Chloe
I Love RPBF!
Posts: 433
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Post by Chloe on May 22, 2009 19:46:58 GMT -5
So, I just switched all my dogs to Blue Wilderness dog food (from Science Diet) after 3 days of research on which food to choose. According to the website dogfoodanalysis.com it's a 6 star food. I liked the sounds of all the ingredients, the price and the fact that it's easy to get (petsmart sells it). Then, I was at the vets office to get Lilly, our shih-tzu a heartworm test and asked the vet how much protein is to much. He broke out this big book, and pointed out to me that for adult dogs, no more then 18% protein and puppies, no more then 22% protein in the dog food. This stumped me, is what my vet said true? If it is, then why would a 6 star dog food have double the amount of o.k. to have protein? I didnt want to ask him about it because I was afraid he would recommend Science Diet again, I know that's not a good quality food, so I didnt wanna go there. I just planned on coming home and posting here instead. ???
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Post by maryellen on May 23, 2009 13:37:18 GMT -5
vets only take a short course on nutrition.. so ignore what he said. most normal dog food is 22% which is fine.. high energy working dogs that go nonstop get higher protein usually, some do, some dont.
with puppies you dont want a high protein food as the calcium/phosphorus ratio is too high, which can cause the joints to grow too fast.. puppy food or an all life stages with no more then 24% protein is fine for pups and adult dogs.
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Chloe
I Love RPBF!
Posts: 433
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Post by Chloe on May 23, 2009 19:42:17 GMT -5
The Blue Wilderness dog food has 42% protein, is that okay for a 1 1/2 yr. old dog, or way to much?
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Post by maryellen on May 24, 2009 7:45:31 GMT -5
how active is your dog? 42% protein is high, that is close to EVO and TOTW and a few others that are grain free.. most people who feed that high protein have dogs that either work really hard or are super active and never stop, or folks that do bloodwork before putting them on the high protein food and monitor the blood results while on it.. some folks will feed a high protein food to a low energy dog.
i myself wouldnt feed a high protein food to my dogs, but that is just me. i prefer the regular 22-24% protein levels as my dogs are not true working dogs. i have fed EVO before, and while my dogs did excellent on it, the high protein worried me so i took them off it.
it is up to you, but i personally wouldnt feed that high protein kibble to a dog.
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Post by erpitrescue on May 25, 2009 1:32:46 GMT -5
Excess protein is secreted by the kidneys and is not a problem in healthy dogs. However, in the event that the kidneys are damaged already, this can be a serious issue and a low protein food must be fed. It is important to know your dog's kidney status while on a high protein food.
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Chloe
I Love RPBF!
Posts: 433
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Post by Chloe on May 25, 2009 20:11:45 GMT -5
Thanks for the info! That stinks, they seem to be doing well on this food but it sounds a bit risky to me to keep them on that high of protein. Ugh!
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Post by RealPitBull on May 28, 2009 11:29:04 GMT -5
What's the typical protein percentage for dogs feed raw/grain free? Or is that too broad a question.....?
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Post by maryellen on May 28, 2009 11:53:37 GMT -5
i think the raw fed dogs are somewhere near the 42% and higher protein with raw... now ruby, she was on raw for a year, and her kidneys couldnt handle it , her blood work /urine work always came back BAD.. and she has bad kidneys to begin with. so i put her on kibble, DVP , and her blood/urine work comes back PERFECT every time.. so for her, with malformed kidneys to begin with,, the raw didnt work for her. its always good to do blood/urine work while on high protein kibble or raw every 3 months to make sure the kidneys are working properly..
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Post by RealPitBull on May 28, 2009 11:59:00 GMT -5
OK, that's what I was getting at....I'd think the raw/grain-free fed dogs would be getting the high protein percentage and that certain dogs just wouldn't be ok on it, because of being unable to deal with such high protein levels.
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Post by maryellen on May 28, 2009 12:38:45 GMT -5
even though raw is uncooked protein, for some dogs their kidneys just cant handle it. jesse and rufus had no problems on raw, their bloodwork was perfect . ruby,she couldnt eat it. she did do great on it from the outside, but her kidneys showed a different story. so even if a dog looks great on raw, its what the organs say that is the real deal... now ruby was fed raw from day one , so its possible her kidney issues are from birth from eating raw, and its possible her underdeveloped kidneys got worse on raw, who knows. all i know is blood/urine work doesnt lie, and her results on kibble were perfect, while the results on raw showed her being in kidney failure.... we go every 3 months now for the kibble blood/urine work, and every time it comes back with perfect readings.... so yes, some dogs just cant do raw or high protein kibble.
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Post by Courtney on Jun 16, 2009 22:05:08 GMT -5
My dogs were on Orijen's 6 Fresh Fish for quite some time and did very well on it. I believe it's around 40% protein.
We have since switched to Now by Petcurean...and I think it's around 25% protein, which is one of the lowest I've found for a grain-free formula.
I'm sort of questioning the switch to Now...I keep hearing that a food with more than one protein source is more likely to cause an allergy to develop. I have also been told not to keep the dogs on the same food for an extended period of time. One supposed expert said to switch every year.
What to do, what to do...
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Chloe
I Love RPBF!
Posts: 433
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Post by Chloe on Jun 17, 2009 0:37:15 GMT -5
My dogs were on Orijen's 6 Fresh Fish for quite some time and did very well on it. I believe it's around 40% protein. We have since switched to Now by Petcurean...and I think it's around 25% protein, which is one of the lowest I've found for a grain-free formula. I'm sort of questioning the switch to Now...I keep hearing that a food with more than one protein source is more likely to cause an allergy to develop. I have also been told not to keep the dogs on the same food for an extended period of time. One supposed expert said to switch every year. What to do, what to do... I know, it's so hard to know if what ur doing is the right thing for ur dog. There are so many "experts" out there & they all say something different. I went to a healthy pet seminar last wk and they touched on the switching food thing a lil, the "expert" at the seminar said it's not a good thing to switch food on them because their digestive system cant handle it. Even after this it still leaves us with....what to do what to do???!! I guess do whatever wrks for u and ur dog, that's the route I'm gonna take anyway.
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Post by valliesong on Jun 17, 2009 22:21:59 GMT -5
I have been rotating brands and formulas for several years now for both my dogs and cats. This includes regular kibble, grain free kibble, and adding a tiny bit of canned and raw (not always meat). Well, a tiny bit of canned for the dogs, mostly due to financial reasons. The cats get canned food at least every other night.
Most dry dog foods are between 20 and 26% protein I do believe, BUT you must also look at what is actually utilized by the dog. Meat protein is pretty digestible, but plant protein is not.
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