Hi! I have a 5 year old shih tzu/bichon mix that I have been feeding Fromm Grain Free kibble and canned for the last 2 years and after much reading on the benefits of a raw diet, I went out and purchased raw dinners from a local company ( Big Country Raw) located here in Southern Ontario. I went with the dinners because they included vegetables and fruits along with the meat.
My question is do I have to add any supplements to this food? I’m so nervous he won’t be getting the required amount needed. I want to start him on it in the morning and is it ok if I don’t have the supplements if needed then?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated 🙂
Kristen
It is a mini schnauzer female 7 months old.
My older gal pepper also a mini schnauzer used to get a fish oil gel cap nordic naturals -Ultimate Omega 1 soft gel had 325 EPA /425 DHA -640 Total Omega 3’s every day but had to stop it in dec. when she had a bad episode of gastritis -havent given them until I make sure her total diet change is working then I will add them back in a few times a week.
This may be too much of a dose for millie so i may give her sardines a few times a week
BC said the same thing that a good diet is paramount and supplements aren’t necessary if the diet is good
What type of dog is it? I know it depends on the breed. I am currently using Salmon Oil for our 4 month old Bullmastiff and I also give it to our adult dog. I just figured since fish oil is good for humans, probably good for dogs too. The claims on the product seem great also and include helping keep their coat nice, heart health, etc. But, I would be curious to know if it has an actual benefit or is just wasteful.
Also, I was going to put my puppy on a puppy vitamin but since she is large breed, I read a lot of articles against it. For the simple reason that if a puppy gets too many vitamins and supplements, could be bad for them long term. I don’t want to risk that.
I would say the most important thing to consider is that if your puppy is on a high quality food, they shouldn’t need additional supplements.
Yes. Supplements are after the fact and preventative.
Hi Everyone,
I need some advice if Millie my 7 month old mini schnauzer is : 1. too young to stop Puppy kibble? 2. If she isn’t too young to stop the puppy kibble, can I feed her the various kinds of the grain free Honest Kitchen(that would be the rotating) with toppers of lightly cooked meat or poultry for 1 of her meals? Does the Honest Kitchen have enough nutrients for a young gal or would i have to add various supplements/antioxidents/oils to that meal?
For the 2nd meal would it be ok to give her commercial raw? Rotating within say Primal or Vital Essentials (or whatever raw co. that will ship to me) their various lower fat proteins.
I do know the VE does not add the fruit/veggies so could I top that meal off with maybe some cooked veggies.
BC mentioned that it may be time to cut out her noon meal,so I am trying to figure out how to get her off kibble & increase the raw & introduce the dehydrated.
Thanks so much to all for the great advice and guidance you ALL have given me in these past months. I can’t tell you how much it has meant to me & the girls 🙂
My yorkie had sturvite crystals but no uti’s so I switched him to low carb canned food with water even added to it and we have been clear since. I would think u would have to get rid of the Uti and crystals before the supplements would help.
Hi Michelle T-
Have you taken your dog to the vet to make sure that she doesn’t have an infection or that the crystals have not returned? I don’t believe that any of the supplements that have been mentioned in the above posts will actually dissolve crystals or cure infections. I do think that they are great preventatives of these conditions. Also adding moisture to their diets is very important, either by feeding canned or raw or adding as much of it as possible to their kibble is very helpful. Plenty of opportunities to go potty is another important preventative measure. I have also read that stress and anxiety can lead to these issues as well. Have you had any big changes in your household lately?
I wish you luck on your quest to help your doggy!
Hey Sarah. I use the same
Powder. My vet doesn’t believe in supplements and things of that nature. So there is when I’m on my own to do research and make the decisions I feel are best for me and my dog. So cool that your vet is on board! Love that.
Hi Michelle. My vet didn’t recommend supplements but I believe in doing my own researcher. Just like our human doctor practice western medicine and will treat you differently than a holistic doctor. So sometimes I do my own thing based on research and a holistic approach.
Hello,
These posts were really informational, but I don’t see anyone who mentioned our particular struvite issue. My 5yr old golden mix has started to leak in her sleep, anywhere from small puddle to lake, not great when you let you pup sleep on the bed! She had this problem about a year ago and the vet checked her urine: the ph was high and it was full of crystals but no UTI. A couple of months of the prescription SO food and the problem was alleviated. The vet made no mention of alternative supplements or options. Do you think the cranberry, vit c, or low protein foods might help her? She already drinks a lot of water every day and has access to the yard fairly often but I’ll make a point to take her out even more now that the leaks are back.
