[Sarah Y]

Hi Susan, No their name hasn’t come up on any lists that I looked at. I’ll take a peek though! Thanks for the suggestion! Billy has done pretty well with grain free turkey so I’m sort of leaning that way because of his anal gland issues, but he hasn’t tried lamb or pork before. It may be worth exploring. Thanks again!

[Sarah Y]

thanks…i’m looking for hypoallergenic dog foods for now. Not ruling out homecooking in the future, but for now hypoallergenic dog foods. Thanks again!

[Sarah Y]

Billy is being treated by our veterinarian. He has had 4 episodes…3 of them a year apart and the last one ten days after the third one. We work closely with our vet. Our approach has been to observe. Now that he has had one ten days after the last, we have an appointment to discuss what we want to do next. CECS is not epilepsy. Just google CECS and perhaps take a look at this article:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsap.12170/full

There isn’t much that works to treat this disease/disorder. One thing that has worked for some is a hypoallergenic diet. And to be honest, depending on what our vet says, that’s the route I would want to go to next. Medications don’t usually work with this disorder and before going that route, I would rather try a hypoallergenic diet. Believe me though, we have always had a close, trusting relationship with our vet. I just want to come with options on hypoallergenic food choices when we see her next week. I hope that helps…thanks!

[Sarah Y]

I should also add that as far as I know, Billy does not have any allergies. He has had full anal glands before and he seems to have done better with the grain free food.

[Sarah Y]

Thank you! I appreciate it. I’ll take a peek today!

[Sarah Y]

I’m interested in the research on seniors needing more protein. Would you have anything to share? Just trying to educate myself. I’m feeding a senior formula (Wellness) to my 12 year old beagle. Thanks!

[Sarah Y]

I haved used the solid gold cranberry powder. I used the SO food with my beagle and I finally got her crystals to go away (this was after 4 UTIs/crystal episdodes. We fed her that for a few years and then changed her to a grain free diet. We figured IF the crystals came back, we would know she needs to be back on the SO food. So far, 6 years later, we are still UTI/crystal free!

I had another beagle who had a UTI and she wanted to prescribe him the urinary SO food. I really didn’t want to do that because it was one UTI. I asked her if she had heard of solid gold and she said she had and that if I wanted to try that, she would support it. So, he’s going on two years now…no problems.

Maybe talk to your vet…there are other powders as well, but I don’t know the name of them. Good luck to you!

[Sarah Y]

The links above have helped. We just recently adopted two kittens…almost 8 months. I grew up in a time where you just fed them and fed them purina cat chow and called it a day. I became more interested in what I fed my dogs through another website and also found DFA to be very helpful. With the two new kittens I wanted to educate myself more on feeding my cats.

[Sarah Y]

Thanks to both of you for the replies. I figured it would be a huge undertaking. As much care as you take into dog advisor, I would expect the same with a cat food advisor site :-). As for the links, thank you! I have seen catinfo.org and I recently had a cat pass away from renal failure so the felinecrf.org really came in handy to. I’ll check out the other two.

I’ll wait patiently knowing that some time down the road (hopefully before the end of the year? LOL) is coming!

[Sarah Y]

Yes, dehydration can affect BUN. One of the side effects for a kidney failure pet is dehydration. It’s one of the things our vet looks for in our cat every time we bring her in for a check up. Also it can lead to hypertension.

There is controvery on low/high protein diets with regards to kidney disease. The one thing that researchers agree on is keeping the pet on a low phosphorus diet. That’s across the board. You will find that more recent studies show that high protein diets may be more useful in pets with renal disease.

Although I disagree with my vet a bit, I still have to trust that she’s doing the best she can in making sure my cat has a longer quality of life. I do believe that renal prescription diets work, but I also know that I hate the ingredients thrown in there. My cat is eating the food so that’s a positive in our favor.

I’ll share some articles, but keep in mind that vets really rely on veterinary articles:

http://www.wysong.net/pet-health-and-nutrition/high-protein-kidney-disease.php

/best-dog-foods/low-protein-dog-foods/

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vmth/small_animal/nutrition/client_info_sheets/chronic_renal_disease.cfm

http://dogaware.com/health/kidneyprotein.html

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/ckd.aspx

http://championpetfoods.com/files//Myths_of_High_Protein.pdf

Hopefully these help a bit….if you dog does have early signs, it’s great you caught it early!

[Sarah Y]

my vet doesn’t feel titer tests are reliable yet either. I have one dog with an autoimmune disease that affects her nails. Our vet does feel that vaccines could trigger the disease so at least in her case, we only do the rabies (3 years and required by law). She had the vaccine a year before diagnosis so we can wait another year.

