[Sharon Buchanan]

MastiffLove ~

First, I hope more people will chime in here with helpful advice. Now, to get to your questions as best I can.

It looks like your family is adding a lot of new members to the family. How great for all of them to be able to grow up and play together – and be fed raw. Looks like you’ll have your own little support group!

1. From all my reading on forums and Facebook, finding green tripe can be tricky. Some places ban the sale of it directly to consumers while others seem to be able to get it locally. I’m currently getting mine from MyPetCarnivore.com. I’m hoping that when I find someone who will sell direct, that they’ll also be able to provide the tripe. You’ll just have to ask and if they can’t, perhaps they’ll know where to get it.

2. Sure, you can grind necks. They aren’t terribly meaty, but they’ll grind easily enough. You should be able to start giving them whole when your pup gets a bit older. Chicken necks are tiny and I give them whole to my seven month old cat. I’ve been giving whole duck and turkey necks to Mystery since I started raw, he was 10 months at the time – he’s getting a turkey neck as part of his dinner tonight.

Different nutritionists/homeopathic vets will have various opinions on what, when, how and why to feed certain ingredients. I tend to lean toward Kymythy’s advice at the moment. She raises Newfies and feeds them raw as early as four weeks. The proof is in the health of her pups and adults.

3. I’m still not feeding veggies or “super” greens. Not a “purist” or anything but I wanted to first be sure I was feeding correctly the balance of meat/bone/organs and then get a blood panel or hair sample analysis – I’ll be scheduling that next week. Mystery’s only issues are a skin flaking problem – solved with coconut oil, and motion sickness – I’m still working on that and hoping he’ll grow out of it. So, until I get an analysis that says he needs more of this or that, I’m holding off on supplementing. I do give Mystery garlic for natural pest control and I also supplement with curcumen and vitamin C because Goldens have a high cancer mortality rate. I know a lot of people use “super” this and that as well as create their own veggie mashes. I would lean toward making my own purees since I believe nutrition from the source is best.

4. Most fruits have a lot of sugar in them. I would avoid most or feed them judiciously. I’ll share a banana with Mystery from time to time as well as give him apple slices, but not as a regular part of his diet. Here’s a basic chart that lists not only veggies and fruits that are toxic to pets but also plants as well as symptoms to watch for: http://www.acreaturecomfort.com/toxic.htm. And of course, you’ll find other sites that list fewer or additional foods.

5. Ah, SWEET potatoes. I haven’t read anything that shows a good reason to add most starches. That includes potatoes, peas, some beans. Many of these veggies convert starches to sugar when cooked. I used to give a tablespoon of pumpkin when our Sunset would have loose stools, but Mystery has had no problems there – and especially not since going raw.

6. I must defer to Kymythy on adding anything at all to an eight week old puppy’s diet. If you’re balancing 80/10/10 your calcium/phosphorus ratio is in perfect sync. Adding anything may not only increase the amount of calcium but may throw off that balance. Mess with that ratio and excess calcium can be deposited on the outside of the bones causing a number of issues. We had no idea that there was an issue with LBPs and calcium when we got Sunset 11 years ago. Before she was two, she required double-hip surgery. We got her from a backyard breeder (another ignorant move on our part), didn’t know much about hip scores and fed her what surely is on the one- or two-star lists here at DFA. I’ve been ultra focused on calcium since before I got Mystery.

An excerpt from Kymythy’s book, Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats:
By the time the young are ready to go to their new homes, they should be eating whole necks and regular meals with all the extras, and you may discontinue the enzymes and probiotics (although they may help counteract the digestive stress a youngster endures when going to a new home). Youngsters may be fed three times per day from eight weeks until four to six months old, then twice daily from four to six months old until one year of age, and once daily after one year of age. Giant breeds of dogs may need to be fed twice daily occasionally during growth spurts from one to three years of age. Either feed two complete meals or one complete and one of meaty bones (bones with ample meat) only. Observe your pet and adjust amounts accordingly. Do not feed so much that the stomach becomes overly extended. Do not let your pet become obese. A very thin layer of fat over the ribs is healthy, but too much weight puts extra stress on growing bones, joints, and hearts. A healthy wild animal is a lean animal. If your pet needs to lose weight, reduce its food intake. If it needs to gain weight, increase its food. Keep in mind that growing youngsters will eat more per pound of body weight than adult animals.

Schultze, Kymythy (1999-10-01). Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats (p. 67). Hay House. Kindle Edition.

Note the information on probiotics and enzymes is directed toward breeders who feed and wean pups to raw. If your puppy has been weaned to kibble, you might want to add some kefir to his diet for a time.

7. See #6, but I will take a look at the three products you mentioned for future use. I am not trying to discourage the use of any supplementation, just use caution and be sure you’re feeding only what is essential and beneficial.

8. I’m assuming you’re referring to the products in question 6 and maybe 7, not 8. LOL! I couldn’t find a guaranteed analysis of the Urban Wolf Balancer so I would be very wary of adding it. They do provide a recipe that uses their products with an analysis and it looks good. If you feel a strong need to supplement… Questions regarding their recipe ingredients might include, where do they get their fish oil from; is it guaranteed not to contain any toxins; if you use “canned” fish, do the cans contain BPA; if natural ingredients are better, why so many dried/powdered ingredients in their mixes? This is the hard part for me – giving my money to companies that sell premixes and toppers when I can just hit the market for fresh ingredients.

9. When you’re deciding on recipes, remember that your eight week old puppy is capable of handling chunks of raw meats, organs and bones. Even if he’s been weaned onto kibble before you get him, there should be no need to transition him as he hasn’t developed an addiction to the sugars and starches yet. I’d been feeding my kitten a kibble diet for about five months when I decided to transition the cats. Since he’d been stealing raw food from the dog, I went straight to raw with him and he jumped all over it, including chicken necks and other appropriately sized bones. I feed grinds only when the weather’s so bad that I can’t even put Mystery on the screened deck, usually when it’s too cold. The cats get fed in the tiled bathroom since they don’t feel the need to drag food all over the place – yet!

Any time you freeze or cook food, you’re going to lose a bit of nutritional value. Most of us have large freezers because we buy in bulk so frozen it is. Be sure you thaw foods and try to bring them to room temp before feeding. As Alpha in my house, I pull food from the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter until I’ve finished my coffee – then they get to eat. I know some people feed frozen foods but I wouldn’t do that to a puppy. Ever get brain freeze from drinking a shake too fast? Imagine a puppy’s digestive system trying to warm up frozen meat. There may be other opinions out there on this, but I would definitely feed three times a day for the first six months and then move to twice a day until he’s at least a year old. You should be feeding him 10% of his current weight until that exceeds 2-3% of his target weight.

