[pugmomsandy]

Go to gravatar.com and make an avatar. You can actually make more than one.

[pugmomsandy]

Somebody sent me this link:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/WholePreyFinal02May29.pdf

Some whole prey numbers starting on page 9.

[pugmomsandy]

OK…so according to the website mentioned above, if whole birds are around 29-32% bone, where does the 80/10/10 come to play? Should I make raw grinds closer to 30% bone?? And what about dogs prone to struvites or ones that need decreased mineral content?

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[pugmomsandy]

Try with an even smaller amount (maybe 10%) and maybe a spoon of yogurt, or even better, kefir with multiple strains of organisms or a probiotic pill or powder.

[pugmomsandy]

You can try kibble, yogurt, a dehydrated food like The Honest Kitchen or other and layer them in the kong and freeze. But these won’t last all day once they start thawing.

[pugmomsandy]

My dogs and house smell like essential oils most of the year – Halo Herbal Dip or plain eucalyptus for the mosquitoes.

[pugmomsandy]

I found one vet that recommended using Nyguard insect growth regulator for the yard. Can’t remember the website now but the vet had also recommended other natural remedies as well.

[pugmomsandy]

What do you mean by “fixed formula”? I’m not familiar with that term.

[pugmomsandy]

What supplements in particular?

[pugmomsandy]

Yes it could. That’s why I suggest contacting the food company directly for more info on the canned foods you might feed.

[pugmomsandy]

I have 2 to 3 bags of food open at once and several canned foods and freeze dried foods I use as toppers. My pups could technically get a different meal every time.

[pugmomsandy]

For the price of the latest low glycemic foods (kibble and canned like LiveFree and Orijen), you might try feeding raw food like Darwins or Instinct, Bravo, etc. You might even ask the vet about incorporating something like the Yeast Starvation Diet which only has meat, eggs, oil and a vitamin. It might be possible (cost-wise) to feed a min pin a freeze dried raw diet if frozen raw is something you don’t want to feed.

http://homemadedogfood.com/yeast-starvation-dog-food-recipe/

[pugmomsandy]

crazy4cats,

That’s why I had such an issue with one brand of canned food which severely understated the fat content on their website. Their Duck formula originally stated 8% protein and 6% fat, but now their updated info says 8% protein and 10% fat which is 125% fat-to-protein. No thanks. Not for my indoor, lazy, house dogs!! Unfortunately, consumers must ask the pet food company for more accurate info since they only have to list minimums.

[pugmomsandy]

My pup used to have silent killer farts too. It only went away after adding probiotics and digestive enzymes. I started using those a couple years ago. Now I only use them a couple times a week and my dogs can eat various types of food and flavors without any issues.

[pugmomsandy]

The initial cost of getting 2 or 3 freezers (if you have space) is expensive but it would allow you to order in bulk and stock up on sale items or order quantities by the case if you’re in a raw feeding group that does bulk orders or buying from a restaurant supplier. I often feed other things besides raw. Mine will get raw with canned or freeze dried or with some kibble even. Also look for the meats that are at the sell-by date. They’re marked down. You might compare the price of Merrick/Natures Logic/Hound Gatos rabbit and duck formulas to Hare Today. Also Grandma Lucy’s Pureformance has a rabbit and goat formulas. Maybe you could use those for toppers to lessen the raw amounts. Again, I don’t know how they would compare to the prices from Hare Today.

[pugmomsandy]

Also GreenTripe.com is carried by some retailers and there is freeze dried tripe (of course, this is the most expensive). If you’re worried about carrageenan, don’t feed canned products every day. After all, alot of canned products also have BPA!

Dr Harvey’s, K9 Natural, Vital Essentials have freeze dried tripe. I use Merrick 96% tripe and frozen tripe.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[pugmomsandy]

Patty,

I remembered to pull out another bag of raw to thaw!! Yay!! But I forgot to get liver for the dogs and shredded lettuce for the people tacos!! But they can eat what I’m grinding today so they should be eating raw for several days straight!

