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Crooked Booty posted:Wilderness is higher protein and lower carb than the other Blue Buffalo varieties, but still not as good as Orijen which is the "worst" on that section of the list and I had to arbitrarily draw the line somewhere. Here's a letter from the FDA discussing some of the Evanger's problems: http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2011/ucm255000.htm Not only were there issues with them lying on their foods, but their processing was insufficient to prevent Botulism formation. I don't know either what's going on with that company currently. It's very hard to find data as Evanger's says nothing and the FDA doesn't say anything until they're done with something and even then the info is hard to find.
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May 16, 2013 06:12
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Hemiola posted:After a vet exam last week, we found my dog had large lung tumors and the vet gave her a month or so. She's been dropping weight pretty steadily over the past several months and is down 35% of her former weight. She still seems pretty happy and in little pain so I would like to make her last few weeks or months as awesome as I can. Can someone point me in the direction of some tasty treats to buy or make at home to help keep her weight up as much as possible? Also, she really prefers wet cat food to dog food. Is there harm in letting her snack on it as a treat? She's a 15 year old Wheaten terrier mix. In all seriousness, she can eat whatever the hell she wants. I'd make sure to try and introduce people food slowly so as to avoid pancreatitis or other stomach upset, but in terminal cases, the risks of nutrient deficiency in an older pet are minimal when we're talking about weeks to months. Cat food tends to be richer than dog food, so similar concerns apply to people food, but dogs can do okay on cat food.
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May 22, 2013 06:30
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In Drywall posted:Anyone have any experience with Trader Joe's Canned Cat Tuna? The ingredients are good and the nutrient spread is good, and my cats seem to love it; but online I've read here and there that tuna can be a source of UTI's etc. Thoughts? Could you put some of those links? I've never heard of tuna being a source of UTIs. The only thing I might be concerned of using tuna all the time is heavy metal (mercury) toxicity, but even then with all the cats on tuna I'd think I'd hear far more about rampant heavy metal toxicity as opposed to not hearing all that much.
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Jun 3, 2013 03:30
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wtftastic posted:If they're really that diligent about their recalls, then I'd be happy to buy their dog foods again! Thanks for the info. Since the company sells its product by trying to get into the premium pet food market, I'm willing to bet they've done things to improve sanitation. Its client base is made up of people who are willing to spend a bit more for better food, and recalls for contaminant reasons will damage that client base far more than say, if this was Beneful or Ol Roy. If a recall happened with either of those, they are based off being cheap and people will continue to buy them. It's like airline safety in the months after a plane crash.
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Jun 6, 2013 00:21
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dopaMEAN posted:I don't see Simply Nourish on any of the lists... Looks fine to me (though to get a bit OCD about analyses in cats, the carbs are a bit high if we're looking at premium foods), as long as it has a balanced AAFCO statement (if you're USA) on it somewhere. Guaranteed analysis can be a bit inaccurate, but I'd be willing to bet that both protein and fat values are as close as possible to the reported numbers, as those are what cost the most in a diet.
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Jun 6, 2013 01:47
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El Gar posted:You're, uh, you're supposed to feed it to the cats. Sometimes, you're in the vet hospital really late at night... ... you're super hungry, and everything is closed... ...and that cat food that you're heating in the microwave suddenly starts smelling so good... Don't eat Purina JM. It tastes like how fish food smells.
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Jun 6, 2013 03:49
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As much as I can appreciate people trying to do good (or just sell their product) by talking about "Ancestral Diets" I still giggle uncontrollably thinking of those ancestral packs of pugs, snorting and snuffling their way across the wide open plains in search of their favorite prey... Looks like a fine diet.
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Jun 11, 2013 18:49
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Martello posted:It says for all life stages so I guess I'm good. Thanks. I consider Cane Corsos to be just at the line of giant breed, so I'd recommend a Giant Breed Puppy Food as opposed to normal puppy foods or other foods for all life stages. There are differences in calcium and phosphorus levels that can help decrease some strange growth patterns and effects in large/giant breeds that can sometimes otherwise be seen using "normal" diets.
