Looking For Advice From The Food Gurus

Vikinggirl

Norwegian Rose
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Oct 8, 2012
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Burlington, ON Canada
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Bulldozer and Blossom
Hi, I'm looking for some advice from those members who feed raw, freeze dried, and or home cooked food to their bullies. I have a few questions, and need some advice. As a lot of you know my female Blossom is allergic to chicken, salmon, corn, and grains. Two years ago she was suffering from many allergy symptoms, she had pink skin, red warm ears, goopy eyes, rash or acne on her chin, and she was itchy and licking her paws. I switched her food 4 times before finding Fromm's Beef Fritatta, and both her and Bulldozer did really well on this food with no issues or allergy symptoms. Since last month, Blossom started showing some signs of allergies again, nothing major, but started licking her paws again, was scratching, and tear stains, Dozer who never had any food issues was also licking his paws to the point that his paws turned a different colour, and they were soggy, he also was shedding so much, I filled a dustpan full of his hair everyday, and when we pet him, the hair was flying. I'm thinking that being on the same food for over 2 years, they may have become intolerant to the beef, so I switched them to the Fromm's Lamb and Lentil two weeks ago. They are both doing well on this food, and Dozer has stopped shedding and licking. Blossom is still kicking a little, but it's only been 2 weeks, so may be too early to see full results of the new protein. She isn't showing any other symptoms, so I'm hopeful.


Today I went to Global Pets where I buy my dogfood, it's the same company store, but a different location as we moved, and this location is closer to us. I met the owner, I was looking for the big bag of Fromm's Lamb and Lentil, but he only had the small bag. He had two of his dogs at the store, and we started talking, he started talking about Dog Nutrition and Food, and told me that he never fed his dogs kibble, because even the best kibble was still processed and are not good for dogs. He told me he feeds his dogs home cooked food, and gives them whatever he eats, and also supplements their diet with freeze dried dog food and some raw. I am familiar with the raw food, but had never heard of freeze dried dog food. He showed me a brand called Stella and Chewy, and also his raw food. The freeze dried food is quite expensive it's $13.99 a bag and would only feed both my guys for one meal, meaning I would need 2 bags a day, which would be $28.00 a day. The raw food would cost about $12.00 a day. I know the Fromm's is a great kibble, and is a good choice, but he has me questioning if kibble is a healthy choice or if home cooked, raw, or freeze dried would be better.? My questions are could I use a combination of Home Cooked, and Raw, and maybe give Freeze Dried maybe once a week?, I did do some home cooking a while ago, but haven't in a while,
and I'm not sure if all home cooking is good, because I may not add all the right nutrients, vitamins or minerals they need. He told me that if I add Kelp to the home cooked food, that's all they need? Has anyone used Kelp for their dogs?


Does anyone have experience with using or do they use Freeze Dried Dog Food? Is it a good source of Food? My other question is if I use a combination of Raw, or Freeze Dried, can I supplement it with kibble some of the time, or will this cause digestion or tummy problems? And if I add the raw or freeze dried food, do I have to do a slow transition, or can I go back and forth between the foods?

Any help, advice, or suggestions you can give me, would be greatly appreciated.
 

ddnene

EBN's SWEETHEART aka our little GOOB
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Jun 19, 2013
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I'm going to tag the members that I know have used raw… Good Luck!!!
 

RiiSi

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Sep 30, 2011
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Freeze dried is usually like raw, but the moisture has been taken out. You need to add water before feeding. I don't know if you have freeze dried food for camping???
Hope the guy gives what ever he's eating, before seasoning the food...salt and other spices are not good for dogs. Mixing all different types of food can most definedly cause indigestion. Also if feeding just kibble causes an allergic reaction, a small amount off it will do so too. I think it would be better to get one good multivitamin supplement. With home cooked you always know what your feeding your dog, that is the safest for allergic dogs, or raw, but not the ready made patties. I'm a bit paranoid with all companys that make dog food, kibble or raw. I'm not convinced they're all 100% truthful on what they put in their products. That is why I choose to mix my own raw food. Even just yesterday I emailed one company that makes minced meats for dogs, that are they 100% sure there's no organs in their minces. The web page dogaware has good, what seems to be unbiased, informaton about different styles of feeding and supplementing.
 
OP
Vikinggirl

Vikinggirl

Norwegian Rose
Community Veteran
Oct 8, 2012
9,740
597
Burlington, ON Canada
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Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
Bulldozer and Blossom
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  • #4
Thanks Riisi. This is all so confusing, there are so many different varieties of raw, and freeze dried, and kibble, but you are right in saying all manufactured pet foods do have some degree of chemicals or preservatives, as this is necessary for long shelf life. I also agree that not all companies are 100% truthful about what they put in their foods.
 

bullmama

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The freeze dried foods like Stella & Chewys, honest kitchen, and grandma Lucy's are great, and you add water to them and let it sit a few minutes before serving, so when I've tried it I only gave a half a cup of it plus half cup water (I think) so it should last a lot longer. You are right, kibble is kibble no matter what brand, it's still processed. If you decide to try home cooking just be sure you add a supplement, I think you posted something a while back about the best and worst foods and home cooking without giving a supplement was ranked at the worst.

I do know you shouldn't mix kibble with raw since they digest differently, but you can give kibble for 1 meal and home cooked for the next meal, not sure about raw. I also use home cooked as a topper and give half kibble half home cooked .
 
OP
Vikinggirl

Vikinggirl

Norwegian Rose
Community Veteran
Oct 8, 2012
9,740
597
Burlington, ON Canada
Country
Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
Bulldozer and Blossom
  • Thread Starter
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  • #6
Thanks Lisa. I didn't mean that I would mix kibble with raw, but was wondering if I could feed kibble some of the time, and raw some of the time, like one week of kibble, one week of raw, or every other week? Was just wondering if switching between the two would cause tummy or digestion problems, or be too hard on them due to the way they are digested differently? I was also wondering about Kelp, I was told that Kelp was all you needed to add to home cooked food. Is this true?, or do they need other vitamins or supplements as well?
 

bullmama

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Jan 28, 2010
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Tucson, Arizona
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The Home of the Desert Sky Pack
Thanks Lisa. I didn't mean that I would mix kibble with raw, but was wondering if I could feed kibble some of the time, and raw some of the time, like one week of kibble, one week of raw, or every other week? Was just wondering if switching between the two would cause tummy or digestion problems, or be too hard on them due to the way they are digested differently? I was also wondering about Kelp, I was told that Kelp was all you needed to add to home cooked food. Is this true?, or do they need other vitamins or supplements as well?


I am not sure if it would be too hard on their system to switch back and forth that often.... If you were to try doing that I would do it in 3 week intervals.

As for just adding kelp, I would say no not enough. Great benefits, I think I will add it to my home cooked food too! ... but certainly doesn't cover all the nutrients that a supplement would. Here is the data on 2 Tbsp of kelp:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2617/2
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
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Stell and Chewy's is a great food.... I use it sometimes as a special treat to my guys, but I think @blueberry's mom feeds it to Blue full time
 

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