[pugmomsandy]

I even rotate foods for the fosters. They get a different bag every time. They get exposed to all different proteins and fruit/veg and different levels of micronutrients/vits/minerals. My one foster is only getting canned food and raw food but still gets different flavors of canned and different raw foods as it comes in a 2 lb bag and I have 4 different ones to chose from. My personal dogs get canned, kibble, freeze dried, and raw and occasioanlly dehydrated. I just don’t get feeding one food forever.

[Jackie B]

Some dog breeds just have trouble with anal glands. Raw food (including the commercial raw diet) results in some of the firmest poop. Firm poop naturally expresses the dog’s anal glands when the dog defecates. Raw is worth a try!

[theBCnut]

Feeding raw meaty bones helps to make the stool harder which helps to naturally release the anal glands. You need to really watch your dog when you first start feeding bones to make sure your dog chews up the bones instead of gulping. Starting with chicken necks works well or if you have a large dog turkey necks.

[susalu]

My sweet Schmoopy has anal gland issues and needs to have them regularly expressed… every couple of months… Right now I have her on Vitality dog food in the AM (5 stars) and Natural Balance dry food in the evenings… Thinking about switching the PM food to raw… Any suggestions?

[Jackie B]

I met a family with their Boxer, a female which looked excessively itchy and miserable with raw, red skin in many places. I asked tactfully why she was like that, and they told me that the vet had been treating her for “mange.” For the last 12 MONTHS. They were taking her in every 3 weeks for an expensive skin treatment. I asked what food they were using– Pedigree. Apparently, their vet had not even mentioned the possibility of the skin problems being related to food allergies or that she might have poor health due to poor food. I of course gave them the DFA website and strongly suggested that they check out the review of Pedigree.

There are plenty of people who listen to vets exclusively and don’t go beyond and do their own investigation.

[Shawna]

Hi poochie1059 — I agree with everything Hound Dog Mom wrote. Many better quality foods are appropriate for puppy, adult and senior dogs.

I wanted to add, MANY of us here on DFA, including Dr. Mike, believe in rotational feeding. We switch our dogs food regularly. Some switch daily, some with each new bag of kibble, some every other month and so on. If you start when the dog is a puppy and feed the same quality of foods you can switch between foods without having to “transition”. Dogs should be able to eat whatever (that is appropriate) you put in front of them. By only feeding one food we actually create sensitive tummies.

I rotate with every new bag of food and buy the smaller 5 and 6lb bags. I rotate proteins as well as brands. I use a variety of 5 star “all life stage” foods for all the dogs in my home including the foster puppies the adults and the seniors (I have 8 dogs and foster for Boston and Papillon rescue). The foods I use include Acana, Orijen, Brothers Complete, Merrick, Earthborn, Nature’s Variety, Nature’s Logic etc.

Additionally, many of us put “toppers” on our dogs’ foods. The topper can include canned foods, dehydrated, commercial raw, sardines, raw or lightly cooked egg etc. All these add extra nutrition and variety — sardines as an example are a great source of extra protein and omega 3 fatty acids.

Good luck with and best of health to your puppy!!!

[Toxed2loss]

Hi Sophia,

Insects are far more resilient than mammals. So much so that by the over use of chemical insecticides we’ve inadvertently produced pests that are immune to them. The chemical companies keep producing and selling more harmful chemicals in response. These poison our pets. So I’m copying a post that I originally shared on the Mercola Healthy Pets forum. Just in case you want to go that route.

“IPM Fleas
I use a method that my daughter and I developed when she went off to college (with her dog) and discovered her apartment and yard were infested from the previous renter’s cat and the abundance of ferel cats that frequented her yard. My daughter is an IPM entomologist and started her professional career at age 15. Here’s what we worked out.:

The first thing to consider is breaking the flea life cycle, which is: hatch out of eggs laid in textiles or litter, feed as nymph, metamorphasize to adult, hop on dog, mate/feed, hop off, lay eggs, repeat…

Bathing your dog regularly is a great way to interrupt the flea reproductive cycle… if they don’t reproduce, no resident fleas.

I use a fragrance free, non toxic detergent. I am currently using naturoli’s soapnut shampoo. Its extremely mild and nourishes the skin and coat. All the pet shampoos (even the hypo-allergenic ones) at pet stores have stuff I wouldn’t use, therefore, I won’t put it on my dogs. Occassionally I use a few drops of a REPELLENT, non toxic pet shampoo along with the detergent. I use Earthypet, for the drops. I get it at http://www.allnaturalcosmetics.com Its very fragrant, and more than 1 drop per small dog, 2 for med-large hurts me. I can only imagine how much it offends the dog. (For your sick dogs, I’d avoid the aromatics until they recover!) One of the ways you can monitor if the VOCs are too high for your dog is, “do they rub their face on the carpet?” That indicates that it is hurting their noses.

