[aimee]

Hi Heather,

My recommendation would be for you to ask the vet who is treating your dog for a food recommendation.

Susan,
I’m glad your dog does well on TOTW Sierra Mountain Roasted Lamb but it always puzzles me when you describe it as one protein and limited ingredients. Every ingredient you listed after the lamb.. sweet potato, peas, egg, and potato has protein in it as do ingredient you didn’t list like tomato, blueberry, raspberry, chicory root and possible natural flavors and fermentation products. The food is neither single protein nor limited ingredient.

[aimee]

Hi Kelsey,

Pitlove is right Petfooled is laden with misinformation it’s too bad really.. anyway here are just a few comments I made about it on the review section

” Here is an excerpt from the trailer and the film as an example of misinformation. In reference to corn wheat and soy “those are the things that cause overweight, diabetes, arthritis,chronic skin allergies, infections..”

The problem is, is that there is just as much evidence to say that beef, lamb, and chicken are the things that cause overweightedness, allergies, diabetes, and infections as there is to say corn, wheat and soy cause those things. In other words there is no basis to be making either statement. It is all “fake news”

“What was presented was very biased. For example in regards to rendering there were pics of body piles and dead stock and road kill but no real discussion that the material used in pet food is usually always from a USDA integrated facility leading the viewer to think that road kill and dead bloated cattle is the primary source for pet food ingredients.

Major blunders in facts ( they couldn’t even get the anatomy labeling correct ) and appeal to nature fallacy.

Dr. Becker incorrectly reported that the scientific name of the dog was
changed from canis lupus familiaris to just canis lupus because dogs
are essentially wolves vs them being a recognized subspecies.

She reported the change was because the only differences between wolves and dogs is “outer packaging”

Shesh!!
Fact check people, just don’t lift garbage off of raw feeding sites
and repeat it! What she said was pretty much verbatim from here https://www.balanced-canine…

What really happened was that the dog was canis familiaris and was
changed to canis lupus familiaris. Similar renaming occurred with other
domestic animals: separate species names were abandoned in favor of
classifying under the same species and assigning a subspecies name.

No mention of the Nature journal paper that reported on the genetic
adaptation of dogs vs wolves in regards to carbohydrate metabolism.Hmm
wonder why….

Implications that major pet food companies won’t disclose where they source from because they declined to be interviewed for the film. I understand why they would decline to be interviewed and if the producers of the film were interested in looking at sourcing info
they could have just lifted it from company web pages.

Did they not want the viewer to know that human grade 1 and 2 grains and meat from USDA integrated plants is used in pet foods?

All in all a waste of time. Not worth paying for and not worth watching.”

Also, did you know that the average debt for a person graduating vet school is upwards of $167,000 with 20% owing more than 200,000? Therefore this statement, “Vets push Science Diet so hard because Science Diet puts them through school. Science Diet is somewhat like a sponsor for the vet.” is complete “fake news” Oh sure they may get a pocket protector and some free pens or a back pack . Vet Students used to get a “hard” copy of Small Animal Clinical Nutrition. Don’t know if they still get a hard copy as you can just download it off their site, (You can too for that matter and if you are interested in nutrition it is worth your time to read it.) and I think vet students can buy their Hill’s food at a reduced rate. Big deal, nothing that would even make a teeny tiny dent in the cost of their education. Student loans are what puts vets through school not Science Diet.

[aimee]

Hi Christie,

I hope your Mom’s dog is feeling better.

When I read this statement it struck me as interesting. “This vet said that the dog should have been put on antibiotics for two weeks instead of one week than the other vet prescribed. He also said that the other vet should have given the prescription food at the same time as the antibiotics to help dissolve the struvite crystals, while the antibiotics worked against the infection. So that was strike two.”

I’m interpreting it as as two strikes against the first vet and I found that interesting. Was the first vet incorrect in the assessment of your dog’s condition? Was the second vet incorrect? Or were both correct or neither correct? Those are the options.

It seems one concern was over duration of treatment. Is there a right answer or is it an unknown? Way back when in the late 80’s early 90’s when my dog had UTI the standard treatment duration was 3 weeks of antibiotics. Now most consider that overkill and that that type of duration only damages the gut microflora. A newer protocol for E coli calls for only 3 days of treatment. So the “standard” is changing and shifting to shorter courses is more common, sometimes only 3-5 days are being used and 1 week is considered overkill LOL So I don’t see it as a strike against vet 1 for scripting a 7 day course.

Crystals: Are they a problem and is a special diet needed? The significance of crystals depends on the type. Since you mentioned s/d I’m going to assume they were struvite crystals. Struvite crystals are common… so common that they can be considered normal in dogs and rarely in need of any treatment. Did/do they in this situation need to be addressed with a special diet? Hmm personally I’d lean to saying no… So for me I really don’t see a big issue with the food not having been given concurrent with the meds and wouldn’t call “strike two” on vet one.

[aimee]

Hi Linda,

Sorry to hear about your dog. I too have a black lab.
I wouldn’t have any concern feeding the Royal Canin Renal support. I understand that people don’t like corn and wheat and by products if that is your concern. As for myself, after spending a lot of time reading the published literature ( search Pubmed) I don’t have any concern about them.

In regards to kidney disease using plant based protein can be advantageous as the phosphorus is bound in the form of phytate. I read some interesting reports in humans that vegetable based protein for pregnant woman with kidney disease is preferred as then they can feed more protein needed for child development but not overly increase the phosphorus burden. Vegetable proteins are incomplete and need to be balanced with each other and or a animal based source. What is important is the overall balance of the amino acids. the body doesn’t care where they came from.

