[DogFoodie]

Hi Dori,

I hope I didn’t come across as rude, that was definitely not my intent!

My point was that I frequently hear, from lots of folks, that allergy / intolerance, yeast or skin issues can be helped by fish based foods. I think that for many dogs that don’t have an intolerance for fish, that may well be true. Heck, if you search limited ingredient foods on any of the pet food shopping sites, you’ll find lots of them are fish based or have fish meals or fish oils added for the omega 3’s, and its often stated that it’s for skin and coat health. I wish Sam could eat fish, because he could surely benefit from the omegas. I think fish intolerance / allergy isn’t terribly uncommon, as far as those issues go.

I’m trying to find some kibbles Sam does well on before I start adding an algae oil to his food. He is not a fan of raw and I’m having trouble with canned foods as a result of his sensitive tummy. He does like raw, green tripe, so that’s one of the few toppers I use. In addition to fish, he can’t have garlic, flax, chickpeas or lentils. He also gets fresh eggs at least a couple times per week.

He does great on Nature’s Variety Instinct LID Duck – he likes it OK. He did fine on California Natural Lamb and Rice, but he didn’t really seem to care for it. And, while I hate to even admit that I tried it, he did well on, and liked, Canidae Pure Sky; although his anal glands started smelling a little strong near the end of the bag, his ears started clear. Right now, we’re in the process of trying Go! GF Turkey, and I’m really hoping this works. In the past, he hasn’t done well on foods with lots of fruits and veggies and this food has them. And, the Go! contains lentils, but they’re pretty far down the list of ingredients and the fiber is within a good range for him; so I’ll see pretty quickly if it gives him gas. I have big bags of NVI LID Turkey and Duck on deck to use next, or in case we have to make a quick departure from the Go!

I’m constantly searching for foods for him. I get a little frustrated at the lack of options for him. I wish that limited ingredient foods contained only one animal protein.

Thanks for asking, Dori! Sorry for the hijack, Lori!

[Bobby dog]

C4c:
I was trying to find websites I looked at for my hyper-t kitty when he needed help eating. One of the main reasons given for kitty’s not eating was a change in routine. I really hope that is all it is for your kitty and it is not health related. When I used to have to leave town for extended periods of time I would take my JRT with me and take my two kitties to my parents house. When I brought them back they were so funny. They would sit on my bed and wake me up in the middle of the night and morning by just staring at me. It was like they were telling me they never thought they would make it back home again and would start purring and rubbing up against me as soon as I woke up. They would do this for about a week until they settled back into to their routines.

The first thing that caught my eye was the sweetener in the ingredients. The second was the ingredient that I guess keeps the kibble from getting hard. I really don’t know anything about those ingredients, but if I fed this food it probably wouldn’t be long term. Honestly, if a kitty is not eating I would pretty much give anything a try and this food would be no exception. 🙂 Here’s the links I used for the ingredients that I checked out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructooligosaccharide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucono_delta-lactone
http://www.modernistcookingmadeeasy.com/info/modernist-ingredients/more/sodium-alginate

I reluctantly added two Friskies flavors to my senior female’s diet. She was not eating well and did not have a long term interest in any of the new foods I tried. She looked haggard and I had to find something that she was excited about eating. I re-visited the Friskies recipes. I added two from the Special Diet line, the Beef & Chic and Turkey & Giblets; AE is Country Style Dinner. They are all pates’, carbs are about 5% for SD and 11% for Country Style Dinner, and none of the recipes have fish. Drawbacks are by-products are listed first (named meat is like third), giblets are high on the ingredient list for the turkey, and all have added color. Haven’t had to try the Country Style Dinner, but my girl is happy, looking better and that’s what matters.

[David D]

I’m looking to start my dog on a raw food diet and have a couple questions.

#1) I read on http://rawfeddogs.org/rawguide.html that it’s best to start out with chicken. It also says that the meal should be 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% organ. Reading further it says that a chicken is 33% bone. Should I buy some extra chicken breasts to make the ratio work at 10% bone?

#2) I contacted one of my local butchers and he sells “raw course ground beef scraps” for $0.50/lb. Is this a good thing to feed?

Thanks in advance!

[Zanes Mom]

Nancy C, Hi! Thank you for sharing your experience. I actually followed your quest to go raw, think that might be called lurking lol, and am so impressed at the depth of your study and questioning. I will look into BDN but since they don’t recommend mixing with kibble I will have to get a little/lot more comfortable with raw. I do feel that today Zane has a MUCH stronger immune system but it was scary to see him lose 10lbs. in very short order.
I will be very interested in hearing how your GSD does on the raw because my son has a two year old GSD that has had a lot of itchy issues with kibble. They have him on Merrick Duck right now and things are better but not solved.
One question: I remember when you were researching raw that HHP was something you did not want, could you tell me why? Thanks!

[Zanes Mom]

It’s interesting that you would say that about the kibble because about the time his problems started the dog food he was on ( not Acana) was suddenly unavailable for a period of time and the reason given was manufacturing issues. Hard to know of course.
When I first visited this site I could never imagine feeding raw but as I learn more I really want it to play a part in Zane’s diet so I appreciate your good wishes. Thank you again for your insight and suggestions.

