is a good company. It is important to me that it is made where it says and not outsourced, or private labeled, or subcontracted. I want to just have confidence and stay with a company that is well established.
I am also interested in the Hearty Beef Stew Grain free by Whole Earth Farms – canned.

[Anita L]

Akari,
At Sam’s it’s BetterBody Foods Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (56 oz) for $14.98.

Bobby’s Mom,
Again…WOW!
I have checked out the links and love them. Can’t wait to get over to the cat site. I read a piece of it the other day and am very excited!

I have the food list (GF Potato Free). Money is an issue. We are a 1 income family (by choice) but I finally decided to suck it up on the dry food and re-arrange a few things to make that work. Now, I’ll be looking for ways to make the canned food fit in that budget. I have your list from earlier.

My other question on the canned food is how much to give them? Is it on the can or are there other suggestions? Considering I’m using it as a topper….

On the ACV…..I have a personal problem with it. A few years ago, I had a major soar throat that wouldn’t go away and felt like it was coated with fuzzy/fluffy stuff. So, in my infinite wisdom, I made this concoction “to help” (I did NOT want to go to the doctor for their steroid and antibiotics that I didn’t think I needed) of ACV, touch of ginger and cayenne, and honey and then I chugged it…..Until the next day, I just wanted to throw up! All I could taste was the ACV. I was so miserable. So I now laugh at myself (especially since I made and drank about 5-6 oz instead of 1-2 oz….more was NOT better! LOLOL)…but I still cringe at drinking ACV. But I will keep it in mind for my pups. 🙂

One last question….just to clarify. I figured out about refined coconut being best and that refined was the same as virgin. So is extra virgin good as well…just extra refined? I’m thinking yes b/c I want to say I remember one of your links to the one you use was extra virgin. But I want to make sure….especially before I buy more today.

[Anita L]

WOW!
Just…
WOW!

Y’all are ALL awesome!

Yes, this is all a lot to take it at one time. So I started a document where I could copy and paste and put it together by topic and sort it all out (or at least attempt to). I will definitely only be adding (or subtracting) 1 thing at a time. Right now, with the Miracle pack, good food and no treats, we’re already making positive steps and some improvement. I’m SO thankful I found this site and all of you!

I have stopped the bad treats that I have on hand. They will be going in the garbage.
The food they are getting is grain free. That has been in the last couple of months. I have still been working on which grain free doesn’t have the garbage…..Zolicylus, I like that you said start with NV Instinct Turkey Meal then transition to Brothers.

I’m still pondering adding the canned food as a topper…..I’ll have to remember to check the carbs in those.

On the Miracle Pack, that has been gradually stepping up to the correct dosage over the last couple of weeks and I can tell a big difference this week.

Sun or Mon, I was reading some of the links Bobby’s Mom posted about the Po/Iodine. I was making a mental note to go buy some and then realized I may already have it. I checked my first aid supplies and I DID have it. I was doin’-a-lil dance. I used it on the hot spots expecting Spocho to run. As soon as I layed that warm wash cloth with Po/Io solution on her, she just relaxed. It was awesome! She hasn’t been eating at it as much and the skin is looking better. One small step…..

I read something about soaking their feet in “Detol Antiseptic lotion” and then washing with Malaseb Shampoo. Exactly what is “Detol Antiseptic lotion” and where would you buy it (if at all)? The pups are now down to just chewing their feet (sometimes legs) and scratching their neck and ears. I have some tea tree hydrosol for the their ears, but was wondering about those poor feet.

As for the yeast…..I know all too well about it…from personal experience. When I learned, after having my daughter (now 7) that we both had yeast, I researched to the hilt to find out as much as possible and anything natural. One thing that helped us the most was a 1:10 vinegar solution on the yeast (showing on the outside); wipe with the vinegar solution, let air dry, then do an anti-fungal cream (rotating creams). Would it possibly help to soak their feet in the vinegar solution (instead of the Detol), then wash their feet….say in between baths?

The definitely always have clean water to drink whether they’re outside or in (mostly in now b/c of heat)…spoiled babies! LOL

Bobby’s mom, I did look at the activyl site and it said it was ok to bathe them after 24-48 hours. So Malaseb Shampoo, here we come! Hot Oil Treatment too if I can get help!

