[BRT]

Thanks for the replies. Everyone has been so helpful and supportive here.

Almost two weeks in and stools are still soft. Plus, I’m feeling like I might not be able to afford this route. I’m going to stick it out as long as I can, though.

The 4 lb bag of instinct raw bites lasted a couple of days short of two weeks. I’m having the hardest time finding the venison in local stores, but was able to find a bag of medallions yesterday.

I used the food calculator on the NV website and put both dogs weight and activity level (not active and I want to maintain weight) and it said to feed 8 medallions/day each! There are only 48 medallions in a bag. That seemed like a lot so I went with 6 medallions each today (3 in the AM and 3 in the PM). My maltese/poodle acts like he’s starving. I know he’s not though.

Would I be a terrible mom if I had to add kibble back along with raw? Do people feed both? One meal kibble, one meal raw? Maybe it’s too soon to decide. I also think I need to definitely buy more than one bag when I go out. I’ve already spend $62 on food in less than two weeks and I’m really feeling it.

Thanks!

[theBCnut]

A lot of vets are against raw diets. I think it is a lack of education on their part. They always bring up the possibility of pathogenic bacteria, but look how many kibbles have been recalled due to pathogenic bacteria lately.

Like Betsy, I wouldn’t add anything to the elimination diet until it is the thing you are testing.

[Dori]

Thanks for your reply HDM. I’m not sure why I thought Freshpet was raw. I totally missed Primal, one of the foods I feed.

Anyway, thanks for the reply.

[Dori]

I use Nature’s Miracle. I would suspect either eating too fast or more likely you’re feeding them too much. Don’t forget that when feeding raw they need much less food then on kibble or canned. Some dogs will stop eating when they are fully BUT most dogs, in my experience, will just continue to eat until they explode. Dogs??? Gotta love em. We’ve all at times had a fabulous meal and continue to eat even after we’re full and later we feel sooooo sick and wonder what we were thinking. But it was so good.

Again, the amount for raw feeding is much less than other foods. I know when I first started I didn’t take that into account either. When I started feeding less and less, those issues went away. I will admit that I would look at the bowl initially and think they were gonna starve with so little food. Two years later on raw and their all still here at perfect weights and thriving.

[FreeholdHound]

The CarnivoreRaw is something I keep wanting to look into for mixing with bone in grinds, but I keep forgetting (DOH!). Harry gets all sorts of excited when I give him the GL Goat recipe. Honest Kitchen brings back the all too common sweet potato problem 🙁

[Terri M]

Thanks so much for your replies. Yes, my vet said NOTHING else, not even chew bones, while doing the elimination diet. I’m going to give it a try. I’ve also done quite a bit of reading about boosting their immune systems with probiotics. What are your thoughts on this? My vet said “NO RAW”. Not sure why….the holistic store I’ve been going to gave me a sample for him to try and you would have thought I had put crack in front of him! He loved it! Do y’all know why vets are so against raw? My vet did mention a homemade diet as well. If this doesn’t work, I’m SO there!

[pugmomsandy]

So far I’ve only used CarnivoreRaw from Young Again Pet Food. It’s a powder so there’s no chunks at all. They have a product with calcium and without (for people who grind meat with bones like me).

I’ve used regular Grandma Lucy’s, not the premix, and preferred the texture of it compared to Honest Kitchen.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 5 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[Cyndi]

All 3 of those are good and are used by most of the regulars here. I myself, currently am using See Spot Live Longer and the Dr. Harvey’s Veg-to-Bowl, although with that one, I am using the fine ground veg-to-bowl. I like them both alot. I always worried that I wasn’t giving my dog everything she needs with her raw meals, but with the pre mixes, I don’t worry.

[Susan]

Yes terri, Elimination diets are best, but you can do ur own home cooked or raw, instead of the kibble, I found my boy cant have Potatos or sweet potatos makes him itch more, I started with just boiled chicken breast & pumkin, then after 2 weeks I added some sweet potato & within 2 days his ears were itching, so I stopped the sweet potatos & his ears stop itching, then I added a boiled egg, he was fine, I started gaving him a little bit of banana as a treat he was fine but I noticed that he started to get his yeasty stinky smell again & I looked up bananas & they are a high carb fruit that converts to sugar that causes yeast, so now Im stopping the banana, he’s not a happy camper, he loves his banana, Im sick of cooking & freezing chicken every 10 days, Im using tuna or salmon now instead of the chicken, my vet said try goat, I went to the butcher & he said that goat is dearer then lamb, around $35 a kilo, that idea went out the door, The vet did skin scrapping & got stuff out of his ears & he too came back negitive for yeast but he itched & stank like a bread shop, real stinky yeast smell..so I dont understand, Ive googled high carb fruit & vegies & I stay away from them…I will not try the steriods as I saw on one of Dr Karen Becker videos the steriods just mask the problem, a band-aid as soon as u stop the steriods the problem comes back, I think the enviornment adds to Patches itch problem as well, we walk alot so just rubbing against a plant, grass or sniffing pollen in the air can set them off, next dog will not have any white on their bodies, the vet said white dogs are normally more prone to skin problems..
If your dog can stomach raw, then raw is best for elimination diets, there’s no carbs, that’s why Id say alot of dogs have these itchy problems….also alot of these grainfree kibbles have potatos, peas, sweet potatos, lentils, barley, legumes…

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Dori –

Freshpet isn’t raw.

