[Shasta220]

I’d definitely get your dog off of Beneful ASAP. I’m stuck feeding a friend’s dogs Beneful whenever he’s away… The smell alone tells me that there isn’t much health benefit in it. Beneful is so expensive because of its appeal. They have fancy advertisements, colorful kibble, and lots of vivid pictures on the bag. That is what you’re paying for, you’re not paying for anything wholesome or nutritious.

Okay, Beneful rant over: Make sure your dog’s teeth are okay, too. My dog started slowing down on the crunchy dry food…the next day I went to brush her teeth, I saw she had a slab fracture with a bad cavity growing (tooth had to come out…).
If he is all healthy in the mouth, but still prefers that chewy texture, you could find a quality dry kibble and try adding some of the brothy/stewy canned food, so it gets that liquid all over the kibble and helps soften it a little. If you don’t really want to get into canned food, then you could probably even pour a little water or chicken broth (I’d do home made so you can avoid unnecessary sodium. Just boil some chicken backs/necks for a while), that will soften the food.

If you get into feeding soft foods though, be sure to keep up on the oral hygiene 😉 if teeth brushing is too difficult, you can keep chews around and they even make food/water additives. Regular dental cleanings would be needed too if the tartar still gets built up.

Best wishes! Hopefully you’ll be able to get your fella on something wholesome and good for him 😀

[Shasta220]

Hmm, skin issues can come from a variety of things. Usually it’s due to diet. Many times dogs have intolerances (usually to grains, but sometimes to chicken or various veggies). What food do you feed her?

One of my dogs would get dry skin once in a while. It was minor enough that an organic oil-based moisturizing shampoo (I can’t remember the brand. The scent is amazing, I bought it at the feed store) solved the problem right away.

I’m really not too much help, sorry, but hopefully you’ll be able to get something figured out. 😉

[Shasta220]

Oh that is such a bummer! I love Zuke’s Z-Ridge bones… So far they’re the only dental chews I’ll buy the dogs (other than raw bones and home made things, of course). I’ll have to just keep an eye on them to see if their formulas change for the worse… =/

[Shasta220]

Gosh I really didn’t know that about flax! I’ll still give it to the dogs in their home made treats, but I’ll be sure to keep a drizzle of fish oil in their daily food! Thanks, Patty. =)

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I’m so terribly sorry of the loss!!! Time seems to be about the only cure for the loss of a four legged family member. My sweet APBT/Rott/Lab passed tragically 9mo ago. He was only 2yrs old – he was FINALLY just starting to come out of his mouthy-dorky puppy stage too. Otto was my favorite dog I have ever owned, and it still feels like he left only a few moments ago. I ended up getting a new dog, Loki, about a month after his death. Amazingly, there were many many quirks about Loki that reminded me of Otto. In a way, a small piece of Otto comes back whenever Loki trips, runs into something, or does anything else clumsy and Otto-like.

My thoughts are with you that you’ll find some source of peace. <3

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I will agree with Betsy a bit: breeding a dog is a lot of responsibility, and there are way too many pups out there who need homes already…I respect and understand breeding to improve a certain breed, or if there’s a possible accident (three of the four dogs I had came from “accidental” breedings)….

Anyways, the breeding happened, nothing anybody can do to change it…

I found some pages with info on care for a prenant dog. One says to use Alpo or Pedigree canned if she starts losing weight – if you’d need to add canned food, make sure it’s a quality brand, for sure.

http://www.2ndchance.info/pregnantdog.htm

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/breedingpregnancyguide.htm

My biggest advice is to keep doing your research on proper care. Acana sounds like a great food to be on, it’s full of lots of quality proteins and fats. Maybe even trying to add some raw meat to get her extra proteins/fats?

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Joet, I know you find your dogs to do well on BB, but there are many many other foods out there that are just as good, if not better, for dogs. Every dog will have certain intolerances and needs. I’ve honestly found BB to be quite a bit overpriced for its quality. I can usually find something of equal quality for much less.

As for Acana, I’d definitely say it’s a good food for your girl! I’ve never owned a pregnant dog, so I honestly don’t know what extra nutrients are needed. You could probably do a little research to see if you could supplement her diet through pregnancy, I’m guessing a pregnant dog will need plenty of quality protein and even some extra fat?

