[S P]

I also just purchased (today) a 25lb. bag of ‘Acana Heritage Meats Formula’ (expiration date of May, 2018). I experienced the same horrible surprise – The kibble was full of white, brown and black hairs, just as pictured in a prior review!!! There was almost more hair than food product itself in each piece! The bag will be returned immediately! I had previously read some negative product reviews after Champion’s move to processing in the USA, but dismissed the bad reviews as probably being related to a transition into a new production facility. I guess I was totally wrong. At this point in time, Champion’s move to the USA is no longer “new”, and a transition period should no longer exist. There is absolutely no excuse for what I discovered in the food I purchased. I have always been a huge advocate for Champion Dog Food’s products, but no more. I can’t possibly continue to trust the quality control methods for either Acana or Orijen.

[Christie]

My vet wants me to give my dog 20mg of Pepcid 2x Day. According to the box, you can either take the pills 10-60 minutes before eating to prevent symptoms or after eating to treat symptoms. I’m assuming that he wants to prevent the symptoms in the first place, however in the mornings, the dogs are whining to eat as soon as I get up. I read online elsewhere that ten minutes isn’t long enough before a meal for Pepid to be effective (that you should wait at least 30 min) and I can’t foresee getting up early just to give him the pill and attempt to go back to sleep, because once they’re awake they stay awake. I also know that you shouldn’t give the pill with food because it can lower the effectiveness. Any suggestions? I was going to give the morning pill 30 minutes or so after eating in the morning and 30 minutes before the evening meal. Or should I do it differently?

[Eran L]

Hello,
I would like to recommend / nominate Perfoamatrin.
http://www.performatrin.com/products/performatrin-ultra-grain-free-recipe-dog-food/

I have a puppy Doberman (9.5m) and he is on his 6 or 7 27 pund bag.

We had a lot of issues in the beginning with diarrhea and loos stool. Brands we tried were Acana,Orijecn, GO, Fresh, Royal canine. Eventually we used the Digestive care from RC, until,

My dog just loves this food! whenever I getting ready to feed him he starts drooling and dripping 🙂
The food is easy on his tummy, no more loos poop and no more gassss!
Poop comes out always the same in density and shape lol, and there is less to pick up then other foods I tries.

Food had lots of protein (37) and is grain free.

Price is reasonable too.

Cheers
Eran

[Corsomomma21]

Hey guys!

New soon to be LBP mom here.. I pick up my 8wk old pure bred cane corso pup this week. After reading about every post on here and doing tons of research I’ve chosen Fromm heartland gold LBP food. What I’m having a hard time finding is an appropriate treat for training and good praise? I’ve heard a lot of negative about green tea extract and I need something that’s grain free. Just not sure if I should also be worried about the Ca, Calories and Protien with the treats as well??? I don’t plan on giving them to her too frequently but at least in the beginning while training! Any advice on a good brand??

[Lindsey C]

THANK YOU for this incredibly productive discussion thread! My 3 year old, female dog has been having vomiting episodes (initially diagnosed as GERD) once or twice the past few months. I’d noticed that she had been gulping a lot when she was in the throes of one which is how I found this thread. I also was curious about the few individuals who mentioned concurrent UTIs with this gulping and GI issue as my dog has had a lot of UTIs/incontinence and GI problems (usually at the same time). My dog just had three episodes in one week (with only two “stable” days of not vomiting) so we have been in and out of three different vets. I stuck to my intuition that something was seriously wrong with her and, sure enough, it looks like she has Addison’s Disease. I just wanted to post this as a possibility in case it matches anyone else’s experience out there. If dogs are in an Addisonian Episode, it requires immediate medical attention to stabilize them. You can read more about it here: http://www.addisondogs.com/addisons/ . Thank you again for all the comments and good luck to everyone – it it so stressful when your dog is mysteriously ill but it is so nice to see others helping each other out with their own experiences!

[Christie]

I’ve pretty much concluded that all of the itching/licking/ear issues aren’t food based. I’ve done elimination tests. During the last bout of issues, I switched immediately to Zignature based on a suggestion in this forum. Neither dog ‘loves; the kibble and I have to add apples and sardines just to get them to eat it. The itching seems better, but I’ve also been treating my dog’s paws with OTC meds that appear to be working, so I don’t know if the food helped or not. I’ve tried a dozen different food brands, mixing up the main proteins, and there doesn’t appear to be a big difference between them. The itching/ear issues just seem to pop up at random.

My dog is American Bulldog/pit mix and I’ve read that they’re just predisposed to itching and ear issues. As long as I catch flareups early in the game, I can usually treat the symptoms.

I read that you can give a dog benedryl for environmental allergies, but I’m always wary of giving them anything made for humans. Is it really safe? My vet always just wants to prescribe general antibiotics to clear the ears but the OTC drops work just as well for a fraction of the cost.

[anonymous]

Just read the ingredients, what do you think? Supplements are not medication. They are not intended to diagnose, cure, or treat anything….read the fine print.
I would talk to the vet about other options if your dog is anxious.
There are prescription meds that are effective that your vet can order if indicated.
Have you tried increasing the dog’s activity level? Hour long walks? A game of fetch? Swimming? Running? I have found that exercise has a calming effect on dogs.
You may find some helpful information here: http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2017/01/pet-remedy-a-natural-herbal-product-to-reduce-stress-and-anxiety/
Nothing is being sold at the above site, no membership fees, no books, no t-shirts, no supplements. Just science based veterinary medicine.

[InkedMarie]

Ashleigh: if you’re still reading, go to Hare Today (google for the website). It’s a raw food supplier. I’m not sending you there to buy but to look at the raw food education link. Also, Tracey who owns it, is very helpful. She has very large dogs and can help you. I buy my raw from her but it’s not the cheap way as we feed grinds.

Good luck!

[crazy4cats]

Hi Judith-
I am so very sorry for your loss. How unbelievably tragic. I have two large lab mix dogs and worry about bloat daily. One of them is more narrow and deep chested than the other. This is the classic build that I hear are quite vulnerable. But, wow, a basset mix doesn’t fit the mold at all. Poor baby. I’m glad you were able to at least make him somewhat comfortable.

I read conflicting info on this subject also. I’ve read you should elevate the bowls, then you read you should absolutely NOT elevate them. I am careful not to exercise them for at least an hour after they eat and try not to let them drink much after exercise either. I’ve read that adding canned to their kibble meal does help prevent bloat. And recently, I also read that larger kibble is better too. Which is differnet than what I’ve read before. And, like you mentioned, feeding at least twice per day seems to be important. I, too, wish there were more definitive preventive measures.

I hope your heart can heal. It’s so hard to not beat ourselves up when these things happen. RIP Poldy :'(

[anonymous]

Has your dog with the “sensitive tummy” been diagnosed by a veterinarian? Has he had an annual exam that included lab work (the best diagnostic tool) to rule out medical issues?
I hope you will consult with a veterinary health care professional before proceeding. If my post offends you, don’t read it, maybe someone else will benefit from it.

BTW: There is no cheap way to do raw that is safe.

Some science based veterinary medicine here: http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?s=raw+food

And: https://www.mspca.org/angell_services/choosing-the-right-diet-for-your-pet/
excerpt below:
Raw diets are another popular option on the market today. Studies have shown that 20-35% of raw poultry and 80% of raw food dog diets tested contained Salmonella. This poses a health risk for your pet, but also for humans. This is especially true for children or immunocompromised adults, whether exposed to the raw food directly, or the feces of the pet eating the raw food. Additionally, there is increased risk of other bacterial infections and parasitic diseases when feeding raw diets. And the bottom line is there is no reason to believe raw food is healthier than cooked food.
The numerous dietary choices for your pet can be daunting but if you pick an AAFCO approved food made by a manufacturer with a long track record, odds are good that you will find a suitable food for your pet. Most of the large pet food companies employ full time veterinary nutritionists and have very high quality control standards. That is not to say that a small company cannot produce nutritious and high quality food, but you should check out their website if it’s a company that is not familiar to you. Take the time to research, and ask your veterinarian if you have specific questions or concerns.
Please understand that this article is meant to provide basic dietary guidelines for healthy pets. If your pet has specific health issues, then your veterinarian may make specific food recommendations, which may include special prescription diets.