[Nancy C]

Dear Ladies, How I share your feelings and fears. But knowing how good raw seems to be I felt that I must give it a try. Here is my experience and it is one of many – but I have learned at DFA Hearing others’ Experience helps. Due to my 15 mos old GSD having terrible problems due to transitioning to a high end food from TOW due to the recalls- we ended up for 6 weeks at the vet (due to diarrhea) who put him on antibiotics and HILLS POISON WD Formula to heal him. He lost 6 pounds over several weeks. A nightmare.
I was scared of raw, but felt I MUST TRY. So I hired a Homeopathic Vet to help me through to raw. (My reg vet is not into nutrition) He recommends raw for dogs. He also recommends two brands of raw which he feeds to his own 6 dogs: Darwin’s and Big Dog Natural. BDN is a air dried -dehydrated raw to which is added TRIPE to every formula and the veggies are fermented. BOTH these aspects support digestion. First I started with our 10 1/2 yr old Golden Retriever. He suggested that I start with the BDN – would probl be easier to digest. I went Cold Turkey. Chris at BDN strongly advised AGAINST mixing raw and kibble. She all but guaranteed cold turnkey would work fine. One morning I held my breath, stopped kibble totally and fed the BDN as directed. It was a piece of cake! Dog did not skip a beat. The vet said it is bec this food is SO EASILY DIGESTED. And my dog licked the bowl for over a 1 1/2 minutes! Loved the food. There was NEVER any diarrhea nor ANY signs of ANY difficulty. It was magic. I am leaving her on this for 1 month and then will start introducing the Darwins WITH BDN 2 oz at a time. I told my neighbor about BDN and she ordered it and today told me she went COLD TURKEY with her THREE dogs and no problems at all. EASY! She’s now into her second large order of the food! So I will start my GSD soon. He just arrived from training and I want to acclimate him to being back home and I too shall go cold turkey with him. Chris at BDN says one of her customers is a GSD Breeder and he LOVES the food and gives it to ALL HIS DOGS! So, hope this helps a smidgen. Good luck to you!
Nancy Calloway
Oh PS — I do not have stock in BDN, I am in NC they are in NJ, I do not know the owners nor do I know ANYONE there. Chris in Cust Serv is very helpful and nice. I never heard of the food until the Homeopath vet told me about it.

[RescueDaneMom]

I completely understand! I was super nervous to try it too. From what I’ve read, it is more likely for dog’s to get salmonella from tainted kibble than raw. But I started with raw slowly myself. I fed Max kibble with toppers like canned and dehydrated/freeze-dried foods for the first 4 years I had him. Then as I learned more about canine nutrition, I started experimenting with adding raw. I started with Stella & Chewy’s as a topper as well. The Duck, Duck, Goose is a favorite of Max’s. From there I started trying other brands and gradually increased his amount of raw and decreased the amount of kibble. A year ago I decided to stop feeding kibble altogether. I was feeding Max a dehydrated food (Honest Kitchen) and raw. I kept that up for about 7-8 months until he got tired of the Honest Kitchen. He was refusing to eat his food even with the raw mixed in. I tried other dehydrated and freeze-dried foods with little success. His system was just not liking them. I made the switch back to half kibble 2.5 weeks ago. He is doing really well on the BC kibble. I would love to do full raw but I just don’t have good enough local sources and I don’t have enough time to do all the prep. I’m a firm believer that some raw is better than no raw so I’m happy with the compromise I made.

Best of luck to you and Zane. Baby steps is the way to go. You can easily figure out what he does well on if you introduce things one at a time.

[Zanes Mom]

Rescue Dane Mom,
Thanks for the suggestions! I understand what you are saying about the fat vs carbs and it makes sense. I think I will try the Brothers Complete in the near future and will look into the Earthborn too. I really admire everyone that feeds raw as all or part of their program but until recently never considered it. For the first year Zane had issues with diarrhea and we got to know the vet VERY well. Long story but after many tests it was finally determined that he had salmonella. The vet was shocked and of course the first question was did I feed raw. I didn’t but it made me nervous about change. He is thriving now and I recently bought a bag of Stella and Chewys Duck, Duck Goose and plan to try it as a topper – baby steps 🙂
BTW we live on the Gulf north of Tampa.

[RescueDaneMom]

Hi All!

So I moved in January for a new job. Max had been eating half raw and half THK for about 3-4 months at that time. I continued that routine for the first month or two after the move but he was losing interest. I tried THK’s new base mix when it came out but he only ate it once or twice before he decided he didn’t want to eat THK anymore. He has been eating at least some THK since I got him, about 6 years, so I guess he just got tired of it? I tried several other similar products with little success- NRG Maxim, NRG Optima, Grandma Lucy’s Valor, and Grandma Lucy’s Pureformance. On these other foods, he was pooping in the house while I was at work and was never regular. When he was on THK, he was pooping so regular I could set my watch by it. So I tried each food for about a month. I figured that was enough time to see if his system would regulate. It never did and I got tired of cleaning up poop in my house. So frustrated, I tried Orijen and Zignature kibbles too to see if they would work. No improvement. I was at my wits end a couple weeks ago and decided to try Brother*s Complete kibble. It has worked like magic. I feed Max 1 cup of kibble and 1/2 lb of raw at each meal (3x/day). He is back to pooping like clockwork. He hasn’t pooped in the house since we started the BC kibble with his raw. I am so happy I found something that works for him!

