[gsdmommy89]

Hi all. Quick question. I will be going down to the local feed store to buy a few different bags of kibble. As I previously stated, my GSD is currently on Earthborn Coastal Catch. Is it ok to mix grain inclusive with grain free? or commercial raw with kibble? Maybe this question was asked before, but I went through almost half of this topic and I probably just completely missed it because I could not find it anywhere. Thanks everyone

[DogFoodie]

Hi Goldenmom,

Here’s a link to the most current list. It includes grain free, grain inclusive and commercial raw:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwApI_dhlbnFTXhUdi1KazFzSUk/edit?pli=1

[gsdmommy89]

Goldenmom:

The most recent one is on page 57, the one with grain-inclusive, grain-free, and raw foods.

[jenmac]

Hi, my 9 year old neutered male Maltese Bosco recently lost his vision. He was diagnosed with Sudden Acquired Retinal Degenerative Syndrome a couple of days ago. In September he went from 9 lbs to 12 lbs and since that time he has gone to 14 lbs. His blood work, done in October was all normal, including a thyroid panel. Before the weight gain he was on Acana and then I switched him to Acana Light in October but this made little difference. My vet switched him to Science Diet Metabolic food for the last 5 weeks or so and he has gained about 0.5 lbs. One symptom of SARDS is Cushing’s disease and this is what is probably going on with him. Some of his Cushing’s symptoms such as the excessive thirst and urination have abated so I am hopeful that the Cushing’s aspect of his disease is passing (which can happen with SARDS). Does anyone have any advice to offer for dogs with this disease? What food should little Bosco be eating? I’ve read articles that suggest some vision can be regained by switching to a raw diet. My vet has little experience with this disease. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!Hi, my 9 year old neutered male Maltese Bosco recently lost his vision. He was diagnosed with Sudden Acquired Retinal Degenerative Syndrome a couple of days ago. In September he went from 9 lbs to 12 lbs and since that time he has gone to 14 lbs and has stayed there despite being on Science Diet Metabolic food for the last 5 weeks or so. His blood work, done in October was all normal, including a thyroid panel. Before the weight gain he was on Acana and then I switched him to Acana Light in October but this made little difference. One symptom of SARDS is Cushing’s.

[GizmoMom]

Thanks Patty. I’ll try again. For now he’s doing okay on THK. I’m going to stop cooking it and feed it raw.

I’m also looking at this food. What do you think of it?
http://www.feedthis.com/

[Melissaandcrew]

The powder only comes in 100grams as far as I know..at least that is th we smallest size I have found. Can you get any premade raw?

[banchara]

I took in a puppy who I found scared and swollen in my back yard. No one claimed her, so she is part of our pack now. It seemed she had been on the road long enough for her paws to be raw and her whole body was swollen. As the swelling went down, we realized she was not going to be as big as we originally thought, but she is probably just under a year and weighs around 40 lbs.

She actually looks VERY much like Pattyvaughn’s profile pic…(btw, Pattyvaughn, are you originally from KC, KS)

She is quite skinny and despite being fed 24oz homemade (50% protein, 25% rice, 25% veggies) food per day. Her hip bones are still prominant, her spine is easily felt, and the back half her ribs are visible (well, you know what I mean). I have no idea what her target size will be, so I’m not sure if I need to up her food even more, or possibly supplement with kibble.

The other piece of the puzzle is that she nearly died from rodenticide poisoning in November and had to be kept completely quiet for about a month. I’m wondering if some of her skinny is due to lack of muscle tone from that period. She loves to run and bound, her fur is nice and shiny. The vet says she is healthy, otherwise.

Any guidance is appreciated!

[RescueDaneMom]

GSDmommy, is his brother picky too? From what you’ve said, it sounds to me like he is just a picky eater. Our pit bull is like that. It was a lot of trial and error to see what he liked. I’d buy smaller bags and rotate frequently. It sounds like he may like fish and chicken foods so far. You are going to be pretty limited if you don’t want to order online. Have you tried Wellness Core Puppy yet? That should be available locally.

My Dane used to get bored when he was eating kibble and I had to change his food after every bag. He would only eat poultry based foods (chicken, turkey, duck…). It was a pain in the butt. I added canned food and The Honest Kitchen as toppers so he would get other protein sources mixed in. I thought he was pretty picky. About 4 months ago I switched him completely over to The Honest Kitchen and raw. He is not picky anymore. He eats everything now: beef, pork, lamb, chicken, duck, goose, salmon, whitefish. So far I have not found anything he won’t eat except for THK Thrive (I don’t think he likes the quinoa in it).

I’m sure that was not too terribly helpful for you but that is my experience with 2 “picky” dogs. I hope you figure it out. Good luck 🙂

[theBCnut]

Hi Tucker
The reason ypou breeder didn’t have problems with the food for all those years is because the calcium level was OK, not because of the protein level. It is hard for people to give up their long held beliefs even when they have been proven wrong. I wouldn’t feed Great Life. They have had problems in the past that should have resulted in a recall, but it was more important to them to be able to say that they haven’t had any recalls than the safety of our animals, so they did a “product withdrawal” instaed of a recall. It got next to no attention since it wasn’t a recall, so people didn’t know that they were potentially feeding their dogs bad food.

[DogFoodie]

Hi Ferrari4204,

I’m not too far from you in NW Indiana. I feed a variety of foods including commercial raw and I also came across a local product that I’ve found very interesting and gaining some popularity locally. I haven’t tried it myself yet and need to do a little bit more research into the product. Problem is, they don’t have a website and basically do all of their business locally, through word of mouth. When I was wanting more information about their products, I called the business and left a voice mail. The owner promptly returned my call, but unfortunately I missed his and haven’t made an effort to connect with him since. I was impressed how quickly he called me back and his responsiveness to my call.

