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Dixville posted:What about grain free? We literally know exactly what's causing this and it isn't just grain-free diets; there are plenty of legume-heavy (vegan, for instance) diets that are coming up in this, too. The uptake of taurine is being blocked by large amounts of legumes in carnivore pet foods. The percentage of pets it effects is almost 0. The DCM you're referencing but for some reason not getting into here is literally based around the lack of taurine available to the dog/cat/fox. Homemade is amazing. Raw is great. Kibble is fantastic for lots of dogs, too. If anyone wants to talk about pet food from someone who has spent years researching it, worked with several pet food companies, and has worked elbow to elbow with vet nutritionists in creating specialized food plans for animals in zoos, at home, and everywhere in between, feel free to PM me. I will talk animal food all day long. E: If your pet's food is leaving much to be desired, speak to veterinary nutritionists who devote their lives to what goes into your pet not general practice vets. They aren't hard to find and almost all of them take phone calls for simple questions like "what value does pork kidney have for my dog?" and will work remotely with you. Your GP vet may be the one pulling the blood and sending information to the nutritionist, but your GP vet does not get the depth of education in this field that the specialist vet does. I'm also happy to direct people to them, so just hit me up if you need it. Fluffy Bunnies fucked around with this message at 06:14 on Apr 22, 2020 |
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Apr 22, 2020 06:10
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Facebook Aunt posted:There is no definitive answer to how many calories "a cat" needs, no. A maine coon can be like 18 pounds and not overweight, while some other cats top out at like 6 pounds as adults and are perfectly healthy. Some cats are crazy active, other cats snooze all day and can get by with fewer calories. Cats require 30 calories per pound per day to maintain a healthy weight, with a value play of 25-35 depending on cat activity level. Most lazy cats require right at 30 calories per pound; so a 6 pound cat would require 180. listrada posted:What is the general opinion about free feeding vs meal times, and urine food vs regular food? IIRC the old thread said to always feed prescription food if prescribed even if it wasn't super high quality, but what's the opinion of the food isn't prescribed? stop free-feeding your cats before "tubby" turns into "diabetic" and "diabetic" turns into "urinary crystals"; which eventually usually turns into "kidney failure". If you can afford wet, feed wet. If your cat freaks out over an empty bowl; try putting toys in said bowl so they redirect into playtime.
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Sep 28, 2020 18:42
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sunaurus posted:I know there are people here with way more pet experience than me, so I'm hoping to get some advice regarding my 4 year old dog, because she has been having issues with her anal glands for over a year now. The risk for DCM is still incredibly low, but hey. You care about your dog. I'm not gonna dig on you for that. I'm a big fan of Blackwood's large breed fish and Sport Dog Food's tracking dog at the moment. How big is she? What's her energy level like?
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Oct 8, 2020 14:30
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sunaurus posted:Thanks! I'll try to see if I can find those brands for sale anywhere. Try sport dog food's herding dog; you can get it directly from them or on chewy. As a CWC, she's super low risk for DCM (it's mostly been larger dogs; retrievers and up) but again. You're worried about your little long girl. That's cool. She sounds pretty chill for a corgi. That's a good girl.
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Oct 10, 2020 14:57
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MikeyTsi posted:My vet's advice when I was feeding orijen was that if I was concerned to supplement additional taurine. You can get it as chewable tablets. Various universities studying DCM's link with legumes have stated that this is not an acceptable measure if the food is continued to be fed. Increased doses of taurine have not improved uptake in effected animals.
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Oct 11, 2020 12:58
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Nood. cats don't need rice.
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Oct 27, 2020 14:19
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Organza Quiz posted:Honestly I think sticking with a known brand like Iams or Fancy Feast (if you can stomach Nestle) is safer, I don't think there's a ton of regulation of cat food here. yeah feed fancy feast or like, purina
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Oct 27, 2020 17:56
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Facebook Aunt posted:LOL I printed out the giant list of best/good/acceptable foods in the previous version of this thread and wandered the aisles of the pet store trying to find something affordable that my cat would eat. She's a trash cat and the more expensive the food the less she seems to like it. I mean we may as well.
