[weezerweeks]

I feed my yorkie canned, freezedried and dehydrated foods. He loves the cans but I don’t know what to try. We are finishing up months of weruva,wellness stews and go fit. I try to get food low in calorie with above av protein, average or below average fat and below average carbs. We’ve used fromn,pure balance merick.dr harveys freeze dried, grandma lucys. I was thinking about Tiki or lotus and maybe another freeze dried. I add different things each week to the food. Blueberries,raspberries.blackberriers,cottage cheese,eggs,sardines,etc. Any brands anyone can recommend not over 350 calories in can.thanks

[Erin M]

I buy Victor Grain Free because I wanted a 5-star for the cheapest price (their prices went up recently, ugh). I have 3 coonhound/pointer mixes (one is a frisbee nut), and we blow through about 2 30lbs bags a month. I buy from the local feed store and I just rotate the salmon (orange) and the glucosamine variety (green). My dogs like the food, but I cheat and add some wet (PureBalance beef from Walmart and Nature’s Domain Turkey and pea from Costco). I don’t think they get enough fiber because they eat a bit of grass (not to throw up), so I add some pumpkin here an there. I found all the information from DFA. My dogs have the most beautiful coats! They shine in the sun!

Good luck! And let me know what you find! I’m into 5-star and biggest for cheapest!

[Pitlove]

I second 4Health. I really like that brand. I know you don’t like Walmart but consider their line Pure Balance. The stews are 5 stars on here and they sell for 1.12$/can. Tbh I prefer 4Health and they are .99$ /can.

[Pitlove]

Your dog is probably bored of the food. Its the same as you changing your diet often so you don’t get bored, your dog would like the same variety.

Give thought to a rotational diet, where you can either rotate the protein source within one brand or the brand and the protein source every 3-4 months to keep your dogs interest peaked. Thats how I solved the problem of my dog being picky and not eating.

I would suggest staying with the 4 to 5 star quality foods and still doing the wet too. I firmly believe wet food should be a part of every dogs diet. Its much healthier for them than dry when you can’t feed a raw diet. Pure Balance is another Walmart brand that is 3.5 or 4 stars I believe for the GF. I feed the dry and wet. I’ve also used Fromm, Nature’s Variety, Orijen, and Precise Holistic Complete.

[Pitlove]

Thanks C4C! I work myself into anxiety over making sure he’s getting the best (the cat too of course). I feel a lot better about feeding a lower protein dry now that I know I can supplement with the high protein in the canned food. Didnt think about it like that before!

I have so many foods for him right now its really nice. 4Health and Pure Balance canned. Fromm Four Star GF, Pure Balance and some samples of Precise Holisitic Complete for dry and THK dehydrated raw. He had THK this morning and really liked it. He also got a sample of raw food from this store we went to yesterday and had that mixed in with his canned last night with no dry! he LOVED it! and great poops this morning too 😀

[Pitlove]

Aquariangt- My kittens name is Dani thats cute! lol As for Bentley my pit he does well with high protein. He is insanely muscular but has not had any skeletal development issues. Thank god because he was eating Blue Buffalo during his critical growth period.

I could never bring myself to feed him something like Purina or Pedigree Im just wondering if something like Pure Balance with 30% protein would be ok because its pretty cheap. I can buy that whenever Im hard on money and still get him good wet food.

[Pitlove]

The only way my dog will eat is if I put the wet down first and then sprinkle the dry on top. I’ve been using both high protein dry and wet (he actually lost 2 pounds randomly wasnt intended).

Ive just been using 5 star quality kibbles and 4-5 star canned and its busting my wallet so Im trying to see if I dont really NEED to do that.

Right now for dry I have Fromm Four Star Nutrionals and Pure Balance Bison and I also have some THK Beef dhydrated raw. I switch between those right now for variety.
I usually have an assortment of canned foods also for variety but right now Im down to just the 4Health and Pure Balance.

He gets a can of wet and now a cup of dry on top since he lost weight when I was feeding half a cup and he was already at his ideal weight. Dont want him to get too skinny.

[Ronald]

I switch food plans, but dog is still over weight..

I think maybe I am confused on what and when to feed this dog..

I give her a cup of wet food for breakfast and one cup sometime cup and a half of dry food for dinner..

I have her on Pure Balance..

Just what is the proper portions to feed a black lab mix, she weighs about 60 pounds..
She was nice a trim two years ago when we got her, now she has a extra large belly..

If someone could advise me on when to feed and the portions, wet and dry or all dry..

Maybe I’m with the wrong food also, what woyld you suggest..

Thanks.

Ron..

[Naturella]

Oh, and Chris… Orijen told me they won’t send me samples as you can buy their trial sizes from a few places online or in stores that carry Orijen. So if they send you some, let me know!

But I have had luck with Annamaet (samples of the GF foods and a full-size bag of treats – which are formulated almost like the foods themselves, so they are close to complete and balanced, if not that), Wysong (many samples), Canidae (a whole small bag of Pure Sea and a full-size bag of PURE treats), Dr. Tim’s (one Sample), Brothers’ Complete (bought samples from their website, they sent me double the order), Victor (bought samples from sportdogfood.com and ordered 5 of each instead of 3 (the limit), but they still sent them to me), Dr. Tim’s (sent me one sample), and I think this is it.

[Naturella]

Bobby dog, so far I still have access to my email so I think I can keep it for a bit. I don’t use it for my resume though, so no worries there! Now if only these degrees would please land me a job, I would be so happy… LoL.

Anyway, Chris, I have Canidae PURE Sea lined up to feed Bruno. A friend of mine has fed Canidae a few times with no problems. So we will see how it goes.

Also, another idea for healthy toppers are good-quality cat food cans. Complete and balanced cat food is usually higher in protein and is fit for dogs’ consumption, it just has taurine, which cats need, and dogs can eat without issues. So I have stocked up on a bunch of Weruva cat food pouches I found on sale, Almo Nature cat food pouches, Against the Grain cat food cans, and Fussie Cat cans on top of some small Merrick dog cans and Weruva dog cans. For me half of a small can or a pouch is a topper for a meal, so a small can lasts me 2 days. A big Merrick one I got today I will stuff in hooves and Kongs and other stuffable toys because I can’t use it fast enough.

