[Dori]

Elise T. Are you familiar with the FB page AnimalEO? If not, please check it out and request an invitation to join. That is Dr. Shelton’s essential oils site and you would be better served asking the question there as she and her tech staff are familiar with what EOs may or may not work. I use quite a number of essential oils but, I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with any that would help with a diabetic dog. Check out their FB page.

[Dori]

What they all said!!!!!!! Sometimes you’ve got to do what works when nothing else does even if you don’t like it. With a dog like Ginger and her infirmities you try to keep her as comfortable as you can while she lives out the remainder of her life in a loving environment with loving people who are doing the very best that THEY can.

Let’s try and not be so judgmental when you don’t know all the facts and you have no idea the circumstances that Ginger came into their lives, the condition she was in, all the poor dog has gone through before they got her and all that the family have gone through with no relief of her mobility issues and are doing what finally worked.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[Dori]

I’m a high protein, fairly high fat, low carb feeder but that’s just too much fat even for me and I feed a higher fat food than most people would be comfortable with unless we’re just reading something wrong. I have always said that it’s the quality of the fat and proteins in a food not the quantity but without truly knowing the quality of their proteins there’s no way to know the quality of their fats. I wish they gave us the dry matter equivalents also. Math and calculations have never been my strong suit so I don’t know how to do it on my own.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[Dori]

I should first inform you Jennifer that I am a commercial raw feeder so I wouldn’t cook, warm up or microwave any food I’m feeding my three dogs. But as Sandy has stated, and she would know better than I would, if bones are truly finely ground up then I guess you could cook them or warm them up in your microwave which is basically cooking them. That, to me, basically negates the reason for feeding a commercial or home raw diet.

I didn’t see the mention of AAFCO though I’m glad you did. I found their site a bit time consuming and not particularly easy to get around. I do have a problem in that their food is as inexpensive as it is and that shipping is free. Though I live in Georgia, not anywhere near their manufacturing plant, they say than can FedX my orders free of charge over night. As I said earlier, something just seems off to me but I’m not sure what. I’m going to call the company tomorrow and get some answers to some questions I have and I’ll post back here.

It also concerned me where it was mentioned the amount of fat in the calorie count. I really do need a review of this food from Dr. Mike and his team before I would ever feed it to my dogs.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[Dori]

Hi John P. As long as there are no gastrointestinal issues that would be fine. Typically I like to rotate with different brands entirely because if one company or parent company is deficient in one nutrient or another they will pick it up with another company. That is my reasoning with not only rotating with proteins but rotating with brands from different parent companies but that’s only my way of doing things, not necessarily right or wrong; just what works for me and mine. I’m glad I’ve been of help and will continue if I can be.

The misinterpretation could have also been on my end, I tend to type much slower than my thinking process.

[Dori]

I’ve never heard of Allprovide Raw. Think I’ll wait until Dr. Mike and his team review the food and what thoughts they have, if any, on the company itself. I would be interested if, indeed, it is on DFA’s list of foods to be reviewed. I’ll wait.

Aquariangt: There’s no mention of GA on the site and also no mention of AAFCO either. Not that I don’t have foods in rotation that aren’t AAFCO compliant I just find it odd that they don’t even allude to it. I can’t, with comfort, feed a diet that at bare minimum doesn’t have a GA anywhere on the site unless we’re all missing it. Like you said, weirds me out too. Something seems off to me, obviously I could be wrong.

Jennifer H: Please give us an update once you’ve received the food and have fed it for a while. Thanks much!

• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[Dori]

Hi John. Just saw your post here and I’d like to reply and help if I can.

Nope, it wasn’t me that suggested that you keep your dogs on the same protein. That’s totally against what I do or would recommend. I may not have explained things correctly. What I had said is that I would suggest that you find a few different (proteins) that your dogs do well on and rotate within the brand if, in fact, there are different proteins in that brand that you can feed. Also find other brands with proteins you dogs do well on and rotate within all the brands all the proteins that your dogs can eat. Rotate proteins and brands. It is never, in my opinion and the way I feed, a good idea to keep a dog long term on any one protein and on any one brand.

