[Sanne]

Wow! Read through this whole thread and what a mess!! I remember a while back seeing these chews raved about on various forums and other sites and thinking “I need these!!”. I could not find them anywhere here in Europe though. I’m so glad that I couldn’t. They seem like a huge scam and the company responses are very dodgy, says a lot about them. I will be sure to point my American friends to this thread, I know a few of them use these on a regular basis.

Currently I only use frozen Kongs to keep my dogs busy too. A few times a week I give them a CET Veggiedent Fresh chew. They don’t last for entertainment but man do those new “Fresh” chews really help with breath, especially for my smaller dog.

Aimee, you are awesome for going through all this to unravel the BS!

[Sanne]

Usually a large breed formula is only truly necessary for a growing large breed puppy. The calcium and phosphorus levels are usually balanced better in large breed puppy food, ensuring proper growth. Not sure about the guidelines for adults though, never had huge dogs

Studies have shown that senior dogs need more protein per kg of body weight than an average adult dog, up to 50% more. Senior dogs on low protein foods had weaker muscles and more muscle tearing. There is no beneficial reason to lower a healthy senior dog’s protein intake.

As a general rule of thumb, my vet tends to recommend around 2g of protein per kg of body weight for a healthy adult dog and 3g of protein per kg for a healthy senior

[Sanne]

No problem! Not much really, just some small differences in where the starch ingredients are on the list and ours seems to be missing liver and other minor things.

Here’s my rough translation of Core original
Fresh Turkey 15%, Turkey meal 13%, Chicken meal 15%, peas, dried potatoes, potato protein, dried chicken protein 5%, chicken fat 5%, Flaxseed 4%, Beetroot 3%, Salmon Oil 1%, Dried chicory root 0,5%, Apples, Broccoli, Spinach, Blueberries, Cranberries, Tomatoes, Yucca, Yeast extract

Might be some minor mistakes in there haha thinking of the English equivalent for some of those was a bit difficult

Oh wow after posting this reply my other long drawn out one seems to have disappeared! Glad you saw it before that happend 🙂

[Sanne]

I would think the toxins could be a big part of it more than “exotic” meats. I live in the Netherlands and as Susan pointed out, this just isn’t an issue here in Europe either. Some very common meats for dogs in my country are venison, rabbit and goat. Very often fed raw too. I would think if meats like that were a cause for all of this we would be seeing quite a few cases here in NL!

Orijen and Acana are sold here in Europe but we only get the stuff from the Canadian plant. Also, even if a food is not made in the EU, if it is sold here it must pass the same regulations that food made here does. I still don’t touch Champion foods though and it is not that common in the Netherlands. Most of us stick to foods made in Europe because the rules on pet food are much more strict.

It is definitely an interesting theory! Interestingly, dog foods full of legumes are not very popular here either. We do have some with peas but foods like that just have not gotten very widespread here.

[Sanne]

Indeed. That is why I made the point to get the go ahead from their vet before attempting to alter food

[Sanne]

I wouldn’t say chicken is naturally high in sodium. A lot of meats have added salt sure, so that is something to look out for. But just by looking at the Mg of sodium per serving you can easily pick out which ones have salt added.

I used to homecook for my past dog with cardiac issues with the go ahead from my vet. The food was where it needed to be in sodium, regardless of the type of protein I used (beef, chicken, goat, venison). Use common sense when buying meat for the dogs and pass it by your vet.

[Sanne]

Completely agree with the others here. Please listen to your vet and keep her on the prescription food if that is what they are recommending. I wouldn’t mess around with a pup with a heart murmur that young.

I know the ingredients do not look the best but it’s not just about ingredients. It’s about how those ingredients come together and work in the end product, especially when your dog already has a health issue. Science Diet (along with Royal Canin) have a long history of proven success with their prescription foods.

[Sanne]

I am not sure which Nutro foods are grain inclusive as they have SO many lol I also have no experience with them

Some grain inclusive foods I like are Farmina Ancesteral Grain, Annamaet, Purina Beyond to name a few. My dog is currently on Beyond and doing great but she has eaten all of these brands and done well. Beyond has a Salmon flavour, Farmina has Cod, and Annamaet has Salmon and Lamb (Option is the name). I believe Annamaet also has a couple chicken based grain inclusive foods that have Herring in them as well, Ultra might be one of them. Victor Select has grain and their ingredients look pretty good, they have an Ocean Fish formula. I have not personally tried this brand yet but have heard a lot of dogs do good on it.

If you are interested in Nutro I would check out their website to see which formulas have grains. You could also go to Reviews on this website and check out the reviews for all of the Nutro formulas, there you can see the ingredients. Keep in mind the company’s website will always be the best place to see the most up to date ingredient lists for their foods.

Hope you find something that works out for him! I hate going through the food journey

[Sanne]

I would listen to your vet. They know more about your dog than a store owner. I personally would not touch anything from Champion (Orijen/Acana). They are currently in quite the lawsuit and have more cases than I am comfortable with of dogs having DCM and/or low taurine while on their foods.

There is nothing wrong with grain inclusive food. Using peas/lentils/chickpeas etc in place of rice/oats/barely has no benefits unless your dog is specifically allergic to those ingredients. Peas and beans just up the overall protein content of the food with plant protein.

[Sanne]

Interesting. I have never liked Orijen anyway.. but I could never personally support a company like that…

[Sanne]

Thank you both for the recommendations! I think I might try the Farmina first as it looks really good and seems to have a lot of positive reviews everywhere. I like the look of the Light formula, my dog tends to be on the chubby side so I don’t want a food too high in fat or kcals.

I definitely like the idea of rotating, or at the very least having a back up brand that I know she does well on. So if she does well on it I will still try at least a second one. The senior Canidae looks good but for now I am just going to avoid too many peas/lentils/chickpeas ingredients. They make me a little too nervous. The Victor Senior/Healthy Weight looks pretty decent for a lower calorie option though. If the Farmina works I may still give that one a try as a back up. Glad I have not been able to find any negative history about these brands yet!

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