Hmm a quick follow up on which I would appreciate any feedback… no one had a problem post-RMB until this morning when both threw up some small pieces of bone mixed with yellow bile. Both had normal poop (small, firm, etc) and both had an appetite for breakfast, and both are acting normally. Is this a normal reaction to the first time that much bone enters their systems… did they not chew enough… do I do feed RMBs again? Thanks HDM/everyone.
I knew the regular Instinct was coated with something but I didn’t know it was freeze dried raw
I was going to run out tonight and get some cans as well as a different recipe of food. It’s hard finding kibble I feel comfortable feeding him, and I unfortunately don’t think I’ve got the budget to go raw. Bah.
Glad to hear they enjoyed their RMBs! 🙂
Just wanted to share with the people I know will understand that my dogs just had their first raw meaty bones for dinner tonight! Each had a duck neck that my husband and I held the whole time, since I didn’t want any gulping. Once they both stopped playing tug of war with us, they got the idea and got down to chewing. I must admit that every single one of the questions that Hound Dog Mom posted in the original post on this thread went through my mind, haha… was that piece too big? Are they chewing enough? Etc. Aside from my tendency to worry too much, it was definitely satisfying to watch them be “true carnivores”, crunching and grinding away. They’re both happily sleeping/digesting now… I’m very hopeful it agrees with them so I can continue to increase the variety of RMBs in their diet!
Hi Marie –
I don’t think the Raw Boost is any better than the regular Instinct. The regular Instinct is coated in freeze-dried raw. I think it’s just more money for a product that’s just as good or marginally better at best to the old product. All for marketing I’m sure.
Frozen raw like Darwin’s may be the way to go. It usually has lower sodium levels. The problem with sodium is that pet food companies aren’t required to put it on the label, so they don’t. That means if you want to know the sodium level you have to ask. And if you don’t ask the right question they may tell you their minimum, which has next to nothing to do with how much is actually in there. You have to ask for the actual or the maximum, and make sure that they understood your question, and that’s if you actually get to talk to a live person.
Don’t try Fresh Pet. Everyone comments on how salty it is.
-
This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by
theBCnut.
Hi Sully’s Mom
A year ago, I wasn’t rotating foods either. I had a dog with a sensitive stomach and changing foods always upset everything with her. I had another that was super picky, only eating about every third meal. When I started rotating, I started by adding canned or fresh toppers, just 20% or less of each meal. I would use the same topper for a few days then change it. That got my picky dog eating some better and it got my sensitive dog read for a food change. It always took a month to change foods completely with the sensitive dog, but I committed to doing it. As soon as I got her used to one food, I started the transition to the next. It took about 3 transitions before I realized that she could transition faster without stomach upset, so I started transitioning every 2 weeks. Now she gets a different food every meal, and I also feed some raw with never an upset stomach. And my picky dog is excited to eat, never misses a meal, and always licks his bowl clean. So when I say I had a dog with a sensitive stomach and I had a picky dog, it’s because they aren’t either of those things anymore. I have four different kibbles open at any given time, but with 3 athletic dogs I go through them pretty fast. And I feed a wide variety of raw proteins.
I used NV Lid turkey a few years back to Boone and he did great!
HDM, what’s your opinion on their raw boost?
Thanks HDM! I just ordered some off of wag.com, it should be here Tues. I know it isn’t the Raw making them itch and the only thing that someone that I trust pointed out in the turkey and egg that could possibly be the itchy culprit is carrot. My dogs are not flaky skin and no fleas or ticks but do once again itchy and the yeasty ears are back too.
Yeah, I combine ground beef with the organ grind and tripe grind, portion it up and refreeze it. The rabbit will be easier because I’ll feed that by itself. I’m sure glad I found out about Hare Today on here. Sure makes feeding raw a lot easier!
Looking for a low sodium canned dog food for my cavalier with CHF. Any suggestions? She currently loves Weruva human style canned. I’ve tried Great Life Essentials, but she’s not as crazy about that.
Home cooked is not really practical for me but I might consider the frozen raw foods.
Thanks!
Hi Sully’s Mom –
To get an avatar go to gravatar(dot)com.