Coconut oil: definitely going to have to learn how to distract after applying it topically. Bobby’s mom, I’m glad you said that about checking the price club stores. We have a Sam’s Club and they have it! For SO much less than what I’ve been picking up at WalMart (hell on earth…IMO).

Bobby’s mom, it took me a while, but I was determined to check out all the links you posted. Great information. At least I feel like I have more of a plan now instead of taking “a stab in the dark” over and over. I downloaded the ABC e-book but I have not had a chance to read it. But I will be in the next few days.

I swear it has taken me 2 hours to put this together…pups want out, pups want in, daughter needs something, husband needs something, laundry, oh wait! cats are hungry too….LOL

And speaking of cats, now I’m realizing how I need to change their food and add probiotics, etc. Bless their hearts! It’s mother and daughter and they are old: 12 and 13. I don’t want them to be miserable for their last years. They still bring me prizes to the door…mostly birds.

This is all I can think of for now. I will be continuing to follow this post and will also update with results.

I just can’t say how wonderful it is to find ONE place like this for help! THANKS!!!!

[Bobby dog]

Akari:
That’s great to read!!!!!! 😀 Just stick with the shampoo from Petflow, it is clearing out the yeast on his skin. It contains the ingredients to kill off the yeast, unless you have some Malasab or Nolvasan (or the equivalent of Nolvasan from the drug store) on hand. The other shampoos you mentioned before have oatmeal or don’t have anything to kill the yeast and will just dry out his skin.

Treating the outside is as important as the food that goes in!!! Try to get the point across to your mom that she is contributing to his condition by feeding food that helps the yeast grow. It should be easy to convince her now since his hair is growing back! You are doing what is helping him, no carbs just protein.

And I read about your meat shopping spree! I am going to lobby my local grocery store to carry more raw meat choices for Bobby! haha I am jealous of your store’s selection.

[Akari_32]

Just an update on Bentleys new routine:

His hair is growing back, and he’s very noticeably less itchy. I keep meaning to get some whatever/iodine stuff, but when I get off work, the only thing on my mind is getting the heck outta there lol But I’ve been using that shampoo from PetFlow. Says to use it a few times a week for a month, then once a week after that. Do you think it would be ok to rotate through three different types of medicated shampoo? I’ve got some ProSence Allergy and Itch Shampoo in addition to that Vets Choice and whatever that Pet Flow stuff it.

But he loves his new foods (having quality issues with the PB right now, so he’s gotten raw for the last couple nights lol). Mom keeps insisting that he’s starving, and keeps feeding him treats and junk. I’m ready to kill her. Come to find out, she’s been feeding the cat as well. Not only does that screw my rotation up, but it wastes the food because he doesn’t eat later when he’s supposed to! She may come up missing…. Anyways, Bentley just needs to adjust to his new diet before I change how much I’m feeding him. Right now he’s getting a half can a day. I do think I’m gunna have to up it to 2/3 to 3/4 after a while. He has a bunch of raw treats, so I’m gunna try to avoid upping his canned, and just fatten him up on raw treats. We’ll see lol

Also, he’s starting to get tear stains. There is nothing I hate more on a dog than tear stains. I don’t think you understand I hate them lol Hopefully it’s just a detox thing from dry to canned, but if it persists, I won’t be happy.

[zcRiley]

ANITA, all this fantastic advice & info, huh? In case you’re overwhelmed, you can also reverse your process of elimination by eliminating everything plus all treats except for the Miracle Pack (start that with tiny tiny increments). My own pooch couldn’t wait for trial & error awhile back, I stopped everything cold turkey. Stopped the shots, the meds, everything. It was cleansing time.

START WITH: Nature’s Variety Instinct Turkey Meal Formula (Dry). It has ONE protein & does NOT contain grain, gluten, potato, dairy, eggs, chicken, beef, or fish (half of which feeds yeast/allergies etc). , just add 1/4 cup of water to your portion for moisture & the correct amount of the Miracle Pack). And absolutely nothing else. No treats. Hard to do? Yes, it is. Will your dogs survive? Yes, they will. Then you graduate to Brothers Complete Advanced Allergy Care dry food. You’ll see the ingredients & know what you just “added”. Then move on to grain free treats only.

