It seems like you know a lot about dogs' diet. I need some suggestions on my dogs' diet because I have a bad habit of switch different kibbles. It seems like some has too much grain and some were high in protein.

I have four dogs. Right now all are on Innova Evo, but I m thinking about switching back to their old diet Natural Balance (Allergy). All my dogs eat the same kibbles. Do you have another good suggestions? I have bee thinking about BARF, but it seems to be too expensive. I don't have the time to prepare the food because I have a busy schedule.

My dogs' ages and their health plms

Duffy, an American Eskimo- Male, age 12. His teeth are getting poor, some build up tartars, but he has an appointment for his teeth cleaning in Aug. I have spent money on his teeth cleaning every year. Sometimes loss some of his hair on back, but he is pretty healthy overall.

Minnie- Age 4- Dasch mix/hound- pretty healthy, but likes to eat poops. I have to clean up daily.

Cody- Rottweilr/lab mix age 1 1/2- pretty active and healthy. He has a bad gas. Need to control his gas while he was on natural balance. It wasn't that bad as he is on Evo.

Riley- Border Collie age 2- has HD in both hips. He had a FHO surgery last two months ago. He is still limping now and takes Rimdyal once in a while. I don't know if Evo is good for his hips?

What's your opinion?
Anyone's welcome to share their opinions

Thanks

I'm sorry I can't offer any suggestions, but I wanted to ask you what "Innova Evo" is?

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It seems like you know a lot about dogs' diet. I need some suggestions on my dogs' diet because I have a bad habit of switch different kibbles......

You could switch to The Honest Kitchen
http://www.leerburg.com/honestkitchen.htm
dehydrated raw, which you rehydrate to feed. You can add RMBs and other stuff, but you don't have to.

The switch is simple: pour it over whatever they eat now and gradually increase it.

They have two no-grain formulas.

I feed raw, but always keep Force or Embark on hand now for travel or for days when I'm out of frozen food.

MHO is that it's great food, easy to feed, not baked to death and extruded, good ingredients, and formulated for the addition of RMBs. Kind of a simplified-B.A.R.F. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I think THK will be a good switch for each dog, and you can add RMBs/meat depending on the dog.

Riley (at least) should also get distilled salmon oil plus vitamin E every day. Search on this site for many threads about fish oil (not fish liver oil) plus vitamin E. I feed it to all dogs (and humans) for the anti-inflammation benefits.

Amanda,

Innova Evo is a "good" kibble. It is grain-free.

lindsey, did you mean me?

i personally don't use kibble, and haven't found any i would keep my dog on. innova evo is a good stand-in for when your dog is being boarded, or when you are traveling. i intend to use it for backpacking. but from what i have read, it is much too high in protien to be used as a daily food. dog owners who have kept their dogs on evo for a few months report that the dogs start out great on it, but gradually lose their health and have to be taken off it. do a google search on "innova evo" and you will find lots of discussions about it.

feeding raw can be easy and cheap, once you find regular suppliers and develop a system. there is no preparation involved--just hand that dog a chicken neck or a beef heart or a pork neck, etc. nothing to do or prepare. i get my cuts by the case lot at the supermarket's butcher department, and they pre-cut and wrap everything for me in meal-sized portions. i have the butchers at albertson's well trained! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

i pick up my order, toss it in the back of the car, come home, toss it all in the freezer in the garage, and then i bring it into the house refrigerator to defrost a few days meals at a time. really quite easy once you get yourself set up.

i average probably about .69/lb. for rmbs. that is cheaper than premium kibble.

btw, when i started on the raw diet, i had a dog with teeth and gums so rotten, the vet wanted to pull them all out. six weeks after he started on the BARF diet, his teeth and gums looked perfect. the vet was in shock. she said to me, "what did you do? brush his teeth really well?" she couldn't believe it.

eating poop is a sign of something lacking in the diet. my dog never eats poop.

if your dogs belonged to me, i would change them all over to raw right away.

my suggestion: try it for just two months. that way you can see if there is an improvement, and you can find out how easy or difficult it will be for you, and how expensive or inexpensive. just do it as an experiment for two months, and then decide.

read up as much as you can first. do a search on my posts, and other threads here, and you'll come up with lots of info.

i don't think keeping them on evo as their main diet is a good idea. fresh, whole, raw foods, and cartilege-type bones fed raw is what dogs were designed to eat.

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Amanda,

Innova Evo is a "good" kibble. It is grain-free.

I see. Well... my guy is 12 Weeks - what do you suggest his diet should be than? I've had people tell me BARF is the absolute best while others think it's obscene. I just want to hear what other's have to say. And where can I purchase this kibble? I live in NY if that makes any differnce?

