[SNOWFLAKE]

LOTS OF USEFUL INFO IN THESE LINKS.. thanks a million. I understood the balance of the diet now. One more doubt to be cleared please. He weighs about 6kilos now. So how much can I feed him and if someone can share a raw menu for puppies it would be gr8. I feed him 4times a day and have decided to give him 50%kibble and the other half raw. So he gets both benefits. Also can I FEED RAW AND KIBBLE ON THE SAME DAY? if not please share a day’s menu with me. THanks once again for all your help. any fox terrier owners here:????

[C4D]

Hi Reewa R,

Although aimee and I don’t always agree, I do agree with her in feeding a commercial raw as it is very important to make sure the diet is balanced. This is particularly important since you have a very young dog who could suffer some serious deficiencies if he doesn’t get the correct vitamins and minerals in the right dose.

You could feed homemade raw or homemade cooked, but you need to follow a diet that is balanced. Whole Dog Journal has several articles on balancing a diet as does dogaware.com and as Jonathon said, Dr. Karen Becker has some balanced home made diets. Here’s the link to dogaware:

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/15_7/features/Home-Prepared-Dog-Food-Nutritional-Information_20568-1.html

http://dogaware.com/articles/wdjhomemade3.html

[SNOWFLAKE]

Can you please also send me photos of raw fed dogs and explain how the diet benefited your puppies

[aimee]

Hi Reewa,

Congrats on your new puppy! If I were to g with raw diet in a pup I’d want to use a commercial product that has undergone feeding trails, has been through high pressure processing to decrease pathogens and comes from a company that has a vet nutritionist on staff.

Growth is a very demanding stage and if the diet isn’t well composed it can result significant long term health problems. Growth is a life stage in which I wouldn’t choose to home prepare the food.

[SNOWFLAKE]

Hey/// Just joined this forum. I own a smooth fox terrier.. He is 2months old. Currently i feed him kibble .. but I think raw food is more beneficial for dogs ..there are pros and cons to this but if it will benefit my puppy i am willing to take the risk. please can someone suggest ways of starting him on Barf.. I am thinking raw chicken mince would be ok to start with .. Not sure. PLease help . need some professional advice.

[Jenn H]

I get it that grains aren’t part of the dog’s “ancestoral diet” technically, but they kind of are. They’re carnivorous scavengers. What any canine preys on is usually an animal that eats grains & plants. And they eat the whole animal. Including that animal’s digestive system. What would be in their stomach??? Grains & plants.
Granted the contents would be broken down. The canine can digest it because of that. When grain is in kibble it’s been cooked. Thus making it digestible for the pet dog.
I would rather expose my dogs to variety and see what the tolerance is. I wouldn’t avoid giving a child peanut butter because so many kids are allergic and I wouldn’t want to take a chance that mine is. In fact I would likely expose them to nuts early & often to build a natural immunity.
Domestic dogs and wild canines are not exactly the same. I understand that completely. (Which is why I’m not 100% convinced all raw/BARF is the best choice either.) Our pets’ bodies have evolved & changed as they have become more integrated with humans.

The whole chicken allergy dogs seem to be acquiring I was told is because of different companies sourcing their meats from the very same vendors. I remember when California Natuals was bought by P&G. Every dog I’ve known to be fed that food suddenly had reactions. A trainer told me she found out that it’s because of where the ingredients are sources. Despite the fact that the recipe & ingredients remained unchanged. As soon as I told my friends what I had learned they all switched and the dogs stopped being itchy, picky, having upset stomachs.

I know at the end of the day it’s up to me to figure out what’s right for my animals. If that means being unconventional or not following the fads, then so be it. I’m the one who knows them better than anyone else. I’m the one who is obligated to do right by them.

You aren’t the first to warn of obsolete suggestions from Great Dane Lady. I think I’ll just stay clear of her advice all together.
I do appreciate your perspective & experience though.
Thanks.

[C4D]

Hi Kristin C,

I’m in complete agreement with you on dogs being fed a more natural, balanced diet and that is the building block to fending off diseases. It often helps dogs that already are diagnosed with various conditions such as diabetes and seizures, etc. It sounds like your doing all the right things for your dog with the heart murmur too.

I also believe that way too many chemicals are being put on our dogs and personally use minimal, if any topicals. I actually just pull the ticks off my dogs, identify them (we have deer and brown dog ticks in abundance in my area as well as Lyme Disease) and try to keep them out of areas of known infestations. My guy that got the ticks got no less than 6 in less than a week’s time. I’ve also used some natural repellants on my dogs after getting ticks with great success.

I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m just saying it would be interesting to hear what happens if you decide to try omitting the Advantix. Here’s an interesting link on fleas from Dr. Peter Dobias:

http://peterdobias.com/blogs/blog/34542021-can-feeding-a-raw-diet-prevent-fleas

Good luck with your pups!

[Kristin C]

Lucky? 1 dog going from 10 ticks per week to none, and 1 dog never having ticks living here is lucky? I think there is more to tick and flea infestation than is being discussed. If I am brave enough next year I will completely omit the Advantix and just go with feeding a raw diet plus B-vitamins and see what happens. I will say that I have almost completely eliminated one of my dogs heart murmurs by feeding her raw heart, so I do believe a lot has to do with diet.

[C4D]

Hi Kristen C,

It’s an interesting theory. I do think a healthy immune system could be a great help. All 3 of the dogs @ my house eat identical diets, including fresh and raw as 1 meal per day. The only dog that got ticks this year is the one who insists on going through all of the tall grass in a known tick area. I think you might have gotten lucky, but I’d love to hear what you do & the subsequent results next year. 🙂

[Kristin C]

C4D-I was just asking a question about the possibility of the immune system being a factor. I actually live in Salem, CT, Lyme tick heaven. We live on 2 1/2 acres where my dogs have regular free roam in the woods. One of them (6 yrs) has had 10 ticks a week in the past (with Advantix). Since switching her to raw food, plus B-vitamins, even with a half dose of Advantix I can’t remember the last time she had a tick. My younger dog (2 yrs) has never had a tick, and she has spent a considerable time roaming the woods, and she is on the same raw food, B-vitamins, half dose of Advantix. I was worried a few months ago about fleas since they were both itchy, but I added more chicken to their raw food diet and that solved it.