I love Mercola. There is a chart floating around that shows who is fighting GMO labeling and who is supporting it in WA. I use it when I go shopping and yes, some of the products I’ve purchased in the past come from companies fighting WA. Let me know if you can’t find it. I get that having to label a product 50 different ways could put a hardship on business so I would support a federal label that is nothing less than FULL disclosure. That said, I don’t trust the FDA or any other governmental agency to have my best interest at heart. I’m a big fan of personal responsibility. The government assumes I’m ignorant…, I believe it’s a choice. (Whoops, gone political.)

I’m glad you were able to find a farm so quickly to meet your raw needs. Don’t forget to pick up chicken feet, green tripe, testicles, heart, kidneys… Go for goat and rabbit as well as chicken, turkey and beef. Something that I would have gotten wrong is differentiating between what are considered organs and what is not.

Organs: Liver (5% of the diet), kidneys, spleen, brain, thymus gland, panaceas and testicles (the other 5%)

Not organs: Heart, Gizzard, Tongue, lung, trachea, green tripe (all considered as part of the 80%).

Another site for learning more about feeding raw is here: https://www.mypetcarnivore.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78&Itemid=116. It’s a culling of articles from a variety of sources.

I better turn my attention to the vacuum and washer now or I’m going to be overrun by tumblefurs. I look forward to seeing you on Facebook soon.

[RescueDaneMom]

MastiffLove,

“i can mix the meat(s) fruits and boiled veggies and freeze and once thawed out add the supplements before serving.” – Yes, this is exactly what I would do.

I buy ground tripe as well for the same reasons as Patty (theBCnut). It’s pretty gross smelling stuff but the dogs love it!

Also, don’t worry about asking too many questions. Most people here want to help and we all started where you are at one point in time. I’ve only been doing this for about 6 months and I still have questions some times.

[RescueDaneMom]

Transferring my answer:

Hi MastiffLove,
I am answering your questions based on what I do and my knowledge and experience.

1- Yes, it is called green tripe. You may be able to get it from a butcher. For human consumption, they bleach the tripe which removes all the good stuff for our dogs.

2- Yes, you can grind necks if you don’t want to feed them whole.

3- Some people see vegetables as being optional. It is up to you if you want to include them. Remember that freezing can damage the enzymes in food so don’t keep food frozen for too long. I try to only have food frozen for a month or less. The Spirugreen is not a replacement for veggies. It is a green algae supplement. I wouldn’t freeze it. I would add it right before feeding.

4- I would puree fruits. You can feed in pieces but you will notice that some will come out just like they went it (example- the skin of the apple won’t be digested very well).

5- Sweet potato is a starchy root vegetable that has carbs. It can be used as a nutritious filler to bulk up meals for dogs that need a lot of food. It also contains high levels of vitamin a, vitamin c, and manganese.

6- Urban Wolf is a pre-mix that is meant to be used with meat only (no bone) as it contains enough calcium to balance the meat without bone. I believe Dr. Harvey’s is more of an herbal supplement and can be added to meat with bone.

7- I would suggest rotating different products for your supergreens. Try one then a different one. Variety is good!

8- Did you mean adding the product from question 7? From that quote I would think that adding some veggies is ok but not to overdo it. You wouldn’t want 50% of your pup’s diet to be veggies. I’d think you’d be ok having 5-10% veggies in the diet.

9- I would not freeze supplements like greens or fish oil. They may loose some of their effectiveness. I add my supplements right before feeding. I have the meat and/or meat/veggie mix portioned and frozen, then I thaw what I can use in 3 days.

I hope that helps.

[Sharon Buchanan]

MastiffLove’s Questions transferred from /forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/page/66/

Hi Sharon! I will be looking into the facebook group after we get our puppy, Zeus is his name :), cause our teens don’t know about it yet and adding that group to our facebook will certainly give them a hint lolll
Someone wrote (i think it was you!?): “Last week I found a farm that grass feeds, no GMOs, but they do feed grains in the three weeks prior to slaughter (I’m still checking to see if that is standard practice and if not, why it’s done and whether it effects the quality of the meat (other than the tripe) – more questions for my conference list)”
What were you told?

We will buy in bulk, meaning half a cow, lots of chickens (loose fat removed), half a pig (less pig since it has more fat)(will add organs to those) for a start and later on i will add more types of meats as i find farmers or producers around my area. I will make this food for my 8weeks old English Mastiff puppy BUT my wife’s parents are getting a Colley puppy in July and later on during the summer a German Sheppard puppy, also a friend of ours is researching for a good breeder of Great Danes. That being said we would be 4 different dogs on the same recipe.
1- Can i get Green Tripe from a meat manufacture(not sure if thats how its called)?
2- Can i grind necks?
3- instead of using pureed vegetable can i use a Supergreen powder mixted with the meat then freeze?
4- Should fruits be pureed? or chopped in fine pieces is ok? (like apples for example)
5- wy use Sweet potatoes, isn’t it a source of carbs? Should it always be boiled or can it be oven baked?
6- Thinking of buying in bulk therefore i would have the company to grind the meat including bones…would using:
URBAN WOLF Balancer give a too high output on Calcium and an unbalanced Calc./Phos.?
or
Should i use Dr. Harvey’s Formative Years for Puppies?
NOT to forget my puppy is 8weeks old!
7- As for Greens should i use Mercola’s SpiruGreen Superfood and/OR Swanson’s Sprouted Flax Powder mixed with Wheat Grass Powder?
8- Kymythy Schultze a certified clinical nutritionist said:” Calcium can go out of solution when feeding too many vegetables. Keeping normal acidity (low alkaline) in the digestion by avoiding veggies in puppies keeps calcium in solution and won’t deposit excess on the bones.”
(p.s.: thank you Sharon Buchanan for the quote!)
Would adding the product from Question 8 result in unbalancing my pups acidity?
9- i would mix everything up in large batches (some batch will have some ingredients and some will have different ones to “balance” it out in day on day off type of feeding), and separate in individual portion size for an 8 weeks old large pup in air tight sealed bags and then into the freezer. Doing so would i loose any efficiency of certain foods like greens and fish oil?
*** End comment: I was happy and felt like applauding Mercola.com for funding 300,000$ for the Washington State GMO Labeling Initiative, they are one of the companies, amongst many others, that i buy products from as supplements for my puppy raw diet. http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/cornucopia.jpg ***

[MastiffLove]

Thank you very much for your help RDM and yes i meant question 7….so if i recap i can mix the meat(s) fruits and boiled veggies and freeze and once thawed out add the supplements before serving.

Thank you theBCnut for that info! there’s actually alot of em in my area, i will make some phone calls! 🙂

should i grind the tripe like the meat or have it coarse grind to get Zeus to chew on it to get some teeth brushing going on? From what i read its a chewy type of organ?