No oatmeal anything shampoo (feeds yeast). If medicated shampoos give an allergic reaction, try Aroma Paws Rosemary Tea Tree (Yeast & Bacteria Healing Formula), it’s all natural. There’s a matching spray, too.

Trifexis is the best (fleas). Comfortis is good but not for ticks.

And lots & lots of clean water to drink. Good luck with whatever method you choose!

[DogFoodie]

It’s definitely fine to use wet food as a topper for kibble. Kibble alone is very highly processed. I also think Dr. Tim’s is a great product and if you ever have occasion to need to speak to Dr. Tim, he is a wonderful, kind and very helpful man. He’s a pretty funny guy, too.

There are lots of great people foods you can use to top your dogs foods with. Whole fresh foods are great for dogs! Lean fresh meats, fresh cage free eggs or pureed fruits and dark leafy greens are wonderful. And, I can guarantee that Dr. Tim would also recommend this one, a sardine two or three times per week.

In the meantime, pureed canned pumpkin (NOT pie filling) is a great way to add fiber to your dog’s diet and will help to firm up loose stool. I always have a couple of cans on hand. It helps to regulate intestinal water and can be used to help both loose stool and constipation.

That said, I’m concerned about the WEF wet beef product being a problem for your dog. There have been a number of people having problems with the dry WEF beef food. Merrick has gone so far as to admit there was a problem, but has failed to respond and continues to sell it. You’re the first person I seem to recall identifying specifically that the WEF beef CANNED products caused a problem for your dog. Did you notice any unusual odors with the WEF wet food? In fact, I think it wouldn’t be out of line for you to contact Merrick AND report a problem with the food to the FDA. Do you still have any of the food labels or the food itself? Here’s a link to make a report with the FDA: http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/safetyhealth/reportaproblem/ucm182403.htm

[DogFoodie]

OK, so if I’m understanding you correctly, you were feeding Blue Buffalo canned food and when you finished that, you began using Whole Earth Farms canned food. The Blue Buffalo food was chicken based and the Whole Earth Farms was beef based. The vomiting and diarrhea started after you introduced the Whole Earth Farms wet food and when removed, the vomiting and diarrhea stopped.

In addition to the canned food, you also free feed Dr. Tim’s.

And now, you’ve purchased Nutro Natural Choice Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal and Canidae Chicken and Rice to replace, I believe, the beef based wet food you were feeding. Are the Nutro and Canidae foods also wet foods or dry foods?

It does sound as though some ingredient in the beef based wet food was the culprit. Also, I would not free feed. Over eating is probably the leading cause of loose stools. Not to mention, the fats can quickly go rancid when exposed to air, especially if you’re in a hot / humid climate.

Are you looking for suggestions to replace the wet food?

[Regina D]

Before the sickness, no change. When we first got him, we fed Blue Wilderness that we had left from previous pet. (By the way, he eats no treats, no table food, gets nothing from outside). When the BW was almost gone, we saw here that Whole Earth Farms, by Merrick, was top rated. We also leave out at all times, dry Dr. Tim’s (recommended here). We decided to try that (introduced by weaning off BW till gone). He did fine on that (adult or chicken/turkey formulas) for a few weeks. A couple of weeks ago, I tried the beef stew formula. In retrospect, that may be the culprit. While he was sick, chick & rice, then gradually adding his regular canned. Was tolerating. Yesterday I mixed in about 1/3 can of beef stew with his other food, and this morning the “grumbling” started again (wretching and not eating, no vomiting, no diarrhea). Today the pet food store people sold me Natural Choice chicken,rice,oatmeal (he doesn’t seem to be allergic to grains) and Canadae chicken/rice to try. I don’t like the ratings on these, but thought the chicken/rice formulas may be helpful till he gets better. I am not mixing, just trying the NC first. Someone said to try dry food only, or dry mixed with 1/2 can. Can be so confusing!! Everyone has a different opinion. And vets always want to use a prescription food – I don’t want to go that route if I don’t have to.