**EDIT** I'm VERY interested in learning more about this Raw/BARF diet. I have red various posts on other forums about it but never had someone ever direct me to any good source info. Is that something you can do with a pup? Do vets support it?

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Amanda,

Innova Evo is a "good" kibble. It is grain-free.

I see. Well... my guy is 12 Weeks - what do you suggest his diet should be than? I've had people tell me BARF is the absolute best while others think it's obscene......

"Obscene" ? <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> That's a new one to me, and I thought I had heard all the "cons." How does one argue against "obscene" ??

http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/showf...rue#Post4178785

This board is LOADED with threads about b.a.r.f. and other raw diets. If you "search" and use "all forums" and type in either "BARF" or "b.a.r.f." or "raw," using quotes, and expanding the date range from 1 week to a couple of years, you'll have enough reading material for a lifetime.

This site asks and answers the 50 most frequent beginner questions, from what is an RMB to what to supplement with to what does a meal look like. It doesn't address "obscene," though, to my recollection.
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm

Also, here's the Leerburg feeding regimen:
http://www.leerburg.com/diet.htm

There are a lot of people on this board who feed raw and have done so for years (including me), so if you read all that and still have questions, fire away.

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I'm VERY interested in learning more about this Raw/BARF diet. I have red various posts on other forums about it but never had someone ever direct me to any good source info. Is that something you can do with a pup? Do vets support it?

sure you can do it with a pup! my pup was weaned on chicken wings. he's never tasted kibble (well, until tonight. i just bought some innova evo for our upcoming backpacking trip and he loves it!). his breeder weans all her litters on BARF.

do vets support it? it seems like most do not. but... they are wrong!<img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

what i am reading on the innova evo package is that the food is designed as a supplement for the raw diet, and it appears that it is not intended to be a stand-alone food. it is for when you run out of RMBs, or for traveling, not for a daily diet. it's also to feed along with raw if you want to make sure your dog is getting the right balance of supplements.

but i feel that is not actually necessary.

you can find vets who support and encourage raw feeding. mine does. it just may take a bit of looking.

Like you, we have dogs in a range of ages and breeds. We started feeding raw in January of this year. We will NEVER EVER turn back. Our menu is very close to the sample menu provided here at Leerburg. (the html link that Connie provided). We also like the book "Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats" recommended here. We recently started using the supplements the Leerburg recommends and sells. We are thrilled in particular with the Salmon oil.

ALL of our dogs are healthier now. The overweight beagle is down to a perfect weight while eating meals that satisfy his appetite. As our "senior" dog who was starting to go down hill (weight problems, teeth issues, STINKY, and just plain slowing down) HE HAS HIS LIFE BACK. Active, healthy, bouncy, squirrel hunting with vigor, tail wagging non stop, etc.

When we saw these very obvious changes happen in an older dog, it made us wish we had been feeding ALL of our dogs faw from puppydom (or initial adoption) through their lives.

For us, the scariest part was getting started, and figuring out what to feed. We finally realized that ANYTHING out of the meat market at the grocery would probably be healthier than what was coming out of the bags. We just keep fine tuning things and trying to learn more and improve as we go along.

Cost is manageable. Once you get started, you learn where and when to shop for your best deals.

We also quickly developed a routine that works for us - how to package stuff for freezing and thawing to have the right amounts of food easily available at meal time every day.

We have busy schedules too. But with our routine, preparing the meals for 3 dogs must take a whole 10 minutes or less a day. Yes, throwing kibble in a bowl took 3 minutes. I've got an extra 7 minutes a day to take optimal care of my dogs.

And I save a trip every month to the Pet Store to buy food. I buy my dog food at the same places I buy my people food now.

Our dogs are worth it!!

If you think I'm passionate about this...then you haven't talked to my husband. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Here's what he has to say about it.

http://www.jolietschutzhund.com/raw%20food%20diet%20for%20dogs.htm

Beth

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Like you, we have dogs in a range of ages and breeds. We started feeding raw in January of this year. We will NEVER EVER turn back. Our menu is very close to the sample menu provided here at Leerburg. (the html link that Connie provided). ...... We are thrilled in particular with the Salmon oil.......Beth

Beth, thank you for saying what I try to tone down (but what I really mean) in an effort not to sound too one-sided! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

My experience was the same: Seeing what fresh food and salmon oil (and of course Vitamin E, which the dog's system uses to process oil supplements) did for an arthritic, allergic, itchy and infected dog who was deaf from ear infections before she came to me, I realized that this was the right plan.

I too get all the people food and dog food in the same place now (and we share supplements).

Good job! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />