[DogFoodie]

Hi Losul,

I just wanted to say again how sorry I am for all that you and Turbo are going through. I can’t imagine being in your shoes. Shawna sounded very encouraging in her earlier post, so I’ll offer all that I can, which are my prayers that Turbo’s treatment goes smoothly and that he makes a full and speedy recovery.

I also want to add that you’ve inspired me to be more consistent and vigilant with my dog’s heartworm prevention. I was bad about keeping track of when I had administered their doses, etc. I decided a short time ago to use natural products for flea prevention this year and had been previously using Trifexis for one dog and HeartGuard for the other. The Trifexis was a bad experience, so I was reluctant to use it, but it was paid for. Although we still have a foot of snow on the ground, with more on the way, I’ve already planned to have them tested the last week of March and talk to my integrative vet about her recommendations for the HW prevention products she feels are best for my dogs.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I’ll eagerly read this thread and especially your updates.

[DogFoodie]

I’m not a huge fan of heavily fish based foods because of the greater potential for rancidity. Here’s a really good article by Steve Brown for The Whole Dog Journal about rancid fats:

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/15_12/features/Fats-Chance_20658-1.html

[DogFoodie]

Hi James,

Some dry biscuits that I feel are made with quality ingredients by trustworthy manufacturers are Brothers Complete, Nature’s Variety Instinct, Wellness and The Honest Kitchen.

[DogFoodie]

I would agree with Patty. It may be chicken issue. I recently discovered my dog has a fish issue. I switched to a fish-free food, but it still contained fish oil, which in theory should’ve been OK (fat and oils are clarified and should have the offending protein removed); but he still reacted. Now I only feed foods that are completely fish free. For your dog, I would try a chicken free food. If that food contains chicken fat, see how he does. If he reacts, move to a chicken free food, one without chicken or chicken fat.

The best advice I can give you is what helped me the most. Start now and keep detailed notes about each food you use. I started a spreadsheet and keep detailed notes about each food I’ve used. Detail the ingredients (keep the label from the bag ~ ingredients change and what you find online in six months may be different that what your dog are and reacted to. I note the date I start the food, when I observe reactions, nutrient analysis, etc. My only regret is not having started my spreadsheet sooner. Some foods that my pup once did well on, aren’t working any longer so even when I’ve found several that do work, I’ll continue to keep notes and look for other foods. I once had an idea that I loved certain foods / brand, but I’ve had to think outside of my original box, but never outside of my comfort zone; ie: I pay I never have to try a Diamond food. I know my sensitive dog will always be a sensitive dog and his current reaction may evoke into other reactions.

Good luck!

[DogFoodie]

Hi Harper’s Mom,

I’ve never tried Merrick, bought some once and returned it after hearing about others who had problems with loose stool from the product. Sometimes when I first try a food, it’ll seem to be working fine for a while and then the symptoms slowly begin to develop over time. I tell you, the thing that helped me the most was this, having cataloged all of the foods in my stash by best buy date, I use them one at a time and take detailed notes of how things are going. I keep it all in a spreadsheet and it helped me identify my dog’s intolerances. Your pup may, or may not have an intolerance, but there’s no better time to begin keeping notes and saving the ingredient panel from the bag of food you were feeding (ingredients change so don’t rely on the being able to find the recipe online). You may find that suddenly a common ingredient pops up like how fish and fish oils are added to so many foods, even those that aren’t “fish-based,” but they also happen to be my dog’s intolerance.

I would look to switch your pup to a protein other than beef or duck and, like you mentioned, choose another brand for this round of your rotation.

Also, one other thing I just thought is this, I’ve never had luck with duck for either of my two dogs. Both of them developed loose stools after a period of time. I was using Back to Basics duck which contains a lot of organ meat and I wasn’t certain if the reaction was to the duck or the organ meat. I believe I tried duck again sometime later, but wasn’t keeping notes then or I could tell you for sure!

[DogFoodie]

Hi Jeff,

I would also rotate proteins for a wider variety of amino acids.

