[Samantha P]

My 1 ½ year old toy poodle/mi-pin (5 lbs) began vomiting 11 days ago on a Friday. The following day, Saturday, we took her to the vet. He thought she may have an upset stomach and dehydrated so he gave her sub-q fluids and sent her home on meds to ease her tummy troubles (Rantidine?) By Monday, she still wasn’t herself, and the vomiting continued. She wasn’t eating or drinking much at all, so I brought her back to the vet. The kept her all day Monday, continued with the fluids and then sent her back home with us Monday night. The vomiting stopped, but she still wasn’t improving in regards to eating/drinking. I brought her back to the vet Friday (a week after our first visit) and they did blood work. It turns out she has pancreatitis, unsure if she had it the entire time or if it was caused by the upset stomach issue. They began an IV for fluids on Friday – it is now Tuesday and she is still there. She got her appetite back on Sunday and ate the wet dog food (Hills ID) and she ate again yesterday morning. Since she was eating again, they removed the IV and by afternoon she was refusing food. She vomited 3 times overnight and now the vet as well as us are getting extremely concerned (as if I wasn’t already) I just need to hear that she will be okay… I can’t stop worrying, crying and I am absolutely sick over all of this. We have no idea what could have caused it, we feed her TOTW normally and she loved it, this all happened out of nowhere and going on 11 days of this, 5 being in the vets care, I am trying to continue to keep my hope but it’s slowly dwindling. I have no idea what I would do without her, she’s my baby and her brother (Morkie) misses her so much…. Our house just isn’t the same and we are ready to get her back home. Anyone have experiences? Stories that may help us get through this? Advice? I am all ears…

[Susan]

Hi, teach your pup “No leave It” within 1-2 weeks he will know its wrong to eat anything off the ground…..
Place a kibble or food under the front of your shoe, the toe, let your dog smell the kibble then say “No leave It” then when he has left the food or kibble that’s under your foot & sits, then you give him a kibble or a small treat but not the kibble that’s under your foot, then when he leaves the food/kibble under your foot, you start leaving a bit of food or kibble on the floor, watch him & see what he does, if he goes to eat it or leaves it, if he goes to eat it, say “No Leave It” but make sure there’s enough time that he doesn’t get it & eat it, then if he sits & leaves it then give him a treat or kibble for leaving the food that’s on the floor & say “Good Boy”…..Make sure you talk to your dog, like he’s a human, then he will understand words & what right & what’s wrong…..

There’s no magic pill, you need to train your dog, maybe increase his feed as well, he may be hungry…..
I found out, I was under feeding my boy, the vet we were seeing said to feed 2 cups a day, I read the kibble bag & he should of been eating 3 cups of that kibble a day, being a high energy dog.. 3 years later & Patch doesn’t even look at poo & if there’s any food on the ground, he just keeps walking & I tell him “your a very very good boy Patch” & I can see how proud he is of himself, then I tell him, when we get home, I’m going to give you a big biscuit..

[Ptcbass]

Wow, I went to lunch and come back to lots of great info. Yes Shawna I also believe food is medicine. I went 2 years without healthcare and have successfully treated health issues with health food and supplements (Ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and ginseng).

Anonymously – The prednisone come weeks before and then tiny stones were present (small enough to pass). Then she was on the prescription food for one week and developed acute pancreatitis. That is what killed her. The prednisone I am sure didn’t help her immune system and have read it can cause stones and isn’t good for the pancreas. Just a horrible situation all the way around and especially knowing that if I didn’t take her to the vet at all and just kept treating her myself with “healthy” stuff then she would more than likely still be with me today.

My other dog is a little over weight and gains easily. She is 9 years old, has a history of crystals and UTI’s and has a short nose and has trouble breathing sometimes so I can’t exercise her like I would like to. She is still otherwise healthy and still likes to play (what time she isn’t eating or sleeping LOL!).

I am looking into
Horizon Amicus Small & Mini Breed Senior & Weight Management Grain-Free Dry Dog Food and Annamaet Grain-Free Lean Low Fat Formula Dry Dog Food.

I like the Natures Logic but it isn’t grain free and has higher fat content (except for the fish). The calories are still ok thought which I really don’t get but have moved on.

Thanks again! This has been super hard and have never had to experience anything like this with any of my dogs in the past. Also, in the same week my mother in law had a stroke. Now I just want to help get her healthy and do what I can for my other furbaby.
Thanks for the support here!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by Ptcbass.

[Susan]

Hi, I live in Australia so we have different brands, my boy has IBD Colitis (food sensitivities)every time I give Patch a probiotic he feels sick, I’ve read there’s a die off period, just keep taking the probiotics but I stopped I couldn’t handle watching Patch feel sick licking & licking his mouth & eating grass, so a lady at the pet shop said give him Papaya (Paw Paw) so I mashed up 1/2 a Papaya & put the mashed papaya in ice cube & froze, I was giving Patch 1 thawed ice cube of the papaya about 10.30am after our walked he loved it, at first I thought Patch was OK but again he started his mouth licking & eating grass…
I found a good dog probiotic had to be stored in the fridge or kept under 25 degrees so the heat doesn’t kill the live bacteria…also Tripe, tripe is excellent, Patch tried the K-9Natural Lamb Green Tripe was really good… K-9 Natural has their Raw frozen or their freeze dried Green Lamb Tripe, the smell was OK not as bad as I thought it would be…..Patch loved it but it made him feel sick….

My vet said she went to a seminar & the lady said they tested 10 popular dog probiotics & only 3 had live cultures Purina Fortiflora was suppose to be good, she didn’t mention the probiotics that weren’t good my vet said, I said if Patch doesn’t feel sick then its no good…

I joined a group on Face Book called “Fast Track Diet” (Official Group) run by Dr Norm Robillard he’s specializes in IBS SIBO Leaky Gut Acid Reflux etc
& has written a book called “Fast Tract Digestion” its for humans but I’d say a dog would have similar bowel & stomach problems with certain foods, he said it’s best to take probiotics on an empty stomach when your Hydrochloric Acid is low, either first thing in the morning or night just before bed & not with food….

I found this link what each strain of bacteria is for & what it helps Lactobacillus GG (L.rhamnosus) protects against respiratory illness, treats candida, colitis and diarhea, reduces stress and anxiety.. http://ottawavalleydogwhisperer.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/how-to-choose-good-probiotic-supplement.html

[InkedMarie]

I dislike it when veterinarians tell me that what they sell is a good food yet cannot tell me why. Red, if you want to not bother reading ingredients due to a possible headache, have at it. I have typed up a few other sentences but deleted them but will say to people needing help: ingredients are important. There are reputable dog food companies out there; ask them. Find ones you trust. I personally would ignore people who don’t read them & “parrot” what SkeptVet says. JMO.

[Angeldogs]

I have found a high quality kibble that everyone can eat here. I have ten allergic dogs with a list of 15 allergens. Please keep in mind that all of our dogs have been allergy tested which makes things easier.

Dr. E’s buffalo limited ingredient potato and grain free kibble.

They are all doing very well on it. Have switched treats to Dr. Woofers vegie biscuits. They can also have the spaghetti and meatball flavor.

Don’t forget to read labels carefully on treat bags too!

Hope that’s of help to someone’s pup!

[C4D]

Hi Judith B,

I cook for my dogs frequently, but it’s always fresh, not canned, meat with a few organic veggies, generally carrots, celery and fresh parsley, sometimes broccoli or squash, depending on what I have in the garden or is on sale, NO SALT. I add this to a premix, like The Honest Kitchen, Sojos, or Grandma Lucy’s, which has the vitamins added. I also feed my dog’s a regular diet of commercial kibble, canned or raw that are complete and balanced.

I appreciate that you want to provide some healthy fresh cooked food for your dogs, but, IMHO, I don’t think you should be adding canned soup and broth. There’s a lot of sodium in those and dogs (or people) don’t need that much sodium. Regular Swanson a whole can has about 50% of the normal human daily intake. Tomato soup is also high in sodium, I just linked Campbell’s, but I’m an avid label reader and they all tend to have about 33% or better per serving, which is less than 1/2 the can.

http://swanson.campbellskitchen.com/broth/beef-broth/

http://www.campbellsoup.com/Products/Condensed/All/2341

This is the nutrition data of Cheese Whiz. I didn’t know which one you use, but they are all very similar in salt content. This is for 2 tbsp, not the whole jar, which would be a lot more.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/160/2

These are not healthy products to be adding to your dog’s diet. If you want to add some broth, cook fresh meat with a bit of water and use the cooking water as the broth. I do this all the time. I even use it as stock to make soups for my family.

I truly appreciate what you are trying to do for your dogs, but if you keep it to some fresh meat and vegetables in the crock pot, your dogs will be much healthier. I would still use this as a topper to a balanced dog food to keep your animals in the best of health. The balanceIt website, Whole Dog Journal, or dogaware has some recipes to give you an idea of what a balanced meal or supplement to their diet should look like. Good Luck!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by C4D.

[aimee]

Hi Shawna,

When you wrote “Not even enough to meet the minimum protein amounts required for an a complete and balanced diet.” it could leave a reader with the impression that the diet would cause protein deficiency in the patient. Yet it will not when appropriately used.