[samlab]

First let me begin, this website that Mike Sagman has set up is superb. As you read my experience please don’t get caught in minutia of thought..just read this and hopefully this can and will help others. I love dogs, all dogs…cats too. I have been showing and breeding top Labrador Champions for over 30 years. So with to this I will assume that my input will be really about the large breed dogs and yes you may consider all dogs for that matter. I have tried all of these foods. Many work, some results are ok and others well just didn’t go well. Many dog foods since their really are just a few manufacturers, some are private branded under that specific companies ingredients, for their specific brand. I read many posts about this or that, and raw versus X.Y.Z, form of foods. Every time I try to go to the “other side”, well I end up, rather baffled at the terrible results. Therefore, I will let all of you know, grains, corn, etc. are not the cause of your dogs allergy’s, its all about the genetics. It you have a dog that has allergies, its about, the breeding. Same for cancer in dogs, it could be environmental, but less than 1%. It is indeed genetic. The longest lived dogs in the US have been on the following foods, this is research fact direct from the Doctors that did the research: Purina, Science Diet and Eukanuba Brands. To those that profess to Raw diets and rotating foods I will mention frozen or fresh raw foods (frozen still has salmonella once defrosted and eaten) is well your on your own. Rotating foods is not good either as it completely screws up the stomach and intestinal flora in a dogs digestive tract. No your not going to get good advice from the local specialty food store as these people have no idea about the foods they sell. Zero. Every dog is different and you will need to find out what works best for your dog…I will now share what typically works for Large Breeds and especially Labradors Retrievers and many others. But beforehand I will explain. I just went with another brand of puppy food T.O.T.W. over time it did not go well..at five months old and recently the same bag, the last 1.5 weeks, it reared its ugly head. Not Giardia either. I switched that 47lb boy straight onto Eukanuba Puppy Large breed yesterday, problem over best stool in his life so far. As I write this 1X more this morning per wife, that one perfect too. Grain free is not always the best way to go…..its really marketing b.s. and has always been. Even I get lectured by the top show Veterinarians! This is not knocking you or any other brand that works for you…but the finest show stock in the US are all on those three major brands above…blue buffalo duck and potato limited ingredient, grain free may be your best bet for skin allergy issue dogs. Also chopped or baby carrots, blueberry’s, strawberries, cantaloupe and even watermelon are fat free treats that dogs love too. Will add for those following: Especially Labs and watch their weight…for older dogs drop to 28% or then even lower 26%.. the in their prime Eukanuba 30/20 add 1/2 tablespoon each of Nupro Gold Label Supplement/ and then both of each the Silver Label Container for older dogs for arthritis with 1 tablet both meals of Cosequin tablets (250 count Bottles) its the a show/wellbeing secret obviously now for all of you. Also for my older dogs they get Dumor white 5 lb container with red lid a 1/2 teaspoon of MSM at Tractor supply or online (this brand only, measuring cup is inside, use the lower line mark on the measuring cup) some warm water mixed in morning meal only and boom in two weeks your going to be very happy indeed. Also for those that have a dog with surgery the MSM will heal them in two weeks and fur already growing back. The Vet will give you a strange look on the follow up…I assure you they will give you a weird look and be thinking boy this dog heals fast. Then you say its the MSM and he/she will laugh of course and say “I shoulda known”. Then they will know your in touch with the knowing. All the best always to everyone here and I hope this helps anyone that can use this information.

• This topic was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by samlab.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by samlab.
• This topic was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by samlab.

[FrankiesDoggie]

Hi all,

I’ve been searching the forums for info on how we can calculate the ratio of dry to wet food (or other mixers) for those who like to mix it up. I want to make sure I can calculate correctly so the meals remain complete/balanced without adding too many calories. Do people just rely on the caloric number to determine the ratio, or do you calculate other percentages as well?

I looked online for a calculator online that can do this and only found one by Merrick. They have a very clever calculator that can help you figure out the proper ratios of their dry/wet/mixers in order to ensure a balanced meal. BUT, given they’re owned by Purina now (AFAIK), I’m unlikely to use their dog food any time soon. I would likely use Acana for dry food and whatever 5 star brand for wet (and 5 star brand for raw mixers), so there’s no doubt I’ll be using various brands to put a proper diet together.

P.S. I read the editor’s quick suggestion on how he adds 1/4 of a can of a singular meat wet food to dry food, but didn’t indicate how much he reduces dry food to compensate for calories, or if he does that at all.

Thanks for any advice or suggestions!

[Mike Sagman]

Stan C,

Thanks for your suggestion. Like every nomination we get here and by way of our special “Suggest a Dog Food” form found in the footer of every page on this website, we consider every suggestion that QUALIFIES for our ultra-select Editor’s Choice recommendation.

In addition, the company must also (at the very least) meet our minimal requirements to be reviewed on our website.

Please check the 2 links I have included in this particular comment. And you should be able to see why the brand you suggested doesn’t meet minimal criteria to even be reviewed on our website.

For example, we’re unable to find a single food product anywhere on the Soul’y website that shares critical and standardized FDA-compliant label information. Most notably, there appear to be no Statements of Nutritional Adequacy Statements. And no other assurances from the company that any of these foods are “complete and balanced” for a specific AAFCO nutrient profile.

By the way, in general, raw dog foods are notorious for not providing full and complete FDA compliant label information — or making any effort to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles. In fact, many of these foods are simply not complete and balanced.

In addition, like many other raw dog foods, the Soul’y products have only limited regional distribution. So, they would only be available to very few of our readers and members.

Lastly, because we receive more than 100 review suggestions in an average week, our small team does not allow us enough resources to reply to every recommendation.

With our Editor’s Choice nominations, each suggestion could have its own reasons that it fails to meet our guidelines (as detailed in the links above). With over 1,000 suggestions in this thread alone, it would be impossible for us to provide a detailed reply to each comment we get.

In any case, even though we do not have the resources to provide a detailed response, please be assured we frequently scan these suggestions for new ideas.

Thanks for taking the time to make this suggestion.

[elaine c]

Hi, don’t feed Merrick it was bought by purina and they are already messing up what once was respectable. The BEST food you can buy for your dogs, bar none, what I feed, is Answers Pet food. go to the web site and look it up. It is miraculous and I do not use that word lightly. I have always bought what I considered the best for my guys, I am a pro trainer. I have two rescue pits. Since my other pro friends have turned me on to this stuff my dogs have not looked back. For example my female, Lucy throw up and pooped blood, I started on this stuff and WOW what a difference! Also she had terrible terrible gas. there is no gas now. Now I understand that gas means that the gut is not digesting the food well. I could go on and on! I advise all my clients and I will do the same for you . this is REAL food. processed food can not be good. No kibble can really be good. canned food is cooked in the cans and it leaches metal.. buy raw buy this raw. And the dog love it. My make, CLEVe carries his bowl around with him after he eats it now!!

1

[pitlove]

If a dental has already been suggested it is likely that beginning stages of dental disease are starting to set in and the vet is trying to be proactive, not greedy. Now if there are no signs of early stages of dental disease then a combination of brushing and other oral hygiene methods can be started to prevent.

Do not forget there is still high risk in feeding raw bones, especially to a large breed if she is an aggressive chewer. Perforated intestines and esophagus would be my first concern.

[LovelyBear]

Hi pitluv! I agree it is important to clean your dogs teeth and everything. My thought process is set on prevention. I’d rather feed my dog raw and have the good bones clean her teeth and not spend over $300 on getting her teeth cleaned. But trust me if anything happened and it was completely necessary for my girl to get work done i’d spend the money!

Hello Susan! Thank you for your input 🙂 I wouldn’t deprive her of meat either. I just shake my head when I see or hear of people feeding their dogs vegan. I won’t force my views on her, when she is designed to consume meat. But I am reading every website I can and educating myself on feeding raw before I begin. I do rotate kibbles and stay within a brand. She has eaten every flavor of TOTW and is currently on the Pacific Stream. A few months ago she was on the Southwest Canyon one and got a weird rash on her cheek. I think that is the only one with Beef in it and that was the first time feeding to her, so she might be allergic to beef. But i’m not 100% sure that was the cause. I won’t 100% know till I feed her raw beef. These past 2 weeks I have given her bully sticks from beef and she is doing okay though. They cleaned her teeth pretty good. It’s crazy how expensive it can get to clean some teeth when a proper raw bone will do the trick!

Thank for the advice on boarding kennels. The vet office we take her to has a boarding facility and I hope my vet will be okay with my girl being raw. I don’t want to board her and they undermine me and feed her kibble while she is there. I find out haha!

[Allison M]

Hey guys, have any of you guys ever looked into the possibility of sialadenosis in your dogs? It’s a salivary gland issue that causes gulping, excessive salivation, and vomiting. You can read about it here: http://www.vets.co.il/sialadenosis-in-a-dog—case-report
And here: http://vet.uga.edu/archives/sevpac/archive/sevpac2012/38-Boone.pdf

[DragonflyRed]

I created an account just so I could post this. I haven’t found this anywhere else, so I felt it was important to share, and this is the dog forum I come to most to read.

About six months ago, my Chihuahua began yawning more frequently than normal. I really didn’t think much of it, especially because he seemed to be using it as his new signal for wanting to go outside — he has seizures and sometimes suddenly changes how he communicates things right after a big one.

I wish I could say that’s all it was, but he soon started having other symptoms as well. He developed anxiety, which he’s never had in his life, not even when he was doing public access as my service dog before his seizures began. He got weird about his food, asking for it and then not wanting to eat it. He had a couple accidents in the house because he didn’t want to get up to go outside. He stopped wanting to play or do as much in general, although he still have small burts of energy, running around with the other dog in the house, and then he would stop suddenly and act like he was in pain.

