[pugmomsandy]

Pfeiner,

There are several premixes you can use and you can feed more than one kind for variety. Some brands that have a premix are The Honest Kitchen, Grandma Lucy’s (both product lines), Dr Harvey’s, Sojo’s, Wysong Uncanny, and Urban Wolf. The addition of an oil is a beneficial fat source which contains essential fatty acids (EFA’s) like omega 6 and 3.

[Honeybeesmom1]

Two that come to mind would be The Honest Kitchen and Grandma Lucy’s. USA made and safe. I trust both of those companies. GL has some treats with wheat but their white fish and freeze-dried chicken treats don’t.

[InkedMarie]

Dr. Mike only reviews dog food here, not treats. I don’t think they’d rate very highly if he did.

I’m partial to Buddy Bisquits (come in large & mini, also soft), SoJo’s (mine love the duck & cherry), The Honest Kitchen (they have a few) and Charlee Bear treats.

[Mom2Cavs]

Ooohh….Cavaliers! I have 2 right now, older girls. Congratulations on your new baby. If it were me and I had another puppy I would probably feed Fromm Gold Puppy, or Wellness Small Breed Puppy. I also like all-life-stage foods like Annamaet, Fromm 4Star, Dr. Tim’s. I also top my dogs’ food with canned food for more variety and moisture. A good probiotic/enzyme supplement, a whole food vitamin/mineral, and omega 3’s in the form of fish oil are some things to consider in the future, as well. I also admit I used to feed Greenies and Dentastix but discovered the ingredients aren’t that great and they can be a choking hazard, as well. Now, I like to use The Honest Kitchen Beams. They are dried fish skins. I’m sure others will have recommendations for you soon. 🙂

[pugmomsandy]

You can add in some pure canned pumpkin puree (1 tablespoon or so) to his meals to add fiber. If you can’t find pumpkin puree, you can also add 1 teaspoon of chia seed. If not that either, try adding around 1/2 teaspoon of ground psyllium to his meals. Also, foods like Grandma Lucy’s and The Honest Kitchen or Sojo’s tend to have more plant matter and alot of people will post that their dog’s stool is larger on this type of food. I’ve used all 3 and the dog’s stools will be a little bulkier. You can just add it as a kibble topper too and make as little or as much as you want since you reconstitute the amount you want with water.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 9 months ago by pugmomsandy.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 9 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[DogFoodie]

Hi James,

Some dry biscuits that I feel are made with quality ingredients by trustworthy manufacturers are Brothers Complete, Nature’s Variety Instinct, Wellness and The Honest Kitchen.

[InkedMarie]

Jenilee: if you want to try the Honest Kitchen again, try this. Get a couple of Kongs. Make a thicker batch of THK. Spoon a little into the kong and put whatever they normally eat in last. Toss it in the freezer and give it to them when they’re frozen.

[pugmomsandy]

Look into a premix. It has the veggies/vitamins in there. Just add your own meat and oil. Some premixes are Urban Wolf, See Spot Live Longer Dinner Mixes, Grandma Lucy’s and The Honest Kitchen.

For homemade from scratch, you might consider “Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats” or “Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet” recipe books.

Also dogaware.com has a homemade diet section.

[Jjennilee]

Nice to know I am not alone my boys are grown one 35 and the other 23 this year but my fur babies are my current reason to be home LOL… but i will take it …Its never a dull moment anyone that says being a stay at home wife and mom isnt work has never experienced it for sure…

Tried the Honest Kitchen today… No go smells like horse feed and they wont go near it LOL… so on to the next one… only reason we tried that one is the shop we went into didnt have the doc harveys yet and we got samples…

We have taken away all treats now and rawhide as i understand rawhide can be a problem ?
and i guess tomorrow we will try basic beef again… I am so lost as to what to do for these two…

[Fatcakes]

Thank you so much! How often do you rotate your boy’s food? I just got back from the pet store(s) and have a bag of Orijen Six Fish. I’m blending that with the Innova Prime to switch him over and will continue the fish oil supplement and research. I would like him to have more than 18% fat but we’ll see how he does after getting off the Innova first. I’m very interested in the Victor as well. I hadn’t heard of the Honest Kitchen until just now, and it looks like Beams are sold at the same store I just got the Orijen. haha fish-averse hubby is about to rue the day I found this website. 😀
Thanks again!