Foods sold without veterinary oversite will likely be inappropriate for most kidney disease patients who need restriction. Kidney disease is one area where customizing a diet through the use of a veterinary nutritionist is valuable.

[aimee]

Hi KodaHappyTails,

So sorry to learn of your dogs illness. I lost one of my dog at the age of 14 possible from her Mast Cell disease. She was diagnosed ~ 7 years prior and treated twice with Chemo therapy. Her oncologist said she’d never had a dog with such extensive Mast Cell cancer do so well for so long. I didn’t change her diet, she ate a therapeutic low fat diet made by Eukaneuba probably about 50%-60% carb calories with fresh fruits and vegetables.

My sister’s dog survived Lymphoma, the only dog I’ve ever known that survived that disease. She was feeding Iams Mini chunk before the diagnosis and continued to feed that through Chemo and recovery.

Cancer cells do preferentially utilize glucose but I don’t think a low carb diet or a ketogenic diet influences growth to any appreciable degree as the glucose levels in the blood will remain within a narrow range. There are some weak published studies in mouse model brain cancer and a ketogenic diet but it is a large leap from that to application of cancers of other types in other species.

Personally I think the KetoPet group is after a money grab. They haven’t published anything in a peer reviewed journal. I think ultimately they are going to try and generate a lot of hype through their unsubstantiated reporting and then market a diet to pet owners and this is why you won’t find any information on the diet on their site. If you want to feed a ketogenic diet Purina makes Brightmind and Neurocare.

I see no advantage to feeding a raw diet. The safest way to do this if you elect to do so is to use a commercial HPP product The only one I’d consider is Nature’s Variety

[aimee]

Hi Susan,
You wrote “Hi Jenny you go girl, educate your vet about pet food nutrition…” WOW!

The vet may be making those recommendations because he/she is very highly educated in nutrition. Dr. Wynn a holistic vet and boarded nutritionist feeds Science Diet, Royal Canin and Purina. I find that it is the most highly educated that feed and recommend products from these companies.

Jenny, not sure how the vet will answer in regards to ingredients from China but as someone who feeds Science Diet to my dogs I can tell you my thoughts. There are unscrupulous businesses and people everywhere. I don’t condemn everything from a particular country based on a few unscrupulous individuals and simply avoiding ingredients from a particular country doesn’t insure that the ingredients are pure. No matter where the sourcing is done trust no one and test everything. Larger companies have to ability and resources for quality control testing.

[aimee]

Hi Brian,

I think pitlove may have been quoting me as that sounds like something I’d say 🙂
For background my current Lab is my 4th. During growth I use foods from companies that demonstrate a vested interest in canine health. For me this means feed trialing and growth monitoring above and beyond the min AAFCO trial requirements. Few companies go to this extent.

I’ve raised my last two on Purina Pro Plan and have been very pleased with the results. The breeder of my current Lab recommended Pro Plan as she found it worked best with her line. I’ve rotated in other brands but her coat does best on Pro Plan. She has a lot of coat…big rounded otter tail and a lot of bone. She is a beautiful girl. Her littermate is MBISS( Multiple Best in Specialty Show) Grand Champion Paradocs Delain’s Scrubbin in

[aimee]

Hi Kristen,

This myth that carbohydrate in the diet feeds yeast has proven to be a hard one to crack. While I have found certain people state that it is true I’ve never found a reference in the published scientific literature to support that idea. If you have a link to such a publication I’d love to see it.

As PitLove said, Mallassezia is a fat loving yeast. With some strains, you can offer it all the sugar it could possible want but if you don’t give it fat it simply won’t grow well or dies off, offer it fat and the growth takes off.

Besides the fact that Mallassezia prefers fat to grow there is simply no mechanism through which higher dietary levels of carbohydrate would lead to higher levels of carbohydrate on the surface of the skin to “feed” the yeast as they live outside the body. If you have an explanation I’d love to hear it.

Read through Masuda et al 2000 Study of Lipid in the ear canal in Canine Otitis Externa with Mallassezia pachydermatis. Some interesting findings are the difference in the amount of fatty acids in the ear wax between breed and the correlation with yeast.

[aimee]

Hi Shandi,

As you are new to making a homemade diet my recommendation would be to wait until adulthood to introduce a homemade diet. Use a commercial food during the critical growth period. One that is complete, balanced and has been through growth trials for a large breed dog. Growth is a demanding stage and mistakes in nutrient balance can have life long consequences.

The one pup I know raised on homemade raw, by an owner that had been feeding raw for years to her adults, ended up with poor growth, anemia and needed orthopedic surgery to correct the bone growth problems.

This life stage, growth, is unforgiving. It isn’t the lifestage for you to “cut your teeth” on in regards to raw feeding.

aimee

P.S. Petfooled doesn’t in any way reflect what is happening is the pet food industry. It contained a lot of misinformation. Heck, the producers even went so far as to mislabel the anatomy and taxonomy of the dog in order to fool the person watching it. It is easy to be fooled by PetFooled. They were very good at accomplishing the what they set out to do.. Fool the pet parent hence the title.

[aimee]

Megann D,

Properly balancing a homemade diet is a challenge for an adult, I wouldn’t advise it at all for a pup. The one pup I personally knew that was raised on a raw homemade diet ended up anemic, with poor growth and needed orthopedic surgery to correct the limb abnormalities that developed. The owner had fed raw homemade for years… but always to adults. You have one chance to grow your pup’s structure. Why risk that?

