[Jennifer H]

The Sentinel Spectrum doesn’t do anything against adult fleas though right? I have my dog on Advantage Multi but I hate the spot on (plus it’s very expensive and Sentinel is cheaper here), but it kills the adult fleas, but does nothing for eggs/larvae. It’s such a trade-off that I’m not sure which way to go. I wonder if it would be easier to control the adult fleas through natural means.
I’m also finding a lot of flea dirt on my dog between baths, but only ever 1 or 2 dying fleas. It’s really irritating that I pay so much for this medication and he’s still getting all this flea dirt. I live in FL btw, so the fleas and mosquitoes are rampant year round here. :/ Already had to fight an infestation once this year.

And what is the difference between Sentinel and Sentinel Spectrum, just that the Spectrum kills tapeworms?

Sorry for hijacking!

EDIT: I also don’t have much of a tick problem thank goodness, at least in my immediate area. Which I am forever grateful for as ticks freak me out completely.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Jennifer H.

[Jennifer H]

I keep some high quality frozen kibble in the freezer in case of emergency, if the power goes out just thaw it out and I’m good. I also have a flock of free range chickens, so my dog would be supplemented with a daily fresh egg. Also if the power went out the food would still be edible for the dog for a few days if kept in a cooler with ice. I also keep a few cans of dog food on hand in case of emergency.

I feed my dog a raw diet and I love it. I’ve been formulating my own recipes somewhat based off of HoundDogMom’s (check out her stickied thread.) but with more ‘parts’ aka a lot of variety in bones and meats. It’s been kind of getting to be a pain in the butt lately though, so I think I’m going to fully switch to her model with a few minor tweaks to suit my small dog. Instead of grinding my own meat I’m just going to be preground meat from Hare Today (probably going to use the whole rabbit and the goat instead of chicken/beef, and then use chicken necks and feet as his evening rmbs, because chicken bones are the only ones he can safely eat.)

Be careful feeding kibble and raw in the same meal. Some dogs can get digestive upset from this, although some dogs tolerate it fine.

[Jennifer H]

I think it’s a little odd that all the veggies look basically whole and raw. I can see many dogs just picking through and only eating the things they like.

[Jennifer H]

I would just cut back on the amounts your feeding, and look for the kcals per cup on the back of the bag, and match it to feeding for her ideal weight. For example, lets say she weighs 50lbs, and you want her to weigh 40. Figure out how many kcals a 40lb dog needs per day, and then match that to how many kcal per cup of the food (I think DFA has a calculator floating around here for that) to see what you should be feeding, as each variety of food varies in its kcal amount. Also factor in any treats she may be getting and any table scraps, as they count towards her total caloric intake.

Some dogs need to be fed less than the amounts suggested just because they are so prone to weight gain unfortunately. Just as some dogs need to be fed more if they have difficulty keeping weight on.

[Jennifer H]

What about using a roational diet with your dog so she doesn’t get bored? Finding 3 or so foods that work well with her and rotating every week or two so she stays interested. You could also look at using wet food toppers (cutting back some of the dry so she doesn’t put on weight) so there’s always something different and enticing her to eat. Just a spoonful or two mixed with the dry does the trick for a lot of dogs, and you can usually stretch the can about a week. I think I saw Farm & Fleet had several nice varieties of canned food, and Walmart also has their Pure Balance line and the Rachael Ray tubs.

[Jennifer H]

Look for Pure Balance at Walmart. They have 2 grain free varieties, the salmon is 3.5 stars and the Bison is 4.5 stars.

Looking at the site Farm and Fleet website they have some good foods, but most aren’t grain free. The Nature’s Balance Easy to Digest Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Pumpkin is rated 4 stars here.

What I would do is set aside a day when you have the spare time, and go to both stores. Read the ingredients lists and write down brands. Then when you come home, look at the brands on the site and see how many stars they have, and check for their recall history and other people’s experience with the food and brand as a whole.

