[Kimi_forever]

Dori: most of those commercial raw diets are probably out of my price range, but do you mind sharing 1-2 of the ones you’ve found to be trust worthy over time?

[Kimi_forever]

One time our local petco had cans of instinct and wellness for like .15-50cents a can and we stocked up on a bunch only to bring it home and the cats not eat it and us have to give it away…ill have to try and find ways to get some decent cans for cheaper, i was pricing what it would cost to feed weruva, and that would be like 70$ a cat for a 24 day period :-0….20 dollars a month sounds amazing, thats about what it costs to feed them orijen kibble, i dont know where i could find cans of wellness or halo around where i live for that price or online…But basically what you said in your second paragraph seems to be the only solution…

from that catinfo.org site they give a recipe for feeding like you said about 5-6oz a day instead of 10oz a day in canned and using antibiotic free chicken thighs as the source of protein. Only thing is it’s a mixture of homecooked and raw that the vet on that site recommends but her estimated costs after supplements and all and her practical suggestions of locating cheap meat (from whole foods) make it seem very practical. I also like that unlike the canned foods which almost always have something extra in them that i dont want that we have complete control over every ingredient in the food….It makes me jealous that i want to be able to provide this for my dog too. But feeding an 85lb dog raw and a 10lb cat are two different things, that’d be 1.7-2.5lbs for my dog and i do not not know where i can get the organ meat and bones i need for my dog ill have to stick to Orijen for my dog for now. but i found this guide on the internet and it also looks easy to follow so i might make the full transition for both animals at some point http://puppybutt.weebly.com/uploads/7/6/9/2/7692088/beginners_guide_to_prey_model_raw_rv.4.1.pdf …

[Kimi_forever]

gloria: yeah i do the peanut butter and kong number. she amazes me how she gets it all out! if you open a jar of peanut butter in my house my dog (mika is her name) will find you no matter where she was. I think she likes peanut butter even better then meat sometimes!

[Kimi_forever]

I just got a bag of blue buffalo wilderness trail treats duck flavor wild bits in the mail today from chewy.com on accident instead of my freeze dried sojo’s treats, they obviously are taking great care of replacing the mistake but i dont know what to do with these treats now that i’ve read this thread. i always knew BB was whack but jeeze. They told me to just donate these to the local animal shelter instead of send them back but i dont know if i even want to do give these to a raccoon after this. I’m thinking about just throwing them away.

And on wellness, i know i’ve heard good things about them from people on this forum. But ive read on another forum that someone contacted them and was told that they don’t even use human grade ingredients anymore, that they use pet grade — which depending on how you feel could mean a lot, and it does to me. I emailed wellness to try and confirm this and was met with silence/no reply so i wrote them off my list of foods. Not to mention that when i tried a bag of wellness core for my dog she had terrible diarehha and would wake me up in the middle of the night 3-4 times at all different hours crying in the crate and then would run to door as fast as she could and run outside and have completely liquid poo’s. I asked chewy.com to exchange the bag of core with a bag of the Fromm that she had no problems with and they did…I’ve also heard that nature’s variety uses denatured pet grade ingredients as well, and i was not able to get a straight answer out of their rep in an email as to whether nature’s variety used pet or human grade, they just said “we strive to source the best ingredients for you pet blah blah blah our ingedients meet or exceed the standards of the pet food industry blah blah blah” totally circumventing my question, petcurean did the same thing when i asked them. I personally don’t trust a company who can’t clearly verify that they use USDA inspected (or the equivalent) and passed meat and that their other ingredients are human grade. Sojo’s is made in a pet food facility and has no problem clearly articulating that they use human ingredients, same with merrick, orijen, fromm, and others. but after seeing some stuff on susan thixton’s site about merrick i’m no longer as hot on them either (not new news, old news)….

I dunno if i should give these treats to my aunt who feeds beneful to their dog, give them to a shelter, or just throw them away in hopes of not making anyone sick…jeeze

[Kimi_forever]