My local product is called J.J. Fuds. I remember when I was a kid and JJ Fuds was a local butcher shop with a master sausage maker at the helm. Who knew there was such a thing as a master sausage maker, but there is. From what I understand, the family has over 100 years of sausage makers and their fine German craftsmanship has been passed down for generations. Kinda cool ~ artisan products are special.

My local operation is still owned by the same family. They prepare their raw dog foods in a USDA inspected facility and all of their raw meat and bones are USDA inspected product as well.

So, small local business, no advertising and no shipping. I have found a couple of websites that’ll ship the product, but am guessing they must also be local and their prices are higher plus the added shipping cost makes it pretty expensive. The company seems to be fine with their local niche market.

It’s very affordable and half the price of other commercial raw diets. The manufacturer delivers the product himself to some local pet food stores and groomers straight from their processing facility.

So, I haven’t tried my local product yet; but, now that you reminded me, I’m putting it back on my to-do list. : )

Here’s a sample ingredient list from JJ Fuds Tender Beef Chunks Dinner:

Ingredients:
Beef, Beef organ meat (Heart, Liver, Kidney, Tripe), Fresh Whole Eggs, carrots, Celery, Sweet potato, Flax Seed, Cranberries, Zinc Sulfate, Vitamin E Suppliment, Vitamin B-12 Suppliment, Niacin, Iron Sulfate, Vitamin A, Acetate, Copper Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Monoitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Biotin, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Sodium Selenite

[Ferrari4204]

I have been raw feeding my dog for two years, Natures Instinct patties and I was recently told about a store here in Chicago named Honden and Katten where they make their own raw diet formulas in the back of their pet store which is set up like a butcher shop. I decided to try their food out because it was less than half the price of what I was previously paying. My dog, pit bull mix, enjoys the food and seems to be doing well with it. My question is if anyone has run into a small shop like this making raw food. They did go through the process of following Aafco guidelines and it’s nice to see where the food is made and the ingredients I’m just wondering if their food is as good as the instinct I was feeding before. Like most here I will do anything for my dogs and firmly believe in raw feeding, switching food is a big deal for me and although I have never posted here I enjoy the form and was hoping to get some feedback.

[theBCnut]

We all want kcals on the reviews. The problem is that not all dog food manufacturers make it easy to find that info. It may or may not be on the bags or the website.

BTW, the GA lists minimums for protein and fat, if the fat level is actually at the minimum then the calorie count is one thing, but if the fat level is anywhere else, and it usually is, the calorie count changes. That’s how it can change batch to batch, but the ingredient list and GA not change.

Hound Dog Mom has the same issue with her Bloodhounds, she has to feed more to keep weight on them. She feeds high fat raw now.

[Susan]

Does anyone know any cooked low carb recipes for dogs with Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth….Im too scared to try raw just yet….

[pugmomsandy]

There’s a couple pre-mixes out there: Dr Harveys, Urban Wolf, See Spot Live Longer, CarnivoreRaw just to name a few. These allow you to continue to use just meat and some oil. Other than using premixes, I would suggest canned food.

[Shasta220]

@Suzie, I’m sure there’s some food out there…possibly a lamb formula? It would probably be very expensive and difficult to find. I’d suggest starting your dog on a raw diet: http://www.dogaware.com/diet/homemade.html

Even a raw diet will probably be very tricky to omit those proteins, so maybe talk to your vet about any suggestions?

[GizmoMom]

Just got my order of See Spot Live Longer Dinner Mix in the mail. What kind of oil can I add to the mix other than fish oil/salmon oil? My dog is allergic to fish oil and salmon oil. I think he’s also allergic/intolerant to fish.

Do I need to gradually switch the food? He’s been on THK Preference with cooked ground bison for about 3 weeks. Before this he was on K9 Natural freeze dried lamb, K9 Natural freeze dried venison and Wysong Epigen 90. And before this he was on many brands of premade raw. I’ve also tried PMR, but can’t keep up with it due to freezer space.

[JASTECH]

Feed raw chicken quarters for a couple weeks, bet it will go away.

[Melissaandcrew]

My vet rxd it for my 40 pound ish dog as 1/8teaspoon every 12 hours. A fecal flotation is a test to find the eggs in the stool. Not always 100 percent accurate. I just recently did every one with panacur and she did a not get a bit of an issue from it. Interceptor never bothered her but the ivermectin based heartworm preventatives do. We would deal with it for the day. I did find that it is not as much of an issue once the food issue was dealt with

Now we just mske sure to give her natures variety raw on the day of treatment and for the day following..no more major issues. When at her worst she would lose weight despite being fed high volumes of food which made it worse. Her weight now is petfect with out fluctuating.

[Melissaandcrew]

I am not sure what you have access to in Australia, but yes, Tylan-tylosin tartrate used for farm animals. My vet first prescribed it for the dogs and then I just ordered a larger size bottle from a supply company. In farm animals, its OTC. I use the powder.

We did the metronidazole route with our two dogs first, and it worked, but metron should not be a long term medication-Tylan powder CAN be used longer term. We used it with every meal for 30 days, then I weaned them off of it. It worked liked a charm, but did take a lot of trial and error in getting the correct diets. First, I can tell you that YES YES YES YES to the lower fiber.

Secondly, they do NOT do well with diet changes. We feed the two with issues Victor Ultra pro, Abady granular, and raw. While we on occasion have a flare up, its been quite a while for any major issues. When one does flare up, its typically because they got something they should not have-either bunny poo or a treat, or kibble that the others eat. When this happens, we will use the tylan for a 3-4 day period and then all is well. For the record, one has not needed Tylan in several years, and the other(Maya) has a flare up perhaps two-three times a year now versus every few months.

