[Dori]

gwblackwell. LMAO!!!! Hysterically funny and glad they’re helping to get the word out. It really was funny and I bet this scene has taken place in many a household, mine included.

[Dori]

A number of dogs have issues with corn, soy (that’s a big one for allergies), yeast, of course, wheat is a biggie too. Sounds like there are a number of ingredients that could cause allergies. Also some dogs cannot eat eggs. Have you thought of given them fresh organic carrots, string beans, blueberries, etc. for treats. Try that for a while and see how it goes. One of my girls has many many food intolerances and allergies so all treats here are fresh organic fruits and veggies. They love them and no allergy issues for Katie. I always have sort of fruits and veggies in the house so I give them what I’ve got. Sometimes a piece of apple, sometimes banana, whatever is in the house. If I’m eating a piece of fruit I’ll give them some too. My girls are very small..5 lbs, 6 lbs. and 7.3 lbs. so remember go according to size.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[Dori]

Amy R. I’ve been feeding my three toy dogs (Maltese, Maltipoo and Yorkipoo) Primal Pronto in their rotation of commercial raw foods. It is hands down their favorite and also mine. I’ve never had any issues with Primal Pronto whatsoever. You can’t go wrong. THK is very very messy with light colored dogs. My Maltese, Hannah, is obviously white and Katie my Maltipoo is a very very light apricot/blondish color.

I don’t feed any kibble so I can’t advise on Merrick or any other dry food. I have heard a lot of people recommending Victor Grain Free dry. I think it’s the Yukon protein that they like but they are probably rotating within the brand. As I said not sure.

[Dori]

I agree with you RescueDaneMom. Although I’m not able to feed it because I believe Katie has developed an issue with alfalfa I would have continued to use it. My other two girls are fine on the formulas but Katie girl with all her allergies and intolerances is also the damn poop eater so everyone must eat what she does so as not to upset her system when she eats their poop. Regardless of what I have tried in the last 4 1/2 years there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop her. I never let the girls go out in the yard by themselves. I run around picking up poop as it comes out of all of them before she can get any. BUT, hubby is not diligent. Opens the door and lets them out when I’m out on errands. I’m at the point of thinking that if I’m out of the house the two younger gals will go in their crates and kitchen will stay in the kitchen and NOONE will go out if I’m not home to let them out and supervise and pick up poop.

But, yes, I agree THK should have stayed on the EC list and if something is going on and had to be removed then we should no why and what happened to change something that it needed to be removed. And, no, I never saw an abundance of alfalfa stems ever in either the Zeal or the premix.

[Dori]

Nectarmom. James gave me quite a bit of his time. Never actually suggested I started ordering and actually wants me to show all the info to Hannah’s vet and get her ok before ordering anything. He also gave me the names of three holistic vets and suggested I make appt. for Hannah with holistic vet and get their opinion, again, before deciding what food and supplements to use. No, I would never simply call a food company rep. and take their word for their product and then order it. But, thanks for your advice.

Marie. As always, thank you. What kind of issues does Boone have with fruits/veggies? Is it both fruits and veggies or either or? What type of allergic issues? Don’t you just wish they could speak and tell us what their feeling? Somebody needs to work on that!! LOL! If only!

[Dori]

Hi Deborah H. Liver test did not turn out well so Hannah, my Maltese, has an appt. in the morning for x-ray and ultrasound of liver and gall bladder looking for any possible tumors. Since she’ll be at the vet anyway I’m having them do a test for Cushing’s Syndrome due to some other symptoms she has that are similar to Cushing’s but can be justified to her hypothyroidism and degenerated mid spine discs. Vet said it’s always possible that she can have more than one issue going but doesn’t think it’s Cushing’s but to allay my fears she saw no problem in doing Cushing’s testing after x-ray and ultrasound. I’m preparing myself for the worst and, of course, praying for the best and hoping I get to kick my self for getting hysterical before knowing anything definitive. My girls are my babies even before the loss of my son I’ve been dog obsessed. Since then, I guess the obsession has become, well, obsessive. LOL! I’m a mommy at heart, what can I say. I’ll post again tomorrow after results of x-ray and ultra sound results. Again, welcome and glad you’re here.
By the way, my name is Dori.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Dori.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[Dori]

I don’t know, Akari 32. I don’t really see how they can get any worse than they are now. Like I said, it’s not a food I would feed any dog, let alone my own. It’s already ruined before the sale.