Again, he has seizures, so I thought that was the explanation, especially since his three trips (two emergency, one regular) to the vet didn’t really showing anything. We changed his food since that’s caused problems with him in the past. We added a neuropathic painkiller, gabapentin, because the vet thought he was having pain due to seizures. We added distilled aloe Vera alongside his water, which he drank with enthusiasm. We restarted his antacid on the theory that he was having stomach upset, causing him to refuse his food. While I can’t say that these didn’t help at all, they didn’t help the yawning or his energy levels.

About two months ago, he started snoring worse than normal and shortly after that, he added randomly opening his mouth like he was going to yawn and then not actually yawning. A few days ago, he started having bouts of profuse panting. This is a dog that has never really panted, even in the middle of summer when we lived in the Deep South. He might pant for two or three breaths, drink some water, and then go back to whatever he was doing. This was not that. This was a raspy pant that didn’t get better after he drank or even sat doing nothing for a few minutes. He lips were pulled back, and it looked like he was in distress. The first time it happened, I thought it was anxiety because I had left him with my mother for a few minutes while I went into the store. This has never caused significant anxiety before, but my mother sometimes teases him about my leaving him. Two days ago, however, he didn’t stop panting when I came back, and he continued for at least half an hour more. He was not overheating but he did pace around and not want to lie down. We were getting ready to take him to the emergency vet when he finally stopped, and I took him to his vet first thing in the morning.

My vet immediately suspected heart problems. She did some bloodwork and an X-ray, and she found fluid in his lungs. We talked at length about his symptoms and I found out that him standing/lying in funny positions was probably the first sign of a problem. I also learned that his yawning was an indicator of heart problems. Nowhere in all my googling had ever mentioned that yawning could be anything other than a behavioral or stomach problem. For my Chi, it was a sign that he wasn’t getting enough oxygen and that his heart was beginning to press on his esophagus.

Right now, my little guy’s prognosis isn’t the worst, but it could’ve been a lot better if we had caught it earlier. My Chi is not very old either, only four years old, which I hadn’t realized something like this could affect such a young dog. So if your dog is suddenly yawning more than normal, take him/her into the vet and get his/her heart checked; or at the very least, be on the outlook for more signs that could be because of heart failure.

[Acroyali]

https://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/cardiovascular-diet/

https://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/heart-healthy-diet/

Also, it might be worth checking with your vet about making sure his potassium isn’t being depleted by his medications. Ask to have his levels checked if you haven’t already. (This isn’t to say the medications are bad–heart disease is nothing to sneeze at and medications can, and are, life savers and life-extenders and helps give the dogs much better quality of life.)

When I had a dog with heart disease, he fainted once and it scared me badly. I’d never seen a dog faint like that but he came to in a few moments and seemed unshaken. My vet highly recommended adding fish or salmon oil and vitamin E for heart support (I use wholistic pet organics brand, as it contains both!) I also added COQ10 (liquid).

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/06/02/the-silent-pet-killer-that-you-can-now-avoid.aspx

While it’s not applicable for every person and every dog, I did opt to feed my dog a raw diet. For a time, he went “off” his raw food so I fed him cooked and canned and he gobbled it up. He was around Gizmo’s age; while I feel raw is best if a dog who (formerly) ate a certain diet for years and enjoyed it then abruptly stops, there’s a reason. The goal was to keep food in him so we fed him what he wanted. During the time(s) he was happily eating raw, we fed him a lot of pastured beef, chicken, and turkey hearts for the naturally occurring taurine (crucial for heart function, and I feel food sources are better than synthetic but that’s simply my preference.)

One other thing. If you live in a cold weather climate, or live somewhere where you experience very cold months out of the year, keep Gizmo inside at all times unless you take him out to potty. My dog had a horrible fainting episode when I took him out to pee when it was extremely cold (sub-zero; we were outside for less than 30 seconds when it happened.)

I know, emotionally, it’s difficult for you. I hope some of the links and suggestions help. I wish you the very best of luck.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by Acroyali.

[Sharon D]

Hi! I’m a retired scientist (biology/ecology) and I’m interested in this topic because my 8 year old Chihuahua, Poncho, has been diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis and we’ve started him on a low-fat diet, Royal Canin Gastrointestinal, low fat canned and kibble, the only brand my vet carries for this. Like some of you, I was also not happy with the ingredients with “animal bi-products” high on the list, but was going to use the product until I could find a better one. Then I saw comments by some of you about increased urination and I cancelled the order I placed today for monthly repeat delivery of a a 24-can case from Pet360.com (great prices!) so I could research this a little more. Even in the two days I’ve had Poncho and his brother, Tank, on this food, I think I’ve noticed them peeing more, too. Then, in thinking about the issue a bit I have this question for you:

Have you noticed an increase in water INTAKE?

It occurred to me that the explanation may be as simple as “this food makes them more thirsty than other, “regular” foods”. This makes sense to me when I think about the thick, gummy consistency of the canned food. With less protein and fat than regular foods, this food is like eating a dry piece of very dense bread. It’s a thought! It would be a nice benign explanation that could put our minds at rest about it. Maybe we can all watch water intake and see if there’s a noticeable increase… Anyway, there is still the food quality issue with its ingredients, so I think I’ll continue to look for an alternative. I’ll be keeping an eye on this thread for your ideas and suggestions about this dog food, too. Thanks for being here! 🙂

[Emily P]

Hello everyone I am new to this site and really looking for help as in I have a 15 year old shitzu poodle mix named gizmo who is my life my baby my everything, well recently I had a really really bad scare he collapsed on a walk literally swayed and fell over had to give him CPR and everything. I never ever want to experience that again. Well come to find out he has degenerative valve diseases, heart murmur. I have had my dog since I was 10 and I’m now 23 he literally is my world, well he needs a low salt food and I know a lot of it is pretty pricey I would like a decent priced one as well. I do see a lot of you well reading on here saying all this mathematics stuff that I don’t quite get so if you could put it in simple termoilgy, I don’t want to forget to mention that my dog gizmo is actually on 3 meds as well he takes morning and night, he had fluid in his lungs coughing and really loud snoring so he isn’t in the best shape the vet did say all his other organs seem to be fine besides heart which is a real hard one for me to wrap around because now I’m always so worried after seeing him collapse. So please help with anything u can tell me I would greatly appreciate?

[S A]

Hi Jenn H,

Let’s drop beliefs altogether and instead consider facts. It seems my last post didn’t make it through to this thread… I’m guessing it was the links, so let’s try it without references/links and see how it goes. You can always google them.

You said it well here: “there really isn’t a way to not cause harm to other living creatures when growing crops”

I totally agree with that, but disagree with pretty much everything else.

Your thought process about pesticides might make sense if the animals we eat, didn’t eat plants. However, to get an animal to slaughter size/age, it has to be fed–daily. What do most animals that we eat consume for food? Feed that comes from plants… lots and lots of plants. (Some also are fed other animals, that ate plants… further amplifying the cost… but for simplification, we can pretend that doesn’t happen.) Plants grown for livestock feed, typically grown as monocultures, are of course prone to massive infestations and diseases. This is why there is massive pesticide (and herbicide and fungicide) use involved in producing livestock. When we consider the food that livestock consumes as part of the equation, which is only fair as it’s a part of the environmental cost of rearing the animals we eat, it paints a very different picture.

*Land required to feed 1 person for 1 year:
Vegan: 1/6th acre
Vegetarian: 3x as much as a vegan
Meat Eater: 18x as much as a vegan

*1.5 acres can produce 37,000 pounds of plant-based food.
1.5 acres can produce 375 pounds of meat.

Just think how much less land would be needed to produce so much more food if people would even just reduce their meat consumption. Instead of using all of the land that currently goes towards producing livestock feed for human consumption of meat, we could use a fraction of it to produce plants for human consumption.

Veganism and animal cruelty/suffering doesn’t have to be an all or nothing attempt. Any reduction in animal abuse/farming is beneficial for our planet.

Btw, the manure used on crops, needn’t be from animals that aren’t consumed for food. We have no shortage of manure due to livestock that are used for food. More facts:

*Every minute, 7 million pounds of excrement are produced by animals raised for food in the US. This doesn’t include the animals raised outside of USDA jurisdiction or in backyards, or the billions of fish raised in aquaculture settings in the US.

*130 times more animal waste than human waste is produced in the US – 1.4 billion tons from the meat industry annually. 5 tons of animal waste is produced per person in the US.

*In the U.S. livestock produce 116,000 lbs of waste per second:
-Dairy Cows, 120lbs of waste per day x 9 million cows.
-Cattle, 63lbs of waste per day, x 90 million cattle.
-Pigs, 14lbs. of waste per day, x 67 million pigs.
-Sheep/Goats. 5lbs of waste per day, x 9 million sheep/goats.
-Poultry, .25-1lbs of waste per day, x 9 billion birds.
Dairy cows and cattle-1.08 billion pounds per day (from 9 million dairy cows, 120 pounds waste per cow per day) + 5.67 billion pounds per day (90 million cattle, 63 pounds waste per one cattle per day) = 6.75 billion pounds per day waste or 2.464 trillion pounds waste per year (manure+urine)
** 3.745 trillion pounds waste per year(this is the equivalent of over 7 million pounds of excrement per MINUTE produced by animals raised for food in the U.S. excluding those animals raised outside of USDA jurisdiction, backyards, and billions of fish raised in aquaculture settings in the U.S.)

