[weezerweeks]

Since June I’ve been trying to get my yorkie on just canned foods. He loves them. We’ve been on merrick,weruva,wellness stews, simply nourish, nature variety instinct. The problem is if I don’t add at least a tablespoon of dry he has soft stools. I have used pumpkin,probiotics and digestive enzymes and I’ve transitioned a long period . Will he ever have normal stools on just the canned. They are not loose just soft. It doesn’t bother him or me but is something wrong?

[LoDoVilla]

I’m absolutely terrified of anything sourced from China. I know that we are allowing them free reign to corner the markets on certain foods and ingredients and that I have little choice in that matter, but I have read so many things about so many different foods…I lost a beloved Shar-Pei to cancer at only age 5 in 2005. She was mostly fed Eukanuba. My Frenchie was diagnosed with cancer at age 6, given two months, and miraculously made it another 2 and a half years on low-dose prednisone and Royal Canin Gastrointestinal. Now, we are adopting a 3-month-old mixed breed from a shelter. We think he’s hound/terrier. My issue is good food, and I do not care how much it costs. I prefer dry. Been looking hard at grain free, although our new pup does not appear to have any food issues or allergies. I will find out what he’s being fed when we pick him up this coming week. Any and all recommendations are welcomed. Thank you.

[theBCnut]

Pumpkin and sweet potato are sources of fiber that dogs usually handle well. Fiber helps regulate the speed that food travels through the intestines and helps retain fluid in the stool. That means it slows down the passage of food when the intestines are irritated and would produce diarrhea, so that the large intestine has time to do its job and resorb the fluid needed for the body to digest food. But since the fiber retains some fluid, it doesn’t allow the stool to dry out too much.

[gmcbogger38]

Years ago we had a Jack Russell who had terrible skin problems. We tried Dinovite and it completely cleared up her issues. Now, I have a Saint Bernard who has been having chronic ear problems and she has a odor that won’t completely go away when bathing her. Now she hasn’t had a bath in a couple months and she smells even worse. I have tried expensive high quality grain free and potato free dry foods and even raw (homemade with no grains, etc) and nothing has worked for her. I am finishing up a grain inclusive food right now and so far I have noticed improvements in her from being on grain free (seems opposite of what should happen). I will be putting my dogs on Victor dog food, since I have read some good reviews about it. I will give the food about a couple months and if I haven’t noticed her ears and eyes clearing up I have thought about trying Dinovite again. Now, my hesitation with it is the cost so I am wondering if anybody else has a suggestion of a supplement similar to Dinovite that might be cheaper please let me know. Thanks.

[Shasta220]

Ah yes, just noticed that you tried canned and it made her stool loose. InkedMarie is right, you don’t /have/ to feed her dry. What brand of canned did you feed her? If it’s a high-quality brand, then it shouldn’t give her runny stools except for possibly the initial transition (that’s how my guy is. No matter how slow the food transition is, he gets mushy stools for about a week).

I can’t emphasize enough how important dental care is when they eat only soft food. Not that I’m saying kibble keeps teeth clean, but soft food does nothing to clear any food buildup on the teeth. Having gross teeth pulled is no fun, trust me.

[InkedMarie]

You said she won’t eat hard food; that’s not a bad thing. A high quality canned is better than dry. She’s a small dog, shouldn’t cost a lot to feed her. Pick some high rated canned to try. I have a dog on all canned & she doesn’t have loose stool. You should add a little canned to her dry, over a week or so, gradually go less & less dry to canned. There is also dehydrated such as a The Honest Kitchen and Grandma Lucy’s.

[Sue’s Zoo]

Sharon,
I’m beginning to wonder if this winter will ever end! Though it sounds like you’re having a rougher time of it than we are in St. Louis. And it sounds like you must be in a fairly rural location. But I think pulling out some of your less expensive cuts to get by is a good idea since you’ve already made a start towards raw. That’s just my two cents from a novice raw-feeder! The stories about your Maine Coon are priceless. I can almost see him as I read. Except for the obvious physical differences his personality reminds me of our tuxedo cat, Gizmo.

As far as managing the bones etc. based on what I’ve read I wouldn’t worry about one feeding or even several but trying to balance it over a week? Maybe longer since Mystery isn’t a puppy? I try to be more careful of the Calcium/Phosphorus ratios with two large breed, fast growing puppies because in a week they can grow significantly and in a month, one of them could easily gain another 10 pounds!

Good luck with the snow and food. Try to stay warm and dry. And keep me posted!

[Shasta220]

I will have to agree with mountainhound. They put lots of chemicals and sugars into kibble that is “chewy.”

I’ve never owned a tiny breed, so I’m not sure how common it is for them to be picky about the food like that. It’s possible that she’s gotten picky from overeating. How much do you feed her daily? If she’s gaining weight, then it’s probably too much. Also, if she refuses /anything/ crunchy (treats, bones, chews, etc.), then she might have a bad tooth, so maybe trying to have a look in her mouth and/or have the vet to an oral exam, just to make sure everything in her mouth is fine.

