Natural Food

[Blondie]

I'm sure this thread has been posted before, but I'd like to get some help from you guys! Blondie, our 10-month-old Cocker has eaten Eukanuba since he was 1 month old. But recently, since we had to give him medication, he started preferring chicken meat instead of his traditional meal! He was diagnosed with Ehrlichia canis and you can understand just how spoiled he's now at home. (Even more than before ) so if he wants chicken, chicken he'll get.

But then I was reading some threads here in the forum, about products such as Eukanuba and their ingredients and I sort of freaked out. Now I'm not sure if I want to keep giving him that for the rest of his life, and given that I live in the middle of nowhere and can't get Innova or those products you people recommend, I'd like to know something: What if I decided to change Blondie into an all-natural food diet? Meaning human-quality products and all. What would you recommend? Thanks for your help.

 

[JRT_Rattie_Mom]

The Animal Protection Institute has some really good suggestions for getting started with homemade diets, and also suggest some good books on the subject (though they don't sell the books there) the link is:
http://www.api4animals.org/508.htm

There is also an email list on yahoogroups that is very good:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Totally_Home_Cooking/

Hope this will help!

 

[Renee750il]

I think Blondie's a lucky pup! Here's a website to check: www.sojos.com .

They make a very high quality mix to add to your home cooked ingredients to help ensure your dog gets all the nutrients necessary. You'd need to e-mail them to see if they ship to where you are. I'd bet that when you tell them why you are so concerned they will look into what it would take to ship to you. It never hurts to ask!

 

[SizzleDog]

If you like the idea of BARF but don't want to feed raw, you can try Innova EVO. I've been feeding it, and let me tell ya - it's awesome. It's quite expensive at around $42 for a 28lb bag, but it lasts a long time. It's made to basically mirror a raw diet, but with use of kibbles.

 

[RD]

Well my first suggestion would be a raw diet, but if you are grossed out by the idea of it, a homemade diet would be great.
I'd recommend reading Dr. Pitcairns Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats. I don't follow his recommendations for feeding grains (I do feed grains on occasion, but it is in small amounts and definitely no more than 10% of the meal. Dr. Pitcairn recommends something like 40%+ grains for each meal) Overall though it's a great book and it has some good recipes that I have used, just "tweaked" a little (less grain).

The Sojos looks like really good stuff as well, that's something that I am considering having shipped out here once I finish up this bag of Innova.

 

[Brattina88]

Maddie was fed eukanuba for the 1st year of her life until I started learning more about nutrition with the help of everybody on the forum. I now feed her homemade foods. Sometimes raw, sometimes cooked, with Lots of variety! I did tons of research before I made the switch, and Maddie's doing great on it!
Carly, however, can't stomach 'real' food. The vet says that due to poor breeding her stomach doesn't produce special acids strong enough to digest it properly, so if I feed it to her she gets really sick. I then tried some of the other foods suggested here, Innova, the like. Too rich for her. Settled with Royal Canin, but after a couple weeks on that she was back to being sick again. I had to settle with that new Lamb & Rice eukanuba stuff. My next choice would have to be a subscription diet or 'vet kibble' so I feel like I have to stick with this. She's doing okay on it, so I won't complain.

 

[Renee750il]

Brattina, try getting some good quality yogurt with active cultures into Carly. I've seen it do some amazing things.

Mint and catnip are also wonderful for tummies. Mild catnip tea is even used for collicky babies!

 

[Blondie]

Thanks everybody for your great ideas and links. I've checked them out, joined the Yahoo Group and I'm really finding all this very interesting. I'd really like to cook meals for Blondie instead of feeding him other products. If you have any interesting recipes, would you share, please?

Blondie's underweight but he WON'T eat Eukanuba. He just doesn't want to anymore, I wonder why. He's never liked it much, but he'd eat it if there's chicken or something else on top of it.

Besides, I don't think I can ask the Vet about it. He'll just think I'm crazy, because he's always recommended Eukanuba (for obvious reasons) and he'll think it's going to be bad for the puppy and his anemia.

Speaking of anemia, what can I feed him, to help him get healthy? I'm such a newbie regarding this subject

 

[Renee750il]

Blondie, why don't you try going to the Great Dane Lady's site (www.greatdanelady.com) and contacting her about Blondie's condition and his anemia? She might be able to help you and point you to some good information.

 

[Brattina88]

Brattina, try getting some good quality yogurt with active cultures into Carly. I've seen it do some amazing things.

Mint and catnip are also wonderful for tummies. Mild catnip tea is even used for collicky babies!

I tried these, and I am impressed! Thank you!
(she now eats like a horse! a cow! or should I say a fila? lol)
I'm trying to wean her on to the home cooked foods again. The only thing I'm worried about is extra things she needs because she's a growing puppy.
I'm worried about that to. The vet says she's very slow developmentally. Slow growing. With her hear problem that she 'grew out of' her current eye problems and now her slow growing I wanted to get some good foods into her, because after all "we are what we eat."

 

[Renee750il]

Brattina, you might want to try looking at www.sojos.com . They make a product that you mix with your homecooked or raw food to balance the nutrients. I was quite impressed with what I read, and it's a great idea to ensure that you get the right balance of nutrients.