AAFCO is an interpretation of NRC to account for the usual and common ingredients used in commercial pet food. Protein digestibility in commercial foods is usually decreased compared to fresh because of the type of protein used and the processing it underwent. AAFCO built a “cushion” into the profile to account for this. Also remember that AAFCO min is really what should be considered a recommended daily amount not the min to sustain life.

I don’t understand the choice of herbs, some of which sure seem contraindicated for a kidney patient. Can you cite the papers where they have been shown to be beneficial?

[Jack B]

I registered just to comment here because the amount of misinformation is maddening.

Dogs are omnivores.

Dogs Are Omnivores and Should be Fed as Such

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnivore
http://www.hillspet.com/dog-care/carnivore-or-omnivore-mature-adult-dog.html
https://www.purina.com/dogs/dog-food-nutrition/are-dogs-omnivores-or-carnivores

I thought this quote from one of the above sources was incredibly relevant to this thread:

“Somehow the notion that dogs are pure carnivores has permeated through internet chat forums, among some non-medically trained people working in the pet industry (groomers, trainers, etc.), and those that take their information seriously. This notion is based by in large on the multiply erroneous notion that dogs are essentially wolves, and since wolves are pure carnivores, then dogs necessarily should be fed as wolves would eat.

I stated multiply erroneous notion because the true fact is that EVEN WOLVES ARE NOT PURE CARNIVORES! ”

Like humans, they can thrive on either a meat based or plant based diet. What is important is the nutrition they get from either. Your “feelings” that dogs “need meat” have no basis in reality. Snap out of it.

On the other hand, for the vegans, sadly I have to correct the information about cats. Cats ARE obligate carnivores.
http://feline-nutrition.org/answers/answers-what-exactly-is-an-qobligate-carnivoreq
http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.com/cats-obligate-carnivore-proceedings?rel=canonical
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat

You basically can not feed a cat a vegan diet and have it remain healthy.

Back to dogs. You would not want your precious dog to die screaming choking on its own blood, after being tortured for the entirety of its short life. These factory farming conditions are are where over 99% of all animal products in the USA come from. The fact that you bought that locally grown rainbow fluffy nice meat that one time 4 months ago at a farmer’s market doesn’t eclipse the source of all the other animal products that compose the majority of your and your dog’s other meals. The animals that your dog food is sourced from don’t want to die or live in this way either (for that matter, neither do you. Do unto others). The entire world does not revolve around you and your dog, there are more considerations to make in life beyond your own desires and preferences because the consequences of your actions have to be suffered by others.

For those who are going to jump in with “humane” meat, which is marketing bullshit (Watch Earthlings and see the conditions of “humane” slaughter), you would not want your dog to have a nice life only to be suddenly pulled up by its hind legs and have its throat slit. The animals that die “humanely” for your diet don’t want that either (and again, likely neither do you). Watch a video of captured Chechnyan soldiers having their throats slit and ask yourself if that looks like a humane way to die.

You care about animals? Your dog isn’t the only animal in the world.

Beyond all this, there is the massive environmental consideration. The animal industries are responsible for up to 51% of global GHG emissions (http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294), and are the driving force behind deforestation, the collapse of our oceans, and global food scarcity. The easiest way to understand why is through understanding an ecological concept known as trophic levels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_level). Basically, every step up you go along the food chain, you lose 90% of the energy you put into the previous step. So for every 10 calories of crops you feed to a cow, you get 1 calorie of beef out of that cow. If you fed the crops directly to people (or to your pets), you could feed 10x the number of people (or pets) on the same amount of agricultural output.

Alongside the global hunger issues this presents, we have to consider that this means we are consuming 10x the resources to produce that 1 calorie. Ten times the amount of petroleum based fertilizers, ten times the amount of water, ten times the amount of forest and virgin land cleared to grow ten times the amount of crops, ten times the amount of pesticides which are being washed out into our rivers and oceans, etc. etc. etc.

Here’s a decent primer in the form of a Wikipedia article on the issue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_vegetarianism

For more information, watch Conspiracy. It’s a fantastic documentary that highlights the environmental consequences of our animal industries.

I know this post has grown way beyond the original scope of this thread, but the unwavering small-mindedness being displayed here was too much for me to bear. Educate yourself on these issues, they are much larger and more important than you and your dog’s taste preferences, and much larger than it seems many in this thread currently understand.

[Susan]

Hi Jan, another reason your girl is doing really well on the Hills W/d, the W/d is very high in insoluble fiber-28.1% & high in crude fiber-16.4% & lower in soluble fiber-1.3%….My boy wouldn’t do well on a high insoluble & high crude fiber diet with his IBD, he does better on less fiber, kibbles with soluble fiber……once your girl is stable & doing really well around 6-9 months, start looking for a premium kibble that is high in crude fiber & you’ll have to email the kibble company & ask what is the insoluble % & soluble fiber %, you will not find a kibble as high as the W/d, that’s why its a vet diet….
I’ve read a few post on this site & their dogs were eating the Hills W/d now their dogs are doing well on Diamond Natural light Adult, the Nuturals light has the powdered Cellulose like the Hills W/d has but lamb is the protein not chicken, I don’t know if your dog can eat lamb, my boy does good on lamb & fish….the fat is 6% & the crude fiber is 9%, I don’t know the insoluble fiber %.. there is a few ingredients in this kibble… a few tooo many to start as a first kibble, I like sticking with kibbles that have limited ingredients cause it can just be 1 little ingredient in a kibble that they are sensitive too & their colitis will start playing up again….
http://www.diamondpet.com/our-brands/diamond-naturals/light-adult-dog/

also the weight management kibbles are higher in crude fiber but I don’t know if they are higher in soluble fiber or insoluble fiber, you’d have to email the company….

Or you can do what I did in the beginning, I kept Patch on his vet diet for lunch & dinner & started to feed a cooked meal for breakfast, (I cook the chicken & boil the sweet potatoes & then froze small meals)
I knew he could eat chicken cause his vet diet was chicken & turkey, so I boiled chicken breast & boiled pumkin 1 spoon pumkin, he couldn’t eat too much pumkin it made his poos very soft, so now I cook sweet potatoes instead. I put the chicken in a blender & blend the chicken & add the boiled sweet potatoes sometimes I add some boiled broccoli, carrot, celery & papaya, that’s now not in the beginning..

I google foods to find out which veggies had more soluble fiber & insoluble fiber… foods that are high in insoluble fibers are rye, barley, brown rice….that way I started introducing foods back into his diet but he was still eating his vet diet, like an elimination diet..
I found out what foods he didn’t do to well on cause his breakfast poo would be sloppy soft or have a condom film over the poo or he’d do a jelly poo….his poo would be orange cause of the pumkin & sweet potatoes…

[Shawna]

Hi Sheila23,

Although a homemade diet is absolutely doable I would do a LOT more research before you decide on any one brand. Example — Tripe is a great food for kd dogs but it is supposedly already balanced in calcium to phosphorus. Adding a premix like Preference, that is designed to balance higher phosphorus meat, could be problematic. Although phosphorus needs to be watched, you can go too low too early in the disease.

Balance IT could be an option but I personally wouldn’t have fed my KD girl such a low protein diet (ESPECIALLY in the early stages). Based on the nutrient profile of their beef and rice early stage kd diet the protein amount is only 15.3%. That’s ridiculously low for early stage kd without any complicating issues like proteinuria. Not even enough to meet the minimum protein amounts required for an a complete and balanced diet. They also use corn oil — EEEEKK. The chicken & rice recipe is even worse at 14.9% protein.

If you can afford it, I would highly recommend looking at Darwin’s prescription KD diet formulated by vet Dr. Barbara Royal. The ingredient list is
“Human-Grade Meat: Beef Meat, Beef Tripe, Beef Pancreas, Beef Lungs, Beef Kidneys, Beef Liver, Beef Heart, Beef Spleen.

Vegetables: Cabbage, Celery, Squash, Sweet Potato, Beets, Romaine Lettuce.

Special Nutrient Mix: Filtered Water (for processing), Sardine oil (source of EPA, DPA and DHA), Egg Shell Powder, Parsley, Apple Cider Vinegar, Inulin, Cornsilk, Dandelion Root, Cinnamon, Cranberry, Linden Flowers, , Chitosan, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin E, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin D3, Aloe Vera.” http://www.darwinspet.com/our-raw-foods/our-raw-dog-food/intelligent-design-ks/

I LOVE that you are starting Alvin on Standard Process Renal Support. It is the one supplement that my Audrey NEVER did without since diagnosis. She had KD from birth (symptoms showed at just 6 weeks of age) but she wasn’t diagnosed till she was 13 months old. She was given one year to live after that. She lived to almost her ninth birthday and it was an infection that took her life not the normal progression of kidney disease.