[Dori]

Caroline. Thank you so much for posting. Good luck on Saturday when you re-test. I’ll be praying for you and your dog. I’m also praying that it was some supplement, or too many different supplements that have taxed or toxed her liver. Anyway I’m trying to cover the basis and, thank God, though Hannah’s vet is not a holistic vet, she seems to be taking the same steps that Dr. Becker and other’s that I’ve been researching since I found out the results on Monday. Just Monday?? It seems like longer than that. Anyway, more testing tomorrow and I’m hoping like your dog, after a month or so leaving any and all supplements out that except for the milk thistle and the Denamarin that things will get back to normal levels. If it’s not something worse than I can only assume it’s a supplement or too many that I’ve given. I have an auto immune illness and tons of allergies myself since about 1997 everything is fragrance free and dye free in my home. No candles burning, no fragrance sprays for bathrooms, nothing at all. Backyard has no lawn, all flower beds, so no week killers or anything like that.

Funny that you should mention Darwin’s prescription diet. I spoke with James at Darwin’s this afternoon for quite a while about Hannah and what’s going on. I’ve printed out all the forms, nutritional analysis, etc. on the LS diet. He’s given me his direct line to give to Hannah’s vet and also said he’d gladly send the vet some samples if she wants to see the food herself. I told James I will not put her on any food the vet sells, Hills, SD, Royal Canin, whatever. Not after all the good she has derived from her present diet. I refuse to put her on crap diets for the remainder of her life regardless of how long or short it may be. Anyhow, he was so great and made me feel so much better. I have really been a totally wreck since Monday morning when the vet called with Hannah’s liver levels skyrocketing and out of control. After my conversation with him it was the first time all week that I felt like I could take a deep breath and actually breathe.

Oh, and more great news. He gave me the name and phone numbers of three holistic/integral vets that he knew personally and from different conferences in my area. So it was a win win conversation.

Thanks again for your post. I don’t feel quite so alone. I’ll be thinking of you on Saturday and will post everyone along the way about Hannah and next testing of x-ray and ultra sound and Cushing’s test.

Everyone here has been keeping me a little saner and a lot less weepy. Thanks everyone from the bottom of my heart I love you all.

[Dori]

Weezerweeks. Just read the article and am calmer now knowing that that the vet is following steps that Dr. Becker would be doing herself. Liver biopsy is of course something I’m not sure we would be prepared to do given Hannah’s age.

[Dori]

Thanks Weezerweeks. I was looking for anything she might have written on liver tests late last night. Going to try to find it right now. Thx for thinking of me.

[Dori]

Hi Shawna and as always I thank you for your help. I do have your phone number unless you’ve changed it. I’m sure you don’t remember but you and I spoke just before I went on Brothers Complete food. I had been speaking with Richard, he spoke to you and you ok’d him to give me your phone # and we spoke. That was at least 2 years ago, maybe a little more like 2 1/2 years ago. My email by the way is dora@hassett.com

Anyway, last years bloodwork for Hannah was perfect. This year’s bloodwork for Hannah was perfect in every other way with the exception of all four liver levels being extraordinarily high. Yesterday, after a 12 hour fast, she had specific liver function bloodwork. Her vet called me this morning and told me that her liver is not working as it should. She has seen much higher levels on this test come back on other dogs, but regardless, she said this is not good. So, I have to have Hannah at vet in the a.m. where they will do x-ray, ultrasound looking for tumors in liver, gallbladder or anywhere in the area that may be causing liver to not function normally. At my request they will also perform testing for Cushing’s. Not because of the liver issues but because of Hannah’s other symptoms that I’ve justified for other reasons I’m now questioning myself. She said she can certainly do the test while they have Hannah there after x-ray and ultrasound. She said if that will ease my mind then it’s no problem to do it. That there is always the possibility that she has both things going on. Dogs, like humans, can have multiple medical issues. When I picked her up yesterday the vet gave me a bottle of Denamarin and asked that I have her half a tablet at least one hour before her meal. Same meal every day so I’ve picked her dinnertime meal. She also gave me Milk Thistle to add to one of her meals. So that will go with the breakfast meal. We’ll see what the next steps are after the results from tomorrow’s testing comes back. The last dog that we lost was Tracy, our 10 year old Tibetan Terrier, she died of liver cancer. One year all her tests came back normal, including all liver levels. The next years physical everything had gone crazy. What prompted the visit to the vet with her was that she had missed three meals in a row. That was not typical behavior for Tracy. That girl would never miss a meal under anything circumstances. She never came across a food she turned her nose up to. They did the liver testing and she was dead a month and a half later. Really really sucked big time. We were devastated. Anyway, Hannah has shown no such symptoms, none. It just came up at her regular yearly bloodwork done at her physical last Friday. I had noticed that she was drinking a little more water than usual but not anything crazy. Still acting like she was 7 or 8 years old. Still is for that matter. Still eating all her meals. Still jumping up and down with her two younger sisters while I’m preparing their meals. Still running to the fridge every time I open the door. They think every time the fridge door is opening it must be because something good is coming their way. Vet said that if all other tests come back inconclusive or no tumors, etc. etc. Then she we will re-test bloodwork after she’s been on the Denamarin and Milk Thistle for a month and see if the levels have gone down.

