[Pauline B]

I have been making my own dog food for several years. I thought they were doing well. No health issues, excellent skin/coat, nice stools, etc.

The other day while my long coat German Shepherd was laying on the floor upside down, i noticed on his elbows two HUGE bald spots. I mean i can’t believe how big they are, it covers the entire elbow!! I just gave baths today and noticed another one on one hip, this one is only about the size of a quarter.

i’m wondering if it is a zinc deficiency. (looked online and saw that might be the problem). Now i am finding this stuff about not using rice. i’m wondering if i am using too much rice.

Here is their diet: i buy organ beef mix from a dog food distributor. it is just that; beef and organ meat mix.

I make a pot of 2 cups rice, 1 cup oatmeal, 1 cup ground vegetables (any scraps that i have accummulated or off the shelf fresh vegetables) 1/3 cup vegetable oil and i cook that in a pot. i add that mix to 5 pounds of the raw meat. i divide it up and feed it in the morning (each dog – german shepherd) gets two cups of the mix with a NuVet supplement; and a tsp of garlic.

In the evening they each get a raw chicken leg (from the regular grocery store).

Like i said, i’ve been doing this mix for approximately 7 years without a problem. Any thoughts, concerns? i’m so confused that i feel like going back to kibble!!

[losul]

Jerry, I think you’ll find this a great site for info about EPI.

http://www.epi4dogs.com/

They also have an active forum where you can participate and ask questions.

http://www.epi4dogs.com/apps/forums/

According to epi4dogs, most EPI dogs do respond best to a low fiber diet and higher or mid range protein food, but it may take some experimentation to find what works best for your dog. Have you considered raw or homemade food?

Also according to them, <b>unless there is a concurrent medical condition</b>, It’s usually best not to restrict fat intake, <b>as long as they are receiving the proper type and dose of enzymes, and B12 and antibiotics if needed</b>.

If your dog also has SIBO and B12 deficiencies, I think it’s usually much safer to try tylosin/tylan first rather than metrondiazole, which I would consider a dangerous antibiotic, especially in longer terms.

If cost of the pancreatic enzymes is an issue, enzymediane has a cost analysis, I think you will find theirs the lowest pricing ordering direct from them (pancreatin 6X or 8X)

http://www.enzymediane.com/enzymecomparisonchart.htm

It sounds like you are preparing the food with the enzymes correctly. (with water, near room temp., 20 minutes, etc. ) but maybe you need to experiment with the dosages?
——————

Sue66b, I know you and Patches have been through a tremendous lot and I really feel for you and Patches. Always wanted to tell you that I think Patches is a VERY handsome fellow. Would love to see a good and long lasting solution for Patches troubles. Just wondering, since Patches has had repeated bouts of pancreatitis, which can damage the pancreas ability to produce enzymes, also insulin, and also has SIBO ( I think?), has he ever been tested and diagnosed with EPI? Have you ever tried pancreatic enzymes?

“· Always confirm EPI with a trypsin-like immunoreativity (cTLI) blood test (12 hour fast). Normal range is between 5.0 – 35.0
· Whenever there is persistent gastro upsets and weight loss, it is advisable & economical to do a cTLI blood test.”

• This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by losul.

[Melba W]

Bravo Raw Diet

[DieselJunki]

I just wanted to share the email I got back from Wysong regarding whether or not they use BPA in their canned foods. I’m not sure how many other folks here are BPA conscious but figured it was good info to pass along. I also wanted to point out I got the response literally in an hour. When I had ferrets on kibble all I fed was Wysong because they make some of the best ferret food. And when the dog ate kibble I used their Aus Jus line as a topper. I do like the company, wish their larger cans were BPA free but at least their 5.5oz cans are.

“Good Day,

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

Our aluminum cans (5.5oz) are BPA-free. The larger, steel cans (14oz) do contain BPA.

The can linings that are used in Wysong canned pet foods are in compliance with the standards set by the FDA. The materials are approved for high temperature heat sterilization. The material films and adjuvants are either prior sanctioned, GRAS, subject to a FCN, or conform to FDA regulations. There have been tests conducted on certain linings, particularly BADGE, but the results of these tests were inconclusive because true scientific method was not employed.

There are risks associated with any processed foods, and even unprocessed foods, if fed exclusively. If foods are given to animals on a rotational basis as part of an IV (intermittent and varied) diet with fresh fruits and vegetables and raw meats as we recommend, then any possible toxins from food ingredients or can linings won’t have the chance to accumulate.

Please also see: Toxins: http://www.wysong.net/pet-health-and-nutrition/wysong-products-and-toxins.php.

If you have any further questions please let me know.

Wishing you and yours the best of health,

Jenni
Wysong, a Family Owned and Operated Organization”

[Bobby dog]

Hey Akari:
You’re right, I must be underestimating your superfleas! I have never have seen a flea survive a good dose of shampoo during bath time before. They always die fairly quick while I bath Bobby no matter what shampoo I use. I even use a soapy water dish to kill fleas when I flea comb. Most of the time they never make it to the water, they just die trying to get out of the suds.

Well try the oil, I am not a scientist, but to me it looks like the oil breaks down the outer shell because they just seem to fall apart in front of my eyes in very little time. If nothing else, he will have a moisturizing treatment!!!! 😉

I was giving Bobby rawhides last month until Labs forwarded info to me about the chemical process used to make them. I am looking into other stuff for him to chew on since RMB’s don’t interest him. If I were you I would incorporate RMB’s into his diet when you are home and able to watch him. Maybe in place of a meal or just reduce one of his meals. Since you know he likes them, does well eating them, why not make it simple plus it gives him variety.

Sharon:
I forget how I came to my conclusion, but I will look at my info later and catch up with you on the catfood thread. I do feel certain I have tracked down the co-packer. Of course it still makes me apprehensive that they won’t share this pertinant info with customers; what else won’t they share when necessary?

[DogFoodie]

Hi Paige,

I’m looking for the email, but I asked NV a while back about the source of the rabbit in their kibble and it’s sourced from France. They also source rabbit from China and Italy. Like BCnut said, they’re trying to eliminate all sourcing of rabbit from China, which would be a great move on their part!

Some other “limited ingredient” foods to check into might be Acana, Back to Basics, Simply Nourish and Wysong. Nature’s Recipe (Del Monte) has a new line of limited ingredient foods that haven’t been rated yet, but are probably OK foods that would be very budget friendly.

Edit: Found it!

Here’s the response to my email that I received from them on 10/15/2012:

Dear Betsy,

Thank you for e-mailing!

