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Search Results for 'dry food'
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Search Results
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Topic: Mixing dry dog foods
I have 6 month old German Shepherd mix. Iāve been mixing two dry foods. I feed him twice daily. Each feeding 50% of Great Life grain free chicken recipe for all life stages and 50% of puppy chow tender & crunchy with real beef. Is that bad? He seems happy and energetic
crazy4cats the alternative feeding kibble
” Dry pet food, for all its convenience, is difficult to store in a way that preserves its nutritional value and freshness.”
“Many unhealthy things can occur in a bag of kibble ā especially an open bag ā including fat rancidity, bacterial and fungal growth, nutrient depletion and storage mite infestation.”
“Most dry pet food also has a number of other problems, including poor-quality, rendered and high-glycemic ingredients and extreme processing that creates cancerous byproducts.”
“If youāre still buying kibble, there are several handling and storage guidelines you should follow to help prevent feeding unsafe food to your pet.”
“A much better alternative to kibble is a nutritionally balanced, species-appropriate diet containing high-quality animal protein, moisture, healthy fats and fiber, and low to no starch content.”Primal and Stella’s goes through a HPP process as written above.
“Without going into too much detail on the history of dry commercial kibble diets, the short end of the story is that it was introduced in response to the high cost of meat during the Great Depression and was heavily promoted at the end of WWII when it gained popularity for its convenience, ease of distribution and low cost.”
“If our pets have managed to survive off this cheap, convenient, low quality protein source for the last 80 some years, why should we be concerned about it?”
Even though our pets may be surviving off commercial kibble, can we really say that they are thriving on it?
“The answer is pretty clear ā¦
“Chronic degenerative diseases, auto-immune diseases, allergies, kidney, pancreatic and liver disease are all rampant within our pet populations and cancer rates continue to rise. “
I have been feeding my two Chihuahuas freeze dried for about two years now. Actually I was giving Origen Freeze dried treats for years but didn’t even realize it was freeze dried. Just knew it was a different texture that they really loved. I now have put in rotation Stella Chewy’s chicken meal mixers, turkey patties and venison blend. When I started I was using Fromm kibble as a base. Then I switched to Stella’s raw coated kibble small breed. I’m concerned about the Dcm with the legumes so stopped all kibble now until sorted out. Many questions on Stella’s f/b page regarding their kibble but their statements also say their kibble is not implicated in any DCM cases. Anyway I started out slowly . One protein at a time in tiny amounts. Just add warm water. Amount to feed for weight is on bag. Adjust according to weight gain or lose. I also slowly put in rotation Primal freeze dried. I use Turkey/sardine, rabbit and their duck. No stomach issues if done slowly. Bixbi Rawbbles is a great freeze dried also. I use this as treats or just throw some in with the pucks or patties . My dogs are doing great on this and I feel much better feeding the freeze dried instead of kibble or canned. Much easier to feed also.
Primal food does Hpp process to kill bacteria but not with all flavors/proteins. It’s on their webpage which protein/flavors they use it with. I believe Stella’s uses hPP process on all their food as well as Bixbi.
HOW HPP WORKSEssentially, this technology “puts the squeeze” on food pathogens without cooking out vital nutrients or changing the fresh characteristics of food. During High-Pressure Processing, pressure is uniformly applied around and throughout the food product. High-Pressure Processing can be conducted at refrigerated or even frozen temperatures, which means the temperature starts low and stays low ā High-Pressure Processing does not cause the heat degradation that happens during cooking.
Freeze Dried The process requires food to be placed inside a vacuum chamber that lowers the temperature until it is below freezing and then moisture is drawn out by slowly raising the temperature. The water originally found in the food moves to a gaseous state from a solid to void the food of most moisture.Moisture Content:
Dehydration removes approximately 90-95 percent of moisture, while freeze-drying removes about 98-99 percent.[3]
Rehydration:
Freeze-dried pet food will rehydrate within 2-3 minutes while dehydrated pet food can often take 5-10 minutes or need to be left soaking for a few hours depending on the size of the food chunks.
Texture, Flavor, and Aroma:
When food is freeze-dried, the process is gentle and the enzymes are locked in without disrupting the texture, taste, or smell of the ingredient. This particular process greatly reduces the weight of the product and makes it convenient for storing and travel.
The look and feel of a freeze-dried product to a dehydrated is noticeable to the naked eye. Dehydrated foods tend to be a little darker, denser, and can sometimes appear leathery. In order to create a faster rehydration time for dehydrated food, they are often powdered or made granular, whereas freeze-dried foods can be kept in chunkier states.