I believe that the one thing that James from Darwin’s encourages with regular rotational feeding of a variety of their products is adding a sardine to your dogs food every other day. Tinned sardines are fine and they’re the best source of Omega 3’s which are generally lacking in most diets.

You might also consider getting some of Darwin’s raw green tripe with your next order. Raw green tripe is full of amino acids, digestive enzymes and lots of nutrients. Darwin’s sells it in one pound packages and you can easily add it to a meal or serve as a meal.

[DogFoodie]

I’ve seen them also, Dori. I’ve haven’t bought any yet, but have had some Coco Therapy Coconut Chips in my Amazon shopping cart for a while.

Here’s a link to the product: http://www.amazon.com/Coco-Therapy-Coconut-Chips-170g/dp/B002XAXYFI/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1391450650&sr=1-1&keywords=organic+coconut+chips

[DogFoodie]

Hi dchassett,

I’m so sorry for the loss of your son. I cannot imagine how painful it must be to lose a child.

Peace & Blessings,
Betsy

[DogFoodie]

I avoid using canola or any products containing canola for myself and my family, including my dogs.

[DogFoodie]

Hi lonimck,

Several foods I think are great and are budget friendly are NutriSource, Victor and Dr. Tim’s. All are made by reputable manufacturers as well. If you can buy Victor locally, it’s less than $1 per pound! It’s more than that on Amazon, but that’s about the best place to buy it online.

Also, think about it like this, when you rotate foods, you might still be able to buy a more expensive brand occasionally and have a lower food bill over all.

Good luck! : )

[DogFoodie]

Oh my gosh! Knowing that Canidae still uses Diamond as a co-packer, I’m appalled that their rep told you that mountainhound. Canidae told you an outright lie and I’m beginning to think that Ethos is nothing more than a ruse to make people think that they no longer have any association with Diamond. That’s reason enough for me to never use their products.

[DogFoodie]

Hi Goldenmom,

Here’s a link to the most current list. It includes grain free, grain inclusive and commercial raw:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwApI_dhlbnFTXhUdi1KazFzSUk/edit?pli=1

[DogFoodie]

DOH!!! NO!!!

Dang, it! I was wrong, it was a four pound box! See, this is why I wish we could edit a post for more than just a couple of minutes after writing it. I hate that my previous post had that much misinformation.

So, to redo the numbers:

$48.86 for FOUR pounds of Zeal equals $12.22 per pound, divided by 16 tablespoons per pound equals .76 cents per tablespoon x 2 = $1.53 for my two tablespoon serving x 2 = $3.06 for my daily two toppers. It would be cheaper with Thrive, which is on HDM’s LBP’s approved foods list.

OK, still not terrible, but not as good. : )~

That’ll sooo teach me that when I’m busy at work I should be working and not be trying to sneak in and mess around on DFA!! I’m apparently just not as good at multi-tasking as I once was.

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

[DogFoodie]

Hi Parr,

Mine do amazingly well on Canine Caviar, too!

And, Hi Rambunctious,

I did some math…

There are four dry cups per pound of The Honest Kitchen. There are 16 tablespoons (or 48 teaspoons) in one dry cup. I use approximately two tablespoons of dry THK as a topper for my 77 pound Golden Retriever’s kibble. I paid $48.86 for a 10 pound box on THK Zeal on Amazon.com. $48.86 divided by 10 pounds is $4.89 per pound. If there are 16 tablespoons in a pound then each tablespoon costs .31 cents. So, if used as a topper twice daily, THK costs me .64 cents per day and the 10 pound box would last me 80 days.

So, I just did this calculation with Zeal, but you could easily plug the numbers into other THK varieties with the amounts that you would use (which could easily be less than two tablespoons). When you look at it this way, I think it sounds a lot better than just the outright price of the initial investment for such a high quality product!

[DogFoodie]

Hi Rambunctious,

One of my favorite toppers is The Honest Kitchen. I didn’t read your other posts, so I apologize if you mentioned you had special needs, but THK’s Thrive has appropriate Calcium for large breed puppies. It’s very fast and easy to put a couple of spoonfuls on top of his kibble and soak it all in water. Just stir, let it sit for about five minutes and its ready. THK is a dehydrated, less processed food, that just needs to be reconstituted with water. It’s a great product from a great company.

