[NAGDU] Introduction and question dog food.

Fri May 22 06:16:44 UTC 2020

Hi Asia.
OK, i went and looked up the food you are feeding your dog. This is a horrible food in my opinion. Here are the ingredients;

Ingredients
Sweet Potatoes, Venison, Pea Protein, Potato Protein, Canola Oil (Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols), Brewers Dried Yeast, Natural Flavor, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salmon Oil (Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols), Flaxseed, Dried Potato Products, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, DL-Methionine, Choline Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Iron Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Taurine, Vitamins (Vitamin E supplement, Niacin, d-calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, Riboflavin supplement, Thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin D3 supplement, Pyridoxine hydrochloride, Folic acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 supplement), Mixed Tocopherols (preservative), Lactic Acid, Citric Acid (preservative), Rosemary Extract, Green Tea Extract, Spearmint Extract.

Caloric Content
3340 kcal/kg, 370 kcal/cup

Guaranteed Analysis	
Crude Protein	20.0% min
Crude Fat	10.0% min
Crude Fiber	5.0% max

First of all, you should look at the first 5 or 6 ingredients and, they should be from a animal meat source. Next, this food does not have any probiotics in it. Next and probably the worst is, this food has only 20% protein and 10% fat. Therefore, it has a wopping 70% something else...carbs?
A food this low in protein and fat is for super fat dogs or dogs that are extremely inactive. No wonder he’s starving.
Take a look at the ingredient lists from the 2 foods that i posted earlier and you can see the difference.
My young dog is eating 38% protein and 20% fat food.
I am certain that, if you put him on a nutrient dense food with way less fillers and carbs, he will poop less.
If it were me, i would probably try Victor Professional. Maybe get a 5 pound bag and see how it goes. If that doesn’t work, i’d try either Nature’s Logic or one of the Instinct foods.
Give the ingredients a read and make sure that there is plenty of meat and fat in the diet. You want a protein level of a minimum 26% and a fat level of no less than 18%.
I think that, when he has more satisfying food he will do much better.
I doubt he is allergic to chicken as, that’s something that vets tend to say. I even had a vet tell me my last dog was allergic to chicken when, it turned out that he had giardia!  
If, you do change over to a different food and, his poops do not firm up then, you may actually have a case of that on your hands as well.
It certainly won’t hurt to treat for it and see. It’s extremely hard, nearly impossible to test for it in a stool sample by the vet because it’s a microscopic parasite. You may want to ask your vet about it if you are uncomfortable about treating yourself.
Another thing, the food you are feeding has canola oil in it. I personally do not feed foods with that ingredient as, i want the fat to come from animal sources or coconut.
You can also look for things like pumpkin, ground pumpkin seeds or, tapioca. These ingredients tend to firm up the poop nicely i have found.
Good luck to you and, please come back and let me know if you do decide to switch and how it worked out.