Mom,
The more the merrier, I had booked marked this supplement a long time ago & I think, if memory serves me ,asked Shawna about it and she too wasn’t crazy about it. She prefers the STANDARD PROCESS line of supplements & pepper (my older gal ) was on the various kinds for different issues, I stopped them 2yrs ago when i almost lost my angel to aspiration pneumonia, never started them up again.
I was looking at some website about schnauzers (guess it was a breeders site) & it was a must you had the puppies on this supplement or the health guarantee would be voided_i found that to be interesting & then BC mentioned the same thing-so I just thought MAYBE? my puppy Millie should try it??
How do you like your probotic and do you give it every day? I was using Mercola’ s for a long time & just started the Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form and like it (at least for now) better. I am always looking for a back up.
i like the ingredients in the Vet Classics chew-where do you purchase that as well as your probiotic- amazon??
Phillip, as I understand it there are several reasons to do a rotation diet. One is for variety for the dog, flavor-wise. Another reason is to give the dog different ingredients in the food. Every food has different basic ingredients, some have oats, rice, peas, etc. , something to help bind the food to keep a kibble shape. Also different supplements in varying amounts. By rotating the foods the dog gets a variety of all these things, not too much or too little of any one thing. For example, rice is known to contain arsenic (absorbed from the soil it’s grown in). A little is not harmful but if your dog food was always the same thing, like a turkey and brown rice variety, he could potentially build up too much arsenic in his body. By doing a rotation diet, you’d avoid that kind of thing. Another point , if you find several foods that your dog does well on, you can take advantage of sales and save a few dollars now and then.
As long as the veggies you add are colorful, you should be adding the antioxidants, and it sounds like you are feeding a good variety, so no, I don’t think you need to add supplements.
BC
thanks so so much.
I guess the breeders must get some kind of kick-back (i don’t mean that in a bad sounding way) but this was a mini schnauzer breeder and yes her guarantee was also contingent on giving the Nuvet vitamins, she even gave a special code to get a 45% discount.
Thanks again.
Do you think a puppy that is fed commercial raw, orijen & legacy kibble, cooked meats, poultry & veggies and eventually THK should be on supplements ?
My older gal is on some ,but with this gal at 6 1/2 months should I be giving them so soon?
She grew in the 3 1/2 months that’s she’s been with me and weighs almost 15 lbs-all she wants to do is eat, I hesitate to take the 3rd meal away, but I don’t want her to gain too much weight too quickly.
Thank you always for your input and knowledge
I was just wondering if anyone has used a supplement called “NUVET” it was recommended on a mini schnauzer website.
Seems like it has many ingredients I am not too sure about especially for a puppy?
Any thoughts, comments, suggestions on this supplement or supplements in general for puppies.
Thanks to all
My issue with Vitamin E supplements is that virtually all of them are derived from soy, which some studies have implicated in bloat. While there are opposing studies that found no correlation between the two, I tend to be overly cautious considering I have a family of GSDs – a breed that is already prone to bloat. Dr. Mercola’s Vitamin E supplement is (or at least claims to be) soy-free, but the cost is ridiculous. It’s about $25 for 30 capsules, which seems expensive even compared to what we pay for Instinct LID kibble.
Go to the Diet and Health Issues forum and read the first few pages in the Large and Giant Breed Puppy Nutrition thread for info on why you should be very careful with LBP nutrition. But you really don’t have to stick with large breed food once they are adults, though you might want to make sure you give joint supplements.
