Kibble, Just what is in it....

[elaine2004]

Well said Ania

Well, I disagree and am sorry to hear that this is 'wearing' on people. I personally feed raw. I try hard to eat as much raw unprocessed, organic foods myself. As a society I don't think we are doing well with eating processed, boxed foods. Yes, we are living, but our quality is going down. We take more meds than ever before in history, and diseases are rising, not going down. And new ones are popping up all the time. I am not saying that we all have to eat like this nor do our dogs, but we should be able to write and discuss our view points. If someone does not like it, then they do not have to read that thread. I am fairly new to feeding raw, so I appreciate that I can get information here from others.
I like what GeeRome wrote in one of her posts. To paraphrase, my dogs don't have a choice on what they get to eat, they have to eat what I put in front of them, so I want to make the best choice possible for them. I get to choose what I eat or don't, they don't have that luxury.
I really like this forum, so I do hope that we can all agree to disagree on some topics, and that's OK. We all have one thing in common: and that is that we LOVE our furkids.

We must learn to accept what we agree with and learn to disagree without getting nasty! We are all here for the same reasons to learn from each other, for the sake of our furkids. So we must learn to just skip over threads that you might get upset with!

 

[GeeRome]

I had a friend in elementary school that ate McDonald's 3-4 times a week and packaged/boxed foods the rest of the time. She was fine, healthy, in shape, did well in school ... for all intents and purposes she was a healthy normal kid. I have since lost track of her, but I wonder if she is still that healthy normal person, or did the choices that her parents made when she was younger regarding her nutritional choices come back to haunt her? We can't just say "oh he's healthy and looks great" without some consideration for the impact that our choices are having on the long run.

I want a healthy dog that will live along side me for years to come ... there isn't much that we can do to convince the Fates to let that happen, but if there are any steps I can take to try to sway them in my favor I'm going to do it. That means no processed food, as few chemicals as I can manage, minimal vaccinations, and an overall healthy lifestyle. If I didn't do all that I could right now and, Dog forbid, something crop up down the road, I would always be wondering if I could have changed that. If I could have had the power to prevent it if only I had done better by him.

There are dogs out there that are genetically blessed enough to thrive on less than ideal nutritional options. I'm not putting my money on that, crossing my fingers and hoping that my dogs are like that dog that a friend of a friend of my uncle had that lived to 16 on Alpo. I love a good trip to the casino, but I'm not willing to bet on that one.

 

[BarbV]

I really like this forum, so I do hope that we can all agree to disagree on some topics, and that's OK. We all have one thing in common: and that is that we LOVE our furkids.

Hey, of course we can agree to disagree!!!! When I said it was "wearing me down" I meant that I was starting to feel guilt like I was a bad Mom for not going out and buying the most expensive, or whatever, dog feed options available.

I was happy with my food choice, but find myself second guessing when I read these posts, then go back to my initial stance which is: if he's healthy, leave well enough alone. I guarantee if he wasn't doing well, I would be investigating other options. I wish I'd done that with Timber who suffered from runny stools for years until I figured out it wasn't "normal"!

Cheers
Barb

 

[Rassy]

All i can say here is 4 days and counting now and Boston still is sick from the switch from Iam's to Evo...( we mixed a bit maybe not enough though) How long should this take till he firms up ? I have to take him twice a night right now outside, and stait to the shower twice a night...we have him on a bit of pepto-bismol also to help settle his tummy... is there anything we can give him to help ?

 

[Ann]

Evo is a very rich food and vastly different from Iam's. If you've switched Boston over four days, it's too fast a transition. Whenever I change my dogs' diets, even to a similar food, I start with mixing a very small bit into their old food and keep increasing the amount for a week to two weeks to make the change. With a change this drastic, I would definitely take a long period of time. It's the equivalent of changing him from McDonald's to Filet Mignon. Try adding some plain canned pumpkin to his food at each feeding--about a tablespoon per feeding, and you can give him a bit in between as well if needed. The pumpkin should help straighten out his digestive system. If that doesn't work, you can give him some Kaeopectate (about 1/4t) if the Pepto isn't working. I'd also back up a bit on the change until his system straightens out and then make it much more gradual.

It's also possible that Evo is too rich for his system. It's very high in protein and fat, compared to Iam's. You might want to try one of the other high quality foods first, there are many that aren't quite as rich--Wellness, Innova, Canidae are just a few. Good luck!

 

[Rassy]

ok thanks Ann,, seeing as we're a few days into this allready,, i went and got some more Iams,, and gonna try him at 50/50 for a couple weeks,, ill reduce the mix more if needed,, also thanks for the pumpkin tip,, i went and got some this morning,, he likes it right off the spoon,, lol

 

[Ann]

Great, I hope it helps! Good idea to make the Iams switch a bit more gradual. That will probably straighten him out. Good luck and please keep us posted.

 

[sable]

I have to raise my hand, I have to read the labels for human food, if it contains high amount of salt I leave it on the shelf. We might be the only ones who do this, but its a necessity.

OMG I am repeating but here I go we feed our shelties Wellness. What I liked about the food was no by-products, or gluten. Now believe it or not, I started my boy out on Nutro, all of a sudden he is barfing up all his food. I changed it slowly. I asked the pet store what is going on, she she told me they changed the recipe. Well why fix something that worked? She also stated her dog was barfing on the food too.

I had my shelties on the fish also, and they didn't barf but turned their noses up. Again they changed the recipe on the fish by Wellness. Why I have no idea. So what I did was buy the canned fish, and they love it, and they get it only as a treat once and awhile.

I also feed my two for a treat cheerios with blueberries on top, or yogart, oh they love that. I do watch the protein, because high protein can cause problems. Whatever works for each dog, if its raw, or a brand, I thinks its great, as long as they eat well and they are healthy we are all ok. The vets recommend Purina, Iams is marketed with great kudos. There are so many brands out there I could never stand and read all of them. Someone had a sheltie and just recommended the food to me, so I tried it and my little ones love it, so I stuck with it, except for the bag of dried food fish. I like it because the protein is at 17%, its not up in the 20s because my boy would be very sensitive to anything higher.

I think owners are more aware of what they are feeding from the re-calls. I believe some pet owners feed raw, or cook some of the meals for their pets, because of the scare.

If the food companies quit changing the darn recipes that would be great too.

Good Eating!

sable

 

[Rassy]

The vets recommend Purina, Iams is marketed with great kudos.

this is directed to anyone who knows this !

Why ! why! why !

Why does my vet tell me science nutrition is the best for my dog,, and if you dont want to buy from him then buy Iam's (which apparently is the same thing), i have heard that over and over,, and yet iams is obviously a 1 star garbage food.. that may have delayed health effects when the dog turns older. .Id like to know why the vets of the world arnt pimping out a higher quality of food at least 3 star or better? or are some are?

 

[Narmowen]

I feed mine Diamond Naturals. Lamb and rice. And I have some of the healthiest coats that I've seen. Almost a mirror gloss...

My Diamond has NO corn in it at all. Actually, NONE of the Diamond Naturals have corn, which is the big thing I look for.