I used to feed my doggy poison. :D

[Saracirce]

Clemmy vomited a few hours ago I think she might have been eating too fast cause she was coughing(while eating) then found the vomit 10-20 minutes later. But I'm fairly sure only Beneful was left in the bowl and it appeared to only be Beneful in the vomit though I didn't exactly poke around in it... She did not exactly a small poop but thin poop earlier. Not runny but not normal for her. So, guess I'll keep an eye on her. Loli appears fine but she hasn't pooped since this morning.

[shadow.wolfdog]

I've read most of the thread, and I'm very glad that there's some awareness being brought to how bad some dog foods are.

I need some advice, if y'all have any to spare. One, is 4Health a good brand of dog food? My nine-month-old collie is on 4Health puppy. I believe I once read that it's made by the same company that makes Taste of the Wild, but now I can't find anything about that. Actually, I can't find too many opinions about it at all. My pup seems fine on it, much better than my mom's dogs who are on Walmart dog food, which is literally the worst.

Also, how do I go about convincing my mother to let me try some kind of raw feeding with my dog? She insists that it's expensive and dangerous to the dog, no matter what I tell her. I need my collie to grow up to be in top condition, since she will someday be trained in agility.

[Saracirce]

I am really really amazed at how high a value this KIBBLE has. Loli is super scared of getting her nails clipped. Seriously, it's the SCARIEST THING EVER to her. This is a super food motivated dog and she won't take treats at all when you pull out the clippers. Today, since the Blue Wilderness is so small and she can eat it quickly, I clipped her nails and gave her the kibble as a I did it. One piece every time I made a clip (the sound as a trigger as much as the action and seeing them) and a small jackpot after each paw, plus a big jackpot after. And she actually ate it and stayed (mostly) still for me despite her shaking like a little leaf. xD She only tried to nip me twice and that was because she needed a break between front and back paws. But I was able to clip all her nails in one sitting, which we haven't been able to do since she was a puppy! We're usually lucky if we can get an entire paw done. I was also able to do some desensitization with Clemmy using the Blue Wilderness.

I think I'm already noticing in increase in energy in Loli, which is awesome. She's definitely having a 'good' day today. Can partly hear and partly see and has got the extra energy she normally doesn't have. Bounced right back after having her nails clipped (she usually cowers for a while and hates the world).

They haven't had any runny poops or anything so I'm going to up their rations to 50/50 tomorrow... Once they eat the rest of their Beneful. Clemmy's also probably being switched to scheduled/measured meals if she keeps up diving into the bowl every time I put it down. Any suggestions on how much I should feed them? Loli is supposed to weigh 7 lbs I believe? She definitely needs to slim down anyway. I don't know how much Clemmy should/does weigh but she's a healthy weight atm (one of her owners is claiming 77/87 pounds but I highly doubt that... She doesn't seem nearly that big to me. I would honestly guess her to be around 50 pounds.)

[Cardinal]

I am really really amazed at how high a value this KIBBLE has. Loli is super scared of getting her nails clipped. Seriously, it's the SCARIEST THING EVER to her. This is a super food motivated dog and she won't take treats at all when you pull out the clippers. Today, since the Blue Wilderness is so small and she can eat it quickly, I clipped her nails and gave her the kibble as a I did it. One piece every time I made a clip (the sound as a trigger as much as the action and seeing them) and a small jackpot after each paw, plus a big jackpot after. And she actually ate it and stayed (mostly) still for me despite her shaking like a little leaf. xD She only tried to nip me twice and that was because she needed a break between front and back paws. But I was able to clip all her nails in one sitting, which we haven't been able to do since she was a puppy! We're usually lucky if we can get an entire paw done. I was also able to do some desensitization with Clemmy using the Blue Wilderness.

I think I'm already noticing in increase in energy in Loli, which is awesome. She's definitely having a 'good' day today. Can partly hear and partly see and has got the extra energy she normally doesn't have. Bounced right back after having her nails clipped (she usually cowers for a while and hates the world).

They haven't had any runny poops or anything so I'm going to up their rations to 50/50 tomorrow... Once they eat the rest of their Beneful. Clemmy's also probably being switched to scheduled/measured meals if she keeps up diving into the bowl every time I put it down. Any suggestions on how much I should feed them? Loli is supposed to weigh 7 lbs I believe? She definitely needs to slim down anyway. I don't know how much Clemmy should/does weigh but she's a healthy weight atm (one of her owners is claiming 77/87 pounds but I highly doubt that... She doesn't seem nearly that big to me. I would honestly guess her to be around 50 pounds.)

