[aquariangt]

There is a sticky on the help section of the forums on how to load it.

That’s interesting that they told you to just add that for digestion. I wouldn’t add anymore rice if it were me, and I would only add chicken under the amount of unbalanced topper you should be doing. I don’t have giant breeds so I can’t answer the goats milk-> calcium question very thoroughly so hopefully someone with more experience will pipe up, but I like the benefits of goat’s milk in general

[aquariangt]

That does seem a bit odd, Aimee. Frenchie- are you doing it because he is having stomach issues? That’s usually the only reason I’ve heard of anyone doing just chicken and rice, but it certainly isn’t healthy for every other day. If it’s because of stomach issues, I’d be worried that the Fromm is not agreeing with your pup

[aquariangt]

Melissa is correct, never let anyone approach you. Usually simple as “my dog isn’t friendly” and they’ll stay away. I would continue trying some group classes, and if your teacher is prepared they should try keeping you behind a barrier if she is reacting badly. Let ginger start hearing and smelling other teams working around you, and gradually go into it that way. A shy dog class could be of use as well. Start learning what triggers and counter them with positive encouragement.

When you’re walking, keep your distance, but when another dog starts walking by, try some high value treats. It won’t help overnight, but keep reinforcing that another dog walking by is not a bad thing. Work on getting ginger to focus on you, and not on the dog walking by. And again, never let anyone approach you or you will continue to feel frustrated, and it’s not really her fault when that happens. I have one that isn’t necessarily fearful but doesn’t like strange dogs in her business, and I’ve been known to body block on walks when people who don’t have a recall decide to walk off leash 🙂 get comfortable doing that as well

[aquariangt]

/forums/topic/whats-the-article-about-who-manufactures-what/

I think there was an older one, but i had to ask one time too

[aquariangt]

If you have a kitchen aid or other stand mixer, I love the meat grinding attachment. I don’t make my own dog food right now, but I use it for homed sausage and whatnot. One of my favorite kitchen tools

[aquariangt]

2 of mine did well on orijen, 1 did not. He has had issues on other rich things as well though. I know plenty of people that love it.

I kind of like their treats, the dogs love them. They do get a bit crumbly which can be irritating

[aquariangt]

How’s his weight looking? Being such a little guy, any amount would be pretty obvious. If he is still in good shape, I wouldn’t increase too much

[aquariangt]

Sandy, I’ve used the yaks sticks. They love em, definitely a special occasion treat in my house

[aquariangt]

If you’re ok with Diamond, what about 4health or the Costco stuff?

[aquariangt]

Subtle, BCNut, Subtle

[aquariangt]

out of curiosity, why only fish?

[aquariangt]

Speaking of custom pet food, I tried the purina versions website. Load of crap. Change your answers around, not much changes. Full of all the same purina junk, with an even higher price tag than usual. I’d be interested to see how many suckers fell for it

[aquariangt]

Melissa, I’ll have to try Prozac for my shy dog, maybe it’ll help her meet strangers on walks

[aquariangt]

There seems to be a decent amount of dogs that are intolerant to chicken, but you shouldn’t rule it out unless you’ve tested it out.

As far as getting actually samples, either in a pet store or directly from the manufacturer are usually the only way to get them. Petflow occasionally has “Samples” that really are like 1 lb bags of food to test out

[aquariangt]

that is the angle people make for Diamond. However, there are other budget friendly options

[aquariangt]

I like Kyjen’s slo bowls

[aquariangt]

Sandy-that works great! They are like a dog cheetoh. They only last about 10 seconds once that happens 🙂

[aquariangt]

We just put in an order for Fresh is Best at the store, as we’re going to phase out the Zuke’s. I’m excited and glad to see you recommend them Sandy. I’ll report back the findings

[aquariangt]

definitely could be. That’s part of the fun of mixes, figuring out what they are, or not even figuring it out. Looks like an energetic, fun dog one way or the other!

[aquariangt]

Have you ever heard of wellness, acana, Orijen…. Are you kidding? Yes everyone here has heard of them, and yes, they are still high in carbs, and yes they are still considered kibble, as all dry food is kibble. Maybe less carbs than all the low quality corn and soy kibble, but still carb heavy none the less.

The thought process that wet food rots teeth is a very old wives tale. And forgive me for saying so, but you did already tell someone that this message was just for hdm so Not to respond.