You’d probably benefit from getting samples from local feed stores, that way you won’t be stuck with a bag’s worth of food if she doesn’t like it. Also, try to leave the new food as an option for a while, not just set it down for a few minutes then pick it back up.

So just make sure you’re feeding her a proper amount so that she goes back to a healthy weight – don’t bother to buy the “light” foods either, they’re just fillers…and don’t feed her what the bag recommends, it ALWAYS suggest way too much (my dogs always get no more than 1/3-1/2 of what the bag says, and they’re a perfect weight). Check out a few different samples from your feed store, and try to find the brand on this site to make sure it’s a 4-5 star food.

If you’re still struggling with getting her to eat, then you could possibly mix some canned food with the dry, or add a little bit of water/chicken broth to the dry to make it moist.

[ExplEngineer]

I have adopted two English Mastiffs, one is ~3yrs old and the other is 7mos old. Yes, I know that they have some different nutritional requirements, but I also know that #1: They are inseparable, father-son, & totally dedicated to each other; #2: Yes, I know that I can separate them at feeding time, or at any other time, I can train them to do what I tell them to do, etc. but I can also raise happy, well adjusted dogs that do what they are told when obedience is a real requirement, I took in both of them because I can tell from their interactions that while they could be raised separately, they will be happier being together, and I am at that age that while they will have to accept responsibilities as a Certificated Service Dog(s), I can be genuinely happy when they are genuinely happy and unless or until a problem arises (which I shall always be diligent in looking for indicators, I am not oblivious to these matters), I can afford to raise two Mastiffs and my goal is to make their lives as happy, and as stress-free as I can make it consistent with the rules of my house. The eat at the same time, generally out of their own bowls, but they have been known to trade out the bowls that they are eating out of, and they eat far better when they are fed together. I have been using Purina Large Breed Dry Dog Food (which is what I have fed both Blackhawk, whom I just lost, and Othello before him and who my Vet has commented as to how healthy looking they were, and they could maintain proper weight on that diet), 20oz-22oz supplemented with about 0.5lbs of meat b.i.d. Until the youngest is about a year old, I will mix in Puppy Chow to ensure that he is also getting the correct balance of nutrients for a growing puppy, while allowing the adolescent (these large dogs are generally not fully and finally developed until they reach 3.5 to 4.0 yrs old) to partake of the same mixture. My principle guidelines in feeding are to watch the weight and weight gain and growth of the each of my lads, and as long as they appear to be doing well, have great looking coats and show no signs of nutritional deficiencies, in consultation with my Vet I continue to use the same foods in their diet. The meat component will vary from Hot Dogs, which allow good portion control and consistency, are nutritious and if properly selected provide a proper cross-section of meat(s), while being required to meet USDA standards for human food, provide some variety, and are easily kept while we are on the road in the motor home, and not requiring any continual readjustments to new diets at home and away. When we put up a steer in the freezer, I not only set aside beef from it for the lads, but have it packaged in serving size containers for portion control, plus I set aside a portion of it to be prepared into “jerky treats” (I am no longer comfortable with the commercially available jerky treats, + every now and then I can snitch one of theirs when it is time for a treat). Having said all of that, I am never too old, or too stubborn to learn, or to find a new means of feeding the boys if it is to their advantage. Fortunately, while in this economy no one can say that cost is never a factor, but it is not a controlling factor, and if there is a valid reason to convert to other foods or additions to their diets, I am more than willing to change them over, notwithstanding a price or cost increase. Please jump in and share your views, I’m new here and truly interested in having the happiest and healthiest well-behaved and well-trained Mastiffs around.

[womanbsweet]

I started my Pomeranian on pedigree dog food from a until she was about 4 months old. But, she liked to pick out the lighter pieces and leave the rest. She prefers wet dog food but it makes her stools loose. Then I started combining the pedigree with bil-jac sensitive solutions until I switched her completely over. I felt the pedigree had too many fillers in it. Unfortunately, the weather here has been much to cold to take her out to exercise and I feel that she has gained too much weight. So I’m looking for another dry food that is as good as bil-jac (she doesn’t tend to like the round hard food even if I wet it for her). I tried Eukanka and she won’t eat it at all. Does anyone know of any good dry dog food that’s shaped like bil-jac or sort of moist like purina moist and meaty burger type.

[Lance & Nikki]

Hi! I was researching some info on food for our dogs and I came upon this site and more importantly, this great thread. I read some of the thread but didn’t see what I was looking for exactly, so my apologies if this has already been addressed, but I really want to make sure that we are doing the right thing when it comes to feeding our wonderful dogs.