I also found that white rice(as in doing aa boiled rice/chicken diet) to stop the runs is a big NO NO.

[kaylee1989]

Thanks so much for you help. I will take your suggestions into definite consideration! Riley will be happy! I love to hear what informed people give their dogs as opposed to people that walk into any old store and buy the nearest rawhide and call it good.

He too loses interest in his deer antler :(. I wish that he didn’t. Seems like the safest chew out there!

Anyways thanks again, I am going to copy and paste your suggestions and save them for future reference.

[Shasta220]

Jeff, thanks so much for the info on honey!

We are by the Oregon Coast (the land of liquid sunshine…aka rain…aka sideways rain!), so luckily things stay fairly constant with us, and the dogs don’t seem to get seasonal allergies. I’m not sure what Loki had, but when we adopted him last spring, he was sneezing non-stop, sometimes if we ran him hard, it’d get to the point of where he couldn’t breathe and started choking. I took him to the vet and asked them, they looked up his nose and said everything’s normal, but he might have some grass seed lodged in his snout. I kept an eye on him, and within a couple weeks it went away. It hasn’t come back yet, but I will wait and see if something about the spring blossoms caused it.

Loki is totally healthy other than that, he has the softest, shiniest fur out of the 3 dogs. I wonder if his sneezing was just from his initial acclimation to a new environment? We adopted him from a shelter that was about 50mi away, in a city. We live out on 5acres, about 2mi away from the nearest small town. If the sneezing starts up in spring though, I’ll get onto that honey for him!

About the shampoo…that’s a genius idea! I just hope my super wiggly Loki would come to the idea of liking it, LOL! (He can’t hold still for more than a fe moments…but heck, he’s a 2-3y.o. Kelpie/Aussie, who can blame him?) Our lab randomly got a nasty hot spot on the underside of her foot – she gnawed in between the toes until it was raw. In all her 12yrs, she has NEVER gotten a spot on her foot, it’s always been her back/rump. Luckily, I put some ointment on it and it went away the next day, but should it happen again – should I try the wash method using her Virbac Hexadine shampoo in he he ziploc bag?

@Sue, that’s weird your vet said no honey. I do see why they might say it’s sugar, but if it’s local raw honey, and just a tablespoon, the benefits are WAY greater than the chances of your dog having too much sugar! Be sure your dog isn’t at all sensitive to wheat/grains when you put it on the toast though. 😉

[pugmomsandy]

Do you mean consumable bones or recreational bones? Femurs (weight bearing bones) are usually recreational and are too hard to eat and some hard chewers can break teeth on them but femurs have fatty marrow inside (be careful if he’s not used to eating fat) that has calories of course. I find that beef rib bones last a long time since they are too hard to eat for my small dogs and mine also like Merrick GI Bones. Kroger has started carrying small pork marrow bones sometimes. For consumable bones, I’ll give mine pork ribs and chicken parts including feet, duck necks, turkey necks. Merrick also carries raw turkey necks but it’s probably cheaper to get them at the grocery store. If they eat a whole neck or chicken leg, then I just give them some treats the rest of the day. They’ll still get one meal if they get a pork rib bone. I use “food” as treats (freeze dried raw nibletts, freeze dried liver or other meat). I weigh me dogs once a month and adjust accordingly. I usually give a RMB 3 times a week to eat otherwise, they chew on the gnawing bones anytime.

[kaylee1989]

Hi, I am now trying to stay away from bones that are commericalized for dogs from pet stores, since they seem to be worse for dogs. I am really interested in feeding raw bones. I gave my 1 year old dachshund (14 lbs) his first raw bone yesterday and he loved it. It was a femur bone (that is all the store had that I went to) I want to give bones just as a nice treat and something to keep him occupied. I am not planning on switching to a raw food diet. I currently give him Taste of The Wild dog kibble (1/4 cup) 2 times a day, I also give a couple treats or piece of meat and carrots daily. I was wondering if someone could tell me what bones are good just for fun treats and also how many times a week I should be giving them. Also, do I need to lessen up on the amount of food I give him the day I give him a bone or maybe just no treats that day? Honestly, he could probably stand to lose a couple pounds, so I definitely don’t want to add any more weight. (He seems to be obsessed with food and tries in every which way to get as much as he can with or without my permission) (and yes I have seen a vet about it, they said he is a fine weight but just shouldn’t gain any more) Anyways, any help would be great. I tried finding my own answers, but couldn’t seem to pinpoint exactly what to do. Thanks. 🙂

[theBCnut]

First of all, did you read the first few pages of this thread? Did you check out the links? The idea that protein causes problems was bad science and ignorance, so don’t worry about that.
Here is Hound Dog Mom’s latest list of foods that have the appropriate amount of calcium for large breed dogs.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?srcid=0BwApI_dhlbnFTXhUdi1KazFzSUk&pid=explorer&efh=false&a=v
You have to sign up to view it, but it’s very worthwhile. Take the list with you to the pet boutiques around where you live and see what is available. DO NOT marry any one food, rotate foods. Do a search on the review side on diet rotation to learn more.

Keep your puppy thin, not just not fat, but thin. Less weight is less stress on joints.

Find a joint supplement with hyaluronic acid in it. That’s what the body needs to make repairs to joints. And consider feeding him a raw turkey neck once or twice a week, they naturally have good stuff for joints in them, since them have a lot of cartilage in them.

If you have bare floors, consider using throw or area rugs at least until he is grown. They think slip and falls can be a big factor in joint damage for puppies. And finally, no stairs for as long as possible. When he has to do stairs, make sure he does them at a walk.

