|
Any recommendations for a low calorie good quality kibble that's okay for puppies? My 5~ shiba inu gets a stuffed kong/treat dispensing toy a few times during the week to keep her busy and tire her out a bit. Thus far we haven't noticed an increase in weight, but a lower calorie kibble would be nice because it feels like we're feeding her a lot.
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2014 07:41
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 16:12 |
|
|
Psychobabble! posted:Any recommendations for a low calorie good quality kibble that's okay for puppies? My 5~ shiba inu gets a stuffed kong/treat dispensing toy a few times during the week to keep her busy and tire her out a bit. Thus far we haven't noticed an increase in weight, but a lower calorie kibble would be nice because it feels like we're feeding her a lot. Since Aiko is still growing, I'd be wary of switching her food to something with fewer calories if she's not gaining too much weight. What are you feeding now and how much? Also, how old is she? Also, don't let fat shibas owned by stupid dogladies convince you Aiko's gonna be fat and needs a low calorie food. e: because I only just figured out who you were and I knew the answers to a number of things I had asked. Nione fucked around with this message at 13:23 on Apr 9, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2014 13:14
|
|
|
Is there anything to the "don't feed your cat fish-derived wet food, or your cat will become a fish addict and refuse all other protein"? Or is that just bullshit? I've fed cats fish stuff in the past, and they didn't seem to have a problem with eating other things after.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2014 15:06
|
|
|
Nione posted:Since Aiko is still growing, I'd be wary of switching her food to something with fewer calories if she's not gaining too much weight. What are you feeding now and how much? Also, how old is she? She's a little over 5 months. She typically gets wellness core puppy, sometimes tuscan natural chicken meal at work if I forget her food or she runs out. I'm not sure exactly how much. Probably about 1-1.5 cups a day(1-2 treat balls with about .5 a cup of kibble, 1-2 Kong classic with a handful or two of kibble and PB/Cottage Cheese/Pumpkin/whatever. Normally PB though. As far as I can tell she's at an ideal weight for her age. Here's a profile pic:  Sorry it's blurry,and the roll on her back is because her XS harness is finally getting small for her/she's fluffing out I wouldn't replace her meals with it 100% or anything, I was just hoping to find a lower calorie kibble for those inbetween meals to keep her occupied. Though today I just picked up some jerky sticks so that might do the trick(hopefully). She has very slight SA issues so it's generally just easier to leave her with a treat dispensing toy with some kibble while I do other things, otherwise she starts squaking/wimpering/whining. I just signed up for a trial of darwin's raw food and I'll be using that for half of her meals for the time being(maybe as the new kong stuffing?) edit for pic Psychobabble! fucked around with this message at 09:09 on Apr 10, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2014 08:45
|
|
|
Zooey will turn 2 months old tomorrow and she looks "small" for her age (or so I think) which can be chalked to her previous owner feeding 6 of them on a bowl of (ugh) Pedigree. Sadly we are using that same brand for now just to ease up her transition to her new home and once we're done with the bag we're looking to obviously help her catch up a bit food-wise. What exact brand and type do you guys recommend we try out next? I saw some Acana and Taste of the Wild the other day, not sure what type to look for exactly though. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2014 16:31
|
|
|
Disharmony posted:Zooey will turn 2 months old tomorrow and she looks "small" for her age (or so I think) which can be chalked to her previous owner feeding 6 of them on a bowl of (ugh) Pedigree. Sadly we are using that same brand for now just to ease up her transition to her new home and once we're done with the bag we're looking to obviously help her catch up a bit food-wise. Both brands are fine. Flip a coin, pick the one that's cheaper, pick Acana because the name is funny, whatever. For now, whichever food you pick make sure it has an AAFCO statement for "all life stages" or "growth." If she is distinctly smaller than her litter mates I would be more concerned about her being a runt and having other problems going on than the food. People seem to forget that the cheaper lower-quality foods are far, far more often fed to dogs and many are procreating and growing just fine (like my city's stray Pit-thing population fed on Ol' Roy and Beneful  )based on some crude math and info that Beneful sold about $1 Bil worth in a year, that's 22 million or so bags at $45 a pop - that still winds up to several million pets eating that food - and that is just one of the poo poo foods. Sure, she could have some issues digesting food (but without diarrhea, ehhhh) but who knows? She also may not have been pushy enough so didn't get enough to eat, maybe Mom didn't get the best to eat during pregnancy so maybe they were smaller there... who knows? Compare to litter mates for conclusions, imo, as variation across litters can, well, vary.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2014 05:23
|
|
|
My cats are currently eating Solid Gold Indigo Moon grain-free, and we're introducing a new kitten in May or June. Is this food okay for kittens? Everything I see online points to yes, but I want to be certain. I also supplement with a can of Soulistic wet food in the morning, do you guys think this will be kitten-safe or no? I just am not looking forward to keeping two sets of food, but I'll do it if it would be best for everyone concerned. Suggestions? Thank you!