Yes they have been on kibble all their life. actually they are my mom and sisters cats, but i try and have some input on them too. They used to be fed purina one, and i made them get off that and told them about merrick because it wasnt so expensive. Now we have just recently (this is the first bag) put them on orijen because i expressed that imo it was worth the money over merrick or wellness core we were trying. I recently have read some of the info on catinfo.org and they said the same thing. The only problem is finding decent canned food not chalked up with carrageenan and other stuff is absurdly expensive, i’ve been pricing it for what it would cost for 3 adult 10lb cats and it’s not pretty. the vet on catinfo.org seems to have a method of making homemade meals that while still more expensive then orijen seems more practical, i think we are going to try her method since she has laid it out so clearly how to prepare source and supplement a cat’s diet in a way that economical and practical to do. I got some samples of Honest Kitchen for them to try, because as my pricing went it was a lot cheaper then canned food and still obviously had moisture from the added water, but they just looked at me like i was crazy for giving them THK. Maybe i should contact the vet from catinfo.org and talk to her and see what she thinks. I like the vet we are seeing okay, he has done wonders for my grandmothers old german shepherd whenever he had problems, but i wasnt thrilled when he suggested putting this cat on Hill’s prescription diet for her being over weight, but i know he had good intentions….We are in the process of trying to transition them off kibble but we will probably have to buy at least one more large bag before we get anything setup for a homemade diet :-\

[Kimi_forever]

The shampoo i use is not technically a dog shampoo but is certainly suitable for both animals and humans and a whole variety of uses. It’s all organic, fair trade, and made of oils and obviously no harsh chemicals. i use the unscented mild baby version of Dr. Bronner’s Castile liquid soaps https://www.drbronner.com/DBMS/category/BABYMILD.html

I will admit the labels on the soap freak me out a little, but i dont reallly think you can beat the formula he came up with…”Completely biodegradable and vegetable-based, our Castile Liquid Soaps have been called the “Swiss-army knife” of cleaning – usable for just about any cleaning task. These simple, ecologically formulated soaps are gentle enough for washing body, face or hair, but also powerful enough for tasks like dishwashing, mopping, laundry and even pest control. Different tasks call for different dilutions of the soap. ”
ingredients:
Water, Organic Coconut Oil*, Potassium Hydroxide**, Organic Olive Oil*, Organic Hemp Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Citric Acid, Tocopherol
* CERTIFIED FAIR TRADE INGREDIENT
** None remains after saponifying oils into soap and glycerin

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

[Kimi_forever]

i’m still learning to use the pinterest, but yes i believe i got it because when i go there i have a whole page of dog treat recipe’s that pop up. look great, i think i’m going to try some peanut butter ones because she goes nuts for peanut butter..ty!

[Kimi_forever]

Hi,

i have a cat who has been having patches of hair fall out, i am not sure what is causing it, they are like circles of hair that just arent there anymore. all the patches are of circular shape. we are taking her to the vet soon, but i had a concern. My last akita had a similar condition, i’m not sure if it’s caused by the same thing or not yet but it looks very similar. my concern is when we took our akita to the vet for this they put her on various medications such as anti-biotics and other things none of which did anything, we had to take my akita to several vets until one of them suggested standard process dermal care. as soon as we started putting the standard process dermal on her kibble the patches of hair my akita was missing grew back and it’s the only thing that helped her recover. i went to standard process’s website to see if they had dermal care for cats and they only make it for canine’s to my dismay. I was wondering if anyone knew of any holistic food type supplements similar to standard process that might be effective for dermal care that i might be able to suggest to our vet when i see him because he is not a holistic vet, just an average run of the mill vet is all i can find around my city…i just dont want to put my cat on all sorts of medications for no reason, and was hoping their might be some other way to handle this like we did for my dog.
thanks…

[Kimi_forever]

the oven idea sounds great, i know my uncle uses a smoker to make his jerky and we had thought about getting a smoker ourselves, but the no investment oven idea sounds awesome. ill research it.

bobby, thanks for clearing that up for me. i also like the conveince of the freeze dried treats and i like that unlike meat in my refrigerator they dont go bad so quickly i’ve made the bag of orijen freeze dried i got last a month by giving her one every now and then with her biscuits. i was worried that maybe ideally i shouldnt be feeding her biscuits full of non meat stuff and mostly potato or tapioca but she loves them so much and my dad loves giving them to her, but i think ive got some good ideas for home made ones now and that ill try to use chickpea flour for so it wont be too bad. i also think i did the right thing probably by purchasing the turkey flavor over the lamb or beef as far as protein to fat ratio so i think i’m on the right track. i dont think i have to worry then because my akita is not over weight but thats some good info you gave about how to take care of an overweight animal. i have an over weight cat that i’m worried about and want to improve her diet. we tried some prescription food from the doctor for her i wish we didnt try, i recently read the article on catinfo.org about prescription foods from vets and it made me want to cringe…

[Kimi_forever]

crazy4cats, actually bestbullysticks recommends putting them in the freezer or refrigerator, they do not recommend it for killing bacteria but instead to keep them fresh as they are a natural treat, they also say you do not need to thaw them when you take them out….but obviously for long term strorage putting them in the freezer is best…

deborah: i understand wanting to control the process under which your dogs food comes from, but do you honestly think it’s in any way practical to raise your own free range grass fed cattle and produce your own bully sticks? that sounds almost insane to me????? but on a serious note i am totally curious about susan thixton’s rumblings on champion pet food, that is if she decided to make that information public and not try to get a profit from it by making it private and selling it to people willing to pay for her opinion…

[Kimi_forever]

personally i dont know if i even feel safe leaving my dog with a kong alone, particuarly if its a strong chewer. i’ve seen some pittbulls decimate the black x-strength kongs and take off chunks of rubber that they could definitely choke on if not supervised.

