Pet Food

[CoffeeCanuck]

I bought my babes a "bully" stick... Man alive, those stunk!

LOLOL! Well, it is a bull penis!

~D

[Jo]

I bought my babes a "bully" stick... Man alive, those stunk!

Thinking of what they are exactly, I have no doubt whatsoever that they would!

[Triple 6]

I bought my babes a "bully" stick... Man alive, those stunk!

Thinking of what they are exactly, I have no doubt whatsoever that they would!

But Jo, CC is right my babies go nuts (no pun intended) for em.

[Jo]

my babies go nuts (no pun intended) for em.

[Triple 6]

Thank you Hope for the link. Rather disturbing.

[CoffeeCanuck]

Thats an interesting link Hope. I too used to feed my dogs Iams and thought I was giving them the best. Only when I started closely looking into them and other pet foods did I realize my dogs were not getting the best. I began my search for a better pet food because I had seen undercover video taken in these test labs. Now many people take issue with PETA. I'm not a member, nor will I be, but there is no denying what one see's with their own eyes. I simply wanted to have a better quality diet for my beloved pets, as do most people, and did not want to support companies that abused and did cruel animal testing. All that being said, I feel like a hypocrite at times as I use products from Proctor & Gamble which owns Iams, however I'm trying to use less and less.

When one actually digs a little into the pet food industry, it's sad to see what truly is happening behind the scenes and what is really going into so called quality pet food.

~D

[moi]

I use Solid Gold that I get from Glenmore Kennels. It's pricey but it goes a long way. My border collie eats about 1/2 cup in the summers and about 1 cup in the winters. With other brands..she would eat 2 cups or more to finally feel full.

[moi]

Here's a coupon for "Eagle Pack" users...

http://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/EP_Coupo ... grams.html

I decided to go with Orijen now since I noticed my 13 yr old dog does better with dog food that has more fruits/veggies in it. She's less lame when she has tons of veggies/fruits in her food. I'm off to Buckerfield to make the switch; she's getting low on food anyway and good timing to give her half of the new food and half of old....

[CoffeeCanuck]

What I am learning is there is indeed quality pet food available from different manufacturers. One simply needs to do a little bit of research into the company, their ethical practices (which is very important to me), what exactly are the ingredients, are they needed etc. I've come across many, many different ones and all the websites have store locaters. Kelowna is fortunate in that it's a larger city centre with a number of specialty stores that do carry these foods, and suprisingly they are not that much more expensive. Would it be easy to pick up a cheap bag of dog or cat food at the grocery store, sure it would, but I personally want better for my pet. Not everyone does. My brother feeds his pets the cheapest food he can buy. Will they survive on it, of course, but I believe there is better to offer our beloved pets who are part of our family. There is also the benefit of ones dog not pooping as much, when given a better food, and trust me, that matters a great deal to me...lol.

Anyone have their dog or cat on a 100% barf diet?

~D

[anniecat]

A relative of mine has their dog on "100% BARF" and we have looked after her for extended periods while they have been out of the country.

She is a very healthy dog with the most gorgeous white teeth and beautiful shiny coat but I do have a couple of concerns feeding that type of diet. First of all, the name given, "barf" diet seems fitting as she throws up A LOT. I don't know if that's typical of that diet or just that particular dog but it seems excessive.

She eats pre-packed raw salmon, chicken, beef and sometimes tripe (not sure if that's spelled right). She eats a half a pack for breakfast, with ground fresh vegetables and the same again in the evening. She also has one "fasting" day a week where she has nothing but cut up fruits with yogurt or cottage cheese and sometimes mixed with canned pumpkin.

We are considering getting a dog for our family and I really am undecided which way to go with the raw food diet. It really seems to prolong a dog's life and makes them beautiful and healthy but it is a real pain to store and feed, especially if you go away such as camping (keeping the packs frozen) and you have to be very careful from contamination.

[CoffeeCanuck]

I've heard a lot of positives about the barf diet, but I too have concerns and wonder if anyone had any negative experiences with it. Someone I know had a greyhound and was fed the barf diet, with the yogurt and vegies and such. Personally I was very concerned for this dogs health as it just seemed to be very underweight to me. I know greyhounds are naturally lean, but this dog you could see every rib and it's backbone. Every time I mentioned my concerns about its weight, I was told they naturally look like that and she was healthy according to their vet. They used to go running with this dog and one day, after a run the dog came in, collapsed and died. I just wonder to this day if the poor thing was not fed right.

There are commercially prepared meat 'pucks' that one can buy, and I did try it for a bit, but my dog was always hungry and looking for more food, so I went back to dry kibble.

As much as we all want the best for our pets, and spend a small fortune on them, I often think back to the days when our grandparents would feed the dogs table scraps, and they seemed to do ok and live long lives. However, I will continue to try and do the best I can by my dogs and keep my fingers crossed they remain healthy and live long lives.

~D

[Snickerdoodle]

I have my dog on a version of the barf diet... I buy the premade raw food from doggytopia. Brenda there carries I think 2 or 3 raw food diet brands. Niles is on the Mountain brand, turkey and veggies.

I used to feed my dogs, when we had 3 over 100lbs and niles the kibble that was from Buckerfields, their house brand. But then kept hearing more and more positive things about raw food from breeders, vets and holistic animal health professionals. So I tried one large dog on it, and Niles. The large dog had suffered for years from a dry skin and sores without any help from medication or such. Once I stuck her on the raw food, they went away, she dropped weight (she was obese) and her coat, breath and everything was 150% better. Niles I didn't notice as much of a change as he had no health problems.
What I do notice on the occassional time I've bought kibble instead of raw food, is I notice it immediately with Niles, in his droppings and his breath, and weight. While he's on the raw food, you don't get that horrible doggy poop smell, so going for walks and being responsible picking up after him isn't near as bad as it is when he's on kibble. His breath and overall health I would say has vastly improved while on the raw diet.
I would not go back now to kibble at all. Although if forced to, there is one brand I've done some research into, called Prairie, again available at all the doggy boutique's, but I find doggitopia is by far the best place and the most reasonable.

[Baba O'Riley]

... there is one brand I've done some research into, called Prairie, again available at all the doggy boutique's, but I find doggitopia is by far the best place and the most reasonable.

That's exactly what I feed my hairy baby, bought from Doggytopia too! Here's the link that I posted earlier, if anyone wants more info:

http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.lasso?page=1136

[CoffeeCanuck]

That Prairie food does seem to be a great food. Sadly it's not available where I live. I like that it has no corn, no wheat, and no soy. I did find a similar food, Blue Seal Pork & Barley that also has no wheat, corn or soy. I was quite surprised that it's $30 cheaper than my other brand and I get a bigger bag. My dogs have been on it now for three days and they love it and best of all my boxers allergies that had flared up have gone way down. I did write the company to ask if they tested on animals and if so what kind. They replied right back and said they only do taste and preference testing at the local animal shelter and the odd blood work to determine nutritional uptake, so I'm satisfied with that answer.

~D

[Snickerdoodle]

Maybe you should see if Doggytopia would ship you up a bunch of bags if you called Brenda the owner and paid for it via credit card.
Last year if you went onto the prairie website you could print off a coupon that would let you get a free bag with the purchase of one bag.. so two for one... and at Doggytopia prices it made for a hell of a deal.
Where abouts do you live coffee canuk... maybe you should look at becoming a distributor where you are?