Another key difference is that dehydration can break down vital vitamins and minerals due to the processes being a little more invasive.[2] The freeze-drying process will keep all the valuable nutrients intact ready to be rehydrated when needed.
Topic: Bad teeth
I feel like a horrible Dad. I have fed my two Chihuahuas expensive wet dog food (Freshpet) for six years. I tried dry but they wouldnāt eat it. I just came back from the Vet and they had a total of 9 teeth pulled. Iām $1,500 poorer but thatās not the issue. Can someone recommend a good kibble for my girls? Merrick?
Topic: Top Recommended Dry Foods
Hi there-looking for dry food recommendations and unless I’m not looking in the right place, I’m seeing only grain free among the top choices. My vet is steering me away from grain free because of the recent research regarding cardiac issues. Am I not looking in the right place for non-grain free top choices?
I would think that a dog eating and having a stomach full of dry hard kibble to digest would be harder on the digestive track than adding liquid and letting the dry food soften up before serving. I thought Less stress on the kidneys to hydrate the food for digestion. But, I read some information saying that moistened dry food could lead to Bloat! How can that be? That frightens me as I lost a dog from bloat and only want to do the best thing I can to not cause this horrible illness.
Please tell me what to do? my lab likes the dry food moistened over the hard kibble.
I have a 7 year old golden retriever, Tucker, who is picky and has acid reflux. He’s always been very sensitive to foods ever since he was a puppy. I tried literally 20 different foods, all of which gave him very loose stools, until he finally did well on Kirklands signature and he has been on that ever since. I tried switching proteins within the brand because I read that is healthier for them but he didn’t like it.
I work at a Pet store and decided to try him on Activa because it is a customizable food I could had probiotics and glucosamine to as well as salmon oil for his coat. It was then I discovered he is Very allergic to salmon. So I put him back on Kirkland. Throughout the years his regurgitating food at night happened pretty frequently at times. Then he started the gulping, freaking out, drinking tons of water, pacing and wanting to eat grass. So I started giving him tums until it wasn’t enough and the vet suggested prilosec which helps 70% of the time but the other 30% it doesn’t help at all. He never gets table scraps and rarely gets treats but when I started him on the prilosec I would give him a tiny bit of peanut butter to put the pill in. My fiancĆ© said the peanut butter might do it so I’ve switched to cheese instead and I’ve switched him to Pepcid AC complete. It’s only his second day on that but it seems to be helping.
His latest bout of acid reflux was pretty severe so I put him on small meals of chicken and rice throughout the day which helped but as soon as I put him back on his kibble he got the acid reflux back so he’s back on the chicken and rice.
I work and can’t cook for him forever and he’s a 90 lb dog (not overweight.. He’s actually thin) so I can’t afford raw or canned so I want to find a dry kibble for him to try that would prevent acid reflux. I’ve researched alot and was excited to try the nature’s Select lamb but I gave him a few kibble but he didn’t like it!! So I’m thinking of trying taste of the wild lamb next and if he won’t eat that then try the chicken flavors. I also read soaking in bone broth is good?
Any other food suggestions in case he doesn’t like the totw? Also as I said I work, so would having him grave all day be a bad thing? He is not an over eater at all. When I feed him breakfast alot of times he’ll just snack on it here or there anyways.
I have two Irish Wolfhounds. They just turned 1 year. I’ve been feeding Diamond Natural Salmon & Potato, grain free. A few months ago I switched to lamb and rice because I keep reading about the ingredients that contribute to DCM. Is anyone aware of a grainfree food that does not contain peas/lentils/pea-flour/chickpeas/etc? It seems that at least one of these ingredients is in every food and these all seem to be linked to DCM. Or should I keep with the lamb and rice? But that is also not free of questionable ingredients. Help! This food research is confusing. I have young giant breeds and their protein vs calcium needs are confusing enough. Did I also mention that my two girls are spoiled rotten and insist that I top their dry food with eggs, cheese, beef, baloney, chicken, yogurt, etc. I would love to hear from others who have researched and who are also giant owners. Thanks!