Some more interesting bits:

*Livestock or livestock feed occupies 1/3 of the earth’s ice-free land.

*Agriculture is responsible for 80-90% of US water consumption.

*Growing feed crops for livestock consumes 56% of water in the US.

Just some food for thought… or thoughts on food…

[mommy0f3pigs]

Thank you for your reply! I Will be sure to get large breed food, he is a muscular boy already with huge paws. Everyone who sees him thinks he’s a Pitt/lab mix. I did not even think about the environmental factor. He went from AL to WV so temperature and everything is different here!
I’m not totally against science diet,they also had 4 star rating. Wellness large puppy looks very good. Thank you for all the information, it really helps! I truly appreciate it. Want to do the best I can no to prevent future issues!

[pitlove]

Hi mommy0f3pigs-

If your pittie is already 30lbs at 14 weeks, he will most certainly need a large breed puppy food. Mind you, just because a food claims to be for “all life stages” does NOT always mean it is suitable for large breed puppies.

The two brands your vet recommend are actually the two best brands for large breed puppy foods on the market because both companies are the worlds leaders in research of large and giant breed puppy growth and development. If you truly do not want to use one of their LBP formulas, I would look at Dr.Tims Kinesis, Wellness, NutriSource or Fromm.

He is likely itchy from the environment change from one state to the next. When I brought my pit home from north of my state to south east he devloped a staph infection from the change in environment. It went away with antibiotics and never came back. He may need more time to adjust. Unfortunately feeding him exotic proteins and grain free etc now can’t prevent allergies. I did that too on the recommendation of well meaning but uneducated people I worked with and on here and my pittie developed food sensitivities to duck, beef, lamb and peas. Duck is considered exotic and peas are in almost every grain free food. Unfortunately he is just prone to allergies due to poor breeding. Sometimes these things can’t be helped, especially in pitbulls because of the over breeding problem.

[mommy0f3pigs]

I just rescued a 14 week Pitt/mix. He currently weighs 30# and I bought the Natures Domain puppy chicken & pea food as is stated it was a 4 star food on here. After reading all the reviews I am nervous. He seems to gulp the small pieces down (he will steal adult food from my other dog and actually chew the large pieces) can I give a Pitt mix large breed puppy food? Does anyone have a recommendation for a puppy food for a bully breed. I want the least chance for skin allergies etc. my vet always recommends science diet or purina so I have been researching my own brands on here. I give my adult dog Kirkland chicken because this site also gives that a 4 star but once again the reviews have me nervous! So, I’m willing to hear recommendations was thinking of switching to TOTW, Merrick, wellness, or something else large breed if it is okay to give Pitt mixes that.
Thanks for suggestions!
Also- I rescued him from A different state so the food they were feeding I cannot get here and they switched since he was in foster. So I have just been mixing rice and pumpkin with food. Have only had him 3 days so I want to switch now rather than later!

[Kevin Davies]

There are various types of dog and puppy foods out here. You can choose to feed your dog dry dog food, canned dog food or natural food. It all depends on your discretion as a puppy owner and also your dog’s needs.

Like humans, dogs are all different. So what works for one puppy might not work for another and what tastes good to one puppy may not taste good to another. Luckily, there are enough choices on the market for you to chop and change your dog food, until you find the right one.

It is also vitally important that you do research on the breed of your puppy and give him dog food accordingly. Each breed has its own unique genetic makeup and some breeds are pre-disposed to certain diseases and medical conditions.

So if you know that your Lab has more body fat than muscle and is prone to obesity, you will invest in puppy food that is low in fats and carbs but high in calcium and fiber. This ensures that your puppy’s diet is complete, balanced and nutritious enough to keep him happy and healthy.

Read more at https://petloverguy.com/best-puppy-food-for-labs/

[anonymous]

Mail-in hair and saliva tests are not diagnostic tools (just read the fine print).
Please read the blog below, nothing is being sold at that site, no t-shirts, no supplements, no kits, no books….nothing.

Glacier Peak Holistics Pet Wellness Life Scan Stress Test or How Much BS Can Fit on One Web Page?

Excerpt from the link above:
Bottom Line
“The Glacier Peak Holistics Pet Wellness Life Stress Scan (formerly “Healthy Dog and Cat Alternative Sensitivity Assessment”) is a completely implausible test based on vague, mystical nonsense and pseudoscientific theories that contradict the legitimate scientific evidence regarding the cause and management of allergies. The general concept that hair and saliva testing can identify the causes of allergies is false. The marketing of this test is misleading and contains many of the hallmarks of quack advertising. Dog owners struggling with allergies would be far better spending their time and money consulting a veterinary dermatologist for a science-based approach to helping their canine”.
Also, per the search engine here: /forums/topic/desperate-food-recomendations-for-lab/

[Susan]

Hi, yes I have a dog with Seasonal Environment allergies & food sensitivities causing IBD & itchy, yeasty smelly skin, red paws, itchy ears & hive like lumps + IBD symptoms sloppy poos, gas/farts etc…
It has taken me 3yrs to finally work Patch out, in the beginning my vet said to keep a diary & you’ll start to see a pattern as the years go by & yes we did….
It’s best too see a Dermatologist they’re a but more expensive but in the long run you’ll save money, Dermatologist specialize in the skin….
Baths, twice a week or weekly baths or as soon as dog is uncomfortable & is scratching real bad then bath to relieve their skin…..I use Malaseb medicated shampoo, baths wash off any allergens, dirt, pollens & yeast if dog has yeast problems, Malaseb kills any bacteria yeast on the skin & keeps the skin nice & moist leaving the dog feeling so soft, Malaseb can be used daily if needed…..
I like using creams on my boy instead of medications he doesn’t do well on meds…I use “Sudocrem” sold in supermarket in baby section, I apply the Sudocrem on Patches red paws, around mouth, above his eye where he has white fur he seems to have all the problems, some nights when he’s real red around his mouth from eating I used Hydrocortisone 1% cream & on his paws & other parts of his body as well, I check patches body out as he’s sleeping at night before I go to bed & apply the creams, now I’ve removed the foods in his diet that he’s sensitive too his ear problem has all clear up, I did an elimination diet the best thing for food sensitivities & found when he eats carrots & beef he started shaking his head & scratching his ears, chicken causes his paws to go red 20mins after eating chicken, raw chicken was worse, also kibbles with grains made his poos sloppy, now he eats grain free kibbles that are Whitefish/Salmon or Lamb….if you don’t want to do the elimination diet & cook or do raw then it’s best to get a vet diet like Royal Canine PV- Potato & Venison or PS-Potato & Salmon or PR- Potato & Rabbit kibble or wet tin… then when dog isn’t scratching ears & is stable not itching you start & add 1 new ingredient with the vet diet every 6 weeks, no treats nothing else, it can take 1 day to 6 weeks for a dog to show symptoms for a food sensitivities…Once you find out what foods your dog is sensitive too you can stop the vet diet & start a diet without the foods he’s sensitive too.
I live Australia & I saw a Naturopath cause of Patches IBD, I wanted him on a raw diet.. Vitamin C is a natural antihistamine, we have a skin pack made by the Naturopath called Natural Animal Solutions, Skin Pack & it has DigestaVite Plus which balances the diet & fixes the gut, then it has Omega 3,6 & 9 Oil you add high dose for the first 2 months to diet & Vitamin C to work as a natural antihistamine…..
Here’s Jacquelines site there’s a lot of good reading & what natural products to use…on your left scroll down a bit & click on “Skin System” then click on “Skin Allergies” & she explains all about the skin & what causes what. She also has a F/B site & will answer any questions.. called “Natural Animal Solutions” NAS
http://www.naturalanimalsolutions.com.au/education.php

[Acroyali]

There’s been great advice on this thread so all I can do is say I’m awfully sorry about your dog, but I’m very glad it was her leg that couldn’t be saved and not her life. So scary.
We have a very small dog (we think Chihuahua mix, or long haired Chi) who broke her leg and the leg was saved. It was in a cast and all that, but due to her tiny bone structure the leg healed improperly and it’s a constant worry that it will rebreak. It seems to move around a lot more than it should. The vets that worked on her after the break said it healed well, but her age (she’s 10-11 years old) we think made it more difficult for it to heal well.

Keeping her lean helps. This particular dog has (in the vets words), “Not the greatest kneecaps”, so that’s kind of a double slam on her. As tempting as it is to carry her everywhere, she walks on her own to (hopefully) keep the muscles and ligaments surrounding the joints strong. I’d make sure she gets a moderate amount of exercise so she retains good muscle mass. If you’re really ambitious, teach her how to back up. This is great for rear muscles and could hopefully help the breakdown of her rear end while she learns to go on 3 legs vs. 4.

Hope this helps and again–very sorry for the scare!

