[nagdu] freeze-dried dog foods

Sun Sep 6 00:54:28 UTC 2015

Kerri,
It's great that you want to improve your dog's health.
To see whether freeze-dried is an option for you, calculate how much
your dog would consume weekly. Then calculate your monthly dog food
cost based on her weekly feeding amount and how much food you can get
out of each bag. When some people do the math, they are completely
opposed to going freeze-dried, which I don't blame anyone if you've
got a strict budget to stick to.

The food that Daryl mentioned is a dog food form that combines kibble
with freeze-dried pieces. This is likely more cost effective for most
people who want to stay commercial but aren't ready or willing to go
raw.

Freeze-dried ingredients combined with kibble requires much less
synthetic nutrients. Synthetic nutrients are harmful because they
prohibit and slow nutrient absorption, and they are made from foreign
substances that the body cannot absorb such as coal tar, limestone,
acetone, formaldehyde, and so on. All of the nutrients in kibble are
synthetic unless freeze-dried ingredients are added. It's from natural
sources, yes. But all things natural are not good for us.

Let's take a look at what is a bad ingredient list and a better
ingredient list, in my opinion according to copious amounts and hours
of research I've done.

For the bad ingredient list, here's the one for Science Diet Adult Large Breed.
Chicken, Whole Grain Wheat, Brewers Rice, Whole Grain Sorghum, Corn
Gluten Meal, Whole Grain Corn, Chicken Meal, Chicken Liver Flavor,
Pork Fat, Dried Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Flax seed, Lactic Acid,
Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, Calcium Carbonate,
vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of
Vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A
Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement,
Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Vitamin
D3 Supplement), minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate,
Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Taurine, Oat Fiber,
Mixed Tocopherols for freshness, Phosphoric Acid, Beta-Carotene,
Natural Flavors, Dried Apples, Dried Broccoli, Dried Carrots, Dried
Cranberries, Dried Peas.

All that stuff you saw that is labeled as supplemental is harmful, and
also unnecessary. If the food was healthy, it would not require the
addition of vitamin and mineral supplements. A long list of synthetic
nutrients signifies that the food is cooked to death, destroying the
majority of naturally occurring nutrients.

Here's the better ingredient list, the one for ACANA Duck & Bartlett
Pear Singles.
Duck meal, deboned duck, green lentils, red lentils, duck liver,
pears, duck fat, green peas, yellow peas, algae, garbanzo beans,
pumpkin, carrots*, freeze-dried duck liver, kelp, chicory root, ginger
root, peppermint leaf, lemon balm, mixed tocopherols (preservative),
dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, zinc proteinate.

See how much shorter that ingredient list is? That's because it's
mostly made up of whole foods. Unless the body is malfunctioning and
in serious distress, the best way for any animal to get nutrients on a
daily basis is from whole foods.

I also suggest you rotate the foods your dog eats. Food sensitivities
are often developed due to eating the same foods day in and day out,
until your body is so bogged down by relying on a large percentage of
digestive enzymes and processes for the same things rather than
utilizing and balancing the use of all available digestive enzymes and
processes.
Furthermore, a balanced diet is a varied diet. All foods have varying
amounts, deficiencies and excesses of different nutrients. To balance
them out, feed variety.
Variety happens over time, not within a day or week. So switching up
foods is something you can do monthly, every 3 months, or 3 times a
year. The choice is yours. Just like microbes, if you expose your dog
to a variety of foods, it lessens the chances of developing
sensitivities and harsh reactions to normal foods.

To learn more about the difference between synthetic and whole food
nutrients, and the importance of nutrient synergy, visit
dogsnaturallymagazine.com. Find the heading that reads: Find Hidden
Dangerous Pet Food Ingredients Like A Pro. Enter your 1st name and
email address and you are sent a link to a video, which is a
presentation by an animal health expert. You can also download her
presentation notes.
There might be a link to buy some literature on healthy dog food
ingredients or something. I say whatever you can read for money, you
can also read for free if you can find it  or have somebody search it
out for you.

If you can go freeze-dried, great. Sojo's Complete and Grandma Lucy's
are okay. I personally take issue with those foods because you only
see meat protein mentioned once in the ingredient list. Maybe it's
knit picky, and it's possible that instead of saying pork meal,
deboned pork, pork fat, and pork liver, they just say pork once and
get it over with. I'm not certain that either way of listing an
ingredient speaks to what percentage of the ingredients comes from
that protein source.

If you'd like other options, consider Great Life, Acana Singles, and Orijen.

I cannot speak to what improvements will occur after switching from
kibble to freeze-dried. I went from a grain-free kibble to feeding
prey-model raw. There was no transition. That doesn't mean that's the
right choice for everyone. If you know your dog is sensitive to sudden
food switches, then switch slowly. My golden could handle sudden
switches just fine. It's all about knowing your dog.
I do think your dog's health will improve because her food with be
less processed and contain more whole food ingredients. This will
avail more nutrients to your dog's body systems, and should improve
their functionality. It might not happen right away, but it will
happen.
My dog had chronic ear infections on 5 different kibble formulas. His
ears detoxed for 2 months after going raw and dropping all toxic pet
products. Now, I only need to clean his ears once every other month.