[pugmomsandy]

I use this as part of a topper. My topper is usually a mix of freeze dried and BDN. It rehydrates well. Sometimes I’ll use it by itself as a topper. No GI problems.

[pugmomsandy]

You can mix and match.

[pugmomsandy]

They eat raw probably 25-50% of the time. I would like to *remember* to thaw more regularly! They ate 2-3 days of raw last week and I have a bag thawing out right now for tomorrow or the next day. My frig is really cold. They got a duck neck 2 days ago. I’ve been feeding alot of warm freeze dried/canned food toppers lately. At 50% raw, they would get about 10 oz total per day but I don’t measure anymore so they get 3 or 4 blobs of raw with a supplement stuck in them!

[pugmomsandy]

If I remember, I’m going to get some liver and gizzard for the batch. But that’s what I like about the CarnivoreRaw. It has vitamins, etc for when I might not have a certain ingredient.

[pugmomsandy]

Upcoming batch will include:

16-17 lbs duck necks
9 lb beef/lamb/goat meat
2 lb beef tripe
2 lb beef kidney
1 lb beef spleen
2 lb beef heart
CarnivoreRaw without calcium

[pugmomsandy]

I have pugs and they (99.9%) are vacuum cleaners/always hungry and they love to eat ANY THING at ANY TIME!! Even the 14 yr old! I would just suggest feeding them to keep them at a good body condition. There are several “body condition score” charts you can look up online.

[pugmomsandy]

This recipe book has cooked/boneless food recipes and a recipe to make a complimentary vitamin mix to go with the food and serving suggestions: “Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats” by Dr Karen Becker/Beth Taylor. You might also look at the home-cooked area at dogaware.com for some tips.

http://dogaware.com/diet/homemade.html

[pugmomsandy]

I don’t look up the scientific stuff myself. I feed a mixture of foods sometimes. One meal can just be kibble or it can be kibble, freeze dried raw, raw and canned all together!

[pugmomsandy]

There are hundreds of foods to try out. Maybe your dog is not used to high protein grain free. What were you feeding before and how long? There are foods “in the middle” if you want to try that. I feed a range of 4 to 5 star foods and haven’t had any issues with more poop or larger poop. And actually my fosters have the largest and more frequent poops after being vetted and then I get them. I also give the dogs some probiotics a couple times a week. The best poops are on raw food with bones – small, formed, no smell like the size of little bird eggs. I have small dogs though. But what I’m saying is, try something else. My fosters do good on Nutrisource Heartland Select and grain free Lamb. I would call those “in the middle”.

[pugmomsandy]

Beside feeding my senior an all-life-stage food(s), I give him Actiflex 4000, fish oil, Jarrow True CMO (cetyl-myristoleate) and liver/kidney support, probiotics and some Springtime Longevity or Fresh Factors.

Anyhow, I like using Nutrisource grain free Lamb Meal and Nature’s Logic Lamb Dinner and Grandma Lucy’s Pureformance Lamb or Grandma Lucy’s Artisan Lamb, Canidae Pure Elements or Canidae Pure Land.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[pugmomsandy]

If I’m giving a capsule that is a higher dose, I will give the whole capsule but then only give it a two or three times a week. I’ll buy human fish oil capsules to use on me and the dogs. Once in a while, they get a whole raw sardine too.

[pugmomsandy]

Horizon Complete, Victor, Nutrisource, Nature’s Select (Hi-Pro formula), Holistic Select have grain inclusive foods similar to Synergy. Merrick does also but it’s notably higher in protein than the others including Synergy. And there’s also Infinia Chicken and Brown Rice.

[pugmomsandy]

I buy plain cetyl-myristoleate (Now or Jarrow brand) from swansonvitamins.com.

