Between last Saturday and this Saturday Lacey has chosen to eat Stella & Chewy’s 4 out of 7 days…There are 12 patties in one package with each going for $15.00..It can last for 6 days or as long as almost 2 weeks.On average she’s been eating about 2 a day.So in a month,she could go through 48 patties costing us about $60 without tax..Depending how long she wants to continue that eventually she’ll have to settle for a dry food preferably Blue Buffalo but we’ll tackle that issue when she loses interest in Stella & Chewy.Meanwhile,that’s what she’ll eat switching proteins every month.
Category Archives: Lacey's favorite freeze dried RAW Food
Stabalizing Lacey on dry food
So far, so good.Yesterday was the first time Lace was given the “normal” amount of table food for a day since I stopped her Halo’s and early this morning she ate 1 Stella & Chewy Duck Duck Goose & 1/8 cup of Blue Buffalo w/some water that was already in her crate.She ate it right away…
She seemed to like Blue Buffalo more than the other brands we have right now especially when the Blue Buffalo is wetted with water.Now,to hope for good health till July providing she will eat it on almost a daily basis…That will tell us & be the most effective to help us figure out if she’s doing good on Blue Buffalo with three grains..If not she can always get the Wilderness or maybe via internet?Not sure on price differences..In addition I am trying to get her to eat some can food daily to hopefully help prevent further UTI’s.
Switching to Blue Buffalo
So I have been doing a little thinking on Lacey’s dry food.And I came across the thought that Lacey could not have fishy food so I searched back on her site & found that it was on of one of the WellnessSuper5Mix Dry Food I had given her that caused soft stools.I checked the ingredients in it and did seems to have a “good” amount of fish but I didn’t try her on any other brand for fish.On the Wellness Dry Food she’d always gets soft stools so I am not even going to try her on the Wellness Core or the Simple Solutions.I might try her on another fishy food with a different brand such as TOTW Pacific or something similar to that.
On Blue Buffalo,doing some research I have found that a lot of poodles do good on the Small Breed which most of the Blue Buffalo dog food that does have grains,usually have 3,being which MOST poodles are doing good on.I am going to slowly transition her over to Blue Buffalo and see how she is medically in the upcoming months.Otherwise it’s going to be mostly grain free for her.So far for her diet,we will be using Blue Buffalo as the primary diet(even if it’s only grain free),TOTW & possibly Earthborn.Can Food:Merricks,Party Animal.Raw:Stella & Chewy Freeze Dried Chicken or Duck(alternating)When the NOW!dog food comes to Hawaii we’ll probably stop the Earthborn if not before that and try the NOW! dog food by PetCurean.So far I am pleased with their customer service on facebook & looking forward to try their products for Lacey..Still looking at other options but that’s where we are for now…
Update May 11 2010:It seems that Lacey can’t handle Stella & Chewy’s freeze dried raw food.She can handle the chicken & beef with good bowels but can not handle the lamb,duck/goose both resulting in soft stools.The beef she doesn’t care for it too much so we will discontinue that…If sometime later a new brand comes out for freeze dried or she will accept ACV in treats if it’s ever used in treats we may get her to eat Primal Frozen but right now it will be the raw treats from Stella & Chewy & Primal for raw treats…
As far as dry food goes Lacey is obviously giving us a very difficult time on transitioning to new food whether it be Blue Buffalo,Earthborn,Taste of the Wild,Nature’s Variety or whatever she’s just not eating…In turn I have cut out most of her treats & table food until she does eat something.I have been giving her an 1/8 cup of Merricks or Party Animal daily(can food) so she’s got something in her tummy.I doubt 1/8 cup of can food will fill her up though.I am waiting for her to eat a few kibble before she gets treats/table food and see what she responds to first..At this point as much as I’d LOVE to feed her high quality dry food I am just trying to get her to eat something whether it’s high quality or cheap.Yes,cheap will cut her years earlier but at least she will be eating.If we try most brands and she won’t respond after sometime I guess we MAY be forced to go back to Halo’s….We will try different brands for the time being ranging from high quality to medium quality to the absolute worst of dry food brands.If she responds to none….back to Halo’s we’ll go..IF ALL ELSE FAILS!