The detoxing process doesn't happen to all dogs, but when it does, it
can be a bit overwhelming and disturbing. If you understand that your
dog's body is essentially draining out all the sewage that's
accumulated for the past how many ever months or years, you are glad
that yucky stuff is coming out and not staying in your dog's body to
cause future health problems.
While detoxing, you don't ever want to stop it. You can speed it up
with homeopathy, or sooth the process with calming herbs, coconut oil,
etc. Whatever you do, it's important not to suppress the immune
system.

Hth. Any further questions, feel free to email Ravend729 at gmail.com.
-- 
Raven
Founder of 1AM Editing & Research
www.1am-editing.com

You are valuable because of your potential, not because of what you
have or what you do.

Naturally-reared guide dogs
https://groups.google.com/d/forum/nrguidedogs

On 9/5/15, Danielle Cyclorama via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> I have fed Grandma Lucy's solely or in combination with kibble to my guide
> and pet dog for just over a year. I think it is an excellent food for the
> price and both dogs have been very healthy on it. My pet dog has been
> allergy free since we switched her diet and my guide has had a noticible
> decrease in stool volume with better consistency.
>
> Do you know how many calories is in your dog's current food per cup? I know
> the calories are given for each cup of Grandma Lucy's on their website. If
> you know both pieces of information, it shouldn't be difficult to figure
> out. Simply divide the number of calories she is eating by the number of
> calories in each cup of Grandma Lucy's. It will probably be close to two
> cups, maybe slightly less since this brand is more calorie dense than most
> kibble.
>
> I considered feeding my dog raw, but I really don't have the
> refrigerator/freezer space in a dorm. I also do not personally enjoy
> handling raw meat. That being said, I could not bring myself to continue to
> feed my dog the food he was eating after reading the ingredients list. I
> decided to feed freeze-dried as about 2/3 of his diet and the remainder
> Great Life kibble. I would ideally like to feed all freeze-dried but it can
> get a bit expensive with a very active 74 pound dog.
>
>
> You may want to make the switch over a several day period.  If your dog
> seems sensative to food changes, making the switch over a week or so should
> give her adequate time to adjust. I'm not sure if it will make a difference
> to your pup's breath, but I really don't think it will be worse.  Perhaps
> she needs more opportunities to chew, if that is something she is interested
> in.
>
>
> Danielle and Thai
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Sep 5, 2015, at 6:41 PM, Kerri Stovall via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hello listers,
>> I remember reading a long, detailed discussion a few months back about
>> raw feeding versus kibble, and I am seriously considering switching to
>> a more healthy alternative, and I am considering the different options
>> available. Have any of you used, or still use, the brand Grandma
>> Lucy's? What are your experiences with it, and how much should I feed
>> a 57 pound female? I read the instructions on the site, but still
>> don't know how much freeze-dried would equal to two cups of kibble, or
>> thereabouts. I would need to know how much to feed her in the morning
>> and how much at night, and then from there I can adjust it according
>> to activity level, etc. But I just need to know the basic meal amount
>> for a moderately active dog.
>> I think I heard of someone mentioning this brand on here, but thought
>> I'd give it a shot to see how many of you that raw feed, use this
>> particular company and what your thoughts were in general on
>> freeze-dried versus completely fresh raw food? I don't have a lot of
>> time to do completely from scratch raw food, but want a better diet
>> for my dog.  Also, I didn't know that switching foods of the same
>> brand would cause a stomach upset. For example, I wanted smaller
>> kibble in more chewable pieces for my dog, and I currently feed her
>> Science Diet, which is what Pilot had her on when I got her in April,
>> but her breath was awful even after a teeth cleaning, so I'm hoping
>> this switch will help, but I changed her over from adult active large
>> breed to Science Diet advanced fitness, thinking that since it was
>> within the Science Diet brand, it wouldn't do as much to upset her. I
>> knoew that switching brands of kibble completely, for instance Science
>> Diet to Purina, would upset her, but not within the same brand.
>> However, her stool is soft today, and so is the stool of my husban'd's
>> dog as well, who also switched from Science Diet adult active, to the
>> Science Diet advanced fitness formula, which is the smaller bite-sized
>> pieces. I thought since they were both Science Diet, that they had
>> mostly the same ingredients and therefore would be safer to switch
>> more quickly, but I guess they have different ingredients, ore enough
>> of them to make a difference. Anyway, back to the wraw food. I wonder
>> if switching her from kibble to raw will upset her, or if I should do
>> a gradual switch over, and do you all think it will help with her
>> breath, in addition to her overall general health?
>> Thank you all for your answers, and I hope everyone's having a
>> wonderful holiday weekend!
>> Kerri and Sadie
>> --
>> Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near. (Philippians
>> 4:5, NIV)
>>
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>
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