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..
Tag Archives: IAMS
Lacey can tell the difference between junk treats vs good treats
It’s only been a few months since Lacey has been on mostly organic food with no fillers in her food or treats.Tonight we were looking for treats/chew bones for her & the ones we usually get Hartz,Pigskin Oinkies she lost interest in so we got her a “cheap” Purina chew bone.When I got home as always she’s so happy to get a treat or whenever I bring her home something.The chew bone I got her was somewhat healthy but not the best.She took it and ate it for a while(maybe 10-20 minutes) before she lost interest in it altogether.It’s like she can tell the junk from the good..
Tonight my mom was comparing pictures from her Science Diet/IAMS/Beneful Prepared Meal Days & her recent Halo’s pictures(after she started in December)..Placing the two pictures side by side you can see how dull her coat was on Science Diet/IAMS/Beneful Prepared Meals compared to her Halo’s pictures that her fur has more shine to it and it’s much fuller compared to her 4 month old picture.Really what you feed your dog truly makes a difference…Really amazing to see what a difference the food you feed your dog can make in just a very short time…
Lacey tries Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit…one last & final attempt….
We still had the bag of Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit & decided to give it one more try to see if medical issues still comes up.If it does,we’ll take her off of it completely and toss the rest out in the garbage.Dr Kaya said it could’ve been hormones that was causing the medical issues.Sometimes in some dogs spaying could help.She did get spayed so I am willing to give it one more attempt.One good thing I remember last year when we first started organic dog food,Solid Gold was one of the first ones we tried that she ate..During that one month we tried it,the protein was Bison & her itching was less than on Science Diet & IAMS.Not sure but she may be allergic to chicken.We’ll be trying SG Just a Wee Bit for a few months in addition to her Halo’s Spot’s Stew Wholesome Chicken & Halo’s Spot’s Stew Wild Salmon to see if any medical issues come up while on SG just a wee bit.See next post for more info.
Lacey’s recovery is going very well…..
Lacey’s recovery from her spaying is going very well so far…She has started to eat some raw & has eaten her Halo’s.She’s been “begging” for walks,going out/on a car ride to go get pizza hut for dinner which she did amazingly on(very calm,relaxed,laying down,enjoying herself w/a smile on her face,looking around and not breathing heavily).In the morning she was prancing around somewhat but still “very still” or what I call her “frozen stand”and not move a muscle except she’d move her face & stay in one spot for minutes at a time.We decided to give Lacey some pain medicine after I asked her “are you in pain?” she responded with looking away from me and drooped her head to the side as if she was somewhat embarrassed to tell me “yes,I am sore.”.I took the response as yes,I am in pain & we gave her some pain medicine that Dr Kaya had given her to take on the day she was discharged from her spaying.In the evening,she made a miraculous turn around in her behavior…Before we knew she was being quite a rascal,prancing around,”digging for gold” inside the house,lapping up water more,ate some Halo’s after I gave her 4-6 pieces of solid gold just a wee bit I switched it to the Halo’s which she gulped it up & took from the carpet,running around the house with endless amount of energy,wanting to go walking,ate some meat off the floor while we ate dinner,playing with her toys & looking for Halo’s food & raw food in her bottles..Her incision is healing very quickly..97% of the incision is healed and moreorless closed up.I would have thought it would take about a week to close up but it has been less than 4 days since her spaying and already 97% of the incision is healed!If Halo’s ever comes out with another flavor besides Salmon we’ll be more than happy to try it out on Lacey!As far as we are concerned Halo’s makes the best products when it comes to dry food for dogs.When it comes to Halo’s canned food that’s a different story but the dry food is the best which I believe has helped heal Lacey quicker than Science Diet,quicker than IAMS, & quicker than Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit.She’s also doing more tricks.
Lacey’s choices of dry food and her reactions to all 4 brands
We tried Lacey on Wellness Super5Mix Small Breed,Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit,Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul,Halo’s,Science Diet & IAMS.
On Science Diet & IAMS we gave her that because we had gotten the IAMS when we got her from Kailua along with her puppy food and the Science Diet we got that when we first took her for her first check up with Dr Kaya.she was doing well on it but wanted IAMS more.At the time looking back now she was itching more and had more medical issues.
One of the first organic/holistic dry food I had her sample was Solid Gold I believe was the very first one and from the beginning she loved it!Her reaction was almost instantly.As the days went by giving her Solid Gold her itching slowly got better.The next one we tried was Wellness Super5Mix Small Breed and her reaction to that one was also pretty quick but the result was soft bowels.Yet on the canned food her bowels were slightly better & the Wellness Treats.So Wellness was out but she enjoys the canned food and treats from Wellness!I use Wellness on the side for her.
The next was Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul.It took her a while to warm up but at the beginning she loved it.About a day after I gave her Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul she wasn’t too thrilled to eat Chicken Soup.Sometimes she won’t even look at it,turn her face away or won’t even open up her mouth.Good thing it was only a sample.Now we feed it to our neighbor’s dog.
The next one was Halo’s.Lacey took a while to warm up to this one..a little longer than with Chicken Soup..But she ate it and actually knew when I was trying to trick her into Chicken Soup.She’d rather have Halo’s.Halo’s has sweet potatoes in it but was surprised when I saw her bowel was good and firm not even the slight of softness to it!I think it’s the amount of sweet potatoes the companies put in the dry food that can be too much for her tummy.
So her main foods are Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit,Halo’s Wholesome Chicken Recipe, Wellness Canned Food/Treats,Beneful along with some table food & home cooked treats.I still give her some by products but definatly not to the same extent before where it was mostly commercial dog food.Most of her dog food and treats are higher quality with a few treats that still have by products.Only a few exceptions.