I looked at the link you posted – the food seems to be pretty good 🙂 the site is a little odd though, I’d agree…

Best wishes! I hope all goes well with you and your bulldog gal! May she have a littler of wonderful, super healthy pups! 🙂

[Shasta220]

You can buy expensive, special-formulated supplements (I’m sure the vet could help out), but I’m always on a tight budget. If fish oil doesn’t work out for a dog, then I use either flax oil or ground flax. Flax oil is about the same price as fish, and has pretty much the same amount of nutrients. I’m not sure how much ground flax would match up to say a tsp of fish oil, but it certainly is cheap. You can buy bags of flax for 1-3$ and grind it yourself.

I hope you can get onto something that works out for your dog! Don’t go overboard, either… I know a dog owner who takes WONDERFUL care of her girls, who are 12 and 13y.o. But they still go for daily runs, and they get NutriSource GF. She makes only one mistake with them: I always notice they’re virtually odor-free when I pet them – a sign of a good diet – but they tend to feel a bit oily. The reason for that is they get 1tbsp olive oil daily AND 4 fish oil pills…(her dogs are average size too. Collie and lab/b.collie) I’d never feed more than 2 fish oils to my dogs daily.

[Shasta220]

And like I say – his problem is ONLY the smell/extra oil. He doesn’t get dry/itchy skin (unless, of course, I bathe him too often or use an irritating shampoo – any dog does that though.) Come to think of it, he’s always had a fairly oily coat I guess (his dad was half lab, so that would explain it.). But it has a somewhat sour smell to it nowadays. I’m somewhat thinking it might be his own fault – he’s with our Kelpie/Aussie in an indoor/outdoor kennel run, and he sometimes pees by his bedding (the bedding is wood shavings, so it’s easy to change…he only will go by the bed if it’s raining. He’s a fussy guy, lol!). I wonder if some of that smell gets on him, as it’s been rainy daily over here…so he will wet the bed within 10 minutes of me mucking it out lol!

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He’s a classic Heinz 57 (he has, without a doubt, at least 6 breeds, b/c I knew the dad, mom, AND grandma…all were 2+ mixes)… I’ve never bought a purebred dog, and I doubt I ever will… Too many great rescue pups out there…

I don’t think Diamond naturals is the culprit, honestly… His smell came on fairly gradually, when he was still on Nutra Nuggets lamb n rice (he’s been on it all his life and never had a problem until several months ago). DN is a 4-star dog food, and honestly we can’t afford anything over $1 per lb (3 dogs, chickens, ducks, cats, pony, and cow…food bill is pretty high as is).

I’m starting to think his problem might be combination between possible food allergies (I still just don’t understand why an allergy would gradually start…especially when he was fine just a while ago), and a couple other things.

[Shasta220]

Hm. That’ll be rather tricky to figure out, for sure! I’ll be sure to do my homework now, I guess… LOL! Sighs, if only I had the money/resources/freezer space to do a raw diet for the pooches. At least he’s not a horse allergic to grain…(and I do know of one!)

[Shasta220]

This guy is actually a different one from the one who flared up on NutriSource. (Cassy is that dog) I don’t really think Shasta would have an intolerance, as it’s been fairly recent that he’s started to smell…and he’s been on really cheap foods before without having the bad odor.

He does almost always seem to have a greasy residue on his coat, yes. It takes about a week after the bath, then I will see the film on my palms after giving him a good cuddling. I really doubt I’m over washing him, he only gets a bath maybe once a month. (Sometimes every 3wks during the summer, but I use a much gentler shampoo for that)

[Shasta220]

It definitely sounds like she’s on the pudgy side 😉 Maybe looking up pictures/info on Rat Terriers, so you can get a good idea on what she should look like. Be sure to keep up the good work on getting her active…another way that might help stimulate her might be to not put her food in a bowl. Instead, put it in brain-teasing toys or have her do tricks to earn it. 🙂

[Shasta220]

Ah yes, those puppy eyes are difficult to resist! (I take advantage of them w my Kelpie/Aussie. I pour the kibble into his bowl, then he has to sit down and look at me w that adorable face…then I give him the okay, and he is allowed to eat, LOL!) Just keep reminding yourself that she’ll be happier in the long run 😉 I’m not sure what her “healthy” weight would be. If you can easily feel her ribs, see her tummy tuck up from the side-view, and see a fairly slim waist right above the hips (top view), then the weight is perfect. 🙂 also remember, when her weight is down where you want it – I don’t advise feeding more. Keep feeding the same minimal amount to help keep those pudgies away!