We vaccinated according to the protocol and now with all the things I hear, I get nervous about vaccines. After a discussion with our vet, we decided to just vaccinate with what could actually kill our dogs…rabies, distemper/parvo. That’s it. At least that’s what I remember we talked about. No more Leptospirosis or lyme disease vaccine especially since we make sure ours are on year round heart worm and flea/tick preventative.

[Sarah Y]

We found this one to be very helpful for our beagle who inhales her food. We tried a couple of other bowls until we found this one and it definitely improved things. And with goldens having bigger snouts, it might help even more:

[Sarah Y]

Ours LOVE the wellness core grain free protein bars, and in particular, beef bison and blue berries. They are soft enough you can give in pieces. It’s been a while since there was a treat all three of them were really begging for. They have other recipes too.

[Sarah Y]

TOTW is a good formula. I think that would work. With that said, I don’t know the circumstances, but it sounds as though your daughter is not able to care for the puppy. I admire that you are willing to give it a try. You are correct about aussies. They have tons of energy regardless of the food you buy. They need exercise and there are different things you can do: walks, dog park, agility. For a puppy, you have to worry they will bore easily and when a dog is bored, they can become destructive.

Hopefully you can find ways to match your lifestyle while taking care of his needs. Good luck to you!

[Sarah Y]

have you checked out http://www.dogaware.com/health/kidney.html. I find these a great place to find more info on diets, prescription and non prescription for dogs with kidney disease/failure.

My one dog is eating wellness senior food which is one of the lower commerical foods out there with low phosphorus (.74%) It’s still higher than the diet foods though. Also, keep in mind, what doesn’t seem tasty to you may be tasty to your dog. Wouldn’t hurt to try it.

One of my cats is in renal failure and she loves her can food (Hills K/D prescription)

[Sarah Y]

Wow….I’m wondering if Dr. Tim’s will still make the editor’s choice budget friendly list. The price jumped $5.50 for the grain free Kinesis food and it went up $3.50 for the all stages kinesis food. I paid $24.99 for the 15 lb all stage kinesis bag and now it’s $28.49 and I paid $29.99 for the 15 lb grain free bag. That price is now $35.49.

I guess that is still a pretty good price. I just started the grain free food…I bought one bag when I went to order it again and saw the price jump.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by Sarah Y.

[Sarah Y]

It’s highly doubtful that its the food unless there something specific in it that causes a very rare and allergic reaction to the food. I’m thinking it’s coincidental? Most epileptic dogs have their first seizures between 6 months and 5 years…or approximately that.

The frustrating thing with idopathic seizures is there is no known cause. A neurologist might be able to pinpoint the cause of seizures though. When a cause can’t be found it’s idopathic, meaning they just don’t know what caused it and it’s your classic case of idiopathic seizures.

With that said, we don’t know what caused the seizure and as stated above if it brings you piece of mind to stop the wellness food I would certainly understand. Seizures are very scary and not having answers makes it more frustrating.

The good news is some dogs have one seizure and never have one ever again. We have a beagle who has seizures…he had his first at age 3, and second at age 4. Good luck to you! We certainly know how scary it is to you see your baby have a seizure.

[Sarah Y]

ahhhh i do order from best bully sticks. We get the tendons, rings, lamb pizzles, and curly sticks. Never thought about those kinds of things. I always thought about the greenies and stuff similar to that. good to know i am all set LOL

[Sarah Y]

oh ok….so do you mean getting them from a butcher then? I was thinking of the cooked ones you can buy online but those are the ones that splinter (I believe)

[Sarah Y]

with the rib bones wouldn’t they splinter off? I might be too afraid to try that. We have done bully sticks. The only problem is with one beagle, she is a senior, has lost 4 teeth, and can’t chew bully sticks well. we have done tendons before and that seems to work.

I haven’t heard of Whimzees before. You reminded me though….there is “Get Naked” dental chews and we have had success with those. I am going to try and see if I can find them again.

[Sarah Y]

okay thanks for sharing 🙂

[Sarah Y]

is yours eating Dr. Tims grain free? I guess I can feed her less than a cup. Just weird because I’m feeding my 23 lb beagle a little more than 3/4 of a cup and Trudy (senior) is 37 lbs and she only gets a cup.

Thanks again for your feedback 🙂

[Sarah Y]

I give blue buffalo freedom (also grain free) to my beagle. He has anal gland issues and I found he does better on the freedom food. He also eats this food each and every time. I have given him Merrick, Innova, and Wellness. Innova made his anal glands worse and he was a little picky over the Merrick and Wellness. I love both of those brands though!