The rabbit protein we use in our raw diet is from China. The rabbit in our canned is sourced from Italy and China, while the rabbit in our kibble is from France. We employ a U.S. educated food scientist in China to oversee our rabbit sourcing. All rabbit protein is tested before shipment from China and again after it arrives in the U.S. for processing into our raw diet. We are very confident in how we handle our sourcing from China. We source most of our ingredients from the U.S. and turn to other locations only as needed. We are very stringent on our sourcing and have good relationships built with our vendors for quality ingredients.

Thanks for supporting our products!

Sincerely,
Shannon

Consumer Relations
Nature’s Variety
1-888-519-7387
http://www.naturesvariety.com

[crazy4cats]

Hi Tracy-
Welcome to DFA! It sounds to me like you are doing a great job with your pups. I have litter mates also. Two lab mix males. They will turn three next month. What a handful! I’ll never do that again! However, I can’t imagine life without them.
Anyway, you got a clean bill of health at the vets so you must be doing something right. Most members on this site believe that it is best to feed your dogs variety. A rotating diet is recommended. It sounds like Royal Canin is very expensive for a 2.5 star food. You could definitely keep it in your rotation since the dogs do well on it if you want. You could probably add another kibble to your rotation that has more protein and even be less expensive. So far I use Victor and Natures Logic Kibbles. I also use several different toppers for variety. Such as canned, eggs, sardines, raw nuggets and even dehydrated.
When you are introducing a new food, just transition slowly and add a little plain pumpkin and probiotics to help with the change. Good luck to you and your pups!

[Anonymous]

Hi, I recently started my dogs on the RAW diet. My two little dogs are loving it, however, I am having great difficulty getting my 200 lb St. Bernard to touch the chicken. Does anyone have any help. I even added a little of her old food to the mix, after having her fast for one day. Now it is day 3 and she really has eaten very little.

Thanks in advance

[mah4angel]

I’ve fed my dog the Kahoots canned duck food. Pretty good ingredients list and my family is devoted to their store because of their amazing customer service. The store began down here in Southern California (I believe in San Diego) and is a relatively small chain at the moment. My dog loved the food and it didn’t seem to give him any issues, but I only fed it every three days (if that) to augment some of the cost of his homemade raw diet. They have a pretty awesome special for their canned food, where you get 12 for $12 (I think, I could be wrong- I just remember it was a great deal) so it wouldn’t hurt your wallet to check them out 🙂

[Shawna]

Oh Dori!!!!!!!! I’m so very sorry.

I did a quick google search and found that apoptosis and antiangiogenosis are both effective treatments of Transitional Cell Bladder Carcinoma (which I’m going to abbreviate to tcbc for the rest of the post). Then I googled “Dr Demian Dressler tcbc”. Dr. Dressler owns the website “dog cancer blog”. There is a video of him and his partner (who is an veterinary oncologist) specifically on tcbc. They say it is very treatable!! GOOD Dr. D also specifically mentions it responds to apoptosis. GOOD The video is here http://www.dogcancer.tv/transitional-cell-carcinoma-what-you-need-to-know-about-your-dogs-cancer/

As a quick reminder — apoptosis is when the cells of the body get old, damaged or unhealthy (like cancer) and commit “suicide”. It is normal and supposed to happen but sometimes it doesn’t happen (due to certain drugs or bacteria/virus or other reasons). Angiogenosis is when new blood vessels are formed (this happens with healing but tumors also cause these blood vessels to grow to them which supplies them with the nutrition they need to grow). ANTIangiogenic products (medications and foods/supplements) cause those blood vessels to die which blocks nutrients from getting to the tumor and the tumor starves to death.

Dr. Dressler and Ettinger recommend a home cooked “cancer” diet. BUT, Dr. Martin Goldstein is well known for great success with dogs that other vets have given up on due to cancer. Dr. Goldstein recommends a species appropriate raw diet. That said, they both also utilize other treatments and supplements. If the finances allow, I think his office (Dr. Goldstein) would be a great one to get a consult with (by phone if nothing else – they are in New York (or is it New Jersey?)). I personally would stick with raw but you have to do what you think is best for Hannah.. Both raw and cooked are appropriate for different reasons in my opinion.

Okay, so we know that tcbc responds to apoptotic and antiangiogenic products. With that in mind I would DEFINITELY start turmeric or even curcumin (which is the anti-cancer active ingredient in turmeric). Turmeric also has additional benefits so maybe both versus one or the other?? If buying turmeric it MUST be organic as otherwise it could be irradiated. I would also start the enzyme bromelain away from meals as it induces both apoptosis and antiangiogenosis. As does fresh garlic (pending there is no blood loss, surgery, anemia).

Other antiangiogenic foods are blueberries, mushrooms, strawberries etc. More antiagiogenic foods here http://blog.ted.com/2010/02/10/dr_william_lis/ Dr. Li states that antiangiogenic foods work synergistically so the more you can add to the diet the better off. Not all in one meal or one day of course.

Some other supplements known, in the holistic world at least, to help with cancer are apricot seeds (due to their high amounts of vitamin b17), essiac tea (which includes a bunch of anti-cancer herbs), flor essence (a specific brand of essiac like tea), coconut oil (not sure it actually helps the cancer? but it will help keep the calories up in a pancreas friendly way and has so many other benefits), probiotics (help the immune system and have been shown to help “bladder cancer” I believe through the fatty acids (like butyric and lactic acids) they produce), enzymes given with the food will help for the most complete digestion and nutrient absorption plus allow (many think) the metabolic enzymes to be spared from having to help with digestion (especially in older dogs). I know there’s more I’m not thinking of. I’ll post again if/when I think of them.

Call or email me ANY TIME if you want.

[Shawna]

Oh Dori!!!!!!!! I’m so very sorry.

I did a quick google search and found that apoptosis and antiangiogenosis are both effective treatments of Transitional Cell Bladder Carcinoma (which I’m going to abbreviate to tcbc for the rest of the post). Then I googled “Dr Demian Dressler tcbc”. Dr. Dressler owns the website “dog cancer blog”. There is a video of him and his partner (who is an veterinary oncologist) specifically on tcbc. They say it is very treatable!! GOOD Dr. D also specifically mentions it responds to apoptosis. GOOD The video is here http://www.dogcancer.tv/transitional-cell-carcinoma-what-you-need-to-know-about-your-dogs-cancer/

As a quick reminder — apoptosis is when the cells of the body get old, damaged or unhealthy (like cancer) and commit “suicide”. It is normal and supposed to happen but sometimes it doesn’t happen (due to certain drugs or bacteria/virus or other reasons). Angiogenosis is when new blood vessels are formed (this happens with healing but tumors also cause these blood vessels to grow to them which supplies them with the nutrition they need to grow). ANTIangiogenic products (medications and foods/supplements) cause those blood vessels to die which blocks nutrients from getting to the tumor and the tumor starves to death.