Hello,
We have an 11 week old Yorkie puppy “Murphy” (He weighs 1 lb. 8 oz.) and he was fine on puppy mixture of milk and Blue Buffalo puppy soft food. We wanted to begin him on dry food to keep him healthy. We started using Blue Buffalo puppy small breed kibble but he can’t keep it down. First he doesn’t seem to chew it. What he swallowed he immediately through up. We then tried mixing with different things to make soft. We tried water and milk and again this mixture he cannot keep down even if soft. Also tried processing it into smaller pieces and he still cannot keep this food down. Again, no problem with the puppy gruel which has the milk and protein mix. Since we got him at 8 weeks he gained 4 oz in weight. Everything else seems normal and he is very active. He just doesn’t seem to be able to eat dry food. Do we need to change brands? We would welcome any advise for our little “Murphy Blu”. Thank you in advance for your assistance.Topic: Lipoma and odd Vet Exam
I’m pretty good with making sure that my dogs see the vet annually for general checks and to make sure their up to date with necessary vaccinations. I was due to go back towards the end of 2018, but it completely slipped my mind.
My 9.5 year old American Bulldog mix has 1 front bowed leg. He’s always had it and he walks and runs fine (he looks gimpy when walking, but it’s how he’s always been and it causes no discomfort). He’s also had issues with food and the environment around him, although we’ve never been able to pinpoint his exact sensitivities. I’m sure you can go back and see my many posts and responses related to his “excessive drooling” and allergies posts.
So I noticed the other day when he was laying on his side (with the bowed leg up) that there appeared to be a large lump behind the leg. I never noticed it or just attributed it to the structure of his frame with the odd leg. So I went back to some old pictures I had, and I didn’t see the lump.
Concerned, I contacted the vet’s office on Saturday to make an appointment to look at the leg, as well as have his annual exam. The receptionist asked what doctor I deal with there. I told her the name of the practice’s owner (Dr. B), who also was the one who I discussed his allergies with (which was something I wanted to ask him about while I was there since the drooling episodes persist at irregular intervals). The earliest appointment was Monday 5:30. I rushed out of work that afternoon, let my dogs out, put the one in the car (I left the other home alone for like the 2nd time ever in the 4 years that I’ve had her)
When I arrived at the vet, I could see other dogs in the lobby. My big guy is loud and disruptive when he sees other dogs that he wants to meet. So I called and told them I was outside to call me when the room was ready. Nearly 30 minutes pass (we walked laps around the building) before we’re ushered into the hottest room ever. The vet tech asks me why we’re here. I explain about the lump and that I want to have his annual exam, etc.
So then we wait even longer and my poor dog, recognizing where he is is now panting and barking and crying. So the door opens and this women walks in. Never met her before, but she certainly wasn’t the vet I booked the appointment with. One of her arms wasn’t through the armhole of her cardigan and instead stuck out of the bottom. So something was up with her. She introduced herself, asked what I was here for.
Now, I understand my dog can be intimidating at first glance. He’s 119 pounds and has a giant pit head. But I never interacted with a vet who wouldn’t approach my dog. Even after telling her he’s 1000% friendly (and mind you I was holding him next to me), she made sure to keep the metal exam table between her and us.
So a vet tech comes in to ‘hold the dog’. The doctor looks at the lump and tells me, without touching it, that it’s a lipoma. I say “are you sure”, then she hesitantly approaches and feels the lump for about 10 seconds and says yes. Then says it’s obviously hampering his movements. I tell her he’s always had the bowed leg and cued up a video on my phone from him running, jumping and playing with my other dog the day before. So she then says it’s not hampering him, but it should be removed. And unfortunately it’s so big that they probably shouldn’t do the surgery and should have a specialist come in to do it. Then she did said that he’s young enough to warrant doing it (like I was automatically going to say no because of the expense). I she knew me like the other vet did, then she would know the well being of my dog is my priority. I ask her to get me an estimate.
I then ask if we can do a needle aspiration to make sure it’s not cancer. Why would I put my dog through a surgery, only to find out it may be cancerous and then make him go through treatments? If it’s cancer, he might still have to have surgery, but maybe they could try other methods to shrink it or kill it first. She says we can “for peace of mind”. And then tells me 30 seconds later that needle aspirations on lumps are highly inaccurate. The sample they take might not have cancer, but it can still be there.
Peace of mind, indeed.
Then she tries to dissuade me from the procedure by saying it will be expensive (but specialized surgery isn’t?)
I tell her to go ahead and do it.