Raw chicken is a great source of Salmonella and Campylobacter and while adult dogs with mature immune systems may be able to tolerate this bacterial challenge, puppies often surcumb to illness

If you insist on feeding a rawdiet to your pup use a product that has been high pressure pasteurized and has passed feeding trials for growth.i.e.Nature’s Variety

[aimee]

Hi Mon C,

I’m like Rachel.. I shred the meat post cooking to mix in better and as anon said I don’t serve as chunks as mine are gulpers I worry about choking. When using Honest Kitchen bases mixes keep in mind that according to the nutritional information the company posts the mixes plus protein don’t make a complete and balanced diet. The only premix I’ve found to make complete and balanced meals are the ones from balanceit dot com.

When I fed Preference to my dog the food components came out looking exactly as they went in. I think this is because the dehydrated components of some sources are not digestible. If I cooked the food after rehydrating them the food appeared digested.

[aimee]

Hi Soph M,

I’d heard of Hilary’s Blend but never really took a look at it until now. I have multiple concerns which would lead me to pass. The major concern I have is this: “Its exact composition is a trade secret.” Without knowing what is in the supplement no one can check her formulations. Secondly, the recipe example uses vague ingredients that will have very variable nutrient profiles. ( canned applesauce, tomato sauce). Additionally, she states all the recipe meet AAFCO yet includes a chapter on renal patients. (A correctly formulated diet for renal patients in need of diet modification would never meet AAFCO.) Finally, she calls herself a pet nutritionist which rubs me the wrong way. The term is meaningless, I can call myself a pet nutritionist too. Though she doesn’t hold any advanced degrees in nutrition, she is formulating for dogs/cats with disease conditions.

Hilary’s blend falls far short of the parameters I look for when I compare to balanceit. I have no hesitation to use balanceit but lots of red flags in regards to Hilary’s blend.
Hope that helps!

[aimee]

Hi Soph M.

While I’m sure the woman at the pet store meant well the advice you received was inappropriate and will over time surely lead to problems.

Strombeck’s recipes were based on the nutritional information known at the time but today are considered unbalanced. Additionally, multi vitamins differ significantly in nutrient profile and because human supplements have increased the Vit D levels in them in response to human findings the levels are too high to supplement a canine diet.

If you haven’t yet looked at balanceit dot com please do so. There is an interactive tool in which you can choose what ingredients you want to feed and them it balances the diet and tells you how much of the balance it supplement to use. Balance it is run by a boarded veterinary nutritionist.

[aimee]

Not having heard of Only Natural Pet Wholesome Homemade I took a quick look at the product and have to say like other niche natural foods I’m flabbergasted by what I found. It appears to me that the product consists of kibble into which some dehydrated veggies are mixed. The instructions are to add water to rehydrate the veggies.

This is what took me aback. The company reports that the diets have been formulated to meet AAFCO. AAFCO set a limit on calcium as max of 2.5%. The company reports the calcium levels as 2.7% in the chicken, 2.9% in the fish and a whopping 4.8% in the redmeat. How I ask can a company not see that all of those values exceed the AAFCO allowed max?? Either the company doesn’t understand that 4.8 is greater than 2.5 or they failed to notice that the nutrient content exceed AAFCO either way it is a company I’d pass on.

Lisa in regards to Good Friends Naturals by Rural King contact the company and ask who formulated the food and what that persons credentials are, where is it being made and is there a veterinary nutritionist or PhD nutritionist on staff. Have them describe their quality control procedures. ( is every ingredient independently tested before being incorporated in to the food? What type of post production tests are being done) Will they provide you or you vet with a full nutrient analysis. This is a good article on choosing a pet food /choosing-dog-food/brand-guidelines/

[aimee]

Hi Soph M,

Have you checked out balanceit dot com? That’s the only one I’d trust. In regards to raw veggies I’d puree or cook them to get the most benefit from them.

[aimee]

Hi Honey Bar,

I pick a food based on the company. In my opinion there are two types of companies. Those that have a vested interest in canine health and those that just market dog food. Companies that have a vested interest in health feed the foods they make to animals in their care and follow their health, contribute to the understanding of canine nutrition through research and often reach out in times of needed disaster relief, community shelters etc. Marketing companies in comparison focus on getting the consumer to buy the food and the health of the animal may take a back seat to that goal. I’ve found some marketing companies to be woefully inadequate in regards to quality control, nutritional knowledge and food formulation, others are adequate.

Companies that are vested in canine health and nutrition are generally the larger companies: Hill’s, Royal Canin, and Purina. They invest their money back into research. The bulk of my dog’s diets consist of products from these companies.

Raw diet generally may have a slightly higher digestibility then commercial diets but that is of little practical significance. Of the raw food providers I think Natures Variety makes the best products.

In regard to Hill’s products I utilize them and they are one of the companies that Dr. Susan Wynn, who I think is one of country’s top ,if not the top, holisitc/integrative vet, veterinary nutritionist, and past president of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association feeds her own pets. I think you and your vet did fine by choosing these products. That said I do mix it up a bit and feed foods from several companies and add fresh foods as well.