[pugmomsandy]

There’s really not enough freeze dried pieces in the raw boost! You can buy some other brand of freeze dried like Stella & Chewy’s and break up a freeze dried patty into the kibble. I supplement with freeze dried Vital Essentials. I use it as treats throughout the day too.

[pugmomsandy]

It’s healthier to have a varied diet and to not become dependent on just one food. Recipes change and then dogs have trouble adjusting to the new formulation when only given one food long term. After your dog has been switching often, he shouldn’t have a problem with it. Give him probiotics with each meal. Why would you want him to only eat one food every day of his life? Different meats have different amino acid profiles to offer. I can’t leave food out at my house because a have pet vacuum cleaners. It sounds like he is not interested in his dry food or his treats. Time for a change. Mine LOVE to eat! Any food, any form, any time.

http://urbanpawsmagazine.com/archives/59

[pugmomsandy]

You can find a similar food to Life’s Abundance for less $$ like Nutrisource grain inclusive line small/med breed puppy formula (yes, for your 8 yr old). If you’re willing to feed something better than kibble though, look into some dehydrated/freeze-dried foods like The Honest Kitchen or Grandma Lucy’s or Dr Harvey’s Oracle. These are less processed than kibble. If you can home cook for your dog, then those brands I just mentioned have a Pre-mix where you just add your own meat and some oil. I give my dogs probiotics, sardine/krill oil, super greens powder supplement, colostrum, Springtime’s Bug-Off/Longevity and some joint supplements. Mine also get fresh food like raw meat, scrambled eggs and raw sardines and leftovers of meat/some veggies.

[pugmomsandy]

Some foods you might consider also are Pinnacle Peak Protein, Solid Gold Barking at the Moon, Brothers Complete Turkey, ZiwiPeak, Merrick grain free and Wysong Epigen. These are all over 40% protein. Epigen is 60% and Ziwipeak is around 12% carbs.

[pugmomsandy]

Chicken Soup is also a Diamond made food. Have you looked at Nutrisource? They have grain and grain free recipes at a reasonable price.

[pugmomsandy]

Awesome news! What a relief!

[pugmomsandy]

The gas is from not being able to properly digest the new foods. This can happen with all foods – old and new. You can help their digestive tract by adding probiotics to their meals and digestive enzymes until they have healthier guts. I don’t like to feed just one food as this sets them up to have unhealthy guts since they are only exposed to certain ingredients and therefore only know how to digest those certain ingredients. Rotate through several foods to offer variety (4 and 4.5 and 5 star foods). And you can feed them an “all life stage” food. I personally prefer Whole Earth Farms Puppy (for all life stages) to feed the seniors as they require more quality protein. It only has 28% which is not high by any means. There is also Merrick Classic which is good for all life stages (even the senior recipe). For Premium Edge (made by Diamond so be aware) I would not chose the Senior or Lamb recipes. It’s (the Premium Edge review is coming up for an update and the Lamb formula will not be 4 stars). For Healthwise, mark off the Weight Control formula. For Diamond Naturals, I personally would mark off the Adult Lamb Meal and Rice and Senior 60+, Large Breed Adult Lamb Meal, and Lite Lamb Meal formulas. Diamond Naturals grain free and Nature’s Domain (at Costco) is OK at 3.5 stars. They’re more like 3.75! Just like any company can have a recall (like Diamond has had several), don’t become dependent on one food or brand in case you have to change and dog food companies can change and do change their recipes from time to time. Even my 14 yr old foster (and my other nine pugs) eats a variety of different kibbles, canned foods, dehydrated foods, and raw foods without being gassy. I fed them probiotics and enzymes at one time fairly regularly but now they don’t need them every day as they have healthy insides now. Sometimes I just pour a little multi-strain kefir (Lifeway) on their food for the probiotics and they get a powdered probiotic supplement a couple times a week.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 5 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[pugmomsandy]

Feed him bland home food for a couple days until he’s better and then slowly introduce back his old food. Then, very slowly add in the new food, even if it’s just a few pieces per meal and don’t increase the amount of new food until he has adjusted.