I can’t comment on the Acana line or any dry food as I’ve mentioned before. My allergy, intolerant girl can actually eat Nature’s Logic kibble but only the dry and only the sardine formula and only in my way of rotating which is often.

Other foods I thought you might want to consider to add into their diets are Nature’s Variety Instinct Freeze Dried Lamb (doesn’t contain any poultry, fowl, or beef)

Nature’s Variety Limited Instinct Kibble Rabbit or Lamb.

Stella and Chewy’s Freeze Dried. They have a rabbit, a lamb and also a venison formula. None of which contain beef or fowl of any sort.

I think adding freeze dried to their diets in rotation would be a little more cost effective with the kibbles you’ll be feeding because this way, at least, they’ll be getting some of the benefits of raw on occasion. The other is that if freeze dried is too expensive as their entire diet in rotation you might consider rotating through the freeze dried foods that I mentioned and use them just as their treats. You’ll be sure they’re getting healthy treats and they’ll benefit health wise and you don’t have to worry about what’s in the commercial “treats” which usually contain something dogs with food intolerances have issues with. I hope this has helped. Sorry, but I hadn’t realized that you were on the road 9 months of the year. Hopefully when you stationary from time to time if your room has a fridge with small freezer you may be able to just buy small bags of raw frozen to add into their diets. Nature’s Variety Instinct is sold in most, if not all, Petco and Petsmarts and they seem to be everywhere in the country. I love that you travel with your dogs and that they are a priority in our lives. Yes, we are all rather companion animal obsessed (or most of us are) and we like it that way. So, never fear, you’re not in the minority in the world of dogs and your wanting to do the very best you can for them. I’m pretty sure it would be a safe bet that most of us dog obsessed people on this site feed our dogs healthier diets that we do ourselves and our families. I’ve been known to do a McDonald’s drive thru from time to time for myself and my husband yet would rather die than feed my dogs any low quality garbage dog food. They become our children and, as such, we commit ourselves to their health and welfare. As typical parents, we usually put ourselves last. In my opinion that’s a good thing. They can’t choose what they eat, we do it for them so we should try to do the best for them. It’s the least we can do for them when you consider all they give us in return.

[Dori]

If you look on the review side and then go through some of the comments, you’ll see that a number of people are posting that their dogs that once did well on Blue are having gastrointestinal issues. I think, though I’m not positive, that there is a thread on Blue foods.

[Dori]

Akari I had to laugh when I first read it very quickly then had to read it again. At first it sounded like you were saying your mom “may be a huge pain in the butt, but she’s a cutie, and so sweet”. Of course, the eat your face off was a dead give away you weren’t speaking about your mom but about Ginger. I’m glad to hear that your mom has fallen in love with Ginger as much as you have. By the way, I used to think my mom was a pain in the butt once in a while when I was young and got on me about something or other. 🙂

[Dori]

Love every single Rachel.

[Dori]

Glad she ate her food like a good girl. Unless a dog can smell rancid spoiled food they will not let themselves starve. She probably just didn’t recognize the different scent to her food. Good for you for putting the effort into switching her food. Once she’s totally switched and her gut is in better condition I would urge you to start added a teeny tiny bit of organic coconut oil to her diet once a day. There are a lot of studies thinking that coconut oil also helps dogs with seizures.

[Dori]

Glad you were the person that rescued Ginger.

[Dori]

Okay so Ginger’s already getting her food soggy so that there really isn’t chewing involved. Hopefully you’ll be able to keep her on the same food since I remember you said it was helping with her arthritis. I wonder why they don’t make a canned version. Well, anyway, you’ll check with the vet as to what to feed when you bring her home and for how long. Poor baby girl Ginger. Once she heals up after the dental surgery I’m sure she’ll feel much better. Being in pain all the time makes life miserable.

Well, your mom may have taken a long time to agree but I guess it’s better late than never.

