[InkedMarie]

Duh! LOL, we have a spare bedroom: it’s the laundry room and dog grooming. There’s no AC but that would probably be the best place in the summer and I’m probably smart to NOT stock up on dry food in the summer.

No one’s eating raw at this time. I’m having a heckuva time with Boone’s ears (anyone reading happen to have an ingredient list for the old Brothers allergy formula) so he’s eating just THK Zeal now, Gemma has been constipated twice & needed an enema so she’s getting THK with canned & some Abady granular. Not buying raw just for Ginger.

[Melissaandcrew]

Not Sandy, but I buy all my foods locally to date. I look for the ’boutique’ small pet stores and they tend to carry the higher quality, harder to find brands. There are several of us here that rotate every bag, or every meal/day, lol. It builds up much quicker than you can imagine. Some people order on line, but I tend to be a ‘hands on’ type person needing to see/read/handle the products.

Ordering in bulk is not a good idea unless you are going to use it up fairly quickly, so that would depend on the number of dogs you have. Sandy has a bunch, lol, and I have 15, so the amounts we use per month are going to be a lot higher than someone with two or even three dogs.

[Nancy M]

Hound Dog Mom,

I have read several of your posts, the last one being about puppy food…..I have thoroughly enjoyed your obvious experience, so I want to ask you this: you and others do talk often about food rotation. I have become familiar with that concept over the years and use to do it some. Many others say it is not necessary or hard on the dog’s system. And I’m sure it can be, if you don’t do it correctly. So tell me your opinions on the correct process of rotating dog foods. And whether or not it would be different when the rotation is from raw to cooked to, from kibble, to any of them, etc. You catch my drift here? Some say you must “fast” the dog for 24 hours, some say, to just do it gradually.

Also, I’m getting a new Sheltie pup next week (12 weeks old) and want to know the best foods/diet I can start him on, once he gets through the adjustment period. At this point, I’m not ready to go the raw way (outside of maybe some raw beef bones), but I’d like to start this little guy off on the right foot and improve from there.

Thanks for your insight and great discussions…..

[Melissaandcrew]

HI Molzy-

Sounds like your at the same point as me, lol. I have the same two books and washoping for more recipes that included bone in-Beckers turkey and chicken one are identical, except for protein. Can’t really say that is “two recipes” imo.

If you read the book, there is a mall blurb that whole ground chicken is the proper balance for rmb/bonless. So yes, if you added the 5.25 and th 3.25lbs, you could use 8.5lbs of that instead.

You would still need to add the proper amount of organs called for in the recipe.

[Sully’sMom]

I’ve got a question about toppers – after all the angst of finding the right kibble, now I keep reading articles (elsewhere) and threads (here) about toppers: sardines, eggs, yogurt, green tripe (where do you get that?)…

Anyway, is there a best way to do this? Do you rotate the different toppers each evening? I was already giving him some canned pumpkin and then started with salmon oil, so I moved the pumpkin to the morning and I squirt the salmon oil on the dinner. Would anything else be in addition, or instead of?

[karink]

HDM or anyone that can help. I found this website (which I think is great), but the more I read, the more confused I get. After reading numerous posts, I came across one in which HDM recommends Nature’s Variety Limited Ingredient Turkey and Rabbit formulas for Large Breed Puppies. I fed my 13 year old Golden (who just passed away) the LTD ingredient formula for the past 2 years of his life (when I found it). Loved it!! Would love to start my new Lab puppy on this food as well. However, their website doesn’t list the calcium and phosphorus. Are both of these recipes within the normal calcium/phosphorus ranges for large breed puppies?

Also, if ok, I have read it’s good to top food off with other things like tripe, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, canned sardines, carrots, etc. If I add these things to the diet, does that not throw off the calcium/phosophorus in the diet? How do I control this? Would love to be able to add these things to the diet but I’m no scientist and can’t be doing all kinds of calculations everytime I want to add something to my puppies food – but I also don’t want to harm him.

Also, any names/recommendations on probiotics/enzymes and where to get them? Is there are need to give these to a puppy if you give him a good quality kibble?

Any suggestions? If you could give me the name of your favorite 2 or 3 foods to feed my large breed puppy it would be a great help. That way I can rotate th food. Price is not a problem.

Thanks.

[Cyndi]

Adam, I am so very sorry for your loss. I went thru a similar experience with my cat and my Doberman a couple years ago. I was feeding him Pedigree and then Purina One. They both died suddenly and with no explanation. I adopted my new dog Bailey in January, although I was still heavily grieving for my best friend that I lost. I happened on this site and did a ton of research and it’s been 5 months since my Bailey has eaten any commercial dog “food”. I feed her a raw diet and she’s never been healthier. It is a bit more expensive. I even took on a second part time job to be able to keep feeding her a raw diet. She eats better than I do. I will NEVER feed another pet crappy commercial dog food again.

Hang in there. There is another dog that is out there waiting for you, just wait until you’re ready. Take your time to grieve. Believe me, I know it’s really hard, and the pain does ease up some. It’s been 2 years and a month for me, but I can just think of my Moose and the tears start flowing.

Good luck to you!

[adam]

I believe there is. I just lost my best friend 3 days ago. Luka was only 7. He was a healthy and beautiful full of life child of mine. I performed cpr on him and got him back a few times. Ultimately he died on the way to the hospital. The necropsy revealed his spleen ruptured due to a cancerous tumor that was inside the size of an orange. It also revealed he had cancerous lesions on his liver. If I would have been able to save him it would have just prolonged his suffering. He went from very healthy on Wednesday morning. He went walking as usual. Around 12 PM he began acting weird. Never complaining or making any sound that he was in any pain. He did not move very much throughout the day except to go outside to the bathroom. We thought his stomach was upset. He drank water up to an hour before he died. Between 10 PM and 12 AM he began declining fast. At 2 AM he passed away. 115 pound beautiful German Shepherd. I even went beyond the normal sots and vaccines each year. I had blood sent off for a full wellness profile. This was done 2 months ago. All of the tests came back with an “A+” report card. There should be some place where we could upload all of this data and determine a hypothesis as to the root cause. What I have read on these forums so far… well, I fed him Iams dog food his entire life. It sure looks like this may have been one large contributing factor. I can never replace my son… but I will get another like him who needs to be loved. I’m so nervous about what he will eat that we might start cooking our own food and he will drink nothing but bottled spring water. I feel everyone’s pain on these forums. I hate this feeling. While I await his ashes I am just trying to make it. Three days so far and the tears keep flowing. One thing is for sure… I will NEVER feed my dog Iams nor any cheap un-researched food ever again. Even if I have to pay double. I will lower my own food cost before going with that crap again.

[squeezy]

i’m currently feeding my dog beneful dry food..after reading the reviews in your website i was shocked to find out what garbage i was feeding my poor dog..now, i’m in a hurry of switching food..there’s a lot of 5 stars, and the two’s that are on my mind are orejin and acana..i have a 16lb jack russell (4years old)..which brand is better?is there other brand i should consider?

[somebodysme]

Interesting about the GI inflammation causing her to be allergic. I had not read, or most likely don’t remember reading that before but that makes a lot of sense.