[Shihtzumom20]

Hi Jjennilee,
I would say for the most part yes. All you have to do is add the meat and anything else the pre-mix calls for in the recipe. ie Urban wolf requires you to add meat, oil, liver etc. I think most pre-mixes I know of have a statement on their website or bag that they are AAFCO compliant when the directions are followed. Some common pre-mixes are Sojos', Honest Kitchen Preference, Urban Wolf and Steves See spot live longer. The last one is not so easy to get in Canada, but the U.S.A is fine.
I hope this helps and Good luck to you and your lucky pup!

[Naturella]

Fatcakes,

Fish oil is great – I would keep him on it for a while. You could also try a fish-based food for the sake of rotation and varying the protein intake. Lamb is good for skin and coat too, I hear.

As far as fiber, my pup is currently on a mix of Dr. Tim’s Grain Free (4.5% fiber), Nutrisca Chicken and Chickpea (7% fiber), and Vets Choice Holistic Health Extension Grain Free (5% fiber). He, however, suffers from hard stools, as high in fiber as his diet is, so kind people in this forum have recommended pumpkin and flax for him, and maybe even yoghurt – they are all good additives, and the latter REALLY seems to help him. All the foods he is on currently are 5-star rated (except for the Vets Choice – that is 4.5 stars I think) and grain free.

I am switching him to Earthborn Holistic Grain Free mixed with Vets Choice, and Victor Ultra Professional Grain Free mixed with Back to Basics after. All of that will have even less fiber than he has in his food now, but I will be adding the pumpkin, flax, and yoghurt daily, I don’t mind. I really like Victor and can’t wait to get Bruno on it, and they also have a salmon-based grain-free recipe. It is also very affordable and 5-star-rated.

That is for the fiber. As for the dandruffy-ness of your guy, I can just share my experience, and it is that my pup, when found, was so flea-infested, the vet had said she hasn’t seen a case this bad. He has had skin sores and wounds all over. With much TLC, grain-free food and daily fish skins (I used Beams by The Honest Kitchen), his skin healed up completely and coat is super soft and shiny. So this is why I may consider more fish in his diet, plus, I am sure more knowledgeable people in the forum will chip in with more advice.

[GizmoMom]

You can try cooking for your dogs and add pre-mix.
I’m using thing one and my dog loves it.
Whole Grain Veggie & Fruit Dehydrated Base Mix

There are other brands you can try.
http://www.seespotlivelonger.com/home/sll/page_16/our_ingredients_your_ingredients.html
http://www.urbanwolf.cc/ProductGuide.htm
http://www.drharveys.com/products/show/13-veg-to-bowl
http://www.grandmalucys.com/artisan_premix_trial_p/76706-9.htm
https://www.sojos.com/products/dog-food/sojos-grain-free-dog-food-mix

[crazy4cats]

I also have labs with digestive issues. The supplements that I have used with success that have similar ingredients are: Gastriplex by Thorne, Vetri Probiotics BD by Vetri-Science, Phytomucil by Animal Essentials and the Perfect Form by Honest Kitchen. Good luck all. This is not a fun issue to deal with.

[Shasta220]

If you’re not opposed to cooking for him, I’d highly recommend getting into a raw diet. I believe there are several brands of raw foods on here which already contain the proper amount of nutrients/supplements. The Honest Kitchen is one that I’m thinking of right now… I’d definitely check out the raw forums on here so you can get an idea. It’s very very overwhelming and confusing at first, but after a few days of researching and then a few weeks of perfecting your recipes, you’ll be good to go!
My favorite part about the raw diet is you know /exactly/ what goes into it. No more looking at long ingredient labels, or wondering “hmm…where was this protein sourced from?”

[treizi]

So once again, I’m on the hunt for some new food. Koda’s an almost 10 year old Papillon with some random tummy issues that we haven’t been able to pin down. The vet has mentioned early pancreatitis possibilities as well as stomach acid issues. Symptoms are random and vary but basically will alter from diarrhea, stomach bloat and/or gurgling and bile spit up.
Since full blown pancreatitis isn’t a concern (yet), I’m not willing to go on a prescription diet since it might not even be an issue, but I’m hoping to find a good alternative that is just healthier all around. Koda has been eating the grain free duck from Lotus and while he seems to do OK on it, he doesn’t love it and tends to free feed.