Balancing grains & grain free feedings
Most people know that Lacey has started recently on Blue Buffalo & in the past we’ve had issues with grain heavy food.We’ve looked at Blue Buffalo for certain choices of food that she may be able to eat but when we got to PetCo we didn’t see what we were looking for so we picked up the Blue Buffalo Small Breed.Although I knew it did have some grains I picked one up because we drove all the way to Pearl City so we should pick up something so it’s not a “waste of time/gas”.I was going to do this several different ways with her dry food not to mention we’re trying to get her on mostly very low grains to grain free can food too.
The first way I was going to do this was switch out the brands/flavors every time she ate but I thought if I did it this way we couldn’t focus on the new brands…Later I was going to do exclusively BB & TOTW…But..I was talking to my mom and it seemed she was concerned about the amount of grains in the BB,however energy & bowels are also very good on it…One thing I remembered with grain free is as long as she doesn’t regurgitate the food we’re good with grain free so really it doesn’t matter when or what brand of grain free I introduce we’re good.She started grain free(Earthborn back in December 2009 & we’ve had no issues).The way I decided to go with my mom’s concern in mind was to do the usual amount(1/8-3/8 daily)and make 80-85% of her dry food very low grains & grain free with about 15% being moderate grains.Not to mention she will have can food available at lunch/dinner,also low grains-grain free.Out of 21 meals of dry food times 4 weeks=84 meals/month..more on another post.. a week only 3 would be BB.The other 18 meals would be Halo’s,TOTW,Earthborn…If we do good on this rotation with very little(3 meals per week of BB Small Breed) and no health issues we can choose from many types of BB..Her food would go something like this BB,Halo’s Wild Salmon,Halo’s Wholesome Chicken,TOTW,S&C Freeze Dried Chicken,Earthborn,Merricks then
Halo’s Wild Salmon,Halo’s Wholesome Chicken,TOTW,S&C Freeze Dried Chicken,Earthborn,Blue Buffalo.
AND I couldn’t give the BB Small Breed to the neighbor’s dog because on the BB small breed bag it says for dogs up to 30 pounds so Lacey would have to finish the bag
Lacey accepts Canidae!but I don’t plan to keep her on it…
Lace has finally accepted Canidae after I placed it in a bottle for her.To get her to eat Canidae it was like I had to almost beg her and doing it the bottle method without accepting it verbally by hand for Lacey is not good.Usually if she tries a new brand of dry food and she accepts it by hand that is your biggest hint that she’s good with the new food but if she won’t even take it from the hand and you got to do it by the bottle method that’s not a good start.She was the same way with Hill’s Nature’s Best.
The reason for not keeping her on it is 1)she’s not excited about it 2)didn’t take it from the hand 3)she has chicken/salmon just by eating Halo’s/supplements with Stella & Chewy freeze dried raw Chicken 4)All the other Caindae seems to be grain heavy something we don’t want to go through with more issues of UTI’s. 5)Only has one berry.I like to see at least 2:Preferably Blueberries/Cranberries but at least 2 berries.6)List of ingredients are limited.Another issue with Lacey is she can tell if it has a good amout of meat,fruit,veggies…How?I have no clue!
As for elimination diet I was thinking of it won’t be possible with the limited amount of brands of “high quality”dry dog food brands that has good “quality of ingredients” and enough variation with meats/fish.Maybe in the long run if there are more varieties out there..
Same with grain free & feeding her freeze dried raw:If there were more of the brands she’d eat with good variety of meats/fish/fruits/veggies/L.Acid and so on..none with ACV in frozen/freeze dried raw..more meats..I’d switch her exclusivity to one of these but since at the moment there isn’t enough of that type of foods we’re working with what we have including very low grains-1 grain-grain free dry/can food.Right now we’re doing Halo’s,some Earthborn,TOTW & maybe in July starting Blue Buffalo.
