|
Post by melonie on Feb 5, 2014 23:28:45 GMT -5
I recently tried out Precise Sensicare dog food for Winston. He liked it just fine, but he did get the itchies. (he has storage mite allergies)There was a lot more debris in the bottom of the bag than I have found in TOTW, Whole Earth Farms, and Canadae Life Stages. All of those 3 brands there is little to no debris at the botton of the bag. When I ran out, I finished out the bag of Canadae, and his itchies subsided. I ordered Merrick lamb and apple for Winston, and the other two got the Canadae again, but I didn't get the lamb formula again. (River had icky poop on it)
Winston has no itchies on the Merrick Lamb and Apple.
Cleveland can eat anything, but he has dropped a little bit of weight now that he's off of TOTW. He could stand to lose another pound or two. I'm feeding Winston 3c a day trying to put a little meat on his ribs. River is a piglet. She eats anywhere from 3 to 4 cups of food a day plus treats. She would eat more if I let her! She weighs 37lbs, has really long legs, very lanky. She's destined to be a big dog.
I like the Canadae because I can get it in a 45lb bag. That should feed River and Cleveland for 4 weeks. I hope. I recently went through a 30lb bag in under 3 weeks. Winstons bag should last 6-8 weeks.
I'm going to keep Winston the Merrick. I may try River on it again in a month or two and see how it agrees with her.
|
|
|
Post by megan on Feb 6, 2014 6:58:05 GMT -5
Reading this reminds me of my house.... 3 dogs currently and they all eat different things. It's a hassle and sometimes a PITA but trying to find one thing they can all eat just didn't work.
Roxy's on raw. She blows up like a sausage on kibble. Granted, she gets some Nature's Variety Instinct kibble as treats, but that's about all she can handle. She eats about a pound of day and she's actually the cheapest to feed!
Louie is currently eating Merrick grain free canned food. He's got a stubborn yeast infection and the canned food + probiotics + prebiotics + natural yeast fighting pill seem to be helping so I'm hopeful about that. We tried a variety of grain free, low carb, and low glycemic kibbles for him, nothing worked. He also gets raw when I get beef or venison that I can't feed Roxy. Thankfully the rescue gives us his food, otherwise he would cost me an arm and a leg.
Buster eats Wellness Core Ocean. He has presumed IBD, and literally no other food worked for him. He vomited and/or had diarrhea on anything else we tried. He eats 1 cup of food 3 times a day. I go through a $60/bag in a month with him.
It's insanity. All of this.
|
|
|
Post by maryellen on Feb 6, 2014 6:58:17 GMT -5
You can get the merrick canned to add weight too, they have alot of flavors- the wilderness blend wet food is what the lamb dry used to be , for some reason they made the wilderness dry into the lamb formula dry.
|
|
|
Post by maryellen on Feb 6, 2014 6:59:54 GMT -5
Megan - what is that natural yeast fighting pill you use????
|
|
|
Post by melonie on Feb 6, 2014 12:35:28 GMT -5
When I got my dog Wrinkles, she was a hot mess. She had been fighting a yeast issues for a while. Her allergy panel showed she was borderline allergic to yeast and candida. She was BL or allergic to so many damn things. When I got her, she'd been on allergy shots for over a year, prednisone, ketoconizole, two different eye treatments, one drop, one a gel, and also cephlaxin. She looked pretty rough. (Here are her vet records and test results if anyone is interested app.box.com/files/0/f/0/1/f_1496757320 ) After a lot of research, and pestering people here, I took her off the Royal Cannan, and put her on California Naturals Grain Free Chicken. It pretty much only had very chicken and peas and vitamins. She needed to gain a couple of pounds, which she did, but after awhile she also started to look bloated like I think a lot of dogs do after being on prednisone a long time. I weaned her off the ketoconizole after her round of antibiotics, with vet supervision. Discontinued the eye meds, and kept up the shots until the course ran out. We also reduced her prednisone, the lowest I could go with her was about 20mg a day. I did feed her some Honest Kitchen off and on as well. Maryellen recommended a skin care product system, and I used that every week. I also used Vetrycin anytime she showed redness. I also gave her coconut oil in her food and topically. I gave her acidolphus, and fish oil caplets every day...and she got yogurt as a treat. She wasn't perfect, but she was a lot more stable than she had ever been. I wish I could have done a raw diet with her, but I can't find meat economically. (I did buy a chest freezer, just in case I do stumble into a deal!) I'd feed raw to Winston if I could. I was actually considering buying some of Merricks canned for Rivers frozen kongs. All three dogs would have to have some, cuz ya know... You give one something, they all have to have it. Just like children.
|
|
|
Post by melonie on Feb 6, 2014 12:35:53 GMT -5
Megan - what is that natural yeast fighting pill you use???? Sugar would be interested in this too!
|
|
|
Post by sugar on Feb 6, 2014 15:18:38 GMT -5
Yes, I was just about to ask!
