how about food-switch updates?

[technodoll]

marie-eve, don't give up... been there & done that too (needed a big shovel to pick up the mess 4 times per day )... but things eventually DID get better

byronsmom, i'm happy you found a food your boy is doing well on! and the knowledge is not lost, you may want to give it another go someday down the road. keep reading, keep investigating, keep doing what you do (adding some raw is better than adding none!) and in the meantime, we're all here to give a supporting shoulder no matter the food choice, ok?

[ByronsMum]

Thanks techno...you da woman!

Marie-Eve, sorry to hear about Buster. Hope things get better for you!

[vfrohloff]

Well, I started them on the Canidae Lamb and Rice 3 days ago, and so far so good. Nice solid poops, and they go crazy for the taste. Sophie has always been a bit of a picky eater but now she doesn't miss a meal. The only thing I find is that the kibble is really small and Benny was choking on it a bit. He's a gulper but had to chew a bit with the larger kibble he was on before. I find if I wet it a little he doesn't choke as much, and the smaller kibbles move around the dish more if they're wet so he can't eat it as fast.

[Scott_B]

Well I'm making the switch back to raw!

I still have about a weeks worth in the deep freeze, but I placed my order with my supplier, so that should be ready by the end of the week. gonna take it a bit slower this time, other then bombarding him with a huge variety all at once. Although hes doing great on the Canidea Lamb Meal & rice, I want whats best for him.

[technodoll]

scott, with some doggies... must.go.slow.

leslie aka (LES) has some very good feedback on her experience when switching her doggies over... one was super-easy, the other a tad more challenging, but both are doing well now

[Scott_B]

For sure. Well last time he was scratching, we were trying to figure that out, and it was just so overwelming. This time, we take our time.

Originally Posted by technodoll

scott, with some doggies... must.go.slow.

leslie aka (LES) has some very good feedback on her experience when switching her doggies over... one was super-easy, the other a tad more challenging, but both are doing well now

[dtbmnec]

I have just come to the conclusion that we haven't had stinky poop in quite a while....I'm so happy!!

My only issue is that I'm still not sure if they're eating enough...Bah.

They keep meowing for food but that could still be total and utter greediness on their part....lol

That and I've discovered that it really really sucks not being able to find meat that they can eat (since one is allergic to chicken and the other to beef)...it means the raw diet is going to be more expensive than I thought...I haven't found any meat for under 1.99/lb and even then its usually the beef/chicken that is that low...everything else is at least 2.99/lb.

Megan

[meb999]

I returned the EVO, and bought some DVP Venison and rice , if he can digest it, then I'll mix it with some EVO RM to up the protein a bit. I think (I hope) the problem was chicken

[barkley21]

We switched our 6 month old pup from kibble to raw a little over a month ago now and the change has been incredible. Before, when he was on kibble, he had a bout of colitis, consistently loose stools, his ears were always waxy and smelly, he had a UTI with crystals in his urine, and he was very itchy all over. It's not like we were even feeding him bad quality kibble! We tried Foundations by Pet Curean, DVP Duck and Potato, and Solid Gold Wolf King (old formula). Since the switch to raw, he has not had even so much as one loose stool, no colitis, I haven't had to clean his ears even once because they are spotless, he no longer itches and bites at his paws/back, and the best part is...we took him in to the vet last week to see how things have improved and the urine sample came back with absolutely no crystals in it! He didn't even have any medication for the crystals. They just went away on their own as a result of the switch to raw. We were floored at what a dietary change can do in such a short amount of time. Needless to say, we couldn't be happier.

Viola and Barkley

[meb999]

Good for you Barkley! I'm glad RAW is working out so well for you

6 month old pup, heh? No chance we'll be seeing pics of this puppy in the near futur?

[technodoll]

i second that that motion... photos pleeease!

and the positive "moving to raw diet" experiences are a joy to read, thanks for posting! a happy & healthy pet is a joy that must be shared!

[barkley21]

Originally Posted by meb999

Good for you Barkley! I'm glad RAW is working out so well for you

6 month old pup, heh? No chance we'll be seeing pics of this puppy in the near futur?

Hi Meb999 and Technodoll,
Here is a picture of my little raw-hound. The first one was just taken earlier today and the second picture is from when he was only about 6 weeks old.

[meb999]

OMG!! The pic with the frog is just TOOO CUTE

[technodoll]

what a precious, sweet, happy-looking pup!