[Alex p]

Many proactive, integrative, and holistic veterinarians have long recognized the nutritional drawbacks to commercially available dry pet food.

Most popular dry formulas don’t contain clean ingredients – those approved for human consumption – and they aren’t biologically balanced for obligate carnivores (cats), and scavenging carnivores (dogs).

However, in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, we saw the production of better quality dry foods that contained more diverse ingredients. Coincidentally, during this same period, pet owners began to see the benefits of home-cooked diets because they could control the quality of the food they fed their dog or cat.

Although improvements to commercial dry pet foods addressed some of the quality control issues — and began to address the biological appropriateness of ingredients – they didn’t address one important fact. Companion animals were still consuming an entirely dead, inorganic, over-processed diet that was extruded and cooked at very high temperatures, rendering it devoid of any of the health benefits of living foods.

[Jenn H]

Does anyone feed their dogs a diet of kibble and canned/raw/dehydrated?
I have large breed dogs that I like to supplement their dry when the weather gets cold to keep their weight up.
My real.concern is my puppy. He’s 4 months old. GSD. Approx 30 lbs. I know I have to keep his calcium at 1.5% max. Because of that I am having a problem finding the right food.
He acts like he’s starving to death even though he gets 3 3/4 cups fed over 4 meals. Right now he’s on Wellness Core Grain Free Puppy.

I’m looking for either a food that will satisfy his appetite or something I can supplement/replace some of his kibble with that will allow me to stay within the calcium guidelines.
While I am not opposed to canned, raw or dehydrated, I cannot feed strictly those types of foods.
I would also prefer a NON grain free food. Unless a dog has allergies I know they actually need some grains. Plus it seems that grain free has far more carbs than non grain free.

I appreciate any suggestions.
Thank you.

[Shawna]

Hi Paul R,

They now know that dogs with kidney disease actually need good amounts of protein in the diet as it helps with the blood flow (aka GFR) and therefore keeping the blood clean. The exception to that rule is when the dog has high amounts of protein in the urine as that is a sign of inflammation of the kidneys. The protein should be lowered until the reason for the inflammation has been found and addressed — possibly a bacterial infection, stones, food sensitivity (they know in humans that gluten can cause increased proteinuria – I would assume reactions to foods can be the same in dogs). Here’s some data on that “A gluten-free diet induced in 75% of the cases a parallel improvement in these abnormal immunological data. Mean proteinuria values were found to be significantly decreased after 6 months of the diet and a reduction was also observed in microscopic hematuria.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2311308

May not be the case with your pup but I think it is often overlooked as a possibility.

My dog had kidney disease from birth and lived nine years. I fed her a raw diet but once in a while I was running in and out or really sick for a few days and would give her some kibble. Each time I gave her kibble I had to deal with the consequences of doing so for several days after. I would highly advise against ANY kibble, even prescription. The new prescription Science Diets are chicken and beef based and look appealing. If you can’t home cook and don’t want to feed raw it would be something to try while you are trying to deal with the proteinuria. I would also give a high quality omega 3 fish oil as it is anti-inflammatory etc. Another to try is organic (must be organic) turmeric (the spice). Turmeric is anti-inflammatory as well as anti-fibrotic, which are both helpful for the failing kidneys. Start with a small amount and build. Most dogs do well with it but my Audrey didn’t seem to tolerate it well. 🙁

Don’t give any more flea or tick meds or heartworm preventatives. Also no more vaccines. Some states will give rabies exemptions for pets with life threatening diseases. Take advantage of that if your state does.

It also helps to give reverse osmosis filtered water. There are so many impurities in most tap water. Always have water available. I would also look at a good probiotic and prebiotic. The right ones can help clear BUN etc from the blood which will help your pup feel better. This is called “nitrogen trapping” which was apparently discovered and coined by Iams researchers. I used a probiotic called Garden of Life Primal Defense (a human product) and a prebiotic called Fiber 35 Sprinkle Fiber (also human). I’ve heard that Sprinkle Fiber is no longer made but it was simply 100% pure acacia fiber. Any source of acacia fiber will work. Not all fibers work, some make things worse. I found this out the hard way. The one product I would not do without is made by Standard Process and is called Canine Renal Support. It helps in many many ways.

I hope something I’ve wrote is helpful for you and your sweet puppy!! Let me know if I can clarify anything or answer any questions etc.

Prayers to you both!!

[losul]

Hi again. Sorry for the tardy reply, all.

I’ve some preference for feeding a dog a majority of ruminant meats overall with a lesser amount of poultry overall in my dogs diet, provided the the beef (or other ruminant) is coming from a good, properly raised and fed source. I think the overall fats balance out better that way, and without using much vegetable fats. And as long as I can afford it!!

I wouldn’t necessarily say that beef heart is better, nothing against poultry
hearts, much depends on the source, and for just some supplemental or small batch
use, chicken hearts are handier to use than beef hearts!

I had kind of a bad experience the first time I bought beef hearts a few years ago.(from a different, conventionally raised source, feedlot) I thought never again! They were oversized and completely encased in a way overly tough and thick membrane and excessive suet.. the inside was as bad, and not at all cleaned-gristle, connective tissue,vessels, excessive suetetc., and frankly, they looked old, grayish, and tough. It took alot of effort to clean them enough to suit me, way too much effort, and ended up with alot of waste. It wasn’t worth it, and was a good while before I ever tried beef hearts again. In hindsight some of that gristle
and connective tissue, etc. , wouldn’t have hurt to include anyway!