Many people have different methods of rotational feeding. Some switch foods a few times a year, some switch after every bag, some have multiple foods at one time and switch with every meal and others stick with the same food and only rotate toppers (I personally don’t feel the rotating toppers only is the best method).
When I used to feed kibble I got a new brand with a different protein source after each bag and I always had a variety of canned and fresh food toppers on hand and rotated toppers daily. So for example my dog would get a lamb based kibble made by Brand X and after that bag was gone I’d get a chicken based kibble from Brand Y, etc. – all the while rotating canned toppers daily. Now that my dogs eat a homemade raw diet I’m able to feed them something completely different at each meal.
You really can rotate as often as you want – there’s no such thing as too much variety. Get a rotation plan going that works works for you and your dog. You could mix the trial bags you got in with the kibble you’re currently feeding or few a few meals of only the trial food until the bag is gone. Initially you may need to so slow transitions to get your dog accustomed to variety, however after a few switches you should be able to go from food to food without doing a gradual transition. I generally recommend, at the very least, having three go to foods (preferably from different manufacturers and with different protein sources).
We feed Hare Todays ground rabbit mixture in the morning and in the evening we feed Brothers Turkey and Egg. We have been back on Turkey and egg kibble for approx 8 weeks since our bout with Pancreatitis and now We have been feeding 1/2 Raw and 1/2 kibble a day and my dogs are more itchy than ever. I am wondering if it is the carrot in the kibble because carrot has natural sugars in it and sugar feeds yeast as in result causing sugar to feed on the yeast so I am wondering since the ingredients are similar in the Turkey and egg as Natures Variety Instinct but NV has no carrot added , I would switch to the NV Rabbit LID. Yes once again considering a food switch because it is not atopic allergies, for them to smell yeasty it is food allergy. I kept going back to turkey and egg because I was told it takes 6-8 months to rid their systems of Candida but after doing a ton of reading up on it and asking another legit source it should only take 3-4 months at most. Any thoughts?
I have 3 that will eat the Hare Today ground Rabbit and one that won’t touch it. I like it because it is not messy and easy to figure out each meal size. I just ordered 10 more lbs yesterday. I thaw it and then break it into 4 servings and then refreeze as Tracy suggested.
So I’ve seen this touched on, but need a little more in the way of specifics. In varying your dog’s food, which I’ve never done before, I’ve seen many say that they even rotate after every bag. Following some suggestions I’ve read here, I’ve gotten some samples from companies, and bought trial size bags of some premium foods (HINT* – petflow.com often offers trial size bags for a limited time of premium dog food for anywhere from $1 – $5 depending on the size). So I now have a 5lb bag of Nutrisca Chicken and Chickpea and 5lbs of Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost. Any suggestions on how best to incorporate a small quantity like these into a rotation?
Thanks Marie! I am too! & thanks HDM!
Glad Bailey is doing so well, cyndi!
Glad to hear Baily is doing so well! 🙂
I’m sure she’ll love the ground rabbit from Hare – my dogs do. They also love the quail – I’ve fed both the dressed and whole prey with feathers, they love both. I usually go with the feathered quail though because they’re cheaper – my crew doesn’t leave anything behind (they eat the feathers, intestines and all) so it doesn’t make a mess.
Hi Everyone! Thought I’d share some good things, since all that Shep garbage ingredient has really grossed me out. Anyways, Bailey has been doing awesome! She is eating tripe regularly (& loving it) and she’s eating chicken hearts, and chicken & turkey livers regularly, with no problems. I also got her the whole rabbit grind from Hare Today that I’m going to give her probably next week. Not quite ready to do a whole prey animal with her, although I’m thinking about getting her a whole dressed quail (that sounds funny like it’s dressed in clothes or something) maybe sometime soon. I don’t think I can get anything with feathers or fur on it. Not sure I can handle that. Anyways, I also have Bailey completely off the Fresh Pet too, and her ear problem DID clear up. Not sure what in that food could have caused her problems, but I’m so glad it’s gone. So, that’s our update! I want to thank everyone, again, for all your help and suggestions. & I’m sure, if she could, Bailey would be thanking you all too! 🙂
-
This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by
Cyndi.
