[Gracie’s Mom]

I am very familiar with Darwin’s, and I think it is the best food. I fed Gracie Darwin’s for the first 15 or 16 months that we had her, and all was right with the world. Then, one day, she refused to eat it. . . and she kept on refusing. I switched to ZiwiPeak, and she ate that for a while, then stopped. . . and on. . .and on the story goes. We’ve been through so many foods and vet visits to try to figure out what to do. I still have some of the Darwin’s in the freezer, and every now and then I offer it to her. She just growls and barks at it and won’t eat a bite. The freeze-dried, air dried, and dehydrated “raw” foods have been more to her liking, but they are so expensive, which brings us back to why I was looking for alternatives or ways to dilute those with kibble.

So, if/when I prepare her food myself, it likely won’t be raw. Hopefully, though, I’ll be able to get away with very light cooking so that most of the nutrients survive the process. I like your suggestion of working with a veterinary nutritionist. I will definitely look in to that.

[Gracie’s Mom]

I was holding off replying to your last post, PitLove, until I had time to try some combinations. My goal was to mix kibble with canned or dehydrated (not all three at the same time) to make the expensive stuff go a little further. I’ve tried it for a week now with no success. She just won’t eat kibble, no matter what I mix with it. I’ve tried four different kinds of kibble and have mixed it with various canned and dehydrated foods from the list I posted previously. All she wants to eat right now is the canned Against the Grain. She likes the chicken and beef varieties equally. I can mix in Ziwipeak air dried or the Fresh is Best freeze dried chicken, turkey, or beef, but that’s it. She won’t even eat things she was eating before, like the K9 or Vital Essentials. What’s with this dog?

On the bright side, my husband, seeing my extreme disappointment and frustration, has agreed to let me try a home cooked diet. He was opposed to that because he knows if something happened to me, he could not maintain it. He just doesn’t have the time. However, given the amount of money we have wasted on commercial food that she won’t eat, he seems willing to take the risk. Now I’ve got to get busy and figure out a good home-prepared diet for her. Gracie’s needs are quite different than our last dog, for whom I cooked a bland, low fat diet to deal with chronic pancreatitis.

I will keep the Against the Grain and ZiwiPeak / Fresh is Best in rotation, but will probably mostly reserve it for when she’s boarding or we’re traveling.

Suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

[Gracie’s Mom]

I get what you’re saying. I have been feeding Gracie dehydrated and freeze-dried raw, having not been successful with frozen, but I need more options in rotation so that she doesn’t get tired of any one food after a few weeks. Also, the expense of straight-up, prepared raw is very high. And, lastly, there’s the sometimes quite high fat content that is of concern (e.g., K9 Natural) in the dried raw foods. So, I’ve been on the hunt for several high quality kibbles and canned options to mix with dried raw, both to lower the overall cost and to put the fat in better balance. Does that make sense? I am willing to concede that allowing in some starches is going to be inevitable with this plan.

Here’s what I’ve come up with that could work for Gracie. The fat percentages are approximates based on the flavor that Mike reviewed.

Base Mix
Honest Kitchen Preference

Canned
Against the Grain (20% fat/protein ratio)
Chicken (but does contain potato starch)
Beef (but does contain potato starch)

Addiction (53% fat/protein ratio)
Hunter’s Venison
Herbed Duck Confit

Tripett (58% fat/protein ratio)
Green Bison Tripe
Original Green Beef Tripe
Green Beef Tripe and Venison
New Zealand Green Lamb Tripe
Green Beef Tripe, Duck and Salmon

ZiwiPeak (71% fat/protein ratio)
Beef
Lamb
Venison
Venison and Fish
Tripe, Lamb, and Venison

Dry Kibble:

Nulo Freestyle (48% fat/protein ratio)
Turkey and Sweet Potato
Salmon and Peas
Lamb and Chickpeas

Nulo Medal (51% fat/protein ratio)
Lamb and Lentils
Chicken and Peas
Salmon and Sweet Potato

Nature’s Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient (68% fat/protein ratio)
Turkey
Lamb
Duck

Acana Singles (56% fat/protein ratio)
Pork and Butternut Squash
Duck and Bartlett Pear
Lamb and Okanagan Apple

Wysong Epigen 90 (25% fat/protein ratio)
Chicken

Freeze Dried, Air Dried, or Dehydrated Raw:

K9 Natural (90%+ fat/protein ratio)
Venison (but does contain eggs, a borderline allergen)
Lamb (but does contain eggs, a borderline allergen)

Fresh Is Best (50% fat/protein ratio)
Chicken
Beef

Vital Essentials (79% fat/protein ratio)
Tripe
Beef
Chicken
Turkey

ZiwiPeak (79% fat/protein ratio)
Venison
Venison and Fish
Lamb
Beef

[Gracie’s Mom]

Addiction Hunter’s Venison Stew (canned) also appears to be free of grains and starches.

