Dog food and supplementation

[Buspirone]

Charlie is getting older and was acting very lethargic and bored. He was laying around on the couch was was pretty much dis-interested in everything going on around him which is the polar opposite of his personality. I chalked it up to his getting older and decided that he probably would live another year or so before I had to do the humane thing. I decided to give some things a try and changed his food to a higher quality kibble, Timber Wolf Organics, started supplementing with Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM and Wild Salmon oil.. The change has been quite drastic. He's more alert and wants to get invovlved in almost everything thats going on in the house. He can jump up on furniture that he hasn't been able to climb up on for months. I can't get over the change. The Salmon oil has really made a huge difference in his skin and coat. If anybody has a dog, especially an older dog, I highly recommend the mentioned products. I started seeing a change after about 3 weeks. I think he'll live another 3 years nows. Its absolutely great to see him acting like he did 3 years ago. I just thought I'd share if anyone might be remotely interested.

 

[Texas Blonde]

I feed my Chihuahua holistic dog food. It has all the supplements you listed included in it. I also give her a little extra fish oil on top of her wet food, because its so dry here that her skin gets really bad. Its definatly had a huge effect on her. Ive also noticed that she eats less now, while still maintaining a healthy weight than she did on the lower quality dog food. I think she just had to eat alot more of the other stuff to get the nutrients she needed. I will also occationally give her a soft boiled egg, or a soup bone with some raw meat on it (lean meat only).

 

[MicahHall]

My wife and I own and show Afghan Hounds.. ok my wife does.. but anyways.. we feed a food called Canidae and its WORKS.. it is for the whole life span of the dog.. which is a rare find on its own.. and is one of the premier foods out there. Everything for pet health, joint care, and coat care is already in.. no adding extras. According to the woman.. the msm is probably what did it for helping with the feeling better.. she takes msm herself when her arthritis acts up.. and no shes not old, just damaged.. she says there is also something out there called Cosequin that works like a charm. She used it on her retired racehorse who was pretty banged up, but they also prescribe it out of vet offices for dogs. Its a bit more expensive than the average supplement, but sometimes a few extra bucks is worth it to see your pets moving around without pain. Cosequin will actually work at repairing damage.. so I would recommend looking into it.

 

[dragyn5]

I used to show Afghans a few years ago. I also showed Dobies and Dalmatians. Now we show Pomeranians and we use Natural Balance, it is wonderful. We have gorgeous coats on our dogs and they are very healthy.

The link in my signature is our dog photography business. We do many of the ads for some of the top specials in the nation. We are doing the Pomeranian National in Kentucky in March and I am showing my lovely black and tan show hopeful, Onyx.

 

[Sonofaglitch]

Another vote for Natural Balance here, I feed my German Shepherd the Ultra and since he started on it about 5 years ago he's had great skin and coat. I have also had him on glucosamine and chondroitin (sp?) supplements since he was about 6 mos old (vet ok'd), and we've had no problems so far with his hips. He's 8 now, so we're hoping this trend continues! I think if we hadn't started so early with supplementation of those two things, he might not have had this much luck with his hips.

 

[Texas Blonde]

Another vote for Natural Balance here, I feed my German Shepherd the Ultra and since he started on it about 5 years ago he's had great skin and coat. I have also had him on glucosamine and chondroitin (sp?) supplements since he was about 6 mos old (vet ok'd), and we've had no problems so far with his hips. He's 8 now, so we're hoping this trend continues! I think if we hadn't started so early with supplementation of those two things, he might not have had this much luck with his hips.

And another! Thats what I feed my Chihuahua. I couldnt remember the name when I first posted, I just remember it as a Wire Fox Terrier on the front.

 

[Buspirone]

My wife and I own and show Afghan Hounds.. ok my wife does.. but anyways.. we feed a food called Canidae and its WORKS.. it is for the whole life span of the dog.. which is a rare find on its own.. and is one of the premier foods out there. Everything for pet health, joint care, and coat care is already in.. no adding extras. According to the woman.. the msm is probably what did it for helping with the feeling better.. she takes msm herself when her arthritis acts up.. and no shes not old, just damaged.. she says there is also something out there called Cosequin that works like a charm. She used it on her retired racehorse who was pretty banged up, but they also prescribe it out of vet offices for dogs. Its a bit more expensive than the average supplement, but sometimes a few extra bucks is worth it to see your pets moving around without pain. Cosequin will actually work at repairing damage.. so I would recommend looking into it.

When you get down to the nitty-gritty of dog foods the "life stages" formulas are really just a marketing ploy by the dog food companies. If you need less protein then just feed less food. Large amounts of any grains are bad and this is becoming more evident as more and more dogs develop allergies to them. Some ailments that are being caused by grain allergies aren't being associated with the cause by owners or vets.

I was already aware of the purpose and use of Glucosamine and Chondroiten but hadn't heard of MSM until I started looking into the issue. I found out about it from reading a discussion from people who used their dogs in weight pull competition and supplemented with it for their senior dogs. They raved about the results. It provides a similar relief as aspirin(sometimes better) but without the bad side effects of NSAIDs which I wanted to avoid as long as possible. I bought a 6 month supply of a human grade glucosamine, chondroiten and MSM supplement for $35 dollars through a popular auction site. If I wanted to make it the equivalent of many of the popular canine joint supplements I would add Vitamin C which is supposed to help increase the absorbtion of the glucosamine/chondroiten in canines. I've read about Consequin but didn't feel the issue was progressed enough to try it but with receiving another recommendation I'll keep it in mind for the future.