There are two raw foods currently on the list – Stella & Chewy’s and Primal. The list will be changing in the future as some companies are taken off and new companies are added so we’re always considering new companies to add.

Keep in mind that it’s also important for the list to represent brands that the average reader will want to feed their dog and that are readily available. The majority of pet owners do not feed raw. Many raw foods also have a limited distribution. So, while we definitely don’t want to exclude any raw foods deserving of recognition from the list, the bulk of the list is and will continue to be dry dog foods.

[Dori]

Hi Mike, Sandy, HDM. Just wondering why the only two raw foods are Fresh Pet and Stella & Chewy’s on the EC list. I have nothing against either brand, my dogs just don’t like either of them. Are you considering in the future any of the other 4 and 5 star raw foods for the EC list. I hope so.

Thanks to all of you that do what you do in order that we can be more knowledgeable in what we feed our dogs. Also, this site has allowed us to make friends with a wonderful group of people. Knowledgeable, kind and caring. Thank you for this site is what I’m trying to articulate.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 5 months ago by Dori.

[theBCnut]

The only tooth issue like that that I have ever had was from a dog biting on chainlink fence. No amount of listening would have prevented that, but we all have to decide what we believe is best for our own dogs, so best of luck to you.

You definitely have to be aware of what type of chewing style your dog has. One of my old dogs was a golden mix with the typical soft mouth of a golden, except when it came to bones. He could crunch up the big thigh bones from cows in no time, he never broke a tooth, but I had to quite letting him have any bones because I was afraid of him breaking off a big piece and swallowing it. The dogs I have now don’t even try to bite off big chunks of something like that, they just lie down and quietly gnaw. I do feed raw, so my dogs eat bones as part of their regular meals, just not weight bearing bones of large animals.

[Katie J]

A little over two weeks ago, I brought home a new pup for my boyfriend. He’s a Shiba Inu/Akita Inu mix and coming up to 4 months old. I have very little background on him as he was a pet store pup that I bought second hand. It’s a long story for another thread. I know the stigma with pet store pups as well though I have a 13 year old English Springer Spaniel that was purchased at a pet store that has never had anything but a routine vet visit and lives on Purina of all things. Anyhow back on topic. My little guy is little. He weighed at 7 lbs about a week ago at the vet’s office, but I am guessing he’s sitting closer to 8-9 now. Yes, I know he is shockingly small for his supposed breeding. But everyone that meets him guesses either one of this mix, but no one knows why he’s so small. We’re guessing that it could have a lot to do with his pet store past.

Now that that’s out of the way, time to talk food. I got him with a bag of Eukanuba puppy. He ate that fine until he caught wind of the Purina. Our adult dogs (the spaniel and my terrier mix) are free range because we lead a very busy and random life at the house. This is something I plan to change for my terrier and this pup when my boyfriend get our own place. I knew that I didn’t want the pup to eat adult food as he has special puppy needs. I nearly just bought the puppy formula for Purina until I food this website. Since then I have done more reading than I would care to admit on dog food. I decided to pick a food that wasn’t going to be a big jump in quality or price and bought 4Health Puppy. I know some people are leery of Diamond. But at the price and star rating, I grabbed a bag along with one of each of their rice free cans. My plan was to do kibble and a can topper. He licked the bowl clean for three meals. Meal four, he ate half and walked away. I switched the topper to a new flavor. Same result. We were trying two meals a day but broke it down to 3 thinking that I was trying to feed him too much at a time. No change. Though I was able to get him to finish if I spoon fed the last half of his food.

Three days ago I stopped by a local dog boutique and came home with several samples and goats milk as a probiotic. His stools had been soft too pretty loose due to the changing in foods trying to find something he liked. After the milk thawed I gave him a little in his nornal meal with the same result: ate half, spoon fed rest. Stools have firmed up since. The night before last we started samples. I have a lot of Earthborn as I had went to another store and got even more samples most of which was Earthborn. I think it was the prairie formula first that he nearly finished on his own without the milk. I only give the milk once a day. Apparently he nearly finished his next two meal with my boyfriend. I wasn’t there as I was working. But I know that he will not spoon feed. With fireworks last night, the pup didn’t get his dinner. It was too late, and he had a late lunch. I expected a hungry puppy today! Nope. Same result with goats milk. This was his second feeding on a new flavor of Earthborn. I forgot the flavor. But it was blue packaging. I still have the primitive flavor left to try from Earthborn. I also have Halo, two flavors of Fromm, Acana and Orijen puppy. I wanted to get through all of the cheaper stuff first in hopes of finding something he likes.

