Hello,
sorry to roll right in a start a thread as my first post, but the inernet oracle contradicts itself on this topic, so i am looking for what people know about timberwolf brand food.
background story: we have a 3.5 year old hovawart boy from canada. we got him when he was 8 weeks old, and put him on the vollhardt diet, using ground beef as meat primarily, then switching around later with chicken necks etc.
he was growing well, looked good. He is a gorgeous dog, doesnt smell bad on either end, white teeth, great skin, shiny coat etc. just the way you want it, never sick for 2 years straight on the raw diet. no worms, hardly any ticks.
then he started to have Diarrhea more and more often which the almost became chronic, he had to go urgently during the night a few times, but most days his poow as jjust very very soft and he sat down as often as 8-10 times during a 1 hour walk.
so we asked the vet and decided to cook his food for a while, so we tried a whole bunch of things trying to stop it for good, a few things worked for a while, cooked chicken and rice, cooked oatmeal, cooked beef and rice, pasta cooked and raw. nothing really fixed him up. In the meantime he wasnt looking too shaggy considering his condition, he has dropped to about 67 pounds, his baseline is around 76-80. coat still looked pretty good, and he was active, just didnt poo well.
out of desperation, we started experimenting with dry food "natural balance lamb and rice and then also duck and sweet potato, and the Diarrhea stopped almost entirely, he is now completely regular but for the last maybe 5% which is still soft and he sits down maybe 5-8 times dropping a little dot each time.
my wife just took him for his annual exam, thinking maybe he needs a ultrasound of his gastro to see whats going on, but the vet thought it should be a matter of fine tuning his diet to get it right, he had gone back up to 76 pounds he looks good, is a bit more active, but we also see the effects of dry food already like yellow teeth. The Vet suggested to try the timberwolf bisson for him, we bought a small bag and he got his first dinner, he threw up the next day in the morning. we called the vet and he suggest to try with the lamb and rice then, we had no clue which animal protein sets him off as it always seemed random. we bought another small bag and this time after he got his first dinner he was perfect, he sat down once, did his business and that was it.
out of interest i checked on reviews for timberwolf today and come across a whole avalanche of recent negative reviews and reports of dogs dying after doing great on the food for a year or so. those reports all seemed to have been posted late last year, with a few that say it was related to the recall they had in june. I just wanted to know if the members of this board have more current and accurate information on the quality of their food.
if somebody from the raw/home made food section stumbles across this and has a suggestion, we would love to get away from commercial again, i just like to know what i am giving my dog.
sorry for the lengthy post
thx in advance
pukinhovi
sorry to roll right in a start a thread as my first post, but the inernet oracle contradicts itself on this topic, so i am looking for what people know about timberwolf brand food.
background story: we have a 3.5 year old hovawart boy from canada. we got him when he was 8 weeks old, and put him on the vollhardt diet, using ground beef as meat primarily, then switching around later with chicken necks etc.
he was growing well, looked good. He is a gorgeous dog, doesnt smell bad on either end, white teeth, great skin, shiny coat etc. just the way you want it, never sick for 2 years straight on the raw diet. no worms, hardly any ticks.
then he started to have Diarrhea more and more often which the almost became chronic, he had to go urgently during the night a few times, but most days his poow as jjust very very soft and he sat down as often as 8-10 times during a 1 hour walk.
so we asked the vet and decided to cook his food for a while, so we tried a whole bunch of things trying to stop it for good, a few things worked for a while, cooked chicken and rice, cooked oatmeal, cooked beef and rice, pasta cooked and raw. nothing really fixed him up. In the meantime he wasnt looking too shaggy considering his condition, he has dropped to about 67 pounds, his baseline is around 76-80. coat still looked pretty good, and he was active, just didnt poo well.
out of desperation, we started experimenting with dry food "natural balance lamb and rice and then also duck and sweet potato, and the Diarrhea stopped almost entirely, he is now completely regular but for the last maybe 5% which is still soft and he sits down maybe 5-8 times dropping a little dot each time.
my wife just took him for his annual exam, thinking maybe he needs a ultrasound of his gastro to see whats going on, but the vet thought it should be a matter of fine tuning his diet to get it right, he had gone back up to 76 pounds he looks good, is a bit more active, but we also see the effects of dry food already like yellow teeth. The Vet suggested to try the timberwolf bisson for him, we bought a small bag and he got his first dinner, he threw up the next day in the morning. we called the vet and he suggest to try with the lamb and rice then, we had no clue which animal protein sets him off as it always seemed random. we bought another small bag and this time after he got his first dinner he was perfect, he sat down once, did his business and that was it.
out of interest i checked on reviews for timberwolf today and come across a whole avalanche of recent negative reviews and reports of dogs dying after doing great on the food for a year or so. those reports all seemed to have been posted late last year, with a few that say it was related to the recall they had in june. I just wanted to know if the members of this board have more current and accurate information on the quality of their food.
if somebody from the raw/home made food section stumbles across this and has a suggestion, we would love to get away from commercial again, i just like to know what i am giving my dog.
sorry for the lengthy post
thx in advance
pukinhovi