# confessions of a dog food snob



## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

Alright, those of you who have been here a while know how obsessed with dog food and nutrition I am. I spend years reading, digging, contacting manufacturers-doing everything I could to learn all I could about kibbles and canned foods-and then it went into dehydrated and raw and home cooked... I have a book shelf full of dog nutrition and cook books.

Tucker is great and can eat just about anything but he gets super picky. He doesn't want to eat anything for more than two meals in a a row, and while I can understand that, it's not very practical. Not to mention how bitter you get when you have spent your entire weekend in the kitchen making him batches of food... 

Rocky has always had issues with vomiting and bad stools. His soft stools have caused problems with his anal glands needing expressed all the time as well.

Addison-our new spoo, can't seem to handle any variety at all.

You name a boutique brand- we have tried it. DH and I have had innumerable fights over dog food and the cost of how I prefer to feed. Seriously, some real marriage stressing arguments over dog food.

Most recent-we tried Acana. Rocky had great stool (Which never happens.) but started to lose hair. Addison has loose stool. Feed less they said, so I did, still loose, feed even less-still loose... add pumpkin-...slight improvement... add pro biotic... a little bit more improved but still loose....

Ok switch to wellness.... back to semi soft stool in the boys and Addison's is better but we still get some puddles and it is still impossible to pick off of people's lawns when we go for a walk. It's so gross to have to rip out grass when you pick up poo....

I'm done everyone. I am over it. I am completely over digestive issues and battling this for over 5 years now.

We are trying Science Diet.

Yes, you read that right. I am going there! :blink: After all these years of turning up my nose and being snooty about what dog food is being fed I am totally going there. 

I am sick of dog food issues and I am going to give the big boys a try. Their facilities are clean-to the point you can take a tour at any time... their research is solid.... and if you do use a formula with corn-it is human grade corn you are using-and the corn is processed in such a way that it is digestible. 

I am done being a dog food snob. I will no longer turn my nose up to Purina and Royal Canin and Science diet (no beneful or pedigree please) and if this doesn't solve our digestive problems I think I will go in a corner and sob myself to sleep.


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## pippersmom (May 21, 2012)

Pipper has to be on Royal Canin Urinary SO watered down to the consistency of soup and I hate that he has to be on this food but at least his poops are amazing. :blush: He faithfully goes 2 times a day at the same time every day and he has nicely formed poops that aren't too soft or too hard and clean up is a breeze so that must say something for this food....right?????


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## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

pippersmom said:


> Pipper has to be on Royal Canin Urinary SO watered down to the consistency of soup and I hate that he has to be on this food but at least his poops are amazing. :blush: He faithfully goes 2 times a day at the same time every day and he has nicely formed poops that aren't too soft or too hard and clean up is a breeze so that must say something for this food....right?????


Honestly Kathy, I think through all of this I have learned that the 'bad' foods we hate to feed, aren't actually as bad as we think. I really really think, that Royal Canin, Science Diet, and most Purina products are actually really good-they have the most research to back them up... most of the boutique foods that we all go on about, don't have a fraction of the research behind them-they just have a pretty ingredient panel.


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## Matilda's mommy (Jun 1, 2005)

Shelly, I hear ya, Maddie just won't eat kibble and I have to hand feed her meat, other wise she turns her nose up at it. The only thing she loved was veggies, now she's turning her nose at that:w00t:

I remember my Miss Bow was like that I got so desperate that I fed her BilJac
That was the only thing she would eat.

I'm so frustrated


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

I feed one Royal Canin and the other Purina products. They do great. Long ago I stopped listening to which food is best and instead pay attention to which food my dog does best on.


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## sherry (Jan 4, 2013)

I had my two on Royal Canin Hepatic because of Riley's Mvd for 2 years until they decided they were tired of it. Sissy will only eat the same thing as Riley. But when I switched them to The Honest Kitchen they love it and beg for it. Sissy also begs for her cottage cheese afternoon snack! I hope they don't tire of this!


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## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

@Paula, I so feel your pain  I am so sorry for your frustration. It is such a big deal when you have a picky eater. I just got to the point with Tucker where I am like, fine, this is it, you're getting kibble, and if you don't eat it, I'm not going to worry about it anymore. It took a couple of weeks to get him to eat it on a regular basis but I no longer have any trouble with him refusing it-some days he eats less, but he's a tiny guy anyway.