Thanks guys for the information. I don’t feed rawhides anymore and haven’t for months. I buy them the antlers and I will start giving them some raw meaty bones. Any treats they have gotten lately were freeze dried liver and they got like maybe 3 total within the last couple weeks, so I’m pretty sure it isn’t from “extras”. I actually have looked into Annamaet foods and I like what I see. I will check out Nutrisca. I did get them some raw meat today and fed them a small amount to see how they liked it and they loved it. I really want to just feed raw only, but with one more year of school I won’t have the time. Thanks for the link to that enzyme. I will definitely get some of that. I will probably make an appointment with the vet for next week. Thanks, once again, for all of this information.
Hi acs379 –
Nope, there’s nothing specific about excess fat that will cause developmental issues. Many veterinarians and breeders just tend to recommend lower fat foods because they generally have a lower calorie count per cup and they feel that it will be less likely that the dog will consume too many calories. However, as long as portion sizes are controlled it doesn’t pose an issue. My experience with my hounds has actually been that I have difficulty keeping weight on them – they tend to be on the thin side if anything, so for me it’s been really important to use more calorie-dense foods.
First off I would like to say that it is wonderful that your breeder is recommending the inclusion of fresh foods. Many breeders and veterinarians don’t recognize the importance of fresh foods. Fresh meat, plain yogurt and eggs are wonderful additions to dry kibble – they boost the protein levels and the species appropriateness. Adding eggs and boneless meat will also help to reduce the calcium to phosphorus ratio of the food as they’re high in phosphorus but low in calcium. Just be sure to keep the unbalanced extras to approximately 20% or less of the meal or you could skew the calcium to phosphorus ratio too much and potentially throw off the balance of the other nutrients in the food. Canned foods and dehydrated foods make great toppers too, if feeding a balanced canned or dehydrated food with appropriate calcium levels you can add as much as you want, if feeding a food with higher calcium levels or an unbalanced canned topper follow the 20% rule. Tripe makes an excellent topper – especially for large and giant breed puppies, the reason being that tripe has has a naturally balanced calcium to phosphorus ratio (1:1) but very low concentrations of both minerals (only about 0.3% if I recall correctly). So feeding tripe will dilute the overall calcium levels without the risk of throwing of the c:p ratio. When Gertie was a pup she ate THK and I generally fed her 4 C. THK + 1 can Tripett (canned green tripe) daily (and some fresh additions like eggs, plain yogurt and tinned sardines a few times a week). Mabel started right off on raw and ate raw green tripe as about 25% of her diet for the first 6 months to keep her calcium levels low. Another benefit to tripe (if you can get it raw) is that it’s loaded with probiotics and digestive enzymes.
I generally recommend not supplementing with vitamins (unless per veterinarian recommendation) for those feeding a balanced commercial food, however vitamin c and vitamin b are water soluble vitamins so they are not harmful in excess, if you wanted to add them it shouldn’t cause any problems. The problems arise with certain minerals and fat soluble vitamins as these can be harmful when consumed in excess. Because balanced commercial foods already contain vitamins and minerals adding additional vitamins (fat soluble) and certain minerals could potentially result in toxicity. I would definitely not supplement with vitamin d or calcium – vitamin d is a fat soluble vitamin and adding calcium would likely throw off the calcium to phosphorus ratio and high levels of calcium are what need to be avoided for large and giant breed puppies.
Now onto discussing the Science Diet Adult Maintenance recommendation. I see many breeders recommend putting large breed puppies directly onto an adult maintenance food and this is extremely poor advice (imo) and often based on faulty logic. The reason breeders typically recommend adult foods is because adult foods tend to be lower in fat and calories than puppy foods – from the previous discussion we know that this isn’t an issue as long as portions are controlled. Feeding a puppy a food designated for adult maintenance puts the puppy at risk of not getting enough fat, protein or certain vitamins and minerals. SD is extremely low in protein – to be honest I wouldn’t even feel comfortable feeding a food that low in protein to an adult dog, let alone a growing puppy. I don’t ever recommend feeding foods with less than 30% protein (for adults or puppies) and the SD only has 24.5% protein. Also, if you go to SD’s website and read the product description for the adult maintenance food you’ll notice they state “Not recommended for puppies, pregnant or lactating dogs” – this is because dogs in their growth phase or in the stressful phase of pregnancy or lactation need high levels of protein, higher levels of fat and higher levels of certain vitamins and minerals. I personally wouldn’t ever feed or recommend any Science Diet Products. I would recommend checking out some 4 or 5 star foods with appropriate calcium levels. It’s also better if you rotate foods, don’t stick with just one – dogs need variety. I’d say at a bare minimum have three go to brands (preferably made by different companies and with different protein sources) and rotate through them. Rotational feeding has benefits including fostering a diverse population of gut flora, mitigating the short comings of feeding any one single food (no food is perfect) and providing alternatives in the event of a recall or formula change.