ViviannaSent from my iPhone

> On May 21, 2020, at 9:28 PM, Asia Quinones-Evans via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Thank you for the response. I actually have him currently on Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Venison and Sweet Potato formula and the treats I am giving him sometimes are actually the same kind of food he is getting. I found it on Chewy and I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to find the same kind of treats that his food is. I would not choose to use this kibble as treats because it is very small kibble. He already gets excited when I do use Charlie Bears or Zukes for training that sometimes he chocks on one.
>  
> Sent from Mail for Windows 10
>  
> From: Lauren Bishop via NAGDU
> Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2020 10:07 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Cc: Lauren Bishop
> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Introduction and question
>  
> Hi Asia,
> If I were you, I would trial a limited ingredient food such as Purina pro plan sensitive skin and gut, which is what my dog has been eating, or maybe some thing from natural balance. I would also illuminate  treats from the dogs diet. It might be that your dog hast to just stick to eating only one thing. Removing the treats will not hurt, and if you want to use your reward, you could always use some of his kibble ration for the day.
> The probiotics might also help, but you will not know if food is making any difference if you are not feeding it exclusively.
> I hope this helps,
> Lauren
>  
> Sent from my iPhone
>  
> > On May 21, 2020, at 9:13 PM, Brent Franklin via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >
> > Hello Asia,
> >
> >
> >
> > Gosh, talk about being thrown in to the deep end.
> >
> >
> >
> > There are so many things to consider, I’m not going to mention any foods
> > except to say there will be a food that works better than others. It
> > depends on your dog as to which one.
> >
> > Then there is the debate about with or without grains, all I will say
> > there, is once again it depends on the dog.
> >
> >
> >
> > My first guide, nothing seemed to effect him, but the other two have had
> > different issues that I’ve been able to solve. With my current guide, my
> > vet was concerned about his general gut health, and explained that once a
> > dog had problems the health of the gut suffered. The vet suggested finding
> > a good probiotic would make a big difference. So off I went to find one, I
> > use one called “protexin” it comes in a powder form, I put it in to his
> > food, and two days later it had started working wonders.
> >
> >
> >
> > Combine a probiotic with the food you feel is working best for your boy,
> > and that might help to go a very long way to solving the problem. You are
> > going to have to work out which food, and then a probiotic of your choice.
> >
> >
> >
> > My second tip is make sure your dog is drinking enough water, as my vet
> > pointed out this can be an issue that then causes the problems you mention.
> >
> >
> >
> > My third tip, and I see another email has already mentioned this is the
> > “toilet harness”. I feel I can comment further on that, as when on the
> > Board of my school I introduced it to the Board, and the staff were against
> > using it, but got direction from the Board that it was to be introduced.
> >
> >
> >
> > I have trained my dogs to only poo when the toilet harness is on. There is
> > never any mess to clean up, and it fits easily in to your pocket. I don’t
> > have it on my dog when walking him, I’ve trained him to pull over and stop
> > if I’m out and he really has to go. He will wait, standing there for me to
> > put the toilet harness with bag attached on him. He goes then, and we get
> > on with the walk.
> >
> >
> >
> > I also think this stops dogs just going anywhere, because they if trained
> > the way AI did it, won’t poo without it on. Generally when I leave home my
> > dog doesn’t need to go, but he knows exactly what to do should he need to.
> >
> >
> >
> > Here at work, I put it on him at lunch time, and he goes then. He will also
> > go at home before I leave for work, and I give him the chance after dinner.
> >
> >
> >
> > Speaking of dinner, that brings me to my next tip.
> >
> >
> >
> > My first two dogs were not split fed, meaning they ate only one meal a day,
> > and that was at night. When getting my current boy, the school told me
> > they’d changed how this was done, and all dogs were now split fed, meaning
> > they would have half there meal in the morning, and the other half at night.
> >
> >
> >
> > I continued on with this until 4 years ago. My vet happened to ask me about
> > this, and suggested I not split his feed, but go back to what I’d done with
> > my first two guides, and that was to give him his complete feed at night. I
> > informed the vet I’d been split feeding him from the time he came in to my
> > life and that had been five years before. My vet insisted it didn’t matter,
> > this was what he wanted me to do, starting that very day. I was concerned
> > that it should be a gradual process, and my vet said “no” start tonight, no
> > mucking around.
> >
> >
> >
> > A combonation of all of the above has worked for my dog, and I had the
> > exact issues you were having.
> >
> >
> >
> > I hope this might be of some help.
> >
> >
> >
> > Please keep me informed.
> >
> > The very best of luck.
> >
> > Cheers.
> >
> >
> >
