General Question Acana Kibble, RAW or both?

[ChrisNZ]

Hi all,

New member here! I have been reading the threads here and thought I'd join as I have a couple of questions. I currently have two British Bulldogs who are 18 months old. They've been fed kibble as their main morning and night meal, however for about a month they were having canned bushtail possum at night which they loved. They're currently on Nutrience Subzero Canadian Pacific kibble. For treats they get dried lamb lung, green-lipped mussels and whole dried salmon (small, about 15cm long).

The girl has had tear stains for as long as I can remember and I thought it was Royal Canin so we changed kibble however it hasn't decreased, and when we're out on a walk she will eat grass. The boy sometimes get a patch of red skin under his eye on the fold and has pimples which have come up within the last 2-3 months. Hence why we are thinking of either changing to Acana brand kibble, or going raw (or giving the acana in the morning and raw at night). Just wondering what others opinions are? The kibble we were thinking of trying was the Acana duck and going from there.

Being in New Zealand we don't have all the brands available unfortunately!

And here's a picture of them!



If I've missed anything out let me know.

Thanks for all your help!
Chris.

 

[helsonwheels]

[MENTION=19231]ChrisNZ[/MENTION] WELCOME!! Your puppies are beautiful! Nutrience has made a comeback from many years ago. It’s from Canada n yes wild caught fish. It’s a very good quality kibble. Tear stains basically is very hard to get rid of. All my dogs were fed orijen n acana. (Same company) My EB were feed Acana the one protein bags as I wanted to monitor allergies if any. Btw none ever had allergies as I would rotate every month different protein. Also acana is the only kibble that has tripe. Maybe today others has started to add some I’m not sure. Haven’t seen any. Had a 2.5 yr old that passed away not to long ago and I recall when I had him as a puppy he had tear stains. What I noticed is I feed him n my brindle Nyala, frozen tripe as a treat everyday. His stains disappeared. But I did clean on daily basis with fragrance free baby wipes n dry with paper towel to absorb moisture properly. Took a few months and all disappeared. I did end up stopping the kibbles n feed both raw. When Duke passed, I ended up getting his blood brother Jake. Jake also had tear stains. He was feed kibbles n once in a while raw frozen tripe as a treat from the breeder. Not on regular basis. When I brought him home, he was put also on frozen raw. His tear stains disappeared. I do clean his folds on regular basis. Now that’s 2 white face dogs, both ate/eat the same thing, both ended up on 100% raw n both dog’s tear stains disappeared. Jake n Nyala snacks are either frozen herrings or tripe. I rotate. Now the tripe is the smelly greenish/white colours. You’re feeding your dogs very healthy treats. However, you are feeding them a lot of different fish. Since you want to go raw, why not just go 100% raw. Get off the fish as you already know they do good with fish. I believe when the PH is not balanced in the body it causes tear stains n yeast. Why if you go 100% raw, the gut will balanced itself cause of the meat, organs, bones n fat needed daily. If you decide to make your own raw, follow the guidelines on the link below. Wish we had kangaroo here as I would definitely feed it to my dogs.

https://dogsfirst.ie/raw-faq/raw-diet-for-dogs/

 

[Cbrugs]

Welcome! I feed Louie kibble in the am and raw in the pm. The main reason he does not get all raw is because he eats so much and I just don’t have the freezer space even though I have a small chest freezer in the garage. Eventually I will buy a bigger freezer. I make up 2 weeks worth of meals at a time. Louie also has tear stains but his are caused because his lower eyelids invert just slightly causing his eyes to constantly tear.


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[2BullyMama]

Gorgeous babies!!! Helene gae you great advice!!!

I also feed raw, but due to environmental allergies, my guy still gets the tear stains because his eyes water so much from the allergies

 

[ChrisNZ]

Thank you all for the information. We started feeding the Acana Duck over the last week to see how that goes down, however I found a local raw feeding 'boutique' store which I will go and check out. Vets here seem hesitant on carrying out allergy testing as I have asked twice, however it needs to be done at a special skin vet and you need a referral. I have a feeling it's the potatoes in the food which isn't agreeing with them.

If anyone cares to check it out, the raw feeding store here is rawessentials and we also have catsanddogs but will need to go and see someone regarding the quantity etc to make sure I get it right..!

 

[Dollys Owner]

Thank you all for the information. We started feeding the Acana Duck over the last week to see how that goes down, however I found a local raw feeding 'boutique' store which I will go and check out. Vets here seem hesitant on carrying out allergy testing as I have asked twice, however it needs to be done at a special skin vet and you need a referral. I have a feeling it's the potatoes in the food which isn't agreeing with them.

If anyone cares to check it out, the raw feeding store here is rawessentials and we also have catsanddogs but will need to go and see someone regarding the quantity etc to make sure I get it right..!

Took a quick look at the rawessentials site- it says nothing is added. So I would make sure to vary the protein you feed - maybe try the meaty mixes since they also have some fish in them. I'd also add some sea kelp such as Starwest Botanicals https://www.amazon.com/Starwest-Botanicals-Organic-Powder-Pound/dp/B010OV3ONO/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=starwest+botanicals+kelp&qid=1568421971&sr=8-1

Normally you feed raw food as a percentage of their body weight- around 2-3 % depending on activity level. So a 50 pound dog would get 1 to 1.5 pounds a day.