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Oct 29, 2020 01:34
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Organza Quiz posted:The old wisdom was "more meat is better", the new wisdom (as far as I've been able to figure out anyway) is cat food is very badly regulated so just about any old joe can make a trendy meat-filled grain-free holistic all-natural food but it won't necessarily have the right nutrients, so stick to something well-established unless you're really sure there's enough science and testing involved. yeah sure purina is aafco and that's always been a great way to measure pet food
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Oct 29, 2020 15:59
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MikeyTsi posted:Cats are different. They don't synthesize taurine like dogs so sufficient amounts need to be included in their diet; this got figured out for them in like the 70's? With dogs there is something that impacting their ability to synthesize taurine or absorb it, or something like that, I haven't read what the latest research is. The old pet food thread really wasn't that out of date. Most of the brands haven't really changed much of their formulation in years. A lot of those of us who know what we're talking about and have long-term experience in either formulating pet food or understanding the formulation of it just got sick of being told that we were wrong/stupid/etc when we were giving veterinarian-backed answers or we've literally been studying pet nutrition professionally. So we gave up and gently caress it, let the goon cats eat purina. In serious mode instead of "lol whatever": tiki cat and orijen are pretty fantastic. I will always be pro-raw for cats for owners who want to learn it (there are great recipes online, wonderful fb groups, and I'm always just a PM away). But those are really, really good alternatives to raw. I wouldn't feed Merrick or Blue Buffalo to my worst enemy's animals just because they constantly seem to have recalls and issues. 4Health cost me a $500 vet bill and permanently shut me off on Diamond manufactured foods, too, but there are some people who do great with them. Petsmart is still carrying trash like bil-jac and pedigree and so forth. Petco's big thing is "no artificial stuff! look! it's all real food!" which is about as bottom line as I would ever want to feed anything. It kind of blew my mind that people latched on to that as a good thing, but it's a common marketing tool in human groceries too, so hey, sure. Familiarity brings money. We don't have Pet Pros or Mud Bay so I can't really speak on them. Cats don't really have a problem getting moisture so much as we make it hard for them to do so. Cats aren't (usually) big into drinking water. They'll drink it, but like most obligate carnivores, they prefer to get a lot of their moisture from their prey. Ultimately, that's why I'm so pro-raw specifically for cats. You can add water to their ground meat and mix it up and really shove that water down their little throats to keep them from making a crystal factory in their bladder. WhatEvil posted:holy gently caress cats are hard My first question isn't regarding any of what you posted. It's what's your budget per month to feed these two?
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Nov 8, 2020 13:55
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WhatEvil posted:Honestly it's hard to say. Like I'm not working right now but my wife is, we have savings, but eventually I'll be going back to work (I hope) and then we can probably afford to feed them really good stuff, like your Tiki Cat or this stuff: Of those two at the bottom, I'd go authority.
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Nov 13, 2020 23:54
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Boogalo posted:If your cats are good weight and eat the food then you're doing fine, no reason to switch. Enriching with taurine doesn't avoid that problem. It has been shown conclusively that additional taurine does not assist carnivores uptaking significant amounts of taurine blockers like legumes. But not every animal has that problem. Tiki cat is good stuff.
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Nov 15, 2020 21:34
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Gangringo posted:I just inherited a cat and we have instantly become bros. I want to spoil him terribly and give him as long of a healthy life as possible. At the moment he is eating freshpet chicken recipe and loving it. darwin's has had a lot of recalls. nom nom is like, crystal meth for literally every animal I've ever seen eat it. freshpet is fine just avoid the ones with legumes.
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Dec 1, 2020 20:09
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MikeyTsi posted:Urinating a lot is a sign of kidney issues. Get your cat in to the vet. op is making kibble soup, cat is prob okay. El Mero Mero posted:Does anyone have an opinion of the reviews/analysis on catfooddb.com or catfooddb.com? not familiar with it. what are you considering?
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Jan 27, 2021 06:08
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It's good stuff. Tiki Cat might be a little cheaper without sacrificing quality, though.
