[pugmomsandy]

You might consider using a premix that contains the vits/minerals like CarnivoreRaw (comes with or without calcium). Other premixes are Urban Wolf, Grandma Lucy’s, Honest Kitchen and Sojo’s but these do not recommend adding bone, just muscle meat. Dr. Karen Becker has a recipe book with simple recipes but you will need to purchase some vitamins and grind them up to add to the food at serving time. You can make a batch of the vitamin mix that will last a while.

Also, you might see if there are any raw feeding groups in your area. Several times a year, the one near me orders bulk from a few companies at less than retail, sometimes wholesale.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by pugmomsandy.

[Ptcbass]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will look into them. I think I am going to have to let go of the sweet potato thing because it is in so many foods. I am also looking into the Honest Kitchen Zeal. We usually feed twice a day but we are going to start splitting it to 3 meals. I have always put lots of water on their food (without trying to make it soup). I think the prednisone was the downfall and then the food finished my baby off. I just want to give the one I have now the best life/health possible. The local internal medicine vet was the one my girl I lost was with for a week in their intensive care. I will give them a call too if I need. Thanks!

Thank you for the links too! I am trying to learn all I can.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Ptcbass.

[C4D]

Hi Colby C,

There are several sites that have balanced homemade recipes, including dogaware, as InkedMarie mentioned. Whole Dog Journal has recipes. I’m a subscriber but I think the articles can be accessed for free. Balanceit is another helpful website.

There are also several books with balanced diets including See Spot Live Longer and Dr. Becker too.

The most important thing is to make sure the diet is balanced. I tend to use premixes like Grandma Lucy’s, The Honest Kitchen, etc to add to the cooked meat at feeding time. I cook enough meat to last several days. Crock pots are great for this purpose. InkedMarie is right, commercial raw is very easy, but it is expensive when you have multiple large dogs. Good luck with it!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by C4D.

[C4D]

Hi Judith B,

I cook for my dogs frequently, but it’s always fresh, not canned, meat with a few organic veggies, generally carrots, celery and fresh parsley, sometimes broccoli or squash, depending on what I have in the garden or is on sale, NO SALT. I add this to a premix, like The Honest Kitchen, Sojos, or Grandma Lucy’s, which has the vitamins added. I also feed my dog’s a regular diet of commercial kibble, canned or raw that are complete and balanced.

I appreciate that you want to provide some healthy fresh cooked food for your dogs, but, IMHO, I don’t think you should be adding canned soup and broth. There’s a lot of sodium in those and dogs (or people) don’t need that much sodium. Regular Swanson a whole can has about 50% of the normal human daily intake. Tomato soup is also high in sodium, I just linked Campbell’s, but I’m an avid label reader and they all tend to have about 33% or better per serving, which is less than 1/2 the can.

http://swanson.campbellskitchen.com/broth/beef-broth/

http://www.campbellsoup.com/Products/Condensed/All/2341

This is the nutrition data of Cheese Whiz. I didn’t know which one you use, but they are all very similar in salt content. This is for 2 tbsp, not the whole jar, which would be a lot more.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/160/2

These are not healthy products to be adding to your dog’s diet. If you want to add some broth, cook fresh meat with a bit of water and use the cooking water as the broth. I do this all the time. I even use it as stock to make soups for my family.

I truly appreciate what you are trying to do for your dogs, but if you keep it to some fresh meat and vegetables in the crock pot, your dogs will be much healthier. I would still use this as a topper to a balanced dog food to keep your animals in the best of health. The balanceIt website, Whole Dog Journal, or dogaware has some recipes to give you an idea of what a balanced meal or supplement to their diet should look like. Good Luck!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by C4D.

[InkedMarie]

Hi David,
Over on the review side, click “wet dog food reviews”. There are lots of good canned foods. There are also dehydrated & freeze dried foods such as The Honest Kitchen, Grandma Lucy’s etc.

[aimee]

Hi sheila23,

I’m so sorry to learn about your dog. You are right to be very concerned about nutrition for Alvin. Since he is so young looking for any conditions that are treatable is also very important.

This site is technical but may be of help to you or your vet as you decide upon treatment. Foods that are intended for normal dogs will have phosphorus levels too high for a dog with kidney insufficiency.

http://iris-kidney.com/

Preference could be an option but I’ve found that The Honest Kitchen knows precious little about dog nutrition and personally I wouldn’t trust the company’s products in this situation. Grandma Lucy’s used to market their diet as a low phosphorus diet appropriate for kidney patients. I repeatedly asked them what the phosphorus level was in the food and they said they didn’t know. It was only after I reported them to the state feed control official that they tested the food and changed their labels. The diets are too high in phosphorus to be considered a low phosphorus diet for a kidney patient and contain garlic which is something I’d avoid in this situation.

A homemade diet may be the best option if you are not comfortable with any of the commercial diets designed for dogs with kidney compromise. Or a combination of homemade and commercial. Nutrition of a kidney patient is very important, so much so that this is a situation that I personally would consult a vet nutritionist. Or you may want to check out the “balance it” site as they have for kidney friendly homemade recipes balanced by a vet nutritionist.

Best of luck to you and Alvin

[sheila23]

Hi all!

I was hoping for some feedback on a kidney disease diet for my pup Alvin. I have been doing research for the past few days, on here, DogAware, and a few other sites. My brain is starting to hurt! 🙂

Right now, I am leaning towards Honest Kitchen Preference, supplementing with Rotating Tripe and Beef.

Do you guys think the phosphorous would be low enough?
(I can provide all the numbers if needed!) I am also starting him on the Standard Process Renal Supplement.