[Bobby dog]

Naturella:
Are you going to use the same e-mail address now that you graduated?

chris:
For budget friendly canned I feed Wal-Mart’s Pure Balance stews ($1/can) and tubs (about 70 cents/tub), Tractor Supply 4Health stews and chic or lamb pates’ (99 cents/can), BJ’s chicken dinner $8.99/6 pack, and Triumph Turkey or Puppy recipes (a little over a $1/can and always on sale). Costco’s Nature’s Domain Turkey & Pea GF is a little over $20 for a case if you have a membership (or know someone who does).

Other foods in my current rotation are Wellness Core & Stews, Innova, Holistic Select, Eagle Pack, Canidae, Red Barn, Weruva, Tiki Dog, and Nutro. I feel like I am forgetting some. lol

If you are looking for something specific like low fat or anything else just post, I might have specific recipes that I have either fed or that you can check out. I have fed many more different brands they just don’t always stay in my rotation for various reasons. I go no higher than 70% fat to protein ratio and mostly try to stay lower. I have only fed one canned food that Bobby didn’t like, it was a vegetarian recipe. I thought what the heck, it was on sale I’ll give it a try, he wasn’t having any parts of it and had to throw it away!

[Pitlove]

I love Orijen personally. My dog has just finished two bags of it (the Regional Red and the Adult Dog) and now we are on a bag of EVO. My dog used to be quite picky as well, lately what I’ve done is wet food on the bottom of the bowl topped with the dry food and I change the dry food he eats every bag, whether it be a different protein or different brand. Gives him a variety and he has been eating great since I started doing that. Before when I was just feeding the same boring dry food all the time with no wet he would sniff the bowl and walk away. Now when I’m making his food he sits right next to me and stares at me waiting for his food and devours it when I put it down. Feeding canned food can be very expensive, and because I have a tight budget I try to go for the more budget friendly wet foods like Walmarts brand Pure Balance (5 star rated on here) and Tractor Supplies 4Health (rated 4 stars on here), Merricks Whole Earth Farms line which is about 1$ more than those so I don’t get as many and then he gets special treat wet foods like Wellness CORE, Nature’s Variety and Merrick Classic. But since those are more expensive I only do like 1 or 2 cans of each. It allows me to feed a higher quality dry food, which is where you really don’t want to skimp if possible. Canned food is far closer to a species appropriate diet for them and most holistic vets will say that they would rather see a dog eating the most dumpy terrible canned food than to see them eat dry kibble.

Glad Orijen is working for you! If she gets bored of that brand switch the brand! Just like a human being, a healthy dog can change his diet constantly with no digestive upset. You can add yogurt or kefir to the food as a probiotic and canned pumpkin for the fiber in case of diaherra. The healthy bacteria in the yogurt and kefir will help make your dogs stomach healthy enough to withstand the change in diet

[Pitlove]

Hi jamie f- I’ve got a dog with a sensitive stomach that i am also using Origen Adult Dog for and wet food from a variety of different brands. Hes a picky dog and doesn’t like only dry kibble. One reason I would stay with the wet is because of the moisture content it puts back into your dogs diet that they lack with only dry kibble, which can lead to organ damage from minor dehydration. I completely understand the budget, I don’t have a fancy job and make just a little over minimum wage so I’m always looking for quality wet food thats lower in cost. Ive found that walmart carries a 5 star quality wet food called Pure Balance and Tractor Supply carries a 4 star brand called 4Health. I’ve had great success with both and they are cheap. The vomiting could be almost anything. and given that its not after every single meal with wet food i doubt that is the culprit.

However, if you are dead set on an only kibble diet try doing a rotational diet where you change their protein source and brand often to give them variety and add a probiotic like the Honest Kitchens Perfect Form or some canned pumpkin to help build up the healthy bacteria in their gut to be able to handle the food change. Eating one brand of food their whole life can be very unhealthy and just plain boring for dogs. just like a human dogs would probably tell us if they could that they want some variety in their life!

[crazy4cats]

This could depend on where you live and what is available. But, my favorite budget friendly kibble are: Victor, Eagle Pack and Horizon’s Pulsar. Others have mentioned they like Pure Balance and Earthborn. Hope this helps!

[Ellen D]

Hi all –

I made 2 huge batches of dog food this weekend, and I wanted to consult with the experienced folk to be sure everything is balanced and I’m adding the right things.

First recipe:
-Meat mix – 50% chicken 50% beef. I bought whole chickens and cut them up. I ground the breasts without bones and then half of the wings, legs and necks bones and all, and I saved the backs and the rest of the wings and legs for RMBs which I feed 2-3 times a week. The beef was lean stew meat and some freezer burned steaks.
-Organ mix – Goat liver and kidneys. I couldn’t find any other organ meats aside from liver and kidney, so I’ll have to order some for the next batch.
-I did some maths and made sure I was using 10% bone, 5% liver, 5% kidney.
-Fruit/veg (makes up about 15-20% of the entire recipe) – banana, blueberry, pumpkin, carrots, zucchini, mango, and a handful of collard greens – all steamed and pureed.
-Herbs – turmeric, fennel, parsley, and mint.

The second recipe was exactly the same as the first except in place of the chicken and beef I used fish – whiting and mackeral with 2 cans of pink salmon with bones. I also added spinach to this one because I was making some for myself 🙂

Daily supplements – At breakfast, I mix in Dr. Harvey’s Formative Years supplement and a bit of coconut oil and at dinner I do the Grizzly salmon oil and Healthy Dogma Flee Flea Flee.

He also gets a can of sardines here and there and RMBs alternate between chicken backs, turkey necks when I can find them, goat chops sometimes. Just a couple times a week for chewing/teeth. I’d love to do more RMBs, but I don’t often have the time to give him completely undivided attention.

Am I missing anything?

[crazy4cats]

Hi Wendy J-
I try to avoid it for my dogs also. I’ve never seen a list, but I have noticed that most canned stew type foods usually don’t have it whereas a lot of the pate styles do. The only problem is you get a little less bang for your buck with stews due to containing more water. I try to stick to budget friendly stews such as Pure Balance, 4Health and Kirkland. The other topper I use if on sale are frozen raw meat nugget, such as NW Naturals, Primal or Nature’s Variety. They do not contain carrageenan. Good luck!