While they try to formulate the price, she sells me on their “wellness package” which includes standard blood labs, urine and stool labs and heartworm test. Other than her 10 seconds spent feeling the lump and listening to his heart with a stethoscope, she didn’t touch my dog. The vet tech felt my dog’s body for lumps. Found a hard one in his chest. Doctor edges closes and feels for 1 second…”not concerned”. I tell them he has a lot of little lumps on his belly along with a bunch of skin tags of various size and color. She wasn’t interested in seeing them.
I’ve had wellness exams every year. The vet normally checks my dog’s ears, mouth, teeth, runs his hands over the dog to looks for lumps or abnormalities, checks over his legs and makes sure his joints are ok, listens to his heart, listen to his lungs/respiration, asks me what he eats, asks about his energy level, talks about any sort of supplements he takes, sometimes takes his temperature and checks the anal glands.
But this lady had her tech do the most cursory exam feeling for lumps on his back and sides and that’s it.
So she leaves the room to get started with prepping for the needle aspiration. Time passes (so much time) and she pops her head in and says that Dr. B (the practice owner) has to be the one who does it because she just had shoulder surgery (thanks for finally telling me) and unfortunately he still has two other patients to see, so can I come back another time? I turn around and tell her that I work every day and I switched my schedule around to be there that day and not for nothing but my appointment was supposed to be with Dr. B in the first place. So she says that she hopes that I wasn’t disappointed in having her treat my dog (I should have said something, but I didn’t). But I made the point that had I had Dr. B like originally scheduled, I wouldn’t have had to wait for him to finish with other people in order to do this test because he would have done the exam and the test and finish with me before seeing anyone else.
I wound up waiting. My poor dog, already traumatized by the blood test puncture was panting and crying and barking. At first, I kept shushing him. But then I just let him bark it out, because maybe they’d be so sick of hearing him that they’d hurry up. Dr. B finally came in, did the needle aspiration and left. In and out in less than 5 minutes.
I had hoped that he was going to come in alone so I could give him a tell him how disappointed I was with the exam and the doctor. But she had come in with him and with the vet techs in the room holding the dog down, I didn’t want to speak in front of them.
It’s been 3 days and I’m still annoyed. I didn’t get to discuss the drooling episodes (she was not interested at all in discussing it since it happens so randomly and the Benedryl and Pepcid help manage it). Who knows if the other lumps are lipomas or something else? I wanted to discuss senior nutrition (but not with her at this point).
I didn’t want to say anything until all the lab tests were in. Everything was good (Cholesterol and Total Protein levels a bit high, but she wasn’t concerned) and the biopsy came back likely to be fatty deposit lipoma.
Anyone else have inadequate vet exams?
And yes, I could have made a separate appointment to do the wellness exam and focus this one on the lump. But my vet knows these visits aren’t cheap and always makes a point of asking if there’s anything else I want to address while I’m there so I don’t have to pay for another visit. This new vet couldn’t be bothered…how do you expect to go to work to thoroughly examine a pet when you only have the use of 1 arm?
Topic: ph balance
Hi all: I have recently had my chocolate lab’s urine tested and have been told that he has crystals in his urine. She has recommended four dog foods that will provide a good ph balance that may solve the problem, rather than putting him on medicines and invasive testing.
I am curious to see if anyone has any suggestions for a great dog food that is:
for seniors: he’s 12 but active
chicken and grain free (he breaks out from too much chicken)
nut free (allergy)
strong in providing a solid ph balanceCurrently, he is on Nautral Balance vegan formula (dry), with a scoop of 100% pure pumpkin and some beef canned dog food mixed in. He also is on glucosamine, fishoil and three prescriptions.
I appreciate anything that anyone share!
Beth
So I’m a new dog owner and I’m the kind of person that likes to do a deep dive on things I get really into. Well, I’m really into my dog and I’d LOVE to be able to make some healthy treats (probably not going all out on making his food just yet) for him and while there’s ample info out there of nutritious ways to feed your dog treats, I’d love if I could find some more detailed info.
For example, it’s pretty clear that chicken, eggs and fish oil (provided you boost their vitamin E intake) are all great things for a dog to eat. I’m aware there are some arguments against anything, but in general. Well, I think the jerky approach is great and so I was like hmmm.. what if I take some chicken, slice it thin and then dry it out in the oven? Well, what if before I do that, I baste it in egg yolk, mix in maybe some egg shell powder and some fish oil. Boom, it’s a really healthy dog treat right? Well, I’m totally glossing over amounts, if this stuff loses its benefits by being cooked, etc.