I’m looking in to raw/wet but confused about the fat content conversions with raw in particular. Since he’s getting a bit older and has these stomach issues, I’m searching for something that is lower in fat. I’ve considered Honest Kitchen’s Preference and was thinking about adding raw but everything seems to be extremely high in fat content. The ones I’ve seen that are lower is Darwin’s and OC, both which I have access to in this area, but I’m not sure if these are even considered way to high for my older boy.

The alternative would be for us to boil Costco chicken and add that to the preference, but I do like the idea of having the ready made patties and being able to alternate between proteins. We often travel to our families place so not having to make a separate meal for the dog would be nice too.

Would I just need to contact the companies and ask what the true fat content is? I saw the mathematical conversion on another part of the site, but it seems like I need to know the moisture content of the food and I’m not sure where to find that.

[Dori]

I too am sorry for your losses. It’s always a difficult thing to go through. I feed my three dogs grain, white potato, white rice free foods.
As someone else mentioned, if you check out the 4 and 5 star foods and read their ingredient lists you can go from there. Many of us on this site find a food that our dogs do well on and then continue the search so that we can have a few different brands and proteins to rotate through. Some rotate from bag to bag others rotate more often. I don’t really feed kibble any more (I feed commercial raw, also The Honest Kitchen which is a dehydrated food that you just add water to) and am just starting to delve into doing homemade raw meals. When I did feed kibble, some of the brands I really liked were Brothers Complete (you can only buy it on their website but they have very very quick delivery and great customer service, it’s a family run business), Zignature, Victors (you can also order Victors on Amazon, Natures Logic, Acana just to name a few.

Keep in mind that, and it’s only my way, when I first bring a puppy home (or any dog for that matter) I usually keep them on the same food they were eating for the first two weeks. My feeling is that they are going through enough stress with moving to a new home, new people, etc. that I think it’s just a little easier on them that at least something in their lives is familiar to them. Then I start the slow transition to a food I’m comfortable feeding and also comfortable with the companies website and where they source their ingredients and what plants are used to produce their food. I try to make sure I then research what other dog foods that plant may be producing and, of course, have there being any recalls on any of them.

On the top left hand section of this page is a wonder list of Dog Food Recalls and you can also sign up to be put on their email list for dog food recalls as they happen.

Hope any of this has helped. Good luck with the new puppy. Let us know how you make out. Oh, and ask all the questions you want.

[Pm3]

Thank you all so much for your excellent replies! This is great information.

Aimee – it looks like you are right about what food was used in the study. I would never have figured that out, so thanks again. Looking at the ingredients though … Well, I’d have to be pretty desperate to feed that to my dogs. First ingredient is corn(?!) and all those veggie extras don’t show up until the 13th ingredient.. Yikes.

GizmoMom – thank you for the list of things to check out. The only one I’ve already tried is The Honest Kitchen and sadly (because it looks like wonderful stuff) my dogs really hated it. If I could manage to get them to eat any of it, it gave them diarrhea. Oh well. I tried several of their products with no success, and wound up throwing it out.

Mountainhound – looks like another excellent resource, thank you.

[InkedMarie]

Dori, you’re correct, the tech or the vet asks me what I food but I get that “huh” look. Most of them haven’t heard of the kibble I’ve fed, haven’t heard of The Honest Kitchen and most don’t agree with raw but they just shut up.

[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.

[RescueDaneMom]

I agree with what Ana said. I have a Great Dane as well so I understand the challenge that feeding a giant breed can be sometimes. I would avoid the hot dogs too. I only use hot dogs (good quality, all meat, all natural) for very special rewards. It’s not something you want to feed all the time.

My Dane was always slightly overweight on kibble no matter what brand I fed or how much I reduced his portion. The best thing I ever did for his health was switch him to The Honest Kitchen and raw. THK is a dehydrated food. You add water and let it rehydrate before serving it. It would be great for traveling in your motorhome with. You can incorporate some raw food instead of hot dogs if the concept of raw doesn’t bother you. There are a number of high quality raw frozen foods out there. I like Primal and Stella & Chewy’s the best. I started making my own homemade raw food because it was cheaper for me.

