Brenda-A

First of all, I want to say that this forum is AMAZING!
I haven't been here for a long time, but I'm so grateful. People are soo nice and give you great advise.

I had posted before about Teddy being on the skinny/bony side. People gave me great advise, one of which was to mix kibble with dry food.

Today I decided I needed to do something about Teddy's weight issue. First, let me tell you how I found this great place.

When I was 15, I bough this poodle-mix dog. He was adorable to my eyes and he had a great personality. I new nothing about dogs so I would feed grocery dog food because I didn't know any better. Either way, know that I'm 22 and I got Teddy from a good breeder, I know about dog food and ingredients.

I was feeding Teddy Natural balance since I got them because a representative from that brand at petco told me it was good. I looked at the ingredients and they were good. Then, when I took him to the free-vet visit from the AKC she told me that he needed to be on puppy formula. Natural balance doesn't have a puppy formula. She told me to try science diet. Once I saw the ingredients I'm like NO THANKS! She said that I couldn't control my dog not eating corn I was like YES I CAN!!!

Either way, I was reading this forum, and I saw so many people recommending Orijen. I was trying to find it at Petco or Petsmart and I couldn't find it. I went to their website and found a shop near my house.

It's really close to my house and has great hours (9-9). I checked out their website (bluecollarworkingdog.com) Its amazing, I went the guy there knew like he knew what he was talking about. Unfortunately, they were sold out of orijen. The guy recommended Pure Vita Salmon and Potato.


He's been eating that and loves it. He previously had a skin rash (according to the vet it was a food allergy) and now its gone but he still has dry skin. So today when I went in looking for wet food to mix with kibble. The guy recommended Evanger's wet food. I always use this website, Dog Food Reviews and Ratings | Dog Food Advisor, to check the food ingredients.

This is a great website. Its easy to understand and explains to you what the ingredients are and if they are good or not, then it rates the food. Either way, I also mentioned to the guy that Teddy had dry skin; so, he recommended Ultra oil pet. Its an oil you ad to the food. I will post another thread to mention if it worked for Teddy's dry skin.

Okay. So when I was about to leave he mentioned the raw food diet. He mentioned that they sold patties that had meat bone and other things.

He told me that it sold for $21 and it came with 12 patties. According to Teddy's weight the guy said that each patty would feed him for about 4 days.

I was reading threads and I saw people mention raw food but they would buy meat from the grocery.

Has anyone tried prepackaged raw food?

He mentioned kibble being compared to Mcdonalds in the sense that I was no nutritional value. Funny thing I had Mcdonalds breakfast in the car lol

He mentioned that kibble was made in high heat; therefore, it would loose all nutritional value. Plus that kibble has a 2 year shelf life and that its like "dead." Since my dog is soo tiny (4 pounds) buying raw food wouldn't be so costly.

What's your opinion on kibble vs prepackaged raw food?

Sorry for the rambling just had a lot to share lol

Attached Thumbnails

   

cdnpoodle

I feed Natures Variety to my guy, he loves his raw food. This stuff isn't cheap, but it's great quality, and my dog loves it. He's a rather fussy eater so if he will eat it, I'll buy it, I don't care how much it costs.

Nature's Variety: Raw Diets for Dogs | Nature's Variety

Vixen

My dogs eat both totw and a prepackaged raw food, stella and chewys, and my dogs do fantastic on the mixture. My big hairless guy, Vernon, is allergic to corn so I have to be careful with food and treats. My dogs freak over the Stella and Chewys and isn't overly expensive and I've had pretty much no skin issues and my hairy two have soft healthy hair. If the food has a good grade and your dog likes it and is healthier eating it that's what counts

__________________
Lyn,
Vixen, Misha, Sherlock, Vlora and Vernon

cdnpoodle

Another good one is Wellness Core.....It's not raw I know but still a good dog food

Wellness Dog Grain Free Recipes

CT Girl

Brenda-A. First, I think it is great you are doing your research to give your dog a high quality food. I have a toy too. I feed commercial raw. The kind that I feed is Aunt Jenni. I like raw of kibble for several reasons. I know a number of dogs who are fed raw and do very well on it. One major difference I see is in their teeth. Dogs fed raw have sparkling white teeth while many dogs on kibble suffer from bad breath and tarter encrusted teeth. This is particular concern for those of us who have toys as they are notorious for having problems with their teeth. I feel that eating fresh food is preferable to a food that is still good after sitting on the shelf for months. I do not have scientific studies to back this up but I do feel it makes common sense. There are some high quality kibbles out there that also do a good job. Because I have a toy and they eat so little I want to make sure it is of very high quality. If I had a bigger dog because of the expense I might feed a high quality kibble and supplement it with raw bones and meat. I do feel if you feed just kibble it is important to add in a healthy fat for skin health. Kibble cannot have this because it would go rancid in the bag. My dog is on the thin size too but he attacks his food with gusto and he has a nice covering of muscle. I get so much enjoyment seeing how happy he is when he is fed or he gets a bone. He just quivers with joy. I also cook his treats. He is not overfed but if someone offers him a pet store treat or kibble he will spitting it out. It is just not food to him. Whatever decision you make you have already improved his diet vastly by rejecting IAMS and the like.

brownlikewoah

raw is ideal over any kibble. I do homemade, big meal raw. From my research I've done, it is most ideal for what dogs were made to eat. I'm not a fan of the premade raw- it is very expensive, usually has a bunch of fruits and vegetables in it (which dogs do not need), and is ground up so the dogs can eat it too quickly, and don't get the benefit from chewing through bones for their teeth.
Look into doing home made raw- I've been feeding my two dogs for nearly FREE for the past month and a half. I post ads on craigslist looking for raw frozen meat, and you would be amazed at what people get rid of. It's very simple to feed, and there's not nearly as much involved in it as people think.

__________________

Brenda-A

Where can I find information how to feed homemade raw?

CT Girl

Look at the stickies at the top of poodle food part of the forum. I eventually will do this but I appreciate the convenience of pre made raw for now. I know my brand Aunt Jenni is made with high quality ingredients.

Sotoya

I also feed my pup Nature's Variety Instinct - Raw Lamb formula. We tried Orijen but his stool never did firm up on it. He did a bit better on Acana but still not great. Finally we found Nature's Variety and haven't looked back. It is a bit pricey (one bag of medallions lasts us about 2 weeks) but the benefits have been amazing! I wouldn't dream of switching to anything else



Sent from Petguide.com Free App

Brenda-A

Thanks! I will look into the brands you mentioned.

I have read about dogs getting used to raw and then not wanting kibble. That seems like an issue to me because we are planning to go to Mexico during the summer and ofcourse Teddy will come. We went this past year and I took kibble from home, but if he's on raw I cant take that on the plane. Or when we go camping or something.

Do you have any suggestions for that?