Yes, probiotics about 3 times a week. HDM is the one that can tell you if there are enough omega 3s in the eggs, I can tell you that I use eggs every other day, but I cook them lightly every other time, so I don’t assume that they are enough omega 3s and I add fish or krill oil on the days that I don’t give raw eggs.
Freezer burn game meat ok to feed? It smells fine & not all of it is freezer burned…..should I trim off the grayish spots or just grind it in with the rest of the ‘good’ meat?
I was thinking of the brands available at local pet stores. Such as Bravo, Primal, Natures Variety, etc. Those are the ones I’m familiar with. Just started feeding raw about 2 months ago.
Hi Patty & anyone else who wants to jump in, lol!
I’ve started my Brit lab & wired- hair doxie mix on Honest Kitchen Preference w/ our game meats (venison/elk/rabbit/duck/goose, etc) & they are LOVING IT!!! Sounds like I don’t need to give enzymes since I feed raw meat, but I think I saw that you guys recommend Swanson’s probiotics about 3 times/week, is that right? Anything else I should be adding? I do get fresh eggs from my neighbor….
Your advice is most appreciated! Oh, did you see the article today on natural news about Pedigree & they gave THIS website!! as a great place to get educated about dog foods! Knowledge is power!
That may depend on location since shipping of raw is expensive.
Thank you for the info!
My little dude is on RX food right now, trying to figure out a kibble he can switch to after some major tummy issues. Going to get him stable on that and then go into partial raw/full raw. We’ll see. Thanks again!
Emily
I started feeding raw as a topper to my puppy that was having some pretty severe problems. I couldn’t fast him and with his issues, I was afraid to do any kind of sudden switch. His stomach issues cleared up almost immediately, so mixing both was definitely not a problem for him. For a while, I switched to kibble in the AM and raw in the PM, but I found he did better when I mixed both. I do know someone whose dog can’t handle having them mixed, but that is only one dog. Everyone else I know of hasn’t had any trouble mixing.
I live in Wyoming and there are no holistic vets without driving 4 hours to Fort Collins, if there is one there. I had her on a Raw diet which she did fantastic on but I can’t feed her anything with hormones so it was horribly difficult to get enough wild game and free range without going broke. I think I’m going to try the Avoderm Lamb and rice, it has a 4.5 rating on here and is designed for sensitive stomachs. And I have learned the importance of finding a high quality breeder sigh…
Mrs Nix, I forgot to say that dr Karen Becker, on Mercola Healthy Pets, has an article on what types of foods are best; dry is least favorable. Glad EHubbman chimed in about gut health.
E: I honestly have no rhyme or reason. I don’t feed raw daily but when I do, I feed it for breakfast and dinner is about ten hours later. We haven’t had any problems doing so.
Also not Patty, but along with what Marie was saying, it also works well to keep your dog’s gut active and able to adjust to changes more, is something I’ve found in the past.
No food is ever complete, so rotating also helps to balance a diet, and keep it interesting for your pups. (I wouldn’t like eating the same thing every day for my entire life, I know that!)
Marie/anyone- You say you rotate with pre-made raw and grinds; do you keep a certain amount of time between kibble/raw? I’ve been reading a few things that you need to wait XX hours between kibble/raw because kibble slows the gut down, which can let bad bacteria from the raw cultivate in the gut. Then others say that it doesn’t matter so much. Your thoughts?
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This reply was modified 12 years, 4 months ago by
EHubbman.
Mrs Nix: I’m not Patty but I’m going to answer anyway. I like to rotate for a few reasons. What if your current food had a recall, wasn’t made anymore, you couldn’t get it or forgot to buy the next bag? If you had a few different brands that your dog can eat, you won’t be “caught”. I order almost all food online and if something I feed is on sale, I can take advantage of the sale.
I also use various types of foods: kibble, canned, dehydrated, pre made raw & grinds.