Sorry for all those questions but i wanna make this right (still have a long way to g but i’m working on it) and have a healthy family member! 😛

[RescueDaneMom]

Hi MastiffLove,

I am answering your questions based on what I do and my knowledge and experience.

1- Yes, it is called green tripe. You may be able to get it from a butcher. For human consumption, they bleach the tripe which removes all the good stuff for our dogs.

2- Yes, you can grind necks if you don’t want to feed them whole.

3- Some people see vegetables as being optional. It is up to you if you want to include them. Remember that freezing can damage the enzymes in food so don’t keep food frozen for too long. I try to only have food frozen for a month or less. The Spirugreen is not a replacement for veggies. It is a green algae supplement. I wouldn’t freeze it. I would add it right before feeding.

4- I would puree fruits. You can feed in pieces but you will notice that some will come out just like they went it (example- the skin of the apple won’t be digested very well).

5- Sweet potato is a starchy root vegetable that has carbs. It can be used as a nutritious filler to bulk up meals for dogs that need a lot of food. It also contains high levels of vitamin a, vitamin c, and manganese.

6- Urban Wolf is a pre-mix that is meant to be used with meat only (no bone) as it contains enough calcium to balance the meat without bone. I believe Dr. Harvey’s is more of an herbal supplement and can be added to meat with bone.

7- I would suggest rotating different products for your supergreens. Try one then a different one. Variety is good!

8- Did you mean adding the product from question 7? From that quote I would think that adding some veggies is ok but not to overdo it. You wouldn’t want 50% of your pup’s diet to be veggies. I’d think you’d be ok having 5-10% veggies in the diet.

9- I would not freeze supplements like greens or fish oil. They may loose some of their effectiveness. I add my supplements right before feeding. I have the meat and/or meat/veggie mix portioned and frozen, then I thaw what I can use in 3 days.

I hope that helps.

[MastiffLove]

We will buy in bulk, meaning half a cow, lots of chickens (loose fat removed), half a pig (less pig since it has more fat)(will add organs to those) for a start and later on i will add more types of meats as i find farmers or producers around my area. I will make this food for my 8weeks old English Mastiff puppy BUT my wife’s parents are getting a Colley puppy in July and later on during the summer a German Sheppard puppy, also a friend of ours is researching for a good Great Dane breeder. That being said we would be 4 different dogs on the same recipe.

1- Can i get Green Tripe from a meat manufacture(not sure if thats how its called)?

2- Can i grind necks?

3- instead of using pureed vegetable can i use a Supergreen powder mixted with the meat then freeze?

4- Should fruits be pureed? or chopped in fine pieces is ok? (like apples for example)

5- wy use Sweet potatoes, isn’t it a source of carbs? Should it always be boiled or can it be oven baked?

6- Thinking of buying in bulk therefore i would have the company to grind the meat including bones…would using:
URBAN WOLF Balancer give a too high output on Calcium and an unbalanced Calc./Phos.?
or
Should i use Dr. Harvey’s Formative Years for Puppies?
NOT to forget my puppy is 8weeks old!

7- As for Greens should i use Mercola’s SpiruGreen Superfood and/OR Swanson’s Sprouted Flax Powder mixed with Wheat Grass Powder?

8- Kymythy Schultze a certified clinical nutritionist said:” Calcium can go out of solution when feeding too many vegetables. Keeping normal acidity (low alkaline) in the digestion by avoiding veggies in puppies keeps calcium in solution and won’t deposit excess on the bones.”
(p.s.: thank you Sharon Buchanan for the quote!)
Would adding the product from Question 8 result in unbalancing my pups acidity?

9- i would mix everything up in large batches (some batch will have some ingredients and some will have different ones to “balance” it out in day on day off type of feeding), and separate in individual portion size for an 8 weeks old large pup in air tight sealed bags and then into the freezer. Doing so would i loose any efficiency of certain foods like greens and fish oil?

*** End comment: I was happy and felt like applauding Mercola.com for funding 300,000$ for the Washington State GMO Labeling Initiative, they are one of the companies, amongst many others, that i buy products from as supplements for my puppy raw diet. http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/cornucopia.jpg ***

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Brandy –

Just because a dog gulps kibble doesn’t necessarily mean that they will gulp RMB’s. The goal is to only feed RMB’s large enough that they have to chew (the RMB should be bigger than their mough). For example, I’d never give my two girls (large bloodhounds) small chicken necks or wings because they would just swallow them, instead I give turkey necks, chicken quarters, chicken backs etc. I’ve also heard of people putting clamps on the end of RMB’s if their dog still gulps. My suggestion would be to try giving your small dogs bones that are obviously much too large for a meal (i.e. a turkey neck) and when they’ve eaten an appropriate amount take it away and refrigerate for the next meal. When it’s eaten to the point that it’s small enough to swallow, remove it and dispose of the bit that’s left.

With that said, if it turns out that your dog can’t eat RMB’s safely it’s certainly okay to not include RMB’s in the diet – of course you will then need to add supplemental calcium and be very proactive about dental care because your dog won’t be getting the calcium and dental benefits that RMB’s provide. Good luck and come back if you have any more questions! 🙂

http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a501/hagelult/IMG_2161_zps707bc44f.jpg

http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a501/hagelult/IMG_2176_zps95819491.jpg

[Arlosmom]

Hello, I’m looking for some advice and hope to find help here. I’ve read through the wealth of info on LBP nutrition here – thank you to all contributors! I just picked up our new Boxer pup (expected to top out at approx. 80lbs or so based on parents) and have had him home for just a couple days shy of 1 week. He is 9 weeks tomorrow. The breeder had the pups on Fromm Gold puppy supplementing with rice, beef, sardines, yogurt, pumpkin. Upon bringing him home, I thought I’d keep him on the food for a couple of weeks and the same regime. I have added toppers of Wellness and Trippet – just a spoonful. I planned on switching to Large Breed puppy Fromm and also wanted to pick another food from HDM’s list. I discovered yesterday that he is knuckling over – more pronounced on his left front than right but both seem to be effected. What I think it might be as that upon getting him home I instituted 2-3 very short walks each day (5-10 minutes max.) I have 3 other dogs so he has also engaged in play and my floors and the ground outside that he is on are all hard surfaces. I thought I should discontinue the walks immediately and have done so. Any advice is welcome – should I change foods right away? Information is conflicting – I’ve read that when this happens protein should be reduced and vit. C introduced?? Do you think the short walks contributed/caused this?? I can send pics as well but would need direction on how/where to post. THANK YOU in advance.

[theBCnut]

That really isn’t high for glucosamine and even if it were it would be fine. The only problem would be that later on if you need a joint supplement, glucosamine might not be as effective.