Where I’ve been getting them the last few times, the outside only has a partial and thin membrane and little suet fat, are very fresh, and the butcher near completely cleans the insides for me, I have not much left to do except cut them up! And I get them for only $1.49/lb cleaned weight! I get good clean liver and kidneys 1.29/lb the same place. I guess not many people around here want to eat heart or organ meats! But the regular and lean cuts of beef are every bit as expensive as anywhere else! So when I make a beef batch I’ve been using the hearts for up to 1/2 of the total muscle meat amount. It equals a good savings vs using all lean human prefered cuts for all the muscle meat. In making a full balanced recipe, I can’t count the heart as organ meat, I still add the small amounts of liver and kidney, and I won’t press the heart amount any beyond 1/2 of the muscle meat count. They say too much heart can cause loose stools, never had that problem or with any any food, but the extra heart I’m using helps to keep some beef in the diet at more an affordable price for me! If one were to use all heart for the muscle meat though, there would very
likely be some deficit somewhere in the nutrition to look for and abundances of others, and I wouldn’t ever advise using overly excessive amounts. Also dogs handle cholesterol differently than humans, but heart, liver and some other organs do contain a disproportionately large amount of cholesterol, something to keep in mind. Don’t over do it!.

Faith, so your dog is about 60lbs. BTW, I believe my dog is 1/2 boston terrier and
1/2 bull terrier of some sort, probably staffy or pit, I’ve got a compact model though,
only about 40 lbs. That’s great that your feller found a loving home with you! I
would assume that his regular diet is around 1150 calories give or take? For your
purposes and for now as supplemental only, yeah I would limit the chicken hearts to
NO more than about 3 or 4 ounces. at least if and until until you are more prepared too see to it that the diet retains balance with your additions. Here, raw Chicken hearts show more calories and fat than the beef hearts, raw. (you might have to enter the serving size) but 100 grams chick hearts (about 3.5 ounces) has about 150 calories. add to that maybe a teaspoon of fish oil a day, an egg a couple times a week, and youre already pushing nearly 20% of unbalanced supplemental calories in his diet, and that then isn’t allowing for any unbalanced treats!

The more things you would add if you do so, or if you go with homemade meals, the more attention you are going to need pay to keeping nutritional balance. And you should really
balance out the extra phosphorus you are adding as it is, with calcium supplement.

If using finely ground eggshell, add 1/2 teaspoon to 2/3 t for each 1 lb of meat, organs, egg etc used. Calcium is very important in a dog’s diet, overall calcium in the diet should at least equal the amount of phosphorus, but also never going more than 2X the amount of phosphorus. a ratio of between 1:1 to 2:1. Most commercial diets I think fall between a ratio of 1.2:1 and 1.6:1, so there would likely be enough buffer already there in your commercial diet to cover your extra phosporus additions, but if me, I would still add at least a bit of calcium anyway.

raw chicken hearts

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/poultry-products/664/2

raw beef hearts

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/3464/2

I hear ya on financial bias. dogaware.com is a great site with lots of useful info, some is a little outdated, as Mary Strauss is not so active anymore, but she has nothing to sell as far as I know. and has generously accumulated a ton of good info/articles there.

I prefer a pump bottle for fish oil, so I use Iceland Pure sardine/anchovy, I keep it in the fridge and get a fresh bottle every 3 months. This brand already has some mixed tocopherols in it (vit E), but I still add some additional E in my dog’s diet.

I use some veggies, fruits, and even some select grains, but never in abundance. I
don’t know if you’ve ever heard the old idiom “as fit as a butcher’s dog” I don’t
think the typical old time butcher fed his dog an abundance of starchy plant
material!!! I also still use 25% commercial kibble, haven’t ever been able to get away from it completely for various reasons.

Lastly, I might not be around here to write much anymore, but as you can see from the replies to your thread(and other threads) there are so many awesomely helpful people, good people, on site to help with questions you have, or even just support!! And even if they don’t have answers right away, they have also proven to be excellent researchers!!!

G’night everyone!

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

[Kim J]

So, I just became a member after considering adding a dehydrated food to my dog’s raw diet. After choosing the 7 dehydrated foods that received 5 stars on this site, I went to the Editor’s choice section to see if that would narrow my choice down even further. Eureka! Wellness Core Air was on the Editors choice list. I clicked on the link to buy it, and then also did a google search to try to figure out how much food this two pound bag would make toward the daily requirements of my three great danes.

And that’s when I came across some horrible reviews on Amazon.com from people who cited to the inclusion in allegedly all of Wellness’ products of green tea extract and underlying research indicating that green tea extract is toxic for dogs. Links were provided to publications and were active and did lead to actual publications – one in 2009 and another in 2011. Granted both indicated that the toxicity was seen in fasted dogs, but still.

So, my question is this – how do I reconcile these papers with the reviews on this site? Do the reviewers of this site have information to the contrary?

[losul]

Hi Faith. Count me in as another raw heart proponent, I too think it’s a great idea! Raw beef heart is a major staple in my dogs diet. I get from a rural meat market that slaughters and butchers their own locally raised, state inspected beef. It’s not 100% grass fed beef, but pastured on grass and supplemented, especially in the winter, with alfalfa, clover, lespedeza hays and minimal grain. But it’s NOT the typical mass produced feed lot beef that comes from most supermarkets. Clean and lean it only costs me $1.49/lb.

Feed heart and you wouldn’t have any need to supplement with CoQ10! Because in addition to the great source of taurine, heart is also one the very best natural sources of CoQ10! Like the taurine, if you cook it, you will also destroy some of the CoQ10. Would also lose much of most the B vitamins by cooking.

If your dog eats say 1000 calories a day, and you are feeding an otherwise balanced diet, you should be able to substitute about 130 of those calories daily with 4 ounces beef heart daily, and not worry much about throwing the entire diet out of balance without other supplementation. It would help to add some calcium though even with that little bit of addition, as heart is also very high in phosphorous. 4 ounces beef heart has about 250 mg phosphorous, and only very minimal calcium.