[Dori]

William M. Your plan sounds good to me. Don’t forget with transitioning for the first time like his please be patient. Don’t try to rush the process or you’ll just wind up have to slow it down anyway. Your goal is to transition to a better food while all the while not upsetting his gut too much while doing the switch. Good Luck. Keep us posted.

[Dori]

Oh, okay Akari. I’m glad you’ve got a system in place also to keep track of expiration dates. Very organized.

[Dori]

So long as you keep track of their expiration dates I guess you can hold on to them and feed before that. I know that you get some of these foods dirt cheap with all your coupon knowledge but you may want to avoid foods from companies that you feel are questionable because though you spent little for the foods, you did spend some money and now you’re afraid to feed them to your dogs. Better to just pass up the deals from the really questionable brands. 🙂

[Dori]

Hi Beverly. Glad her eyes seem to be clearing up and that she’s liking what is a fabulous food. Don’t forget that you can rotate through the different proteins and, of course, through other freeze dried foods. Primal is my favorite of all raw and freeze dried foods. Second for freeze dried foods is Vital Essentials.

And now I’ll have to start bugging you to go to gravatar.com and post a picture of Sugar. I can’t wait to see her. We love doggie pics. 🙂

[Dori]

Ginger getting her dental done!!! YES! YAY! Don’t forget to fast her from the night before. Fabulous news Akari. I’m sure Ginger will feel much better after her dental. Having a dental is not particularly big deal usually unless they have to have a lot of teeth removed which will alleviate any pain she’s been in and a good cleaning should help with bacteria going on in her mouth which can be going through her blood and into her kidneys. Bad news for you is that she may only be able to eat canned if she has too many teeth removed. The procedure itself is really not a big deal. You’ll drop her off in the a.m. and pick her up in the p.m. She may or may not be a bit groggy. A little bit of canned food in the evening. Her gums, of course, will be a little sore and she probably won’t want to chew on dry food. The vet or tech will give you all the instructions when you or your mom pick her up. Have you ever had a dental on any dog? Fingers crossed that her blood work comes back half way decent. So happy for Ginger.

[Dori]

Cotons mom. Please explain to your husband, if he doesn’t already know it, that Angel Eyes contains antibiotics so it’s a bad idea for anyone to use it. I read somewhere that there is a big controversy on companies being able to add antibiotics to over the counter eye stain ingredients and I believe they are due to be outlawed. I’ll have to figure out where I read this. I read it just in the last two or three weeks. I’ll have to see if I can find the article and post it. Anyway, antibiotics are very destructive to the immune system and should never be given just to remove eye stains. They are not attractive, that’s for sure, it’s simply an aesthetic issue, not life threatening. Antibiotics should only be used for infections that cannot be controlled any other way. They don’t just kill bad bacteria but the good bacteria that is needed to survive. Anyway, that’s my opinion on antibiotics. I’m going to go search for the article.

Here’s one: http://www.aaha.org/blog/NewStat/post/2014/09/03/531874/FDA-targets-tear-stain-remover-products-for-misusing-antibiotics.aspx

Here’s another: http://www.fierceanimalhealth.com/story/pet-tear-stain-removers-still-widely-available-despite-fda-warnings/2015-02-09

Google has quite a few posts regarding the FDA and antibiotics in products for dogs, cats, horses that have not been deemed safe or tested. Also there are articles where veterinarians are not comfortable with the over use of antibiotics just to remove unsightly tear stains that are not, in almost all cases, not a medical issue but an aesthetic one.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by Dori.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[Dori]

Hi William. Glad you are going to change her diet to a grain free food. Most dogs do better with a high quality protein, modern to high quality fat, low carb diet. Also do your best to avoid high starch’s like white rice, white potatoes, etc. That will help with seizures. Please try to avoid any foods that have rosemary or rosemary extract in them as rosemary is known to trigger seizures in dogs that are prone to seizures. If you will type in Seizures on the forum search box there are a couple of forums on seizures.