I hope this food change helps Lola slim down a bit so she can have a better quality life. =) My bf's moms dog is nearly 18, eating grain free, and it was SUCH a change last year! Like omg. All her did was sleep before and while elderly and still sleeping as much as an elderly dog does.. When he is up he's super alert and active, running and even jumping in the 3 foot hamper.. Something he couldn't do before the food change.. LOL!

I actually trust the feeding guidelines on the backs of most of the higher quality foods, its come out pretty much right everytime I've done the actual math. You actually do not want to increase or decrease feeding amount to suddenly. When trying to lose weight you feed for IDEAL weight, no what they actually weight, but thats kind of a 'duh'. Switching and decreasing to rapidly can send the body into starvation mode where they can on fat. Decreasing by 1/4 a cup every day for a larger dog and every few/couple days for a smaller dog is the way to go. =)

I've always used this tool: http://mycockerspaniel.com/mer.htm with my dog and my bf's dog and now all of his moms dogs went from over-weight to ideal over the course of last winter. For Lola, feeding for a 10lb dog to begin with and if she has to lose more, then fine... Uhhmm roughly1/2- 3/4 a cup a day, split in however many meals. This is considering the standard chicken BBW is 410 calories for cup and according to the calculator an inactive 10lb dog should be consuming 328 calories a day or less.. ^^; 3-3 1/2 cups for a moderately active adult dog. But, really, thats not to far off the bag guidelines... Its only if you want to be super cereal correct and stuffs.

I LOVE HOW HIGH VALUE KIBBLE IS TO! Lucky and Juniper are sssooo food motivated with their kibble, but stick a milk bone infront of Lucky and she's all "Eeeehhhh.. No thanks" I think she knows its unhealthy.. :Just saw puppy nomming cat poo outta the box: or maybe not.

[dragonsapphic]

I've read most of the thread, and I'm very glad that there's some awareness being brought to how bad some dog foods are.

I need some advice, if y'all have any to spare. One, is 4Health a good brand of dog food? My nine-month-old collie is on 4Health puppy. I believe I once read that it's made by the same company that makes Taste of the Wild, but now I can't find anything about that. Actually, I can't find too many opinions about it at all. My pup seems fine on it, much better than my mom's dogs who are on Walmart dog food, which is literally the worst.

Also, how do I go about convincing my mother to let me try some kind of raw feeding with my dog? She insists that it's expensive and dangerous to the dog, no matter what I tell her. I need my collie to grow up to be in top condition, since she will someday be trained in agility.

Going by the first product I saw when I searched 4Health.

The first ingredient is chicken. Chicken loses most of its weight during cooking, so this would ideally have been placed further along the list. The second ingredient is chicken meal, which adds to the meat and protein quality of the food. (However, I don't know enough about this company to determine their quality of meal cuts.) The next ingredient is barley, which is a grain. The fourth ingredient is millet, which is a gluten-free grain. The next ingredient is brewer's rice, which is a cereal by-product.

I wouldn't say this dog food is great, but it's not bad.

[Jazi]

I am really really amazed at how high a value this KIBBLE has. Loli is super scared of getting her nails clipped. Seriously, it's the SCARIEST THING EVER to her. This is a super food motivated dog and she won't take treats at all when you pull out the clippers. Today, since the Blue Wilderness is so small and she can eat it quickly, I clipped her nails and gave her the kibble as a I did it. One piece every time I made a clip (the sound as a trigger as much as the action and seeing them) and a small jackpot after each paw, plus a big jackpot after. And she actually ate it and stayed (mostly) still for me despite her shaking like a little leaf. xD She only tried to nip me twice and that was because she needed a break between front and back paws. But I was able to clip all her nails in one sitting, which we haven't been able to do since she was a puppy! We're usually lucky if we can get an entire paw done. I was also able to do some desensitization with Clemmy using the Blue Wilderness.

I think I'm already noticing in increase in energy in Loli, which is awesome. She's definitely having a 'good' day today. Can partly hear and partly see and has got the extra energy she normally doesn't have. Bounced right back after having her nails clipped (she usually cowers for a while and hates the world).

They haven't had any runny poops or anything so I'm going to up their rations to 50/50 tomorrow... Once they eat the rest of their Beneful. Clemmy's also probably being switched to scheduled/measured meals if she keeps up diving into the bowl every time I put it down. Any suggestions on how much I should feed them? Loli is supposed to weigh 7 lbs I believe? She definitely needs to slim down anyway. I don't know how much Clemmy should/does weigh but she's a healthy weight atm (one of her owners is claiming 77/87 pounds but I highly doubt that... She doesn't seem nearly that big to me. I would honestly guess her to be around 50 pounds.)