That being said i use bully sticks for my dog as i dont have to worry about teeth cracks, and they are edible. i dont completely understand the logic of putting them in vicegrips, i’m not saying that is wrong i just dont understand it and would always be open to an explanation of why this was a good idea. one treat i just recently tried that i liked alot but it depends on your dog is the turkey feet from bestbullysticks.com …if you have a dog that doesnt fully chew their treats and gulps do not get these, if you want to leave your dog alone do not get them, but other then wanting to leave your dog unsupervised with one i think they fit most of your criteria and are HUGE and great for large dogs that fully chew their treats but again i cant emphasize enough they have to be supervised, but meet the rest of your criteria and are a great treat for large dogs as they are huge…I have an 85lb akita who was 35lbs at four months and over 60 at 5 months and she did great with their turkey feet, she fully consumed the whole thing and it lasted her about an hour, but with a more powerful chewer that was 100lbs+ i only give it 30 minutes, but still a good price for what you get…i also recommend bestbullysticks.com jumbo and monster bully sticks to you, they have the jumbo in stock right now, but again i do not suggest leaving your dog alone with these or any treat, even a kong….

[Kimi_forever]

I’ve heard some not so great things about them which disappointed me as i wanted to try some of their treats as they seemed interesting and i was particularly intrigued by their use of buffalo over beef as i personally feel buffalo is a superior protein source to beef. I would not personally trust meat from india, even if it is human grade. But then again i wont feed weruva to my dog because its made in thailand, but some people see no problem in this because its done at a human food processing plant, so if trusting india is a judgement call on your part i say no but someone else might say different.

One other thing to keep in mind about this company is that i learned evangers does the canning for their canned foods back when i was thinking of using their canned food as a topper for my dog. And like i saw one regular poster here say, “if they dont see the problem with having evangers can their food then i have a problem with that and i dont trust their judgement on any product they make given this”. I mean if these people don’t think doing business with evangers is a problem then where do they draw the line? i personally would return whatever i had from this company asap, but thats just me and i’m very picky and there arent many brands i approve of, so it’s really your call…

EDIT: one other thing about this company that i saw someone who reviewed their products point out which i felt was a good point. is that they focus their marketing a lot on unsubstantiated claims such as the food is good at fighting cancer instead of focusing on what is actually good about the food and why it’s a superior product. i just think they are shady all the way around and use a lot of clever marketing to sell products instead of focusing on quality…

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

[Kimi_forever]

I wanted to edit my last post instead of post again but it wont let me for some reason.

In any event, i only have an old dehydrator and it’s made of plastic and i’ve been trying to stay away from using plastic for food reasons as much as possible, particuarly when heat is involved because of the chemicals in plastic. and purchasing a new metal dehydrator just to make jerky treats is a pretty big investment, i still might do it eventually but i wont be doing it soon. On the freeze dried treats i read in another thread that you have to be careful because the fat content is too high in some of them. Does anyone know what an ideal fat content would be on freeze dried meat treats? I saw one person recomend the stella and chewy carnavore kisses, but imho those are outrageously priced and also it seems they stopped carrying them at chewy.com because i just tried to find them and this is where i do my pet food shopping so they dont seem to be an option. the most economical ones i found were sojo’s lamb/beef/turkey ones and the turkey had by far the highest protein content of the three and grandma lucy’s pork singles freeze dried, the sojo’s you can get for 7.50ish for 4oz and the gma lucy’s are 8.07 for 4oz. thats the best deals i could find for freeze dried, i tried feeding her ziwipeak air dried food as treats but she doesnt really like them anymore then her regular kibble she loves freeze dried though. i was just wondering if these more economical freeze dried treats were the ones i should stay away from. i saw someone in another thread suggest buying them from the more highly rated brands, and sojo’s only has like 3.5 stars and grandma lucy’s rating depends on the recipe so i was wondering if these ones are the not good ones or what levels i should look for as far as fat in these treats. i’m willing to pay more for good ones but also am on budget and have a large dog so i cant afford to pay 12$+ for like 2oz…

[Kimi_forever]

gloria, i sent you an email. one of the things i mentioned is possibly using chickpea flour instead of wheat so they’d be a grain free treat, but i wouldnt know the amount to subsitute. the coconut flour sounds promising but i’m not sure if that has a certain flavor/if my dog would like that flavor but i’m not opposed to trying the coconut flour….

and on the bully stick like i said in my email i think she’s okay with swallowing the size of bully stick she leaves but i just was curious if there was someone else who felt this was unsafe and what the reason was because i’d hate to take my dog to the vet over such a thing.