[Dori]

Even more reasons not to feed those brands, not that we would have. Or should I say I haven’t, nor would I.

[Dori]

One was removed, none added in it’s place.

[Dori]

Ok everyone. I just got a DUH? moment and sent Mike an email and asked the question about THK being removed from the April 2014 list.

Yey! My mind is still functioning, albeit, slowly even with my stressing over Hannah’s liver.

[Dori]

Great idea Marie. It’s hard enough keeping up with all these foods, reviews, try to figure out manufacturers and then when you think your good to go with the food list one is removed but we didn’t know it and don’t know why.

I really don’t know if it was the stem issue but I do recall, and actually I still think it’s going on, with Aimee and maybe Shawna on the alfalfa stems. Someone else first started it about a week or two and posted some pictures of the stems and didn’t like the response he/she got from THK and it took off from their. Seriously, for me, if I was still feeding THK even if I saw stems (a few, not tons) I wouldn’t really have an issue. Like I said, what’s the big deal? I don’t get it but it wouldn’t be the first time I don’t understand something and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last.

[Dori]

Hi Deborah H. and welcome. If you are all things dog obsessed than boy have you come to the right place. I’ve got three little ones and they are my babies. One has lots of issues, the one has none other than being totally obsessed with playing fetch, and my older girl I’m just yesterday and today dealing with liver issues (14 1/2 year old Maltese). Waiting for results of tests done this morning. Your question on THK. Yes it was on March 2014 list and it’s not on April 2014 list. We don’t know why it was taken off. A few of us have been discussing this and we are waiting for some feed back from Dr. Mike or HDM.

I’m glad you’re thinking about incorporating a raw diet or at least freeze dried diet for one of their daily meals. There are some home cooked raw feeders here on this site and I’m sure they’ll chime in and steer you in the right direction if home cooking is what you’d like to do. NO, you do not have to stop getting doggie kisses because you feed raw. Just make sure that YOU wash your hands, counter and anything else that touched the raw food thoroughly. Just as you would do when doing your own cooking for you and your family with raw meats and fishes. The more you incorporate and rotate raw and freeze dried foods in your dogs diets the healthier they will become. A healthy dog is more able to deal with minor issues in foods than one with an unhealthy gut. It’s the humans that have to be really careful with foods containing Salmonella and such more so than a healthy dog. You’ll be amazed at the changes that take place when you incorporate raw to their diets. Changes that you didn’t even know weren’t as they should be.

Welcome to our obsessed world. I’m about as obsessed a person can be about my girls, short of being locked up in some institution some where. Even then, they’d have to let me take my dogs, get me a freezer, their supplements, their beds, their toys, all their grooming supplies, shampoos, their special stainless steel bowls, etc. I think you get a picture of me now! SO SO TOTALLY OBSESSED AM I! AND I LOVE IT! It’s the only way to be. In my world, anyway!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[Dori]

C4C Sorry I didn’t. I looked at the list but I already knew there wasn’t anything on it that allergy girl here could eat so I didn’t bother. I wish I could buy some budget friendly foods but they all seem to include either white potatoes, rice, soy, corn, grains, alfalfa and the list goes on with Katie Mae and her issues. I have never had a dog with allergies to anything before. Honestly we’ve had her for 4 1/2 years and she is by far the most expensive dog I have ever had between surgeries, allergies, foods, dental, etc. etc. (She was the runt and due to be put down). She is also the sweetest most loving dog I have ever had. Her nic name here at home is “Mushy Gushy” even the neighbors call her Mushy Gushy and funny thing is she answers to it. Cause that’s what she is.