A few extra things to add, I am feeding him separately from the spaniel who is very food aggressive. But I feed him with my terrier as I want to start transititioning my terrier to a better diet as well for when we move out. Sometimes the pup seems distracted because the terrier gets something different (4Health adult and the same topper the pup gets). But he does want to eat the terrier’s. He gets awfully burpy when he eats. I am looking to add sardines and perhaps switching to plain Kefir for the probiotic. Switching to raw right now is not something I want to do. I am unsure about getting the right balance, and his puppy stage is far too important to screw up. I do plan on introducing him to all the raw elements I want to use in the future, and at around a year old, we may make the switch. And I cannot afford to do commercial or dehydrated food. I love the guy, but I can’t justify spending as much to feed him as to fees me not to mention it’s not in the budget.

Boy that was long just to get to what I wanted to ask. Is he training me to spoon feed him? It seems like all of my meals with him end with me begging him to finish so much so that I grab the spoon. His nutrition is so important to me. I can’t stand him missing a meal or wasting that food! Any ideas?

[pugmomsandy]

If you haven’t been through the DFA Library yet, there are some helpful articles there about how to choose dog food, ingredients, ingredient labels, canine nutrition, etc.

/helpful-dog-food-articles/

For me personally, I chose 1) a small kibble, 2) generally not less than 30% protein for kibble, 3) gluten free, 4) not less than 36% protein dry matter for wet food, 5) no by-products/sugar/food color/BHA/BHT/ethoxyquin/sodium nitrite, and I generally do not buy from the large corporations (the ones that also make candy bars and toothpaste and other household items).

Also, I feel diet variety and rotation is important so pick various proteins and types of foods (raw, canned, frozen, dehydrated/freeze dried, kibble).

[Amy E]

Thank you for all of your replies. I suspected it wasn’t the Frontline b/c my vet said the same thing, it would be a reaction at the sight of application usually, and that was not the case. And, that had not been the first time I’d put Frontline on him either. Fleas are not a concern in my area, I use Frontline for the tick killing power. Ticks are plentiful here and the ones that carry Lyme disease are too small to be seen, especially on a black dog.

Thanks for the heads up about starchy foods. I’ve been feeding him a lot of raw carrots! I will stop that to see if it helps. He’s already on Eagle Pack Holistic Salmon so I won’t switch foods just yet. He’s now on another round of antibiotics and more antihistamine. I’ll be giving him more frequent medicated baths again as well.

If the problem continues after this round of antibiotics is done, I’ll have to think about eliminating more ingredients. One thing….what are things that will boost his immune system? I fear due to his history he’s got a weak immune system so improving that may be a big key here.

Thanks again.

[Susan]

Hi Amy, its not the Frontline, frontline only penetrates the first 1-2 layers of their skin, My boy had a reaction to Advantage DO NOT USE the Advantage penetrates thru the skin to their blood, within 24hrs one side of my boys head swelled up his ear & his bottom lip swelled, & he was vomiting blood early hours of the morning, at first I didnt think the Advantage until I rung his vet. the best way to know whats happening is an elimination diet, for 1 month you just feed 1 new protein & say boiled pumkin or rice nothing else no treats nothing, thats if you think it could be foods, I used chicken in Patches elimantion diet but now I think Patch cant have chicken as the lumps on his head that look like hives got worst, Patches vet said that he has seasonal allergies & cause I just rescued him 19 months ago she said I’ll start to see a pattern, I noticed last winter Patch was good, no itch but the end of summer Patch got all his hive like lumps, itching & rubbing along the wall, this winter Patch has his hive like lumps again, so I look in Patches diary & last winter I wasnt feeding him chicken, this winter I was feeding chicken, so Ive stopped the chicken…Ive heard all these test are no good as they give false readings the best would be if you could try him on raw, Im just starting a new kibble called Wellness Simple it has limited ingredients, also watch his carbs, no potatoes, no sweet potatoes, no carrots no high carbs that turn to sugar that makes yeasty itchy skin.. If he can handle it i’d feed raw.. & google a good Raw diet for itchy skin..Ive been thinking of putting Patch on Raw but he has IBD & I have enough trouble trying to find a low fat kibble, so raw would have to much fat for Patch..also there could be a plant or grass in ur garden or on his walks that he’s allergic to, I’ve changed Patches walking route to see if that helps….Its winter here in Australia, so if Patch has enviornment allergies or seasonal allergies like his vet said, why is he getting them now being winter & he didnt last year, thats whats making me look at his food this year, I use Malaseb Medicated shampoo, & I use a cortisone cream when he gets some of the red itchy sores, I found the cortsone 1% cream is excellent Im just using my cream…just look at the ingredients in his kibble & see if there’s Potatos sweet potatos carrots, lentils any high carb foods…A friend from the dog park had a staffy that was so itchy he was red & losing his fur she tried the vet diets they didnt work then she tried the Holistic Select Adult health Anchovys sardines & salmon & her boy is looking excellent not scratching fur all grown back..so a few people from the dog park are using the Holistic Select with great results… Im also given Patch tuna & pumkin for breakfast to replace the chicken & his hives have gone. sorry for the book..Oh a good dog probiotic this will help too…good-luck

