Dried complete food

[Howard Glansfield]

I would appreciate your advice and opinion.

Fred(nearly eight) has been fed all his life on cannned food and dried food,he has Bozita Original Plus which both he an Ellie really enjoy.Last week he vomited, which is only the second time in his adult life.It was obvious the dried food, which is round pellets ,had not been chewed and had swollen to about 50% bigger than when ingested.He normally chews them.I decided not to give him any more for a day or two and then I noticed that the terrible wind that he gets had stopped and his motions,always 'loose' were more normal.I have reintroduced the dried food back into his diet,as he was asking for some, but in a much smaller quantity.He remains wind free and bowels are better.It seems obvious that the dried food is causing the wind but is this common and will all dried food effect him?

Ellie has none of the effects that Fred does.

[Frans de Vos]

Hello Howart

 

I fed my dogs almost 6 years Hill's sience plan ..alway's happy dog's .

Than at once Icko vomited and became gas....He could not eat it anymore..

I changed to Nutro choice chicken en we had no problems anymore..

I gues that some dogs get enough of a type of food and need other food..

[Astrid Landsaat]

Hi Howard, I am feeding Orijen and pre soak this in a little water. Never had problems with it!

[Val Martin]

Hello Howard,

Take a look on a website called dogfoodanalysis.com it's very interesting and tells you exactly whats in the dried dog food you have been feeding Fred and Ellie on and be prepared for a shock!

All my dogs are fed on Acana Grasslands or Acana Lamb and Apple Formula and they don't suffer from wind or upset stomachs.

It would be well worth trying Acana or Orijen food as they both contain 0% cereals.

Cereals (especially wheat) and beet pulp can cause excess gas to build up in dog's stomachs. 

Wheat is also a contibutor to many allergies.

The reason the food swelled up so much after he had eaten it is because of the high cereal content in that particular brand of food.

My friend used to feed her GSP on another brand of food with high cereal content.  To show her what happens when the food is in the dogs stomach, I soaked a small amount of her dog food in a glass and did the same with Acana.  I left them soaking for 1 hour.  The brand she was feeding her dog expanded greatly and turned into a pile of soggy mush, the Acana only expanded a little and stayed as individual pieces because of the high meat content.

Hope this helps.

[Laura Kolbach]

i've been feeding acana and orijen most of the doggies life. i even washed it in the washing machine (by purpose!) and the orijen came out as i put it in! not swollen at all :-)

[Laura Kolbach]

i have seen Acana & Orijen chairs at the retriever show that we've been to in switzerland :-)

[Sue and Cash]

I had tried the Acana when Cash was a puppy and he didn't have formed stools on it during a very slow transition.  Too rich for him with that many ingredients.  So many dogs do better with a single source carb and protein and can't handle some of the grain free foods.  Sweet potatoes are in most of them and it gives my dog the runs. 

I have been using Merrick dog food, dry and canned.  I am very pleased with the results.  No corn or wheat and the canned product is great for adding variety to my dogs diet so he doesn't get as finicky and bored with it.  He goes crazy for the canned foods and I couldn't do better if I made it myself.  I love that it isn't imported and made by them in their own plant. 

[Howard Glansfield]

Thanks for the advice,I will be trying Fred on something different.Like Cornelia, I have never seen acana or orijen in a pet shop here but Zooplus sell both.

[Laura Kolbach]

be prepared, it is NOT cheap :-) be also prepared that he might go down in weight at first as his digestive system has to get used to the no-grain thingy. he might have looser stools as well in the beginning. might take some days.

 

[Laura Kolbach]

not really but more and more dog food companies started to produce a grain free variant. Chikopee has it already and Natural & Delicious (not so known) and even Skinners (this has naked
oats). Canadians have strict laws regarding things and I am happy that they still import it from there instead of moving production to Asia or Eastern Europe :)

[Val Martin]

I have had an account with Zooplus for the last 8 years and have found them to be super efficient.

I stock up when they have offers on Acana and also get another 5% discount for spending over £75 in one transaction.

As Acana and Orijen are full of quality ingredients and contain no bulking agents, you might find you need to feed your dogs less at mealtimes.

[Garrech and Canagan]

Hi Howard,

I will never feed any dog on a diet of just dried food moistened or not and/or with plenty of water readily available ever again. I am positive that the dried food kibble contributed to Canagan's problems! I see from the forum that you have also been feeding a mixture of canned and dry food.

There is a tendency (actually an initial need) to continue feeding a pup or dog on what they have been given before. In Garrech and Canagan's cases both were started on Royal Canin by their different breeders. The pup (purchased from a Continental Breeder) was being fed on Pro Plan special for digestion (mainly lamb and rice) but we have cut the amount of dried food and balanced it with canned food so effectively he gets a 50-50 nutritional balance which in actual terms means a greater amount of the can to the kibble. I’m not recommending or criticising either product, just commenting on what they were being fed by their breeders. We no longer feed any Royal Canin and only use smaller quantities of the Pro Plan.

We have had IS for over 30yrs and it is only relatively recently that complete kibble has become so popular no doubt because it’s so convenient for the busy life styles we seem to lead now. Up to having Garrech we always fed the dogs canned food and biscuit.

We did until recently use a kibble and canned product made by a very reputable manufacturer but noted the last supply of cans seem to vary in constituency. Whilst querying the problem with the manufacturer it became apparent that they weren’t actually the makers but had the product manufactured by a third party and I guess this third party also supplied product for several other well-known brands. So I think it’s difficult to be 100% certain on anything these days. There is big “money name companies” behind some of these brands! For example I think Nestle make Pro Plan. Royal Canin made by Crown Pet Foods is a huge company!

Despite the fact that Pro Plan has “wheat content” I agree with everything that Val has said previously about wheat and we have tried to avoid any product that has wheat in the food. I must look at the site she mentioned as it sounds very informative! When the pup is a little older we will stop the Pro Plan completely and look for an alternative.

[Garrech and Canagan]

I forgot to mention that in addition to wheat high fat content isn't recommended. Again a bit difficult for the digestion to break down as well as causing wind. I think the study by Perdue University into Bloating/GDV mentioned concern about fat?