Grain Free Pros and Cons

Callie, what is your basic recipie - like, how much meat, grain and veggies.  I just gave up on home cooking because my dog kept getting mucous in her stool & soft stool.  I am currently feeding EVO chicken & turkey but really want to home cook.  I think (not positive) Ginny cannot handle grains, but I know she can take sweet potato & regular potato.  Anyway, how much of each (meat, carb, veggie) do you feed. 

 Monica Segal wrote a book, Optimal Nutrition, that is an incredibly good reference, and starting point, for home made diets.

Thanks Jennie.  I actually have that book & also one on Shih Tzu's in particular.  Like most nutritionists her recipes include organ meats and Ginny didn't do well with any organ meats.  The reason that I may have to keep her on dog food is that (basically) every batch, every day is exactly the same.  May be boring--but she may need that with her sensitive digestive system.  It was really hard with home cooking not to add a little of this & a little of that--it was fun to make her food "better" all the time, but she kept coming up with mucous & soft stool.  As soon as I switched to the EVO kibble all of the mucous disappeared.  Wow!   But I am still having issues with soft stool, probably caused by her nervous anxous type of personality.  We had a power outage at home yesterday & my computer backup power supply started beeping.  Like always, she went bonkers--fast pacing in a circles, would not be held, just nervous behavior & didn't settle down for about 3 hours.  It's like she's possessed.  She is afraid of people, afraid of other dogs, suspicious of any unusual noise, etc.  So she's back to soft stool, not quite diarrhea this morning.  So in my opinion Ginny's real problem is her nervousness & that causes her digestive issues.  But some foods don't upset her as much as others.  I have tried socializing her but she hates it, panics, and just wants to stay home.  At some point, though, I want to home cook again but just don't know what recipe to use so she won't pass mucous constantly.

calliecritturs

We suddenly have this whole TON of dogs with anal gland issues. 

This is primarily why I took my dogs off Evo.11 years without a single gland issue and within 6 weeks I had problems with glands in both my girls.

Tena

 You pretty much HAVE to do organ meat, or supplement heavily. You might contact Monica and have her alter one of the Shih Tzu recipes for your dog, or make a custom diet, and STICK TO IT! LOL If she needs consistency, give it to her, by all means. 

ETA: Sabine Contreras is also fabulous, and a smidge less expensive last I checked (I use her, personally, for my dogs). If you've already got Monica's book, though, and like a recipe, she will customize it for just a little extra. 

jennie_c_d

You pretty much HAVE to do organ meat, or supplement heavily. You might contact Monica and have her alter one of the Shih Tzu recipes for your dog, or make a custom diet, and STICK TO IT! LOL If she needs consistency, give it to her, by all means

  Monica formulated a very simple diet for Jessie; she has chronic pancreatitis. Her diet does not include organ meat but Monica gives clear instructions on how much of each supplement to use. Jessie had anal gland issues for years but doesn't anymore; hers were apparently connected to her food allergies. It is really worth the trouble to make sure a diet is balanced by using a book written by someone who is truly qualified, or by consulting with a qualified nutritionist. Just providing a variety of foods doesn't guarantee dogs will get all the nutrients they need, and they can get too much of a vitamin or mineral, which can affect their health later on down the road.

georgie4682

I've had my bunch on grain free before and am thinking of switching back.  What is the reasoning for feeding grain free?  For some it's an allergy thing, right?  I'm leaning more toward a grain free like Taste of the Wild because I think Finn, at least, would do better on it.  He has been rather gassy, which might have to do with his UTI issues right now, but I'm almost at the end of my bag and think I really want to switch back to TOTW.  So, I am wondering why one would prefer a grain free as opposed to grains, or vice versa.

Thanks.

I don't do grain-free.  When I tried, my got the runs and always acted hungry b/c the food had so many kcals you feed a lot less and they just don't feel "full".

However, I do NOT feed corn, wheat, soy, or gluten.  

I use California Natural, have used it on all three of my dogs for over a year now and they are doing fabulous.  It is a "limited ingredient" diet, so one protein and one carb source and that's it.  The grains/carbs are rice or sweet potato, so none of my will-not-feed ingredients.  Coats are shiny, healthy, and as odorless as a dog can be, ears have never been better, breath is fine.  The poops are closer to what I see when raw feeding or home cooking than other kibbles - they are small and hard, and break down very quickly if I miss picking them up (they dry out, turn white, and just disappear).  We haven't had any bloat or torsion and each dog belches after a meal so I know the gas is getting out.

Thanks everyone.  I think I'm going to give California Natural a try.  The only problem is that I have to drive about a half hour to find it...at least I hope that store has it.  I know Petsmart and Petco don't carry it, and I don't think Burton's (formerly Pet Supplies Plus) carries it either, so it'll be a bit of a drive, but hopefully it's worth it.

Ain't nothing like a dog belch. Shadow can sound like a human when he burps.

shamrockmommy

It's interesting... my girls and Gobie had issues on just about any dog food I've fed. I tried grain free and the dogs were more of a mess than on something like PetGuard or Cal. Natural. Now that I've switched to Juliette de Baircli Levy's Natural diet, I do feed a small amount of grains. the same grains that gave the dogs trouble when in kibble (wheat, barley) do not bother them one bit when I use human grade organic wheat and barley. Their health has improved, their stool is great, they feel great, they act a lot younger, considering my 3 are all "seniors" at 14, 11 and 8.5. you have to wonder what condition the grains in kibble are in, what are they treated with? What causes sensitivity when it is in kibble but not in organic whole food form? It all depends on the individual dog also.

 Your dogs may be sensitive to some of the supplements used in the foods. Jessie has many food allergies and when she started on the cooked diet, Monica had me add the supplements one at a time to see if she reacted to them. She didn't, but some dogs do. She does much better on a simple diet than she did on holistic foods which had many ingredients. She's not chewing her feet or chewing under her tail anymore. I'm glad the new diet is working so well for your group.

georgie4682

Thanks everyone.  I think I'm going to give California Natural a try.  The only problem is that I have to drive about a half hour to find it...at least I hope that store has it.  I know Petsmart and Petco don't carry it, and I don't think Burton's (formerly Pet Supplies Plus) carries it either, so it'll be a bit of a drive, but hopefully it's worth it.