P.S. edited to add: Sharyorkie, the freedom isn’t high in protein and is a grain free food

• This reply was modified 9 years, 11 months ago by Sarah Y.

[Sarah Y]

I would say do what makes you feel comfortable. I don’t think the food would cause a seizure either unless there was something in the food that just didn’t agree. Wellness core is a good food. I don’t think I would switch it unless I was convinced there is something in the food that didn’t agree with her.

I think it’s coincidental that t his happened. The seizures are scary. Hopefully she doesn’t have anymore.

[Sarah Y]

I’m trying Dr. Tims kinesis formula for both my seniors right now. They are on day 3 of the transition. Its not grain free, but I have heard good things about it.

[Sarah Y]

Well I called BB back and got a totally different response and a huge apology. The customer service rep was able to tell me the “as fed” phosphorus levels on both the wilderness senior and wilderness red meat senior. Both are .90.

I decided to try Dr. Tims as I am hearing good things about the food. It has less phosphorus (.76) than their current food. We are on day 3 of the transition and so far so good.

[Sarah Y]

I hear you….I sent an email hoping to get answers. I’m hoping I just got a bad rep on the phone. I want something in writing.

So far it seems their current food wellness complete senior is the the lowest of the phosphorus that i found. It’s 3 stars. I do wonder if it led to one of my dogs excessive pooping and anal gland problem. First time she has ever had her anal glands expressed. They have been on it for about a year and a half. Could just be age. That’s why I was looking for something else.

[Sarah Y]

Hey there…I am posting in the grain free thread in the editors forum too. So, I called Blue and asked about Blue Wilderness senior and their senior red meat formula. I asked what their as fed phorphorus level was in their foods and they kept saying they target the guaranteed analysis. I asked if that was “as fed” levels and they said yes. I’m not sure that’s accurate? I sort of felt like I was getting the run around. I explained I called other pet food companies and they all gave me “as fed” numbers and all they were telling me is they target as close to the guaranteed analysis as much as possible.

I found that very strange. I also found that Holistic select senior has 1.42% phosphorus, that’s double what the website says 🙁

[Sarah Y]

Well I called Holistic select and their bag of senior food says not less than .70% but the actual phosphorus is 1.42. I have to say I was pretty shocked. I wasn’t expecting that. Their duck formula is .99%. The food I’m feeding now is wellness complete health senior and that’s .85%. Anyway, thanks for the advice on calling…glad I did that!

[Sarah Y]

I am learning more about that. I don’t know why I think “senior” is more important. I guess it doesn’t matter. I have heard it’s gimmicky too. I do know that it seems senior foods are usually lower in phosphorus. One of mine may have some renal issues. Some of her bloodwork has come back elevated a couple of times. Her urine specific gravity has been low and she drinks a lot of water. Sometimes the bloodwork is normal and the last few times it has been normal. So the vet just wants to watch it. No need for a renal diet, but I figure it doesn’t hurt to find a food lower in phosphorus. Hope that helps a bit with where I’m coming from.

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by Sarah Y.

[Sarah Y]

Will do….now I have to find it somewhere. Thanks again!

[Sarah Y]

ok thanks for your help. I am not looking for lower protein necessarily, but more moderate. Why? I guess because I have never fed them a food higher than 33% (wellness core reduced fat formula). So I didn’t want to go high because they just never had it. Not because I avoided it, but just because. I hope that makes sense.

I may try the holistic select because it appears to be a little less money and is lower in phosphorus than the regular BB wilderness senior formula.

Again, appreciate you taking the time to read all that too!

[Sarah Y]

What do you think of Holistic Select (in particiular the senior or duck)? It has grains and I’m considering it over the blue buffalo wildnerness senior. I like that it’s lower in phosphorus, moderate protein and fat. It might just work for my two seniors and it seems a bit cheaper too!

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by Sarah Y.

[Sarah Y]

OH okay….got it. So if a food had a recall it won’t make DFAs editors choice list? I do see there was a recall 3 years ago for some of their foods. Thanks for explaining it. 🙂

[Sarah Y]

So dog food advisor rates wilderness at 5 stars. I was going to switch my senior beagles from wellness complete health senior to the wilderness senior because I want them to be grain free and with one of my beagles having a bit of a renal issue, I wanted to have food with lower phosphorus.

Why would dog food advisor rank wilderness at 5 stars if there were concerns?

