[kms]

PattyVaughn –

Thanks for the feedback! If Augie has consistently good stool for a month, I’m hoping that’s when I can start to get him on a better diet. The vet wanted me to go 10 weeks – she even suggested keeping him on RC for the rest of his life – which left me kinda speechless.

So now I’m trying to figure out what next. Elimination diet or Limited Ingredient food? If elimination diet, what do I add first? How much? and for how long? I’m assuming 1st thing to add should be a protein. Should it be one he never had – or can I start with chicken? (foods he had so far contained chicken, salmon, turkey, rabbit – but we’re not sure if any of those were truly a problem since he also had worms, bacteria and several doses of antibiotics). Would I give it just once (with 1 meal) and wait a few days to see what happens – or give it with every meal for several days and then see? He’s 50 lbs, 8 mo, male, intact, Weim.

Sharon –

Thank you for posting the info about the the shampoo – this is the first time I heard that. I used Allergroom by Virbac for many years on our Lab (who we lost to cancer @ 9 yo) and have been using it on our Weim pup also. So, needless to say, we’re now looking for another shampoo. Maybe Mercola Organic? Pricey, but I trust their products.

Thanks so much to everyone. This site has helped me be a much better mom. Hoping to eventually do a rotation diet and maybe even feed raw down the road. Although, the Internal Medicine specialist who diagnosed Augie with IBD said that she doesn’t think a “rotation diet” is going to be possible. Hope that’s not true.

[theBCnut]

Hi Lablubber

Maybe nobody responded to your posts because we don’t all want to come across as negative. I couldn’t care less about your gender and frankly, found it insulting that you thought it would matter, in any way.

The food you are choosing to feed your dog is too high in calcium for a large breed dog and is not recommended, in spite of it’s name. That’s what this whole thread is about. Think about choosing a food from this list.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?srcid=0BwApI_dhlbnFTXhUdi1KazFzSUk&pid=explorer&efh=false&a=v
The oils you are adding are fine.

I would consider your plans for vaccination to be overkill, by now either the pup should be immune or it has an immune system problem and no amount of vaccinating will fix that. The Lepto vaccine doesn’t cover all the different serovars out there and so is considered unreliable, but using it does come with risks, so if your vet recommends against it even though you have expressed concerns, I would listen to your vet. He sounds like he may actually be a good one rather than one that just wants more of your money.

I don’t care if you don’t want to feed raw or rotate your foods, that’s entirely up to you, but when people ask us what we think is best, we would be remiss if we didn’t tell them what we think is best and maybe even share why. To me, the arguments are compelling, but then, I’ve had plenty of dogs with GI issues and food intolerances.

BTW, none of your questions actually had anything to do with large breed nutrition, not that we stay on topic here, but that may also be why no one answered. It’s not their area of knowlege.

[Sharon Buchanan]

Sue ~

I appreciate the update and the sources for food. I’ve actually had a MyPetCarnivore tab open for the last few days as I’ve done research on different foods. Patty also mentioned the HareToday site, which I have been to as well. One of the things I have been looking at in addition to quality is location. I’m in NC so obviously, I’m looking for companies closest to me to be sure I not only get a better shipping rate but more important, that the food has less time to thaw in transit.

I’m determined to order some raw today – and let the fur balls roll like tumbleweeds around the house another day. I’m headed to Costco tomorrow so I’ll pick up some whole chicken.

I’m so glad you signed up for the conference. I think one of the best things lacking in a web conference though, is the ability to network and discuss topics/concerns/issues between sessions. We’ll have to compare notes afterward!

I did make a connection with a gal that delivers food in our area but the list of foods she sent me was ginormous and I didn’t have time to pick through all the food types and brands. Now that I’m [somewhat] armed with better food brand I’ll do a search on her list for the ones I have a little more confidence in.

I’m sorry to hear about Loki. I don’t know anything about pulmonary stenosis in dogs. Is this inherent in his breed? When we got Sunset, we didn’t know much about genetics, she ended up having double-hip surgery before she was two. It cost us over $10K. Before deciding on Mystery, I spent months boning up on things like COIs and US and international codes for hip, eyes and shoulder coding. And now I’m doing everything I can to make sure Mystery has every opportunity to live as long as possible.