Keep in mind that your dog could still have gotten flea born diseases when you used a pesticide, as it takes a while for the resident fleas to get killed. A repellent, like lavender and rosemary oils, keeps the blood feeders away, and therefore prevents insect vectored diseases.

When I bath my pom. I fill up the laundry sink and have her sit in it for 3-5 min. I protect the ears and nose. I also watch for fleeing fleas and squish ’em. Make sure they pop. You will also see them swimming in the tub. Squish those too. Washing them down the drain isn’t enough. They hop back out. Also for the first several weeks, check your dog, down to the skin in a well lit area for fleas. Use a desk lamp. The fleas will come to the warmth. You’ll still have to comb through all her hair and examine all of her skin. If she’s picked up a tick, or cheat grass, you will find it during this procedure. Don’t forget to squish the fleas. When you aren’t seeing them or their “dirt”, you can move your bath times to less frequently, but monitor to find the best schedule. I bath more frequently during heavy hatches. Contact your State University, Experiment Station Entomologist for the timing of the heaviest hatch(es) in your area.

Next: frequent laundering (weekly to every 2 weeks) of your dogs bedding, with borax as a laundry booster: 1/4 to 1/2 cup per load. Borax residues form crystals in the fabric, which scratch through the exoskeleton and cause the adults to suffocate. I love that part! (dry on Hot) Fleas lay their eggs near where your dog habitates, in fibers: Carpet, upholstry, bedding. Flea nymphs hatch out and start feeding on what’s in their environment. Residual borax is consumed and kills the nymphs.

For control in carpets and upholstery, I wash them (steam clean) with borax solution. Its also a great way to get out petroleum and oil stains… as well as odors. Unless something happens, I shampoo a couple of times a year, like during major hatch cycles. (spring) and at the end of the summer to minimize the indoor population. The borax crystalizes after this too, and kills both adults and nymphs.

So, this method kills by drowning or suffocating the adults, poisoning the nymphs, and drowning/frying the eggs. It is an intergrated, (non invasive) pest management practice or IPM.

There are a number of things you can do to deter mosquitos from feeding on your pet. The aromatics work by repelling, but you can use garlic, (one of Shawna’s favorites!) Or complex Bs make the blood unpalatable to insects. I have frequently fed brewer’s yeast to get the Bs, but I’m hearing some downsides. Get a good supplement. Healthy raw foods with lightly cooked broccoli and other cruciferous veggies (see Dr. Becker’s book for amounts) are high in sulfur, and that repels mosquitos. Tumeric and curry (garam masala) have healing properties as well as making you “not a biting insects preferred snack.” Hope that helps! 🙂

I also mix up a spray bottle with water and some of Dr. Bronner’s Castile, mint oil soap. It repels mosquitos. I use this as a spray-on during peak seasons or heavy hatches. I went to the coast a few years back in May. I used this and everyone else in the campground was slapping mosquitos, regardless of “off” and deet, and I didn’t have even one, near me. It lasted all night. As you probably know mosquitos vector heartworm. So this little preventive measure goes a long way in protecting pups from heartworm.”

Hope that helps!

[Jackie B]

I switch through foods a lot because Prince gets bored of foods very fast. On his rotation are homemade recipes from Feed Your Best Friend Better, Stella & Chewy’s frozen raw, Sojo’s Grain-free (with raw beef), Artemix Fresh Mix Beef, Party Animal Venison, and some Merrick grain-free foods.

I do feed the Solid Gold Seameal. Recently I purchased some Missing Link supplement as well, so I might start doing both of those. They have different stuff in them.

[Safe4pups]

By the way – have you tried a good raw bone? I wouldn’t leave the marrow in it because of her compromised immune system, but a good, clean, raw bone can keep a dogs chewing instinct satisfied as well as keep the teeth clean.

[Shawna]

I had to do a food trial too.. I’m a raw feeder and feed a LOT of variety so a food trial was a must. I eliminated EVERYTHING she had been exposed to in the past and started feeding her raw ostrich as the protein and a novel starch and gave her freeze dried goat for treats.. She ate this and only this for 6 months. At the end of the 6 months her sysmptoms were a thing of the past. I then introduced a new food about every 4 days to make sure there wasn’t a delayed reaction. Turns out she is allergic to beef bone (which I have to watch in whole food supplements as well as her raw diet), goat dairy, cow tripe and barley. I believe the lectin proteins in the barley damaged her gut allowing the proteins from the other foods to get into her bloodstream causing the allergic reaction. Oddly, she has no issue with what we think to be “protein” — chicken, beef, lamb, duck, turkey etc.

With Audrey we were sure it was a food allergy because she had symptoms year round and because her eosinophil white blood cell count was high on her blood work (eosinophils can be high with food allergies and parasitic infections). From my understanding, eosinophils are not high in food intolerances however and food intolerances (like Audrey’s to barley) can have the same symptoms as true allergies.