A little background on Alvin:
He’s 4, currently eating Zignature Turkey.
He was diagnosed a little over a week ago, his Bun was 52 and his Creatinine is 3.5.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Jenn H]

While I haven’t seen her website, I haven’t been in agreement with some of her advice/suggestions. Thought maybe it was just because she has extra large breeds and I am only really familiar with large breeds. I know there are some similarities in controlling growth & their nutritional needs, but not sure if both sizes require the same things.
Hound Dog Mom is often informative. I agree she seems to have more utd info.
Didn’t see what Great Dane Lady has to say about The Honest Kitchen. But I will say that I have been in touch with them a lot over the past week and they have been nothing less than prompt, patient and helpful. They have been very open to answering the million questions I’ve asked and as far as I know they have been on top of the quality of their products. Even doing voluntary recalls when they just suspect something may be wrong. And I haven’t found any animals to become ill from their foods.

[aquariangt]

I personally find great dane lady’s information a bit dated. Her information about honest kitchen is inaccurate and I don’t trust anyone with a website that A. is unpolished as that and B. contains as many typos as that. I’d go with the links linked by hound dog mom which has a lot more up to date information at the beginning of the thread. I’m not avidly against all grains, but grain free very often has a higher protein content, and I don’t agree with long term feeding of some of the protein levels on gdl website

[Leslie M]

I would stick with treats off the iheartdogs top 25 brands. You can’t go wrong with them in my opinion. All of the freeze dried from this list are great for training and most are simple ingredients, like Orijen free range bison treats ingredients are: Bison liver, Boneless bison and bison tripe.
ACANA
Addiction
Annamaet
AvoDerm
Back to Basics
By Nature
Earthborn Holistic
Fromm
Grandma Lucy’s
Hi-Tek Naturals
Horizon
K9 Natural
Lotuz
Nature’s Logic
Orijen
Pinnacle
Precise Holistic Complete
Primal
Stella & Chewy’s
Stewart
Stewart Pro-Treat
The Honest Kitchen
The Real Meat Company
Wysong
ZiwiPeak

[Kim J]

Thank you for your replies.

I actually just called Wellness, and asked them about this, as well as ‘why the gelatin’ that this site says actually has no nutritional value for dogs. The person I spoke to knew about the amazon post and they had seen the papers referred to. She said that the Green tea extract was given in super doses to fasting dogs, whereas it is used in much smaller quantities in their foods for its natural preservative effect. By the way, green tea extract has a similar effect in people if you take the doses that were given to these dogs. She also pointed out, as is true, that in these studies they said no such effect was seen in dogs that had not been fasted. If the dog eats the food with the green tea extract in it, it is necessarily not ‘fasted’.

As long as I had her on the phone, I asked her why they used gelatin – she told me it was basically used as a binder because of the high meat content of the food.

All in all, I was pleased with her response.

To the user who suggested Ziwipeak – thank you – I looked at it, and was impressed that it includes glucosamine and chondroitn – I currently give my dogs a supplement for these. However, so does Wellness, and Wellness has a lower fat to protein ratio than Ziwipeak. I read a couple of reviews from people that had fed Ziwipeak and said that their dogs had loose stools and/or gas when on Ziwipeak. My dogs do tend to get gassy if they eat too much fat, and since I have three Great Danes that could make for a pretty stinky house. I did contact Ziwipeak too, to be fair, and haven’t heard back. So, while I didn’t have a negative experience with their customer service, I had a better one with Wellness.

I have samples of Honest Kitchen, Wellness and Ziwipeak (I think) coming. While I prefer the latter two for their inclusion of glucosamine and chondroitin, Honest Kitchen’s grain free has an even lower fat to protein ratio, and no gelatin.

More will be revealed….

[C4D]

C4C, I’m seconding the very well said!

Deb B, I had told you previously my experience with Lipomas. The interesting thing is that dog that had them began to decline in his old age (over 14 and an 80 lb dog) as other health issues set in and as he lost weight, the lipomas began to shrink.

That being said, I am again going to mention that moving to fresher food has kept my current “older” lab’s lipoma at a very small size for over 2 years (marble size). You might look into feeding somthing like The Honest Kitchen which is a rehydrated food. The closer you are to fresh food, the better. It isn’t a miracle cure, but I do feel it’s a better diet. I use THK’s premixes and add fresh cooked meat from the grocery store. I just buy whatever is on sale, turkey, beef, chicken, pork, whatever. It’s the cheapest way to feed a fresh balanced diet without researching diets that are balanced. My older Lab is almost your dog’s age and is just full of energy and looks wonderful! Just my $.02. 🙂

[crazy4cats]

Hi Amelia-
Boy, can I feel your frustration. I have two golden labs that had/have similar issues. They are now four years old. I switched foods several times only to finally find out that they had parasites, both giardiasis and coccidia. Have you had fecal tests done to rule out both parasites and/or worms? Sometimes they are hard to detect and need to test a couple of times. After four or five treatments to rid of the pesky bugs, they were left with bad digestive issues. A lot of loose stools and also the walking around and dropping soft plops a little at a time like you described.

I turned to http://www.dogaware.com for a lot of great information on digestive disorders and diarrhea along with recommendations from several on this site. Pumpkin did not work for my dogs either. The Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form worked great until my difficult dog decided he didn’t like the smell of it anymore. I also used and rotated Gastriplex made by Thorne, Vetri Pro BD by Vetri Science, and Phytomucil with success. I have fed Victor which contains clay that I think is beneficial with success. Now, I have been slowly weaning them off supplements and am feeding Whole Earth Farms with only probiotics now and then and they have for the first time have consistently firm poops!

It took a while for their tummies to heal, but it finally happened! You also might want to try feeding a little less food. Sometimes over feeding can cause loose stools as well.