We have a Great Dane that is now almost 13 months old and we have a St Bernard puppy that will be 14 weeks old this Friday. Right now we are feeding them both Artemis Fresh Mix for medium and large breed puppies. We went with this food because it got good reviews and from what we could find, it’s a high quality food. But now that Pepper (our Dane) is over a year old, we were thinking of transitioning her to an adult food and preferably a grain free one because she does have a rather sensitive stomach. In researching this, we saw that calcium content is an issue in giant breed dogs, especially breeds like the Great Dane, and it seems that many grain free foods are higher in calcium.

What we want to switch Pepper over too is the Merrick grain free line of foods because from everything we have ever read, Merrick is a fantastic company that makes extremely high quality food. And since we have to get the Artemis food shipped in because nobody locally carries it, and we already use the Merrick canned food a couple of times a week to supplement the dry food and both our dogs love it, we would really like to use the Merrick food once our dogs are old enough to switch to adult food. I did e-mail Merrick to find out what their calcium content is by dry matter and they sent me the following:

Grain Free Chicken- 2.50%
Grain Free Buffalo- 2.50%
Grain Free Duck- 2.50%
Grain Free Pork- 2.32%

Now these are all over the recommended limit of 1.3% to 1.5% that I have read about for giant breed dogs, but most of those limits were for their growth stage. My question (and concern) is, is Pepper old enough now where the calcium content of the food isn’t as critical as it would be if she were still a fast growing puppy (she’s right about 100 pounds now and hasn’t put on much weight at all in the last few months, she’s seems pretty steady at her current weight and size)? She currently is eating twice a day (morning and evening) about 2 cups at each feeding.

Sorry for the long winded first post and thank you in advance for any advice/information you can throw our way, it is greatly appreciated!

Lance & Nikki

[GizmoMom]

@dogspotindia That is the worst recommendation ever.
Have you seen the ingredients of Royal Canin?
/dog-food-reviews/royal-canin-mini-dry/

[crazy4cats]

Hi-
I guess I’m lucky also. Haven’t had much trouble with hairballs either. Three of them have short hair and one has medium length. I think longer haired cats have more issues. I split a 6 oz can of food between them twice a day and give them a little dry also. I try to give the larger boys a little more than the small girls, but I think my chubby little girl goes around and eats everyone’s left overs. I alternate between wellness core turkey/duck and Taste of the Wild dry foods. I’m thinking of finding a dry food with a little less calories. As they are all indoor cats and getting a little chubby. I don’t give them much dry now so thought a “lighter” recipe might help with the weight. Any ideas? As far as hairballs go, I think that feeding canned and brushing the cats is the best remedy.

[shamrockmommy]

I have a 3 ½ lb chihuahua. She’s been an easy keeper for me, holds weight nicely on most anything.
The foods I’ve liked the best for her are:
1. Costco Cuts in Gravy, yes really! Her tummy is the best, poops are the best, she eats it and begs for mrs and she looks gorgeous (she has a thick, long coat).
2. Fromm grain free dry/canned
3. Newmans Own canned

They don’t eat much, that’s the thing, so it’s nice when you these itty bitty dogs, you can spend more a higher quality food and it lasts a LONG time!
If you can’t find anything in your area chewy.com ships right to your house. You have to spend $49 to get the free shipping, but I find I can load up on treats and chews and flea meds, etc and get right to the free shipping (though I have 3 other dogs of varying sizes and a cat 🙂

Good luck with your chi!

[Mom2Cavs]

Wow…you sure are fortunate! I like Wellness foods, but only use their cans for both my cat and dogs. Their kibble size is too big for my dogs (can one can’t have chicken so small breed is out). My dogs eat Annamaet and Fromm but I’ve been looking into Victor. A store near me may start carrying it! It is a good food, imho. I love Weruva cans for both my cat and dogs, but for some reason just end up using Wellness mostly. Weruva is very pricy, but great quality. TOTW is a really good food that works for mine, however, with Diamond being the manufacturer I just went away from them….and I wouldn’t have otherwise! I used to feed Merrick religiously, but had some issues with their kibble last year and canned food this year and will never feed them again so won’t recommend them anymore, sorry. Last year (I think it was around then, maybe a little longer) I was using their Pork kibble and found some weird looking pieces (long and dark) sort of like BB’s lifesource bits in color. My dogs had some before I realized it because my daughter fed them for me from a new bag and they all got weird looking loose stool, and a lot of it! I stopped feeding their dry at that time. Contacted Merrick and they were no help at all. I had those pieces in multiple bags I opened after that. At the end of last year I was still using their canned food every now and then. However, one can I opened had some weird looking “darkened matter” in the middle of the can, not in the top! Looked like mold, maybe, I really couldn’t identify it? Anyway, I didn’t feed it to the dogs…thank goodness it was caught in time. I will never use them again, though lots of people do use them with success and love them (I used to). I did try Canidae Pure with my cat and dogs but none of them liked the food. The fish based Canidae Pure also had kibble that was too big, if I remember correctly. Great ingredients, but they might also still be made by Diamond. So, with all that rambling, lol, if it were me I’d go with Wellness, Victor or Weruva.