[DogFoodie]

Hi Ferrari4204,

I’m not too far from you in NW Indiana. I feed a variety of foods including commercial raw and I also came across a local product that I’ve found very interesting and gaining some popularity locally. I haven’t tried it myself yet and need to do a little bit more research into the product. Problem is, they don’t have a website and basically do all of their business locally, through word of mouth. When I was wanting more information about their products, I called the business and left a voice mail. The owner promptly returned my call, but unfortunately I missed his and haven’t made an effort to connect with him since. I was impressed how quickly he called me back and his responsiveness to my call.

My local product is called J.J. Fuds. I remember when I was a kid and JJ Fuds was a local butcher shop with a master sausage maker at the helm. Who knew there was such a thing as a master sausage maker, but there is. From what I understand, the family has over 100 years of sausage makers and their fine German craftsmanship has been passed down for generations. Kinda cool ~ artisan products are special.

My local operation is still owned by the same family. They prepare their raw dog foods in a USDA inspected facility and all of their raw meat and bones are USDA inspected product as well.

So, small local business, no advertising and no shipping. I have found a couple of websites that’ll ship the product, but am guessing they must also be local and their prices are higher plus the added shipping cost makes it pretty expensive. The company seems to be fine with their local niche market.

It’s very affordable and half the price of other commercial raw diets. The manufacturer delivers the product himself to some local pet food stores and groomers straight from their processing facility.

So, I haven’t tried my local product yet; but, now that you reminded me, I’m putting it back on my to-do list. : )

Here’s a sample ingredient list from JJ Fuds Tender Beef Chunks Dinner:

Ingredients:
Beef, Beef organ meat (Heart, Liver, Kidney, Tripe), Fresh Whole Eggs, carrots, Celery, Sweet potato, Flax Seed, Cranberries, Zinc Sulfate, Vitamin E Suppliment, Vitamin B-12 Suppliment, Niacin, Iron Sulfate, Vitamin A, Acetate, Copper Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Monoitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Biotin, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Sodium Selenite

[DogFoodie]

Hi Caroline,

I actually recently purchased this same product myself. I liked the idea of a whole food supplement and wanted one that included Taurine. I got it for a great price on Chewy.com. it’s a powder form and easily mixes into dry food, to which I add water. I can’t speak to the results yet because I just started using it this past weekend, but I have confidence in Nature’s Logic.

[DogFoodie]

Hi Kirsten,

Because yours is a large breed puppy, you should visit this thread and read some of the great information that Hound Dog Mom shares about large breed puppy nutrition and in particular, the need to feed them appropriate and controlled levels of Calcium. /forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/

Here’s HDM’s list of recommended foods for large breed puppies: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwApI_dhlbnFTXhUdi1KazFzSUk/edit?pli=1. This list is the best place to start when choosing a food. It includes grain-inclusive, grain free and species appropriate raw like Jastech mentioned.

Another important thing to remember is to keep a large breed puppy lean (rolly poly puppies may be cute, but they’re not healthy) and avoid over-exercising him during his growth period.

Congrats on the new pup!

[DogFoodie]

Akari, honey, why on earth do you give that poor pup a hot dog almost every night? Unless you’re feeding the best of the best hot dogs, those things are full of junk! Sorry…

[DogFoodie]

LOL! Doh! Thanks for setting me straight, Patty!

[DogFoodie]

I’d say give it a chance.

Nestle Purina seems to be making more of an entry into the higher end food / treat market. They purchased Natura and everyone thought there would be changes to EVO and so far, that hasn’t happened. The EVO recall probably would’ve happened regardless.

Zuke’s is a quality product that they may very well not mess with.

[DogFoodie]

I also confused Jastech with someone else. My apologies! Thanks for clearing things up for us, GizmoMom. I still agree with Patty that they probably need some indoor shelter, but I’ll readily agree that those custom dog houses do sound really nice! So, how many dogs do you have?

[DogFoodie]

I couldn’t agree with Patty more.