[Zach M]

I need help. My dog Ginger (52 lb, Lab/?) goes to the kennel when we take a vaca week. Now let me tell you, she isn’t the bravest dog, and gets REALLY nervous. She eats about 1/2 of her food while she’s there, but only lost 1 lb. She sits in the corner and is unsocial. When we got back, she stopped eating. She hasn’t been eating usual for about a week and a half. She will be given her meal. After about an hour, if she hasn’t eaten we take it away. When her dinner comes, she takes a few bites, and about 45 minutes after it was out, she eats it. She is a couple meals behind, because she won’t eat double meals. She is playing fine, and her stools are fine. She hasn’t lost any weight since we got back. She is eating BB Wilderness, (We are switching that out of the rotation for THK) with plenty of added toppers that HDM and others recommended, but under 20%. She will eat toppers, but not kibble. She eats on her ABC day just fine. She will also eat canned food fine, too. Raw is too costly for us, as well as canned. Any help on getting her to eat would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
-Zach M.

[Amy E]

Hello, I’m new here.
5 months ago I adopted Moby, a 9 year old miniature schnauzer. He was from a puppy mill and weighed 7 lbs. when I got him. He now weighs 12 lbs and the vet says he’s a good weight. He came to us with ear infections, which we treated and cleared up.

He developed some small itchy bumps on his head, neck, legs and chest, which he licked, scratched and rubbed his body along the furniture. Vet diagnosed skin infection due to stress or allergies. Rx: zeniquin & clemastine for 10 days with KetoChlor shampoo followed by Allergroom shampoo daily for 3 days, then twice weekly for 2 weeks.

At 10 day recheck: All bumps healed and went away during the 2 weeks, except for one new bump on chest so 3 more days of zeniquin prescribed and continuing clemastine until winter arrives. Also supposed to bathe with the 2 shampoos once every 2 weeks.

Well… the bumps have returned on his head and neck. They started with just one here and there and have increased daily over this week. He’s starting to itch, rub and lick more again, even though he is still taking clemastine.

I feed him Eagle Pack Holistic Salmon kibble, but he also gets various treats (chicken based) and yogurt daily along with various other things like pumpkin, fresh veggies, fruit and sardines.

He came from Oklahoma and now lives in Minnesota. It just so happened that winter ended and spring began around the time we got him…the same time he started a new diet at our house…so it’s hard to know if his allergies are environmental or food based without testing (I’m considering doing a home-based test like Immune IQ). I suspect a life of poor diet and low exercise has weakened his immune system and now he’s more susceptible to everything, causing skin reactions. Besides the bumps, he has no other issues with his skin or coat (no hair loss, raw patches, etc). He has no digestive issues either. He’s a happy little guy, always wagging his tail, eats voraciously, sleeps like a log, potties on schedule (output looks good).

Do you think I should switch to a different food with fewer ingredients? If so, what? I’m going to eliminate the yogurt. We have another [senior] dog so feeding completely raw is cost prohibitive for me.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

[Glen B]

I recently rescued a 7-8 year old Pitbull that is too thin. I had him tested for worms and that came out negative. I think the problem is he runs around outside a few hours a day and would like to try and fix it with diet before anything else. I have no idea how much he weighs right now, but by looking at him I’d guess he needs to gain 10-15lbs.

He’s been on raw for a week. He was looking better on Taste of the Wild kibble, but for the price it was costing a week..it obviously isn’t cost effective.

I’ve been looking at “Satin Ball” or “Fat Ball” recipes in addition to his regular raw. My concern is that by putting grains in with raw meat, wouldn’t I be messing with his digestive system? Is the point of the grains wheat germ or oats specifically just for the carbs? I’d like something like oats since I could just get it out of the bulk bins at the health food store..but will it mess with his digestive system or is it just adding calories? I rather just add some carbs for calories rather than substitute with kibble.

Is it possible to go too high in fat? I’m also adding about 1/2 cup of whole milk yogurt to his food along with fish oils and 2 raw, jumbo eggs with shell a day..since I can get eggs super cheap.

Why do people say beef puts more weight on than chicken? I can get a case of chicken leg quarters much cheaper than I can full fat beef..ground or whole. I’d like to keep this as cheap as possible and am already a member of the local co-ops.