[Badboris27]

:o) To be honest, when we heard about giving honey to the dogs, it made complete sense if you believe that allergies are the root cause. We were so desperate that we would have tried almost anything!

The impact of “something in this combination or the entire combination”, whether it be the honey, yogurt, non-poultry grain-free food and-or the vitamin, did have a very dramatic effect on our dogs. The sores that were so bad that they used to BLEED went away completely and their coats started “regenerating” for lack of a better word. The hair got thicker and a LOT softer. Prior to that, the ONLY progress we ever saw was when they were on antibiotics and steroids. When those medications were done, the problem always came back. Not anymore.

I’ve scoured the internet for information about giving honey & bee pollen to dogs since then and everything I’ve found has been very positive.

To your question – Yes, we will absolutely keep giving the honey because of the “micro-climate” area we live in (So Cal wine country, 25 miles inland of the coast and just at the edge of the desert – lot’s of variety in that). On top of that, a drought or a wet season can cause certain plant species to flourish while others don’t do as well. The local beekeepers must have a Co-Op of some sort because all of the raw, local wildflower honey in our stores is all packaged the same but some weeks it is darker, lighter, thicker or thinner. I suppose that depends on where that batch came from. My wife gets the honey at the smaller, natural stores and not the big name chains. Farmer’s market’s also have the local honey around here – and again, all packaged the same.

Lastly, the more I read the more that I keyed on the allergens getting into the feet. We walk our dogs 2x a day no matter what. Often, we’re out in nature on grass, in the weeds, in the dirt, in shrubs, bushes, whatever. Our vet taught me how to scrub their feet using 1 gallon Ziploc bags and I do that a few times a weeks (the theory here being that dogs walk and “spin” in all of that flora which puts everything deep in those pads…then, they lick them and lick their fur, etc.). Take two Ziplocs, fill each one about 1/4th of the way up w/ warm water. Squirt some shampoo in one of the bags for the “wash” cycle and leave the other one as-is for the rinse. Stick your dog’s foot in the wash bag and from the outside of the bag, use your fingers to work the shampoo in between the toes and up inside the pads. Rinse the same way and dry with a towel. My “dog kids” are used to it now and they actually LIKE it, I think!

I’m not a vet and I’m no expert at any of this. All I can attest to is that this worked for us. Like anyone else going through a canine allergy problem, I was ready to be fitted for a straight-jacket!

If ANYONE has any other questions or observations, I’d love to hear them or help if I can.

One other note, our dogs also used to be on Soloxine for a thyroid condition and we’ve been able to get off of that, too.

Best to you,

Jeff

[Shasta220]

Jeff, I’ve never heard using honey could work, but that does make sense, as honey truly is a wonder food! Do you give your dogs the honey/yogurt even when their skin is fine, or only when you know allergies are coming?

We have two beehives (funny story, really…we got the hive, then a friend gave us one of his swarms. That swarm left within a few weeks, but some wild honeybees moved in and STUFFED it w honey in just a couple months! We won’t harvest it until summer though, of course. Have to make sure they’re settled in), so I’d imagine giving her a piece of the honeycomb daily would work, doesn’t get much more organic and raw than that!
Now I’m craving a spoonful of honey…:P

[Badboris27]

Hi – While looking through dog food reviews at this wonderful site, I looked at the Forums section and stumbled across your email. I felt that I had to reply. For the past 2+ years, my wife and I have been dealing with dramatic skin issues with our 8+ year old Huskies. We’ve had severe loss of fur from round skin sores that become very aggravated and sometimes bloody. Yellow flaky material was found around the edges of the sores. Both of our dogs would lick these sores and make them even worse.

We tried EVERYTHING including sprays, Neosporin, special shampoos, bathing the dogs every week or two, changing foods, you name it.

Everything we read and everything we learned indicated that this entire issue was allergy-based. We had (and still have) no idea if it was airborne allergens or food allergies.

At this time, our oldest Husky, who’s condition was the worst, is completely free of ANY sort of skin issues and his coat has completely replenished itself. Our slightly younger female is making excellent progress on the same program. Here’s how things got better for our dogs, in a hurry:

A life long friend in Texas was fostering a dog in their home and it had significant skin issues, sores and hair loss. They called the shelter for whom they were fostering the dog and here’s the advice they were given:

1. “Allergy” dogs do REALLY well on grain-free food, GOOD quality dog food and especially one that is of a fish & sweet potato variety. “Alternate” protein sources like venison or bison are good, too. Stay away from chicken / poultry based food.
2. Give the dog a tablespoon of raw, LOCAL honey every morning and every evening. this helps their immune system adapt to allergenic pollens that get on their coat and in their feet. It MUST be LOCAL to get the pollens that are in your area.
3. Give the dog a tablespoon of unsweetened, plain yogurt every morning and every evening. The pro-biotics help their digestive system. We use “FAGE Total 0%”.
4. Help the dog’s immune system with a good quality multi-vitamin given per the manufacturers’ directions.
5. Shampoo as follows: Use a Benzoyl Peroxide Shampoo (“Vet Solutions” BPO-3 Shampoo for about $10 on Amazon) and next with a Hexadine shampoo (large bottle of Virbac brand is about $14 on Amazon).
6. Spot treatment is a good idea until the food-honey-yogurt-vitamin formula “kicks in”. We used “Virbac Chlorhexadine Gluconate Flush” from a local horse veterinary store. 12 oz was about $16.

After about 8-10 weeks, we have NO signs of any skin problems. This was such a relief after 2+ years of extreme frustration, anguish and expense.

The Texas shelter advised that extreme conditions could take up to four months as some dogs respond more slowly to the honey pollens.

Hope that this may be of help to you!