Hi weimlove –
You’ll have to check to see the concentration of the vitamin e supplement you have – different liquid supplements have different concentrations. It should tell you how many IUs per drop. I’d say 100 IU per lb. would be fine.
As long as you’re feeding a fatty fish (like sardine or salmon) a few times a week you shouldn’t need to worry about Omega 3’s or Vitamin D. I would just suggest kelp and alfalfa (like I did with the raw) – or some other “superfoods” (wheat grass, spirulina, etc.). I would feed at least one egg per one. I would also suggest occasionally adding items like tinned oysters, nuts and seeds to provide important trace nutrients (this doesn’t need to be done daily, but once in awhile). As long as you’re balancing the c:p ratio, feeding a variety of protein sources, feeding 10% organ meat, adding vitamin e, omega 3’s (fatty fish, cage free eggs or fish oil) and adding a whole food supplement everything should balance over time. Variety is key.
Congrats on the new pup! I would certainly say it would be fine to start the new pup on homemade. I started Mabel right up on homemade raw when she came home.
I’ve fed it and likely will again (Annamaet) but I had to drive 40min one way to buy it. Next time, I’ll just order. This little frenchie’s feet have done a real about change. He looks ten times better in general, not just his feet.
I like the ingredients of that Annamaet Aqualuk! I should see if I can buy that anywhere, I don’t believe I’ve seen it here though. What I notice is it doesn’t have all that fruit which would just serve to feed the yeast. Even if a dog doesn’t have yeast…it looks like a good recipe!
An online friend has a Frenchie with yeast issues, his paws were a mess. She put him on Annamaet Aqualuk and they cleared up!
I am still hung up on getting your dog to the vet asap. Unless you are really familiar with what yeast really is, you most likely will not know the difference between a smell of this and a smell of that. A lot of things can make them stink. If you are wasting time treating for yeast and it’s not even yeast, then you have wasted a lot of time and effort into some unnecessary treatment and caused your dog lots of grief. As dieseljunki said, you do not have to do or buy what the dog says. Question why they want you to do this or that. They will want to give you prednisone and all that will do is mask the itch. The reason I keep saying vet vet vet is that you need to really know if it is yeast or not and I don’t think the average joe really knows unless of course you have already had this before and it was diagnosed yeast and you are familiar with yeast. Certainly if your dog has a history of yeast then you would know if it is or not.
If you do end up going to your vet, don’t be afraid to tell him or her, no. They tried to put Moose my AmBull on Hills Science and to stop feeding raw. I told them no way, of course in a respectful manner. I also explained my reasoning a bit. My vet realizes now that if he is going to help me help my dog then he is just going to have to live with the fact that I won’t stop feeding raw. I also brought in some of my research and printed off a couple articles that HDM had posted here. Not sure if he’s read them but I think it allowed him to see I was doing my homework before attempting this.
Also just because they say, he needs this, and then that, doesn’t mean you have to take it right away. Go home and do your research. You may find that what they are suggesting isn’t all that great after all.
If all else fails and your vet is extremely pushy then I would be on the lookout for another. If I was in that situation anyways. Don’t let them push you around or pressure you into anything 🙂
You know what gmc, if you look at the ingredients of Acana Grasslands, it really has a lot of “sweets” in it which would severely affect a dog that has yeast issues, if that is the problem. Have you looked at all the fruits and high carb veggies it has in it? I had thought about Acana for my dog and I’m glad I saw this. Now I’m going to go take a more thorough look at our dog food next…gah….dogs just don’t need all those “sweets”!