[Salz]

Hi all! I am a frequent lurker of this forum, and wanted to ask for some input. I am a pretty knowledgable raw feeder, especially for large breeds, but am adding a new member to my family next week and wanted to ask a few questions.

My partner and I will be picking up an 8 week old Dane puppy next weekend, so I’m doing all I can to prepare for her arrival. I currently have a 1 year old Dobie/Rottie mix who has been on raw since I rescued him at 6 weeks. I did extensive research about Ca/P ratios, fat content, protein levels, etc, and have always had all of that on point with his diet. I kept him very lean at a young age and his growth has been spectacular. He’s still filling out a little and will continue to grow slightly, for the next six months I anticipate, but since we’re almost there I’ve allowed him to bulk up a little over the past few weeks.

I follow the BARF model and feed meat grinds, a veggie mixture, and added supplements a few times per week, but I have kept it pretty simple for him in his first year to ensure proper growth. With the new puppy, I want to start her off the same. My concerns lie in the fact that she is a GIANT breed. I’ve read a lot of articles on Dane forums about not starting a Dane puppy on raw until they are a little older because of their nutritional needs, and this has stumped me and caused some worry. I’m looking for anyone with Dane puppy nutrition experience, especially with raw feeding. Or, if anyone could point me in the direction of any helpful articles or websites, that would be great too. Thank you all for your knowledge!

[Susan]

Hi Donna, read the ingredients to the Hills I/d formula then start looking for better quality brands with similar ingredients & fat %, one problem Hills have already converted their wet tin foods fat% & protein% to dry matter (Kibble) normal wet tin foods & raw haven’t been converted to dry matter (kibble) yet…. Which I/d formula is she eating?? there’s a few Hills I/d formulas, there’s I/d Low Fat Restore, fat is around 8%max, converted, then there’s their normal Hills I/d wet tin formulas where fat is around 14%-15%max, converted, so when you look for a wet tin food it can’t be over 3-4%max-fat, if you see a wet tin with 5%-fat when you converted 5%min fat it’s around 20-25% fat if it were a kibble & can cause pancreatitis if your dog is prone to Pancreatitis…. you might be best using the Hills wet tin food as a base & cook lean white meats like turkey, chicken & pork grounded mince or tin tuna in spring water & add some boiled pumkin, carrot make a batch & freeze small meal sizes & add 1/2 Hills wet tin & 1/2 cooked mix together, it will work out cheaper cooking, if just a hassle…

[FrostHollow]

To give some background on myself, I’ve been a breeder/handler of show champion English Cocker Spaniels for about 17 years, and have owned the breed since the mid 90’s. Currently, I’m retired from the show ring, with no aspirations of getting back into it. We are left with seven dogs now, after spending the past 18 months losing the older ones left, right and sideways, mostly to various forms of cancer. The most recent death was Sandy, a 13 year old champion bitch who passed away last week.

After about 23 years in the breed, she was the oldest Cocker Spaniel I’ve ever had.

Average age of death for my dogs has been 10-12 years, which is below the breed average, while several breeder friends have dogs in their kennels that routinely live to be 14-16+ years. Insult to injury, they normally feed Pro Plan, or something along those lines. Whereas I am <i>very</i> conscientious about proper diet (I feed raw), husbandry and vaccinating minimally; but considering that most of my dogs have died below the breed’s average lifespan, I begin to wonder if I am somehow doing something wrong.

Only days after Sandy’s death, I’ve already had several dog park and local encounters with dog owners of very old dogs, only to learn they were being fed a steady diet of the worst the grocery store has to offer. At first I began to think there might be little to no correlation between diet & longevity, but that refutes much of what I’ve seen in regards to dogs in poor grade health recovering on a better quality, especially homemade, diets. Then I began to formulate a few theories, two in particular, that might explain why those other dogs were so long lived while mine tend to die earlier – and neither theory has anything to do with the actual brand of feed.

While it’s not very scientific, I’d like to test those theories by asking other dog owners how old were your longest AND shortest lived dogs, and what was the main diet of those dogs? Working on a spreadsheet, and if I get enough replies, I’ll share my theories as to what might contribute to longevity in dogs (which, upon research, seems to have some credibility) and the final results of my polling.

I’ll start off the thread by answering my own question:

Youngest dog: 3yo Corgi bitch euthanized due to genetic disc problems. Fed generic Dog Chow type feed before I purchased her, lived with me for 6 months and ate mostly home cooked, some raw.

Oldest Dog: 13yo Am. Cocker Spaniel bitch. Fed Science Diet for several years, raw fed since 2014. Died of systemic cancer.

[m r]

Our 5 pound, 10 year old Papillon had 3 bladder stones removed last month. The analysis showed that they were Calcium Phosphate Carbonate. I was only able to find limited research matching the specificity of her condition, and have lots of questions. I would love guidance from someone who has experience with this specific type of stone? What have you done that’s worked? Our Vet told us there’s a 50/50 chance of recurrence, and even after surgery, there is still blood in her urine.

She goes on a wee wee pad – so can urinate freely, which she does, . . . frequently! The blood in her urine appears pinkish/red. She was on Carprofen immediately following surgery – but bloody urine persisted, so Vet switched her to a different anti-inflammatory – Meloxidyl. This seemed to work because we weren’t noticing blood in her urine 10 days after we started Meloxidyl, so we were told to stop. But shortly after stopping Meloxidyl, we noticed the blood in her urine resumed. The Vet took some additional X-Rays and did a Sonogram, and told us that she still has some clotting and debris from either the surgery or from ongoing cystitis (bladder inflammation); and that while she still may be creating some sediment, thankfully stones have not developed over the last 3+/- weeks since surgery. How long does it take for the sediment to form? Is it possible for sediment to form merely weeks after surgery?

Our Vet prescribed Hill’s C/D (stating she needs a diet lower in protein, phosphorus, and calcium). She was on a diet of Natural Balance – variety of flavors since we got her (only weeks old). We’ve been feeding her the Hill’s C/D food for one week now (she wouldn’t eat the canned, so we feed dry soaked in water . . . soupy consistency). Vet did a unrinalysis yesterday, which showed pH of 8.5. How long should it take for the food to alter her pH? He suggested we use a dipstick (which he said we can purchase online and touch it to the urine on the wee wee pad) to test her urine daily. But, if we determine that her pH is not where is should be, what else are we supposed to feed her to help manage the pH to around 6.5/7 (where the Vet would like it to be)?

Urine culture results are not yet back, but last time they didn’t show anything out of the ordinary.

In addition to suggesting Hill’s C/D prescription diet, and monitoring the urine pH at home daily, the Vet also recommends diagnostic testing at his office including urinalysis ( every 3 months), urine culture( every 3 months), radiographs/x-rays (every 6 months). We still aren’t clear what to do if pH doesn’t go down? i.e. how do we get it to decrease? I read somewhere that we’re supposed to be feeding a diet rich in animal-based protein to help increase acidic pH vs. alkaline, but based on the type of stones she had (CALCIUM PHOSPHATE CARBONATE UROLITHS), we’re supposed to feed her a diet low in animal protein. So what to do?

Also, how do we get her to drink more water? We already soak the dry kibble in hot water an hour +/- before serving. We also refresh her water throughout the day and night. I don’t want to add sodium to her diet, because I read somewhere that dogs with her type of stones are also supposed to stay away from salt.

Thank you in advance for any guidance you can provide!

[Susan]

Hi Susie, yes Patch was also licking & licking his front paws after eating, I forgot about that, when I first got him he had skin problems, food sensitivities & environment allergies & was put on vet diet Royal Canin HP, the fat was really high at 19% & only 18% protein, then he got real bad acid reflux but I didn’t know back then what was wrong with him, his first vet was an idiot, Patch started wrecking his toys, shaking, chewing & ripping them, then a new vet said sounds like he’s in pain & Patch ended up with Pancreatitis from the vet diet R/C was too high in fat, 1 yr later we thought he had stomach ulcers he was still having acid reflux, chewing, ripping toys & whining while lying on his stomach & hungry 24/7, so I had an Endoscope & Biopsies done, when I picked Patch up from vets, vet said stomach looked really good & there’s no ulcers, I said but we still have the 2 biopsies, when will the results be back, I bet it’s Helicobacter-Pylori, I’ve had the Helicobacter-Pylori bacteria a few times & you feel so hungry 24/7 when the acid gnaws at your stomach, so you keep wanting to eat to take away the burning pain but 20mins after eating your in pain again with bad acid burning & gnawing in your stomach….& I was soaking Patches vet diet for IBD in water cause he’s a gulper with food & was gulping his kibble in 5-10 seconds, vet said just add water to his kibble, again I didn’t know until I read an article a few years ago around the same time those new stop gulping food bowls started coming out, the article said, why adding water with kibble can be a bad thing, especially if the kibble hasn’t soften yet, the dog gulps up the water & gulps air trying to get to his dry kibbles….years ago they were saying add water to your dogs kibble it was suppose to slow dogs eating down that gulped their food….then I was softening all his kibbles & draining all the water out as much as I could & making it like wet tin food with his dry vet diet.. I just knew something wasn’t right after Patch ate the kibble with water, he was burping, farting whinging after eating, he got worse….Those go slow food bowls didn’t work either for Patch he couldn’t get the small kibbles out cause of his big fat snout, then he was gulping air again trying to lick up the little kibbles, so now I just add a few kibbles at a time to his normal stainless steel bowl & tell him to chew, then when he’s has chewed all the kibbles I add more kibbles to his bowl & his bowl is on a stand level with his stomach…
It’s taken me 3-4 yrs to finally find foods that work, stop him itching, licking, whinging & have no acid reflux, that Helicobacter is very hard to kill, high fiber diets are no good, you need low carb, low fiber diets & no sugar diets, the fat can be around 15%max & no fish/salmon oil in food but all dogs are different it all depends on your dog…..