I’d never dreamed it would be such a monumental task to feed a dog? And with her, the more highly regarded food that I buy for her, the worse she does on it. She is a rescue and according to the rescue group, she was fed dog chow at her foster home. Honestly, when he got her she was beautiful and had absolutely no rashes at all. They brought her here with a bag of Pro Plan and it’s been down hill ever since. I’ve tried Blue Buffalo, Simply Nourish grain free, Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch, Avoderm Trout, Avoderm Duck the rotating menu on both those, Nature’s Variety LID Turkey (digestion was an issue with this one) then I bought Natural Balance which she did the best on until the last bag which smelled totally different than the rest of the bags of NB and now she began to scratch like mad! So here we are, on to the next “high quality” dog food. Though NB isn’t that great, it was so limited in ingredients that it was working and her feet were just about healed up. I suppose now that Del Monte took over, they have changed something. I’m going to write then and ask if the ingredients have changed, the label is exactly the same as all the rest. She isn’t allowed to have anything else but her food now. She cannot even gnaw a bone. This is just insane!

I have my suspicions about certain ingredients but I can’t really know until I find something that doesn’t have them.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by somebodysme.

[Duke The Boxer]

I don’t mean to derail this thread so I started another topic in the dog treats section. Can some of you who are more knowledgable than me in canine nutrition comment. Here is the thread.
/forums/topic/biostareq-k9-dog-star-fish-treats/
I have emailed the company and their formulator was very friendly and responded very quickly. He said that the ratio of phos to calcium was one to one and also the fish meal they use is free of any mercury. Any thoughts? They also has a liver meal treat.

[Mo’s Mom]

I really like the Newman’s Own, and since it’s only a topper (she get’s about a teaspoon in the AM and 2 at night), I’m not really worried about some of the more controversial ingredients (though I can totally see why someone who is using it as a major part of their pet’s diet would be). Really, I am just looking to switch up the topper since I have Mocha on one type of dry food (I know I read somewhere that this probably isn’t as good as rotating food and one day when I don’t get the Victor for a reduced price and can afford it, I will try to rotate the dry food. Until then, rotating her topper is the best I can do). I finally got to the feed store today and picked up several different brands of canned food with different proteins. Since they didn’t have everything I wanted to try (which is a lot, I’ll admit), I’m planning on using the very helpful link HDM provided to order the other wet food I want to try.

Again, thank you all for actually taking the time and helping me out!

[gsdmommy89]

To Sully and Duke:

I used to work at a pet supply store that only carries super premium and premium brand foods (i.e: Fromm, Orijen, Merrick, Nature’s Variety, ZiwiPeak, etc). I did alot of research on every brand we carried because customers have a lot of questions about food, especially people that are switching from grocery brands like Pedigree and Purina since they want to know exactly why they should spend that extra money. I use Nature’s Variety, and I too am very wary of where things come from. As for their rabbit formula, I have used it and I love it. I know it’s sourced from China, but feel confident in it because of the testing they’ve done and also because for a while they did not carry the rabbit formula in the cans or raw. I called, emailed, asked many different representatives in many different ways, and researched as to why this was. I was satisfied to know that they didn’t want to source their rabbit from just anywhere. They’d rather not have any rabbit than to have questionable suppliers. Yes, there are U.S rabbits, but if what they use now is already pricey, could you imagine the price of it if it was U.S supplied? OUCH!! This is my opinion on NV Rabbit ( I’ve used all three varieties: kibble, raw, cans) and I am a huge fan of them. Of course everyone has their own reservations, I just thought it’d be nice to share my experience.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by gsdmommy89.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by gsdmommy89.

[laconrad]

I am speaking of shelter dogs. From what I have gathered, many are rendered into protein. The word ‘meat’ on dog food can mean any flesh from any animal. I am glad yours doesn’t contain that – blessings to you! I saw a video about this, plus did other research. I am still reeling from what I saw in the video sadly 🙁 I mean, it was not an article, of which I have read many, but a video which detailed the process 🙁

[Hound Dog Mom]

Sandy, just a heads up, you might already know or it may not be an issue for you but Addiction’s canned foods are made by Evanger’s. I used to use them a lot for Gus when he ate dry/canned and didn’t know, I recently found this out though. I guess this is only true for the US, their canned foods for other countries are manufactured somewhere in NZ.

[HuskyMom]

Just found this site, it is wonderful. I’ve learned so much. Here’s my problem: I’ve been feeding my 7-year old husky mix female IAMS Healthy Naturals (dry food) since she turned one. Never had a problem at all. About 2 months ago, she started having trouble with her bowel movements, moving from one spot to another. Then she got a little lathargic, stopped eating her regular amount of food. On August 15, she had been in the yard and came in licking the top of her front paw. We didn’t see anything, but the next morning, there was a bump like something had bit her. We immediately took her to the vet and he said it could have been a non-venomous snake and gave her steroids for the itching and swelling and cephalexin anti-biotics. After three days, she started having diarreah and he advised us to stop the antibiotics. She never got back to normal and started having bloody diarreah about a week ago. BUT, she had started having trouble before the bite. Otherwise I would think that it was from that or from the medication. A friend told me about an IAMS recall for salmonella, I researched it and it was in our region. I did not have the bag to check the numbers because I pour it into a tub with a vacuum seal to store. Took her to the vet on Saturday where blood was drawn and sent off, but she had a fever and he said ‘it looked like it might be salmonella, but would have to wait on the results.’ He gave her Metronidazole, Synacore digestive support to sprinkle on her food once a day, plus ProPectalin Gel. I had already started to feed her brown rice with some chicken 4 days before taking her to the vet. He told me to continue on that until she was finished with all her medicine. Three days later (yesterday), he called with the results and it is not salmonella; he said it was either a bowel disease or possibly cancer and said to feed her Hills ID or ZD when she finished the medicine, starting with a little mixed in her rice until she was eating solely the Hills. And to try to get a urine specimen and bring in, which I am finding impossible to do. My question is what else can I give her other than the Hills? After reading the information on here, I really don’t want to feed her that. She is eating very well right now – the rice and chicken and I’ve added some green beans and carrots. But where she used to go on 2-3 mile walks, she’s tired after just a few minutes and will lie down. Sometimes she doesn’t even want to go and before she lived for her long walks. I know it will take time to get over this, whatever it is, so I want to make sure I feed her the right food. Any suggestions? Thanks for reading my long post.

[Melissaandcrew]

Awesome. And, I love the term Frankenprey, lol. I ama hoping to source the vast majority of ingredients locally, but figure worst case basis, I will get some of the prepackaged type stuff the local boutique pet store carries, or order online. I normally would not order online, but winter time “is a coming” so I will feel better about the shipping.

According to the processor, things are “seasonal”-meaning right now, there is more beef then anything being processed. In the spring/summer months its poultry, and of course pork year round. I am planning on stocking up during each” season”. Since beef heart is a muscle meat, is there a limit on how much I can use? My thought process is to use the chicken/duck necks, and then use the heart ground up as the boneless portion of one of the mixes(it dirt cheap and readily available from what the processor said)

[SheSaid]

So sorry for all the loses.. nothing hurts as bad as losing a love one. I too had a fur baby die in June. It was sudden and a rush to the vets where she died with in 12 hours. We were crushed and still suffer the loss. Vet said it was “probably” Addison’s disease and her death was from an Addison crisis .. and he said this without testing her. I researched that disease and it is still a maybe but my thoughts are it could have been food related. I have now transitioned all my other babies to rice and chicken with some vegies. I have recently become mom to a large black lab.. I do give him the rice and chicken mixture but that is much too expensive for me to feed him without mixing in some dry dog food, and of course since reading this I will find a safe dry dog food to give him. My question is that just today I read that rice can contain arsenic… /[‘0’]\ … Is that just the rice in dog food preps or all rice. We eat a lot of rice as a family and now our dogs do too. Is the same true for organic rice as well. I will continue to do some research today on my own but if anyone can fast track me I would appreciate it.