Has anyone else had a similar experience with certain foods just going right through their dogs? I still have no clue why system was so wacky with those foods yet was fine with THK.

-Caroline

[RescueDaneMom]

Hi Zanes Mom! I live in Central Florida and have a Great Dane. He is 8.5 years old and 145 lbs. He gets walks in the early morning and evening and lays around and sleeps the rest of the time. I am currently feeding half kibble (Brother*s Complete) and half raw. I have fed him some high fat raw for a month or two and his weight kept consistent. He seems to put on weight if eating a high carb food not high fat. He maintains weight well on low carb foods. I am personally not worried about fat content unless it is absurdly high. I would look at some low carb kibbles for more variety. Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural is one I can think of off the top of my head. Max also liked Annamaet Grain-Free and Petcurean’s Go! Fit and Free.

[Akari_32]

When I tried frontline, I saw fleas litterally crawling over the application site. It’s pretty much useless these day. I’m having great results using Little City Dogs brand lufeneron (sp?). You can buy it on Amazon, or through LittleCityDogs.com $25 treats a cats and medium dogs for a year, and $50 for large dogs. It’s the same ingredient in Sentinel and Program, and is extremely safe, even at high doses. My cat even takes it as a treat out of his food (it’s a chicken or beef flavored cap). After using every available on the market here in FL, it’s the only thing I can get to work, with the exception of Trifexis, which really bothers me with the all the problems it has, and I took my dogs off.

[InkedMarie]

Wow, that wasn’t easy. I didn’t find many foods that didn’t have the list of ingredients your dog is allergic to & they don’t have higher protein:

Natures Variety Instinct LID lamb 22%
Rabbit: 25%
Duck: 26%

Wellness Simple Frainfree salmon & potato. 25%

Zignature duck 27%
Lamb 28%

If I was you, I’d feed raw or home cooked.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Akari-
Glad to hear Bentley is doing better. You are so much more adventurous than me with the raw feeding. I got real crazy and bought some frozen raw beef heart treats last week. Woo Hoo! As for the yogurt you are feeding, I’d be real careful buying fat free. Artificial sweeteners are not good for dogs, especially xylitol. I noticed my dogs’ poos are much smaller after their no kibble meals on Saturdays also. Keep up the good work!

[Naturella]

Yay for Bentley and great job, Akari! I can’t wait till hubs and I have the freezer space to raw-feed Bruskidoodle (one of Bruno’s bazillion nicknames, lol). I would probably use some canned/dehydrated too, and some kibble here and there, when traveling/camping, etc.

The yoghurt will help some, especially if it has a bunch of live cultures in it. I personally use Dannon plain usually, but I also like Stoneyfield plain.

Other than the tummy gurgling, how is his overall condition/activity level. Is the stool well-formed and all? If so, I’d say he’s adjusting pretty well to raw-mixed. 🙂

[Naturella]

Sheltielove, a few of us here are college students, myself and my husband included. We also shop on a super tight budget for our dog, but so far we have managed to keep our food costs at $6.07/month for 4-5-star food. That is pretty low, although I am not counting Bruno’s (the dog’s) additives in the price. He gets an egg, a raw meaty bone (usually a chicken back or pork/beef neck bone piece), 1/2 can of sardines, and a tablespoon of coconut oil every other day and 1 tablespoon of yoghurt every other day. And The Honest Kitchen raw dehydrated food as a topper (1 tsp/meal, aside from when he gets coconut oil or yoghurt). The price of THK is calculated in his food cost though. Right now we are stocked on kibble and THK till the end of August, 2015.

Now, how did we do that?
Part 1 – lucked out! Our local Petland had a special during the months of November and December 2013 and was giving away FREE small bags of Holistic Health Extension. I stocked up on those with 4 bags.
Part 2 – Petland also sends me a coupon for $10 off of $25+ purchase – a great way to get bigger bags for less. I got 3 14-lb bags for about $20 each (with tax and all).
Part 3 – Luck again – there is an awesome little pet specialty store with amazing sales on top notch brands when they’re a month away from expiring, plus they give away free samples. Got me some of those too.
Part 4 – I facebooked a bunch of companies to ask for samples of their foods – some sent just coupons, some samples and treats, and some – whole small bags of food. Two bags of food came this way.
Part 5 – Planned couponing – for more info and to speak to this site’s real coupon guru Akari_32, see this thread – /forums/topic/coupons/
Part 6 – Scouting for deals and sales online. Websites, such as petflow.com and chewy.com will have flash sales at which you can get food for $1/lb – I got 19lbs of food this way, all in 4- or 5-lb bags of great, various flavors and brands.

Part 7 – MOST IMPORTANTLY – all of the above methods will be kind of on the hard side if you do not rotate protein sources (flavors) AND brands of food. More on diet rotation and why it’s important – /frequently-asked-questions/diet-rotation-for-dogs/ But this way you get to take advantage of all or most deals and sales versus being stuck to a specific brand/flavor.