Canidae ALS
We got Lace some samples from naturally pet but she didn’t eat it.like w/natural balance dry/can food & any dry/can food w/limited ingredients.i’d switch her over to 100% grain free if she ate it as well as her Halo’s!Her stool is excellent on TOTW even w/can food.Halo’s is low in grains…eats it close to a daily basis..medically it helps a lot…both Halo/s & TOTW has good variety ingredients which she’s faithful to…So far we tried Science Diet,IAMS,Beneful,Chicken Soup for the pet lover’s soul,prarie,instinct,stella & chewy,solid gold just a wee bit,wellness,canidae,halo’s(current),earthborn(current),totw(current),nature’s best(refused after once),natural balance(refuses can/dry),merricks(will eat sometimes,loves the can food),primal raw,thk ..when we are in pearl city i plan on trying a few different flavors from blue buffalo to see if she’ll eat it..
Looking back at Lacey’s first year:Health and all
Name:Lacey Princess Maltipoo Akamine
Current Weight at one year old:7.11 pounds according to vet records,7.6 according to home weight
Birth Date:March 13 2009
Born:Kailua,HI
Breed:Maltese/Toy Poodle
Mom:Poodle
Dad:Maltese
Adopted:july 17 2009
Age of adoption:16 weeks old
Found on:Kijiji.com
Price:$600
Name of Vet:Dr John Kaya
Vet Hospital:VCA Animal Hospital aka VCA University Hospital
Weight at first vet visit:4.5 pounds
Dog Food:Science Diet & IAMS,Beneful Prepared Meals till December 2009
Puppy Pad Training:9 weeks
Health Issues:Yeast infection in ear,worms,UTI,Spaying(February 2010)
First Heat:November 2009
First Treats:Nutro Dog Biscuits,Pupperoni,The Goodlife Recipe treats
First Walk:November 2009
Shortest Walk:<<<than 5 minutes
Longest Walk:62 minutes on her birthday
First Time Out: December 2009
First Thanksgiving:Thanksgiving 2009:Family Dinner
First Christmas:Christmas 2009:A new top,Waggin Train
Brands of dog food we tried:Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit,Chicken Soup for the Pet lover's Soul,Wellness Super5Mix Small Breed/Super5Mix Complete Health Chicken,Halo's Spot's Stew
Current Dry Food Brands:Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit,Halo's Spot's Stew(Wholesome Chicken & Wild Salmon flavors),Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural
Brands of Can Food we tried:Natural Balance,NV Instinct & Prairie can food,Wellness Can Food then lost interest,Halo's Spot's Stew Can Food,Merricks
Current Brands of Can Food:Merricks
First introduced to Raw(Freeze Dried):January 2010
Started accepting Freeze Dried Raw:Feburary 2010
Brands we tried:Stella & Chewy till APril 2010 then we'll be switching to Nature's variety Freeze Dried
First Freeze Dried Raw Treat:Primal Pet Turkey Liver(A birthday present)
Organic Treats she's tried:Trader Joe's,Waggin' Train,No Grainers
First Boarding Facilities we considered:Di Ventus Dog Hotel & Spa
First Boarding Facilities we looked at:The Ohana Doggie Day Care,Pets in the city
First Starts understanding people conversations:7-8 months old
First Command:SIT
Commands she knows:sit,stay,don't move,time out,sit & stay,shake paw/hand,"eat",hi5,shake your tail,down aka sit,lay down,kiss,learning roll over,"wait",inside,outside,table manners at the table
Uses Common Sense while walking:About 8-9 months old
Checks for cars like a human(right,left,right,left,center,then walk)about 10 months-1 year old
Goes outside for afternoon poop:December 2009-learned by example of aunty's dogs
Vaccinations:Distemper,Parvo,Lepto
First Carrier:casual Canine
First Crate:Pet Mate Kennel Cab
Characteristics:A definite mix of Maltese/Toy Poodle.Brains of the poodle.Looks of a maltese.eyes are poodle.Loves to play.Loves to sample food
Types of food she tried:Mexican,Italian,Japanese,Chinese
Favorite Fast Food:KFC chicken skin
Shops we shop at:Naturally Pet,Halo’s Purely for Pets,The Pet Spot,Kalihi Pet Store
Misc:Also tried Hartz Oinkies
Able to climb steps:10-11 months old
First Shampoo;Sergent’s Puppy Shampoo
Current Shampoo:Halo’s Cloud Nine Herbal Shampoo/Earthbath Shampoo
Grooming:Cardinal Pet Gold Metal Pets Unicoat Professional Spray