[Kay W]

I have never written on any of these, but ALWAYS have read and researched dog foods and topics etc. I am so grateful for this site and finding ALL the information. My girl will be 3 on Feb 14th. She has been sick since Christmas day. I found it odd that she had calcium oxylate crystals and a UTI after a vet visit. True I read that with Orijen, they need to drink more BUT….she acted so different too and less energetic and alert. After I read a guy’s article about his dog getting crystals on the Orijen, I called the distributor and asked about the Acana……after all “Orijen is the best as I thought”. I had fed my 75 lb baby Orijen the last 2 years. First year, I fed her the supposed “best” new Blue Wilderness until she got lethargic and hair started shedding……then learned/read how they sold the co. at that time and went with cheaper products. So then went with Orijen Regional Red the past 2 years. Crystals went away and normal PH thank God. I didn’t realize at the time that it might be connected to the food. Had just bought a NEW huge bag of Regional Red….along with the Acana for lower protein. This past week, she got 3 bumps on her rear that then turned to larger bumpy rashes. She started chewing on her tail obsessively and scratching, ate to the bloody skin on all three places, and scratched ALL over. I didn’t know if it was a yeast infection from the antibiotics which it was NOT. I then started giving her the Acana food, bought at the same time, just about 2 weeks ago. OMG…..very lethargic, less alert than before, red eyes and insane itching….even after the new organic “itchless” shampoo. Was scratching her face and sides of her mouth yesterday and today this evening after her “supper” of Acana, which she has NEVER done. She woke up throwing up at 4:00 am yesterday. I found this info and site tonight and now I know FOR SURE that it is this food, and from that new plant. I had called the distributor to ask “where” the food came from…they said KY, not Canada anymore. I had read that on another site also. I “had” felt so assured and happy that she had Orijen and I had found a great food. I’m just praying hard on her to feel better, and throwing away BOTH huge bags tomorrow, the Acana and Orijen! Forget about “transitioning” to a new food…I’ll risk the diarrhea and clogged anal glands instead of giving her this nasty food. I have read hours and hours trying to find a good SAFE Grain Free for her. Will do chicken and rice, but NOW getting the Grain Free Candidae Duck. They have NOT had a recall since 2012, and it was the company that made the decision just for precautions. I pray this food will work and hope the potatoes don’t cause an issue relative to starch/sugar/yeast etc. My heart goes out to anyone and everyone that has had any heartache with their pets/loving part of the family, that has suffered in any way. It TRULY is horrible that more people and companies don’t care more about our pets. These are like our “children” to most of us! For me I know! Thank you truly for sharing your stories and experiences to educate and spare other people and their 4 legged babies etc. I’m praying hard on my baby girl to get back to her old self SOON! Take care, God bless!

[Tracy D]

Hi there, I am new to this forum. My dog Patchy has just been diagnosed (sort of) with pancreatitis and my vet told me I would have to take her off her raw beef mince diet. She advised a canned dog food with minimum fat as it is the only way they can monitor her as they “know” how much fat is on the food. Fair enough I can see the wisdom in that but…all I have read is that a raw food diet is the answer to sickness and she been raised on that. I really do not care for canned food and nor does Patchy. Naturally if at the end of the day the vet’s advice is the only answer then i will have to do that but I don’t feel this is good enough. So I have a few questions for the group if you could be good enough to help me with this:
Would raw kangaroo with low fat content be a good choice?
If so and as they are not farmed but eat wild, then how would I know how clean the meat is from parasites and toxoplasmosis, not to mention any other scary things that I don’t know about?
Could a high quality Cod Liver Oil help her general health? Not that she is otherwise unhealthy but quite the opposite.
I read here that animal sourced digestive enzymes can help, does anyone know a good one?
Many thanks to you all

[Danielle B]

Hello, I am new to this forum and am hoping to find answers. We recently brought home our new puppy. The breeder was feeding Blue Buffalo fish and oatmeal “adult breed” with royal can in puppy mousse. After coming home we stuck with the exact same regimen and changed nothing. Our puppy developed horrible diarrhea for about 3 weeks. After putting him on a prescription diet, vet recommended along with a digestive supplement, cooking for him and adding pumpkin, it seems that his gut has normalized. It is now time to slowly get him off of the prescription diet however I am still overwhelmed by the choices here. I am looking for a dry kibble in the medium price range. I went into this thinking Blue Buffalo was a decent brand but after reading this website it doesn’t seem to be the best choice. Any suggestions on where to start my bulldog. Being a breed prone to health issues, skin irritations, joint issues, etc,, I would like to get a jump on feeding him properly now before things get out of control. I am looking for any and all suggestions on food, suggested supplements, additives, routines, etc… I also am not clear as to why the breeder feeds his puppies adult food instead of puppy food, any thoughts on this. Also, are english bulldogs considered large breed or medium breed on this website? Thank you for any and all help.

[Susan W]

Hi!
I have a 12 y-o Golden w/no issues, and an 8 y-o mutt who has a very sensitive tummy. I have also been caring for my mom’s 11 y-o schnauzer mix who doesn’t seem to have digestive issues but she does have allergies. About 2 years ago I got a bag of 4Health that was moldy. The vendor exchanged the bag but I didn’t trust the food anymore and started making my own. THEN I got to where I didn’t have time to make my own anymore so I started doing research. I found a list of 15 companies who had never had a recall on BarkPost. It’s a list from 2014 (I think) but by the time I read it, 2 of those on the list had recalls. I contacted 7 of the companies from the list, never heard from one, got email coupons for up to $2 off from 5 companies, and got a nice email from VeRUS Pet Foods asking if I had any concerns about my dogs’ health, etc. so they could send me samples of their recommended dog food. They sent me free samples, they answered questions for me, and they won my undying devotion. My dogs are HEALTHY and they love this food.
I can be more specific about my mom’s dog because it has been more recent. She’s a little old lady dog for a little old lady. When she came to me, Greta pooped 4 to 6 times a day and they were occasionally just little pellet poops. After switching her to VeRUS, she poops twice a day, and they are good, solid, productive poops that have good color & aren’t soft or runny. Watching Greta’s poops for evidence of improvement on her new food has kind of turned me into a poop aficionado – gross, but… She has also become more energetic and bouncy.
I started feeding VeRUS about 2 years ago and they STILL haven’t had a recall. They’re an American company, kind of small, but they’re smart and they care. They even have a non-profit that benefits veterans & rescue dogs.

[olivia s]

I have two 9-year-old chihuahua-poodle mix dogs (Joy and Faith) who I want to switch to a raw diet. I’ve heard that raw bones can be great for a dog’s teeth, but both of them have pretty bad teeth already. Joy, however, has worse teeth than Faith. One of her back teeth is severely decaying and much of her teeth has visible plaque. Her breath (before taking recent measures) was foul and much more noticeable than Faith’s.

Currently, they are eating Freshpet refrigerated dog food and no kibble. About a week ago, I started adding a product called ProDen Plaque Off to their food and I rub ozonated olive oil on Joy’s teeth, which seems to be helping with her plaque and bad breath. Time will tell if the Plaque Off product works. I’m also thinking about brushing their teeth. When my mom took the dogs to the vet, the vet said that they need dental work. If that can’t be avoided, I would at least like to minimize the problem.

I am weary about feeding bones to my dogs, particularly Joy. Is it safe to give a dog with tooth decay raw bones? Meaning, is there a risk of cracking the tooth? I’m not even sure if they would chew them because of the condition of their teeth.

If I get dental work done on them, would it be better to give them raw bones after they get that done? Or does anyone have experience healing dog teeth with a raw diet or with any other remedy?

Thanks

[Jeannine M]

I would have no idea which is why I have been reading everything I can. I copied this information from an article on dog food advisor not in the forums. So if you hit home and down the left hand column where it has latest article it’s under the heading
“How to Choose the Best Large Breed Puppy Food and Lower Your Dog’s Risk”

So that article is wrong? This is why I am having such a hard time deciding what food to feed my dogs. There is so much conflicting information!😟
Thanks for the information I appreciate all the help I can get!