[Bobby dog]

pitlove:
Wellness, by Nature, and Red Barn are the only real hearty stews for dogs I have come across. But, I don’t normally look for stews, don’t know why. I like 4H and Pure Balance stews, they just aren’t as hearty as the others I mentioned. I don’t recommend the 4H GF for dogs, they are really, really high in fat. My cats don’t like 4H either, only my senior kitty liked the GF whitefish & chic.

If you haven’t tried Pure Balance canned for your dog, give it a try. The stews are a decent budget friendly food, $1/can. I feed the tubs too, they are about 70 cents each. I don’t feed or recommend the PB 95% due to the high fat %. I feed mostly the stews and throw in the tubs here and there. Here are DFA reviews for all three:
/dog-food-reviews/pure-balance-tubs/
/dog-food-reviews/pure-balance-dog-food-canned/
/dog-food-reviews/pure-balance-95-canned/

I have only tried the PB GF chicken pate’ and GF chic & turkey in gravy for cats. They didn’t like the chic and only my senior female liked the chic & turkey. It’s worth a try they are $1/tub. My Wal-Mart only carries one other salmon recipe; I try to stay away from larger fish species. I plan on trying the others whenever I get to another store.

I haven’t tried WEF yet. I am planning on it for both the dog and cat foods.

Another budget friendly canned dog food is Costco’s Nature’s Domain. You have to have a membership (or know someone who does). You have to buy it by the case, I think it’s a little over $20/case. C4C is the expert on all things Costco.
/dog-food-reviews/natures-domain-grain-free-canned/

I have a BJ’s membership and buy Berkley & Jenson chic dinner, 6 cans/$8.99.

[Pitlove]

bdog- ya I have seen pure balance at walmart. wasn’t really sure about the cat food. it comes in like that weird tub almost. i tried 4health GF and she barely touched it but my dog liked the grain inclusive 4health. I think i’m gonna try pure balance though. i’m starting to want to stay away from stews and just go for pates. thankfully both my cat and dog like pate. i agree that stews tend to be a whole lot of nothing for a high price.

ps have you tried the WEF canned food yet?

[Bobby dog]

pitlove:
Did you ever check out Pure Balance at Wal-Mart?

[aquariangt]

I saw that at Petsmart when i was getting litter last, so it’s out, but i hadn’t seen the website yet.

On another note- Bdog you mentioned trying the pure balance tubs a while ago. Well, i finally was over near walmart so i ran in and got a few. Unfortunately the first one i opened was the salmon, and I didn’t read the tub to see it was pate style. That didn’t go well. Tomorrow I’ll try another

[Bobby dog]

Pitlove:
Here’s my list of grocery store foods. There are other recipes in some lines that fall into my criteria; this list only includes food my cats will eat. All have ingredients I don’t like. None contain soy, wheat, or corn, some contain fish, but are not fish based recipes, and if starches are included most are either rice or potato. Most carbs are 12% and under DMB some are a little over; %’s are in parenthesis using info from the company’s site.

Fancy Feast – Turkey and Giblets Feast Classic GF, no fish (7), Tender Liver & Chicken Feast Classic GF, no fish (7), Tender Beef & Liver Feast GF, no fish (7)

Pro Plan line:
True Nature – Chic & Liver Entree Classic GF, no fish (2)
Savor – Beef & Carrots Entrée Classic GF (10), Chic & Spinach Entrée Classic GF (10), Turkey & Veg Entrée Classic GF (10)
Focus – Chic & Beef Entrée Classic GF (5), Kitten Chic & Liver Entrée Classic (2)

Friskies – Poultry Platter (11), Special Diet Classic Pate’ Turkey & Giblets Dinner no fish (9), Special Diet Classic Pate’ Beef & Chic no fish (8), Classic Pate’ Turkey & Giblets (14)

Beyond – Chic & Sweet Potato Pate’ GF (11) and Chicken & Brown Rice pate’ (10)

Sheba – Turkey Pate’ (7), Chic & Liver (7), all Sheba recipes are grain free and fish is only in the recipes with seafood in the title.

Iams – chicken (13), chicken & liver (13), beef (14) pates’

Purina One – Classic Turkey GF, no fish (7), Classic Chic GF (7), Classic Beef GF (7)

My seniors have not taken to a rotational diet, they are 17 and like what they like. I am always on the lookout for new foods to try. My current rotation includes a few Wellness CH recipes, Innova cat & kitten, CSCLS, Cali Nat’l, BB kitten pate’, Grandma Mae’s, Nutrisource, Triumph turkey, Weruva Marbella Paella or CITK Fowl Bowl & Chic Frisk a’ Zee, Tiki Cat sardine or shredded chicken recipes, and my senior female likes Pure Balance GF Chic & Turkey. A few times a month the seniors will also eat NV raw chic or beef medallions, Primal FD Turkey, and Stella & Chewy FD Chicken Dinner, but they all still demand their kitty crack.

I contacted Purina and asked what types of meat they source and if they use any 4D or 3D meats in any products. Here’s their reply:

“Thank you for contacting Nestlé Purina PetCare Company.

We appreciate the opportunity to address your inquiry. Our Company is extremely committed to food safety and quality control. Keep in mind that our products are formulated by professional pet nutritionists and veterinarians and are produced under strict quality standards. To learn how we ensure this quality, please visit: https://help.purina.com/answers/how-does-purina-ensure-the-quality-of-its-products.

Purina only uses high quality meats. Nestlé Purina PetCare Company purchases its meat from suppliers who process meat for human consumption under the supervision of a U.S.D.A. inspector. All meat used in our pet foods comes from facilities certified by the U.S.D.A. where the animals are inspected by a U.S.D.A. inspector. These suppliers are carefully selected by Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, which provides detailed ingredient specifications to those suppliers to help ensure the integrity of the meat it purchases. We do not utilize dead, downed, disabled & diseased meats in our products.

We hope that this information is helpful and that you will contact us again should you have additional questions.

Again, thank you for contacting Nestlé Purina PetCare Company.”

