Hello and a couple of questions please

B

brad

Forums Regular
Hello!

Sorry my first post is a request:o

We have a 5 month puppy (Kenzie) we brought home in January. Her breeder was feeding her Eukanuba. I had researched and decided to try Blue Buffalo - Chicken & Rice Puppy.

I switched gradually and didn't notice any issues. She has never been a big eater...usually less than a cup/day. She would sometimes go for a day or two on less. She is a very high energy puppy and is gaining weight, I just thought that was her way..


We picked up another puppy (Korrie) in February. He is now 3 months old and his breeder was feeding Pro Plan shredded adult. So I bought a bag with the plan of moving him onto BB.

On a whim, I put some Pro Plan into Kenzie's bowl and she devoured it. Also looking back on it, she itches a lot and there are no signs of fleas on either dog, so I'm considering changing foods.

I don't really want to use ProPlan because of the grain and by-products.

Soooo, a couple of questions if I may:
1. Variety - Breeder says it is unimportant. Vet says same but I see some comments here that some variety may be good... Wild dogs don't eat just rabbit! They eat whatever they can. Should this be applied to domestic dogs? Has domesticity changed their diets?

2. Meat meal - As in chicken meal, etc.. I thought meal was not as good as meat. Yet I see it listed as the first few ingredients on several high end dry foods. I plan on adding to their dry foods with raw meat occasionally but cannot go all the way raw.. What are your thoughts on meal?

Thanks!
 
brad said:
Soooo, a couple of questions if I may:
1. Variety - Breeder says it is unimportant. Vet says same but I see some comments here that some variety may be good... Wild dogs don't eat just rabbit! They eat whatever they can. Should this be applied to domestic dogs? Has domesticity changed their diets?
Click to expand...

Breeder/vet are uninformed. They feed a single thing, the dogs do "fine", and they don't worry about it until there is a giant recall.

Variety is how you get dogs that don't have digestion issues, how you don't have to worry about every single ingredient, how you don't have to worry about lack on nutrients in every single food. Variety is the best way to go.

I currently feed half kibble/half raw/half whatever else I have. And I rarely buy two bags of the same kibble in a row. They also get meat, bone, and organ from both poultry and larger animals, as well as eggs and cottage cheese (what's left that I don't eat, yum) and whatever else looks good.
 
Your doing well if you havnt done much re search. It is common sense to feed a dog more than a one source protein food.

Whenever you see meal in a dog food, it is a good thing as long as it is fallowed by a named meat ingredient like chicken meal, salmon meal ect.
Meal is essentially like "meat jerky" It has all the water taken out, and has a high amount of protein which is essential to canines. Food companies include meal meats to boost the amount of protein the food has.

You say your dog is itching, but i noticed the blue buffalo food you feed contains grain. Grain is not a vital part of a canines diet. While grain will never harm a dog, it is never really good for them. Grains are known for causing allergies to dogs, and some dogs are born with allergies to grain. If you notice your dog itching at all, i would switch to a grain free food. There are a hundred different grain free foods. All the brands have many formulas. Alot of dogs are also allergic to chicken. So if you do swicth to a grain free chicken based food and the problem hasnt subsided, go for a lamb based food or anything besides chicken (beef, venison, fish ect.)

When looking at a grain free food, look for protein levels of 25-38 %. Omega 3 oils are pretty much the only thing that improves coat quaility AND SKIN. Which can help with your dogs coat and itching! dogfoodanalysis.com has ranked dog foods depending on many factors. Any food in the 6,5,4 categorie is good.

I tried to make that post as simple as possible. i know everyone is going to correct me and whatever else, but this is what i got out of hours of re search, soo i hope this helps! good luck.

P.SI feed my girl ORIJEN and i feel it is the best food out there. You can visit thier webside and ACANA is thier sister brand and is also awesome! Highly recommend. It is a 6 category food on dog food anaylsis which is the highest rank!
 
Thank you both very much for your replies. I have spent a few hours over at dogfoodanalysis and will be switching to a grain free dry.

Also thanks for the headsup on possible chicken allergies, didn't know about that...
 
Welcome to the forum, and we're happy to help with your questions!

We all visit dogfoodanalysis, and there are many good references on there, but take it with a grain of salt and trust your own research. We've found DFA to be very big on "high protein" foods, which most dogs don't need, unless they're performance or competition dogs. Of course, puppies do need a higher amount of protein, so a good quality puppy food until they're six months old (in the case of Shelties, who tend to put on weight easily) is a good idea.