[Sharon Buchanan]

Inked Marie ~

Mystery currently gets his kibble inside the crate. I don’t close the door but the food and water stay inside while he stands half in and half out. I did try to give him a RMB inside the crate but he wasn’t interested in it until I opened the door and he climbed out with it. I left him in the crate for about 20 minutes but he just laid down and fell asleep. The crate is 42″, anything larger and I’ll have to add a new room to the house. 🙂

I will definitely continue to feed him inside his crate when we make the jump to raw. It’s just those RMB are going to have to be outdoor treats only until I can get him to stay in one place inside the house. We’ll get there.

Thanks for the advice.

[Sue’s Zoo]

Sharon,

Dr. Frick had good general information but she doesn’t have a dog and isn’t doing it so not much in the way of practical advice. She did add a few supplements because one of my pups, Loki, has pulmonary stenosis so she gave some things to help his heart. She is looking over the actual meal plans and going to provide recommendations. She thought it all looked very good (I brought in a few of HDM’s meal plans from early in the Feeding Raw topic. She did say that it would be better to customize the herb and fruit supplements based on what each dog needs. And we discussed ways to do that. I’m going to take all the actual ones I use in and go over them with her next week.

I signed up for the Dogs Naturally conference. Thanks so much for providing that info. I’m looking forward to it and wish it was sooner! Not sure where you live. I placed my first order thru MyPetCarnivore.com. They make deliveries to various areas once a month, plus you can get orders delivered UPS but only when desperate as shipping for that type of delivery is expensive. I also found another place called rawpaws.org. They also run deliveries to several areas but I think both of these are primarily midwest US. Another frequently mentioned on this site is hare-today.com I haven’t looked into their shipping fees etc. I know they do ship fedex and UPS but no idea what it costs. I’ve also been able to find chicken backs and gizzards at Whole Foods; gizzards, liver, turkey necks at a local grocery store.

I will go through more of my info from Dr. Frick once I’ve had some time to digest and after we go over some specific diets etc next week.

[Sharon Buchanan]

Sue ~

I wish there was a holistic vet near me but the closest one is in Charlotte – 2 hours away, so I would definitely be interested in what yours says about the raw diet.

I think a lot of my hesitation comes from not knowing exactly where to get fresh raw food. I initially thought that if I went to the grocery store I would be feeding Mystery human grade food. But then you have to find organic, grass fed, etc., etc. Of course, there are no chicken backs in the meat department, though I did find turkey necks. My local store said they could order some tripe but when that came in it was white, processed tripe – no good.

I’m going to try to find a local butcher, but how I’ll ever know if I’m getting quality meats. Oh, genius that I am – I just realized I could get a whole chicken and cut it up myself. Cows, maybe not.

I like your idea of a washable rug and towel for RMB eating but right now I can’t keep Mystery on an 8’x6′ piece of linoleum. I’m going to try some “place” training on his crate tray to see if I can get him to stay in an area that he’s familiar with – except without the bars. I can add a towel to that but like our other Golden did, Mystery thinks a towel is for rolling around on.

I look forward to hearing about your visit with Dr. Frick.

[Sharon Buchanan]

Patty ~

You know, way back when, I remember giving our Sunset the DinOvite but stopped when we moved to Prague. I’d completely forgotten about that.

I did call Primal to talk with them about their food and was thaaaat close to placing an order until I looked at the Primal thread on dogfoodadvisor. What a catastrophe, wading through all that. In the end, I decided not to order any – a setback in my confidence.

I was looking at some the photos folks have posted here of their dogs eating RMB and I think it was HDM that had a pic of one of her dogs eating a whole quail. What? I want that! Minus the feathers of course. I did give Mystery a bone last week when it was warmer outside He went at it for over an hour while I enjoyed some quiet time over the waterfall and pond. Since I let him chomp away at apple tree branches, I wasn’t worried about the dirt too much.

I did try to give him a bone in his crate one day when temps were below freezing but he wouldn’t touch it. I opened the door of the crate and he brought the bone out with him. I tried to get him to stay on the 8’x6′ linoleum scrap but couldn’t keep him there. OCD kicked in, the bone came up and I set about steam mopping the crate, linoleum and wood floor followed by soap and water. I think I’ll try taking the tray out of the crate and start training Mystery to stay on it while eating.

I so appreciate that you shared the list of foods you’re feeding. With that, you’ve given me a better idea of what a diet should look like than anything I’ve come across so far. Thanks! I’d also read somewhere that balance doesn’t have to happen with every meal – it could happen over the course of days. That’s a little freeing. I’ll let you know when we get to our first raw day.