Dr. Dressler and Ettinger recommend a home cooked “cancer” diet. BUT, Dr. Martin Goldstein is well known for great success with dogs that other vets have given up on due to cancer. Dr. Goldstein recommends a species appropriate raw diet. That said, they both also utilize other treatments and supplements. If the finances allow, I think his office (Dr. Goldstein) would be a great one to get a consult with (by phone if nothing else – they are in New York (or is it New Jersey?)). I personally would stick with raw but you have to do what you think is best for Hannah.. Both raw and cooked are appropriate for different reasons in my opinion.

Okay, so we know that tcbc responds to apoptotic and antiangiogenic products. With that in mind I would DEFINITELY start turmeric or even curcumin (which is the anti-cancer active ingredient in turmeric). Turmeric also has additional benefits so maybe both versus one or the other?? If buying turmeric it MUST be organic as otherwise it could be irradiated. I would also start the enzyme bromelain away from meals as it induces both apoptosis and antiangiogenosis. As does fresh garlic (pending there is no blood loss, surgery, anemia). Garlic could also kill bacteria and viri if an happen to be blocking apoptosis. Also help with bladder infections if that is a concern? Dr. Ettiger, in the above video, says that can be a concern.

Other antiangiogenic foods are blueberries, mushrooms, strawberries etc. More antiagiogenic foods here http://blog.ted.com/2010/02/10/dr_william_lis/ Dr. Li states that antiangiogenic foods work synergistically so the more you can add to the diet the better off. Not all in one meal or one day of course.

Some other supplements known, in the holistic world at least, to help with cancer are apricot seeds (due to their high amounts of vitamin b17), essiac tea (which includes a bunch of anti-cancer herbs), flor essence (a specific brand of essiac like tea), coconut oil (not sure it actually helps the cancer? but it will help keep the calories up in a pancreas friendly way and has so many other benefits), probiotics (help the immune system and have been shown to help “bladder cancer” I believe through the fatty acids (like butyric and lactic acids) they produce), enzymes given with the food will help for the most complete digestion and nutrient absorption plus allow (many think) the metabolic enzymes to be spared from having to help with digestion (especially in older dogs). I know there’s more I’m not thinking of. I’ll post again if/when I think of them.

Call or email me ANY TIME if you want.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by Shawna.

[Omayra R]

Hello all.

My sister adopted a puppy last month and he is the first dog to be our family member. He will be 3 months old tomorrow (June 8th).

We were told to feed him dry mixed with wet 4 times a day, up until July 19th. After that, 3 times a day dry.

His dry is the Blue Buffalo holistic life protection brand, and his wet is Wellness for puppies. For training treats we have Organix peanut butter cookies and Fruitables pumpkin and apple flavor.

Now his poop is finally coming out solid, but at the end it’s a little mushy. From my understanding, poop must be solid and not that smelly. At first he was pooping diarrhea, but that was before he got his deworming shot. After the shot, no more diarrhea but would like it his poop to be more solid and a tad bit smelly. This morning he pooped a lot! He hasn’t pooped since. I asked my sister how often does he poop now and she hasn’t been paying attention, so bare with me. As I don’t live with my family and the dog. I stay over the weekends to watch over him. Since I have a more flexible schedule, I can take him to the vet etc.

I notice after he eats, he gets itchy. I’m wondering if he has any food allergies? I know this mix is prone to skin sensitivity. I want that itching to stop. Also read that tear stains are more proned to his food, not breed. We clean his eyes often but would to see that decrease. It’s not excessive though.

Can anyone here suggest me a new diet, please? I’m looking into the raw brand route but i’m not sure how many times a day with these foods. Sorry, this all so new to me.

I’m also in the process of looking for a well reputable holistic vet. I’m just do terrified of all the horror stories with vets and diets I’ve been reading online.

We want the very best for our little guy.

Thank you 🙂

[Bobby dog]

Hey Akari:
Hopefully getting his thyroid checked will give you some answers either way too. I think the shampoos and quality canned foods are a step in the right direction! 🙂

I only use two different medicated shampoos EQyss Mega Tech and Nolvasan; they are medicated shampoos not prescription. I used both for Bobby when he had skin issues. Mega Tech works great, but if the issues are a little more out of hand Nolvasan is one shampoo that always relieved and cleared up both my horses and Bobby’s skin issues. But, I only had complete success with Bobby’s skin and coat issues when I sorted out his diet.

Here’s some info on Nolvasan shampoo:
http://www.vetstreet.com/nolvasan-shampoo

You might even be able to request a sample from EQyss for the Mega Tech shampoo. Here’s EQyss’s website:
http://www.eqyss.com/index.asp

The other products I use for skin conditions or wounds for all my pets (cats included) with great success are Vetericyn and Banixx. These products are wonderful; I can’t say enough about them and would never be without them:
http://vetericyn.com/benefits/canine.php
http://banixx.com/for-dogs

Try to see if your grandma could get some KC&G or ND turkey stew for you (if they have any in stock). They are definitely the most affordable of the 5 star budget canned foods. Here’s a link to Kirkland pet food:
http://www.great-pet-supplies.com/

Next affordable would be Tractor Supply 4Health (.99) or Wal-Mart’s Pure Balance stews ($1.00). I know TSC is 30 mins in the opposite direction you travel, but if you can find time to get there it would probably be worth the benefits for Bentley. After that it is Pure Balance 95% for $1.25. Unfortunately, these budget foods don’t seem to go on sale or have coupons lol. Of course, you can always use some of those Wellness coupons for Bentley too.

I have checked out commercial raws before and found they are all similarly priced with Nature’s Variety being the average price. Some a little lower, some higher. But, since you are a couponer, probably feeding Nature’s Variety intermittently would be feasible.

[Kritterlady]

Michele M, please look into a home made raw diet if possible for your Irish setter. You have every thing to gain and this diet has completely turned around so many dogs with these problems by putting back the nutrients stripped away by meds and incomplete foods. It’s not a cure all for sure but has changed the lives of my allergy and foster dogs and may give your friend relief.