[bruno]

I hope Vader is doing ok.
You may be interested in a couple of formulas I have. They are non-kibble, do not contain any processed ingredients, wheat, soy or sugar or chemicals. One is Rolled Oats, dehydrated veggies, garlic with a packet of vitamin/mineral supplement. These Rolled Oats only contain 4% fat and none of the other ingredients contain any discernible amount of fat. The other formula is Brown Rice with the remainder of the ingredients (veggies, etc). Brown Rice contains less than 1% fat. These formulas are a great compromise between the (horrible) commercial processed food and feeding raw (more preparation than my formulas). You can read about them here California Gold I also have free samples of each formula.

[mfulton7]

Are the foods on the list the only foods that are of good quality and nutritional value for large breed dogs? I’m driving myself crazy trying to decide on a food. I have a fawn dobie puppy as I mentioned above earlier and I’ve read this list dozens of times and still can’t decide! She is currently on the Zignature and is doing well now that she is used to it. I was hoping to find a food that is a little cheaper. Hopefully around $45 for a 30lb bag. Some I’ve looked at are Nutrisource, Rachael Rays’s and the 4health but I’ve read the 4health is made by Diamond which scares the crap out of me. I also would like to keep feeding them something that is fish base since fawn dobie’s are prone to skin issues and I think the nurish only comes in turkey or chicken. Also is it really true that dogs tend to eat less of the grain free foods? I’m trying to estimate how long a 30lb bag would last my 3 dogs. The dobie and 2 smaller breed dogs that weigh 10lbs each. Are there any articles that help with the breakdown?

[ringohop]

My puppy “Trixie” (a medium sized labradoodle) has always been on Purina Pro Plan Focus (chicken and rice) since we brought her home. She is now 14 weeks old and we brought her home at 8 weeks. This is the food the breeder had her started on and recommended it to us. After reading ingredients and star ratings for this food I decided maybe it wasn’t the best for Trixie. I wanted to try switching her over to blue buffalo so I bought the lamb and oatmeal formula, I added the recommended amount to the pro plan for a slow transition. Almost immediately Trixie quit finishing all of her food at mealtime. I thought maybe she didn’t like the lamb so i tried the chicken and rice formula, same thing! So I did the taste test, one bowl with a little blue buffalo and one bowl with a little pro plan. She scarfed the pro plan and left the blue buffalo sitting there! So now I’m torn about what to do, she clearly is happier with the pro plan but I’m not sure I’m happy with the ingredients. I always fed my other dog (who just recently passed away at 15 years of age) Iams pro active mini chunks. Same thing, bad star rating but he loved it, and lived for 15 years! Are the ingredients in pro plan going to have bad effects on Trixie’s health later in life or will it be a fine food, just not “the best money can buy”? Any suggestions?

[somebodysme]

OH man, reading that is making my head spin! HAHA! I’ve been dealing with allergies since I adopted my dog back in Dec! I wouldn’t know where to start because any of that could be an issue. So you cannot think of anything new you just started? I’d try and figure out what’s the latest addition and stop that and see if it helps. It could be environmental too, shampoo? My dog will show signs immediately if she’s allergic to something.

[RobLee]

Hello everyone,

Would anyone here happen to know where dog food producers get their puree/powders for their dry dog foods?

At the moment I am working on making my own dry dog food. Is their an agricultural network that I can gain access to such powders/purees in bulk? I have already gathered contacts for certain types chicken/etc. meals I will be using.

I have looked online for such purees I need but they seem a bit pricey. Also its hard to find the specific ones I will be needing.

Thanks!

-RobLee

• This topic was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by RobLee.

[GSDsForever]

In my early morning reading with coffee in hand . . .

From a Cat Lane article on The Possible Canine website:

“2006 NRC Guidelines state it clearly:

Minimal requirement = 2.62 grams per kilogram BW ( to the power 0.75)

Recommended Allowance = 3.28 grams per kilogram (to the power 0.75)

Safe Upper Limit = NONE

Protein requirements are also influenced by various factors such as the dog’s overall condition, the digestibility of the food source, activity level and others. In general, when I formulate a diet for a healthy dog, I use 2 – 3 times the recommended allowance. So let’s take a look at an example. My 75 lb dog. First, take the weight in kilograms – so 34.01 kgs. Next, we take this number to the power of 0.75 – easily done on one’s computer calculator: we get the number 14.08. This is the number that will represent my dog in all calculations from here on in, his metabolic weight. To now find his “requirement” – let’s say, his RA or recommended allowance, all we need to do is multiply his number – 14.08 – by the RA – 3.28.

Here’s what we get: 46.182. That’s the recommended gram weight of total protein for the day. If I were to put this strictly into practice, I would end up with a percentage of total protein probably around 15% I am guessing. So let’s have a peek and see. I’ve formulated a diet for Daniel that contains only 46 grams of protein per day. I will also use the RA for total fat, which in this case would be 27 grams. His caloric needs are 1840 per day, so if I devise a very simple diet of brown rice, coconut oil and turkey, and stick strictly to the RA for fat and protein,I would get percentages like this:

Distribution of calories:

Protein: 11.3 %

Fat: 15.6 %

Carbohydrate: 73 %

I would also be feeding this:

1. Turkey, Dark Meat w/skin, boneless, roasted, diced 0.33 of: 1 cup, diced (46.2g)

2. Grain, Rice, Brown, ckd 7 of: 1 cup, cooked, hot (1365.0g)

3. Oil, Coconut 1 of: 1 tbsp (13.5g)

[Dogs’ reaction to dinner]:

Click on: http://thepossiblecanine.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/hw_dogs_surprised.jpg?w=660”

LOL!!!

Though I kinda thought the picture says it all, she helpfully goes on to say (crusading for all doggies out there, lol):

“That’s right – SEVEN cups of brown rice, and a third of a cup of turkey. This diet technically meets the RA for protein and fat. Of course it doesn’t take into consideration fatty or amino acid levels or vitamins and minerals, this is an exercise to show how there is so much confusion between percentages and actual gram content. I often develop diets for dogs with liver issues where the protein percentage is in the midteens but the gram content is actually over the RA. Vets will want a higher level based on percentage but after we speak they understood that percentages are not the whole story. They tell us how much of a given nutrient the diet contains – RELATIVE to other energy nutrients. In actual practise, I use much – MUCH higher levels of protein and fat in my own dog’s diet as well as professional cases. It’s not in any way optimal to feed a 75 pound dog 1/3 of a cup of meat and 7 cups of rice per day. When we look at the recipe above we also will see that no less than 34 of the 46 grams of total protein come from the rice. So if we were to use more sweet potato than rice we could actually inch up the turkey a bit…. but the poor dog who has to eat so much carb and so little protein! Let’s not forget that from mouth to tail, dogs are carnivores, and derive most quality nutrients from animal sources. I have long defended the use of fiber in the canine diet, because I am not so much interested in what wolves do or don’t eat – on a practical level, at any rate – but in what type of diet is absolutely optimal for the individual dog I’m working with. This always means some fiber, although the type and amount will vary. But all that said, animal products – protein and fats – should form the mainstay of a healthy dog’s diet. This menu I used above as an example is lower than what I’d use for dogs with liver disease,by far – yet it meets the NRC Guidelines for requirements.

