We switched everyone recently to Acana (they make a grain free series now apparently) and all three dogs love it and their poop has never been better. Same company as Orijen but less rich.
My chap is currently on Orijen at the moment, he was on the Acana previously but the supplier ran out so I got the Orijen instead (since its the same company that makes them) Both feeds are the puppy for large breed versions.
However he wont eat just kibble alone..generally i mix it with some chicken & rice otherwise he'll just refuse to eat. Is anyone else experiencing the same problem as me? If so what do you generally mix the dry food with?
While being on the Acana and Orijen , I havent noticed him being particularly gassy however his stool can sometimes be a bit runny (sorry for the detail ) Im not sure should i be changing his food and I did consider barf at one stage but he's only 10 months and I dont know if barf will give him all the nutrients he needs while he is still a puppy.
@kumonland I've experience Toki not eating his kibble, which usually means he is being finicky or he is genuinely tired of it. If I mix something with his kibble, it's either tuna (including the water) or Greek yogurt. I've used toasted sesame oil too, and hamburger meat if i have some left over. You might want to try fish oil, I've never, but I would. Try sprinkling nori, Toki used to like that.
White rice, turkey dogs, scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, chicken stock, and sweet potatoes are our go-to additives depending on situation/reason.
Its worth noting that dogs have 20% the taste buds humans have but significantly better noses. Pungent foods will get their interest better than something with little smell.
@jellyfart, tried mixing fish oil , eggs, tuna and ground up mince..but to varied results. i think its time to change to a different kibble brand however theres so many brands we cant get over here in ireland..(sometimes i wished i lived in the states or canada)
out of curiosity...does anyone know what do the akitas in japan feed on?
@kumonland cheap kibble and sometimes white rice. Select Balance seems to be a popular brand among the JA breeders and was given away with all of the awards at both AKIHO shows I attended in Japan; I also saw breeders feeding it at their kennels.
I'm now feeding a mix of Orijen Large Puppy and Wellness CORE Puppy. They're similar, but Wellness seems to have probiotics in the food. I think a diverse diet would be good now so he won't develop allergies later on.
When I first put him on mostly Orijen (80/20 protein to others) he had diarrhea for 2 days. I cooked some chicken breast with brown rice, bok choy, parsley, ginger, basil and fed him that to calm his stomach for the next 2 days, still feeding Orijen. Now he's on Orijen completely and his stool is solid.
You just need a transition period, or supplement additional fiber. Brown rice worked great for me, but if you prefer grain-free you could always feed some bananas.
@poeticdragon..thanks for the info, doubt i be able to find a supplier to ship some to ireland :-(
my boy gets diarrhea on and off sometimes, its beginning to worry me a bit. I normally do the transition to different food slowly but occasionally he will still have a the odd runny stool. He such a picky eater that if i just feed him his Orijen he just turns his nose from it. however i did add some sesame oil with his kibble tonight mixed with his rice and chicken and brocolli and he ate it all.. (most impressed)
I heard from previous posts that canned pumpkin can be quite good to relieve runny stool however there isnt any stores in ireland that stock them..i assume fresh pumpkin will do..Should i cook it or leave it raw ? He use to eat bananas but not anymore..
I'm curious as to the people adding missing link to their food. Is it worth the money? Also the food allgergies the medium size NKs are popping up with it, is it to gluten or grains or everything?
@cdenney It depends on the dog. Some people have noticed their NK having upset stomachs with chicken kibble. Grain-free kibble with high protein levels is what you want for your pooch. Gives them energy and a nice coat!
What do you mean by "missing link"? Are you talking about supplements like fish oil?
@cdenney I give my pooches fish oil and they really love it. Their coats are really nice too. I also buy them Dried Bovine Gullet Cookies from Bestbullysticks.com which are great for joints. Thanks for the article!
@cdenney, I just finished up a little task where I photodocumented my dogs' dinners for a month, and compiled it in a fun little tile:
I use Honest Kitchen Embark (complete meal) or Preference (meatless premix) as a base most of the time -- this is what I mean when I say it's really easy to add fresh stuff to this dehydrated raw dog food, so it's one of the most convenient commercial brands for me. If the meat is a significant piece I'll just sprinkle on some supplements or something.
