TO ALL PET LOVERS ~ Big Scare for my Libby ~ Eating habits and diet changes

Eagle Pack

Hi Dianne, here is the link to Eagle Pack homepage, they have a link for retailers

I think you'll find that once you get them on the correct food, their anal glands will be good again

As I said to Sandi below, when you switch foods make sure you do it gradually, like over 10 days, slowly diminishing the amount of old food until you have only new food, and it takes about 5-6 weeks to see results of a new food.

If yours are anything like Gomez, they will hoover upt he EPH, Gomez gets the fish formula and it leaves his coat shine and no bad breath or smelly skin of any kind... oh, and tiny poos (can I say that here?!) because most of the nutrients get absorbed and there is less waste.

You also feed less of these super-premium foods as they are more densely packed with the good stuff, so even if they are a bit more expensive, you end up spending the same in the long run, plus, less vet fees!!

I just knew, you of all poeple would really like the dogfoodproject page, as it has so much nutrtional info!!

As for the chicken and rice, if you're going to put on top of their kibble, do just the chicken, if not it gets too be too many carbs for them - I do chicken and rice alone when Gomez has a dicky tummy to sooth and let his digestive system rest, so I feed it on it's own, but he does get boiled minced turkey on his kibble every day.

good luck with the girls!

http://www.eaglepack.com/

 
Bones are also good

For keeping teeth clean, and you can feed them a meaty bone instead of a meal sometimes, but make sure it's RAW, cooked bones splinter and choke...

Sometimes Gomez get a whole raw chicken wing instead of kibble, just have to supervise so that he chews and not gulps - bigger dogs can chomp on a chicken frame and they're dirt cheap!

 
Dianncy, here's a link to the food my holistic veterinarian suggests for cats and dogs.

It's raw frozen, entirely from whole foods....blueberries, butternut squash, quail eggs, etc.

My cats love it and their hair just glistens, as well as their eyes.

The first day I went to buy it, a man was getting some for his dog, who had bitten a lot of hair off from allergies.

He said within a week of changing to this food his dog was so much better.

http://naturesvariety.com/

 
Sandra is right, Eukanuba has great marketing, but...

the product is not that great nutritionally. Also, don't forget it was involved in all the dog food recall scares last year, so they didn't have control of what they were putting into their product. What I would love to see, which we won't, is how many of the dog breeders at the Eukanuba sponsored dog show actually use their food. I'm betting not many.

As both of you mentioned, there is Innova. The thing that sets Innova apart (and there may be others), is that they are using "human grade food". This is different than the "USDA Inspected" that many dog foods claim in their marketing and on their packaging. Here is what that means: food rejected by USDA inspection process is sent to them to make dog food. Yes, it was USDA inspected. They don't claim that their raw product passed that inspection.

I cook for my dogs (as we previously discussed in this forum), but I also give them Innova kibble in the morning for their teeth (chewing, cleaning, descaling, etc.). But look at the labels. Dogs cannot digest corn, but the first ingredient in nearly every dog food, including Eukanuba, is corn. Why? Cheap filler. That means big smelly output from the dog as well. Innova ingredients read like your grocery list: chicken, rice, potatoes, cottage cheese, alfafa sprouts, herring, apples, etc. No 'by products' no beaks and feathers, and all the other horrible stuff that most commercial dog food manufacturers are putting into their product. Innova was not involved in any of the dog food recalls because they weren't using the junk the big manufactuers are using, but human grade food.

Each dog is different and has different needs. My dogs (standard wire-haired dachsunds) love and thrive on potatoes--hey, they're Germans after all : ) Could it be the fats, and not the potato, in the french fries that are upsetting your dog's tummy? Cathy Z posted a link to a source that gives nutritional breakdowns by breed that is very informative.

My boys' diet, after lots of observations and tweaking consists mainly of chicken, fish, venison, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, summer squash, blueberries, dried split peas, brown rice, pinhead oats, whole grain pasta, bulgar wheat, cottage cheese, flaxseed meal, eggs, banana, parsley, kale, and a couple other things. I don't necessarily add all of these things to every batch I cook, but this is the list of things I know works for my dogs. The ratios are roughly 1/3 meat proteins, 1/3 grains, and 1/3 vegetables and fruits.

Also, one more thing, be very aware of what you should NOT feed dogs. I recently picked up a cookbook for dogs, nice photos, lousy recipes. Some of them included two large onions in the recipes. I couldn't believe it. Onions are a known toxin to dogs. Who publishes this stuff without checking facts like this?

Caveat emptor y'all.