[erykah1310]

Well Techno, Meik is off the raw... May be conflicting with previous health problems he has. Im taking him off until i can get into the vet and have him rechecked ( needs a specialist) and then I want to work with them on helping ensure he gets the protien he needs.

The other 2 are still doing great, and there was NO problems with the beef

Is strange breath a normal side effect to raw?? not stinky bad breath but just "weird"

[technodoll]

Well Techno, Meik is off the raw... May be conflicting with previous health problems he has. Im taking him off until i can get into the vet and have him rechecked ( needs a specialist) and then I want to work with them on helping ensure he gets the protien he needs.

awe poor Meik... what is his story?

The other 2 are still doing great, and there was NO problems with the beef.

Is strange breath a normal side effect to raw?? not stinky bad breath but just "weird"

glad to hear the two others are doing well And the "weird breath", is it persistent or only occasionally? i find that doggy breath here varies from odorless to super-funky for no apparent reason... hard to pinpoint cuz i feed them such a crazy, inconsistent diet... but most often, i find it's linked to a meal that was too big;, or i mixed a few ingredients that don't "marinate" well in the tummy! but on the whole, breath is nice and sweet.

[Scott_B]

Well, we've been at the raw diet for 6 days now and all is still well The only thing odd I find is now that his poo schedule is messed up. Suppose its since its being digested differently, hes pooing less in volume which I expected, and in frequency. Like yesterday he had his am poo, then again around lunch, but didn't go again till this morning. I was a bit concerned but it wasn't that he needed to go and couldn't, he just didn't need to go. So, that will take some time to get used to the new schedule. But other then that, so far so good.

[erykah1310]

Meik has Excersise Induced Collapse ( known as many other things, but the lo down is... he gets worked up, and faints)
He has been doing well up until a little while ago, it seems that his excersise time is getting shorter before he shows his signs of exhaustion.
After conversing with OG in another thread and reading through some of the wonderful links she gave me I decided to stop for now. I want to have him re-checked as well as checked for other disorders with almost the same symptoms. But either I have to travel to Guelph with him or wait a month or so for the specialist to come back up here.

[x.l.r.8]

Ok, had some issues but I thought we had them sorted,now back to square one. Went from Iams (rescue fed) to Nutram to Canadie, was doign OK but never got excited about eating, was thinking of going raw but my wife has decided against it so I'll go with her decission as it's her kitchen, she has to look after him for the weekends while I work and she hates handling meat. So I tried a few samples and found Wellness super 5 (green pack) got him excited as did merricks (purple), i liked the wellness better and got him a bag, he was much better and actually got all jumpy when we got the food ready. We ran out on Thursday, the shop only had 1 bag left and it was out of date (I was away or I would have spent the extra dollar on evo, or another brand but my wife knows how I have become and was scared in case she chose Nutra or something) the owner or Global (another SG convert since our little discussion) know Riley and would have steered my wife in the right direction anyhow but we had 20lbs of Canadie in a container so left it. Basically he starves himself before he eats the canadie. Like Prin I'm no sucker so he starves, right now he's tucking into a bowl full after tring everything to get treats rather than eat so he was ignored, luckily I have spent some time on this board and know there is nothing wrong with the food so it's just trying to hold out for something better. I'm not going to raise a fussy eater so I'll wait him out. I'm back off to the pet store today to have get my 10% off wellness (an apology for not having what I wanted, and another think on what to feed, I don't mind giving him a break from Canadie for a while as he was never excited as he was on the wellness. So I think were going to become wellness super 5 users.

[technodoll]

the green bag is the lamb formula? (sorry fuzzy memory)

yeah fussy eaters... big pests!!

[Prin]

Wellness super5mix is good. A bit grainy, but it's got a good blend of meats in there.

[x.l.r.8]

I have a sample bag of EVO RM but Riley is a large breed and he's still in puppydom do I am a bit scarred that if he LOVES it I will end up feeding it and it's SO expensive, everytime I open the cupboard he sniffs the bag and he's excitable, i also think he will eat ANYTHING if it's new, but then he gets bored quickly (unless it's a bullwinkle) so even if I get something he loves in a few months he'll be wanting Canadie again. He tollerates instant swaps and funnily enough after the weekend I have noticed him scratching? not sure if this is because of the protein mix? He eats chicken in small cubes for training treats, also beef kidney. Lamb is in the wellness (I just checked) so that leaves Turkey? I'll see if it improves on the Wellness and take it from there.