Also, re: Missing Link, I remember looking into it before and hearing good reviews about it, but I wasn't so sure about some of the ingredients, specifically the yeast, kelp, and beef-derived elements. But that was with an eye towards my own hypothyroid dog who for a while was really susceptible to yeast infections, shouldn't be getting too much kelp, and sometimes has issues with beef. I'm honestly not sure that a supplement is necessary from puppyhood if the dog is already getting a good, balanced, healthy diet. That said, I do use a lot of supplements now that Bowdu's issues have manifested, just not the multi-ingredient variety that ML formulas tend to be.
And since you ask, I know @saya's got TONS of pictures of what a raw meal/diet looks like. Get ready.
Yummy mackerel Saya love raw or cooked fish bone in fish must be fed raw though.
This has head and bones, but no guts like her mackerel pike she sometimes eats the whole fish or leaves a bit for another time this time she ate up to the tail area there is enough meat for small snack for to be part of the meal..
It was bit fatter piece had some meat on it too. Saya doesn't get beef brisket at all so it was nice treat. Second pic is chicken foot, chicken heart and brisket that my dad trimmed off when we smoked it for a party.
This pic is two chicken hearts and a chicken liver
I weighed them in 3oz meat balls for yummy meals I usually give along with either an egg, organ, chicken foot or bone in meal. This pic is of ground emu I got from an emu farmer when I went to Madison WI we got a thing of ground emu and emu brats both tasted good.
grass fed Lamb heart from local farmer Saya enjoys these very rich I don't recommend feeding this much to a dog Saya handles it fine though, but some need a bone in meal with meal like heart.
a chicken drumstick and a bit of grass fed beef tongue
When some people ask for recipe on how feed raw diet it's hard because when a dog is new to it you need to take it slow you can't feed same variety as a dog who has been fed raw for three or four years..
Saya been on raw diet since she was 8months old. Bone in meals can be anything from chicken breast, drumstick, quarter, neck, pork shoulder, ribs, lamb ribs, lamb neck, or rabbit bone in and so on.
all her organs except gizzards are from grass fed/free ranged sources.. I rotate each week between liver sources of pork, lamb, chicken, and beef. with way I feed raw it requires 5% of liver and 5% of other secreting organ and the other secreting organs I rotate between each week is beef, lamb kidneys, beef thymus, lamb testes, and used to be beef pancreas, but ran out. I need re order it along with some other things when I have room in freeze.
I feed whole prey(meaning it includes the head, organs and most likely feathers or fur) items like Pacifiv saury(mackerel pike),quail, and rabbit.
I get the fish from an Asian market they sell it without guts or with it I rather get the ones with guts since it comes with more stuff.
I get quail from hare-today and the rabbits are ones Saya has caught and I froze for long time. So far hadn't had an issue with parasites, but places do sell farm raised whole rabbits like hare-today, mypetcarnivore and other places.
Raw diet isn't for everyone and has ups and downs.. Only downs I have with it is I get people thinking they know better and tell me what I'm feeding is wrong and I should feed kibble or how dogs need to eat herbs in order to digest raw and dogs don't have opportunity so diet is wrong and so on.
I have honest kitchen Saya enjoys it as a snack or small meal it's bit pricey though luckily she doesn't need a ton for it to be a snack and she doesn't get it every day.
She does like ziwipeak food which is pricey too. I gotten some samples and they make good treats..
Here's a meal of ground ewe with some chicken hearts mixed in. I have her joint supplements mixed in it plus some fish oil
Meals vary from week to week sometimes she gets liver and kidney as a meal one week some weeks she gets liver Monday and thymus on Saturday and so on.
She usually gets one or two bone in meals a week and two chicken feet a week too.
Between that she gets boneless meat of either pork, goose, deer, beef scraps, ground meat from turkey, emu, ewe, heart, gizzards, tongue, caned fish, smelt, mackerel, saury and she usually gets an egg twice a week sometimes one a week.
She gets honest kitchen for small snack or on days I need hurry.
Some weeks she gets a pork pork roasts which she usually eats 7oz or 10oz of it then she is done. Her average meal size is 5oz 6oz or 7oz a day.
Sometimes I get lucky and dad gets some bone in dove, boneless goose or anything his hunter buds don't like to eat..
We get so many the dogs can enjoy it.
So far hadn't had any issues with raw she had some rocket butt(diarrhea) due to something new introduced too quickly, but when I went back to normal meals she got back to normal and I introduced the new item much slower..
Saya gets kibble for training treats which she loves and sometimes get a cooked egg, honest kitchen or something like that for treat.