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Jun 13, 2013 01:20
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Demon_Corsair posted:Has anyone ever tried carna4? The rep was at the pet store and handed me a few sample packs. Since I'm hunting for a new food I figured I would give it a shot. The website hits all the highs of the current fads. I'm glad their AAFCO profile is at least good, but I don't like that they say that giant breed dogs won't overgrow on their food because it's "natural." The obsession with "sprouted grains" is also odd. If it helps them to get the nutrient levels they need, great. As far as people are concerned that's still a questionable benefit. I could nitpick for awhile on the science claims, but it looks like a fine food. However, if you need to add things to get your dog to tolerate it, it's not the right food.
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Jun 16, 2013 22:54
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RECALL ALERT! Good Ol' Natura is at it again! Still only dry foods, still for more salmonella: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm357630.htm Whelp looks like they suck at dry food. No wet foods affected.
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Jun 18, 2013 21:24
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Malalol posted:NB as assured folks that they wont be making any changes..theyre still in charge, but DM will be handling marketing and blahblahblah. Thats what they say anyway. No, not a late e-mail, they just apparently suck. Looks like the P&G  might be right after all. I'll go visit the vet site to see if Natura reps are trying to spin as best they can.I'm kinda sad now 
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Jun 18, 2013 21:43
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mesc posted:Might've gotten lost on the last page, but does anyone have advice here? Unfortunately urinary issues can be difficult to manage depending on the crystal type. The thing to be careful of when looking at urinary foods is that there are two main crystals cats like to form (struvite or calcium oxalate) that can cause problems, but treating for one makes the other one more likely to happen. With normal treatment, that doesn't usually entail actually getting the other kind of crystal, but if you choose a urinary food which is made for, say, calcium oxalate and your kitty is a struvite former, then even though you purchased a urinary crystal prevention diet, the diet is trying to prevent the wrong crystal and thus may make the problem worse. Bottom line, I would recommend asking your vet for next diets to try to make sure you're not going to run into crystal problems. As far as what you're using now, RC SO works on both types of crystals by making a middle ground pH (among other things) whereas Iams S is going for a low pH to prevent struvite crystals, but not calcium oxalate (because calcium oxalate like to form in acid urine). mune posted:Quick question here: I've got a shelter kitten, ~10 weeks old, who's free-feeding on dry Science Diet as well as getting fed wet Science Diet. I would like to change his diet to preferably the Solid Gold Indigo Moon and maybe a better canned food. The best bet would try to feed them as separately as possible. Kittens will be tough because of how often they eat. You could try faster transitions, but understanding that you may run into kitten diarrhea. If you have the time, you could try meal feeding 4x a day while they're on separate diets to try and keep them separate, but when transitioned (and if you really want to free feed) then just jump into free feeding.
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Jun 20, 2013 04:12
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grapey posted:Well, I'm not an expert by any means, but the new food looks much better than the Royal Canin--the fourth or fifth ingredient was corn flour. I would run it by the vet tho. That's the hard part with urinary foods. Going by ingredients alone can be a recipe for disaster, as percentages of mineral contents, amino acid profiles, other nutrient compounds, and overall diet effect on pH is all extremely important, but even looking at the listed percents won't give the full answer (let alone just judging on ingredients lists). The good urinary diets will have gone through clinical research to find out what exactly they do to urine compositions and pH - the right effects sometimes need crummy ingredients listings, but they work.
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Jun 20, 2013 04:24
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Konstantin posted:Wait, what? I suppose it's possible to make kosher dog food, but I have no idea why someone would go to the expense of doing that, since dogs aren't subject to Jewish dietary law. There is a not insignificant portion of the population that feels that their pet should have the same diet as they do. In some, that means the overweight dog that I told the client to stop feeding McDonald's cheeseburgers. In others, it's religious based, either because they themselves don't want to touch the food, or they want their dog to follow those same ideologies. And finally, some that feel their dog or cat should also be vegan.
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Jun 21, 2013 01:54
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Gothmog1065 posted:I'm trying to get my cats more of a wet food diet than they have been. I have 4 of them. The boy is having pee problems and the vet is worried about blockage. Unlikely to cause problems, as they're both well balanced. Are you continuing to use the dry for money reasons or...? Otherwise full wet food is great, it's what I prefer in cats.
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Jun 21, 2013 16:48
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A least dogs can live (reasonably well) on vegan diets. Those diets are more difficult to make, but still possible. Vegetarian diets for dogs are easier to comeby. Cats, though, for most vegan diets, will get sick and die, usually of heart disease.
