alicat613

Rather than having to ask all the time (not that that is bad!) you should learn about what the labels mean and how to tell for yourself. The reason I say this is not because I don't want to answer, but different foods work for different dogs, dog foods change, and different dog foods are available in different areas. As for your question, I would not even touch the outer bag of Iams, not with a thick pair of gloves. I don't ever wish to be associated with the amount of death "in" and associated with each bag of their food. Just my personal opinion. And I'd never feed anything that said chow although I've never heard of that food, just my anti-Purina-ness coming through. I'll get some links together for you on what food labels really mean and such. Makes the whole thing a lot easier!

I have heard good things about Diamond, although I believe they have differing lines. I don't personally know as I have not really researched it and I'm not a big kibble fan anyway, but I certainly don't think it's a bad food. My concern is the lamb diet. The pet food companies will tell you that they ensure proper taurine and l-carnitine, both of which have been linked to both immediate and long-term health especially heart health. But other studies show that the taurine supplements in a pet food is not absorbed like it is from fresh food. Lamb is a low source of this and the taurine levels concern me, despite any pet food company's claim. Not getting enough of these can lead to serious heart problems like digital cardiomyopathy, a deadly disease in dogs, and blindness in cats. Not worth the risk IMO. Are you lamb/rice feeders doing so based on allergies? There are other options, such as chicken or beef and rice, Wellness and Natural Balance have allergy lines based on other meats (ie Natural Balance Duck and Potato). For more info: [url]http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/lamb_rice_diets.htm[/url] [url]http://www.ivillage.com/pets/expert/vet/articles/0,12329,287564_271824-1,00.html[/url]

[quote name='Hobbit'][quote name='alicat613']I think this is a wonderful idea! After all these people desperate for a mixed breed to compete with go get one from the shelter, and eventually all the shelters are empty and all the dogs in the world have great homes, then sure, breeding mixed breeds would be great. But first I think the world needs to take care of the ones we already have, all the sad furry babies in need of homes and love and treats.[/quote] Ali --- they are breeding these mixed breeds ON PURPOSE. They aren't getting them from shelters.[/quote] I think my sarcasm went unnoticed... :D My point was, first empty out the shelters. There are plenty of mixed breeds out there in need of homes, purebreds too, that can fit these desires. Once the shelters - ALL the shelters - are empty, and all the little doggies have homes...sure breed mixed breeds! But until that day comes that there are no dogs in need of homes, go to a shelter.

I think this is a wonderful idea! After all these people desperate for a mixed breed to compete with go get one from the shelter, and eventually all the shelters are empty and all the dogs in the world have great homes, then sure, breeding mixed breeds would be great. But first I think the world needs to take care of the ones we already have, all the sad furry babies in need of homes and love and treats.

Well growing up with Standard Poodles we used to go a lot! Our groomer was really great, my mom still uses her. In fact she has kept our dogs at her house when we've gone on vacation, although that came later in the relationship. From day one, she was always really nice and you could tell she took great care with our girl. We had taken her to other places and they can be pretty rough. Holly was more relaxed with Bonnie and she was a real dog lover and would really be sweet to Holly. We appreciated that she would call the moment Holly was done so we could pick her up right away. Of course we always liked how they remembered Holly and that she did a great job. And she used really cute bows in the hair. Bonnie's shop was located right by our vet, which was convenient. Holly bloated and torsed, needing a spleenectomy and tack. She was there recovering for quite some time and my nice vet allowed me to stay with her. So Bonnie saw me walking Holly with an IV rack for a potty break out the window, and immediately called our house to see what was going on and if she was ok. Her concern and recognition of us from a distance was really sweet and appreciated. Bonnie has been our family groomer for wow, 10 years? She is professional and does a great job, loves the animals, and treats us like family. What more could we ask for? Good luck with your aspirations and I hope you are able someday to build a loyal clientele like our groomer has done.

Fat Cat toys... [url]http://www.fatcats.com/html_site/dogs.shtml[/url] The mailman, big mean kitty and others in the line are canvas stuffies with squeakers. They have fun legs and arms that dangle too. My friend's mastiff has had one for 2 years!! You can throw them in the washer too. I thought they might be too canvasy for my puppy but he likes his Big Mean Kitty.