Spaniel39, I recommend a bit more research before making comments like your last one

[aquariangt]

My first thought is border collie and/or cattle dog mix of some sort

[aquariangt]

I thought about not helping and not saying that the kibble/teeth thing is more of a myth than anything, but I also didn’t (as I am not HDM myself)

[aquariangt]

I will preface by saying that those tests are a bit uneven. You could go get it done again and get different results. It’s not a bad starting point but the best way to find out what ingredients your dog is intolerant of would be via elimination diet.

I certainly wouldn’t consider SD your best or even a good option, unfortunately.

First Five Ingredients:
Starch, Hydrolyzed Chicken Liver, Soybean Oil, Hydrolyzed Chicken, Powdered Cellulose

That freaks me out a bit. ok, a lot. If it were me, I would try a couple 5 lb bags of food to get a few things figured out and go from there. A recommendation I would give to start would be Acana Pork and Butternut Squash-it’s got peas but they are a ways down. Nature’s Variety Instinct has some LID diets as well that you could try out. Wellness does as well. So does Natural Balance but I don’t particularly like that brand enough to recommend it

If all else fails and none of these LID diets work for you, I would go for homeade or commercial raw before going onto that science diet thing they’ve got you on

[aquariangt]

I hate Panera as well. I liked them when they first came to market because they were the only ones doing what they do, but I feel like they are so average in taste-with small portion sizes to boot. They also steal a lot of my business 🙂

I’m very interested in your meeting though, definitely take notes!

[aquariangt]

Hopefully others that have done more of this than I have will respond but I believe you wouldn’t want bone with either premix. They have the nutrients necessary already without.

As far as comparing the two, I’ve used both their completes- I like thk aka bit more for that but I like sojos consistency more

[aquariangt]

Somewhat depends where you live/what your lifestyle is like. Rabies however, is most likely the law

[aquariangt]

The Chicken and Turkey Source blend does not have fish, which I use that and the rabbit in rotation-the rabbit does. The Chicken/Fish and Fish/Shrimp of course both do

[aquariangt]

The dry is ok, I used it and my cat ate it. If you want dry from PetSmart I recommend Simply Nourish Source-much higher in protein and grain free, all things good for cats. I like the canned too but my cat is terribly picky and won’t eat it

[aquariangt]

Nancy-Are you a member of Editor’s Choice here? None of the brands there are Diamond made. I feed a pretty rotational diet myself, a few brands that I recommend that are NOT diamond associated: Fromm (I use 4star, and grain free mostly, just not for my pea intolerant girl), Earthborn (again, I like grain free of theirs), Acana/Orijen, Simply Nourish Source, and if you are interested in the dehydrated route, The Honest Kitchen. Victor is also a top food recommended on here, but I haven’t tried it myself-hard to find here

[aquariangt]

Real Meat is great. Another meat option would be Sojos Simply treats. Just dehydrated raw beef, turkey, or lamb. They are the best commercially sold training treats ive found

[aquariangt]

USA, thanks for that information! I hadn’t even thought of that. I’ll have to maybe move on from those, I won’t use antlers, but still plenty of other chew out there

[aquariangt]

Dori- if you can find the small pieces that would work, definitely the horns are too big, I do use the full horns for mine and you’re even smaller

[aquariangt]

as long as it isnt cooked you should be good. Bacteria is always a possibility but if you get it from a reputable source you should be good to go. I get from butchers on occasion but i usually buy from pet stores, sometimes it’s irradiated which works out, but good pet stores know whats healthy

[aquariangt]

at 8 months antlers could still be worrisome, but if you want to go for it, try to find moose instead of elk-they’re a bit softer. The horns don’t really chip off any different than a rib bone. Frozen marrow bones are great as well if you can find a place that carries them. Once they’ve gotten the marrow out you can refreeze them with peanut butter or canned food or rehydrated raw food, so it works for a nice long time.

[aquariangt]

I wouldn’t worry yourself over staying within the brand, that’s a bit of a myth. I switch between brands with every bag, and i don’t even bother to mix them unless i dont have enough left to give a full meal. Depending on how you switched though if your dog isnt used to a rotational diet, you may have switched Acana too fast, as that is a fair amount lower in protein than orijen (which i can’t use either) I do like acana, though alot if their kibble sizes are a bit big for my liking.

I don’t recommend blue buffalo at all-any line of them. sketchy company, if you nose about on the forums you will see a lot more in depth comments about tham

Some dogs dont do well on certain proteins, so that could have been the case with the beef there, though it could have been changing him too quickly if he isn’t used to it.