Regardless of their reply I would never risk their health by only offering foods they won’t eat, however this reply was a bit of a relief for me.

weezerweeks:
I checked my cat food list. The only brands that I have fed that come in larger cans are Friskies, 4Health (Tractor Supply Co. & Del’s Feed house brand), Wellness, EVO, and Innova. FYI, Fromm’s canned dog foods contain taurine. I have not fed it to my cats, but I used to feed NV canned dog foods to my cats before they reformulated it and took taurine out. At least I think it was NV, it was before I kept a cat food list. 😉

[Dog_Obsessed]

Thanks everyone for the replies!
I find it interesting that in the article that C4D provided, it says that regular expression of the anal glands can make problems worse because they will then will fill up faster. Has anyone else heard of this?

@Susan Thanks for the info! I unfortunately can’t access the group because I don’t have a Facebook account, but thanks for the information about the pumpkin.

@LM Thanks! What kind of other treatments could a dermatologist provide?

@C4D Great article, thanks! I will look into some of the supplements they mentioned.

As for the elimination diet, here are the foods I’m considering:

•NVI LID Rabbit formula
•Natural Balance LID Sweet Potato and Venison*
•PureVita Bison formula

*Yes, I know this is not a high-quality food. I am considering it because it is the only food I can find that uses Venison as the sole animal protein.

Any opinions on these, or suggestions for other foods? Thanks!

[Bobby dog]

I like the new spelling!

It was pizza from the cafeteria where I used to work, not tough at all. That’s why I am sure all the abuse prior to it cracking was the problem!

Yes, I am happy with the Halo e-mail. Now I just need to contact Wal-Mart to follow up on the other Pure Balance manufacturers.

[Sue H]

I have found a “budget friendly” dog food for my 3 dogs that has worked out very well. I don’t have problems with diarrhea or fussy eating and the label makes me feel pretty sure that it is a good choice. Walmart puts out “Pure Balance” dry dog food in several different recipes. To the very best of my knowledge, there have been no complaints or recalls.
Please let me know if I have been in error in recommending this label to people in my neighborhood and to my friends.

[LabsRawesome]

Hi Andrea, everyone has given you really good advice. 😀 I would just like to add that my dogs do great on Victor kibble as well. If you can buy it locally, it’s a really good price. http://www.victordogfood.com click on their find a dealer button, for stores in your area. I add canned foods to their meals too. With 3 dogs, I go through 2 cans per day. One is a Dachshund and only gets like 2 spoonfuls. The other 2 get 1/2 can per meal. I use 4 and 5 star canned foods. Nature’s Domain (Costco) $20 for a case of 24 cans. Pure Balance Stews $1.19/can (Walmart) And Tractor Supply has 4health @ $1 per can.

[Ronald]

Abby my dog is a Black Lab mix, female about 8 years old and weighs about 50 to 60 pounds…She is overweight..

I have been feeding her Pure Balance dry and wet food.

Wet food, chicken with brown rice in the mornings…half the can..

Dinner is either salmon or bison one cup sometimes a little more..

She has been on Pure Balance now since about the end of January this year..

What I notice is a couple of things.. Morning she has a poop it’s firm, I believer due to the dry food..
Late afternoon she has a poop it is mushy, I think due to the wet food..

Seems to be something not right here, why a mushy poop, been like this since I changed her food..

Any thoughts on this..

• This topic was modified 4 years ago by Mike Sagman. Reason: Fix Duplicate Topic Title

[evan v]

fromm gold or try pure balance small breed/grain free kinds at wally world.

[Jennifer H]

What about using a roational diet with your dog so she doesn’t get bored? Finding 3 or so foods that work well with her and rotating every week or two so she stays interested. You could also look at using wet food toppers (cutting back some of the dry so she doesn’t put on weight) so there’s always something different and enticing her to eat. Just a spoonful or two mixed with the dry does the trick for a lot of dogs, and you can usually stretch the can about a week. I think I saw Farm & Fleet had several nice varieties of canned food, and Walmart also has their Pure Balance line and the Rachael Ray tubs.

[Jennifer H]

Look for Pure Balance at Walmart. They have 2 grain free varieties, the salmon is 3.5 stars and the Bison is 4.5 stars.

Looking at the site Farm and Fleet website they have some good foods, but most aren’t grain free. The Nature’s Balance Easy to Digest Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Pumpkin is rated 4 stars here.

What I would do is set aside a day when you have the spare time, and go to both stores. Read the ingredients lists and write down brands. Then when you come home, look at the brands on the site and see how many stars they have, and check for their recall history and other people’s experience with the food and brand as a whole.

[crazy4cats]

Hey-
Welcome to the club! Pretty much everyone on here is obsessed! I don’t really feel qualified to comment much on protein levels for a dog with a health condition. There are others on this site with some actual education in the field that may be more helpful. Generally speaking, however, a healthy senior dog is recommended to be fed a higher more quality protein level because they start to lose the ability to process it as well. Just like us humans. But as far as feeding the same brands of dry and wet together, it is not necessary. I feed mine all different brands of canned. Mostly Kirkland, 4Health, and Pure Balance Stews. I buy Wellness if I have a coupon! I mostly feed Victor kibble and they don’t make canned food. Welcome to DFA!

[aquariangt]

Chuck and Dons have plenty of great options, I haven’t lived near a fleet farm so i haven’t been there in about 15 years.

A few that I like from C+D: Fromm, Earthborn, Orijen, Acana-among others. just be careful on Diamond manufacturing at least 3 brands i saw on their website-Taste of the Wild, Canidae, and Solid Gold (not all varieties-i use Barking at the Moon). They have other great options as well, and some raw food

Petsmart: Nulo, Nature’s Variety, Wellness

Walmart: Pure Balance

[Bobby dog]

Yes, I confirmed Ainsworth still manufactures all Pure Balance dog kibbles. When I contact Wal-Mart about the other three PB cat kibbles I am also going to see if Simmons still co-packs their wet foods too.

[Akari_32]

Does Ainsworth still manufacture all the dog Pure Balance kibbles?

[Bobby dog]

FYI, for anyone who feeds Pure Balance and 4Health cat kibble. I contacted Ainsworth and Diamond a few days ago to ask which recipe(s) each manufacture. It’s been a while since I last checked and since Pure Balance added cat kibble to its line I thought I would check it out. Both responded within a days time with the requested info.

Diamond manufactures 4Health All Life Stages, 4Health Indoor, and 4Health Grain Free Indoor Cat recipes for TSC. Ainsworth still manufactures the Grain Free Whitefish & Potato cat recipe for TSC.