Also, some of the more affordable overall brands are: Earthborn Holistic, Victor Select and Victor Grain Free, in some places NutriSource (not around Kennesaw, GA though – here it is soooo expensive!), Taste of the Wild (a Diamond product), Canidae (in my area it’s not too pricy), and possibly Dr. Tim’s.

As for Diamond – they manufacture several brands. They had a huge recall in 2012 and handled it poorly. Hence the issue of many with them.

As for Nutro, I cannot speak, although I have fed their small breed puppy food – one bag, first food we bought for our doggie before we discovered this site.

Hope this helps! Welcome, and keep the questions coming! 🙂

[neezerfan]

I got my dog from a rescue at age 2 1/2. At that time the vet said he was underweight. He was 12 lbs, she said she’d like to see him at 13 or 14 lbs. His ribs and hip bones were prominent. I started him on the rotational diet I’m feeding my other dog(different brands, proteins, raw, canned,dried). He developed large,loose stools(cow patty type). I tried to figure what was bothering him. Was it the lamb, carageenan? Couldn’t figure it out. When I clipped his hair down for the hot weather and saw how thin he still was, weighed him and saw he had actually lost a half a pound, to the vet we went. She tested him for EPI and that was negative, so suggested we start with the limited ingredient diet. It’s working wonderfully for him, his poops are normal, he’s holding steady at 14 lbs. But I’m a DFA dogfoodie! I want some alternatives for him. I asked the vet to try the potato and rabbit but she wants me to wait for that another 3 months. He does like the food, so that’s not a problem.

[Akari_32]

Right?? LOL

Bentley’s fur is growing back pretty well. Almost at full length again on his but and thighs. You can see his legs are still red, but he seems to not be losing any more fur, so whatever. I think its the Pure Balance I had to buy him. They didn’t have any of the 95%, so I got him the puppy stew kind, and its making him itchy. That and everyones allergies in general are just really horrible right now. I haven’t been able to breath for like a month, and a lot of people are catching colds, as well. So thats not helping him, either. But his new diet should help! Wish there was an affordable raw diet for the cat. I would love to try it. He really loves his beef heart lol

• This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by Akari_32.

[Cyndi]

No problem guys. I’m on their email list and they email me all the time and sometimes include coupons. I signed up on their site before I had decided to go with homemade raw for Bailey.

Glad you guys can use them! 🙂

• This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by Cyndi.

[Akari_32]

He told mom to email him the next time we place an order, so it doesn’t happen again. Very strange, either way lol.

Today is day two of raw! Yesterday mom did it all by herself. I left out the measured out mix in a medicine cup, and put his food for the day in the fridge to thaw the night before so it’d be ready for her. I left her 5oz of boneless chicken, so she didn’t have to deal with him dragging the bones around, and she could add the mix right to the meat instead of getting creative and trying to figure out what to do with it with no meat to easily add it to.

Today, I gave him a chicken wing (and a random liver I threw in the bag when prepping it lol), and used some Nutro Ultra Boost canned food to put the mix in. Didn’t work out very well, and ended up using some water to add to it (that canned food is very thick!), which still didn’t work very well. He ended up eating it anyways, though. I made him eat most of it before giving him the meat, and took the bedding out of his cage and locked him in so he couldn’t drag the wing around the house and eat it on the furniture lol This also forced him to lick the rest of the mix out of the bowl when he was done with the wing. I’ll buy some yogurt at work today for the next time I give him a meal with a bone. That’ll be easier to mix… Lol

Tomorrow is beef hearts! One of his favorites :p And after tomorrow, the pork will be ready to use, so that’ll be easier with the mix as well.

[Bobby dog]

I always use these coupons, thx Cyndi!

I haven’t tried the new formula, almost afraid to. Bobby I am sure will be fine, but only a few of my cats liked NV frozen raw to begin with. I still have a half a bag of the old formula left so I guess I’ll see next month if they like it or if Bobby will get to finish off some more cat food. lol

[Ivan L]

Thank you for all the suggestions.
@LabsRaweson: Are the food you mentioned similar in quality to Blue Buffalo? The difference in price surprise me.

[Susan]

