[pugmomsandy]

Looks complicated and nutritious!!. Mine are getting some kibble and some freeze dried Vital Essentials tonight! But I will revisit this recipe when it’s time for me to make a new batch of homemade food! Thanks for sharing!!

[pugmomsandy]

jnite,

Natures Variety Instinct Raw Boost is a convenient freeze-dried powder supplement you can add to food and it has 8% fiber.

http://www.instinctpetfood.com/instinct-raw-boost-healthy-supplements-pets

[pugmomsandy]

sheltiesmom,

I’m currently using Dr Harveys MultiVitamin supplement currently and definitely give krill oil and intermittently give coconut and emu oil and now will begin adding some chia seed for some more omega 3.

[pugmomsandy]

kpndltn,

Yes it it is trial and error sometimes on picking a food(s) that work well for all dogs and feeding amounts. But also when you feed a “better” food, they generally require less of it. On Beneful I would have fed more than 1 cup, but on my current “better” kibble, they get 2/3 cup and actually gained muscle mass and weigh more and would be considered overweight but are still not fat according to “body condition score”. So keep that in mind as well. Also the calculator is a guideline. My dogs require less than what the calculator says, but they are pugs – not active!

click on the picture for a better view:

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u651/pugmomsandy/pictures%20for%20posting/IMG_28481024x768_zps689af73c.jpg

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u651/pugmomsandy/pictures%20for%20posting/IMG_2852640x539_zps1c019b19.jpg

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u651/pugmomsandy/pictures%20for%20posting/IMG_2697640x479_zpsbe52d943.jpg

[pugmomsandy]

Kpndltn,

What kibble are you feeding? I have three dogs that all eat the same things whether it’s kibble, canned or other form. My group doesn’t have any GI issues. I only adjust the amount fed since two are 24 lbs and one is 30. And one is 8 yrs old while the others are 5. My foster dogs all eat the same kibble as well. I only adjust the amount fed. And my fosters range in ages and sizes. I also rotate their kibble between two or three flavors and will use various canned food toppers. I weigh the dogs monthly and adjust their food amount accordingly.

[pugmomsandy]

jnite,

Have you ever fed your dog raw food with ground bone? Raw food does wonders for stool. Some brands have nibblet sizes and/or 1 oz nuggets and they have frozen or freeze dried. Maybe you can incorporate some of it with her current food. Or one meal of kibble and one meal of raw.

[pugmomsandy]

I’ve been using ProDen PlaqueOff (seaweed) for 2 months on my foster who needs a dental. When I first brought him home I had to roll the windows down in the car his breath was so bad! Now he sleeps in my room and I can put my face right up to him and there is no smell and his tongue is always hanging out! I haven’t checked his teeth for tarter but he is going to see the dental folks tomorrow morning. He is also on a wet diet only. No kibble.

My other dogs eat raw meaty bones or gnaw on marrow bones, antlers, bully sticks for teeth cleaning.

[pugmomsandy]

InkedMarie,

I had to open a photobucket account and load the pictures there! It was quick and easy though! Then I did what I usually do to post pictures in other places. Open the picture, right click, properties, copy the URL and paste in here!

[pugmomsandy]

Here’s the link where some photos and conversations are posted in case someone else reads this thread:

/dog-feeding-tips/dog-food-calculator/#comment-752989876

Since I can post photos now, here are my overweight pugs that still have a good body condition score. They are 24 lbs. You can see a better photo if you click on the photo:

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u651/pugmomsandy/pictures%20for%20posting/IMG_2852640x539_zps1c019b19.jpg

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u651/pugmomsandy/pictures%20for%20posting/IMG_28481024x768_zps689af73c.jpg

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u651/pugmomsandy/pictures%20for%20posting/IMG_2697640x479_zpsbe52d943.jpg

Here’s a poor body condition and a too skinny body condition for a pug:

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u651/pugmomsandy/pictures%20for%20posting/IMG_28831024x768_zps49daa9d5.jpg

[pugmomsandy]

I believe there is more than one facet to cancer. There’s food, vaccines, medications, environmental toxins, and probably more.

http://www.dogs4dogs.com/

http://www.victoriabenda.com/articles/jDodds/

http://www.dogsadversereactions.com/scienceVaccineDamage.html

http://www.thewholedog.org/artcookedfood.html

http://www.dogaware.com/health/cancer.html

[pugmomsandy]

I use plain ground psyllium husk, no additives. About 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon with food.