 
Here is what we feed our danes:

5 pounds of ground beef, simmered in water until done, then drained and mixed with olive oil
2 large roasted squashes (no pumpkin if on a low protein/phosphourus diet)
2 pounds carrots, steamed
2 pounds green beans or peas (again, no peas if on a low protein/phosphourus diet, otherwise most any green veggie will work. We avoid broccoli as it gives Dee a tummy ache)
1/4 cup dried, chopped seaweed (boiled in the water we use for the oatmeal)
3 cups oatmeal (cook per package directions)
1 cup blueberries
1 cup ground flax seed

We puree the squash and carrots, then mix it all together and serve twice a day in 12 ounce servings. The squash is roasted whole, and only the stem is removed before pureeing. The seeds are an added source of protein.

With this they also get one apple a day and raw carrots to help clean the teeth. Supplements are Omega 3, calcium carbonate (Tums) and glucosamine and a sprinkle of brewers yeast. Snacks include frozen yogurt and cranberry ice cubes.

I roast the squash whole (about an hour) while the beef browns and that takes the longest. The rest of it (with the help of the cuisinart) goes together in about 20 minutes and we make two batches a week. Considering a trip down the hill to get premium food takes 3 hours, this is time efficient for us.

One gets a low protein version which is a 3 to 1 ratio white rice to goulash and a mineral supplement as she is older and on a medication that can affect the kidneys.

We also give bone soup which is excellent for the joints, human or canine.

This diet is geared specifically to our dogs and is a combination of wonderful help from here, our vet and our own research.

 
Richard, I think I saw that book

Lots of garlic & onions. There was even a recipe for raisin cookies.

Garlic has a 50/50 reputation as far as being too close to the onion family, so we avoid it just in case.

Raisins are dried grapes, a big NO NO for dogs.

 
We tried EVERYTHING with our Doberman. He was a show dog, and his coat...

...and skin had to be perfect. He looked like a wet seal!

The breeder got him close to a championship by the time he was 9 months old. They suggested, and we tried, practically every type of high quality food out there. He would sniff it and walk away! He'd lose weight not eating, so we had to go back to the only thing he would eat: Pedigree dry dog food! The stinkin' supermarket brand!

He was healthy, happy and his bowels moved like they were supposed to. We couldn't believe it.

Michael

 
desert - that is a complicated diet. I have my dog on the raw food diet

I do cook the meat a little to warm it, he get fresh veggies, flax oil and supplements every day. I hard boil eggs now and then to add a little to his food.

My question - when you have to leave your dog with someone or travel with him, how do you handle all this? We travel in an RV so it is easy because of the refer and freezer, but when we are visiting someone, and I take the food into their home to feed my dog, their animals gobble it up. Our dog will not eat if we are not present or he is left alone. The food will sit in his bowl all day until we get back. I find it to be a very tedious and time consuming chore, but we do it because we love him and he is healthy as a result.

 
We use the glad rectangles

and that gives us 4 servings per container. We get 3 containers in a regular batch. When I know it'll be a busy time we will fix double batches and freeze in those containers.

Friends have watched the girls for us and we've never had any problems. If we had an RV we could probably travel with them, but their size pretty much precludes any other long distance travel. And since they will eat pretty much anything, including toilet paper rolls, envelopes, newspaper, anything not scraped from the litter box... LOL

 
Karen, you don't really have to boil the eggs...

they can eat them whole, raw, shells and all, the shells give a lot of calcium, but do it outside if they tend to take stuff out of his bowls!

do you puree his veggies?

 
UPDATE ON LIBBY: She is loosing protein and tomorrow she is going to be tested at her vet's and they

said it could be her liver or kidneys.

4 yrs ago Libby had valley fever and is in remission so her blood test shows no valley fever.

I am so worried about her because they are seriously saying it could be the liver.

Does anyone know anything about protein loss in dogs and if so please let me know ~ I don't want to loose Libby and we'll do everything we can but right now we are still paying the $8,500 bills on Emmitt from his surgeries last Oct & Dec.

I am hoping that if the very least she can be put on medication but surgery? Absolute last resort AND I will get 2nd 3rd opinions if I have to.

 
I am sorry,

I don't have any advice, but I am sending good thoughts to you and your Libby. I know how hard it is. Is she still not eating? With Abby, we started force feeding her, and that did the trick, but she went for over a week, not eating. We just took Abby into the vets again today, she was limping on the same foot she broke, but it turned out that she had a puncture wound, that is treatable with antibiotics, hopefully, as much as I love her, but she is by far, the most expensive animal we have ever had. And yet I just adore her. Animals, I tell ya.

 
The egg membrane is full of all kinds of good stuff

The membrane that separates the white from the shell contains hyaluronic acid, glucosamine, chondroitin, and collagen; all essential for good joint health.

 
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