[theBCnut]

Marie is right about picking it up if they don’t eat it. Don’t allow them to graze. You need to create a habit of eating when it is given. You can add warm water, a little canned food, a little fresh food, sardines, some egg, etc to make it more appetizing. Unless it is a financial thing, your dogs are small enough that you could feed all canned food, if you wanted. Or more canned and less kibble.

[theBCnut]

Do your research on which premade raws are high fat. They only have to list a minimum and some of them have a lot more fat than that. A dog that is susceptible to pancreatitis needs controlled fat levels.

[theBCnut]

Licking air is a sign of nausea, so she really does need to wait longer to eat. I know how hard that is, but you are going to have to be strong for her if she is silly enough to want to eat inspite of her tummy warnings.

[theBCnut]

Could this whole problem have started with the new bag of food? Diamond, who makes TOTW, doesn’t have a stellar reputation, quite the opposite.

[theBCnut]

Why did you stop giving her any fiber? Have you tried Hare Today’s Whole Carcass Rabbit? It has the fur still in it and that acts like fiber. I don’t know how digestable oils are supposed to help, they are digested…though if I eat too greasy a meal I’ll be messed up for a couple days, it must work.

[theBCnut]

Sandy, I clicked on that link and it tried to give me a virus or something. I got one of those pop-up saying my computers security detected a virus, but it listed the wrong program. It wouldn’t let me exit, so I had to force it to end task. I ran my own scan and came up clean.

[theBCnut]

I haven’t heard of it. What kind of treats is it supposed to be?

[theBCnut]

Mutton is a VERY fatty meat.

[theBCnut]

I honestly don’t know. Skin is supposed to be fatty, so I would think that duck feet would be fattier than chicken feet. And they have some padding on their foot that may be fat. But I really don’t know.

[theBCnut]

I feed all my dogs, including an 11 yr old, All Life Stages foods which are puppy and every other age foods. I feel they are better quality than Adult foods.

I have a puppy that can’t handle grains in his diet, so I know first hand that feeding grain free is just fine for puppies. I’ve heard all kinds of mixed answers too, but the things people say against feeding high protein are based on old research that was proved both faulty and false. Unfortunately, old wives tales are difficult to kill.

[theBCnut]

I use it in rotation, it is heavy with flax seed, so I don’t like the idea of using it all the time. When I use it, I use 9 lbs of ground meat(sometimes I use turkey and pork) and 1 lbs of organs. I add 4 0z. of apple cider vinegar. You can mix it without the eggs and then add eggs when you are ready to feed it if you want to leave the eggs raw. It doesn’t mix and store well with raw eggs.

[theBCnut]

Including shipping they top $4 a pound for me. I use some Darwin’s, but not all. When I started feeding raw, I googled homemade dog food and found DinOvite. It was an easy way to get started. I used their Yeast Starvation Diet for a bit while I read up on feeding raw. It’s a very easy recipe and I still make it occassionally with some modifications. There are a few premixes and vitamin/mineral mixes that are made to be mixed with either boneless meat or grinds that are also an easy way to get started. These are more expensive than doing it all from scratch, but less expensive than premade balanced raw diets.

[theBCnut]

I started using raw as a topper and had no problems, but it could be a case of some dogs having problems and some not. When my dogs were eating enough raw to make a meal of it, I switched to feeding raw for breakfast and kibble for dinner. Now, I can feed all raw, raw and kibble, just kibble, whatever. It is all what works for you and your dog.

[theBCnut]

We just took a goat to the butcher for the first time. I found it strange to explain how I wanted him processed, so I wonder what I’ll end up with. The good news is he doesn’t have any problem saving all the organs for me. I even told him I wanted brains and eyes. He didn’t even blink when I asked him if he could grind all the organs together. That way I can portion them easier. Portioning 70 lbs of various goat parts will be interesting since I need it in 1 lbs packages…

[theBCnut]

My two very active 40 lbs dogs eat about a pound a day, one slightly more than the other. The rule of thumb is 2-3% of their body weight.

When turkey is on sale at Thanksgiving, I get 2 or 3 extras.

[theBCnut]

Steve Brown’s book “Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet” is an EXCELLENT place to start.

[theBCnut]

The best is to pick a few that work for you and to rotate through them.

[theBCnut]

And they are human grade so you can take them yourself. Bee pollen, I recently discovered, tastes good and it’s supposed to help with seasonal allergies.

[theBCnut]

I’m with you. I’d rather see those vit and min in whole foods and 24% carbs is a bit more than I would like, but that does sound pretty good. I’ve never heard of it before.

[theBCnut]

Adding in superfoods like spirulina also add micronutrients that may not be found in other foods. I always give some type of superfood supplement. I like to feed several different ones in addition to spirulina like kelp, alfalfa, wheat or barley grass, berries, mushrooms, spinach, kale, broccoli, etc. I make a homemade one and freeze it, or make one that HDM made a recipe for, or buy one like super green, ultragreen, or others. I rotate them just like I rotate almost everything else.

[theBCnut]

Freezer burn affects the taste, but the meat is just fine to feed.

[theBCnut]

What people don’t say is why it matters if ice crystals form. The only thing I have been able to find is that water soluble vitamins may be lost in the ice crystals. I feed the ice, melted ice, fluids, whatever. Also a deep freeze is supposed to keep food good longer, ice crystals form when something is cooled to just below freezing and opening and closing the freezer door warms it’s surface slightly.

[theBCnut]

That’s been happening to people here lately. Later it will be as if nothing happened.