[Nancy C]

Oops I realize I am veering away from TOW…. but I AM actually moving toward RAW as well, just got Dr. Becker’s book and have watched her videos, been on field trip to local pet stores to SEE the foods. Here I can get NV Instinct, PRIMAL if necessary but they are out of sight $$. I have located a few drug free livestock suppliers here where I could get my meat, so I think I’m moving along in my education. We go back and forth to the coast a good bit. (I’m in NC) and we take our dogs — pack up all our food (have a little cottage on a quiet little island ) — so it will be difficult doing raw, driving 4 hours to then get on a ferry. NOPE. I need to find something EASY (more portable) that I can rotate on and off of as necessary. Had thought about The Honest Kitchen also but then read those reviews on DFA at Honest Kitchen Review, with the pictures of the large veggies in the food. There was a strange poster there. The discussion veered AWAY from THK to the identity of the multiple “poser” – Poster….. Consequently my search continues for a few easy but highly healthy, high quality (protein, fat, carbs all within a healthy range) food. I REALLY appreciate your comments as well as the more advanced people at DFA. Thank you!!

[theBCnut]

Hi Nancy

I wouldn’t give you the same advice at all. When someone is looking at TOTW, I automatically assume one of their considerations is price, so I listed decent quality foods that are also economical, which almost automatically means they are not really high in protein, which means they will be higher in carbs. There are really only a couple kibbles that I would consider low carb, the one Victor and Wysong. After that, you are looking at kibble and canned mix, or just canned, or kibble and raw, or canned and raw, or just raw, to get the carb level you want. I personally do kibble and raw.

[Rita P]

DARWINS raw organic

[USA]

Hi theBCnut

Nice list! I have used most of them except for the birch and the bergamot. My research has led me to these observations:

Geranium – Effective as a repellent mostly because of it’s Geraniol content. Ceylon type Citronella has a higher Geraniol content and is MUCH less expensive.

Eucalyptus – Powerful killer of fleas! Contains 1,8-Cineole. Rosemary has similar qualities (1,8-Cineole) and I use it because it has other ingredients that in combination I think make it a more effective flea killer. I also like the smell better! The Morocco type is my favorite.

Peppermint – Powerful flea killer! I don’t like the smell. It is often used in combination with Rosemary for the synergistic effect.

Clove – Powerful flea killer! I stay away from Clove because of it’s phenol content. Phenol’s are in my opinion pretty toxic and can be very irritating.

Cinnamon – Phenol

Tea tree – I don’t like it because of it’s toxicity. Oils that contain Geraniol have the same antiseptic qualities and they are safer and smell better.

Patchouli – Brings me back to the 60’s! Expensive.

Birch – The sweet version contains primarily Methyl salicylate (the wintergreen smell). Methyl salicylate penetrates the skin and I think it is pretty toxic. It is also a powerful flea killer.
The Tar version contains Cadinene which would put it more in to a Cedar type of oil and would also make it much safer.

Cedar – Powerful flea killer and safe to use!

Lemongrass – Repels and kills. Not as effective as Geraniol but it smells good. The citral version of lemongrass smells divine. Safe.

Bergamot – I would only use a Bergaptene Free version because of Bergaptene’s toxicity. It gets it’s flea killing properties from Limonene which is MUCH cheaper in Orange oil.

Spearmint – I love the smell! It contains limonene AND R-(–)Carvone which is also a flea killer and is what gives spearmint it’s characteristic smell. S-(+)-carvone, smells like and comes from caraway seeds

[theBCnut]

Hi Harper’s Mom

Giving it now would be close enough/just fine.

I always use therapeutic grade essential oils. I use in no particular order:geranium, eucalyptus, peppermint, clove, patchouli, birch, cinnamon, cedar, rosemary, bergamot, lemongrass, tea tree, and spearmint. Some of those are known for their insect repelling properties, others for their insecticidal properties.

I use raw like a topper. I’ve heard the same stories about mixing them causing stomach upset because of the different digestion times, but canned and kibble digest at different rates too, but nobody ever advises against mixing those for that reason. People digest different types of food at different rates too, and our stomachs and digestive tracts take even longer to empty, but we don’t have issues with it. Of all the people I know who mix raw and kibble, only one has one dog that can’t handle it, and this particular dog can’t handle a whole lot.

[Dori]

Yep! My three girls together probably make up one of yours. I’m so glad the poop situation is getting under control. Everything else will follow eventually. Your dogs are going to become so much healthier. Again, try to avoid any food that has any feathered friend in it. It takes a while to figure it all out. As I say, Katie came to me this way at 9 weeks old. She just turned 5 years old and something always needs a little tweaking with her. The other two girls can eat everything any anything with no problems. Do keep me posted. Glad things seem to be turning around. The one small poop a day is the way it’s suppose to be on a raw diet. The guts utilizing almost all the nutrients in the food and there really aren’t any fillers to mess with there systems.

[theBCnut]

Cats do best long term on wet foods. The most common cause of death in cats is kidney failure, which they attribute to an unnaturally dry diet. They do kind of imprint on the type of foods they are fed when young, so if you only feed dry, later they will refuse canned. Introducing raw and canned young is very important.