[Shasta220]

I haven’t noticed a hairball from Maddy ever since we switched her food. Finally convinced mom to get her off of Purina, and now she has. Natural Balance canned (she consumes maybe 1-2tbsp daily, she’s picky), and free choice of chicken-soup dry… I don’t think she eats very much dry at all, but I guess that’s good – gives her more room for wet.

[Momof6]

A little late but:

My cat has always had a problem with throwing up and hair balls. I have tried indoor formulas, sensitive stomach formulas, you name it! It wasn’t until I invested in much higher quality foods that it has stopped. He eats grain free Fromm dry food. He loves it and never gets sick! Maybe once a month we get a hair all but much better then puking everyday. My cat despises wet food, so that’s been hard. Again, had to invest in weruva. He picks at it but some is better then none. Cats need the moisture, in my opinion wet is better to feed then dry. I wish my guy would eat it better.

[Sharon Buchanan]

Freed1 ~
You can see the entire 5-star list of foods here: /dog-food-reviews/dry/5-star/.

My opinion is that Orijen is the best dry food, whether you are feeding puppy, large breed puppy or adult. It is however, more expensive that the average brand you find at Petsmart.

[Susan]

Thank-You everyone for responding, I just dont know how Patch is going to go without his toast at 6.30am, He wakes up at 5.50am on the dot, I give him his Zantac then I go back to bed then he just waits for me to get up. Cause he has bad stomach acid the toast must settle his tummy, Ive realised his kibble is making it worst but vet wont listen to me, with dry toast & tin food he seems so much better, but vet just wants him on kibble diet thats not working. If he had just 1 piece of toast at 6.30am I think it will all be gone by 10am, cause when he has vomited 2 hours after eating the toast is always gone but the kibble hasnt its all in his spew…I might ring the vets & ask them is he getting anesthetized he is a bugger & doesnt keep still, then I wont give 1 piece of toast..

[Freed1]

Of the dry dog food or the wet can you
List then for me

[Freed1]

Hi I am look at same dry heathy dog food and wet heathy dogfood
I want to know if the 5 star are good for the dry and the wet dog food

[Jazz Lover]

Sharon, we to have a 9mo (apr 2013) old lab & I’ve been struggling as to which food to switch to from (Euk LBP). He is now in recovery, post Dysplasia/FCP and this is what got me reading. Although, our initial recommend for Euk is from a reputable guide dog trainer, therefore I assumed I must use it! When I began to actually read the ingredients and noticed corn as one of the top, I felt terribly. As I don’t even eat corn.

Jazz is 75/80lbs. He was neutered at time of surgery. He is not a lean as he was pre-surgery (FCP & neuter). He has been on rest for the past 4wks since surgery – no excercise. Very difficult, as he’s a puppy!

You say you switched to Orijen LBP (puppy? correct?) What info do you have as to how long Mystery should stay on puppy, and at what age should one transition to adult (Orijen Adult).

I would prefer to have 2 variety’s of dry and supp w/ topper such as canned, dehydrated, Stella & Chewy’s & sardine’s a few times ea wk. Since 8mo I’ve been using Grizzly Salmon oil. Because he’s still under 2, I don’t feel comfortable adding all kinds of supps, etc. I’d like to identify a good turmeric… although, I’m confused as when to use toppers & fish oil, turmeric & the amount, given I would be combining w/ his regular food. (For example: If he has 4cups of dry, what amt do you reduce when you include a topper (dehydrated, sardines or canned)?

I feel like I’ve just about narrowed my food search to a few brands to further look into, however there’s still confusion as to what I should look for in a food for my Lg Breed from age 9mo after. If there are other food recommends then the LBP that I should venture to please lmk?

[theBCnut]

That’s true, if it isn’t converted to dry matter, but converted they should be similar, unless it is a specific low ash food or something like that. BTW, 3% in canned converted to dry matter would be 12-15%, that just illustrates how canned can be higher ash that dry, because of the higher animal content.

[theBCnut]

8.7% on a dry matter basis is less than 9%. Canned food does often have a high ash content, just by nature of the ingredients, more animal products usually means higher ash. I guess if you have a kibble that is high on the scale that making sure you use a canned that is low would be better, and if you want to use a canned that is high, you could pair it with a kibble that’s lower.

[MarieLovesChis]

That’s the thing that confuses me with the huge differences in their formulas, supposedly these are the dry matter values http://www.wysong.net/pet-health-and-nutrition/dry-matter-analysis-of-wysong-pet-foods.php

So am I right in saying that 8.7% on a dry matter basis is extremely high for a canned food? I try not to feed kibbles that hit 9% but it’s definitely my limit. Her current food is 8.3%

[theBCnut]

Since canned food is close to 80% water, the values are significantly different. That’s why we like to convert the numbers to dry matter to compare them. A canned food with 0.7% ash is definitely with the water, while a canned food with 8.7% ash should be in dry matter or else the food would have to be more than half bone. If you are going to tolerate 9% ash in a dry food, you could divide that by 5 and have an approximate percentage that would be comparable for wet food. It’s not quite the same if your 9% isn’t dry matter, but it’s close enough.