Good luck! Please write back with any questions.

[aquariangt]

There are loads of other treats out there other than jerky, I don’t totally get why so many people think jerky is a must have. Anyhow, I do have a few that are pretty good and safe:

For Chewing Jerky, check out the honest kitchen beams, technically fish, but its jerky like. You could also get USA sourced and processed beef ligament

For treats: Boulder Dog Food chicken breast is easy to break up to use as a treat. Real Meat also makes some jerky treats that I like for training

[DogFoodie]

Ugh! I just typed a long response that disappeared. Let’s try it again.

I’ll second Aquariangt’s recommendation for The Honest Kitchen.

I’ll also make a suggestion for raw. Answers. Answers is a fermented raw product. Straight Answers is meat, organ, and bone only. It’s made complete and balanced by adding Answers goat milk. Detailed Answers is complete and balanced. In addition to meat, organ, and bone, it includes veggies, eggs, Montmorillonite, decaffeinated green tea, and anchovy, and sardine oils. I estimate your 55 pound adult dog would eat about 10 ounces per day of Detailed Answers. A two pound carton sells for about $14 where I live. You’d need about 9.5 cartons per month for a total of 300 ounces monthly, which would cost you about $135 per month. My dogs eat less Answers than they do other raw foods, although both have around 60 kcals per ounce. Fermented foods are more nourishing.

For the record, my dogs are currently eating Answers, but they eat a wide variety of foods including, kibble, can, fresh whole foods and raw.

Also, I believe allergy tests are fairly unreliable and the gold standard for determining food intolerances is a well constructed elimination diet. That said, I was shocked at my saliva and hair test results from Glacier Peaks. The test was only $85, which for me was affordable. I had always thought my dog was fish intolerant, but the GP test results said otherwise. I’m happy to report that my dog just polished of a bag of Acana Pacifica, a fish based food, with zero issues whatsoever.

[Brie B]

Thanks for the input, guys!
I guess I’ll have to reconsider my stance on raw. I would like to find a balance between cheap/easy. Doing it from scratch just isn’t realistic for me timewise, and I can’t afford totally premade frozen meals. Her vet hasn’t pushed for testing yet, just because she is fairly certain its food related, and that we can get to the bottom of it through elimination, or (her suggestion) is to do raw. She said she doesn’t recommend it for every dog but shes known a lot of “itchy pit bulls” that really respond well to it.

In that case it sounds like having a veggie dehydrated base and adding raw meat (or cooked, I guess!) would be the easiest? Is Honest Kitchen the same as Dinovite? the dinovite seems cheaper?

I could probably spend $100 a month on food, MAYBE $200. Its hard to tell just because I’m so broke due to all of her vet issues lately (last month between her vet bill, her behaviorist, tests, anxiety meds, and training I spent over $1000 on her. And I don’t make that much money). But if it saved me money on vet bills it would be worth it.

But anyways, I live in the Bay Area (in Oakland), and I have no idea how much it realistically costs to feed your dog raw (if you use a dehydrated base like Honest Kitchen, OR do it from scratch). The prepackaged stuff is way too outrageous to even consider. Anyone have some base numbers?

[CockalierMom]

Hi Brie,
Unfortunately, I was rushed to the dermatologist since my vet had run out of ideas when changing proteins did not help (I was feeding a mixture of canned and kibble). The dermatologist insisted she did not have food issues and that all her itching and problems were environmental. Long story short, between the specialist, tests, and shots it cost me a $1,000 (which was very hard on my limited income) as she continued to get worse. Four months later they decided she did have food issues and put her on prescription food which caused such a severe reaction that she had to go on steroids. After that episode, I decided to try dehydrated food since nothing else had helped. I started feeding Honest Kitchen Kindly which is a base mix and I add my own cooked protein along with probiotics. She started improving before I got 50% into the food transition. Dehydrated will be more expensive to feed a 55lb dog, but it may be worth trying for a few weeks.

BTW, I did do the mail in saliva test a couple of months ago and it came back that she is sensitive to carbohydrates, rather than proteins. This backed up why the prescription food caused such a severe reaction and why just changing proteins prior did not help either. I just wish my vet would have told me to do saliva test rather than sending me to the dermatologist.

[aquariangt]

Maybe something like The Honest Kitchen’s Minimalist Diets would help out. It’s a dehydrated food, so it doesn’t have all the starch/carbs that you find even in the best of kibbles. I actually like Brave more than their Zeal (I feed 50% dehydrated, and the other meal is kibble with canned) so next time fish is up for rotation, I’ll be trying that

[C4D]

I buy a lot of various foods, including Earthborn. I have The Honest Kitchen, Nature’s Variety Instinct and several others in my house right now. THK has a manufacturer date and best buy date of 1 year apart. I don’t have any Earthborn in my house but it’s made by the same company as ProPac. It has a manufacturer date & expiration date right next to each other. That’s what you would go by. I often buy bags of various dry food that has 1 year to 18 months expiration from when I’ve bought it, depending on the brand. It’s printed on the bag, but usually in the same place all the time. I think the Earthborn is always on the top. ProPac might be the same.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by C4D.

[Michael S]

Why do you not include Honest Kitchen Grain Free (dehydrated) in your Editor’s Choice list? In your Reviews section you give it 5 stars, while some of the brands in the Editor’s Choice list only get 4 stars.

[CockalierMom]

Wysong Epigen formulas are pea free and high quality. If you want to consider dehydrated, Honest Kitchen and Grandma Lucy’s have pea free varieties.