[Sarah Y]

Personally, I don’t think you can go wrong. I have give my dogs both in the past. I ended up going with Merrick before grain because my beagle seemed to like it a little more. Both are quality foods. I think Merrick has only had treat recalls and that’s been 3 or 4 years.

[Sarah Y]

I’m glad and not so glad seeing this thread. You are pretty much describing my 10 year old beagle. She LOVES food and always needs a slow eating bowl which works for her! She has always been a voracious eater and poop eater. She was recently diagnosed with giardia which can caught through eating feces or from drinking standing water. As soon as they diagnosed her, I knew exactly where she had caught it.

Because Scooter eats rabbit poop, cat poop, dog poop including her own, we tried the “forbid” powder. It’s supposed to keep them from eating their own feces. We were worried she would re-infect herself. We do a good job of cleaning up the yard, but we aren’t always fast enough to catch her from eating hers…gross, I know. The forbid powder worked for her. We gave it for a week and a half. Someone suggested we give it longer so maybe it would convince her not to eat it.

Now, I believe her stool eating got worse eating Wellness complete health food which has grains in it. I’m going to try a switch to a grain free food to see if it improves. We’ll see if it works!

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by Sarah Y.

[Sarah Y]

I see what you are saying…the grain inclusives you listed are all 5 star but the grain free ones you mentioned aren’t 5 stars meaning not all grain free is better. I’ll definitely heed that advice and check for something that works for us.

[Sarah Y]

will check it out…thank you…I knew about corn and brewers rice. I’ll check out the article. It sounds like some grains are absolutely fine as long as it agrees with your dog. I have noticed some dogs who have an allergy or digestive issues turn to grain free. Assuming its to avoid the grains, but maybe there’s something else there I don’t know about. Appreciate your feedback and again, I’ll check out the article.

[Sarah Y]

Thanks for your insight…I definitely appreciate it. I was considering blue buffalo wilderness which is 5 stars and grain free. You are right that those of us who don’t have a lot of information are told grain free is the best way. I have heard some grains are good for your dog. I think your perspective about the higher amounts of meat makee sense. Thanks again….

[Sarah Y]

Annie, I have used Firm Up dehydrated pumpkin powder and it has worked for my boy beagle. I order it online and I mix it in his food. He’s always liked it. Good luck to you.

[Sarah Y]

Besides protein differences, are there are other differences in senior versus adult food?

I have two senior beagles…both are within normal weight range but it’s a struggle. They get some excercise with a 15-20 minute walk in the morning and a 30-45 minute walk in the evening…every day (unless it’s pouring down rain). My 10 year old, 22 lb beagle was just diagnosed with a luxating patella. I was shocked as all her vet checks have never shown this problem. The vet said it’s possible it was undetected due to muscle mass and as they get older they lose muscle mass.

They eat Wellness senior dog food because the 10 year old had some abnormal kidney values a couple of times and her urine specific gravity can be low at times due to how much water she drinks (she has always been that way). So I chose wellness for the low phosphorus level (.75). The vet thinks she may have some renal deficiences so her take is to be cautious and keep an eye on it.

I was considering a change to blue wilderness senior as it’s grain free and higher in protein. The red meat formula has .7 phosphorus and the regular senior has .9. Any thoughts on this? As fo rmy other beagle, she’s 37 lbs and her only health issue is an autoimmune disease that affects her nails. Oh and the 10 year old recently had full anal glands. Just though I would mention that.

If you would prefer I start another thread, just let me know. Thank you…

[Sarah Y]

thanks cathy…I am sending you positive thoughts for Sprite :-). I’m not ready to make that kind of change yet. I have heard great things about Honest Kitchen but I know it’s expensive too. I think if there are real concerns of kidney disease, I’ll certainly check in to every possible option. Thank you and again good luck to Sprite!

[Sarah Y]

I hope it’s okay to jump in on this since I was going to ask about some senior foods for a 10 year old beagle with early renal issues or may not renal issues. She has had some elevator bun levels and creatine was elevated once. The odd thing her last 3 tests have come back normal. She has a history of being a heavy water and unless we get her first urine sample of the day, her USG is always low. First catches are always normal.

Anyway, I’m just trying to find a grain free senior food low in phosphorus. My vet is still a believer that low protein is good and she recommended finding foods low in phosphorus so if our Scooter does have a renal deficiency then the food would help.

I looked into blue buffalo freedom senior and it’s low in phosphorus but i’m worried the protein is too low. the other option was blue wilderness red meat senior food. Not sure if there are other recommendations? If you prefer i start another thread, just let me know.

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