I also would reccomend some omega 3 fish oils in the diet, not sure why it would need be krill oil though, unless it’s for the high concentration of astaxanthin?

[Faith G]

Thank you guys, I appreciate it. He’s not on medication yet because he hasn’t gotten an echo on his heart. I have that scheduled for the next week. I’m not that sold on raw diets, mostly because I’d feel like their never getting enough nutrients or something. Either way, I would be stupid to not try whatever I can to help my boy. I’ve heard CoQ10 helps with heart health, and talked to my vet about it and he’s iffy on it. Anyone ever used CoQ10 and had any negative effects or positive ones?

[C4D]

Hi Cheryl,

I agree with Red in that many dogs are considered senior at 7 and it is always a good idea to run a complete blood panel, urinalysis, and a thorough checkup at that age, if you haven’t done it before. I run these on my dogs every year regardless of their age. He is also correct about the water, but really all dogs should be getting some fresh or canned food mixed in kibble to help keep them properly hydrated. At the very least, add warm water to the kibble to ensure that they are getting more water in their system. Exercise is very important for senior and all dogs as well.

I have had many dogs in my life and currently have several. I never feed them a “senior” dog food, even at almost 15 years of age (large breed). I have a nearly 11 year old dog Lab who has stellar panels and is very active with a daily 2 mile rigorous walk. She eats a combination of canned/moistened kibble and raw or fresh food daily. They all eat that combination. The biggest concern when they are older is to keep any extra weight off and that they aren’t having any health issues that diet would need to address. Senior dog food is really marketing. If you looked at all the senior dog formulas on the market you would find they vary all over the place in protein levels, fat and fiber. As senior dogs age, they metabolize protein less efficiently, so if you choose one that is lowering the protein, you would actually accelerate the reduction in muscle mass.

Keeping the weight off is very important and feeding a better food that doesn’t contain fillers will reduce the poop factor. You also need to feed them according to their “ideal” weight (not their current if they are overweight) and activity level. I feed slightly less than the recommended feeding guides on almost all foods. Even thought my dogs get daily brisk walks, I still consider their activity level “typical” on the DFA calculator. You need to count any treat calories in that daily total. You also need to get an accurate measuring cup for feeding.

Here’s the link to the DFA calculator:

/dog-feeding-tips/dog-food-calculator/

[Faith G]

I have a two year old pit mix who just got diagnosed with a stage three murmur. I have heard about feeding raw hearts to get nutrients and minerals that they need that dry food doesn’t provide.

I wanted to know if adding raw hearts to a dry food diet will hurt or help. He’s eating 4health from tractor supply, which is seemingly the cheapest best rated food I can find. It has 4 stars on here. We have a limited income and I can’t particularly afford an entire raw diet. I want to do whatever is in my power to help him live a long life. He’s only two and I don’t want to worry about him dropping dead for just being excited that I came home, or anything like that.

If you have any information or experience with things like this or affordable supplements you could recommend please do!!!! Thank you so much.

[SdianeM M]

I have had so many issues with Sadie’s ears and yeast. I have tried many dog foods, and we are still trying them …. kibbles are a no-go for her, makes her problem a lot worse. Tried a commercial raw, but she got to where she would not eat it. Had her on a raw diet, but I am concerned about her receiving the proper nutrition.

I just purchased a 10b. bag from The Real Meat Company that is air dried. She likes it, it looks and sounds good, but I want to check with some of you and see if you have tried it. Also, possibly if you have even tried a similar product and had good results.

[kathleen t]

Starting my 5 yr old blind pit on raw diet. I have started her out mixing the raw meat with her kibble. Yesterday I gave her a bone in chicken leg for the first time. She took the whole leg into her mouth and seemed to have some difficulty at first then got it situated where she was able to chew it and break the bone. Then she acted like she was afraid of it. She wouldn’t even go near it. I picked it up and put it in the fridge. This morning I decided to take the meat off the bone. I noticed that the bone had some sharp shards. I took all the bone out and gave her the meat. She ate the meat. I am concerned about how the raw bone had sharp shards. I see everyone says that chicken bones are safe but was this normal the way they broke? Also I see different things about beef bones. I see don’t feed them leg bones, but what marrow bones are safe for dogs?

Thanks for your help. She has the start of arthritis and getting her on a balanced raw diet is my goal in hopes that this will help her arthritis along with just keeping her as healthy as possible.

[Tom G]

Is this possible? The hearts can be sourced at around 1.00 a pound vs. 3.49 for the ground beef.

70lb. Athletic dog.
Currently feeding per day (divided into two meals):

1 lb.ground beef
1/2 lb. Chickets hearts
1/2 lb. Chicken necks
4 oz. beef liver
1 soft boiled egg
1 tbsb. Extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsb. Vionate

Active yogurt and apple cider vinager twice a week, not at the same time.

• This topic was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by Tom G.
• This topic was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by Tom G.

[Susan]

Hi Bronwyn, there’s one thing you have not mentioned, he’s not on an ant acid medication like Zantac (Ranitidine) or Pepcid (Famotidine)… I had an Endoscope & biopsies done on my boy & he had Helicobacter-Pylori, he was given the triple therapy meds-Metronidazole, Amoxicillin & Zantac for 21 days, after the 21 days his acid reflux returned cause I didn’t know that I needed to change his diet so I’d say the Helicobacter returned & Patch was put on Zantac & I did the triple therapy again & put Patch on a Gluten, Sugar, Dairy free kibble…. he got his appetite back again I had to give 1/3 of a 150mg Zantac tablet 1 hour before breakfast then 8-12 hours later again 1/3 of a 150mg tablet…….
Has he had a blood test to see if he has Pancreatitis??
Most of the foods he’s refusing to eat cheese & oil are high in fat, when you have acid reflux you need a low fat diet…. with kibbles the fat % has to be around 10% in fat %….with wet tin foods 3%fat & under, 5% fat in a wet tin food is about 22% fat when converted to dry matter (Kibble) same with raw & dehydrated….that’s probably why he doesn’t eat wet tin food, the fat was probably tooo high & he got his acid…. if I feed my boy wet tin food with 4-5% min fat, he starts grinding his teeth about 40-60mins after eating the wet tin food….