I have an 8 year 3 month old mix rescue dog (Pekingese, Poodle, Pomeranian, and they believe there is also another small breed but long body mixed) approx. 12lbs. She has never been a jumper because of her very short legs, and I use to describe her running and playing as a cat/dog. She would leap and pounce across the yard unlike most dogs that run. She’d leap off of her back legs, land on her front and so on and so forth. She suddenly stopped walking, running, playing, etc. She now scoots her back end and curls it to the side so her feet are facing up and shes dragging her very lower back. The only time she will get up and hobble is to potty and its only a few feet at a time. My vet recommended buying the fish oil capsules and mixing 2 a day with some wet dog food as well as half of a DOSEQUIN DS Joint Health Supplement, Maximum Strength Plus MSM daily. This worked AMAZING for the first 2 weeks, she was walking and moving around 75% more than she was. However she is a female and she became disgusted with the taste of popping the fish oil liquid pills and mixing it with her food, so she has quit eating the food and after 5 days of her only eating tablespoon or two of it she is back to barely moving. What is a good food/ supplements that I can give her (that don’t make her skin smell like fish oil and that she will EAT!)?!?!?! PLEASE! I will do the work if its having to make her food, but I will not pay $127 for a SMALL (32lb) bag of food! I AM SINCERELY THANKFUL FOR ANY AND ALLLLLL RECOMMENDATIONS. She still has her sight and full mind and is loving and wants to be playful, I’m just trying to get her body to agree with her mind and spirit!!
Okay, with Primal if the word Formula is in the title that means it is a complete meal. If it says raw mix or raw grind, it’s meant for supplemental feeding where you can tailor your dogs meals with your own supplements.
Vital Essential Raw’s lowest fats, I believe, are their rabbit and fish. Their fish are available in their raw patties.
If it is a supplement that gives loading dose info, you can certainly double it safely, probably almost all, if not all, joint supplements can be doubled. Some dogs do get upset stomach from getting that high a dose long term, but not many. If Lily does, then you can start backing off to see what her comfort level is, like a double dose every other day and normal dose in between.
Her symptoms and the fact that she does better after being up and moving around would lead me to believe that it is an arthritic condition and, not a luxating patella. Having toy breeds for so many years I know the symptoms of luxating patellas. They do not do better after walking and moving around. That’s more symptomatic of arthritis. With that said, I would agree with BC. I’d like to know for sure. But, again with that said, if she has a bad enough luxating patella that needs surgery for correction you would know that. There is no confusing it with arthritis. Yes, I’d like to know if it’s arthritis because if it is, you can give supplements and possible different types of meds or herbals if you think she’s in pain to give her some relief. Pain meds don’t help with severe luxating patellas. With a luxating patella it’s similar to being double jointed where your limb snaps out at a joint. If it’s not severe enough you can snap it back in to place yourself, if you and your orthopedic can’t then you need surgery. With a luxating patella the “knee” will snap out of position. Mild cases it will just snap back into place, mild to medium you or your vet (mostly you because it happens continually) will snap it back in place. Severe means that neither the knee, your dog or you can snap it back in place. That needs surgery. Katie had surgery for a level 4 luxating patella before she was a year old. (have I mentioned often enough on all posts that she was the runt of the litter????) Luxating Patella and arthritis are not the same thing. To know how to treat or at least help either you have to know what it is.
Hi Akari,
The concern I’d have with this product is that the instructions are very vague. I couldn’t find it defined anywhere what “meat” is. There is a big difference between a lean meat and a fatty cut. Additionally, I see no mention in regards to fat supplements that would be needed to meet linoleic requirements.
I “made” 2 meals one using 3% fat ground beef and one using 30% fat ground beef. I calculated out the Ca, Phos, Zn, Vit D,Vit E, and polyunsaturated acids and compared them to AAFCO. The meal made with 3% fat beef was excessive for calcium, deficient for Phos for growth profile, excessive in Zn, excessive in Vit D and excessive in Vit E. The diet was deficient in linoleic acid.
Of the six nutrients I checked the meal made with 30% fat ground beef was deficient in phos, and linoleic acid.
To use this supplement I think you’d need to get a full nutrient analysis for the supplement, then use a source like the USDA nutrient database to get nutritional information on the meat choice you make, then calculate out all the nutrient levels and compare to AAFCO and/or NRC tables and then add supplements as needed and balance the diet.
For myself that would be way too much work to do.
What I like about Balance it is that all this work is done for you and it tells you exactly what meat, what fat supplements and gives you a full nutrient analysis for the diet you create.
Any reason why Balance it wouldn’t work for you?
Dori,
Your such a great wealth of knowledge, my little & i mean little experience with foods rotation is basically kibble with a lightly cooked topper of different proteins. I never fed canned.
i am sorry i am picking your brain so much, i really don’t know how to go about all this and then add in my fear well you can guess-
I used to feed Pepper a sardine every day until she couldn’t handle them, then I gave her fish oil-i would puncture a pill, she got beta glucan for her immune system coq10 for her heart 3x a week a Vit C, folic acid also-all human supplements just scaled down to her wt.
now with Millie I don’t want to overload her at this point because she is a puppy, i had planned to introduce the sardines a few times a week soon I think she needs the omega 3.