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 17:46
|
|
|
obnoxious posted:My cats are currently eating Solid Gold Indigo Moon grain-free, and we're introducing a new kitten in May or June. Is this food okay for kittens? Everything I see online points to yes, but I want to be certain.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2014 05:41
|
|
|
I bought a pork shoulder to smoke on my UDS - can my dog have the raw bone? The internet seems to offer differing opinions...
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2014 03:28
|
|
|
go_banana posted:I bought a pork shoulder to smoke on my UDS - can my dog have the raw bone? The internet seems to offer differing opinions... Of course with any raw bones, you should supervise him to make sure he doesn't try to swallow it whole like a dumbass, and dogs can totally get Salmonella and other nasty bugs from raw meat just like people, and a dog can easily break a tooth chewing things much softer than bones, etc., etc. There are definitely safer treats out there, but a lot of dogs have eaten a lot of bones and survived.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2014 14:46
|
|
|
I just learned that Innova Evo/ California Natural were bought by Proctor & Gamble (in 2010  )... Yeah, kind of explains why EVO had like 2 bacteria outbreaks in the past year. Could get these off the "good pet food" lists? e: oh yeah almost all of the google links about this are deleted so you'll have to look thorough it :sadcat: Only one I could find ATM e: NVM here's a great one quote:"While we will miss working with the incredible management team at Zuke’s, we are excited that Zuke’s will continue to offer the highest-quality pet treats under the stewardship of a trusted organization like Nestlé Purina PetCare,” Sellers said. Account McAccount fucked around with this message at 23:00 on Apr 28, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2014 22:51
|
|
|
Account McAccount posted:I just learned that Innova Evo/ California Natural were bought by Proctor & Gamble (in 2010 Or maybe bacterial contamination is something that happens once in awhile when you make products out of meat? If you avoided every manufacturer, factory, or brand that ever had a recall you would have very little to feed your pets, and not much to eat yourself. EVO and other Natura lines are still good foods and I still both feed and recommend them.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 00:44
|
|
|
I feed my cats Evo dry because they love it to bits, but Proctor & Gamble recently changed their dry turkey and chicken food to include some lower quality ingredients. Tapioca starch is now the fourth ingredient. I guess that's not technically a grain but it is definitely filler. If I could find my cats something else they enjoyed as much I would switch. I may switch them anyway, this is not the same food and they are having diarrhea.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 03:23
|
|
|
Dr. Chaco posted:Or maybe bacterial contamination is something that happens once in awhile when you make products out of meat? If you avoided every manufacturer, factory, or brand that ever had a recall you would have very little to feed your pets, and not much to eat yourself. No, but you see a large corporation now owns those lines and we all know that that is bad  .I fed California Naturals for a while right before they had issues last year, and then switched to AvoDerm because it was the same price and wasn't having problems. I'd go back to Naturals no problem- my dog tolerated it well, it was inexpensive and still high quality.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 18:04
|
|
|
AuntBuck posted:I feed my cats Evo dry because they love it to bits, but Proctor & Gamble recently changed their dry turkey and chicken food to include some lower quality ingredients. Tapioca starch is now the fourth ingredient. I guess that's not technically a grain but it is definitely filler. If I could find my cats something else they enjoyed as much I would switch. I may switch them anyway, this is not the same food and they are having diarrhea. If your cats are reacting poorly to the new ingredient/formula, switching would be perfectly reasonable. If you really want to avoid "fillers" you'll have to switch to wet food, because kibble, by definition and regardless of brand, is meat held together with carbohydrates (ie, grains, starch, and other "fillers"). How else can you make meat into a cracker?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 18:14
|
|
|
Dr. Chaco posted:If your cats are reacting poorly to the new ingredient/formula, switching would be perfectly reasonable. If you really want to avoid "fillers" you'll have to switch to wet food, because kibble, by definition and regardless of brand, is meat held together with carbohydrates (ie, grains, starch, and other "fillers"). How else can you make meat into a cracker? What do you think "Chicken in a Biscuit" is? Geez.  Account McAccount posted:(Stuff about recalls) Lots of companies have bad things happen. It all depends on how they respond and move forward. I agree that two recalls close to one another is something to keep an eye on, but there have been significant recalls of other premium labeled foods that don't earn them the same ire yet were vastly more troubling than Salmonella. Blue Buffalo and Solid Gold are the ones that come to mind on our list, Evanger's (which is poor on ours but very high on others) is another. They've been much better since their events, but just because they had their events doesn't mean they're bad. However I will always stick by "Evangers is bad and terrible for always."