[Debbiep]

My Polish Lowland Sheepdog is 12 years old – she has a sensitive stomach/IBS and I have to be careful what I feed her. She has been on Symply Salmon & Rice Dry food for over 2 years now – over the past 6 months/year she sometimes runs away from her bowl half way through eating, seems to choke a lot and her stomach goes in and out, she throws up her dinner, eats it again then goes back and finishes her dinner with no further problems.

I put her bowl on a small step as she has arthritis in her front legs and struggles to get down to floor level when eating and have split her dinner in half – feeding half at lunch time and half at dinner time – I also put water in with her biscuits.

I have taken her to the vets and they don’t seem to be able to help me – they suggested I syringed water down her throat before eating – but this made no difference and she didn’t like having the water squirted down her throat so I stopped.

Is there anything anyone can suggest as it is quite distressing to watch and I don’t seem to be able to do anything to help her – have tried patting her on the back when she is choking but this just gets me a dirty look!

[Shasta220]

I know this is a dog forum, but my older girl, Maddy, has been quite thin lately. She has free choice of Chicken Soup dry, and I recently added Natural Balance canned. Now she only eats 1-2tbsp canned and won’t eat any dry. She acts perfectly normal and is checked out healthy

Are there any super high-calorie supplements or canned foods I can give her?

[GizmoMom]

Most 5-star brands do not have soy.

Canned food:
/dog-food-reviews/wet/5-star/

Dry food:
/dog-food-reviews/dry/5-star/

[Ajchavis]

Do you know of any good brand can dog food that doesn’t have soy products in it..dry too for that matter and treats? My dog is allergic to soy in any form and it is so hard to find retail products that omit soy. Ajchavis

[Shasta220]

I recently saw one dry food at WM, I can’t remember the name of it for the LIFE of me! All I remember was they had a grain-free variety… Seems like the bags were dark and had pics of fruits/meat/sweet potatoes/etc. If I’m ever back there, I will try to let you know what it was called…

Every WM is different tho, so what I have, you probably won’t have. Like one person said they found Paramount GF food there (a brand I know very little about, but I’ve tried it since it was at a liquidation store for $1/lb)

Hopefully you can find something that works! If your WM doesn’t seem to have anything that’ll work for your dog, I know several people who order all their dog food online – might be worth looking into.

[Mom2Cavs]

Some Walmarts carry RR’s Zero Grain, too. I agree Pure Balance. Some have Newman’s Own, but I don’t like the fact the dry contains soy. Some also carry a food called Lamaderm which isn’t bad. And they carry Fresh Pet Select, while not a kibble, could be a good topper.

[Giles123]

Just found out yesterday after their allergy tests came back that our dogs are allergic to corn, soy and potato. The vet initially had them on hills ID because they were having many stomach issues. I guess now we know why. That food contains the components they are allergic to. We need to find them a food without these ingredients but I am so worried because there seems to be constants recalls on brands. Does anyone know of a good quality food that doesn’t contain these items and isn’t a feared recalled brand? Along with their probiotics they have to take Benadryl right now to keep the symptoms down. I need to find them a good food fast- please help

[theBCnut]

Brother’s Complete has biscuits that are grain and potato free. I usually use Vital Essentials freeze dried dog food for treats. I create my own treats by drying any kind of meat in a dehydrator or in the oven.

[JASTECH]

That would be 1600 cal./cup which is about 4 times the calories of most 5 star dry foods.

[Kmsharp]

I’ve had shih tzus for 30 years and have tried all diets (we eat organic ourselves). Watch out for yeast if problems with dry skin or itching, may be also related to stomach issues. It looks like you can find lots of foods with high ratings here. We sometimes cook for our dogs – ground turkey, oatmeal, some veggies, olive oil. Make a large batch & freeze some – we do this to use all organic products. My dogs also do fine on a high quality dry food & wet food mix. I mix it up, add a bit of eggs when we eat them. One dog was allergic to beef. With a small dog like a shih tzu it’s easy to give them bits of healthy (fish, meat, sweet potato, cheese) leftovers too as a supplement (though some people never spoil their dogs like this!)

Good luck – these are fabulous, loyal, loving dogs!