[Akari_32]

Iams is one of the worst foods out there, actually. And the easist way to get around canned food with fish in it is to just not buy any with fish. Huh. Imagine that. Dry food is terrible for cats because of the higher level of carbohydrates needed to bind the food together, as well as it being just that– dry. Some canned foods (like Iams) can actually be just as bad with carbs. Feeding just boiled meat is extremely imbalanced, as it doesn’t provide all of the nutrients your cat needs to stay healthy. Now, if you were to add supplements yourself, then that would actually be better than any commercial diet, but you would first have to know how much of what nutrients to add, and they can be costly.

[InkedMarie]

I’m a little confused by your question, sorry if I’m missing something. I was under the impression that by the time dog food is cooked, whatever glucosamine was there is all but gone. Buy a joint supplement if you need it.

Why do you need a senior food?

[Bobby dog]

Hi C4c:
I was thinking about it, but I haven’t looked into it yet. I have never tried any garlic supplement or fresh garlic for them. I suppose since flea season is just around the corner I better get on it!

Have you ever given garlic to your kitties?

I know the cat that will eat anything will probably eat fresh garlic. He likes the meatballs I make for Bobby and they have a good amount of garlic (and tumeric) in them. I am just not sure about the other kitties.

[Shasta220]

I am honestly very disappointed at my dog right now. Cassy is my 12y.o. Lab/GSD, and has NEVER been picky about her food. I’ve been giving her coconut oil recently (finally got her up to 2tbsp), and normally she loves it; but this week, she decided it was the most revolting thing ever.

She eats outdoors (that’s where the food is stored, out in the woodshed), so the coconut oil stays hard. I crumbled it up over her food, but she was still able to spit out the tiny pieces. Today, I tried melting it and pouring it over her kibble. That didn’t work either, because it hardened and was stuck to the edges of the bowl with some of the kibble.

Any suggestions to get that full 2tbsp in there without her noticing? I wondered if I could add some olive oil or something to keep it more of a “liquid”, because she doesn’t seem to notice it too much when it’s like that. Or possibly some flavored liquid to mix with it so she doesn’t smell it as much?

At first, I thought maybe she has just lost her appetite; but she eats everything else perfectly fine (and then some…she’s our vacuum cleaner!)

[stacie p]

I have a 2 year old Black lab, who prior to being neutered, was 100% healthy. We neutered him at 9 mo old, and he was 78# (he is American Lab, so that is a healthy to thin weight). Once he recovered from surgery he started developing stomach/digestive issues, skin rashes and inability to gain weight. Vet diagnosed him with having a food allergy. So thru a lot of trial and error we settled on Fromm Game Bird, but he still had issues with rashes. He is currently eating Brothers Allergy Turkey and Egg. We have been able to get him down to just symptoms of Bloat and gas, which is supplemented with gasX. I can’t get him back up to his pre-fix weight of 78#, the closest I have gotten is 76# and he eats 5 cups per day. His healthy average weight should be 90#.

Has anyone ever heard of there being a correlation with digestion and neutering (hormone changes) in dogs? Thank you in advance for your time.

[MastiffLove]

We will buy in bulk, meaning half a cow, lots of chickens (loose fat removed), half a pig (less pig since it has more fat)(will add organs to those) for a start and later on i will add more types of meats as i find farmers or producers around my area. I will make this food for my 8weeks old English Mastiff puppy BUT my wife’s parents are getting a Colley puppy in July and later on during the summer a German Sheppard puppy, also a friend of ours is researching for a good breeder of Great Danes. That being said we would be 4 different dogs on the same recipe.

1- Can i get Green Tripe from a meat manufacture(not sure if thats how its called)?

2- Can i grind necks?

3- instead of using pureed vegetable can i use a Supergreen powder mixted with the meat then freeze?

4- Should fruits be pureed? or chopped in fine pieces is ok? (like apples for example)

5- wy use Sweet potatoes, isn’t it a source of carbs? Should it always be boiled or can it be oven baked?

6- Thinking of buying in bulk therefore i would have the company to grind the meat including bones…would using:
URBAN WOLF Balancer give a too high output on Calcium and an unbalanced Calc./Phos.?
or
Should i use Dr. Harvey’s Formative Years for Puppies?
NOT to forget my puppy is 8weeks old!

7- As for Greens should i use Mercola’s SpiruGreen Superfood and/OR Swanson’s Sprouted Flax Powder mixed with Wheat Grass Powder?

8- Kymythy Schultze a certified clinical nutritionist said:” Calcium can go out of solution when feeding too many vegetables. Keeping normal acidity (low alkaline) in the digestion by avoiding veggies in puppies keeps calcium in solution and won’t deposit excess on the bones.”
(p.s.: thank you Sharon Buchanan for the quote!)
Would adding the product from Question 8 result in unbalancing my pups acidity?

9- i would mix everything up in large batches (some batch will have some ingredients and some will have different ones to “balance” it out in day on day off type of feeding), and separate in individual portion size for an 8 weeks old large pup in air tight sealed bags and then into the freezer. Doing so would i loose any efficiency of certain foods like greens and fish oil?

*** End comment: I was happy and felt like applauding Mercola.com for funding 300,000$ for the Washington State GMO Labeling Initiative, they are one of the companies, amongst many others, that i buy products from as supplements for my puppy raw diet. http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/cornucopia.jpg ***

[hamptonmeadow]

I would be more concerned with diabetes. Tke her to the vet and have her tested. It is controllable and you need some advice. Buy good but not high carb dog foods. Not science diet or any of those vet sold ones.

Joint supplements are being highly debated. I don’t know which ones work and many of them don’t. I think you may be seeing a change in food rasing her blood sugar. Good luck and let us know what it turns out to be.

[Nyanko-sensei]

I have an 11 year old Terrier mix with arthritis in one of her front legs. She’s about 23 lbs. She’s been eating Earthborn Primitive Natural for about a month and a half and I ‘ve noticed she’s drinking loads of water since. She’ll drink water for a minute straight, several times a day. This is a dog who would barely touch her water before. I’m glad she’s drinking more, but I’m worried about her. She doesn’t have any kidney problems but will drinking so much overwork them and cause kidney problems later on?

I know it’s because the food is high-protein. It’s time to buy more, so I was wondering if I should switch to a lower protein food from the same company. I was thinking Meadow Feast or Coastal Catch from Earthborn.

How important is protein for a dog with arthritis? Should I stay with Primitive Natural or go with lower protein? She’s also taking Nupro as a joint supplement. I haven’t seen much improvement from the Nupro but it’s only been a few weeks.

[crazy4cats]

Hey Guys-
I’m curious… Do you think that all ear infections are due to a food or supplement intolerance? Couldn’t they be due to anything else?