To start working out the amount of protein to use (we’ll get to sources later) find your dog’s protein RA first, then in a home made diet, go 2-3 times above that in grams.”

[Chip]

I have two dogs, both German Shorthair mixes… one is an older male (11 years old), the other a younger (5 years) female. I love them both very much, both were shelter/rescue dogs. When we adopted the younger dog, we switched from feeding her Hill’s Science Diet (which is what we were sent home with from the shelter) to some sort of Purina Dry Kibble, since she wouldn’t eat the Hill’s. Since then and after finding this website (my knowledge about dog food and their ingredients greatly increased), her menu evolved from the low quality kibble to a mixture of Honest Kitchens dehydrated raw food (a company that I love) mixed with Blue Buffalo Freedom. I consider both of these foods to have above average to excellent ingredients and I feel good when I buy it for my two dogs. The problem is is that they both have very sensitive stomachs… when we started with the HK and BB it seemed to FINALLY fix the problem with terrible diarrhea that they both were experiencing with all the foods we tried (Castor and Pollux, Nature’s Recipe, and so on). Their bowl movements (I feel strange talking about this) were FINALLY healthy… fluffy yet firm, regular, didn’t stink. It was a miracle. Unfortunately, after about two years of eating various styles/flavors of HK mixed with BB, the younger dog “Jessie” decided that she absolutely didn’t want to eat it anymore. I got tired of preparing it only to have to dump it out (it’s very expensive) and then wash her dish (as I did after every meal since it’s a part raw diet). So, we tried some different brands thinking that it would add a bit of diversity to what they were eating. We went with Wellness Complete Health kibble and canned but soon found out that the diarrhea had returned (we introduced these foods slowly). We tried going back to the old food but she couldn’t shake the diarrhea (the older fella was having some problems as well, but not nearly extreme). We finally took her into the vet, which I dread doing because I know exactly what’s coming… a fecal exam (which is always negative), a bill for $100, and a lecture about how the food I feed them isn’t quality/adequate because it wasn’t “formulated” by veterinarians and pet nutritionists (in their words) as Hill’s Science Diet is. I don’t have a problem with giving the HSD Prescription i/d gastrointestinal a try… my problem is that the ingredient list is full of low quality foods and chemicals, yet they charge more per can/bag than the food with (what I consider to be) high quality ingredients that I was feeding my dogs. I’m sick of being treated as though I’m being insolent because I actually question what it is specifically about Hill’s that is supposed to calm my dog’s stomach. Is it the corn? The iodized salt? The food coloring? I know it sounds as though I’m being snippy right now, but this has been an ongoing problem as I’ve brought the dogs to the same vet in the past few years every now and then with small bouts of stomach problems and am told the same thing every time and mad to feel as though I’m an ignorant and irresponsible pet owner for not switching to Hill’s and I’m sick of it. I don’t have any other options to switch to a different vet, so that won’t solve anything. It has been three days and there hasn’t been any improvement so far on the HSD and, sorry it has taken me so loooonnnnngggg to get to the point, here is my question: Does anyone have an alternative to HSD i/d that actually has quality ingredients? Or, does anyone have any useful advice about what our next course of action should be? I thought I read something in one of the comment sections a long time ago about how German Shorthair Pointers are sensitive to a certain ingredient that is fairly common in most dog foods… does anyone know anything about that subject? And, is it just me, or do veterinarians actually know anything about dog nutrition, or do they just espouse what they are told by the salespeople from Hill’s? I don’t doubt that Hill’s probably does make some important prescription foods that certain dogs need, but the i/d just looks like crap to me. Thank you for taking the time to read and respond.

[losul]

Hi Molzy,

About the chronic wasting disease- these tissues are known to harbor and concentrate the abnormal proteins-prions- brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, lymph nodes in an infected animal, although I’ve also read they can be in other tissues, even in blood.

Even high temperature cooking/irradiation does not destroy them.

Its not likely your dog or even you would get anything from them, specific prions have difficulty jumping the species barrier, although it HAS been thought/known to happen. Dogs thus far, and as far as I know, havent been reported to get any prion diseases, but it doesnt neccesarily mean they dont, cant or wont. So far there are about 4 or 5 of these transmissible and fatal prion diseases known to occur in humans, 1 in cats, 1 in cattle (BSE or mad cow) 1 in sheep/goats (scrapie) 1 in mink.

I posted about it the other day as a precautionary measure. You might want to avoid eating or feeding any of the above tissues if you live in a an area where CWD is known to be prevalent in the wild, or any tissues at all from a deer, elk or moose that is behaving sickly or oddly.

Here is more info on Transmissible spongiform encephalopathys, see also chronic wasting disease.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmissible_spongiform_encephalopathy

About MPC and their calorie fiasco. Thats something that recently appeared on their website. I agree there is absolutely no way those figures are correct. Also their protein and fat figures dont always jive. The bad thing is that the phone number that they provide is Paul’s cell phone number. I called Paul about two weeks ago when I saw these figures onsite. Paul also personally makes deliveries, which he was doing when I called. I told him that their was no way the calorie counts were right, take the chicken super mix for example-theres no way 1 pound could contain only 217 calories, and especially given the very high (supposedly) fat figures given. Even skinless, boneless chicken breast has way more calories than that. He told me that they had folks wanting to know the calorie counts so they obtained lab results showing those figures. I still insisted something was very wrong. He said that he could check back with the lab, but couldnt do much until he returned from his deliveries which would be a week or so. So I told him I would be calling back. Your post reminded me to call him, and I just got off the phone with him. He now agrees that something isnt right (probably has had lotso phone calls about), but that they still havent got it sorted out. When/if they get that sorted out I have more questions/concerns for him.

[neezerfan]

Hi Chuck, I’ve been where you are now and I agree it is overwhelming! You can take it step by step. I started by eliminating kibble altogether. The more I read about it, the more I felt it wasn’t a good food for my dog. I switched to 5 star canned foods, rotating brands and protein sources. I gave him a chicken neck or foot twice a week. Then I started rotating in commercially prepared raw starting with Primal and Nature’s Variety. Now his main food is Darwin’s but I still rotate in other brands and cans. I give him 2 homemade meals a week, he eats twice daily so that’s under the 20% rule.

I don’t feel confident at this point to self prepare all of his meals. My next move is to rotate in meals consisting of fresh meat with a premix added. He’s only 2 so we have time! Maybe I’ll get there eventually but for now I’m doing the best that I feel comfortable with.

Start your dog with a chicken neck and see how it goes. My dog will eat absolutely anything but it did take him a few minutes to get going on his first chicken neck. He just looked at it and circled it for a while before getting down to business. Now he eats all kinds of bones.

[Molzy]

Hello all,

I am considering switching my dogs to a raw diet. We have two 1.5-year-old Australian Cattle Dog Mixes. They are both rescue dogs. We adopted LoJack last October, and Quincy came home with us in July. Both of them came to us eating Science Diet, which we pretty much immediately threw out. I worked in a high-end pet store for years, and I am kind of a food snob when it comes to my pets. My cat, Ralph, has been on Nature’s Variety frozen chicken for over a year now, and does amazingly on it (for him, it has helped with his urinary tract infections). The dogs have eaten a variety of Nutrisource Grain-Free Salmon, Pure-Vita or Merrick dry kibble. My boyfriend and I are big on “Eat Local” and both of these companies seemed pretty good for commercial dog food. Now that we have graduated from grad school, we can start entertaining the idea of paying a little more to feed raw. When we just had LoJack he would also get raw meaty bones once in a while for his teeth, we haven’t tried giving Quincy those due to some digestive issues we’ve been struggling with.