Whenever I have bacon I save tiny bit for Bella and Saya for extra special recall treat that day. They don't get bacon often so it's yummy tiny treat.
String cheese is one of her favorite recall treat too.
@ curlytails thanks for the tile it helps put it in perstpective, same with @saya piece. It is food for thought as to whether those programs are doable on a limited budget and/or limited game resource. So dogs can eat chicken bones if raw.
There is always the potential Salmonella / e coli with feeding raw chicken/beef/pork.
As for bones, they have a lower chance of splintering if raw (cooking increases that chance). I still don't like risking it.
Raw fish on the other hand is safer, cold blooded animals are less likely to harbor harmful bacteria, if frozen and handled correctly, sushi would be very nutritious for your dog (but costly).
Personally I don't know about the raw diet, don't think the "benefits" outweigh the harms involved. I'd rather cook the food then feed it.
Comments
However he wont eat just kibble alone..generally i mix it with some chicken & rice otherwise he'll just refuse to eat. Is anyone else experiencing the same problem as me? If so what do you generally mix the dry food with?
While being on the Acana and Orijen , I havent noticed him being particularly gassy however his stool can sometimes be a bit runny (sorry for the detail ) Im not sure should i be changing his food and I did consider barf at one stage but he's only 10 months and I dont know if barf will give him all the nutrients he needs while he is still a puppy.
Its worth noting that dogs have 20% the taste buds humans have but significantly better noses. Pungent foods will get their interest better than something with little smell.
out of curiosity...does anyone know what do the akitas in japan feed on?
Boxes of small bags (puppy food maybe?) Select Balance for show prizes:
https://picasaweb.google.com/107561312362040855135/GunmaAKIHOShow2012#5737202129573009026
Big huge bags of Select Balance for the adult prizes - note the label Breeder's Pack:
https://picasaweb.google.com/107561312362040855135/GunmaAKIHOShow2012#5737194151315935618
When I first put him on mostly Orijen (80/20 protein to others) he had diarrhea for 2 days. I cooked some chicken breast with brown rice, bok choy, parsley, ginger, basil and fed him that to calm his stomach for the next 2 days, still feeding Orijen. Now he's on Orijen completely and his stool is solid.
You just need a transition period, or supplement additional fiber. Brown rice worked great for me, but if you prefer grain-free you could always feed some bananas.
my boy gets diarrhea on and off sometimes, its beginning to worry me a bit. I normally do the transition to different food slowly but occasionally he will still have a the odd runny stool. He such a picky eater that if i just feed him his Orijen he just turns his nose from it. however i did add some sesame oil with his kibble tonight mixed with his rice and chicken and brocolli and he ate it all.. (most impressed)
I heard from previous posts that canned pumpkin can be quite good to relieve runny stool however there isnt any stores in ireland that stock them..i assume fresh pumpkin will do..Should i cook it or leave it raw ? He use to eat bananas but not anymore..
What do you mean by "missing link"? Are you talking about supplements like fish oil?
Here is a link! http://www.petflow.com/product/the-missing-link/the-missing-link-ultimate-hip-and-joint-dry-dog-food
http://www.bestbullysticks.com/home/bbs/page_15067_11/dried_bovine_gullet_cookies_for_dogs.html
http://www.amazon.com/Grizzly-All-Natural-Supplement-Pump-Bottle-Dispenser/dp/B0002ABR6E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350993655&sr=8-1&keywords=fish+oil+for+dogs
I use Honest Kitchen Embark (complete meal) or Preference (meatless premix) as a base most of the time -- this is what I mean when I say it's really easy to add fresh stuff to this dehydrated raw dog food, so it's one of the most convenient commercial brands for me. If the meat is a significant piece I'll just sprinkle on some supplements or something.
Also, re: Missing Link, I remember looking into it before and hearing good reviews about it, but I wasn't so sure about some of the ingredients, specifically the yeast, kelp, and beef-derived elements. But that was with an eye towards my own hypothyroid dog who for a while was really susceptible to yeast infections, shouldn't be getting too much kelp, and sometimes has issues with beef. I'm honestly not sure that a supplement is necessary from puppyhood if the dog is already getting a good, balanced, healthy diet. That said, I do use a lot of supplements now that Bowdu's issues have manifested, just not the multi-ingredient variety that ML formulas tend to be.
And since you ask, I know @saya's got TONS of pictures of what a raw meal/diet looks like. Get ready.
@curlytails, I like that collage!