[Cait Y]

Hello everyone! I am new, and in need of advice. I have done a lot of research and still cannot find the correct food for my two Seniors. I have a Dobbie and a Walker hound – both are 15 years old. I originally had them for three years on chicken soup for the senior dog but due to this food being incredibly difficult to find anymore I have had to change dog food. Since then I have tried Canidae Grain Free Pure (Dry), Castor and Pollux Natural Ultramix Grain-Free (Dry), Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural (Dry), and Solid Gold Barking at the Moon (Dry). The Walker Hound (Forest) did not like the earthborn or solid gold, the wellness grain free was too rich for him (he got really gassy and he has had bloat before) and the others did not keep weight on the seniors. I am at my wits end, what was not too rich is not keeping weight on either dog. Any suggestions? Nothing is physically wrong with them, they check out with bloodwork and the yearly physical. I have upped the feed amount but the Forest doesn’t finish his food and Emma I mean 2 cups per feeding twice a day is a lot. Thanks in advance!
Red

[arwyru24]

For those of us that do not feel confident quite yet in feeding raw bones, I would like to find a safe and quality edible chew/bone type of treat. Something to occupy his time. I have been told to avoid pig ears.

Also, for training treats I have been using Ziwipeak daily dog venison and fish dry food, they are perfect little squares for training, and they’re very high interest, he loves them, we adjust his mealtime portion of his regular food to allow for these as treats and its actually a pretty cost effective way to treat I have found/

• This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by arwyru24.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Freeze-dried may or may not be raw. The process of freeze drying doesn’t use heat so if raw meat is freeze-dried the end product is raw, if cooked meat is freeze-dried the end process is cooked. Grandma Lucy’s cooks their meat prior to freeze-drying. If you want a raw freeze-dried product Stella & Chewy’s, Primal, Orijen, Nature’s Variety, Vital Essentials, Northwest Naturals and Dogswell Nutrisca (I’m sure there are others I’ve forgotten) all have some good options. Just be aware that freeze-dried foods are VERY expensive. Frozen raw is much cheaper, but a commercial frozen raw will still likely cost more to feed than kibble.

[Case]

So, is freeze dried food considered dry food? Is it better than kibble? What about canned?

If so, it could be the next step in the evolution of my feeding habits.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Bethany D –

Science Diet’s Large Breed Puppy formula has calcium levels appropriate for large breed growth. However, you may wish to check out the review for the food here.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.

[Anita L]

I am SO glad I found this convo! I live in AL (I am definitely seeing super fleas…ugh!) and am having the same problem with my 2 dogs. 1 is 55 lb aussie/blue heeler mix and the other is 100 lb lab mix. They are both miserable. I have been using Benedryl to help their itching, knowing its only temporary (and everybody needed some sleep). I have been working on the food and trying to deal with the yeast aspect as well.

So here’s my question:
Akari32, When you say you will be treating your home and yard with DE, what is DE? (probably a dumb question and something I should know, but I am so overwhelmed with all of this right now, I can’t even think of the simplest things). I have really benefited from following your “adventure” and BobbyDog’s helpful suggestions. THANKS to you both!

Also, Zolicylus, I have recently started on the Miracle Pack (one step in the right direction) and this is not the first time I’ve heard about using Brothers Complete Advanced Allergy Care. I have come SO close to buying it but keep holding out. Right now we are using Nutrisca Salmon & Chickpea. I’m seeing a switch in the near future. So THANK YOU!

[aimee]

As I also do a fair bit of R+ training, I like the training “treats” I use to be small, about the size of a pencil eraser. Otherwise I need it hold together well so I can cut it up without ending up with a handful of crumbs. Uniformity is a bonus. I prefer moist over dry for training but I do use freeze dried liver. I often use fresh foods.

For general “treats” I think they should be portion controlled, calorie controlled and from a company with a strong reputation for quality control.

[OnyxMom]

Hello everyone!

I have a 5.5 month old Newfoundland Standard Poodle mix puppy (Onyx) who weighed in at about 60 pounds 2 weeks ago. We were feeding him Blue Buffalo large breed but the food doesnt agree with him, he itches constantly on it. And, his poop is Never good. I hate picking up mushy mess always. gross.