[Kimi_forever]

yes gloria that would be great if you would PM that to me, i do not have an account but i could sign up for one. any grain free recipes would be what i’m most interested in.

-and thanks for the feedback on the bully sticks and beef from brazil. i try to hold my dog to the same standard of ‘if its good enough for me, then its good enough for her’…thats crazy a 12lb dog can do that much damage to them! the standard ones from that site last my girl about 15 minutes, and she is not a super heavy chewer like some pitbulls i’ve seen, but she’s big so she can still put stuff down. i got the jumbo ones for her and they sometimes last her an hour of chewing, i was very pleased!

—-
Cheese sounds good. they don’t have to have meat i guess, i was wondering how that would work for homemade ones. i was considering trying to find a grain free receipe that used peanut butter because she loves peanut butter, but she also loves cheese so that would be nice in them as well…

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

[Kimi_forever]

That seems like a good idea. i thought about possibly making my own biscuits, but i didnt have a good recipe, if i were to find one though i’d prefer if it were grain free — the only thing is it seems like it would be hard to add meat into the biscuits at home. Also making my own jerky sounds much more reasonable then buying the freeze dried treats. i have an old dehydrator maybe i could give it a try, something i never thought of…thanks for your tips…

—
And on the bully sticks, i noticed some people saying they take the bully stick away from their dog when it gets down to the last inch or so. i did this with my akita when she was a puppy and growing because i was worried about her choking on the last piece. but now that she’s 85lbs she has just been consuming the whole thing, she works it down to about half inch and then swallows the rest. she seems big enough now that her swallowing the little piece left at the end doesnt hurt her, but could i be incorrect in this? Should i take away the last little piece from her because it’s a possible choking hazard or should i just let her finish it off? Like i said she chews them down pretty far and the nub she leaves is very small, about half to 3/4 inch (definitely less then an inch) so i thought it was okay now that she’s big but i just worried when i read some people taking the ends away because i used to do the same thing as a puppy.

—
thanks for your tips and help everyone, this place is always so helpful when i need dog food advice!

[Kimi_forever]

I just saw this topic and thought i’d ask a few questions to see if anyone had any input on my treat selection because i feel comfortable with the main diet i am providing just not sure if i am doing the right thing treat wise.

I feed my dog biscuit treats, i try to buy them from quality brands and they are not cheap. but is it bad to feed dogs biscuit type treats? i’ve tried fromm gf biscuits, merrick kitchen bites, brothers complete gf, honest kitchen nuzzles, nutrisource gf, sojo’s gf, wellness gf, and nature’s variety instinct…They are not cheap but are much more affordable then the Orijen freeze dried treats i got for free from chewy.com with my last bag of orijen. I am just wondering if these biscuits are bad treats to give my dog along with her orijen kibble. i give about 4-5 biscuits a day, i know they dont have much meat in them but she loves them so much i continue to buy them for her. would i be better off buying more expensive freeze dried treats like orijen offers in the long run or is it okay to give a premium biscuit like the ones mentioned as a small treat every day? I only ask because my dog is an akita and 85lbs at only 10 months old and even with cheaper freeze dried treats like sojo’s and grandma lucy’s makes it would still be extremely more expensive to buy them, as sojo’s and grandma lucy’s pork freeze dried on chewy.com cost like 3x as much as high end biscuits for equal weight. i just want to know if i’m feeding my dog improperly by trying to save a little cash on her treats….

On another topic, i see many people mentioning giving their dogs bully sticks, and i give them to my dog when i can because they tend to be very expensive, but she loves them so i try to keep some around. I just was curious if anyone used or knew if my source of bullysticks was a quality source. I am currently getting them from bestbullysticks.com , they have nice thick bully sticks for lower price then i’ve seen anywhere: you can get a standard size one for 1.39 (cheaper in bulk) or i just got some jumbo ones (which are huge btw) for 2.19 per stick (cheaper in bulk as well). My question is if these are quality bully sticks and a quality company to trust for my pet, if anyone knows of them or has used them in the past. They say they are made from free range grass fed beef, however the beef comes from brazil unless you buy the made in usa ones for more expensive, and one of my concerns is the origin of the beef used. I have bought the made in usa ones from them in the past but they are much thinner then the brazilian ones when you compare them from what is supposed to be the same size, and much less filled and they are also more expensive. So you pay more for much less when you get the american ones, and since my dog is a large breed and will likely be 95lbs when she is done growing i can’t have thin bully sticks i need thick ones and i need them at a decent price. Does anyone know if bully sticks from brazil should not be trusted? Or where you can get USA made ones that are thick and not priced 3 dollars+ a stick? Any feed back on that site or tips on quality thick bullies for reasonable prices would be very much appreciated…

