[Lori]

Thanks for the recommendations. I have fostered dogs who go up for adoption, but Coco is the first hospice care dog for me. There are only 5 in the program right now. I thought a long time before volunteering for the hospice program because I wasn’t sure of all the unknowns and what to expect, but I chose to do this because the hospice dogs need love and a home too. He’s so sweet! I’ll try posting a picture from my other computer of him. I’ve never had a dog so tiny!

[Lori]

I wished they had free shipping to MN! I like both of those foods for my dogs.

[Lori]

When I got my lab at 17 months, he had been fed Nutrisource Large Breed Puppy until it was time to transition to adult food, and he came to me on Nutrisource Chicken and Rice.

[Lori]

Thanks, Aimee!

[Lori]

Kathleen, I actually am not supposed to feed my lab, Chuck a raw diet because he is a service dog to me and also just got certified as a therapy dog this month. They don’t allow it either as a service dog or therapy dog. Dehydrated is okay, however. I just think raw is gross 🙂

Lori

[Lori]

For weight loss, here is another link that may be helpful (PDF File)

https://www.aahanet.org/PublicDocuments/Weight_Management_Guidelines.pdf

[Lori]

I just got some sample food (4 different) from Brothers Complete. It’s a little on the high price end. The samples were free, but the shipping was $3.95, plus they sent a full sized bag of dehydrated sweet potato treats, which was a surprise and a nice gift. However, all the products have chicken liver or fat so I don’t know if you dog can have tolerate that.

Just as an example, the Turkey and Egg Allergy formula has 28% carbs (if I did the math right).

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude protein, minimum 37.00%
Crude fat, minimum 17.00%
Crude fiber, maximum 4.00%
Moisture, maximum 10.00%
Vitamin E, minimum 200 IU/kg
Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), minimum 100 mg/kg
Zinc, minimum 200 mg/kg
Calcium 1.51%
Phosphorus 0.96%
Ash 8.04%
Omega 6 fatty acids, minimum 3.07 %*
Omega 3 fatty acids, minimum 0.73 %*
Omega 3 DHA (Doxosahexaenoic Acid), min 0.04%*
Encapsulated Probiotics – Lactic acid bacteria 2,000,000 cfu/gram dog food*
Enzymes (Amylase, Protease, Cellulase, Lactase, Hemicellulase, Lipase) 10.0 FCC DU/g*

*Not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles.

CALORIES: (M.E. Calculated) 3,780 kcal/kg 415 kcal/cup

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

[Lori]

Katlhleen, Yes, the carb level is high, I think most weight management food will be. Right now I’m alternating between Victor’s Grain Free Salmon and Northwest Naturals Salmon, which is a raw that my pet store gave me to try out. It’s the nugget kind so easy to pour into bowl and thaws out pretty quick. This would, however, be too expensive to feed my dogs regularly. I think the price here was about $35 or so (under $40) for 6 pounds. My dogs love it and had no trouble with digesting it or with their output. I was told feeding raw would take the weight off quicker than kibble, which I believe, but again, it’s to pricey for me to do full time. I’m on the fence about raw still also.

[Lori]

cdubau, Fromm’s also has a new kibble http://frommfamily.com/products/gold/dog/dry/#gold-coast-weight-management

It looks to be similar in protein, fat, etc. but whitefish and salmon meal first 2 ingredients.

Here’s some info on calculating carbs from Dr. Mike:

How to Estimate the Carbohydrate
Content of Any Dog Food

So, if knowing the carb content is important to you — and it should be — here’s a quick and easy way to estimate the amount of carbohydrates in any dog food — yourself.

Basically, all foods contain the same four major nutrients — known as macronutrients:

Proteins
Fats
Carbohydrates
Moisture (water)

In addition, all foods also contain ash — the non-combustible mineral residue remaining after burning away all the protein, fat and carbs.

Ash content can vary — but typically measures about five to eight percent for most dog foods1 .

So, for consistency, we routinely use 8 percent as a benchmark for this important variable (ash) throughout this site.

Making the Calculation

When making this calculation, it’s important to keep in mind the following scientific principle:

Protein + fat + ash + carbohydrate + water must always equal 100 percent of the total pre-cooking weight of any dog food.

