[faerie]

hi there

i'm new to the world of spoos and i'm never going away.

i do have a few questions about dog foods though. i have 4 dogs (2 adult cairn terriers, an 8 mo old lab x and then temperance, my spoo who is 4.5 mos).

i've had her on several feeds since she's been with me. i started her on wellness puppy, then moved to natural balance and now we are doing california naturals.

i've taken her off the puppy food because i don't want her to get too much protein (albeit i want her to have quality protein).

my concern are her kidneys since research has shown spoos to have potential kidney issues and i'm terrified of that (i had a cat die of renal failure and it was so horrible).

so reading has shown wellness to have not been good for some dogs w/ kidney health.

anyway, long winded story short, what are you feeding your spoo and why?

btw, she is a picky eater. we tried the chicken soup for pet lovers soul and she spit it out and same with innova. ugh.

my others aren't picky and so what i am feeding my temperance is what the others eat. heh. spoiled much?

 

[Olie]

For my four dogs they have been on several......The only kibble they all liked was Blue Buffalo - no real excitement from any of them but they ate it. Not grain free but good quality.

Chicken Soup for the Soul and TOTW, the same as yours, they did not like it at all.

Right now we are doing raw. Day 2 and its going great - Crossing fingers. I was so worried my stomach couldn't handle it and I was not sure about the bacteria in regards to the humans but they eat outside and it's less clean up and so far has cut the feeding time in half. And there is excitement when eating lol!!

 

[Rockporters]

I'm feeding Jasper a combination of things. Innova Adult Small bite and Orijen 6 fish. The Orijen seems to be VERY tasty, the cat even fights to get it LOL. Actually EVO Herring and Salmon got them riled up even more, but it made Jasper scratch himself day and night.

Several times a week I feed Innova with cottage cheese for breakfast. For the other meals I feed Innova with Orijen mixed in. I supplement with raw veggies, fruit, and sometimes chicken.

 

[taxtell]

I would say if you're going to stick to kibble, try Orijen Large Breed Puppy, it has less protein in it for growth issues.
High Protein doesn't automatically mean bad kidneys though, I know you're gun shy because of your cat, but dogs need protein, especially when growing.

That said, have you considered feeding raw? That is what I do and love it! My dogs look great (and smell great, have gorgeous teeth and tiny poo).

 

[faerie]

she's getting 25% protein in the feed she's getting right now. so i want her to get a good protein.

i am feeding all 4 dogs same food. the other 3 aren't as picky (my lab will eat anything .. lol).

i was shocked temperance snubbed innova!

they all seem to be fine on the california naturals, but was wondering if others had something similar price point that may be a bit better for standard poodles.

they liked the natural balance ultra too. (and wellness)

it's not an option for me to feed raw at this time. sorry.

 

[bigpoodleperson]

I agree with finding one good food to stick to. I personally feel that for picky eaters, the worst thing you can do is try a new food everytime they snub one. If they are eating well at first, and then just grow tired of it, and you buy another then it will never teach them to eat what is offered.
As you are finding out poodles are Extreamly picky eaters! Some will literally starve themselves for days if they dont want to eat the food. The more you give in to her pickyness the more you are setting yourselves up for this in the future when you have run out of foods to switch to. I have a picky eater on kibble, but since switching to raw he has not missed a meal.

Origin seems to be a very good food. Studies have recently shown that high protein is not really that bad on kidneys (esp. healthy kidneys). Good luck getting her to eat whatever!

 

[faerie]

thanks for the reply. yes, this is the first picky eater dog i've ever had!
i'm much firmer w/ my children than with this pup!

hmm, i thought i was going to have to watch her protein intake because of the kidneys.

like i've said, i'm new to this breed so just trying to be ahead of the curve w/ respect to potential problems. years ago i had a german shepherd and they are another breed w/ potential bloat/gastric torsion, so i've always fed my dogs small meals 2 times daily (poof eats 3 x right now daily).

 

[faerie]

well, today i picked up a bag of canidae to try because they have a buy 12 get one free. the store person (who knows me, my dogs and etc) said it's a good feed. give it a try. we are both of the same mind to mix it up w/ foods.

i bring it home, the pupper loves it.

then i read about all this stuff from where they changed the formula a year ago and dogs not doing well. i hope it's not the case here.

*sigh*

we'll see over the next few weeks how the puppers do on it.

 

[icecannons]

If your dog does well on Canidae, I guess I would stick with it . My puppy Spoo was on it, but she threw it up every few meals or so. Like others have said, a good quality high protein diet like Orijen or Acana is fine for dogs as long as it doesn't have a plethora of poor quality grains/meats.

 

[poodleholic]

=faerie;80782]my concern are her kidneys since research has shown spoos to have potential kidney issues and i'm terrified of that (i had a cat die of renal failure and it was so horrible).

Cats usually end up with renal failure due to the ash/magnesium levels in the foods they're given, not because of protein levels. I've had my Standards on EVO kibble for years, along with EVO canned and Evanger's canned, and annual bloodwork comes back excellent. Lucia will be 2 yrs. old in August, but Maddy and Beau are 8 yrs. old (Maddy will be 9 yrs. in May, and Beau will be 9 yrs. in Aug.). Babe, my 27-yr. old cat, went to The Bridge last year, but she was fed wet food, a few bits of kibble for crunch, and I cooked for her - lots of med-rare beef, lamb, poultry, organ meats. Babe lived the longest, but the four other cats lived to be 18, 19, & 23. Only core vaccinations the first year, and never again.