Anyways, I am thinking of originally starting with a pre-made raw, and possibly slowly adding in some other stuff. My boyfriend hunts, so hopefully we will have some venison this year for them, and we also live in the country so there is the possibility of contacting local butchers for organ meats and stuff. We already own a hand grinder for the meat (though we may invest in an electric one if we end up going with raw!).

Anyways, what are your recommendations for pre-made diets? At this point, we would like to stick with a grind because of Quincy’s issues with chunkier food (I want to make sure that raw works before trying chunks, then slowly add chunks in to make sure we don’t cause issues). I am considering doing Nature’s Variety since it is balanced for cats and dogs, which would be nice, but it is also a little expensive, so I figured I would see if anyone else has any suggestions. I would also consider a pre-mix with ground meat.

One last question – can they have venison bones? We saved a bunch from the deer we got last year and froze them, but I got worried about chronic wasting disease, so we have never tried them. They are thinner than the beef/bison bones we normally feed, so I worried about him swallowing chunks as well.

Thanks!
Molly, LoJack and Quincy (and Ralph the cat)

[mfulton7]

Yeah the couple were country folk and older so they probably didn’t know about the laws. Yes we do already have her not much I can change about that…..I do appreciate the concern though….I myself thought she was a little too young but hubby felt it was fine since the pup had been weaned and she checked out health wise with the breeders vet and with ours. I did call the vets office this afternoon to ask their opinion about the pooping they said it depends how she’s eating her food and how much. So they recommended purina pro plan, go figure ha!
My whole point in posting this was to find out if the fromm nutritionals are the same as the grain free version. Theres quite a bit of price difference there so I just wasnt sure. All the dog foods/reviews/opinions have me confused.

[losul]

PrincessPiper,

If you happen to live in one of the areas where chronic wasting disease (a prion disease similar to BSE in cows or scrapie in sheep) is prevalent in wild deer/elk/moose populations, as a precaution, you might want to avoid feeding (or eating yourself) these tissues- brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, lymph nodes, no matter raw or cooked.

Its now spread to parts of at least 21 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_wasting_disease

[HabanaJoe]

I agree with Patty as well. My caveat would be to try to avoid food with grains….corn, soy, wheat etc.
We experimented…slowly with various brands and settled on Blue Buffalo or Wellness..both canned and kibble. Of course, every time we buy, we do check ingredients as companies are known to change to something cheaper and keep the label looking the same.
I would suggest that you show your boyfriend what “meat by products” are and let him know that they can have adverse effects on a dog.
We also stay away from any glutens for protein enhancing agents and only buy food that is made from ingredients here or in Canada. (no chinese). Check any treats you buy as well, as a lot of companies are putting an American flag on the package to make you think it’s made here. When you read the fine print, it says “made in china”. (poisonous ingredients a few years ago related to gluten).

The little extra spent on a quality dog food will pay you back in the long run with fewer vet bills and fewer skin problems for your pup.
Good luck with your new family member!

[Sully’sMom]

I’ve been wondering about the whole Green Tripe thing in general. Did I read on one of these threads somewhere that it’s available in a can? And if that’s the case, would it be useful as a topper to kibble?

[beaglemom]

Hi Freehold… that website is definitely a bust. HDM posted that she placed an order and never received it, had to find their phone number through Paypal (since the one listed on the website is out of service), and got a similar BS line from them about how it would ship soon or some such thing. We dug deeper and found that this same creep of a woman (Suzanne) burned HDM once before with a different website but somehow she’s still putting up these sites and screwing people. Her former 2-3 businesses all have an F rating on the website of the Better Business Bureau. You can read our discussion here…
/best-dog-foods/raw-dog-food/ (suggested raw dog foods)
I wouldn’t wait to file the claim with Paypal – do it asap. They took care of HDM’s refund the same day.

[Molzy]

Hello! I’ll apologize in advance for the length of this post.

We adopted an Australian Cattle Dog (Quincy) at the end of July. He is a year-and-a-half old neutered male, and we were told he was given up due to not being housebroken. I am beginning to suspect that the real reason may have be what I can only describe as his gulping disorder.

For the first two weeks at home he was totally fine. We switched him from Science Diet to Merrick Lamb and Rice, which he gets twice a day. We did have to board him about two weeks after adopting him due to a family wedding, and it was after this that he started his first episode of gulping/swallowing. Usually at night, he will begin frantically swallowing and gulping. Quincy will frantically search the house for carpet fibers to pull up, and will eventually vomit and then re-eat his food if we don’t get to it in time. This went on for about a week the first time – we brought him to the vet, they said he looked fine, and that it was probably just all the changes in his life. I did give him a gas-x one night, because he was swallowing so much air I was concerned about bloat. He ate some carpet this first time, when I fell asleep with him out of his kennel (he normally sleeps in bed with us, but when he is having these bouts I have learned to kennel him so that he can’t get into anything). He threw the carpet up about 3 days after that.

At that point, we thought he just had a sensitive stomach. So, when we switched his food again (our other dog has an iron stomach, and had done well with us rotating food, so we already had a bag of grain-free salmon from Nutrisource), we weren’t all surprised when the symptoms started up again. This time I gave him a couple of doses of pepto-bismol to ease his tummy troubles, and about 6 days later he stopped vomiting. I should note – when he vomits, it seems associated with these bursts of gulping/swallowing/licking. I thought it was him having an upset stomach and panicking about it, but the vet thought it was odd that he is willing to eat his vomit right away, and that a nauseous dog wouldn’t do that? I am beginning to think that the actual issue is the gulping/swallowing, and the vomiting may be a side effect of that, rather than the other way around.

I switched him to rice and boiled chicken, and he seemed to get better. We put him back on Merrick (chicken and rice this time, because they were out of lamb and rice), and he did fine for about a week. Then last week, he threw up again (he had had a minor bout of swallowing, but nothing like he normally gets). We fasted him for 36 hours, and brought him to the vet. Again, his stool and activity is normal. The vet gave him an anti-nausea shot, and sent us home with some anti-nausea pills and canned science diet ID (for gastro-intestinal health). He was fine for about 3 days, and then last night had one of his worst bouts of swallowing/gulping yet. He didn’t throw up at all (that I know of, I did fall asleep for a little while), but did try to eat a rope toy. I kenneled him for the night, and this morning he ate grass like crazy.

His bouts tend to start at night when we’re going to bed, and he works himself up into a frenzy. Once it starts, it tends to last for multiple days, and kenneling him seems to work to calm him down a little. Our other dog (LoJack) has been totally fine through all of this. They are never outside without my supervision, and he doesn’t get human food (except for the two occasions he has stolen it off of the counter). I haven’t been feeding treats for a few weeks now, but tonight had to give him some zukes at training class. The only other thing would be that he did start HeartGuard and Frontline, but both of those started after his initial attacks. One last thing I should mention is that he plays a LOT with my other dog, and they usually wrestle and play tug of war every night before bed, but will often stop for >2 hours before going to bed. I haven’t felt like there was any correlation between them playing and one of these attacks. When we walk he is on a gentle leader or harness, but he is on his collar when on his tie-out in the yard. I remove the dog’s collars when they’re wrestling so that they don’t hurt each other.