So, you can use simple math to reveal the missing amount on any other variable — which in this case of a pet food would be the carbohydrates.

Simply start with 100 percent and subtract the percentage for each of the known macronurients.

By the way, you can ignore the fiber content because fiber is a type of carbohydrate and would be automatically included in your carbohydrate calculation.

Here’s an Example

Say a particular dog food contains 26% protein, 14% fat and 10% water. How much carbohydrate should we expect to find in that product?

To estimate the amount of carbohydrate present in this example, simply start with a total of 100 percent. Then subtract the protein, fat and moisture percentages.

And of course, don’t forget to allow for an ash content of about 8 percent, too.

So, your math would look like this:

Carbohydrates = 100% – 26% – 14% – 10% – 8% = 42%

In other words, if you subtract all the “known” nutrients, you’d be left with the missing variable — carbohydrates — which in our example would be about 42 percent.

[Lori]

You could try Fromm Gold Weight Management. $48.76 for a 33-pound bag from Chewy’s.
http://www.chewy.com/dog/fromm-gold-weight-management-dry-dog/dp/41590

Guaranteed Analysis

Crude Protein 25% MIN
Crude Fat 10% MIN
Crude Fiber 7% MAX
Moisture 10% MAX
Omega 3 Fatty Acids 0.4% MIN
Omega 6 Fatty Acids 2.4% MIN

Caloric Content

3,484kcal/kg
1,584 kcal/lb
341 kcal/cup

Ingredients:
Turkey Liver, Chicken Meal, Pearled Barley, Oatmeal, Dried Tomato Pomace, Duck, Menhaden Fish Meal, Brown Rice, White Rice, Millet, Chicken, Flaxseed, Pea Fiber, Potatoes, Dried Whole Egg, Salmon Oil, Chicken Fat, Lamb, Cheese, Brewers Dried Yeast, Alfalfa Meal, Carrots, Lettuce, Celery, Chicken Cartilage, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Taurine, Chicory Root Extract, Calcium Sulfate, Yucca Schidigera Extract, L-Carnitine, DL-Methionine, L-Tryptophan, Sodium Selenite, Sorbic Acid (Preservative), Vitamins, Minerals, Probiotics.

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

[Lori]

Kathleen, my Cocker, Teddy sounds like your guy. He is not much of a player, but I do make him go on walks with a dog walker (I have mobility issues so I cannot walk with my dogs) and he goes to the dog park when the weather is good. He also eats poop, but it doesn’t have to be his (he doesn’t go for Chuck, my lab) and happens at the dog park.

There is a site (I think Aimee might have put a link on a different post elsewhere) http://www.aahanet.org/PublicDocuments/Weight_Management_Guidelines.pdf that I have read many times to let it sink in. According to what I read, if I put Teddy’s goal weight in, which should be 24, and you do the math (instructions provided, thank God), I should be feeding him roughly 335 calories. That is at 80% or resting energy requirement). I just started in the last couple of weeks to stay around that number, although I feel it is pretty low for him even when he is sedentary, although he doesn’t seem to be any more food crazy then he already was 🙂 I plan on weighing Teddy tomorrow and see if there has been any change, but I think with smaller dogs, the weight will come off slowly. When Chuck had to lose 20 pounds a couple of years ago, it took about 5-6 months, but I, at that time, wasn’t as dog food knowledgeable as I am now (still learning!) and put him on Purina OM prescription food. It did the job, but I wouldn’t do it again as the ingredients are less than desirable. He has maintained his 75 to 78 pound goal weight now for 2 years, maybe fluctuating 2 lbs higher/lower.

It also shows you how to calculate protein needs for the food you want to feed and if it is enough for your dog and other good information.

[Lori]

Aimee, do you have links to some of the information from your above posts so I can do some further reading just out of interest?

[Lori]

In the end, doesn’t the calories matter the most no matter where they’re from? I go by calories for my two dogs and from all the different foods I fed them, it doesn’t seemed to have changed their weight unless I go up on the calories. I’m confused (as usual) and I’m horrible at math and takes me forever to figure things out with percentages 🙂

BTW, I did use the Annamaet Lean last summer and they neither gained no lost weight (which was good for my lab, and maybe I needed to cut down my cocker’s food a little more for him to lose a couple of pounds I’ve been trying forever to get off him. I did get him down 1 pound that took me a very long time to do!). They did well on the food with no issues and well, they will eat anything you present to them, so taste doesn’t count as part of my assessment of any food LOL!