[Sharon Buchanan]

MastiffLove ~

YAAY for you, more so for your dog!!! In addition to Dr. Becker’s book, get Kymythy’s book too. Amazon has it on Kindle so you can start using it right away.

If you’re going to go raw, I’d just go for it. Pups aren’t addicted to kibble the way adult dogs who’ve been raised on it are. There will be no need for a transition period. When I decided to transition Mystery to raw, I thought I’d feed raw in the morning and kibble at dinner. A couple days later it occurred to me, if he’s eating the raw in the morning, why not just feed raw for dinner too? I pitched the kibble. So far, I haven’t had any problem feeding Mystery any kind of meat. Unless there’s something inherently wrong with your pup (what’s his name?), everything should be considered fair game (NPI), just keep an eye on him as you introduce new food. Supplementation should be done on an as needed basis.

Since he’s a pup, keep it as simple as possible. I fretted over all sorts of stuff – for no good reason. Mystery’s first few meals consisted of an organic whole chicken that I brought home and cut up myself. It was about five pounds and lasted two days. The liver, neck and gizzards were included so he got those as well. You’ll hear a lot about “balancing over time”. This simply means that you’re to feed 80% muscle, 10% bone, 5% liver and 5% other organs (the balance) over a period of a few days or so. You don’t have to make sure every meal is balanced, just perhaps the week’s meals are.

Mystery’s first couple of weeks weren’t entirely balanced at all while I was trying to locate sources of raw food. When I finally made the decision to go raw, I knew I didn’t want a bunch of frozen patties and chubs. I wanted to feed whole slabs of meat. I’m still working out local sources for purchasing a half a cow here, 20 chicken there, some rabbit… A number of folks here suggested a company that ships whole foods so I started there but the shipping is expensive which is why everyone needs local sources. Do some Google searches for raw food co-ops in your area.

The cost for raw food is definitely more expensive than cheap kibble, however, the tradeoff is that you won’t have as many vet bills to pay because your dog will have an awesome immune system. You will learn though, to shop for deals, look for co-ops, find a friend to share a cow – yeah, you might want to start looking for a freezer so you can spend less by purchasing in bulk.

I could go on, but I’m going to suggest a few more places you will find helpful. One is the LBP raw thread (just two pages), where you’ll find some newbie questions answered: /forums/topic/feeding-raw-non-commercial-to-large-breed-puppies/. I would also point you to Facebook, something I had no use for until our eighth grandchild was born – okay, the kids kept beating me up about joining, but I now use my page mostly for raw nutrition exchanges with others who are likeminded. There are a number of raw feeding groups – search “raw feeding”. Some are better than others. Search for me – I’m currently using the same image of Mystery for Facebook that I use here, and I’ll share my opinion on which I like and which I don’t. I’ll also check with some Canadian “friends” to see if they’re near you and can help you resource food.

What I’m sharing with you is nothing more than what I have gleaned from forum members here, a weekend-long webinar on raw feeding featuring holistic vets and nutritionists, and folks who attended the conference that have been feeding anywhere from a few months to over 30 years. Just wanted to be clear that I’m still new at this too. And if folks who’ve been feeding raw for 30 years still feel like they can learn something new, I’m happy to be in their company. The raw community is amazing!

[Dori]

Hi Lea J. I feel like this is my mantra but I will say it again. I have a 4 1/2 year old Maltipoo, Katie, has had severe food allergies and intolerances as well as environmental allergies since we got her at 9 weeks of age. I’ve tried any and all suggestions out there. Went through a ton of food, most of which to no avail. What finally worked for her is commercial raw foods. I like Primal Pronto the best. I also rotate her foods with Darwins, and Answers raw. I’ve tried Stella and Chewy’s raw and Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw which I didn’t like at all. Anyway, I have three small dogs that I feed 1/4 cup twice a day. I do add and/or feed sardines (canned in water, not oil), coconut oil, probiodics, digestive enzymes, fresh fruits and veggies. Their treats consist of fresh fruits or veggies. I don’t use store bought treats. To many issues with Katies allergies. My 14 1/2 year old Maltese has arthritis in her right hip and also two degenerated discs mid spine. I rotate supplements as well as their foods. I haven’t found any particular joint supplement that has worked miracles. I have just ordered Sprintime’s Joint Health and Fresh Factor. Some people have been reporting that they are having good luck with these. Anyway, I think I’ve digressed here from my mantra which is: Grain, Soy, Poultry (in all forms), White Potato and Rice Free food as well as anything else you think your dog may be allergic or intolerant to. Your allergy list really doesn’t seem to be that bad though I wouldn’t doubt that she has more problems than just the ones you named. Full disclosure, I don’t believe that food allergy testing for dogs can be trusted. My dogs allergist/dermatologist as well as their traditional vets all would not do the testing. They said the tests are inaccurate, misleading and cost a lot of money. When vets tell you they won’t take your money, you know they are being accurate. To this date there are no known food allergy testing on animals that are accurate. As far as kibble goes, I can’t really recommend any because I’m not comfortable in my knowledge of their ingredients anymore. I figured out most of Katie’s food allergies by her reactions to the foods I was feeding and then comparing ingredients with other foods trying to figure out what was bothering her. She has many many issues. She just recently became allergic or intolerant to alfalfa. Allergic or intolerant to me is all the same. All I’m sure of is that either way, she can’t eat it so I don’t care whether some people say that it’s not really an allergy, it’s an intolerance. It’s all trial and error really and constantly researching ingredients. What works for my dogs may not work for others but eliminating the obvious typical allergens is a good place to start. It’s an incredibly long road in helping our allergy prone dogs but the work is well worth it for them. Exhausting on us. Oh, Spring is finally here in Atlanta where we live so for the last two days I’ve been giving her Benadryl twice a day. I hate having to do that but there is nothing I can personally do about environmental outdoor allergies. Trust me, if there was a way I would have found it by now. This is the first time I have ever had a dog with allergies and I’ll just say it keeps me on me on my toes with all things food related for her. Katie’s how I came across this site a couple of years ago and I, she and my other dogs have benefited immensely. Good Luck. If you need any clarification on anything I’ve said or any more questions please ask.

[Lea J]

I have just discovered this forum! Where were you 4 years ago?
Anyway- I have a 45 lbs rescue border collie chow mix, now 8 years old. She is wonderful but has severe itchiness. We have done allergy testing and found she is allergic to eggs, corn, wheat, catfish, rice, milk. Tried allergy shots- no difference. Tried elimination diets- she just lost weight. Tried just about every dog food out there. Even tried making dog food. Went to dermatologist who suggested Natural Balance LID Sweet Potato and Venison. Still itchy but somewhat less. (I have often wondered if this could be environmental) Discovered some arthritis recently, and has been on adequan with good results. Any suggestions for supplements, food, treats, etc for either of these conditions?