If you want to feed kibble, definitely check out the 4 and 5 star rated kibbles on this site. Everybody has their preferences. A few I like and have fed my Dane are: Earthborn Holistic, Annamaet Grain Free, Go! Fit & Free, Acana Regionals (Grain Free), and Orijen. Others I like are Horizon Legacy, Dr. Tim’s, and Victor. I would feed the 7 month old a food from Hound Dog Mom’s list of foods that are appropriate for a large breed puppy: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwApI_dhlbnFTXhUdi1KazFzSUk/edit All of these foods are 4 or 5 stars and have the appropriate amount of calcium for a growing large breed puppy.

Good luck and have fun with your newly adopted pups!

[A.Sandy]

Dehydrated would be honest kitchen, and freeze dried grandma Lucy’s they are good quality.

-Ana
Pet nutrition expert/advisor
@pupfacts
pupcatnutrition.com

[FreeholdHound]

I wish I was as organized as Patty 🙂 Since Harry gets kibble in the AM I give him the coconut oil and/or sardine oil then, along with a probiotic and a joint health cap. I am also having good luck with Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form powder in lieu of his usual enzyme at the moment. In the PM he gets a raw grind/ kibble mix that includes tripe.

[GizmoMom]

There are some pre-mix dog food that you can add your own meat. The pre-mix just contain veggies, vitamin, and minerals. I wouldn’t add it to kibbles though, it would make it unbalanced.

These are just some of the brands I can think of. There maybe more.
Whole Grain Veggie & Fruit Dehydrated Base Mix
http://www.seespotlivelonger.com/home/sll/page_16/our_ingredients_your_ingredients.html
http://www.urbanwolf.cc/ProductGuide.htm
http://www.drharveys.com/products/show/13-veg-to-bowl
http://www.grandmalucys.com/artisan_premix_trial_p/76706-9.htm
https://www.sojos.com/products/dog-food/sojos-grain-free-dog-food-mix

I’m using The Honest Kitchen Preference. My dog loves it.

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

[theBCnut]

Hi Lablubber
If you are serious about wanting to make your own dog food, check out the raw food section. Hound Dog Mom had blood hounds and the recipes she created on there are excellent and have the right amount of calcium for large breed puppies. After you look at that, if you decide you want something easier to get started, there are premixes that you just add meat and oil to, that you may want to check out. See Spot Live Longer Dinner Mix is one. The Honest Kitchen Preference is another. And Dr Harvey’s Veg to Bowl is a third. Finally, Dr Karen Becker’s book “Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats” and Steve Brown’s book “Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet” are great resources as is dogaware dot com.

[Molzy]

Thanks everyone! Tonight went better. I decided to let him eat it in his kennel, hoping he would take his time since he doesn’t have to worry about it being taken away. It worked! He still gulps large portions, but he crunches all the bones first so I think it’s ok. His poops looked fine today (last evening was his first raw) so we are continuing on!

Gonna have to price out some organ meat and additional muscle meat to eventually balance his diet out, but for now he’s still getting breakfast of honest kitchen so I’m not too worried yet.

[theBCnut]

It could be an intolerance, they do have quite a variety of symptoms, but it wouldn’t be my first thought. He could be not producing enough digestive enzymes.

The fact that you mention better stools first thing in the morning tells me that while his system is slowed down for the night, he has the time he needs to work on his food. This is often how it goes with dogs with nervous dispositions. You might want to look intotrying the Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form. It has several ingredients that soothe the intestinal tract and one that may slow it a little.

When you have the stool checked on Monday, have them send it off to a lab for analysis. They find things that the vet doesn’t find on a normal stool check. And finally, you said he had worms this past fall. Did you see them or did the vet find them?

[RescueDaneMom]

Lablubber-

I just wanted to say that I didn’t intentionally ignore your post. I tend not to respond unless I feel 100% sure in the advice I can offer. I personally didn’t go through the LBP phase. I adopted my Great Dane when he was 2. I feed a combination of raw and dehydrated but I know that not everyone is comfortable in feeding raw. I fed my boy kibble for 5 years before I started learning about raw.