So, I was thinking about switching to Taste of the Wild’s salmon stream puppy formula, He was on this food before we got him and he loved it and was doing well on it. Im picking TOTW because of the following reasons:
1. It’s actually pretty reasonably priced for a 4 star food (on DFA) and I am a grad student so money is an issue.
2. The calcium content is at 1.4% and as recommended in this article (http://www.ivcjournal.com/articles/feeding-large-breed-puppies/) since it should be around 1.5% it seems okay to me.
3. The salmon is supposed to be good for his coat, he has the poodle hair, and I would like for it to be shinier than it is now.
4. He loves salmon anything.

I’d say Onyx is quite healthy and has a BCS of 4. Other than the occasional bout of diarrhea especially if he’s been digging up dirt, he is pretty happy and healthy.

Can anybody tell me if this is a terrible idea please? Here’s the link for the TOTW nutritional information – http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/products/puppies/dry_food/pacific_stream_puppy_formula/

Thank you!

[Karen M]

What about Nature’s Domain Dry food, a Kirkland brand. You gave their canned turkey/pea 5 stars.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Zach-
I give my dogs canned every morning with their breakfast. In the evening they get either sardines, eggs, dehydrated, or frozen raw nuggets with their Kibbles. If we have healthy leftovers, I’ll throw those on too!
I think it’s really healthy to add to dry food. Good luck!

[arwyru24]

I only very recently started buying canned food online, because I was worried about getting damaged merchandise, but all of the local stores have started to really raise prices so high that I can get a very substantial discount purchasing online and I am on a pretty tight budget and I use a lot of canned cat food so it was worth it to try. So far I have ordered 4 months worth, so 4 orders, 1 from Pet360, and 3 from Chewy and I have been really very pleasantly surprised. Now I did get one case of Wellness canned cat food (the big cans) that had 3 cans that were severely dented, so I contacted Chewy and they sent me a new case for free (all of the cans were 100% perfect in the replacement case) right away, so it arrived 2 days later, and they didnt ask me to send anything back or go through any of that hassle. They just suggested that I consider donating any of the “salvageable” or bonus cans to a shelter. It worked out being like 9 free 12.5oz cans of which I put 6 in my donation box (just being honest), but I do buy a lot to donate, I currently have about 75 cans of various sizes to bring in as well as about 30lbs of dry food. So the long and short is that I have been pleasantly surprised so far.

[Case]

Have I read too much today and confused myself? It appears that it’s more cost effective to feed raw than high end kibble. Am I overlooking something here?

http://www.chewy.com/dog/grandma-lucys-pureformance-grain/dp/36506
-vs-
http://www.chewy.com/dog/orijen-puppy-grain-free-dry-dog-food/dp/29733

[DogFoodie]

Hi Paula,

Take a look at this thread: /forums/topic/dry-dog-food-with-low-salt-and-low-fat/

Scroll down to the second post. Gina S did a bunch of research and shared her findings regarding the sodium content of a number of different foods.

[Denise T]

I started feeding Blue Buffalo about 6 months ago and one of my shih tzu started having soft stools which this week developed into bloody diarrhea. I didn’t know about the carrageenan but it wasn’t in his previous food and he didn’t start having problems until I gave him the canned food. I had thought the Blue Buffalo was a good choice due to all the great reviews I’ve read and now I believe it has made my youngest really sick. I thought I was doing a good thing by limiting dry food and doing research, but it wasn’t enough!!

[D. M]

Hi TheBCnut,

Thanks for the feedback. I thought that too, which is why I tried Natural Balance LI, both dry and canned, and home made food, but she still had either very loose stools or diarrhea. At the point where we were trying different foods, we were 2 months with those digestive issues and I was concerned about her health during that crucial stage of development, so I was willing to put her on the DCO just to control her. I’m wondering what it is about the DCO which controls her diarrhea? If I could figure that out, I would look for a high quality food that has those properties. In searching the internet, it looks like it might be the high fiber in DCO that might be balancing out her stools. Has anyone had luck with adding psyllium to their dog’s food, or knows of another high fiber food for large breed dogs?

