Help Please

[Beabble]

Originally Posted by BabyGirl Rosie

I make up two weeks at a time and freeze it as well. I think there is a little expense up front but I too think in the long run I am coming out ahead as far as price goes.

Oh I'm sure starting out it will be a bit pricey, getting supplements and all, but it'll be well worth it and I can trust what's going into my kiddos and not have to worry about the next recall to.

[BabyGirl Rosie]

Originally Posted by Beabble

Oh I'm sure starting out it will be a bit pricey, getting supplements and all, but it'll be well worth it and I can trust what's going into my kiddos and not have to worry about the next recall to.

Exactly!

[gracielove]

You are a special person to cook for so many. Your right that making it up for a week or two at a time and freezing it would be the best approach.

I cooked for my tiny Gracie as a puppy and often thought about how time consuming and costly it would have been to do that for a larger dog. At least you know exactly what is going into your dog's body.

I started out cooking everything but went to doing raw meat with steamed veggies and a good supplement added to it all. Raw egg mixed in is very nutritious also and don't forget your calcium source. I finally found a couple of companies that would ship me frozen raw commercial dog food without charging an arm and a leg for the shipping cost. I have to say it is much easier but I still lightly steam some vegetables and mix them with raw ground meats as a special treat now and then. Organ meats are very nutritious also. Dogs cannot digest and absorb the nutrients of whole vegetables so running them through a blender before adding to the meat helps to make your pet better able to absorb the vegetable nutrients.
I'd love to hear how you are doing with this adventure. It's not rocket science and there is plenty of info out there for those who are interested. I personally stay away from grains and a lot of flower as Gracie does not like them anyway unless they are loaded with sweeteners and other unhealthy ingredients. Best wishes on this new venture.

[Beabble]

Originally Posted by gracielove

You are a special person to cook for so many. Your right that making it up for a week or two at a time and freezing it would be the best approach.

I cooked for my tiny Gracie as a puppy and often thought about how time consuming and costly it would have been to do that for a larger dog. At least you know exactly what is going into your dog's body.

I started out cooking everything but went to doing raw meat with steamed veggies and a good supplement added to it all. Raw egg mixed in is very nutritious also and don't forget your calcium source. I finally found a couple of companies that would ship me frozen raw commercial dog food without charging an arm and a leg for the shipping cost. I have to say it is much easier but I still lightly steam some vegetables and mix them with raw ground meats as a special treat now and then. Organ meats are very nutritious also. Dogs cannot digest and absorb the nutrients of whole vegetables so running them through a blender before adding to the meat helps to make your pet better able to absorb the vegetable nutrients.
I'd love to hear how you are doing with this adventure. It's not rocket science and there is plenty of info out there for those who are interested. I personally stay away from grains and a lot of flower as Gracie does not like them anyway unless they are loaded with sweeteners and other unhealthy ingredients. Best wishes on this new venture.

Thank you Gracielove. Been researching as much as possible, I wanna get all mu ducks in a row so to speak and learn as much as I can and then dive in. I read a lot of conflicting stuff, one place says yes, supplement, another says no, gonna talk to my vet about it Monday morning. Also, there's places that say yes to eggs and garlic, while others says no. It can get kinda confusing at times.

[kalina82]

Just wanted to bring something up about Wellness. I had called them last week (before their puppy food was added to the recall) to ask if their Healthy Weight cat food was made at the SC Diamond plant. I was told no about the cat food. She also told me that they no longer use Diamond and are switching all their foods over to their new company owned manufacturing plant.

I only bring this up because I wonder if that batch of puppy food that was recalled was the last bit of food that was produced with Diamond however many months ago.

According to the lady I spoke with None of their foods are currently made at the Diamond plants and they don't use Diamond for anything anymore.

With your one pup being so adverse to change I'd call Wellness and ask what is going on before changing her food again and possibly getting her hospitalized. Its a scary thought either way, i know.

[gracielove]

Well, the great conflict continues on weather to feed raw or cooked, grain free or not. There are so many opinions on the subject. You just have to pick what makes sense for you and of course what your dogs like. My Gracie down right hates grains so that pretty much settled that issue for me. By looking at so many of the commercial dog foods most of them have added supplements no matter if they are kibble or canned. If a supplement is natural and healthy and can be well digested I'm all for it.
Some people are terrified about raw because of the possibility of salmonella poisoning but if the food is handled properly and proper hand washing is done it is perfectly safe. I use rubber gloves while handling raw meat and disinfect all surfaces when done. It's just common sense.
I fed my family fresh foods and vegetables with small amounts of meat and no junk food. I believe in healthy foods. I see no reason to feed my animals junk food either. You will never see a hungry wolf or feral dog raiding the farmers fields of grain but you will see them raiding the chicken coop or taking off with young lambs or a calf. I have a hard time with those who say it is natural for a dog to eat a mainly grain fed diet. Their bodies were not made for such types of digestion and the stress put on the strange digestive process the pet goes through eventually shows in various diet related disease.