[JASTECH]

What about the raw chicken quarters in 10 lb. bag for 7.00 or so? With Wal-Fart the problem would be where their ingredients come from in dog food and any Great Value for that matter.

[Shasta220]

@Ajchavis, I don’t give her whole birds… We don’t have the resources for it. Instead? We slice the skin/meat off of a chicken leg, then put it in the food processor with some liver/heart, and let her eat the whole bone. Goodness she is a picky cat!!! If I add any supplement powder to the mush, she refuses. If I add too much liver, she refuses. Why did we start raw with her? Ever since we rescued her (5wk old), she refused to eat ANY type of cat food. Canned, bagged, frozen, kibble, you name it – she hates it.

[Molzy]

Hello,

I recently contacted Honest Kitchen customer service to learn more about the Preference. I inquired about feeding bone-in meat with the Preference, and they claimed that Preference (and the two new base mixes they are coming out with this year) are fine to mix with meat and bone mixtures, and that the calcium/phosphorus ratio would be balanced as long as I used their ratio of Preference:Raw Meat.

Now, as a scientist and having some knowledge of mathematics, I am not sure how that can be true. How can it be a balanced diet with ground boneless meat AND balanced with meat/bone grinds?

Any thoughts?

Molly

[Sue’s Zoo]

Thanks Sharon, Patty and all research from HDM! It’s so good to have someone near the same point with feeding raw etc. It’s such a challenge! Can’t wait to check out the raw roundup internet conference. Thanks so much for sharing that. I too have used some frozen raw (Primal…and yes it’s VERY expensive) and will continue that when things are crazy here or I’m on vacation etc. but I really want to do the more natural whole raw most of the time.

I actually made the jump last week. Primarily because I found a specialist vet in our area that is holistic and does nutrition counseling for raw etc and figured I couldn’t do much harm in a week. I have an appointment with her tomorrow so I decided to start with some of HDMs raw diets from the beginning of the thread. (Wow!! A LOT of work!) But I’m convinced this vet can provide support because she helped so much with our GSD several years ago. He was such an awesome GSD but somewhere between 7 and 8 years old he started showing signs of DM (degenerative myelopathy). Our traditional vet gave us 6 months max with him but a friend recommended Dr. Ava Frick so we took Baron to see her. Thanks to Dr. Frick and stim therapy, acupuncture and natural supplements we were blessed to have a full 18 QUALITY months with our boy. So I checked with her and found that she does do nutrition counseling etc.

Both pups are going to see her tomorrow so we can discuss raw diets and the best way for them to get the best nutrition possible. All our dogs, other than Baron, died from some form of cancer affecting the digestive organs. Can’t help but feel that diet was the primary factor. So I’m determined to do anything in my power to provide these pups with quality food and life.

Have to say I’ve been overwhelmed a lot during the last week but I’m glad I started ahead of time. So many more questions to ask from a much more ‘real world’ vantage point! The younger pup is barely over 4 months but does pretty good with chicken backs. I will relax with it much more in the next 3 to 4 weeks as she gain her adult teeth. She just worries me with the way she attacks her food! The older male (all of 7 months) is more mellow in many ways and will lay on his rug with a turkey neck or chicken back and take time to enjoy it. But I have to say it’s a lot like watching my kids eat a meal I’ve prepared. Very fulfilling 🙂

BTW, we have all hardwood floors so I have struggled with feeding spots and found that the one that works best for me (us) is a large machine washable rug per dog covered with a large bath sheet (towel). The rug keeps the towel in place and most of the time I can just wash the towels and re-use. The rug beneath only needs an occasional wash.

I will post what I hear from Dr. Frick after the visit tomorrow. And I will also include some of the challenges I’ve hit over the last week along with any suggestions to help address them.

[theBCnut]

WOW, Sharon!! Way to go! Baby steps are fine and that conference sounds amazing.

When I started feeding raw, I started with what made it easiest for me, which at that time was DinOvite. That gave me time to do research even more and get comfortable with balancing diets. I now use commercial balanced raw(Darwin’s), commercial grinds that I balance(Hare Today and My Pet Carnivore), premixes(Dr Harvey’s Veg to Bowl, See Spot Live Longer Dinner Mix), and homemade balances raw. This way I get convenience the days of the week that I need it, a really great selection of different proteins, RMBs a couple times a week, and all the other features I was looking for in a raw diet.