Some other things to look at for Alvin — purified water (as much as he wants), extra water soluble vitamins if he urinates large volumes of water. A high quality probiotic and a prebiotic made with acacia fiber helps to clear BUN etc from the blood allowing for higher protein to be fed or simply helps clear BUN when necessary. This is called “nitrogen trapping”. Giving Evian (or another higher calcium, lower sodium mineral water) has been shown to be beneficial for kidney disease. I did give my Audrey fresh, raw garlic most of her life. I still believe that if I hadn’t gotten lazy and quit giving it to her near the end of her life she wouldn’t have developed the severe infection that ended up damaging her kidneys and taking her life. Enzymes to help with the digestion of his food. Certain supplements and herbs can be helpful — spirulina provides many nutrients, food grade activated charcoal given off an on in small amounts can help clear toxins, organic turmeric helps with inflammation and also helps prevent scar tissue (works best when combined with pepper or the enzyme bromelain from pineapple). Chlorella is a wonderful detoxer and it helps build red blood cells due to the high amounts of chlorphyll in it. Apple cider vinegar can help with indigestion (fed with food in small amounts or given via syringe but must be diluted first). Ginger extract and therapeutic grade peppermint oil can help with nausea (later in the illness). I also recently read that there is other therapeutic grade essential oils that can help the kidneys but I don’t remember the particulars of the article. Vet Dr. Melissa Shelton would be the person to seek out if wanting to incorporate essential oils.

I was lucky with Audrey, she was able to eat commercial raw products clear up to a few months before she passed. I’m not sure if that was because of the supplements, being fed raw from weaning or what but she did quite well. Possibly look at lower phosphorus commercial foods and then add small amounts of low phosphorus toppers (lightly cooked egg whites and coconut oil as an example) to keep the calories up while lowering the overall phosphorus even more. There are some great nutritionists out there as well that could be quite beneficial to you and Alvin.

Hoping Alvin does as well as, or better than, my Audrey!!!

Thank you Marie!

[jan f]

My dog has been diagnosed with colitis. She has gone to two different vets (one regular; one emergency) and both suggested the same food: W/D, probiotics to sprinkle on top, and a medication which I cannot remember the name (starts with M). She is doing very well. I read where people object to W/D or any prescription diet, but if it works for my dog why should I change. Other dogs have been on all kinds of prescription diet I/D, T/D, K/D and now W/D and all have done very well. I am curious as to why there is so much criticism of these Rx dog foods. I can’t imagine that a vet would recommend a food that would be harmful.

[Krystal H]

I actually prefer to shop online as long as shipping doesn’t make the price ridiculous! I have checked out Chewy and I love the idea of autoship! I can’t always get out to the stores, and my local stores sell out of quality foods really fast, so online is really my best option. I’ll check out that thread when I get the chance, but I am assuming it’s just a lot of options like the editors choice lists, which leaves me scrambling to check the quality, cost, and availability of each one and weigh the options for each dog and I start losing track of where I started and getting all mixed up! LOL I need a chart for this! LOL
I would like to get Roxie and Kovu on the same food if possible, but I know with her being mature and chubby and him being young and active, that might not be the best idea. I know Dessa needs to be on her own since she’s a puppy and a XL breed mix. I’m leaning towards the Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy Food, but that’s just based on what I’ve been able to find that’s of acceptable quality and I can find easliy from sellers I trust. I’m more than open to other brands though as I really have never used any Fromm products before.
I don’t have a set budget for pet food, I’ll work a bit extra if I need to, but I definitely can’t afford to feed Orijen and the like. I’ve been feeding Kirkland lately because it’s the only acceptable food that I can find reliably locally besides junk. I used to feed Taste of the Wild when Kovu was a pup, but it’s so hard to find locally I couldn’t keep up with hunting it down.

[James S]

Hey There! Yeah, my 11 year old female Pit, Nefertiti, has had, “The Bumps”, off & on all of her Life. After many failed remedy attempts & vet visits, I heard that it might possibly be some sort of a yeast infection, which kinda makes sense-She licks herself, then her paws, then scratches herself-Boom! Yeast infection. So, it could be something like that. Although, I’m not sure how males would get it?
Whatever the source, what I’ve found to work best, is . .
STEP 1-I give her a bath using a Human Dandruff Shampoo like Neutrogena. The brown T-Gel works as well, but smells horrible, & seems a bit harsh, while I haven’t ever tried Head & Shouders, because the article that my ex read that suggested this remedy, said that there is a certain ingredient to look for (Wish I could tell you which one), & Head & Shouders either lacked it entirely, or didn’t have as much as the others.
Anywaze…I know they get cold quick, but I’ve found the longer you leave the Dandruff Shampoo on them, the better the results. (Like 3-5 minutes tops should do the trick. I find singing to Nef helps with her desperation)
STEP 2-I rinse her off, which warms her up, & then it’s time for the Hot Spot Shampoo. Just a normal lather, maybe wait a minute before rinsing, then. . .
STEP 3-A nice, normal Dog Shampooing. Nef & I have been digging Burt’s Bees Products lately, but any Oatmeal/Lavender/Chamomile style one should work just fine. Now, I’m NOT an animal dermatologist, but I would definitely keep in mind that some of the Shampoo’s Ingredients might have an effect on Your Pup’s Coat as well. I feel keeping it as close to Organic is always best. This way there’s no need to panic…Because it’s Organic. I digest….
STEP 4-After all that, I’ll dry her off, (while she shakes off on me) then apply Hot Spot Medication (I think it’s just the Hartz one-Not Sure-Just a small bottle-The liquid is yellow in color, & can be found in purrty much any box store, or ordered online) liberally by using a Q-Tip, or by sort of pouring it onto The Bumps &/or Hotspots (depending on the severity of the outbreak) as she tends to get both at the same time.
Well, I Hope This Helps! Again-I’m not a dermatologist, but I’ve been using this method for six years now, & it works better than anything else that I’ve found in the previous five years of failed attempts at relieving my Big Lil’ Girl! when she gets The Bumps.
P.S.-I’ve found that mixing a little olive oil, or coconut oil in with Nef’s Food (about a Tablespoon per bowl tops) helps keep her coat Nice & Shiny. Good Luck!!!!!!

[Pitlove]

It’s going to be hard to find a food that has THAT few ingredients

CANINE DRY:
Potato, fish meal, animal fat, dried beet pulp (3.9%), fish digest, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, sodium hexametaphosphate, fructooligosaccharides (0.39%), potassium chloride.

There are a few companies that make LID diets that are fish and potato based.

Merrick- Salmon& Sweet Potato
Natural Balance- Fish & Sweet Potato
Zignature- Trout & Salmon
Wellness Simple- Salmon & Potato

These foods are all available on chewy.com if ordering online is something that could work for you. You can also take a look at their full list of Limited Ingredient Diets here and see if another might work better for you: http://www.chewy.com/dog/dry-food-294/limited-ingredient-diet,FoodFlavor_facet:Fish

I already filtered it to only show fish based foods. Best of luck!

[aquariangt]

There is a few options here. If you go to the canine nutrition thread, there is a sticky for foods appropriate for large and giant breed puppies. Read the first few pages of information for the pup, and then page 36ish or so has the most recent one. Any food on that list is formulated for growth-also known as puppy food or all life stages food. You can keep all the dogs on this. Feed the overweight/not so active dog for the desired weight, and the other two appropriately.

Alternatively you could feed a weight management food for the one, and the other two on the same one.

[Woof1]

Snowflake – It’s interesting you brought up Hardy Pet as I was just looking at it myself. After reading guidelines on WedMD, I’m not sure I need to use one for all my dogs, but I do have a couple older ones with health issues I feel could benefit from something. But reviews are so confusing. I had found a dog vitamin review website as I was reviewing Pet Tabs (I agree – stay away from them), but they highly recommended Hardy Pet. Conveniently there was a link to their site and they said that was the best pricing. But after a little searching, each of their review pages for any brand wound up with Hardy Pet at the bottom. That’s a little strange for a place that reviews products. Like Dog Food Advisor you would think there would just be a scale of stars and their review. Then I went to Amazon. Even if you don’t buy your products from Amazon, you can usually find reviews. I pay attention to 3 stars or less, they tend to be your most honest. Sure enough, there are reviews questioning this product – one person had an emergency with their dog after taking the product and couldn’t reach the company (the question wasn’t so much if the product caused the issue as it was why wouldn’t the company answer calls, emails, etc). One person never did get their money back even though it was returned within 30 days; and another said all their products list the same ingredients regardless of it’s ‘specialized’ formula. I haven’t delved into it that much yet to see if that’s true (just found it today), though maybe it depends on the amount of the ingredients in each formula, but I do see they include Brewer’s Yeast which can cause allergic reactions in many dogs. They do state they’ve done clinical trials, whether they’re independent trials or not though it does not say, and results aren’t listed. I also noticed on their FB page that some questions go unanswered. So I’m going to keep looking right now. Hopefully someone here can report if they’ve used Hardy’s and what the results were or what is recommended.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by Woof1.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by Woof1.

[Jonathan S]

I’m not a professional, but I do feed raw to my pups. Do lots of research first. there’s going to be a time and effort commitment as well as a financial commitment. Check out different recipes. Go to youtube and look up Dr. Karen Becker… she’s got lots of really great advice. The hardest thing is going to be convincing yourself that you’re doing the right thing. You’re going to find information out there and opinion that make it seem like handling raw food is like handling poison… it’s not. Take the same precautions you would with handling the food you serve your family.