I found the Nutrisca recommended on a website that was all about yeast in dogs because that is what I believed my dog was suffering from. This might be something to try. When I was at the petfood store, a lady overheard me talking to the manager about my dog’s issues and she had to come up to me carrying a bag of Nutrisca and told me it was the greatest food EVER! She said her dog had so many skin problems and she researched until she thought her eyes were going to come out of her head and decided on Nutrisca and she said she has all her friends buying it too. She told me all her dog’s skin problems went away.
Don’t forget about stuff like raw hides too. Those and others can cause allergies too.
Yeah see I tried all those on line remedies…me and Dr Becker are besties…HAHAHA…LOL! Kidding of course…but I read and watched her so much….
I bought the expensive vet ear cleaner only to find out that a cotton swab soaked in witch hazel…roll it around then use a dry one and roll that around with your finger works WONDERS! Every time I’d use the vet stuff, she would shake her head like crazy. I believe I heard witch hazel from Dr. Becker. I like the flat round cotton swabs…you can roll it around with your index finger really easy. I cut my nails all off too so I would scratch her ear.
I apologize. I forgot to mention it will not be the chicken formula. I will rotate between the Regional Red and Six Fish and she is currently eating the ACANA Grasslands and that contains no chicken. I also do not give any chicken treats. I have already soaked her paws in a water/hydrogen peroxide/white vinegar soak that I heard in a video from Dr. Becker. Her ears are worse than her paws, but I am keeping them clean almost every day. The only ear cleaner I have, though, is the convenient ear pads that Walmart sells. I think I am just going to end up buying some higher quality ear cleaner soon.
Satin Balls work for some dogs – just google “satin ball recipes for dogs.”
One of my dogs has difficulty keeping weight on, I never really got her to a healthy weight until I switched her to a high fat (30% – 40%) raw diet. You have to increase fat levels slowly though or else the dog will probably get diarrhea.
You haven’t mentioned if the Orijen is the chicken formula? This could be the problem if it’s chicken allergies because it will have more chicken than an el cheapo junk dog food. That is what happened for my dog, I thought that grain free was the answer so chose a grain free chicken and that’s when she really got bad.
In my case, the paws would not heal up without an antibiotic…I had literally been treating them for months…with daily betadine soaks and they just would not heal up. They’d appear to be getting better then they would get worse and bleed…over and over until we’d had enough. Her feet were covered with pustules though. It doesn’t sound as if your dog is as severe as my girl was.
You can buy a good probiotic for humans to give them…what enzymes would you suggest patty?
Hi weimlove –
Any raw recipe can easily be converted to a cooked recipe. The raw feeding model, as you know, is 80% muscle meat, 10% organ meat, 10% bone – to convert to cooked you would omit the bone, increase the muscle meat portion to 90% and supplement with 800 – 1,000 mg. calcium per pound of meat fed. Any human calcium supplement would work. On the days I feed boneless meals I use Swanson’s calcium citrate powder. Ground eggshells work too – 1 tsp. ground eggshell has about 800 – 1,000 mg. calcium.
I hope the cooked food works out better for Shadow than the raw did 🙂
BTW, the vet would probably put your dog on antibiotics but that is in essense delaying true healing, because antibiotics wipe out the good bacteria as well as the bad and right now your dogs body is only supporting the bad, so that is what will grow back, then you’ll need antibiotics again, and again, and again. The probiotics are good microflora that compete for resources with the bad ones so they help cut back the bad ones and at the same time rebalance the good ones. They also compete with yeast and help with healing there too. Just one thing to be aware of, as your dog gets better, it will probably have healing crisis along the way. These are episodes where the skin may start itching again for a couple days or there might be a short bout of diarrhea, the eyes might gunk up. These are times when the body is getting rid of some of the junk that has built up in the system. They don’t last long and they shouldn’t be as bad as original symptoms were in intensity but they can be strange. My dog had his skin go red and start inching intensely for a couple days then 2 weeks later his eyes started gooping up for a couple days. After that it was his ears, or his skin all of a sudden got seborretic, then he got a single sore on his leg that had pustules in it. That was the last one though, now as long as I keep him away from most grains and chicken, he looks like a normal dog.