Has anyone dealt with similar symptoms? What did you do? My Internet searches have found that others have this issue but I haven’t found anyone who has solved it. We will probably do blood work and an X-ray next to rule out anything normal, but I want opinions from others on possible nutritional changes that could help. I refuse to switch to science diet unless I absolutely must. I’m considering trying raw, but currently scared of anything that might upset him, since I’ve been cleaning vomit for the past month it seems! I do natures variety raw with my cat, and our other dog has been on grain free nutrisource or merrick for the past year.

Thanks for any advice, I appreciate it!

[GSDsForever]

yellowdaisy,

I think HK is an excellent company, with quality foods and high standards (including safety). The formulas are pretty gentle and I’ve never known dogs to have trouble with it, especially sensitive/touchy stomach dogs. I like the Zeal formula best (which many sensitive dogs do well on when they can’t on other foods), then the Embark. Zeal is HK’s highest protein and uses a very high quality source, though the fat is very, very low — which some dogs do best with and others need to add back.

The only negatives I encounter with HK are that some formulas are grain inclusive (when owners don’t want that), some dogs aren’t crazy about the soupy texture, and high cost . . . esp. grain free Zeal & Embark. I would like to see, at their higher price point, their base ingredients be organic (like Stella & Chewy’s) when it’s a known heavily pesticide contaminated ingredient or preference for less contaminated fruits/veggies/greens chosen when organic isn’t feasable/prohibitively expensive — kind of like how I shop at the grocery store. But they are still very clean, high quality foods and I would feed them + highly recommend the brand.

In Nutrisource/Pure Vita’s defense, I really don’t think that their food can be blamed for tumors. Something triggers cancer to start in the body and that can be many complex factors, usually involving toxins as insults to the body and the immune system + some genetics. From there, we do know from research that cancer feeds selectively off sugars/simple carbs and need an acidic environment to be active . . . but that’s after the cancer has taken hold. Certain breeds (and their mixes) currently have very high incidences of cancer, like Goldens or Bernese Mountain Dogs; or there is a breed specific cancer like hemangiosarcoma. Some stats show more than half of all dogs and cats now die of cancer.

Pure Vita does pretty clean sourcing, for example using more expensive wild caught fish exclusively (protecting against toxins like PCBs in farmed salmon) and imposes a good bit of safety testing and quality standards. Many dogs seem to do really well on the food, esp. those with allergies/sensitivities or needing a bland diet and limited ingredient diet.

At the same time, virtually all commercial pet foods have significant contamination with bacterial toxins (enterotoxins, endotoxins, cytotoxins, etc.), from the meat, processing and handling, sanitation issues, storage, heat or lack of heat processing, moisture spoilage (like aflatoxins, etc in grains), lack of freshness, rancidity of fats/oils, etc. (You can read more about this in texts like UC Davis Vet School’s/DVM Strombeck’s Home Prepared Dog & Cat Diets, chapter 3 on commercial pet foods/food safety & preparation.)

Nevertheless, I do think homemade diets (balanced) using a wide variety of fresh foods in rotation, cleanly sourced (wild fish, grass fed & free range, organic), are best. So I think you are on the right track. Good luck!

[Sara10010]

I’m new to the forum and am hoping I might be able to get some advice. My husband and I have a five and a half month old Cardigan Welsh Corgi who is showing signs of pano/elbow dysplasia. We had x-rays taken and there is significant space between his elbow joints (right side is worse). We aren’t sure if this is something he might grow out of or if it is, in fact, dysplasia (we are seeing a specialist this weekend). However, we’ve been feeding him Orijen puppy since we brought him home and I’m concerned the protein content might be too much for him and could be contributing to this. It’s undoubtedly a high quality food and he is growing fast on it. I don’t want the vet to put him on a prescription diet as I don’t believe they are nutritious. From reading this thread, it seems that Wellness Core Puppy might be a good option for us? I am also not sure if we should just switch him to an all life stages food at this point? I would love any recommendations that anyone might have – we want to do right by our little guy and I really thought I was giving him the best with Orijen.

Thanks!

[Cyndi]

Hey everyone, I have a question, possibly a stupid one, but I can’t figure it out…

When I was questioning about premixes at the beginning of this thread, HDM told me “Make sure not to use a pre-mix with a grind which contains bone.” Why is that? I have a few different premixes here that I’m using and I’m just curious to why I don’t want to use them with meat and bone.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by Cyndi.

[RescueDaneMom]

Hi All,

I have been lurking on DFA for a few months now. Originally I was trying to find the best dry food for my dog, then I started getting into dehydrated and freeze dried. Now I’m looking at frozen raw. For the past two months I have been doing 2/3 premium 5 star kibble with 1/3 frozen raw (complete formulas from Primal or Stella & Chewy’s). I didn’t know if my dog would go for it so that’s why I started this way. Now I want to move to full raw. I will admit to being lazy when it comes to this process. The easiest thing for me to get hold of right now is Primal grinds and complete formulas (Primal and S&C). A lady in the next town owner has become a retailer and sells it out of her house and adds very little markup.

I have a 7.5 year old Great Dane named Max that I got from a rescue. He is 155 pounds, is currently eating 1800-1900 calories per day, and is in perfect condition. I have fed him 3 meals per day since I got him because I could and it works for him. I want to do Primal grinds with additions for two of his meals and a complete formula for his third meal. I am most concerned with balancing his two meals of Primal grinds. From reading I have gathered that these grinds can be high in bone content as well as fat so it is important to add extra muscle meat (heart, boneless meats) and protein (eggs, cottage cheese, canned salmon, canned oysters, tripe?). I also plan on adding yogurt or kefir, sprouted seeds, fish oil, vitamin E, HDM’s superfood blend and veggie/fruit/herb puree, and 3 cloves of garlic 3x/week.

I have a few questions/ things I wanted to double check. He would need about 3200mg combined EPA/DHA, 300iu vitamin E, 200iu vitamin D/lb of food, 3 tsp of superfood blend daily, right? I couldn’t find what the appropriate amount of vitamin A was? If I use cod liver oil for the vitamin D, will that provide sufficient vitamin A? Also, would it be good to use a glandular supplement too? Lastly, assuming I have covered everything, a multivitamin/mineral isn’t needed correct?

Thank you in advance for your help. And special thanks to Hound Dog Mom for posting menus and such great, detailed information.