Ainsworth only manufactures the Pure Balance Limited Ingredient Turkey and Sweet Potato cat recipe. I asked for confirmation, they confirmed, they only produce the one cat recipe. I found that interesting.

I am contacting Wal-Mart’s customer service to see who manufactures the Chic & Brown Rice, Hi Pro Salmon, and Hi Pro Turkey cat recipes, but sometimes they take a long time to respond. My cats will not be enjoying the Chic & BR until I know who the manufacturer is. I wonder who it could be?

[Naturella]

Hi, Cindy! Living in an RV and doing lots of traveling sounds like so much fun!

I second theBCnut’s suggestion – it is very important for your dog to be able to transition quickly and easily, and preferable “cold turkey” from bag to bag and from brand to brand. If you need help beginning and maintaining a transition, let us know.

But because you asked for food brands that are widely available, here is what I would look for if I were you:
Pure Balance (all varieties) – Walmart
Rachael Ray Zero Grain – Walmart and most other grocery stores
Wellness (all varieties) – Petco and Petsmart, and some small boutique-type stores
Castor and Pollux (all varieties) – Petco and Petsmart, and some small boutique-type stores
Merrick (all varieties) – Petco and Petsmart, and some small boutique-type stores
Whole Earth Farms (all varieties) – Petco and Petsmart, and some small boutique-type stores
Nulo (all varieties) – Petsmart only
Nutro Ultra and Natural Choice (all varieties) – Petco and Petsmart
FreshPet (all varieties, refrigerated food) – Petsmart (maybe Petco too), and many grocery stores (not Walmart though, at least not the 2 I frequent)

In order of preference, I would shoot for Wellness, Merrick/Castor&Pollux/Whole Earth Farms, FreshPet, Nulo, and then Pure Balance, the Nutros, and Rachael Ray Zero Grain.

If you do get to a pet boutique, look for Victor, Earthborn Holistic, and NutriSource (all varieties within each are good). My personal preference are the grain free recipes (in all brands I recommended), due to higher protein usually, but those are all good brands anyway.

[Jennifer H]

Sooo…this is the menu I’ve drawn up for next month for Toby’s raw diet. Would anyone care to check it over and see if I’m good for calcium/phos, vits/mins? I try to stick to the meat being in the PMR range, but I add veggies and supplements as well to balance everything out.
Toby weighs 13lbs, although I think he should weigh a bit less. The morning mixes consist of ground whole prey (Hare Today), with added cooked/pureed veggies (varies according to season availability, but usually consists of a base of pumpkin, spinach, parsley, sweet potato, berries and I add an 8oz can of Oyster for manganese) and added egg. I mix up as much meat as I would need for all 4 weeks, then add half that amount in veggies, and then 2 eggs w/ shells from my backyard flock.
He also gets .5oz of veggies in the evening. (I make a big batch and then portion into ice cube trays.)

His organs consist of 2lb beef liver, 1lb chicken liver, 2lb beef kidney, and 1lb beef pancreas that were ground and mixed together and then portioned into ice cube trays for ease of use.

AM
Monday – 2.5 oz Tripe Mix
Tuesday – 2.5oz Llama Mix
Wednesday – 2.5oz Rabbit Mix
Thursday – 2.5oz Tripe Mix
Friday – 2.5oz Llama Mix
Saturday – 2.5oz Rabbit Mix
Sunday – 2.5oz Mutton Mix
PM
(Meals total roughly 3oz)
Monday – Skinless Chicken Neck, Chicken Gizzard, .5oz Organ
Tuesday – Chicken Foot, Beef Heart
Wednesday – Goat, Sardine, Beef Gullet
Thursday – Duck Neck, Turkey Gizzard, .5oz Organ
Friday – Chicken Back Piece, 1oz Organ
Saturday – Cornish Hen Wing, Goat, .5oz Organ
Sunday – Goat, Sardine, Beef Gullet

His supplements are as follows –

MORNING – 1/2 TSP Missing Link Skin and Coat – Daily
15 IU Vit E – Daily
Carlson Low A Cod Liver Oil – Daily
2tsp Kefir – Daily
Fish Oil – Mon, Wed, Fri
Coconut Oil – Tues, Thurs

EVENING – 1/2 TSP ONP Daily Greens – Daily
15 IU Vitamin E – Daily
2tsp Kefir – Daily

I’m also looking at adding k9 Natural Health Skin and Coat to his evening meal as well….but only at half dose or less (their doses seem extremely high).

Does this look okay? I’m learning all the time, and hoping to create a nice varied but balanced diet for Toby. He loves his raw, and he’s done so well on it.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by Jennifer H.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by Jennifer H.

[Akari_32]

It’s very easy to ensure your dog gets a proper diet on a raw diet. You just have to do the calculations right. Better yet, each and every meal does not have to completely balanced. The concept is to balance over time. I makes life much simpler. For example, if I were to balance each and every meal for my 7.8 pound dog, he would get less than one half of an ounce of bone at every meal. He’d totally choke on that (not the brightest of creatures)! Instead, he gets a decent sized chicken bone a few days a week.

Also, I feel it’s hard to ensure they are getting everything by using veggies rather than organs. Dogs to not fully digest plant matter, even when it’s cooked and puréed, but they do digest the organs, which is where they get all of their neccessary vitamins and minerals.

(Most) Dogs are perfectly capable of handling “questionable” meat. Their stomach acid has such a low ph that not much can survive in there. I know many raw feeders up north bring carcasses into their yards and let their dogs eat off of it until all eatable parts are gone. There is where knowing your dog comes in, and knowing what they can handle and what they like.

The only down side I find to making up raw meals for my dog and cat is the freezer space. We do not have the room available for even a small freezer, so the humans and animals share a freezer. This isn’t a problem with most people, though.

The problem with what you are suggesting is that your idea is really not that much better than kibble. Dogs to not need rice, or pumpkin, or any veggies. Sure many dogs like these things, but they are of little value as far as nutrition goes. If you were to just dehydrate meat and organs, that would be different. So long as bones were also offered, that is. Bones are neccessary because they provide glucosamine and calcium, among other things. They can be replaced with bone meal, egg shell, or a calcium suppliment, but then you loose the added “work out” and teeth cleaning benefit when the dog chews them. Also, unpreserved dehydrated meat does go bad, and would need to frozen and used from the fridge. So there’s still that.

