My little Maggie Bear!!

[smurfalicious]

Sorry to jump in on this late. I feel for you immensely with your puppy. This group is all the kept me sane after all the hell I went through with Hank this summer.

I am blessed to work for one of the largest natural pet supplies companies in the world. We have a lot of homeopatic kidney support supplements that might work wonders for you. Here is a sampling of what we have available for your conundrum: http://search.onlynaturalpet.com/sea...ms=kidney&mf=0

If you're interested please PM for a coupon code to order with. Also, if your vet wants to give you a "prescription diet" run like hell. Ask them specifically what sort of nutritional balance they recommend. Such as protein, fat, fiber, etc. I promise you can find something like that in a quality natural food that will be less expensive and better. I helped a gal switch off nasty Hill's K/D food tonight. The first few ingredients in that food are brewers rice (by product of alcohol production) corn gluten meal (awful and useless for cats or dogs) and pork fat (ummmm). The rest of the ingredients were byproduct this and byproduct that. Ick. My dogs get a grain free salmon formula that runs $45 for 30lbs. The average 35lb Science Diet bag costs that much and that's not even the "prescription diet."

[andtckrtoo]

I agree with Smurf. My elderly American Eskimo, Kimo has Cushings and Diabetes. My vet tried to put her on Science Diet food, and I looked at the label - the main ingrediant was soy protein isolate. WTF? I basically said, "There is no way I'm feeding my dog this." I research home cooked foods for her condition, and I make her a batch once a week in my crock pot. The vet is astounded at how well she is doing for her age and her condition. If Smurf can get you a diet similar in break down to the Science Diet, but that is all natural, I would definitely take her up on that.

[smilingcat]

Hi Christine,

One of our dog is getting up there. 13 or 14 year old golden. Such sweetie... We've been feeding him California Natural and we have thought about feeding real home made food food. But we worry about getting him a balanced diet.

Recipes we find on the internet is iffy or just plain bad for the most part. And the pet supply store we go do carry frozen raw food for the dogs.... But we are just bit weary.

It sounds like the recipe is working for your dog (been feeding him for some time and he is doing well so it must be right). Can you post the recipe. I may want to give it a try.

California Natural is over a $1.00/pound ($2.50/kilo). and cat food for our cats is now running over $2.00 pound. We have 12 cats including fosters so its straining our budget. We supplement the cat food with cooked chicken at just over a $1.00/pound.

thanks,
smilingcat

[Aggie_Ama]

I appreciate the thoughts but no offense, I eat processed crap so I am not opposed to giving it to the dogs. The girls have been eating Science Diet all their lives no issues.

Our vets (the two now and the one we had before moving here) have all expressed that Maggie's history as a backyard breeder is very likely influencing her health. They cannot say for sure but they all felt it wasn't helping anything along. We do not know how many litters she had before being sold to us because "she just won't take". Heidi had a bladder stone which is why she is on special diet. She is pretty healthy otherwise for an inbred dog that is 7 years old.

[andtckrtoo]

Hi Christine,

One of our dog is getting up there. 13 or 14 year old golden. Such sweetie... We've been feeding him California Natural and we have thought about feeding real home made food food. But we worry about getting him a balanced diet.

Recipes we find on the internet is iffy or just plain bad for the most part. And the pet supply store we go do carry frozen raw food for the dogs.... But we are just bit weary.

It sounds like the recipe is working for your dog (been feeding him for some time and he is doing well so it must be right). Can you post the recipe. I may want to give it a try.

California Natural is over a $1.00/pound ($2.50/kilo). and cat food for our cats is now running over $2.00 pound. We have 12 cats including fosters so its straining our budget. We supplement the cat food with cooked chicken at just over a $1.00/pound.

thanks,
smilingcat

Sorry - haven't been on here for a few days.

My dog has to be a low fat diet, low sugar diet according to the vet, so this is what I feed her on a daily basis (spread out over 3 meals):

1 cup chicken breast
1 cup brown rice
1/2 cup green beans
1/2 cup - mix of broccoli*, cauliflower and carrots (light on the carrots because of the sugar, but they are so good for the dogs)
1/2 cup fat-free cottage cheese

*Some dogs have issues tolerating broccoli - so use carefully.

She also gets knuckle bones to chew on (she has a liver tumor that is inoperable, and pushes against her nerves in her back so she has a lot of difficulty walking. Chewing bones is the only thing she can still do that she really enjoys - and it's good for her, too).

Kimo has been on this diet for about a year now and has done better than our vet thought she would (he gave her 3 months to live a year ago).

This works for us. I can point you to user groups where there at vets who can tailor a diet to your dog's specific needs. They do charge about $100, but it can be so worth it.

Smiling Cat - the reality is is that there is no perfect formula for a dog. Most kibbles do not provide a balanced diet, believe it or not, and are very inferior. In my opinion - you do better with switching foods around so that he is eating a different kibble every month or so, in order to get more balance in his diet. Dogs, like us, actually do better with variety. But, if your dog has been eating the same thing most of his life, changing things up frequently can cause digestion issues so move very slowly - and not often. I feed my Aussie some of Kimo's food and a high quality kibble that I switch with every bag (right now he's eating Canidae salmon, but I like Wellness, Solid Gold, and others). I also get him raw food from Whole Foods on occasion, as well as the high quality canned stuff. He's used to having his food switched, so he tolerates it well. He also gets certain table scraps (in moderation and only of foods that dogs can tolerate). He's a healthy high energy Aussie who can hike 11 steep miles and still get the zoomies in the evening. (Then again, maybe I should feed him something else )