[Kritterlady]

Thanks again for all the feedback. I had success last night. I mixed it a few hours early with some kibble and warm water and let it soak for several hours so that the food dried out a bit. He ate that fine. His diet is mostly raw so I havent figured out how I’m going to incorporate it into the raw yet. Hopefully if I get him used to the taste of it in some kibble he won’t mind it mixed into the raw.

[Shasta220]

Very interesting topic to read over! All of the above posts are perfect help… Have you tried adding raw honey? I’ve heard of many allergy problems disappearing from adding that.

What do you bathe him with, too? I know a couple dogs that had nasty problems that turned out to not be food related at all. They got a bath with that Malaseb shampoo and were fine.

Ultimately, I’m sure the raw diet would be the best, but there’s always the possibility of that too. Can’t hurt to try 😉

[Bobby dog]

Check out those labels to be sure they contain healthy ingredients. I have found a few treats from better dog food companies that have added sugars, color, and excessive starches; dental chews can also contain unsavory ingredients.

If you are unable to financially swing feeding a commercial or homemade raw diet all the time, pugmomsandy’s suggestion of feeding raw & canned or just canned would be good to consider too. I think you will see healthier skin and have less odor by improving the quality of his canned food as well.

Having his thyroid checked is a great suggestion; hair loss is one of the symptoms of a thyroid condition.

I have looked at raw diets before and bookmarked a few sites. Here’s a link to a list of premixes:
http://dogaware.com/diet/dogfoodmixes.html

Here’s some links for homemade diets:
http://dogaware.com/diet/homemade.html#
http://dogaware.com/diet/rawfoods.html

[Akari_32]

I don’t know if I could do canned or not. “Good” canned food isn’t a popular thing around here. It’s pretty much Wellness or Natures Variety, or Mr. Pretend Good Blue Buffalo, as far as that goes. Everything else is like Pro Plan and Science Diet. Though Walmart does have Pure Balance…. And I can look online, and see of I can find anything.

And about the premixes, I think doing no carbs (or as little as possible) is best. This dog smells like a rag used to clean up milk that was left in the sun for a week @.@ So if I did canned, it’s have to be like the 95% ones.

I’ve been looking around at home made and raw sites. Kind of hard on my phone, but I’m getting ideas 🙂 I’ll look into that site, as well.

Does anyone have any links to good prices supplements?

[Akari_32]

He gets very little in the way of actual dog treats. He usually gets a bit of people food for treats. I yell at mom for giving him jelly beans quite often… Other than those, he gets veggies and meat scraps. Right now, his treats are Wellness Toy Breed cranberry something-or-anothers. They were on clearance lol Oh, and he steals the cats food if he leaves it and it’s not up high. Alec gets mostly Wellness Grain Free.

The only commercial raw diets locally available are Bill Jac (not sure how good that is) and Natures Variety, which is not cost effective at all (I’ve already looked into that.). There may be other brands that I’ve over looked, though.

What if we were to feed like, half raw, half Natures Variety Instinct kibble? That has freeze dried raw coating, and all sorts of good stuff in it. Would supplements be needed then? (Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to avoid supplements, I just know they can be costly, so if I can find a way to balance his diet as cheaply as possible, I’d like to take that route).

[Cyndi]

Akari, with the dog being so small, doing commercial raw wouldn’t cost all that much just for him. Then you wouldn’t really need to add any supplements, except maybe some fish oil, tinned sardines are great and coconut oil. Even raw eggs as a topper would be good. It would probably be pretty cheap to feed a small dog like that a raw diet. Good luck!

[Bobby dog]

Hey Akari:
You probably want to track down Hounddogmom and also purchase the books that most raw feeders on this website recommend from Steve Brown and Dr. Karen Becker. There is truly a science to a raw diet that isn’t commercially made.

Just food for thought…I suggest considering Bentley’s entire diet, not just kibble. The canned food, treats, or any other products that you feed him need to be quality as well. Any ingredient, no matter the quantity, can affect his health if he has an intolerance to it.

[Akari_32]

You guys may recall, my moms dog, Bentley, is always itchy. Right now, his back half is almost completely bald, and his skin is bright red. No matter what we do, what foods he’s on, what protein and carb sources the food has or doesn’t have, fleas or no fleas (obviously we strive for no fleas, but we have some sort of freakish super fleas around here, and he’s so small he’s like a flea magnet in the grass). It just doesn’t matter. We yell at him for scratch so much that he actually goes and hides so he can scratch. Crafty little terrier… Lol

He also smells. Doesn’t matter of he just had a bath or not. He’s stinky. I think it’s a yeast thing?

I’m 99% sure most of it has to do with seasonal allergies, as he gets much better in the winter, and almost all his hair grows back by the time is warms up again for spring.

I always hear of these stories of these dogs that are doing terrible on any kibble, no matter what kind it is, and then they are put on raw and all their problems go away, or are greatly reduced to the point where they can actually be dogs again.

Does anyone have tips on how I can do an extremely cheap raw diet? And is it cheaper to go with a RMB base and not supplement calcium, or to do mostly muscle meat and supplement the calcium, etc associated with bones? Money is defiantly an issue, but we can’t have this freakish Chinese crested/poodle/terrier Frankenstein love child looking thing. There is a Save-A-Lot near the house, which I know would help with the cost, but I’m not sure the quality of their meats. We usually shop at Publix or SAMs Club for meat, depending on what we need. We also have Winn Dixie. I know they do great deals on meat, as well.

He’s about 8 pounds, very active (so fat isn’t too much of a problem), and loves him a good raw bone (I’ve given him chicken necks, pig knuckles, a few others before).

And back on the supplement thing again, is it possible to feed raw with no supplements? What supplements are some cost effective ones?

I’d love to hear of some of your recipes and weekly meal plans and such, as well 🙂

[pugmomsandy]

Some dogs who are sensitive to chicken (or other ingredient) and even to certain levels of fat (high fat diet or even marrow from a bone) can have softer than normal stools. If you don’t think chicken or fat is an issue since they have been on raw for a while, try giving them a RMB to eat a couple times a week like a chicken wing or a neck. The higher bone content usually firms up the stool. If you want to try non-chicken, then a duck neck split between them or a pork baby back rib (just one) should do. Generally speaking the amount of bone in a raw diet should be 10% but some do better on a little more. A whole chicken is around 30% bone. I’ve made a batch of raw food with 10% and 30% and none of the dogs had an issue and all their stools were firm. I did notice when they ate a RMB or a higher amount of bone from ground raw that their stools were firmer and more like large pebbles. Or you could try feeding another protein like beef incase they have developed a chicken sensitivity over time. My dogs have been eating raw for about 3 years and haven’t had any soft stool issues, not even after consuming the marrow from a marrow bone. For fiber, I’ve used pumpkin but then went on to use ground psyllium or chia seeds.