[Shasta220]

Wellness is a good brand…I wouldn’t really worry much about looking for a food intended just for seniors, unless she is really needing some extra joint support/etc. It doesn’t really sound like she is.

First off, please don’t go by what the food bag feeding guidelines say…they are ALWAYS way too much! Not a single one of my dogs has EVER eaten the amount the bag requires… Usually my dogs are completely fine w eating about HALF of what the bag says, no lie. (One of our older dogs started gaining a little when she was eating half of what the bag said…we cut back even a little more, and her energy/weight is back to 100% normal.) I’d definitely start reducing the amount of food… It’s still good to do 2 meals though. Maybe start with a normal breakfast, then cutting her dinner in half. After a week or two, try cutting both breakfast and dinner in half, then see how her weight is doing.
Also be sure to not hand out too many treats, or you’re just encouraging the weight to stay on. My dogs get treats all the time, but I just break off teeny tiny pieces – they can’t tell the difference between a big treat or a little one, it’s still something that tastes good.

Best wishes! Hopefully you can get her weight down at least a little 🙂 I’ve never really had to deal w overweight dogs yet, as I always make sure to simply prevent it from happening. I’m sure an owner as great as you will have no problem though ;D

[Shasta220]

I totally feel you. Our lab gets almost the same problem. Her condition is called Otitis (basically inflammation/infections caused by environment and/or food). It was always manageable…we had to wash her ears weekly, and just deal with her horrible odor. I always figured it was due to her cheap-quality food (poor girl, she had Dog Chow, Pedigree, and even store-brand foods!)… So I finally saved up and bought a bag of NutriSource senior, hoping it’d help. What did it do? It made EVERYTHING worse! She would gnaw at herself so much…about 50% of her skin would be raw bald spots that she chewed at. I tried hot-spot spray, but obviously it didn’t work at all.

I don’t remember what exactly the vet ended up giving us… A couple different pills, some ear treatment, and then a shampoo. Now Cassy is a brand new dog, and she’s off of NutriSource for GOOD (I was so disappointed to have such a high-rated food react so poorly with her. I honestly have no idea what the ingredients in it were that made her irritated…especially considering she did /better/ on the cheap stuff!).

Anyway…that’s my story of a similar pooch… I’d definitely agree w the others to talk to your vet about a blood test to see if it’s an internal problem. Try to list ingredients of all her foods…maybe conduct an experiment: try to get her off /all/ grains and chicken, then if she improves, try to bring either chicken or some grains back into her diet. It might help you see if she reacts to specific ingredients.

Once you’ve found the problem and gotten proper treatment for it, I’d advise some skin-and-coat supplements (if you’re on a budget, you can buy bags of flax and grind it. Excellent source of Omegas) to help out her fur when it tries coming back in.

I’m really sorry your poor pooch has to go through this. It’s really no fun for ANYONE :/

[Shasta220]

I concure A.Sandy for sure! The more you can look around and compare prices, the better chance you have at being successful with your dogs’ nutrition! I would go to feed stores, Walmart, and Fred Meyers (basically the same as Walmart, just a bit more of “premium” products for everything)…no PetCo/petsmart around here. I would just sit and read ingredient labels and price take. Then I’d make a mental note of brands that really stuck out to me (ones that had the perfect balance of price and ingredients), then I’d go home and research the brands out. I ended up w a 3 star food that we only had to spend about $20/month on (we had 3 dogs at time…they weighed between 45 and 90lb. Now the 90lb guy passed tragically, so we ended up w a 40lb rescue with newly discovered severe social/anxiety problems. Woot woot…no agility for him. UGH!)