Thanks guys for the info! So, if I feed Orijen grain free supplemented with Blue Ridge Beef raw, which has ground green tripe in the natural mix and add plain yogurt to that, do you think that will be a good diet? Or should I supplement with more?
Hi acs379 –
This is a wonderful point to bring up! I’ll try to explain it as best I can.
The two main nutritional risks to large breed puppies are excess calcium consumption (or an unbalanced calcium to phosphorus ratio) and excess energy consumption (too many calories leading to rapid weight gain).
The reason most formulas targeted towards large breed puppies and recommended for large breed puppies tend to be lower in fat has to do with the excess energy consumption risk factor. Protein and carbohydrates both have approximately 4 kcal. per gram while fat has over twice this much at about 9 kcal. per gram. So as you can see, fat is much more calorically dense than protein or carbohydrates and, as a result, foods that are higher in fat tend to be more calorically-dense as well. It is easier for a puppy (or any dog) to consume too much energy (calories) when eating a more calorically-dense food and this would ultimately result in undesired weight gain and, as we know, undesired weight gain in large and giant breed puppies can contribute to the development of orthopedic disease. This is why when feeding a more calorically-dense, or as some would say “rich”, food it is necessary to strictly control portions.
As you can see fat – per se – is not a risk factor for developmental orthopedic disease, excess calories are. It’s very possible to feed a puppy (or any dog) a food that is higher and fat and not have the dog gain unwanted pounds – this is done through portion control. So if, for example, a puppy is eating a food with 20% fat that has 500 kcal. per cup the puppy will obviously need less of this food (to compensate for the high caloric-density) than of a food with 12% fat and 350 kcal. per cup.
All of my puppies have eaten higher fat foods. Gertie ate a combination of The Honest Kitchen and grain-free canned foods until she was 8 months old with fat levels in excess of 20%. Mabel ate a homemade raw diet from the time she came home at 8 weeks with fat levels in the 30% – 40% range. I keep track of the calories my dogs are consuming, so my pups are fed the amount of calories that keeps them in optimal body condition. This means that when eating fattier more calorie-dense meals they get a smaller portion than when they’re eating leaner less calorie-dense meals.
In summary, it’s not the fat that contributes to developmental orthopedic disease it’s the excess calories that fat provides. As long as portion sizes are monitored and the pup isn’t allowed to gain weight too quickly fat levels won’t pose an issue.
I hope that helps clear things up!
That is why it is best to space out each feeding by quite a bit. Like I feed Raw in the morning at about 5:30AM and then at around 6pm I feed kibble and I do add enzymes and probiotics. It woks for us because we spread each meal out to where the first meal is digested before we feed the 2nd meal.
The only time I had an issue is when I mixed kibble with Raw trying to do a switch over to Raw and now I know and have learned we can switch to certain Raw food with no issues but just no mixing in kibble with it.
For yeast problems, it is important to feed the lowest carb food that you can. Sugar feeds the yeast. You have to stick with a restricted carb diet for about 8 months to allow the body time to get back in balance. It’s also very important to give digestive enzymes and probiotics at this time, because of the damage that yeast does to the gut wall.
That yellow discharge could be infection and that smells nasty too. It really to me sounds like food allergies. The allergies start at the feet. I saw it explained why but of course I can’t remember now…like that’s where dogs sweat so that’s where the toxins come out? I actually had two vets tell me it was most likely food allergies and to try something without grains and without chicken. My vet had to give her an antibiotic shot for the infection in her paws…it was that bad. To me it smelled like stinky cheese…kind of like cheetoes or parmesan cheese which I thought was yeast. I just think it’s best to go at least to the vet so they can tell you if it’s yeast or not and if there’s infection…it won’t heal up without antibiotic. At least if it’s not yeast, you won’t have that to worry with. My vet suggested a venison or duck limited ingredient food and also said that fish would be ok too. If it’s yeast…one of the few dry kibbles I’ve seen that is supposed to be ok for yeast is Nutrisca. I would definitely stay away from chicken until you figure it out. My dogs symptoms were swollen infected paws, itching bald spots in various places on her body, watering eyes, pink inside to ears with some brown discharge and itching in them, just a whole lot of scratching going on all over but mostly the paws. She was having to wear a cone because she was chewing her paws. I really wasted a lot of time trying to self diagnose because believe me I am so anti-doctor it’s ridiculous. HA! If the vet tells you it’s food allergies, you do not have to buy their dog food! When I made a face at the suggestion of IAMS RX…my vet suggested a venison or duck grain free food of my liking…HAHAHA! But she had to have a shot to clear the paw infection! Believe me, I am kicking myself for not taking her to the vet sooner! It would have saved us both a lot of pain and suffering!