[aimee]

Hi Donna,

Hair and saliva tests are completely unreliable so don’t bother basing a diet off of them. I sent in IV solution as “saliva” and cotton from the swab in the kit as “hair” to Glacier Peaks and my “dog” was reported to have numerous sensitivities. A couple vet dermatologists did testing with Immune IQ and found the tests unreliable.
http://news.vin(dot)com/vinnews.aspx?articleId=44539

That said if you want to look further into adverse food reactions as the cause of your dog’s problems talk to your vet about doing a proper elimination diet using a vet diet made for this purpose or a home made diet. You can find more information here. http://www.veterinarypartner(dot)com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2499

[aimee]

Hi FrankiesDoggie,
I’ve looked at a lot of commercial raw diets including Darwins, Primal, Natures Variety, Answers. Natures Variety as a company was able to correctly answer my nutritional inquiries to them and they HPP their diets. In general when I’ve looked at the nutrient profiles of other raw diets I’ve found self reported deficiencies. When I contact the company to inquire about the self reported deficiency they don’t reply.

Some providers simply grind up animal parts and sell it as dog food. Personally I wouldn’t use that type of product at all. In order to balance such a product you’d need a full nutrient analysis and I’ve never seen this type of information provided. Dogs can look great on highly unbalanced/improper diets but eventually they cause problems.

[aimee]

Hi Kelsey,

In addition to the blood testing was urine tested? If not that might help in determining the best course for your dog.

Ask your vet about g/d diet. The phos level is lower than commercial foods but protein is higher than K/D. I believe it is for just this type of situation. To determine if a non vet food meets your needs verify with the company what the max phos is. Non therapeutic diets are not specifically formulated for medical problems and the company may not be monitoring the the phos level in the diet as closely as the vet may want. Hill’s, because they are kidney centric likely does monitor phos in their senior products

[aimee]

Hi Cameron,

I just wanted to say I enjoyed your posts and got a chuckle from your “straying deep into the weeds” comment.

[aimee]

Purina and Hills also each make a very low fat therapeutic diet. Perhaps one of those would be easier to consistently find.

[aimee]

Hi Anna,

Check an actual bag of pre mix. AAFCO requires the source be listed. Some time ago I contacted my state feed control official about this issue along with others. A stop sale order was issued and new labels were made. Maybe they just never updated the website.

If the label isn’t listing the source contact your feed official.

Some things are proprietary, but I also think companies hide behind “proprietary” when they haven’t a clue as to what is in their food. I think GL falls into this later category.

[aimee]

Hi Craig,

Thanks for posting this. I plan on spending some time checking the site out further. On first glance it looks quite interesting. I saw that some products/brands that people vilify here such as Purina were assigned 5 stars and others like Acana/Orijen that many posters to this site embrace were assigned the lowest rating of only 1 star.

I like that ratings are based in part from actually testing the diets for contaminants and that this isn’t a pet food ratings site per say. It looks like the same group of food scientists and medical professionals also tested baby food

[aimee]

Hi Marie,

This recipe even with nu vet supplement looks to be very deficient.

For example for the entire recipe using the usda nutrient database for nutrient information and Wild caught Atlantic Salmon and medium grain brown rice I calculated out it contains 363 mg calcium. The nu vet supplement reports 100 mg Ca

NRC recommended requirements for a 50 lb dog are 1300 mg Ca/day Even if the 50 lb dog ate the entire recipe in one day plus the supplement the total Ca intake would be 463 mg Ca, falling far short of the required 1300mg.

Looking at another nutrient Vit A. The recipe contains 1100 IU and the supplement 1000 IU. NRA recommended amount ~1716 IU/day for 50 lb dog. If the dog ate the entire recipe along with the supplement the need would be met. But from feeding guidelines it appear that eating 1/3 of the recipe /day is more likely which doesn’t meet the requirement. To meet requirement the dog has to eat about 3/4 of the total recipe/day.

I don’t consider Nu vet to be an appropriate supplement for home cooking. When I tried to get a full nutrient profile for the supplement I was told it was proprietary and only the nutrients they post are available. This makes it impossible to use as a supplement for a home prepared diet.

Note: I had to make some assumptions when making the recipe so different values can be calculated. I used cups measured fresh not cooked and I didn’t add in the garlic.

[aimee]

Hii anon,

Does your vet utilize social media? If yes and you agree to it it would be great for the vet to take pics of your dog’s mouth and post through social media to spread the word about what a huge health difference brushing makes.

Hi FrankiesDoggie,
I use a Crest Spinbrush on mine. I find using the electric to be a lot easier. With a traditional brush my dogs would just try to suck the flavoring agent off the brush. With the spin brush that funny feeling on their tongue keeps them from doing that.

I introduced the sound first and paired with food, then the vibration aspect starting by placing the unit on their shoulder and pairing with food then moving gradually forward and in to the mouth.

[aimee]

Hi anon101,
Your link from a pet insurance company made me recall this story. The owner gave the dog a bone to chew. The dog in the course of chewing on it/eating it got it stuck in the back of the throat and it was blocking the airway. Lucky for the dog the owner noted the problem and rushed him to the vet where the dog was promptly sedated and a scope was used to retrieve the bone. The owners were so thankful they had insurance to cover the fees. BUT the insurance company denied the claim because the owner had purposefully given the dog the bone.

[aimee]

Hi FrankiesDoggie,

My advice is if you want to maintain a healthy mouth get out the brush. A brush is necessary to sweep away the plaque that collects in the space between the gum and the tooth, Bone chewing cleans the crown of the tooth,,, but that is really more of a cosmetic problem than a health concern.

When the mouths of African Wild dogs and feral cats that ate a natural diet were examined it was found that they had clean teeth but the incidence of periodontal disease was quite high not to mention the fractured teeth that comes from bone chewing.

[aimee]

Hi Barbara,

The current diet sounds unbalanced and depending on the type of ground beef may also be very high in fat. In any case it isn’t working for your dog.