It is an interesting idea, you just aren’t quite looking at the whole picture. 🙂

[OCJill]

I have 3 male dogs, 1 ten year old purebred Bichon Frise, 1 six year old Chihuahua mix and 1 thirteen week old Chihuahua mix puppy. My dogs currently eat Natural Balance Ultra (puppy is on the puppy version). Since my oldest dog has been on Natural Balance 10 years and the other two are Chihuahua mixes would switching to another food high in protein be unhealthy? I am being told that high protein foods are not good for Chihuahuas…. I was looking at these two dry foods: Orijen and Acana. Would it be ok to make that switch or should I choose something with less protein? Just noting none of my dogs have had any health issues thus far.

• This topic was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by OCJill.

[puppypiles]

TOTW is an OK food. On the one hand, it’s grain free, and they have a few “semi limited ingredient” diets for dogs with mild sensitivities. Its price point makes it a good introductory grain free diet. On the other hand, while it is grain free, it is high in actual carbohydrate content. It is also manufactured by Diamond, a disreputable dog food company with a history of many recalls. TOTW itself was recalled a few years ago.

Here on DFA, they are both rated similarly. I think if your dog is responding well to the Pure Balance (losing weight appropriately), you like its price point, and your vet has no concerns, I would stay with Pure Balance. There is no rule, however, that you could rotate between the foods to give her something different.

[Bobby dog]

Hi puppypiles:
I think your name is cute. Very lucky kitty! I would love it if my cats would only eat wet food, but they do crave their crunchies. So I try to stick with foods with lower carbs for UT health. I mostly have finicky cats, they seem to forget what life on the streets was like. My main rotation is Wellness Core Duck & Turkey, Precise Naturals GF Chic, Grandma Mae’s GF cat & kitten, Fromm Duck Ala’ Veg, and NVI GF Healthy Weight. On my list of kibbles to try I have Annamaet GF and grain inclusive, Nutrisource Country Select, and Pure Vita GF chicken.

Here are others I throw in the rotation:
Beyond Superfood Herring, Beyond Chic & Whole Oatmeal, EVO Turkey & Chic, Innova Nature’s Table GF Chic & Turkey, NVI GF LID Turkey, Simply Nourish Source GF Chic & Turkey, Wellness Core GF Kitten, and Pure Balance chicken.

Budget wise Pure Balance (Wal-Mart) and Beyond are the best for me. They are a little higher in carbs than I like, but feeding on a rotational basis works for us.

[crazy4cats]

Yes, Walmart carries both kibble and canned Pure Balance now for cats!

[evan v]

As title says for cats and dogs. I don’t think they have had pure balance cat food before and now they do?

[pugmomsandy]

An article from b-naturals:

https://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/is-it-necessary-to-reduce-protein-in-the-diet/

An article from mercola pets:

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/05/05/surprising-findings-from-tufts-study-of-37-senior-dog-foods.aspx

And this comment has some research links it it:

/dog-food-reviews/pure-balance-grain-free-dog-food/#comment-1829102659

• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[David P]

TOTW is the cheapest of the somewhat-acceptable foods out there. It’s good you have enough love for your dog to purchase that. TOTW is what I started my three dogs (6 lbs, 24 lbs, & 68 lbs) on.

I’ve had to economize in OTHER AREAS OF MY LIFE in order to feed these 3 hounds properly.

TOTW is BARELY acceptable. On this site, you’ll see the owner/moderator mention Steve Brown of “The Canine Ancestral Diet”; Steve Brown was an MIT graduate who started studying this as a sideline and eventually veered off into the topic of “pet nutrition” full-time.

Holistic Veterinarian, Dr. Karen Becker had two YouTube interviews with Steve Brown… I am somewhat RETICENT about asking you to ACTUALLY SPEND MORE MONEY but you quite obviously have already MADE THE COMMITMENT to ensuring that your puppy gets “quality nutrition”.

So…..

You need to add one of the pre-mixes to supplement TOTW (I use Sojos Green… 8lb bag is $62)… the 6 lb Chihuahua gets one tsp. per meal. the 24 lb spaniel bred to look like a mini-Rottweiler gets 1 1/2 tblsp per meal, the 68 lb American Bulldog gets 3 tblsp. per meal. Dr. Becker provided the rationale that the diet of canids (dogs, wolves, etc.) in the wild is 70% moisture and greens from the stomachs of their vegetarian prey (rabbits, squirrels, chicken, etc.) The best that even the higher-quality grain-free dry dog foods can do is 12% moisture.

Do not OVERFEED your puppy; this resulted in a “mini-rebellion” bordering on “insurrection” by the 3 dogs in my household teaming up on me to complain when I instituted “measuring cup” proportional feedings. You’ll find that WITHOUT the “fillers/excipients” in the grocery-store brands, the recommended TOTW and Champion Dog Food (Orijen and Acana) Guidelines seem rather “stingy.” I compromise since a part of the rebellion staged by these 3 was to begin eating cheetohs and french fries that the truckers drop where I walk my dogs by the Walmart.

I measure each dogs recommended portion per day and SPACE OUT the meals to four servings which sates their initial hunger pangs; the COMPROMISE is that I don’t count the calories from the pre-mixes towards their daily caloric intake; the rationale being that these are HIGH-ROUGHAGE FOODS and since dogs have very short intestinal tracts, I’m getting the INTERNAL CLEANSING of the INTESTINAL WALLS that I desire; there is ALSO water-soluble fiber from the apples, etc CLEANSING THEIR BLOODSTREAM and keeping their RENAL SYSTEM (Kidneys) healthy.

This “may” or “may not” another TOUGH PILL for some to swallow; Steve Brown pointed out in the Karen Becker YouTube interview that THE FATS in even the best of the dry foods are intact in the air-sealed environment before the bag is opened but that these same fats degrade once opened. You need to go to a dollar store and buy $1 tupperware storage containers and refrigerate/freeze the balance of the bag once opened. Humans, dogs and all mammals need a variety of high-quality fats (which are EVERY BIT AS IMPORTANT as proteins).