You know even though millie is eating a high quality kibble Orijen, Horizon legacy, I am starting to think she needs to get away from all kibble.
I have noticed,( funny that you mentioned this )Pepper’s stool has no smell since she has been eating THK, yet Millie’s does & I can only attribute it to the kibble.
I give Millie both the Orijen & Legacy mixed and she is ok with that.
I know she is ok with the orijen freeze dried (that’s what she gets for lunch alone)
I guess I made the mistake of giving her the HK with her kibble & chicken at nite.
I should have introduced THK alone with her protein as a topper.
Dori I will get this, i won’t be bothering you for ever, I am a Leo ,and we are perfectionists (that’s why I suffer from migraines) so i have to get this correct-poor Millie to have me for a mom 🙁
I did create a new topic on Puppy’s and supplements-i just haven’t had a puppy in ages & according to Millie’s breeder she needs nothing ( i don’t agree) but don’t want to go overboard.
I realize you don’t feed kibble but i saw a post where tripe is now made into kibble-petkind.com, I wanted your opinion, I have read here a lot of posters feed canned tripe-that it is good for them, I see that more of the large breed posters feed it, I just didn’t know if breeds like schnauzers would benefit. After all Pepper & Millie are not what you would call “working dogs’ Pep is in retirement & Millie is unemployed
Good Morning,
Any opinions & input on supplements? Fish oil or a human grade all around supplement for a puppy? Is it something that can hurt or help. Her diet is good.I have read some many differing views on this, just wondered if anyone had any thoughts on this.
Thank you as always
I have seen bottles of supplements in the pet food shops, and online, that profess to alter the PH of a dog’s urine so that it does not burn out your lawn. Does anyone know if these products actually work and are they safe to administer to your pet? I would appreciate feedback from anyone who has tried these products or researched them for safety.
BCNut and Aimee-
Thanks again. That’s another good point! Will probably not buy again and try to find the supplements elsewhere.
Agt-
I explained exactly why I bought it.
We are fostering a bear-hound dog that has a tumor on the outside of his scrotum that bleeds a lot. The vet wants to castrate and do an ablation but his red blood cell level is too low to undergo surgery. We are feeding him high iron foods such as beef livers. Does anyone know of a superior dry dog food high in iron or a supplement that we could give him.
Hi Cheryl – I am not familiar with those supplements, but have you ever looked into green tripe? It provides probiotics and digestive enzymes. It’s incredibly stinky! I feed it to my dogs in their food sometimes and give them tripe treats regularly.
Kristen,
I ‘ll give you a bit on my background as it buried in numerous posts I’ve posted over the years. I have a strong background in science, hundreds of credit hours. I started out as a biology /biochem double major. Didn’t finish the degree… married my prof and became a mom. But as a wife of a prof I now could take classes for free, and I’ve taken a lot of classes! As part of my education I have taken a class which covered feed formulation for large animal, many many hours evaluating diets primarily for cattle and hog production as problem based class work. It was all very “mathey” and all hand calculations so I have a basic understanding of how to do nutritional calculations it isn’t hard to do … just time consuming.
Because of my background when I evaluate a company or product I look at the nutritional numbers posts and see if they “add up”.
The reason I said so far only balance it makes sense to me is because of the precision of the feed recommendations. I think the amount of supplement should vary depending on ingredient use. Use as much as needed and no more. Keeps costs down. Also specific vegetable fat recommendations are given which vary depending on meat source to meet linoleic needs as they should.
When I looked at the KBPF supplement I see that the nutritional information posted doesn’t meet AAFCO. I found it odd that though they post a decent amount of information there is nothing about linoleic acid. I would not be at all surprised to find that the diets as made are deficient. The company doesn’t have recommendation for vegetable oils and I doubt that there is enough dried egg in the product to meet needs. There is no break down of the nutrient profile of the supplement.
See Spot Live longer does a little better job… but vague instructions like add up to 20% whole food by volume… really turn me off. Nutritionists never balance by volume way too much variation. Huge difference to a nutrient profile/calories if you add 20% liver by volume vs 20 % green beans vs 20% chickpeas. It is all very odd.