Hi Tiffany, when I first rescue my boy he was doing sloppy poos with jelly on then & mucus, did the blood tests for parasites all blood test all came back good, vet said Colitis & he was put on Metronidzole for 2 weeks, I went back to feeding him chicken necks for breakfast & his Opitmum kibble & tin food at night again every 13 days he would be up early hours of the morning with his stomach/bowel making gurgling noises & he’d have to go out & do his jelly poos, I called them, then finally vet said looks like he has IBD, he can’t just eat anything, no more chicken necks there’s too much fat & just bone, he needs to be put on a stricted diet, so he was put on Vet prescription Royal Canin Hypoallergenic cause he also has skin problems being a Staffy but the fat was 19% in the R/C HP it was too high fat% then he got Pancreatitis, in the end he was put on Eukanuba Intestinal Low residue kibble, this stopped all the jelly poos stopped his gurlging bowel, I also cooked him boiled chicken breast mixed with a little pumkin, rice & a boiled egg, now Im giving him Wellness Simple Lamb & Oatmeal its a limited ingredient kibble & his poos are excellent better then when he was on the Royal Canin & Eukanuba Intestinal Vet diet, maybe look at the Wellness Complete Health range they have a large breed puppy formula & also give a cooked meal but keep everything the same, very simple once he gets use to the cooked or new kibble dont just change it or rotate it until you’ve worked out what he can eat & what he cant…once I had him just on the Eukanuba Intestinal & he was doing real good for 6moths, I started an elimation diet for breakfast only & his kibble for dinner & I found he couldnt eat Potatos or sweet potatos, he got a rash all over his chest & had diarrhea, if he ate a biscuit with wheat in it his paw would get real red & swollen.. unless thats what you do start an elimantion diet, you start with 1 protein normally boiled chicken & add rice then after 1 week & their poo is good add something else new to their diet for the next week, I saw an reaction within 2 hours of adding the potato, so the next morning I added the potato again to make sure it wasn’t from grass his rash & it was the potato, you can google elmination diets for dogs….
Have you tried a kibble where the protein% & fat% was lower then the Taste of the Wild & seen how he goes..
if you do cook make sure that he has the same meal for at least 4 weeks to settle everything as soon as Id change something in Patches diet he’d be pooing sloppy again, so I started watching what he was eating & writing it all down…can tin fish is good but not in oils, I use tuna in spring water & drain the spring water, I add a little boiled pumkin & a boiled egg you can also get salt free Salmon
another good site is yahoo group called “K9Kitchen” run be Monica Segal..also Lew Olson Book called “Raw & Nutrition for dogs” it has cooked recipes for dogs with health problems, that’s where I started with her book, its only cost $12 on Amazon she explains about using the egg shell after boiling the egg & drying the shell out & crushing the egg shell for their calcuim…..

[weezerweeks]

My little yorkie is on all canned foods. I try to find the kinds that are above or near average protein,near or below average fats and carbs. My favorites are wellness stews, go fit, fromn gold,merrick. I want to try freeze-dried raw. I was thinking about Stella and cheweys but all of the freeze dried raw are above average in fat. Does anyone have any suggestions? If I try Stella and cheweys how much should I feed him. He gets 1/4 cup of canned in morning and at night so how much freeze-dried would this be?any suggestions would be appreciated.I tried THK and he did not like it. I was also thinking about dr. Harveys oracle but it is so high in protein. Thanks

[Melissaandcrew]

My Iggys need carbs in their diet or the would look like coat racks. They always get food with carbs, whether its dry or homemade raw.

[Patricia G]

My one year old Lab can clear a room with her gas. I’ve had her on the Iams Low Residue food as recommended by our vet, and it helped alot. I started introducing raw venison and Dog Lovers Gold (which is what our other dogs eat) and the gas is coming back. Any advice on best food for a gassy dog? Should I go grain free? All raw or natural? My vet said she could be on the Low Residue long term, but it’s pricey. She is a very high energy, active young dog and loves to eat, so I’m not worried about her being picky. I just want to find a solution for her and us!

[Patricia O]

Thank u so much for your responses ! Yes i know I am the problem ! 🙂
He is sooo spoiled !
However now he has been eating this raw chicken drumstick all by himself without problems :)- however i am concerned he is not getting a balanced diet . So my question to u is what supplements should i give him so he gets a balanced diet 🙂
I am adding so organ meat like giblets and liver …. Thank u guys !

[Barbara]

I did not realize that this information was in DFA before I originally posted. I know now to search for recalls by brand name. You can also just search the word recalls on the DFA homepage.
/dog-food-recall/dogswell-withdraws-dog-cat-jerky-treats
It appears that some of the packages state made in the USA but I understand from reading comments that you need to find out where the ingredients are sourced from by contacting the manufacturer. Sounds like a lot of jerky-type treats have ingredients sourced from China!

• This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by Barbara.

[pugmomsandy]

I order in bulk with a local raw feeding group and the GreenTripe.com products come by frozen truck. The products have been frozen every time I buy it.

[momtopoms]

If you live in Texas there is Texas Tripe. They have set delivery routes through a lot of Texas (not west Texas). They sell grinds and raw meaty bones. I also order from Hare Today.

[FreeholdHound]

I have an 80 lb Greyhound and he gets one of those ginormous turkey necks once a week as a meal, frozen to make it last longer & get more chew time. I do give him ground tripe that meal as well as the neck alone will constipate him. He is a tripe addict in any form and also loves gnawing on the strips (frozen) also. He loves the duck necks from Hare as snack during the week (Reel Raw’s seemed smaller to me). Frozen chicken feet are his bed time cookie (?). If he swallows anything before he’s chewed it up enough, he just horks it back up & works on it some more. I’m always present to supervise him. Besides the raw he’ll chew on a split antler, bully stick, or yak chew.
Even though Harry HATES tooth brushing I get a 1/4 of his mouth done nightly. All that being said I just dropped him off for his annual Dental- this is the 1 day a year I’m that psycho dog mom. I trust my Vet 100% and even though I know she is aware of all the weirdo Greyhound protocols – I will still be watching the clock & waiting for the call.
I will probably try upping the tripe strips & continuing with everything else. I believe some dogs are predetermined to have worse mouths than others & Harry is huts one of those. Ugh.

