[theBCnut]

It did it to me too. A few days ago I was ready to throw my computer at the wall.

[theBCnut]

HDM doesn’t feed less than 50% homemade. Just as you don’t worry about every meal being balanced for yourself, you don’t have to worry about every meal for your dog being balanced. But it must balance over time. Feed your dog a variety of healthy foods. Do the research. And make sure that over time you cover all your bases. Steve Brown’s “Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet” is good, as are many others. HDMs thread on homemade diets has excellent info and a great recipe for making your own whole food supplement.

[theBCnut]

Try replacing a meal with a chicken wing or a half or whole(depending on size) chicken neck or duck neck. If you ever cook Cornish game hens, cut off wings and legs before cooking and give them. Sorry, I forgot, are you staying away from chicken? I have the butcher cut up turkey necks to a size my JRT can handle and a turkey wing can be cut to pieces, then froze, to use over multiple days.

[theBCnut]

No, the eating grass is not a normal reaction to Darwin’s. And yes, it is normal for it to turn brown. Try giving them a spoonful of it without any kibble, maybe you have the rare dog that can’t handle raw mixed with kibble. Also, you can partially defrost it just enough to divide it in to smaller portions and refreeze what you don’t need immediately.

[theBCnut]

The big plus with calcium citrate does not apply to this situation, and that is that you don’t have to take it with a meal. Other types of calcium are absorbed better if they are taken with a meal.

[theBCnut]

That’s what I do, though I’m sure that our turkey necks have a higher meat:bone ratio because they don’t look like the bones are much bigger. They just have a huge meaty area where they were attached to the body, about 4 times more meat than bone. The head end isn’t so meaty though, only about the same amount of meat as bone.

[theBCnut]

HDM

I must ask. Where you list 2 turkey necks(12-16oz), is that both turkey necks together? I have to have turkey necks cut by the butcher, because ours are well over a pound, and I’m wondering how that affects the meat: bone ratio.

[theBCnut]

Short term, it certainly won’t matter. Long term, I would look into a whole foods supplement to add to it. If it were no more than 3 meals a week I wouldn’t worry about it, but I’m kind of a worrywort, so since it’s half the meals, I would still want a little more.

[theBCnut]

2 reasons

1. I like giving mine a variety of antioxidants and micronutrients. If I was feeding naturally raised whole animals all the time I probably wouldn’t worry about this, but I don’t feed whole prey very often. Blood, eyes and brains have things in them that are lacking in the rest of the body.

2. Angel, my JRT, gets REALLY hard stools and needs the additional fiber. Again, if I were feeding whole prey more often I wouldn’t have to worry about it, because hair acts like fiber.

[theBCnut]

Try finding NutriSource. It is pretty easy for dogs with sensitive tummies to switch to. You also should find a good probiotic and digestive enzyme to add to your dogs meals. Swansons makes human products, but you can use them on dogs and they have a nice variety and price.

[theBCnut]

Actually my popsicles are primarily veggies like spinach, kale, a few carrots, that sort of thing with fruit added. And yes, I believe trachea is great for teeth. The brains and eyeballs were part of a whole carcass grind, I don’t think I’m ready to hand the dogs a head and let them gnaw on it either.

[theBCnut]

Mine love blueberries too. I’ve also used blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries. And kiwi, cantelope, and honeydew, though in small amounts. I throw it all together in the blender, portion it out in candy molds, and freeze it. Then they each get one thrown in their bowl once a day, popsicles are delicious.

[theBCnut]

So it was your pantry…

Yes, we are crazy in a good way.

[theBCnut]

Yes, ones for humans are better priced. HDM recently found a company named Swansons that has a nice variety and great prices. Choose something that has a few ingredients and then switch it up later. That way you save the big guns for when he is older.

[theBCnut]

I use the Hare Today grinds and I love them, but I do pick a few good healthy veggies and blanch them then throw them in the blender to add to their grinds. I also add some kind of berries. I like the added antioxidants and my old lady JRT needs a little added insoluable fiber.

I give the whole carcass grinds to my cats and this time I ordered some for the dogs too. They get a little brain and eyeballs too this month!!

[theBCnut]

I’m feeding grain free because I have one dog who has a severe problem with grains and when I went grain free, I found out that that was the JRTs minor problem too.

[theBCnut]

I have about 1/4 of a freezer and a row of food behind the crates and my husband thinks I’m nuts. I haven’t showed him the picture of Sandy’s freezer or whoever was kind enough to post the picture of their dog food pantry. HeHeHe, He already thinks some of my friends are crazy.

