# Anyone else overwhelmed by dog food?



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Since you are already half way there, have you considered simply cooking for them? It is not difficult - use a range of meats and offal, something to provide essential fatty acids if they won't eat fish (although you may find they like canned sardines), cooked eggs, and a calcium source (ground eggshells are fine). Cook a few green and orange vegetables in with the meat, and all the food essentials should be covered. It has the huge advantage that you have control over the ingredients, and can avoid the things you know your dog can't tolerate, plus they love it - no more half eaten bags of kibble in the bin! I make up batches of meat once or twice a week and freeze in portions which - with raw chicken wings which are not essential - does most of their meals along with a tin of sardines every week and occasional scrambled eggs. I found this site DogAware.com: Diet & Health Info for Man's Best Friend very helpful.


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## poodlecrazy#1 (Jul 2, 2013)

I used to be when Branna was being an extremely picky brat and nothing would be good enough for her. Then I finally found Now Fresh and they loved it and I loved it. Great ingredients, smells amazing, not rancid or stale like most of the other kibbles did, and it's an ok price. It is A turkey and salmon-based food with tons of vegetables, then of course your vitamins, minerals and probiotics. As for the other brands you are thinking of the Orijen was a bigger kibble and did take more effort for my three to chew up and eat, but it was a good food. Of course Branna turned her nose up at that one as well so it got taken off our list. The Halo I can't give any pointers on because we have never tried it but it does look like a good food. The Instinct Raw Boost was a big fail. We got it when they had the actual freeze dried raw bits in it and the would just pick those out and wouldn't touch the rest. I haven't looked into it, but the new formula with sprayed on raw sounds like a complete and total joke to me and is probably just a marketing tactic. Was disappointed when I saw they changed to that. I do however like their frozen food. We always clear out the freezers at our Petco and petsmart when ever they have the trial size on sale. It is the perfect amount of food for all three of mine and they absolutely love it! I have a feeling we will be using it a lot during the hot summer days here. It's a good way for them to cool down and stay hydrated. Cooking for them yourself is always an option. You could look up Just Food For Dogs, they have great recipes as well as nutrient packs to add to the food so they get all the proper nutrition. They are the nicest people and I love visiting their stores when we are in the area. Hope this helps you a bit. I know how it feels to so confused when trying to decide what to feed.


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

Caniche, I feel your pain. I have Standards and they can be picky, too. I now feed both raw, and kibble. At least I don't have to worry about hypoglycemia if they choose to fast for a day. The best eater in the house is the little Jack Russell Terrier, Simon. So, in order to get the poodles to eat I tell them that Simon is going to eat their food... they usually start gobbling right away. It is true though; if Simon had his way, he would would eat all their food and come waddling up for more!


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## Poodlerunner (Jul 4, 2014)

Fortunately, there are so many bad dog foods that you can just ignore completely. 

As for the Orijen, I found that the 6 Fish agrees with both Piper and my daughter's spoo, Bodhi. She also did well on their Large Breed Puppy formula. The red meat formula did give her some diarrhea, however, my Yorkie loves that one and does just fine on it. My daughter's spoo does best, digestion wise, on Acana, which is made by the same company as Orijen if you think the protein is too high. I also mix in Stella and Chewey's freeze dried patties to a kibble meal.

Another great food that I mix in is called Ziwi Peak. Not everyone carries it but it is definitely worth finding. It has been called doggie crack  It is not even kibble. It is more like jerky in texture but cut into tiny squares.

I feed two meals and the first meal of the day is Stella and Chewey's frozen.

As for picky eaters, the worst thing I've ever done for a picky eater is to keep switching foods for them. If they idon' thave any mental issues, I just wait them out. 

pr


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

I agree with fjm, you are already nearly feeding them homemade. I went through this with Buck and wasted so much money on 5 star kibble that he would not eat. So frustrating. Finally, I went back to my breeder's kibble and add a crumble of Stella & Chewey dehydrated raw, or a bit of our appropriate leftovers. He self regulates his intake, so some days it's clean plate club, and other days some kibble gets pitched. His evening meal is raw and I was initially horrified that that was my breeder's recommendation. I got over that quickly, since he always relishes the raw. Good luck. It is so frustrating when your kids or pets are fussy eaters.


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## Caniche (Jun 10, 2013)

UPDATE!!!!

So I was up until 3 am last night reading, researching, and reading some more to figure out what works best. 