[Sharon Buchanan]

MastiffLove ~
Fromm’s Frittata Beef has very little meat protein in it since the first ingredient is Beef, not Beef Meal. There’s probably more pork than beef in this recipe even though it’s listed as the number six ingredient. It’s nice that they’ve added Whole Egg but the other top three ingredients are starches. So, no grains but… If you can get it, I like their LBP Gold better. First and second ingredients are Chicken and Chicken Meal and the calcium/phosphorus is a bit lower but so is protein at 26%. Looking back at my notes, I’m showing protein should be between 29 and 30%. $90 for a 26#bag is outrageous. There just is no really good option for LBP kibble.

Be careful about feeding kibble and feeling like you need to supplement with additional protein. Kibble stays in the digestive tract longer than raw or home cooked food, creating a situation where that “real” food will become rancid. If you must, never feed them both in the same meal.

One of the neater benefits of feeding raw is that their bodies efficiently process that food and therefore, you have less waste. I was so surprised and absolutely delighted when Mystery’s poop went from stinky gigantic soft logs to what looks like it belongs to a miniature pup and the smell is only noticeable when I bend over to pick it up. Now that the cats are eating raw and home cooked, the litter box isn’t noxious anymore (and when I say noxious – I mean hope-you-can-hold-your-breath long enough to empty the litter box noxious). The cats had been on Orijen as well and my kitten was forever having issues with soft stools. All of that is a thing of the past.

It took me nearly a year to make the decision to go raw so yeah, I’m now a die-hard convert. Sorry about that if it isn’t a consideration for you – yet! 🙂

[Margie W]

My 8 year old lab that I currently cook for (tried the raw but he wouldn’t eat it- immediately regurgitated it) is on a high protein high fat diet (due to cancer diagnosis for spindle cell sarcoma a year ago) I steam veggies mix with cottage cheese and egg and then add canned mackeral. I use RX Vitamin onco support in the evening, Berte green blend morning and evening and Berte immune blend in the AM. He’s also on a holistic regimen of Carcinosin and Thuja (which we began after a recurrence of the spindle cell and that is now in remission) He’s been having issues with mucus in his stool and some diarrhea (sporadically) for the past couple of months. He’s been on two rounds of metronidazole- his poops are fine during the medication and then for sometime after. But now he’s had another mucusy soft poop. Wondering if adding probiotics would help but also want to know if he’s getting some already in what I’m giving him. Don’t want to overdo the supplements. I’ve looked at the Mercola probiotic which doesn’t seem to have any of the ingredients that are in the other things he’s getting. Trying to keep this short but my Rupert is complicated! Any help would be appreciated.

[Pugsonraw]

Hi Dchassett,

I took both my pugs off several supplements right now (not just Springtime)… I have food & allergy tests run about every 6 months and this time around something I’m giving them triggered for NutraSweet in it as well as some of the normal food allergies I usually see. I’m not sure what it is so I’ve completely scaled back to rotating in a few of these things:
organic coconut oil, mercola krill oil, mercola enzymes and probiotics, braggs apple cider vinegar, and a hypoallergenic phycox joint supplement. I’ve used these over the year… and these have not triggered anything for the pugs. Not sure where the NutraSweet came from but I don’t want it in their diet.

Just when I think I’m wining the battle with their allergies or food choices, something changes…. and Spring is here in CA! My pugs are so different and it is hit and miss with products I try… what works for one, makes the other super itchy…

I have been looking at the Bug Off garlic though… even ordered the granules but they have not arrived yet. I was just at the vets yesterday and they were trying to suggest accuguard which is an oral pill.

Not sure if this helps but I find sometimes you just need to test it out, cross your fingers and see how it goes…

Dawn aka Pugsonraw…

[MastiffLove]

Hello again, so i’ve been reading, studying, analyzing and calculating like a madman since my last post. I am thinking of going with Royal Canin Giant Puppy since it has a low calcium % at 2.287/1000 kcal with a 0.82%:0.67% calc/phos ratio. I would add a canned topper or fresh meat to boost the proteins. Also to this, i was thinking of adding a probiotic formula and a dash of fresh fish oil and if the stool is too “soft” i’d regulate with pumpkin. Comments? Suggestions? Warnings? Praise?

Now question is, considering a rotation with added ingredients/supplements what would be a good starting schedule e.i. 3days on 4 days off for probiotic formula and so on….also what would be a safe amount of for each of em? What would be a good topper high in proteins?

p.s. Thank you for all your hard work and knowledge Hound Dog Mom.

[crazy4cats]

Thank you for the bug off links. I thought it was the allicin that was the bug repellant. But I guess it is actually something else. Anyway went to order it and noticed the bee pollen also. It states that it contains digestive enzymes. If I were order the bee pollen, would it take the place of the digestive enzyme I am using? I don’t really want to be putting too many scoops of different jars in their food. Does anyone have any experience with their bee pollen as a digestive supplement?

[theBCnut]

Dori
I found my chiropractor through my horse connections. There are many more people with horses that have chiropractic done than with dogs in my area. Yes, it could definitely help, but I would look for an acupuncturist first. And cold laser therapy is also excellent. The local vet. college may have a rehab vet or may be able to refer you to one. What I would recommend for joint care is to get a single bottle of a few different things and try them. Different supplements work differently for individual dogs. My favorites have glucosamine, MSM, and HA, but that’s because that’s what mine responds best to.

Harper’s Mom
You probably want to give 1/2 tsp per day, BUT you need to work up to that amount. Start with just a small pinch for a couple days.

[pugmomsandy]

Did you find out if the UTI is completely gone? My dogs haven’t had any noticeable side effects. I’ve been using the product a couple times a week as I alternate with a cranberry plus herbs supplement for several weeks to a few months. I dont remember the actual time i started using it. I think the highest pH was 9, and it was down to 8 and they have a follow up in April. Although I do have pH test strips here at home. Tonight they ate a duck neck for dinner so they’ll get the urine supplement with their canned food breakfast. In a six month period, two of my dogs had the high pH, so I’m using the products fairly long term. My third dog who eats the exact same diet has normal urine. Go figure. As they don’t have blood in the urine, frequency or other issue, I’m going to stick with these products for now. They do get vit C occasionally too.