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Jun 21, 2013 20:30
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Malalol posted:Why not? Until very recently, taurine wasn't from vegan sources in pet food afaik - now there are more chemically synthesized stuff. There was big drama over some vegan cat food (Ami cat I think?) that ended up giving lots of cats DCM here in the states tue to taurine deficiency but afaik they were claiming they didn't have taurine issues in their diet. Since then, I think they now definitely supplement.
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Jun 22, 2013 06:02
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There are flavorings and palatibility enhancers that are put on food. If there's any sort of "digest" in the ingredients list, at least part of that is spray on flavors.
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Jun 22, 2013 14:51
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For the most part, the Royal Canin OTC "breed specific" diets are a load of hooey. The right diet, though, is one your pet will eat, do well on, and not break your wallet. As long as he wasn't losing lots of weight on the food (or being really skinny) it might've been enough to eat. Caloric concentrations can differ widely between foods. I haven't heard that the Terrier diet is any better with teeth than any other dry diet (which is no help). However, there is some interesting research in the pipe about one particular breed of dog (not Yorkies) having a significant nutrient requirement difference from other dogs. It may turn out that the examined dogs thus far are all just the results of bad inbreeding and so it's not the breed at large, but there may be breed specific diets in the future that are actually useful.
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Jun 24, 2013 05:03
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Garlic isn't good for dogs, but the amounts present in almost all commercial dog food is negligible to the amounts needed the cause clinical signs of garlic or onion toxicity. I too am not a fan of those ingredients showing up in many of the "premium" foods but it doesn't seem to do any harm currently.
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Jun 26, 2013 01:16
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Martello posted:Is olive oil actually good for dogs' skin? Orally or topically? Either way, eh. There are better oils for skin - those that have Omega 3s, like fish oil.
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Jun 27, 2013 16:11
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It's a new product from Hill's with extra fancy things behind it - they say they are using "synergistic blends of nutrients" to "alter the animal's gene expression to that of a skinny pet from a fat pet." There's not any fancy genomic research behind it so far. What they did was to provide it blinded to vets and clients as another weight loss diet option, and they claim 88% of the pets lost weight. Anecdotally, I've seen vets posting that animals who have been on weight loss diet regimens that haven't lost weight to begin losing on this diet. I have not tried it in any patient myself yet as I'm not one to jump on the newest product to come out unless there's a really good reason to do so. In my opinion, every animal's metabolism is different and different diet strategies will work in different animals. However, a big problem with obesity are the genetic changes that make an animal prone to obesity. If this diet actually does influence genetic expression and is able to move animals away from the obese profile then it has huge value. I'm watching to see what happens. At this point, for an overweight animal, can't hurt, might help. Fat cats in particular are hard due to the danger for fatty liver syndrome, and Hill's says that they don't know of any cats that developed it while on their diet, even those losing the amount of weight where I would consider fatty liver to be extremely likely.
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Jul 3, 2013 15:21
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Trico posted:Is it okay to feed a fish-based protein canned food to my cat for every meal? I've been trying to find a food that will sit well with my new cat, and she seems to be doing okay on this: http://www.petcurean.com/for-cats/go/sensitivity-and-shine-grain-free-freshwater-trout-salmon-pate I've never heard anything credible in terms of mercury problems in cats from long term consumption of fish. Myself, I'm a bit paranoid about it, and although there are people concerned, it does not seem to cause clinical signs in cats that we know of.
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Jul 20, 2013 04:58
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Lowness 72 posted:I've got a 3 year old neutered Scottie. We've been feeding him Innova his entire life (the green bag with the German shepherd). However Innova has been recalled so I need an alternative until they get their poo poo together again. I always think of private or the small pet food companies like compounding pharmacies. They sound nice, but in practice, the could be just as many recall problems with them but there may not be regulatory oversight to catch the problems because they're small potatoes. For foods I used to recommend the Innova products (EVO, California Natural, etc.) but with the two recent recalls I can't really... I still use EVO (wet) myself because I like it. Otherwise, Taste of the Wild, Orijen, and Wellness are my next go to diets. Mr.Needles posted:My local petstore stopped carrying the entire Merrick line because the new formulas contain "powdered cellulose" which is apparently a fancy name for sawdust according to them. I was wondering if this is correct. Should I switch to another food? I have samples of PureVita grain free chicken that they seem to enjoy. Any thoughts or suggestions? It could be true, but you don't know the component of powdered cellulose unless you ask the manufacturer. Cellulose is in plants. It's basically an easy way to add fiber to the diet without adding other calories/vitamins/minerals that could change the nutrient balance.