The next hardest thing is perseverance. You’re going to affect their digestion and it might be messy at first. That doesn’t mean you should stop. You need to give them time to adjust. You will also need to take into account what proteins may or may not agree with your dog. Also, your raw food, especially if you’re making your own, will likely be higher in fat. That can cause some issues if you’re still feeding kibble as puppy food is usually higher in fat. I had to take my pups off puppy food much earlier than I expected.

I read some good advice about not feeding 100% raw. Most of your really good commercial foods are focused to provide complete nutrition, so they have vitamins and minerals in there that you might miss. I feed my dogs 50% raw and 50% kibble to make sure I don’t miss anything.

Another thing I do is review this site very carefully. If dog food advisor thinks that a particular ingredient is a positive thing in a highly rated food, you can bet it’s going to make an appearance in my food.

I hope this helps!

[Pitlove]

I’m sorry, but this is not about “lack of open-mindedness”. There are laws that govern federal commerce to make it fair to the manufacturer and the retailer and other retailers as well. Your website is offering foods like Purina Dog Chow for a much higher price than what you could pay for it at Walmart and then claiming you plan to bring in very pricey foods like Orijen and Acana for far less than what they are worth and what YOU yourself will pay for them. Under the policy I just provided for you Champion can refuse to do business with you if you refuse to comply with their minimum retail price, which you are already doing without even having their food available to customers.

I expect to see you having shut your site down fairly soon due to lack of funding since you will not convince manufacturers of actual high quality foods to sell to you based on your non complience with their minimum retail price and I do not think for a second someone will pay 39$ for a bag of Purina Dog Chow (when they can get it cheaper elsewhere) which is also falsely advertised on YOUR site as not containing corn, which it does.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by Pitlove.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by Pitlove.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by Pitlove.

[David T]

Dear Pitlove,

Thank you for your response. Why would my business model be “illegal”? I am curious as to pointing out to me the code in the law that you are referring to.

As I explained in earlier replies in this thread, our dog food delivery brands change from time to time, and at the moment we do not offer Orijen/Acana in our availability, however will in the future through agreements we have with our fullfillment partners.

And as a consumer, it’s entirely up to you to have the choice where you would like to procure your dog food, whether it be from us or another preferred vendor.

Ok, have a great Sunday!

David

[C4D]

Hi Kristin C,

I’m in complete agreement with you on dogs being fed a more natural, balanced diet and that is the building block to fending off diseases. It often helps dogs that already are diagnosed with various conditions such as diabetes and seizures, etc. It sounds like your doing all the right things for your dog with the heart murmur too.

I also believe that way too many chemicals are being put on our dogs and personally use minimal, if any topicals. I actually just pull the ticks off my dogs, identify them (we have deer and brown dog ticks in abundance in my area as well as Lyme Disease) and try to keep them out of areas of known infestations. My guy that got the ticks got no less than 6 in less than a week’s time. I’ve also used some natural repellants on my dogs after getting ticks with great success.

I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m just saying it would be interesting to hear what happens if you decide to try omitting the Advantix. Here’s an interesting link on fleas from Dr. Peter Dobias:

http://peterdobias.com/blogs/blog/34542021-can-feeding-a-raw-diet-prevent-fleas

Good luck with your pups!

[DogFoodie]

Hi Erika,

Did you happen to take a look at the links I provided to you yesterday over on the review side?

Here’s the link to the forum thread I suggested you start with: /forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/ This thread has gotten very long, but there are lots of very helpful posts and links within the first few pages. This will answer the reason why you need to feed a controlled level of calcium to avoid skeletal disorders including hip and elbow dysplasia. You should also avoid over-nutrition (over feeding) which causes undue stress to growing joints and over-exercising for the same reason. You can use the calculator on the review side that you originally posted on to plug in your numbers to make certain that the food you’re looking at is appropriate for your giant breed pup. Your giant breed pup should be fed controlled calcium until he reaches at least 80% of his adult size, which is longer for giant than large breed puppies.

I know I already shared this too, but to keep everything in one spot, here’s the Google doc with the list of foods with appropriate calcium levels. But, remember I also mentioned that this list is aging and to double check calcium levels before you decide on foods that you like. https://docs.google.com/a/dogfoodadvisor.com/file/d/0BwApI_dhlbnFTXhUdi1KazFzSUk/edit?pli=1

I just wanted to post this real quick, but have to run again!

[T]

That’s such a tough spot to be in. It seems like a lot of dogs with serious diseases get to the point where they LOVE a particular food one day and hate it the next.

One tip I can offer: even if the dog readily eats a food, don’t offer it again for a few days. For some reason, they quickly develop aversions and by not offering the “loved” food for at least a couple days gives their brain a chance to get excited about the food again.

Two other tricks to try: sprinkle Purina Fortiflora on the food. It’s kinda junky, but it’s chock full of flavor enhancers that many animals adore. When you’re desperate, it’s a trick worth trying. Parmesan cheese may have the same effect when sprinkled on food.

Tabitha
http://naturalalternativesvet.com

• This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by T.

[Kim S]

Hello Norene, I have a 9 yo yellow lab that has skin issues and found out wheat was her problem early on. A little over a year ago she began to scratch and bite herself to the point of being bloody and raw. I started researching and this is where I found DogFoodAdvisor. I have found many other sites that have helped too. I looked an environmental issues, allergies, flea/heart worm meds and food. My vet was not able to help much and I took to the internet. I found that grains can greatly effect a dog and we knew that wheat was a problem for her, I went grain free only to find that potatoes are a big fill in for them and she ended up with a widespread yeast infection. I did try raw but she ended up being sensitive to chicken and lamb so that didn’t work. Here’s what helped and I highly recommend to anyone with skin issues. We did a Alternative Sensitivity Test by Glacier Peak Holistics, all done by mail. That gave me a wealth of information and confirmed all my suspects. She is now on Orijen 6 Fish and doing wonderful. I’ve also added a daily probiotic, digestive enzymes, coconut oil to her meals. I have nothing to do with Glacier Peak but there are other companies that perform these tests and sell the same products. I also have found very informative websites such as Dr Karen Becker, Only Natural Pet and obviously you’ve found Dogfood Advisor. Beware of the flea and heartworm products, they can cause a number of issues and there are natural remedies. House hold cleaning products, laundry soaps, fabric softners, fragrance sprays and such can effect your dog. I now have a green home as much as possible. Good luck and hope you find the cure. I can tell you that it will be up to you and not your vet and I do like my vet very much.

[losul]

Hi again. Sorry for the tardy reply, all.

I’ve some preference for feeding a dog a majority of ruminant meats overall with a lesser amount of poultry overall in my dogs diet, provided the the beef (or other ruminant) is coming from a good, properly raised and fed source. I think the overall fats balance out better that way, and without using much vegetable fats. And as long as I can afford it!!

I wouldn’t necessarily say that beef heart is better, nothing against poultry
hearts, much depends on the source, and for just some supplemental or small batch
use, chicken hearts are handier to use than beef hearts!

I had kind of a bad experience the first time I bought beef hearts a few years ago.(from a different, conventionally raised source, feedlot) I thought never again! They were oversized and completely encased in a way overly tough and thick membrane and excessive suet.. the inside was as bad, and not at all cleaned-gristle, connective tissue,vessels, excessive suetetc., and frankly, they looked old, grayish, and tough. It took alot of effort to clean them enough to suit me, way too much effort, and ended up with alot of waste. It wasn’t worth it, and was a good while before I ever tried beef hearts again. In hindsight some of that gristle
and connective tissue, etc. , wouldn’t have hurt to include anyway!

Where I’ve been getting them the last few times, the outside only has a partial and thin membrane and little suet fat, are very fresh, and the butcher near completely cleans the insides for me, I have not much left to do except cut them up! And I get them for only $1.49/lb cleaned weight! I get good clean liver and kidneys 1.29/lb the same place. I guess not many people around here want to eat heart or organ meats! But the regular and lean cuts of beef are every bit as expensive as anywhere else! So when I make a beef batch I’ve been using the hearts for up to 1/2 of the total muscle meat amount. It equals a good savings vs using all lean human prefered cuts for all the muscle meat. In making a full balanced recipe, I can’t count the heart as organ meat, I still add the small amounts of liver and kidney, and I won’t press the heart amount any beyond 1/2 of the muscle meat count. They say too much heart can cause loose stools, never had that problem or with any any food, but the extra heart I’m using helps to keep some beef in the diet at more an affordable price for me! If one were to use all heart for the muscle meat though, there would very
likely be some deficit somewhere in the nutrition to look for and abundances of others, and I wouldn’t ever advise using overly excessive amounts. Also dogs handle cholesterol differently than humans, but heart, liver and some other organs do contain a disproportionately large amount of cholesterol, something to keep in mind. Don’t over do it!.