I think that coconut oil, flax, and fish oil are great supplements to be adding right now. I don’t think it’s wise to give a ton of supplements to puppies right off the bat. Those 3 though are great. The only other thing you might want to consider is digestive enzymes and probiotics if you notice your pup needs a little extra digestive support. I give them to my dog because he’s older. You can also give a little bit of kefir. You can find it in the grocery store. It has 10 strains of probiotics. It’s much better than yogurt. You’d have to feed way more yogurt to get the same probiotic benefit as kefir. Also, I too switch off fish oil with krill oil. I would definitely continue to do that. They don’t need as much krill oil as fish oil because it is more bioavailable so you’ll want to watch your dosage. Here is info on krill oil from Dr. Becker: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/krill-oil-for-pets.aspx

Here is an article from Dr. Becker on using Tumeric: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/11/12/turmeric.aspx She provides dosage at the bottom. “Small to medium-sized dogs can be given 250 milligrams twice a day, and large to giant breeds should get 500 milligrams two to three times a day.” Here is an article on coconut oil if you haven’t seen it already: http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/the-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil/

If I were feeding kibble from HDM’s list, my top picks would be Earthborn Holistic and Annamaet. I have fed both to my dog and he did really well on them. I haven’t used it but I like the look of Dr. Tim’s. I also used The Honest Kitchen. I’ve been using for almost 6 years now. It’s a dehydrated food that you rehydrate with water before serving. It’s not raw because it has been heated during the dehydration process, though at a lot lower temperature than what kibble is exposed to when being extruded. You can use it as a topper if you want. The Thrive and Love varieties are complete and balanced with the correct Ca/P ratio for a LBP.

[Molzy]

Well, I gave Quincy his first meal of raw tonight, a chicken leg quarter (on sale for 59 cents a pound this week)! I tried to hold onto it to teach him to CHEW his food, but was only partially successful. I am now freaking out because I just let my baby eat a chicken bone! Trying to ease myself by watching YouTube videos of raw fed dogs, but all the videos appear to be chewing more than he did. Any advice? Is he still a candidate for feeding raw?

At this point I’m planning on keeping him on honest kitchen for breakfast, and raw for dinner while I learn more and become more comfortable with balancing the diet (I know I can’t do chicken quarters forever!). But I need a little reassurance that my beloved dog isn’t going to bleed to death tonight because I let him eat bone!

I’m watching him like a hawk for any signs of discomfort (kind of difficult since he has digestive issues anyways), but so far he’s just running between me and the kitchen looking for more chicken and playing with his toys…

[Molzy]

No problem, thanks! Both my dog are around 40 pounds, and full grown (2 years old), so I don’t have to worry about puppy growth with them! Quincy is a cattle dog and LoJack is a German shorthair mix, currently on honest kitchen keen (Quincy) and Halo salmon kibble (LoJack).

[Molzy]

Wow! Thanks for all the responses. Sorry I haven’t been responding, my internet at home was down, and I am not talented enough with my smartphone to respond on it, but I have been following all the wonderful information. But a quick overview of where we are at today – attacks are down to about once every two weeks, and I am able to keep them from escalating to vomiting by massaging his belly to push out any gas build up (meaning I am up every hour or so all night those nights). I am feeding him Honest Kitchen Keen, and he gets 2/3 of cup at 7am, 5-6pm, and 10-11pm. He doesn’t get any other treats or human food. I will try to reply to each post below:

Cbgmom – So far we have been using the harness (and even taking that off when inside, since our home has double entries with a front porch and back mudroom so no risk of escaping). I think it *is* helping some, since he does still occasionally start an attack when he rests his head funny (so that something pushes on his throat).

Billy – the boarding definitely was stressful for him, and I wish we hadn’t been forced to do that. However, I don’t think he is confused anymore, and certain other events (such as staying with my mom for almost a week) were not related with any sort of attack. They will often start at night while we’re watching TV and he is basically sleeping/resting, though once they start there is definitely a stress component. I don’t think it is a habitual thing, as he clearly gets freaked out when it happens and wants it to stop (not to anthropomorphize). We have tried boiled rice and chicken – did NOT go over well with him (he did not digest the rice at all, it came out the other end looking the same). Our best luck so far has been a wet diet (honest kitchen or canned dog food). I will definitely work in increasing his physical activity, been a hard winter here with wind chill advisories most weeks it seems, and he is not tolerant of the cold at all. Thanks for the advice!

Bunny – the first time this happened, I definitely thought it was bloat!! I don’t think I slept at ALL that night, I gave him some gas-x and just laid next to him. I called the vet as soon as they opened the next morning, but since he was still eating and defecating they weren’t concerned. He has never had one of his episodes AT the clinic, and my vet is very unconcerned about whatever is wrong since he is otherwise healthy. We haven’t even done an endoscopy at this point.