If you're interested in grain-free, I can recommend the Petcurean products out of Canada. They make Go! and Now! Now is grain-free, and Go recently released its Endurance variety that is also grain-free which I am currently feeding.

There are lots of others, so look around and don't be afraid to try and see what your pups like. Meat "meal" is a very good thing...most nutritionists prefer to see that ahead of plain meat.

You'll get lots of recommendations here from personal experience. Take away what works for you and your dogs. Good luck, and give us some photos!
 
Welcome to the forum. I agree with Ann about the high protein level. I was feeding Emma Eukanuba but switched to Taste of the Wild. Both Emma and Liam liked it, but Liam did a lot of scratching. I have just switched to Summit holistic, by the makers of Go and Now and neither dog can wait for their meals. Liam barks to tell me I am not fast enough:lol: Liam I am feeding Canadian Chicken and Emma is on Australian Lamb. Liam is itching a lot less on the chicken.

Dogs in Canada recently had an article on foods with and without grains that was interesting. It should be on their website.

You will find the food that is best for you and your dogs. Don't feel pressured to buy/feed a particular brand or even to feed raw. You need to find what is right for your lifestyle and your dogs. Talk to the staff at your petstore where you buy your food. Discuss it with your vet.

With Kenzie - how often are you bathing her and what kind of shampoo do you use? This could be a cause of the itching and not the food.
 
Ann said:
If you're interested in grain-free, I can recommend the Petcurean products out of Canada. They make Go! and Now! Now is grain-free, and Go recently released its Endurance variety that is also grain-free which I am currently feeding.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I was going to try Go but couldn't find it locally and I wanted to change soon than later. I ended up getting Orijen Puppy and will see how it goes.

I'll post some photos over in the Hello forum.
Thanks for the welcome and advise!
 
Emmasmom said:
Dogs in Canada recently had an article on foods with and without grains that was interesting. It should be on their website.

With Kenzie - how often are you bathing her and what kind of shampoo do you use? This could be a cause of the itching and not the food.
Click to expand...

I'll check out the article, thanks for the info.

Kenzie gets a bath about 1-2 times a month depending on the circumstance. She just recently got over being carsick on a 9 hour drive to Az! So she was getting bathed more often.

The first shampoo I tried was some oatmeal dog stuff bought at the local Petsmart. I recently switched to J&J baby shampoo thinking the scratching might have been the shampoo.

Thanks for the reply!
 
You may find she doesn't need to be bathed that much. Too much bathing dries out the skin. Emma gets one every couple of months or so. Liam I have had since October and he has only had two baths since then.
 
Ann said:
Welcome to the forum, and we're happy to help with your questions!

We all visit dogfoodanalysis, and there are many good references on there, but take it with a grain of salt and trust your own research. We've found DFA to be very big on "high protein" foods, which most dogs don't need, unless they're performance or competition dogs. Of course, puppies do need a higher amount of protein, so a good quality puppy food until they're six months old (in the case of Shelties, who tend to put on weight easily) is a good idea.

If you're interested in grain-free, I can recommend the Petcurean products out of Canada. They make Go! and Now! Now is grain-free, and Go recently released its Endurance variety that is also grain-free which I am currently feeding.

There are lots of others, so look around and don't be afraid to try and see what your pups like. Meat "meal" is a very good thing...most nutritionists prefer to see that ahead of plain meat.

You'll get lots of recommendations here from personal experience. Take away what works for you and your dogs. Good luck, and give us some photos!
Click to expand...

I'm with Ann on this.

I don't recommend switching around too much. If you keep switching you'll never know what's working or not for your dog.

There are alot of "fad diets" out there, and its easy to get caught up in the buzz. The Dog Food Analysis site is big on high protein and no grain. I would opt for a medium level protein for you dog as a safe bet. Nothing wrong with grain-free though. The difficulty is finding grain-free that is medium protein.


I'm feeding my boys Now! And while they seem to be doing well on it, I'm not happy about their poop size....seems like they are expelling more than absorbing the nutrients. I don't have an answer about that yet.

Bottom line is there is no magic formula. You just need to find the comfort zone where pups are eating, stools normal and coat looks good. Beyond that, leave it alone. Otherwise, it will drive you crazy. No joke!

When I was growing up, we fed our our dogs the cheapest thing go, and table scraps. Mom and Dad never worried about any of the stuff we worry about, and our dogs lived long and happy lives.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top