As most know raw is expensive. Has anybody figured out the least expensive over all 5 star raw brand available? Thanks
Hi Aussie Mom –
Which variety did you order? 1 capsule per day should be plenty for a 50 lb. dog. I was told by Steve Brown 1 capsule of Carlson’s Salmon Oil Complete (1,250 mg.) per day for my girls (68 – 75 lbs.) – they also get a few cage-free eggs per week and a small amount of plant-based omega 3’s.
Hi shihtzumom –
Both of those products look good to me. Conventionally raised meats are fine in the event that naturally raised meats are either unavailable or unaffordable. While naturally raised would obviously be better, fresh conventionally raised meats are still superior to anything you’d get in a processed commercial food. You could give krill oil, tinned sardines, or reduce the amounts you feed of each and give a combination of both. He definitely wouldn’t need a whole tin of sardines a week – 1/2 tin per week would be plenty for a small dog. I’m not sure about the exact omega 3 content of the krill oil capsules you’re using but I’d guess 1 capsule every 2 – 3 days would be plenty.
Wow thanks for all the great information. I am going to be ordering carlsons fish oil off Amazon. Could anyone tell me how much you would give a 50lb dog? In milligrams.
Also i’ve been reading that people squeeze the fish oil out of the capsules. Is this needed or could i just give the whole capsule with the oil in it?
No, haven’t looked at that brand yet, but I will now! My cats are goin nuts when i fix the HK (they’re indoor cats – outdoor cats don’t survive out here w/ mountain lion, etc), did I see somewhere that you feed nature’s logic to your cats, or that you recommend it? I don’t know if it is a dry kibble or not – I would feed them raw, but sometimes we’re gone for several days hunting/fishin & I don’t have anyone who can feed them 1 or 2 times/day. They do get raw scraps, so I don’t feel too sorry for them – one of them is too fat anyway, lol! 😉
For a dog that doesn’t have any issues, it sounds good. I couldn’t use it for 2 of my dogs, too many carbs, and I wouldn’t use it for the third because I don’t like to give him that many carbs either. If it has that much mix added to that little meat, then I wouldn’t consider it to be enough protein. She recommends 1/3 cup of meat for dogs the size of mine. If I was feeding completely raw, I would be giving each of mine at least a pound of meat and only about 3 ounces of other stuff.
I keep hearing good things about Annamaet Aqualuk or the brand in general. Would this work for a yeasty dog? At this point I really don’t know what she’s allergic to. She had been on the Zign. for two weeks with absolutely no signs of allergies as far as scratching goes and it’s a lamb based food but it contains fruits and vegetables. On the NV LID Turkey she still scratches a little bit but her paws were fine on that and it has pretty much nothing but turkey, peas and tapioca and vitamins. Usually I can tell immediately if something is bothering her because she will begin to claw at her sides like when I gave her a rawhide to test, that happened in two days so I knew.
Another weird thing is she seems to do good until I buy a large bag of food but is fine on the tiny bags. Could there be some difference in the kibble used in large bags? I was thinking that maybe they package them somewhere different OR they may use more preservatives for the food that goes into a large bag? When I bought a large bag of NV, there was a definite difference in the appearance of the kibble..I will attest to that much! It also had a lot of “dust” (ground up bottom of the barrel kibble) in with the food which I was kind of miffed over.
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This reply was modified 12 years, 4 months ago by
somebodysme.
Urban Wolf is another good premix. I use “Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats” too.
http://www.urbanwolf.cc/recipe.htm
Here is another product for adding to meat (with bone or boneless):
http://youngagainpetfood.com/10browse.asp?category=raws
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This reply was modified 12 years, 4 months ago by
pugmomsandy.