[theBCnut]

Micah was showing signs of leaky gut as an 8-9 week old puppy with IBS and some other issues. I started switching his food immediately to improve his nutrition, but unfortunately, I didn’t really put 2 and 2 and 2 together until he started showing signs of systemic yeast. I got him switched over to Brothers Allergy Formula and raw(Darwin’s and homemade) about as fast as I thought I dared. And at just shy of 3 months on the new diet he is doing much better. He was having hot, red, itchy skin, seborrhea, inflamed intestines, mucousy diarrhea, red irritated eyes with discharge, as well as some other stuff. Really the only thing I wasn’t seeing was that he didn’t yet have the yeasty ears or skin sores. Fast forward 3 months, he has had brief periods of all those same symptoms, but they quickly resolve, he has had his ears wax up a couple times, and now he has a single skin sore.

I think it would be helpful to all of us that have a dog with this kind of issue, if we have a place to find out what is a normal detox versus it might be something else. So please share your detox story including what helps make it easier.

[shibasenji]

The only canned food I like is Weruva. And yes, it’s made in Thailand, not China (for the record, Taiwan is not China either, but I don’t know any Taiwanese-manufactured pet food that is distributed overseas). We’ve tried some other brands, but most of them are so pasty and stinky, I don’t think it’s worth the money. My two dogs aren’t picky, so the only reason I feed canned is to add variety and moisture, but I can take care of that in other ways — dehydrated raw, refrigerated soft/wet brands, or prepare my own blend of homecooked or raw.

[fishdog]

I have an 11 year old Alaska Husky, former sled dog, that bwas diagnosed with diabetes last winter. After a lot of experimenting with diet and insulin we finally achieved a workable balance with raw food. All went well untill recently (3 weeks ago) when his blood sugar levels became consistently elevated. We have tried varieties of new foods and insulin amounts with nothing more than temporary results.
This dog has had a very active life as a working sled dog, skijorer, and running companion and was on a low fat die prior to the diabetes due to a severe bout with pancreatitus. Currently he is able to do little more that eat, drink, and sleep and appears to be in distress most of the time. Suggestions?

[Ramona72]

You know the heads of those huge companies only have six homes, four yachts, two jets, right? Poor things. They’ve got to get those homepathic pellets off the market so they can get more stuff!

[Anonymous]

I had been using various Merrick grain free and canned Tripett, but now I’ve moved on to Weruva Human Style. It’s excellent. Human grade meats, free range, no hormones, etc. I was buying it locally but it was really expensive. I’ve found it on Amazon considerably cheaper with free shipping. They have kibble in the morning (Brothers, Acana grain free) topped with canned Weruva. One can split amongst three dogs. Dinner is Darwins raw. They love it all and seem to be thriving.

[soho]

Dr Mike

Freeze dried / dehydrated should be distinguished from dry kibble. If you use moisture content as basis for dry or wet, freeze dried and dehydrated are dry.

You could call your categories;
Dry (kibble) or just kibble
Dry (freeze dried / dehydrated) or just Freeze dried / Dehydrated
Wet
Raw

[Alexandra]

Hi Dr. Mike,

I would be more inclined to call them dry. Having the moisture removed to me qualifies them as dry. I would even go so far to say that they aren’t even truly raw foods as they have been processed.

I guess if we keep analyzing, then where does that leave the HPP processed foods, Natures variety and Primal. I know not all of Primal’s are HPP, but that would be an additional process done to the food.

Raw frozen, by that are you meaning Darwin’s and Bravo, etc? I would say they are raw products, they retain their moisture, and aren’t exposed to heat. They would retain their optimal nutrition.

Maybe rate these foods separate from each other? A category for freeze dried, dehydrated, etc.

Given that these are all processed to some extent, are they truly raw? I know it’s splitting hairs, but Darwin’s adds vegetables, so that would be a process. Bravo and Primal also add them to certain lines. I guess, the bottom line is what the “accepted” definition of raw is. For me, it would be the moisture rich foods with the barest amount of processing.

[Mike Sagman]

When comparing and rating raw dog foods here on The Dog Food Advisor, should dehydrated raw and freeze-dried raw dog foods be considered raw? Or dry?

So far, I’ve been considering raw frozen and freeze dried raw foods as truly raw. However, since nearly all dehydrated foods use a warm temperature forced air drying process, I’ve been classifying them as “dry” dog foods – even though they’re less processed than kibbles.

Are we being fair? How should we categorize and rate-freeze raw, dehydrated raw and raw frozen dog foods in future reviews?

Thanks for your opinions.

• This topic was modified 13 years, 3 months ago by Mike Sagman.

[Shawna]

That’s horrible!!!