Since she has been on one food all of her life, I would start very very slowly by removing a few of the old kibbles and add some of the new food. Typically you can start (some say) by switching out 1/4 of her old food with 1/4 of her new food. You can add some canned pumpkin (grocery store), not the pumpkin pie type, just plain pumpkin or some probiotics to help her get through the change. Keep an eye on her poops. If they seem to be okay (“normal”), then you can move to 1/2 cup old food 1/2 cup new food. All the while checking her stools. If they start to get loose or diarrhea then go back to the mix when her stools were normal. Keep her on that till she’s regular again and then continue with the transition. Every time her stools are too loose, back up, stop and wait. Typically dogs can transition in about 10 days but some dogs will take much longer. I fear that with a dog that has eaten the same low quality dry dog food all her life it may take a bit longer. Some dogs can take up to a month or even two to fully transition. Good Luck. Do the transition slowly and all will be fine.

The Honest Kitchen makes a product called Perfect Form that a lot of us have used while transitioning foods and have been very pleased. It’s a staple I keep in the pantry for my three girls. Eventually, when all is well with your dog…..no more yeasty ears and such hopefully you’ll be able to feed her 2 or 3 or even 4 different foods that she’ll do well with. A lot of us here at DFA are rotational feeders. The more often you are able to transition to a different protein and brand the easier your dog will be able to transition through the different foods. It all makes for a healthier gut and also any nutritional needs that may not be addressed by one brand will be balanced, over time, with other foods. Also, if a food has a recall or your local store has suddenly run out of what you’ve been feeding her, there’s always another food you can feed her without upsetting gut.

[Dori]

UH OH! Where on earth ARE you gonna do with all the food!!! YIKES! OH, and people in our lives that we can’t stand to be around for more than a little while. YEP! I’ve got a couple of those in my immediate family. We avoid each other as best we can. We seem to only come together for funerals.

Not to worry Akari, if you fail to post for a while we will dial 911. I still don’t know who you are on FB. I only know you as Akari 32. I’m Dori wherever I am. I couldn’t possibly keep track of too many alias’s. I’d lose myself for sure.

[Dori]

When the dust has settle BC I think we’d all love some pics. So exciting, especially with the possibility of two pregnancies. So many more names to pick. Congrats!

[Dori]

Sardines, blueberries and kale or broccoli. That’s if I was forced to only choose three. Of course I give them a lot more variety and……..I don’t feed kibble.

[Dori]

DFA friends are never ever super stalkers. Love you sweet lady.

[Dori]

Hey! You big creepy stalker you! 🙂 LOL and you’re on FB and haven’t friended me, I think Naturella and I might just have to be insulted. You know our names we’ve (I) don’t know yours and of course you know our avatars and you have the shady figure as your avatar. OMG!!! Shady lady figure you are a stalker. Friend me on FB Akari. There’s lots of us regulars on FB that have friended each other. Or email me.

[Dori]

Stainless Steel bowls. Low carb foods and please buy a doggie toothbrush and dog toothpaste. Brushing is the only real tried and true method of keeping clean. You have to be consistent though and the more often you do it the faster your dog will get use to it.

And….Yes, Xylitol is toxic to dogs. Change vets. Seriously! I wouldn’t like peroxide anyway especially for a dog not accustomed to have their teeth cleaned. Peroxide tastes nasty and foams. YUK! Dog will give you a hard time after that. Doggie toothpastes at least have a taste they like and can swallow without harm. Dogs can’t spit out what you use to brush their teeth with. They swallow it. No matter how little you use of these ingredients they are going to swallow some of it………Xylitol, Peroxide??? HUH? Not good in the long run and brushing their teeth has to be done for their entire life.

[Dori]

Oh hey Beverly, I thought you’d figured out how to get Sugar on gravatar.com. So silly of me I didn’t even look to see it was someone completely different. I saw a small white dog that reminded me a little of mine and jumped to thinking it was so. Anyway, looking forward to seeing Sugar.

[Dori]

Oh my goodness, isn’t she a cutie. Sugar and Hannah do look similar. She looks so tiny, how much does she weigh? Hannah weighs 7 lbs. So glad you got her pic up so I could see her. We all love to see doggie pics.