[2doxiemom]

Daughter adopted 4 year old Shih Tzu from a Humane Society today and is trying to figure out what dry food to feed that will not make him have stomach problems. Lady who fostered him had been feeding “Showtime” dry but did not have any to send home and Daughter is unable to find this brand in her town or nearby. Foster mom was not really any help today in telling where she had purchased her supply. We looked up this dog food and it rated 2.5 stars on this site, but she intends to feed him Merrick grain free Duck (what we feed our dogs) in the future. What brand of food would be a good choice to switch him to now just to get him settled into a new home. She knows he will have to work up to the Merrick, but doesn’t want to stress him out and make him have stomach issues now. Sorry for the book, but felt the back story might be needed. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[Walt]

Hello,

I’m a new member and wanted to ask your opinions on dog food for our wire hair Terrier Mix (25 lbs – Smooch). He was on Orijen adult and did well for quite awhile and then started having stomach issues; stomach making noises, gassy, lethargic., runny/soft stools. Smooch has been known to eat anything on the ground, rabbit poop, acorns, etc. This might have been an isolated incident, we are not sure. Vet put him on antibiotics and prescription food and he finally got better (took awhile though). Put him NV chicken raw boost dry and he started scratching more often, I then had a saliva test for food sensitivities by Dr. Dodd and it came back with Smooch being sensitive to most foods. According to this test, the only meat proteins that Smooch can tolerate are Beef/Lamb and white fish. The NV contained chicken and turkey, not good according to test. Put him on NV limited ingredient Lamb and he is doing good, but he poops more often and his poop consist of several small/harder pieces (is this good?). He is still scratching. I started giving him fish oil (sardines/anchovies) daily hoping this will help his scratching but not sure if this is good since test revealed sensitivity to Salmon.. In your opinion, are these type tests accurate? Like everyone on this site, we just want to make good decisions for our dog. Any advice on food for Smooch would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Walt

[minit]

my 20lb, 13 yr old JRT suffers from mitral valve disease & an enlarged heart. He was eating Nature’s Variety Instinct dry until about 6 months ago when he started to lose his appetite. Switched to Instinct canned over the next few months until he stopped eating that as well. Have always hesitated changing his food too rapidly because of diarrhea & resulting anal gland issues, but have just taken the plunge & bought a variety of super premium wet foods in the hope of just keeping him interested. Added Swanson’s Dr.Langer’s 15 strain probiotics to his cocktail of drugs & supplements. He looks good & is gaining back a little weight, but the diarrhea, gas & noisy gut are worse. To put things in perspective, he’s outlived his life expectancy by 2 years since his heart disease was discovered. Every day we have is a gift at this point. He doesn’t seem to be able to keep large meals down (perhaps because his heart is so enlarged it reduces the capacity of his stomach) so I feed him 3 small meals a day. He likes canned pumpkin, but it doesn’t seem to help much w/ the diarrhea & I worry that he’s not getting enough protein & fat if I add too much to his small meals… I think I’m going to have to give up on the variety of canned foods & go back to just one for as long as he’ll eat it to stave off the diarrhea. What’s my best bet for high protein/fat yet not going to make his digestive issues worse?

[Shasta220]

Big time no-no to Royal Canin. ProPac seems to have a high rating on this site, but for a growing pup, you really want to avoid anything that has corn on the top 5 ingredients. Corn is 100% filler, and many dogs are hyper-sensitive to it. My APBT/Lab/Rott has sensitive skin, but surprisingly didn’t react to corn. We fed him 3-4x the amount of dog food when he had the stuff with ground corn. It literally went right through him – his stools were full of the corn grit. I think I could have fed him sawdust and gotten better results!

I looked up Sam’s Field food. Even though it /does/ have the corn, I noticed chicken and chicken liver were the first two ingredients in the dry puppy food. It’s not /the/ best out there, but if the price is right, then I’m sure your pup could do fine on it.

I know options are slim around your place, but if you could try finding #1. Make sure real meat is the first 2-3 ingredients. Then try to avoid corn/soy/wheat, and even skipping grains entirely is great. If you can’t find all of that, then I’d say Sam’s Field should be fine – my dogs were amazingly healthy on a food with wheat as the 3rd ingredient.

Best wishes with your pup! I hope you’ll find something that works for her growth, tummy, skin, and your wallet/convenience! 🙂

[Shasta220]

Maddy was originally on Cat Chow, so yeah- hair balls galore there!

She’s seeming to do much better on the new food. I haven’t seen a hairball in a while (well, I don’t really see them. My bare toes feel them in the middle of the night!)

It sounds like fiber and “lubricants” are fairly easy to add into a diet without getting a special extra-spendy-but-full-o’-fillers food.

I’m a little concerned about her weight right now. She’s been checked out totally healthy, and acts completely normal, but she feels pretty scrawny. I was hoping adding the canned was going to help (she hasn’t really ever had anything but dry), but she will eat no more than 1tbsp daily, even though I try to offer it to her twice a day. The worst? I honestly haven’t seen her eat the dry in a while – she only eats the canned now. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that she eats dry when I’m not looking, since they have free choice dry.

I tried mixing dry with canned, but she refused. Picky picky girl! Are there any quality cat foods that have an extra calorie boost maybe? She doesn’t like raw meat at all, otherwise I’d try her on that.