[theBCnut]

Don’t worry about the veg unless you see something going on that makes you suspect a real problem. My personal feelings on adding veg and fruits is that I like knowing that mine are getting a variety of antioxidants, just in case. They may not digest every speck of it but they are getting a variety.

I feed twice a day, so 20% of that is about 3 meals, so I feed bones 3 times a week and don’t worry if they don’t eat the usual supplements in those meals. Some people feed raw meaty bones once a day and then for the other meal they make sure that all the days supplements are mixed in.

[theBCnut]

I can’t help but wonder if the particular brand you’re feeding has a lot of salt in it. None of mine increased their urination when I switched to raw. Can you do a couple of days of feeding just hamburger or something to get them off the food you’re feeding, just long enough to tell if it affects their urinating, then go back to balanced food? If you didn’t see a change quick, I wouldn’t put off having a urinalysis done.

[theBCnut]

My 11 year old JRT is 12-14 lbs and gets about 1/2 cup a day.

[theBCnut]

Yeah and kids will play in the street if you don’t stop them, that doesn’t mean I’m going to push them.

[theBCnut]

So DoggieDoc22, just how much nutrition education do you have and who provided it?

[theBCnut]

Stool tests don’t always catch tapeworms, so make sure you see her stool as see is going a couple of times. If you see little tapeworm segments moving on the fresh stool then you know she has a pretty big dose of them. They also require a different wormer than other intestinal worms.

[theBCnut]

Have your vet go to balanceit.com and download you a personalized diet for you to make at home.

[theBCnut]

Then it’s not seborrhea and probably not an allergy issue, which may mean it’s not a food issue. Hot dogs get a smell, but I’m not so sure that comes close to an answer either.

[theBCnut]

Mine won’t drink ACV out of a bowl either. I put a teaspoon in a cup of water and mix it in their food. I haven’t had them even sniff it after the first time.

[theBCnut]

I can’t drink ACV myself, not even with water and honey. I can swig dill pickle juice which has some of the same properties, and I can handle oil and vinegar salad dressing every day. I also like a little vinegar on fish and in marinades. So that is what I do to get the stuff into me. To get it into the dogs, I always dilute with water. It has quite a bite if you don’t, I think it burns all the way down, which makes me want to regurgitate too.

[theBCnut]

Good luck!! Mine are crazy about their Darwin’s

[theBCnut]

Mydogisme, with a normal dog I rotate brand and everything, but I realize you have a diabetic dog and insulin regulation has to take precedence over everything else. In your case, I would alway add a good quality probiotic and digestive enzymes, and only switch to foods that you know are very similar.

[theBCnut]

As long as you are using only a little(20% or less of the meal) on top of their kibble and the kibble has balance cal/phos it will be fine.

[theBCnut]

I’m not so sure I would agree with that. Evangers was caught using a protein source that was not what was on the can. I believe they tested and found they were substituting beef in the cans of duck. They were also caught stealing $2 million worth of electricity, endangering their workers, and forcing their workers to do unpaid overtime. I know those last ones don’t have to do with dog food quality, but they do have to do with whether or not you can trust a company. If Evangers would do all that, they would do anything. They can’t be trusted.

[theBCnut]

If you are looking for canned to add some variety to your pups diet then he will really go for Tripett. It is not a balanced food, so it should be used at a rate of 20% or less of his food, but the calcium/phosphorus ratio of tripe is excellent for large breed puppies.

[theBCnut]

Whenyou pet your dog do your hands feel greasy afterward?

[theBCnut]

A lot of it sticks to the oils on the food. I feed dry kibble once in a while and just sprinkle the powder on top and stir up the bowl. But it sounds like she likes her arrangements just fine and doesn’t intend to change them until something forces her to. To each his own, live and let live, and all that.

[theBCnut]

Funny, but iodine deficiency is a leading cause of hypothyroidism. That’s the first thing they try when your thyroid is underfunctioning, increasing iodine. they(whoever they is) say there is an epidemic of hypothyroidism now, because all the salt conscious people are not using iodizes salt and not replacing the iodine elsewhere.

Fish and crustaceans that eat algae have higher iodine levels and since I’m hypothyroid, I’m supposed to eat them or a kelp supplement regularly.