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 18:24
|
|
|
Dr. Chaco posted:If your cats are reacting poorly to the new ingredient/formula, switching would be perfectly reasonable. If you really want to avoid "fillers" you'll have to switch to wet food, because kibble, by definition and regardless of brand, is meat held together with carbohydrates (ie, grains, starch, and other "fillers"). How else can you make meat into a cracker? That's what I was thinking, and my cats do get wet food as well. The old formulation of Evo crumbled apart pretty easily.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2014 20:42
|
|
|
UK goon here - Natures:Menu have changed the composition of their Chicken+Tuna flavour, by adding broth to it. Both cats are now ignoring it totally - I'm giving them dry food (meowing heads) so that they don't starve, but it's really frustrating. I swopped my remaining pouches of Natures:menu at the pet shop with a variety of other equivalent food in the hope of finding something else they like. I can't slowly transition them on to new food because there's none of the old one left, Jesscatte has decided to turn her nose up at Thrive tuna, which she previously would gobble down as fast as you could empty it out of the tin, and Oscarcatte, after his first few days of eating anything I put in front of him, has become fussy. Any suggestions on a high meat content, no-pork, complete wet food I can try them on? Currently have the other two flavours that N:M do, some Ziwi Peak and Thrive. I'm dubious about the amount of not-meat in James Wellbeloved's stuff, and most of the other high meat content ones are complementary. I'm looking at swopping them off their premium stuff to Butchers which seems pretty good on the ingredients list in terms of not being full of grain and other stuff that cats just don't eat.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2014 20:40
|
|
|
So apparently Purina and Blue Buffalo are getting into a little shitfight with Purina saying Blue Buffalo uses chicken and corn in their diets when they say they don't, and Blue Buffalo saying nuh-uh!
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2014 00:39
|
|
|
Not exactly wise to throw kibble from glass houses. Or something.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2014 00:51
|
|
|
This thread has been really helpful in helping me decide what food to feed my now year old cat brothers. My mom always free fed our cats and they all ended up pudgy, but now that I've had my own cats they eat 2 meals a day and are both trim with incredibly soft coats even after a year. They love the nature's variety instinct dry and wet food and I never would have known about it had I not read the thread. Thanks pet goons!