[Sharon Buchanan]

Sue’s Zoo ~

I am a nanobyte of information away from going raw. I spent two months researching the best kibble to buy for my Golden puppy and now I’ve spent another eight months researching the best way to feed my growing boy and have come to the conclusion that raw is the way to go. Unfortunately, I am also concerned about balancing not only calcium and phosphorus but everything else, protein, veggies, supplements.

Being at a similar point in the raw decision as you (everyone makes it out to be no big deal but it is intimidating nevertheless), the best I can offer is to share a few things I’ve learned along the way and hope it’s helpful.

Having had a Golden that required double-hip surgery before she was two, proper bone growth was a huge concern for me. If you’ve been to the LBP nutrition forum (/forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/#post-33156), you’ve probably already read some of the suggestions that Hound Dog Mom posted at the beginning of the thread. If you haven’t, do – It would’ve saved me a lot of research time if I’d found the forum ten months ago. Although I waded through the technical jargon in many of the articles, I found the article by Baker most useful and objective. Now that Mystery is 10 months old, I’m allowing more calcium in his diet than Baker’s recommended .8%. I’ve changed his kibble to one with a higher calcium content (from Innova to Orijen), and have started giving him an occasional RMB and raw egg (yeah, puppy steps).

I can’t speak to whether a puppy should eat raw bones until their adult teeth are in except to say that when I asked my breeder about food choices, I was told he starts giving his puppies chicken backs at six months.

As far as balanced nutrition goes, I’ve considered “balanced” frozen raw brands but they really are expensive and there’s much debate as to whether they’re safe. I’ve read so much conflicting, contradictory and even argumentative information that I have to take a few days off research just to clear my head. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever get my Mystery off kibble.

That said, I did find an Internet conference (what will they think of next), on feeding raw that is hosted by Dogs Naturally Magazine. You can find more information here: http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/raw-roundup/. It isn’t until the end of the month but I’ve already registered and am hopeful to glean that last nanobyte of information so that Mystery will be eating only raw in March.

[Mom2Cavs]

Shasta220….my old vet (who I will never recommend to anyone) used Hills, Royal Canin, and Purina prescription diets in his clinics. When asked once what I was feeding my Cavalier, I responded Wellness…they had never heard of it!!! WHAT!? I should’ve left them right then and there but it took a little longer, to my regret. Anyway, we’re with a holistic vet now and I say, “what took so long?!” (maybe that they’re an hour from my house, but it’s been worth it!). My holistic vet carries in his clinic, and feeds to his dogs, Nature’s Variety kibble/canned/treats/premade raw and Real Food premade raw. He also uses Standard Process religiously and also Vetri-Science. He may have the odd bag of Hills or something but I’ve only seen this once. I’m thinking a patient must’ve insisted on it?! There are actually 2 vets in the practice (man and woman) and I see them both. They recommend titer testing, offer acupuncture and chiropractic services and are versed in Chinese herbal medicines. I’m never made to feel like I don’t know anything (which happened with my old vet…he had no bedside manner whatsoever!). Sometimes they even ask for my opinion on a food! I highly respect them and they are both just awesome!

• This reply was modified 11 years, 10 months ago by Mom2Cavs.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 10 months ago by Mom2Cavs.

[Shasta220]

Okay, I will have to be honest – I have only one time fed my dog what the vet suggested. I am NEVER doing it again! Cassy is a sensitive gal, and was doing fairly well on Dog Lovers Gold. I asked the vet if he recommended it, he shook his head and said “only food I recommend will be Hills.”

I don’t understand why vets mislead SO many people, who already are overwhelmed by nutrition but want the best, into getting this pure garbage! It’s quite frustrating, because I’d like to have a personal opinion on a good food, based on my dog’s qualities, but still all the vet will suggest is Hills…

Are there actually vets out there who agree that Hills is junk, or will I always be stuck researching out my own kibble? It doesn’t seem to be /just/ my vet either, everyone in this area rec Hills.

At least they were a little more helpful on my cat’s raw diet. I think all they said is to give her organ meat – try to feed her a whole small bird whenever possible.

[Lablubber]

Hi it’s me again..