To be completely honest - I have nothing against feeding raw (and when I think *raw* I think throwing my dog a turkey neck or uncooked bone) except for these factors:

1) The idea of fresh uncooked meat when my dog eats it and then comes and licks my face or my baby niece's or nephew's hand feels very unsanitary to me. I'm sure that my dogs' mouths are already gross and I am just dealing with a western world culture mind. But it still grosses me out. 

2) I work 40 hours a week and I live 25 minutes away. Luckily, I live with my mom. My mom is a wonderful poodle nana and takes care of my two boys and her poodle mix when I'm gone. I know that she would definitely not be feeding them raw fresh meat. It just wouldn't happen. 

So then I thought about your suggestions with just doing home cooked. Again, there's a problem - offal. First of all, I'm 40+ minutes away from the nearest butcher. So getting hearts, livers, etc is going to be time consuming and difficult. Plus, my mom wouldn't want to cook and serve this. 

Small side note: I'm 25 and I have two older siblings. My sister just moved out three weeks ago so it was just my dad, my mom and myself. Now, after forty years of marriage, my dad walked out on my mom and his family and moved in with a new girlfriend he dated back in high school. He also left a business that he mainly ran that my mom and I are now trying to learn how to operate. So I don't think it's a good time to be like "hey mom, let's cook up some hearts!" 

Okay, so what we decided on was to keep cooking our home diet and go to Nature's Variety Instinct Raw Boost (small breed turkey and duck recipe). Plus I'm getting some freeze dried Stella & Chewy's as a topper. (We've discovered that freeze dried raw does not gross us out). 

ALSO I've been giving the dogs Orijen freeze dried duck and beef treats....and until today I didn't realize that these were freeze dried RAW dog treats. Oh, and the dogs **love** them.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

I'm so sorry to hear about the family upheaval - 

I can speak to Nature's Variety as it has been Dulcie's food for many months now. I feed her the frozen raw in the mornings and in the evenings I feed her one of their kibbles (she enjoys all of them, although I don't use the chicken or beef as a rule - she gets those from raw chicken pieces or meaty beef bones, which are her afternoon snacks - I allow for this in her daily feeding portions). I usually top her nighttime kibble with a spoonful of plain greek yogurt.

Dulcie is not very food driven and doesn't train for treats usually (praise and play are more effective incentives). She may skip one of her meals occasionally and never rushes to devour a feeding. However, I have found this schedule works for us. I use the feeding guidelines on the bags and feed about 1/3 of the daily allowance for her weight at each of these feedings. On days when I have no raw chicken or beef bones, I simply half the feedings to half frozen raw in the morning and kibble at night.

She gained weight slowly and evenly throughout her first year, and is in excellent health.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

It does sound as if you have more than enough to cope with! In the UK I am able to buy complete minces - 80% muscle meat, 10% mixed offal, 10% ground bone - made especially for pets from human grade meat. It does make home cooking extremely easy. Glad you have found a good solution.


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## Caniche (Jun 10, 2013)

So I'm planning on putting my dogs on Nature's Variety Instinct Raw Boost and supplementing with a home cooked diet as well as some freeze dried raw food from Stella and Chewy's. 



On a poodle Facebook group that I belong to, someone just told me that feeding raw and kibble on the same day can wreck havoc on my dog's digestion. 



Is this true? If so, how can Nature's Variety get away with placing freeze dried raw in with kibble?


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

I think all of us have felt your pain with selecting the best food with the best ingredients, highest rated (and accountability of who is doing the rating), a food that fits your budget, that produces happy poodles and, most importantly selecting something that they will ALSO EAT!!!

So, when I first got Sunny from his breeder at age 3 1/2, he was accustomed to a particular grain free kibble. Being the new owner, I wanted the absolute best for him, and went though the gamut of online reviews, research, samples of food, etc., and poor Sunny's tummy felt the effects, I am afraid. He does not do well on the high protein foods and, generally, the lower the protein the lower the rating. It took a good while to settle in on what worked for him and suited my criteria -- although I admit I am constantly "looking" for better. Everyone's opinion is different, so just focus on what works best for you and your pup.