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2014 04:12
|
|
|
Eegah posted:Not exactly wise to throw kibble from glass houses. Or something. The suing is because the label claims that Blue Buffalo is making don't grok with actual ingredient testing performed on their food, so they're being deceptive. Not because they use those things in the first place.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2014 05:57
|
|
|
So I'm historically a dog owner through and through, I adore cats too but it's just the way the dice rolled throughout my life. Just recently my grandfather adopted a kitten from a local stray rescue program and they've been getting along splendidly. He's got nothing but time for her and you can tell it's a case where they really needed each other. But he's a bit devil-may-care when it comes to the finer details. I already know he won't be convinced to be bothered by wet food, both in cost and in effort, purely because I know he won't believe me when I say it's better and because he's always been kinda obsessed with nickle and dimeing. He also lives along a rural road so his options for variety are kinda shot. Basically, the best available options for dry kitten and adult cat food all fall within the 'acceptable' range in the OP. Theoretically we could order better brands online, but I'm not easily around much and he has enough trouble sending emails and whatever other sitcom-y 'old-timer on a computer' jazz you can envision, so there's no way he'll ever get a handle on doing that himself and I can't be there to manage it consistently. So I guess what my question comes around to is, as someone who doesn't know the first thing about the finer details of cat health, how detrimental in the longterm is it for a cat, especially a growing kitten, to be subsisting on the dry food brands listed under 'acceptable'? If it's significantly impactful compared to any wet food or better dry food, it's worth my finding a way to seek out that dry food on his behalf or helping him finance the more expensive option of wet food, even if he'll gripe about it being 'unnecessary'. If it's a matter of inches as long as everything else in her life is as peachy as I can gather and she gets plenty of play and exercise, and eats a normal amount, then I'll probably just leave the two lovebirds alone and stop caring too much about cat food by proxy. If it matters, what he's buying is Chicken Soup.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 08:45
|
|
|
Violen posted:So I'm historically a dog owner through and through, I adore cats too but it's just the way the dice rolled throughout my life. Just recently my grandfather adopted a kitten from a local stray rescue program and they've been getting along splendidly. He's got nothing but time for her and you can tell it's a case where they really needed each other. But he's a bit devil-may-care when it comes to the finer details. I already know he won't be convinced to be bothered by wet food, both in cost and in effort, purely because I know he won't believe me when I say it's better and because he's always been kinda obsessed with nickle and dimeing. He also lives along a rural road so his options for variety are kinda shot. Basically, the best available options for dry kitten and adult cat food all fall within the 'acceptable' range in the OP. Theoretically we could order better brands online, but I'm not easily around much and he has enough trouble sending emails and whatever other sitcom-y 'old-timer on a computer' jazz you can envision, so there's no way he'll ever get a handle on doing that himself and I can't be there to manage it consistently. For the kind of person you're describing that seems like a shockingly high value food he's feeding. Most people I know like that think Purina is a premium brand. There are higher quality foods available but if the cat enjoys it I don't see a problem. Looking at the first four ingredients of the adult formula, the first two, chicken and chicken meal are great, cracked pearl barley - I think that's filler, and chicken fat, okay. There is some filler in there but it's not Meow Mix levels of awful. My only concern would be to make sure it's okay for kittens.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 10:44
|
|
|
I'll double-check to make sure he's specifically buying the formula targeted toward kittens when I'm up there later today. Appreciate the response!
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 17:58
|
|
|
If ordering food online is impractical you can always set up a delivery via a company like https://www.petflow.com, which allows you to schedule deliveries and they come right to the door. Depends on cost/availability though, they don't have everything and not everything they have is as inexpensive as it is in store.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 20:58
|
|
|
Violen posted:I'll double-check to make sure he's specifically buying the formula targeted toward kittens when I'm up there later today. Appreciate the response! Kitten food or food for "all life stages" is fine.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2014 02:24
|
|
|
Topoisomerase posted:The suing is because the label claims that Blue Buffalo is making don't grok with actual ingredient testing performed on their food, so they're being deceptive. Not because they use those things in the first place. I have a friend whose wife works with a vet that had "not very nice things" to say about Blue Buffalo. Is there any actual harmful information coming out about BB dog food? I did some quick research online and it looks like I should be ok with continuing to buy it for my dog but I want to make sure. He currently has no issues with stool, gas, itching, thirst, coat, or vomiting.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2014 16:05
|
|
|