@JMM I wish I would have adopted that philosophy a long time ago. That's it, bottom line, you have to do what works for your dogs. I was just so stuck on what was on the ingredient list, that common sense seemed to slip my mind completely.

@sherry I still love The Honest Kitchen, I just wish everyone did great on it-but even if they did, DH and I would fight about the price. It is still one of my favorite brands  I hope it continues to work out for you and your fluffs! You can try to switch flavors maybe in between boxes? As long as it fits the nutrient profiles that you are looking for.


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

Shelly, has either of your boys been tested for food sensitivity or allergy. That might help with which diet you choose. If you think it's IBD and not IBS, you should try a hydrolized diet. That will help reduce the inflammation.


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## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

Nope, no one has been tested for allergies, the test is controversial among vets and since we haven't had any severe attacks recently I am not interested in paying for it. We also have not done a biopsy to confirm IBD. We have had x rays and tons of bloodwork and stool samples and on and on and I am not interested in putting out any more funds at the vets office unless I have to. 

Right now we have formed but soft stool and we are going to go in this science diet when we are done with our wellness and see what happens from there.


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

jmm said:


> I feed one Royal Canin and the other Purina products. They do great. Long ago I stopped listening to which food is best and instead pay attention to which food my dog does best on.


Amen to that!:blush: My Lily eat Natural Balance Dry Limited Diet, the other two eat Fromm dry, and they are thriving! I do give a tiny bit of Fresh Pet once a day, and bites of table food like bread, chicken, broccoli,bananas, apples, etc..except when we are out of town..you can't beat kibble when traveling with 3 Malts!:HistericalSmiley:


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

shellbeme said:


> Nope, no one has been tested for allergies, the test is controversial among vets and since we haven't had any severe attacks recently I am not interested in paying for it. We also have not done a biopsy to confirm IBD. We have had x rays and tons of bloodwork and stool samples and on and on and I am not interested in putting out any more funds at the vets office unless I have to.
> 
> Right now we have formed but soft stool and we are going to go in this science diet when we are done with our wellness and see what happens from there.


Well, if the science diet doesn't work out for you, maybe you can treat them like an IBD dog. One novel protein and one carb that they have never had and see if that helps. Nothing else. It may take up to 6-8 weeks to see a difference but at least you can isolate what food their system can not tolerate.
I'm sure you already know all this :thumbsup:

Lacie was doing great on Blue buffalo hydrolyzed, a trial we were in but wouldn't you know when the last bag ran out and I tried to reorder it. The Doctor who was running the trial would not call me back after numerous attempts. Come to find out, all the veterinarian hospitals from my home to Boston decided not to carry it, so I was left scrambling trying to find a novel protein she could tolerate again.
Do what works for you, hopefully the Science diet will do the trick.


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## maggieh (Dec 16, 2007)

Two questions:

Have you tried Addiction?

And have you tried adding Animal Essentials Phytomucil Colon Support? That has been the magic combination for my IBS fluff and Sweetness does lo on it too.

Royal Canin actually sent Tessa to the ER because of the grains and chicken. 

Good luck!


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## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

Maggie we have tried addiction, it didn't work out well. We have not tried the animal essentials but I have spent plenty on tons of other similar products that never quite delivered.

I will let everyone know how things go with the science diet once we are fully transitioned. As I mentioned before we are still finishing up wellness at the moment so it will be a few weeks I suspect.


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

My Lily has IBD and has been in remission for awhile... she is eating Natural Balance Kangaroo and potato...I think they also have one with rabbit..


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## puppydoll (Jul 11, 2013)

Shelly, I hope Science Diet works for your pups. I know how frustrating it can be to try and do the best for your maltese....and then to run into problems. Keep us informed.


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## Snuggle's Mom (Jan 3, 2008)

Not sure whether what I might suggest will help, but we had Chrissy (due to her Pancreatitis) on Solid Gold Blendz and she did very well) but switched again to Verus which has even less fat and protein and she is thriving on that as well. We had noticed somewhat of a weight and that is why we switched to Verus.


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