Hi HDM, was recommended this product on a fb group and was wondering what you thought of it!
http://www.naturalcanine.com/green_power.html
I really like the looks of the see spot live longer dinner mix, I want to feed raw in the pm, am is ziwipeak air dried, and this may be just what I need! I liked urban wolf, but I want to stay away from potatoes, they make Dawsons eyes really watery! And I believe you are one that is OK with grocery store meats? Its all I can get right now, not too much in the ways of organics around here, but it is better than commercially made foods?… I was thinking of doing Nature’s Variety raw again, but have been on the fence…
I also am going to add in turmeric and some krill oil for supplements, he does love sardines, if he ate a can a week could I cut out the krill oil? A can drained is 80 grams. Or switch between krill and sardines if that would be helpful?
Have you ever heard of omega-alpha products, used some for my horse, and saw they had pet products I am mainly interested the probiotics and enzymes:
http://omegaalpha.ca/en/product/114/Probiotic_8_Plus_trade/
If you liked it, I thought it may be an option for Canadians!
I’m just throwing this out there but a friend has a frenchie with horrible red, raw paws. Even tho it has potatoes,she finally to them learned with Annamaet Aqualuk.
Thank you I will. For now I’m testing the turkey necks. He’s tolerated chicken feet for quite a while now. It’s the bones I’m most interested in for his teeth. Since he’s eating kibble/ raw I don’t feel any real urge to push it . He loves his beef, lamb, pork & sardines. I’ve given him bits of chicken now & again but I don’t do it frequently. Maybe for Thansgiving he’ll have some turkey 🙂
FreeholdHound
I just wanted to let you know what my experience was with feeding raw a protein that my dog couldn’t handle in kibble. Micah can’t handle chicken in kibble, but I was able to give him raw chicken without seeing any signs that it was bothering him. That is untill about a month later. I gave chichen every 3 or so days, and after a month his hair started to get dry and greasy again. I never saw any of his usual signs, just the very gradual coat change. To test my theory that it was a minor reaction to the chicken, I took him completely off chicken again and his coat again went back to normal. So watch for subtle signs of coat change as well as the usual signs of intolerance.
I know what you mean.. I’m currently waiting on a new freezer (on order) because since starting raw, our fridge freezer has been maxed out for weeks now with little to no room for people food, lol. I’m not so sure it’s going to get here before my Hare order on Wednesday though, eek. Fingers crossed for a miracle 🙂
I think I’ve found NL Beef kibble about 20min away, but not the Sardine formula, I will have to call and see if they will possibly order some. I’ve also found a raw food supplier very close to me – not the biggest menu selection, but there are a few things I’m interested in (when I have room). Have him on the “call” list too.
Right now I’m using the NL Beef formula & will be trying out the Sardine one next. I’m experimenting at the moment. I feed kibble in the AM & a mix w/ raw PM. Harry can’t have quite a few things in his kibble but so far he can if its raw. Turkey and chicken being the top 2. I’m trying to avoid those plus Salmon, venison white fish, sweet potato, & oatmeal in kibble- Natures Logic is just about the only kibble that has none of the ingredients that I’m trying to avoid. Miraculous. I am excited that he had the turkey neck w/no ill effects – turkey in kibble was his primary problem & turkey necks are something I’ve really wanted to use to help keep his teeth clean.
Inkedmarie- I think I left a review on Hare Today. I wrote an email to NL thanking them for such a great product. Maybe they posted it? I haven’t looked.
beaglemom: I know! On that group they practically scold you for asking questions. It seems a lot if dog parents need help because their dogs are getting ill on raw, well maybe if they’re being instructed to feed it the right way (with organ meat, tripe, veggies/fruits, supplements) they wouldn’t be getting sick. I just started switching to raw a little over a month ago after getting Mila spayed and vaccinated. Her skin and coat really took a hit by the weakening of her immune system. I joined that group in hopes of getting some help, finding suppliers, maybe shared recipes. I officially left that group the other day. People on here are so helpful. They take time out of there busy lives to help educate us on proper nutrition for our dogs, they’re not rude even when others have been rude to them. A lot of us newbies have no clue what to do or where to start they help us to point us in the right direction. Mila’s skin and coat is starting to look a lot better and she’s long, lean, and muscular and I know it’s because of their help. Mila begs for her food now (just had her first raw dressed rabbit this morning) , she never did that before with commercial food, and that was some of the best stuff out there. So I’m very pleased. Which Nature’s Logic do you use? I only feed kibble one meal a week and am trying Annamaet right now and will probably switch to Nature’s Logic when the bag is done.