[crazy4cats]

Ysabella-
Yes, bless you, bless you, bless you! As my name implies, I love cats! When, I had my first experience with kittens, they were that young, but fortunately had their mamma. She brought them right in my house and I never had one before, and I’ve never been without one ever since! So, I’m not sure about the milk on which would be the best substitute for their mamma’s milk for a few more weeks.
But, I’m with Sharon, you should feed them canned, dehydrated or raw if you can. I feed my kitties (4 of them) as little kibble as possible now. I rotate several budget friendly canned food. I do supplement with kibble as the canned is expensive. My favorite is Wellness Core. But I also like Earthborn and Taste of the Wild. I have two favorite cat sites. They are catinfo.org and littlebigcat.com. Oh, and I wouldn’t worry a lot about the loose stools yet. She’s been through a lot and was just dewormed. Sometimes that can cause loose stools as well. It sounds like you are off to a great start!

[Ysabella J]

arwryu24, I have read that raw goats milk helps with digestion and is a good substitute for mothers milk. Are you sure I should stop this?

[Ysabella J]

TheBCnut. Thanks for the advise. I was thinking about switching from TOTW too because I am not a fan of Diamond. Would you recommend raw food for a baby though? Especially one experiencing very runny diahrrea?

[neezerfan]

My new guy has been having intermittent soft poop and I’ve been going crazy trying to find the cause. HK’s Perfect form helps him but when I stop giving it the problem comes back. I tried giving him Wellness LID canned and that didn’t help. I’m now thinking it’s the carrageenan in the food. I rotate different brands canned, raw and freeze dried. So now for some detective work and more trial and error. Has anyone else’s dog had trouble with carrageenan?

[theBCnut]

I would try switching her food. Depending on your budget, Wellness, Earthborn, or NutriSource are all good. The makers of TOTW have had to many quality control issues for me to feel safe using their foods, especially for a baby animal.

For raw, for my cats, I use Hare Today’s whole carcass grinds.

[Ysabella J]

Okay cat people, I am in dire need of some help. A friend of mine found an abandoned kitten that she couldn’t keep. I ended up taking care of her and in the meantime fell in love with her. Took her to the vet for a check up, got her dewormed with panacur and albon, and also sent out a fecal that came back negative. The vet believes she is about 5 weeks old. I have been feeding her raw goats milk and Taste of the Wild dry food. Cat food is fairly new to me as I feed my dog half raw & half Orijen, and never had a cat of my own, only ones that I grew up with. I am wondering if there is something too rich in her diet? She has had very loose stools for 4 days now.. I have had her for 6 days. What do I do? I am considering ground turkey, pumpkin, and rice… Poor kitty has to go so often and I’m constantly bathing and cleaning up after her. The vet says she’s hydrated and she has been drinking plenty of water.

What to do?

[jakes mom]

Bobby dog, have you been on the HK site? You can get sample pouches so you can see if the cats will like it, without spending a lot of $$. My guys wouldn’t even taste it, they gave it a sniff then gave me a look that said, “what are you trying to do to me?”. The packets are not very big so if your guys usually have to try something several times to decide whether they like it or not, you’d need to take that into consideration. It’s good food, tho, I really wish mine would eat it. If nothing else, you’d have a new topper for Bobby for a few days. Right now my cats are eating good dry and mostly cans, now adding the Freshpet. And my Julie absolutely loves raw, so she gets a bit of that as well. The other cats really not interested in the raw so it’s just Julie and the dog getting the good stuff! Old cats, old habits I guess!

[Steven K]

Here’s one for all: I cut up carrots into small pieces and Legend loves them. Crispy and nutritious. Now, cooked are more easily digested than raw, but they get too “meely” for Legend. He likes ’em raw!

[crazy4cats]

Hi Karen C-
In my opinion, for whatever it’s worth, is that no kibble is worth that much money! Yikes, that is expensive. No matter how good a kibble is, it’s still kibble. I prefer to buy more budget friendly kibble for a base and save some money to supplement it with healthier canned, fresh, dehydrated or raw foods. Like the BCnut mentioned, both Earthborn are solid brands. I frequently use grain free Victor. Good luck to you!

[theBCnut]

Nancy
While I don’t any longer have dogs that big, I used to have GSDs, so I can be of some help here. The first few times you give bones you absolutely want to make sure that they are too big for him to just swallow or crunch, crunch swallow. Dogs that aren’t used to bones have a learning curve. They are used to wolfing their food down as fast as possible, so they have to learn that they have to chew it up. Give something like a whole leg quarter or a whole turkey neck. Some dogs have to have their raw pieces held at first, or have it attached to something that will cause them to slow down.

[Nancy C]

Just to say to all you “teacher-responders” I am so thankful for this help! I’m feeling overwhelmed with all the info available and you are really helpful! I plan to move to raw as soon as I can get it all straight in my head and feel confident about it This is REALLY useful and thank you so much!!