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Jan 27, 2021 06:52
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Gangringo posted:My aunt has a very old dog with a very sensitive digestive system. Currently she cooks poached chicken, rice, and mixes it with dog food to make sure it has more complete dog nutrition. Is there any sort of supplement mix that works well so she can add it to whatever she cooks that will make it dog food? Look into Just Food For Dogs DIY. What she's doing isn't helping.
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Feb 8, 2021 02:03
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Cretin90 posted:Just a quick sniff test (heh) to make sure this food is fine. that's a hell of a concentration of protein Weruva is a big hit around here. Solid Gold is very decent.
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May 10, 2021 22:25
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Cretin90 posted:Any suggestions over solid gold for a generic/no special needs adult cat diet? I'm really enjoying Acana right now. It's not perfect, but it's good stuff.
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May 11, 2021 05:29
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powerfulbuttranger posted:So, is raw or freeze-dried not as much a risk as it seems like it would be? I mean, contamination is contamination, cat food or human food. No? Raw is raw. Can you get a little more exact with what you're asking here? Because I'd like to help, but I'm a bit confused. And for dogs or cats?
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May 25, 2021 23:41
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powerfulbuttranger posted:I'm sorry. I was standing there in the store at the time, two bags in my arms, like an idiot. So, cats and dogs have different systems than we do. While there's still a possibility of illness, it's there in kibble and everything else they eat, too. They have an incredibly good system for killing off pathogens that make us sick: it's why you see strays eating 3-day old roadkill and not really getting sick from it. Is that ideal? Nah. But still, they can do it. We can't. Having raw fed cats a lot (especially cats, I'm a huge proponent for raw-fed cats, it just takes some learning to do it), I've never had one get sick. I run their meals through my grinder, bag, tag, and freeze. When I want to feed them, I remove a bag and go on ahead and let it thaw in cold water. Once thawed, I portion it between the cats and give it to them. In an hour, I throw out anything not eaten. For the stuff in the bags, freeze-drying destroys any surfaces that pathogens might form on. The "raw coated" stuff that orijen does is more gimmick than anything else. They're just kinda spraying it with raw cat food juice and then, if I remember correctly, they go ahead and re-cook it so it isn't just molding in your bag. Which is gross. I dunno if FA is talking about Freshpet or another one of the fresh foods, but yeah. It's just bringing pet food up to human cleanliness standards.
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May 26, 2021 21:31
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Hirayuki posted:Sorry if this has been covered; I skimmed the thread, but didn't see anything about this. It might just mean I'm in the wrong thread, though. Warning: bummer ahead. Beech Nut whole meat baby food. It's just meat and broth blended down. Talk to your vet about your options. 17.5 is incredible. I'm dealing with two hospice cases at once myself. It could be simple dehydration or a surprisingly easy fix. Old dogs are often quick to drop but can pull themselves back up. A feeding tube may also be an option. Hutla posted:My god, quit torturing her and call an in home euthanasia service. Letting your dog slowly expire from starvation and dehydration is cruel beyond measure. A lot of places do not have these, especially during the pandemic.
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May 27, 2021 05:22
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LeeMajors posted:So my 8yo standard poodle had a grade 1 heart murmur at her last yearly appointment and she's been on Acana Singles for like 7 years due to severe colitis. Her first vet recommended switching to a grain free diet back in 2014 or so after several severe bouts of colitis with melena. I hadn't even heard about the possible DCM link and we've never had any dietary issues we knew of and thus we've never discussed diet with her vet of the last 5 years. She had a rough time with colitis at that time and then dx of Addison's we've been treating successfully and without issue since. Hills is garbage but if you have a sensitive gut, you have a sensitive gut. Go with what she'll eat. What's your budget like?
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May 29, 2021 22:02
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Buff Hardback posted:We still rank Orijen pretty highly for cat food, right? Wet orijen is better than dry orijen but orijen in general is a good food.
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Jun 14, 2021 01:18
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Arsenic Lupin posted:I'm caught between two cat food problems. Go raw. This is the common solution to your problem. Urinary diets typically have a bit more salt to them to encourage water retention/drinking. Raw is full of moisture. Or, if you feel dicey about raw, canned food or fresh food is good, too. What kind of crystals does kitty have?