Feeding a food specifically formulated for weight loss is recommended. Ask your vet for advice.

[aimee]

Hi Susan,

Because growth diets have to have enough minerals present to support bone growth they as a group are too high for a kidney patient in need of a low phosphorus food. AAFCO currently requires 2.5 grams phos/1000kcals to meet it’s nutrient profile for growth. Previous requirement could be as low as 2 grams/1000kcals which is the min amount reported for the Canidae puppy diet you suggested.

[aimee]

Hi Bobby Dog,

Thanks for the kind words.

Food for thought regarding the 10% rule. I think it is conservative and is based to cover those dogs whose energy requirements are on the low end of the spectrum. As example a dog that is on the low end of the energy requirement scale require 1 cup a day to maintain weight while another dog of the same weight needs 2 cups a day. If it only requires 1 cup to meet the dog’s nutrient needs that the other cup is for energy and therefore those calories don’t necessarily need to come from a rigid complete and balanced source.

[aimee]

If your dog requires for example 800 calories a day to maintain the correct body condition you’d want no more than 80 of those calories /day to be from unbalanced sources.

[aimee]

Hi Nicolette,

To find a food suitable for your pup I recommend that you go back to your vet and ask what phosphorus level she would like to see in the diet. In other words have her define “low” for you.

AAFCO requires phosphorus levels that are higher than the diets formulated specifically for kidney patients. The phosphorus levels in the kidney diets differ depending on company and formula but can be about .5-0.8 grams phos/1000kcals. For diets you can buy in the store without a vet oversite the min is currently 1 gram/1000kcals recently changed from 1.4 grams/1000kcals. Most diets greatly exceed this and companies only report their min and not average phos level.

In general the Hill’s company is renal proactive and their senior diets are formulated to be close to the old min of 1.4 grams/1000 kcals. Most of their diets include grain. They make a Salmon and potato grain free and the phos level in that is reported as ~1.6 grams/1000kcals

Your may have to switch to meal feeding your dogs to best meet the nutritional recommendations from your vet.

[aimee]

Hi Krista,

In regards to unbalanced additions to the diet, the “rule of thumb” recommendation from veterinary nutritionists is that no more than 10% of the total daily calories come from unbalanced sources. Because of the different water contents and fat contents of potential toppers if you follow a % rule based on volume you could cause nutritional deficiencies or excesses. 25% of the diet based in vegetables is very different nutritional profile than 25% of the diet of added meat with a fat content of 20 %.

[aimee]

Hi Jeannine M,

The article isn’t “wrong” the levels reported are the ranges that are currently adopted/adapted by AAFCO. AAFCO based its range on NRC recommended and safe upper limits and is that groups interpretation of the available research. NRC minimum Ca level is 2 grams/1000kcals, adequate is 2.5 grams/1000kcals, recommended is 3 grams/1000kcals and safe upper limit is 4.5 grams/1000kcals

I think where the confusion comes in is that veterinary nutritionists, when writing about LBP generally recommend to stick to the NRC recommended level which is 3 grams Ca /1000 kcals. More Ca than that isn’t needed. Considering that there is individual variation in energy intake between dogs and activity levels and even how tightly a manufacturer is monitoring their finished products the best way to avoid excessive Ca intake or even insufficient Ca intake is to stick close to the NRC recommend level which is 3.0.

In regards to ratio it may not be as important as the actual intake amount but nutritionists will recommend to stick to a ratio close to the reported”ideal” of 1.2:1

As for myself, and others too, when you consider you only have one chance to form a sound orthopedic structure I only purchase products from those companies that have shown a vested interest in supporting proper LBP growth and have the quality control procedures in place to ensure that their food is meeting their specifications. I’ve found that it is the larger companies that do this. They’ve actually fed their diet to Large Breed Puppies and monitored growth parameters. This is why you’ll find vets recommending Hill’s and Purina and Royal Canin

[aimee]

Hi Matthew,

From the Minnesota Urolith Center: “Control of urinary tract infection and appropriate antimicrobic administration is essential to prevent recurrence. Diets with reduced protein, phosphorus and magnesium that promote formation of acidic urine are helpful, but cannot be used as a substitute for appropriate control of urinary tract infections.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6sipzyMhHpyYTRLUnZJdm93eUU/view

In addition to the diet recommendation what measures did your vet recommend to try to minimize recurrence of infections and monitor for early detection of same? Whatever you decide in regards to diet make sure you follow directions in regard to frequent monitoring for return of infection.

[aimee]

Hi Anon101,

There is a lot of money to be made in Woo, so I doubt that stores will stop selling homeopathic “remedies”

People encase themselves in a system of belief and reject information that conflicts with that belief. My husband uses the term “bubble of belief” to describe this phenomenon, the person is insulated from evidence.

Correlation doesn’t equal causation. I think though that to make such links is strongly rooted in the primitive portion of our brain which is why people have such difficulty setting aside correlation and evaluating objectively. If the correlation was a personal experience the “bubble” is thick.

The movement to evidence based medicine is in response to the recognition that what we think works often doesn’t.

[aimee]

Hi Laura,

I truly hope that your vet didn’t recommend this test as it is not valid. The company has in my opinion been avoiding FDA crackdown by continually renaming and relaunching the “test” The most recent renaming and relaunching came right after I told Glacier Peaks that I ran a negative control sample. I purchased a test kit and sent in IV fluid as my saliva sample, as it is very near the composition of saliva, and instead of hair I sent in the cotton fibers from one of the swabs in the test kit. My “dog” tested positive for 63 food “sensitivities” 29 environmental “sensitivities” and 9 out of 12 positive concerns.