Kibner posted:I have a friend whose wife works with a vet that had "not very nice things" to say about Blue Buffalo. Is there any actual harmful information coming out about BB dog food? Honestly not all dogs are going to do good on the same foods, and some vets are really skeptical of non big brand foods because they either aren't familiar with them or think they're gimmicky. I've had my dog on Blue Buffalo, AvoDerm, Wellness, etc. Almost every one of those the vet has been like "oh that's a good choice" and doesn't care so long as my dog isn't a fat, greasy sausage beast. My mom's vet once got mad that we weren't feeding Iams and were feeding Solid Gold instead. If you like it, your dog likes it, and he's doing fine on it, its probably fine to feed it.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2014 16:25
|
|
|
Is "By Nature (95% meat)" for cats still on the top? One of my two cats started losing a lot of weight. According to an Amazon review, they changed their formula since the original post.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2014 16:32
|
|
|
diadem posted:Is "By Nature (95% meat)" for cats still on the top? One of my two cats started losing a lot of weight. According to an Amazon review, they changed their formula since the original post. Unless they changed their formula to halve the caloric content per can, I would take your cat to the vet to get that checked out.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2014 16:37
|
|
|
Braki posted:Unless they changed their formula to halve the caloric content per can, I would take your cat to the vet to get that checked out. Already did. Just got back. Changing her diet. She was eating less. Had them run all the tests they had just to be sure.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2014 16:38
|
|
|
wtftastic posted:Honestly not all dogs are going to do good on the same foods, and some vets are really skeptical of non big brand foods because they either aren't familiar with them or think they're gimmicky. I've had my dog on Blue Buffalo, AvoDerm, Wellness, etc. Almost every one of those the vet has been like "oh that's a good choice" and doesn't care so long as my dog isn't a fat, greasy sausage beast. My mom's vet once got mad that we weren't feeding Iams and were feeding Solid Gold instead. Thanks for the response. I'll keep him on it since he seems to have been doing fine on it for the past three years. I consider myself lucky that keeping him at a good weight is the easiest thing. I make sure his bowl always has food in it when I leave for work in the morning and he eats as needed. Has weighed the same amount for the past four years. Just enough fat to cushion his ribs so they aren't visible but thin enough that you can feel them.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2014 18:04
|
|
|
Is there any benefit to these frozen raw foods for cats? I just noticed that my local pet food store is stocking the Nature's Variety frozen raw food now and my cat's been eating Innova EVO canned for years. He basically jumps at any opportunity to eat kibble or anything solid but he doesn't get much because then he forgets to drink water which is a nono thanks to his past history of blockage.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2014 08:55
|
|
|
Eh, raw can be good for some animals, but unless you are not happy with the state of his coat, poop, energy, or anything else on current diet there is not a huge difference between raw and canned in terms of benefits.
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2014 05:12
|
|
|
Does anyone have recommendations or advice on feeding Boston Terriers, specifically to minimize the farts as much as possible. I realize that any brachycephalic dogs are going to be windy, I'm just curious if anyone's had success de-stinking them with diet. Currently feeding Wellness Core - grain free original. 
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2014 17:13
|
|
|
Anyone have any thoughts on or experience with Simply Nourish? It's a Petsmart house brand, but looking at the ingredient list I see nothing wrong with it. http://www.petsmart.com/featured-sh...=pfm%3Dcategory Just curious if there's something I'm missing, I don't see a lot of information out there other than a lot of good reviews.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2014 19:24
|
|
|
I've been feeding my two cats Tiki Cat. They like it, it's a good food. It's drat expensive though. Job situation for me changed recently and I can't afford to keep feeding them the Tiki Cat. I need to get them something more affordable until I find a better job. I don't want to go to dry food because they're just going to get dehydrated on it. So I'm looking at alternative wet foods and the best I have right now based on some research is a couple of Fancy Feast options. The cats like it fine, but I can't say much for the quality. I pay about $1.42 per 3oz of Tiki Cat. The Fancy Feast gets me down to $0.60 per 3oz. If I can get a better quality and keep it under $0.80 that would be nice. Any alternative recommendations for a more cost effective food than Tiki Cat with better quality than Fancy Feast?
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2014 20:58
|
|
|
An update to the ongoing jerky treat investigations! On May 16th, the FDA put out a report stating that recent tests had identified DEET (the insect repellent) and amantadine (most commonly used as an antiviral medication) in the treats! http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm397713.htm Now, neither of these things should cause the more common clinical signs, so the exact cause remains elusive. However, the FDA is now saying, "This poo poo's contaminated, God knows with what else, the Chinese say they're concerned though." I for one expect complete compliance by the Chinese authorities and expect good progrhahahahahah who am I kidding.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2014 07:06
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 16:12 |
|
|
Decided to be a crazy doglady and get separate foods for both dogs. Wellness CORE high-protein for the active dog and the limited ingredient Wellness for the sensitive snowflake couch potato. I need to find a better source for their food, because Petsmart wants $77 for a big bag of Wellness CORE 
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2014 18:39
|
|