[pugmomsandy]

The Pet GO product contains glands/organs that can’t normally be found at the store. Unless you can get these organs saved from a butcher then I would give it.

http://mypetsfriend.com/pet-go-4.html

[pugmomsandy]

Onlywest,

I grind all turkey parts and have ground pork ribs with the Weston 22. I bought it through amazon. I feed a red meat kibble so I don’t grind beef products.

[pugmomsandy]

Onlywest

I’m using Pet GO as the glandular supp and currently have Dr Harvey’s multivitamin green supp and ordered some Only Natural Pet Super Daily Greens to use next. And still need to get some vit E.

[pugmomsandy]

Doctorsfinest.com has a couple foods that are limited ingredient and/or single protein. They also have a probiotic/enzyme product. I sometimes give ground psyllium husk when I get a new foster dog to help keep poops from being loose. Same ingredient as Metamucil but no sugar, colors, etc. Also Nature’s Variety Instinct has a LID diet and if you read back through the review comments, some folks say their poops are a little hard on that food.

[pugmomsandy]

Cabelas has a couple grinders to chose from but I’ve heard the 1/2 hp could barely grind turkey necks so if you’re just going to grind chicken wings or chicken necks and muscle meat, then that would be ok. But for whole poultry, ribs, rabbit I’d get a commercial grinder. I use a Weston 22 grinder. You can see a demo video of it at northcoastpets dot com under dog supplies, then BARF hardware. I don’t know how to copy/paste on my iPad! Sorry. While I do make ground food w bones I will also feed a RMB as well. Not everyday, just sometimes. I serve kibble, raw, canned and freeze dried.

[pugmomsandy]

Yay! Happy for you!

[pugmomsandy]

Not saying what you said is misleading, but in general if I were on the review pages, and asked what food should I give my diabetic dog, and I got a reply of find the lowest carb food without being informed what an ideal low carb food is, how protein and fat are distributed in the ancestral diet and so on, then I only have part of the info I need since diabetes and caring for a dog with diabetes is not simple and then having to look up all different foods because they all have different pro/fat/carbs within each line of dog food can be really daunting for someone. And then learning that the fat listed on most foods is just a minimum can be worrisome. Can really get confusing! That’s why the opening of the forum has been great! Can go in depth about matters and not clog up the reviews.

[pugmomsandy]

Dr Mike also uses 8% as ash although some are higher or lower. That still can’t account for the real fat content or protein content in a food as they are minumums.

And looking for a food solely based on carb content for diabetes can be misleading or detrimental for some. There are some situations where just the lowest carbs are just not healthy for a dog such as a high fat diet or one with a fat-to-protein ratio above 100%. An active/working dog can handle that much better than a sedentary dog. So feeding a high fat but “low carb” food to the sedentary house dog with diabetes can end up with a dog that has both diabetes and pancreatitis.

There’s never a one food fits all or look for one characteristic of a food that will work for all dogs with diabetes. And unfortunately if you don’t make your own food, you will never know the amount your feeding of fat from a commercial food.

[pugmomsandy]

weimlove,

I’m actually one of those that feeds all types: raw, kibble, freeze dried, dehydrated and canned. Hubby would not know what to do so he would just feed kibble. It’s good for back up, traveling, boarding, camping…

[pugmomsandy]

Shawna,

Interesting article! And Lectin Lock looks like an interesting product. I was just thinking I’ll need to eat more okra!

[pugmomsandy]

weimlove,

Also if you go to the Asian or Mexican supermarket, they have a good selection of organ meats and chicken feet, hooves, heads, even uterus (which I have not tried) which would be muscle meat. I bought some whole wild caught sardines there recently and give those a couple times a week as one of their meals. My local BARF group purchases from texastripe which makes a delivery run once a month to the area and I get tripe and tripe blend from them for $2/lb. I hope you can find a group to join as mine has been a real great place for resources as well as DFA of course! I found mine at yahoo. Try searching for “yahoo barf group”. You may already know. I’m a little technically challenged and just now found the barf group although I’ve been feeding raw for at least 2 years!

[pugmomsandy]

weimlove,

I can get it for $13 each or $12.30 for a case of 20 but then shipping would need to be accounted for. Unfortunately I don’t go to the post office much to know about prices. I’m sure one could fit several freeze dried packages in one of those “if it fits, it ships” boxes. But someone would have to do the math and see if that’s cheaper than raw frozen with shipping. The freeze dried weight is actually .44 lb (which makes 1 lb rehydrated) but I just give them a couple pieces dry in their food bowl or just as treats.

[pugmomsandy]

Unfortunately, some dog food manufacturers are adding lentils and other legumes to their dog foods! It’s like the new “thing” to do and lots of dog food companies are jumping on the legume bandwagon. Whether it’s due to $$$ or whether their looking to make a lower glycemic food or other reason. I still will not buy it. If my dog had diabetes, I would feed something else.

