Granny's gone and done it again

[Rambling Iris]

Yes it is awful and like I said, it wasn't even all that prevalent in Missouri. I looked it up at the time and there were under 10 reported incidents in the state. They say that after the age of 3 or 4 dogs are immune to the parasite so that is a plus but we look at standing water even our ponds differently now.

Can you have the ponds tested for parasites??

 

[ShrekDawg]

You weren't rambling, you were being informative!

I just switched our dogs to Purina from Pedigree and they are loving it. Took about 5 days to switch them over but they were on Pedigree for their whole lives so yeah, figured it was time for a change for them.

Not sure what flavor I got for them. I'll have to look about that. We buy the 44 pound bags and our gluttons eat about 50 pounds a month. Maybe even 60. Yeah, I put them on a diet this week.

Thanks!!!!!!!! And I love Purina!!!!! I try to stick to WSAVA compliant (science based) foods now. So Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Royal Canin, Hills Science Diet. Pedigree is one of the only other ones that comes very close but not quite. So switching was a good decision IMO. I used to feed all sorts of boutiquey expensive a$$ foods but 1. He’s always done best on Purina and 2. Less DCM risk now.

I buy the 18.5 lb bags now. Lasts us about 6 weeks.

I used to buy the 40 or 44 lb bags but then it would last us like 3-4 months and go stale, he wouldn’t eat it towards the end of it, etc. and it’s just a waste.

So now we buy the smaller bags but it still lasts us well over a month. For $15.98. Plus shipping and tax etc. so it’s more like $22 bucks. Last one was $21.93. I just checked. But I’m gonna buy a bunch at the store soon. Cause I have some big coupons LOL so yeah.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yep, should be. But look up incidents of Pythiosis in dogs in Massachusetts. Probably unlikely so far north but we were supposedly too far north also. There are no absolutes I guess.

I’ll look it up. Thanks.

 

[ShrekDawg]

The best purina is purina pro pl@n. You get it on chewy.com

I know. But there’s no way in heck I could afford that. I could barely afford the Purina One. And the Dog Chow is still perfectly safe to feed and has the same science behind it; just Pro Plan is more specialized for specific needs and maybe has some more science than Dog Chow but like I said, way too expensive for me. Same with Royal Canin, etc.

 

[Rambling Iris]

I know. But there’s no way in heck I could afford that. I could barely afford the Purina One. And the Dog Chow is still perfectly safe to feed and has the same science behind it; just Pro Plan is more specialized for specific needs and maybe has some more science than Dog Chow but like I said, way too expensive for me. Same with Royal Canin, etc.

I understand about the expense of pet food. It's sad when dog food is mor expensive than steak! Our neighbor makes his own pet food. He has a dog a 2 cats. He cooks chicken, rice and vegetables for them every week and portions it out to them. He said he has been doing that for years because he did not like the chemical additives in commercial food. The animals seem to be healthy.
We don't have dogs or cats any more, just pet chickens. Our Lhasa Apso Daisy died of cancer in 2013. We haven't had a pet since then.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I understand about the expense of pet food. It's sad when dog food is mor expensive than steak! Our neighbor makes his own pet food. He has a dog a 2 cats. He cooks chicken, rice and vegetables for them every week and portions it out to them. He said he has been doing that for years because he did not like the chemical additives in commercial food. The animals seem to be healthy.

Yeah it’s so expensive!!!!!!!!!! And that’s cool!!!!!!!!! I’d be too worried about the nutrients being balanced and everything LOL apparently it’s really hard to do right, so I’ve read. But maybe not if they’re healthy and everything. I used to consider raw as well but that’s hard to do right too plus the pathogen risk and the expense. LOL

 

[ShrekDawg]

Brew does well on Dog Chow so I don’t see a reason to change it now. He was on Puppy Chow as well off and on. Off and on because I also tried boutique brands when he was an adolescent. But now we have settled on this and are sticking to it. I used to switch his food like every month or every few months. Just… CONSTANTLY. And that was NOT good for him. So now we’ve settled on Dog Chow. So yeah.

 

[microchick]

Can you have the ponds tested for parasites??

Probably, but I think the big problem would be how to treat it. I imagine we would see a horror show of parasite and amoebic life forms in that water.

When the cattle dogs were young, they would head to the main pound like it was Disney Land, run and launch themselves into the water. They would swim to the next shoreline, run out, run around and do it again, over and over. We just kept them away from the ponds when we lost Syd as we didn't know for sure where she picked up the parasite. It could have been from the large pool that was behind our barn, it could have been her stopping for a quick drink from a water puddle after a rain.

Now here is the scary thing. Pythiosis can be found in rain water.

I try not to think about that. It gives me nightmares.

 

[microchick]

I understand about the expense of pet food. It's sad when dog food is mor expensive than steak! Our neighbor makes his own pet food. He has a dog a 2 cats. He cooks chicken, rice and vegetables for them every week and portions it out to them. He said he has been doing that for years because he did not like the chemical additives in commercial food. The animals seem to be healthy.
We don't have dogs or cats any more, just pet chickens. Our Lhasa Apso Daisy died of cancer in 2013. We haven't had a pet since then.

People around here feed raw. I know people who hatch chickens who sell their unwanted roosters to these folks. They butcher and feed the raw quarters to their dogs.

I know a business owner in town who hunts and owns bird dogs so I asked him if he fed raw because I had roosters that I would give him for food if he wanted them. Nope, he said he didn't feed raw because he knew people who had lost expensive hunting dogs due to bone splinters and he had too much invested in his dogs to take that chance.

Can't say I blame him. Sure puts things into a different perspective.

 

[ShrekDawg]

People around here feed raw. I know people who hatch chickens who sell their unwanted roosters to these folks. They butcher and feed the raw quarters to their dogs.

I know a business owner in town who hunts and owns bird dogs so I asked him if he fed raw because I had roosters that I would give him for food if he wanted them. Nope, he said he didn't feed raw because he knew people who had lost expensive hunting dogs due to bone splinters and he had too much invested in his dogs to take that chance.

Can't say I blame him. Sure puts things into a different perspective.

I did t realize they could get splinters from raw. I thought that was mostly cooked bones. But I suppose anything is possible. Especially with a heavy chewer. For me I worry about the balance and getting the nutrients right. Plus the pathogens.