Halo’s Spot’s Stew Wild Salmon
Lacey has just given Halo’s Spot’s Stew Wild Salmon her maltipoo approval on how she likes the “new” food!We just got it in the mail this morning and when I took it out of the box for her to try she wouldn’t take it but when my dad tried she did eat one kibble.I tried to hand feed it to her but she wouldn’t have it.So,I did it the other way where I place her food in her bottle to introduce her to the “new” food.After I did that she ate one whole 1/8 cup of Wild Salmon!She also took a bit of it in her crate tray too!At least we know that Halo’s Spot’s Stew Wild Salmon has gotten her approval!A few more flavors if Halo’s should ever introduce you can bet that we will defiantly give it a try for Lacey!Whatever flavor it is Wholesome Chicken or Wild Salmon she will most likely eat it!Thank Goodness we found Halo’s!Now we switch up her proteins almost every meal every day.We start out with Halo’s Wholesome Chicken,then SG Just a Wee Bit (Bison)MIXED with Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural(Turkey),then we give her Halo’s Wild Salmon.Once a week she gets Merricks Can Food(any flavor)on Saturdays.Mean while,we also use Stella & Chewy as a supplement with any of her dry foods.I break up a small amount into her kibble and she will usually eat that as well.Lacey’s review on Halo’s Spot’s Stew Wild Salmon for finicky eaters…Give it a try!Your dog(if finicky) might thank you!
Lacey’s showing good progress on raw food
While she’s still not eating raw on a regular basis she has made much improvement on it.She now eats it by being hand fed and once in a while on her own.Energy level is great and recently her fur has become more fluffy.All within only 5-6 weeks since she started raw in February 2010.
Trying Lacey back on SG Just a Wee Bit but…
she now turns her nose up at SG Just a Wee Bit & goes straight for the Halo’s!she might eat a few pieces of SG Just a Wee Bit but defiantly not to the same extent as last November-early December when I introduced her to Halo’s she’s since then not only been faithful to Halo’s but does so by turning her nose up at other dry foods besides Halo’s.Since yesterday(Friday February 26 2010)I have reintroduced her to SG Just a Wee Bit to see how she will do on it healthwise but she has eaten a few pieces–not enough to even equal 1/8 cup–sniff it,walk away then she’ll find her Halo’s and happily eat it by herself!I really don’t know what Halo’s puts in the food to make it so appealing to her but whatever it is it must be good.Otherwise she’d be turning her nose up at it by now & refusing it..Now only if Halo’s can make a few more meats such as Lamb,Beef,Turkey or Vension Dry Food using the same ingredients our house would have every dry food Halo’s has to offer providing it has the same appealing taste in every flavor.Providing the Wild Salmon has the same appealing taste as the Wholesome Chicken Lacey will eat it just as happily as she is with the Wholesome Chicken!I am trying to get her to eat a variety of proteins.Right now she has Halo’s Wholesome Chicken,SG Just a Wee Bit(Bison-providing she will eat it….)& stella & chewy’s Freeze Dried Lamb Dinner which I am happy to report is eating it two days in a row(even just a few bites makes a difference).Not sure if feeding raw is making a difference but at night she used to go to the kitchen to tell me she’s hungry but since she’s been placed on raw she’s been eating very little of the can food(during the early morning hours)and is eating more Halo’s & Stella & Chewy’s.It also seems that her fur may be slightly more fluffy.Hard to say just yet though since it’s been only about a month since she started some raw.
There is something about the Stella & Chewy’s Dandy Lamb that she likes.The Dandy Lamb she will actually eat it by herself at times but the Super Beef that we tried first was the hardest to get her to eat.But the Dandy Lamb she’ll open her mouth and gulp it or will eat it by herself providing it’s broken into smaller pieces for her.