Your last paragraph, you wrote this morning he decided he didn’t want to eat the kibble…
if you give him a ant acid medication 40mins before breakfast he probably will eat or even liquid Mylanta, I give my boy 3-4mls of the Liquid Mylanta some mornings cause as soon as
he wakes up, I can tell if he has his acid reflux, he starts to grinds his teeth….I hate that sound now cause I know we are going to have a crap day, well he is going to feel like crap & I have to watch him feel like crap all morning, so I have 2 syringes of 3-4mls Mylanta in the fridge already made up, the Mylanta seems to work for Patch, also Slippery Elm is suppose to help with acid reflux, I tried the Slippery Elm it worked the first 2 times, then the next 2 times I gave the Slippery Elm slurry & Patch vomited, so I went back to his Mylanta…

I’d be putting him on either Pepcid or Zantac every morning & every night & you watch, he probably will start eating more & feeling better, he’s a very smart dog, he knows what foods make his tummy worse…..
also I’ve read adding water to kibble can make acid reflux worse…. I’ll try & find the link I saved it, that’s probably why he won’t eat kibble with water in it…..I’ve been giving Patch those Jatz dry biscuits as a treat, I give him 2 at 9pm & a couple thru the day, the Jatz seem to settle his stomach or line his stomach they help..
http://ottawavalleydogwhisperer.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/acid-reflux-gerd-in-dogs-cats-natural.html

[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.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t rush to a dermatologist either. I spent a year doing various elimination diets, trying various expensive foods, going back and forth to the regular vet and the emergency vet, prednisone, benadryl, fish oil (which I still give) blah, blah, blah. Oh, I forgot, yes, ear infections, prescription drops…
At one point I had 2 air purifiers and a dehumidifier going at the same time (both went to the Goodwill). Daily baths, special shampoos, etc.
My dog found relief after seeing the specialist. Yes, the initial testing is expensive, but the maintenance isn’t bad at all.
It is an option, and it worked for my dog.
PS: I tried raw too, it made my dog vomit uncontrollably. And the raw beef marrow bones resulted in a blockage that required emergency veterinary care.

[InkedMarie]

I use a little Reel Raw. I find it fattier than other products. I’ve never used the premeasured service; too costly IMO. I get the ten pounders but to be honest, thawing & re3packaging is a pain in the butt.

If you get grinds with bone, they are complete diets so yes, Hare’s are balanced (assuming you get it with bone). It’s prey model raw in ground form.

If you go to DogAware dog com, search for co-ops and meetups.

[Chuck]

Thanks for the information, I ended up doing another month of Darwin’s until I can figure it out. How do you like Reel Raw? are you using their pre-measured service? I live in Florida so I like the idea of free shipping as all of these companies seem to be located in the NE.

If you order from Reel Raw pre-measured is that a complete diet? (similar to darwins patties) and does Hare today have something similar, all I seem to see is individual meats?

Also what is actually a “meetup”, and how do you actually find one? I live near Tampa, FL.

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

[Paula W]

Hi everyone…. I have a six-year-old Shih Tzu boy (ChewieBahka) who has been having tummy troubles for about a month now. I’ve taken him to the vet twice in the past few weeks and the vet feels he may have colitis. I was given Forti Flora to add to his meal, Metronidazole (antibiotic), and Cerenia for his diarrhea. I fed a bland diet of chicken with rice. By day two of the meds he was feeling noticeably better, and didn’t need the anti-diarrheal.

He had previously been eating Hill’s Rx Science Diet D/D Egg and Rice kibble. I do not like this food at all. My other dog, my girl Lhasa Apso mix, Coco Latte’, (who I will post about later) was put on this food. I was told it was ok for Chewie to eat it also. (Really mad at myself for not researching into that further.)

His symptoms are as follows:

* Diarrhea – (Not watery, but not well-formed….almost like a cow patty.)
* Trembling (which I believe is due to the cramping he feels in his tummy)
* Periodic lack of appetite (He’s a foodie, so this is unusual!)
* Lethargy

His fecal sample was tested and the lab results saw nothing bad with it.
Temperature is normal. No dehydration. No vomiting. Chewie is about 1/2 a pound overweight, and has a very good appetite 95% of the time. He’s an active, happy, curious litte boy, but when his tummy is bothering him, lethargy sets in.

I was afraid that he may have eaten something in the back yard, and spent two days pulling every single thing I wasn’t sure about out of the ground. (Believe it or not, Chewie enjoys “gardening”. He watched me pulling weeds one day, and he mimics what he sees. He does eat them sometimes.)

I also think that stress contributes to whatever the problem is. My husband “threw me away last December”, and it was very unexpected. As you can imagine, depression/stress for me are very high. I know it transfers over onto my dogs. Coco handles stress pretty well, but Chewie is more of a gentle soul and it’s harder on him. Also, having nowhere else to go, I became a full-time caregiver to my mother who has dementia (a lot more stress.)

The meds helped, but his symptoms returned today (about two weeks later). The vet advised that if this happened we should look into doing blood work and changing his diet. He also suggested pumpkin and a high fiber dog food. I was wondering if anyone has had similar troubles with their dog, (or a diagnosis of colitis) and what you found helpful. I just want my little boy to feel better, and I’m open to all suggestions you might have for us.

I want to feed him the best possible food I can. What’s the best possible commercially prepared food I can offer him? Is canned food better? Dry? Raw or freeze dried? Should I home cook? I have a million +1 questions and would value your insights.
Thanks in advance.