[Dori]

Thank you GSDsForever. This is very interesting. I never realized that GSDs had this problem. So do you add digestive enzymes and probiotics to their diets also? Would those help with their digestion?

[Dori]

Kristie W. I have a dog that’s been on Soloxine for Hypothyroidism so just wanted to chime in here. No, it is not a good idea for your dogs to miss their meds and I think a week is to long to go without his/her meds, but I doubt very highly that it would have killed your dog. Your dog may seem and act under the weather but will perk back up once back on the meds.

My sincere advice to you would be to immediately find another vet and when you make the appt. with the new vet ask the desk personnel to request your dog’s records from the previous vet. Your old (present) vet may not want to do that without your paying them a fee for copying the files. Some vets will charge a per page fee. To say that your vet acted unprofessionally is being kind. That was very inappropriate behavior. She could have very nicely spoken to you about the pros and cons of missing meds. There was absolutely no reason for her to belittle you whether it was to your face or in the back room with the techs.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by Dori.

[Dori]

I also agree with Marie and Jakes mom. I would never feed that food and I would follow jakes moms suggestion.

[Dori]

Yep! Monthly when you check the new EC list also check on the Product and Recipe Monitor to see if any of your favorites are gone and that will give you a little more info. 🙂

[Dori]

If you click on the home page for EC you’ll see a section entitled Product and Recipe Monitor. Look through it and you’ll get your answer there.

[Dori]

I’m looking forward to seeing Sugar in your avatar. Even if you’re on a windows machine you can still go to gravatar.com and sign up and then they’ll walk you through the steps to post picture. I just can’t walk you through it because I’m on a Mac.

As to the foods that I feed, they are all commercial raw foods from companies that I like and trust and all three girls have done very well on all of them. I feed all three girls the same meals. I also rotate proteins within the brands and I also rotate with different brands. All proteins with the exception of any and all poultry (fowl) regardless of how or where it is listed in the ingredients. Nothing with feathers because Katie is highly intolerant. These are the companies I feed.

Primal Formulas Raw Frozen and Primal Pronto Raw Frozen and sometimes Primal Freeze Dried
Vital Essentials Raw Frozen Foods and sometimes Vital Essentials Freeze Dried
Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Food Only
Answer’s Detailed Raw Frozen
OC Raw Frozen
Nature’s Logic Frozen Raw

Once or twice a week I split a can of sardines in water with no salt (from grocery store) between the three girls.

For treats I give them small pieces of organic (if available) fruits and veggies. Apples and cucumbers must be peeled because they carry a lot of bacteria and are waxed to make them pretty for us. Make sure to not feed any seeds or pits from any fruits as they are toxic to dogs. Of course as I’m pretty sure you already know, no raisins, grapes or onions.

If you want any more info, please ask.

[Dori]

Editor’s Choice List also takes into account the company itself not just the ingredients in the food that’s why you won’t find all five star rated foods. The reviews are on the ingredients, protein and fat and how they all measure up in the food. The EC list is for all that plus the company that manufactures the food. For me, 5 star foods are great but I’m also grateful to know which ones are from quality companies with, most especially, quality customer service and their openness as to their ingredients, where they are sourced, etc. Hope this answered your question a little. You can also read, if you haven’t already, under Editor’s Choice Home they have a FAQ section where they will, no doubt, explain it a bit better than I just have.

[Dori]

For anyone that uses Dr. Harvey’s. Just got this email today.

http://www.drharveys.com/newsletters/show/37-march-madness-sale

[Dori]

Hey D.F. If it’s an Evanger’s product pleeeaaasssssee don’t feed it to Sam regardless of who the co-packer is. Poor Sam, like Katie, has enough food issues to contend with without throwing Evanger’s into the mix. Yikes! Girlfriend, what were you thinking???? 🙂

[Dori]

Hi GSDsForever. Very coincidental. Anyway, my question is purely for my education. Why is it that German Shepherds don’t digest foods as well as some other breeds do? I’m just always trying to learn. Never too old to learn something new. I’m 66 years old by the way. I’ve never owned German Shepherds nor will I ever. I’m allergic to all animals that have fur, hence my having toy breeds with hair, no fur and low allergens.