This has head and bones, but no guts like her mackerel pike she sometimes eats the whole fish or leaves a bit for another time this time she ate up to the tail area there is enough meat for small snack for to be part of the meal..
It was bit fatter piece had some meat on it too. Saya doesn't get beef brisket at all so it was nice treat.
Second pic is chicken foot, chicken heart and brisket that my dad trimmed off when we smoked it for a party.
This pic is two chicken hearts and a chicken liver
I weighed them in 3oz meat balls for yummy meals I usually give along with either an egg, organ, chicken foot or bone in meal.
This pic is of ground emu I got from an emu farmer when I went to Madison WI we got a thing of ground emu and emu brats both tasted good.
grass fed Lamb heart from local farmer Saya enjoys these very rich I don't recommend feeding this much to a dog Saya handles it fine though, but some need a bone in meal with meal like heart.
a chicken drumstick and a bit of grass fed beef tongue
When some people ask for recipe on how feed raw diet it's hard because when a dog is new to it you need to take it slow you can't feed same variety as a dog who has been fed raw for three or four years..
Saya been on raw diet since she was 8months old. Bone in meals can be anything from chicken breast, drumstick, quarter, neck, pork shoulder, ribs, lamb ribs, lamb neck, or rabbit bone in and so on.
all her organs except gizzards are from grass fed/free ranged sources.. I rotate each week between liver sources of pork, lamb, chicken, and beef. with way I feed raw it requires 5% of liver and 5% of other secreting organ and the other secreting organs I rotate between each week is beef, lamb kidneys, beef thymus, lamb testes, and used to be beef pancreas, but ran out. I need re order it along with some other things when I have room in freeze.
I feed whole prey(meaning it includes the head, organs and most likely feathers or fur) items like Pacifiv saury(mackerel pike),quail, and rabbit.
I get the fish from an Asian market they sell it without guts or with it I rather get the ones with guts since it comes with more stuff.
I get quail from hare-today and the rabbits are ones Saya has caught and I froze for long time. So far hadn't had an issue with parasites, but places do sell farm raised whole rabbits like hare-today, mypetcarnivore and other places.
Raw diet isn't for everyone and has ups and downs.. Only downs I have with it is I get people thinking they know better and tell me what I'm feeding is wrong and I should feed kibble or how dogs need to eat herbs in order to digest raw and dogs don't have opportunity so diet is wrong and so on.
I have honest kitchen Saya enjoys it as a snack or small meal it's bit pricey though luckily she doesn't need a ton for it to be a snack and she doesn't get it every day.
She does like ziwipeak food which is pricey too. I gotten some samples and they make good treats..
Here's a meal of ground ewe with some chicken hearts mixed in. I have her joint supplements mixed in it plus some fish oil
Meals vary from week to week sometimes she gets liver and kidney as a meal one week some weeks she gets liver Monday and thymus on Saturday and so on.
She usually gets one or two bone in meals a week and two chicken feet a week too.
Between that she gets boneless meat of either pork, goose, deer, beef scraps, ground meat from turkey, emu, ewe, heart, gizzards, tongue, caned fish, smelt, mackerel, saury and she usually gets an egg twice a week sometimes one a week.
She gets honest kitchen for small snack or on days I need hurry.
Some weeks she gets a pork pork roasts which she usually eats 7oz or 10oz of it then she is done. Her average meal size is 5oz 6oz or 7oz a day.
Sometimes I get lucky and dad gets some bone in dove, boneless goose or anything his hunter buds don't like to eat..
We get so many the dogs can enjoy it.
So far hadn't had any issues with raw she had some rocket butt(diarrhea) due to something new introduced too quickly, but when I went back to normal meals she got back to normal and I introduced the new item much slower..
Saya gets kibble for training treats which she loves and sometimes get a cooked egg, honest kitchen or something like that for treat.
Whenever I have bacon I save tiny bit for Bella and Saya for extra special recall treat that day. They don't get bacon often so it's yummy tiny treat.
String cheese is one of her favorite recall treat too.
As for bones, they have a lower chance of splintering if raw (cooking increases that chance). I still don't like risking it.
Raw fish on the other hand is safer, cold blooded animals are less likely to harbor harmful bacteria, if frozen and handled correctly, sushi would be very nutritious for your dog (but costly).
Personally I don't know about the raw diet, don't think the "benefits" outweigh the harms involved. I'd rather cook the food then feed it.