Dog food help

NPHuskerFL

Our girl has double hip dysplasia and could barely hobble around. She's been eating 

BLUE Wilderness®

Chicken Recipe

For Large Breed Adult Dogs

for about 2+ yrs along with only a 1/4-1/2  dosage of what was prescribed anti-inflammatory (because her diet has done miracles). She's back to being a psychotically athletic Mal. 

Steamed or cooked then shredded chicken with rice (bland) has worked with my working Mals and kitties especially with injuries or sensitive tummies due to meds. 

Fred19Flintstone

We feed ours Natural Balance.  My sister is a vet and she approves.

Eggcelsior

My dog has a grain allergy(fun!) so I use Earthborn brand food. 

Chicklet

Dobie said:

@Chicklet did she eat today? 

YES!  Gyp has eaten twice today.  I boiled up two chicken breasts with some carrots then added the chicken broth to make some rice.  I gave her about 1/3 cup to that twice and we are really good so far.  
Up until this week she has been a "farm dawg" and never really been inside little alone had some home cooking.  She has been totally spoiled rotten this week.  I've loved every bit of it too.  

I have my own dog too.  I can't dis her but....she isn't very dog friendly in her old age.  We've managed to keep them apart and happy so far.  She got some good chicken and rice too.  

I've decided that i sometimes like animals more than people.  Wait.  Did I say that out loud?  

Dmax007

Awwww..  Sounds like lots of good ideas for tasty food given here.  However if she does not eat and/or drink for awhile... I would not wait too long before calling the vet to get advice.  Dehydration can be serious.  

fishlessman

NPHuskerFL said:

Our girl has double hip dysplasia and could barely hobble around. She's been eating 

BLUE Wilderness®

Chicken Recipe

For Large Breed Adult Dogs

for about 2+ yrs along with only a 1/4-1/2  dosage of what was prescribed anti-inflammatory (because her diet has done miracles). She's back to being a psychotically athletic Mal. 

Steamed or cooked then shredded chicken with rice (bland) has worked with my working Mals and kitties especially with injuries or sensitive tummies due to meds. 

thats what i feed my britt, rotate him thru salmon, duck, and bison. the dog is rock solid, did a 12 mile run the other day with him following the wheeler and he was still running just about 15-18 mph towards the end of the run. broke a nail close and was bleeding like someone butchered a goat but still wanted to go on. thats some good food and he doesnt need much, maybe 14 ounces a day and an egg

Dobie

Chicklet said:

Dobie said:

@Chicklet did she eat today? 

YES!  Gyp has eaten twice today.  I boiled up two chicken breasts with some carrots then added the chicken broth to make some rice.  I gave her about 1/3 cup to that twice and we are really good so far.  
Up until this week she has been a "farm dawg" and never really been inside little alone had some home cooking.  She has been totally spoiled rotten this week.  I've loved every bit of it too.  

I have my own dog too.  I can't dis her but....she isn't very dog friendly in her old age.  We've managed to keep them apart and happy so far.  She got some good chicken and rice too.  

I've decided that i sometimes like animals more than people.  Wait.  Did I say theat out loud?  

Awesome on getting her eating! I decided I like dogs more than people a long time ago 

Zmokin

Dobie said:

Chicklet said:

I've decided that i sometimes like animals more than people.  Wait.  Did I say that out loud?  

Awesome on getting her eating! I decided I like dogs more than people a long time ago 

Feed a dog and treat them nice and you get unconditional love in return, it's a given.

Humans might return the favor ...



or they might spit in your food, piss in your pot, or any number of undesired things.

evie1370

No matter what, you could have a cruddy day, lose your company's biggest client, pissed everyone off..you will be greeted by a waggy tail when you get home. That unconditional love...safest love money can buy for sure!

AD18

Don't mess with trying to figure out what food to buy.   Get the exact brand and formula the dog was being fed.  Any variation, regardless of brand and blend you decide, can and will affect the dogs digestive tract.  If you cannot get the exact formula I would recommend going to a reputable pet store and buy some of the upper end brands with a low protein to fat ratio.  It will be printed on the bag.  The more expensive formulas have better quality ingredients by far.  I would definitely stay away from bargain basement brands and unless you know exactly what you are doing stay away from home brews.  I run Labrador retrievers and changing food for any reason is a drawn out affair.  Looking at the wounds are you sure the dog was not attacked by coyotes?  That looks extremely nasty for a dog fight.  My guys have tangled with coyotes and the hind end is where they attack.  Best of luck and sounds like the do is in good hands. 

