meat based food? - Page 5

Larry,

 I am always open to change not to mention learning something new every day...I have done some reserch about Orijen and know its a great top quality, premium dog food...Changing to it and using the Canine Complete as a suppliment is something I will give some thought to and when I make the change I will let you snd everyone else knoiw how we did...

 I just sent Orijen an e-mail asking for some local distributors in my area and if they can't be located would consider ordering it through the website, I think I can get it where we are in Florida...

 Thanks for the help and useful information, I am always open to listening to something new and better that will benefit my dogs, its here that I have learned so much more than I ever erxpected...Like most having GSDs my whole life I thought I knew it all, man was I WRONG...Like you I want to do "it" right from here on in and never have some of the problems we've had in the past when we didn't know any better at the dogs expense...

  Thanks, to you, and all the others who have helped me over time...

  Rob

roborob

             Just think I have to live with the fact I killed both of my last 2 German Shepherds from what I was feeding them Purina Pro Plan Vet recommended  Both died at age 7 from cancer

I vowed never again.  So I put my nose to the grindstone and did the proper research.

rob the only other thing I can recommend is give your dog some raw meat dogs are Carnivors Orijen is great because they use real meat  but there is nothing like the real thing.  I use natural ground beef. I'd put it in a separate bowl and watch out it will be gone in a flash or give them a raw meaty bone once in awhile

Hey got to split I'm heading to my butcher to get some raw meat for my dog they usually save the bones for me also.

Best of luck to you   You certinally are on the right track.

Hi Rob,

This link www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/storeLocator/ will get you to stores in the US which carry Orijen. Just click on Florida.

I agree with Larry: no matter how premium a pet food is, there's always room for supplementation. We routinely add glucosamine/chondroitin, Omega 3 and 6 via either capsules or bottled oils, and Vertex. No matter how good a commercial food is, they cannot possibly put in enough supplements to suit the wide variety of animals for whom the food is intended. Sizes, age, breed all vary. We read the lables, do the math, and we might possibly adjust the dosage of supplements, but we do still give them.

And yes, table scraps. And . . . oh, I don't know, whatever is in the house. Fruit, vegetables, raw hamburger, raw fish. Not every day and not all the time, but if it's too little to bother saving and reheating, it goes in their dishes. I'm pretty religious about something raw several times each week if for no other reason than to break up the boredom of same flavour-same texture, you know?

I am so thrilled to read all these posts that all have discovered how dangerous feeding commercial dog foods really are   and Pets mart employees think Ive lost my mind.....the latest Vitamin K  menadione   activity that all the dog foods havae in them , is a dangerous chemical ,not natural at all, and its in almost all commercial except   surprisingly   not in Iams, or Eucanuba , not in Bil Jac or Advoderm, nor in Authority....It is even in   Nutro Natural  and Nurto Max and the hosistic food even has it in it...I called Nutro to no result and they just say their food is safe....bull corn....I had to change like overnight almost, to Authority until I figure outwht to do.....I was using Exceed Lamb and Rice and mixing the Chicken Exceed in it.....BUt I use raw meat  four times a week , religiously......liver,  heart , wings necks, and hamburger meat...and extra virgin olive oil and Fish caps ,and Flax seed oil and yogurt and cottage cheese...Im exhausted every night carrying dog food to the kennels and carrying the heavy bowls back empty....I use a little trailer most of the time   ...I havae one male who is havaeing a seige of itchy, skin raw and loosing hair   at 10 years old....I started him on Cephfexon yesterday , and stuffing vit c and am even trying the Echnichea , that someone mentioned on a previous thread......and the average lay people havent got a clue how expensive raising a gsd properly really is...I eat ice cream,peanut butter sandwiches, a bowl of cereal, cottage cheese , peaches yogurt and hamburger...so my kids can be healthy  and I even like    liver and onions  fried with gravy and mash potatoes....the check out people look at me kinda weird with 21 packages of raw liver...fresh her at Super Walmart   ..cheaper than the frozen , deveined kind.....dogs dont need it deveined and sliced...to expensive,,,,

I have been in contact with Orijen, they responded to my e-mail within hours and I have a place thats less than 10 mins from where we are in Fla where I can get the food we want to begin using...Orijen, and will try the suppliments Larrydee has mentioned, couldn't hurt and can only help...Not that there are any problems, there aren't, these 2 are very good looking and healthy kids...

 As always there are a select group of people here who continue to not only suport me but offer up some good advise along the way with any and all the questions I ask over time...To them I say Thank you very much...

I also lost my boy (GSD) to something unknown, food...???) and vowed NEVER AGAIN...I still think the Chicken Soup is better than most and not near as bad as some but will make the change slowly as soon as the current bag is finished...Yes I will suppliment with raw here and there whether it be chicken wings, back, necks or ground beef but never table scraps...I have gone out of my way to keep the dogs out of the kitchen while we eat (as hard as it is) so there is no correlation between what we eat and feeding the dogs...If I let her my wife would share her plate with both dogs, not that i wouldn't but what we eat is not the kind of diet I want my GSDs to be on..Same goes for the bed, if we let them they would and always somehow wind up in the middle of the bed with us hugging the sides just to hold on or fall off...Nothing funnier than to see 2 big GSDs laying on their backs with their legs spread wide open sleeping on our bed...They are welcome just about everywhere else but not there, not anymore anyway...They are both sleep either in their crates or on the floor next to the bed...

Have a great day, its already hot as a mofo here...