I have been considering post-nasal drip recently (Pepcid doesn’t seem to really help, so I don’t *think* it is completely related to reflux). However, he can also be triggered if his throat gets touched oddly, so I am leaning towards trachea damage. We adopted Quincy at the end of July – I know they used a choke chain at the shelter with him. However, he had NO issues for the first 10 days we had him, then I had to board him for 4 days due to a family wedding and it started after that. I will always wonder if something happened to him while he was boarding, as he is TERRIFIED of the guy we boarded him with (I took a training course there a few months later, and Quincy would hide under my chair from the guy, so we stopped going because he would force Quincy to let him pet him).

I will try the walking, as I could see that helping. The best thing I have found so far is lying next to him and massaging his belly to push the gas out. I’ve been doing that for the past 6 weeks or so and have managed to avoid the escalated attacks (vomiting and what appears to me to be severe discomfort).

AnotherEmily – SO sorry to hear what you’re going through! As relieved I am that my dog isn’t the only one, I wish I was the only one, because I hate hearing that other dogs are suffering as well. It sounds like you’ve really tried everything, so please keep us posted. How is he doing without chicken? I have considered food allergies, but what I don’t get is that he can be FINE for two weeks, and then have an episode. I try to be VERY careful about not giving him anything “extra”, not even any dog treats recently. I really can’t see a pattern to why and when it happens, even with keeping a calendar.

WParsons – Again, I am sorry to hear that you’re going through this too. It is so heartbreaking to watch. I have also started feeding more frequently (Quincy gets 2/3 cup, 3x a day now), but there seems to be *some* sort of link to bedtime, because he gets the attack around 9pm (which is only 3-4 hours after he ate dinner, so it shouldn’t be an empty stomach?). I’ll try the Pepcid again as well, I have some on hand just wasn’t sure it was really making a difference (GasX seems to maybe help more?).

Slappppy – Interesting that there is another cattledog with this condition (Quincy is a cattledog as well)! What type of bowl do you use that works well with wet food? I have been considering investing in something like that for Quincy, because it is hard to slow him down. I know what you mean about the differences – we call Quincy’s attacks either the “gulpies” or the “swallows” depending on their severity. The swallows can also escalate into the gulpies at times.

Steve Johnson – glad you found something that works! I will check that out, I have seen it in my web searches but thought that it might be a little gimmicky…I am basically willing to try anything though, it is terrible watching him when he doesn’t feel good!

Khouston – sorry to hear that your dog has this as well, but I am glad you found something that works! I understand about the landscaping – I was lucky and I’m still renting, so all I had to do was sacrifice my houseplants.

Mmt – I will ask my vet about Sulcrcate. I have tried using slippery elm in the past, I think it is supposed to be similar (you make up a paste for them to eat before food, it is supposed to coat the intestine).

Again, thank you ALL for your contributions to this!! It is wonderful to hear that some people have found some relief for this, so I will keep watching this thread. Give all your puppies a big hug, they are so lucky to have people who care this much for them!

[Molzy]

Hello,

I recently contacted Honest Kitchen customer service to learn more about the Preference. I inquired about feeding bone-in meat with the Preference, and they claimed that Preference (and the two new base mixes they are coming out with this year) are fine to mix with meat and bone mixtures, and that the calcium/phosphorus ratio would be balanced as long as I used their ratio of Preference:Raw Meat.

Now, as a scientist and having some knowledge of mathematics, I am not sure how that can be true. How can it be a balanced diet with ground boneless meat AND balanced with meat/bone grinds?

Any thoughts?

Molly

[pugmomsandy]

I haven’t looked at the recipes you mentioned above, but there are premixes that contain vits/minerals that you can add your own meat/organs and oil to, and they make a complete/balanced meal. Some of these are Grandma Lucy’s, The Honest Kitchen, Urban Wolf, See Spot Live Longer. One site’s recipes (homemadedogfood.com) uses DinoVite and a fish oil to make a meal complete. Dr Karen Becker’s recipe book contains a recipe for a vitamin mix. You’d have to buy some vitamins and grind them up and this can be done in bulk every couple months depending on how much food you make.