[Christy H]

Please help me. I have a 3 year old corgi/westie mix. She was diagnosed with an ulcer about a year ago from eating foreign objects. At that time she was vomiting deeply from her small intestine. We got her through that episode. The last couple of weeks, she has not been eating well. Monday night she vomited all night. I took her to the vet on Tuessday. He prescribed some drugs and gave her a vomiting shot. She was still vomiting on Wednesday. I spoke with him over the phone and he felt that if I could get some food in her she could probably get better. She was not better on Thursday, so I took her back in. By then she was dehydrated. He was suspecting her ulcer had flared back up or pancreatitis. Her blood sugar was only slightly elevated. Everything else in her bloodwork was normal. She stayed with him for 2 days on IVs. She finally ate Friday night and I brought her home yesterday (Saturday.) He really feels that her ulcer is the problem. He sent her home with Hills ID and a drug to give her 40 minutes before she eats. It is supposed to coat her stomach. She held down her first meal yesterday, but lost all of her 2nd meal during the night.
I don’t like Science Diet, but at this point I feel I have to give these cans to her. She normally eats 4 Health. She has had some treats recently that I am concerned about: Full Moon Chicken Jerky and Honest Kitchen Catfish Skins. The vet told me to throw both of them away. Done.
Does anyone have any similar experience or any advice on how to get us through this?

[Dori]

All Orijen is grain free, so is Acana Singles. The Honest Kitchen has a few grain free formulas. It has for quite some time.

As for freeze dried grain free foods there is Primal, Vital Essentials and I believe Nature’s Logic makes a grain free freeze dried food. I feed commercial frozen raw diet for my three but I do use freeze dried in a treat jar near the back door when calling them in. They consider it a reason to come flying into the house regardless of what they were up to outside. From time to time the only dehydrated food that I will use is The Honest Kitchen grain free fish formulas. Zeal is one and I believe they have just come out with one that has even less ingredients in it, I believe it’s called Brave (?) something like that. I just got an email about it last week or could have been this week. I don’t care for any of the other dehydrated foods that I’ve tried although Grandma Lucy’s is not bad.

[pugmomsandy]

The Editor’s Choice list can change and previously Honest Kitchen has been on it. Their Zeal formula is the one that is highest in protein currently. You might also want to check out Grandma Lucy’s Pureformance freeze dried food. It rehydrates well. There are other dehydrated foods like Only Natural Pet MaxMeat or ZiwiPeak but I don’t know how they hydrate. Stella and Chewy’s and Primal freeze dried seem to hydrate well (although I serve mine dry).

[Barbara W]

I feed Orijens kibble and mix Honest Kitchen in it. My dogs love it but I really want only grain free and not a lot of plant based protein. I read here that HK doesn’t get its protein from a lot of meat. Is there another raw preferably dehydrated that is grain free and high in meat rather than plants? I’ve seen Stella and Chewy and Primal but not sure if that is the best route. Is Honest Kitchen really good? It doesn’t seem to make the editors choice list.

[Laura]

Pamela and Pitlove,
Thank you for the advice and encouragement. I feel much more confidant in my choice to feed a rotation diet! I am impressed by, The Honest Kitchen website and Dr. Wrynn’s blog on, “Pet Health and Nutrition.” Kefir will need a bit more research, I may add it to my own diet. My girls and I thank you both for the wealth of information. I’ll update the form with how things go so others may learn along with me. Wish us luck!

[Susan]

Hi have you thought of feeding raw or a cooked diet & stop feeding kibble?? A dog digestive tract has been made to digest meat not peas, garbanzo beans, lentils, chickpeas, tomatoes these are all high in Lectins & can cause leaky gut.

My boy suffers with IBD & skin allergies from certain foods & he doesn’t do well on grain free kibbles, (bad gas, sloppy poo, rumbling bowel noises, nausea) … Over the last 2 years I’ve tried heaps of kibbles & in the end I found the kibble with just rice & 1 protein like fish was the best a limited ingredient kibble then I add fresh chicken or beef or fish on top….I try not to feed kibble & feed a wet tin food or cooked meals with ingredients that I know my boy can eat, some kibbles have tooo many ingredients & it just takes 1 ingredient & your dog is scratching, sore ears or has gas diarrhea etc…

If you don’t want to feed a raw or cooked diet have you looked at “The Honest Kitchen Zeal” its low in carbs, gluten free high in protein – http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/zeal

ZiwiPeak – http://www.ziwipeak.com/air-dried-dog-food-ziwipeak-daily-dog-air-dried-cuisine/

K9 Natural – https://www.k9natural.com/

[Pitlove]

Pamela gave you great info. I’ll add to it by saying that rotational diet means different things to different people. Some people rotate proteins within the same brand (like you were talking about), others switch not only the protein, but the brand like myself and Pamela do.

Switching within the same line, you don’t need to blend food. The only reason they SHOULD get GI upset is if they were intolerant to an ingredient in the food. Other than that they should be fine.

How I started my pitbull on a rotational diet was, I added Kefir (very popular milk type drink in the Jewish community that contains strains of healthy bacteria which allows dogs to digest different foods) to his food for the 7-10 day window where you would be tranistioning foods. I also added a digestive supplement from The Honest Kitchen called Perfect Form. I did this for a few switches, however now, I no longer have to do that. I can switch every meal to a new food (I don’t except for some samples of different foods here and there) without GI upset. Veterinary Nutritionists like Dr. Susan Wrynn are even recommending rotational feeding to make sure your dog is not nutritionally defeciant in anything on just one food.

My experience with rotational feeding has been fun and it’s made my dog interested in food again. I used to feed lots of different brands, however now, because of skin conditions he has I need to feed 1-2 foods to see if the food is making a difference or not. Thats just my situtation though. If your dog is completely healthy I think rotational feeding is excellent.