[Beabble]

Originally Posted by kalina82

Just wanted to bring something up about Wellness. I had called them last week (before their puppy food was added to the recall) to ask if their Healthy Weight cat food was made at the SC Diamond plant. I was told no about the cat food. She also told me that they no longer use Diamond and are switching all their foods over to their new company owned manufacturing plant.

I only bring this up because I wonder if that batch of puppy food that was recalled was the last bit of food that was produced with Diamond however many months ago.

According to the lady I spoke with None of their foods are currently made at the Diamond plants and they don't use Diamond for anything anymore.

With your one pup being so adverse to change I'd call Wellness and ask what is going on before changing her food again and possibly getting her hospitalized. Its a scary thought either way, i know.

I tried calling Saturday when I got news of the recall, but my vet was already closed. I'm very scared to change Mags food, and I know Doc IS NOT gonna want me to, she was very seriously ill when she was two years old and I tried putting her on the adult formula. If I call and tell him I want to switch her food or home cook for her, I KNOW he's gonna flip his lid. I'm just so scared though with the recall. I called Wellness three times myself and the first lady I spoke to said Diamond didn't make any of the small bags of food, in ANY formula, only the 30 pound bags.The recall came out and announce the formula that was recalled, and said it was the 30 pound and 15 pound bags, and the 5 ounce samples, and I was ticked, the lady I spoke to the first time told me Diamond only made the 30 pound bags. The second time I called, the guy told me they stopped doing business with Diamond back in January, they were building onto their facility and were going to be making most of their foods themselves, but for now, American Nutrition and Hagen Pet Food makes some of their foods. Then when I spoke to them the other day, the guy did say that they no longer do business with Diamond, but the food that was made prior to them stopping business with them was still in circulation and that's what was recalled. I don't like being lied to and that's what's making me so iffy on trusting what any of then have told me now :-( I want to do what's best for Mags, and right now, to be totally honest, I'm not totally sure what that is. I just lost Dottie on February 4th, I can't lose another one right now, I'm no where near over losing Dottie. Mags was so sick before when I tried to switch her food, we almost lost her. I feel like if I leave her on Wellness, I'm taking a huge risk, and I feel like if I switch her food, I'm taking a hug risk. Just so scared and don't know what to do. I love Mags with all my heart and I can't take losing another one right now. I just want Mags and the rest of our furkids to be ok.

[Beabble]

Originally Posted by gracielove

Well, the great conflict continues on weather to feed raw or cooked, grain free or not. There are so many opinions on the subject. You just have to pick what makes sense for you and of course what your dogs like. My Gracie down right hates grains so that pretty much settled that issue for me. By looking at so many of the commercial dog foods most of them have added supplements no matter if they are kibble or canned. If a supplement is natural and healthy and can be well digested I'm all for it.
Some people are terrified about raw because of the possibility of salmonella poisoning but if the food is handled properly and proper hand washing is done it is perfectly safe. I use rubber gloves while handling raw meat and disinfect all surfaces when done. It's just common sense.
I fed my family fresh foods and vegetables with small amounts of meat and no junk food. I believe in healthy foods. I see no reason to feed my animals junk food either. You will never see a hungry wolf or feral dog raiding the farmers fields of grain but you will see them raiding the chicken coop or taking off with young lambs or a calf. I have a hard time with those who say it is natural for a dog to eat a mainly grain fed diet. Their bodies were not made for such types of digestion and the stress put on the strange digestive process the pet goes through eventually shows in various diet related disease.

True on the supplements, very, very true, actually, you're whole post is true. I'm sure given a choice, any dog would mow down on meat rather than grain any day!!

[gracielove]

If you do change your Mags food just add very small parts of the new food at a time. I doubt that she is going to react much to real meat and veggies but you would still want to do it very slowly.
I would not believe what those dog food companies say. Once a company has been sold to another they don't just switch plants. My daughter had a friend that worked in a pet food plant and it was sadly an educational experience to learn how they run those places.
It's such a shame that when a fairly good brand of food becomes popular they end up selling out to the cheaper manufacturer.

[Beabble]

Originally Posted by gracielove

If you do change your Mags food just add very small parts of the new food at a time. I doubt that she is going to react much to real meat and veggies but you would still want to do it very slowly.
I would not believe what those dog food companies say. Once a company has been sold to another they don't just switch plants. My daughter had a friend that worked in a pet food plant and it was sadly an educational experience to learn how they run those places.
It's such a shame that when a fairly good brand of food becomes popular they end up selling out to the cheaper manufacturer.