SandyandMila/HDM… haha I just had to comment on this (though I know it was awhile ago). HDM you must never have joined the “rawfeeding” yahoo group! They are “interesting” to say the least… I definitely come here first but here’s the lessons this list wants you to believe: dogs need zero supplements, ever; all dogs need to eat is meat meat meat (and a little bone and a little organs); bones don’t clean teeth, tearing at meat chunks does; necks of any sort have no place in the diet unless attached to the animal; ground meat is evil; veggies and fruits are evil; tripe is useless. LOL. I will join the “thank goodness i found this site” crowd and also to tie in to the topic of this thread, I am expecting my first Hare Today order on Wednesday and can’t wait!!! (And it includes duck necks!!!) 🙂
I wish I could figure out how to post a picture… But Harry is happily gnawing away on his 1st turkey neck. I gave it to him outside on the patio- he grabbed it but started pacing. I let him back inside & he went straight to his bed with it. Luckily I remembered a towel. Looks like this may take a while but he appears to be one happy Greyhound. I will be one happy Greyound owner if I don’t pay for this w/ supreme ugliness later as turkey in kibble has been a huge no no. But so far raw has been the answer 🙂
Patty you’ve got me figured out – lol!
Pacer –
When feeding any cooked food, such as kibble, I recommend supplementing with enzymes. Raw foods naturally contain enzymes however these enzymes are destroyed during the cooking process. For a healthy dog it would be fine to give enzymes at half the recommended dose. Unless there is a certain health issue, I don’t believe dogs fed raw foods need supplemental enzymes.
I believe all dogs should receive probiotics. For a healthy dog, giving a probiotic supplement or feeding a serving or plain yogurt, kefir or raw tripe two or three times a week should be adequate to maintain a healthy and diverse population of microflora in the gut. My dogs get raw green tripe three days per week and a little bit of plain kefir several times per week. For dogs with certain health issues (particularly digestive issues or systemic candidiasis) it may be advisable to give supplemental probiotics daily.
As Patty pointed out, eating grass doesn’t always mean there’s a nutritional issue – it’s actually a fairly normal behavior. You could certainly try adding a green supplement to see if it helps and even if it doesn’t help green supplements are a healthy source of whole food trace nutrients.
I vaccinate my dogs as puppies (8 weeks, 12 weeks and 16 weeks) with the core vaccines. I’ll then get another booster for the core vaccines one year after the final series of puppy boosters. I do not vaccine again after this (aside from rabies every three years which is required by law). I never vaccinate for non-core vaccines such as lyme, bordetella, etc. It’s known that these core vaccines provide immunity much longer than a year and even much longer than the three year intervals that some vets are starting to recommend. Through challenge it has been proven that most of these core vaccines provide immunity for at least 5 to 7 years and it is believed that they may even provide lifetime immunity. Rather than re-vaccinating yearly (or even every three years) it’s much smarter to have a titer – a blood test which measures the dog’s immunity. If the titer shows that your dog is immune there’s no reason to re-vaccinate – re-vaccinating provides no benefit (or increased immunity) it only puts your dog at risk for the negative side affects that may be caused by vaccines. I would highly recommend checking out this series of videos in which Dr. Becker interviews Dr. Ronald Schultz. Dr. Schultz is an immunology specialist in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the School of Veterinary Science at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/05/31/what-your-vet-didnt-tell-you-about-all-those-puppy-and-kitty-vaccines.aspx
I do not use any chemical flea or tick preventatives. In my opinion, when it comes to fleas and ticks the best defense is a strong immune system. I have a SNAP 4DX test done on my dogs every 6 months to test for tick transmitted diseases. I comb my dogs with a flea comb daily during flea/tick season and have never found any fleas or ticks (and they’re hounds that spend quite a bit of time outdoors). Since switching to a species-appropriate raw diet I haven’t had any parasite issues (internal or external). I do use some natural-oil based topicals and shampoos and give them an herbal flea and tick tincture from Earth Animal (formulated by Dr. Goldstein).