[x.l.r.8]

Quick update, 4 days on Wellness and BAM, saving a fortune on poop bags but thats it, he lost a lot of weight and I decided I needed to do something, I grabbed a bag of California Natural herring and sweet potato thinking dofferent protien and anything to get him away form eating the wellness, didnt touch it all day yesterday (I had some steak that we use for training so we just did a lot of training instead), this afternoon I decided that as he hasn't touched the california natural I'd go back to Canadie, 2 bowlfuls later he's a happy boy and is asleep in front of the fire. I wonder if he knows he was good on the Canadie and as the wellness gave him the squits he knew he would do better on Canadie, not conciously but knowing a different taste = feel bad.
I'll see how the poo thing goes tomorrow. Wellness is staying in the bag for the moment, however at least there was snow on the ground, it would be like putting toilet roll in the fridge before eating chilli....soothing.

[Goldens4Ever]

Goldie & Aspen have been on TO Lamb for over a month now & are doing very well; however, their stool volume is firmer, but has NOT decreased in volume. It was my understanding that their stools would decrease on this food because their bodies would retain more of the food (nutrients), resulting in less stool. Goldie, who is 3-years-old is eating 3 cups per day &
Aspen who is 1.5-years-old is eating 4 cups per day. I think we may cut back their food by 1/2 a cup or so during the cold, winter months to avoid weight gain, as they may not be quite as active. I just don't understand why they would still be having the same amount of stool on TO as SG.

[Prin]

Goldens4ever, what did you switch from? It can take a while for the stool to shrink up.

[Goldens4Ever]

Prin-

Switched them from SG Lamb & Barley to TO Lamb & Barley; same meat and grain.

[Prin]

Yeah, the poopies won't get much smaller then.... If you were going from a food with a ton of fillers to one without, then yes, the poopies get dramatically smaller (usually).

[wdawson]

beathoven has switched to timberwolf organics...almost 2 weeks.....he has slowed on the devouring and no visable gain in weight.....his coat seems a little softer....he has the same shine and no change in the movements.

george is in the process of the switch to the bison formula......right now 50/50 mix.....we will see.
he is so picky........just older and crusty

[x.l.r.8]

OK time to come clean, we have been for the last month mainlining canadie and last week we were getting up every 2 hours letting him out, seems someone didn't know that liver=splats. We had 3 calfs butchered and I've been giving raw liver (more on that in a minute) and baked liver in garlic and ginger for treats for training. Basically lots of liver, turns out I need a lot more education. but on the other side we had the chicken necks saved from the chickens and I thought this would be a good trial, he chomped through them easily, just as well as I probably did enough damage with the liver he was getting, the leg bones of the calf's I took the marrow out of, and started to chew the bone to splinters (there was lots of meat on them as well) so i had to stop him eating them, this was done to much growling but a firm 'leave' has him backing away from what ever he has. So today I was picking up some drumsticks as they were going cheap and we had been out for a LONG walk so I pulled the skin off one and like the web site says "handed it to the dog". people were shocked and I got the usual "he'll choke on it" well 45 seconds later there was no trace of a drumstick, no choking dog and a light snak accomplished. This is about as far as I can see us going with the RAW thing as my wife can't even do the meat section of the store let alone the rest of it, but I figure if were out and hours away from home, or for first meals it can't do any harm, the rest of the time were strictly Canadie as it seems to work appart from the occassional paw nibble. Our friends thought he was ill because his wire hair feels so soft, thats good enough for me, his eyes and ears are clear and his fur is soft. Also I was over feeding, I think that was making him have bulky stools, now (well for the past 48 hours since I cut him back to 3 cups a day) he has the poops I had only heard about, must say it's nice to use the bag and not a scraper to clean up. Am thinking about another 120 chickens next year so I may well try and get the chickens butchered differently to allow a 50/50 raw and kibble as they will bag however we want. So i think I have finally got a regieme that works, less kibble, less liver and a balance of meat and bone, in short a good mix rather than just one thing (my fault ) And next year I'm keeping the feet (who would have thought) from the chickens. Thanks for EVERYONE's great advice along the way, i'm much better equiped to feed my boy now.

[Scott_B]