[Kimi_forever]

It is hard when you lose your favorite pet, it was extremely tough for me to swallow the entire time it was happening, it was almost surreal. When we finally figured out that she was not going to be making it out of this, when we had to save her life (but only for a week), i just held my 95lb akita in my arms the next morning for about 8 hours not letting her go, just knowing that the next incident with her would be her last — it was really tough. We also have some family friends who lost their dogs to cancer and havent had the heart to get another one because of how hard the loss was. While like you said for me, it was just important to have an Akita in my life, it makes me think of Kimi and feel closer to her, and makes it feel like she had a big impact on my life (which she did)….With all that said, no i have not gone to get my new puppy yet because i am finishing off exams for the end of the semester. I have put a deposit down on her and the breeder is holding her for me until i leave, which will be tomorrow. I am driving about 13 hours to go pick her up. And thank you i think she is very cute too, and very distinct from our other akita which is something some family members wanted because they didn’t want our new one to be just like our last. The new puppy does not have an official name yet, however all the pups in the litter were given a name from the X-men comic book series by the breeder as a reference before they went to their new homes. Our girl was named “rogue” by them, and we may or may not keep it, we havent decided. It’s between “rogue” and choosing a female japanese name. Our last akita we chose a Japanese name for, Kimi means “she who is without equal” or “empress”. We will either do something similiar in choosing a japanese name or keep rogue.

Thanks for the good wishes, i can’t wait to bring the new puppy home, it will probably be sometime monday when we are home with her. She will never replace Kimi, nor will she be compared to Kimi (it’s just not fair to anyone to do that), but we just hope she can bring us joy like Kimi did, and i believe she will.

Thanks again..

[Kimi_forever]

Thank you for the condolences. Yes the disease that took Kimi was devastating and terrible, the worst part was that it came so unexpectedly out of the blue and took her so quickly, within a matter of months from the first signs of it she was gone from my life forever. While nothing will ever replace Kimi in my heart, while she was the most special animal i’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing, we have found a way to try and move forward from this experience. In Kimi’s memory we have opened up our hearts and home again to another akita:

http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx118/Kimi_forever/IMG_7071_zps9181fecd.jpg

Nothing will ever be the same, but hopefully our new girl will bring us some of joy in our lives that kimi showed us akitas are capable of.

Again thanks everyone for being so kind..

[Kimi_forever]

Thanks again guys for the support. As i’ve said before it really means a lot. And yes Mom2Cavs that totally makes sense to me. dogs really do enrich our lives, i notice it most maybe currently not having one, as i’m sure you would notice it quite a bit if you did not have a cav in your life. Dogs give you so much, i’m just glad i am able to try to give them something back.

[Kimi_forever]

Thank you, i really appreciate it. I would always get stopped by people whenever i walked her because they just had to tell me how pretty she was. She made me fall in love with Akita’s forever, i always want to have one after owning her. She had a great akita temperament, and was all i could have ever hoped for with my first dog. she touched everyone’s life she came into contact with, and will never be forgotten. I hope she is truly happy at the rainbow bridge, until we meet again my sweet baby, love you so much!

[Kimi_forever]

Thank you, very much, i truly appreciate it. I miss her everyday, she touched my whole family’s lives. I couldn’t believe what was going on with her, i still cant believe she’s gone. I truly believe if it wasnt for the cancer she would have lived to be 14 or so years old. She was the sweetest girl to all people (but still an akita) and she truly loved children. She loved going on walks and just being a lazy akita. She lived and died for her family, i was just so sorry we couldnt do more for her. It truly broke my heart, i lost a family member and my best friend, and nothing will ever replace her in my heart. She taught me and my family so much. In the end i just view myself as lucky for having her for the time i did, she was a fantastic dog.

Here is one more picture of her full grown playing with GSD friend:

http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx118/Kimi_forever/kimi1_zps69ad8e47.png

• This reply was modified 9 years, 12 months ago by Kimi_forever.

[Kimi_forever]

So sad i just recently lost an Akita. as the poster above said, may pearl rest in peace

[Author]

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