Unidentified, vague listings of animal proteins, meats, meals, fats, etc are 4-D sourced, meaning DEAD DECEASED DISEASED AND DYING. These are dealers of carcasses licensed by the government. It is entirely legal and accepted to use these in pet food, including euthanised CATS and DOGS from shelters, often with their flea collars on and still in a plastic bag.

All that I have seen have been pretty pricey. You pay for the convenience. I could only see doing those for a trip or other unusual circumstances, not regularly.

Ugh thank goodness! I opened it and it was just on and on loading emoticons. Just hoped I could spare a few people the annoyance and take away Wucy's fun. You can delete this thread too since it's sorta pointless!

It's just a whole bunch of posts with like 8 gazillion jillion emoticons. And yes I counted LOL. There's no "alert" or report to moderator button and I think you guys are all in another time zone. Anyways no one else is on and the I weelly weelly wuv wucy or whatever person is spamming up the place. Just thought I'd save you from the million emoticons. They are annoying.

I also love the Pitcairn book. I read it all the time! I don't actually follow the recipes though. They're too involved for me! I go by guidelines set by my vet, who studied under Dr. Pitcairn. How lucky am I? I have followed Pitcairn for many years and recently found this vet who I just love. I provide a varied diet of approx. 30% each veg, grains, and protein, with supplements of digestive enzymes, oils, vitamin C, bone meal in proportion to meat, and larch extract for immune health. For grains I use potatoes, sweet potatoes, oats, barley and varied rices. You'll find that some are easier to digest while others offer more fiber, so I tend to mix the two, i.e. always adding some brown rice to sweet potato. There are a lot of other grains to use but I have had trouble finding good sources in my area. I'd love to find some millet and some whole amaranth, maybe some bulgar. I switch between beef, turkey and chicken, usually doing one poultry meal and one beef a day. The poultries are good protein but not much fat and my pup is thin. On the weekends I make a veggie mix in the food processer including parsley which is good for digestion and odors and fresh garlic in reasonable amounts for overall health and circulation. The food processor reduces the vegetables more like they would be in a prey animal's stomach. I freeze all but one or two days worth. I even add it to my own foods! It's a great way to get your veggies too! For other resources, I enjoyed the Kymythy Schulze book a lot. While I may not agree with her on everything, I found the book to be really easy to read and very logically explained why this sort of feeding is better. Amazon.com is awesome. When you look up books, it will offer you similar choices so that is a nice way to find related books, and they usually have reviews. I also like to head on over to our used book shop and browse. You'd be surprised how many books there are on natural feeding for pets. Online, using google you should be able to find a ton of BARF and other raw sites, as well as sites on cooking for your dog. Whichever method you choose, I find that all the other methods have great information as well.

Glad everything is ok!! I just kept repeating "posting reply for emails" like saying it over and over would help LOL. It's like the commercials for the washable disposable plates. Ummm...are they washable keeper plates or disposable?? Any plate is washable disposable then!! Sheesh I'm nuts!

So glad to hear he is on the mend! It will take some time. My kitty had serious allergies that manifested in her skin in awful hot spots, bare patches, scabs. It was horrible. With work, time and patience, she is a healhty cat now (finally!) with a magnificent fur coat. I also feed a homecooked diet and it has worked great for me. Hope you'll keep us up-to-date on progress![/list]

Thanks! I was really perplexed. You know how sometimes you don't get something but you can't stop trying to? Anyways, the site seems ok now? Hope everything got all sorted out.

Ok, I tried really hard not to respond!! But that last post...I don't get it! What do you mean posting reply for emails?

Hey! I'm kind of doing a Volhard diet and didn't even know it LOL. I do soaked oatmeal for breakfast, no meat. I'm gonna go look for some Volhard diet books on Amazon. I've found that no matter which diet you choose, all of the books have something to offer knowledge-wise. I've even found a lot of great info in diabetic books and other human health resources. You can never have too many books or too much info!!