[Jennifer H]

Also, try not to get upset with her. She’s not doing it on purpose or to be bad, if it’s from her old age it’s honestly something she has no control over. With Blondie, my lab, I just kind of sighed and cleaned up whenever she had an accident. I knew it wasn’t anything she was consciously doing.

As I said in my previous post, I would start taking her out to potty more frequently. As the age holding it in gets more difficult a their muscles lose tone. Good luck!

[Jennifer H]

When my yellow lab hit around 13-14 she started doing that. Just a little bit, and it happened whenever she would go from laying down to standing. I assumed it was just from old age, as she had been house trained her whole life. I would suspect its from her age before I even began to suspect it had anything to do with the food – especially after 6 months.

At 13 she is getting to be quite an old dog, and senior dogs come with a lot more medical conditions and ‘quirks’, so to speak, lol. My girl suffered from one bout of vestibular, and as she hit the 14 mark started suffering from more pronounced arthritis and even showed signs of dementia, along with the fecal incontinence. I started taking her out more often and encouraging her to potty, and it seemed to help with the incontinence.

I don’t know if it’s something any medication can fix, I think its just something that comes along with old age imo. I would still take her to the vet ASAP just to double check, but to me it honestly sounds like she’s just getting old. Think about how many elderly people have to wear diapers and it doesn’t sound so strange that our pets lose continence as they age.

[Jennifer H]

I would still try it, personally. Do you know what ingredients he was sensitive to perhaps? I would just switch reaaallly slowly at first and watch for any signs that he isn’t tolerating it. Some companies will send samples of their food to you to try, so you don’t have to commit to a bag.

Finding multiple foods for him is a good idea in case there are ever formulation changes or recalls.

Some people switch cold turkey, but with his digestion issues imo a slower transition may be better for him. You could also look at adding probiotics/enymes to ease the transition, especially when you start out.

Ughhh I hate when vets do that! It’s like being sprayed with perfume at the mall. I’m actually in school for veterinary assisting and in our text book it has a chart for various diseases/conditions (ex: kidney failure, pancreatitis) and under recommended diet, every single one has some variation of Hills. Like no guidelines or anything about why to feed certain foods. The chart lasts like 5 pages. It’s insane.

[Jennifer H]

You’re very welcome!

I’m currently feeding that kibble to my dog, actually. Some people don’t like Merrick foods but I think as long as you keep an eye on recalls, its good. My dog has done very well on it. You could certainly switch to it, but have you considered doing a rotational diet? You could use it in your rotation. Rotating foods helps expose dogs to new proteins, binders, and vitamin/mineral makeups. You could pick 3-4 brands you like (For example, Fromm, Castor & Pollux, Acana, Nature’s Variety Instinct) and rotate through these. You could rotate every bag, every week, etc, it’s up to you. Just a suggestion 🙂

[Jennifer H]

I would stick with Fromm. Taste of the Wild is manufactured by Diamond, and while the food is good, the company is pretty shady and has a long history of recalls. A lot of people here recommend a rotational diet with kibble, there’s a few threads on it around you may be interested in 🙂

As for feeding raw. I personally wouldn’t mix them in the same meal, as this can give some dogs digestive upset. I would feed one meal as kibble, and one meal as raw. For raw, you want to feed him 2% of his body weight per day. So if you’re only feeding one meal of raw, cut that number in half. So since he is 100~lbs, he would need 2 lbs of food per day. Since he is only getting 1 meal a day of raw, that would be 1lb of food at his mealtime.

Start him out slow with just poultry for awhile to get his tummy used to it. Then you can gradually start introducing other meats like beef, pork, etc and organs, which are an important part of the diet. When feeding something bony like a turkey neck, add in some nice meaty meat like chicken breast or hearts (about half the weight of the bones worth) to cut the calcium and prevent constipation.

I currently feed my dog kibble in the morning and raw at night (next week we make the switch to full raw!!) and he does well on it.