[Dori]

Marie. I had printed the March list because I figured it would be just easier as I went down the list and then checked ingredients to see if there was anything that Katie could eat. I too am surprised though that you just can’t go back and see the previous months. I just printed out April’s list. This may be a bug they need to work out. Starting the Editor’s Choice was work enough and now there needs to be some tweaking as we all point different things out that they might not have thought we’d want.

C4C. I too was wondering if it was all the alfalfa stem complaints. I was feeding THK for quite a while and never found an abundance of stems, I certainly would have noticed them in the food or the poop. I never noticed in either and I’m the human pooper scooper here and am always checking their poop when I pick it up cause of Katie’s many issues. Poops have been well formed, no smell, no sticks, nothing undigested when on THK. So was I just lucky or a few others not so lucky. I do agree I would assume the leaf of the alfalfa would be the beneficially nutritional part of the alfalfa not the stems. I just assume the leaves had been ground down and they’re in the mix and for all we know they are.

[Dori]

Good question Marie. I printed out March’s list and the only change is the illumination of THK. I really would like to know why? Hopefully someone in the know will read our posts and answer.

[Dori]

Hi Shawna. Thanks so much for seeing my post and responding.
All four of Hannah’s liver values was sky high. Last year at this time of year for her physical only one value was high and that was only 1 or 2 points over the high normal so they didn’t mention it because they didn’t think it was any big deal. This year is total different. This year is also when I switched all the girls to all commercial raw for ever meal. I was occasionally rotating in THK Zeal and/or Preference. Katie developed intolerance to alfalfa so I stopped THK. (Katie is the poop eater and though I’m vigilant about being the human pooper scooper, if I’m out and my husband just opens the door and lets them out in the yard. Doesn’t pick up after them. Too be fair, he has macular degeneration pretty bad and probably really doesn’t see it too pick up). Their diet has been Answers, Darwins, Stella & Chewy’s, Primal Pronto, Vital Essentials. As you know all very high proteins, higher in fats than I would like but they all seem to be that way. I did try Natures Variety for a bit but I didn’t like anything about it so that was just one bag between the three of them.

Your friend in California. Does she only rotate between Honest Kitchen Preference and Steve Brown’s Dinner Mix and if so, what proteins, fruits and veggies does she add? Did she ever go back to any raw meals solely or always the pre mixes with protein. Why Premix with oats? Do you know what brand or what it is?

Yesterday was a really really bad day for me. I tried keeping myself together while Hannah was around but I was near hysterical and stressed beyond belief yesterday. If I wasn’t crying I was shaking. I spent almost all day on the computer yesterday trying to digest as much info as I could. The more I read the more nervous I got. I dropped Hannah off this morning (after fasting 12 hours) and just picked her up. They’ll have results back tomorrow afternoon. They were just checking liver at today. They did not want to test for Cushings today because they felt that we needed to take one step at a time. All four doctors in the practice spoke with me today and explained that the Cushing’s test needs to be given medication first (steroids???), and because of the fasting then feeding fatty food and then rest and retesting for the liver test that felt that would interfere with true bloodwork for Cushing’s test and wouldn’t be accurate. Sounds logical. So one step at a time. Depending what they find with results of tests for both liver and Cushing’s they’ll do a liver ultrasound. Best case scenario it’s something that they can reverse levels with food and Sam-E type prescription product. Worse case scenario could be tumor or cancer of the liver. At her age it would be a matter of keeping her comfortable. She’s certainly too old for surgery, chemo, radiation or anything else that goes along with it.

They did tell me no more rabies vaccines for her (unfortunately she had one on Friday during her yearly physical) and definitely no more HW preventative, Sentinel, for her either.

So I’m interested in knowing more about your friend in California and what she fed along with the premixes. That’s the one thing I want to work on immediately. I certainly don’t want to have to put her on one of their prescribed foods so I’m trying to get a jump on getting and ordering whatever I need to change her diet to. This has come as a shock to me. All the issues with her I could justify with other problems she has like loss of hair would be hypothyroid. No jumping on furniture and trembling loss of hind leg muscles and weakness I attributed it to mid spine degenerated discs. One thing I do know is that she is drinking enormous amounts of water.

I’d appreciate any guidance you can give me.

[Dori]

Patty, I will ask them when I bring her in.

Cyndi, thank you for the kind words and prayers.