I hope those custom dog houses are well insulated and heated. I don’t know where you live, but where I am, it’s entirely too cold to leave dogs outside for prolonged periods of time. Why do you have 30 dogs anyway?

[DogFoodie]

Sorry to be rude, but shouldn’t you know this kind of thing before you take on the responsibility of breeding a dog?

[DogFoodie]

I’d definitely use a product with quinoa. Quinoa, like millet and amaranth are naturally gluten free pseudo grains and don’t have some of the same problems associated with them that cereal grains do. I also like buckwheat, which isn’t associated with wheat at all, it’s a fruit seed.

I have a yeast prone dog that had pano and he has always done great on pseudo grains.

[DogFoodie]

I would never feed my dog tobacco. Home prepared is great, if it’s properly balanced. You might want to pick up Steve Brown’s book if you go that route: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1929242670/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER. Also dogaware.com has great resources for those who prepare their own meals.

As far as a commercial kibble that’s quality and affordable, my favorites would be Dr. Tim’s, Victor, Earthborn Holistics and NutriSource.

One important consideration when you’re comparing the cost of one food to another is that you need to know the number of kcals per cup so you can determine how long a bag will last you. Often, better quality foods often have greater caloric density so you can’t simply compare the cost of 30 pounds of brand A to 30 pounds of brand B.

[DogFoodie]

Hi Shasta,

You should check out Susan Thixton’s website. Susan does reviews of both dog and cat food. You do have to pay in order to have access to the review portion of her site. I have a lot of respect for Susan Thixton. I’ve never read the cat food reviews, only the dog food reviews. Ms. Thixton’s site doesn’t have nearly as many reviews as Dr. Mike’s, but it’s still great information.

Here’s a link to the site: http://truthaboutpetfood2.com/association-for-truth-in-pet-food-2
The link to the review portion is at the top of the home page. The reviews are in the “Petsumer Report” tab.

[DogFoodie]

Dear Beagleowner,

I had to write because my heart breaks for you this morning. BlackandBlue said it beautifully.

You said you loved Henry and if you did, trust me, he knew it and he felt loved. By your words here, your love for him is obvious to me.

Making the decision to euthanize a much loved pet is so painful. I made that same decision on 03/03/2003, to put my much loved black lab, Hannah, down. I was there with her, holding her, and when the weight of her body fell against me it broke my heart and all I could think was, what have I done. I still feel that way sometimes and it still brings tears to my eyes. It was years before I would get another dog, but I still miss Hannah.

You did your very best and Henry had a good life. He stretched your heart a little bit more to make room for a little more love in it. It’ll always hurt, but someday, it won’t hurt as much.

Peace & Blessings, Betsy

[DogFoodie]

I’m so sorry. Henry was a treasure. Run free Henry.

[DogFoodie]

Both Nature’s Logic and Mulligan Stew are regulars in my rotation and I use them with great results.

I’ve also recently done some research on supplements in search of one that has added Taurine for my Cavalier and found that Nature’s Logic has a great whole food vitamin / mineral supplement called All Food Fortifier, which has no synthetic ingredients.

[DogFoodie]

High protein does not cause weight gain!

[DogFoodie]

I remember that was a suggestion that was made to me last Christmas after Sam ate a glass ball ornament off of the tree.

[DogFoodie]

Is there a particular reason you’re feeding such a small percentage of his daily ration in the morning and such a large portion in the evening?

[DogFoodie]

So far, my favorite place for turkey necks is My Pet Carnivore.

[DogFoodie]

Hi spotcdb,

It sounds like your dog is still having what may very well be a food intolerance. And, it’s definitely not a good idea to have your dog on Ketoconazole three days per week indefinitely. If I were you, I’d take a look at a grain free food that is lower in carbs than what you’re feeding now and that doesn’t contain any white potato – which Annamaet does. I’d even consider feeding a raw diet.

It takes time, but the body can heal and recover from systemic yeast.

[DogFoodie]

Hi Scooter,

I do hate to be a downer!

I wouldn’t have chosen a food with chicken. Acana is a great choice, but I believe I would’ve chosen a different protein other than chicken as that’s what you’ve been feeding and it could be wherein lies your problem. If you can, considering exchanging the Wild Prairie for one of the other three Regional selections.