For chews, you can try giving him a frozen turkey neck and let him work on that. It can keep a dog busy for hours.

You could also look into antlers, although I know some people have reservations over them being too hard.

This is a good thread to read to find some information on raw food – /forums/topic/menus/

[Jennifer H]

Sooo…this is the menu I’ve drawn up for next month for Toby’s raw diet. Would anyone care to check it over and see if I’m good for calcium/phos, vits/mins? I try to stick to the meat being in the PMR range, but I add veggies and supplements as well to balance everything out.
Toby weighs 13lbs, although I think he should weigh a bit less. The morning mixes consist of ground whole prey (Hare Today), with added cooked/pureed veggies (varies according to season availability, but usually consists of a base of pumpkin, spinach, parsley, sweet potato, berries and I add an 8oz can of Oyster for manganese) and added egg. I mix up as much meat as I would need for all 4 weeks, then add half that amount in veggies, and then 2 eggs w/ shells from my backyard flock.
He also gets .5oz of veggies in the evening. (I make a big batch and then portion into ice cube trays.)

His organs consist of 2lb beef liver, 1lb chicken liver, 2lb beef kidney, and 1lb beef pancreas that were ground and mixed together and then portioned into ice cube trays for ease of use.

AM
Monday – 2.5 oz Tripe Mix
Tuesday – 2.5oz Llama Mix
Wednesday – 2.5oz Rabbit Mix
Thursday – 2.5oz Tripe Mix
Friday – 2.5oz Llama Mix
Saturday – 2.5oz Rabbit Mix
Sunday – 2.5oz Mutton Mix
PM
(Meals total roughly 3oz)
Monday – Skinless Chicken Neck, Chicken Gizzard, .5oz Organ
Tuesday – Chicken Foot, Beef Heart
Wednesday – Goat, Sardine, Beef Gullet
Thursday – Duck Neck, Turkey Gizzard, .5oz Organ
Friday – Chicken Back Piece, 1oz Organ
Saturday – Cornish Hen Wing, Goat, .5oz Organ
Sunday – Goat, Sardine, Beef Gullet

His supplements are as follows –

MORNING – 1/2 TSP Missing Link Skin and Coat – Daily
15 IU Vit E – Daily
Carlson Low A Cod Liver Oil – Daily
2tsp Kefir – Daily
Fish Oil – Mon, Wed, Fri
Coconut Oil – Tues, Thurs

EVENING – 1/2 TSP ONP Daily Greens – Daily
15 IU Vitamin E – Daily
2tsp Kefir – Daily

I’m also looking at adding k9 Natural Health Skin and Coat to his evening meal as well….but only at half dose or less (their doses seem extremely high).

Does this look okay? I’m learning all the time, and hoping to create a nice varied but balanced diet for Toby. He loves his raw, and he’s done so well on it.

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

[Jennifer H]

I bought the “Only Natural Pet Super Daily Greens”. I really like the ingredients, & that they tell you the amounts of each ingredient. I mix it with kefir and Toby slurps it up. It is VERY green though, aha. It’s a bit pricey, but I signed up for their email alerts and was able to score a $5 off coupon when it was already on sale. Just had to pay their dang $6.99 shipping charge.

I think store-bought would be fine, but I bet from the farmers market would be much higher quality. I just use Lifeway kefir from Walmart, though.

Will you be adding new proteins to his diet?

[Jennifer H]

Thank you for such an informative post Michael! I am glad to know more about this product and am excited to receive my order when it comes in.

[Jennifer H]

Me either, haha Math has always kind of escaped me. I don’t mind the high fat if I’m just using it as a ‘topper’, but if the fat is as high as I think it is I wouldn’t feed it alone. I hope I’m wrong because the rest of the ingredients are nice.

[Jennifer H]

Dori : Oh yeah, I have no plans to heat it. That seems silly to me to buy a raw food and then cook it. I usually just get his food set up about 30mins before hand to let it come to room temp, although now that it’s heating up I just give it straight out of the fridge.

