I entered my babies in a contest

[punk-a-doodle]

I haven't found higher quality foods to always be best. TOTW, among other high dollar brands, gives my heeler diarrhea something awful, and she doesn't like the taste. A lot of the foods people were saying to only feed your dogs ended up on recall lists a while back, including some organic brands, which gave me further reason to be skeptical. I try to feed my dog what she seems to like the taste of, and what makes her seem best in energy, teeth, and coat health. That actually seems to be the dreaded Old Roy brand, the lamb kind that has lamb (in some form) listed as the first ingredient. That said, we only stopped giving it to her because our other heeler was terribly allergic to lamb. They both loved and did very well Rotations (barring the lamb for the one dog), the idea of which is to switch up the food a bit. We could only find it when it hit Big Lots though, so never have a reliable supply of it.

When we have our own chickens and land, I will be trying the raw diet. Any dog I've had has always loved home cooked, and I try to give them that whenever we (rarely as we won't eat factory farmed) have meat ourselves.

But yeah, basically, different strokes for different dogs. X)

 

[bock]

We finally found a holistic vet near us, he is great! He is a huge raw advocate, and though we didn't get very far into vaccinations on our first visit, he did mention conventional vets push many unnecessary vaccines. We used to go to a vet who wanted every vaccination every year, Science Diet, and year round HW prevention when it wasn't even possible to contract HW with the temperatures. We used to get Rabies and a 5-way combo every three years before I knew better. Now we still get Rabies every three years (by law) and titer for Parvo and Distemper. The other vaccinations in the combo are extremely rare where we live, why were we giving it every three years??? And, even better, it was a combo.

I feel terrible that I could have let them do that to them, makes me mad that so many vets do this. We know better now though, I only want the best for my babies!

 

[dainerra]

TOTW is really rich, so can cause diarrhea in some dogs. I know that my boys didn't do well on it alone. If I mix it with something else, then they are good. I feed mainly nutri-source grainfree. Both the boys do well on it and they have great poops.

Bock, I've not done shots (other than rabies) past the puppy set. Parvo isn't a concern other than puppies or dogs that are already immuno-compromised. I do titers for distemper.

I DO do year-round heartworm, but we have mosquitoes all year. However, I dose every 45 days, not every 30.

ETA: here is the latest vaccine protocol. Not all vets have adopted it yet, but I'd bring it to their attention if yours is pushing more vaccines.
http://www.weim.net/emberweims/Vaccine.html

 

[bock]

Quote:
Luckily, our new holistic vet is great about this kind of thing. Thanks for the link though, I wish I knew this when we had our old vet! About HW, we only are at risk 6 months of the year, so that's the only time we use it. We also stretch it to 45 days, I read somewhere Heartgaurd was approved for 60 days. I haven't taken the leap yet though, want to make sure it's accurate. We dose with milk thistle too, to help detoxify the liver.

To the OP, I would try a few different foods and see what works for you. We have had good luck with TOTW, but no food is right for everydog.

 

[dainerra]

I do my own dosing with Ivomec 1% solution and strongid for worming every 3-6 months as needed

 

[punk-a-doodle]

TOTW is really rich, so can cause diarrhea in some dogs. I know that my boys didn't do well on it alone. If I mix it with something else, then they are good.

We actually tried mixing in other food, but it's still a big no go for her.

 

[Lacey1988]

I don't think dogs care too much bout what they eat I mean I seen dogs eat anything from a dead rat to cat poo lol.....Meka personally hates dog food she like the wet hates the dry so I try different combos to try to make her eat it....Usually if she likes the cheap stuff with low nutrients I just make up for the lack of nutrients by adding higher quality wet food.

 

[Lacey1988]

I just sent in a survey to get a free sample of TOTW...

 

[dainerra]

I'm in a photo contest at my local pet store. 1st prize is a year's supply of TOTW. I'm really hoping htat I win lol I could use 12 free bags of food

Good luck on the contest that you entered.

Lacy, the reason that so many dogs like the cheap foods is that it is coated so that it is like candy to them almost. Think of it as the difference between getting your kids to eat healthy vs McDonald's every day.