The “synthetics” in balance it don’t bother me, perhaps because of my nutritional background. The NRC tables are based on highly bioavailable “synthetics” and the user of such tables is cautioned of a need to convert if using natural sources whose bioavailability may be poor. Even SSLL acknowledges the need for synthetics. I have to wonder if the dried spinach in SSLL isn’t somewhat of a filler window dressing. People like to see natural ingredients so marketers will oblige them.
Cheryl,
It doesn’t surprise me that all the recipes from balance it come up with deficiencies unless supplement is added as the recipes are based on just a few ingredients. It isn’t a “ploy” to get you to buy their supplement. Recipes are free when using their supplement but you can purchase recipes that use common supplements to balance them.
Is balance it perfect? I think it is good at what it is, but may not meet all peoples needs.
I’ve never used the supplements myself as majority of calories my dogs eat are from commercial foods.
Hi kristin,
I’ve never purchased or used balance it supplements. I have made lots of recipes on the site though just to see how it works. It is super duper easy and a lot of fun to play with! Not sure how you got the idea that you had to download or purchase anything or go through a vet. Just scroll over homemade food tab and click on autobalancer EZ. You can pick ingredients from the lists and the program then gives you options that vary in protein and fat content. After the initial options are presented you can customize it by entering your dog’s weight and what protein and fat percentage you’d like the diet to have. The recipes are free to look at, the program tells you how many deficiencies are present if you don’t supplement and you can see how much supplement you need to use /batch. For me that is where the “fun” lies. It is interesting to see how adding particular ingredients changes the profile, the number of deficiencies and the amount of supplement needed to balance the recipe. I’ve found that the amount of supplement can vary significantly depending on the ingredients/fat levels that you choose to use in the diet. That’s why there isn’t a “standard” recommendation in regards to how much supplement to use. the program calculates out the least amount needed based on the base diet. I love that it gives you a full nutrient analysis for the recipe and detailed instructions.
Have not looked at See Spot Live Longer.
The best food would be a higher protein grainfree food. Grains are inflammatory. Is she on supplements for her joints? There are many out there. Ones I use are Liquid Health K9 glucosamine, organic tumeric (the Whole Dog Journal just had an article on this), Dog Gone Pain and Traumeel.
Susan
Thank’s for the info. Will look into further, just briefly looked at it this am.
Weekends are a better time lately to do in-depth research.
Also am looking into “Balance It”-soo much out there it can get overwhelming and very confusing. Kristen, I agree with you on the supplements.
Kristen, have you checked out “the justfordogs”site?
What does KBPF stand for??
thanks again everyone
Hi Aimee – so you make all your dog’s food and use Balance It? That’s it? I checked out the website and the supplement doesn’t give use instructions. It looks like downloading or purchasing recipes, or going through a vet is the only way to get that information. The ingredient list looks like all chemical based supplements to me, as opposed to whole food ingredients which I prefer not only for myself but for my dogs as well.
Have you ever reviewed the See Spot Live Longer product?
I purchased a jar of “EverPup” on Amazon and wondered if anyone is familiar with it? It is a powered supplement.
I usually give my older gal human supplements tailored to her weight, but I thought when the time comes I might give this to my 6 month old.
It states it is 100% human grade.
Also, can anyone recommend a good probiotic & digestive enzyme? I have been using the Mercola D.E. & Probotics for quite some time and not happy with the results.
I got a sample size of the H.K. Perfect Form and so far are very pleased with the results, I was wondering if this can be used on a long term basis?
Has anyone used the H.K. Pro Bloom?
Thanks again for any input.