[pugmomsandy]

weimlove,

Try joining a group of local raw feeders. They can give you some local resources for raw foods and other topics of course. Look for a BARF group. I’m a member of a yahoo BARF group and they have been helpful on many topics – food, local raw foods, holistic vets, etc…even found a local tripe source for myself!! If you can’t local raw tripe, you might consider freeze dried tripe. K9 Naturals has it and I think Bravo, not sure. But the freeze dried, although more costly per pound, might be cheaper than shipping raw frozen and would be better than no tripe at all!

[pugmomsandy]

Acti-Flex 4000 (the horse version) that some are using for their dogs. I’m currently using Mercola and Cetyl-M right now.

Under 25 pounds:
½ tsp. daily loading dose for 5 days
¼ tsp. daily maintenance dose

25-50 pounds
1 tsp. daily loading dose for 5 days
½ tsp. daily maintenance dose

50-75 pounds:
1 ½ tsp. daily loading dose for 5 days
¾ tsp. daily maintenance dose

100 pounds
2 tsp. daily loading dose for 5 days
1 tsp. daily maintenance dose

[pugmomsandy]

Just posted some pictures in “dog food calculator” but it comes up under “Sandy” with a black pug in a red harness.

[pugmomsandy]

I can’t seem to post pictures in the forum but can in the reviews so I’ll post some pictures in the “dog food calculator” thread.

[pugmomsandy]

Some dog owners in another group I’m a member of swear by Acti-flex as well. Seems to have all the different ingredients together in one package.

http://www.coxvetlab.com/products/acti-flex4000.htm

[pugmomsandy]

hare-today has mussel powder.

https://www.hare-today.com/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=292

[pugmomsandy]

They were shot locally I’m guessing wild duck and geese, not from a farm. I’m on a yahoo BARF list and sometimes folks give away some small prey! People will post when hunter friends have stuff to give away.

As for the chia seed, I was putting it in the omega 3 rotation with krill oil. I was thinking some additional omega 3 will be needed to offset some omega 6 from the emu oil!!

Thanks!

[pugmomsandy]

This one is flax free. I’m not sure how long it will be available since they have introduced a combo/al-in-one product greens/prb\ob/enzyme supplement.

Natural Dog Supplements & Vitamins

[pugmomsandy]

Husky3,

Have you taken into account her body condition score? In your first post, you only mentioned she was overweight but not how she looked. So I just wanted to throw that out there. As my small dogs are on a low carb diet, they remain “overweight” but with good body condition scores. I’m going to say they are muscular versus fat. My two small ones are 24 lbs but look like ones that weigh less than 20. My gravatar is one of my small ones. For a pug he is considered overweight! He still has the same harness set at the same size for the past 3 years although he is heavier than 3 years ago. I’ve been feeding them at first low carb kibble and now kibble and raw foods and they just are heavy pugs but not fat. I haven’t figured out how to post pictures yet in this forum. If anyone knows how (using shutterfly) let me know!! For my group, if they were to lose weight to be more inline with the breed standard, they would have to be emaciated! Or lose all their muscles and become weaklings.

[pugmomsandy]

I’ve used Primal and NV raw. The last bag of Primal Rabbit had what looked like a “crust” all around the patty like breadcrust but on all sides and it felt a little spongy and when you broke the patty open, the “crust” and the insides were a different color! I think one of the NV was like that too but it’s been a while since I’ve used it but I remember I usually get their beef.

[pugmomsandy]

Here’s another link:

http://www.medizym.com/what-is-medizym/what-are-systemic-enzymes

[pugmomsandy]

I still use a digestive enzyme sometimes if not with the meal, then in between meals for a systemic effect. Dr Becker talks about this in the product info. I have Mercola digestive enzymes and also a tablet which is easier to give without meals (Bio-zyme and Wobenzym). Although I definitely would give it with THK.

Integrative Therapeutics Bio-Zyme Mega-Strength Enzyme Dog & Cat Supplement

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/8_10/features/15752-1.html

[pugmomsandy]

No input on diet except I don’t think I would consider it a large breed anymore since it’s mini, but mini bulldog sounds interesting!! One of my toy breed pugs is 30 lbs!! The 60 lb bulldog we fostered for 2 months didn’t get along here so we had to pass her along to another home 🙁

[pugmomsandy]

I love coconut water! It’s my alternative to soda. Been trying to wean myself off diet drinks. Not much to chose from though – coconut water, organic green tea and hibiscus tea and some other teas. And wish it didn’t cost as much as it does!