Holistic/Organic Dry Dog Food Warming up comparisions
Today we got the Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul sample.When I first gave it to her she warmed up to it instantly.She’ll actually paw at me to get it.In fact Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul is about the same as Solid Gold.She’ll only refuse it if she’s full.Wellness was good too but she didn’t warm up to the food as quick.Science Diet & IAMS she’d refuse it altogether even if she’s hungry.BUT,what I didn’t know and I did know about Diamond Recalls was that Diamond requires all of their pet food companies to perserve fish meal with Ethoxyquin which can cause dogs to get cancer.Regretfully and thankfully these were only samples from the companies and it’s good I checked it out before we got the bag of Chicken Soup as I certainly don’t want Lacey to die early because of a “dishonest” choice of food I gave her that caused her to be ill & take her life from her so no more Diamond Pet Food Brands including Artemis which I also looked into but we didn’t sample it thankfully.
Update:December 7 2009:As an update on Diamond using Ethoxyquin please see the update above this last entry to see what Chicken Soup said.Intially I took it as that Chicken Soup did use this,Ethoxyquin,because on a forum on dogster one animal owner mentioned that Diamond requires all brands to use Ethoxyquin but from the email and the website they don’t.I feel reassured knowing that I made a safe decision for Lacey.
Lacey’s switch of water & her dog food
As of yesterday November 18,2009,Lacey has been drinking bottled water.I went online in search of a easy way to stop her tearing stains under,around her eyes and mouth area.One of the things I have come up with besides using medicine such as angel eyes is that most water such as tap from the faucet is in most areas have a high php.Being from Hawaii the sea water does have high mineral in it.I switched her to bottled water since yesterday and the results have been amazing!In the past 48 hours she hasn’t had any stains around her eyes!Who knew that small things make a big difference!Lacey is also striving on Organic Dog Food.While she does eat it more at ease than Science Diet she still likes a variety of food.We’re waiting on samples from Halo & Wellness to see what other brand she likes.Thing is when we first got her we had her on IAMS and then we took her to the vet they gave us Science Diet and from then we started mixing it together.So now,she likes a variety of dry foods.Lacey also has more pep to play.Before she was more on the lazy side and only played up to about 15 minutes.After she went organic she can now play up to 25 minutes!She loves to play more so than before.Fur is shinier.What a change!
Reference:angel eyes:http://angelseyesfordogs.com/
Reference:water:http://gettheredout.com/Tear_Stain_Causes.html
Also could be the cause of dried beet pulp in commercial dog food
PS.Organic dog food does not have dried beet pulp
Lacey’s serving size for Solid Gold:Just a wee bit
Tonight I measured and calculated how much Lacey needs for her Solid Gold dog food.It turns out that Lacey actually is taking in less from what it was with commercial dog food.I gave her 1/8 cup which is what she ate when she was on Science Diet & IAMS.Science Diet & IAMS was 1/8 cup to 1/4 cup.After she finished her Solid Gold I calculated it and she now eats 1 Tablespoon + 1 tsp=20 ml.It’s less by 10 ml which means her food will last us a while.I am guessing it’s probably going to be the same with her second organic food.This is off the subject but even when she took a bath I noticed that she was a lot calmer and still compared to when she was on commercial dog food.Could it be a coincidence?We’ll see next week.
So long Science Diet & IAMS:You were good to us while it lasted….
Today Lacey embarks a new dry kibble.As the primary care giver of Lacey I wanted her to live long yet enjoy her life as a dog.So I researched many brands to see what is good and what is recommended.What to look at for nutrition.I even settled into prayer about it.The ones I was looking at were Canidae,Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul,Wellness,and Halos Spot Stew.We went to Natrually Pet which was in town and I saw many good brands except one brand had salt as a ingredient(Royal Canine).Instead between debating on Canidae,and Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul we bought a sample of Solid Gold.So happened that Lacey warmed up to the idea of trying a new kibble.She loves it.We still need one more dry brand of kibble.Hopefully similar to Solid Gold.She’ll also get Beneful too but no more Science Diet or IAMS!We are done and finished using by products as one of the main sources of dog food.Lacey does need variety though.Otherwise she will get bored with one brand.
Quick Note:I haven’t heard about Royal Canin when my dad asked me about it at Natrually Pet.The lady there recommended Royal Canin for a small dog like Lacey but I never heard of that brand before.I checked the ingredients and it was fairly good but there was salt and I knew that was a no-no.When I came home I looked it up and others say that it’s “good” but it’s not at the top of the line like Solid Gold.But what Lacey is on is good so we don’t have to worry.Likewise I am sure that she’ll do good with Wellness.
Lacey’s bowels are much better despite the fact she still gets table food and still has treats that has by products.Friday was her first attempt at Organic Dog Food.Throughout the whole day from Friday morning to midnight on Satuday she only made one bowel.Her urinating has also decreased by a lot too.Lacey’s doing really well on Organic Dog Food so far and we hope to eventually get her treats organic too after the ones with by products are done.We are considering Wellness as the second brand of dry dog food to alternate it with the Solid Gold something like every other week or every other day
Wet Food Beneful + Science Diet maltipoo meal measurement for maltipoo
Lacey does not like Beneful over IAMS.I tried to give her IAMS with Beneful on top but she wouldn’t touch it.I switched the IAMS back to the Science Diet + Beneful then she will eat it.Before Lacey was on Beneful she’d have some table food with her meal which was usually at dinner about 1/4 cup of dry food(Science Diet or IAMS)-she’d also beg more..With scoops of Beneful + 1/8 cup Science Diet that’s good enough to hold her for one day.She does get an attempt to try at dinner but she doesn’t even finish close to 1/8 cup of Science Diet.She may take a few bites but that’s about it.