Faith, so your dog is about 60lbs. BTW, I believe my dog is 1/2 boston terrier and
1/2 bull terrier of some sort, probably staffy or pit, I’ve got a compact model though,
only about 40 lbs. That’s great that your feller found a loving home with you! I
would assume that his regular diet is around 1150 calories give or take? For your
purposes and for now as supplemental only, yeah I would limit the chicken hearts to
NO more than about 3 or 4 ounces. at least if and until until you are more prepared too see to it that the diet retains balance with your additions. Here, raw Chicken hearts show more calories and fat than the beef hearts, raw. (you might have to enter the serving size) but 100 grams chick hearts (about 3.5 ounces) has about 150 calories. add to that maybe a teaspoon of fish oil a day, an egg a couple times a week, and youre already pushing nearly 20% of unbalanced supplemental calories in his diet, and that then isn’t allowing for any unbalanced treats!

The more things you would add if you do so, or if you go with homemade meals, the more attention you are going to need pay to keeping nutritional balance. And you should really
balance out the extra phosphorus you are adding as it is, with calcium supplement.

If using finely ground eggshell, add 1/2 teaspoon to 2/3 t for each 1 lb of meat, organs, egg etc used. Calcium is very important in a dog’s diet, overall calcium in the diet should at least equal the amount of phosphorus, but also never going more than 2X the amount of phosphorus. a ratio of between 1:1 to 2:1. Most commercial diets I think fall between a ratio of 1.2:1 and 1.6:1, so there would likely be enough buffer already there in your commercial diet to cover your extra phosporus additions, but if me, I would still add at least a bit of calcium anyway.

raw chicken hearts

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/poultry-products/664/2

raw beef hearts

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/3464/2

I hear ya on financial bias. dogaware.com is a great site with lots of useful info, some is a little outdated, as Mary Strauss is not so active anymore, but she has nothing to sell as far as I know. and has generously accumulated a ton of good info/articles there.

I prefer a pump bottle for fish oil, so I use Iceland Pure sardine/anchovy, I keep it in the fridge and get a fresh bottle every 3 months. This brand already has some mixed tocopherols in it (vit E), but I still add some additional E in my dog’s diet.

I use some veggies, fruits, and even some select grains, but never in abundance. I
don’t know if you’ve ever heard the old idiom “as fit as a butcher’s dog” I don’t
think the typical old time butcher fed his dog an abundance of starchy plant
material!!! I also still use 25% commercial kibble, haven’t ever been able to get away from it completely for various reasons.

Lastly, I might not be around here to write much anymore, but as you can see from the replies to your thread(and other threads) there are so many awesomely helpful people, good people, on site to help with questions you have, or even just support!! And even if they don’t have answers right away, they have also proven to be excellent researchers!!!

G’night everyone!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by losul.

[Pitlove]

“I have read that it’s actually not good to keep dogs on puppy food for too long, due to them causing growth at a much faster than normal rate which can lead to hip and other health problems. But opinion seems to be all over the board on this one.”

This is true ONLY if the food is NOT correctly formulated to meet the needs of a large breed puppy. There is nothing all over the place about that. That is why even if a food says “Large Breed Puppy” on it, I STILL email the company for the max amounts of calcium and phosphorus to make sure its actually safe. Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy is and it is an excellent food and company at that. I would highly recommend it. If fact I’m feeding the Fromm Gold Large Breed Adult to my pitbull.

Your pup should be on the LBP food til hes a year old to play it safe. Their bodies can start absorbing calcium correctly at 10 months, but I think feeding them a good LBP food til a year is a lot better. Most people would say tranistion. I don’t need to for my dog, but I built up his stomachs health and strength. Fromm is an easy to tranisition to, easily digestiable food. If anything add a probiotic (LifeWay Kefir at Walmart is a good one) to the food if you don’t want to tranisition. It will add healthy bacteria to his gut and make him able to digest a new food easier.

[Cara C]

Hi everyone,
I am having trouble with my 20 month old Dogue De Bordeaux. I was feeding Royal Canin Junior and was trying to change her onto Adult but she hates it. She has never had a big appetite and can leave meals easily. So this has been a big problem. She is so stubborn I am convinced she would starve rather than give in.

In the meantime I have found out that RC is not very good anyway and so need to find a much better alternative.

There are loads of advice on Giant breed puppy protein levels etc on the net but not what to look for when they get to this age. She is underweight looking at her body size with ribs and spine showing now due to refusing her kibble. We hve tried putting chicken, fish and eggs on her dinner and she will either pick it out or lick it off leaving every adult kibble behind!

Any advice on nutrient %s to look for specific to a giant breed etc or any diets would be great

Thanks for reading
Cara

[David C]

Hi fellow dog parents,

I currently have both of my dogs (5 month husky/pyrenees and 15 month lab/border collie) on Horizon Legacy after reading great reviews on here. Before that, I had them both on Blue Buffalo (the youngster only for a month and my older one from 3 months through 14 months). I switched them to Horizon Legacy from BB due to the controversy surrounding Blue’s ingredients and my older one having plenty of lose stools on BB.

Having two rather large dogs (lab mix is 80 lbs, pup could get up to 100 – 130) I wanted to go to a more budget-friendly food. So I got a bad of Horizon Complete. After a day I felt uneasy knowing there was a better food out there so I bought Horizon Legacy and put the Complete away. I am down to my last 2 servings of Horizon Legacy. Their stools are hit or miss, though they are semi-soft or very messy (not full-blown diarrhea) about 50-60% of the time. I’m beginning to wonder if BB and Legacy are too high in protein or the grain free is upsetting their stomachs.

After more research I have decided to try Fromm Gold Dog Food. The local store that carries it is closed on Mondays, so I’m going to buy it tomorrow. My question is, with transitioning them, since I’m just about completely out of Legacy, would it be ok to use some of the Horizon Complete that I have to transition them to Fromm? Or do I have to buy a small bad of Legacy since it’s a different food than Complete? Only pain about that is the closest store that carries Legacy is 40 minutes away.

On a side question – how long would you keep a pup on puppy food? I gave my 5 month old puppy BB, then Legacy all-life stages (they were out of the puppy food and all-life stages met the guidelines on this site for puppy foods), but I will probably buy a bag of Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy for him. I have read that it’s actually not good to keep dogs on puppy food for too long, due to them causing growth at a much faster than normal rate which can lead to hip and other health problems. But opinion seems to be all over the board on this one.

[Pitlove]

All I can say personally is that I have heard there is research linking Green Tea Extract to toxicity in dogs. I haven’t seen the research myself. Many would say the dose makes the poison, as is true for dogs and chocolate. The Green Tea Extract in the Wellness foods tends to often be the last ingredient meaning it makes up the least amount of the food. They have their reasoning for its inclusion on their website if you care to read their side of it. I’ve forgotten what it says off the top of my head.

From what I’ve gathered others are also concerned about it containing caffeine. Again, I don’t know that there has been studies done long term with dog foods that contain trace amounts of it showing that it has toxic effects. Perhaps someone else knows and can link some of the research they have come across.

[Faith G]

The vet who heard the murmur isn’t a cardiac specialist, I took him to get neutered and that’s when they heard it. The doctor who is doing the echo in a week is a specialist. I am going to get a second opinion, although I have no doubt he has a murmur, he is very mucus-y sounding in his breathing every once in a while, and has a hard time taking full deep breaths. I have no issue with waiting until the echo before giving him supplements, it is only a week. I just don’t have a lot of experience with vitamins, or raw food, I am just doing some personal research to see if there is anything more I can do besides giving him heavy medication that they will probably prescribe after the echo. I have already spoke with my vet about CoQ10 and fish oils, he said I can try them, although he told me to be careful with coq10 because he didn’t know the recommended doses.

[Rebecca B]

Hi Everyone, I’m new to the forum. I joined to ask if anyone had any current information about Stop and Shop’s Companion brand Grain Free canned dog food. I read the ingredients and they appear comparable to some of the more expensive dog foods. I was wondering if anyone has any info since there is no review. We feed our dogs Performatrin Ultra grain free kibble mainly, but I use a few tablespoons of wet food as a topper since they both look forward to it so much. I prefer to have some boiled chicken/egg/veggie mixture that I make myself on hand to use but I run out and like to have a back up. I bought the canned stuff I mentioned and I was impressed by the ingredients…but I can’t find any reviews anywhere…maybe it is new? Any feedback would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

[Jane K]

Sallie went to a new clinic last night. We used them many, many yrs ago. I contacted them after our vet pretty much said don’t treat her and let her go. Wow. So anyway, called these people. They were so nice. And cheaper. How did I miss this fact???? They also have evening hours. She sat on the floor with us to observe and exam and then did blood work and gave me 1.5 hours of her time to go over her entire history and what might be wrong and on and on. I was impressed. She’s calling OSU director of the small animal center (where we were) to go over all the things that wouldn’t show up in the paperwork I had. I told her I was horribly blunt about this whole thing so I can’t imagine what they had to hide. She went to OSU vet school and keeps up with seminars and workshops so she knows everyone involved in Sallie’s care. She said she can get a better feel for what they think may be causing this. Works for me!

For now, Sallie is stable, eating well, playful and showing no other signs of evil other than the fluid that is still there. Her protein level was better. She went to the bathroom last night and it was near perfect. A first in many weeks. I had to email that info to them this morning as it’s a huge sign of success. Hahahahaa.