Jeff

[Caroline]

Pets are/have died after eating Royal Canin. This is happening NOW (January 2014). Read “consumer affairs” on internet. We almost lost our poodle this past week due to Royal Canin SO can after opening the first can of new purchase of this food. Has been on it for almost 3 years. She had two meals, quit eating after 1-2 bites on future meals, finally refused the food. She is our food lover; always looking forward to her meal. Severe seizure was first medical symptom, gastritis severe, weakness with legs collapsing, trying to throw up, pacing and trying to hide, blood work revealed elevated pancreatic enzyme for first time in her 8 years. Two vet visits, over $700 in costs. Fortunately, I got on line to look for recalls….Nothing! Found all the recent deaths from Royal Canin on “consumer affairs”, vet began antibiotics and probiotics, changed to other poodles raw food, and now she is healing. Very strange….Our second poodle kept barking at her and trying to keep her away from eating this food. After starting on Primal raw, mixing in other ingredients including yogurt, she never had any negative effects. We are praying she continues to heal and get strong again. Our vet is calling Royal Canin (good luck) and notifying customers. Why no recalls????

[Mitdeleon]

Dog is not sick just being choosy on her food I’m adding raw beef but I boil the beef 1st before adding it. What else can I add? Boiled egg? Boiled potatoes?

[JASTECH]

Try ground raw lamb & chicken quarters. The bones from chickie raw she will chew up easily, this will add calcium helping the development of those little skeletons.

[Bracha]

Hello,
I am new to this site (it was recommended by our pet shop owner). We live in Australia and thus spend a bit of time outdoors; bush and beach – lucky us. I have a very healthy German Shepard (as endorsed by my vet and every man that sees her walking the street – she has a large fan club, small town). She is de-sexed, large frame, straight back, 41Kg, 4 year 6 mnth. She has been with me since a puppy, 9 weeks. I initially fed her two different brands, but from about 2 months old she has been fed Dry Holistic Large Breed puppy than transitioned over to Holistic adult large breed. She thrives on it. Currently we are trying the Holistic Grain free large breed food and so far (2 weeks) all is well; her stools are a great shape, smell good and regular. Personally this is the only way to tell if your dog is responding to their feed in a positive way, check the pool daily!
I appreciate everyone has a budget, but am in total agreement with other members 4+ stars is the way to go.
I am currently researching the Raw diet option and will consider this diet. But the dry food is convenient. It is supplemented with 100 grams, human grade beef mince. I would be interested to hear members view on this combination of beef with dry turkey based feed; do they think it is self defeating? Enjoy reading the comments from like minded dedicated dog owners. Thanks

[Shasta220]

It more than likely is related to food, possibly environment. TotW is okay food, but I usually have found better quality food at the same price, if not, cheaper. Not always is grain-free food /the/ best, dogs often have intolerances to potatoes, other fruits/veggies, chicken, and occasionally even fish. I’d try some of the above suggestions for food, and maybe try adding plenty of fish oil to his diet (assuming he has no problems w fish…There are many vegetarian oils that work almost as well. Coconut and flax are two of my favorites for the dogs, they also get raw eggs regularly).

I wouldn’t recommend using the borax/peroxide, that might make him even worse, as Borax often causes “burning” to sensitive skin. If his problem is mange, and I doubt it is, the vet would sponge him down all over w medicine.

If there’s any possibility, I’d try doing the BARF diet (bones and raw food) for a while, that way you would know /exactly/ what’s going into his system, and you could customize it to give him optimal results! It’s a bit tricky and overwhelming to start the BARF diet, but the raw diet forums on here would probably get you to a great head start.
The raw diet might not nessicarily work though – I know a sensitive pooch who would get all red and inflamed whenever he was on raw.

I’m really sorry you have to deal with these problems, I’ve gone through skin issues a few times (it was with my lab, Otitis is the name.), it is definitely one of my LEAST favorite health issues to deal with – hands down!

Hopefully you’ll figure out the problem and get him back in good shape soon!

[DogFoodie]

Hi Kirsten,

Because yours is a large breed puppy, you should visit this thread and read some of the great information that Hound Dog Mom shares about large breed puppy nutrition and in particular, the need to feed them appropriate and controlled levels of Calcium. /forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/

Here’s HDM’s list of recommended foods for large breed puppies: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwApI_dhlbnFTXhUdi1KazFzSUk/edit?pli=1. This list is the best place to start when choosing a food. It includes grain-inclusive, grain free and species appropriate raw like Jastech mentioned.

Another important thing to remember is to keep a large breed puppy lean (rolly poly puppies may be cute, but they’re not healthy) and avoid over-exercising him during his growth period.

Congrats on the new pup!

[RescueDaneMom]

GizmoMom,

I have been using THK for 5 years now. My dog has larger stools when eating THK and raw then when eating 100% raw. I believe it’s because of the vegetables and high fiber. I also think this is good for some dogs. The feeding guidelines for Preference say you can add a fat supplement such as salmon, flax, or coconut oil which will add calories. You could also contact THK. I’ve heard their customer service is really good.

[InkedMarie]

I’ve had a dog have struvite crystals, not stones so I’m not that helpful. Go to dogaware.com and do a search there, pretty sure Mary Strauss. You can email her there.

I do know it’s very important to get liquid into your dog. Raw, canned, dehydrated or cook would be better than dry. Add water to her food & make sure she has ample opportunity to urinate.

[theBCnut]

Hi Jan, I loved hearing everyones history!!

I was a Vet Tech and dog trainer for many years, so I’ve had more dogs than I can recount here, so I’ll stick with my current ones.