[pugmomsandy]

Depending on what level of protein you are looking for, here are some suggestions: Canidae Pure, Pro Pac Ultimates Grain Free, Nutrisource Seafood Select, Grandma Lucy’s Valor Fish, The Honest Kitchen Zeal, and Zignature.

[Wifsie G]

Thanks again, Susan. I’ve switched kibbles and soaking the new one and giving it to her soft. It seems to be helping and she LOVES it! Taste of the Wild does not even soften completely in an hour, it’s crazy. Right now she’s eating Fromm’s salmon tunalini and doing well. I’ve also ordered some samples of The Honest Kitchen’s fish grain free food.

[Susan]

Hi Wifsie, when I rescued my boy about 2 years ago he had the same swallowing & swallowing & worse at night & what I’ve learnt is too LOWER the FAT & protein in the kibble & kibble makes it worse, I’m finding low fat cooked meals seem to be the best & low fat wet tin foods 3% fat & under for wet tin foods, the fat% is different in wet tin food to the fat % in kibbles…
I buy extra lean beef ground mince or the lean turkey breast mince & add broccoli, celery, carrot & quiona that I’ve already boiled made into a meatloaf & baked in oven, I feed wet food for breakfast & soften kibble for lunch & wet for dinner sometimes kibble, you could change it around & feed kibble for breakfast & wet tin or cooked meal for dinner & see if there’s a difference… the fat in the Taste Of the Wild is high, when it says min fat add another 2% for max %…..
if you do soak the kibble in water make sure you fully drain all the water, squeeze the soft kibble while in the bowl, then I put thru a blender for 3-5 sec, the kibble should fluff up & separate, not be a ball of gluggy glue kibble, it means you soaked the kibble in water too long if its a gluggy ball, some kibbles when soaked only take about 30-60mins & are soft, I’ve found kibbles with rice are better & digest easier then kibbles with potatoes, sweet potatoes.. I’ve just read that water can make acid reflux worse if water is left in with the kibble in bowl, something about the Ph levels in the stomach rising & making more stomach acid (Hydrochloric acid)…. if you still want to feed a kibble & see if he gets better on another brand, look for a lower protein around 24% & lower fat around 10% & a limited ingredient kibble, so less problems of 1 ingredient giving him acid reflux…like us some people can eat tomatoes, garlic, raw onions etc & are fine, when I eat acidy foods, I get bad acid reflux…. I look for a kibbles with rice without tomato pomace & all those added ingredients, I’m going to try the “EarthBorn Holistic Ocean Fusion” next I running out of kibbles to try, I’m worried cause the fat % is 12% min so max will be around 14% http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/us/dog_formulas/
I have found when I feed a low fat 10-12% fat & higher protein 30% kibble, Patch had his bad swallowing & swallowing again… you may have to try a few different kibbles to find the right one…. “The Honest Kitchen Zeal” is suppose to be very good for dogs with stomach & skin problem…. http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/dog-food/zeal fat is 8.50% but the protein is higher at 35.50%…. there’s a lot of really good kibbles & wet tin foods in America so google around before deciding & make sure its money back guaranteed….I just say my boy wont eat it, when I start saying he gets acid reflux or sloopy poos the lady just looks at me weird…..I feel embarrassed when returning foods..

If after you change her diet a few times to a lower fat, lower protein & if she is still swallowing & eating grass, ask vet can you have an Endoscope & Biopsies done on the stomach & make sure the biopsies are done, After changing my boys diet & giving ant-acid meds, Patch was still having his acid reflux on & off waking up about 11pm & was bad in morning about 10am after eating, so the Vet did a Endoscope & Biopsies & found Helicobacter-Pylori often found in shelter-pound dogs…. also what I do when I see Patch swallowing & eating grass & uncomfortable, I give him about 4ml liquid Mylanta in a syringe, some people use Pepto Bismol but we don’t have Pepto in Australia..it gives instant relief, please keep us updated on your girl & what worked for your new girl…..

[Lorrie D]

I switched from Science Diet to Fromm, and recently added some Honest Kitchen in for the variety. (My dogs get bored with the same kibble over and over.)
At my local pet store, Fromm is definitely cheaper than Science Diet, at least $5 per bag. Fromm gets 4 to 4.5 star ratings here too. They’re made to swap out with less likelihood of an upset stomach, so I can give my dogs more variety. I primarily use the grain-free Prairie Gold. It seems to be a higher quality food with a more moderate price tag than Science Diet. Two thumbs and all paws up approval here.
I got a great deal (BIG SALE!) on some Honest Kitchen to try with my dogs and I swear whatever is in it they absolutely LOVE it. I’ve mixed it with the Fromm kibble and they lick their bowls clean.
I also cook for them, to add variety to their diet. I made it easy on myself – if I’m baking something in the oven, I’ll toss some fresh or frozen veggies into a dish with some broth and cook those at the same time. Let it cool and mix it in with their next couple of meals – its easy for me and they love it. It’s an inexpensive way to feed dogs who get easily bored with their kibble. (I’d be going bonkers if I was stuck eating the same thing all the time!)

[Randy K]

I thought it was 8 months before LBP could properly process calcium? Totem is a little over 6 months and I’ve been holding back a bit on switching her to foods with a bit more calcium. I do mix it up a bit in her food rotation with Fromm LBP, Primal Freeze Dried, Honest Kitchen, Vital Essentials freeze dried, Tripett canned beef Tripe and recently Canadae Life Stages canned LGP. I’ve ordered some Ziwi Peak foods for her but have not started her on that yet. Eventually I’m fairly certain I’ll switch her to fresh raw foods.