Marie, well, she had her rabies on Friday during her yearly physical and senior blood panel. The county I live in now accepts three years so too late for the waiver. I think I would be concerned not doing the rabies. I’m going to stop HW meds on Hannah but, take Patty’s suggestion and keep the other girls on Sentinel. They got their rabies shot last October and apparently it’s good for the three years in this new county. I called Health Dept. here today just to double check because last October I didn’t specify to vet the 3 years because I thought it would be the same as next door county where we were and the Health Dept. told me not to worry about it till the three years are up that it’s the same shot they would just verify with vet if they needed to to make sure they actually got the vaccine. He said it was the same vaccine regardless if you call it one year or three.

[Dori]

Taking her first the in the morning. She’ll fast this evening and overnight and asked me to bring her in at 10:00 a.m. and leave her there for a couple of hours. They’ll draw blood then I think they feed her a high fat food and bloodwork again after a certain amount of time. She said it would probably take no more than a couple of hours. I’m wondering if I should ask them to go ahead with the Cushing’s test also instead of wasting more time?

[Dori]

No mention of pancreatitis or anything else. She said everything was normal. I’ve just done a search on line of Cushing’s syndrome and she does exhibit a lot of the symptoms. I’ve printed some stuff out to take to the vet tomorrow. She seems to have more symptoms of Cushing’s than liver disease. Increased thirst, increased appetite (I thought it was cause she loves the raw), loss of muscle in back legs, hind-leg weakness (thought it was because two degenerated discs mid spine), hind legs trembling (again thought it was from disc problem), reluctance to jump on furniture, panting, thinning hair (thought it was her hypothyroidism), lots of skin tags (thought it was old age).

I don’t know if I’m just seeing things and putting them together or they are really all just the stuff I thought. I certainly know I’m driving myself crazy. I had mentioned the hind leg trembling but vet said it would be from the degenerated discs. I just don’t know what to think.

[Dori]

I do the rabies I guess because it’s the law. I never thought not too. Now I’m sorry they gave it to her. I do know though that here in Georgia where I live there is a high incidence of rabies and HW in dogs here is very very common. I should have taken Hannah’s age in to account and not done the rabies, as I said it never occurred to me that I didn’t need to do it. The dogs are licensed and it’s the law so I just did it. Well, now I’m really truly depressed.

[Dori]

Hi Patty. The last HW preventative (Sentinel) was on March 1. So no more Sentinel for her. Should I stop with the other two (4 1/2 year olds) also. I was going to give them every 45 days. Losul’s story about Turbo made me feel that by not giving them HW meds (Sentinel) that I might be asking for trouble.

Also the HW cure seemed worse than the HW meds.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[Dori]

Nectarmom. I just got off their site and you are absolutely right. The duck is listed as having the lowest fat. I don’t understand it. When I read your first post about Darwin’s I immediately thought it was the duck but now I’m not so sure. Darwin’s is a food that I’ve been using but I think until we get things cleared up with Hannah and her high liver levels I’ll sparingly feed it to the other two cancel my subscription with them. It has the highest protein of all the foods I feed.

[Dori]

Thanks so much Nectarmom. Very helpful to hear your story. I’m thinking, hoping anyway, that some of the supplements that I have been adding to her meals that are really high in protein also have contributed to this crazy level. She doesn’t act sick, or anything. She has been drinking more water. With multiple dogs in the house and changing water two times a day I wasn’t picking up that it was her drinking most of the water. I’ve been watching her lick a hawk today and she’s drinking way more water than she’s been drinking for a while. Just like when she was on kibble. On kibble she could go though an entire big bowl of water all by herself.

My dogs only get rabies vaccine and I left the vets office so happy Friday with Hannah because since we moved to a different county since her last visit, rabies vaccine is only required every 3 years. Funny thing is I’m literally across the county line. I did ask the vet if the three year and the one year vaccines were different. She told me they are the exact same one it’s just that different municipalities have different rules. So so stupid to make you vaccinate every year when it’s the same damn one for three years.

[Dori]

NectarMom. That’s so odd that they would say that to you because when I placed my first order with Darwins they told me the fat to protein ratio would be too high. I had been telling them about my dogs. It didn’t matter to me because I told them one of my dogs can’t eat any foul so I wouldn’t be ordering it anyway. Anyway, Duck is high in fat.