Yes, it's very sad. I have had Mags on Wellness for 5 years, but sadly, I just don't trust them anymore after being lied to. When I finally got Mags switched over to the Adult Wellness formula, it took me 4 months to do it safely. Only problem is, I don't have 4 months to make this switch, and I only have half a container of food left, that's half of the 6 pound bag. So switching her slowly isn't even an option at this point, that's one of the reasons I'm so scared.

[KimInMD]

Tracy, I'm in the same boat. Lola eats TOTW, and Mia eats Chicken Soup. I do a lot of home cooking too (for Lucy's kidney disease), and I've been feeding everyone more and more home cooked, but I've been so upset about the recalls, and I sure don't know enough about canine nutrition to switch off kibble totally yet. It's so hard to know what to do. Great thread! Thank you!

[BabyGirl Rosie]

Originally Posted by KimInMD

Tracy, I'm in the same boat. Lola eats TOTW, and Mia eats Chicken Soup. I do a lot of home cooking too (for Lucy's kidney disease), and I've been feeding everyone more and more home cooked, but I've been so upset about the recalls, and I sure don't know enough about canine nutrition to switch off kibble totally yet. It's so hard to know what to do. Great thread! Thank you!

I was scared when I first switched to home cooking. It really is something to think about. I used the Petdiets.com and I am so glad I did switch. But with that said, I have also used members here for support as I needed it. I will ask them questions because they have done it longer than I have. I really think it is important to have someone to direct the questions to. Mikki still eats kibble for bedtime snack. I was feeding TOTW which she loves. Bought Blue Buffalo this weekend and she will not touch it. So off to find something else. I am thankful that my situation is just finding a snack and not the main meal with all these scary recalls. Home cooking has been good for my girls. I think it was a good choice for me to change over.

[Beabble]

Originally Posted by KimInMD

Tracy, I'm in the same boat. Lola eats TOTW, and Mia eats Chicken Soup. I do a lot of home cooking too (for Lucy's kidney disease), and I've been feeding everyone more and more home cooked, but I've been so upset about the recalls, and I sure don't know enough about canine nutrition to switch off kibble totally yet. It's so hard to know what to do. Great thread! Thank you!

You're so welcome Kim, and I feel for you, I really do. It just sickens me about all these recalls, peoples furkids have been yanked off foods left and right and I can only imagine the digestion problems and other things they are all going through. You'd think when a person spends the kinds of money we have on the so called high end good quality foods, there wouldn't be such a mess as there is now with the recalls.... I'm reading up on all I can so I can try and switch all of ours over to homemade food.

[Beabble]

Originally Posted by BabyGirl Rosie

I was scared when I first switched to home cooking. It really is something to think about. I used the Petdiets.com and I am so glad I did switch. But with that said, I have also used members here for support as I needed it. I will ask them questions because they have done it longer than I have. I really think it is important to have someone to direct the questions to. Mikki still eats kibble for bedtime snack. I was feeding TOTW which she loves. Bought Blue Buffalo this weekend and she will not touch it. So off to find something else. I am thankful that my situation is just finding a snack and not the main meal with all these scary recalls. Home cooking has been good for my girls. I think it was a good choice for me to change over.

Got your mail, thank you so much, I appreciate it. I know I'm gonna have to do something, I'll be running out of food this week. So scared. I have had to give Mags chicken and rice before, when she came home from the ICU, for about a week or longer, she did good on that. I'm gonna talk to doc and see what he says about putting her on that and then VERYYYYYY slowly adding in some other ingredients. I know just chicken and rice isn't a balanced diet, but hopefully it will hold her over until I can slowly start adding other things in, gonna ask him about adding a supplement to it as well, specially since just starting out, it'll only be chicken and rice.

[Beabble]

Originally Posted by Beabble

Got your mail, thank you so much, I appreciate it. I know I'm gonna have to do something, I'll be running out of food this week. So scared. I have had to give Mags chicken and rice before, when she came home from the ICU, for about a week or longer, she did good on that. I'm gonna talk to doc and see what he says about putting her on that and then VERYYYYYY slowly adding in some other ingredients. I know just chicken and rice isn't a balanced diet, but hopefully it will hold her over until I can slowly start adding other things in, gonna ask him about adding a supplement to it as well, specially since just starting out, it'll only be chicken and rice.

Question, do you guys think this would be a bad idea considering how sensitive Mags system is? She has a compromised immune system as well.