OMG....dog toots...

[GoingNorth]

Stang, you do want a food that is AACO complete, BUT you could have all the protein in the food come from feathers, or worse yet, from dead. down. decomposing meat.

'Meat Digest" is made by fermenting the parts of the animal not even suitable for making soap out of, stirring that with a little fat, and spraying all over the little cornballs to make them tasty.

"Meat" is anything that can be scraped;/hosed off the floor of a slaughterhouse. Meat byproducts are anything from parts of the animal banned from human consumption, to diseased animals picked up off of farms and the like.

Fish meal is made from the waste products secondary to the processing of sardines and the like on factory ships. If the mfr is proud of his product and what goes into it, you can best beleive you will see herring, salmon, etc. on the label.

Fish meal is actually a good feed and very rich in omega fatty acids so long as it is processed and handled properly.

There is NO place for any type of 'gluten meal' in pet foods. Neither dogs nor cats can digest the stuff. It's a filler than makes the protein content on label look higher.

Don't just look at prices, either--especially at WalMart. Beneful and IAMs are both marketed as premium foods. Both are ****, though if forced to take the choice I would chose the IAMs.

Note that IAMs/Eukanuba and Hill's are both owned by immense international companies specializing in soaps, detergents, skin care products, etc.

Buy one of their products and you are basically getting what is left over after the soap is made.

 

[mstang67chic]

Ewwww.

 

[muttmeister]

OK, I've had lots of dogs and one ex-husband and believe me when I say, no matter what I feed the dogs it is better than the ex. LOL

 

[Abbey]

Mutt...

I knew there was a reason I didn't read this post for awhile. Dog gas my bootie. It's man gas. Poor dog always gets the blame.

Abbey

 

[mstang67chic]

at Abbey.

In this case, it really was Chester. husband is in Michigan.

 

[Abbey]

at Abbey.

In this case, it really was Chester. husband is in Michigan.

For some men, it can come cross country. Still, the poor dog gets the blame.

Abbers

 

[GoingNorth]

It's not always 'man gas', LoL. I can remember husband letting a doozy fly years back (if you are ever in the position to have to eat military travel rations (MREs), do NOT chase them with a couple of beers once you go off duty.

Our then GSD, a sharp little girl who weighed twenty five lbs less than Gryphon does, gave husband one horrified look and headed straight out onto the balcony.

husband sure didn't blame that one on the dog--actually, we were both laughing too hard at the poor dog.

by the way, I was not always a 'food snob' when it came to pet foods. I started out feeding scraps and cheap kibble.

It wasn't until I went to Germany and saw how much better their dogs looked than the ones I'd seen in the US.

I started asking around about how they fed their dogs and that was when I discovered that the slaughterhouse in our village had a retail butcher shop attached. They sold what they called 'dog meat', a mixture of beef, veal, lamb, and pork scraps, trimmings, bone, and various types of innards.

It only cost about a dollar a kilo and the change in my dog's condition when I switched her onto that diet was incredible.

We've come a LONG way in terms of pet foods, but at the same time as better and better super premium foods are coming out, the quality of the old standby rations are going steadily downhill.

 

[witzend]

at Abbey.

In this case, it really was Chester. husband is in Michigan.

Well, it's either the dog or your husband is really eating something he shouldn't.!

 

[mstang67chic]

Granted, husband can let loose with some toxic, glow in the dark green gas clouds but I'm pretty sure this one was the dog.







This time.



But GN...I have to at the GSD and your husband. A boyfriend of mine once was laying on his couch on his side with his knees bent a bit. He let one fly and his dog, who was laying behind boyfriend's knees, popped his head up, looked at boyfriend like WTH??? and took off.

And people say dog's don't have expressive faces!

 

[witzend]

'Stang, I can see why you gave up that boyfriend!

 

[mstang67chic]

LOL He's actually not nearly as bad as husband. I think husband held them in somehow until I was hooked. Otherwise I'm sure I would have ran screaming (and gagging) into the night.

 

[Hound dog]

OK.

I buy Ol' Roy's version of kibbles n bits. I buy it frankly cuz it's cheap......and most especially right now the animals are lucky to have food at all.....money is that tight. At present it's being supplemented by leftovers....meat, bones....and a few of their fav veggies. (yes my dogs love veggies.....they think they're people)

I didn't know their food was that low on the nutritional scale. I know krogers generic brand my dogs won't touch even if their starving. Four days of them not eating it and we went back to Ol' Roy's.