Below is a quote concerning dog food from another forum I visit that is dog related. I don't like to post links in one discussion forum for another,even though its devoted entirely to another topic, so if anyone wants one please PM me and I'll be happy to share a link to the thread I'm quoting :

Pet Food Ratings

I have been asked to rate both dry and raw foods. The dry foods will be listed in order of quality with an explanation of why it rates where it does.

At the top of my list with 4 stars is raw or BARF. It’s the most appropriate for dogs to eat, easiest for them to digest, and though there are inherent risks, the safest as well.

For dry foods the first at 3 stars would be Timberwolf:
With a very high percentage of meat based protein it is quite expensive. But since the dogs don’t eat as much of it, it really ends up being a good buy. They also, as a general rule, don’t develop a lot of the usual issues they deal with when lower quality foods are fed. Their lowest protein formula starts with 50% meat based protein, their highest has 90% meat based protein. The more meat protein the less grain they use. There is a wide variety of formulas and 3 are true allergy formulas since they don’t use any form of rice, corn, wheat, or soy.

Number two with 2 1/2 stars would be Nature’s Variety:
They use a standard kibble but when it’s cooled from the extrusion process they coat it in dehydrated raw food. They call this “Bio-coating”. It ups the meat percentage quite a bit, though pound for pound it’s still less than the Timberwolf. They have recently added an allergy formula, Venison with pumpkin seed and sweet potato. The dogs do well with it.

Number 3 with 2 1/4 stars would be Merrick:
Merrick also coats the kibble in dehydrated meat. They have added freeze dried vegetables and chunks of dehydrated meat in with the kibble. It has an added component of making gravy when warm water is added with the kibble. It takes a couple of minutes for it to thicken up but the dogs love it.

Number 4 with 1 3/4 stars would be Wellness. The biggest thing with this food that made it stand out is it is baked. It crumbles very easily, and is suppose to be easily digested. They were one of the first to come out with an alternative allergy formula with something other than lamb and rice.

Number 5 with 1 1/2 stars would be Canidae:
This is a decent food, much better than a lot of the big names out there. My main complaint is that they use sunflower oil and, eventually, most dogs will have trouble with it. It’s a good middle of the road food for a lot of people coming off grocery store or big name foods. It shows them the benefits of feeding better quality.

I hadn't intended to buy the Timber Wolf Organics dog food since Nature's Variety is available locally but while reading the Timber Wolf Organics website I noticed an error on their ordering page which I could have exploited to get ALOT of dog food for practically free. I fought with the temptation and decided that since I wasn't going to exploit the opportunity that no one else should be able to either and contacted the company about the issue so they could correct it. I received a reply from the owner within a couple hours(which impressed me since I sent the e-mail at 1 am) and he graciously gave me almost $100 in dog food for the cost of shipping as a reward. I could have gotten more since he had really left the decision of how much food I wanted up to me. He also gained another new customer. My dog has refused to eat every dry dog food I ever tried to feed him except for this one.

I have heard some decent things about Natural Ballance but have a hard time buying anything being endorsed by the dad from "Eight is Enough" ;P . http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/

 

[Socrates]

Wow, Buspirone, it's good to hear of another success story. I have 2 Bernese Mountain Dogs whom I actually cook for. I started it a little less than 4 years ago, when my Golden Retriever was diagnosed with cancer and died within less than 1 month of being diagnosed. My older Berner has always had numerous health problems, including sebaceous cysts all over his body, hip dysplasia, severe arthritis, etc. Once I switched from "ordinary" dog food to home-made, in addtion to supplementing with Solid Gold and a variety of Vitamins (Glucosamine - Chondroitin + MSM included for my older guy), I've seen a huge difference in coat, breath, stools, and overall well-being.

The book that got me started going the holistic way is called: Food Pets Die For. I recommend it to anyone.

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Wendy
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PS. What type of dog do you have Buspirone, and how old is he?

 

[Texas Blonde]

Socrates, my dad had two Bernese Mt Dogs, and had the worst problems with health. One of them died before the age of 1, it was just never healthy, and didnt really respond to any treatment. I believe it actually died of kidney failure. After that, my dad switched to cooking for the other Berny. He varies from a natural raw diet with supplements, and some cooked dog food recipes he got from another vet. The dog is doing amazing now, hes huge and beautiful. I couldnt believe the change in personality even, as it got healthier, it got sooo much friendlier. Its good to hear of someone else who has had success with these dogs.

 

[MicahHall]

One of the top kennels in the "world" as far as producing champion dogs is located in California and raises schnauzers of all different sizes. She feeds her dogs zero commercial dog foods, and wont guaruntee one of her dogs for health unless you keep them on the same type of diet. There is alot of interesting stuff on her site about diet and what-not if you are interested.. skansenkennelschnauzers.. search that and it pulls her site up.. not only are her dogs gorgeous to look at, but there is alot of useful information on there in general..