  Rob

yellowrose of Texas          Try Canine Complete  www.thewholisticpet.com      A breeder I know had the same problem and by using  iCanine Completecleared it up in a flash   Read some of the comments on the customer feedback section.  When you see the ingrediants and how they make it your going to fall in love with the supplement.  They call it a miracle supplement      It is even better than they say it is.

roborob        Great news    Your right you should never feed table scraps or cooked bones   just RAW

Wait till you see the results  You are going to be very happy besides that your dogs will be very happy also.   

My dog sleeps in his crate in the living room my wife would throw me out of the house if I let him sleep in the bedroom  He lasted there a week when we first got him  LOL

She said last night lets move him to the kitchen I said no way hes comfortable in the living room.  We can always move him back to the bedroom  She said alright well keep him in the living room, 

Well, ROBOROB: While at a new store in Tyler, Atwood's, buying a new kennel ,top, concrete blocks, pine shavings and guess what was on the shelf   for 31.99 a bag     Chicken soup  so I bought two bags and am gonna mix it with the authority large breed Im using right now,....I like the ingredients......am gonna go to LarryDees  site on holisticpet.com tomorrow and check out Canine Complete....if I dont get my boy well soon, it is gonna stymie me.....he is losing his hair and chewing himself and has a few old man tumors,,,benighn and chews them off....hehas still good stool, eats raw and everything else and just is not responding yet....I started Cephflexon yesterday  500mg and  wIll call  my vet tomorrow and see what he wants to do....before He gets worse ....He has been healthy all 10 years of his life and never been to the vet for anything but hip ofa  xrays....and Rabies shot every year....last year he got bit by a copperhead and it got his ear and now his ear is down    ...looks pathetic.....I cant stand to see him suffer......and I hate to pour chemicals on him, but in the morning its Lyme dip and order Canine complete asap.....His ears are clean, but red outside and skin is dry and hair brittle   over the past week it is getting worse,,,,I think his metabolism is breaking down.....I guess to the vet we go.....Ive always been able to handle all small skin flair ups in springtime and never had any of them do this...

Yellow Rose,

  Hope things work out for you and your boy there, sorry to hear about the problems we all face sooner or later with our beloved animal buds...

 I thought the Chicken Soup was not only pretty good stuff but very reasonable as well which was why I have been using it but giving serious thought to switching to Orijen as soon as my 35lb bag is finished along with some of the suppliments Larry was talking about  at the holistic petfood site he mentioned...Sounds like its worth a try at least...Personally I don't think that the Orijen is that much better than the Chicken Soup but I am always looking to "upgrade" what the dogs get as like us, they are what they eat...I've been down the road of icthy dry skin with poor looking coats, thats all history now and hopefully never again...The dogs look great with terrific coats and not a sore spot to be seen or scrathed...

 We all do what we feel is right, some just do it better than others, it never ends...

 Heading out on the water before the rain and thunder storms get here...Have a great day...

  Best,

  Rob

roborob

             There is quite a difference between Orijen and Chicken Soup.   Orijen is a small family run manufacturer and Chicken Soup is a Marketing company who does not manufacturer their dog food.  Diamond pet foods does.   That is the real crux of the problem.   Dog food manufactured by Diamond pet foods has killed hundreds if not thousnds of dogs thru the years.   Take a look at the latest recall Diamond is right at the top of the list with Menu foods.  On this very forum about a week ago a greif stricken lady urged us to all pray for her German Shepherd who died from renal failure because she was eating food Diamond manufactured.           The question to all of you do trust Diamond pet foods to change their operating procedure when manufacturing Chicken Soup?       Chicken Soup does not manufacture their dog food they don't procure the ingrediants nor do they do quality control during the manufacturing process. Diamond pet food does.   The same machines are used the same workers are used and in some cases the same ingrediants.  It would be a cold day in hell before I would trust anything Diamond pet foods makes much less feed it to my dog!!

Everthing that Chicken Soup is not   Orijen is a  family run and owned boutique manufacturer in Alberta Canada who owns their own state of the art world class pet food manufatuning plant.  Who procures local quality fresh whole food ingrediants and does their own quality control at the own manufacturing facility and has been doing it quietly in Canada for 25 years.   In other words Orijen has complete control of their product Chicken soup has little or none.

Upon first reading the ingrediants list of say both companies adult dog food I can see where the untrained eye can be fooled they both start with chicken and turkey.   But upon closer examination Orijen uses de-boned chicken meat actual meat very rare in a kibble manufacturer actually the chickens are locally grown and fed a quality grain fed diet.   On the other hand Diamond uses for thier chicken all that is left after all the real meat is taken off for human consumption  but you do get some meat what ever is left on the bones after all the quality meat is taken off.    You can go thru the ingrediants list item by item if you want it still works out the same    Another point is that Orijen is manufactured at a very low temperature to keep all the wholesome natural ingrediants in the kibble and by contrast Diamond manufactures at a very high temperature that kills off all the natural benefits of whatever food they put in the mix but it also kills off all unwanted elements in the food. that is why they have to add so many supplements to their kibble      We could go on and on with this exercise but the bottom line is which company do you trust with your dogs life?  My money is on Orijen. I have started feeding it to my dog.

Yellowrose

One thing that "might" help your boy for quicker results (but you need to find the cause too) is to try Tea Tree Oil as a topical. You mix about 1 tsp in a quart (I think) of warm water and pour it on him working it down to the skin. My itchy bitchy had a time with detox (I guess) when I switched to RAW over 3 years ago now. She can't tolerate much of any dog food or has a flair up. Anyway I bathed her first with cool water to get the inflammation out of the skin then poured the above over her , it was her back and behind her shoulders that seemed to itch the most. It helped but I had to do it about once a week for awhile. I hope you find something to help your old guy !