> > Brent.
> >
> > *From:* NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] *On Behalf Of *Asia
> > Quinones-Evans via NAGDU
> > *Sent:* Friday, 22 May 2020 12:17 AM
> > *To:* James Boehm via NAGDU
> > *Cc:* Asia Quinones-Evans
> > *Subject:* [NAGDU] Introduction and question
> >
> >
> >
> > Hello my name is Asia Quinones-Evans and I have been on this list for a
> > while and I do not think I introduced myself. I went blind 6 years ago due
> > to a brain tumor cutting off my optic nerves. I went blind in less than a
> > week so it was not a process for me and I had to learn new things very
> > quickly. I knew nothing about the blind community or even the guide dog
> > community the only thing I did know was there were dogs out there to help
> > people with disabilities. I learned everything quickly though because I
> > wanted to get back to sports and doing most of my daily things. I will be
> > 23 in October so I lost my sight just before I could learn to drive. I
> > actually am not that upset about it because I was not a person that was
> > really excited to drive but now I do wish that I could run errands much
> > easier without depending on someone else. I live in Ohio in a city that has
> > public transportation but it is not accessible for the blind to use it is
> > barely accessible for the sighted community here to use. So majority  of my
> > transportation is walking, my dad driving me, or Uber. I also had to attend
> > with an over protective dad that did not want me walking around our
> > neighborhood by myself with just my cane. Next month will be 2 years I have
> > been partnered with a wonderful Leader dog named Greyson. He is a yellow
> > lab and is around 80 pounds. With having such a large dog now my dad does
> > not mind so much that I go out to the stores around me. His opinion is that
> > since most people where we live are scared of large dogs and will think
> > Greyson will bite them then it is fine for me to go out. At first though I
> > had to convince my dad that I could not just go out with him behind us and
> > only on set routes. My dad works long days a lot of the time and we would
> > not have been able to go out until he got home from work. I finally
> > convinced my dad that I needed to go out with Greyson to build our
> > partnership and work at different times of the day to encounter different
> > things.
> >
> >
> >
> > After that long introduction I would like to ask a question about digestive
> > problems. As long as I have been working with Greyson he has had stool
> > problems. I have put him threw several food changes and we have also tried
> > a food that is ment to  help with digestive problems but that did not work.
> > The food he was on for a while in training and when I got home with him was
> > Purina Pro Plan Sport 26 16 formula. I eventually changed him to Diamond
> > Naturals Beef Meal and Rice Formula because he would throw up sometimes and
> > it was just bile. I learned that sometimes that if a food has too much
> > protein in it that can cause tummy upsets. The Purina food also eventually
> > made him poop stewy stool which means that it was partly solid then the
> > rest was messy and his schedule was very inconsistent. Like sometimes he
> > will go at the same time for several days and then not want to go at the
> > same time the next day. I have also worked with my local vet and Leader’s
> > vet to think of ways to solve it. First they suggested a general deworming
> > and a steroid round. Both of these did nothing to help him. They showed
> > improvement for a few days on them and after that his stools went back to
> > being stewy. My local vet also put Greyson on Hills ID prescription food
> > for about a month. After a week though his stools went back to being stewy
> > even on that food. I have finally put Greyson on Natural Balance Sweet
> > Potato and Venison Limited Ingredient formula thinking that the issue was
> > chicken products in the other foods. It has been about two weeks with
> > Greyson on this food and his stools are stewy once again after improving
> > for a little while. I will be going to my local vets office after its been
> > 60 days. Another issue is that he always wants to go poop while on a
> > walking route. I do not find this to be much of a problem because I have
> > taught him to tell me when he has to go but the poop that comes out has no
> > form to it at all when this happens. It does not matter if I make him go
> > right before we go on a walk he will still want to go after several minutes
> > of walking. Any treats that he gets I have changed to treats that only are
> > one  protein type to eliminate that cause. I do not feed him treats while
> > working because he gets distracted from his work and starts demanding the
> > treat before he completes the task. This is one thing I will not put up
> > with from any dog so he just gets petting and verbal praise while working
> > and does fabulous work with both of these.
> >
> >
> >
> > With this whole explanation I was hoping that someone on this mailing list
> > could give me any ideas that I could bring up to my vet to think about. Or
> > anything I could do to help my puppy not have so many bad poops. If someone
> > wants to email me privately so not to clutter up this list you can email me
> > at: asiaevans102897 at gmail.com
> >
> >
> >
> > Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows
> > 10
> >
> > --
> >
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