[Raffaele C]

I have been feeding both my dogs raw food for a while now and they have been doing great on it. But lately my groomer has been telling me that she had to express their anal glands because they were filling up. Their stools are not always hard but it’s never diarreha either; it’s in between. I’m guessing though that their stools should be firmer to help express the glands naturally. I was reading some other posts on the forum and some suggested Glandex so I was thinking about that. But my main concern was that I don’t want to buy a bunch of supplements when I thought that a raw diet should be providing the proper nutrients for my dogs to thrive. So before I go buy a supplement for this issue or start feeding pumpkin regularly, I just wanted to ask you all about your experiences with raw diets. Does a raw diet typically cause softer stool? Is chicken a factor?

[Raffaele C]

I feed both my dogs Darwin’s. It’s great because it gets delivered to me every 3 weeks and stays frozen everytime! I have done a ton of research of dog nutrition and what’s best and I have decided that the next best thing to homemade is Darwin’s. The ratio from meat to vegetables is really good for providing a balanced diet for dogs. Both my dogs took to this raw diet very easily and have loved it ever since!

[pugmomsandy]

I have couch potato pugs and they eat at least 30% protein and regular fat kibble and get less than the recommended amount on the bag. They also eat raw food which is alot higher in protein too and much lower carbs than kibble and get around 6 oz per day. They have maintained their body shape this way and not by “light” or other “diet” foods.

[RescueDaneMom]

“People who feed All-Life-Stages dog food should be feeding an all natural raw diet or a dehydrated dog food. Anything else is for those what are to ignorant to completely understand a dog’s true needs.”

Well, I feel like this is a very ignorant comment to make. Many people can’t afford dehydrated and/or raw. Just so you know, I feed my dog dehydrated and raw but I don’t condemn people for feeding kibble.

[Tina]

People who feed All-Life-Stages dog food should be feeding an all natural raw diet or a dehydrated dog food. Anything else is for those what are to ignorant to completely understand a dog’s true needs.

The only way I would feed a dog All-Life-Stages dog food is if it were a mutt from the pound because usually you don’t know their actual age.

[patvl246]

Any plans on testing raw food from “Hare Today Gone Tomorrow”

[Kate B]

Hey guys! This is my first time posting. I have a 15 pound schnoodle that I adopted almost three years ago. I’m not entirely sure how old Wilson is as his surrender paperwork had a few different ages on it but I think (as does his vet) he is between 6 and 8 and in good health.

He’s always, always, always been a picky eater. He’s my first dog and I honestly didn’t know anything about feeding a dog beyond kibble and canned at first. I fed him Vet’s Choice Health Extension for a while and then Acana but they took inordinate amounts of coaxing or soaking in water or additional treats (i.e. cottage cheese or some eggs, etc.) to get him to eat. Meal time would become sometimes a 15-30 minute exercise in who was going to be more stubborn. He would also occasionally throw the kibble back up (anywhere from 30 minutes to hours after he ate). Clearly, this didn’t seem like the best possible diet for him anymore.

I had considered transitioning him to raw, using a commercial raw diet like Stella and Chewy’s or Primal. Well, we tried for about a month and he really struggled with it. A) he hated the Primal with a passion and B) had trouble keeping both of the diets down. I instead decided to try home-cooked and use Grandma Lucy’s as a pre-mix. We’ve been doing this for about three weeks and it has been super successful so far which is a huge relief to me. I want him to have the healthiest life possible! I’ve been rotating him through several kinds of protein (chicken, ground turkey, ground beef, eggs, salmon, tuna) and it all seems easy enough to combine with the pre-mix. I give him 4 oz of the pre-mix and 6 oz of protein (I’m using Primal’s recommendation to give protein between 2-3% of a dog’s weight) split across two daily meals. I haven’t been following Grandma Lucy’s pre-mix recommendation (they recommend 1-1.5 cups per day for dogs between 10-20 lbs) because that seems really, really high to me in contrast to the protein. Any thoughts there?

Here’s my question: do I need to add any additional supplements? Like I said, this isn’t raw meat and it’s making me nervous that I might be screwing something up with the calcium and/or phosphorus. I’m assuming I should also add some sort of fish/krill/flax oil as well and would love some advice! So far, I had looked at Wysong’s Call of the Wild as a possibility but wasn’t sure if that was overkill (Grandma Lucy’s pre-mix has 1% calcium). Any advice would be much appreciated!

[Tina]

All-life-stage dog food is very unclear to the proper amount of vitamins that they may or may not have in each bag/brand. In fact, most all-life-stage dog foods are created for puppies and by the time the dog gets older, they are over-weight and sometimes very sick. Unless you plan on feeding some sort of Raw Diet to your puppy or a dehydrated dog food, if thats the case then all-life-stages is the way to go.

[LexiDog]

I can’t say anything about the seizures either.

My personal favorite kibbles are Acana Regionals and Orijen. These are expensive but I feel we’ll worth it. I have an active 38 # dog and she was getting 1 1/4 cups of food a day on these kibbles. These can be found at Pet Supplies Plus stores and local specialty boutiques. I was actually surprised to see how many specialty shops were around when I started looking for them.

Other favorites include Wellness Core (found at Petsmart and Petco) and Fromm Four Star (Pet Supplies Plus and boutiques). A lot of people like Dr. Tim’s and Victor grain free but I can not find these in the local stores, so I haven’t tried them. I would have to order them online. I have had great experiences ordering food and other stuff from Chewy.com.

If I had to pick a kibble on a budget, I would probably try Whole Earth Farms Grain Free. This can be found at Petco and Pet Supplies Plus. I’m not sure if Petsmart carries it or not because I haven’t been there in a while.

Just remember that not all foods are made for all dogs. Just because my dog does great on certain foods doesn’t mean that yours will. You have to find one that works for you and your dog.

You may want to look at feeding a 4 star kibble before jumping right to a 5. Moose will be going from a plant based diet to a meat based diet and that can cause some upsets. Just remember to transition him very slowly. You can also add some pumpkin while switching. If you buy it from the grocery store just make sure that it is pure pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling. Fruitables makes a digestive supplement with pumpkin to help with switching.