Ringworm came in to my house several years ago with a foster puppy. The puppy had been exposed while staying overnight at another foster home before coming to me. By the time it was all said and done, he had something like 17 lesions on his 6 month old little body and an adult male foster dog ended up with one or two. Not one of my dogs (I had 4 at the time) developed a lesion. All mine are raw fed and I bathed everyone with their shampoo and a few drops of oil of oregano when I saw the first lesions on the puppy. For about two weeks I used water with about 10 drops of oil of oregano and would spritz them all over. Haven’t had a breakout since then.

Others in the rescue I foster for have successfully used neem oil and need shampoos to get rid of ringworm. I’ve heard tea tree oil works too.

Oh, I also feed my own garlic. Not sure if the most benefit came from the garlic or from the oil of oregano oil?

[Hound Dog Mom]

They’ve got to go after anything that has the potential to steal market share from the big name pet food companies or the top pharmaceutical companies. Sigh…

[theBCnut]

Their high horse is getting really tall. They must feel really threatened that they need to bother going after all these little fish. How stupid that this is what they waste their time on!

[Shawna]

“A resolution discouraging homeopathy is on the agenda for the Jan. 5 regular winter session of the AVMA House of Delegates.” https://www.avma.org/News/JAVMANews/Pages/121215c.aspx

Dogs Naturally Magazine has more on the issue as well as a petition against the resolution. http://www.bing.com/search?q=dogs+naturally+magazine+AVMA+homeopathy+&qs=n&form=QBRE&pq=dogs+naturally+magazine+avma+homeopathy+&sc=1-16&sp=-1&sk=

[Shawna]

If you believe in homeopathy or believe in your rights to decide, please read the following link “The Conneticut Veterinary Medical Association has submitted a resolution to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) that “proposes that AVMA have a policy that states homeopathy is an ineffective practice and that its use as a veterinary therapy be discouraged.” http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/petition-save-homeopathy/?inf_contact_key=f383bc92a930f5d8125dd5519b7043f5556ac5ea09801f06bbf8e5718d268697

[Anonymous]

Butch seems to feel much better, no more bleeding into the skin, eating his raw B.A.R.F. from California well, always hungry, probably from the one half pill 10 mg every other day of Prednisone. But one thing has appeared suddenly, little bumps all over, like when he had the hives at the vet, upon closer inspection, they look like the mast cell tumors. One on his chest has grown to nickel sized in a week! I title this note ringworm because at the same time, the cat we rescued three years ago had ringworm by his eye from the injury (we rescued off the highway after he was hit by a car). That was the mess of the year three years ago when ringworm spread throughout our home, now this is complicated, we thought the cat brought the ringworm with him but due to the injury and being compromised, thin, wormy etc. when rescued. This was not the first incidence we had with ringworm, 15 years earlier we rescued a kitten from a broken down barn area and she was compromised and emaciated, we bring back to health and she gets ringworm. We muddled through that got everyone well, we always have multiple animals from rescuing, you know what I mean. Anyway, fast forward to now, the cat who was rescued from three years ago, has been swatted by buddy cat (we have five cat members in family, ranging ages 9 to 2 years, neutered and cared for, not overvaccinated!!) and had a scratch by eye, treated with Veterycin eye wash I keep on hand. Seemed fine, then now Butch is sick and cat’s eye appears to have ringworm again! I know it can stay around, no matter how you try to clean. So here we are back with ringworm, and Butch with his compromised immune system and at first I thought his bumps were the ringworm again, that is how he showed signs of it three years ago, like raised thick scabs! Horrible, but now the spots are all these skin tag looking warts which when looking on line really look like the mast cell tumors. The last I want to mention here is how it turns out I was the ringworm carrier all along!!! I had worked for Fort Wayne Animal Control 1985 to 1992 and immediately got a strange rash on my body, no dermotologist could figure it out at the time, so I lived with it all these years. This last ringworm incidence three years ago, I put the ringworm medicine all over me too, and lo and behold it cured that rash!!! It had been ringworm all along and NO dermo could figure that out even with cutting biopsies out of my flesh! Can you believe that, vets told me to put down those cats because ringworm was so hard to conquer and it is but could you imagine if I had killed those cats and here I was the cause!!

[aimee]

The wild coyote population isn’t “over vaccinated, fed processed pet food, given flea & tick preventative, and are being treated with suppressive drugs for every little thing that comes along.” yet when surveyed in a non-drought year over 90% of the adult coyotes in northern Ca were heartworm positive.

Christie Keith, owner of naturally raised deerhounds, used to think the same way…. until her dogs got heartworm.

“I have no intention of ever living through what I lived through with Raven and Bran. I can’t keep silent when I see people starting to believe that healthy animals don’t get heartworm and that we can blithely forgo using preventatives if we don’t overvaccinate and feed raw. It’s just not so.

http://dogaware.com/articles/wdjheartwormprevention.html

Conventional heartworm prevention is still the best insurance against heartworms.