It wasn’t bolded or anything, just kind of tucked in a random spot on the ingredients section, I pretty much found it by sheer chance haha.

The ONLY thing I can think of is they are keeping prices low to develop a customer base, they claim they have a very successful business in the UK as well (but I could not find more info on that).

I like the ingredients, a lot, although the fat seems rather high. I want to like it, and I can’t wait to hear back after you call tomorrow!

If I get too worried about it I can just toss it, I’m not too upset over a loss of $15 :p I am a little worried over it, but I only plan to feed Toby a small amount at first until we learn more about the company.

I live in Florida, and I got 2 day shipping for free. I’d really like to see how everything is packaged. Still kind of bummed about it being in 1lb bags, not sure how I’m gonna portion that. Thinking about just plopping it in ice cube trays.

The website is a pain to navigate. From what I’m seeing all the recipes have roughly 60-70% of the calories coming from fat.

[Jennifer H]

Dori – I agree that something does seem a bit off. It’s a lot of marketing but not a ton of information about the product itself. The owner does seem rather forthcoming however. I’m just really suspicious of the pricing and the free 2 day shipping. It doesn’t really all add up.

I’ll only feed it occasionally to Toby due being wary of the product, but it would be rather nice if it ends up being an affordable raw food. But small companies make me nervous.

I found this on the ingredients section : “Allprovide is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog or Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for gestation, lactation, growth, maintenance or all life stages as appropriate. See individual product labels for details.”

It also weirds me out that they say the product can also be cooked, but they use ground bone in the product.

Although I did enjoy this on the feeding section “OVER-FEEDING AND OBESITY ARE MAJOR CAUSES OF SERIOUS ILLNESSES.” I should print that and tape it to my neighbors door.

[Jennifer H]

On the site under ingredients it has beef listed as USDA Select, and the turkey and chicken are listed as USDA Grade A.

I don’t see a listed guaranteed analysis, but under each recipe it has the breakdown of nutrients per 100g (3.5oz).

It says 114 of the 194 calories come from fat…yikes?

I went ahead and bought the 8lb starter box (chicken formula) for 15.20 w/ free shipping. Just to see the quality of the product and the company (plus that’s a seriously good deal.)

[Jennifer H]

Somehow I missed the giant “free shipping” sign on the site. Oops.

How can they offer it so cheap though? I would be paying only 15.20 for my first order of 8lbs of raw, grade a dog food with free shipping. Now I’m suspicious.

[Jennifer H]

Okay, what. Got all the way to the checkout just to see, and it’s still telling me shipping is free?

[Jennifer H]

Wow I really love the ingredients in that food. I think it looks really good, but I’d like to know the dry matter % of fat to make sure they aren’t getting most of their meat from fatty cuttings.

I don’t like that it’s in 1lb pouches, as that could be a pain to portion for smaller dogs, but that probably cuts costs for them.

The site kind of sucks though, and I’m having difficulty estimating shipping (it keeps telling me free, which I know can’t be right. Also 50% off your first order holy smokes!)

I have no issue feeding vegetables to my dog so long as they are properly processed. Personally I think farmed meats lack some nutrition, and that it can be quite difficult to fully balance a diet with just meat/bone.

I feed my dog a homemade raw diet, but he’s so small (12lbs) it can be difficult to balance. I’m considering switching to a rotational commercial raw diet with a few RMBs a week.

Would love more info on this product 🙂

[Jennifer H]

What do you mean “before you knew better”? At the shelter I intern at that was the product recommended to me, but I still have several months of advantage multi so I wasn’t looking to switch, plus my sisters dog was on it and it made him sick constantly. I didn’t know there was anything bad about it besides it made some dogs sick?

I still see fleas occasionally on Toby even with the Multi. I think it may have to do with the sandy area we live in, or maybe the amount of dogs around. I’m not sure. 2 years ago we had a massive infestation even with everyone on flea products, not sure we could ever do without….