As for species appropriate food. Kibble is not one of them because kibble does not contain the amount of moisture needed for a species appropriate diet. The ideal moisture would be a food that containes around 70% moisture. For example canned is better than kibble and frozen raw is better than canned. Google Dr. Karen Becker best to worst foods. There is a video and a list that is super helpful.

Right now I am feeding my girl Primal frozen raw and The Honest Kitchen dehydrated. There are a ton of great foods out there, just need to know where to look. You should keep an open mind about ordering online. I’ve never had a bad experience with Chewy.com.

This is probably way more info than you want but this is only a little bit. Trust me. There is so much info out there it will make your head spin for a while. You can also get into feeding a homemade diet too. Others will have to help with that.

[Cyndi]

From being on this site and reading what others have posted about dogs with seizures, you should try and eliminate as many toxins in your home as you possible can AND please, get your dog off beneful. Any kind of air freshners, cleaning sprays, flea products, etc. can all contribute to seizures. Hopefully BCnut will see this and respond, because I’ve learned alot from her advice to other people. As for food, I’m sure someone can give you some good options. I feed my dog a balanced raw diet, which is the very best you could do for your dog, but it’s not right for everyone.

Just curious, why don’t you want to order online? It is so convenient and you have access to so many good foods. Most of the 5 star foods on this site can be easily ordered online. What about Freshpet Vital? Have you looked into that. That is a 5 star food that you can buy at most Petsmarts or Walmart and it’s 100 times better than Beneful. I feed that to my dog occasionally and she loves it. I also use cage free fresh chicken eggs or sardines as toppers.

[SaintsDontCarryBrandy]

Our family has had Saint Bernards since before I was born, but the diet choices weren’t either as varied or as useful as they are now. “What’s cheap?” reigned over “What’s the best diet?” Now I have a Saint Bernard puppy (9 weeks) coming into our household who’s been raised on Sportmix Wholesome. It averages 3.5 stars, but given its first few ingredients are major flags, I’m not willing to “save a few bucks” in exchange for a less healthy and shorter-lived pup!
I can’t access HDM’s Large Breed Dog Food list on Google (argh); am considering Victor Grain Free, but am open to any dog food good for giant-breed dogs (my pup’s dad is 220 and a strapping boy, so he isn’t likely to be small…) Saints develop at a rapid pace, so their dietary needs are similar to other giants (Newfies, Mastiffs, Danes, Pyrenees, etc.)

Am reading everything I can get my hands on. I’m willing to get better quality dog food; would appreciate any advice, as well as thoughts on feeding raw vs. great-quality package food. Thanks!

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi zolicylus –

Supplementing a raw diet with items such as those suggested above – RMBs, sardines, oils – will not result in the components “digesting at different rates.” Why would a chicken neck digest at a different rate than ground chicken?

In fact, it’s very beneficial to supplement any diet with healthy fats such as coconut oil and sardines, as Sandy mentioned. Coconut oil offers many benefits – it has natural antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties and may help improve skin and coat health. More info here.

Darwin’s does not add a source of available omega 3’s (DHA/EPA) to their foods so it would actually be advisable to feed sardines (or another fatty fish on a regular basis). The only source of omega 3’s in the Darwin’s recipes is flax. plant based omega 3’s (with the exception of algal oil) contain omega 3’s in the form of ALA. ALA is a a short-chain fatty acid that is, essentially, a pre-cursor to long chain omega 3’s DHA and EPA. It is DHA and EPA that the body utilizes and because ALA is poorly converted (in most cases less than 10% actually gets converted) it’s necessary to feed foods naturally rich in long chain omega 3’s (EPA/DHA) such as fatty fish, algal oil or cage-free eggs.

Feeding RMBs in conjunction with a balanced ground raw diet (such as Darwin’s) will provide the dog with the dental benefits they miss out on when eating ground food.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.

[nat r]

Haha, it’s helpful to be honest, thank you. And I’ve read that raw meats are really good for great danes, raw meat is probably high in protien? I’m not sure but if it is, that doesn’t make sense. I think I’ll maybe just stick to the 24% dog food and chop up some raw meat too! I swear ill get one, it’s my biggest ever life goal, I love them to bits, just as I said previously, I wouldn’t want to be harming him/her by feeding food that isn’t good for them! I more or less know everything other than the diets because there are so many different theories about it, but like I said I think as long as they’re getting protien, calcium etc, a healthy diet! Then nothing crucial could happen! 🙂

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Nat R –

Just so you know, no studies exist demonstrating that protein has negative effects on giant breed puppies or adults – anything you read about this is myth and nothing more. There is, however, a lot of research proving the protein is not harmful.

Feeding Large Breed Puppies by Susan Winn DVM (Featured in IVC Journal)

“A common misconception found in many internet articles is the claim that dietary protein should be controlled in large breed puppies to prevent skeletal abnormalities. This theory was disproved some years ago (Nap, 1991). Most commercial puppy foods contain more protein than is thought necessary, but studies have shown that protein contents of 23% to 31% (dry matter) do not have a deleterious effect on growth.”

“Decades ago, we considered some adult diets appropriate for puppies. However, a calorie-calcium mismatch is probably common. Adult maintenance foods are often less calorically dense than puppy foods. Additionally, these diets may have calcium and phosphorus levels that are higher in relation to energy density than a large breed puppy diet. If a rapidly growing puppy has to eat more food to obtain enough calories for growth, a calcium overdose is possible.”

“Most nutritionists recommend that large, fast growing puppies eat diets containing AT LEAST 30% protein and 9% fat (dry matter basis).”

The Effect of Breed Size on Nutritional Considerations for Growing Puppies

“Excessive intake of dietary protein has been suggested as a contributing factor to skeletal developmental problems, such as osteochondrosis, in large breed dogs. This hypothesis was tested by feeding Great Dane puppies either 15%, 23% or 32% dietary protein (13%, 21% or 29% of energy). While the low protein diet reduced growth, no detrimental effects from the higher protein diets were observed.”

This is a FANTASTIC article (one of my favorites) on large breed nutrition written by Susan Lauten PhD – I would HIGHLY recommend reading it in its entirety, however here are some of the highlights:

Nutritional Risks to Large-Breed Dogs: From Weaning to the Geriatric Years

“Currently, no evidence exists to suggest that high-protein intake contributes to the development of orthopedic disease in growing large-breed puppies. Previous studies suggesting a risk for high protein and DOD were confounded by higher energy intake in high-protein foods. In general, large-breed puppy diets are formulated to contain approximately 30% protein (DMB) similar to other puppy foods.”

