Hello and a couple of questions please

brad said:
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!
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Having a dog here that has allergies to corn,wheat,..lordie me he suffered terrible till we switched to no grain. We feed TOTW,and rotate thru all the varieties.
We feed raw on occasion,mainly to help the teeth.They love it,but I ca'nt do it for every meal.
 
brad said:
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.
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Brad ~ If there is a food you like and can't find locally, you can always order from PetFoodDirect.com. Most likely you'll have to pay shipping, although they do run free shipping specials. You can find almost any food on there. Good luck!
 
Brad: with orijen you will see a huge improvment in your puppy/dogs coat and energy (and with a puppy your probably like ohh great, we def need more of that... NOT) but it is a good thing :wink2:

The omega 3 levels are the highest i have ever seen on any dog food, and you honestly wont believe how amazing your dogs coats are going to look. Just wanna say good choice, and you will not be disappointed. You will end up being like one of those crazy posters that sound like the work for the company just like... me... :uhoh::no:

P.S NOW! PUPPY, is the first food i ever fed my girl (besides the purina puppy chow the breeder gave her:dead:). Her poops were bigger as a 9 week old puppy, then they are right now (she is over a year now)... I think that has alot to say about the food. I know barb is having this problem which is why im pushing her to go with the orijen, but thats another issue... glad i helped!
 
brad said:
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!
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I totally recommend an organic dog shampoo. I love, love, love tropiclean (berry clean is the only one ive tried and it works really well! and it smells like cherry lifesavers!). It has no sulfates or any chemicals and foams up really well. Oatmeal is always in the first few ingredients and its not even an oatmeal shampoo! Organic is always the way to go with animals. You know it wont ever harm em! But if you do find the new food dosnt help with the coat, then i would probably get a medicated shampoo...

P.s i used like a no name baby shampoo and it didnt make her itch but dried out her fur really bad? it made it feel straw like... maybe thats what its doing to ur pups skin? just remembered that now!
 
Welcome!! You're getting great advice. I feed Acana and use Vibrant Pets supplement, with great results. I also recommend a shampoo especially for dogs because the ph is different.
 
Thanks so much to everyone for the info.

I'll take a look at the Cherry Lifesaver shampoo! Sounds much better than oatmeal:biggrin2:

2x/month is probably too much and I'll need to reduce the bathing.

I found a shop close to my house that carries many of the foods I am interested. The exception being Go! I love their policy that if something doesn't work or the dog doesn't like it, I can return the item. Including any unused food. Bought Orijen and will see how it goes

I'm working on reading the articles you suggested and finding a lot of good information.

One thing I know is that no matter how much one knows, there's always more to learn and I appreciate all of you taking the time to help!
 
BarbV said:
I like this site too! I find it puts things into language that I can understand (as opposed to Dog Food Analysis) which mainly just lists a bunch of ingredients without really say what's good and bad.
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Ditto! This is the best dog food site I've seen.
 
brad said:
Thanks so much to everyone for the info.

I'll take a look at the Cherry Lifesaver shampoo! Sounds much better than oatmeal:biggrin2:
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hahah i was at a local petvalue with my boyfriend just today and i made him smell the shampoo and he was like that totally smells like cherry suckers! And i was like i know right! ahaha

But i looked at thier other formulas just for you annndd they have an oatmeal medicated formula too! It dosnt smell like anything nice, but it isnt as bad as the other medicated ones. You could even do that one first and then the cherry. I always shampoo twice :wink2: mind you the cherry sent dosnt linger really at all, and i like that because i dont think she would like smelling like, well, a big cherry. Just makes the bathing less of a chore i guess.

I also LOVE that website. It really is awesome. dog food anaylis is really just to look at all the ingredients without having to go to each brands site and finding it. I know how everyone one here really dosnt like that site, but i thought for a begginer to look in the 6,5,4 categorie and know of the foods you should be looking at when you go shopping
 
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