I’m definitely a newbie to this world as you can tell but it’s INCREDIBLY hard to find detailed information because there are a million blogs and forums and posts about healthy dog food suggestions written by anyone and everyone.
Thanks in advance! If this has been answered before, my apologies.
Topic: Best food for my dog
i have a cockapoo ( cocker spaniel- poodle) and I was wondering what type of food we should use because he doesnāt seem to like the food we are using now (Purina one beyond dry). It is hard to find a good type of food for my dog because of his sensitive skin. Advise would be appreciated.
Topic: Upset Stomach Drooling
So for years now my dog has had issues with excessive drooling. I’ve never been able to pinpoint what causes it. Medical tests all come back normal. But the drooling never last for more that an hour or two so by the time the vet sees him he can only offer suggestions.
The last time he noticed what he called signs of allergies: inflammation around his nose and mouth, head shaking and ear debris, watery eyes, paw and leg licking. He said that dogs can drool excessively when they have an upset stomach. Or if they come in contact with something in the environment that they’re allergic to.
So he basically told me to give him 5 benedryl twice a day to prevent symptoms.
Which I kind of thought was nuts because the drooling wasn’t happening all the time. So he told me to do it for 5 days, then give him a dose whenever symptoms presented.
Benedryl does work, unfortunately it takes a while to kick in.But what triggers the episodes? How long does it take from exposure to symptoms?
It didn’t occur to me or my vet, but someone in a dog wellness FB group suggested keeping a journal of when these drooling attacks occur. That way I can write down when he last ate, what he ate, did he go outside prior, did he do anything unusual before the drooling started while it is still fresh in my mind.
He had a drooling episode today. The last one was a week ago while I was away. That day neither of my dogs ate much of anything (which happens sometimes when I go away). Thinking about possible food issues, all this past week I had given both dogs cooked ground beef. No incident. I ran out last night. This morning, I probably made the mistake of putting in a few crumbles of sausage that I had leftover. To make matters worse, when I ate eggs, sausage and cheese for breakfast about 60-90 minutes later, I gave the dogs the small remainder that I hadn’t finished.
Within 20 or so minutes the drooling began.
I’m kicking myself because I’ve been really good with the no table scraps treats.
The vet had said that because it doesn’t happen every day and only 1 or 2 a week (sometimes even less) that it’s probably something he’s eating. That the environmental sensitivities can be a totally separate issue and that dogs can develop really sensitive stomachs as they get older. He suggested either a sensitive stomach dry food or limited ingredient food to make digestion easier. He also suggested staying away from bird proteins as bully breeds are known to be sensitive to fowl proteins.
Any suggestions?
Bought iams large bag of mini chunks last sunday. mixed part of it in, half and half with the purina one lamb and rice i had left, which they had both been eating.
on wednesday my lab threw up 4 times. on saturday (yesterday) my lab once again threw up right after i fed him as i was taking him outside. then later in the day my cairn terrier threw up, she ended up being sick 4 times yesterday. only gave them a little this morning (they eat at 5 am) to hold them over till i went and bought lamb and rice. i ended up getting berkly and jenson from bjs.
needless to say i am terrified that this has done harm to them and afraid of feeding them anything. if anyone out there has noticed a problem with iams dry dog food please get in touch with me, this was a 50lb bag.
i have sent email to iam’s but could not talk with anyone as it was saturday and could not even leave voice message which really is upsetting.
thanks for listening,
DebraHi I have a dog that the vet and breeder recommended 26% and under protein content. Do any of you have suggestions? This would have to be dry food. I’d like to have a 30lbs under $55 or so.
Thanks
Topic: Help! Puppy food
Hello all! well Tofuu is officially 3 months now and is growing so fast. but I DO NOT like the food that my bf family has been feeding him. (done some research). cause i’ve noticed that he has been scratching alot and biting at his fur. so i am switching his food as soon as i can and as soon i get some opinions as well! (for reassurance. ).
Well these are the brands that i am looking to buy, Orijen Puppy, Solid Gold, Wellness for Puppies, Blue Buffalo Puppy, Innova Puppy, or Acana. and another question i really want to ask you fellow shiba parents. Do you feed you puppy straight up dry food (high quality kibbles) or do you mix the kibbles with some wet food? and if so what combinations did you feed your shiba pup this early in puppyhood?
sorry to sounds so antsy!, but i just HATE the food he’s been eating this past week . Tofuu’s health and growth is what’s important. THANKSSSS for all your help and advice in advance.
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