Molly has developed a skin conditon that has been blamed on fleas (no).....plants in the yard (yes to some extent)......but I'm also wondering if food could be a factor. Unless right after a bath she stinks a funky smell. I bathe her in good medicated soap......but I can't do it real often or she'll suffer from horrible dry skin on top of everything else. I gave up on the vet treating it cuz she keeps blaming fleas even when Molly is flea free and treating it the same way.......and as soon as she's done with the medications the skin goes back to what it was doing before.

We've got a place just outside of town advertising dog food 50 pounds for like 13.00. I've never stopped in so I don't know if it's name brand or generic. But I think I'll stop and see.

But my problem is...........my dogs won't eat anything but the kibble and bits version....be it ol' roy or name brand. I've even tried the gradual introduction of the new only to have it sit in the bowl while the rest is eaten. Betsy and Rowdy are the worst about this. They flat out refuse to eat anything new. Molly will after a short while.....when she figures she's not getting another choice. lol

But I can't afford to buy Molly a different variety of food. I'm barely keeping them in food as it is.

Anyone got any ideas on the cheapest one with the better ingredients they might go for that I could possibly afford?

 

[timer lady]

husband always blamed Sally the wonderdog. Now I know it's Sally. Vet says it's her medications & her age.

Sally has the same innocent look; thankfully she's too big to sit at my feet by the computer - bad enough when the stench floats across the room from her doggy bed.

 

[donna723]

Lisa, Molly's skin problems could be caused by an allergy to all the corn that is in the Ol' Roy dog food. Corn is the main ingredient in foods like that and many, many dogs are allergic to it. My Ragan is allergic to corn and had problems just like that. I didn't figure it out until I put them on a food without corn and her skin cleared up! There really isn't a good solution though because virtually all of the lower priced pet foods have corn as the main ingredient. It's the cheap way out for the manufacturers because corn is just a filler - dogs can't digest corn - it goes right through them, and it is a very common allergen.

She could be having yeast problems on her skin too. Ragan gets that too. And yeast infections of the skin could be the cause of the odor. Ragan's problem usually only happens in the summer. She sometimes gets little red irritated patches on her belly, she scratches a lot, and she gets that odor. She also gets moist patches in her 'armpits' and looks broken out under there. It's a lot easier to spot on a Boston because they have so little hair underneath. They can get yeast infections in their ears too. They're more common in dogs whose ears hang down but Katy gets them once in a while too. The insides of her ears get red and they feel hot.

 

[muttmeister]

I've decided maybe it's a male thing; whether it's dogs or humans. I've had mostly male dogs lately and they just toot away like that is the way it is supposed to be. But I used to have a white, toy poodle and when she'd toot, she'd jump up and look behind her startled like she wondered who in the world could have done that. It was really funny.

 

[emotionallybankrupt]

My wonderful doggies got into the Halloween candy corn. Need I say more? Ugh...

I learned doggies can have Pepto Bismol, by the way.

 

[donna723]

Pepto Bismol is one of the things I have in my little 'doggie first aid kit'. I also have childrens liquid Benadryl in case of insect stings and allergic reactions, the left over ear infection ointment, and Neosporin for booboo's, among other things.

 

[GoingNorth]

I'd look at the corn in the dog food very closely. I've had both dogs and cats that broke out in horrible hotspots from corn in pet food.

Problem is that by the time you get the open sores and the odor,you've got a bacterial infection going and that takes antibiotics.

It isn't normal for house dogs to stink nor need to be bathed so often. The bathing actually can aggravate skin conditions, especially if done too frequently.

Unfortunately, I really can't recommend a higher quality food that comes in at the Ol'Roy price point. I honestly don't know if there is one out there. Ol Roy is as cheap as it is because of what is in (or not in) it.

If you are going to supplement with table scraps and the like, that is not necessarily a bad thing. If the scraps are from healthy meals, there is no reason not to let the dogs have some of those. If they are from a meal that isn't good for for us humans, well...they are even worse for the dogs.

A lot of the itching and dandruff could be due to vitamin and fatty acid deficiencies. Can you get a Biotin and a fatty acid supplement for humans under the WalMart generic label?

