Food and Health Q&As

Dear Cindy: I have a 5 year old German Shepherd male who has food allergies. He is allergic to chicken, rice and carrots. We are presently feeding him potato and duck light dog food from Royal Canon. This dog food costs $60.70 per 18 lb bag. We give him duck chips from Smokehouse for treats. In order to supplement and stretch the expensive food, I tried adding some Alpo prime cuts beef but his stool became loose. The vet said Alpo was the very worst food which I didn't know. The vet gav...

Hi Cindy, I have a 2 year old male Siberian Husky. For about 6 months I fed him a raw food diet. He loved it and did quite well on it. Two problems arose however. One, it was difficult to keep weight on him no matter how much I fed him. Two, it became expensive and cumbersome. In an attempt to fix these problems I switched to the Honest Kitchens dehydrated raw food and also supplemented with raw meat, eggs, etc. He refused to eat. Turned his nose up every time and would go days without ...

Dear Cindy, You answered a question for me a couple of years ago and I wondered if you can do it again. I purchased a 2 year old American pitbull terrier in April 2008 and I'm having trouble with him adjusting to his raw diet. He will eat the meat and bones part just fine but when it comes to the veggies, he will not budge. I do not feed him veggies every day, just a couple times a week but to no avail. Tried steaming them, didn't work. Yogurt or cottage cheese didn't work. Switched him to...

Hello, I have a 9 month old German Shepherd-Timberwolf mix and I'm worried about whether or not I'm feeding her enough for her to grow at a normal healthy rate. I was feeding her four cups of the "Solid Gold: Wolf Cub" a day, but since I've been browsing your web-site I started only feeding her two cups a day and making her earn it with a training session before she eats. She's lost enough weight that I can notice a definition between her ribcage and her loin, though she doesn't look starv...

Dear Cindy, We have a 9 month old Black Russian Terrier. We bought him from a local breeder when he was approx. 4 1/2 months old. He was being fed raw chicken quarters. Two quarters in the morning and two quarters in the evening. We added some oil, kelp combination and a 'joint' powder as the breeder did. We also added some salmon and organ during the week and daily gave him some raw vegetables and fruit. Recently, we added chicken necks in the mix as the breeder went to a wholesaler and p...

Hi Cindy, I wrote you a few weeks ago concerning my 11yr. old German Shepherd with arthritis in her hips. You recommended switching her to the raw diet. I've ordered a couple of the books you suggested and I've read nearly every article on the Leeburg Web site I could find. I'm convinced this is what I should do. Now, my problem. Everything I've read suggests using chicken necks as a main staple, especially for the switch. All my life I remember seeing chicken necks in the grocery ...

Hi Cindy, I emailed you before about my rottweiler and loose stools. I'm not having that problem anymore. Got a new problem. Draco, my male rottweiler just at 1 year old, is such a picky eater. He was doing fine eating raw meat and HK Embark. I would give him about a pound of raw meat in the morning and HK and a 1/2 pound at night. One day he decided he didn't want that anymore. Wouldn't eat. I gave him kibble and he ate that for about 3 days. I like the raw diet. He had more ener...

Cindy, my GSD has been on a raw diet since November (Bravo/Honest Kitchen) with great success, however, the other night I decided to give him a raw meaty beef neck bone. He devoured and enjoyed it, but afterwards I noticed he was breathing fast and hyper-salivating. Can you give me any wisdom regarding this reaction? It lasted about 1-2 hours. Thank you, Diane

I feed my 10 month old GSD raw food. To further add variety, I was wondering if I could feed him ribs, or steaks like a T-bone steak. I read on your site that ribs were fine. Just to verify since I thought rib bones were much harder than leg quarter bones...dogs can eat those, just as they do the leg quarters? And can they eat steaks that have bones in them like T-bones? Any experience? Thanks Adam

Hello Ed, Cindy and Leerburg, I have recently started to follow your methods for training and feeding, I must say that you and your website have opened my eyes to a whole new way of dog ownership. I have started to feed our MAL foxy the honest kitchen food and boy does she love it, my question is I am trying to help a friend with their dog's diet and they are not interested in RAW or the Honest kitchen. So how do you select a kibble by the ingredients and what do they mean? And my SE...