She might have lymphoma, might not. They are treating her for it on a temp basis along with several other things. We’ll know more tomorrow.

I was wondering how much this was going to cost. $53 What????? For all that time, consultation, all the time she read up on the condition before I got there, going through her files, blood test, exam. I was astonished.

They also have wondering pets in the waiting area. Sallie loved that! Got her snoot tapped by the piggy senior cat on board. Sniffed butts with the dog who comes in and out of treatment rooms. What a fun place. How did I not remember all this?

Before I left the front desk lady wanted to go over my old list of animals to see if any were alive. It was really long. The couple behind me muttered something about animal hoarding that had us all hooting. We used to have a small farm in Hocking Hills National Park (Ohio) so had many strays dumped on us. It was a funny trip down memory lane.

I think I found the perfect vet to see Sallie and us through whatever is ahead. We still hope for success but no matter what we have a good support system in place.

And……….she plowed through a whole bowl of cardboard kibble this morning! Yay.

[C4D]

HI Deb,

I posted a long post, but somehow it disappeared. 🙁

I had a past dog that had several lipomas (Vet aspiration confirmed). They did not interfere with his movement, etc and my vet does not remove them unless there is an issue in comfort or quality of life, as they tend to grow back.

My current lab has 2 very small ones on her back thighs that were noticed about 2-3 years ago. Prior to that I was only feeding a canned/kibble mixture with occaisonal raw/fresh meals a couple of times a week. Since we discovered the lipomas, we have switched to feeding our dogs 1 meal fresh/raw daily and 1 meal canned/kibble/water mixture. There is some debate on the link between processed food and lipomas. The lipomas have had very little, if any growth. While there is no specific food that I’m aware of, I believe the incorporation of fresh, less processed food has helped (my vet is a bit skeptical). I do feed all grain free and have for almost 10 years.

Unfortunately, Labs are prone to lipomas. Fortunately they are almost always benign. I don’t think you need to see an oncologist as you’re own vet can send a sample to the lab for diagnosis. I would remove the lipoma if it is causing discomfort or difficulty in moving. I’m including some links for you to read, if you’d like, including a forum on DFA discussing lipomas. Good luck with your pup! 🙂

/forums/topic/lipomas/

http://ottawavalleydogwhisperer.blogspot.com/2013/03/fatty-tumors-lipomas-in-dogs-benign.html

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/lipoma-dog-lumps/

[Susan]

Hi Edie, I don’t think its the food (Diamond) I think your dog has a sensitivity to an ingredient in the TOTW, read all the ingredients & get another kibble without any of those ingredients, a kibble with just brown rice & 1 protein, sounds like he can eat chicken & rice, so a kibble with just chicken & rice, NO Potatoes, No Peas, NO Tomato, No Egg etc there’s “California Natural” Lamb & Rice with just 4 ingredients or their Chicken & Rice with 5 ingredients give that a go & see how he does…..I wonder if the fat is the problem, cause chicken & rice is a bland low fat meal…the TOTW is very high in fat 18%min fat….
If he does good firm poos when eating a kibble with just rice & protein, then start adding foods to his kibble, toppers but minus the ingredients he may be sensitive too…..add 1 new food at a time just in case & see if he’s still doing normal poo’s like an elimination diet..

I thought my boy couldn’t eat potatoes or sweet potatoes, so when he was doing firm poos on a Lamb & Rice kibble, I started adding some boiled potatoes & his poos were still firm, then I stopped the boiled potatoes & started to adding some boiled sweet potatoes & his poos were still firm, so now I’m thinking it was the peas or the egg he’s sensitive tooo..
http://www.californianaturalpet.com/products

[cheryl w]

 Post Pancreatitis Diet-What Worked for My Yorkie
Below is a cut and paste of what I’ve written for my dog:-

I’ve written a long post on another forum about post pancreatic diet. I’m just going to share it here as well since it doesn’t make sense not to since I’ve been a member for a long time. Maybe it’ll help someone out there that was struggling like I did. The only difference between the post and now is I do give him daily fresh blended vegetable and fruit juice that are safe for dogs as well but I do strain to remove pulp to control fibre content.

Here it goes (I’m just going to cut and paste since it’s long):-

I happened to came across this forum and I joined to say please take advice from your vet when it comes to keeping your dog on prescription foods. I know when you check online, there are so many negative comments about prescription diets but when you truly have had a very sick dog and nothing works, these prescription diets are a savior. There is nothing wrong with by-products. By-products just means clean edible parts that are not meat. Knowing my dog, he probably loves the taste of the internal organs from the food he is getting even though I find it a little grossed out but I would imagine those internal organs contains a different nutrition profile than just meat alone.

My Yorkie had pancreatitis back in April of 2014 and was in the ER for 5 days and a few more days at the vet-I am lucky to have him back. He lost 20% of his weight during that attack which is a lot for a small dog. It has been a struggle since to get his weight up especially on low fat food but last week (Jan 2015), I weighed him and he is now back to his old weight. I find that there are a few things that really helps that I will talk about below.

i) Right now, I feed him 4 times a day and I alternate the feedings with 2x dry and 2x wet. I have done the math on how much to feed per meal and I have a kitchen scale to measure his meals each time. I have mine on RC veterinary low fat gastrointestinal both wet and dry because he wouldn’t eat the Hill’s Prescription-my dog is picky but whatever. The alternate wet and dry feedings work better than when you have to mix the wet and dry in one meal in terms of digestion. I have done a lot of research and I have looked at alternatives such as Wellness Complete Healthy Weight and even though the fat is low, it is still 20% more on a dry matter basis when I compared it to RC so be careful. That is why so many people are shocked when their dog gets another bout of pancreatitis on the Wellness Complete Healthy Weight because they looked at the fat percentage and it seems fine but you need to calculate the fat on a dry matter basis. Also, a pancreatitic dog needs low fiber and moderate protein as well on top of low fat-a lot of people forgot to take that in to consideration.

ii) I do supplement enzyme to his food because I couldn’t get his weight up for the longest time and I believe the enzyme really helps. He also acts like he is hungry all the time which makes me think he could have some symptoms of EPI as a result of the pancreatitis or it is just because of the low fat food. I test him by giving him some plain cooked white rice and my dog won’t eat it when he is not starving and he really isn’t. Talk to your vet and do your research about enzymes but I find that enzyme from an animal source works better. My dog’s weight went up when I switched from plant based enzyme to an animal based enzyme.

iii) Food moisture-I do mesh up the kibbles and put some warm water in there before adding enzymes. I mesh up the kibbles to help his digestion because I was struggling with his weight for a while and the moisture just helps. I just don’t feel good when my dog ate a ton of dry kibble and then drink a lot of water. For that, I place a mortar and pestle on my kitchen island. It is quick to clean and easy to use. The low fat kibble is also somewhat salty (yes, I’ve tried a piece or two) so adding some warm water helps to dilute the sodium as well.

iv) I do work the feedings out to include tiny bit of fresh food. I do give him some boiled skinless boneless chicken breast mashed up for easy digestion (of course there are some enzyme in there as well). He also gets about 8 blueberries a day in between feedings because he likes it. He also gets some coconut water in the am for electrolytes. Make sure the ones you buy are pure with no sugar added.

I’ve also heard people who said you could put your dog back to normal food when it has passed but I have asked my vet and I do not think it is a good way to go because pancreatitis can reoccur and he has seen dogs getting it again and again.

Again these are all just suggestions and steps I have taken for my Yorkie that has been successful post pancreatitis. I just hope that someone else who reads this could use the experience I have had and hopefully, he/she will have less sleepless nights than I did.
__________
As of today, the only changes I’ve made to what I’ve written above is I don’t feed him daily coconut juice anymore but he still gets veg fruit juice daily. I’m mainly feeding RC canned now with a 5% of RC dry because of the sodium content. He still gets blueberry daily but I peeled off the skin first.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by cheryl w.

[Susan]

Hi Bronwyn, there’s one thing you have not mentioned, he’s not on an ant acid medication like Zantac (Ranitidine) or Pepcid (Famotidine)… I had an Endoscope & biopsies done on my boy & he had Helicobacter-Pylori, he was given the triple therapy meds-Metronidazole, Amoxicillin & Zantac for 21 days, after the 21 days his acid reflux returned cause I didn’t know that I needed to change his diet so I’d say the Helicobacter returned & Patch was put on Zantac & I did the triple therapy again & put Patch on a Gluten, Sugar, Dairy free kibble…. he got his appetite back again I had to give 1/3 of a 150mg Zantac tablet 1 hour before breakfast then 8-12 hours later again 1/3 of a 150mg tablet…….
Has he had a blood test to see if he has Pancreatitis??
Most of the foods he’s refusing to eat cheese & oil are high in fat, when you have acid reflux you need a low fat diet…. with kibbles the fat % has to be around 10% in fat %….with wet tin foods 3%fat & under, 5% fat in a wet tin food is about 22% fat when converted to dry matter (Kibble) same with raw & dehydrated….that’s probably why he doesn’t eat wet tin food, the fat was probably tooo high & he got his acid…. if I feed my boy wet tin food with 4-5% min fat, he starts grinding his teeth about 40-60mins after eating the wet tin food….