[Dori]

Ok Patty. So your basically telling me to calm down and wait and I could be freaking out thinking there’s nothing that will be able to help but that in actuality if it is the liver then there will be some things I can do to reverse the situation? Damn, sorry Patty, I now realize I am babbling. I’ve been checking the protein levels of all the raws that I feed and, of course, they are much higher than kibble but I don’t want to put her on kibble. I also took a look at protein levels for the Nzymes and I’ve had her on two other supplements that I had forgotten about from Ark Naturals Grey Muzzle line. One for cognitive and one for heart health. I just thought since she was older she might need some heart health and, also, due to her age I couldn’t really tell whether she sometimes seemed a little more out of things because of losing some hearing to old age or cognitive skills were being affected due to age. Everything has added protein. Could all that contribute to high liver levels. I should have left well enough alone and just fed her the raw with her glucosamine and not added other stuff. I have been giving them all milk thistle but since it comes in capsules I was dividing one capsule among the three dogs. Should I have been giving each one capsule? It just looked like so much. I should have posted that question. I know we all talked about milk thistle when losul’s Turbo was diagnosed with HW but I don’t think it was ever discussed as to how much or I just missed that part. I’m kicking myself right now thinking of all the things I may have done wrong. Like I said, other than hypothyroid Hannah has never ever had any health issues.

What do you mean it’s rare for vets to do yearly bloodwork? If they don’t then what’s the point of the yearly physical? Why would I take them then? I could look and feel them as well, actually, better than she can? Hmmmm? I should have insisted on a 6 month bloodwork instead of yearly. I read something about that somewhere that when dogs get older they should go every six months instead of yearly but she didn’t think it was necessary in the least because Hannah’s always been so healthy. And here I go rambling and babbling.

[Dori]

Glad to hear you’re ordering the Mercola probiotics. I use them and think they are a good company. You can certainly use both the probiotics and on occasion use the greek yogurt. No problem. I give my dogs greek yogurt periodically also but I don’t use the fat free. Just plain greek yogurt.

[Dori]

Oh Marie. We are always of a like mind. I gave up trying to help. I don’t think anything is going to change. For every positive response there has been a negative come back. I love helping people, as to most of us here, but there’s got to be some give on the other end.

I too felt…What???? 15 / 20 minutes is too long a drive. Gotta drive past stores at some point in their lives. I’ve got stores 5 minutes away and stores I drive an hour to if there’s a dog food that I need or want and they’ve got it and I want it NOW for my girls.

[Dori]

Nancy C. Who are you addressing the question to?

[Dori]

Definitely rotate within the same brand but you need to find at least two other brands and rotate brands as well as proteins with all brands. A lot of people seem to have some problems with their dogs on BB. Remember, not every food is for every dog. Once you’ve done the complete transition to Merrick and his stools are fully formed then you can experiment with different proteins within the same brand, then begin to experiment with a different brand that has ingredients that your dog does well on. Slowly transition. Once that’s done and you’ve fed all the proteins on that brand, you’ll be in search of a third brand. Switching up within the brand is good so that you dog isn’t always eating the same protein and can possibly develop an intolerance to that protein. It’s also important to switch brands because even though the ingredients may be similar to the Merrick or whatever else you find, the proportions of proteins, fats, carbs, minerals, vitamins, essentially everything will be a little or a lot different from brand to brand so this way you can insure that your dog is getting a good balance. Also rotating is really very good in case there is a sudden recall in a brand you can immediately switch your dog off that food onto one that he’s already accustomed to. The more you rotate your dogs meals the easier you can move from food to food. Much much healthier for your dog. Healthy dogs will tolerate illnesses and minor recalls much better than an unhealthy dog. Hope I’ve answered your question and not babbled too much. Gotta go. Today is dog grooming at my house. I’ve done two of the girls, I’ve just got one to go. I’ll check in later.

[Dori]

I feed my senior dog (14 1/2 years old) a high protein food. She’s doing fabulously well and definitely much much better than she was on a lower protein diet. Seniors actually need more protein than an adult dog so feed your senior dog an adult food with a high protein, moderate fat, low carb diet.

[Dori]

In what way? I’m curious so I don’t give anyone miss information. I too thought she should be feeding grain free. I just think she’s not feeding enough food and is acting hungry cause it is. I follow your posts and really are incredibly smart re nutrition. I remember reading that you study nutrition so I like get your input. I’ve only had one dog years ago that used to get stones, coincidentally a Bichon also. But I don’t remember enough about about them to give advice on the stones. He was one of my very first dogs so a long long time ago. We were on well water at the time.

[Dori]

Mary W. Please take the PetNutritionists advice. She has given you very sound advice especially considering that she has dealt with these issues.