Going to what I call “minimally-appropriate quality” dog foods does involve some “financial sticker shock”; you came here because you got a great puppy dog, Zane H and you were clever enough to sniff out the necessity of going “grain free”; Blue Buffalo is to be credited with instituting a national advertising campaign and there has been an understandable backlash against Purina and other brand providers to where they sheepishly and quietly have begun acknowledging that “corn,” “soy” and “wheat” are poisoning your pets.

You came here because you love your dog, Zane H and you were faced with some tough choices; I too don’t make a lot of money at my job as a CNC Lathe Operator.

You’ve got a puppy so you have a chance to have a healthy dog.. I’d recommend going to YouTube and search for Dr. Karen Becker and Mercola Healthy pets. Here is the link to her two-part series on Best-to-worst dog foods.

This the dry I feed my dogs; Orijen is 75%/80% whole prey protein to 20%/25% fruit and vegetables (found in the stomachs of the prey that dogs/wolves eat in the wild). Princess is 68 lbs and closer to “wolf size” than either Shadow (24 lbs) or Mary (6 lbs) so she gets the higher-protein + 3 tblsps. of the sojos green per meal.

I like the LESS EXPENSIVE Acana for Shadow and Mary since it is what is contained in the other 50% that I like (The DHA and EPA). I’m thinking of switching Princess over to Acana as she ages into her 13th year of life. She and Shadow are the same age and they have been active, healthy dogs who have the puppy chihuahua to entertain them.

Dogs REALLY NEED “fresh water” every day EITHER filtered through your tap with Britta or purchased in gallon bottles (“drinking” or “spring” only not “distilled”) from Walmart.

I also use the Honest Kitchen “Preference” pre-mix and sparingly add in the Grandma Lucy’s PureFormance pre-mix to get in some of those low-glycemic chickpeas.

Acana and Orijen have won numeorus awards for their low-glycemic qualities which keeps your pets healthy in the first place so that they don’t get system failures from having bodies with their pH-levels out of whack.

You need to change your dogs water daily and also add in a Tropicana breath freshener liquid to keep their teeth clean.

It is somewhat DEFLATING to come here and discover that it don’t get any cheaper than what you’re already doing…

…but you are here and you obviously love your dog.

[Peggy]

Hi y’all! I haven’t been here in a while. Life happens. 🙂

My loverdogs and I have kind of gotten into a routine (finally).
For breakfast, I cook them either ground turkey or chicken, green beans or carrots, and add a bit of rice, served over Pure Balance grain-free kibble (moistened with warm water).

Evenings are a tub each of Pure Balance – either chicken & peas, or beef w/carrots & sun-dried tomatoes, or Lamb Pate’, or Turkey w/ peas & carrots – over one of the PB kibbles. I’m having NO more problems with them eating. Tebow’s weight seems to have stabilized. I know he has at least 5 or 6 more lbs to go. But as soon as this weather breaks we’ll be back to walking daily, so I’m sure that’ll do the trick.

I have a small bag of 3 of the 4 varieties of Pure Balance kibble – Salmon & Peas grain-free, Bison & Peas grain-free, Lamb & Brown Rice. Neither of them likes the Chicken & Brown Rice kibble.

OH, Sunday is Salmon day. Breakfast is Canned salmon with carrots & pasta.
Dinner is the other half the can of Salmon over Salmon & Peas kibble.

[Erin M]

Hi, I’m new to the forums here, though I’m at DFA almost every week.

I currently feed my hound mix rescues Victor and add about 4 oz. wet (pure balance in the morning and kirkland turkey wet in the evening). I’m wondering about the other victor grain free blends to give my dogs some variety. They love the all stages kibble (and so do I as a teacher on a budget who wants to feed my dogs well).

Any recs for other high-q dry foods that are in the $45-50 range for a 30lb bag? I go through about 2 bags per month, (my dogs are high activity!

Thanks,
t_t

[Bobby dog]

I tried the 4Health GF canned cat food and none of them liked the GF turkey & giblet and only my female liked the GF chicken & whitefish. At least I found another food for my Sr. female even if it has fish; it can be part of her twice/week fish meals. Don’t be discouraged by my kitties and give the new flavors a try if you have a TSC store nearby. I wish my cats liked all of the 4H canned foods, but what can you do! 😉
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/4health-grain-free-turkey–giblet-dinner-cat-food-55-oz
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/4health-grain-free-chicken–whitefish-dinner-cat-food-55-oz

My cats, especially the finicky ones, are still groovin’ on Weruva’s Cats in the Kitchen Fowl Bowl and Chicken Frick ‘A Zee. I bought a couple of cases and I am thrilled they still are eating it after a few weeks!

My finicky female still loves the Pure Balance GF Chicken & Turkey in sauce.

[Dori]

Hi John. Firstly I just wanted to post about Marie’s suggestions. She want be upset with me as she’s a friend of mine and is fabulous at helping others with their canines.

California Naturals does have a Kangaroo grain free but the protein is incredibly low. 21 % to AAFCO standards.

Natures Logic Rabbit contains turkey meal, chicken fat, chicken liver, dried egg product and egg shells (for calcium).

Grandma Lucy’s Pureformance (their grain free line) is freeze dried food. Their foods that do not have any poultry or beef are: Rabbit, Goat and Lamb. (Be forewarned…fairly large poops on Grandma Lucy’s but it does have a good reputation with a lot of feeders).