[Susan]

Hi, yes they say that EPI dogs can have a high fat diet, what I’m noticing on the F/B EPI group, a lot of dogs are suffering from Acid reflux & need ant acid meds, high fat diets are no good if your dog suffers with acid reflux or if you dog doesn’t suffer with acid reflux they can get acid reflux from eating a high fat diet kibble or wet tin foods..
I wouldn’t go too low with the fat, I stick around 8%-12% max fat cause of Patch skin problems.. also sardines in spring water are good to add as a topper on their kibble for their skin….
When your dog was eating Taste Of Wild did he start his scratching & itchiness or when he was on a vet diet did he get his S.B.I.O?
You need to start limiting certain carbohydrates like, Lactose, Fructose, Resistant Starches like potato, peas, lentils, beans, legumes, banana etc you need a diet where the carbs don’t ferment in the gut & bowel causing the S.I.B.O…
Patch has had SIBO twice now & both times his skin & paws were yeasty & smelly as well….I keep a dairy but I didn’t write what foods he was eating at the time, so now I’m writing what he is eating so if it happens again I’ll know what kibbles & foods to avoid. I’ve stopped giving a little bit of banana as a treat in the morning..

The Honest Kitchen Zeal is suppose to be really good, its low in carbs, low in fat, gluten free high protein, but I think its expensive to feed a big dog, I feed 2 different meals wet tin for breakfast, kibble for lunch & dinner & a late small feed of wet tin food that I feed for breakfast..Patch can’t eat 2 large meals a day he gets pain either stomach or pancreas pain, so I divide all the meals into 4 smaller meals..

With wet tin foods the fat % is different to the fat % in kibbles..it isn’t lower in wet tin foods….. if the wet tin says 5% fat when converted to dry matter (Kibble) 5% fat is around 22% fat, so I feed wet tin foods where the fat is 3% & under so that’s around 7-12% fat when converted to dry matter (kibble).

This link is for humans with S.I.B.O it explains about foods that ferment & are no good..

SIBO Diets and Digestive Health – It’s about Fermentable Carbohydrates

I have found kibbles with just rice seem to be better then the grain free high starch kibbles… Here’s California Natural Lamb & Rice limited ingredients it has just 4 ingredients & the crude fiber is 2.5% or there’s their Chicken & Rice with 5 ingredients & the fiber % is the same as the Lamb & Rice, a few people I know have dogs with IBD & feed their dogs on the California Natural limited ingredient chicken or lamb kibble….
you will need to email California natural & find out what the soluble & insoluble fiber % is in the Lamb & rice or chicken & rice…
http://www.californianaturalpet.com/products/1181

[Susan]

Hi, when you see the vet again ask for a copy of the Endoscope & Biopsies report to keep at home, it will tell you everything that they found & what type of IBD your dog has, it was probably Lymphocytic-Plasmacytic or Eosinophilic IBD…….sometimes there’s no real answers to why people & dogs get IBD, it can be caused from sensitivities to foods, proteins, gluten etc, irritating the bowel/stomach…was he eating the Honest Kitchen Love before he had the Endoscope?
Honest Kitchen is excellent for dogs with Stomach & Bowel problems being grain & gluten free, the Zeal is also good cause its lower in fat…
My boy has Moderate to Chronic Lymphocytic Gastritis which is a very rare form of IBD in dogs & humans… sounds like your vet knows what he is doing but normally they are kept on the Prednisone for 1-2 months so the inflammation has time to heal, reducing the prednisone down slowly then you give 1 prednisone tablet every other day so all up around 2 months on the prednisone……
With the weight it takes time, in about 1 month you’ll see him start to fill out, also I’ve posted a calorie calculator too work out how many calories he should be having a day, maybe feed just that bit extra then when you have him on his proper weight, go back to his daily calorie intake… keep a diary on what foods are in the “Honest Kitchen Love” so you will know what foods he’s OK with, then when he is stable & only when he is stable drug free & has been doing really well for 3 months, then you can introduce a new food or maybe a cooked meal or a wet tin food, say for breakfast but still give him his HK love for dinner…Now I have found what my boy can eat, I just rotate the foods I know he’s OK with, so he has something else for breakfast & something different for dinner…..
If you can stay away from kibbles…Kibbles are no good for dogs with bowel & stomach problems, the bowel & stomach have too work harder to digest the hard processed kibble…I weight my boy weekly at the pet store to make sure he’s staying between 17-18kilos as his weight can drop very quickly..
http://www.german-shepherd-lore.com/dog-food-calculator.html

[Jack B]

forgot to add he is currently getting “Honest Kitchen – Freeze Dried beef food called “Love”.
Dehydrated Grain Free Beef

[InkedMarie]

Amanda,
There are many brands without chicken. My favorite dry are Annamaet, Farmina, Dr. Tim’s & Natures Logic. I also like The Honest Kitchen (dehydrated) and Grandma Lucys (I think its freeze dried).

[pugmomsandy]

Freshpet has a refrigerated kibble. Wellness Core Air Dried is semi soft. There are also dehydrated foods that you add water to and serve wet such as Sojo’s, Grandma Lucy’s, Addiction, The Honest Kitchen, etc.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Pitlove-
It does get expensive, doesn’t it? I remember reading one of your posts and was surprised/impressed at how much canned you were feeding your pup per meal! I thought, wow, lucky dog! I only give my dogs a couple of spoonfuls of canned per meal. For two 80 lb. dogs, the can lasts for two meals each. So, you could cut back a little on how much topper you are using to save a little money. The joy of the canned and dehydrated raw is that they are both balanced “add-ins”. If you start adding ground meat, it isn’t balanced and you have to be careful with how much you add.
I have thought exactly about what you are thinking many times because it does get expensive and I get real tired of so MANY cans between my dogs and cats, but haven’t quite figured out yet either how much to add per meal to avoid feeding them unbalanced meals.
Another option could be to mix some ground meat with a base or premix such as THK and use that as a topper. I was contemplating that as well, but my dogs, unfortunately, do not like The Honest Kitchen recipes! Good luck! I hope you get some good ideas!