I was also thinking of going with Blue Ridge Beef instead of Tucker’s because it is cheaper. The reviews I read online sounds like Blue Ridge Beef is really good for the price, but I was wondering if anybody here has fed that and liked it.
I did bathe them in some flea shampoo I got at Walmart and I haven’t found any fleas on them lately. I will look into that boric acid, thanks. I have looked up pictures and symptoms of all kinds of skin issues and can’t really find one that fits them 100%. But my Saints ears and in between her paws are definitely yeasty and my American Bulldog has some areas on his skin where the skin is peeling, but it isn’t dry and flaky. It is kind of moist and has some yellow scabby discharge. I may just end up having to take them to the vet, but if this is diet related I want to fix it myself and not be told to buy some prescription crap from the vet.
When I first brought home Mila, the pet store suggested I buy Canidae Single Grain (a 5 star brand on DFA) but once I transitioned her to grain-free she didn’t want the Canidae anymore and ate around it.
dogaware(dot)com has recipes and supplement guidelines. HDM posted a chicken and rice recipe in the raw dog food menus but you could cook it. Sorry it didn’t work out.
* Starbright:
You are most welcome! I wish you the best of luck!
And I’ve been trying to save money on treats and wanted something healthier for Quinn with her joints, so a few “healthy” suggestions are baby carrots, dehydrated fruit (we use our food dehydrator and make a bunch of apples and bananas when they’re getting a little soft for our taste or if we forget they were in the fridge drawer), and homemade treats (there’s some great peanut butter and pumpkin ones out there). Quinn loooooves apples (no seeds or core!) in any form and sometimes I sprinkle some cinnamon on them. They’re cheap and good for her. Try carrots for sure!
Also: we subscribe to a few monthly dog subscription boxes that gives us all of our treats — mainly because it feels like Christmas when I open up the boxes. 😉
Hi all,
I am completely overwhelmed with all this information, but so grateful to have discovered this website! I HAVE to make a change in my dogs’ food. My 7 year old Husky started having diarrhea last week and vomited one day. I took him to the vet Monday, who said she noticed bad bacteria in his stool and prescribed an antibiotic. Today (Wednesday) I see another recall for Innova (salmonella), which is what my husky eats, so I called the vet to ask is this could have been the cause of his symptoms. She said yes and prescribed another med.
Obviously, I’m done with Innova. I was thinking about switching to Fromm, but I really want to do what is best for my dogs. I recently moved to the middle of nowhere, where the only place to buy dog food is Walmart. No way.
What I’m thinking of doing is ordering Fromm dry food online, and topping it with some canned foods — I can get different flavors to keep them happy and that won’t upset their tummies, right? (I have two dogs – the husky and a shepherd mix approx 50 lbs.) I was also thinking of adding in carrots…should I clean them and feed raw or cook them first? The yogurt sounds like a good idea, too. Would it be better to purchase dehydrated or freeze-dried food and top that with some fresh goodies? I have never heard of being able to purchase dehydrated/freeze-dried food so that’s a totally new concept to me.
Thank you so much for any thoughts or input. I want my dogs to live the longest healthiest life possible.
HDM likes Answers; I can’t get it locally and I think I’ve seen one online place tht carried it, when I looked. She can probably help with that.
If you want to do raw, have you looked at Hare Today?
Oh and I can also get this locally but I have only ever used the goats milk of theirs, I just learned today that they have Raw food http://www.answerspetfood.com/straight.html