Chubby has a yeast problem so he's itchy and smells a little 'fermented'.
Do tell the whole protocol!
|
|
|
Post by sugar on Feb 6, 2014 15:28:00 GMT -5
CHubby Food history:
Rescue gave him Pedigree (and whatever people could donate)
I adopted him and switched him to Orejin Six Fish = gas like crazy and super duper oily poops
Switched to California Naturals Chicken -> realized he's allergic to chicken.
Put him on canned Merrick, did well but got him to fatty boom boom status (plus all that canned food got pricey).
Switched him to raw, he did AMAZING! Lost weight, no itchies, no fermented smell. It was a pain in the butt (it was ground beef, turkey necks and some organs). Great for 1 year, then suddenly got really really sick for 1.5 months and dropped close to 15lbs in a month (scary as heck, saw his spine and hips). Lots and lots of vet bills later, we didn't know what happened (all tests came back negative).
Put him on Blue Buffalo Lamb and Brown Rice. Does great, but got itchies and yeast issues again. Puts on weight (vet happy). 1 year later, major gas and the runs.
Switched him to Vet's Choice Holistic NZ Lamb and Brown Rice. Good poop, no gas. But he's still icthy and yeasty (not as bad, but still there). He gets Pearls probiotic which helps a little. But now he's kinda a chunky monkey on not a ton of food.
Le sigh...this dog. He wants to just drink champagne, eat rare steak and random blobs found on sidewalks.
|
|
|
Post by megan on Feb 6, 2014 20:26:01 GMT -5
Megan - what is that natural yeast fighting pill you use???? The one I use for myself (due to allergies, and this has helped tremendously) is Twinlab Yeast Fighters: www.twinlab.com/product/yeast-fighters BUT I didn't want to use it for Lou because it uses garlic and there's some controversy about too much garlic for dogs. So, for Lou I found this: www.amazon.com/Capryl-Sodium-Resin-Free-Capsule/dp/B000I4AF7Q/ref=pd_sim_hpc_7
It's been 2 weeks and I've only noticed a mild difference, but I will say when I used the Solaray brand for myself (was out of the Twinlab one) I didn't feel it worked as well as the Twinlab. I am hoping that with more time, I see a bigger difference. Solaray brand also makes a Yeast Cleanse supplement, but I couldn't find it locally. I may find that online for our next bottle if we get through this and don't see as much difference as I would like. But from what I understand, yeast infections can take months and months to clear up, and it's been going on for a year with him, so I expect it to take some time to balance out his normal flora. We have added prebiotics and probiotics as well, specifically because when there is a yeast overgrowth, it's usually paired with or partly due to a lack of good bacteria or (which means there is less competition for the yeast for food, so they grow out of control, same reason why humans may get a yeast infection after being on antibiotics). The premise of these supplements has to do with natural caprylic acid damaging the yeast cells so they die off, essentially. I found it for myself when researching candida overgrowth and it's relation to allergies in humans, and since it helped me so much, I figured it was worth a shot. The vet tech at Lou's rescue said anything is worth a shot at this point. BUT I would ask you to please check with your vet to make sure it's safe for your pup, of course. Also, some people have expressed feeling ill (nausea and diarrhea) when using caprylic acid supplements due to the die off of the yeast releasing toxins all at once. I personally didn't experience it, and Louie hasn't seemed to have any adverse effects, but you never know.
|
|
|
Post by megan on Feb 6, 2014 20:39:43 GMT -5
The other big thing that helps Louie, although I can't do it all the because I don't have the cash, is raw. When I get freezer burned meat from friends that I can't feed to Roxy, I feed it to Louie. And at one point I saved up enough to feed him raw for over 2 weeks and I saw a significant difference. But cost is a factor there, especially since I'm not currently working, so that's not an option full time right now.
|
|
|
Post by maryellen on Feb 6, 2014 21:11:42 GMT -5
Thanks Megan!! Have you thought about honest kitchen? Maybe Lou can handle that?
|
|
|
Post by megan on Feb 6, 2014 22:40:13 GMT -5
We've tried THK and Sojos, both were massive failures as far as yeast goes, and both came out similarly to how they went in
|
|
|
Post by sugar on Feb 7, 2014 9:05:46 GMT -5
|
|