[mountainhound]

You definitely want to feed food with a lot of moisture. Raw would be ideal, next best thing is dehydrated like honest kitchen, followed by grain free canned.
I use this remedy when on of my dogs develop a UTI. Raw goats milk (I use answers brand, it has to be unpasteurized, 1/2-1 cup depending on the size of the dog), mixed with cranberry extract (naturvet cranberry relief) and 2 teaspoons of d mannose powder, mix it together and serve. It seems to clear up their UTI’s overnight.

[DogFoodie]

Hi Parr,

Mine do amazingly well on Canine Caviar, too!

And, Hi Rambunctious,

I did some math…

There are four dry cups per pound of The Honest Kitchen. There are 16 tablespoons (or 48 teaspoons) in one dry cup. I use approximately two tablespoons of dry THK as a topper for my 77 pound Golden Retriever’s kibble. I paid $48.86 for a 10 pound box on THK Zeal on Amazon.com. $48.86 divided by 10 pounds is $4.89 per pound. If there are 16 tablespoons in a pound then each tablespoon costs .31 cents. So, if used as a topper twice daily, THK costs me .64 cents per day and the 10 pound box would last me 80 days.

So, I just did this calculation with Zeal, but you could easily plug the numbers into other THK varieties with the amounts that you would use (which could easily be less than two tablespoons). When you look at it this way, I think it sounds a lot better than just the outright price of the initial investment for such a high quality product!

[Parr]

Yes sometimes my toppers are canned food, or meat, or from the Honest Kitchen line, just depends. I don’t use them for every meal. But when I said she loves the Canine Caviar I meant she eats it right up without any toppers. Her stools on Canine Caviar are always great. They are harder on Meadowfeast. I know it is always tricky to find the food that works. Good Luck to you.

[InkedMarie]

Rambunctious: keep in mind that a 10 pound box of The Honest Kitchen makes 40-44 cups of food. As a topper, a small box would last a good long time.

I’d look into ordering food online. I believe most of the regulars here do, for me, the food is much cheaper and free shipping! Chewy.com Wag.com PetFlow.com and PetFoodDirect.com (not always free shipping) are good places to order from.

[Rambunctious]

Betsy,
Hi! Thanks for the honest kitchen recommendation! I looked it up- I’ll be honest- my husband flipped when I told him how much Dr. Tim’s was going to be- no way will be he okay with adding THK topper. I feel like Dr. Tim’s is fairly reasonable for what it is- I’ll order Dr. Tim’s online and rotate w/Fromms (gold puppy I think) which I can get locally.
Is there a reasonablely priced topper that maybe a big box store would carry that I can add a few scoops to? From what I’ve read- toppers are really a good think to add…moistens the kibble, extra protein, etc. so I don’t wanna skip it.
I’d love any feedback! I’ve got Walmart, tractor supply, Meijer, gladeiux and I can make a pet smart too ..

[RescueDaneMom]

GSDmommy, is his brother picky too? From what you’ve said, it sounds to me like he is just a picky eater. Our pit bull is like that. It was a lot of trial and error to see what he liked. I’d buy smaller bags and rotate frequently. It sounds like he may like fish and chicken foods so far. You are going to be pretty limited if you don’t want to order online. Have you tried Wellness Core Puppy yet? That should be available locally.

My Dane used to get bored when he was eating kibble and I had to change his food after every bag. He would only eat poultry based foods (chicken, turkey, duck…). It was a pain in the butt. I added canned food and The Honest Kitchen as toppers so he would get other protein sources mixed in. I thought he was pretty picky. About 4 months ago I switched him completely over to The Honest Kitchen and raw. He is not picky anymore. He eats everything now: beef, pork, lamb, chicken, duck, goose, salmon, whitefish. So far I have not found anything he won’t eat except for THK Thrive (I don’t think he likes the quinoa in it).

I’m sure that was not too terribly helpful for you but that is my experience with 2 “picky” dogs. I hope you figure it out. Good luck 🙂

[DogFoodie]

Hi Rambunctious,

One of my favorite toppers is The Honest Kitchen. I didn’t read your other posts, so I apologize if you mentioned you had special needs, but THK’s Thrive has appropriate Calcium for large breed puppies. It’s very fast and easy to put a couple of spoonfuls on top of his kibble and soak it all in water. Just stir, let it sit for about five minutes and its ready. THK is a dehydrated, less processed food, that just needs to be reconstituted with water. It’s a great product from a great company.