Your last paragraph, you wrote this morning he decided he didn’t want to eat the kibble…
if you give him a ant acid medication 40mins before breakfast he probably will eat or even liquid Mylanta, I give my boy 3-4mls of the Liquid Mylanta some mornings cause as soon as
he wakes up, I can tell if he has his acid reflux, he starts to grinds his teeth….I hate that sound now cause I know we are going to have a crap day, well he is going to feel like crap & I have to watch him feel like crap all morning, so I have 2 syringes of 3-4mls Mylanta in the fridge already made up, the Mylanta seems to work for Patch, also Slippery Elm is suppose to help with acid reflux, I tried the Slippery Elm it worked the first 2 times, then the next 2 times I gave the Slippery Elm slurry & Patch vomited, so I went back to his Mylanta…

I’d be putting him on either Pepcid or Zantac every morning & every night & you watch, he probably will start eating more & feeling better, he’s a very smart dog, he knows what foods make his tummy worse…..
also I’ve read adding water to kibble can make acid reflux worse…. I’ll try & find the link I saved it, that’s probably why he won’t eat kibble with water in it…..I’ve been giving Patch those Jatz dry biscuits as a treat, I give him 2 at 9pm & a couple thru the day, the Jatz seem to settle his stomach or line his stomach they help..
http://ottawavalleydogwhisperer.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/acid-reflux-gerd-in-dogs-cats-natural.html

[Bronwyn L]

I have an almost 3 year old mixed breed named Kosi who has what appears to be acid reflux. his primary symptoms are discomfort (he can’t sit still) and vomiting of bile – this is particularly the case if he doesn’t eat for more than 8 hours. If I feed him meals throughout the day – particularly one at 8 or 9 pm – right before bed – he is fine. The problem is he is SO picky! he will gobble food up for 2 days or so and then completely turn his nose up at it. I have a rotation of foods I use, but nothing really tempts him.

Generally speaking he refuses to eat any and all wet (canned) foods, and will refuse his kibble if there is a single drop of water mixed into it. He also refuses any of the freeze-dried foods on the market. The kibble he eats most consistently is Taste of the Wild wetlands formula. I rotate with other TOTW formulas and used to rotate with a few other brands, but at this point he refuses all of them.

He refuses any food that has any oil or “palate enhancer” added to it. He doesn’t like cheese or most other people food (he’ll accept ham, chicken, or turkey in small quantities, he refuses all tuna or other fish), in fact the only dog treat he will eat are old fashioned milk bones (which makes my other dog happy – she gets all the fun organic jerky chews!)

I cook for my other dog (she’s 11, with different issues), and Kosi sometimes will eat her food (mix of rice, meat, veggies, etc), but the last two days has turned his nose up at it. my vet has also suggested a bland diet to use on occasion – again he’ll eat it once or twice and then turn up his nose at it for a week or more.

he has mouth issues from an injury as a tiny puppy, so sometimes he seems scared of chewing his kibble (and he chews each piece 10 times), I’ve tried small sized kibble, which he liked the first time I offered, then refused ever since. Again, he refuses wet foods or softened kibble. I’ve actually thrown out a bowl of kibble mixed with expensive Evenger’s canned rabbit (which he liked one time), and offered him a bowl of plain dry kibble, which he ate.

The problem with all of this, is that it is very difficult to keep him fed often enough to keep away the acid reflux symptoms! For example, last night he ate his evening meal, but this morning he decided he didn’t want the kibble, or the rice mixture, or anything else I offered. Several hours later, as I write this, I can tell he’s actually hungry and would likely eat his “normal” kibble, but he’s refusing to eat his food, because his stomach hurts… which just makes him cranky. He’s also built very skinny. he’s active, and his coat is shiny, but if he goes a day without food, you can see all his ribs.

I can’t leave food out for him to pick at all day, as my other dog is a corgi mix (read stomach on legs) and would gobble it all up as soon as Kosi wanders off.

I’m at my wits end!! Any suggestions?

[T]

I have to chime in here… I fear too many people get overly focused on food allergies and forget that we’re talking about an entire living organism. I don’t believe dogs just develop food allergies out of the blue. I believe they have some weakness in their health that allows food allergies to occur. Not to mention that we feed them food their body is not equipped to deal with.

Anyway, don’t forget to think about creating a healthy, holistic animal! There are so many things you can do to help itchy skin besides changing to a different protein kibble. You can read some of the articles on my blog for more ideas.

Tabitha
http://naturalalternativesvet.com

[Patti S]

Using an inexpensive topical flea product that you buy at Walmart or a supermarket such as BioSpot or Zodiac Spot On would be better than not using any flea product at all!

As far as the food goes, you won’t find a hypoallergenic dog foods at the supermarket, you’d need to look at pet stores or specialty feed stores. You need to find a food with a dog food with different protein and carbohydrate source that what he’s currently eating. You should try keeping your dog on an “elimination” diet for 8-10 weeks to see if his itchy symptoms improve. In an elimination diet, the dog is fed a food that has a protein and carbohydrate source he’s never had before. There are many over the counter foods you can use, for this purpose. I’ll suggest a few further down. Your dog’s elimination diet should not contain:

• Wheat, barley, rye – ALL of them. (including bread, snack crackers, treats, wheat/gluten, etc.)
• Dairy products – ALL of them. (including milk, cheese, whey, casein, dried skim milk, etc.)
• Soy – ALL forms
• Corn- ALL forms (including corn gluten meal)
• Artificial preservatives and colors
• Beef and fish – (only if allergy symptoms are present/persist for longer than 8-10 weeks. These are “secondary” allergies.)

By eliminating the above items, you will be taking care of at least 80% of all food allergens and all three of the major sources of food intolerance (gluten in grains, casein in dairy, and soy protein.)
This diet must be strictly adhered to, it includes ALL foods, including TREATS and TABLE FOOD! Be strict! Food allergies can be very sensitive conditions and the least amount of the offending substance can trigger reactions that can last for days. Be creative in finding safe treats for your dog those that MATCH the diet rules. This will be a lot harder on you than your dog.

Giving your dog an essential fatty acid supplement can also help suppress itching. Arachidonic acid is stored in cell membranes and released when the cell is damaged, it then combines with certain enzymes causing inflammation and itching. Essential fatty acids combat this reaction because the essential fatty acids combine with the enzymes, making them less available to bind with arachidonic acid, reducing the inflammation and itching. Your dog would need to be given an essential fatty acid supplement daily for at least a month before you see it’s beneficial effects.

[Brandon D]

1.5 year old Border Collie mix( so we have been told, he has peaked at 25lbs) who loves to swim( salt water pool).
we dry him as best we can and he stands inform of a fan for “Blow Dry !” but is wiggly.
Tends to lick and bite at his foot pads a bit throughout the day, and switches between them but not awful. He stops if we ask him but i still suspect there is a lingering yeast infection as he has had them before from moisture.

Looking at a product called “wham ant itch spray but have also heard pro-biotics can help. There is another thread about them but the last post is over a year old.

[chris]

Red- Thanks, I already know about the food table for dogs as I’ve done so much research into it months ago. There’s a thread I had made that’s several pages long with going over things because my dog “spark” has a stomach hernia. Though I appreciate the reply! 🙂

DogFoodie- Yeah I don’t give him potato all the time it was just a rare occasion. I’ve been using a site that a few people from here actually recommended a long while back.
Great site for a list of basic foods that are great and a ton of information as well.

http://ottawavalleydogwhisperer.blogspot.ca/2012/02/fresh-whole-food-for-your-dogs-health.html

I was thinking of taking that list and coming up with meals that would be served as a topping on the dry kibble. I assume it’s better then most if all can foods out there. Plus he seems to enjoy it way more. Anyways, thanks for the information 🙂

[chris]

I usually buy a few cans a month of 5 star canned dog food, mostly the caster and pollux or natures variety. However, at the end of last month I ran out early as I was giving some to a family members dog to help out. That being said I decided to scrounge up what I could around the house and make my own as a topping for his dry food instead of the canned food.

I took a beef roast I had in the freezer cooked it with potato, carrots, green beans. I gave him a cup of it every evening as a topping for his supper. He enjoyed it so much more then any canned food I ever gave him.

Now doing this and seen how much he enjoyed it and knowing it is better for him. I don’t know a ton on the home made foods as I’m just learning and reading here and there. I was wondering does anyone else make there own home made foods for just toppings for on dry kibble? Also doing what I did was it okay to do so or should I have added other things for the right nutrition? I mean i’m sure he’s getting the minerals and nutrition from the dry kibble as well so i’m not so sure. Thanks!

[jakes mom]

Yes, C4C it is an epidemic! I’ve read a theory ( Dr. Becker?) that it may be due, at least in part, to fish cat food, all the iodine in fish. Even beef or chicken cat foods seem to have fish in there, somewhere. Sounds plausible to me. I’d forgotten about the transdermal meds, you told me about that before. Vet didn’t give me that option, I may ask when I talk to him again. I watch her eat her food with the med in it otherwise I’d have the same worry as you, somebody else eating it. I just give her a spoonful of food with her med, then she can join the gang for the rest of her meal. I’m bummed she’s hyper-t but I look at it this way, of the big 4 diseases of old cats, that’s the best one to have.