[Suburban Gal]

I feel the need to point out that, for a vaccine, the vet charges a far lower price than he or she does for a titer test. The profit margin is also higher, yes as vets pass on the cost of shipping and proper storage of vaccines administered to your pet, as well as the needle, syringe, and professional time to give the vaccine. However, the overall profit is still higher for a titer test as the vet increases the price to cover materials and professional time to draw blood, as well as to properly store and then ship the blood to the lab, and then again to cover a professional evaluation of blood results. So vets motivated purely by greed will happily perform titer testing, early and often.

[Kritterlady]

I spend about 1$ per pound on my raw ingredients. My grinder was an investment that paid off in the first 6 months. My 11 yr old 70lb shepherd eats 2lbs per day. 50lb 2yr old Doberman eats the same. A lot of chicken and beef heart is under 1$ per lb on sale. A used small chest freezer was another great investment. I shop sales all month and then grind and store back in the freezer using containers that hold 2 lbs.

[Harpers Mom]

Thank you BC!
Harper received her trifexis last on June 28th if I were to dose her with ivermectin (heartgaurd) tomorrow would that be effective? Or do you think we should wait for this months dose to switch?

What natural oils do you use? I have a relative to is very big into natural oils and holistic methods for herself so I might be able to get advise from her.

Last thing, when you feed half raw, do you use it as a topper or do you feed one meal raw and one kibble? I’ve heard that combining the two in a single meal can lead to digestive issues later on?

[theBCnut]

There has been a study that shows it is not a good idea to switch from Milbemycin in midseason, unless you overlap and give the ivermectin at the same time for a month or so. This is because Milbemycin is less effective at killing the earlier larval stages than Ivermectin, but Ivermectin does not kill the later stages as well. That’s also why the Milbemycins are labeled to use for 3 months post season, so here in FL, you need to use both to switch even in winter, because we don’t have 3 months post season, not even 3 weeks.

For anyone thinking of getting Ivomec liquid and dosing your dog yourself. The regular liquid is 1% and even one drop of it is an overdose for most dogs, which can lead, over time, to liver failure. The sheep drench(available at Jeffers dot com among others) is 0.08% so is much easier to dose appropriately.

I use Ivomec(the sheep drench) for heartworm prevention right now. I give garlic and use an essential oil shampoo and I feed 1/2 raw. Mostly I shampoo because they rolled in something, not because of fleas.

If I do have to shampoo for fleas, I wet the dog’s head and shampoo behind the eyes all the way around. This drives any fleas back down onto the body. Then I wet the rest of the dog and shampoo the rest of him. Leaving the shampoo on, I let him go play while I do the next one, and the next one. After I have 3 soapy dogs running around the yard, I call the first one back for a rinse, this gives the nasty little fleas plenty of time to smother in a coating of shampoo. I towel dry the first and put him in the house and start the rinse on the second. That guarantees that the last dog has enough time to kill all of her fleas.

[Dori]

Hi BRT. I just read an earlier post of yours that I must have missed. Please don’t let your dogs bring their dog food and drop it on the carpet to eat it. Not just raw, there are way many more cases of salmonella with kibble then raw diets. The issue with Salmonella is not your dogs getting sick unless they already have a major underlying illness, it’s humans that get the salmonella. It is you who have to wash your hands after handling raw (as you would with any raw food for humans that you handle), also clean counter, etc. anything that touched the raw food. As I say, just as you would when you’re preparing your own dinner. What most people fail to realize is that you must also wash thoroughly kibble that carries way more issues than raw.

If any of them are still having gas, bad breath, etc. that is also part of detoxing. Perfectly normal so long as it doesn’t last too long.

I also missed that you’ve started with the Venison NV raw. That’s good. Oh, I just thought of what I read earlier on one of your posts. If you’re dog is allergic or intolerant to chicken then I would stay away from anything that has feathers. Chicken, Quail, Turkey, Duck, etc. etc. and once again any food you feed make sure there is no chicken fat, turkey meal, etc. somewhere on the ingredient list. It’s easier finding raw foods without quite so many ingredients. Venison, Bison, Buffalo. Those are good to try EVENTUALLY down the line once he’s all healed. Katie doesn’t do well with beef if I feed it more then two days in a row but she has no issues whatsoever with buffalo. Originally I had just assumed when I discovered the beef issue that it would be all red meat but that’s not the case. Good Luck and keep us posted. I’m feeling much better so I’ll try to keep up with your progress. Just be patient. Why are you smelling their food anyway, LOL. If you think Venison smells bad then you’ll pass out if you ever feed Tripe. Now that is just plain n-a-s-t-y!!!!!!!