[pugmomsandy]

Suziemorgs,

Grandma Lucy’s (freeze dried) and The Honest Kitchen (dehydrated), Nature’s Variety Instinct LID (kibble), Canidae Pure Land (kibble), Wellness Core Wild Game (kibble), Nature’s Logic Lamb and Rabbit kibbles, Pioneer Naturals grain free Pork, Great Life Limited Ingredient Buffalo, Great Life grain free Buffalo. There’s several canned foods to chose from as well from Hound & Gatos, Merrick, Weruva Human Style (tuna and mackerel formulas), Wellness Simple (kibble and canned). Some of these might have chicken or beef fat or salmon oil, not the meat proteins.

[Lori J.]

Hi,

I’m seeking out some new ideas….Currently feeding my Aussie mix Zeal (Honest Kitchen)…while we’re figuring out possible food allergies…and realized there’s egg in there…I’m looking for “simple”…not a gazillion ingredients.

Also, she’s got a yeast infection on her paws we are treating, so trying to avoid carbs now….

Ideas out there?

Thanks!

[Akari_32]

Another update 🙂

I’ve introduced the Purina One Beyond to Haley’s diet, one of the small bags to the rest of her food. Totals about 15 pounds of food– it did, anyways. Its been a few days, and I *think* Dweezle got into it, because I don’t think I’ve used half of all that food since I added it! He’s not been wanting to sleep in the bed room, and I heard him snooping around in the kitchen the other night… Plus he’s looking a bit pudgy lol

I also added the last bag of the Wellness CORE Ocean Fish to the mix. Anyways, she’s doing good on the One Beyond, so I’ll add the other small bag soon, and when thats done, she’ll be on half Wellness CORE Original, and half One Beyond. I may actually do more like 60/40, CORE and One Beyond. I’m still weary about out last experience with One Beyond… I dunno yet.

I’m also back to walking her several times a week, with no extra feeding, and no problems at all. Yay! As for as weight goes, she’s keeping steady at just under (visually– I haven’t actually weighed her) an “ideal” weight. Honestly, I think I’m going to keep her there. Her hips have been giving her some troubles with this colder weather, and I don’t want to bother them more by putting more weight on them (she’s tripped a few times on uneven ground on walks, and gone down butt-first, otherwise its usually just a little stiffness after laying down for long periods). She’s a little lean, but she certainly doesn’t look or act starved, and has been super perky. She’s eating about 2.5 cups of dry food, right now, plus half a can of Pro Plan, an egg (sometimes whole, sometimes just the insides), and a hot dog almost every night. Plus her vitamins, glucosamine, and fish oil, which I’ve dropped to one every night or so, since she’s on fish-based food. She’s do for shots soon, so I’ll see what the vet says about her weight.

[GizmoMom]

Thanks both of you.

I thought I’m weird for taking diary of his food and BM. Weighing it would be a bit much for me!

He is going more often on THK and the stool is larger than on raw or freeze dried. I noticed it helped with his anal gland issue though. When he was on K9 Natural freeze dried, his stool was so hard and small. His anal gland was always smelling.

[JASTECH]

If I may, also keep an eye on his fecal matter, weighing it will give you a better chart for what he’s digesting.

[theBCnut]

I would, because if he lost 1 lb in 2 weeks, he will lose more if you don’t up his calories. For a dog his size 1/2 lb a week is rapid weight loss.

[crazy4cats]

Petco does not carry Perfect Form. I got it at our local feed store. It is made by The Honest Kitchen. You’ll probably have to go to a more boutique type pet store that carries the Honest Kitchen line of food. You could always order online if you are not opposed to that. Good luck!

[GizmoMom]

Thanks Patty! He doesn’t need to lose weight. Last time he saw the vet they said 15lbs is a perfect weight for him.

I’ll probably up his food a little.

[theBCnut]

If he needed to lose the weight then YAY!! However, if he didn’t need to lose the weight then I would assume that THKs feeding guidelines are for a dog that is less active than yours and up his food a little.

[theBCnut]

Is he still on probiotics? You can try digestive enzymes, they don’t upset the stomach like a food change can. You can also try adding a spoonful of pure canned pumpkin to his meals. Sometimes the extra fiber helps them regulate the amount of moisture left in the stool. Their are also supplements like Perfect Form by the Honest Kitchen that help heal gut irritation and get the stool back to normal.