“…feeding adult foods to large-breed puppies before 1 year of age is not recommended because the calcium-to-energy ratio is generally lower in adult foods compared with large-breed puppy food. Feeding an adult food can actually result in greater intake of calcium than feeding puppy foods. Because the puppy must consume a larger portion of adult food to meet energy needs for growth, total calcium intake may actually be higher than with a properly formulated large-breed puppy formula.”

Here is the link to a study done on Great Dane pups that was featured in the Journal of Nutrition. The study concluded: “the differences in protein intake per se did not affect the occurrence of disturbed skeletal development in young Great Danes.”

Do You Know What to Feed Your Large Breed Dog? By Karen Becker DVM

“Studies have repeatedly concluded dietary protein levels have no effect on the development of skeletal problems in large and giant breed dogs. But still today, many breeders of large dogs, owners and even some veterinarians will tell you protein is the problem, even though there is no evidence to prove it. Protein excess is not the problem. In fact, it’s often a dietary protein deficiency that contributes to skeletal problems.”

You may find this of interest as well. Here Dr. Becker interviews a Newfie breeder (not Great Danes I know – however Newfies are generally considered to be a giant breed). This breeder feeds his dogs HIGH protein raw and his dogs don’t experience many of the health problems typical to giant breed dogs and his dogs live much longer than most giant breeds (he had a dog live to be 17 – the typical life span of a giant breed is about 8).

Sorry to bombard you with reading, but large breed nutrition is one of my favorite subjects and I like to make sure people have the facts. 🙂

• This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.

[zcRiley]

Supplementing a raw diet (especially one of the best like Darwin’s) is not a good idea. Different types of foods digest at different rates, so tossing in a bit of this and that will unbalance their digestive tracts. Stop counting calories and instead monitor your dogs’ muscle growth & energy levels. You must feed more Darwin’s to get them to a healthy 12 lbs. Increase the Darwin’s per meal, when they get to 12 lbs. you decrease and maintain. There’s nothing quick & easy about feeding a pet. Darwin’s opened pouches are good in the fridge for 48 hours. Throw the pouch into a well sealed glass container like a large mason jar or a rubber sealed food container.

[crazy4cats]

Bobby Dog-
In regards to the ABC diet, I bought some Northwest Naturals raw nuggets. I feed them about 150 calories with their kibble twice a week. They have done well with them. I usually forget to defrost, though. So, I put them in warm water about 5 minutes before I feed and that is fine with them! I just don’t think I can do the raw organs. But, at least they are getting some raw meat. I haven’t done great with the vege/fruit day, however. I’ll work on that one. Lol!

[Dawn S]

Newbie here. Looking for how to make dog food and/or raw diet and how much to feed, ration etc. I love my boys and want the best for them. Especially being prone to hip dysplasia. Thanks for the help.

[Shasta220]

I’m agreeing with Amy. Maybe try an elimination diet…if you’re switching Kibbles, try to make a list of identical and different ingredients and which kibble he did good or bad on.

There’s that possibility of environmental allergies as well. I think you can get allergy pills for dogs, so you might try that if you’re pretty sure it’s not food related. Try giving raw local honey daily, too. I know many people who swear by it for theirs and their dogs’ allergies.

Only way to see if the shampoo does it is by ditching it and seeing if that makes any difference. My lab is occasionally itchy, so I use a medicated shampoo (I can’t remember the name of mine, but Malaseb is very similar I think).

You also might try another shampoo: Shea Moisture African Black Soap shampoo. It’s not designed for dogs, but it is an organic shampoo that has ingredients to help dandruff and itching. I use it myself and we loooooove it. (You can prob find it online, but it’s usually at Walmart, Target, and Walgreens for about 10$)

Shampoos usually won’t fix a problem though, just mask it. Get a skin scraping done to make sure it isn’t something like mange. Best wishes and hopefully you can get through this!

[Raffaele C]

Both my dogs are on a raw food diet (Darwin’s to be exact) and I need to increase their calories by about 100 to get them to their ideal weight of 12 pounds. I could give them more of the raw food, but I am trying to avoid having to have open packages of raw meat in the fridge. Right now I just split one pack at each meal time between the two of them and then I can just through the pack away. Quick and Easy! To give them each 100 more calories I wouldn’t need a whole other pack so I would have to store part of it in the fridge.

Anyways, I was doing a ton of research and thought about just adding some homemade food items like eggs or spinach or quinoa to supplement them and get to 100 calories. I was also considering giving them a vegan kibble but Darwin’s diet is already well balanced with meat and vegetables so I believe they are getting all their necessary amino acids and vitamins. Can anyone help with some fresh suggestions to supplement their current diet? Or should I just increase their current raw diet?

[LexiDog]

Have you had him to the vet to be checked? When my dog was itchy, I took her to the vet and he did a skin scraping on one of the itchy spots to check for mange. The skin scraping didn’t show any signs of mites. Even then she was still treated for Sarcoptic mange to rule that out because the mites can rarely be seen under the microscope. I treated her with Revoluiton and still saw no difference. So it was probably not Sarcoptic mange. Then you have to look at environmental allergies and food allergies.

The one thing that stands out is that he started getting itchy again when you added the Acana Lamb & Apple. If it is the old formula (I don’t think the new one is available for purchase yet) it is grain inclusive. So it could possibly be due to the grains. One way to find out if he is sensitive to one type of food, you could do an elimination diet. I personally have not done this, but others on here have. So they will be more helpful with that.

As you will find out that some types of foods are better than others. For example, canned is better than kibble. Homemade raw is better than canned and so on… You can check out Dr. Karen Becker’s rankings at http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/07/21/13-pet-foods-ranked-from-great-to-disastrous.aspx

[Bobby dog]

Archie update: His fur is really growing in nicely. Still a little sparse in places and his skin is still dry. However, the dry patches are past the point of scabbing over and it is more like a bad case of dandruff in those areas. Still giving him probiotics, coco oil 2x/wk, fish oil 3/x week & MSM in his morning food. The most improvement in his skin/fur came with the addition of probiotics.

Akari:
Can’t wait to see the videos, I love watching cat tricks!

Here’s my coupon questions:
What is the original price/can of the Sheba?
Is it on sale? If it is, what is the sale price/can?
Are you using the $3.00 off/24 cans coupon?

Jakes mom & C4c:
Okay, I have fallen behind a little on my ABC diet, but I did take out some beef liver that I froze the other week and will be adding it to Bobby’s dinner this evening. Although I gave him a few raw pieces as I was preparing to freeze it, which he seemed to like, I decided I would lightly cook it.