You can dose those based on weight of the dog. It might still be a bit expensive to start with, but the day to day cost isn't too horrid. You might find though, that adding in the needed nutrients in this way actually costs more than upgrading your pet food.

You can add some of these nutrients to your dogs' diet by scrambling them each an egg once or twice a week. Scramble the eggs in butter or bacon grease and with that you've got a good, cheap nutritional supplement.

If you can get it on sale, salmon (preferably raw) is also loaded with fatty acids. It is an ingredient in many premium foods. If you go with canned, you want the old fashioned stuff with the skins and bones left in. Split up a can between the three dogs a couple of times a week.

Good supplement, cheap canned is often on sale, and I haven't yet met a dog that will turn it's nose up at canned or fresh salmon.

Raw pork is a good supplement as well. If you get raw ground pork on sale, it is cheaper than any premium canned food out there. You can freeze it, thaw as needed, and mix some in with the kibbles.

I got into the raw thing years ago in the US when I had my own house and had a 30 cu.ft freezer. I was feeding raw food to three dogs AND a fluctuating number of cats and kittens (I ran a cattery and had performance dogs).

I wound up losing my house to medical bills after husband died, and I now live in a small trailer up North.

I don't have anywhere to put the materials to make up a raw diet cheaply. I am lucky in that MY living expenses are so low that I can manage to feed my dog a ready-made raw diet without starving myself.

I DO understand how hard it is to feed beloved pets when you can barely manage to feed everyone you are responsible for.

Almost forgot. Check with your local food pantries and shelters. It is possible that those charities might have assistance programs to help owners get pet food for free. Shelters would much rather help feed a dog than have to take it in.

Even up here in Podunk the local Catholic Charities pantry has pet food available. It's basic stuff. You don't have to be Catholic to take part, nor do you have to prove income. All I had to do in the rough times when I was living on only my VA pension and waiting for my SSDI to come in, all they needed was to see proof of address so they knew you lived in the Parish.

If you didn't, they'd refer you to the proper parish.

 

[Hound dog]

I just priced the better foods................and there is no way on earth I can afford them right now. They're more than double the ol' roy stuff.

GN I only give them healthy scraps. No junk foods. (ok or extremely little junk foods) Molly used to be over weight so I cut out most of the bad for her treats.

The meat is either crock potted or baked in the oven. I give them the broth as well as the meat itself. This can be beef, pork, and chicken. I do try to scramble them up an egg or 2 once a week.....and I only use butter to scramble. If I have sausage or bacon.......I save them a small portion....and they get a bit of the grease on their food as well.

I'm beginning to think now that husband and I throw nothing out the dogs are actually eating better than before. lol And they probably are now that I know what the ol' roy stuff is made out of.

I also try to get cuts with good bones (easier in a small rural area) that still have the marrow.

I've still got to check out TSC and that warehouse feed place on the outside of town to see what they charge for the good food........maybe they'll have it closer to a range I can afford.

I've tried the "humane society" we have for pet food help (cuz I'm also feeding neighborhood stray cats) and they don't have such a program. They've got all they can do to feed the animals they house.

Somehow though, I'm really thinking Molly has a serious allergy to the corn in the food. Betsy and Rowdy both have no issues. Both have shiney healthy coats and skin. But they also eat like they're starving to death unless we add people food.

Thanks

 

[GoingNorth]

Once a week or so I like to have a bacon and cheese omelet. When I do that, I make two seperate omelets, one for me with cheese, eggs, and bacon, but seasoned.

I make a one egg omelet for my dog with nothing added but the cheese and bacon (I like to season my eggs).

It's inexpensive, he loves it, and we get to sit down and eat breakfast together.

Worst issue I have ever had with food allergies in pets was with a couple of Maine Coon Cats who were allergic to FISH. Imagine finding a cat food that doesn't have fish in it!

Took a couple of years before I threw my hands up in the air, switched those cats to raw, and did an elimination diet. Definitely proved the problem was fish and once I cut it out of their diets they did fine.

FYI, dogs can often reacted to inhaled allergens like pollen and mold and the like, by breaking out in rashes or getting itchy paws.

We don't usually think of it since inhaled allergens in humans cause respiratory symptoms.