Concerning Frontline and which contains the active ingredient “fipronil”:
• Dr. Dobozy of the EPA’s Pesticide Division has found that the active ingredient (fipronil) in Frontline remains in a pet’s system with the potential for nervous system and thyroid toxicity. Tests on laboratory animals resulted in thyroid cancer and altered thyroid hormones, liver and kidney toxicity, reduced fertility and convulsions. Frontline’s web site creates the impression that the product stays in the oil glands of the skin. But Dr. Dobozy’s study showed that, in fact, it does enter the body and the organ systems.
• This investigation determined fipronil residues on gloves worn while petting dogs after Frontline application. Frontline contains 9.8% fipronil, which controls fleas and ticks on dogs for at least 30 days. Frontline (1.34 ml) was applied topically on adult household dogs and gloves worn for 5 min during pettingwere collected 24 hr and 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 w post-Frontline application for fipronil residue determinations using GC/MS. The highest concentration of fipronil (589.3 +/- 205.7ppm) was detected 24 h after Frontline application and was undetectable in the gloves collected at 5w. Repeated exposure to such contamination can pose human health risks. [“Human Exposure to Fipronil from Dogs Treated with Frontline” can be found on Pubmed]
• Journal of Pesticide Reform Factsheet: Fipronil:
1. In tests with laboratory animals, fipronil causes aggressive behavior, damaged kidneys, and “drastic alterations in thyroid function.” The fipronil containing product ‘Frontline’ caused changes in the levels of sex hormones.
2. The offspring of laboratory animals exposed to fipronil during pregnancy were smaller than those of unexposed mothers. They also took longer to mature sexually.
3. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies fipronil as a carcinogen because exposure to fipronil caused benign and malignant thyroid tumors in lab animals.
Imidacloprid (active ingredient in Advantage) and Pyrethrins (active ingredient in Biospot) have been found to have similar negative effects.
Concerning heartworm prevention. I do use heartworm prevention, however I’m very conservative with it. My dogs get an ivermectin-based preventative every 45 days during hearworm season. The FDA approvals cite that Heartguard, Interceptor and Revolution provide protection beyond 30 days. I use preventatives that contain heartworm prevention only – I avoid the preventatives that also contain wormers, flea preventatives, etc. I’m in northern NY so I usually end up administering the first dose in early May and the last dose sometime in November. Starting the day after my dogs receive their preventative I give milk thistle daily for one week to help protect their liver from the damaging effects of the ivermectin. The SNAP 4DX test I have done every 6 months also tests for heartworms. Dr. Becker has an article about heartworm prevention here: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/08/03/why-havent-pet-owners-been-told-these-facts-about-heartworm.aspx . This website also has a wealth of information concerning heartworm prevention: http://dogaware.com/articles/wdjheartwormprevention.html .
Hi Sandy –
I do occasionally use small amounts of plant-based oils in conjunction with a quality fish oil – while I like my dogs getting the majority of their EFAs from animal sources I do like to provide some variety through the occasionally use of plant oils, sprouted flax, sprouted chia or hemp seeds. If you’ve been doing krill for awhile you might want to try something new. At the moment my girls are taking (I’m taking this as well) Carlson’s salmon oil complete – it has astaxanthin like krill oil. If you want to experiment with some plant based EFAs that’s fine, but be sure to continue with a quality animal based EFA supplement as well for the DHA and EPA. And don’t worry about all the questions, I don’t mind. 🙂
Hi kobe –
The trout and salmon formula is appropriate for large breed puppies. They recently came out with two new formulas – duck and zssential (a multi-protein formula) – and I haven’t had a chance to look into either of those formulas yet. While I do believe you should reserve a couple novel protein sources in the even that your dog ever does develop allergies, there’s no reason to avoid a limited ingredient kibble just because your dog doesn’t have food allergies. In fact, I prefer single protein kibbles so that when I rotate I know my dog isn’t getting exposed to the same protein source daily. My dogs eat raw now and I only feed one protein per meal.