Since the few raw choices I have made so far have not gone over well, I thought I might need to take a different approach with him. I will lightly cook, then serve. In the future I will try cooking a little meat and serve it with a little raw and see how that goes. He did end up eating the chicken gizzards and hearts I first tried after I lightly cooked them.

[Happy Dog]

Glad to have found this site, it’s a wealth of information.

Needing some advice for my dog I adopted from the local shelter last August.
He came with the itches, pink/red patch on his belly, under his chin, face, around the eyes etc. Fur was really coarse yet greasy to touch. Chews his paws till it bleeds.

The fosterer recommended that we put him on a fish kibble. They weren’t sure what he was allergic to but it may have been chicken. So we put him on Wellness Simple –Salmon & Potato. Since then he has gone through:

Wellness Simple
Wellness Core Ocean
Acana Pacifica
THK Zeal
Orijen 6Fish

Topper: Fish 4 Dogs Salmon or Trout Mousse. Cooked salmon or any other fish once a week.

He was on Orjen 6 Fish till recently. We had him on through 3 bags, and he gets 1/3 cup + 1 /4 pack of Fish4Dogs Fish Mousse per meal. Twice a day.
He actually did quite well on it, less itchy, and started putting on weight. Still chews his paws though, I think he may have some allergies to grass. He was also getting quite chunky.

I thought I should started rotating him on different protein so he can eventually get some variety in his diet and went for Acana Lamb and Apple.
Before I committed to the Acana Lamb & Apple, I mixed a can of lamb and tripe to his kibble and he ate fine.

He’s been on it for 2 weeks. I mix the Acana Lamb & Apple (1/4 cup) with the Orijen 6Fish (1/4 cup). I had the kibble serving reduced as he was putting on weight.
I also switched to an oatmeal shampoo.

He seems to be worse now. Scratches more, the dry coarse fur is coming back, pink around the eyes, nose and under his arms, paws. One ear seems to be red inside, the other is fine (is it normal to have 1 inflamed ear instead of both?). Smells more ‘dog’.

So should I ditch the kibble? Or could it be the shampoo?

I was hoping he could eat more than just fish based food. I’d like to have him on a mix of kibble, canned food and homecooked meals 2x to 3x a week. Raw – I can get Primal, Addiction and some THK.

He didn’t do too well on THK zeal though. Went through 2 packs of the Zeal. He was pooping 4x a day (poop had stalks and bits of stuff that.. doesn’t seem digested), ate lots of grass (grazing like a cow), and was losing weight that’s why I put him on 6Fish. I though he needed more protein.

Any suggestions? I could go back to 6Fish, or I could go with another fish kibble like Core Ocean?

[Naturella]

Hello, DFAers!

So, for a couple days Bruno has been throwing up once a day, once on my roommate’s shirt and another at a friend’s house. The only “new” thing in his diet is frozen canned pumpkin that was thawed to use in frozen treat mixture, and then re-frozen as treats again. Could that have caused it?

I haven’t seen the color or consistency of the vomit to be able to tell if that’s what he’s vomiting mostly, but all other things and add-ins in his diet he’s had before and has had no issue with them (coconut oil, raw egg, plain yoghurt, RMBs, raw fish, THK is what he’s been having this week). Plus the treats that contain several fats (coconut oil and butter, peanut butter, tahini (sesame seed paste), turmeric, shredded coconut and almond flour, flax seed meal, honey, a pinch of cinnamon, yoghurt) and the pumpkin – the latter being the “new” thing although he’s had it before with no issue. But he’s had those treats since the day before yesterday and he’s thrown up yesterday and today, so unless he’s gotten into something (which is entirely possible), it might have to be the pumpkin I guess…

What do you think?

[pugmomsandy]

If you’re on a rotational diet, then try out different foods from different companies whether it’s grain-inclusive or grain-free or is legume-based or potato-based. There are many good companies out there. I have yet to find a kibble that my dogs don’t like (but they also eat raw).

[Angela R]

Can anyone help me decide what is the best food for my English Bulldog – we live in a hot and humid climate and although she did really well on the Royal Canin English Bulldog food, this is not available in my new country of residence – for ease I changed to the French Bulldog, but this has more fat content and she picked up weight, after trying various options including K9, Orijen and Acana – non of which she either liked or just gave her an upset tummy, we ended up with the Royal Canin Obesity from the vet and she has lost weight, and we are now managing her weight with difficulty. I did not want to keep her on a medicated diet and the vet suggested due to bone issues that I should mix it with the Royal Canin Mobility diet – unfortunately during this time on both of the vet products she was itching, red and starting licking her paws that it drove us all crazy. I understand that it could be allergies from outside factors, but she really has never been quite as bad – I therefore decided to change her again (always changing her diet over time…) and decided on the Zignature brand of dog food which is supposed to be allergy free. Although she loves this food – and has stopped licking as badly her face and paws are still quite red but she is definitely picking up weight again as the fat content is higher again, but my biggest concern is the amount of water she is now drinking on this food, and the amount of poops she is having (she used to eat and almost go immediately – now it is 3 to 4 times a day and sometimes at night which she never did before) and she has a serious gas problem which she also never suffered before and it is causing her some distress… I have just bathed her and noticed some little red spots appearing on her tummy – she is full of “beans” and happy and as active as she can be in this heat and humidity but she seems uncomfortable and does not seem to be able to relax as much as she did before… I really am not sure that this new food is doing her any good and now trying to research alternative options but I just don’t know where to turn? Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. I cannot do raw as with the cost of meat here is ridiculous and with the heat and humidity – I just dont trust it and also she was not that keen on the K9 anyway! We can’t get everything here but the latest one on my agenda is the Pronature? Thoughts?

[Kritterlady]

I’ve used Blue since 2007 for my cats and dogs with only fantastic results. I’ve been in rescue for 30 yrs an haven’t had a pet food deliver such good results.ive recently added raw meat to their diet due to financial consideration with so many animals. However I too share the copacker concerns and look forward to Blue finishing their process plants. They say they will be making all of the wilderness line in house by 2015.

[aquariangt]

Some dogs are like that. I recommend using smallest sized bags of food, and smallest cans, and finding one that works-maybe getting something really high value mixed in like a dehydrated raw, normal raw topper, etc.. remember, making them skip a meal won’t kill them, but will make them more enticed by the food for the next meal

Some dogs get bored quickly, which is part of the reason i do rotational diets.