Cheryl
Hi Barbara. Sorry I haven’t chimed in sooner, it’s been a very busy day. As I’ve mentioned to you before, it has been a very long road to achieving a quality to Katie’s life. My favorite and most trusted commercial raw foods are: Primal Raw Formulas (the formulas are the only one of their foods that are complete and balanced), Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Foods, Answer’s Detailed Raw Foods (a bit difficult to find but any pet store that carries their raw goats milk should be able to order in the food for you), OC Raw, Stella & Chewy’s (I go back and forth with my feelings about the taste of their food for my dogs but as a company they are top notch), Vital Essential Raw, Nature’s Logic Raw. With all of this said I continue to always be on the look out and continue to tweak Katie’s diet. The companies that I mentioned are the ones that I feel very confident and comfortable with feeding to my dogs; but you always have to be on the look out that if any of these foods you feed to your dog don’t agree with them, look for different ingredients in the foods that may be the culprit. Katie cannot have any fowl whatsoever. Sometimes a food may be labeled “bison”. Please make sure that there is no other animal protein in the food. Sometimes some companies will add chicken fat, turkey fat, or some poultry to up their protein requirements for their label. Also some companies may have an over abundance of peas or some other ingredient which may bother your dogs. I have not found that to be the case with any of the above mentioned companies and foods. I do have to be careful which foods from these different companies I feed my dogs because Katie cannot have poultry of any sort, duck, lamb, quail. I stay away from all those. The only kibble that is fed to my dogs on very rare occasions is Nature’s Logic Kibble. They are not strictly a grain free food because their formulas contain millet which is a pseudo grain. For some bizarre reason Katie, who cannot tolerate any grain whatsoever, doesn’t seem to have any reaction to millet. It started out as an error on my part. I thought Nature’s Logic was a grain free food. It wasn’t after some time that I found it contained millet which I didn’t realize it was grain free. I was looking for a kibble that she might be able to eat because my husband who, on the rare occasion has to feed my dogs, is very squeamish and hubby is a bit on the lazy side, and just wants to be able to scoop a food and pour into their bowls. It doesn’t happen often because I don’t like feeding them kibble. Anyway, if I can be of further help please ask away and I will do my best to answer any and all questions that I can.
Just a quick add on to my post is that I do rotate brands, proteins within brands, etc. etc. My very favorite of all commercial raw foods is Primal. Without a doubt I have no qualms about recommending Primal Formulas. Primals Pronto Formulas are also an easy way for you to transition into commercial raw feeding because they are small little bits that you can scoop out frozen and put in bowls and wait till they soften (approx. 15 minutes) and then feed. I have three dogs…..5 lb. Yorkipoo, 6 lb. Maltipoo and a 7.3 lb. 15 year old Maltese. They have been eating these high protein, moderate to high fat, low carb foods for approx. 3 years. None have developed any issues from eating high protein, moderate to high fat foods. Many will scare people into believing that some foods have too much fat to feed dogs. It’s not the quantity of the fat or the protein for that matter, it is the quality of the fats and proteins in the foods. Huge Huge difference. As I’ve said, I have spent years figuring all this out, researching ingredients, companies, supplements in the foods and I’m very confident that I feed my girls high quality foods with high quality ingredients from companies that I trust implicitly and companies that, to my knowledge and investigation, have never had recalls.
-
This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by
Dori.
I have not added any supplements yet. I have never heard of Mercola Bladder Support. But I will look it up. I think that I am going to switch back to making my own food, add water to their food and look into a supplement. I actually have 4 doxies but only 2 with this issue. These 2 dogs are also the most insecure and get stressed easily. So if that is an issue I am not quite sure what to do about that. If you read on Dog Food Advisor he says Royal Canin food is terrible and if my vet recommends it I should change vets.
Thanks everyone for the input. It helps to get different opinions.
have you added any urinary supplements? What about adding some warm water to their raw?
Hi All-
There are a lot of recent posts regarding loose stools. Please check out this link: http://www.dogaware.com/health/digestive.html
I believe it contains a lot of great information regarding different types of diarrhea and loose stools. My favorite subject. LOL!!!
I learned about the following supplements on that site and have had pretty good success rotating them: Gastriplex by Thorne, Perfect Form by The Honest Kitchen, Vetri-Pro BD, by Vetri Science, Phytomucil by Animal Essentials and canned Fruitables Digestive Supplement.
Of course, make sure to have a thorough fecal test done to check for Giardia and Coccidia. They are both fairly common with puppies and sometimes hard to detect.
Good luck! It is a frustrating issue.
Hello Dog Experts!
I would love to get your suggestions on what would be the best food to get for our new puppy Pearl who is 3/4 Golden Retriever and 1/4 Border Collie mix that the breeder refers to as a Coltriever. We have had her since she was 10 weeks old and is now 13 weeks and weighs 12 lbs and is a very active and happy pup. She is currently on Taste of the Wild Puppy which was what the breeder was feeding and we have switched between the Wild Prairie and Wild Pacific Salmon formulas and she has done well on both but seems to like the Wild Pacific Salmon formula more. She has a long and very fluffy puppy coat still and the Vet suggested having her on a fish based puppy food for both her longer coat and to help with the cancer that is so prevalent in Goldens. My understanding is TOTW is a good food for the price point however, I am looking to find what the best food would be for her. I joined the Editors Choice but the large breed Puppy foods listed were not fish based. I don’t mind paying more $$ as it is important to me to have her on the best food possible. Our vet is not pro Raw food and we currently are not looking to go that direction except for possibly supplementing. If anyone has suggestions on supplements we should be adding I would love to hear those as well! I am also scratching my head on whether I should be doing all dry or a wet/dry combo for her food.