You've seen my pictures of Mocha right? Mocha is at 55#. Skoll is at 95#. I would estimate Clemmy to be somewhere inbetween, but closer to Mocha than to Skoll. Some pet stores have scales in them that you can use if Clemmy will tolerate a sitstay in a strange place. Also remember that just because a dog makes a show about being hungry doesn't always mean its hungry. Skoll would inhale the entire bag of his food if I let him and he'd still dive right into another food bowl. If she's sucking down food too fast I would start trying to get her to go a little slower. I add 2 cups of water to Skoll's food and he respects that "larger" amount of substance in his bowl and what took him a few seconds to eat now takes him about 5-10 minutes. He licks the bowl clean too and I can monitor his water intake to make sure he's not getting dehydrated this way as well.

[Saracirce]

We've decided to hold off on upping Clemmy's rations. She threw up again yesterday. xp And, this time, the food was actually partially digested. So, we're going to go another couple days with her on 25/75 Beneful and see if she's throwing up because of the food or because she's eating too fast. I was thinking first of putting a bowl, toy or cup in her bowl that way she has to eat around something? I remember that used to work with a family friend's dog. If that doesn't work, I'll try the water. Also, Clemmy doesn't really seem to inhale the food. At least, not as bad as I've seen some dogs do. It's kind of hard to describe but she pushes her nose through the bowl to find the good bits, licks that up then searches again. When she finally does really eat, she takes huge bites so it comes spilling out of her mouth xp She does take a moment to crunch and swallow before taking another huge bite.

Loli is being upped to 50/50 today soon as she eats the last of her Beneful. She's having good, solid poops and she had such a good day yesterday. She did pee on my bed the night before last but that was probably my fault. It's too early to say if she's having a good day today (she's sleeping right now) but we shall see. :3 I'm also hoping this food change will help her lose weight but it will largely depend on if my mom will stop feeding her 'people' food and that will depend on if Loli will keep eating BBW as well as she does now. She sometimes likes something for a while then gets bored and stops eating it. (We did get the chicken recipe, btw :3) I think I'm going to start her off on four or so meals a day then lower it to two. She's used to free feeding as well. She also likes to hide her food and save it for later when she gets full (though that's mostly treats and people food). x.x

[jadeillusion]

I have to ask, but what does Science Diet have in it that's bad? I used to feed it to my two Dogs, and I have to agree, my Lab did put on a few pounds. And if you could, can you tell what is bad about those ingredients?

[~Serenade~]

(Quoted from dog food reviews website. This is the review of the first ingredients in Science Diet)

The first ingredient in this dog food is corn. Corn is an inexpensive and controversial cereal grain of only modest nutritional value to a dog.
For this reason, we do not consider corn a preferred component in any dog food.
The second item lists chicken by-product meal, a dry rendered product of slaughterhouse waste. It’s made from what’s left of a slaughtered chicken after all the prime cuts have been removed.
In a nutshell, chicken by-products are those unsavory leftovers usually considered “unfit for human consumption”.
In addition to organs (the nourishing part), this stuff can contain almost anything — feet, beaks, undeveloped eggs — anything except quality skeletal muscle (real meat).
On the brighter side, by-product meals are meat concentrates and contain nearly 300% more protein than fresh chicken.
The third ingredient is soybean meal. Soybean meal is actually a useful by-product. It’s what remains of soybeans after all the oil has been removed.
Soybean meal contains 48% protein. However, compared to meat, this item is considered an inferior plant-based protein providing a lower biological value.
The fourth item is animal fat. Animal fat is a generic by-product of rendering, the same high-temperature process used to make meat meals.
Since there’s no mention of a specific animal, this item could come from almost anywhere: restaurant grease, slaughterhouse waste, diseased cattle — even euthanized pets.
We do not consider generic animal fat a quality ingredient.
The fifth ingredient is soybean oil, red flagged here only due to its controversial (yet unlikely) link to canine food allergies.
After the chicken liver flavor, we find lactic acid, a nutrient found naturally in many living organisms.
It’s difficult to say with certainty why lactic acid is present here except to presume it’s added to balance the pH of the recipe.
The eighth ingredient is flaxseed, one of the best plant sources of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Provided they’ve first been ground into a meal, flax seeds are also rich in soluble fiber.
From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.
But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to have much of an effect on the overall rating of this product.
With two notable exceptions…
First, we find no evidence of probiotics, friendly bacteria applied to the surface of the kibble after processing.
And finally, the minerals here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Non-chelated minerals are usually associated with lower quality dog foods.

[~Serenade~]

Though I do believe Dog Food Reviews is a little too nice in their rating and assessment of the ingredients and such.