[Jackie B]

A 3 star food is average for that type of food. Your average DRY dog food may not be as good as your average RAW or WET dog food. So a 3 star wet or raw dog food may be superior to a 3 star dry food. I typically look for 4 or 5 star rated foods within the category that I feed to my two dogs.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Justine-
I have had similar issues with my dogs, however, they did have parasites. I’ve tried several supplements as well. Currently, I feed Victor grain free joint and health kibble. I use various toppers such as canned, raw, dehydrated and fresh mixed in. I almost always use a digestive enzyme and an occasional probiotic. They are doing much better now. I strongly suggest checking out dogaware.com website as they have so much information on digestive issues. If you are looking to change dry food, give Victor a try. Many on this site have done well with it. Also, plain pure pumpkin might be a great addition to your dog’s food. It is very healthy and adds fiber that is both helpful for constipation and loose stools. The supplements that I have used with success that I discovered from dogaware are: Gastriplex, Vetri Pro BD, Perfect Form and Phytomucil. I hope you find a winning combination because I know how frustrating your situation is. Cleaning up runny poop is not a good thing! Good luck.

[Justine L]

Hi I have an almost 11 month old Rottweiler and the first 6 months he was on puppy Pedigree dry/canned and his bowel movements were perfect. I switched to Eagle Pack Original dry and Wellness core grain free canned. Which he loves! Licks the bowl clean to a T! However, he has had very soft stool all the time and frequently has diarrhea. I have taken several stool samples to vet results were negative for any parasites. I have also tried fortiflora, a probiotic and added plain yogurt with live cultures…and Metronidazole 500mg (anti-diarrhea abx) BID for 5 days here and there which sometimes helps. But I believe it is his food just not agreeing with him. I know it’s high quality and expensive food. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Justine L]

Hi I have an almost 11 month old Rottweiler and the first 6 months he was on puppy Pedigree dry/canned and his bowel movements were perfect. I switched to Eagle Pack Original dry and Wellness core grain free canned. He has had very soft stool all the time and frequently has diarrhea. I have taken a several stool samples to vet results were negative for any parasites. I have also tried fortiflora, a probiotic and added plain yogurt with live cultures…and Metronidazole 500mg BID for 5 days here and there which sometimes helps. But I believe it is his food just not agreeing with him. I know it’s high quality and expensive food. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[zcRiley]

Hi Akari 32! I know it’s frustrating & expensive when your precious pooch has signs of a miserable existence. I’ll be very brief as I want to throw out FOUR key items to attack and most importantly resolve the origin of the problem. Spend the money, keep the routine simple (stop adding things), be patient for results. Malaseb Shampoo. The Miracle Pack (Probiotic Miracle & Enzyme Miracle for a healthy digestive system). Brothers Complete Advanced Allergy Care (Dry Dog Food). As a reminder, a lot of raw food or canned food is NOT a “complete” diet, which in turn you have to start adding things (more money). Maybe you can save some money for a full blood work panel testing in the near future if all else fails. I wish you & your pups the very best of luck.

[Jean Ann]

Cardiologist Dr. Charla Jones (Austin, TX) sees my Cavaliers, and she says the high protein, grain free dry foods are too rich for my dogs. Too much protein is hard on the kidneys, etc. Also, my dogs tend to gain weight on it (bad for their hearts); their normal weights range from 17 to 19 lbs. The other dry foods that are not rated well. My Cavaliers get very high grade fish oil twice daily and are doing beautifully heart-wise. Limited ingredients have about 21% – 24% protein and doesn’t taste very good, but they’ll eat it.
Also our 6 month old, 7 lb grand dog, Lily, gets dark gunk in her ears when eating the Victor dry and she started having congestion and a wet nose wheeze when on Merrick grain-free, but that could be seasonal allergies, I guess. At a loss as to what to feed her.
We fed Muenster organic for years. NEED HELP Any help out there?
Many thanks, Jean Ann Jones

[Jean Ann]

Three Cavalier, two with MVD but stage 0. Looking for well-balanced dry food

[Bobby dog]

Hey Akari:
I am very jealous of your Wal-Mart experience. I just spent the afternoon there today, lol. First I stopped at my local pet shops for sales and to use my Wellness & Holistic coupons. My fav pet store gave me 10 lbs of samples, yeahhhh! By the time I made it to Wal-Mart I was pretty well stocked up. I did find they had the Beef stew and the Turkey & Chic 95%, which mine normally does not stock; they always have all the chicken recipes. I went through self checkout and forgot to scan my coupons. I had to go to customer service. There was only one employee taking care of a line of five people. Finally she called for help. So I had my fill of Wal-Mart, but I am going to ask someone again next time I go! 🙂

Then I went to TSC to stock up on horse feed, dog and cat food. They sent through a 10% off everything coupon. They were completly wiped out of 4Health for cats, ugggggggh!