[Shasta220]

Thank you for the advice. I’m not sure how I’ll phrase it to him, as I really don’t want to come across as basically calling him a bad/uneducated owner for feeding his dogs that, because he’s one of the best dog owners I know!

I will probably end up just sending him the link to this site, and say how surprised I am about how high (or low) quality some foods are….maybe he’d get curious and check his food out.

I’m definitely going to ignore the canned food for now. Honestly, it’d be incredible if he kept them on Alpo canned, but switched them to a 3-4star dry food. I think one of his biggest issues is the fact that he probably doesn’t really want to make time to go to a feed store for better food (Walmart and grocery stores are all we have around here other than the feed stores that sell dogfood – PetCo/Smart/Costco are 50+mi)

Any extra moral support would be great though, because this guy is…well, he’s more like a second grandfather to me than anything, so there’s a high amount of respect to get through.

I’ve already told him about a great deal on joint supplements, I told him the cost on this is about 1/4 what we were paying on regular supplements. He said he’ll probably do it when they start showing signs of joint problems – they’re 7y.o. Now, so it’s really the perfect time to get em started /before/ the signs come. I just told him I’m getting my 6yr boy on it… Trying to avoid saying, in any form, that I know everything about dog health (because I DEFINITELY don’t)

Thanks again guys, I will keep you posted on any updates, that’s for sure!

[theBCnut]

It really depends. Somethings I can tell almost immediately, like food intolerance issues, is it causing gas, does my dog act like he has a stomach ache, that sort of thing. Some things take 3-7 days, does it cause ear issues, itching, anal gland issues. Some take weeks, dry skin, body odor, eye staining. I have always know within 3 weeks except once when the dog had so many other things going on that it probably took me 3-4 months before I noticed that I didn’t like running my hands through his coat as much. His coat texture had changed.

[[email protected]]

Hi Zachery,
I was one of the original posters asking about diet and treatment for colitis.
I have been dealing with colitis now for 6 months and have tried every food imaginable. I agree with most of your thoughts. I am not sure yet on the fiber issue. Jasmine has now been on Royal Canine pot/venison for almost 3 weeks. It was a novel protein for her and I suggested this change to the vet as nothing was helping her gastrointestinal issues. My thinking was that all her previous foodes were chicken based including Canine Cavier and R.C. Gastrointestinal to name a few. At this point I have not changed ANYTHING ELSE, including her daily low dose of metrodonizole followimg meals. She LOVES the food, and it really seems to be working. She has regular, firm bowel movements, and I think I can say that now after 3 weeks. You never know so I will now knock on wood! The vet started mynew selection of P/V mostly wet (new vet, new food). I am giving her wet and dry 60/40 and think I will stay here as it is working (Vet thought more dry but I think that is disruptive to the colon now. I agree qith you there. I feed her 3x/day, I think that also helps. I have stopped fish oil and probiotics and any treats except grain free Buddy Biscuits – pnut butter. I hopethis helps you some, knowing all colitis causes vary. Hers right now looks like a food allergyshe developed after many years.

Best,
Karen

[Susan]

Yes, I think we have BARF at ur Pet Stock & Pet Barn, I dont know if Barf is good we also have the dehydrated & freeze dry Ziwi Peak & K9 Natural from New Zealand thats suppost to be very good, The Guaranteed Analysis doesnt tell how much carbohydrates in alot of the dog foods.. I thought my boy couldnt have boiled chicken but I was adding it with boil rice, so it must of been the rice he has problems with even to home cook, I dont know where to start every time Ive boiled pumkin, sweet potatos, chicken & rice he has very very soft poos, so I’d just do the rice & chicken then he wakes up early hours of morning with his colitis, his bowel was rumbling…The only thing thats stops everything is the Eukanuba Intestinal but its corn based, corn is a carbohydrate.. I think thats why he’s having the Bacteria overgrowth from being on the Intestinal also about 1 hour after eating his kibble he starts with the licking his mouth & swollowing, it gets worse when he drinks water maybe the kibbles start to blow up in his tummy.. Ive told my vet but she says as long as his poos are good its OK but Im sick of watching him every morning for the last 4 months feeling crap not playing, sometimes he walks around the house whinging. I know something is wrong.. I suppose I’ll have to have the carmera put down his throat but the vet said it could come back all good as they can only go so far & if its his small intestine I dont think they can see the small intestine, the vets said, the only way to find out whats wrong is to cut him open & I dont want to do that to him, poor thing.. so I thought change his diet, he seems hungry all the time like he’s not getting all the nutrition…I thought of changing vets, but I cant see how another vet can hep him..