I have 11, 6 week old, English Bulldogs and they have had diarrhea off and on for about a week. They are on hard puppy chow and they eat it good and drink alot of water. I have given them plain yogurt and it helps some, but they still have it. One may have mushy poop one time and the next time it may be really runny. Do you have any suggestions to make their poop consistent? Thank you for your help. Linda

I have a 10 month GSD that has allergies. He has been on a raw foods diet from 8 weeks. I follow your diet with portions of chicken thighs, and backs daily. Have you ever had a dog that was allergic to chicken backs and necks? If you have, did you have to stop the raw foods diet? I don't want to do that unless I have to. Thank you for any help you can offer, Sandy

Hi there, I was looking again at your website and saw the tv show that you have on there about vets. Unreal. Scary. I was wondering if you could give me some insight, my shepherd, is constantly scratching and licking her paws, she is also shedding more than I think she should be. The seasons have changed, so I don't know why she is shedding. She is a house dog, so maybe that could be one of the reasons? I may have to bring her to the vet, trust me I don't want to but she has a little hole in ...

Hello Cindy, A quick question for you. Between the Verve and Embark, which would you start puppies out on after weaning with the milk formula and hamburger? Or,....would you simply start them on the Embark with a little of the formula? The litter is now 3 weeks old. By the way, I tried your formula for the first time today because I felt that the litter should be gaining better that they are (it was a litter of 10, lost 1) most of them weigh in at 2.2lbs - 2.4lbs and a couple at 2.6. I...

What are your thoughts on the Solid Gold WolfCub food? I pick up my puppy on March 20th, and the breeder was pushing that stuff pretty hard. However, I've heard that Solid Gold practically gives the stuff to breeders to get them to recommend it. So, I'd like a second opinion on what I should be feeding the puppy. I asked him about Innova and some other brands, and he said those were good. But, he said he feeds the Wolf Cub to puppies to prevent their bones from outgrowing their joints. ...

I have a 7 month old GSD puppy that is starting to eat a raw foods diet. When I give him a chicken leg he gulps it down whole! When I give him a chicken hind quarter he tries the same. I am so sure he is going to choke. What can I do to get him to slow down and chew his food up? Thank you for any advice you can offer. Sandy

Sheba, my GSD is 2 yrs old now. Since she was 8 wks old I have been feeding her PHD PRODUCTS ? VIAND with raw beef or chicken added. For the last 6 months she has been scratching and chewing on her feet. I?ve had to give her Cephylexin twice now and now the infection is coming back in her paws. I believe this is diet related. I had the vet check for worms and there were none. Currently she is in heat which could explain why she is not very drivey. I am looking at the honest kitchen products....

Cindy, I found out about the Honest Kitchen on your website First of all, congratulations on your website and the quality of the products that you carry. Here is my question: I plan on feeding my dog a mix of The Honest Kitchen Embark formula and raw food either from Nature's Variety or Raw Advantage, the only two frozen raw food brands easily found where I live (chicken, turkey, or lamb, supplemented with occasional necks and recreational bones). I also occasionally give my dog some uns...

Hi, My dog is not overweight, he has a nice trim waist and no belly fat. I walk him at least 1 mile a day and usually more. He chases his ball etc. Thanks to your staff who I find to be most helpful my dog did not get vaccinated this yr. Instead I had a titer ran on him and he did not need shots. I would never known to do this if it weren't for you people. I told my vet about how often I express his glands and she said small dogs have problems with this and it is ok for me to do it for him...

I am paranoid about how I take care of my dogs, I always want to do what is best for them. Recently, I heard that flaxseed can cause infertility in females, and I was wondering what you thought of that? I can't find anything on the internet, just this article I recieved. I currently feed Canidae, and the Nupro supplement, which both have flax. What do you think about this supplement, also?