On to the questions you just asked of me. Since you are already feeding your dogs a raw diet, transitioning to a commercial raw diet will be very easy for you and your dogs if, in fact, that is the route you want to take. Transitioning to raw is much simpler and quicker especially with dogs that are already eating raw. Also because you already feed grain free that will make it a bit easier as their guts are in better and healthier conditions than dogs fed their entire lives on foods that contain massive amounts of carbs and lower quality foods. Now, I’m assuming at this point that the only known allergens are poultry and beef. I would stay away from any and all poultry (all fowl….anything with feathers). Since you say that Bella reacted violently to Bison after only a few hours you’ll be able to tell fairly quickly if a new food is going to bother her. Typically when I first started out with rotation feeding I could tell within 3 days how Katie was doing on it. If she was going to have loose stools or vomitting, scratching, gas, bad breath and everything else that goes along with food sensitivities it would happen fairly quickly so I stopped feeding that food and went on to the next. In your case I would probably tell you to start with one food and if they do well on it then feed only that food for two or three months just to give their guts a bit more healing time and “detoxing” as it’s called. At that time you will already have bought the next food you want to try within that brand if there is another protein without any allergens that your dogs may have. If that brand doesn’t, then move on to the next brand. If all goes well I would then feed that food and start looking for the next protein within that brand you want to try. Every time you are done with one bag you move on to the next. Every time with a different protein within the same brand. Keep a detailed list of the foods you have tried and what, if any, reactions they had. Once you’ve exhausted the different proteins in your first brand then you move on to the next brand and start rotating through their proteins that your dogs can eat. Then you move on to the next brand. Before you know it you may be able to have 4 or 5 foods that your dogs can eat and do well on. You can then continue to rotate within these brands and proteins every time you have to buy a bag of food. You can then start rotating with the different foods you have in the freezer every day, every couple of days, every meal as I do, whatever. I rotate as often as I do because Katie can’t tolerate anything for more than a meal or two. She probably can at this point but since I’ve been doing it this way for so long and they’re all just fine with it and because I wouldn’t eat the same thing for breakfast and dinner I figure why should they. I also can’t afford for her to become allergic to anything more than she already is. In rotating foods if some ingredient bothers her a little or there is a pro-inflammatory ingredient in the food (which I try my best to avoid but not always possible) then she’s only getting it for one meal. Rotating foods for all dogs is, in my opinion, the healthiest way to feed canines but especially for canines with food intolerances.

Please keep in mind that the log (list) is very very important. In keeping a list it will also better inform you if your dog is having an issue with the protein or is it another ingredient in the food. If you feed rabbit and Bella has issues with it and then you move on to goat and the same thing happens, then you have to compare the ingredient labels of both those foods and see what other ingredients do both foods have in common other than the protein. When starting to gather foods for dogs with allergies it’s easy to assume that it’s the labeled protein in the food and keep moving from food to food thinking your dog is intolerant of every single protein. Typically that’s not the case. It’s that we forgot that they could be allergic or intolerant of any other ingredient in the foods. So it’s important…..keep a log of foods you feed and the ingredients in the foods. You can print out the ingredient list from their web sites or you can take a picture of the ingredient label on the bag itself for reference purposes.

“Toppers” by the way is just a term that’s used meaning anything that you would put on top of the food you already have in their bowl. I would suggest you not use any of them at all until you have some foods that you can easily feed to your dogs with no allergy symptoms. You’ll confuse the issue if you start adding other things. You won’t know which or what is causing the symptoms. I do add things to my dogs foods but I did not in the beginning. Had to find the foods first. Then started adding little things to see what the affect would be.

Plain Kefir (you can buy it in grocery stores) acts like plain yogurt in that it contains friendly “probiotic” bacteria that helps the gut. I will add here that my allergy girl, Katie, cannot have kefir, yogurt or cheese. Actually I’ve yet to find a probiotic that doesn’t contain something (yeast, or whatever) that she doesn’t have issues with. She’s too intolerant of them and the craziness starts all over again. Not saying that your dogs will react, but owners of dogs with food sensitivities have to be very careful of every single thing that eat. Their immune systems are pretty much in a weakened state especially until their immune system improves on better foods, less toxins and carbs to deal with. 70% of the immune system is in the gut.

Allergy symptoms can be skin issues and/or digestive issues as is the case with Katie. Once I cleared up all her food issues her digestive and skin issues all disappeared.

Once on line please check out all pro-inflammatory foods, fruits and veggies. Allergies are an inflammatory based issue so you need to avoid those foods as best you can. It’s not always easy to eliminate each and every single one but do your best to avoid as much as possible. That’s also a good reason for rotation. If one of your foods does have pro-inflammatory ingredients your dog will not be getting them for too long a time.

If you find, eventually, that your dogs are not allergic to sardines then you can give them sardines packed in water with no salt added (canned in the grocery store) two or three times a week (as a “topper”) on top or mixed in with the food in their bowls. Sardines are an excellent form of Omega 3 which most foods are lacking. Most foods have plenty of Omega 6’s and not enough Omega 3’s to balance them out. That is true most especially in kibble foods. On the days that I don’t give my dogs sardines I keep a bottle refrigerated of Nature’s Logic Sardine oil. Oils go rancid fairly quickly so it’s best kept refrigerated and also says it on the bottle I believe. Anyway, once I’ve put their meals in their bowls, and on the days I don’t add sardines, I splash a little of the sardine oil on top of their food in their bowls and promptly put the bottle back in fridge and immediately give the dogs their bowls of food. I believe the oil has the dosing on the bottle. Please do not give your dogs salmon oil as we already know that they had issues with the salmon food. Also, salmon and tuna have the most amount of mercury in them due to their long lives. I don’t feed either because of those reasons. Sardines and krill have the least as they have very short lives and very short digestive tracks.

Just for your info I realize that I didn’t tell you what type of dogs I have or anything other than Katie’s allergies. So, Hannah (my avatar) is my 15 1/2 year old Maltese. Katie is my 5 1/2 year old Maltipoo and Lola is my 5 1/2 year old Yorkipoo.

One more thing. I no longer have my dogs vaccinated. I do the titers on the core vaccines. Rabies vaccine in my area is only required every three years. Though recently I’ve learned that the county I live in will accept rabies titers. Very few counties in the country are on board with titers for rabies. I don’t believe that any dog should be vaccinated unnecessarily. Dogs with allergies shouldn’t be vaccinated. Of course, I am in favor of doing all the initial puppy vaccinations spaced out as they should be. Each vaccine should be done separately and not the three in one type. It’s too much of an overload on their systems. After those initially puppy shots which, if memory serves me, ends when they are about a year old. After that having your vet do titers to check their antibodies to the core illnesses will let you know when and if they have to be vaccinated again.

[LabsRawesome]

Hi Melissa, have you tried feeding canned exclusively, without any kibble? If it’s within your budget, I would definitely try canned only. Costco’s Nature’s Domain sells for $20.99/case of 24 cans. Tractor Supply has 4health canned, it retails for .99/can. Walmart has Pure Balance canned stews, they just recently went up to either $1.09 or $1.19 per can. These are 4 and 5 star foods, and much more species appropriate than any kibble. 😀

[Dog_Obsessed]

If you shop at Walmart, Pure Balance is a a 4 star rated, budget-friendly dry food. Remember to transition slowly to whatever you pick.