[Bobby dog]

Hi Ashley:
My dog is six, can eat anything, and has no health issues other than a tendency to gain weight during hot weather months. For canned foods I only take brands, ingredients, calories, proteins, and GA’s into consideration. I feed whatever recipe fits the bill regardless of what is on the label, puppy, small/large breed, Sr., etc. I try to feed foods with a fat to protein ratio of 50% or less; equal calories coming from fat and protein or more from protein than fat. For example, a recipe that is 4% fat and 8% protein would be ideal for him, 7% fat – 8% protein not so much. Some of the f-p ratios I feed can be up to 70% which is okay at this time since I rotate foods.

My budget foods are Tractor Supply Company 4Health – Turkey & Sweet Potato, Beef & Veg stews, or Sr. Chicken & Rice recipes, Triumph Puppy or Turkey recipes, BJ’s Earth’s Pride Chicken & Rice, and Wal-Mart Pure Balance Stews.

Here are some brands to check out that I currently feed or have fed:
Blue Buffalo Home-style, by Nature (no 95% recipes), California Natural, Canidae Pure Sky or Foundations, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Eagle Pack, Halo Spot’s Stew or Spot’s Choice recipes, Holistic Select, Hill’s Ideal Balance stews, Lotus, Nature’s Recipe canned or tubs, Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed recipes, Precise, Purina Pro Plan Natural recipes, Purina Beyond, Red Barn stews, Tiki Dog, Wellness – Core, Simple, Complete Health, or Stew recipes, and Weruva Human Style or Dogs in the Kitchen recipes only (Kobe/Kurobuta recipes are canned by Evanger’s).

Low fat recipes; most are available at my local stores. I order Life’s Abundance from their website. Generally I find stews to be higher in protein and lower in fat, but not always. These are between 12-20% fat and below 25% carbs on a dry matter basis using their label info:
Fromm’s Shredded Beef
I and Love and You Stews
Life’s Abundance Turkey & Shrimp or Chic & Crab stews
Nature’s Recipe Pure Essentials LID GF Chic/Broth or GF Lamb/Broth
Nature’s Recipe Pure Essentials tubs LID Duck or LID Venison
Nature’s Recipe tubs GF Chic & Duck in broth or GF Chic & Venison in broth
Nature’s Recipe tubs Chicken in broth or Chic & Turkey in broth
Nature’s Recipe GF Chic & Turkey stew or Chic & Venison Stew
Purina Beyond GF stews
Red Barn Beef Stew
Tiki Dog – Kauai Luau, Lahaina Luau, Maui Luau, or Tonga Luau recipes
Weruva – Marbella Paella, Bed & Breakfast, or Paw Lickin’ Chicken recipes
Wellness Core Weight Management

These are 22-25% fat and below 25% carbs DMB:
Halo Sr. Beef
Merrick Golden Years Medley
Nutro Natural Choice LID Sr.
Precise Holistic Pork w/veg in gravy
Red Barn Chic, Turkey, or Steak & Egg stews
Wal-Mart Pure Balance stews
Wellness Stews

Here are some freeze dried/frozen commercial raw and dehydrated foods I feed. I use the same guidelines for these foods:
I and Love and You dehydrated Turkey (I also want to try the Beef and Chicken)
Nature’s Variety Raw Frozen Beef, Lamb, and Venison
Primal FD Turkey & Sardine, Frozen Venison, and frozen Turkey & Sardine
Stella & Chewy’s FD Chicken

Here is some info you might find helpful:
/choosing-dog-food/canned-or-dry-dog-food/
/dog-feeding-tips/how-much-dog-food/
/canine-nutrition/low-fat-dog-food/
/choosing-dog-food/dry-matter-basis/
/choosing-dog-food/raw-dog-food-fat/
http://www.dogaware.com/diet/freshfoods.html
Carb calculator:
http://www.scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html

[zcRiley]

Some dogs don’t do well on raw or an all wet diet. Unless your dog has a severe allergic reaction to the 4 proteins used in Zignature formulas, it’s probably the best on the market because it excludes chicken, egg and potato. I switched my pups overnight to Zignature Zssentials after intestinal issues with Orijen Adult. If they have a bad reaction to any food, I stop it immediately. Cleared up every issue they were having in 48 hours. Side note: their canned food’s not that great, so I use Weruva and ZiwiPeak for soft. The new Zignature Kangaroo formula is a hit as well!

[Jamie P]

We recently rescued a ridgeback mutt (9 weeks old), and I am researching the raw diet options and am so thankful to have found these forums to help me wade through the info available on the web (as well as help me formulate good questions for our vet!).

I’ll be checking out dr. Becker and other concerns listed here. My follow up question about transitioning to raw is– what’s the most cost-effective and convenient way to feed raw? Freeze dried or frozen? The prices are all over the place!

Also, is there a kibble that can (reasonably) mimic the raw diet?

[Allison A]

He has not been tested for EPI, nor have I given him enzymes. I can contact Hills, but based on the ingredients list, the majority of the ingredients that contribute to the fiber content are insoluble (wheat, corn, etc.). His poops are not great with Hills Light, but that has been BY FAR the most successful food for him. He probably poops 5-8 times a day. First thing in the morning, the stool is formed. After that, it gets softer and softer with each subsequent BM. On any food other than the Hills, his stool is just straight liquid.

I am trying to get him off the Hills (chicken, wheat, corn) because his ears and bum are clearly bothering him. Both of those issues have gotten exponentially worse in the last two weeks with the incorporation of the Orijen (he’s getting half Hills, half Orijen Red). It hardly makes sense!

He has never had a full raw meal, only a couple freeze-dried nuggets (Primal brand) on top of his kibble. Because of that, I can’t say that going raw is the definite solution for him, but I am investigating how to go about that in a way I can afford. The commercially available frozen raw diets are going to run $400 a month, which I just can’t do. Unfortunately, I live in a very large, major US city where all meats are ridiculously expensive. We’re talking about $3/lb for the cheap stuff.