[theBCnut]

Sandy, I just don’t even know what to say, I don’t even know…

[theBCnut]

I think this is the shadiest practice in dog foods. Many companies do this, and it sends me over the top. I think it should be the law that when they change the formula the bag must reflect that. But instead they are allowed to change the formula at any time and even continue to use the old bags until they use them up. They could add an ingredient that you know your dog is allergic to and you would never even know until you suddenly have a life threatening reaction. It’s crazy.

[theBCnut]

My freezer is a deep chest freezer, impossible to change position to rotate foods. I have to use it down to where all of it fits in the little basket before I can refill the 1/3 of the bottom that is dedicated space for dog food. It holds about 60 lbs. so you can easily understand why I need more freezer space. Badly.

[theBCnut]

So your freezer holds six months worth or more? Nice!! I have room for about two months worth. It’s hard to become a hoarder with such limited space. So do you have a system in your dog food pantry to make sure you rotate out older food? I think I would keep finding outdated stuff that got pushed to the back, then my husband would kill me…

[theBCnut]

Sandy, about how much raw do you feed in a day?

[theBCnut]

The information I have been able to find about over exposure to ingredients seems to be talking about intolerances due to an unhealthy gut, so rotating foods enough to keep a healthy gut seems more important than any one ingredient. Making sure of a good source of pre/probiotics is important too.

[theBCnut]

I’m in raw4pets. I’m finding more and more options every day. I have got to get a new freezer!!

[theBCnut]

That sounds interesting!

[theBCnut]

Grinder envy is rearing it’s ugly head…

[theBCnut]

I’ve used them before for an epilepsy dog that was hard to pill. They have some ingredients that I would rather not use and if I knew then what I know now, I especially wouldn’t use them for a dog with epilepsy. Now I use braunschweiger(a soft liver sausage), soft cheese, a ball of raw ground beef, peanutbutter, a spoonful of yogurt, anything like that. I heard from someone the other day that they use a spoonful of honey.

[theBCnut]

Going to the bowl and licking is a sign that he really likes his new food, nothing more.

[theBCnut]

When we switched Micah, he lost his entire coat(not all at once) pretty quickly, but his new coat is so much better. His fur was dry and crunchy before, now it’s soft and shiny.

[theBCnut]

Not a bit.

[theBCnut]

It doesn’t have to be all white as long as it is lean turkey, dark meat has different fats than white meat and they have important nutrients in them too.

[theBCnut]

If she is eating the Darwin’s turkey now and doing fine, she may be fine with it. This is the time frame when she should be most likely to relapse. I would still look for something lower fat to at least alternate with.

[theBCnut]

Hi Boxermom

Is your dog doing anything to tell you he’s not getting enough? Because if he’s fine, he’s fine. Don’t let someone who is trying to justify feeding a lower quality feed bother you. You can increase the volume of his food by adding water and letting it soak in and not affect the quality of the food. Too much added fiber can affect the mineral absoption in the intestines, so if you decide you need to do that don’t go crazy. I have to agree with HDM, most dogs want to eat more than they should, ignore begging. I go one step further and put mine to work if they are begging, but they’re Border Collies, they need a job to be happy.

BTW, just like in people, their stomachs grow to accomodate the amount they eat, if they are consistantly fed a smaller amount, their stomach shrinks. So this trainer is full o’ bull.

[theBCnut]

My dogs don’t do this, but if they did, I wouldn’t wait to switch foods, not even by one meal.

[theBCnut]

Backs are high fat and she can’t do chicken. But the idea is good, getting something like HK Preference and making food from fresh turkey may be the best way to go.

[theBCnut]

After pancreatitis, fat levels are a big factor in recurance.

[theBCnut]

You couldn’t have known that this would happen, so try not to be so hard on yourself. Yes, you can open the package, use part, and store the rest in the fridge for later.

[theBCnut]

NectarMom, I’m sorry to hear that.

[theBCnut]

First, go here and read /forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/
There is a google doc in there that Hound Dog Mom posted. She did a ton of research of which foods actually have the appropriate amount of calcium for large breeds. A lot of the so called large breed foods really are not ok for large breed puppies. They were formulated from old bad research that has since been disproven. Pick a few foods from her list and rotate through them, it’s ok to give your other dog the same food. Rotating foods is healthier for your dog, just like people should eat a variety of foods for optimal health, dogs should too.

[theBCnut]

I used to use oil on my horses coat, but I found that dust was attracted to it then. That defeated the purpose. A shiny coat should come from within.

[theBCnut]

I would say that you are right about the BPA and they are deceptive or the person on the phone is pig ignorant. Which, unfortunately, is a real option. Before you start making your own food, make sure you do the research. An unbalanced raw food may be worse for your dog than a little PBA. The easiest way to get started is to buy one of the premixes that you just add meat to. That gives you time to research more, before you are completely making your own.

[theBCnut]

W/D is a fiber food so look for weight control foods that have a decent amount of protein in them, or add fiber to a regular food.

[theBCnut]

Seniors can lose some of the natural acidity of the stomach and that affects their ability to digest their food especially proteins, so the first thing I would try is to add apple cider vinegar to his food. I use about 1/2 teaspoon per cup of food and I mix it with water so my dogs don’t all of a sudden get a bite of pure vinegar. You may also want to add a spoonful of pure canned pumpkin to his food.

[theBCnut]

If you are interested in homemade, have your vet go to Balance It. Your vet can get you a recipe free that is tailored to your dogs specific needs.

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