[Dori]

OH! So sorry Beverly. It’s gravatar.com and then sign up and follow their directions. If that doesn’t work please let us know and I, or someone with a functioning brain at the moment, will walk you through it. Gotta walk the girls right now. I’ll be back.

[Dori]

Hi Beverly again. Okay so I’m totally wrong on how to post your pic to your responses. Let me try to refresh my memory and I’ll post again. It’s been awhile.

[Dori]

Hi Beverly D. I have three toy dogs. A Maltese, my avatar is my 15 1/2 year old Maltese Hannah. That photo was from last year when she was 14 years old. I also have a 5 1/2 year old Maltipoo, Katie and a 5 1/2 year old Yorkipoo, Lola. They are all fed commercial raw foods that I have been feeding for the last 3 years or so. Katie, my Maltipoo, was a basket full of food intolerances and other issues as she was the runt of someone’s litter that I rescued so not to have her euthanized. Due to all her food intolerances and my research I found DFA and schooled myself on canine nutrition. All three of my dogs are doing remarkably well and Katie has been off of all antihistamines, over the counter and prescribed, for the past three years. If you want info on the commercial raw dog food companies that I feed and trust please let me know. I have done extensive research into all of them and trust their foods and the companies. But I will say that these foods are what work for my dogs. All dogs, as humans, are individuals and different.

As far as I can remember, please go to avatar.com and follow directions. I have a Mac Book Pro so it was fairly simple. If you’re working on a windows computer than, I’m sorry, but it’s been too many years since I’ve used a windows computer to be of any help.

I’m going to go onto avatar right now and see if I can refresh my memory and walk you through the steps.

[Dori]

Hi GSDsForever. Funny, or coincidentally, that you should mention Dr. Susan Wynn. She’s my Maltese’s, Hannah, veterinary nutritionalist. Also the veterinary nutritionalist that my three dog’s veterinary interned under for a year or so. She’s a wonderful person.

[Dori]

C4C. Mixing all the foods together???????

[Dori]

Beverly D. I’m wondering if you know whether they gave her a different food. I’m assuming that when you board your dogs you brought enough food for them. Also, do you bring them water also or are they drinking the facilities water. Maybe their water system needs to be checked. Too much chlorine or fluoride in the water if it’s city water. If well, maybe too many minerals. One of my dogs is a Maltese and a couple of years ago when I boarded her she came back with reddish tear stains, reddish feet and a reddish beard. I had to conclude that it was something she ate or drank. Also stained reddish were the hairs all around her vulva. Also a big one, have any of the employees been handing out treats (which is very sweet and I know they all mean well and like to do that so the dogs don’t fear them). You may be feeding grain free and the facilities treats may cheaper treats that contain grains. Or something in the treats your dog had an issue with. I find that it’s typically something like that.

[Dori]

I guess I’d forgotten how big your dogs are. Now it makes more sense to me. Still. Wow.
My three girls together weigh 18 lbs. I guess that’s why I was astonished by the amount of food. My girls eat so very little. Hannah gets approx. 3 oz. of food per day, Katie gets 2.5 oz. per day, and Lola gets 2 oz. per day. What a big difference. They could eat off of all your food for quite a number of months. I guess that’s how I’m able to feed them all commercial raw foods. Couldn’t possibly if they were the sizes of your dogs.

Bill Jac does look like rabbit food.

So you empty all the bags and mix it all together in the same container so each scoop they get some of all of the different brands and proteins?

• This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by Dori.

[Dori]

James S. Thought you should read this in case you haven’t already. It’s under EC FAQ.

/frequently-asked-questions/about-editors-choice/

• This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by Dori.

[Dori]

Hi Akari. Yikes, they’ll go through all that food in just two weeks? Am I ever lucky I only have toy dogs. Wow! What sizes are those bags? You can’t tell from the picture. I tried to enlarge the photo to see if I could tell but couldn’t. I thought my dogs were eating me out of house and home now with the little they eat. I know you work your magic with coupons but that’s a lot of food for just two weeks. I know Haley’s not too big but I don’t remember how big Dweezle is.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by Dori.