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Aug 2, 2013 03:21
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NarwhalParty posted:Quoting this since it hasn't been answered yet. Any opinions? I put my dog on the grain free turkey and potato formula and her stomach is a lot better. I can't speak for any improvements in shedding. Looks fine to me. A bit confusing in that one line says "formulated for adult dog" and another says "all life stages," but whatever. A few extra ingredients that I don't think are anywhere near necessary (fermentation products) but nothing in there that looks bad.
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Aug 5, 2013 18:30
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Wet food is just fine. There aren't any big benefits to dry other than convenience.
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Aug 13, 2013 06:03
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Double Plus Good posted:I'll get the vet to do a more thorough check on our next visit! The last time we went was her first and it was just a general checking over, plus the vet was preoccupied with her ears (which had a pretty bad infection). The benefit I've read for dry food is that the crunching is good for their teeth, which is what I was worried about her missing out on. Is there a way to stretch a can of wet food, by maybe mixing it with some kibble or something? As long as both foods are balanced, then mixing them won't cause a problem. The tooth benefits with dry tend to be overstated. Chewing can certainly help with dental hygiene, but most kibbles don't provide the chew necessary (and most dogs don't chew their kibbles anyway). Chew toys are far better for dental health than dry food.
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Aug 13, 2013 17:30
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 Recall alert!Iams/Eukanuba dry recalled for Salmonella concerns. Information here: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm365154.htm Both dog and cat food has been affected.
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Aug 15, 2013 20:05
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Recall alert! Limited amounts of PurinaONE for.... Salmonella! http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm366953.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
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Sep 4, 2013 05:02
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onionradish posted:I have an older cat who's been eating canned Wellness for a couple of years, based on the recommendation in the OP. She has a sensitive stomach, though, and if she goes too long without eating (like overnight), sometimes she barfs about 10 minutes after she first eats. As long as I keep a little food out throughout the day, she's fine, but I don't always guess right since there's another cat in the house and I don't want to leave too much out and let it get rotten. That's difficult because most of the premium foods tend to be richer and thus harder on animals with sensitive stomachs... Though animals can also be sensitive to proteins, so switching from one brand to another may help if the proteins in it were changed. Have you consulted with your vet on this? The length of time between eating overnight (and seeming correlated with longer times) can sometimes be associated with something called Bilious Vomiting Syndrome where if an animal doesn't eat for a prolonged period of time they throw up, but are totally fine otherwise as long as they get something to eat at more frequent intervals.
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Sep 12, 2013 05:02
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nwin posted:We take the prepped food and add it to the kibble. We did that because our dogs were pretty finicky and didn't like straight kibble. Any recommendations so we wouldn't have to do that would be appreciated too! Don't give them the high value food (prepped by you) and just give them the kibble. Most dogs that are "too finicky" are usually overweight, or wouldn't be hurt by a small amount of weightloss anyway, so holding out on them until they stop being princesses isn't a bad thing. Most (99%) of dogs won't starve themselves if there is food they eat available. They're just going to hold out for the good stuff (so they'll probably act like you're terrible at least in the short term), which tastes great to them, but nutritionally isn't good for them. It's akin to the parents that let their kids eat only chicken McNuggets because "that's all they want to eat!" I know that if I'm hungry, more things taste awesome to me. If I'm not hungry but someone has a beautiful filet mignon shoved under my nose I'm gonna eat that because it's delicious, not because I'm hungry. tl;dr: Don't give them the treat beef. Give them their kibble. Do not relent. Make them hungry. They will eat it, eventually, and most likely aren't going to get ill from their hunger strike.
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Sep 15, 2013 23:01
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Malalol posted:I don't have a good base weight settled on the dog yet, what do you guys think of her body atm? Body condition looks fine to me in those pictures. They're a little dark so the top down looks a bit excessively thin. What was her stool like on the original food? You've been using primarily higher protein foods, so you may have to try something a little lower on the "premium" scale to see if that's the issue. It's certainly possible you're dealing with a parasite of some kind, but it's also possible it is food related.