As far as that range of protein %, I would try out Fromm, especially the 4 star line, they have plenty of flavors to pick from. I also like Earthborn, and the small breed i use a lot in my rotation as I have one that has issues with peas so a lot of grain free blends don’t work for us (though sometimes I just buy her a separate bag and the other 2 can share) but the Earthborn grain free line is a favorite of mine as well, though it’s a bit higher in the protein than what you are looking for. Go! is manufactured by Now Fresh and they have Now Fresh and Summit you could look into. Nature’s Variety prairie is a bit lower and from a solid company, precise is a good company…you will find that in the 20%s for protein, you probably won’t be at 5 stars, but as long as the red ingredients are kept to a minimum, i wouldn’t balk at the food if it’s what you need to do for your dogs stomach

[aquariangt]

We also have some pieces of them that we call “flexies” that aren’t the whole horn. I’m not positive how big Bailey is from the pictures, so keep in mind that some of the horns are quite large. I use the smaller pieces myself, but aussie/bc size dogs can use the smaller full horns, and labs and bigger can use the big ones

[aquariangt]

what do you consider high protein %? There are some that are in the mid 30% that are 5 stars as well, which is where i feed, and don’t particularly consider it high. I have one who can’t really handle 40% so that’s what I mean when I say “high”. There is certainly nothing wrong with 4 and 4.5 star foods on this site either though, so don’t be as worried about that

[aquariangt]

we carry them, and im not actually sure where we get them from lol, I’ll have to check. Wag.com and petco both have them as well

[aquariangt]

How old are they? I certainly wouldnt ever feed a puppy an antler, and in general they make me nervous as a whole. if you are looking for a really tough chew, I find water buffalo horns to be a bit less brittle on the teeth. They will get through them, but not as quickly as some other things. One nice thing about the site I said is that they have most product in bulk, and it’s definitely not $20. Antlers are usually the most expensive chew

[aquariangt]

I agree with everything HDM said, just wanted to add that my favorite dental chew (i use RMBs as well) is a brand called Whimzees, they are available at most specialty pet stores, and I have them at my farm supply store here as well

[aquariangt]

Bestbullysticks.com has a lot of good chew options. My personal favorites are rib bones and stuffed aortas. Most smaller scale pet stores have a nice selection of chews as well

[aquariangt]

Naturella gave you plenty of information to go off of, so I would review some of the things she linked. I’m a sheltie person too 🙂

As far as Budget friendly-I’ll second Marie’s Earthborn-I don’t really follow a budget either but I do use that in rotation. I don’t like Nutro-almost every dog food is AAFCO certified (im a bit confused, do you just mean AAFCO compliant?) so I wouldn’t use that as a base or selling point.

A few other options that come to mind: Victor if you can find it as Marie said-it’s not really around me and it’s pricy online, but haven’t tried it myself-Simply Nourish-I use the source blends from time to time are a few other options. Dr Tims people seem to like and I haven’t tried. Whole Earth Farms is budget friendly but made by Merrick, so buy it after doing your research on them. I wouldn’t personally but plenty of people like them

[aquariangt]

you could also add some good canned on top to help boost the protein, which you can do for all of them so you don’t have to just switch one to a special diet

[aquariangt]

So you come onto a site that clearly doesn’t favor food like SD, ask that no one reply, and expect a good discussion?

Just getting things straight. I have nothing to say

[aquariangt]

oh, also-have you varied the protein sources from all of those brands? Definitely try to mix those up, maybe he doesn’t like something

[aquariangt]

Have you tried canned or dehydrated?

[aquariangt]

you may try some probiotics or pumpkin while you transition to the higher protein, especially orijen and other close to or over 40% proteins. Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form is a nice one, and plenty of other options as well. 11% protein is quite a jump for your yorkie and if you have a sensitive stomach it may take a little bit for him to get used to it. But yes, some dogs do struggle with protein that is quite that high

[aquariangt]

Nature’s domain has been reviewed on the review side.

While it looks like a fine food, it very likely won’t ever make it to editor’s choice due to the manufacturing (done by diamond) which is the same reason I wouldn’t feed it

[aquariangt]

Those allergy tests can be sketchy. If you got another one run then you would most likely get different results. I second the suggestion of an elimination diet, and use small bags and try out some LIDs to figure out what’s working. Or homemade/raw

[aquariangt]

Ok, so I reported yours just to see. You don’t get anything, it just reloads the page. I also have no option to unreport

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