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There are a huge number of threads on Yorkie Health and Diet on that forum. And I can't really advise you, as I am one of those home cookers, I do use orijen kibble sparingly to tide us over when we travel and I can't take home made dog food across the border. Seriously one time, I have a whole big cooler full of about 25 pounds of home made dog food confiscated at the border. Well I long ago change to free range, hormone free beef pork etc. And we don't as adults eat too much meat every week. I am actually thinking of going to a Bison farmer, who is grass feeding and hormone additive free his cattle? gawd do you call Bisons cattle? IJDK But he is only 70 miles from home, and I can go in with another breeder to buy a quarter side of bison. He will cut it, and or grind with or without bone in and quantity we want. Pretty reasonable to at $2.99 per pound. But pretty big outlay all at once, and it will fill my freezer with no room to spare. I know my BRT's absolutely love Bison Bones, and for Magic it is almost the only type of bone that he can't fracture given a long enough chew time on a great bone. THe big dogs get feed minimum 2lbs per day each so 4lbs a day, and Razzle at about 1/3 of a pound is just not even a noise level. You know, what I think is; if your dog is thriving on the RC great lab work/blood results, shiny eyes, glossy coat, good teeth, good elimination why change?! As a newbie you must be asking; How do I know if what works is working? Well that is difficult from a long term point of view. As concerned dog owners we can only do all regular vet visits and lab work, that will help to show us if what we are feeding, exercising, grooming etc with our pups is good for their health. And if it proves not to be, change it! I do recommend at one year old or near to that age you get a full blood panel done. It begins to build a history for your pup. It is not that expensive. About $100 or so. And I do again at 2 yrs old, well I am breeder so I do more often. But for pet owners if all is fine at 1yr old, then I would say 3yr old, then 5 yrs old ... again if all benchmarks are fine. Once my dogs hit 7 or 8 yrs old then it is annual for them. So I think relax about the dog food for now. Make sure your pup drinks lots of water; I use filtered water, gets lots of exercise a day; some combo of walks, training, tricks, swimming, agility, find the toy; in otherwords exercise combined with mental stimulation. This includes getting your Yorkie out and about, meeting dogs and people. Socialization helps also to structure and develop a healthy doggy brain. |
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I also and you can talk with a vet nutritionist about this for Yorkies, but after 1 yr old for my big dogs, and for my Yorkie after 18 mths old, I do add supplements in, particularly joint supplements. It is quite easy to home cook, and even totally raw diet is not out of the equation. YOu just need to be alert to food preservation guidelines etc. I don't do raw right now, as if you feed raw going into hospitals and getting treatment here in Ontario is problematic. Not that they would refuse to treat, but they treat your dog as if they have Black Plague, gloves, masks et al. And I used to have two dogs needing the specialities at hospitals, now sadly I only have one. But home cooking for a small dog, imho is dead easy. So little quantity. Gawd for heavens sake you can boil chicken as you cook for your other family, and use some of the cooked veges to add into the doggies home cooked meal. You can freeze the extra, or only make for 3 days or so and keep in fridge. |
I actually boiled and gave her chicken breast when she first came home and it constipated her. I was soo scared that I never did it again. I will consider cooking for her and I know that I would have to make the change slowly. I do not cook very often but would for her. Other than chicken and green beans I'm not sure what to cook so do I use frozen no salt or fresh organic veggies. I would really appreciate specifics so I'll check out the website you provided and see what I get from it. Thank you soo much! |
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I home cook for Katie, and I supplement with BalanceIt. I cook it fresh for her once a day, and it really is very easy. I prefer having control over what Katie is eating.. I researched supplements, and it's what so many of the American College of Veterinary Nutritionists were recommending. For a healthy dog, a consult with a vet nutritionist, Dr. Remillard, is very inexpensive. She also will consult with your vet if there are special needs, but that is more expensive, but very necessary. PetDiets - Diets for Healthy Pets - the right diet made easy! |
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He is a year old on 6th August and will be old enough for allergy testing, so we are hoping there is something specific that we can eradicate. His pictures at his worst are quite horrific, they are so bad that I am sure some people think that we were lazy about getting him treatment. Absolutely not the case as we were at the vet weekly I went to the derm without a referral from my own vet as I was just so devastated for him and he was so miserable. Nobody would believe it was allergies as he was so young. My vet derm has supported me to make decisions about giving him steroids if he has a major flare up and I have a supply so we don't have to wait for an appointment. I won't do it unless I really have to as I worry about shortening his life with heavy meds, but I know that if he ever got anywhere near that state again I would prefer he had a happy shorter life than go through the awful, miserable time he had before. |
I don't know much about Becker. Being supported by Mercola s concern enough for me, but I was looking at some of her articles to see what she is all about. Her ideas about heartworm prevention and treatment are so far from what I'd consider good science. |
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You're right though, it's so odd that he has these allergies so young! That's definitely an anomaly...I'm sure that threw the vet off as well...was he surprised to arrive at that conclusion? Btw, have you thought about Atopica (generic is cyclosporine)? It's a pretty amazing med for many allergy dogs. My Marcel is on it and it was a miracle for him bc of the pollens that irritate him. It's preventive, rather than a symptom med. It doesn't work for every dog, but works beautifully for many. I don't know if it's available where you are, but I'd think it would be as it's quite common. |
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The Vet Derm has been great and is really happy with him, especially that we have been able to wean off steroids. My own Vet as you say was ruling allergies out because of his age and the Vet Derm says it is rare but not unheard of, I suppose there is also a bit of me that hopes he will grow out of it because he was so very young. |
Royal Canin Anallergenic Dog Food Has anyone had a problem with this food. My little guy has been on it for 3 months and has suddenly developed very loose stools (sometimes diarrhea) and terrible gas. Vet has done blood tests, but I haven't heard back from them. I'm seriously thinking it is the food. He's never had this problem before, although he does have skin allergies. Thanks for any input. :animal36 |
I recently added another little yorkie to our family and she was given Royal Canin before I bought her. She was so constipated. Corn being a main ingredient is not very nutritional and constipating to humans never mind little pups. Needless to say, I changed her to a more reputable brand and within 24 hrs she was pooping normal and was more active. She suffered from allergies and this also cleared up quickly. |
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Royal Canin Hypoallergenic Food Henry was put on this food for skin allergies. I got his blood work back today & everything was normal (no pancreatic or bacterial issues), so my Vet thinks he has irritable bowel syndrome. Of course the only way to truly determine that is by surgery. He wants to put him on a mild steroid, but I bought a bag of Wellness Simple & told him I wanted to try that for a few days before we did that. I'm hoping this will solve his problem. I just put some in his bowl & he seems to like it so here's crossing my fingers. Thanks so much for your input. :animal36 |
Good call! I wouldn't want my dog on a steriod unless he absolutely had to be. I choose wellness for my little 2 lb girl. She had skin allergies and leaky eyes and sneezing. I put her on Wellness and she is doing great. She also eats Kirkland brand from Costco when she steals from my bigger dogs' bowls. No diarreha or constipation. She is off her allergy meds and everything cleared up great. Good luck with Henry!! |
Thanks so much! |
Let me introduce myself Hi everyone! My name is Ashley Harris, and I am a nutritionist with Royal Canin Canada. I noticed there were a few questions around Royal Canin formulas, our ingredients or nutrients in general and wanted to offer my support to anyone interested. I did't want to sidetrack the current conversation you have going on in this thread, so I opened a new thread called http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...questions.html. Take a wander over there, even just to say hi, and feel free to post any questions you might have for me. Have a great day! Ashley |
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