[DogFoodie]

Hi Jan,

I did see that Lucy has been diagnosed with a rare type of skin cancer. I was trying to post on your Facebook page from my new Kindle, but I’m having a heck of a time trying to use that keyboard. I’m so, so sorry to hear about Lucy’s diagnosis.

I have recently been researching supplements quite a bit the last few days and came across Dr. Harvey’s E-Mune support: http://www.drharveys.com/products/show/15-emune-boost-for-dogs; and Nature’s Logic All Food Fortifier: http://www.natureslogic.com/products/cat-products/canine-and-feline-all-food-fortifier-supplement-3/. I picked up some for my dogs for general well-being, but wondered if either, especially the Dr. Harvey’s product, might be beneficial for Lucy right now.

I know this must be very hard for you. You and Lucy are in my prayers.

[DogFoodie]

Bless your heart!

I just had to say the irony of posting in the Anal Glad Problems section of the forum, using the name scooter, made me smile this morning!

Truly, I mean no offense. : )

If your little guy were mine, I’d probably switch him to a grain free food with some protein other than chicken. It looks as though the Simply Nourish you’re feeding has a maximum fiber of 5% and the Science Diet may have had around 3%. I was looking at Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult Small Bites Dog Food for a general comparison.

Have you seen any improvement since switching to the Simply Nourish at all?

My Golden was recently having a bit of an anal gland issue and I added some of The Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form to his food and that seemed to help quite a bit. You can also try some ground organic chia seed or even a bit of Metamucil to see if it helps. It could definitely be a food intolerance issue, and for that reason, I’d definitely switch the food to see if that makes a difference before any further manual expression (which is undesirable) is needed. Oh, and I’d stop the yogurt to see if that might help also.

[DogFoodie]

A couple things I was thinking…

Has your pup had a checkup with blood work recently? Bad breath could also be indicative of some medical issues.

Also, I once recall Sandy mentioning that she used this product with success: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047VWPNI/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_9?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Mine eat a variety of foods including raw and raw meaty bones and fortunately, neither has bad breath.

[DogFoodie]

Hi everyone!

This afternoon, Sam devoured a big lovely beef trachea. MPC packages an entire trachea cut into two pieces. He ate one piece while laying in the backyard in a foot of snow. He was so cute and that snuggly warm coat of his does an amazing job of keeping him warm in our cold snowy weather, which he loves to be outside in.

I was wondering if anyone might have a guess as to how many calories there might be in a piece of trachea that is approximately eight inches in length; and a chicken foot too for that matter.

Not knowing the GA of recreational bones (etc.) is the hardest part of feeding them. I don’t want to ooverfeed him, but I also know he’ll be expecting something for dinner when Bella gets hers.

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

[DogFoodie]

My brother-in-law and nephew recently got a couple of deer and you should’ve seen the look on their faces when I asked if they saved the internal organs by chance. My BIL was so disappointed that when he field dressed the deer, he left all the good stuff that Sam and Bella would’ve loved to have eaten. He knew I fed them raw sometimes, but didn’t even think about it.

Also, Cyndi, have you talked to Tracy at Hare Today about ideas she might have for helping you reduce your costs. I know, and am sure you already do as well, that there’s a price break for shipping (ie: 25 pounds); but I also wondered if there might be such as thing as her giving a certain percentage of discount for an order over a certain size ~ like Darwin’s does. It might require less frequent (and more costly orders), but a savings over time.

[DogFoodie]

Oh, and I was too late to edit…, but what I also wanted to say is that if it’s a leaky gut, it’ll take quite a long time, but it can be healed. Find something that he does well on and be prepared to stick with it for quite a while before beginning to transition to other foods.

It’s good he’s doing better on the Natural Balance, but it sounds like something still isn’t working for him if he’s continuing to have symptoms like you described after months on the food.

[DogFoodie]

I know Cyndi already bumped up your post, but I am too.