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Sep 18, 2013 18:47
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Nuns with Guns posted:Would someone here who's better informed about pet nutrition be willing to explain all the things wrong with this: I definitely agree with the calcium and B12, then there's unbalanced amino acids (I don't know off the top of my head), probably plain 'ol protein in general since we're dealing with unprocessed veggies... I mean, probably most things are deficient beyond several of the vitamins, fiber, and carb level. There is a snowball's chance in hell that stuff is anywhere near balanced. Many of the micronutrients (choline, biotin) probably also are deficient, but I can't prove that and don't know if things like lentils and sweet potatoes have those things in sufficient amounts. Basically, this food as a base, and adding some meat plus a vitamin/mineral premix would make this a lovely meal. Dogs are omnivores, so they'd handle the veggies fine, they just should be eating SOME meat with it.
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Sep 21, 2013 16:20
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However, egg is not balanced for a puppy and even if you don't like Science Diet Puppy, it is leagues better than just egg. Until you have chosen a food to feed her, avoid major caloric contributions with human food. A single egg, for a Papillon type, is a gigantic caloric contribution. Once you have found the new diet, then you can transition off, but using human food to do that is unnecessary.
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Oct 3, 2013 16:32
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Mr. Belding posted:Eh, I'm was planning on easing into a raw food type of diet instead of doggie TV dinners. Maybe this thread just isn't for me. I'll look for a place where people are talking about that kind of stuff I guess. So unbalanced food is all the rage, huh? You have a (likely) 4 pound puppy. You fed it one egg. That might not seem like a lot, but it's the same as feeding a four year old human 10 eggs in a meal and calling it "a good meal." Hellloooooo cholesterol. If you do raw, please weigh the positives and negatives of raw and come to your conclusion logically. Please use a commercially made raw as long as your puppy is growing so it gets the nutrients it needs to grow appropriately. Internet recipes are almost always inadequate nutritionally for mature dogs, and for puppies even more so. Please do not give your puppy Ricketts. Remember you own a Papillon, not a wolf. A papillon has even separated by its wild canine ancestors by the human equivalent of over ten thousand years,and has experienced far greater selection pressure and genetic changes than humans.
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Oct 4, 2013 01:11
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Suspect Bucket posted:Max got a quail egg with his toothache recovery mush today, have I killed him? Yes, however due to the albumin content of the egg normal euthanasia solution won't work and instead you'll need to use a machete or a .22 in order to be kind to him. Don't do this
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Oct 4, 2013 01:28
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Mr. Belding posted:Oh, and I hope this helps regarding cholesterol. Yes it's from 1973. It works the same way in people. We have known this for 40 years and people still find it too complicated. Yes, it was dumb of me to assume you have the knowledge of the average person (almost none) and used a common health myth in order to try and get the point of unbalanced across. Seeing as you glossed over Crooked Booty's Ca:Phos ratio, I assumed to use something more common to try and get the point across.
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Oct 4, 2013 02:24
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C-Euro posted:This isn't a food-related question but it does involve eating: is it bad that my corgi only ever eats when I or my girlfriend is home (usually it requires both of us)? We were gone 12 hours straight yesterday, I filled up his food bowl before we left and when we got back he had touched none of it. He usually operates like this but yesterday struck as especially odd, as by the time we got home he hadn't eaten in nearly 24 hours. It's certainly different, but for most dogs it is not a problem. Cats are a bit different, specifically the fat ones. Those can run into trouble if they haven't eaten for over a few days.
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Nov 11, 2013 08:18
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What you currently feed and their less expensive brands are fairly carb heavy with lots of different carb sources, but otherwise look fine. They're nothing special. The expensive one you posted has a lot more protein, so if you want to switch to a high protein food then that's the one to go for.
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Nov 13, 2013 17:57
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Commercial raw diets are fairly safe as far as raw diets go. Usually the organisms in there wouldn't be a major issue for your pet (though pets can get bugs from raw/undercooked food if it's contaminated) though depending on your level of hygiene with pet food handling (or your cats tracking things around) could lead to a higher risk for yourself of getting something. If there's anyone who has any sort of compromised immune status who has regular contact with your cats, I would not feed raw. I'm a fan of Wellness, myself.
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Nov 23, 2013 06:50
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