[Zackory]

My English Bulldog 5 year old male was just diagnosed with colitis. He suffered profound
diarrhea for weeks until he wasted away his weight. What I have learned is that each dog responds differently. My dog can’t tolerate probiotics or flagly, which are two frequently recommended treatments. It is very important to be patient when trying new foods or additives. You must wait several weeks to make sure ANY new food or ingested treatment agrees with your dog. Because it works initially does no mean that will continue. NOR does diarrhea at first necessarily indicate intolerance. We found a food in the US that is low fat and protein and grain free with very few ingredients. I mention this because if you opt to use commercial foods instead of home recipes, the lesser ingredients will allow you to more accurately access what the dog tolerates and what it can’t. We also have discovered that our dog does no do well with dry foods. His food must be canned or softer. Do not hesitate to add more fiber if the dog needs it. But during acute flare ups, if the colon is swollen or irritated, some fibers or hard ingredients further that.

[Shasta220]

First off: I’m not concerned about my own dogs’ nutrition, they’re on a diet that works well for us and them.

A friend, on the other hand, thinks he’s giving his two 7y.o. GSDs the best and spoiling them (I don’t know how, but even his vet said their diet is good…). I’ve once told him about Nutra Nuggets, how it’s pretty good for its low price…he’s still convinced his dogs do great on their diet. Okay, what does he feed them? Beneful dry and Alpo/Pedigree canned…

It makes me sick whenever I go over there to feed the dogs, then I look at the ingredient label….ugggggh, how do those even qualify for ingredients?!? I was rather disappointed when he wouldn’t switch at least to Nutra Nuggets, since it’s a bit better quality AND it’s $25/40lb instead of $26/30lb… I was just kinda thinking “ahh it’d be a win-win in quality AND affordability!.

Anyway, he’s not really like me as far as studying out the premium nutrition/price, so I don’t really want to show him any articles that are super long. He’s also much much older than me, so it’s not like I’m just telling my pal to switch foods or anything… Most of all, I really don’t want to come across like “sir, you’re feeding your dogs garbage, get them off please!!!”

Any ideas to advise a food switch in the nicest, most respectful and sensitive way possible?

(Again, I really don’t need food-brand suggestions, as I already know the foods we do/don’t have around here, and the rough pricing of them…plus, getting him to switch to about anything will be better than Beneful and Alpo!)

[Parr]

GSDMommy89,

I also have a GSD, she is just over a year old. I also feed her Earthborne, and use Meadowfeast. She really likes that one, but towards the end of the bag, she isn’t as excited about it as she is at the beginning. I do rotate her foods and use toppers for some meals and meaty bones a few times a week. The one brand of dry food she seems to always like is, Canine Caviar, Open Sky, or Wilderness. She will follow me in when I bring in the new bag and sniffs the bag like crazy and bugs me until I open it, then she sticks her head in and tries to eat from the bag. It is much more expensive and you have to feed less of it since it is higher calories, I think, but she loves it. So you might try that brand in your rotation. I hope this helps. I’ve gotten so much help from everyone here in the past, I hope this little bit of info helps you as well. Take care.

[RescueDaneMom]

My rottie just passed last month from lymphoma. When he was eating kibble he did really well on Acana Regionals. There are 4 grain-free varieties. Orijen is another great food made by the same company that makes Acana. Other grain-free foods we tried and liked were: Annamaet grain-free, Horizon Legacy, Go! Fit & Free Adult, and Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural. Others I like but haven’t tried personally are Dr. Tim’s Kinesis grain-free and Victor grain-free.

Sometimes dogs eating kibble (and especially older dogs) can benefit from probiotics and digestive enzymes. I buy mine from swansonvitamins.com. They’re made for humans and pretty cheap. I get the regular Swanson brand digestive enzymes and Dr. Langer’s 15 strain probiotic (they’re buy 1 get 1 free right now). I crush the enzyme tablet and open the probioic capsule and mix it up in the food. You can add a little canned food, yogurt, canned pumpkin or something else so it is not just powder mixed with dry food. My almost 8 year old Great Dane is super regular and not very gassy at all. He doesn’t eat kibble but he gets probiotics and enzymes. A lot of people also like the Mercola pet enzymes and probiotics. They are more expensive but they are already in a convenient powder form.

Hope this is helpful to you.

[Shasta220]

Sorry, it’s not about my dog.

I’m wondering what the key ingredients are in a cat food that make them worthy of being called “hairball” or “indoor” formula. I’ve always been skeptical of the indoor foods, assuming they’d be full of more fillers and fewer fats/proteins/calories. Then I took a can of Natural Balance indoor and compared it to a different variety – calorie count seemed to be the same…

Our Maddy suffers from hair balls regularly (maybe 2-4 times monthly?), but I don’t want to invest in a hairball formula until #1. What ingredients qualify it as “hairball” #2. Will it really work?

Right now, Maddy is on Cat Lovers Gold dry and she gets 1-3tbsp (as much as I can get her to eat.) Natural Balance canned daily.

Should I try adding some fish oil into her canned and see if she accepts it? Right now, she gets a little brewers yeast tablet daily.