[Shasta220]

NutriSource GF is about the only GF food I’ve seen the results of. Two dogs that I take care of occasionally have that brand. (They get the chicken and the lamb formulas) They’re 12 and 13yrs old, and doing incredible! (It makes me chuckle still…mixed breeds really do seem to be healthier than the purebreds. The 12y.o. Is a purebred ex-champ smooth collie, and she is most definitely acting her age. The 13y.o. Is lab/border collie and she acts no older than 8, she’s a spaz!)

Anyway, that’s about all I know of GF – I tried Paramount GF one time (reviews for the brand aren’t on this site yet…I honestly know very little about that company. I bought the food at a liquidation store once), and surprisingly the dogs did well on it. A friend looked over the ingredients and pointed out some “no-no’s” in it (I can’t remember what). It was about a dollar a pound, but like I say – it was at a liquidation store (I bought a 15lb bag of Wenaewe food there once for $15. I looked at the company’s website later, and found the same food for $45. Boy I got a steal!)

Everyone else has given good suggestions though… I don’t always think grain free is nessicarily better (unless, of course, the dogs have intolerances), because GF foods can trick you easily by using equally cheap fillers from potatoes, peas, and others. Many grains are much better for a dog than the potato amounts in GF foods.

Anyway, I hope you can find something that works for your wallet as well as the tummies, fur, skin, glossy eyes, and wiggly bottoms of your sweet doggies! =D

[Shasta220]

(Gah, stupid autocorrect… I meant to say CORN not corona, LOL!!!)

[Shasta220]

I completely understand your need for economical nutrition! We have about the same problem… 3 years ago we had just two dogs and 5 cats. Now? 2 Betta fish, 3 cats, 3 dogs (aka PIGS with how much they eat…), 8 chickens, 2 ducks, a miniature horse, and a 600lb puppy dog (aka Iggy the Holstein steer…he doesn’t know he’s a cow)

We obviously cannot splurge that much on buying ultra quality food (our lab has allergies though, so she can’t have foods full of wheat/corn).

The most economical and quality foods I’ve found so far are Nutra Nuggets (I ONLY get the lamb n rice formula, since lamb meal is the first ingredient instead of corona or byproduct), Diamond naturals, and Kirkland signature. Kirkland is 4star food, about 25$ for 40lb, and can be found at Costo (possibly you could find it online?). Diamond naturals is very similar to Kirkland, but it’s 40$ (I get the Large Breed 60+ since it has glucosamine and chondroitin to help their joints). Nutra nuggets is the same price as Kirkland, but only 3-star.

To make the food last a bit longer, possibly try adding your own nutritious “fillers” such as sweet potatoes (baked), carrots, apples, and meat (cooked or raw). Possibly try to find a local butcher and see if you can buy meat-scraps, or meat that’s slightly expired (just past human-consumption, but 100% safe for dogs). I know a girl who was able to buy virtually unlimited amounts of expired meat for her 5 dogs and 8 cats… It was, I think, $.50 per lb, which is a serious steal! Yep, she gives her lucky pups 100% raw, lol!

I hope you’ve found something that’s good for the dogs and your wallet. Also, try not to get “lite” foods (I don’t ever get the lite ones…not even if it’s a quality brand), you may find yourself feeding more. Switching to a food that’s even a little better than Beneful might actually be cheaper, since you may feed less.

When I owned my 90lb APBT mix, he ate 9c of Dog Chow daily (and he was super thin, too!). We switched him over to Nutra Nuggets, and he went down to about 2c daily without gaining/losing ANY weight. My biggest tip is this: even if you can’t afford much, at least make sure meat is the #1 ingredient (meal is fine, avoid by product if you can…).

[Shasta220]

I am starting a business with home made treats. So far I’ve only made pumpkin-flax treats, but I’m going to come up with other super nutritious flavors as well. I’ll be making the “home made greenies” to sell (they help with bad breath by working in the digestive tract, which also will help relieve any smelly gas…)

I noticed you use spices in your first treat recipe. I know that cinnamon is great for dogs, and I think ginger is good too…but I’ve read somewhere that nutmeg is very toxic to dogs. It’s probably best to avoid adding much seasoning other than maybe the cinnamon. Dogs usually don’t care about spice-flavors anyway 🙂

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Pugmomsandy has good suggestions as well. It really depends on how quickly your pup can clean out a kong, really. I wonder if making other DIY treat dispensers (or buying them at PetCo/PetSmart), maybe you could find one that would make the food last longer than a kong does.

