In case any finicky dog owners want to know how a finicky dog took to it….Lacey loves it….She gulps it up quicker than Primal(Frozen pre made raw),quicker than Stella & Chewy’s(Freeze Dried pre made raw).She even takes to NV Frozen Raw just as well as the Raw Boost Bites!Nature’s Variety gets a 4 paws up from Lacey Princess!
Tag Archives: stella & chewy
Lacey chooses Stella & Chewy for her primary diet for now…
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.
Trying to stabalize Lacey’s eatings
So,right now we’re just trying to stabilize Lace on some type of dog food whether it be dry,can,freeze dried…At this point,we’d rather deal with good bowels or soft bowels that could require cleaning vs having malnutrition and more vet bills to pay.For now she seems to be wanting to eat her freeze dried Stella & Chewy as she hasn’t had Halo’s for a week at least(which I believe she’s holding out for) which is fine.I’d rather deal with good bowels or soft bowels over malnutrition.As long as she eats high quality,low quality whatever…as long as she eats…We’re giving her minimal can food(1/8 cup),limiting her table food(she gets some but very little)and limiting her treats at least till she becomes more stable like when and every x amount of days we can predict her eating..So if she goes like about 3-4 days eating x food we CAN allow her to maybe skip a day but as long as she eats x type of food(for dogs)90-95% of the time she can have her treats,table food back to the usual amount.
As for dry food,I am considering on getting 4 brands of dog food & in time keep the recipt or give it to our neighbor’s dog for her to eat then pick out another 4 brands so on so forth to see if she has any interest…..as well as check out a few stores around the island as time goes on..Right now we’ve got Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural,Taste of the Wild High Prarie,Blue Buffalo Chicken & Rice Small Breed and Nature’s Best Lamb & Rice..
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..
Got the Primal out & waiting…..
For Lacey to accept it.I remember back in January when I introduced her to raw(stella & chewy) it was a battle just to get her to eat it.It took about a month of battling with Lacey on Stella & Chewy before she started accepting it.For a few days we are not giving her any treats,table food,dry food or can food.If she doesn’t accept it in three days I will give her some dry food then skip a few days so we can try get her to accept Primal.The thing I want to accomplish w/Primal is really to see how her bowels are on it..If it’s the lamb,I’d like to try at least 2 more flavors from Primal to see if we get the same reaction or not…Maybe her body just can’t handle raw?Right now we can’t come to that conclusion yet since we only tried Stella & Chewy’s..But if that is/was the case she’d be on dry food & can food for life.It’s better we find it out now than later.It WILL no doubt be a battle to accept Primal but we’ll keep trying…
Frozen Raw Food vs Freeze Dried Raw Food Brands
Ok,so in the last post we mentioned that because Lacey is sensitive to the amount of carob,fish & lamb in her diet we decided to switch from Stella & Chewy’s.Stella & Chewy’s Beef formula is good but she didn’t like it.However her stool was good on it but the lamb formula was “absolutely loved!” by Lacey but the result was every time she had it she had soft stools..and we can’t have that!
So,I wanted something that was freeze dried till we got her more stable on eating raw food.Right now she’s only getting it a few times a week to help the Halo’s meat content(first ingredient is chicken/wild salmon which is less than what it says on the package once water is taken out).But w/the lamb sensitivity to Stella & Chewy’s which she loved…and got soft stools on it…I decided to try to keep her on freeze dried until…she got more regular meals on it..the thing w/freeze dried is you can keep it in the bag that it came in & all you do is break it up into smaller pieces & there’s no refrigeration time..no water needed though you can…BUT when the time came to buy Nature’s Variety Freeze Dried or Frozen like in the last post we mentioned about trying the lamb…we got the coupon and went down to Naturally Pet but they don’t sell it there…but they do sell the dry and can food…Now,the only other place that might have it is Bark Ave down in Hawaii Kai which is out of our way for us to travel just to get it or even check to see if they got it…..So,we had no other choice except to get Primal..one which I was sort of against from the start..not that it’s not a great food because it really is..that it’s frozen & you need to rethaw it..The good thing is it’s sold in more places in town where we live(not far to travel except a few miles<15 miles for sure)..it can stay in the fridge for up to 5 days unlike can is only up to 3 days.Odd thing is when you look it up online primal comes up less with search results vs nature's variety raw but when it comes to stores only 2 stores on Oahu SHOULD carry it and that was Naturally Pet & Bark Ave.Primal on the other hand seems it's more preferred in Hawaii.
Anyways a long story short,we got the Primal Lamb Frozen to see how Lacey will like it.I brought it in the car and she was just sniffing away at it..licking her mouth…When I showed it to her since I was going to unthaw it for her dinner, I took up all of her dry food & no treats or table food so when it comes to dinner she'll be hungry,she was licking her mouth already begging me for the piece that was to be unthawed…The result will be if she will eat it and how her bowel movements are.If both is good results we can stick with feeding her various formulas from Primal & get a card from Naturally Pet as a frequent buyer program.The other thing I like about it while it does not have L.Acid is that it's mostly organic food in the formulas.And we alredy know she loves the treats…Oh yeah the price we paid ~$32.?? with tax for a 4 pound bag.Expensive but good.The pieces are very small just one oz so it's actually better than Stella & Chewy.Stella & Chewy was $13.00 without tax for only 6 oz.
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!
RAW Brands to try
Frozen/Freeze Dried/Dehydrated
1)Primal Pet
2)NV
Naturally Pet
3)Sojo
Complete Dog Food
4)The Honest Kitchen
Keen:Turkey
Embark:Turkey
Preference:Alfalfa
5)Paw Naturaw
Organic Turkey Diet
6)Stella & Chewy’s(Stella & Chewy may be out if the lamb is too rich for her)
7)Possibly Addiction
Picking up more Halo’s Dry Food on Saturday & stopping all of the Wellness can food including treats
Tomorrow(Saturday) we will be going down to Kahala to get Lacey some more of the Halo’s dry food(Wholesome Chicken & -a new flavor for her Wild Salmon).We won’t be purchasing the Wellness can food anymore or the treats because it seems that she has lost interest in eating the Wellness products.She eats it she’s hungry enough but seems Merricks can food excites her more.So we will be sticking with Merrick can food & try a few other brands to see what else she likes.We might pick up some freeze dried raw for her.Right now her Stella & Chewy’s has beets inside it & if possible I want to stay away from foods with beet,beet pulp in it due to tear stains.I know Primal Pets Raw is beet free but I’d like to stick to freeze dried since we can’t predict when she will eat it.Once she starts eating it more on a daily basis willingly we may consider frozen raw food for her but till then we’re going to stick with freeze dried raw.
Lacey takes a bite of Stella & Chewy’s but sees it as a snack/treat not dinner/meal.
Today for the very first time we were able to get Lacey to finally take a successful bite of raw patty from Stella & Chewy’s but it was not until we placed it beef broth and fed it to her as a treat not like a meal that she ate it.Placing it on a plate won’t do it either.It must be treated like a treat/snack.If she doesn’t do a trick to get the patty she won’t eat it..But if you give it to her as a treat with no broth she won’t touch it either.Has to have broth for her to eat raw freeze dried food.Hmm…Maybe Sojo’s,the honest kitchen or Addiction will work better for her seeing it looks like a meal and not like a patty.Something to think about and try next time.