[Cassie P]

Acroyali you are correct also, see the point I was trying to make above is we as pet owners need to find what works best for our own dogs. My experience was my dog started gulping and swallowing, she looked freaked out Wanted outside to swallow any leaves and grass she could find. I knew that meant her belly was upset and her instinct was to eat grass so she could vomit. I stayed up with her for hours all night with this happening. We were stationed in Virginia with no vet clinic for miles. I just had to pat her belly to help her pass gas and try to sooth her best I could. She went to the vet after the episode because it NEVER happens at the vet office anyways. She was perfectly healthy. I changed her food to dye free 4health and it lessened those episodes tremendously. But she still has her moments when it starts again I’d say maybe once every 3-4 months. Out of nowhere that swallowing gulping so I gave her half a tums 1/4th gas x (she’s 90lb lab) and within ten minutes she wasn’t freaked out anymore and started tooting. I never give her any Gasx/tums unless has these episodes so I know she has plenty of the good acids and gut bacteria. It’s what works best for my dog just like you both above have found what works best for your dogs. That’s what makes this thread so helpful to frantic pups and owners alike. We can share our experiences and be here for moral support. 🙂 and just maybe help a pup in the future. There’s no guidelines to follow at 2am when your dog wakes you up basically having a panic attack gulping air. It freaks us all out and we just want to help our babies. I’m not a RN or a doctor but I do love animals with all my heart, have rescued rehabbed and raised many dif species so I have a general understanding of what I need to do. So yall with that said, don’t give your dog a Tylenol(it’s toxic) but if your human best friend starts her period or has a headache give that girl a Tylenol without worrying about getting permission first lol!

• This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by Cassie P.

[Whitney L]

Hi,
You’re so good at all this, you have the luckiest dogs in the world! I just wish the dog food bags would read for dummies so I could have an easier time and not have to involve anything mathematical. I’m awful at it… my husband is the engineer, so I’ll have to turn that over to him. I’m going to have him review the sodium contents and variables because he’s usually the one stopping for food.

It sounds like the Fromm we’re feeding may be okay for my Crested, and I’ll have to get a canned version for the foster girl. Or maybe soak hers in water and see if she’ll eat it that way. She has quite the underbite and the wretched teeth, so the soft food gets stuck all in her teeth and mouth. When we were giving her canned food we would wipe it off her as best we could, but she would still proceed to rub her face all over the living room rug. We also can’t get in her mouth to wipe it out from in there. We’re due to have a baby in three days, so we are trying our darndest to keep stuff like that off the rug. The joys of doggies, haha! At least it builds immunity in kids, my 10yo son never gets sick.

Anyway, the vet that the foster girl initially saw was one that the rescue uses. As far as I know, he didn’t give food suggestions, and I know he did not prescribe Vetmedin since none came with her. I got her several weeks after she came into the rescue. I ended up taking her to another vet, also part of the rescue but a different vet’s office and location, and specifically asked for the Vetmedin. I also asked for the incurin and recurring clindomyacin to help her mouth from possible inflammation. That vet ended up giving her a shot of the lasix and enalapril to boost it up in her system, and upped the lasix. She’s peeing a lot more, and coughing a lot less, so I think things are helping! They did do xrays of the little foster when we were at the vet this past weekend, but they didn’t show us and I wouldn’t know what I was looking at anyway. Her prognosis was still not good, but she wants to see her back in two weeks to do bloodwork and make sure the difference in meds aren’t inadvertently interfering with anything.

I’ll have to look up the Vetri Cardio Canine you mentioned, as it sounds like good stuff.

So on top of just trying to be a good doggy mom for my little medical babes, and the fact that we have a baby due in three days, my Crested is now not feeling well. I took him to his vet on Tuesday, and the poor little guy had to suffer through getting his temp taken, a fecal, a blood draw, an x-ray (thankfully one scan gets all of him), a dosage of fluid injected under the skin, and then a shot for anti nausea/diarrhea. The good news from all that is that his heart and lungs are looking wonderful compared to a year ago, and the vet was happy that the meds are doing their job on him and his lasix doesn’t need increasing. Bad news was that they couldn’t really find anything going on. His bloodwork was mostly good except a few things creeping the wrong way due to him being a little dehydrated, and the vet wasn’t concerned so long as he stays hydrated.

He seemed to feel better Tuesday night, and now we’re back to him moping around, refusing even canned food, watermelon, etc., and today he threw up the little bit of watermelon he did eat about 10 hours ago. He did take a small poop yesterday, and I was hoping that would make him feel better. It looks like he’ll be going back if he’s not better by the morning, and he’ll likely be getting a Barium test to see if there’s a blockage somewhere. More not fun stuff because he HATES x-rays. I have to go in the back with them when he gets them because he will freak out and half kill himself from setting himself into a breathing episode, then he gets placed on oxygen. I nearly cried on Tuesday because I can’t stand next to the x-ray machine being pregnant, and he was so scared and crying so loud. I stood off to the side where I hoped he could see me and talked to him. I hate it. Fingers crossed he starts feeling better today. 🙁

I really appreciate all your knowledge and for taking the time to fill me in on everything since you’re way more experienced at this than I am. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Whitney L]

Hi Laurie F.,
Thank you for the link. I see Fromm is listed, but the sodium contents still seem higher than some others. Currently, all of my dogs but one eat Fromm (including one CHF dog). My other dog, who is a recent permanent foster, is the other CHF dog and she’s on really crappy food. She got a 3 month prognosis a month ago when she came into rescue, so we just picked up cheap Moist and Meaty. I know, it’s awful. I feel guilty about it, and despite the vet saying she didn’t have long, I’d still like to give her better food. We also saw a different vet (within the rescue) this past weekend because I wanted to get her meds adjusted, and this vet said the same thing about her health. Said she’s super sweet and friendly, but a hot mess. 🙁

My two dogs with CHF: the new foster is a chi/corgi mix, approximately 11lbs and between 12-15years old. It’s really hard to tell because of her health and her teeth are WRETCHED. I mean, just downright awful. This weekend her Lasix was upped to 5mg, she’s on Enalapril already, and I had the vet add Vetmedin. I also got another round of clindomyacin, and we’ll make that recurring monthly to help keep down any gum infection. She’s also now on incurin because she’s a leaker. It’s not a big deal because we diaper her inside, but it can make a mess on our lanai if she’s not diapered right away after piddling.

My other CHF dog is a 9-10yro Chinese Crested (hairless). He is the one w/pulmonary edema, and he’s currently on the same medications as the chi mix, and he’s been on them since I began fostering him 1.5yrs ago (I failed and adopted). He overall does great, just has the occasional breathing episode. Usually they’re slight, but every now and then there is one that is so bad that he can’t even stand up from the oxygen deprivation. It’s awful to see, and his vet is actually surprised he keeps on living. When he gets like that, there’s nothing we can do but sit with him and stroke his head hair. If we tried to put him in a car at that time, it’d likely kill him. It’d be nice if I had an oxygen tank at the house for those times. 🙁

Sidenote: I give my dogs zero treats. My crested thinks his medication is a treat, and he happily devours the pills twice a day without us having to stuff them in a treat haha. He also eats poop sometimes, so his taste buds must be wonky.

[Susan]

Hi, my boy has a IBD, has food sensitivities, in the beginning vet said he had Colitis, Patch starts farting, sloppy poos & itchy skin, depends on what ingredient he’s sensitive too, carrots make his ears itch & he starts shaking head & scratches his ears, with chicken he gets red paws, sloppy poos, itchy skin & vomited his raw chicken, there’s a list of foods that I finally know he cant eat…
Your best to feed a Elimination Diet, start with just 1 novel protein & 1 carb feed for 6 weeks, if she is OK you have found 2 ingredients that she isn’t sensitive too, then you add another new ingredient & feed for 6 weeks….
Food sensitivities can take from 1 day to 6 weeks to show any symptoms or look at a very limited ingredient kibble or wet tin food “California Natural” has their Lamb & Brown rice has just 3 ingredients or they have a Puppy formula with 4 ingredients but its chicken choose a different protein to the one she’s eating at the moment..
or try a Vet Diet like “Royal Canin” Potato & Venison or Potato & Salmon or the Potato & Rabbit wet tin is better to feed then a kibble, then when you find she is doing best on the say the potato & Venison after 6 weeks cause the vet diet is balanced you can start adding 1 new ingredient say boiled rice 2 table spoons is she OK with the boiled rice my boy cant have boiled rice it irritates his bowel but he can have the ground rice in a kibble…
In the end the best kibble for Patch was “Taste Of The Wild” Sierra Mountain, Roast Lamb it’s grain free, the Protein-25% fat-15% & fiber-4% it has purified water as well.
Try & find a kibble with the same percentages don’t go too high with fat & protein….

There’s also “Canidae” Pure Formulas but the protein & fat is higher in some formulas so read them…
California Natural- http://www.californianaturalpet.com/products
Canidae- http://www.canidae.com/dog-food/products
Taste Of The Wild (TOTW)- http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/

[Shelby J]

Hi All!

I’m very new to the raw diet. I have 2 10 week old Golden Retrievers and now that we know they can tolerate the food (we’ve been mainly feeding them chicken and an egg (1) daily) I’m ready to move on to new protein sources and menus to make sure they get a balanced meal. I’ve seen some of the menu’s posted on here and it all seems really confusing and complicated. We aren’t overloaded with extra time but I want to make sure they get what they need. Anyone have simple, sample menus for puppies? Kilo is about 20 pounds and Murph is about 17.