In addition to adding the canned to the kibble, I poach and roast fresh meats, and poultry, give them liver and other organs, green tripe once a week, and provide green leafy vegetables, even sweet potatoes, sardines in spring water and/or in olive oil, wild alaskan salmon, eggs, meatballs made in the oven with pasta and red sauce, blueberries and other fresh fruits, organic plain, live culture yogurt, and lowfat cottage cheese.

My dogs eat what is put in front of them when it's put in front of them because they quickly learned to eat what they get, or they go hungry until the next meal. No picky eaters in my house, and no sensitive tummies because of the wide variety of food.

Oh, and PIZZA! lol They're always waiting at the door about 3-5 minutes before the delivery guy gets there, tails wagging. What I want to know is HOW the devil did they know I called and ordered! lol

BTW, feeding the same food can actually create an allergy to that food, so I rotate all 3 varieties of EVO.

 

[faerie]

i have always felt to rotate food too. well so far the canidae seems to be agreeing w/ all four.

i also supplement a bit here and there like bananas, yogurt, veggies and some lean meats. but they are more like treats.

i also make my own yogurt and tried to give the dogs the whey (full of probiotics) and while they didn't love the flavor, disguised it's good stuff!

 

[Locket]

Matrix did pretty well on Canidae and really liked the taste, but I found it made his skin really dry. My vet said it's not that great of a food though, but if your pup likes it, STICK WITH IT!!

 

[faerie]

i'm going to keep my eyes open and see how it works w/ all 4 of them.

the store i purchase food for the critters only carries premium food and is retail store for a Foster care group that rescues and rehabilitates unwanted or needy animals. they are not convenient to go to, but i'm there every 2 weeks getting food. they helped me w/ my lab puppy (she is my bonus dog, i didn't plan to have her).

 

[PaddleAddict]

Studies have recently shown that high protein is not really that bad on kidneys (esp. healthy kidneys). Good luck getting her to eat whatever!

I am no nutrition expert, but I have done a LOT of reading about nutrition. Like the above poster, I have also heard that too much protien is not hard on HEALTHY kidneys (which contradicts what we used to think). Also, from what I understand, studies have recently shown that it's not too much protein that's bad for puppies (when you are worried abuot rapid growth in large breeds). It's actually too much calcium and too many calories overall that cause undesirable rapid growth and may cause skeletal problems. I have read that puppies need the extra protein during growth.

I feed a commercial kibble and also give a variety of other proteins. With every meal, he either gets an egg (cooked), a little poached chicken, cottage cheese, wet food (also Wellness) or some plain yogurt. He's not a huge eater, but I can tell he enjoys the variety (he especially loves eggs! He knows when I take the egg out of the fridge and starts getting excited) and he's eating fairly well at this point (he's 5 months old).

I would worry about feeding a 4 month old puppy a food meant for maintenance (adult food) rather than growth (puppy food), but that's just me. Also, I have a mini, not a standard, so is it normal practice to feed standard puppies adult food rather than puppy food?

Have you talked to your vet about it?

 

[poodleholic]

Also, I have a mini, not a standard, so is it normal practice to feed standard puppies adult food rather than puppy food?

Generally, it's large breed dogs that caution is used regarding puppy food, because of the adverse affects of rate of growth on their joints. A Standard Poodle is not a large breed dog, nor, of course, is a mini Poodle! However, some feel that Standard puppy's should have limited protein, and feed adult maint. food only. My puppies have always been given puppy food, at least for the first 6 months, and my adult dogs have always been fed a high protein, low carb diet. They're carnivores, after all, even though they will eat junk food carbs just like we do!

 

[shay]

My toy poodle would eat his 'royal canin poodle 30 kibble' but I could tell he did not enjoy it. I switched to 'nature's variety' frozen raw food (the medallions)....guess what! He loved it right away & looks forward to meal time now. He gets very excited to gobble it up.....smaller poops & no smell. From what I have researched, raw food is a healthy & more natural diet for dogs digestive system. We are both very happy!

 

[LexisMom]

My toy poodle would eat his 'royal canin poodle 30 kibble' but I could tell he did not enjoy it. I switched to 'nature's variety' frozen raw food (the medallions)....guess what! He loved it right away & looks forward to meal time now. He gets very excited to gobble it up.....smaller poops & no smell. From what I have researched, raw food is a healthy & more natural diet for dogs digestive system. We are both very happy!

Mine does not like it either! I been trying to research various foods for her.Natures Variety was one of them.Not sure even if they have it around here tho...

 

[faerie]

I would worry about feeding a 4 month old puppy a food meant for maintenance (adult food) rather than growth (puppy food), but that's just me. Also, I have a mini, not a standard, so is it normal practice to feed standard puppies adult food rather than puppy food?

Have you talked to your vet about it?

my vet is fine w/ whatever feed i'm doing as it's better than any commercial grocery store food. in fact, they like many vets recommend iams, science diet etc as good food.

the canidae is als food so it's for all dogs. so is the natural balance.

yes, i don't want my larger dogs to grow too fast so i've watched the food i've fed them. i did wellness puppy for temperance until she was 12 weeks or so and then i started changing it up a bit w/ natural balance and california naturals and now canidae.
she's enjoying them. didn't love innova and loathed chicken soup for pet lover's soul.

 

[partial2poodles]

Canidae USED to be a great food until it was taken over by DIAMOND pet food and is made in their processing plant.