I have almost completely finished transitioning over from the food my breeder had my pup on to Blue Chicken and Rice Large Breed Puppy Food with nothing but good results. I have taken a little over a month and 4 days to accomplish that in and his stool are solid and no stomach issues…. Right now I am at 80 % transition 80% BLue/20% Purina Puppy Chow Lg. Breed Food. Right now I am also adding a teaspoon of coconut oil, a teaspoon of ground flaxseed and some fish oil, about 1000mg.

I am not using any toppers except at night for his supper meal and that is canned Blue Puupy Food about a 1/5th to 1/4th of a can. And his coat is shiny and he seems to be doing very well on it…

But for me where my problem arises is from me reading and listening to all of you guys….I almost feel like if I am not alternating out a bunch of different foods and using different kinds of toppers and adding numerous supplements to his food, then it makes me feel like I am shortchanging my dog???

And please believe me….. I have not spared any expense on my part that I know of concerning him and I really do not want to do the raw diet because I have had too many people I know who have had their dogs, get serious bacterial infections from it and some have even died from sluffing off their intestinal lining and dying of anemia before they could be saved by IV feeding and a harsh round of antibiotics.

So for me….This particular dog is just way too valuable for me to ever chance that and believe me I am not here to make any enemies by saying that but I just want you know my logic behind what I am doing with him so far. But then I also have to say this as well and something that I have found out in life myself and some wise words of wisdom and that is this…. Just because someone does something different or feels differently about another idea or approach to your particular way of doing things….Doesn’t neccessarily make them wrong….It just makes them different…! There i said it…My sermon for the day….

So anyway I took painstakingly long with my Labrador Retriever pup after listening to all of you guys and even forsaking what my vet said and changed over to a food that I read about and researched over for many hours and also a food that I had access to, to buy very readily, that I didn’t have to worry about ever running out of even where some of the online food stood the chance of having weather related delays in shipping, that it would not be running. And so I chose a food that I have seen proven to do well with my friend’s large breed dogs. And then I made a just a very few additions to the food, just to make me feel better.

I did as all of you said ion here and I cut out the milk replacer that I had always feed my pups for the first six months of their lives and longer is I saw the need to do so and I did thatimmediately. So anyway…He appears to be doing extremely well. Although he had to have several surgeries yesterday because he had a slight hernia that had to be repaired from a overzealous Lab mother licking him over and over all the time and never letting his navel ever truly heal up right. The he also had a dewclaw removed that either regrew or was missed by the breeder’s vet originally and he also had a place on his leg that had been cut while he was young at the breeder’s kennel that did not grow back right and so my vet did a little cosmetic repair there as well while he was out at no charge and she also micro-chipped him as well while he was out due to the fact that she hates to stick such a big needles in pups at that age if she can help it and so she prefers to have them out at the time of insertion and so she did that procedure as well..

So needless to say, my little fellow was exceptionally glad to see me when he I cam to pick him up….. He came home though like the walking wounded with a front leg dewclaw removed, a back leg, scar tissue repair, a hernia repair and a microchip inserted just at his shoulders along with an antibotic shot just above it, wearing an Elizabethen (sp.) collar to boot, so he was not a very happy puppy last night…. And today he is wired to a tee at work with me here today, needless to say.

So now for the advice part part….. Is the extra stuff I add to his food….The tsp. of coconut oil, the fish oil (which will be changed over to Krill oil when it gets here) and a teaspoon of ground flaxseed meal added to his food twice a day… Does all of that sound good to the ones in the know on here to be adding to his food or is that an over-kill???

Then on the medical part or at least the vaccination part of his regime…. He has had 3 series of shots so far… And I plan on having one more done just to be on the safe side, although my vet. says the 3 completes his regime. Plus he still has his Rabies shot coming up as well…. So does that suffice for his puppy shots being complete or is there anything more I need to be checking into???

I have read quite a few vets who did not reccomend them getting coronavirus or leptospirosis shots anymore(As well as my own vet feels the same way). But for me…Jess will be competing in AKC and UKC Hunter Retriever Trials and therefore he will be around a whole lot of other dogs in close proximity, so I just want to make sure that I have all of my bases covered with him as far as shots, intranasal and any other immunizations that he might need.

I am going to look into get his Lyme and Botedella vaccinations as well, but what is you guys thoughts on a working retriever and his vaccination requirements???

So that is about it today and I know i write very long but I figure if I don’t know, I never will without asking… So thank you for your patience…

Lablubber

[Shasta220]

What you’re doing sounds pretty good. The others have definitely given helpful advice – adding various veggies might help give her a boost of nutrients. I give my dogs raw eggs – straight from our hens, coconut oil, ground flax in their treats, fish oil, and multi-vitamins.

