Dog food experts, come in!

[weardogbride]

Sorry if this is long. I have a 11.5 yo dane. We have been feeding Costco grain free for a long time but his gas was out of control. It was permeating our entire house!

From several Great Dane specific sites, we switched to chicken soup for the canine soul. It is supposedly the perfect protein content for large breeds and was highly recommended. It solved the gas issue almost immediately, but three days later, Zeus started vomiting every 10 minutes. He spent the night at the vet, but all of his blood work came back completely normal and the vet couldn't find any issues.

We were sent home with anti nausea meds and science diet I/D (I think-the sensitive stomach one) and had several days of no vomiting. I tried to mix in a little chicken soup today and he immediately threw it all back up.

The vet wants us to switch to science diet JD which is for mobility and arthritis. Zeus is currently on rimadyl for arthritis and the vet claims this food cures dogs of arthritis and he wouldn't need the rimadyl. The problem is that the ingredient list is complete crap....corn and chicken by product are the top two ingredients.

So WTF do I do? Another highly recommended brand was innova due to its protein content, high quality ingredients, etc. We didn't have vomiting with Costco, but the gas was unbearable. And the vets food is total crap for $80 a bag. Apparently he can't handle chicken soup.

[katietornado]

Innova is a great food. Science Diet JD is horrific. You've seen the ingredients. There's no actual meat in it. Five of the first six ingredients are grains. No no no no no.

You will find with "special" foods that have supplements in them, that you are getting very little of the supplements in the food. It would be much more worth the money to feed a normal food and buy supplements separately. Looking at JD, it appears to have Omega 3s. That is easily achieved with a daily dose of fish oil. They don't even claim to have glucosamine or chondroitin, which are unproven, but seem to be the standard in holistic joint treatment.

So. Try Innova. Get some fish oil at Costco (my dog and I take the same kind, the Kirkland brand). Get some glucosamine/chondroitin if you are so inclined (the Kirkland kind for humans is again just fine for your dog).

There are plenty of high quality dog foods; you just have to find what works for your dog. Do you have any specialty pet food stores near you? Not Petco or PetSmart. They frequently have samples and will work with you to recommend and find a food that works.

Are you familiar with dogfoodanalysis.com/? It's a great place to do research about what's in dog food.

Good luck!

[mmp]

I ended up hiring a nutritionist and home cook now. It a time suck every other weekend, but can't argue with the results. Saved my dog's life.

Consider switching from rimadyl to Zeel for the arthritis. And "Seapet 200" fish oil.

I used to feed Acana and was pretty happy with it. But my dog has a disease now and he can't have it anymore.

ETA: the nutritionist will also devise a meal plan using commercially available foods, fresh foods, and the correct supplements if you don't want to home cook. 

[gottadobe]

Wow, maybe a bad bag??
I used to feed nature's domain and just switched to Victor.

What did the Dane forums say?

[julesmcb]

I don't know where you live, but if there's a local pet supply store near you, the staff is often very knowledgeable and can give good advice on foods. As far as the arthritis, I had really good results when I started giving my lab/shepherd mix black cherry concentrate. We literally saw a difference within a day or two. He lived to be 17 and was never on rimadyl - and got around really well until right at the very end. This is the cherry concentrate I used:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004JHT3MQ/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hyaluronic acid is also really good for inflammation. You can get tablets and crush them into food, or use a liquid supplement like hyaflex - which is really good but can get expensive, especially for big guys.

www.hyaflex.com/hyaflex_dog.html

Good luck.

[patches31709]

Jan 13, 2014 19:59:22 GMT -5 katietornado said:

Innova is a great food. Science Diet JD is horrific. You've seen the ingredients. There's no actual meat in it. Five of the first six ingredients are grains. No no no no no.

You will find with "special" foods that have supplements in them, that you are getting very little of the supplements in the food. It would be much more worth the money to feed a normal food and buy supplements separately. Looking at JD, it appears to have Omega 3s. That is easily achieved with a daily dose of fish oil. They don't even claim to have glucosamine or chondroitin, which are unproven, but seem to be the standard in holistic joint treatment.

So. Try Innova. Get some fish oil at Costco (my dog and I take the same kind, the Kirkland brand). Get some glucosamine/chondroitin if you are so inclined (the Kirkland kind for humans is again just fine for your dog).

There are plenty of high quality dog foods; you just have to find what works for your dog. Do you have any specialty pet food stores near you? Not Petco or PetSmart. They frequently have samples and will work with you to recommend and find a food that works.

Are you familiar with dogfoodanalysis.com/? It's a great place to do research about what's in dog food.

Good luck!

I agree with all of this. Innova is a good food, we used to feed it before we switched to raw. Raw might be another avenue for you to consider as well.

A lot of vets aren't very well versed in nutrition, and I could be wrong but I think I've heard Science Diet sponsors some conferences on nutrition or something, so a lot of vets will recommend it, but it's garbage.

[mcmel]

Jan 16, 2014 17:29:00 GMT -5 patches31709 said:

Jan 13, 2014 19:59:22 GMT -5 katietornado said:

Innova is a great food. Science Diet JD is horrific. You've seen the ingredients. There's no actual meat in it. Five of the first six ingredients are grains. No no no no no.

You will find with "special" foods that have supplements in them, that you are getting very little of the supplements in the food. It would be much more worth the money to feed a normal food and buy supplements separately. Looking at JD, it appears to have Omega 3s. That is easily achieved with a daily dose of fish oil. They don't even claim to have glucosamine or chondroitin, which are unproven, but seem to be the standard in holistic joint treatment.

So. Try Innova. Get some fish oil at Costco (my dog and I take the same kind, the Kirkland brand). Get some glucosamine/chondroitin if you are so inclined (the Kirkland kind for humans is again just fine for your dog).

There are plenty of high quality dog foods; you just have to find what works for your dog. Do you have any specialty pet food stores near you? Not Petco or PetSmart. They frequently have samples and will work with you to recommend and find a food that works.

Are you familiar with dogfoodanalysis.com/? It's a great place to do research about what's in dog food.

Good luck!

I agree with all of this. Innova is a good food, we used to feed it before we switched to raw. Raw might be another avenue for you to consider as well.

A lot of vets aren't very well versed in nutrition, and I could be wrong but I think I've heard Science Diet sponsors some conferences on nutrition or something, so a lot of vets will recommend it, but it's garbage.

I also agree with all of this and I'd bet money vets push for Science Diet because they sell it.

We're on raw, the Prey Model Raw formula of 80% muscle meat, 10% bone, 10% organ. It takes an hour or so a month to prepare the food and then I just pull a meal at a time to defrost the day before.