[Patricia O]

Hello my dear forum !
I got my first and only dog about a year and a half ago ! He is the joy of my life but a very very very picky eater ! He does not like kibble (orijen), or canned food or raw food for that matter ! He wants me to hand feed him !!!!

[pugmomsandy]

GreenTripe.com sells frozen raw tripe/organs products and other things. You can locate some retailers that carry the GreenTripe products.

[Dori]

Hi Marie. I went on line to see if there were any locations in the South. Unfortunately there aren’t any. Glad you have one that is at least half an hour closer to you. I still can’t get over the fact that they have six freezers. I don’t even have the room for one. I still have mostly dog food in my bottom drawer freezer to my refrigerator. Yes, my husband is still wondering, too late since Summer is just about over, when will there be room in the freezer for ice cream. I keep saying, maybe next year honey. LOL! He’s silly enough to believe that or he’s just appeasing me since he knows that’s just not going to happen.

[InkedMarie]

I’m not happy with the new Darwin’s, don’t like that they’ve raised the fat. I personally don’t see the need for fruits or veggies in Boone’s raw so he gets grinds from Hare Today or Reel Raw.

[DogFoodie]

I’ve also used Darwin’s, Hare Today and My Pet Carnivore. I love to order from MPC and they also have a home delivery / pickup route, which I’m on. Pickup nets me all I want for $10.00. You can also order some raw from Wag.com. I’ve ordered NV from them, which ships frozen in an insulated container with dry ice for no additional charge than regular shipping (free with minimum purchase).

[Shawnna G]

I have a Irish Wolfhound mix who is epileptic and we are in the process of switching over his food.
Our vet warned us about three things when switching his food over – Turkey (which can effect the seizure threshold), Rosemary (which can cause seizures in some epileptic dogs) and salt (because if interacts with his medicine).
I was looking at Natures Variety – however be careful because most of their products have Rosemary in them. I decided on a homemade diet (we may do raw after he fully adjusts) and Acana limited ingredient dog food. (About 3/5 homemade and 2/5 Acana).

[Nancy C]

Marilyn: Great info. thank you.
My into order of DARWINs is in the freezer. I transitioned my 10 1/2 yr old Golden Retriever to Big Dog Natural dehydrated raw first. It is fermented and green tripe is in every meal; both help digestion. My homeopathic vet recommends BOTH these raw brands on his site, also feeds them to his dogs and he suggested the Big Dog Natural would probably be easier to digest cold turkey. Our dog transitioned beautifully without a loose stool, diarrhea or any transitional symptoms. Was a piece of cake and she loves the food. BDN is a very small company and the Customer Service is great. Ask for Chris. The number is on the website. After several weeks on BDN we will move to DARWINS as part of rotation. it is true raw & I anticipate no troubles. Their website is great and people seem to like the food.
There are several other raw foods I plan to use: ANSWERS Raw food, OC Raw, VITAL ESSENTIALS, & Hare Today. All have websites. There are other good ones! These suggestions come from the generous, helpful posters at DFA. (I really don’t have much experience but have studied raw all summer.) Best of luck. Hope this helps.

[Dori]

Marie. Hopefully that will bring more people their way and keep them in business for years to come. I’m always trying to bring business to my local pet food boutiques. I will admit it’s kind of selfish in a way I want them to stay in business and not close down due to lack of customers so I can get great frozen raw for my girls. It’s always so much finding a pet food store with such a great variety in their freezer sections. Most have the typical kibbles and canned and so few even have one freezer let alone six. You really lucked out girl!!! Goody for you!

[Marilyn E]

I’ve been feeding Darwin’s for 2 years and am very pleased with the quality. (darwinspet.com). I have a standing monthly order, and it arrives by UPS. They send return labels so you can ship the boxes back, which is Eco friendly. If I don’t get around to taking them to UPS, I just leave them out on the next delivery day and the driver takes them. Darwin’s has 2 lines of food, one is free range, no hormones or antibiotics; the other is human grade, USDA inspected. Darwin’s is an complete diet–includes veggies, organ meats, ground bone.
To answer the other part of your question: I supplement the raw with probiotics, coconut oil, omega 3s, and Spirulina-Astizanthan (Mercola Healthy Pets online). I do feed treats cuz I don’t know how you train without it, but if I don’t use meat leftovers, I use high quality treats, such as freeze-dried liver, Real Meat brand dog treats, or ZiwiPeak dehydrated raw food.

[Cotons mom]

Could a few of you tell me the names of websites that I can order raw frozen off of please. I want to stay within the 4 or 5 star food. I don’t want to have to order huge amounts because I like to rotate brands and protein. Also how would I know if there was something else that I need to give to my 1 y/o cottons in addition to the food. We don’t give treats. How do you all feel about adding fresh beans/veges to their food?

[Brenda E]

We have a 6 and a half month puppy, believed to be an Irish wolfhound mix, that has been having diarrhea for the past month. It is about once or twice a week and only lasts for a day. We assumed he caught a parasite, but vet tests found nothing. He has been on Blue Buffalo Wilderness puppy since we got him (at 3 and a half months) and I have seen other people complaining about similar things with Blue. Now I am wanting to switch him to another kibble, but don’t know which one. We are strongly considering feeding raw, but until I do all my research I would like to try another kibble. Any suggestions? Also people have suggested trying a probiotic. Could that help? Thanks in advance.