[Mom2Cavs]

As you all may remember, I’ve been battling things with Laverne. She would have anal gland issues and goopy eyes, she would lick her forearm and scratch her back sides. Sometimes she would lick her back knee?…I guess that would be what it’s called lol. She would scoot only sometimes. Her stool would be loose to full blown diarrhea at times, except when we tried NV LIDs…then she was too constipated (they all were) and the other symptoms were still there. Finally, one of her breeders told me that her brother and mother could never have poultry! So….I’ve been working on getting poultry out of the house. We have tried Zignature, still didn’t do the trick (maybe I didn’t give it long enough). We then went on Holistic Select grain free. Things were a little better. Now, I also top with canned food (and something tells me sometimes it may be the canned that’s causing the problem). I’ve narrowed the canned down to a few kinds whereas I was using quite a lot of different kinds before. Things were a little better, still not where I would like, though. In there as well I used some Natural Balance I had in the dog closet to see if it would be better than the Hol. Sel. I had the Lamb & Rice and the Swt. Pot. & Fish. Things were even a little better. I used to like N.B. but am leary of it now..bummer. When I finished with the N.B. I transitioned in a small bag of Acana Lamb (from the dog closet, of course!) This is what they are on now. We’re only on the first day with only Acana Lamb & Apple as the kibble, but so far so good. I’ve stopped treats for the time being, as well. I’ve been using the kibble, which they all readily take (even picky Lucy…don’t know how long this will last). Today I gave Acana topped with Wellness 95% Salmon for breakfast and only dry Acana for dinner. I think that’s my plan….kibble and can for breakfast and dry for dinner. They also get part of their dry right before bedtime as a snack. It’s really too soon to tell but today has been fine with this arrangement. I pray it keeps on working….I like Acana and maybe eventually I can use other flavors, like Ranchlands. I’ll keep y’all posted. Please keep us in your thoughts.

Oh, I wanted to mention that I did order some Big Dog Natural in beef. While the dogs all loved it very much, it really did a number on Laverne’s bowels!! Too, too much for her so…..we will not be using it in the future.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by Mom2Cavs.

[gsdmommy89]

Hi there everyone. I know this is a puppy thread, and I do have a GSD puppy ( with monstrous paws so I knew he’ll be large!), but I do have a question that maybe someone here could answer. Aside from my puppy, I also have his mom, a 3 yr old GSD. She’s been eating the Earthborn Coastal Catch, but I can’t seem to get her to put weight on. During gestation and nursing, I fed her Earthborn Puppy Vantage. She used to be around 68 lbs. I weighed her yesterday she’s down to 59 lbs. I spoke to my vet, which also monitored her during pregnancy, and she told me that maybe I need to try something with grains in it. She’s been fed a grain free diet pretty much all her life, except when I fed her the Puppy Vantage. The vet told me she’s probably just taking longer to recover from nursing, as she didn’t find anything abnormal. She also told me to try adding Missing Link, to add vitamins or something like that. My dog isn’t bony, but you can tell she is underweight. I was thinking of switching both my GSD’s to Fromm Large Breed puppy. Maybe the puppy formula has more calories and fat so she can gain her weight back? I don’t know. If anyone can give me some advice, I’d really appreciate it. Food? Supplements? Thanks a million!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this wonderful thread, most of all Hound Dog Mom for her great knowledge, research, and unbiased advice.
I have brought home a puppy from the rescue, it looks to be a lab/greyhound mix, it might become large, it might turn out to be medium, but I opted for the safe bet and I am feeding it low calcium.
I have recently moved to America from the Netherlands, and fed my GSD raw, but over there I can go to the butchers and get cuts and special dog-food easily. Here I have to find out anew where to go and what to buy. But I am impressed with the many different brands of quality dog food.
And tripe in a can! Brilliant!

I have learnt so much on this thread! I have read everything and printed HDM’s list so I have no questions, just:
Thank you all very much! Especially Hound Dog Mum.

[cdubau]

Here is my situation

One large breed dog and one small breed dog. They are both around 7/8 years old and over weight. Recently we changed the older dogs food from Nutro to TOTW due to the interest in the grain free aspect and better quality food as well. We have restricted both food intake and started exercising them. With the food change Emma has stopped rubbing herself all over the house (shes always been itchy but checked out okay per the docs) and her ears are no longer red (they were red but had no infection per the docs). Since reading about all the Diamond food recalls I was hesitant about trying TOTW and still alittle leery about it.

While at the doc we brought up to that Emma, was drinking alot of water. Turns out she had a UTI. He mentioned she might have Cushings due to the protein in her urine and said we need to have her tested for that eventually. After doing some of my own research and reading articles on this site (theres a post about cushings) I am convinced I really need to cut her fat intake back and increase her protein as that is said to help with aspects of Cushings. While she hasn’t been diagnosed she really shows some key signs of it. We are hoping to test her in the next couple months. For any interest she is constantly drinking ALOT of water, constantly hungry (eats poop if we miss a clean up, as well as will tear into anything she can find), easily stressed or aggravated most the time, has a hard time getting up/down the stairs and doesn’t get on the couch as much, pants when the other dogs aren’t panting and the AC doesn’t go higher then 76, her extra weight seems to only be in her chest/abdomen and she has developed a heart murmur that is very LOUD.

I have looked on the suggested low fat list but most the listed dry kibble is NOT grain free, if they were they weren’t in my budget by any means. I couldn’t find anything that was below 13% Fat in a grain free formula on my own that was in my budget. After seeing such an improvement over the grain free I am having a hard time switching her to any of the “low fat list” foods that include grains. So I am looking to other people for their opinions and maybe experience with this. I just feel like I’m at a loss and I’ve spent days in front of the computer trying to figure this out.

Current Food
TOTW Pacific Stream dry dog food 15% Fat 25% Protein

Here is what I found that I can afford FROM the list – Not grain free:
AvoDerm Large Breed Chicken and Rice 11% Fat 29% Protein
Fromm Gold Reduced Activity Senior Dry Dog Food 12% Fat 26% Protein
Wellness Super5 Mix Large Breed Adult 12% Fat 28% Protein

Here is what I found on my own that IS grain free – NOT on the list

GO! Senior 14% Fat 32% Protein
Merrick G/F Texas Beef 15% Fat 38% Protein
Holistic Select 13% Fat 28% Protein

Thank you for any input!

[nailgirl]

hi, i hope someone here can help me out! my 21 yr old daughter brought home a stray kitten that she found near a dumpster behind her work. within the first week she (my daughter) contracted a ringworm spot on her leg. she has since been treated and she took the kitten to her vet and has been treating the kitten with zymox enzymatic shampoo and rinse plus a spray to the affected area with conzol 1% (miconazole nitrate topical anti fungal). well, of course, my schnauzer now has spots all over his head, muzzle area, and one spot on his behind! we are keeping them separated for now and i am taking the schnauzer to my vet tomorrow!! in the meantime, i thought would come on here and ask any of you if you’ve ever dealt with this before and if you had any tips for me! i’ve been reading on here for some months now and it seems like a friendly and helpful place, so thanks for anyone who can help out! i feel like i’m at my wits end!

[nailgirl]

hi, i hope someone here can help me out! my 21 yr old daughter brought home a stray kitten that she found near a dumpster behind her work. within the first week she (my daughter) contracted a ringworm spot on her leg. she has since been treated and she took the kitten to her vet and has been treating the kitten with zymox enzymatic shampoo and rinse plus a spray to the affected area with conzol 1% (miconazole nitrate topical anti fungal). well, of course, my schnauzer now has spots all over his head, muzzle area, and one spot on his behind! we are keeping them separated for now and i am taking the schnauzer to my vet tomorrow!! in the meantime, i thought would come on here and ask any of you if you’ve ever dealt with this before and if you had any tips for me! i’ve been reading on here for some months now and it seems like a friendly and helpful place, so thanks for anyone who can help out! i feel like i’m at my wits end!