[Dori]

Hi Melissa.

I don’t know the sizes of your dogs so I don’t know if it would be cost prohibitive for you but I have three toy dogs and I feed them all commercial raw food diets. Twice a day. I also rotate commercial raw foods and they have not missed a meal in the three years that I have been feeding them commercial raw foods. Just a thought.

[Dori]

Hi John. Firstly I just wanted to post about Marie’s suggestions. She want be upset with me as she’s a friend of mine and is fabulous at helping others with their canines.

California Naturals does have a Kangaroo grain free but the protein is incredibly low. 21 % to AAFCO standards.

Natures Logic Rabbit contains turkey meal, chicken fat, chicken liver, dried egg product and egg shells (for calcium).

Grandma Lucy’s Pureformance (their grain free line) is freeze dried food. Their foods that do not have any poultry or beef are: Rabbit, Goat and Lamb. (Be forewarned…fairly large poops on Grandma Lucy’s but it does have a good reputation with a lot of feeders).

On to the questions you just asked of me. Since you are already feeding your dogs a raw diet, transitioning to a commercial raw diet will be very easy for you and your dogs if, in fact, that is the route you want to take. Transitioning to raw is much simpler and quicker especially with dogs that are already eating raw. Also because you already feed grain free that will make it a bit easier as their guts are in better and healthier conditions than dogs fed their entire lives on foods that contain massive amounts of carbs and lower quality foods. Now, I’m assuming at this point that the only known allergens are poultry and beef. I would stay away from any and all poultry (all fowl….anything with feathers). Since you say that Bella reacted violently to Bison after only a few hours you’ll be able to tell fairly quickly if a new food is going to bother her. Typically when I first started out with rotation feeding I could tell within 3 days how Katie was doing on it. If she was going to have loose stools or vomitting, scratching, gas, bad breath and everything else that goes along with food sensitivities it would happen fairly quickly so I stopped feeding that food and went on to the next. In your case I would probably tell you to start with one food and if they do well on it then feed only that food for two or three months just to give their guts a bit more healing time and “detoxing” as it’s called. At that time you will already have bought the next food you want to try within that brand if there is another protein without any allergens that your dogs may have. If that brand doesn’t, then move on to the next brand. If all goes well I would then feed that food and start looking for the next protein within that brand you want to try. Every time you are done with one bag you move on to the next. Every time with a different protein within the same brand. Keep a detailed list of the foods you have tried and what, if any, reactions they had. Once you’ve exhausted the different proteins in your first brand then you move on to the next brand and start rotating through their proteins that your dogs can eat. Then you move on to the next brand. Before you know it you may be able to have 4 or 5 foods that your dogs can eat and do well on. You can then continue to rotate within these brands and proteins every time you have to buy a bag of food. You can then start rotating with the different foods you have in the freezer every day, every couple of days, every meal as I do, whatever. I rotate as often as I do because Katie can’t tolerate anything for more than a meal or two. She probably can at this point but since I’ve been doing it this way for so long and they’re all just fine with it and because I wouldn’t eat the same thing for breakfast and dinner I figure why should they. I also can’t afford for her to become allergic to anything more than she already is. In rotating foods if some ingredient bothers her a little or there is a pro-inflammatory ingredient in the food (which I try my best to avoid but not always possible) then she’s only getting it for one meal. Rotating foods for all dogs is, in my opinion, the healthiest way to feed canines but especially for canines with food intolerances.

Please keep in mind that the log (list) is very very important. In keeping a list it will also better inform you if your dog is having an issue with the protein or is it another ingredient in the food. If you feed rabbit and Bella has issues with it and then you move on to goat and the same thing happens, then you have to compare the ingredient labels of both those foods and see what other ingredients do both foods have in common other than the protein. When starting to gather foods for dogs with allergies it’s easy to assume that it’s the labeled protein in the food and keep moving from food to food thinking your dog is intolerant of every single protein. Typically that’s not the case. It’s that we forgot that they could be allergic or intolerant of any other ingredient in the foods. So it’s important…..keep a log of foods you feed and the ingredients in the foods. You can print out the ingredient list from their web sites or you can take a picture of the ingredient label on the bag itself for reference purposes.