[RescueDaneMom]

There are some recipes at the beginning of this thread by Hound Dog Mom. I use 2 books for my homemade raw: 1- unlocking the canine ancestral diet by Steve Brown and 2- real food for healthy dogs and cats by Beth Taylor and Karen Becker. If you are looking for quick and easy, Steve Brown makes a premix for boneless meats called See Spot Live Longer Dinner Mix. You mix about a tablespoon or two (can’t remember which) with one pound of boneless lean meat. I imagine it would be much more cost effective for you than Primal.

[Rose H]

Would anyone care to share their Homemade Raw dog food recipes??? I foster for a shih tzu rescue and since I feed my own adopted rescue dog frozen raw (Primal rabbit) I feed my fosters this as well and it does get expensive when you’re feeding several dogs and shih tzus can be very picky eaters!
Thanks!

[aquariangt]

Unless they aren’t being truthful, Wellpet severed all ties with Diamond. A food can be rated 4-5 stars regardless of manufacturer, as DFA rates based on paper alone. The Editor’s Choice and forums are where we get other tidbits of information

A few of my favorites: Simply Nourish Source, Earthborn Small Breed or the Grain Free (don’t love the the other grain inclusives outside of small breed), Fromm 4Star Grain Free, Acana Regionals-I’ve used others but those 4 are most often in rotation. Fromm’s is pretty easy on the stomach. You may try supplementing with some canned or raw to help get the pickier one to eat. You also may try out a dehydrated food-I like Honest Kitchen and Sojos, and one of the two of them will surely be available at your smaller pet stores

If you’re looking for a weight loss food-Wellness Core Healthy Weight has been praised on here, as has Annamaet Lean. I’ve never used either

[Bobby dog]

I have some prices from my Wal-Mart on FreshPet Select rolls for dogs, $3.16, $4.86 & $12.86. I haven’t checked out the prices recently though, not sure how accurate they are.

It is a cooked product that must be kept refrigerated, as C4c wrote t comes in a roll form and also small nugget bites, tubs, and shreds for cats now. They have their own facility for making the food. They’ve added a few different foods and treats since I have looked at the website last. They have a line that is made from anitbiotic and hormone free poultry, grain free, and limited ingredient slections.

Bobby loved the FreshPet Select. I fed it as a topper once before I came to DFA. I will feed it again it’s just that I am all stocked up on dry, kibble, and raw for Bobby right now.

I am definately going to try it out for the kitties. Hopefully it will be something to add to the rotation. They have some shredded meat & gravy recipes for kitties that are only available in California; that’s okay since my cats don’t like shreds. lol

http://freshpet.com/

[Dori]

Hi BRT. It will take a minimum of 2 to 4 weeks at least until the itching stops unless he’s allergic to something in the raw food you’re feeding. Katie can’t eat all raw foods, only some.

I feed all my girls twice a day. I feed them between 2.5 and 3% of their body weight daily divided into two meals. Hannah, 15 year old Maltese (9/9/14) weights 7.5 lbs. I feed her closer to the 3%. Senior dogs need higher protein and more calories. They don’t process or utilize nutrients because of aging and slowing down bodily functions. Katie 5 year old 6 lb. Maltipoo I feed 2% of her body weight. She’s my allergy girl and lives her life in one speed. SLOW MOTION. She’s not planning on exerting herself about anything anytime anywhere. She’s funny little girl. Would love to live her life in someones arms (not gonna happen, but in her ideal world I’d get a Bjorn pouch and put her in it), Lola my 5 year old Yorkipoo weighs 5 lbs. She I feed 2.5% of her body weight. She gets fed more than Katie because Lola is complete polar opposite. She is never still, has boundless energy and is always “ON”. She only stops go collapse at night for bed time. Hence she needs more food than her lazy slow motion sister Katie.

Three days is really not long enough to notice many changes. Don’t forget she has to get all other stuff out of his system then his gut has to start healing. His immune system has to normalize itself once he’s not eating any things he’s intolerant of. It doesn’t happen overnight even though we pray it would. Just be patient and give him a chance to heal. Which food are you feeding him?

[Dori]

Hi Cyndi. Yes it was Labs. Lots of foods contain the montmorillonite clay, even some raw foods but it didn’t work for Hannah. I also tried Victors Yukon, the one Labs feeds (first kibble I fed her in over a year) but it never changed anything for Hannah. I know it did work for one of Labs’ dogs, lucky her.
Anyway it’s always worth a shot. I don’t recall how old her dog was, could have been that her dog was much younger than my Hannah. Don’t know? I was so excited when she told me about it and then so disappointed.

[Cyndi]

I believe that’s the problem LabsRawesome had with her dog. I remember reading in the reviews that once she switched her dog to Victor it cleared up. The Victor dog food contains montmorillonite and I think that’s the ingredient that she said cleared up her dog’s eyes. I am not positive if that was the problem her dog was having, but I do remember it was something with the eyes and it cleared up after switching foods.

So, maybe go to the review side, find a recent comment from LabsRawesome and ask her.

Good Luck!!

[arwyru24]

Is the freshpet raw?