[pugmomsandy]

I always have 2 bags of kibble open. Sometimes they get just kibble. Sometimes they get kibble with various canned food. Sometimes kibble and raw. Or just raw or just freeze dried. No particular pattern. Just random.

[pugmomsandy]

I use the Flea Free during the warm months and also use Halo Herbal Dip with some added neem oil, Mercola flea/tick spray, and Only Natural Pet Herbal Defense Oil. I alternate. I like the different smells. Last summer was the first one without chemicals and I did not have any problems in Dallas/Fort Worth Texas. I also used garlic spray alternating with a neem oil spray on the yard every couple weeks.

[pugmomsandy]

Three duck products here:

http://www.freshisbestinc.com/products/pet-treats-chews

Also Stella and Chewy’s Carnivore Kisses

http://www.stellaandchewys.com/dog-kisses.php

and Bravo has duck feet. Instinct has a grain free duck bisucit with some other added ingredients.

[pugmomsandy]

Hi all!

I’m trying to figure out the omega 3-6-9 part of the emu oil and coconut oil and fish oil. Looks like emu is mostly 6 & 9 and little 3. And coconut oil is mostly 9 and some 6. So I should be giving fish oil with the emu and coconut oil to balance things out? Does that sound right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_oil

[pugmomsandy]

Weruva Human Style Marbella Paella is pot/pot starch free and also the Weruva Kobe and Weruva Kurobuta cans are potato free. Merrick Grain Free 96% cans (I didn’t look at all the recipes as their website is not very convenient). Tripett cans (for intermittent feeding only). Addiction: Hunter’s Venison Stew, Herbed Duck Confit, and Blackforest Rabbit and Blueberries. Nature’s Variety Instinct is a potato free product as well and so is Dogswell Nutrisca cans.

[pugmomsandy]

I’ve just been doing the essential oils/natural sprays/garlic for fleas and mosquitoes. And if I do give a heartworm preventative it is the low dose milbemycin as close to 0.1 mg per lb as I can get it which is the smallest dose of Interceptor. At that dosage it does not cover intestinal parasites.

http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/Products/ApprovedAnimalDrugProducts/FOIADrugSummaries/ucm054862.htm

[pugmomsandy]

My small dogs can consume any part of a chicken and turkey and also pork rib bones and rack of lamb (is that lamb rib??) and whole raw sardine. Sometimes I just buy the large package of chicken drumsticks or thighs or wings. Don’t forget chicken feet. Great for teeth cleaning and joint health. I haven’t figured out how to post pictures yet 🙁

[pugmomsandy]

I even rotate foods for the fosters. They get a different bag every time. They get exposed to all different proteins and fruit/veg and different levels of micronutrients/vits/minerals. My one foster is only getting canned food and raw food but still gets different flavors of canned and different raw foods as it comes in a 2 lb bag and I have 4 different ones to chose from. My personal dogs get canned, kibble, freeze dried, and raw and occasioanlly dehydrated. I just don’t get feeding one food forever.

[pugmomsandy]

The only problems I’ve had when I order Merrick cases is that some of the cans in the middle of the case are dented! How does that happen? Or do they purposely put dented ones in the middle of the case??? Or are Merrick cans weaker than others? None of the other cases I ordered (or very few of the cans) had dents.

[pugmomsandy]

We’ve been using Weruva, Merrick Classic, Merrick GF, sometimes Merrick WEF, Addiction and Wellness Stews and some Wellness Core. Oh and still use Tripett. Mine will also eat kibble topped with Honest Kitchen.

[pugmomsandy]

I’ve also had success with weight loss just by increasing the protein and decreasing the carbs of a grain-inclusive food by mixing it with a higher protein grain free food, ie Merrick Wilderness or Turducken (discontinued formulas) cut with Blue Buffalo Wilderness. For me, at any age, the increased protein and decreased carbs helped the dogs with weight loss. There are some high protein grain-inclusive foods as well, such as Merrick Classic and Acana Classic, and foods designed for puppies generally have a higher protein content as well (but not always) like Nutrisource Large Breed Puppy. I would chose the Nutrisource Performance formula over the large breed puppy formula for weight loss and yes for your senior. It is rated for all lifes stages. You would of course be able to feed a lesser amount.

[pugmomsandy]

I have heard Victor Grain Free is reasonably priced. I also use Nutrisource in rotation on my fosters and it is $51 for a 30 lb bag. Give it some time. A reduced feeding portion and exercise should help. Right now I have a senior foster who is eating just canned food and raw food and has lost 5 lbs in one month. But I’ve also had fosters on grain free kibble that have lost weight also.

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