[Naturella]

Kim, I’m glad I could help! 🙂 Many many many good people on this site have helped me enhance my knowledge of most things dog (and even cat, although I don’t have one), and I know you will learn a lot here too.

As far as travel – kibble is very convenient, so if you get them used to something, that will be easy when you travel with your “pack”. Also, dehydrated raw/freeze-dried raw are fairly convenient options too, plus, I hear boarding places will still feed dehydrated, but not actual frozen raw. Some brands are The Honest Kitchen, Sojos, Grandma Lucy’s, Nature’s Variety (I think they have freeze-dried).

One interesting brand I wanted to invite you to try is Wysong. Their Epigen line has zero starches as binders, which makes it pretty unique, plus it is very nutritious and protein-rich, and the kibble is tiny. They also offer some dehydrated/freeze-dried options. Epigen is on the pricier side of dog foods, but I think it is quite worth it. Aside from Epigen, they have other great kibbles that are also small and have no corn, you just have to look through the ingredients. I have a bag of the Nurture with Quail (has some brown rice) by Wysong that I will try in my rotation soon, and it was pretty affordable ($5 for 5 lbs on Petflow.com), plus, you can find even better deals on them on some of the online shopping websites (Petflow.com ; Chewy.com ; Wag.com). I just love their philosophy as a company, so check them out. But all other suggested brands are completely viable options, and GREAT choices as well. Don’t forget that rotation of food brands is also essential for the dog’s well-being as this way they get not only varied proteins, but varied combinations of vitamins and minerals, which helps make their overall diet more “complete” and “balanced”.

Let us know if you have any more questions! 🙂

[Stacy D]

Also, he does not need to gain weight. He’s had EPI for going on two years and has been easy to stabilize. Right before I switched him to raw he had lost some weight (about 5 pounds) and stomach was gurgling a lot (signs of bacterial overgrowth in small intestine from undigested food). He was eating Earthborn Holistic Natural kibble. When I switched to raw the gurgling stopped, he put the weight back on immediately, he stopped shedding, and his coat is glistening. He looks great and is happy and energetic. But the poop just doesn’t look like it should. Is it detox? Is it yellow because he’s eating mostly chicken? Or is it yellow due to malabsorption?

[Stacy D]

Yes he absolutely gets enzymes. Enzyme Diane 6x powder 1 1/2 tsp per meal. I also have raw beef pancreas and raw green tripe. I’m going to ferment fresh raw goat’s milk for probiotics. I’m active on the epi4dogs forum as well. There they talk a lot about cooked diets and alternating raw with kibble, which I would never consider doing. I’m looking for someone to give me straight advice about raw diet. One person says cook the vegetables. Another one (including Billinghurst) says don’t cook, just pulverize. Of course the EPI dog is a different set of rules.

[Nancy C]

I started transitioning my 10 yr old Golden R to RAW 8 days ago. She ate kibble for TEN YEARS! I was scared. With the help/ advice from a good Homeopath DVM I started with Big Dog Natural, a dehydrated raw. He suggested it because he knows the company, it is an excellent food which he feeds his 6 dogs (rotates w Darwins). The strength of the food is that it is FERMENTED and every meal has GREEN TRIPE included. Both these 2 ingredients are excellent digestive aids. So when I fed the first meal — Cold Turkey – NOT mixed with kibble due to the different digestion times for kibble and raw (There are varied opinions on feeding raw and kibble simultaneously). Customer Service and Dr. Loops recommended cold turkey – NOT MIXING THE TWO. Customer service all but guaranteed me there would be no problem.
I was very nervous but I followed their advice. There was NOTHING TO TO IT! Worked beautifully plus my dog LICKED THE BOWL for over 1 1/2 minutes. She LOVED the food. NO DIARRHEA and NO LOOSE STOOL which I was expecting! NONE. This was a PIECE OF CAKE! She has Significantly smaller stools. After a few weeks on this raw food I will ADD DARWIN’S. Then will ADD other raw foods.Have Darwin’s patties, Tripe and Turkey Necks from HARE TODAY in my freezer. The homeopath said that going to BDN would be easier and a great intro into raw. They are on the net. Great Customer Service. The ONLY thing that is “difficult” is that you have to let the food REHYDRATE for about 12 to 15 min before feeding. Can do that at night and leave in frig so to feed your dog immediately in the morning. Check out the website and good luck.