[Lori]

Aimee, so then are you saying (you’ve got very knowledge and I’m learning) Annamaet would be more successful than Wellness Core Reduced? I’ve got Annamaet Lean in my Chewy.com cart. I’m still battling to get my cocker spaniel to lose 2 to 3 pounds. He is getting more exercise now that the weather is getting better so he is burning more hopefully every day. He gets about 30-60 minutes of outdoor time now, some at the dog park and a 30-45 minute walk 5 to 7 days a week. I got lucky this winter and my lab stayed at his goal weight.

[Lori]

One of our popular dog trainers here teaches that you basically do what Brian said, show the dog where you want it to go and say go _______whatever your word is. If they don’t do it in 5 minutes tops, bring them back in, wait a few minutes and do it again all over. My lab goes in the same spot basically on a tieout, but my cocker does the sniffing, oh not there, goes around sniffs, again, not there, and circles, circles and finally goes where he originally went–so funny. He takes his sweet time about it too, where as my lab gets out there does his thing, and trots right back to the door.

[Lori]

Gloria, can you send me your Pintrest page? 🙂

[Lori]

If you don’t have a dehydrator, I slice up sweet potatoes and have even done bananas, but on a cookie sheet (you might want to line it or spray it with nonstick spray so they don’t stick). Put the oven on 250 degrees F and leave in about 2 to 3 hours, depending on how thick you cut the slices or how soft/crunchy you want them. Same thing with liver.

[Lori]

Try Fromm and Nutrisource.

[Lori]

Aimee, to followup, do you mind telling me what you feed your lab? I’d like to give more volume also with about the same amount of fat for both my lab and cocker spaniel. They currently get food that is varies from 400 to 521 calories/cup (Evo weight management I was trying has the 521 calories, 15% fat).

Thanks!

[Lori]

I have used all the Nutrisource dry foods and my dogs have done very well on them. My lab came to me eating Nutrisouce. No recalls and price is good.

[Lori]

My lab, Chuck and my Cocker Spaniel, Teddy both ate Victor’s Yukon this morning. Tonight, they’ll get Nature’s Variety High Protein. We actually got to the dog park this morning since we are having a heat wave at 36 degrees 🙂 Felt very good to get out and the dogs loved it too!

[Lori]

That’s the only place i found it too. never heard of the whey protein in dog food. I have whey protein shakes a lot though. Maybe Mike will review this food 🙂

[Lori]

I’ve used Pure Vita in the past with my lab and cocker and they did very well. Made by Nutrisource in Minnesota (where I live). I’ve also fed mine Nutrisouce and no problems. Good company and no recalls as far as I know.

[Lori]

That’s what I thought Marie! Thanks for the confirmation.

[Lori]

Melissa, I can’t believe you didn’t get snow. I thought NY got bombarded this past week! not a whole lot of snow yet, but very, very cold. My lab loves it, but my cocker not so much. 🙂 I’m feeding them Live Free Salmon now. This morning they got Honest Kitchen. They get all crazy when they get HK LOL. Chuck, my lab, and i just became certified pet therapy team through Pet Partners. They forbid raw feeding, raw bone, etc. I think HK falls under that (or not?), but I’m not sure so he gets it about once or twice a week.

[Lori]

Thanks, Dog Obsessed!

[Lori]

Thank you BCnut 🙂

How do I upload pictures and put a picture for my profile (instead of a blank head)?

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Lori.

[Lori]

So, here we are again with winter time! I had to stop bringing my guys to the dog park a week ago and now they’re pretty sedentary again. Does anyone feed their more sedentary dogs Orijen or some of the higher protein foods? Wondering if I should go down on the protein again. They recently finished a 15-pound bag of Orijen Adult, which was the first time I fed that. They both liked it, but pretty pricey. I also gave them a try at Dr. Tim’s All Life Stage Kinesis, but wondering if the grain-free might be a better choice.

Thanks!

Lori in MN Winter Wonderland 🙂

[Lori]

I fed my lab and cocker spaniel both Wildnerness Chicken this summer with no issues at all. They’re now on Dr. Tim’s ALS Kinesis and doing great on it. I personally like Dr. Tim’s better.