[Safe4pups]

I have personally witnessed a dog being rushed to surgery for an obstrcted bowel from a bully stick. Bully sticks are made from penis’ – usually chemically bleached, smoked and the “flavoring” added – they are just an unneccesary product for your dog. (my opinion)
I thinkthere are better choices – especially a natural, meaty, raw bone from your butcher – and MUCH more cost effective. There are somewonderful chews available – Get Naked, Zukes, Zoe are all great choices.
~Tracey

[Safe4pups]

Hello Sophia~ Personally, I would never use rawhide nor bully sticks – they both have obstruction history and the dried penis is an organ that dogs have no need for, is usually imported and can include chemicals.
I have a dog with the same issues – I keep her on Denamarin, Bactaquin and feed her a high grade, grain free food. For treats she gets Get Naked Gut or Low Cal Health Chews, Zukes Apple Crisp bones and Zoe Lifestyle Dog Treats.
~Tracey

[pugmomsandy]

I have heard Victor Grain Free is reasonably priced. I also use Nutrisource in rotation on my fosters and it is $51 for a 30 lb bag. Give it some time. A reduced feeding portion and exercise should help. Right now I have a senior foster who is eating just canned food and raw food and has lost 5 lbs in one month. But I’ve also had fosters on grain free kibble that have lost weight also.

[theBCnut]

Not HDM, but she feeds twice a day normally, on her fast days she feeds once a day. That’s my understanding. Yesterday, I spoke with someone who fasts his dog a few times a week, but he feeds huge meals and then fasts until time to feed the next huge meal, like how a wolf would eat.

[momofmutts]

hello,

I feed raw, and lurk on dog food advisor often, but hardly ever post. I love the new forum. I think it’s going to be a hit.

HDM, how do you cope with the dogs during fasting day? 2 of mine are bugging me for their food an hour and a half before meal time. I can’t imagine if they had to go another full day before their next one. My husky cross would often do a self imposed fast every other week or so, but once she was on phenobarb for seizures, she eats every meal. I only feed them once a day, so technically they are going 24 hours between meals already.

They had bear meat for the first time this week with no problems whatsoever!

– karen

[Shawna]

Hi Jackie B ~~ I have 8 dogs and I supplement all their diets with a concocution I make myself (5 of mine are eat raw with canned topper and 3 eat kibble with raw and canned topper). Sometimes I make my supplement completely from scratch but often I make it with a base of Solid Gold Seameal. None of mine have issues with muzzle staining from it.

Sardines, the spice turmeric and the enzyme bromelain are other foods that have valuable anti-inflammatory properties (bromelain is in the pineapple in Seameal). They make a arthritis supplement for humans that is nothing but turmeric and bromelain. Research has found both to be very effective anti-inflammatories.

My Pom Peanut has luxating petellas in both back legs. Out of a rating of 4 (being the worst) Peanut had one knee that was graded a 2 and the other was a 4 (always out). My holistic vet performed a procedure called prolotherapy on her both knees improved. The one graded 2 is no longer luxating at all and the one rated 4 has been downgraded to a 1/2. She know longer limps or acts at all as if it is bothering her. In prolotherapy they inject a saline based solution into the knee area. This causes inflammation which then causes the body to “heal” the area. Inflammation can be both good and bad. Along with the prolotherapy I was giving Peanut a raw diet and a whole food supplement designed to strengthen ligaments and tendons (allowing less give for the knee to pop) called Standard Process Ligaplex II.

I had her knees done a little over three years ago and, from memory, the cost was just under or just over $300 for both knees ($280 comes to mind).

Best of health to your little one!!! He’s sure a cutie!!!!!!
PS — prolotherapy is used in human knee injuries and also in race horse knee injuries.

[Jackie B]

My rescued poodle had chronic urinary tract infections for the first 9 months after we got him. These are not as common in male dogs, but he had been a stray, so who knows what bacteria he’d picked up. According to the vet, UTI’s are very painful. They also caused my poodle to have to pee very frequently and sometimes in the house. The vet will give you a round of antibiotics to treat the initial infection.

One way to keep UTI’s from coming back that worked for my poodle was increased moisture intake. I only feed him moist food (no kibble! I feed a rotation of commercial raw foods, pre-mixes with raw meat, canned food, and some homemade balanced recipes) and purchased a circulating pet water fountain for him (you can get them online). He hasn’t had another UTI in a whole year.

Things the vet recommended were adding salt to his food so he would drink more and buying some nasty prescription dog food. But you don’t need to do that stuff. Just increase moisture. Even if your dog doesn’t suffer from UTI’s, it can’t hurt to put them on a diet that is fresher and with more water. Domestic animals (cats especially but dogs too) tend to dehydrate when on a kibble-only diet.