[pugmomsandy]

If I had the means and finances, I would go as I would be worried of some kind of cancerous tumor. Did the vet check his upper palate/upper throat/nasal passages? My pug does regular reverse sneezing. Sounds terrible and sounds like he’s choking.

[pugmomsandy]

For newbies at homemade, I would suggest the recipes at http://www.homemadedogfood.com (recipe with Dinovite and oil supplement and serving size suggestions) or get a recipe book. Your dog really needs more nutrition than meat and veggies. One recipe book I use is “Real Food For Healthy Dogs and Cats” by Dr Karen Becker/Beth Taylor. This gives cooked and raw recipes with a vitamin mix recipe. Another option is to use a Premix like Grandma Lucy’s or The Honest Kitchen, Urban Wolf, or See Spot Live Longer dinner mixes. You add meat and oil and the premix has all the vitamins/minerals added. I make raw food and use CarnivoreRaw in my rotation.

http://dogaware.com/diet/homemade.html

[pugmomsandy]

Look into Wellness Core Ocean, Horizon Legacy Fish, Horizon Pulsar Fish, The Honest Kitchen Zeal, Smack Pet Food Salmon, Nature’s Logic Sardine, Nutrisca Salmon, LiveFree salmon, Holistic Select Sardine, Nature’s Logic canned sardine, Nutrisca canned salmon, Hound & Gatoes canned Trout or Salmon, Great Life Grain Free Salmon. You can also use canned/pouched sardines packed in water/no salt added for human consumption, and even raw sardines or mackerel. The Honest Kitchen Zeal is low fat and has a moderate amount of fiber and you can make just a spoonful if you wanted and it tends to generate a formed stool. I’ve used it before. For other novel proteins besides fish foods, there is also Grandma Lucy’s Pureformance in goat and rabbit.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 5 months ago by pugmomsandy.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 5 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[pugmomsandy]

Does he have this problem with the homecooked food? Have you thought about long term homecooked food? Did they vet test for giardia and coccidia? Sometimes more than one stool sample is necessary.

[pugmomsandy]

Here is the link to the article. This is worrisome as I’ve been using Interceptor (made by Bayer I think) on the dogs if indeed the milbemycin from this brand also comes from China!

http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story/Green-Country-vet-refuses-to-carry-Trifexis/xecY12zW_0Sm7fgHjAzoXw.cspx

Anyone know where ivermectin/Ivomec comes from??

[pugmomsandy]

I order Merrick beef trachea. Not sure if they still make it. But I would still order from “grass fed Brazillian cattle”. Greentripe.com has USA raw trachea (not roasted and dried). Bravo also has trachea. Their chews are sourced from USA and New Zealand. I just don’t think there are alot of grass fed, USA cattle period! There’s a bigger market in other countries.

[pugmomsandy]

I try to go by calories too. For my dogs, I’ve figured out about 1/3 can + 1/4 cup kibble works for them. Of course the amount of calories per can varies, but this averages out and they seem to be maintaining their weight. Puppies eat more though so you’ll just have to adjust to his growth.

[pugmomsandy]

I’ve been Pugged!

[pugmomsandy]

I give mine chia seed, sardine oil and krill oil.

[pugmomsandy]

Mine like VE and Merrick tripe/liver patties too and also the tripe spring chews from ONP.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 5 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[pugmomsandy]

I do use it periodically. I add it to their wet food topper.

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/15_01/features/Pet-Uses-Of-Apple-Cider-Vinegar_20435-1.html

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/2_6/features/5220-1.html

[pugmomsandy]

Either. If your dog likes and tolerates it raw, then feed it raw. If he needs to transition to raw then slightly cook it first. Some dogs when first starting raw don’t like the texture of raw (funny, I know) and they have to lightly sear the meat. Maybe they’re not used to cold food, not sure. And some pups need time to adjust to raw and might have some GI issues. Of course, give bones raw.

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