[Susan]

Hi was your dog tested for EPI & have you ever used a Digestive Enzyme? when I reed what you have used I see pumkin & the pumkin didn’t help …..Pumkin is high soluble fiber, what % fiber is the Hills light kibble made up of more soluble fiber or more insoluble fiber, email Hills & ask you want the % of the soluble, insoluble & crude fiber in the Light, but were his poos ever firm on the Hills light??? the Hills Z/d vet diet is high in insoluble fiber, it went thru my boy, so my boy needs a kibble & foods that have soluble fibers, not insoluble fibers, my boy did real well on the vet diet Euknauba Intestinal low residue kibble, the fiber is only 1.7% & the Royal Canine Intestinal low fat the fiber is 1.7%
another thing if he’s doing better on the raw, raw doesn’t have much fiber so ur vet may have it wrong, have you seen any other vets that specialise in IBD, I can try & work it out with you….I think ur dog need less fiber…..

[Susan]

Hi, I had a white boxer Angie, she just had a tan patch above her left eye, her skin was good, she ate home cooked mainly, so that’s probably why her skin was good, (no Kibble)
Angie ended up having Mast Cell Tumor on the rump of her back leg & stomach, when she was about 9years old they were removed but they were high grade 2 cancer, broke my heart when I had to put her to sleep, she was a real lady & sooooo gentle….

Origen or Acana Regional is suppose to be good, high protein & less carbs….
I worry about the higher protein diets cause the fat % is normally high, that’s one thing my boxer didn’t do well on foods that were higher in fat… some boxer have a sensitive stomach…

“Earthborn” Grain free kibble “Primitive Natural” has only 17.5% carbs….their Great Plains Feast has 25% carbs the Coastal Catch has 29% carbs the Guaranteed Analysis tells you the Carb %
http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/us/dog_formulas/primitive_natural/

I was feeding raw for breakfast & kibble for dinner with the dog I have now, he’s eating
cooked or wet tin for breakfast & kibble for dinner at the moment….

[Kristin C]

Hi Anna-I do think some dogs do well on a grain free diet. I have one beagle/aussie mix as an example. She has lost 7 lbs (from 37 lbs) when switched to raw plus grain free kibble. She currently eats Farmina Lamb Grain Free a few times per week. But of course it has potato,has to have something to bind it. I have another dog that seems to do better with grain. I have fed her Farmina Lamb Ancestral Grain, but since I don’t feed kibble enough it’s hard to say whether it works. I have better luck with satin balls putting weight on her. I have learned that each dog is different so it’s not one size fits all for food.

[Tammy H]

I wouldn’t feed Pedigree or anything Blue Buffalo. Fromm GF Surf and Turf or Orijen Six Fish would be great choices as would any of the quality raw diets available but you need to transition slowly. You can also add a small amount of quality canned or freeze dried raw. Adding fish or crill oil are great ideas. Honestly, anything you feed that is not grocery store food is going to make a big difference.

[Pitlove]

Ah ok, I misunderstood. Are you planning to take her off raw? If you do not want to switch from raw back to kibble, you can buy grinds of different proteins that don’t contain bone from companies like Hare Today and work with a nutritionist to balance the meals. Wysong also makes a supplement that is said to balance a raw fed diet.

http://www.wysong.net/products/cotw-dog-cat-supplement.php

[Jan M]

Well, we had a horrible night with her…she felt so bad, paced and paced.i was at vets early and guess what? X-ray showed a mass of the ground up bones from raw food was blocking part of her stomach! And I thought I was giving her the very best! I was the cause of it! He gave her a shot to help with her nausea, several medications to help with her tummy right now. She is already feeling better. Most of her misery was coming from nausea due to partial blockage. Needless to say , she will never go back on a raw diet. Thanks for your advice.

[cherryl]

Hi all,
I have an 11 year old Maltipoo (Friday) who’s been battling Yeast infection for 3 years. I got tired of going to the vet having the same treatment over and over (they just prescribe her some medicine,Royal Canin sensitivity and medicated soap and shampoo) without any good results, she’s still stinky, itchy and miserable. I started researching and found out that possible cause of yeast is diet (vet never mentioned that to me) and it’s when i decided to try raw. I followed the yeast starvation diet on homemadedogfood: lean ground beef, boiled egg with shell. I live in Asia so Dinovite is not available so I replace it with supplement, fish oil and megaderm (alternate). Friday loved it. Her yeast is now coming out as expected. However, i observed that her bowel changed dramatically. Her normal schedule on kibble is after meal but once she changed to raw, sometimes it would take more than 24 hrs for her to poop. Her poop is also inconsistent, one day it would be very soft and wet but can still be picked up, the next day then it will be well formed but with mucus, then it will be tarry.. oh and its really smelly too..these changes on her bowel keeps me awake at night as well. Then the other night, her poop was tarry with fresh blood and some mucus, this worried me a lot so i sent her to the vet the next day. She was examined thoroughly and found everything is normal. Also, no vomiting and coughing occurred her movement is also normal.

So i researched again and most of what I read is that I’m supposed to start with chicken, so last night i bought chicken wings and chicken breast fillet. I cut the fillet in small portion and gave Friday half of the chicken wings (this is after 24hr fasting) . She DOESN’T like it. I had to give her the chicken meat by hand and most of it she spit, she ate the chicken wing but with so much pleading. This morning when i tried to give her meal, she did not eat the wings at all. I tried cutting the bones to small pieces but to no avail. (oh this is plain chicken not the yeast starvation diet)

I have another dog Bailey, (Wire Dachshund, normal size) she started on raw the same time with Friday, she’s also having the same bowel problems like Friday (but without the bloody poop (yet)), so now she’s taking chicken wings and no problem eating it at all.

Both dogs started raw about 3 going on 4 weeks now and I dont know if there’s any alternative recipe/food that I can give her. Oh like i said I live in Asia so Turkey, lamb and other kind of meat isn’t readily available here. Basic is pork, chicken and beef.
Should I stick with the yeast starvation diet but with ground chicken? How important is the bones for the dog? And what can i do to make my dog eat chicken?