[Shasta220]

I’ve honestly never dealt with an allergy-prone dog (except food allergies), so I honestly have no idea if it would help or not. I’d go ahead and give it a shot though, coconut oil is great for dogs, mine all get a scoop of it! I’ve heard someone say they have dogs with awful skin problems, not seeming to be food-related. He got the dogs on a good multi-vitamin and a tablespoon of local RAW honey twice daily. They cleared up in a few weeks.

I’m sure other people on here will have better suggestions, as they’re much more experienced I’m sure.
I hope you can find something that works for your guy! 🙂

[Saireah]

This is a great thread and I found it very helpful, InkedMarie!

Wondering if you’ve identified any good treats that are grain-free and potato-free? My list that I’m creating is quite small at the moment (other than raw vegetables, of course).

[SeanG]

Hi – I’m curious. Has anyone tried the Raw Frozen dog food available at Wholefoods? Its under the brand Happy N’ Healthy.

Thanks,

Sean

[theBCnut]

I don’t mix kibbles together but I rotate, feed one one week and another the next. Last winter, I was even rotating different kibbles every day. I mix raw and kibble every day. I have only ever heard of one single dog that had problems with doing that and have heard of probably a hundred or more who don’t. We eat stuff that digests at different rates all the time without the stomach upset that they say it causes. Dr Langer’s and Soil Based Organisms are my 2 favorites from Swanson’s.

[RescueDaneMom]

Hi gsdmommy,

Yes, Stephepn Langer’s 15 strain is the probiotic you want. There is a debate as to whether it is ok to mix kibble with raw. It seems some dogs do fine with it while others don’t. I mixed raw with kibble for my Dane for months and he was fine. Now he eats raw and THK, no kibble. Some people say that because the kibble takes longer to digest than raw that the raw stays in the digestive tract for too long and gives bacteria time to multiply and possibly make your dog sick. I’ve never had it happen but there are people who are very passionate about it. I think it is fine to mix grain-inclusive with grain-free kibble. People mix kibble all the time. I wouldn’t do it long term because you miss out on the benefits of rotation but if you’re doing it short term to see what your dog tolerates/does well on then I thinks it’s perfectly fine.

I hope that was helpful. 🙂

[dogspotindia]

I am agree with your statement that raw bones are good for the dental exercise.

[Dori]

Hi Patty. Thanks for the advice. When whether permits I’ll start taking her for short slow walk around the neighborhood. She’s light enough that if she tires I can carry her home. No one had explained to me that it might be atrophy of her leg muscles which I suppose would start at her age anyway. She had become quite lazy in the last year or so but since starting her on raw foods and rotating brands and proteins she has gotten back a lot of her old spunk. I will also look for Joint Armor. Hadn’t heard of it.
Thanks, Dori

[gsdmommy89]

Hi 🙂

I was wondering if anyone could help me with a question I asked a few days ago. I just wanted to know if it would be too much to mix grain-inclusive with grain-free foods or kibble with commercial raw? I’m going to try a few small bags out for my GSD that seems to have become bored of his current food (Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch). Also, I do remember someone telling me about probiotics, but can’t seem to remember which one it was. All I remember is that Swanson Health Products sells it. I looked up the website and I believe the probiotic was Dr. Stephen Langer’s 15 strain with FOS? Does anyone know about that? It’s on sale right now at Buy One Get One Free so if it’s that one I want to stock up.

Thanks everyone. Sorry if I’m becoming annoying 🙁

[FreeholdHound]

My boys “avoid” list is pretty long too. I’ve been having success with Natures Logic Beef, Earthborn Holistic Great Plains Feast & I’m about to try out 4Health GF Beef & Potato. I also add in some raw. I should’ve done the test sooner – but it did confirm what I was finding out with failed foods. I did try the NV but Harry wouldn’t eat it. Ugh.