[Gracie’s Mom]

I get what you’re saying. I have been feeding Gracie dehydrated and freeze-dried raw, having not been successful with frozen, but I need more options in rotation so that she doesn’t get tired of any one food after a few weeks. Also, the expense of straight-up, prepared raw is very high. And, lastly, there’s the sometimes quite high fat content that is of concern (e.g., K9 Natural) in the dried raw foods. So, I’ve been on the hunt for several high quality kibbles and canned options to mix with dried raw, both to lower the overall cost and to put the fat in better balance. Does that make sense? I am willing to concede that allowing in some starches is going to be inevitable with this plan.

Here’s what I’ve come up with that could work for Gracie. The fat percentages are approximates based on the flavor that Mike reviewed.

Base Mix
Honest Kitchen Preference

Canned
Against the Grain (20% fat/protein ratio)
Chicken (but does contain potato starch)
Beef (but does contain potato starch)

Addiction (53% fat/protein ratio)
Hunter’s Venison
Herbed Duck Confit

Tripett (58% fat/protein ratio)
Green Bison Tripe
Original Green Beef Tripe
Green Beef Tripe and Venison
New Zealand Green Lamb Tripe
Green Beef Tripe, Duck and Salmon

ZiwiPeak (71% fat/protein ratio)
Beef
Lamb
Venison
Venison and Fish
Tripe, Lamb, and Venison

Dry Kibble:

Nulo Freestyle (48% fat/protein ratio)
Turkey and Sweet Potato
Salmon and Peas
Lamb and Chickpeas

Nulo Medal (51% fat/protein ratio)
Lamb and Lentils
Chicken and Peas
Salmon and Sweet Potato

Nature’s Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient (68% fat/protein ratio)
Turkey
Lamb
Duck

Acana Singles (56% fat/protein ratio)
Pork and Butternut Squash
Duck and Bartlett Pear
Lamb and Okanagan Apple

Wysong Epigen 90 (25% fat/protein ratio)
Chicken

Freeze Dried, Air Dried, or Dehydrated Raw:

K9 Natural (90%+ fat/protein ratio)
Venison (but does contain eggs, a borderline allergen)
Lamb (but does contain eggs, a borderline allergen)

Fresh Is Best (50% fat/protein ratio)
Chicken
Beef

Vital Essentials (79% fat/protein ratio)
Tripe
Beef
Chicken
Turkey

ZiwiPeak (79% fat/protein ratio)
Venison
Venison and Fish
Lamb
Beef

[Gracie’s Mom]

. . .but wouldn’t it be great to have a sort of calculator that allows you to input ingredients that you want to avoid, and it would then filter all the dog foods listed on the site, leaving only the foods that don’t include those ingredients? That would be so helpful to those of dealing with numerous food allergies and picky eaters.

I spend a great deal of time looking for foods to add into rotation that 1) my dog will eat (very picky!), 2) don’t cost a small fortune to feed a 65-pounder, 3) don’t contain one of her many allergens (white potato, rice, alfalfa, flax, peanut, soybean, rabbit. . .being just the more severe ones), and 4) provide a good nutritional balance (high in protein and not ridiculously high in fat with some fiber). I should also add that I’m a big believer in grain-free and minimal cooking/processing, but have a husband who is opposed to a home-cooked diet for our girl (that’s another story).

We started out with Darwin’s and that seemed to work great until she decided not to eat it anymore. I’ve since not had any luck with frozen raw. She just barks at it. Ziwipeak was good for a while, then she quit eating it. I’ve tried Arcana Duck and Bartlett Pear (the least successful in terms of willingness to eat it), and several freeze dried and dehydrated brands that don’t contain something on the allergy list. There don’t seem to be many options once the allergens are eliminated.

We’ve just started on Against the Grain canned, but there are only two proteins available, and she would need four cans a day, which would be expensive. I need something less expensive to add to it. Also, I have to offer variety, or she will refuse to eat anything in a few weeks. I’m going to try rotating in ZiwiPeak again. She has consistently liked K-9 Naturals freeze-dried, which I often mix with Honest Kitchen’s Preference Base Mix, but I’m concerned about the extremely high fat content in the K-9, and she has been a bit iffy on the Preference lately, sometimes refusing to eat it at all. The K-9 venison has somewhat lower fat, so I’m going to keep that in rotation. I’ve just ordered some small bags of Fresh Is Best freeze-dried to see how she likes that. She also likes Vital Essentials freeze dried, usually mixed with canned Tripett to provide some moisture. She does love tripe, but I know it doesn’t provide everything she needs nutritionally.

I worry not just about her allergies but also a diet too high in fat. She’s a three-year old lab mix and pretty active. She needs lots of protein and some fiber (judging from poop consistency).

I don’t currently have her on any supplements, having taken her off of them the last time she refused to eat her food (I’ve always put liquid or powdered supplements in her food, because she won’t eat treat-style supplements or pills). I need to identify any supplements that she may not be getting from her diet and try to find a way to get those in her.

It’s a difficult thing to manage. All advice is welcome. Mike–any chance for that ingredient eliminator program?

[April B]

I would nominate HONEST KITCHEN dog and cat foods!!! I feed my baby the EMBARK SELECTION from HK.
They have helped both of my dogs, with so many issues that was mainly caused by JUNK DOG FOOD! Thinking that the Big Name Brands were good, and also the prescription vet foods, Not! One of the worst was Royal Canin, it caused an awful yeast infection in my dog’s body!!!