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Jun 24, 2021 22:58
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Rectovagitron posted:I've never had a picky dog before so am kind of at a loss. Honest Kitchen follows AAFCO guidelines. Get a better vet that doesn't expect you to shovel corn into a dog that clearly hates it. Give your 33 pound dog the food she likes if you can afford it. If not, I'm happy to try to help you more. If this is "WELL THE VET SAID-" talk to a nutritionist. I'm happy to give you phone numbers if you want'em. They're veterinarians that specialize in food and not holistic bullshit or "purina told us that they're good". I wouldn't feed any of that list above other than Honest Kitchen. Editing to add: https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/thk-blog/what-is-aafco This is all absolutely true. Check out NRC guidelines while you're at it and compare NRC vs AAFCO. NRC actually goes further in-depth. AAFCO is just the bare minimum to keep your dog's body from eating itself. Second edit: Your dog is fine on grain-free and grained foods and a bunch of other stuff unless she's allergic to something in the food. Vets are using DCM as a huge "OH NO" scare and it's far less likely than the insulin resistance (that eventually became diabetes) dogs gained on heavily grained (primarily corn) diets that relied on grains for proteins/fillers. DCM exists. There are a lot of other issues that have a higher percentile chance of happening (though still much lower than anyone should be strongly concerned about unless their individual pet shows symtpoms) than DCM because of lentils, peas, and such. Fluffy Bunnies fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Jun 28, 2021 |
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Jun 28, 2021 21:50
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Cretin90 posted:Recommendation please. My 10 lb 3 year old cat consumes about 200 calories of food per day. It is. Any allergies?
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Jul 20, 2021 01:40
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WombatCyborg posted:Couple pages back but saw something that made me think the question, pricewise, how does raw diet feeding cats compare to like, decent cat food? depends on your area and your storage capacity. I've got two huge deep freezers, a meat grinder, a really great butcher shop that thinks I'm a crazy girl, and I'm a little bit insane when it comes to pet nutrition. If you're buying from publix vs weruva wet, probably about the same for your average sized cat.
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Aug 16, 2021 12:49
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gay for gacha posted:I have a three year old Great Dane. When we got her we she had really bad pustules all over her skin. We worked with several vets and discovered she had a food allergy to chicken. Our vet put us on royal canine but any time we tried to transition off she would start getting allergies again. I started thinking that maybe there was some by product or something that gets into the food that was causing this. Anyhow, after about a year we found a food that she wasn't allergic to and unfortunately it's a grain free food, Pro Pac Ultimates Overland Grain-Free Red Beef & Potato. At the time the vet just said it was fine to use since we couldn't find anything else, but I've been worried about heart disease from grain free diets. In my ignorance I've been adding scoops of cooked rice to her food because I thought the problem was the grain, but now I've read the thread and realize it's the other ingredients in the food. then speak to a nutritionist that is board-certified. Earthborn was one I worked with for years but recently Midwestern (who makes it) has been getting pinged a lot for loving up and in need of recalls so I no longer recommend it. Acana has a lot of decent fish varieties.
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Sep 22, 2021 20:21
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Kilometers Davis posted:Hey just double checking, my 12 year old dog has been on acana grain free poultry (can’t remember the exact name right now) for 5+ years. She’s super athletic, happy, beautiful coat, barely any stomach issues since switching to it back then. I should just keep her on it right? I know about the issues, at least from when I read about them when the big blowback against grain free happened, but I also know if a food seems right for a dog you should probably stick to it. don't change your dog's food if she's doing good on it. the DCM thing is largely overblown and represents an incredibly tiny amount of dogs. this thread's title is awful and doesn't explain anything. I've spent more time in here helping people than I intended to because the OP made a lousy first post and hasn't really shown back up to do a goddamn thing to help people find good food. If your dog works on Acana, keep her on Acana. And show us your girl. And give her a good pat for us.
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Sep 25, 2021 19:49
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