I have two questions though:

1. Do dogs just drink less water when not on kibble?? I have noticed that my dog barely drinks water! I have stopped with feeding him kibble and cook.

2. Since the switch to cooked diet, I realize now that I can't give my dog ground beef. This makes no sense,it gives him the runs. I've tried ground beef twice and same results. (down below is what is in the diet I feed him now)


I took my dog off of Natural Balance because he was scratching the hair off the back of his ears and getting bald patches. Took him to a vet and she said he had food allergies, in particular, the whole grain allergy thing. She is all for RAW diets but we started off with crockpot cooking food. So I started with a little bit of fruits, with broccolli and diced carrots and the majority of the food being ground turkey. Plus I add probiotics (prescribed by vet) to the mix. I did that for a couple of weeks then switched to boiling a large pot of ground turkey with diced potatoes, brocolli, a can of watered down diced tomatoes, and carrots. He was doing just fine. One day I happened to try ground beef and added canned diced tomatoes. Soft mushy stools. So back to ground turkey with the addition of chicken hearts and liver.

I decided two days ago to try ground beef again and mixed it with the liver and hearts and the stools were fine and solid for day one but then progressed into diarrhea.

So I'm guessing my dog can't have ground beef in his diet??

I wish I could just go to raw but after my experience with a raw marrow bone that gave my dog diarrhea that came gushing out like a river (no joke) I decided not to even bother. That was a mess and unpredictable. I don't have access to a backyard or else I would just go for it.

Did the vet's list include eggshells?

"Okay, this is definitely something I needed to know. This is something that wasn't even on the vet's home-cooking recipe list."

I'm worried about a diet list from someone who is not aware of the calcium:phosphorus ratio.

Anyway, tell us how the dog's itchiness is doing, and we will go from there.

Meanwhile, you could start adding half of a crushed eggshell to every pound of food. If you have no eggshells, we can give you other options. Eggshell is the simplest, though, and in fact cooked egg is a fine addition to a dog's diet, IMO. This would require adding only an 1/2 egg per pound of food (to get the shells you need).

BTW, the appropriate calcium from the eggshells (which is about 900 mg per pound of boneless meat) will also help to normalize the poop.

PS

In view of the diarrhea history, to be super-cautious, I'd say don't put all the yolk in at first. Take it out of the egg before adding the egg to the food, and just put in half of it at first (but all of the white). (I'd probably just toss the other yolk-half.)

No eggshells were included on the list, so I'll definitely start adding eggs to the diet.

The vet's list was basically an add veggies, fruits and meats list and told you what foods to avoid and that was pretty much it. So I was pretty much on my own with what to get.

The itching is still there but no more scratching his ears bald. The breeder thought that heat was causing dry skin so I turned down my heater and, as stupid as this sounds, even went as far as to buy a humidifier.

If you would, please start a new thread about the itching, and in your post, tell us what body parts (paws, face, base of tail, shins, what?) are most affected by itching, and how the dogs ear look inside (nice and pale or red, inflamed, with debris).

 Quote: Genichka Goodrid

.... The vet's list was basically an add veggies, fruits and meats list and told you what foods to avoid and that was pretty much it. So I was pretty much on my own with what to get.

Not to be confrontational, but maybe to save some puppy from osteoporosis and ruined teeth (and more) from growing up on that diet, you might want to mention to that vet that the critical calcium:phosphorus ratio, probably the most important single factor after protein in the dog's diet, is not addressed in the list.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Genichka Goodrid

.... The vet's list was basically an add veggies, fruits and meats list and told you what foods to avoid and that was pretty much it. So I was pretty much on my own with what to get.

Not to be confrontational, but maybe to save some puppy from osteoporosis and ruined teeth (and more) from growing up on that diet, you might want to mention to that vet that the critical calcium:phosphorus ratio, probably the most important single factor after protein in the dog's diet, is not addressed in the list.

Oh yeah, I'll be doing that today when I go and see them; my dog has gelatinous stool with drops of bright red blood in it just 20 minutes ago. I think I'm just going to end up going back to kibble, just more high quality. I swear, I've never owned a dog with a stomach this sensitive before and this is just ridiculous and frustrating :-(

That stool (after the list of calcium-free foods, but not just because of that) would make me ask for a referral to a GI specialist today -- asap.