Hi shilohsue –
I don’t believe that I ever got the calcium levels from OC Raw – I’ll have to look into it. It does look like a good food though (ingredient-wise) and I’ve spoken to their customer service on a few occasions for other reasons, not related to calcium, and they were friendly.
I’m hoping that someone more familiar with dealing with allergies and yeast issues could make some sense of these symptoms after two different foods given. I’m just so confused!
She’s been on two different foods post vet visit where I was told that all her issues were most likely dog food allergies. Her worst problem was that her paws were full of pustules and raw and infected. She had runny/watery eyes and her ears were gunky. She was scratching her sides and gnawing her knees…etc. She had been on Pro Plan chicken. She was given antibiotics and prednisone.
1) I purchased some NV LID Turkey and things improved a lot and she was on that for 6 weeks. She still had a slight amount of eye watering and still some general scratching but much better than before. Her paws were healing up and she was not scratching them at all. No pustules on them at all but skin was still kind of pink. She was kind of having constipation and her poo was the most horrible smelling you can imagine.
2) I decided that I would try a different LID food and purchase Zignature Lamb. Similar list of ingredients but no tapioca and this time LAMB instead of TURKEY. Her constipation issues went away and her remaining scratching and eye watering totally cleared up after about a week and a half and I thought we’d found the best food for her.
HERE’S WHAT THEN HAPPENED: Almost over night, her paws erupted into a mass of pustules and she began chewing them like crazy. She was also smelling sour. BUT and this is where it gets confusing…all her other symptoms are going away. Her eye doesn’t water, her ear is clean, she’s not scratching her body and even that rash I keep talking about on her back is suddenly healing up. But her paws are HORRIBLE and FULL of blood filled blisters and pustules!
I rushed out to the store and bought a small bag of NV again and after two days her paws are already healing up and she is not gnawing them. Now of course her eye is watering…
What the heck? This is what I’m thinking has happened. Perhaps the Zignature is too high in carbs and it’s yeast on her paws? But yet Lamb is working better for the allergy aspect of it? Does this sound logical? One food is good for some symptoms and the other food is good for other symptoms just doesn’t make sense to me! GAH!
I would sure appreciate some expert input from you guys! Thanks!
Thanks again HDM for all the great advice. I visited a high end food shop with a very good friend/dog trainer/vet tech today. She knows the owner. He recommended OC Raw. It’s not on your recommended list but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it mentioned on this thread. But it’s almost impossible to search unless I’ve missed something. I did ask about the kcals and a some are under your suggested limit and it’s a 5 star food on DFA. Can you please give me your impressions (again?)?
