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I am switching the Merrick to Natural Balance hope they do better on this food to the potato and duck formula not sure if the bison is any good lol
what do you mean?You know, I dont think either one is a bad food at all, but when I looked over the ingredient list for nb,it was sort of like, how about some meat with your potato?
what food are you feed your dog?having just spent 5 months and a few thousand dollars on my dogs GI issues....... my feeling on WHY the food mentioned don't list meat high up on the ingredient list is b/c many allergic dogs are in fact allergic to meat proteins. Sounds strange right? But it's true. The allergic dogs can't process the meat proteins, or rather their bodies think meat proteins are an allergen and treat it accordingly.
My dog has spent the last 5 months eating hydrolyzed chicken protein and mostly plant based protein. Lots of corn actually. But she's gained weight, coat and nails are great, she no longer throws up everything. I hate the ingredient list on my dogs food, hence the reason I'm switching her to the NB foods. But in certain cases it's what works for certain dogs.
per vets orders I feed a prescription diet that I can only buy at the vets. I mix Purina HA kibble with Hills z-d canned. And I have to feed 3x a day to get the calories into her. But as mentioned I am slowly transitioning her off. First by adding salmon, then adding sweet potato to the HA foods. And now I'm bringing in the NB food and backing off the Purina/Hills food. I'm only 1/4 the way there. And so far so good.what food are you feed your dog?
thats good which NB flavor are you feeding herper vets orders I feed a prescription diet that I can only buy at the vets. I mix Purina HA kibble with Hills z-d canned. And I have to feed 3x a day to get the calories into her. But as mentioned I am slowly transitioning her off. First by adding salmon, then adding sweet potato to the HA foods. And now I'm bringing in the NB food and backing off the Purina/Hills food. I'm only 1/4 the way there. And so far so good.
Raw is not an option in this house. Dog has beard, beard traps meat juices, dog licks 4 yo daughter on the mouth frequently and daughter could get sick. DD also handles dog alot, and would easily run a hand by the dirty beard, then rub fingers in her mouth, eyes, whatever. I'm too paranoid. Friend is USDA international meat inspector. So I know our meat is not safe for people to consume raw. It has to be cooked to kill off pathogens dangerous to humans. So while my dd is still young, short and within reach of doggie kisses feeding raw is not an option. I am being serious in that the USDA allows acceptable levels of contamination in our meat supply. E-coli, salmonella, listeriaFor dogs with GI issues I would suggest a raw diet. She may not be allergic to unprocessed meats. Definitely switch off the Purina and Hills as soon as you can, it has pretty bad ingredients.
Salmon and sweet potato. Only b/c I could test her on salmon and sp first for 3 weeks to make sure that she has no reaction to it before trying the kibble.thats good which NB flavor are you feeding her
you are correct. Hydrolyzed meat protein is meat protein that has been broken down and reconstructed so that the body does not recognize it as meat protein, thus doesn't have an allergic reaction to it. Assuming that the dog is allergic to meat proteins....If I'm correct (this is according to an allergist I've spoken to) hydrolyzed proteins simply have altered shapes form their original form so that the body doesn't recognize that protein. In essence you're tricking the body into thinking chicken is not chicken and in fact something else.
I agree. Kids definitely change things, but you have to consider the health of the dog. I probably wouldn't do raw either if I had young children, although you could make him eat in a separate room and then clean his beard.Raw is still not an option for everyone. But i will say that if this dog had such bad GI issues that she had to eat raw, it would break my heart but I would have to find her a new home with someone who would feed raw.
nature's variety also sell kibblesI feel the need to apologize to the OP for totally derailing his/her topic. Maybe I should start my own thread?
But to reply I also want to say that I appreciate the discussion on raw feeding. Some raw folks come off as "My way or the highway" and that tends to get my guard up. You folks are dong a nice job of discussing it.
The vet and I never intended to keep this dog on the HA foods. Even the out of town GI specialist that I hauled to and spent a few days in the clinic is in agreement that switching the dog off the HA foods gradually is a worth while endeavor.
And the NB was the best bet that I found from reading ingredient lists in the boutique dog food shop I frequent. So that's my attempt to bring this topic back to the original post on NB foods.
I do have my dogs optimal health as my intent. But it is balanced with my daughters optimal health. Actually my daughter wins out. I currently feed 3 x a day and the dogs beard is just gross from the canned food. I plunk her in the tub to wash it out, wipes don't do a good enough job. In the past when I added a TB of canned pumpkin (fiber responsive colitis) the pumpkin was horrid in her beard. So I don't see how raw meat juices in the beard will ever get cleaned out with a wipe. My daughter is a dog freak, she loves, eats sleeps and breaths dogs. She spends most of her time on all fours pretending to be a dog or a horse. She is all over that dog (supervised of course) Most normal 4yo's are Not this dog obsessed. And raw probably would work in a house with a normal, non dog obsessed 4yo.. But this child is in physical contact with that dog alot.. more than any other kid I've seen. And lets face it, I'm busy busy and don't want to bath that beard 1 or 2x a day.
What little I've read on raw feeding (from stickies on this forum) one poster mentioned that a Bad Raw diet would be far worse than most kibble diet. They and others have mentioned that it is not for a dog with a compromised health system.... Now I get it that just about every raw feeder thinks it's the best thing on the planet to do for your dog and will give optimal health. BUT what if you are already starting with a GI issue?
And what do raw feeders use as training treats. Not raw meat in a bait bag.....
But it doesn't have the best ingredients. Even their instinct dry has a ton of tapioca and alfalfa. With the brand nature's variety, I would stick with the raw food. But that is just my opinion.nature's variety also sell kibbles