[Jackie B]

My dog loves the Sojo’s pre-mix. I added raw ground beef roast from the grocery and froze it into portions. Pretty easy! I also have a homemade dog food recipe book, Feed Your Best Friend Better. It has a lot of easy recipes that are nutritionally balanced. I looked online before I bought the book, and there are a lot of AWFUL unhealthy recipes out there. But the ones in the book are pretty good.

[InkedMarie]

Avoderm-their revolving menu only
Back to Basics-all grainfree’s
Brothers Complete-all
California Natural grain free-salmon & peas, kangaroo & lentils, chicken
Canidae Grain Free Pure Land
Canine Caviar-all grainfree’s
DNA-all
Earthborn-Meadow Feast and Great Plains
Evangers grainfree-both
Evo herring & salmon
Evo weight management
Freehand-Energize only
Grandma Lucy’s Pureformance-all
Grandma Mae’s Country Natural-grainfree only
Great Life Pioneer Naturals grain free-all
Great Life-all
Hi-Tek Naturals GF Chicken and Sweet Potato
Horizon Amicus-all
Horizon Legacy-all
Horizon Pulsar-both
I and Love and You Nude Food
Innova Prime-all
LiveFree (by Dogswell)
Nature’s Select grain free-all
Nature’s Variety Instinct-all including raw boost
NRG-Maxim
Nutripe-all
Nutrisca-all grainfree’s
NutriSource grainfree-all except the large breed chicken & large breed lamb
Pet Botanics-Healthy Omega only
Precise grain free-both
Red Moon-high protein chicken, moderate protein chicken only
Sojos grainfree-all
Spring Meadows-all
The Honest Kitchen-Zeal only
Victor grainfree-all
Wellness Core Wild Game
Wysong Epigen-fish formula
Zignature-all
Ziwi Peak-all of the air dried
Orijen
Halo Spot’s Choice (canned)

• This topic was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by Mike Sagman. Reason: Added 4 new foods submitted by PugMomSandy
• This topic was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by Mike Sagman. Reason: Added 2 more candidates submitted by PugMomSandy

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Shinigamigirl428 –

I have three bloodhounds myself.

My first question is, is the dog underweight? If the dog is not underweight ignore this behavior. This is typical for a bloodhound and your family member shouldn’t feel bad or like the dog is being deprived. Bloodhounds are chowhounds and their number one focus in life is food – their entire day revolves around mealtime and when their next meal will be. They have no appetite regulation and will eat until they burst. They’re also noted for eating anything and everything, especially when puppies. They can be a danger to themselves when not supervised, they can get into poisonous things or items that will cause intestinal obstruction. My older female (now 2) ate an ENTIRE 5 pound bag of birdseed when she was a puppy – it was left out and she ripped into it. She was pooping out sunflower seeds all day. This is the type of thing you deal with when you own a bloodhound.

Earthborn isn’t a bad food by any means. I do feel Orijen is slightly better, but if Earthborn is what your family member can afford there’s no reason to feel bad about feeding it. It’s a quality food. I feed my three homemade raw and they do seem to be a little more satisfied on this than when they weren’t fed raw. You can try adding in some pumpkin or other veggies to the food to make her feel more satisfied but I can almost assure you that it won’t stop the behavior. This is normal behavior for a bloodhound and nothing to be alarmed about.

[Alexandra]

Hi Dowsky,

I think they are ok. I have used them before. But the store I get them from has them priced pretty high in my opinion and compared to the other suppliers I use.

[dowsky]

How do you feel about Bravo! raw. Both blends and balance.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Devilbrad –

Check out the topic “Post Your Recipes” under the homemade dog food section or the “Menu” topic in the raw section. Dogaware.com is a great resource for homemade diets as well, there’s tons of information there.

[Hound Dog Mom]

I just set the portion pacer on top then press it in a little.

It’s not necessary to fast if you feed a whole prey animal. Obviously, if you feed something large like a 4 lb. rabbit you wouldn’t really want to feed another meal for awhile because that’s a lot of food, but the quail run about 8-12 oz. and you could just feed one or two as a meal with no need to fast.

The reason I fast my dogs once per week is because approximately 80% of a dog’s immunity is found in the gut. If a dog is constantly digesting food a lot of resources of the immune system are focused on digesting and it’s more difficult for the immune system to function at its peak. Periodic fasting once a week or so give the dog’s body a change to focus on strengthening the immune system. Going without food puts a mild stress on the cells and as a result the cells become better able to cope with more severe stress if they ever need to (such as when they’re battling off sickness). This is why I choose to fast my dogs for 24 hours once per week. I’ve read others that only fast once or twice per month but don’t feed anything at all for an entire day (so it’d turn out being more like a 36 hour fast).