[InkedMarie]

I read of far too many people who don’t get vet care for their dogs because they can’t afford it. I’m a hard butt about this; WE choose to have dogs & care needs to be given. I personally don’t care if you don’t have money. Get the pet=vet care. Get card credit, get a credit card, beg or borrow the money, etc. I have read where people get po’d that vets won’t take payments….if they did that for everyone, they’d never get paid. Twenty fivem years ago, our first dog got sick & died in less than a week; we didnt have the money or credit card. Because we had always paid prior vet bills, we paid off the balance a little at a time but I assume because we were already clients of good standing.

I’m not saying that people who don’t have much money shouldn’t have pets but if you don’t have something for both routine & emergent care, get a gerbil.

[Pitlove]

Alright so after hearing that he is 9 months old and I assume is going to be over 50 lbs at mature weight, it’s most important as you might know, that he really needs to have been eating a large breed puppy food. More importantly one that is actually correctly formulated for a large breed. If he wasn’t fed correctly it might be too late at this point since he is almost at the mark where his body can absorb calcium correctly. However, he still can’t be fed as an adult UNLESS the adult food doesn’t exceed the 1.5:1 calcium to phophorus ratio, not yet at least. If they can swing it I would highly recommend the Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy. When I got my pitbull I didn’t know anything about LBP nutrition, thankfully he grew well. I still think it’s important to not take the chance though, as I met a lady who had a 5 mo old lab with pano. Really horrible for the dog. I believe he weighed almost 90lbs at 5 months old. At least thats what she told me.

Also, more importantly too, make sure they are not overfeeding him. Taking in too many calories can contribute to over growth.

Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy is actually 4 stars on here and might be more readily available. Not sure if it’s within their budget. I really don’t know of a quality food thats cheaper than what I’ve mentioned.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by Pitlove.

[Bobby dog]

Hi t.n:
Sounds like there are allot of empty bellies at the shelter and eating a food with corn would be the least of their problems IMO. Since you are not in the states the foods you mentioned likely have different ingredients than they do here anyway. A food like Acana might cause digestive upset for some depending on the food they currently feed, but it does sound like any food is better than nothing.

If the shelter is in extreme distress as you have written, I personally would want to donate more of a volume in hopes it would feed more. I would try to find something within your budget that does not have chemical preservatives (bha, propylene glycol) dyes (added colors, iron oxide, titanium dioxide), or meat and bone meal if possible. Visiting clinics to see what your options are is a good idea. Check out prices and read the labels to see what brand has the least DFA “red flagged” ingredients.

I have several Pro Plan formulas (wet and dry) in my dog’s rotation, he does very well on them, and I have had great results in the past feeding PP to my JRT.

I am sure whatever you are able to donate will be greatly appreciated by the shelter and the dogs. They are lucky to have you thinking of their well being!

[cherryl]

Hi all,
I have an 11 year old Maltipoo (Friday) who’s been battling Yeast infection for 3 years. I got tired of going to the vet having the same treatment over and over (they just prescribe her some medicine,Royal Canin sensitivity and medicated soap and shampoo) without any good results, she’s still stinky, itchy and miserable. I started researching and found out that possible cause of yeast is diet (vet never mentioned that to me) and it’s when i decided to try raw. I followed the yeast starvation diet on homemadedogfood: lean ground beef, boiled egg with shell. I live in Asia so Dinovite is not available so I replace it with supplement, fish oil and megaderm (alternate). Friday loved it. Her yeast is now coming out as expected. However, i observed that her bowel changed dramatically. Her normal schedule on kibble is after meal but once she changed to raw, sometimes it would take more than 24 hrs for her to poop. Her poop is also inconsistent, one day it would be very soft and wet but can still be picked up, the next day then it will be well formed but with mucus, then it will be tarry.. oh and its really smelly too..these changes on her bowel keeps me awake at night as well. Then the other night, her poop was tarry with fresh blood and some mucus, this worried me a lot so i sent her to the vet the next day. She was examined thoroughly and found everything is normal. Also, no vomiting and coughing occurred her movement is also normal.

So i researched again and most of what I read is that I’m supposed to start with chicken, so last night i bought chicken wings and chicken breast fillet. I cut the fillet in small portion and gave Friday half of the chicken wings (this is after 24hr fasting) . She DOESN’T like it. I had to give her the chicken meat by hand and most of it she spit, she ate the chicken wing but with so much pleading. This morning when i tried to give her meal, she did not eat the wings at all. I tried cutting the bones to small pieces but to no avail. (oh this is plain chicken not the yeast starvation diet)

I have another dog Bailey, (Wire Dachshund, normal size) she started on raw the same time with Friday, she’s also having the same bowel problems like Friday (but without the bloody poop (yet)), so now she’s taking chicken wings and no problem eating it at all.

Both dogs started raw about 3 going on 4 weeks now and I dont know if there’s any alternative recipe/food that I can give her. Oh like i said I live in Asia so Turkey, lamb and other kind of meat isn’t readily available here. Basic is pork, chicken and beef.
Should I stick with the yeast starvation diet but with ground chicken? How important is the bones for the dog? And what can i do to make my dog eat chicken?

Really sorry for the long read and I really hope you guys can give me some advice on this.
Thanks so much!!!

[Robin W]

My small jack russell Clairibel & medium rat terrier Buzzy are currently eating Merrick Grain Free Beef & Sweet Potato (dry), with Merrick Wing Lings (grain free, canned)– both are 5 Star. Also my grown son feeds his Golden/Newfie the same. But since Nestle Purina (who also are Koch Brothers companies) bought Merrick, we’re heartbroken. Trust issues big time with Purina, Nestle also has ethical issues (google Nestle & water), and well, google Koch Brothers, I prefer food without a big old dose of politics lol.

Deby G, I recommend Merrick canned at least until this deal takes effect, then I would as I said before, have severe trust issues. Merrick has been great, but Purina OWNS them. It’s like they married Cruella. Otherwise I would have stayed with Merrick forever. I bought a ton of the canned Thanksgiving Dinner & Wing Lings before the buyout. My son & I used to joke that if there was an apocalypse, we’d split up the canned dog food & just sprinkle some seat salt on our share. Maybe hot sauce on our Wing Lings.

I am leaning toward Orijen Adult for the switch; I’m going for the smallest amount of fish (we get our water from the Savannah River & even though I filter it for the dogs & us, at the least humans in the house may already be radioactive from showering…).

Am going to look into Life’s Abundance also, haven’t yet.

Curious about how everyone feels about Purina buying Merrick.

[Susan]

Hi, sorry for your loss, you say pup, how old was your pup? also what health condition did your pup have to be put on the Hills I/d wet tin food in the first place? An autopsy needs to be done on your pup so they can find out what caused the liver failure…but I have just read it was too late for an autopsy to be done… do you still have the can of food so you have the batch numbers….My boy was eating the Hills I/d Low Fat Restore GI wet tin food, last December/January, the first month his poos were firm poos, then after 1 month he had bad diarrhea, the vet or I couldn’t work out what was wrong, then I noticed there was clumps of boiled rice thru the new cans of I/d where the I/d cans I was feeding the month before didn’t have big clumps of boiled rice, the rice was grounded, I rung Hills up & the Hills lady said the I/d restore GI wet tin foods are made at 2 different plants & I must of bought the first I/d tins from 1 plant then the next month, I have bought another batch from the other plant & the mixer didn’t mix the rice thru properly & ground up the rice, that’s why I had big clumps in the new cans, she took down all the batch numbers & use by date of the tins I had left & she said these tins have just been made cause they had 18 months to be used by dates, then she said take back all the full & empty tins & Hills will refund all your money, I said, what about the clumps of rice in the tins, that are still for sale at the vets, the tins were half full of boiled rice she said one of their Reps will come & take them all…..
I think Hills just says whatever sounds good at the time, Hills have an answer for every question I’ve asked, like they are use to receiving complaints & trained in what to say. My boy has never done well on any of the Hills vet kibbles or vet wet tin foods…

[tnesla]

Hello All 🙂

Just registered to ask for your advice about how to pick the right kibble for shelter donations. I’ve never had a dog but having lost my feline-friend about year ago after 18 years of great memories together, I’d like to make the time and the budget for stray animals around- particularly shelter dogs.

Acana was a rather late yet very fortunate discovery when my cat was still with me but it is pricey, especially if you need to buy in large quantities to feed multiple animals. I’m aware that corn is a filler-ingredient not dog or cat friendly but do you think kibble with corn should really, really be avoided at all times, under all circumstances? I’m torn between my budget, dogs’ health and poor conditions of the shelter here (read: little to no food at all). I certainly don’t want to donate just anything that would fill their stomach but I can’t afford more than an 11 lbs-donation at a time- which I fear, would be a minuscule amount considering the shelter population. Do you think there’s a middle ground I can find? I don’t live in the States and we don’t have much options here: most popular/ easy-to-find kibble is Hills, Pedigree and Proplan. And I haven’t read any glowing reviews about either one of them. I’d love to hear your suggestions. Thank you for reading.