[Dori]

Hopefully Shawna or one of the other experts on stones will chime in. Are you feeding him grain free? If you’re not, you should be. That will get the weight off him. Grain free is what caused my three dogs to lose weight rather quickly, too.

In my opinion you are feeding him entirely too small of an amount of food. The reason he’s always looking for food and acting hungry is because he is hungry. He’s starving. My 5, 6 and 7.3 lb. dogs each eat 1/4 cup twice a day. Even if he weighed what you think is his ideal weight, 1/2 cup per day is way way way to little. Please consider going to a grain free food, that will get some weight off, and feed him more. The poor little guy is hungry.

[Dori]

Are you still feeding Brothers? When I first started with the raw feeding I was concerned about the fat content but it doesn’t seem to bother them in the least. I’ve been feeding them Primal, Answers, Stella & Chewys, Darwins. I used to feed non raw THK but Katie became allergic to alfalfa so I had to stop that which was too bad because I really like the company. Where can I see pics of your dogs? My girls are my avatar and Hannah is the pic on my Facebook page. Dori Hassett on Facebook.

[Dori]

Hi Nectarmom. It’s nice knowing your still around. I hadn’t seen too many of your posts lately. My girls are doing better than I could possibly have imagined. A number of months back I did the complete transition to raw. All bad breath, gas, tear staining, goopy runny eyes has been history for quite some time. Their teeth are all incredibly white, I wasn’t expecting that they could get whiter since I’ve always brushed their teeth. Their hair (fur) is shinny soft and they all smell kinda sweet. It’s not their shampoo because I use soapless shampoos with no dyes or perfumes because of Katie and my allergies. The three of them have always been chow hounds but this is really ridiculous. They lick their bowls clean and leave them like they came out of the dishwasher. Lola who was getting a little chunky has lost some weight. Well, actually they all have on the raw. Lola was up to 6 lbs. maybe a little more, she’s now at 5 lbs. where she should be. Katie was a little over 7 lbs. she’s now at 6 lbs. where she should be, and Hannah was up to 8.5 lbs. and now weighs 7.3 lbs. Vet is delighted with all their weights and wanted to know what I’d done differently. So all is good here. Oh, they the water that they drink is from the tap at home, we have a whole house filtration system. I never thought it was the water. I always suspected it was the food for it to be happening to all three of them even though some were posting on the other site that it was clogged tear duct, hair in eyes, etc. For all three in both eyes, couldn’t be. I gave up the discussions, dropped the site, listen to the posters and moved to raw. I do add unrefined coconut oil, sardine oil (3 times a week, or sardines packed in water), organic fruits and veggies. No commercially made treats. How are your dogs doing? Still tear stained?

[Dori]

I use both Mercola digestive enzymes and Mercola Complete Probiotics. They are well worth the money. My dogs are doing so well. Cost wise I guess it the size of your dog or dogs would come in to play as to how long they last. My dogs are 5 lbs., 6 lbs., & 7.3 lb.s. When I purchase them I always go for their deals where you can buy more than one at a time and get a “little” bit of a break in cost.

[Dori]

It could be a reaction to the poultry but it sounds somewhat more of an allergy season issue. The only thing at allergy season is keep maybe a bucket (small pail) by the door and before he walks in the door rinse his feet off and keep a towel nearby. It’s pollen season is seems to be really bad already and it’s so early in the season. Here in Georgia where I live everything is coated in a yellowish/greenish powder. I’ve already started hosing and wetting down the backyard area where I let them down and trying to rinse off steps to back door. My dog has food allergies and intolerances but she also has same issues with outdoor allergy seasons.

[Dori]

Thanks NectarMom. It’s a question I find that we are always posting about the different foods. Who makes…..such and such….. Most of the times it takes so long to find out or you never find out. I don’t feed any food that won’t tell me who makes them. Ridiculous that anyone would. Anyway, I’m thrilled that HDM likes it and can make it happen. YEY!

[Dori]

Thanks HDM. I know that usually we’re told to go the the food site or try to find the info on line which I have often done but, usually, to no avail. They are apparently very good at keeping this crucial information a secret. What galls me is the fact that they know there are bad things going on or they wouldn’t be trying to hide who manufacturers there food and what plant it’s coming from. It’s exhausting. If they were proud of their food, proud of their ingredients, why not also be proud of manufacturing, etc.