Bless your heart, you’ve really got your hands full! Just curious, has your vet checked his thyroid? Also, do you see a vet who practices traditional veterinary medicine or do you use an integrative / holistic vet? I’d visit a holistic vet; here’s a link to help you find one (it’s not all inclusive, but a good start): http://www.ahvma.org/Widgets/FindVet.html

It sounds as though, in addition to the environmental and food allergies, your little guy might have a systemic yeast infection which has evolved into a leaky gut. Someone has probably been feeding your poor little guy garbage for his entire life. I would start right away supplementing his diet with coconut oil and probiotics (you need to begin repopulating the healthy bacteria in his gut). It looks like your food allergies are: salmon, poultry mix, eggs, milk, wheat, and white potato. I’d look for something minimally processed ~ raw if possible; but if you’re choosing to feed kibble, I’d go for a grain and white potato (probably sweet potato, too) free food to switch him to as soon as possible. The first food that comes to mind is Nature’s Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Diets.

[DogFoodie]

Hi Wildcat 1,

Congrats on the new puppy!

What brand of food is it that you’re referring to? Maybe we could take a look at some additional information about the product to get a better idea of its overall quality.

[DogFoodie]

Once upon a time, when I was an undergrad at Purdue, I went to a party at Wabash College and met Dick the Bruiser there. Do you remember him, Marie? ; )

[DogFoodie]

I believe that Earthborn is still co-packed by Midwestern Pet Foods.

If you have questions about their products, give ’em a call. I called them once and was very pleasantly surprised to find their customer service excellent. I felt they answered all of my questions without hesitation. When I called, I specified that I had nutritional information questions and spoke with their veterinary nutritionist on staff who was more than happy to patiently talk with me and answer my questions.

[DogFoodie]

I second Patty’s NutriSource recommendation. It does seem to be very easy to transition to for most dogs. Last year, I had to switch my Golden pup cold turkey and he had no problem. I used the Adult Chicken & Rice formula. It would be a big step up from the Purina One and then you’d be able to make the transition to the Acana much more easily.

Also, it’s a good idea to choose foods to use in a rotational feeding plan that are not only different proteins, but different manufacturers as well to avoid prolonged exposure to not so desirable ingredients and to add in beneficial ingredients not used in one particular food you like.

I have a Cavalier that can eat anything who is just over two years old and I don’t know if she’s ever eaten the same thing twice. My Golden has yeast issues and I have to be very particular about what I feed him, but am always trying new things for him to hopefully find another food that he does great on. Sam does best on Horizon Legacy and Canine Caviar and does well on a couple of other foods, but I’m always searching for another that he does great on to make part of his regular rotation.

[DogFoodie]

I order from wag.com and chewy.com most often. I used to order from petflow.com a lot.

I find that wag has the best service, but is probably the highest priced of the three. Free returns for 365 days after the date of purchase on unopened and unexpired items.

I used to use petflow a ton, but got annoyed that when I recently wanted to return something, I found out that they had just changed their return policy and didn’t make it a point to send out an email to their customers notifying them of a change in their policy and they didn’t post it in plain view on their website. They used to offer free returns and don’t any longer.

Chewy has great prices, ships fast and good service. Free returns for 365 days after the date of purchase on unopened and unexpired items.

I had a bad experience when I purchased something from dogfooddirect.com once, but they did apologize and correct the error. I wanted to give them another shot to see how things went and have ordered from them since and the order was problem free. They don’t offer any free shipping.

[DogFoodie]

Here are the ingredients of the product to which you’re referring:

Ingredients
Chicken, Barley, Tapioca, Chicken Liver, Vegetable Glycerin, Pea Protein, Corn Protein Concentrate, Dried Whey, Poultry Fat, Potassium Sorbate (preservative), Salt, Lactic Acid, Hickory Smoke Flavor, Mixed Tocopherols (preservative), Rosemary Extract, Colored With Annatto Extract.

You know, I think I’d probably take a pass on these. Sorry. They seem to contain some questionable ingredients like vegetable glycerin, smoke flavor and artificial coloring.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 5 months ago by DogFoodie.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 5 months ago by DogFoodie.

[DogFoodie]

I’m boosting you too, but for the record, I’m no relation to Betsy Farms. ; )

[Author]

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