Tomorrow I am heading to Pets Supply Plus to use my $5 off $20 coupon. They sent through an e-mail coupon for 1/2 off Cali Nat’l, Evo, or Innova dry dog or cat food. After these shopping trips, if they don’t eat what I have, they will starve for the next month. lol

I am glad you saw the post! Every now and then I come across something that I find interesting and I think might help (I hope it’s not too annoying! lol). Anyway, I also stumbled across some flea prevention info that might interest you as well. I believe it would be a less costly way to administer the same products you have chosen for your dogs recently for flea meds, but it will also include HW preventative.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Jennifer P-
Welcome to DFA! First of all, there is no such thing as a perfect food. It is best, in many people’s opinions on this site, to feed a variety to your dogs. There is an article in the review site’s library about diet rotation. I have fed Blue in the past, but thought they were too expensive for what you get. Right now, I am feeding my dogs grain free Victor dry kibble. I also add a different topper almost every meal so they can get different benefits from the different foods. I’m not a Blue hater but probably would not feed it again. Find at least one more kibble that is a different brand with a different protein and starch binder to give them some variety. Print the best dry food list and bring it to the pet store with you, or even better yet, check them out on the internet on their own sites to compare. Also you can start adding canned, dehydrated, raw, eggs and/or sardines to their kibble to make it even healthier. Good luck!

[crazy4cats]

My dogs’ don’t seem to do very well with peas either. The two dry kibbles that I like so far are Victor grain free and Nature’s Logic. However, neither are considered limited ingredient. Also, have you tried adding any type of digestive enzyme to their food? The Honest Kitchen makes a supplement called Perfect Form that seems to help my dogs. I wish you luck!

[InkedMarie]

For crystals, it’s important they get plenty of moisture. Dry food is the worst you can feed but if you must, add canned & warm water. Better is canned, raw or dehydrated.

[Debbie S]

Where do I start? Some background – back in 2013 our home consisted of two parrots, a cat, Mandy a 13 yr. old female Sheltie, Shadow an 11 yr. old male Sheltie, Roxie a 4 yr. old Pomeranian and two parents. About Sept. 2013 I was stupidly giving the dogs Milo’s Chicken Jerky (small pieces), when Mandy became ill. She was vomiting, had diarrhea and was very lethargic. We admitted her to the Vet hospital and she was put on IV’s for a couple of days but there was no helping her at this point and it was recommended putting her to sleep. We did and I started researching and found about the chicken being from China! I felt horrible and wanted to die right along with Mandy. I had obviously been poisoning my babies and Mandy wasn’t strong enough to fight it.
Fast forward to May 2014. We had been feeding Blue Buffalo Senior Grain Free dry and Blue Buffalo Family Favorite Recipes (various chicken/turkey flavors) mixture twice a day. Every single treat that we gave was made in the U.S.A. Shadow stopped eating any treats that were hard, would eat around the kibble and started acting strange even for him. At that point we started cooking chicken breast and white rice. (Then we find out rice can be toxic also). None of the dogs ever turned down the sweet potato that I give daily to the parrots. We took him to the vet thinking he may be having teeth problems. Nothing. Maybe a slight gum infection so he was put on a mild antibiotic. He still had his slight heart murmur but nothing to worry about. Exactly a week later on May 7th he was really restless, couldn’t find a place to lay down and about 11:30 pm he came out of the bedroom panting extremely heavy and drooling, I knew immediately something was wrong, woke up my husband, and called the vets for the emergency location. We hopped in the car, with me carrying him and he was panting louder than I’ve ever heard anyone breathe. We were almost there when Shadow bucked up into my chest and flopped down. He was gone.. supposedly by heart attack and they pronounced him DOA.