[Melissaandcrew]

Hi Sophia-

All dogs are different of course, but I have never had a problem with rawhide and dogs with pancreatitis issues. On the other hand, marrow bones(even with it scooped out) can not be tolerated with mine.

[pugmomsandy]

The amount of fiber can affect the consistency of the stool and may or may not help with the feeling of fullness. (Pugs are never full!) As for freeze dried, you still should find a low carb food just like you would kibble and still watch their calories. My dogs seem to like any kind of freeze dried. Same with dehydrated – low carb. This takes more time as you have to add water and wait. Canned foods generally speaking have more meat than kibble and can be lower in carbs than kibble. My newest foster that’s on a diet is getting only canned food or raw food. He’s lost 5 lbs in 1 month.

[Hound Dog Mom]

clm86 –

Considering your dog’s issues I think Abady granular would be worth looking into. It would be a great food for putting weight on a dog – it’s high fat with around 800 calories per cup (about twice as many calories per cup as kibble). I’ve also heard dogs with sensitive stomachs do well on it.

Wet food is definitely a good addition to dry food, but it wouldn’t help much as far as adding calories. Due to its high moisture content wet food is generally much less calorie-dense than dry food.

I had issues getting my female bloodhound (now two years old) to gain weight and it wasn’t until I switched her to a high protein, high fat, low carbohydrate homemade raw diet that I got her to gain anything (she’s still skinny but looks a lot better than before she was on raw). She eats 2 lbs. of meat per day with extras – such as eggs, cottage cheese and kefir – plus supplements and veggies and I was able to get her to put on 5 (much needed!) pounds after three months on raw and now she’s maintaining nicely. I aim for her meals to be 40-50% protein and 30-40% fat. So if you’ve got the time and money a high fat homemade diet would probably be the best option. The other benefit of homemade is you can tailor it to the needs of your sensitive dog since you control all the ingredients that go into it.

[rainisdog]

Hey!
I have a 7yr old chihuahua daschund mix who is about 15 pounds. I am currently feeding her Orijen Fish 1/3 cup twice a day with about 5 chicken jerky treats a week. I can tell the extra weight on her is slowing her down and she looks uncomfortable. For awhile she was doing great going on walks but lately she doesn’t want to go far. While I am going to continue walking with her, I want to give her the best food or combinations of foods possible to help her loose weight. I don’t think raw is an option but I have been looking into dehydrated/ dried foods, I am just unsure of what to look for. I think high fiber and protein with low fat and carbs? If that is correct (and using this website as a guide) what % are high/low? Should I focus more on high protein or fiber or low fat? I would really appreciate any help or suggestions!

[pugmomsandy]

Corgi Mom,

I use “Healthy Foods for Dogs and Cats” by Becker/Shaw as my guide. It has raw and cooked recipes. Includes poultry and beef and fish and egg inclusions and a suppplement guide.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Blue Corgi –

No, the ingredients aren’t just made up. Knowing how to balance a homemade diet is VERY important. Feeding an unbalanced diet can result in some serious health issues if the unbalanced diet is fed long term. It’s wonderful that you’re interested in feeding your dogs a homemade diet – I STRONGLY feel that when done correctly a homemade diet is the healthiest thing for a dog.

Ingredients you use will differ slightly based on whether you’re planning on feeding raw or cooked. But with either diet the most important thing is getting the correct calcium to phosphorus ratio. The ratio of calcium to phosphorus needs to be between 1:1 and 2:1. To achieve this when feeding a raw diet with bone you will want to feed 80% boneless muscle meat, 10% organ meat and 10% bone and for cooked diets or raw diets without bone you want to feed 90% boneless muscle meat, 10% organ meat and add 800-1,000 mg. calcium per pound of meat and organ fed. Green tripe is a rare exception to this rule as green tripe naturally has a 1:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio. You should feed an even mixture of red meat and poultry – don’t feed predominately one or the other as they have different types of fats. I give my dogs red meat in the a.m. and poultry in the p.m. As far as being “exact every time” – you don’t have to be exact every time but you do need to be exact over time. This means, if you decide you want to feed a meal that’s 20% organ meat at breakfast you can just feed a meal without organ meat at dinner – this would still balance out to your dog getting 10% organ meat in its diet. Balance over time.

You should feed around 80% meat – the other 20% can be vegetables, fruits, extras and supplements. All veggies should be cooked and pureed as dogs don’t produce the enzyme cellulase to breakdown the cellulose in raw veggies – cooking and pureeing in a sense “pre-digests” the veggies so the dog can derive some nutrients from them. Extras are optional and would include things like eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, kefir, etc.