The company at that time was saying that the test was based in the field of quantum physics. I contacted 2 PhD quantum physicists and both said that what the company sent me was all “hokem” and that nothing in physics would explain what they were claiming.

Keep in mind that the company states that any item marked as a sensitivity may not have any adverse effect for your dog and that items that do not test as sensitive may cause a reaction. In other words the “test” is worthless.

If you want to purse food reaction as a cause for your dog’s problems take a good inventory of everything that has ever crossed your dog’ lips, then feed a diet that doesn’t contain any of those items . Use a therapeutic diet from your vet’s office formulated specifically for use in adverse food reactions and eliminate any other source of exposures which means no flavored medications, no chews, no poop eating, no scavenging etc. Hope you find resolution for your dogs problems.

[aimee]

Hi Jenn H,

I wanted to comment on this statement you made for others who read it.

“For heartworm I have their fecal tested every 4 months. Before the parasites reach the worm stage. This way if something shows up they can take the preventatives at that point, but not have to have the full blown heartworm treatment.”

I’m assuming that it is a simple “typo” when you said you have your dog’s feces tested every 4 months for heartworm, but for clarification I wanted to correct that error as it is blood that is tested not feces.

The current antigen heartworm tests detect the presence of a protein from adult female worms. The test does not detect the parasites in the larval form. If the test is positive, with the rare exception of a false positive test result, adult heartworms are present and “full blown” heartworm treatment will be needed.

[aimee]

Hi P.G.

It is a very simple calculation. Divide the % Ca by the number of kcals/kg then multiply the result by 10,000.

The percent Calcium tells you how many grams of Ca are in 100 grams of food. 1.2% Ca is equivalent to saying there are 1.2 grams of Ca in every 100 grams of food.

If you multiply the % Ca by a factor of 10 that gives you how many grams of Calcium are in a thousand grams of food ( kg) of food; in this case 12

We want to know how many grams of Calcium are in a kcal of food. If the food had 3500 kcals/kg dividing 12 grams/kg by 3500 kcals/kg = .0034grams Calcium/kcal

It is typical to express nutrients on a “per thousand” kcal basis. So multiply the number of grams in a kcal by 1000. In this case the result is 3.4 grams/1000kcals

To state another way (1.2 x 10/3500) X 1,000/1 =3.4 grams/kg which is the same as 1.2/3500 X 1000 X 10 or 1.2/3500 x 10,000.

Hope this helps!

[aimee]

Hattie,

I’ve always had Labs and mine have all been “easy keepers”, meaning that they had low energy requirements. If your Lab is an “easy keeper” then for weight loss you’ll be decreasing calories down to a point at which you need to watch nutrient levels to ensure that all nutrient needs are being met on fewer calories.

You have a good start by measuring her food. Did you measure her food before starting her on a weight loss program? If you did, the best way to know how many calories to feed for weight loss is to cut back about 15-20% from the number of calories she was consuming. A reasonable weight loss goal would be 1-2% a week. If she isn’t loosing then you need to decrease calories/ increase exercise or both and then weigh her the next week and adjust as needed to reach a 1-2% /week weight loss.

In regards to protein. an easy rule of thumb is 1 grams for each lb ideal body weight. So if her ideal is 70 lbs that means 70 grams protein a day. Currently with the 3 cups Fromm and .5 cup Keen you are feeding about 78 grams a day. If you decrease the calories to 1000 calories, ~25% decrease, the protein intake drops to ~ 60 grams. She’ll still be meeting NRC recommended amount at that level but you might want to switch to a food geared for weight loss that has a higher percentage of calories coming from protein.

Another rule of thumb is if you are feeding less than 80 % of the manufacturer recommended amount than you need to change foods.

This article is very comprehensive in regards to weight loss https://www.aaha.org/public_documents/professional/guidelines/weight_management_guidelines.pdf

[aimee]

Hi Molly,

If you are using Purina Smartblend Lamb and Rice, as Pitlove said, it is an All life Stages food. Purina reports the average nutrient analysis Ca content as 3.48 grams/1000kcals. I’d consider this level appropriate for an 8 month old large breed. I don’t see any need for you to switch off of it. As a bonus it has been through feeding trials

[aimee]

I just thought I’d comment since The Honest Kitchen ( THK) foods have been discussed in regards to LBP’s with the concerns referenced back to me.

The concern I have with THK is that not all of the nutrient profiles they have published currently meet AAFCO.

Here are a few examples:

“Love” is marketed as an all life stages food: ~4825 kcals/kg
THK reports Love’s Ca content as 1.19% DM Using the AAFCO min 1%DM and that any diet over 4000kcals/kg must be corrected for energy density the min calcium should be 1.37% The correction factor is 4825/3500 X 1% = 1.37 %

So here we see a diet below AAFCO min for Calcium. Using the newer AAFCO min of 1.2% DM and energy density of 4000kcals/kg. It is clear that even before using the necessary correction factor the diet will be below AAFCO The correction factor in the new guidelines 4825/4000 x 1.2% = 1.44%

“Thrive” is another all life stages food ~4859kcals/kg

THK reports Ca as 1.34%. Min Ca to meet AAFCO profiles :4859/3500 x 1 = 1.38% or 4859/4000 x 1.2 = 1.45%. Either way a smidge below AAFCO.