Oh man, I’ve written 2 long replies and they disappeared. But anyways, I’ve been using krill oil for a few months now and just recently started with sardine oil and have been using coconut oil for the past year or so. I’ve been feeding sardines about once or twice a week with her raw. I am also looking into supplementing with vitamin e and of course the your whole food supplement I’ve been asking about and have already started giving her the NL supplement. I just wanted to know more info on flax and if it was something I needed to supplement. I’m running low on krill oil, should I stick with it and get some more or try something different, maybe salmon oil? I notice you use omega 3-6-9 with evening primrose, is that a good choice? Sorry about all the questions
I would only use flax if you’re feeding a lot of poultry – 1 tsp. oil or 1 tbs. ground flax (preferably sprouted) per pound of poultry fed. Poultry tends to be high in polyunsaturated fats (particularly linoleic acid) which red meats tend to be lower in, for this reason you want to avoid fat sources that are high in LA and, instead, add a fat source such as flax (or chia) which is lower in LA and higher in alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). I don’t agree with using “fish oil or coconut oil or flax oil” as flax oil and coconut oil are not a replacement for a quality fish oil. Fish oil supplies bioavailable omega 3’s in their long-chain forms – docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Flax oil (and some other plant-based oils) do supply omega 3’s but they’re in the short-chain alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) form. The body has to convert ALA to EPA and DHA and this process is very inefficient (I’ve read that in many cases less than 15% of the ALA is converted). Coconut oil, while a very healthy addition to the diet, does not contain omega 3’s – it contains saturated fat, predominantly in the form of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). I would recommend for a dog Mila’s size (she weighs around 50 lbs, right?) adding 1 capsule of a high quality fish oil daily or 1 tin (3.75 oz.) of sardines packed in water per week, up to 2 1/2 tsp. coconut oil per day and 1 tsp. flax oil or 1 tbs. ground flax per pound of poultry if she’s eating a lot of poultry. Hope that helps!
Congrats on going back to school, HDM!! We’re proud of you!! 🙂 Speaking of pre-mixes, Preference recommends using fish oil, coconut oil, or flax seed oil. What are your thought on flax seed oil, it’d the only one if the 3 I haven’t used?
Hi Aussie Mom –
I would recommend “See Spot Live Longer Dinner Mix” – it’s a combination of whole foods and vitamins and minerals designed to balance a boneless raw meat diet. You add 2 – 4 tbs. per pound of meat and it supplies everything you need (in terms of vitamins, minerals, fiber and balancing the calcium to phosphorus ratio). I’m actually planning on utilizing this mix part time this fall when I go back to school to save me some time – as much as I love doing everything completely from scratch it can really take up a lot of time. You could use this while you’re researching how to do things completely from scratch. There are some other “pre-mixes” out there as well (Urban Wolf, Prefereance, Birkdale, Grandma Lucy’s, Sojo’s, Dr. Harvey’s, etc.). You will still need to add omega 3’s – either in the form of a quality fish oil, fatty fish, cage-free eggs or some combination of these.
If you’re concerned about a correlation between fish oil and prostate cancer I’d suggest reading this article by Dr. Mercola:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/07/31/omega-3-fats.aspx#!
Great, thanks for all of the advice! I love this place 😉 I’ve had a lot of success with making the kefir for myself – my boyfriend won’t touch it, but it has totally helped my stomach. I got my kefir grains off Craigslist over a year ago – I just strain them, drink what I’ve strained, pour new milk back over them, and put them back in the cupboard for 24-48 hours. I’m actually severely lactose intolerant and it doesn’t bother me a bit. It has a lot more good-bacterial strains than yogurt, which is what makes me want to give it to my dog and cat. Also (I just looked this up so I could quote it): according to kefir.net, “Yogurt contains transient beneficial bacteria that keep the digestive system clean and provide food for the friendly bacteria that reside there. But kefir can actually colonize the intestinal tract, a feat that yogurt cannot match.” I’m nervous about experimenting on the animals, considering I’m in the process of getting them used to their new food (thanks to the help of this site!) but I’m sure they’ll love it. I’m gonna colonize their little intestinal tracts 😉 Patty, I’ve never made the Amish friendship cakes I’ve always wanted to!), but I brew kombucha (fermented tea) – talk about a nasty science experiment!! I started all of this back when I was eating raw – SO hard to do, but I never felt better in my whole life when I wasn’t eating anything cooked. Reading about how people feed their dogs raw food makes so much sense to me. I’d love to get there one day.
I was looking at the Carlson brand. I read an article that new studies are saying that fish oil can cause prostate cancer in men.. Do you think their would be any of the same risk in a in-tact male dog?
Also I was wondering if it was there is a pill/powder for all the needed vitamins and minerals that i could give that makes the calcium and phosphate levels correct and whatnot. At least until I have the portions of the meat down.