[theBCnut]

I’m sorry if you’ve answered this elsewhere, but my brain is leaking out right now, I have so much going on. Do you suspect a yeast overgrowth in your dog? Or some other bacterial overgrowth? If You believe you have a bacterial overgrowth, I would possibly not feed that probiotic for a few days, if you were feeding it every day. For a yeast overgrowth, I would wait to use it until you are seeing definite improvements. Now here is the real issue. If you have done everything you can to cut the carbs out of your dogs diet, then I wouldn’t worry about it at all. Simple carbs are the first choice of food for those nasties, so by cutting carbs you are already putting the bad guys on notice. If you cut out all food sources too quickly then you will get a massive die off, which sounds good on paper, but it doesn’t look good on your floor or smell good in your house. Slow die off is preferable, and the FOS you are feeding is not that much or that often.

[apriliamille]

murphysmom,
i cant remember which forum i read it on but tim hunt (dr tim) had an interesting discussion about “meal” and why he used it and considering iditerod sled dogs use his stuff im sure its valid. i may be wrong in my understanding but pretty much i took it as take a deboned chicken and dehydrate it then prep it for kibble mix then compare it to chicken meal on a protein per weight amount then look at the cost and efforts to put a good protein kibble to market at a value. we use a kibble that has “deboned chicken” as the first ingredient and its definitely hitting the pocket book. (i assume since my dogs are getting a premium chicken breast in their kibble instead of a grocery store for human use)
i think there is quality to “meal” look at some of the ash contents of the kibbles using meal. there are some good numbers out there.
on a side note. i have been transitioning my pup onto meadowfeast to help with the pocket book while i do more research on her food i want to use when she hits 1 year old and i start pushing her physically. i have to feed her on a tray exclusively with the meadowfeast (not saying yours will need to) its a smaller kibble then she has ever had and she has reverted to her younger days of vacuum. also the earthborn UPC for Trees is a neat program they do.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by apriliamille.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by apriliamille. Reason: keep finding i dont make sense in my sentances

[Jagger2012]

I have my 14 month old lab “Jagger” and my 15 week old German Shepherd “Keesha”. Keesha was taken in a few days ago for her last set of shots and I was discussing with my vet that Keesha is a poop eater! Bad! She will not eat her poop but my labs. I have watched her out the window following him around and when he hunches up to poop she will stand right there and eat it as it hits the ground or catch it as it falls and eats it! I am not kidding! I know the whole dog eating cat poop thing but I have never had a dog eat anothers or their own. I try to be outside when they go out to potty but it does not always happen. I do pick up the poop several times a day. My vet suggested getting something “I can’t for the life of me remember the name” to feed them both so his poop is not so appetizing.
I feed them Earthborn Holistic Meadow Feast and Coastal catch. I did order some of the Darwins to try but I can’t afford to have them on that only. I would like to give them Darwins as a lunch and then the kibble for morning and night.

So to my questions: My thought is that she is lacking something as to why she is eating his poop? I was reading on the supplements. Should I try doing some kind of supplementing? And if so what? I have no clue on a lot of this so am needing pointed in the right direction.

Please ask any questions you may have to help me out! 🙂
Tammy

[terriers4life]

OK. I’ve lurked on this forum for quite a while. I now feel the need to speak up. Dinovite for dogs, which is a product I have used for many, many years for many, many dogs is a high quality whole food supplement. Read the ingredients folks. Good source of vitamins, omega fatty acids, probiotics, enzymes. There’s nothing in it that will cause a dog to have blood in their urine or to get sick, unless there’s something the dog is allergic to. And how the heck would you (or they-Dinovite) know this? It’s sort of like saying “Don’t feed organic, natural peanut butter to your kid, because mine had an allergic reaction to it.”

Seriously, “check with your vet”? Yeah, the one who advises you to buy his dog food (which is garbage, even according to this website) and who would rather you give your dog steroids for life? Give me a break. When was the last time your vet gave you advice about feeding your dog…that was good for him? Vets are not trained in nutrition…well, barely. How long does your dog have to be on steroids for you to realize they are destroying his internal organs? And if steroids or allergy shots were the answer, then WHY DOES THE DOG STILL ITCH or HAVE BALD PATCHES???

Find a 5 star rated food (a Dinovite rep actually pointed me to this site to help me choose a better dog food) and add Dinovite. Get your dog off the darn steroids.

Even the absolute best commercial dog food is heat processed. So enzymes, probiotics and so many vitamins are destroyed. So your dog is walking around with these deficiencies. And you can’t fix that with steroids, creams, sprays, ear cleaners, antibiotics. Use common sense people.

I was a huge skeptic. But in 2009, I had 4 dogs who had some pretty messed up skin and ears. I was feeding a good food (rated 5 stars here) and still so much $$$$ at the vet (and listen folks, not once did a vet offer any money back for crap that didn’t work. In fact, I just kept coming back and spending more. Try this…no, try this…maybe try this…and spending so much money.) So I got enough Dinovite for my worst case. And I used it for a few months. It took about 3 or 4 months but slowly, I began to see a difference. It was really apparent as my other dogs were still just awful.

After a few months, I took my dog in the car, and no stinky smell…no shedding. No bald patches. No butt scooting.

The rest of my dogs have been on this now since then too. I left the country for 4 weeks and had a friend stay at my house. She never added it to my dog’s food. I came home to one of my dogs kinda stinky and the shedding was back. Never again. My dogs won’t go without. Ever. Period.

I have even used this on every foster dog I have had come through my house. And they have all benefitted from it. I send some with each dog when they leave here. I’ve seen some pretty bad skin problems and yeast problems get under control using Dinovite (and I use the fish oil or the other omega supplement too).

And, I actually tried one of their newer products (a different vitamin in a tube). It was supposed to be the same as the one in the box but in a thick like paste. My dogs didn’t really like it much so I went back to the powder. And I sent back a bunch of the tubes. Two were actually empty and 4 were unopened. I got my money back no problem. With a smile.

[somebodysme]

Anyone know why a holistic vet would say that you should not feed a probiotic with FOS? I cannot find the article I read anymore but I specifically remember that it was about treating candida in a dog and the author said to use a probiotic but do not use one containing FOS. I have seen the probiotic recommended over and over and over here that is from Swanson’s and contains FOS. Why would you avoid FOS?

I am currently giving PB8 to my dog and it is absolutely keeping the yeast at bay. I am giving her two pills a day for a 50 lb dog. She is on a potato based kibble right now due to allergies and even at that, the yeast is not causing her issues.

[somebodysme]

I could have sworn that in this conversation she mentioned that her dog was tested and basically allergic to everything. Without going back and reading it all…

I was lucky enough to discover that my dog is allergic to peas. Once I started feeding her a “healthy” grain free diet is when it all went to heck. I finally listened to my vet and fed the food that he suggested (he did NOT sell it to me) and that is when the rash went away. Once I had a food that I knew she could eat, I then went through every ingredient and found the only same ingredient of all the grain free foods she had eaten and that gave her a rash, was the peas. The new food has potatoes and no peas. I kept trying new meats to find a cause of a terrible rash she had.

Had I LISTENED to my vet, I could have saved my dog a few months of misery. But NOOOO, I thought I knew more than my vet! We are not giving our vets enough credit for all the experience they have with working with thousands of animals for many years. So maybe they aren’t trained a lot in nutrition in college…so what, can’t a vet do reading and research on their own just like we can. And to generalize and say “vets know nothing about dog nutrition” is just wrong to say! There are way too many self proclaimed experts on the Internet these days! I’m not saying to just not do your own research but when a dog is so sick they have almost died, it is time to listen to our vet’s advice! Time to stop self diagnosing!