Looking at another nutrient from Thrive: THK reports Vit E as 54.11 IU
AAFCO min 4859/3500 X 50 = 69.4IU or 4859/4000 X 50 = 60.7 IU.. either way the diet falls short.

THK used to report the Vit E content in Keen as 23.45IU; clearly below AFFCO min of 50 IU. I contacted them via chat and they confirmed that was the correct and most current value. Then I asked why it was below AAFCO…and then they gave me a new number- 56.24 which is now on their website. Presto Chango!

They report 4524.6kcals/kg 4524.6/4000 X 50 = 56.56IU or 4524.6/3500 X 50 = 64.67IU. Either way their new number falls a bit short too.

It also concerns me that they do “Presto Chango” the nutrient information on their site when I inquire about a concern. That wasn’t the first time THK has immediately changed a nutrient level in their tables after I contacted them.

I like the concept of the food and I think it would be OK to use for intermittent or supplemental feeding but personally I wouldn’t raise a pup on any of their diets.

[aimee]

Hi Cannoli,

I read a post from a vet who wrote that chicken and turkey neck bones are the most frequent foreign body he has had to remove via scope from the esophagus …no doubt due the irregular shape.. all those protuberances.

Sadly those protuberances also puncture right through the esophagus and make removal challenging. He wrote that in the last month he had euthanized several young dogs due to perforation from bone. So sad and so avoidable.

I know of 3 bone cases from my own vet. One had already passed before arriving to the hospital ( choked on a chicken thigh bone cartilage “end cap”), in another the bone was successfully removed via scope ( the dog had pet insurance but claim was denied since the bone was intentionally given to the dog) the third was referred to a specialty hospital because the esophagus was perforated… the dog didn’t survive.

Here is a paper on removal of esophageal foreign bodies citing bone as the most frequent problem and reported a mortality of 11% http://www.irishvetjournal.org/content/63/3/163

I’m with you… it isn’t worth the risk.

[aimee]

Hi Spy Car,

Cannoli, Is making valid points in regards to feeding bones. Disclosure: When I was a teen I saw a young shepherd choke to death from a bone.. it was a horrible thing to witness.. and no doubt has forever shaped my thoughts on the feeding of bones to dogs.

The risk may be small… and you may think it will never happen to your dog, and most likely it won’t, but what if it does?

I would never be able to forgive myself if my dog choked or had an esophageal or intestinal perforation or a blockage from a bone I gave him/her, which is why I’ll never feed bones. Others may be able to deal with such a situation differently which will lead them to a different choice.

The dental benefits from bone chewing are primarily cosmetic (Clarke 1998) and do not come without dental risk in addition to the risk of death. Since brushing teeth is superior to bone chewing in maintaining dental health there is no “cost” to not offering bone.

Finally, I’m having difficulty in understanding the following statement and hoping you can explain it to me.”The PMR style of feeding with 10% bone keeps the Calcium Phosphorus ratios at the perfect 1.2:1 levels” I did the calculations for an 80/10/10 PMR breakdown and do not get a 1.2:1 ratio. 80 grams chicken breast has 4 mg Ca and 170 mg Phos, 5 grams chicken liver has 0 Ca and 15 mg Phos, 5 grams beef kidney has 1 mg Ca and 13 mg Phos. 10 grams chicken bone has 1800 mg Ca and 830 mg Phos. Adding them all together yields 1,805mg Ca and 1,028mg Phos for a Ca/Phos ratio of 1.75:1 and a mind blowing 16.4 grams Ca/1000 kcals.

Nutrient levels for chicken meat/ liver and beef kidney taken from USDA Nutrient database. Ca and Phos content in chicken bone from Suchy et al 2009 ” Chemical composition of bone tissue in broiler chickens intended for slaughter”

[aimee]

Hi John B,

The pet store employee needs to sharpen up his/her nutritional knowledge…. that advice is outdated. It may have had some validity many many years ago before puppy foods formulated specifically for large breeds were available, but not only is it is no longer valid, but it could be dangerous!

Correctly formulated large breed puppy foods are specifically formulated to help prevent growth disorders, that is the whole purpose of them. : )Adult dog foods.. not so much

In regards to Fromm…. both the “adult” and the “puppy” large breed are formulated for growth and there really isn’t that much difference between the two. Both report Calcium at 3 grams/1000 kcals which is the level nutritionists recommend, so either would meet your dog’s nutritional needs. But if the company itself recommends their puppy over their adult line, take their advice. Other companies’ adult foods are totally inappropriate for a growing large breed pup which is why to advice to use any “high quality adult food” is incorrect.

This article addresses the adult food for puppy myth http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=3501

[aimee]

Hi Courtney,

In regards to your questions:

I would get full blood panels on each dog prior to starting your new diet so that you have a baseline to compare back to. I’ve seen it recommended to repeat blood panels every 6 months for dogs on homemade diets.

Some feel comfortable feeding bones.. I do not… I do not think the risk is worth the benefit. If using raw bone as your calcium source I feel finely ground is much safer. Disclosure: I do not feed a raw diet. If I did I’d either use a commercial HPP product or would buy large cuts and partially cook to kill off the bacteria both on the surface and those that have migrated deeper and grind myself. I remain unconvinced that dogs tolerate food borne pathogens significantly better then people do.

What supplements you use are up to your own personal philosophy. The primary concern is that you feed a balanced diet. Unfortunately, when the raw diets that people were feeding have been analyzed, most people who participated in the study did not accomplishing this.

I understand the appeal of a simple 80/10/10 mix but honestly I think it requires just as much attention to detail to balance a raw diet as it does to balance a cooked diet.