If you could acclimate your pup’s taste buds to veggies, you could chop them up and bake/dehydrate them for a while. Veggies make for a low-cal treat. (Possibly even boiling the veggies w some chicken broth, or just a chunk of fatty meat, to make them tastier)

Just keep an open mind and let your creativity-gland shine! 😉

[Shasta220]

Hm, I imagine stuffing a kong with raw food might be a bit messier for sure. Maybe grinding the raw food up, cut into kibble-sized pieces, then freeze (or possibly even baking would work) to harden them. That might be a bit much as far as work goes.

If you don’t mind the mess and puppy is good at cleaning the kong out completely, just grind up his daily raw meat (leaving the bones out…) and stuffing it in there?

I’d recommend cleaning out the kong regularly, as raw residue could cause some icky build up I’m guessing.

Best wishes with you and your new fur baby!

[Shasta220]

I use peanut butter usually. It’s tasty, and it does stiffen up in the freezer, but won’t completely harden like I hope it would. I even added a little corn starch, hoping it might stiffen up a bit more, still didn’t work. I will try the kibble definitely, and look into yogurt.

Normally, i wouldn’t care what How messy Loki’s chews are, but he needs something to do when he comes inside. He’s quite mischievous (to say the least). Luckily, it’s not in a bad way LOL! He is good enough to stay out of the dry cat food, but he steals the other cat’s raw chicken bones… (It’s actually nice sometimes, because he finds the little remains that the cat dragged under the table or in a corner.) Then he tries to chew up my favorite stuffed animals -_- it’s so adorable though. He trots off, finds a stuffie, then brings it over to me and looks at me like “Mama, can I pleeeeease tear this one’s head off?” I’m so glad he asks before he destroys…

Sorry about the ramble 😉 like I say, this isn’t a /huge/ issue, but thanks for the helpful tips so far.

[Shasta220]

Ah, did it! Thanks so much! Will this affect my Facebook account then?…

[Shasta220]

Gosh! That’s awful! I’ve honestly never bought any pre-filled treats before. I ALWAYS just stuff em with my own treats/peanut butter/etc… I’m especially unfond of red barn brand anyway since it’s full of corn syrup and other sugars. It’s hard enough to keep my dogs’ teeth clean even without sugar, LOL!

[Shasta220]

I found Paramount at our liquidation store as well (it was 5$ for only 4lb though). It was the grain free variety… The grain-full stuff is garbage. Even the GF isn’t the greatest quality, but hey! Impossible to beat the price! I doubt I’ll get it anytime soon again (mainly b/c the store probably doesn’t have it anymore. It also was starting to make my senior lab smell bad again. She’s suffered with skin problems and awful odor her whole life).

I emailed this website about doing a review on it. (I’m super curious too what rating they’ll give it). They said it’s on their to-do list, so who knows how long it’ll be until they can fit in th review for it…

[Shasta220]

Thanks for the help, guys! We have one super picky eater (like I say, the cats have always been on super cheap food)… He only eats Cat Chow so far, but it’s pretty much garbage. So far, a really affordable dry food (that’s also quality) is Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover’s Soul. I also wonder if I could find Diamond Naturals for cats (some people HATE the dog food for it, others love it. All of my dogs are on it and they’re doing great).

I’m planning on finding some quality canned food for my older kitty (I really want to try Evo 95% chicken and turkey). I’m not sure if the other one would eat it, he’s refused other organic canned foods, haha. I’m not worried about him though, because he nibbles on some of our cat’s raw food (just to clarify. We have 3. Maddy is a senior…she just eats the dry and maybe canned. Panda ONLY eats dry…then Millie is too sophisticated for cat food, she eats only raw…)

[Shasta220]

Thank you so much for the help! I think I’ve narrowed it down to some affordable quality foods that have worked well for our dogs as well… Random question: how do you change a profile picture? I just joined this site, and I can’t figure out how to. XP

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