Orijen is too rich for my Sunny -- and he had no interest in some of the grain free foods with different proteins so I nixed that. I found a kibble, grain free, lower calorie (senior) that he likes, and he gets that with 2 oz premade raw (when it comes to premade raw he would eat any brand!). I have learned to keep it simple and not experiment too much -- sometimes you need to tune out all the diverse opinions and just listen to your gut. His coat is thick and gorgeous and at his annual vet checkup, she said he was in great condition, so I am happy.

Good luck!

P.S. Currently feeding Petcurean NOW Fresh and he gets premade raw Stella & Chewys or Nature's Variety.


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## Caniche (Jun 10, 2013)

UPDATE: My online order of Stella and Chewy's is on the way. 

Meanwhile, tonight I picked up the bag of Nature's Variety Instinct With Raw Boost Small Breed Limited Ingredient Turkey and two bags of raw freeze dried lamb mixers plus a patty of beef from Vital Pet (I think that's the name) which is a refrigerated raw food. 

I gave them all a scoop of the kibble with some lamb mixer when I got home and they scarfed it down!!!! Ryker, my pickiest eater, actually pushed Cash out of the way to finish his!! 

So far my only gripe is the lack of flavored available. Nature's Variety makes a toy dog food but it's all chicken. Then they make a small breed in chicken, turkey, and turkey and duck. The turkey and duck formula contains chicken fat! As do their normal bags of beef, venison, etc. I wish they had more flavors (like lamb or rabbit) that didn't contain chicken!!!


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## ericwd9 (Jun 13, 2014)

"On a poodle Facebook group that I belong to, someone just told me that feeding raw and kibble on the same day can wreck havoc on my dog's digestion. "

Not true along with most other stuff on facebook.
See if you can find a "working dog complete food" as used for sheep and cattle dogs. Ask at a stock food agent. If you are in a city, ring one out of town. These are usually kibble foods that are a complete meal. The one I use in Australia is:
Laucke Mills ? Great Barko
This food is sent all over the world.
It has no artificial flavour enhancement and no artificial colouring. Most all dogs will eat it but not relish it. It truely is a complete food.
Grace has one large bowl each day. Sometimes she finishes it and sometimes not. She has had this food since she came home to me and is very healthy. She also gets apropriate left overs from our meals. There is no problem with serving kibble and raw or cooked together. If a dry kibble is used make SURE water is provided in abundance. If they don't like a GOOD kibble, soak it and warm slightly. This enhances the scent for a dog. If still not eaten, make a tasty gravey add and stir. Canned soups are good for this. Mid life crisis seems to be getting more common for older men. I wonder when its my turn?
OH PS I forgot. Adding a raw egg and stirring a kibble always works. Make sure the egg shell is clean and put that in too.
Eric.


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## Caniche (Jun 10, 2013)

UPDATE: So far, no adverse affects (knock on wood) from feeding raw.

Right now they're getting a mixture of the following products:

Simple Wellness Turkey & Potato (using it up and to integrate our new kibble)
Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Turkey with Raw Boost 
Stella & Chewy's Freeze Dried Rabbit Patties 
VitalRaw Refrigerator Beef with spinach and cranberries
Nature's Variety Instinct Freeze Dried Lamb Mixers or Meal. 

I've introduced each new thing one at a time and have given them 48 hours to make sure there isn't any stomach issues. 

They seem to be enjoying the variety in protein flavors. Raw has also been able to give us more options than standard kibble because so much kibble includes chicken which makes Cash vomit. 

Also, they are definitely preferring the refrigerated raw and freeze dried raw more than the kibble.


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Charmed said:


> The best eater in the house is the little Jack Russell Terrier, Simon. So, in order to get the poodles to eat I tell them that Simon is going to eat their food... they usually start gobbling right away. It is true though; if Simon had his way, he would would eat all their food and come waddling up for more!


Hilarious! I really needed a good laugh.


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Caniche said:


> UPDATE: So far, no adverse affects (knock on wood) from feeding raw.


My Spoo almost died on kibble (hundreds of dollars worth of the highest rated and vet recommended) and is now doing great on 99.9% raw meat, so I surely agree here. 

You mentioned an allergy to chicken. So many dogs that are allergic to highly processed chicken in kibble, or even cooked chicken, have no problem with raw chicken. Just make absolutely sure that it does not have any 'solution' added. Check the labels. The solutions have salt, or salt chemical stuff, and other flavor enhancers in it which are not good for your poodles.

I have found raw to be the absolute easiest to feed. If your Mom objects to raw, let her cook the meat. Just know that cooking it kills most of the enzymes.


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