[Delilah S]

Hello! I am new to this site. I have looked at ratings, etc. before, but this is my first post.

I have a 4 year old English Bulldog. Jan 2014 she got a UTI. She had since had issues with recurring UTI’s…she had one in Jan, Feb, May, Oct, Nov, Jan & a trace of blood in her follow up Urine Analysis in Feb. She had done different antibiotics, we tried to supplement her with d-mannose, etc. etc. She has had x-rays & ultrasounds…all clear. Urine analysis(es) showed struvite crystals and a pH around 8-8.5. At a loss, our vet recommended Hills c/d in Feb to see if he headed off the infection. Sure enough, it did. She’s been UTI free since Feb.

Her skin has been mess…her face swollen, ears yeasty, she’s never been stinky & she smelled terrible, irritated face folds, the works (& that was on 2 benadryl twice a day). At the last trip to the vet he gave her steroids, but was pretty adamant about not switching her off of the c/d…talking long term allergy management treatment instead.

We sought a second opinion from another well respected, touted to be “more holistic,” vet in our area a few weeks ago. We were feeding Earthborn holistic meadow feast before the c/d and had not tried any other commercial foods. Based on the allergies, the new vet agreed that it was worth trying another food & ran a blood panel to check thyroid which came back ok. She wants to see a UA in 4 weeks on the new food.

After a lot of research we decided to switch her to The Honest Kitchen Keen because it’s supposed to be good for dogs with urinary issues. I have been monitoring her urine pH at home and it was a 6 when starting the transition from c/d. After one week it remained a 6. I checked it today and it was a 7. Today was the first day she was fully on the Honest Kitchen food.

I know 7 is still considered neutral. But, I am SO anxious now!! I was SO hopeful this would work for us to balance the allergies and urinary issues both. Our vet said 6-8 weeks on the new food to see what would happen with the allergies, but I could tell a big difference after about a week. She’s still not perfect, but there is a definite improvement in her looks & smell and I can’t tell that she’s feeling better.

I guess….are we on the right track?? Does anyone know of anything supplement wise I should talk to our vet about? She is currently on an omega 3 and probiotic as well (both of those are new within the last 3-4 weeks. Any other ideas or suggestions? I am going to keep an eye on it at home every few days vs. once a week and see if it continues to climb.

Thanks!

[InkedMarie]

SkeptVet: I do not see the point in talking to my regular vet about diet. I’ve had numerous regular vets and the ones that suggest a food to me always seem to suggest what they sell. Go figure. Since it’s Purina, Hills, RC, that says to me that they don’t know much about food. One tried to get me to feed a dental food but couldn’t tell me what made it so good for teeth except that is what the rep told her. Another vets eyes glazed over when I mentioned my brands, at that time: The Honest Kitchen, Natures Logic, Annamaet.

I should have said “I wouldn’t bother asking your *regular* vet, find a holistic vet for nutrition questions”. I feel the same way about vaccines….my vet knows if I have a question for her, I’ll ask otherwise I’m all set. My holistic vet is who I talk to about diet & vaccines.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Weezer-
I was using the See Spot Live Longer Dinner Mix up until about a month ago when I ran out and they quit making it for now. My dogs loved it and did great with it. So, then I tried The Honest Kitchen’s Kindly formula and it was a big flop with one of my dogs. My chubby dog was happy to eat his brother’s meal that wasn’t eaten though. It kind of smelled like a seasoning packet to me. I think he just wants his meat and potatoes! Also, most of the dehydrated veggies were not digested well by the dog that ate it and what little the other one ate either. My dogs do have some digestive issues, however, so may not happen with yours. So, now I’m looking for something else as well. Probably something with less ingredients. I know a lot of people (and dogs) love it, but it wasn’t for us! Sorry, that probably wasn’t very helpful, but maybe will help get more suggestions for you!

[Susan]

Hi, a lot of dogs do real well on “The Honest Kitchen Zeal” its low fat, low carbs, I cant get it in Australia.. 🙁 oh I can get it thru Amazon but its sooo dear for the delivery, delivery is dearer then the food….

[crazy4cats]

Hi Jamie B-
Have you had a fecal test done to rule out worms and/or parasites? I’ve had good luck with canned Fruitables digestive supplement and The Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form to help firm up stools. The website http://www.dogaware.com is a great resource in my opinion for digestive disorders. Check it out!

I’ve had great luck with Victor dog food. Good luck!

[C4D]

Hi miss koa,

I’m not sure if anyone answered this, the commercial premixes are the ones you add meat to make a complete meal. There are several. I’m most familiar with Sojos, Grandma Lucy’s & The Honest Kitchen, but I think there are others.

[InkedMarie]

I like Grandma Lucy’s but I’d try a small bag (or ask for a sample from the company) and see if the consistency is good. The Honest Kitchen would be good too.

[Dina H]

My dogs love this company’s food…I use the beef with tripe HVM (healthy variety mix), pork HVM, lamb HVM, duck HVM, chicken hvm. They love it all but esp the beef with tripe. I pick up my monthly supply in Quakertown and I know that they deliver to New England and New Jersey as well.

I will also use the Honest Kitchen dehydrated mix called Kindly and add this to their food…soak it well for 20 min to rehydrate and then I mix the raw with the Kindly. That product has the following ingredients and it is the only dog food out there that is HUMAN grade:

“Dehydrated carrots, organic flaxseed, dehydrated parsnips, dehydrated peas, dehydrated celery, dried organic coconut, dehydrated pumpkin, dehydrated chard, dehydrated organic kelp, dried marjoram, dried garlic, tricalcium phosphate, choline chloride, zinc amino acid chelate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, potassium iodide, potassium chloride, iron amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate, thiamine mononitrate.”