[Gracie’s Mom]

I’ve been looking more closely at the foods that the wizard identified as not having the ingredients I eliminated based on allergies. One thing I’m struck by is how many starches are included in some of the foods. For example, the various flavors of Acana and Nulo have four starches each. Of course, that doesn’t in any way indicate what percentage of the ingredients are starches, but I suspect that some, like lentils and peas, are pretty significant proportionally, given the limited ingredients of some of the foods. Gracie hasn’t tested allergic to those, but I am not convinced they belong in dog food any more than grains. The Epigen 90 does seem to stand out as a food with no starches.

I’m curious to know what everyone’s thoughts are on starches and how much you consider those in choosing foods.

P.S. The starches I’m talking about in these limited ingredient foods are 1) lentils, 2) peas, 3) chickpeas, 4) sweet potatoes, 5) pumpkin, and 6) tapioca.

[Gracie’s Mom]

Yeah, tripe takes some getting used to. Our last dog had chronic pancreatitis the last three+ years of her life (she made it to almost 17). The only thing she would/could eat without causing an attack was tripe (Tripett) mixed with slow cooked rice, fennel, and garlic. That diet helped her live much longer than any vet predicted and helped us limit, but certainly not eliminate, the severe, painful attacks. At first, I literally gagged when I would fix her food, but, now, after years of it, the odor does not bother me. Gracie loves tripe and would eat it every meal if I would let her. I have mixed feelings about whether it provides enough nutrition, since I did see one dog not just survive, but actually get healthier, on it for a long time.

[Gracie’s Mom]

I also still don’t see anything that would exclude K9 Natural freeze dried, though the wizard did not identify it as meeting the criteria.

[Gracie’s Mom]

I will definitely check into the Epigen 90.

Gracie is not allergic to grains in general, rather I think they should be avoided in dog food, so the tapioca was purely my concern in that regard. After further research and consideration, I realize that my reaction to tapioca was based on what we called tapioca in my family growing up, which was really tapioca pudding and made from white rice (to which Gracie is quite allergic). However, tapioca is actually a root and there’s no evidence that it would be a problem for the princess. When I ran the wizard again without excluding tapioca I also got Source Grain Free Turkey and Pea as an option, along with Nature’s Variety Instinct.

In investigating why Against the Grain, ZiwiPeak, and Vital Essentials failed to make the Wizard’s list, I noticed something I had missed about Against the Grain; i.e., it has potato starch. I see no reason why ZiwiPeak (air dried) and Vital Essentials (freeze dried nibblets) would have been omitted. They still look like viable options to me.

[Gracie’s Mom]

Thanks, PitLove, for your interest in Gracie. I did try to give complete information without writing a treatise; it seemed like a long post as it was! Gracie did not test allergic to chicken, though it is definitely her least favorite source of meat/protein. For example, she will eat all the K9 Naturals flavors except the chicken. Nevertheless, I try to keep some form of chicken in rotation, because it is a leaner option. I keep thinking that I will find a source of chicken that works for her.

When I ran the wizard, I got the Acana Singles Duck, Lamb, and Pork; Addiction Herbed Duck and Hunter’s Venison; Best Breed Grain-Free Chicken and Salmon; Canine Caviar Open Sky GF, Wild Ocean GF, Wilderness GF; DogsWell Nutrisca Chicken; Nulo Freestyle Adult Lamb, Salmon, Chicken, Turkey, Cod; Nulo Medal Series Adult Chicken, Lamb, Salmon, and Wysong Epigen 90.

I didn’t get PetCurean Go! – Sensitivity + Shine, I think because I eliminated tapioca on the basis of its similarity to a grain in digestive terms.

Allowing tapioca brings in several other options worth considering, including one that I just ordered but haven’t yet tried, Nature’s Variety Instinct Turkey Meal Formula. We’ll see how that goes. Any opinions on the tapioca?

Thanks, again, PitLove. Your help is much appreciate!

[Gracie’s Mom]

It’s difficult, isn’t it? I also checked out Zignature Zssentials after reading favorable comments about it here. Unfortunately, it has both flaxseeds and alfalfa meal, so it won’t work for us.

[Gracie’s Mom]

WOW! That is exactly what I was hoping for. I ran Gracie’s allergies through it and came up with some of the foods I had been looking at as well as some I had not yet considered. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[Gracie’s Mom]

I was just going through limited ingredient dry foods that I could add to the Against the Grain canned food, and it looks like Nature’s Variety Instinct Turkey Meal Formula may be an option. It doesn’t appear to contain anything that Gracie is allergic too. Potatoes, rice, flax, and alfalfa appear to be very difficult to avoid. I would rather have a five-star food, but haven’t found one yet. It takes a long time to look up complete ingredients for every food!

P.S. In my previous post, “Arcana” should have been “Acana”, obviously. Sure would be nice to have the ability to edit posts.

[Author]

Posts