“Toppers” by the way is just a term that’s used meaning anything that you would put on top of the food you already have in their bowl. I would suggest you not use any of them at all until you have some foods that you can easily feed to your dogs with no allergy symptoms. You’ll confuse the issue if you start adding other things. You won’t know which or what is causing the symptoms. I do add things to my dogs foods but I did not in the beginning. Had to find the foods first. Then started adding little things to see what the affect would be.

Plain Kefir (you can buy it in grocery stores) acts like plain yogurt in that it contains friendly “probiotic” bacteria that helps the gut. I will add here that my allergy girl, Katie, cannot have kefir, yogurt or cheese. Actually I’ve yet to find a probiotic that doesn’t contain something (yeast, or whatever) that she doesn’t have issues with. She’s too intolerant of them and the craziness starts all over again. Not saying that your dogs will react, but owners of dogs with food sensitivities have to be very careful of every single thing that eat. Their immune systems are pretty much in a weakened state especially until their immune system improves on better foods, less toxins and carbs to deal with. 70% of the immune system is in the gut.

Allergy symptoms can be skin issues and/or digestive issues as is the case with Katie. Once I cleared up all her food issues her digestive and skin issues all disappeared.

Once on line please check out all pro-inflammatory foods, fruits and veggies. Allergies are an inflammatory based issue so you need to avoid those foods as best you can. It’s not always easy to eliminate each and every single one but do your best to avoid as much as possible. That’s also a good reason for rotation. If one of your foods does have pro-inflammatory ingredients your dog will not be getting them for too long a time.

If you find, eventually, that your dogs are not allergic to sardines then you can give them sardines packed in water with no salt added (canned in the grocery store) two or three times a week (as a “topper”) on top or mixed in with the food in their bowls. Sardines are an excellent form of Omega 3 which most foods are lacking. Most foods have plenty of Omega 6’s and not enough Omega 3’s to balance them out. That is true most especially in kibble foods. On the days that I don’t give my dogs sardines I keep a bottle refrigerated of Nature’s Logic Sardine oil. Oils go rancid fairly quickly so it’s best kept refrigerated and also says it on the bottle I believe. Anyway, once I’ve put their meals in their bowls, and on the days I don’t add sardines, I splash a little of the sardine oil on top of their food in their bowls and promptly put the bottle back in fridge and immediately give the dogs their bowls of food. I believe the oil has the dosing on the bottle. Please do not give your dogs salmon oil as we already know that they had issues with the salmon food. Also, salmon and tuna have the most amount of mercury in them due to their long lives. I don’t feed either because of those reasons. Sardines and krill have the least as they have very short lives and very short digestive tracks.

Just for your info I realize that I didn’t tell you what type of dogs I have or anything other than Katie’s allergies. So, Hannah (my avatar) is my 15 1/2 year old Maltese. Katie is my 5 1/2 year old Maltipoo and Lola is my 5 1/2 year old Yorkipoo.

One more thing. I no longer have my dogs vaccinated. I do the titers on the core vaccines. Rabies vaccine in my area is only required every three years. Though recently I’ve learned that the county I live in will accept rabies titers. Very few counties in the country are on board with titers for rabies. I don’t believe that any dog should be vaccinated unnecessarily. Dogs with allergies shouldn’t be vaccinated. Of course, I am in favor of doing all the initial puppy vaccinations spaced out as they should be. Each vaccine should be done separately and not the three in one type. It’s too much of an overload on their systems. After those initially puppy shots which, if memory serves me, ends when they are about a year old. After that having your vet do titers to check their antibodies to the core illnesses will let you know when and if they have to be vaccinated again.

[Dori]

If I haven’t nominated OC Raw Dog Food I would like to do so now. I’ve had it in commercial raw rotation feeding and all three dogs have been doing very well on it. Thank you.

[Author]

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