Now we only have Roxie and she has been as depressed as we are. She’s normally a little pig with treats and always cleaning others bowls if they walked away. She basically stopped eating, laid around and was totally depressed. Knowing this, we gave her time because she wasn’t acting ill and since she was a little overweight it wouldn’t hurt her to not eat as much as normal. Then she started turning down hard treats, and not eating the kibble in her food just like Shadow did. We took her to the vets after a couple of weeks of this because I was so anxious after the last couple of years and losing two of our babies. The vet took X-rays and a full panel of blood work. When he laid her on her back, her tongue turned blue so he was concerned. But her blood work was perfect and the only thing showing on the X-rays was the extra fat she was carrying which is effecting her breathing and probably the cause of her blue tongue.

We changed her food because she has to lose 1.5 – 2 pounds so we tried Hill’s Ideal Balance Slim and Healthy Adult mixed with the comparable canned food which was weird for us because we had always steered away from anything of Hill’s. Now after reading about it I want to stop feeding her that even though she loves it and is eating well again.

I need advice on what to feed a large framed five year old Pomeranian currently weighing 11 1/2 lbs. who needs to weigh no more than 10 lbs. She has arthritis starting in her knees and has just recently started constantly licking her lips. In the past we have just let them run the fenced back yard using the doggy door but I’ve started taking Roxie on nightly walks to help the weight loss along.

I’m thinking of Wellness Core Reduced Fat & the canned Weight Maintenance mixed or one of the Merrick choices. Any suggestions are appreciated since this seems like a very intelligent group.

• This topic was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by Debbie S.

[Tyler B]

I think a great addition to each food listing would be the dry matter digestibility percentage for the company’s foods. Or if they aren’t willing to provide numbers for each food, at least a range. Merrick, for example, provided a range of 79-83% digestibility for their foods.

(As a note to anyone not familiar with this percentage, many pet food manufacturers know this number for their foods and it is a measure of how much food goes into the body, and is actually absorbed by the body. Unfortunately, very few companies ever report these numbers.)

[Amy B]

Hi everyone,
I’m finding this thread quite interesting. My 2.5 year old Maltese x Pomeranian has been diagnosed with atopic dermatitis. He is allergic to fleas, dust mites and has food allergies. We still haven’t gotten the food part down pat yet and are a bit unsure what to do.
When he was younger he used to be on kangaroo mince and veggies, or beef and veggies. He seemed to be allergic to these so the vet suggested we put him on a novel protein of goat and sweet potato. He was doing well on this diet until the goat was costing us $80 per 3 weeks!
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we should put him on?
Lisa D I also heard from a pet store employee that fish is good for them. Could you explain to me more how long your dog has been on this diet for? And also why you spray him with white vinegar?
I was told to purchase fish mince from BARF dog Big Dog pet food range (all natural) but I saw it contained fine chicken bones (only after I purchased it) but I wanted to see how he would go on dry food as well. Has anyone had any positive experiences with sensitive skin dry food products?
PS. I’m from Australia

Thanks in advance! 🙂

[arwyru24]

I did have a good experience the first time I ordered from Chewy… I got a case of 12 large cans of the Wellness turkey formula and a few of them were pretty severely dented and so I just went to chewys website and went to the live chat feature (which I’ve never used before on a website) and asked them if there was anything I could do, thinking they might be willing to credit my account the value of the dented cans and instead they sent out a brand new case the next day and that one when it arrived was perfect. I think I had 3 dented cans so that was 9 free cans. I am donating most of them. But I am not prepared to order a whole case of something new cause like you said….who knows.

So I was down by Petsmart today, so I stopped in to get another $1 Authority deal, and I asked them if I could take 2 of the 5.5oz pate cans instead of the 3.5 oz tubs (the bigger cans are cheaper anyway at 80cents vs 90cents) and it turns out the regular 5.5oz cans of the Authority are part of that deal, the coupon on the shelf was just confusing. I am still so excited about this one. Two 5.5oz cans of Authority pate, and one 4lb bag of Authority dry food came to 99cents plus 5cents tax = $1.04 total. Can’t beat it.

[aquariangt]

Shinku was a rescue cat, and has definitely been on dry food her whole life. I’ve had her for 4.5 years, so part of the fault lies in me. I gave up pretty quickly, feeding the dogs well, I was aware of what proper nutrition was but since she was so finicky kind of “called it good” with a grain free high protein dry food, until recently when I decided to take up the challenge of getting her on wet food again.