[theBCnut]

I have a yeasty, allergy dog on Brother’s Complete Allergy, too. He started on it in the same timeframe as yours, back at the beginning of September. I’ve found he can’t handle grains at all, he can’t handle much starch, and he may be sensitive to some chicken, but not all. To give him a little variety, I feed some raw food(with Richard’s blessing). I get some from Darwin’s, beef, turkey, and duck. And I also order from Hare Today, rabbit, goat, mutton, things I know don’t bother him. Yesterday, I got my first order from My Pet Carnivore. I also get tripe and a few kinds of fish. The key is learning what proteins your dog is having issues with and staying away from them.

[theBCnut]

It’s not like she was going to feed the Solid Gold for life either. For your coworker that has started feeding yogurt to good effect, you should try suggesting probiotics and digestive enzymes. They will help some even on a truely crappy diet.

[theBCnut]

You work with interesting people. I homeschool my kids, so most of my conversations are with other homeschool moms. Guess what they want to talk about. What about high school? Where is so and so going to college? Do you have to have 2 years of a foreign language? BORING!!! People ask me about my animals, but in a “How are you?” way. They don’t want a real answer, unless they are asking about the availability of eggs.

A friend of mine was telling me how her puppy had to have a very expensive special high protein diet. I said “i know what you mean, I have the same problem.” Then I asked her what she was feeding. Diamond Naturals Puppy. Never mind. It suddenly became like we don’t even speak the same language. I finally did get her convinced that her dog was too precious to risk on Diamond.

[theBCnut]

Since the body can process small amounts of arsenic, it’s more of a be aware sort of thing. However, since most dogs eat the same thing day in and day out, unlike a single meal with rice in it, it is even more of a be aware thing. And for those who feed a food heavy in rice day in and day out, it’s a big be aware thing.

[theBCnut]

I’ve seen the bulldog look on many dogs that are in pain in the rear end. They are shifting their weight forward to aleviate stress on those joints. Dogs with bad hips are only one place where I’ve seen that. It can also be knees, feet, or spine. Does she seem like she has less muscle in the back end compared to what she has in the shoulder area? Good luck in finding what works best for your olg gal!

[theBCnut]

It was the opposite for my picky eater. Gideon would only eat about every day and a half. Now he eats whatever I put in his bowl twice a day.

[theBCnut]

You probably won’t see any difference between the two. They are very similar, though not very good. If you are interested in a food that is better for your growing puppy, try looking here:
/forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/

[theBCnut]

I feel the same way.

BTW, Taste of the Wild is commonly abreviated TOTW. Someone did answer, but that post disappeared.

[theBCnut]

What part of custom don’t you understand?

[theBCnut]

Note that James has known this about Tyson for a while, yet he misrepresented himself to Toxed, saying he was asking about Blue Buffalo and Solid Gold. And his only purpose is to find another way to bash Brothers. The problem is that Brothers has Tyson make them a custom chicken meal, this has already been hashed over on the Brothers thread, and his custom mix doesn’t have Naturox in it. Keep searching James, keep searching, but you don’t need to lie about your motives.

[theBCnut]

I’m positive it didn’t help!!

[theBCnut]

I’m not disputing that homemade done right is best, by far. But how can they say the dog has never had commercial food? They didn’t own it for the first 2 years of it’s life and they got it from a shelter.

[theBCnut]

Back to the OP, I only feed tripe once a week as an entire meal and I have a dog with issues, so I still use probiotics 1/2 dose about twice a week. I do the digestive enzymes 1/2 dose with kibble for him. I’m not sure he really gets any benefit from them, but I’ve got them from when he was really having issues and I’m going to use them up. I got the 3 jar deal from Mercola and I’m still on my first jar, months later.

[theBCnut]

Hi Jan

It was the first homemade recipe I tried and the reason I went ahead and started feeding raw. It was easy enough to follow and really easy to tweak as I learned more. I rotate everything including supplements, so I still use DinOvite every few days. I’ve also been buying grinds from Hare Today that work really well with whichever supplement mix I want to add. DinOvite plus SuperOmega plus a grind is super simple.

[theBCnut]

I have used it as part of my dogs diet when he started showing multiple symptoms such as yeasty ears, nonstop scratching, mucousy stools, etc. I made their yeast starvation diet with a few tweaks and fed my dog that in the morning and Brothers Complete Allergy Formula in the evening. I was very pleased with my dogs progress. It took about 2 1/2 months for him to be completely better, but you wouldn’t know he had a problem now. I have never used DinOvite as a supplement to regular kibble.

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