It feels less overwhelming if I could learn in it two phases. LOL
HDM, I agree , I like and respect Carlson brand and what you are doing checking it is good. Those round wooden toothpicks work very well also for puncturing also if using caps. I ‘m partial to quality bottled myself. Most of other brands in gel caps I don’t have any respect for, many of them now using enteric coated to mask the belching of bad tastes/odors and probable rancidity, as the enteric won’t dissolve until after leaving the stomach.
I do use very small amounts of the same NOW tocopherols/tocotreinals in gel caps that you use, and use toothpicks to squeeze out the small amounts I need, though even that can be had in a more natural whole food form-red palm oil.
I
I actually use a thumbtack to puncture my fish oil capsules every few weeks so I can taste and smell them to make sure they’re fresh (my dogs and I take the same fish oil). What a lot of people don’t realize is that if it’s fresh there will be no smell and virtually no taste! I see a lot of people on the review section complain about how fish oil is smelly – shouldn’t be. I use Carlson brand and have never had any issues.
Lmao!! @ kibble kruncher! Ha ha ha!!!
LOL
I’ve sampled a couple of dog foods, but I definitely have my limits. I could never, ever become a kibble kruncher. I have however tasted most parrot pellets and nuts/seed though before we feed, and by experiences, I’m glad I do so.
On the supplements, human or not, as limited as we use them, and especially with having very loose regulations, to put it lightly, I personally rarely ever use any pill, tablet or capsule, preferring to rely on senses like taste, smell, and sight. Take fish oil for example. If you swallow gel caps of it, how would you know if it might be rancid until you begin to belch vile tastes and odors? And in the case of enteric coated caps you won’t even get any warning at all. It’s also really hard to determine the actual source, process, etc. used.
Anyone that is a regular sunflower seed eater, especially with the hull on, has probably had the opportunity to taste what complete rancidity/spoilage is like. One bad seed chewed can put out such a horrible taste, it can seem like hours to get the taste out, even with thorough rinsing and brushing.
Btw, I forgot. dulse sprinkled into chili just before serving is also especially tasty, IMO, you can still use cheddar cheese as a topping also 🙂 . Not me, but some people eat whole dried dulse like other folks would potato chips.
Thanks! It was taken last weekend, she finally got to go back to the dog park. She had so much fun!! 🙂 I just got my first Hare Today order delivered (turkey necks, turkey hearts, green tripe). How long should I thaw them for so I can portion them out? And also, I noticed you use the ground lamb supreme from MPC when u feed lamb, do you prefer it to Hare Today’s lamb/mutton? Is the lamb supreme in the correct meat/bone/organ meat ratio or does it need anything added to balance it out? I like it that it also has tripe. I’ll probably feed it in about a month or two but would just like your expertise. It’ll probably be my next order. She’s loved her raw so far, didn’t really need a long transition and no digestion issues. She’s going to love the long turkey necks, she’s only had the cut ones from the grocery store. I’m going to start also giving her pork neck bones next week, do i have to add any extra muscle/organ meat or tripe to it to balance it out? Sorry this is in the wrong section of the forum, if you feel more comfortable please leave your reply on the raw food section, when you can of course. 🙂
I found one by Health Comes First called Ultragreens that I actually like in my OJ. That really surprised me because I’m like HDM, give it to me in a capsule then hand me the cheddar cheese popcorn!
Aussie Mom – Talk to the owners of some restaurants in your area and see where they get their meat from. Contact the company and see if they cater to kennels. The company I get my meat from is just a restaurant supplier but they will cater to kennels/dog owners if the order is large enough. If the minimum order is especially large see if you can find a friend to go in on an order with you.
So losul – let me get this straight – you try your dog’s food and also use dulse for seasoning on your popcorn? I think I’ll stick with taking my “superfoods” in capsule form so I don’t have to taste them and have the bagged white cheddar popcorn instead. lol! 🙂