[Dori]

So Patti. Are there any type or specific supplements that you can think of that might help Hannah? I’m having a hard time dealing with the fact that I can’t believe the years have passed so quickly. Seems like last week that she was a puppy. She’s totally healthy with everything. I mean, she runs around, plays, barks at anything that moves, plays with her toys and the other dogs. She runs up and down the stairs. The only thing she can no longer do is jump onto the sofa or the bed (our bed) so I’ve got the little doggy stairs all over the house so she can get to all her favorite places. Thanks for any help and advice. I know swimming would be good for her but I’ve been bathing her for over 14 years every 7 to 9 days and she has never ever been great with her baths. Actually she hates water, before we moved to this house we used to have a pool but the trauma she would undergo when I would have her swimming with me with incredibly difficult for her so I stopped. Now we don’t have a pool. She also hates going out in the rain.

[theBCnut]

Hi Dori

I don’t have an answer for you about the supplement, but the rear leg tremor is fairly common for dogs with spinal problems. Over time they develop weakness and muscle wasting because of the damage to the spine. What are the chances you can swim her when the weather gets better? It’s the best exercise for these things. The swing in her gait may also be her spinal issues rather than hips, or she may have damaged her hips compensating for her spine.

[Dori]

Hi Pugsonraw. How did the Advanced Hip and Joint Springtime supplement work out? Have you seen any improvement? I’m thinking of using this on Hannah. She’ll be 15 years old on 9/9/14. I rotate her supplements as well as her foods so I’m always on the look out for supplements that some may be having some luck with. She’s got arthritis, a couple of degenerated discs center spine, but lately I’ve noticed that the swing in her gait seems to be coming more from her hips than her legs. She’s also developing a tremor in both back legs. She had it a while back but it would only be one back leg or the other. Now it’s both back legs trembling when she’s standing still. Thanks, Dori

[theBCnut]

Hi Jewel

I try to give joint supplements that only have a few active ingredients to early or mild cases because the body eventually gets used to the ingredients and they stop working, so you need to be able to move on to something else. For more advanced or severe cases, I pull out the big guns, and this would be a big gun.

That being said, I would not feed the chews unless I couldn’t get my dog to eat this any other way. There were a few ingredients that I don’t want to give my dogs, like artificial colors and artificial flavors and a couple others. The powder still has artificial flavors, but I can live with that since they dropped the other more objectionable ingredients.

[MarieLovesChis]

I too need a new joint supplement and was thinking of going with Springtime advanced joint chews.

Mom2Cavs: How much do you think an 8 pound dog with luxating patellas would need of the advanced formula? Should just one chewable a day be enough? Sorry, not trying to hijack the thread.

[MastiffLove]

Hello everyone!

I would love some help in figuring what would be the “best” diet for my dog. Alot of you here seem to have alot of knowledge about this subject and i want to give the best diet to my dog so he will be in top health, shape and growth so he can live a great life without issues due to his diet.

On the 9th of April i am getting my Englsih Mastiff His dad is 220pounds and his mom is around 185 pounds he will be 8 weeks old he is one of the biggest of the litter. I am mentioning this so we can have an idea on an average he could possibly weight once adult and i want to promote growth and size without risking ANY health issues due to exessive or poor feeding.

I’ve been reading for quite awhile and theres so much information to consider that i’m getting overwhelmed with info lolll.

He is currently being fed with First Choice Puppy Medium and Large Breeds (4stars on the reviews here) and i will switch him to Orijen Puppy Large once i feel he feels confortable in his new home (most likely after 3 weeks he’s been here) .

I have read on here that mixing a puppies diet with diferent brands and types of food is a good thing also mixing dry kibbles with canned food is good and/or adding home food to his meals will supplement for whats missing.

But here are my questions:

1.Should i keep him on Orijen after his “switch” has been done until he reaches a certain age/weight or should i right away start “mixing things up” to best his diet?

2. Would any supplements or additives be used as a mixing ingredient to his kibbles?

3. Orijen has a Calcium (min/max) of 1.2/1.5% as wirtten on the 13kg (28.6pnd) bag enough or too much calcium? And could it be clarified, is it per portion served, over the whole bag, in one kiddle alone and such…how does those precentage work? so i can in the furture know what i’m dealing with.

4. Could someone give me a good idea on how to proceed thrue all of this like weeks old you do this, at a certain weight (considering hes not over or under weight and such) you start adding those kind of things…so on and so forth.

I understand theres alot of factors to consider like activity levels, too fat too skinny, etc. and so i will be monitoring his weight and growth weekly thrue his first year so i can spot anything different at a certain event like using a certain type of food or supplement etc. So try to be positive in giving as much detail as you can…i want to learn and i love precise and detailed info.

P.S. I live in Canada Quebec both parents are American living here in case you wish to suggest some food brands please consider i might not have access to it other then by shipping.

Sorry for the loooong post i’m french and i try to be clear on what i’m concerned about.

[Walter L]

I’m curious if anyone has questioned manufacturers about heavy metal content in their dog foods? I’m noticing a trend in refrigerated and supposedly high end dog foods putting bone in the top 10 ingredients in their food and marketing it as a “natural” calcium source.

Looking back at the history of calcium supplementation for humans….bones used to be the norm until it was banned after discovering heavy metal accumulation that occurs in bones from livestock drinking less than ideal water sources.

If it was banned for humans…is it really a safe source for our pets? Maybe pets should be getting their calcium supplements from a purer calcium source such as calcium citrate like humans do?

What are your thoughts?

[Shasta220]

I’m not sure how big your water bowl is, Aleksandra, to know how much ACV should go in there. I love using it as a supplement for it’s anti fungal/bacterial properties, but I’ve never tried to put it in water. I honestly wouldn’t blame him for not wanting to drink much, that stuff stinks lol! I’m lucky my dogs don’t care… I accidentally poured about 2tbsp instead of just 1 over my lab’s food, and she didn’t care at all! She gobbled all of it up just the same. I could probably put a handful of dirt over her food and she’d still eat it, though.
(Sorry if it’s a dumb question: what does RMB stand for?) Edit: never mind…. Figured it out, LOL! Raw meaty bone. *does a face-desk*

• This reply was modified 12 years ago by Shasta220.

[pugmomsandy]

These are are the supplements I have on hand but don’t necessarily give every day: Springtime Bug Off, Longevity and Joint Chews, Mercola Bladder Support, Wysong Biotic pH, krill oil, calamari oil, vit E and C, ubiquinol, cetyl-M, DE.

[Shasta220]

I’ll have to admit – my dogs are almost all dry, with occasional additions (apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, eggs, fish oils, other supplements). When I move out though, I will probably get into about 75% raw with them, because I love love LOVE the results I’ve seen. But for now, I don’t have the money, resources, or space to start three med-big dogs on raw.

[Shasta220]

I love apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, raw eggs, and I always keep a good joint supplement around for my old girl.

I’m curious – most glucosamine/chondroitin is sourced from shellfish, correct? Would crayfish count as well? Whenever we go camping, we catch loads of the lil buggers. Would it be safe to give the cooked shells to a dog (consistency is a lot like an eggshell), or would they need to be ground…or should they just be avoided altogether?

