Earthborn?

[Spiritwind]

I fed Earthborn grain-free after the recall last year.

My dogs did horribly on the food. My rough collie boy and my smooth boy both started getting hot spots.... which they have never had before. Shedding was just crazy for everyone, the dogs never coated up and shed like crazy for months. Sage my smooth girl licked her feet all the time and had runny eyes.

I eventually switched back to Taste of the wild, because the dogs do so well on the food. Once switched back, everything stopped and the dogs coated up quickly, hot spots gone etc...

Earthborn just didn't work well for any of my guys..

[stafinois]

I switched to it after the Diamond recalls. Grant has done well on it, but not Stan. I've switched Stan to California Natural. Grant will start eating that one he finishes off the Earthborn.

[Barb04]

I had to stop using Earthborn also since my dogs were constantly licking.

My friend who has 2 dogs has just stopped using it also because they are constantly getting ear infections and also licking. She's now back to using TOTW.

[goldiefur]

What is ash and what can it do to them? I don't know what to feed anymore. I have been through everything and they seem to be getting pickier. They love solid Gold Barking at the moon and TOTW but now I am scared of the Diamond products.

[goldiefur]

This will make a dog gain weight?! My dog Gunner is fat and he needs to lse weight! The vet wants him on science Diet I don't know what the best food is for weight loss.

[JacksonsMom]

Originally Posted by goldiefur

What is ash and what can it do to them? I don't know what to feed anymore. I have been through everything and they seem to be getting pickier. They love solid Gold Barking at the moon and TOTW but now I am scared of the Diamond products.

A lot of times, the higher the ash, the lower quality the meat. And high ash does nothing for a dog except be taxing on their kidneys (trying to get rid of something not needed in their body). May or may not harm the dog... but I don't think I'm willing to take a chance.

Here is a little info on ash: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosi.../dog-food-ash/

Typically kibbles with more bone content have higher ash. And from what I understand, higher ash naturally comes along with higher protein, you can find a lot of other GF meat heavy foods with MUCH less ash. There is no benefit to high ash at all. For a dog that you KNOW 100% will have healthy kidneys for it's *whole* life, then you'd be a-okay, but I am pretty sure nobody knows that. So, to me, it's not worth the risk.

I had emailed Earthborn back when I was going to feed their food, here are all their ash levels:

Primitive Natural is 12
Great Plains is 9.8
Coastal Catch is 7.5
Meadow Feast is 9.1
Adult Vantage is 6.7
Ocean Fusion is 8.8
Small Breed is 8
Puppy Vantage is 8.1.
All as fed basis.

[JacksonsMom]

Originally Posted by goldiefur

What is ash and what can it do to them? I don't know what to feed anymore. I have been through everything and they seem to be getting pickier. They love solid Gold Barking at the moon and TOTW but now I am scared of the Diamond products.

A lot of times, the higher the ash, the lower quality the meat. I have a slight feeling most of the protein in this food is not coming from the meat... And high ash does nothing for a dog except be taxing on their kidneys (trying to get rid of something not needed in their body). May or may not harm the dog... but I don't think I'm willing to take a chance. Your paying all that money for a LOT of ash (aka minerals not needed).

Here is a little about ash: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosi.../dog-food-ash/

Generally, anything with calcium and phosphorus levels over 1.5% should be of concern and can possibly mean ash is going to be high. AAFCO states that a 1.6% MAXIMUM phosphorus level is the requirement. So if a food has "1.5% MINIMUM" I'd be very concerned. "Ash" is not typically on a dog food label. You have to e-mail the company and ask.... but some do list it (such as Fromm, so does Natura - Innova, EVO, etc). I think it should be a requirement on the label but I guess most people don't pay attention to it (I never did before).

EB Primitive Natural is extremely high in ash (12%) and I would never feed it long-term personally. Makes you question the quality of meats being used as well. I don't think kidney damage is something to mess around with. Now, excess phosphorus most likely won't affect healthy dogs at all, however there is no guarantee that a dog will remain having healthy kidneys for all of its life... and most dogs will appear normal and have normal labs in the beginning of renal disease. It's not until the dog has lost 75% of kidney function that lab values even begin to elevate. So I just feel like why over-do phosphorus/ash, it's not really necessary and will most likely do more harm than good.

[Hillside]

Not to be a smart alec, but whatever your food of choice is, but just less of it?

[Barb04]

Why don't you continue to feed that food but a little less. You could put some string beans in the food if you dog likes them. They will help fill up without the added calories.

Also if you are feeding a lot of treats, cut back on them.

[goldiefur]

Wow okay Gunner is about 37 pounds overweight. He is a big boned Golden so the vets kind of disagreed one said 100 and the other said he should be 115 What do I do now? He has been eating 2 cups of food a day anything from Orijen to Fromm I always give him one in the morning and one in the evening. He does get handed scraps by the other family members. He ALWAYS wants more food he is never satisfied and I feel like I am depriving him now on the 2 cups. What should his calorie intake be to maybe get himdown to 110. His activity level is SLEEP! He had his thyroid tested and it came back ok.