Gideon is my first Border Collie, I’ve always had GSDs and Mals, so I was used to the working temperment and the time was finally right for a BC. He is tricolored and will be 3 the middle of next month. We do herding and agility with him and he is just an all around great companion dog. Micah is my second BC, much sharper busier dog than Giddy. He wil be 2 at the beginning of March. He has food intolerance/hypersensitivity issues and is the reason I’ve learned so much about dog food and raw feeding. Angel, my JRT, will be 12 near the end of February, but is in excellent health and acts like a 7 year old. She used to belong to my vet, but her husband didn’t like the terrier personality. She went to another home and was an adoption fail because she harrassed their cats before she found her forever home with us.

We also have 4 cats. 13 years ago we adopted 2 feral kittens, Peek-a-boo and Fluffy, thinking we could tame them and then they would be our barn cats. They never really tamed enough that we wanted to risk letting them loose, so they are our house cats, except that they are shy and don’t like the busyness of the house so they mostly hang out in the garage. About 3 years ago, we adopted 2 more kittens, Max and Leroy, from our local kill shelter to be our barn cats. That means they sleep in the tackroom at night, because we have too many animals around here that will kill a cat. And during the day they come up to the house or wander our ten acres as they please.

We have 4 horses, Magic, Paint, almost 19, Rose, Haflinger, 9, Felix, Paint, 4, and the little old man, Smokey, mini, 27. We also have 5 goats, Beth, Bell, Liberty, Jubilee, and Remus. And one calf that we haven’t named but we fondly refer to him as Cheeseburger or Chuck Roast, he goes in the freezer in June, and since he uses me like a squeaky toy, I can’t wait. We also run a retirement home for chickens, I think I have 38 right now, more than half are too old to lay, but they will live out their years with us.

We had a colony of guinea pigs, but are finally down to just one old lady(Scrabble) left. We also have a ferret, Pogo, a Yellow Nape Amazon, Rain, and a cockatiel, Zigzag, that flew in one day and adopted us.

I’ll apologize now for any I have forgotten, but I think you can see why.

[Mom2Cavs]

Well….I’m not sure about the texture of Beneful, but Nature’s Variety Instinct has a food called Instinct Raw Boost that he might like. Also, adding a chunky stew type canned food on top of a quality dry might help or you could just feed the chunky stew canned alone. With a small dog like yours it wouldn’t be that expensive, imo. Or you could try a freeze dried food chopped up with a little water added, like Stella & Chewy’s, Primal or Nature’s Variety. Nutrisca has one as well as Vital Essentials. Oh..and there is a food called Vital and one called Fresh Pet (both made by the same company) that come in a bag and a roll that he might also like. I think Petco carries the Vital, which is grain free, and some supermarkets carry Fresh Pet, which has grains.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by Mom2Cavs.

[theBCnut]

Hound Dog Mom is the one that is best to have look at these. She’s in school now and doesn’t come on as much anymore, but you could try replying to her on the off topic thread on the review side and ask her to look in here.

[GizmoMom]

Thanks both of you.

I thought I’m weird for taking diary of his food and BM. Weighing it would be a bit much for me!

He is going more often on THK and the stool is larger than on raw or freeze dried. I noticed it helped with his anal gland issue though. When he was on K9 Natural freeze dried, his stool was so hard and small. His anal gland was always smelling.

[Shasta220]

Oh that is such a bummer! I love Zuke’s Z-Ridge bones… So far they’re the only dental chews I’ll buy the dogs (other than raw bones and home made things, of course). I’ll have to just keep an eye on them to see if their formulas change for the worse… =/

[staxgrl]

Hey gang! I’ve been a reader for several months, but I’m just now ready to start making up my boys’ diets from scratch. I have 2 st. bernard/pyrenees mixes who are about 95 lbs each and a mutt who is about 45lbs. Big boys are 16 months-ish, little guy is around 9 months. Right now the big ones eat about 1600 calories a day and the little one eats around 750. I am happy with everyone’s weight, everybody has a nice tummy tuck and I can feel ribs under my fingers 🙂
Here are my planned menus, I am going to try and rotate in pork hearts and pork necks as well since those are readily available in bulk from my butcher. For now, I am out of room in my garage freezer 🙂 That said, I so appreciate/value your feedback on this. I know how much time and energy it takes to read through all the opinions/information on homemade raw diets, and your expertise is honestly priceless. I am so grateful for this forum. Here goes:

Hagrid/Ludo (95lb dogs)
1 large chicken quarter, bone-in (~1lb)
½ lb (8oz) gizzards
½ lb (8oz) heart
1oz liver
1oz kidney
2 eggs
¼ cup greek yogurt
2 cubes veggie blend
2 crushed multivitamins (one a day)
2 fish oil capsules (1200mg each)
200IU vitamin E (or 400IU every other day)

Debian (45lb dog)
1 small chicken quarter/drumstick (~1/2 lb)
¼ lb gizzards (4oz)
¼ lb heart (4oz)
½ oz liver
½ oz kidney
1 egg
1/8 cup greek yogurt
1 cube veggie blend
1 crushed multivitamin (one a day)
1 fish oil capsule (1200mg)
100IU vitamin E (or 200IU every other day)

veggie blend (steamed/blended and divided into ice cube trays):
2 bunches kale
1/2 lb carrots
1 apple
1 banana
1 sweet potato
4oz alfalfa sprouts

The menu is for a total day, it would be split up into 2 meals. I know that’s a kind of high percentage of heart, so I wanted to know if there were any opinions on that? And what about the veggie blend? This is a really simple recipe so I’m adding multivitamins to hopefully take care of any deficiencies. Thanks!

[Naturella]

For about a month I was giving my 12-ish lb Jack-Rat Terrier a tsp of mushed up canned cod liver in fish oil every other day with his breakfast. He LOVED it! On the days of no fish liver and oil he got a mix of cooked and raw beef liver. He looked and felt amazing, and nowadays he is on raw, unrefined coconut butter (ground up coconut flesh and oils) every other day with breakfast. He loves that too, and people keep commenting on how soft he is.

