Can you suggest a dog food? I have heard that Hills and science diet are horrible. Since my baby doesn't have any crystals in her urine, I don't think that would help anyway. Today is day 6 and she just bled ALOT. Since no crystals were found in her urine, should I still have her checked for stones? Any help would be so appreciated.
After loosing my Doberman to cancer many years ago, I was crushed - my g-father was a vet and it was before commercial dog food became popular that he practiced (late 1930's) I remembered that when I was growing up and would stay at their house for almost the entire summer, he always fed the dog people food *not scraps with fat and gravy etc. . .-food fit for humans) I read a lot over the years and started learning what different ingredients in commercial dog food were, and what they were used for. . .more about that after*** - and personally decided that I would serve my real dogs - real food. I am not saying it is practical for everyone - nor is it cheap by any means - but in all honesty my dogs are now 1-who will be 11 in May, 1 - 11 in November, 1-will be 7 in June and 1 6 in mid Feb. One of the 11 year olds came to me at 1 1/2 years of age - the others were between 3 1/2 months and 1 year when I adopted them. The first week I had him I kept him on dog food, and gradually got him on a real food diet - I didn't want to mess up his stomach - the others, I didn't even bother graduating - I just fed them real food - no problems of a gastric nature with any. None are on meds except heartworm preventative and 1 gets triple cod liver oil capsules *he's allergic to meat and poultry, so he eats fish and shrimp - None have arthritis - both of the older ones can still get air and chase frisbees - Percy has to rest after 3 or 4 catches, but he was born with a congenital heart problem. None have ever had their teeth cleaned or lost an adult tooth - none have bad breath, except the little one and thats just for about an hour AFTER he eats his fish. None have fleas or ticks and they aren't on Frontline or any other flea remedy - they just have garlic in their diets which takes care of that. Their bloodwork is done regularilly and everything is perfect. None are overweight - except the little one tends to weigh in at 11-12 lbs when ideally her should be 10lbs - but my hubby is heavy handed with his portions when he feeds them :roll: IIt costs me about $200 - per month to feed the 4 of them - and time to prepare it, but it's time and money I don't spend carrying them to a vet and putting their unborn grandchildren through college. I figure I break even this way and have healthy pups...but that's me and it's not for everyone - granted. IF I had to feed them a commercial food, I'd choose: Blue Buffalo (available at Petsmart) doesn't contain animal by-products, preservatives, fillers, or corn. It is one of the better commercial dog foods and because of it's high nutritional content and no fillers, you actually feed your dog less of it. Less poop - better smell when they do too. Better coat, better health. Ditto with NuPro(a supplement for bones/joints/coat) and NutroMax brand or one of their other varieties - they make a couple. http://www.nutroproducts.com http://www.nuprosupplements.com http://www.bluebuff.com/?gclid=CJKhr...FRqgnAodEzo7lg ***Those additives I mentioned in the beginning:---from an Iams label It's so easy to read over a list of ingredients and think, sure, that looks cool. BUT take a moment to look a bit closer. . .Here is that Iams ingredient list discected just a bit: Bold print is the ingredient - reg print is my comments on it * First Ten Ingredients Chicken Corn Meal Ground Whole Grain Sorghum Chicken By-Product Meal Poultry by-product meal is a high-protein commodity used as a major component in some pet foods. It is made from grinding clean, rendered parts of poultry carcasses and can contain bones, offal and undeveloped eggs, but only contains feathers that are unavoidable in the processing of the poultry parts.[1] Poultry by-product meal quality and composition can change from one batch to another. Chicken by-product meal, like poultry by-product, is made of "dry, ground, rendered clean parts of the chicken carcass" according to AAFCO and may contain the same ingredients as poultry-by product. Chicken by-product can vary in quality from batch to batch. Chicken by-product costs less than chicken muscle meat and lacks the digestibility of chicken muscle meat.SOURCE- Wikipedia Ground Whole Grain Barley Fish Meal (source of fish oil)Fish meal, or fishmeal, is a commercial product made from both whole fish and the bones and offal** from processed fish. It is a brown powder or cake obtained by rendering pressing the whole fish or fish trimmings to remove the fish oil. **Offal is the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of organs, but includes most internal organs other than muscles or bones. Depending on the cultural context, offal may be