[zoesmomaddy]

Hi,

I am new to this forum. I have a dog that has extremely sesitive stomach and colitis. Along with my holistic vet's advice, I started her on a raw frozen diet called Nature's Menu made in Lake Geneva Wisconsin. It consist of 80% muscle meat 20% organ meat and is turkey. It has synthetic calcium and vitamins and mineral substitutes. Along with the 6 ounces of this food per day that I feed in 2 meals, I add 1 tablespoon of Embark Honest Kitchen. Her stool has been fine and she has been eating this since last August. The only time she has issues is if she eats something new. Her vet said I can continue to feed her this diet but I am worried that she is only eating turkey protein and wonder if this could cause her problems. Her coat seems to be thinner but that could be a seperate health issue not related to her diet so I am not blaming the diet. It is very shiny and she seems very healthy and happy.

I hate to rock the boat with her stool wise when she is doing well but am alittle worried about the single protein. My vet says it is fine but I would like others input. Whenever I try to transition to a new food it is a MAJOR problem. This was the only food we were able to tranistion to cold turkey (no pun intended) without serious squirty water poops.

I don't have enough confidence to feed her total raw bones, etc. at this point and I think you will all tell me to do that. I am a nervous nelly and have been through so much with her. SInce I am not ready to do that should I not be feeding her raw? I thought it had to be better than the Hills canned ID she was eating.

Thanks for your patience and thoughts.
Addy

 

[rannmiller]

I am a firm believer that a single protein-source raw diet it still leaps and bounds better than a kibble diet. I almost had to do with with one of my dogs when he was having issues but we worked through it very slowly and now he does great in moderation (the rescue dogs always seem to be the ones with issues, don't they?).

I guess my first question would be to ask why you are trying to transition your dog to new foods cold turkey when you already know she is sensitive? What I'd recommend doing is adding just a tiny amount of something new once a week WITH the regular meal so your dog still gets different protein sources. Like one week, give just a tiny amount of raw chicken with the raw turkey. Try that for a couple of weeks. Then try just a tiny amount of raw pork with the raw turkey once a week, etc. See how she handles it. If she doesnt, no biggie, like I said before, almost any raw diet is better than kibble, especially prescription kibble!

 

[zoesmomaddy]

Thank you for the response. I always tried very slowly to change her food. Her vet said I went so slowly she could not tell what was going on!!!! Told you I was nervous! She had me take her cold turkey off the canned ID onto this raw diet. I had never done that before. I could never transition her off the canned ID to anything without problems no matter how slowly I went, except for this food.

I guess I just need to be reassured I am doing the right thing!

Addy

 

[magicre]

in all truth, you as the owner of your dog, are the only one who can honestly and objectively say how your dog is doing.

sit back....run your fingers up and down and all over and give your dog a massage. how does the skin and fur feel? how does it look? are the eyes shiny and bright? does your dog eat reluctantly or enthusiastically....?

i like the advice from rannmiller.....add a tiny piece of something new for several days or several weeks...keep increasing the ratio of what your dog is on now to what you want to give....

when my dogs were on kibble and i switched them from crap to less crappy....it took me three months....LOL...so i understand cautious.