His coat has been very shiny since I switched him to Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy a month after my boyfriend and I got him, but I am not sure if it was that food or the fish skins he got in combination with it. So if fish oil worries you, you can always try the Beams or Wishes by THK (I think?). I need to get Bruno some more, and more cod liver, and alternate them and the coconut butter every few days. 🙂

[JASTECH]

I don’t have 30 dogs, didn’t post that I did Patty.
Betsy, breeder and many dog shows all over. Yes, the dog houses are custom made and good “R” value all four sides including roof & floor. They enjoy straw beds, some you can see the straw being kicked out as the dog talks and plays with food bowl or giant nylabone. I have over 130 ribbons my dogs won. I have plans in my head for a optional heated floor along with a few more ideas when production is decided on.

[GizmoMom]

I just switched my dog over to THK Preference mixed with cooked ground bison. He’s a 15 lbs. Shih Tzu mix. I am not sure if I am feeding him enough. He sure loves his new food though.

I am feeding him according to the guideline on the box, which is 1/2 cup dry Preference mixed with 3/4 cup water, and 1/2 cup meat (ground bison). I split the mixture and feed him twice a day. Based on nutrition data for cooked ground bison, 1/2 cup is about 116 calories. Mixed with 1/2 cup of Preference, which is 116.5 calories. The total is only 282.5 calories. Based on dog food calculators on this site, he should be getting 464 calories per day. When I used to feed him kibbles or premade raw, I used to give him close to 450 calories per day.

Should I add more ground bison to his food? I’m worried if I would make the food unbalanced. Or should I keep the same proportion of the ground bison and Preference and just feed him more food per day?

[Shasta220]

I will agree with Betsy a bit: breeding a dog is a lot of responsibility, and there are way too many pups out there who need homes already…I respect and understand breeding to improve a certain breed, or if there’s a possible accident (three of the four dogs I had came from “accidental” breedings)….

Anyways, the breeding happened, nothing anybody can do to change it…

I found some pages with info on care for a prenant dog. One says to use Alpo or Pedigree canned if she starts losing weight – if you’d need to add canned food, make sure it’s a quality brand, for sure.

http://www.2ndchance.info/pregnantdog.htm

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/breedingpregnancyguide.htm

My biggest advice is to keep doing your research on proper care. Acana sounds like a great food to be on, it’s full of lots of quality proteins and fats. Maybe even trying to add some raw meat to get her extra proteins/fats?

[Shasta220]

Hm. That’ll be rather tricky to figure out, for sure! I’ll be sure to do my homework now, I guess… LOL! Sighs, if only I had the money/resources/freezer space to do a raw diet for the pooches. At least he’s not a horse allergic to grain…(and I do know of one!)

[Blue8091]

I wanted to follow up – after reading and making my head swim, I read my own post. That old adage – if it’s not broken, don’t fix it came to mind. Loki threw up again after eating this morning (within minutes). I took all of the unopened Bravo frozen product back to the store and came home with more Urban Wolf – currently have the stove going!! I have to acknowledge that at 8.5 yrs old and getting a perfect health score for his annual exam, I will just grin and bear the labor intensive cooking/bagging once every six weeks, because I love my dog more than I hate the time I spend making his food!!! I don’t serve completely raw – I cook everything (except beef livers 2 mins/each side in water just barely covering) to about 50%. The only modification I’ve made in the last 2 years was to cut the sunflower oil by 50%. I calculated the price out to about $66 per month, everything included. I don’t add fish oils, I add canned salmon. This time I purchased the giant bag for $125.00 and it should last me 6 months. I no longer have to give him allergy medication so it’s all good! I guess this thread turned into a recommendation for Urban Wolf, which we are now heading into our 3rd year using. I can’t ask for anything more than having a healthy dog!!

[Shasta220]

I totally feel you. Our lab gets almost the same problem. Her condition is called Otitis (basically inflammation/infections caused by environment and/or food). It was always manageable…we had to wash her ears weekly, and just deal with her horrible odor. I always figured it was due to her cheap-quality food (poor girl, she had Dog Chow, Pedigree, and even store-brand foods!)… So I finally saved up and bought a bag of NutriSource senior, hoping it’d help. What did it do? It made EVERYTHING worse! She would gnaw at herself so much…about 50% of her skin would be raw bald spots that she chewed at. I tried hot-spot spray, but obviously it didn’t work at all.

I don’t remember what exactly the vet ended up giving us… A couple different pills, some ear treatment, and then a shampoo. Now Cassy is a brand new dog, and she’s off of NutriSource for GOOD (I was so disappointed to have such a high-rated food react so poorly with her. I honestly have no idea what the ingredients in it were that made her irritated…especially considering she did /better/ on the cheap stuff!).

Anyway…that’s my story of a similar pooch… I’d definitely agree w the others to talk to your vet about a blood test to see if it’s an internal problem. Try to list ingredients of all her foods…maybe conduct an experiment: try to get her off /all/ grains and chicken, then if she improves, try to bring either chicken or some grains back into her diet. It might help you see if she reacts to specific ingredients.

Once you’ve found the problem and gotten proper treatment for it, I’d advise some skin-and-coat supplements (if you’re on a budget, you can buy bags of flax and grind it. Excellent source of Omegas) to help out her fur when it tries coming back in.