[Lori]

Thank you Chris and Aimee for the clarifications and information!

[Lori]

Right now they are getting Earthborn Holistic grain-free Great Plains which has 34% protein and 18% fat, so I was a little concerned that the fat was too high. I rotate my food also, but usually it’s been around 15-16% and less around 26% protein. I feed pretty much grain-free now and don’t have to feed as much as it is more calorie dense for the most part.

[Lori]

Thanks for the input! I give my lab 1.5 to 2 cups per day and my Cocker Spaniel 3/4-1 cup per day, depending on what extras they get. I have switched to veggies and fruits for treats along with maybe some chicken breast pieces or I make sweet potato chips and liver treats with nothing added. I don’t have a dehydrator, but I put the oven on 200 and let it be for a couple of hours. A pound of liver costs me $4.99 and the sweet potato maybe $1.69. I break them up into small pieces so it lasts a very long time and you can freeze the liver treats too. Dog treats in the store are overpriced and overrated I think 🙂

[Lori]

I would also like to know how much fat is too much for my dogs. Some people have told me 18% is okay, some say 16% is better and some say 10% or lower is okay too. My dogs are healthy, one is 26 lbs, but should be about 24, the other is 73 and at an ideal weight. Is there any reason why they can’t have 18%. They are not overly active and I would say more sedentary than anything, but more active during the summer. Also, a protein question. Someone recently told me a dog needs 1 gram of protein for every pound they weigh. Is this true? Thank you 🙂

[Lori]

I’m in MN. No snow any more! Getting my dogs out again to the park. Teddy has lost 1 lb finally and is 25 lbs still wanting to get at least 1 or 2 more lbs off of him. Chuck, my lab is perfect at 74 lbs (so my vet said at his visit last week).

[Lori]

Yes, Marie and we just got another foot of snow Friday–it’s been a brutal winter! I’m putting myself on a diet too this week. I’ve been eating so much junk food that I normally wouldn’t if I could be a little more active 🙂

[Lori]

Thanks spaniel mom. I’ve never owned a cocker before I adopted Teddy 1-1/2 years ago. I probably just need to cut out some extras and the food a bit. What kind of raw do you use as a topper. I have fed my lab in the past both Nutrisource and Pure Vita and he did well and not too hard on the pocketbook!

[Lori]

I was wondering for those who know about homemade dog foods if you could comment on the Puppy Stew recipe? A lot cocker owners make this for their good. Is it nutritionally sound, or would their need to be extra supplements added in? Thanks!

http://www.cockersinneed.com/puppystew.html

[Lori]

My vet said Teddy should weigh 24 lbs. He weighs 25.6 today. I think 23 is good for him. I have always like Fromm’s too. I stopped pretty much using the PE healthy weight–tried 2 bags and neither lost or gained on it at the time. My lab also is a glutton for food, but he is the only one out of us (meaning myself) that has maintained his weight this winter 🙂 Exercise is hard for me to give my dogs in the winter as I have a disability, so I try to play indoors with them a bit, although I have a small townhouse. Their favorite activity is eating of course! I was also told that my dogs since they are not active for the most part, don’t need any protein higher than 26% and not to feed grain free foods because of the high protein, so I am always confused about what’s appropriate and what’s not as far as that goes.

[Lori]

Thank you InkedMarie

[Lori]

Thank you, Hound Dog Mom! So, if I feed Chuck, for example, 3 cups a day now which is 798 in kibble, how much of canned food would he eat per day? I’m trying to be cost conscious, but this current OM food is $76/bag that lasts about 6-7 weeks (30-pounds). For my Teddy (the Cocker), I definitely could afford to feed him canned exclusively, or can I mix kibble and canned. I plan to have a dog walker for the dogs this winter, as I have mobility issues and cannot walk them or bring them to a dog park. Chuckles does do a treadmill though 🙂

[Lori]

I should add that Chuckles was evaluated by the nutritionist, Teddy was not. They have him eating 1-1/2 cups of the OM twice a day (266 cal/cup). I give Teddy 1 cup, which I think may not be enough. They allowed Chuck 20 calories in treats per day (that was a tuffy one for me!).

[Author]

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