I really do hate the spot-on, but I just don’t know what to do. I’ll try the ACV and garlic and see if perhaps that makes a difference.

I was thinking of switching to Sentinel and just using herbal flea sprays on Toby for the adult fleas. I worry though that if the Sentinel doesn’t kill adult fleas, the fleas could just lay eggs in the carpeting and then boom, infestation.

[Jennifer H]

BCNut – You live in Florida, right? What do you use/trust for fleas and heartworms? I have my dog on Advantage Multi (as per the suggestion of my holistic vet, after he had a bout of hookworms two years ago) but I’m reading so much about the worry people have about mixing flea/heartworm meds, and using topicals.

[Jennifer H]

It’s already cooked. Most of them (unless packaging states otherwise) have bones in them, but they are soft and easily crushed between two fingers. I just scopp it right out of the can and into the dog’s bowl.

[Jennifer H]

Hmm. He’s had the stains since I got him (bit over a year ago), and they reduced since I switched him to a better quality food (altho TOTW is nowhere near the best, I know) but he still had him….the vet never seemed to be concerned. Is there something I should be giving him if it is some sort of fungus? Blehh, that grosses me out. I know there’s Angel Eyes, but I’m not very comfortable with giving him low dose antibiotics if it isn’t necessary.

He does still have the ‘leakage’ but I attributed that to his bulging eyes and lash irritation. Hmm…

[Jennifer H]

I don’t mean to hijack, but out of curiosity, are the tablets better than the topicals? I have Toby on Advantage Multi but I still see a flea or two occasionally (then again, this IS Florida….)

Do the tablets contain less harmful ingredients? I hate giving him what is basically a pesticide, but I just will not risk having him get HWs.

[Jennifer H]

Can you mix commercial with that base mix? Wouldn’t that be too much calcium? I was under the impression that THK bases were to be mixed with boneless but maybe I am wrong….

Or do you mean mixing regular (not base mix) THK with frozen raw?

[Jennifer H]

pugmomsandy, what kind of ribs do you feed your pugs? I have a Maltese, and I’m trying to find edible bones for him that aren’t just poulty. Would goat bones be edible, do you think? HareToday has small cut goat bones, they look like ribs to me. Would that be edible, for a small dog?

He’s had a pork neck before, but I dislike they way they are cut and he didn’t seem to be able to eat a lot of the bone. He does well with chicken necks, backs, and feet.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Jennifer H.

[Jennifer H]

Hey, a fellow Floridian!!!! 😀

I’ve been looking at the Raw Feeding Miami too, can’t wait till they get an actual site up and running. They have some great stuff there.

I have difficulty finding good variety too, but recently one of the Winn Dixie’s near me had a crap ton of sliced beef heart on sale, so I stocked up on that. They also had pork tails & beef livers on sale, too.

I have a small dog too, isn’t it great?? lol. I’m trying to feed him PMR with RMBs and organs and chunks, but it is seriously hard trying to get a good variety/balance with 4oz of food.

[Jennifer H]

Forgot to mention, he gets 1/8th cup Taste of the Wild (high prairie) with about a tblspn of wet for breakfast.

[Jennifer H]

Yes, my goal weight is 11 lbs, so 2.5 oz per meal at 3%. Some meals are 3oz, those are the RMB portions because I try to keep the bones pretty big so he can’t swallow them whole. He’s usually a good chewer though. I let him have a pork tail for fun this afternoon and he had a blast. I was surprised he limited himself, he only ate half.

I know 3% is a bit high, but I worry about blood sugar, and I had seen a few people suggest feeding up to 4% to small dogs.

I also have a small flock of backyard chickens and he will get a raw egg 2x a week. He refuses to eat the shell though, even if I break it up.

Are tinned sardines okay? I can get them in brine or oil. Not sure which is best…

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