[Walt]

Hello,

I’m a new member and wanted to ask your opinions on dog food for our wire hair Terrier Mix (25 lbs – Smooch). He was on Orijen adult and did well for quite awhile and then started having stomach issues; stomach making noises, gassy, lethargic., runny/soft stools. Smooch has been known to eat anything on the ground, rabbit poop, acorns, etc. This might have been an isolated incident, we are not sure. Vet put him on antibiotics and prescription food and he finally got better (took awhile though). Put him NV chicken raw boost dry and he started scratching more often, I then had a saliva test for food sensitivities by Dr. Dodd and it came back with Smooch being sensitive to most foods. According to this test, the only meat proteins that Smooch can tolerate are Beef/Lamb and white fish. The NV contained chicken and turkey, not good according to test. Put him on NV limited ingredient Lamb and he is doing good, but he poops more often and his poop consist of several small/harder pieces (is this good?). He is still scratching. I started giving him fish oil (sardines/anchovies) daily hoping this will help his scratching but not sure if this is good since test revealed sensitivity to Salmon.. In your opinion, are these type tests accurate? Like everyone on this site, we just want to make good decisions for our dog. Any advice on food for Smooch would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Walt

[mountainhound]

Should be fine, if you want to be on the safe side, add some vitamin e along with the fish oil to help balance it. Honestly, I’ve been giving my dog salmon oil for the last 7 years with no issues, but he also gets raw eggs twice a week and other foods with vitamin E that balance it out.

[mountainhound]

You definitely want to feed food with a lot of moisture. Raw would be ideal, next best thing is dehydrated like honest kitchen, followed by grain free canned.
I use this remedy when on of my dogs develop a UTI. Raw goats milk (I use answers brand, it has to be unpasteurized, 1/2-1 cup depending on the size of the dog), mixed with cranberry extract (naturvet cranberry relief) and 2 teaspoons of d mannose powder, mix it together and serve. It seems to clear up their UTI’s overnight.

[kcarter137]

I have a 1 1/2 year old 13 lbs chihuahua mix. She has a long story and I need help so here it is. She has been plagued with various ailments since we acquired her. After a couple months of raw feet and hairless patches on her body I took her to see an allergist/dermatologist. We did a food elimination diet and determined she was severely allergic to chicken, rice, and wheat; somewhat allergic to eggs, dairy, and fish in higher quantities. She has been eating cooked pork, 5-10% cooked liver, 15-20% pureed sweet potatoes with skin on, 15-20% raw beef, and every other day she gets half a sardine or canned salmon. She eats no bone but I supplement with calcium. She takes a glucosamine/chondroitin/msn supplement because she has bad knees. We recently started her on a wild salmon oil because my vet said she needed it also. He also told me that she’s not eating a balanced diet so she also needs a multivitamin. So I ordered one from b-naturals. I don’t know what else I can do for balance her diet out. My other half says we cannot feed her raw or bones. Help, please and thanks in advance!!

[Shasta220]

Maddy was originally on Cat Chow, so yeah- hair balls galore there!

She’s seeming to do much better on the new food. I haven’t seen a hairball in a while (well, I don’t really see them. My bare toes feel them in the middle of the night!)

It sounds like fiber and “lubricants” are fairly easy to add into a diet without getting a special extra-spendy-but-full-o’-fillers food.

I’m a little concerned about her weight right now. She’s been checked out totally healthy, and acts completely normal, but she feels pretty scrawny. I was hoping adding the canned was going to help (she hasn’t really ever had anything but dry), but she will eat no more than 1tbsp daily, even though I try to offer it to her twice a day. The worst? I honestly haven’t seen her eat the dry in a while – she only eats the canned now. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that she eats dry when I’m not looking, since they have free choice dry.

I tried mixing dry with canned, but she refused. Picky picky girl! Are there any quality cat foods that have an extra calorie boost maybe? She doesn’t like raw meat at all, otherwise I’d try her on that.

[martinkopf]

Hello,
I feed my dogs Darwin’s in the morning and a home cooked meal in the evening (recipes from “Feed your best friend better”). I am wondering if I need to add supplements to the home cooked meal, and if so what do you recommend? I did just order some cod liver oil and “Animal Essentials Natural Seaweed Calcium” will these be all I need along with the variety of home cooked recipes and the Darwin’s RAW?

[GizmoMom]

After adopting my dog from the shelter, the first vet I took him to told me it’s fine to feed Beneful, and raw feeding was just a hype.

Of course, that was the first and last time I saw him. I looked for a new vet right away!

Some vets just don’t care what you feed your dog. If your friend was feeding bad food, and was being supported by his vet, it’s going to be very hard for you to change his mind.

If you gather some info on how Beneful is making dogs sick, or how often they get recalled. Your friend might listen if you have data to back you up.

[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.