considered as waste material that is thrown away, or as delicacies that command a high price. Offal not used directly for human or animal food is often processed in a rendering plant, producing material that is used for animal feed, fertilizer, or fuel. The major use of fish meal is as a high-protein supplement in aquaculture feed. The main producing countries in 2004 were Peru, Chile, China, Thailand, USA, Japan and Denmark. World-wide production is about 6.3 million tons annually. SOURCE: Wikipedia Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed) Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E, and Citric Acid) Natural Chicken Flavor Dried Egg Product Remaining Ingredients Brewers Dried Yeast, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Flax Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine**DL-methionine is sometimes added as an ingredient to pet foods. Methionine, cysteine, and soy protein heated in a small amount of water creates a meat-like aroma SOURCE:Wikipedia. Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide** Manganous oxide is made by the reduction of manganous dioxide (MnO2) by carbon, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, or hydrocarbons at temperatures between 400° and 800° C (750° and 1,450° F). Manganese is readily assimilated by plants in this form, so that MnO is used as a fertilizer supplement in manganese-deficient regions. SOURCE: Encyclopædia Britannica Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Rosemary Extract, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Folic Acid, Cobalt Carbonate** **Cobalt(II) carbonate also known as spherocobaltite is a mineral with chemical formula CoCO3. It is the carbonate salt of cobalt. It forms red trigonal crystals with specific gravity 4.13 which decompose on melting. It is insoluble in either cold or hot water but soluble in acids. It is used in pottery glazes and may be found in pottery supply stores. SOURCE Wikipedia Note: I could not find any place on the internet where this chemical is added to any food fit for human consumption and while it is listed as an ingrediant in a number of pet foods on the market, there is no mention of what it is there for - used in glaze for pottery? Sure, why not, just feed it to a dog! Guaranteed Analysis Protein (min) 26% Fat (min) 14% Fibre (max) 5% Moisture (max) 10% Just some food additives for thought Please excuse typos - contact lenses out and too lazy to grab glasses lol Had the food additives stored in my pc and did a cut and paste, but surely this is error ridden
That a lot of great info. Thanks. Even though I don't have any dogs, makes me think I better look at our cat food see what we give them.
Give the antibiotics another couple days to kick in - since you had the culture done and her kidneys are fine and she's not diabetic, a couple more days might show an improvement. Your vet would surely be running more tests if he were alarmed. Is she drinking plenty of water? Make sure she stays hydrated. I never give mine tap water, only filtered or bottled stuff - I don't trust tap water - anywhere. There are some experts who say that some tap water can cause Urinary Tract Infections - cancer and other infections/diseases because of the chlorine and whatever that they purify it with - others disagree. .I figure my critters only drink water on a regular basis so the water I give them is as important as their food. Like I said though, some disagree.
My cats do eat commercial food - they dont like human grade food at all - except cheese lol can't live on cheese though so they eat Blue Buffalo cat food.
All of my dogs eat Nutros Natural Choice. I have used Nutros dog food for the past 10 years and love it! It is a great quality dog food and high in the amino fatty acids which is important for healthy skin and coat and the ingredients they use are easy on the tummies.
Ditto on the water info from Zoo. My guys get their water from the fridge door because it is filtered (and they love the cold water!) My Cairn had urinary tract problems when he was a pup and we stopped giving them tap water then because of all the chemicals and chlorine in the water. No more UTI's!
Another thing about the water-we had a dog who had bladder stones and the vet said it was b/c of tap water. She had bottled after that.
Bottled:Spring or Purified Filtered using Pur - Britta or any system like that. Filtered through fridge - IF you have a filter - just because a fridge dispenses H2O it doesn't mean its been filtered/purified whatever.
Give them what you drink! If tap water isnt good enough for you, then its not good enough for them! We have an automatic waterer that we put filtered water in and it has a filter also! My cats are my babies.:iagree:
Cool beans! I noticed my long haired kitty had a lot more sheen to his coat after a couple weeks on the Blue Buffalo and a lot less scooping from the litterbox Let me know how they are doing after they are on it awhile.