I use frozen berries right now, makes it super easy! Oats that you buy are already cooked, so you can just soak them. Parkers favorite breakfast and his big sweet of the day is oatmeal soaked in milk with squished blueberries, and a peanut butter banana. He's a funny dog - he refuses to eat meat at breakfast! Other grain ideas: barley - slow to digest, good protein rices - there are like a million kinds so I mix them for variety sweet potato - like dog candy LOL and great vitamin source potato - I vary red, russet, yellow etc but NO GREEN PARTS/sprouting Here are some BARF sites for you [url]http://www.barfdogfood.com/[/url] [url]http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm[/url] [url]http://ighawaii.com/naturally/newsletter/barf.html[/url]

I feel bad for him too. There are a lot of recipes out there to make homemade treats, they are not difficult at all. I would go for one meat and one grain sources of food and treats, like Chicken and Rice, to start and see how he does. Poor baby. What was he eating before? What were the main ingredients (before the fat)?

Dr. Pitcairn is a holistic vet, his books have both dietary info and medical info. His first book focused on a cooked home made diet. He came out with a new one recently where he has changed to a raw diet, but it does not include raw meaty bones like BARF (Billinghurst). Instead it is raw meat with human grade bone meal as the calcium/bone component. He also states if you feel better doing so, then cook it. He has more specific diets for different animals (pregnant, aging, etc), although I find that you don't need to use his recipes just follow the overall gist if you have the support and other resources. Dr. Billinghurst, well I don't know as much about his background. I've been a long-time Pitcairn fan. :) But the BARF diet involves feeding whole animal parts in accordance with "going back to basics". So you feed chicken necks, wings, backs, etc along with veggies, and I believe grains or other carbs in BARF. I know some of the raw advocates do grains/carbs (Pitcairn for sure) and some do not (Kymythy Schulze believes in no carbs, no grains, no yeasts etc). Then someone else recently mentioned the Volhard diet, one I am not familiar with so maybe that person will jump in here?

[quote]Not only do they look very different, they also tend to have VERY different temperments. Likewise the main colors are different. If you want more info on the differences or anything else, PLEASE let me know.[/quote] Me me me! I've only really been around American "pet" GSDs, they don't have the shorter legged look I have been seeing in show pics. Recently I met a black GSD - wow! He's just beautiful. What color will yours be? Like the one on top? I'd love to hear more about the different colors/temperaments/styles of the GSD. Very interesting![/quote]

I'd steer away from the flavored yogurts! They're all sugary. Parker just eats plain unsweetened yogurt and sometimes I squish berries in it. If you don't give them sugar they are satisfied with natural sugars. Apple cider vinegar? I've heard of it as a supplement, especially mixed with honey, but it certainly isn't in my "dog food". I do try to make his food good. I don't mix ingredients that I wouldn't want in there! Once I put oatmeal cooked with meat together. He didn't eat it and I thought well duh, I wouldn't either! So he gets oatmeal with fruit, but with meat he has rice or potato or sweet potato. Are you steering more towards a raw diet? Basically, when it comes to feeding home foods, there is raw with bones like BARF, raw without bones like in the new Pitcairn book, both kinds of raw with and without grains/carbs, and then homecooked like in the older Pitcairn book. Whew, huh!? There is a book by Kymythy Schulze that is really good. It is a raw no grain method, but very short and really good at helping you "get" the home feeding thing. The Pitcairn book is fabulous too. It is a raw with grains, but cook it if it makes you feel better, no bones diet LOL. When looking at the books don't worry too much about which diet. Go ahead and get books different from the diet you are headed for, they all have a lot of great useful info.

Not meant to be a correction. :D I don't know enough to say I agree or don't. Just information! When you get involved in home feeding there are a lot of contradicting views.

LOL I'm a redneck. Or at least a NW yuppie redneck? My Dane pup eats out of Redhook ESB boxes as raised feeders right now. Need something taller...maybe some sort of longneck box? LOL

I would go to an allergy specialist to find out exactly what he is allergic to. Many dogs are allergic to a lot of foods and live pretty normal lives. The life your vet is prescribing for your dog does not seem like a normal life and it does not sound like she identified the allergen but instead is removing most foods from his diet.

Well that may work with kids and some breeds but I wouldn't go by that. That would mean I'd end up with a 100 pound male Great Dane as he was only 50 pounds right at the 4 month mark, and that is highly unlikely that he would weigh so little!