Food and Health Q&As

My Golden Retriever is 15 weeks old. Upon getting his first and second round of puppy vaccinations, he developed a very sensitive stomach and frequently has diarrhea (strong smell and consistency of pudding) in his crate in the mornings when we get up. I have told my vet of these concerns, and he attributes it to food, treats, allergies, but never the vaccine. I have switched to Wellness natural dog food and only give him 100% natural treats, and he still has the problem. It is now time for h...

Cindy, First I want to thank you and Ed for your wonderful web site. I'm learning so much, but still have tons to learn from you guys! I have a couple questions about the Honest Kitchen dog food. Here is my situation, we have an 8 year old small breed mix (13lbs) and today we are going to pick up a 10 month old spaniel mix (20lbs) from our local shelter. Both dogs eat dry kibble and we'd like to make the switch to feeding the Honest Kitchen food. We work during the day so the dogs are n...

Right now I feed Natures recipe kibble in the morning and sometimes for an evening snack I will feed raw chicken necks or turkey necks, however not always. My dog is 1 yr old, a bulldog breed. Basically I want to know what I can do for tartar because I don't want my dog to get her teeth cleaned by the vet.

Cindy, We have been feeding raw now for more than two months and everything has been great. I feed my GSD twice per day. Lately, instead of devouring his food he sniffs, walks away, and looks at me. I waited 15 minutes and then picked up. After fasting he did eat the next meal. When this happened again, I sat near the bowl and he seemed to begrudgingly eat and then finished everything. I think this is a behavioral issue (not diet) but wanted your input on it. I'd rather not have to kee...

You've become my last resort, and I really hope you can help. My dog has been having diarrhea on/off for the past three months. This last month has definitely been the worse because it involved blood in his stools. I originally bought this German Shepherd when he was only 8 weeks old from a local breeder here who's dogs have had a great background. When I first took him home, he was doing great and his poop was a perfect log. At that time he was on Nutro-Max dry food, but a few weeks later hi...

My brother has a pit bull named Shania. Recently my brother fell in Love, and it seems Shania is more mine than his since I take care of her now. She is about 7 years old and 50 pounds and for most of her life my brother has fed her Ol' Roy dry dog food, although this is incredibly cheap I feel really bad for her as I know most dog foods out there are horrible concoctions. Any suggestions on starting her on one of your natural kibbles. She has a very sensitive system, any change in her eating...

I just ordered the verve 4# bucket for my 25 pound, 7 year old cockerpoo, Toby. I've been thinking about doing this for several months and the recent dog food recall has got me moving. I'm nervous about continuing to feed Toby the Beneful dry kibble that I have been feeding him. I've read the info on your web site, but..... I have a couple of questions. What effect is this transition to verve going to have on Toby's stool. I live in an apt. and walk toby at 7AM and then again as soon as I ...

My dog had surgery two weeks ago for Struvite Crystals. I am looking for a raw diet to switch her over to once she is cleared from the medical food my Vet has her on. What would you recommend from your products for her condition? I have another dog as well and I was wondering if they can still be on the same raw food diet once they are switched over? Thank You, Kam

Mr. Frawley, first let me start off with I am a big fan of your training videos I have 2 right now and plan on getting more soon. My question to you is this I have a 9 month old German Shepherd purebred who is in great health except he is very skinny so much so that i can see his ribs through his coat pretty easily. The vet doesn't know why he wont eat. I have him on a strict eating schedule. 9am 3pm and 7pm. I don't leave his food out for any more than twenty minutes tops. As of two weeks...

I have fed raw turkey backs cut up as a treat and then came across some internet sources claiming the skin should be removed to avoid pancreatic problems. Do you remove all the skins? Thanks for you help. Celeste

Hi Ed, My German Shepherd Puppy (6 months) has been on the natural diet now for one week and has developed a very serious case of diarrhea. She is getting one back with neck, 4 wings, a heart, gizzard and one egg once in the after noon, in the A.M. she gets a high quality dog food. I need to make a change of some kind to stop this problem do you have any suggestions? Thank you, Jerry

Hello Cindy, My name is Jorge and I just found leerburg.com a few days back and I agree 100% with all I've read so far, Ed Frawley is a very wise man and he should continue to guide pet owners and dog trainers, he does a great job. It's been 8 years since Duke died (the greatest black lab that ever lived in opinion), and I am thinking of getting another dog (a german short hair pointer), and since I live in Brazil it makes it difficult to import your dehydrated food, and people food is eas...

I am confused about the "don't feed a dog dairy products," and then recommending yogurt. Isn't yogurt a dairy product? Thanks, Linda

I am just learning about the benefits of a raw diet for dogs. I have 2 rotties. one is 10 years old and the other is a 7 month old puppy. I want to learn more and feed them well. I have been feeding them Pro Plan chicken and rice. I saw the dehydrated food you sell. I have read the recommendations for weight. It does not seem like a great deal of food per day. Is that all they require for one day. I currently feed our dogs twice a day and break up their feeding. The older dog only gets 2-3 cu...

Hello, I found your site while looking for answers for our puppy's on-again/off-again "pudding diarrhea" and I will try the pumpkin you suggest. But my question for you is when can you start feeding a raw diet to puppies? Our cat eats a raw diet and its great for him. But our breeder recommends puppy kibble for the first year and our vet is aghast at the idea of feeding anything other than Science Diet >ick< ( e.coli, salmonella, etc.). We give our cat pancreatic enzymes on his food to ...

About 3 months ago, I got a 3.5 year old lhasa apos. He is a happy dog for the most part. The problem we are having is that his former owner only fed him human food, so I have tried canned food mixed with dry dog food. I prefer to feed my dogs dry dog food. I have tried different brands and different concepts. I am at a loss, as he seems to refuse to eat his dog food, waiting for me to give him some crumbs or food from the table. He is such a sweet dog. Can you please help me? Thanks in ad...

Ed, You have helped me with questions about my other dog in the past so I hope you have some time to help with this issue. I have a male GSD, he is now just about 6 months old. When we got him at 12 weeks he was on Iams puppy food. For whatever reason, when he moved into our home he really didn't want to eat this food anymore. After 3 weeks of him barely eating we decided to change his food to what we thought was a higher quality food called Bil-Jac. He liked the food and ate well but he c...

Ed, Sorry to have bugged you on this. But no one has been able to give me a solid answer on it. I want to start my 6 months male gsd puppy on ppd training and wanted to know that if there is any specific supplements I should also add at 6 months of his age. I have ordered few things from your web site. which will go out today by noon. If you get this e-mail before noon please let me know if there is any supplements I should add to the below list. I already give Fish oil, Vitamin E, A...

Sir, I have looked all over the forum board I found connected to your site but have been unable to find an answer I need. I hope you don't mind that I contacted you directly. I really don't want to mess up my litter of puppies. Our litter is 2 weeks old now and I don't know at what age I am supposed to start offering them food. I know that naturally the female will regurgitate for the pups, but so far my girl doesn't look like she is even considering doing that. She has nine puppies, is...

Ed, I have been feeding my 65 lb six month old male raw chicken thighs, raw ground beef, and Beneful kibble three times daily for 4 months. Of course increasing the amount as he grows. He is up to one cup kibble and 1/4 lb chicken, and less than 1/4 lb meat. He has been walking about 2 miles 4 times a week in the morning early enough (8:00am) to beat the heat in Georgia. I know he enjoys the walk but he is having diarrhea off and on during the day. I'm worried because the stools are not br...