[Susan]

Hi Stacey, google “Raw diets for dogs with EPI” I know EPI dogs cant digest too much fiber & need a very low fiber/FAT diet, enzymes are suppose to help with the digestion of the food, u soak their food in a enzyme for 20mins, but Ive also read that enzymes can give mouth ulcers thats why Ive never tried any enyzmes,..here’s a good site
http://www.epi4dogs.com/diet.htm scroll down to Meat/Protein Vegetables, vegetables must be fully cooked & mashed up & you only add 1 new vegetable at a time, 1 new veggie a week to see if they can tolerate that vegetable, once you work out what he can eat & what he can’t you’ll be right but you have a big dog to feed, so maybe do 3-4 smaller meals a day that way its not too much for him to digest..also google “foods that are low in fiber” I dont know if pasta is low in fiber, I know brown rice has more fiber then white rice, the pasta will help fill him up & maybe gain weight, you need to do a bit of research, I did the research last year when I thought Patch had EPI….Wild Salmon oil is suppose to be good for dogs with EPI & Gastro problems, but you start with a real little bit then work ur way to the dose over 2 week period, Ive always been too scared that the Salmon oil will give Patch bad diarrhea so Ive never tried, it helps their stomach & skin…. if you keep scrolling down there’s recipes aswell, but you must take it very slow & cause they always feel hungry he’ll gulp his meals so maybe just add little food in his bowl then a little more, I have 2 bowls, 1 bowl has the meal then I put Patches bowl on a little chair so its level with his stomach & I just add 1 spoon at a time & feed slowly I have to lift the bowl when putting in food or he’ll gulp the food as Im adding it to his bowl, he’s getting better, he seems to gulp his food more as the day goes on..it takes a bit longer but that way he doesnt get his pain & have his bad burping after eating…its an awful disease….poor boy

[pugmomsandy]

For what’s best, I like to say VARIETY! Kibble, canned, raw (frozen, dehydrated or freeze-dried), and fresh food such as meat protein and low starch veggies. I do tend to stick with 4 stars and above.

[Susan]

Hi Kathy, I forget itchy skin, yes Potatos are a high carb & can cause itch, see how she goes with the potato, as alot of the kibbles have potato now & the Wellness Simple has their Potato & Salmon, Turkey & Potato & they’re suppost to be for skin/stomach problems, but Potato makes my boy itch with his skin allergies, thats why I got the Duck & Oatmeal, & Lamb & Oatmeal kibble as it has no Pototes but all dogs are different… maybe try sweet potato first…you’ll see, as soon as Patch eats something that doesn’t agree with him he starts his scratching & gets his hive lumps all over his head & body…
like 4FootedFoodie said there’s alot of good dog diet books, also Lew Olson has a book called “Raw & Natural Nutrition for dogs” it has cooked meals for certain illnesses, its an excellent book & easy recipes & what vitamins to add, like grounded up egg shell for their calcuim…its only $12.80 on Amazon…in the end home cooked ends up being cheaper & healthier & ur dog will be happier…

[lmnordrum]

Wellness Core Puppy is entirely grain free and suitable for all life stages and is on HDMs list as suitable. My dog loves it and does very well on it. I only added in the Fromm later because its good to have them eat more than one thing should your food be recalled. (Although Wellness has never had a recall and is made in the USA in small batches.)

My dog also receives cooked meat as a topper. I buy inexpensive beef (chuck, round or even something on clearance) and cook it, and I also give her chicken. She’s had leftover pork too. The meat I add is just used as a topper–and a way for me to clean out the fridge. I’ll also boil eggs and give them to her if I have some older eggs. So basically my dog gets about 90% kibble and 10% of leftover meat from the fridge. Last week she had chicken parmigiana without stuff on the meat: I just scraped it off and rinsed the meat, and chopped it in the food processor. I’ll grind up my leftover meat, put it in plastic bags, and place in the freezer. Makes it easy to dump on the kibble and she’ll eat her entire meal.

I can’t bear to deal with the thought of raw food in my house or her bowl and am terrified by the thought of salmonella or listeria. When we were trying to find a second kibble I got some Instinct Rabbit which gave her loose stool. So it doesn’t seem like rabbit was a good protein for this particular animal. Plenty of people feed that Instinct Rabbit with no problems. The loose stool was why I settled on the Fromm as a backup food and part of her dinner mix.

We had a brief time around 4 months when the dog has some diarrhea but I traced that back to cranberry supplements I was giving her for a UTI. It wasn’t the food because once I eliminated that cranberry extract she was perfectly fine.

I’ve been very happy with the Wellness Core, and the Fromm. Her stool is a bit more firm when she has more Wellness. I will share that too much coconut oil, like when I decided to tip the jar over her food, gave her loose stool, but I figured that would happen with too much fat.

Hopefully you just have a systemic problem due to grain. I don’t even feed corn to my family (unless it is organic) and I sure as heck am not giving it to my dog.

[Genevieve K]

I want to go completely grain-free. I have a few specialty stores around that carry the higher-end foods. Petsmart now carries Wellness but does Wellness make a grain-free puppy food? I hesitate to deviate from the Large Breed Puppy foods because I know, as a puppy, he has different needs than an adult. Yes, there are All Life Stages formulas but I’m not confident those would meet his nutritional needs.

We’ve been giving him coconut oil this week. He LOVES it. I’m also hitting the butcher today and hoping they have some rabbit – have them grind one up, bones and all. I’ve not fed him raw before but, at this point, I”m desperate. I know I shouldn’t change everything at once because that makes it harder to identify the allergen but if he’s getting mainly meat and veggies with some supplements like coconut oil and maybe some calcium (unsure about that), I’d like to think he’d do ok with more limited ingredients. (OMG, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower are the best treats on earth for my dogs.)

Again, he’s a large breed and I want to make sure he gets what he needs to be healthy and strong as an adult. This makes me so sad, especially when there is so little, yet so much, information (all conflicting) out there on large breed foods and puppy needs.