[Mom2Cavs]

I had a Shih-Poo (at the bridge now) who had both rear luxating patellas. We kept him from having surgery by giving him Springtime, Inc. Joint Health chews. He would get one in the morning and evening. He didn’t do well with Dasaquin at all. But, all dogs are different. I did limit his exercise somewhat, as well, but would have done that with any supplement given. He passed away before they came out with their new advanced chews. I keep both on hand.

[Shasta220]

I don’t know much about the vast amounts of joint supplements out there, but I enjoy Actiflex 4000 (meant for horses, but can easily be used for dogs). It’s probably not the best out there, but it’s super affordable. My 70lb senior lab gets about a tsp daily, which we figured that to be around 5$/month (compared to 30$/month of her other stuff.)

I’d definitely go with dchassett’s suggestions though sounds like she’s been around the block a few times when it comes to joint care.

Best wishes!

[Naturella]

I never used Greenies per se, but I have used the Nylabone green puppy chew things. Bruno liked them, but we are not getting any more. Ever. I am happy he never had a problem, but I would much rather give RMBs, brush his teeth, and give antlers, hooves, and bully sticks/ears/tracheae/natural and digestible stuff for dental health.

My friend, however, used to use Greenies every day with no problems. She also used bully sticks, but she wanted a long-lasting chew, and eventually they failed, so she stopped getting them. She is now on DentaStiX for her 2 dogs, but thankfully she is stopping soon. Her next trial will be water additive for fresher breath and with a joint supplement. Hopefully that works better. She will be using Tropiclean. Any thoughts on that?

[Naturella]

At the moment we feed Bruno about 75-80% dry mixed kibble and about 20-25% additives: pumpkin, yoghurt, cottage cheese, flax seed meal, coconut oil/butter, canned sardines, and one raw egg/week and an RMB/week (right now I rotate between chicken backs and pork neck bones).

With the amount of dry food brands I want to rotate between, if I don’t mix it would probably take AT LEAST 1/2 of Bruno’s life to go through all of them ONCE, if not more time than that. There are many high-quality kibbles out there and he seems to adapt well in rotation. He does love his raw too though! 🙂

It is my husband and I’s dream to own land and a farm one day – doesn’t have to be huge, just enough to raise goats, some sheep, chickens, rabbits, and, if by a lake – ducks and maybe fish. We would like to grow our own fruits and veggies, at least some of them. (I only have 10 fruit/nut trees in mind, no more. LoL Not counting the bush fruit/nut-giving plants.) We would like to hunt our food – deer, ducks, geese, pheasants, rabbits, fish, whatever, and know where our food comes from. So THEN, I would like to be giving maybe 80% or more balanced raw with supplements. I really hope we get there some day. 🙂

[Dori]

I rotate foods and supplements. Three of the glucosamine/chondrotin supplements that I use with my 14 1/4 year old Maltese are: Dasuquin with MSM, Actistatin Canine Extra Strength and GlycanAid HA. If your dog has a chicken intolerance then I would not give her the K9 with chicken flavoring. It may do more harm than good. I think she probably would have an issue with it. I have a dog with chicken allergies/intolerances and she cannot have anything with any kind of poultry flavoring or ingredients of any sort. The three above are very good. I’ve done a lot of research. I go through a bottle of one and then rotate onto another and so on and so forth.

[Dori]

I happen to think that The Honest Kitchen is a fabulous food. It’s not a raw diet. It’s dehydrated. You add water to it and let it rehydrate. It’s the only non raw food I feed my dogs. The Honest Kitchen is one of only two pet foods that can legally say they are 100% USDA human grade food, mostly organic fruits and veggies made in a human food plant. They other is Weruva canned foods. Weruva can no longer guarantee that their cans have no BHA so I don’t use them, besides the bha they also contain carrageen (sp?). I always keep The Honest Kitchen on hand in case I have forgotten to defrost raw. Typically I keep Zeal on hand. One of my dogs is allergic to ingredients in their other formulas. Another of their formulas that is good is Preference. All it’s missing is the protein so you an add any protein you want. It’s also good for a change for them to lower their fat intake. Raw has a high fat content. Darwin’s (a home delivered only raw food) has the lowest fat content that I am aware of. I rotate everything with my dogs. Food, supplements, oils, etc. Whatever ingredient they may be missing or low on one product I’m hoping they’ll get from the next. Also I feel it gives them a healthier gut and immune system.

[pugmomsandy]

I would say 75% raw/25% processed of some type (kibble, canned, dehydrated). Tonight’s dinner is just tripe with a little canned food just to mix in some supplements.

[jewel0247]

I’m wanting to start a joint supplement on my 13 year old dog and can’t decide on which (even with all the awesome information on these forums)! She shows mild mobility issues, but gets around well for the most part…
I’ve come down to:
Mercola (the chewables)
K9 Naturals Joint strong (the powder)
Springtime Joint formula

I’m liking the K9, but there is chicken flavoring or cartilage in the formula… and with her chicken intolerance, I don’t know if she would have a bad reaction?

Thanks!

[pugmomsandy]

My dogs didn’t have any UTI’s but had a high pH and some struvites. They take Wysong Biotic pH- alternating with Mercola Bladder Support in one meal almost daily. They don’t get it when they eat raw food. I use it when they eat kibble/canned meals. I would recommend getting some urine pH test strips so you can monitor that at home or take in a urine sample to be tested monthly. The urine pH relates to the type of crystal. And my dogs did see a vet, a holistic one. I wouldn’t recommend cranberry juice especially it it has sugar in it. Try a D-mannose supplement. D-mannose attracts a certain type of bacteria from the bladder wall. It’s the active ingredient in cranberry and some other berries.

• This reply was modified 12 years ago by pugmomsandy.

[Shasta220]

I’m sure you guys remember my good ol’ lab, Cassy. Well, I’m starting her on acv and just ordered some liquid Actiflex (it’ll cut her joint supplement cost from 20-40$/month to just 5-10$/month. Boo yah!). The dogs get fed outside of the house, and I don’t really want to hassle with measuring out the liquids every single day, so I thought of this:
Freeze the supplements w some canned food, then just give her a cube a day on the food.

I’m wondering if there’s a chance for any of the nutrients to “freeze off” by doing so? (They would prob stay in the freezer for up to 2wks, since an ice cube tray will hold about 12-14 cubes)

Also, what’s a super affordable and still 4-5 star canned food that I can pop in there? My thoughts were maybe Natural Balance, or something from Diamond? I figured it wouldn’t matter too much since she’d just be getting 1-2tbsp daily, and she’s a good 70lb.