There are a few veterinary nutritionists that will balance a raw diet, most will not. Veterinary nutritionists legally can not consult directly with you unless they examine your dog which is why you found that they do not do phone/e mail consults. However they can consult indirectly via your veterinarian. Your vet orders the consult and works with the nutritionist on your behalf.

In regards to carbohydrates, people do not have a dietary requirement for carbohydrates and dogs do not either. Both species require carbohydrate from a metabolic standpoint, the body just has to generate what the diet doesn’t supply. But I don’t understand this statement “Carbohydrates carry significantly less calories by volume than protein does” Protein and carbs are considered to carry the same number of calories /gram, the volumes involved will depend on the water content.

[aimee]

Hi Joseph,

I’m glad to hear that you are willing to continue to learn. When you posted that you thought the authors of the link I referred you to were spewing garbage it didn’t seem to me that you were willing to consider what they had said could be true.

I don’t disagree that by researching a focused topic you can become well educated on that subject. The key is to make sure that the sources you are using are credible. It is easy to get lead astray. I use Pub med and google scholar when I first start researching a new topic.

I’d encourage you to spend some of your hours researching Malassezia reading clinical microbiology journals. Through reading those I learned that this isn’t a sugar loving yeast, as is say Candida, it is a fat loving yeast (lipophilic). For the most part it is a fat dependent yeast, meaning that it requires fat to grow. Most strains of Malassezia pachydermatis, the yeast type most often found on dogs, are not lipid dependent but some are and other lipid dependent Malassezia species have been found on dogs. The organism thrives on fats not carbs.

Houndmusic: Besides the fact that Malassezia is a fat loving yeast. The other big hole in the “carbohydrates feed yeast” mantra is that the skin is a long way away from the gut. A high carb diet will directly provide substrate for intestinal yeast to munch on if one suffers from intestinal yeast overgrowth, but on the skin???… I don’t think so.

To get carb from the gut to the skin it has to travel and the means of transport is blood. Glucose levels in the blood are tightly regulated, unless you are a diabetic. Remove all carbs from the diet and your blood glucose isn’t going to be that different from that found when eating a carb inclusive diet. In other words, a similar amount of glucose is transported to the skin on a daily basis regardless of diet.

The final problem for me is how would glucose even get to the outermost surface of the skin on a dog which is where the yeast resides? N/P in people as glucose is a component of sweat… but dogs don’t sweat, except for paw pads and nose and sebum doesn’t have any appreciable glucose in it. Hmmm Housten we have a problem…

See how this whole idea that dietary carbs feed yeast falls apart? The organism prefers and thrives with fats not carbs and I can’t come up with a mechanism that puts carbs on the outermost surface of the skin of a dog much less one in which a high carb diet would deposit higher levels of carb on the skin than a low carb diet.

But I’m open to hearing the other side. Explain to me how eating a high carb diet results in a high level of carbs on the surface of the skin leading to an overgrowth of yeast. I don’t see it. What I do see is a lipid loving organism feeding on the sebum of skin altered from a primary cause.

[aimee]

Hi Joseph,

I have no doubt that you could post link after link claiming that the carbohydrate level in the diet influences yeast growth on the skin, but none of your links would be to articles authored by board certified veterinary dermatologists, human dermatologists or be from published peer reviewed journals. The reason for that is because there is no link between dietary carbohydrate levels and yeast infection on the skin in people or dogs. There is a lot of misinformation on the web and unfortunately some of it is spread by people who should know better.

I understand that testimonials are compelling, bloodletting used to be the cutting edge of medicine based on the observation that “it worked”. But things that appear to work, when tested can be found not only not “to work” but to cause harm.

You came here asking for help because what you have been doing isn’t working. Be open to new information that takes you in a different direction. Malassezia is secondary to things like environmental allergies, adverse food reactions (allergy), hormonal disorders, immune suppression, parasites… focus on finding and treating the primary cause. In the mean time bathing with an effective shampoo can help your pet immensely.

Best Wishes

[aimee]

Hi Joseph,

The amount of carbs, grains, sugars, etc in the diet have nothing to do with yeast growth on skin. If your dog has a food hypersensitivity reaction (allergy) to an ingredient in the diet the adverse reaction can alter the skin and allow yeast to grow.

You can find good information about yeast on skin here http://www.healthyskin4dogs.com/blog/2015/9/8/facts-myths-about-yeast-dermatitis-in-dogs

[aimee]

Hi Andrea,

For my dog with GI issues it was a combination of evaluation by the internist and trial and error food trials.

Between the tests at the regular vet and the ultrasound by the internist many causes were ruled out. Intestinal disease was suspected as the root cause based on the ultrasound findings but there were some pancreas changes as well.

The internist at this point recommended food trials over biopsy, at first eliminating all treats and using limited ingredient OTC foods. I did a trial with California Naturals chicken and rice and later lamb and rice. I kept a journal of symptoms as GI symptoms can wax and wane and we wanted to track in a more objective manner. I don’t remember how long I had him on each diet before changing I think about 6 weeks. The first two changes, no difference was found. Next we went to a vet therapeutic limited ingredient food and signs then resolved.

If I were to do it again I probably would approach a trial like I would for food “allergy” meaning taking an inventory of everything he had been exposed to and then taking in consideration common cross reactions choose a veterinary therapeutic diet for the trial.

I’m not a fan of using a hydrolyzed version of an ingredient the dog has been exposed to but I know of several dogs now with G problems that have done very well on hydrolyzed diets of an ingredient novel to them.

[Author]

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