Really sorry for the long read and I really hope you guys can give me some advice on this.
Thanks so much!!!

[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.

[Susan]

Hi, some kibble companies will write the Carb % on their website …. you add the protein % the fat% the fiber % the Moisture % & the ash % if the ash % isn’t on the bag or their site just add about 6-8% then take away from 100 & you’ll get a ruff estimate of the carbs….

Earthborn Holistics has the carb % written on the guaranteed analysis, I’m introducing the Natural “Ocean Fusion” it has 12%min fat the least ingredients, no peas, tomato pomace or probiotics… The lower the carbs the better, when dogs eat a raw diet some dogs don’t eat carbs, Patch was eating about 5% carbs when feed a raw diet but that was cause he was a bit under weight, all his yeasty smelly ears paws & skin went away….
http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/us/dog_formulas/

[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/

[Dori]

Chuck. I’m wondering if you’ve checked out Darwin’s on Amazon. They only sell it in variety packs but the shipping is free regardless of the size of the variety packs. As long as your dog doesn’t have any food intolerances with any of the variety packs proteins I feel it’s a good way to do rotation diet. For a raw diet I’ve never thought it was particularly expensive, or should I say any more expensive, than any other commercial raw frozen. It was the shipping that made it unaffordable as far as I was concerned. All other frozen raws that I feed I can purchase locally so I didn’t care for the shipping fees.

[DogFoodie]

From the MPC website:

“We recommend a diet consisting of 80% meat, 10% bone & 10% organs which approximates a whole prey diet as we believe nature intended. Any My Pet Carnivore product that has “Whole Ground…” or “Whole Prey…” in the description is the complete animal (minus intestines, fur or feathers). If you are looking for an easy meal, that’s the way to go! ”

https://www.mypetcarnivore.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=143&Itemid=391&lang=en

When I order raw, I order from MPC because I’m on their home delivery route.

[Susan]

She may have more environment allergies, if the raw didn’t really help, I saw a change with 2 days when I started to feed a raw diet…..When you did the allergy testing did you do the “Glacier Peak Holistic” Salvia & Hair testing, it tests for 100+ Environment triggers & 200+ food items for $85….. http://www.glacierpeakholistics.com/More-Than-an-Allergy-Test_p_80.html …

[Elyse M]

Thank you!!!! I was trying to stay away from grains, but I don’t think I will be able to, and truthfully- she doesn’t have an allergy to them.

She’s a sensitive dog with many issues in the past (cardiac changes, bloat, etc.) I was trying so hard to get her on a diet that was balanced, that her body could tolerate. The raw didn’t really solve any of her allergy issues, and- instead, added a GIANT issue.

[Elyse M]

Ok, new to this site and need help!!

Bella’s history. Adopted at 3-years-old from shelter. No history.
Switched to grain free (Wellness), then to Merrick BG in November 2011. Switched to Acana Pacifica in May 2012.

She has had numerous health issues, but we have battled allergies from the start. This spring I ran the Heska environmental/food panel. She came back allergic to sweet potato, peas, and flax. I put her on raw diet to see if it would help iron out these issues. We don’t notice an allergy difference and now I am treating salmonella. I also have a 15 month old human child at home. I can’t continue raw.

So KNOWING she can’t tolerate sweet potato, peas, or flax- any suggestion on kibble? Or is my best bet to cook for her?

[Pitlove]

Very loaded question FoxEye. Someone on Susan Thixon’s website commented about people being so concerned about homemade dog food diets being nutritional sound, when we, for centuries have been able to homecook for our children and have them be healthy. We don’t rely on bags of “complete and balanced” processed foods for our kids made by human nutritionists or big name companies. I thought it was a clever comparison and held some truth.

Kibble works for a lot of dogs and it doesn’t work for a lot of dogs. We used to have a 23 year old toy poodle that would come into the groomer I used to work for that had eaten nothing but Kibbles N’Bits for her whole life and was completely healthy. Does that mean I want to run out and buy a bag of Kibbles N’Bits? No, but it shows that some dogs can do fine on kibble (even some of the worst ones).

Looking at the other side, there are tons of raw feeders whos dogs are equally as healthy and look amazing. I definitely think that fresh diets are the healthier option for dogs and humans, but not everyones lifestyle works for a homemade diet either.

But, to answer your question pointedly, yes, a lot of people think dogs should eat kibble and not raw. More and more people are seeing the flaws with processed diets though.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by Pitlove.

[Susan]

Hi Kevin, You need to change her diet, kibbles aren’t really good for yeasty dogs as they are very high in carbs, you need to cut out the sugar carbs Potatoes, peas, sweet potatoes etc yeasty dogs need a low Gi diet, raw, wet tin, home cooked diets are the best, most vet diets are high in carbs…. if you have to feed a kibble try “Earthborn Holistic’ their grainfree flavours the carbs are only 17.5% -29% the “Great Plains” & “Meadow Feast” are potato free….their natural kibbles are a bit higher in carbs… http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/us/dog_formulas/
I feed wet tin food for breakfast & I have just started the Earthborn Ocean Fusion natural kibble for dinner, my boy needs a lower fat diet & the grainfree diets are too high in fat for Patch…he has IBD… also read what the carb % is in the kibble, if it isn’t written on the kibble bag or their web site you add the protein% + fat % + moisture + ash % & then you take what you have away from 100% & you get the carb %….Earthborn has it written on their site under Guaranteed Analysis…

Glacier Pecks Holistic does Salvia & Hair testing & test for 100+ Environment triggers & 200+ food items for $85….
http://www.glacierpeakholistics.com/More-Than-an-Allergy-Test_p_80.html

[Pat J]

I am new to this site. I would like to switch to a raw diet, I am elderly with health issues. The diets mention are too complicated and time consuming for my condition. I have been looking into a dehydrated food from Big Dog Natural company. A dog breeder told me about this company and likes their food. Has anyone tried their food and if so, what were the results and opinions? Thanks