Anyway, sorry to make more work for you guys but it would be such a great addition to this already fabulous site.
Dori

[Dori]

Is there a possibility that Dog Food Advisor could give some thought to having a section on the site with a list of Manufacturers and what foods they produce. It may be a daunting task on top of everything else you all do which I am eternally grateful for. Just figured I throw it out the question out there.

[Dori]

I have a 14 year old Maltese that chewed her nails for most of her life. Eventually when I grew a brain and switched all my girls to grain, poultry, white potato, soy free foods foods, their groomer mentioned to me (I hadn’t even realized it) that Hey! When did Hannah stop biting her nails (she never ever needed any of her nails trimmed because she bit them all off)? My reaction, of course brainless that I was, said HUH? I’ll be damned! She has never bit them again. So was it the grains, poultry, white potato, soy, white rice??????? Don’t know but I hope this directs you to look into any of these ingredients you might be feeding.

theBCnut Hannah never had nail infections or anything. She chewed all her nails on her paws and feet. The vet and groomer used to tell me that periodically they would come across a dog that just chewed their nails but they didn’t seem to be concerned. I bit my nails when I was a kid (actually I stopped after going through hypnosis at the age of 21) so I didn’t give it much thought. I figured she was healthy and I didn’t think hypnosis would work for her LOL!

[Dori]

Akari 32. I forgot to mention that the other allergy he may be having is to the peas. Dogs can be allergic to peas especially when there is an abundance in the food. Don’t worry, there are a lot of foods that do not contain peas if you want to give that a try.

[Dori]

There are plenty of foods your dog can eat that have no chicken in them whatsoever. Once you find a food that he does well on you can then while he’s eating that you can find a different one that doesn’t have anything that he has issues with and eventually have three or four different ones that you can rotate him on. There are probably more dogs allergic to chicken in all its forms including chicken fat than anything else. As I said, there are a lot of different proteins that you can try that do not have chicken or chicken fat, etc. You should really assume that if he’s allergic to chicken he will be allergic to chicken fat.

[Dori]

Hi Akari 32. I just went on line and checked Pet Botanics Salmon, also the lamb. The Salmon formula contains chicken fat in the list of ingredients. The Lamb formula includes chicken meal in the formula. If you dog is intolerant of chicken then I would not feed any type of poultry at all. You should also try to avoid grains, and soy in the ingredients. I have a dog with poultry allergies. Originally I thought it was chicken, it turned out to be all foul in any form. Always read the entire list of ingredients in each formula before you try it. A lot of foods contain chicken or poultry somewhere in the list of ingredients. It’s a cheap way to boost protein in a food. Also try to avoid foods that have too many peas in the ingredients. My dog, Katie, with all the allergies also have environmental allergies too. She gets worse in the Spring and Fall but always has food intolerances and allergies. Just recently figured out that she’s allergic to alfalfa.

[Dori]

TJ. When I initially started rotating foods a long time ago I would switch every two or three bags, then I started switching every bag. Always very very slowly. I eventually switched to commercial raw foods for all my three dogs because one of them has many food intolerances and allergies. I feed all three girls twice a day as I always have regardless of what I feed them and can now say, and it’s been a few months now, that I can feed them different foods a.m. and p.m. with no issues whatsoever. No gas, bad breath, diarrhea, constipation, nothing. I rotate their proteins within a brand, I rotate brands and I rotate their supplements. Nothing seems to bother them any more. Just as humans eat different foods for different meals without issues, so do my dogs. I will also say that they are incredibly healthy. I have a 14 1/2 year old Maltese (she’ll be 15 on 9/9/14) and I have a 4 1/2 year old Maltipoo and a 4 1/2 year old Yorkipoo. Vet is always praising how well they are. They only go to the vet at this point once a year for physical and the only vaccine they receive is rabbi’s vaccine. Hope any of this has helped.

Once you get your dogs accustomed to rotation, it has nothing whatsoever to do with their age. It is never too late to start rotating foods and they don’t take to rotation of diets any easier because they are young or old. Just take your time initially and before you know it you’ll be able to feed them different things all the time. Initially, like theBCnut, I used to add a complete probiotic and a digestive enzyme every day (not every meal). I haven’t done that in ages. Good Luck to you. Glad to meet you and welcome to the site if your new. If not, sorry I haven’t picked up on your name before.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[Dori]

Hi Shasta 220. The best yogurt is plain greek yogurt. But plain greek yogurt still does not have as many cultures as you can get in, let’s say, Mercola Complete Probiotics. Not Activia. Plain greek yogurt is much better for humans as it is for dogs.

[Author]

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