For supplements I would recommend adding a form of animal-based omega 3’s (fish body oil or an oily fish such as sardines), vitamin e and super-foods (kelp, alfalfa, spirulina, etc.). I also give my dogs Carlson cod liver oil every other day for some extra vitamin d (cod liver oil should be limited though as it’s very high in vitamin a, I feed Carlson because it has the lowest vitamin a levels). You can add a multi-vitamin if you wish but if you’re feeding a wide variety of foods and adding the supplements I mentioned I don’t think it would be necessary. If you’re feeding a cooked diet you may want to consider supplementing with enzymes. If you don’t feed kefir, yogurt and/or green tripe on a regular basis you may also want to consider a probiotic supplement a few days of the week.

Lastly – keep this in mind because it’s critical when feeding a homemade diet – variety! Feed many different protein sources, many different types of organs, different fruits, veggies and extras and rotate different supplements into the mix every once in awhile. This will help to ensure that over time your dogs get all the nutrients they need.

Another option to make things easier – if you don’t feel comfortable making food from scratch yet – would be to use a premix. With a premix you generally just add meat and water – the mix contains all the fruits, veggies and supplements your dog needs. Some good premixes are The Honest Kitchen’s Preference, Sojo’s, Urban Wolf, Birkdale Petmix and Dr. Harvey’s.

I would recommend checking out dogaware.com – there’s a lot of good information on homemade diets there. I would also recommend reading Steve Brown’s book “Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet.” If you check out the “menu” topic on the raw thread I’ve posted my dogs’ menu so you can get an idea of what a balanced diet should look like.

I hope that helps. Feel free to post any questions! Quite a few of us here feed homemade food and can help you out. 🙂

[Shawna]

HDM ~~ most of the dogs I foster are puppies. I had one I was particularly taken by. He was part Boston Terrier, part some type of Bully breed and his DNA test said part Dalmation?.. He and his mommy came to me when he was just 4 days old (eyes still closed)… Raising him from such a tender age and being part Bully he could do no wrong in my eyes :).. (He looked like a Bully with his square head and major brindling.)

We made a 4 foot by 4 foot enclosure out of 2x4s and plastic chicken wire for the puppies that gave them plenty of space for a kennel, a doggy bed, a potty pad and a water dish. We kept them here while we were gone at work. Not one puppy ever damaged the enclosure til this little guy (must have been at least 15-20 before him). Came home one day and his mommy was in the enclosure and he was running around my bedroom floor being as naughty as puppies can be.. Upon closer inspection, he had chewed a hole in the plastic fencing large enough for his body to get through (he was still TINY at the time).. All I could do was laugh…

Although my little man, and all the puppies, were often mischeivous, it was the adult puppy mill breed dogs that were the most destructive. The bite strength of an adult, in puppy learning mode.. Say goodbye to a $50 pair of shoes due to one 5 year old male, couch and lawn furniture cushions/pillows due to a 6 year old female, mentioned the lamp that a 2 year old female ate in another forum, same 2 year old used my wooden headboard as a chew toy etc.. Add my grandbabies to the mix, there isn’t much in my house that doens’t need to be replaced… 🙂

I’d surely take Miss Mabel. However after feeding her for a week I’m sure I’d find a way to get her back to you.. I’m bettin she eats as much or more than all of mine combined!!!!!!!!!

[theBCnut]

I only want to kiss her ears… a LOT!!

[Hound Dog Mom]

Shawna – you’re certainly welcome to scoop her up and while you’re at it take her right on home with you! 😉

That’s about the point I’m at with all her ripping and tearing – I can’t turn my back on her for a minute lol!

[Shawna]

Raw is the best diet possible as long as it supplies all the nutrients necessary for optimal health.. Can be disasterous if deficient in even one nutrient. One can follow recipes, buy commercial or add premixes to ensure the diet is adequate if concerned.

Precautions can be taken to address bacterial contamination. However many of us don’t think some bacterial contamination is a threat to a healthy dog or a dog with a strong immune system (like my 6 1/2 year old dog born with kidney disease). For those concerned though 1. probiotics can be fed regularly 2. meats can be purchased whole (like a roast) and cubed instead of fed ground 3. Apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, garlic etc can be added to the diet to kill bad bacteria if any is on the meat.

HDM, I agree with Alexandra :)… I just want to scoop Mabel up and give her squishy hugs til she makes me stop…….

[Shawna]

I’ve purchased emu oil in the past and forgot about it in my drawer (used as a face and hand moisturizer). The kind I bought was pure without any antioxidants or preservatives. The omega 3 fats in the oil (I’m guessing) oxidized and I could tell by the smell that it had gone bad. Had to toss a $20ish dollar bottle (small bottle) away with less than 1/3 of it used up.. Ughhhhhh…

Thanks Dave’s Hounds for posting about it… I kinda forgot about it and think maybe I’ll reinvest in some… This time I’ll try to use it up faster and store it in the fridge though.. 🙂