I’m really sorry your poor pooch has to go through this. It’s really no fun for ANYONE :/

[lmnordrum]

Thank you Lablubber for your very informative post. I only have a puppy, Giant Schnauzer, on Wellness Core Puppy and she is doing well and no health problems and I’m glad I found this list so I can start her off ‘right’. I discussed raw with my vet (old country vet w/40 yrs exp, does large animals and small) and his concern is just what you say: salmonella and other bacterias. The food issue drives me crazy too. Before this whole kibble industry, people just fed their dogs what they ate.

I sure hope that Augie gets better though. Its like having a kid: you want to do the right thing and when it doesn’t work its just devastating.

[Lablubber]

Hi KMS

Every vet I have been to with all my dogs recommends Royal Canin Feed for dogs. And I have to be straight up honest with you too…..

This whole dog food issue is driving me absolutely nuts but I study it like a beast and I read and read and read and this is what I have concluded in all that I have read, been advised to do, and from what I have seen first hand in all of….

The Raw diet, although I know that it can be really great and it does seem like the most natural thing to do for your dog. But this is also from my studies of it, know to be a fact……

First the whole reason you are reading this anyway because you like myself, want only the best for your dog and so you want to be absolutely sure your dog or pup is getting everything it needs and requires in it’s diet… And so yes….If you use absolute extreme caution in prep and storage and you get all of your ingredients from a for sure, organic farm and ranch. And if you want to be absolutely sure that your supplementation is correct that you are going to use. the only for sure way that you can do that is by having bloodwork ran on your dog and having a nutritional spectro analysis ran to know the correct amounts of each vitamin and nutrient is being met in his diet and then no one can argue that the Raw diet is a great way to go.

But… the big But word….. The downside to the Raw diet has been, that due to prep work and non organic ingredients being used and this has happen to people who are OCD about it…But it has led to some very serious bacteia infections in people’s dogs and has even caused death in dogs due to the bacteria present in raw food. This bacteria has caused dog’s intestines to actually sluff off the inner lining and pass blood so bad that if they made it through the IV treatment and antibiotics regime then they were fine or otherwise dwindled down and they died.

So the downfall to raw is obviously, the chance you take in that happing, the expense of the spectro analysis, not to mention food cost involved…

Then the super high tech foods that everyone reccomends… The stuff like Blue, Innova, Dr. whatever and all that list on here… They all have high cost, but at least because they were processed in a high temp. situation…The biggest majority of all bacteria has been removed from it. So that is not a worry…. But then you read and know people who have fed that feed and some dogs have bleeding problems associated with it because of the high protien involved in it… Or whatever causes it….. It is not a rarity either….

Then a big push by folks for this food is they say that is like the food that animals in the wild eat and so let me say this as a country boy to as well as being an avid predator hunter, I have never in my life, seen wolves nor coyotes…..Ever eating carrots, blueberries, potatoes, kelp, etc. So in reality then….What is a person to think???? Not like a wild animals diet at all….

Then you come to the more old tried and true….The per say….Puppy Chows and High Pros and the Iams and Eukanubas etc. and yet more and more people are having their precious dogs come down with all different kinds of cancers and tumors. And for me being an avid reader of medical stuff in humans and from all I have read about Monsanto and the genetically mutated corn and the serious ill effects and cancer causing issues they have had in humans because of it….Then it also makes me extremely leery of any pet product containing any corn or corn by product….But yet, even myself I had to learn from folks on here of the ill effects of non-regulated calcium uptake in puppies, especially large breeds and yet I have never raised a lab pup that I didn’t put milk replacer or powdered milk in their food when I feed them…

So needless to say…..It is a very scary world out there for all of us as pet owners…. But one thing I have learned about some vets is…. They like doctors will treat a dog, until you say this is enough and I have been there some times before myself. So one thing I have learned and also saved many a dog with even those who had been left to die of parvo is if you are truly serious about your dog as much as most of us are on here. I will share my country boy diet that has saved quite a few dogs, exhibiting the very same symptoms your dogs is showing…

Go to a local rancher/farmer who raises ducks or chickens near you and and one who lets them fend for them selves for feed and buy them. Then butcher the ducks and boil them down to pieces and I mean everything….the livers and gizzrds and hearts and then add cooked organic brown rice or even quinoa and feed your dog exclusively on that for at least several weeks or even a month after all signs of bleeding ceases to exist in his stool…. As well as, only allow him or her to drink only alkaline water. If you have to buy it….I know Fiji water is akaline but it is also fairly expensive.

Then I would also add 3 capsules of tumeric or curcumin which is the same thing, to his food daily everday and continue that from there on cutting back to one to two capsules a day after he is healed. You can get this at any health food store or pharmacy…

If your dog were showing any signs of weight loss or delapidation in any ways whatsoever…. As I did in the ones that had parvo, I would also recommend adding acidophilus to his food as well as Goat colostrum and I can tell you, your dog’s bleeding should stop within a 4 to 5 days and he will be well on his way to recovery although I would recommend keeping him on the chicken and brown rice regime for at least a month and then begin to transition over to what ever food you want him to be on from then on, always watching closely for any recurrance of bllod in the stool.

Myself I would use the Goat Colostrum and Acidophilus anyway if money permitted regardless of weight loss or not…. But anyway if you couldand if you really wanted to recharge his system as well…. I would keep him on the acidophilus, tumeric and Goat colostrum for at least several months afterwards and then I would also start adding high flora yogurt to his feed when the bleeding stops…

I am not an expert by any means, but I am just a country boy who loves animals and refuses to watch any animal die if I can stop it. I will be honest…. I have lost faith in the medical field when it comes to humans and am quickly losing for the veterinarian field as well due to drug manufacturers and feed manufacturers getting in some of their pockets….

Yiour are well blessed if you have a vet who is in it for all of the right reasons… Very few and very far between… The love of money is the root of all evil and yes it has creeped down into the Vet world as well.