These are some of the suggestions we got from Mud Bay for her dry food (a local high end pet store):
1. First Mate Puppy
2. Instinct Salmon (it’s not a puppy formula but they said that it has the same protein and fat ratios as a puppy formula would have)
3. Acana (they didn’t carry but said was great)
4. Orijen (they didn’t carry but said was great)
I appreciate the help, the more I research the more confused I get and would love to hear from people’s personal experiences!
~Sarah
Hello Dog Experts!
I would love to get your suggestions on what would be the best food to get for our new puppy Pearl who is 3/4 Golden Retriever and 1/4 Border Collie mix that the breeder refers to as a Coltriever. We have had her since she was 10 weeks old and is now 13 weeks and weighs 12 lbs and is a very active and happy pup. She is currently on Taste of the Wild Puppy which was what the breeder was feeding and we have switched between the Wild Prairie and Wild Pacific Salmon formulas and she has done well on both but seems to like the Wild Pacific Salmon formula more. She has a long and very fluffy puppy coat still and the Vet suggested having her on a fish based puppy food for both her longer coat and to help with the cancer that is so prevalent in Goldens. My understanding is TOTW is a good food for the price point however, I am looking to find what the best food would be for her. I joined the Editors Choice but the large breed Puppy foods listed were not fish based. I don’t mind paying more $$ as it is important to me to have her on the best food possible. Our vet is not pro Raw food and we currently are not looking to go that direction except for possibly supplementing. If anyone has suggestions on supplements we should be adding I would love to hear those as well!
These are some of the suggestions we got from Mud Bay (a local high end pet store):
1. First Mate Puppy
2. Instinct Salmon (it’s not a puppy formula but they said that it has the same protein and fat ratios as a puppy formula would have)
3. Acana (they didn’t carry but said was great)
4. Orijen
I appreciate the help, the more I research the more confused I get and would love to hear from people’s personal experiences!
~Sarah
What foods have you all switched to/had success with? My dogs have always been on grain-free, supplemented with pumpkin and goat yoghurt. Right now I have two, both are rescues… Phoebe is about six years old, she came to me four years ago, and her health is fine except for a reaction to yeast supplements which I tried as a flea treatment alternative (They are both on Comfortis now). Leo, also about six, came to me four months ago and has the anal abscess issues, was underweight, and ended up having TWELVE teeth removed – he was already missing five! Over the years, dry and canned foods I have tried include Natural Balance, Spring Naturals, I and Love and You, Wishbone Lake, and of course, home-cooked meals. Has anyone had success with any of these? How about Orijen, Acana, Blue Buffalo, or Taste of the Wild? Do I need to go raw? For the dry, I had the best outcome with Wishbone Lake.
Thank you Susan,
I WOULD LOVE to have an endoscopy done, but the internist fears putting her under,
She has pulmonary hypertension along with a mild heart murmur.
I truly feel her GI problems stem from an inflammatory condition in her entire body, mainly caused by neglect of her teeth & gums, the bad bacteria hides in her GI tract, she is being treated with everything except the antibiotic, the Reglan seems to be helping with her motility issue.
I MUST FIND a diet for her. Like you, the premium kibble which I have been giving her (soaked) no longer works. If only I could balance the cooked turkey, chicken, bison, with something I could stay away from the hydrolyzed vet diet. I know Rabbit was too rich for her, she vomited that up. I, too, could never rotate foods. Have you every tried the Honest Kitchen grain-free Base Mix topped with a cooked protein? I tried it, she loved it, but threw it up, I was also giving her the kibble, which may have caused the problem. I am thinking of trying the HK again about a TBSP. no kibble of course. I just don’t know what would be the best way to go for her wellbeing. I have been fighting this since I got her 3 years ago.If the vet diet will keep her with me, then I must do it.
I had to stop all her supplements, which worries me greatly.
Thank you very very much for your reply.