Farbuck

A little bit of sautéed ground beef, drained of excess fat, always seemed to work for my dogs; make sure to keep a good amount of rice in the mixture.

Zmokin

AD18 said:

Don't mess with trying to figure out what food to buy.   Get the exact brand and formula the dog was being fed.  Any variation, regardless of brand and blend you decide, can and will affect the dogs digestive tract.  If you cannot get the exact formula I would recommend going to a reputable pet store and buy some of the upper end brands with a low protein to fat ratio.  It will be printed on the bag.  The more expensive formulas have better quality ingredients by far.  I would definitely stay away from bargain basement brands and unless you know exactly what you are doing stay away from home brews.  I run Labrador retrievers and changing food for any reason is a drawn out affair.  Looking at the wounds are you sure the dog was not attacked by coyotes?  That looks extremely nasty for a dog fight.  My guys have tangled with coyotes and the hind end is where they attack.  Best of luck and sounds like the do is in good hands. 

Are you saying if my vet tells me to give my dog rice & cottage cheese, I should ignore him and keep feeding him the normal kibble he was raised on because a change in diet is BAD NEWS for his digestive tract.  I think the whole point of changing the diet is to give them a bland diet that is EASY on the digestive tract, until their health improves.

AD18

By no means would I challenge what your vet suggests as their exertise in the overall health and condition of your dog far exceeds any advise you can gain here.  But changing the diet may cause some adverse conditions such as diahera, vomiting, gas, or reluctance to even eat it may occur because it is something the dog is no used too.  Obviously the vet is giving you sound advise for the overall health of your dog.  I've had issues with my dogs needing special feeding to gain weight and my vet told me to add a small amount of cooked rice and/or cooked mashed potatoes to their current kibble.  More or less a supplement, but not a complete change.  The dog is used to or climatized to that kibble and any changes could cause the adverse conditions.  Another option would be to take the existing hard kibble and wet it down a wee bit to soften it.  It not only keeps the dogs digestive routine in sync, but the added water helps digestion, gives the dog a marginal amount of water for hydration as well, and the dog knows what the food is.  The complete change to the rice and cottage cheese may actually add to your problem instead of solving it.  The only way to find out is to actually try and see what happens.  Best of luck.

Chicklet

@ad18  the attack was witnessed by BF's mom.  She said there were two dogs running around the farms for the past month causing a lot of grief.   She heard a commotion on Saturday and there were the two dogs attacking Gyp.  Poor girl.  

I'm seeing improvement every day with Gyp.  I just fed her some of the chicken and rice mixture and she is a very happy girl.  
Her wounds are healing and I will look at taking the drain tube out tomorrow or Sunday.  She is actually laying on the injured side as we speak.  I'm still concerned about the wound on her groin area.  The nurse in me is dying to put a stitch or two in that thing just to keep it clean.  
She is so spoiled!  

Zmokin

AD18 said:

By no means would I challenge what your vet suggests as their exertise in the overall health and condition of your dog far exceeds any advise you can gain here. 
<snip>
  The complete change to the rice and cottage cheese may actually add to your problem instead of solving it. 

That sounds to me like you are talking out of two sides of your mouth.
Just an observation.

AD18

Zmokin said:

That sounds to me like you are talking out of two sides of your mouth.
Just an observation.

I do not really understand how or why you would say that.  No, your observations are wrong.  The points stated are options and/or choices the owner can make in the best interest of the dog.  The choice the vet gave the owner is sound and makes sense, but can and usually does carry other consequences.  Few, if any, circumstances will mess up a dogs digestive tract more than changing what they are fed.  The fact the dog was on some type of kibble and you introduce a different/changed food source usually has initial bad results.  Usually, but not always.  The fact you are introducing 2 basic food sources, chicken and rice only, instead of the kibble formula can cause grief.  The percentage is basically 50-50 as opposed to kibble being significantly lower for those 2 ingredients.  And the dogs kibble probably does contain the ingredients.  Introducing any change as such usually results in diaharea or extremely loose stools for a few days or longer.  I do not not think the owner, nor the dog, wants that to happen in the dogs current state.  However, if that is what the vet says, then the owner should follow through as instructed.  I too would do as they said, but would challenge or question if it was the correct route.  If the plan works then all the better for the dog.  In the event the dog does have an inadverse reaction to the change in diet in an unfavourable way then the watered down kibble is a viable solution to get the dog fed.  The dog regains the strength and energy it needs to heal and the digestive tract is maintained.  In the end it sounds like the dog is making headway in the right direction.  Said my peace, hopefully made my point in a positive way, won't comment any further.  Best of luck to the dog, hope he gets well and returns to normal fast.