Thanks!!

[Jean R]

I have the same story as Kelly: 6 lb Parti Pom with collapsing trachea (taking Lomotil), hypothyroid (.1mg bid), seizures (Keppra 0.6 TID), knee issues, hair issues and she is diabetic getting 0.5U of N TID. She is on raw diet of meat, I mix in blender: 2 eggs with crushed shell, 1 can of green beans, 1 can pumpkin, 1 can of spinach, 1 banana, 10 blueberries, 1 tsp concentrated OJ, 1/2 Quinoa (Just added for fiber/protein). Garlic And anything else I have like broccoli/low cal high fiber, little or no sugar foods. Once a smoothe, she eats anything mixed in her meat. Her Frutosamines have been low and she went from 2U N to 0.5u but she still went into DKA with over 10000.00 ICU bill. We are not looking at frutosamine any more. I check her urine daily and if she has ketones, I add o.5u to her regimen. She is on it now after high ketone and high glucose reads last week. Her curve was done and she was in the 300s dropping to below 200 at noon and then back up to almost 400 at 5p. Her norm goal is to be under 250. We started her on the extra 0.5u and she is now maintaining 250-500 glucose and no ketones. I am told that she will always have 250 glucose but I get her to negative a lot. The good thing is that we avoided the ICU, the bad thing is that she has lost from 6lbs to 5.2lbs. I try and keep her just under 6lbs. Today she is 5.5lbs. She had been in the 8-9lb area when I started looking at her reasons and found all the above. (her seizures are from a fall down 22 steps, running out the door when a friend opened it to leave). I now feed her 1/4 raw (duck, rabbit, venison, quail-she is allergic to beef) at 6-7 am with insulin (her choice, definitely not mine), either goat milk (a tablespoon) or cottage cheese (a dab) with insulin at 1-2pm since she falls low then and again at 6-7 1/4 cup raw and at 9pm another snack and 0.5U of insulin…so today she is 250 glucose and no ketone urine dip. and has been relatively there for 3 days. I came here to see if there is anything else I can do for this little angel of 10.5 years. I think I will give her pumpkin for snacks, she is on a probiotic, 1/2 canine health and 1/4 tsp mangosteen as well as a small amount of milk thistle. She gets no rabies and her titer is high coverage (that is a total vet racket and kills off their internal organs and give seizures) and no other shots. I have pet protector which seems like voodoo but no one has had fleas the last 3 years so it works, I stopped fostering because she has become so protective of me, I can not work with the dogs in a healthy manner, she has a yorkie sibling that is on thyroid meds and stopped seizures after I fostered him and stopped all the shots/flea stuff. Any suggestions you have for weight gain (and anything else) I would be thankful,

• This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by Jean R.

[Karen D]

Thank you pitluv, I will find out today whether there is an alternative or if maybe I can give one a day to stretch it out till the supply is back.

P.S. Wish I could edit title to this thread to read Shortage??

[Susan]

Hi Jan D,
I was looking thru my book for something else, I always write things down in a scrap book cause when I save important links later I don’t know what name it was saved under or where I saved it…
I read your post about the Purina Fortifora has only 1 strain Enterococcus, I think that’s for a reason, I came across this, it was written when Patch had his Helicobacter & S.I.B.O & he wasn’t getting better no matter what I did, it says…
Various strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus Salivarius inhabit the growth of Helicobacter bacteria in mice probably thru the production of Lactic acid…. so that’s probably why the Purina Fortiflora has only the 1 strain so these bad bacteria’s don’t double & take over making matter worse…….
I remember Patches Gastrointestinal vet telling me, make sure you give Patch Prebiotics as well as the Probiotics…I never asked him why??
I just read this, “Prebiotics support the growth of Probiotics which help keep bad bacteria under control in a dogs gut. By supporting the good Bacteria, Prebiotics help to prevent disease, improve digestion and nutrient absorption (especially minerals) and enhance the immune system”.. “…
So these vet diets for Intestinal Health have these prebiotics in them to help fix the dogs intestinal tract, I wondered why when Patch ate the Hills I/d Digestive Care vet diet, he was all back to normal within 3 days, like it says on the vet diet bag BUT then after 6 days Patches Poos when down hill again, yellow & soft, I don’t know why this happened.. maybe food sensitivities??
If your boy is still doing heaps of poos something isn’t right, just ring & ask the vet can you please try the Hills Vet Diet I/d Digestive care, the link is above… this way he’s getting the prebiotics as well as the Fortiflora probiotics…
also read on the ingredient list for TOTW kibble bag that he’s eating at the moment or go on the TOTW web page mite be easier to read & read what “probiotics” are added to the kibble?? are they the Probiotics I wrote above??…. your boy poos should be getting smaller & less, not bigger & more, I remember when Patch was on the Eukanuba Intestinal, then a few years later the Hills I/d Digestive Care, Patches poos got smaller & smaller as the days pasted until they were just 2 small poos a day…..
remember it’s not forever feeding a vet diet, like I said before maybe 6 months for his gut/bowel to heal & be healthy again…
Gee this Giardia is a awful parasite…strips the bowel..

[Acroyali]

Another thought–

Even if you have already, have you considered enrolling her in a basic obedience class? Not because it sounds like your dog doesn’t know the basics of sit, down, come, etc, but when the excitement level hits it’s like she loses what she knows (it happens to a LOT of dogs at that teenager age.) A class situation is good with a dog who already understands the basic words, as the challenge comes with teaching her to respond even when something more interesting catches her attention. If you run into a snag, you’ll have a trainer right there to help you, in person.

I liken it to taking a kid to Disney World, sitting them down, and expecting them to do math homework. It’s probably not going to happen right away; there’s too much to see, do, hear, and way too much excitement. Now take a kid who has parents who work at Disney World, and the kid has spent a ton of time there and it’s boring and familiar. They’ll more than likely be able to do homework in the middle of the Magic Kingdom without batting an eye.

Please steer clear of medicating this dog to keep her “down.” In 10 years, you’ll miss the antics (or at least some of them.) Frustrating sometimes, but don’t give up and simply keep her drugged. It can be worked through, honest. And when she matures and calms on her own, you’ll have a very well trained companion to be your best friend for many, many years. It pays off!

You might even consider getting her into some kind of competitive venue to channel that energy into something positive. Most dogs really like things like flyball, agility, or rally obedience. You could try tracking or any kind of nosework games. Teach her silly parlor tricks to impress your friends. Dobermans weren’t bred to be couch potatoes, but are some of the most loyal dogs on the planet. DO something with her, and enjoy every minute of it!

[Acroyali]

“Because, it is clear to most medical professionals that a lot of the things some homeopathic vets recommend clearly have potential to harm animals.”

Ah, but there are indeed two sides to this coin.
Some things that conventional veterinarians recommend can harm animals, too. Monthly steroid shots, yearly vaccines, and poor food can have their downfalls. Ignoring the fact that quacks are quacks no matter HOW they practice is ignorant.
I had a very sick dog. After 4 grand spent at a local animal hospital, my dog was no better. I started exploring other treatment methods, as it was getting ridiculously expensive and, more importantly, my dog was not getting better. A very pragmatic holistic vet worked with me. He recommended medication (not “holistic” medication, but “medication”) to get my poor dog some relief…WHILE we worked on what was causing the problems in the first place. For my other dog, he strongly recommended heart medications–3 separate kinds–but we devised a few other things in the form of supplements that seemed to add length and vigor to his life. He outlived everyone’s expectations.
There is no magic treatment that fits every animal. THAT is what holistic medicine should be all about–sizing up the patient. It really has little to nothing to do with scorning the usage of life-saving drugs. Take into account a dog or cats over all health, diet, activity level, exercise tolerance, age, past health problems, right down to their emotional state (are they high strung and anxious, or easy going?) That’s the kind of practice I respect. Any vet who completely ignores the patient’s progress and only pumps more medications into them is wrong, as is the holistic vet who scorns the use of ANY medication and lets an animal suffer in the name of “holistic healing.” The two ways CAN work together, and work very well.
I recently read of a homeopath who “fired” a client because her dog became very ill, spiking a fever in the middle of the night, so the dog was rushed to the ER and placed on antibiotics. Because of placing the dog on these life saving medications, the homeopath fired the client, stating that she refused to work with someone who wasn’t holistically minded. Absolutely RIDICULOUS and I would have fired the homeopath because he or she could have fired me.
Quacks and quacks. They’re not limited to one form of practice. And it completely sucks that there are so many holistic vets (and doctors) who feel antibiotics are bad when your pet spikes a 105 degree fever and scorn the use of life-saving drugs in an elderly pet to give them more time, and better quality of life. And it completely sucks that there are many allopathic and conventional vets who roll their eyes the minute someone mentions a supplement or herb that seemed to help their animal. I refuse to patronize either kind.
Just my opinion.