You could try adding some of The Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form supplement to improve his stools. Here is the link to it on the THK website: http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/treats-supplements/supplements/perfect-form
Some Mercola products are available on Amazon but typically they’re the same price or close enough that I’d rather buy straight from Mercola then trust whatever seller is selling on Mercola. I worry about whether it’s actually the Mercola supplement (not just using a Mercola bottle) and how old is the product. Some products purchased on Amazon can be difficult to deal with if there’s an issue. They’ll refer you to the seller to get satisfaction. Don’t get me wrong, Amazon Prime is my home away from home. I love them. Just saying that I’m more careful with anything like food and supplements that my dogs are going to ingest. Same goes for me and hubby.
Marie. Even them Gemma keeps her jaw shut tight is it possible to slip the syringe in by pulling her upper lip open toward the side and gently squeeze it in. Any liquid meds and supplements that I’ve ever given I did that way then just held their mouth shut for the second it took for them to swallow. Worked every time with every dog that I had to do this with. Marie how many cc’s or how much liquid supplement do you give Gemma?
Hi all. I am curious to know if anyone has ever come across a dog that cannot tolerate ANY digestive enzyme. I have a Lab/Bulldog mix. She is almost 2 years old and she has been quite a challenge since I adopted her. She came to me on Pedigree kibble. I wanted to get her off that ASAP and slowly introduced TOTW. She did okay for 5 months or so and then had a horrible bout of colitis. During this time, (after a vet visit and meds) I fed boiled chicken/rice and things improved until I starting adding the kibble back into the diet. With each increase of kibble, the stools became worse. I experimented with several brands of kibble – slowly introducing which ever one I was trying but after about the 1/2 cup mark, runny stools. I finally gave up and started cooking for her. I rotate chicken, beef, turkey. Vegetables include peas, carrots, green beans. I use a limited amount of carbs – pasta, barley, sweet potatoes and not much of this is given. So far I have tried Dr. Mercola’s products, Enzyme Miracle (and probiotic miracle), Animal Essential enzymes, and Digestive Enzyme/Probiotic by Pet Health and Nutrition Center. While on the any of these there have been stool issues especially the Enzyme Miracle. That led to another vet visit with bloody stools. She has been on the last item I listed for about a month and problems are starting again. If I keep her off the digestive enzymes she is fine. Right now as far as other supplements all she is getting is fish oil and calcium. And the last few weeks all she has done is itch and chew. Since stopping the enzymes she is finally getting better with that too. Why aren’t enzymes helping her? I just don’t get it. She also had nasty diarrhea when taking heartworm meds so I stopped those. She cannot tolerate flea medication – makes her extremely loopy. I love her to pieces – she is the sweetest dog and so smart. I just feel so bad that she is so sensitive to things. But digestive enzymes???????
Being in less pain will definitely make her more active and help her to lose weight. I think between giving her the supplements and feeding her separately so that she’s not eating the other dogs food will be of great help. Keep us posted as to her progress.
Hi Labs. How long have you been giving this supplement and how long before you saw results? Have you tried other supplements with less success, if so, which ones? I’m thinking of adding the one you mentioned above in rotation for Hannah. I rotate everything including supplements. I’d just never heard of this one. Does it say on the bottle that it should be given with food or without? Sorry for so many questions, I just like hearing about things I’ve never heard of before. 🙂
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This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by Dori.
@ Dori – She is slightly overweight at 15 pounds. She needs to lose 2-3 pounds according to the vet, and she slowly is. She’s more of a “tweenie” dachshund, larger than a mini but much smaller than a standard. The problem is she will scare everyone else away from their food and then eat it all lol. My parents have to leave for work at 7 so the dogs don’t always finish their breakfast right away. I am home for the next month on winter break, so I’ll be mixing up her food with the supplement and a little wet food and then feed her separately so she doesn’t eat everyone elses food. It isn’t too cold yet so I’m hoping that starting the supplements now will prevent problems in a few weeks.
I’m sure BC will get back to you to on dosing if you choose to purchase the supplement she uses. She’s a great person for you to take advice from.
The reason for my hopping onto your thread is to ask you how much your dog weighs. You didn’t mention that in your initial post. It’s very important to keep a dog with any time of musculoskeletal issues on the thin side. You probably know that already but I thought I’d mention it. By the way, there is no food on the market that will help with the issue you are dealing with. Supplements will help.
2 months, 1 week ago
