Food thoughts...

Oh yes and thoughts on Light food. I rarely see improvements in animals on light food but I do on animals that are kept on their food and just given less of it and less treats.

ORIGINAL: keva
 

I agree. The differences I've seen in animals on light food are a decrease in skin condition and occasionally an increase in weight. My doxie (who is a new to me, senior girl) just lost nine pounds on regular calorie food, with omega 3s added daily. Portion control and exersize are all it took, and her quality of life is greatly improved.

Hi, we have just switched our dogs to Precise Plus it' a holistic food.
They really seem to like it too.
My older dog has a lot of health problems like arthritis and hip problems. I was talking to our pet store guy and he suggested it.
It has cartlilage for glucosimine and chondrointin. It's also supposed to digest better for less dog doo in my back yard   .
[linkhttp://www.precisepet.com]www.precisepet.com[/link]  is their web site.

Jennie_c_d: That's amazing about you doxie.  Great job.  9#'s is a lot of weight!  What do you use for your omega 3 fatty acids?  Do you use oil or a liquid cap or something else?  Is it chemically synthesised or is it a fish oil.  I have heard that salmon or tuna oil are very good.  Have you ever heard of "Standard Process" it's a holistic drug company that carries a whole line for animals.  We just had a gentleman come in the other day and do a presentation.  They do a lot of sumplaments of either herbs or other stuff. I am not real good with all the technical stuff he was talking about (he had his Phd in nutrition) so a lot of what was coming out of his mouth was greek to me but I found some of it very interesting.  Sorry for the tangent.  thanks again for the response.



Misfit:  I am going to the place where I get my dog food today (it's about an hour drive) I think I am going to quiz them about dog foods.  I find animal nutrition really interesting and could probably talk about it all day. 

I find animal nutrition really interesting and could probably talk about it all day.

Same here [] I rarely go to the other boards,nutrition is my main interest,i could read and talk about all day and night,my poor OH can attest to that LOL.If a dog board hasnt got a good nutrition section then i dont bother with it!

A friend of mine who studies animal nutrition as a hobby used to work at a pet supply store and she said that she found that most people had much better results taking weight off their dogs if they fed the normal (non-light) of whatever brand they were feeding and a) actually followed the feeding instructions and b) cut out the extra stuff in the diet. I think when they are feeding the light people think that it is OK to give the dog a little extra food or treats/table scraps.

I alternate fish oil and flax seed oil Teenie has come a LONG way in the 5 1/2 months she's been here. It's pretty incredible to see the dramatic changes. She came from an awful situation, and now she's SOOOO happy and healthy. 

Jennie-c-d: the flax seed oil has omega 3 in it?  I didn't know that...  I think I need to get mine on an omega 3, their coats are real nice but they still have a little dandruf and could probably benefit from the other health aspects of omega 3.  Do you by any chance know how important omega 6 fatty acids are for dogs? if at all??

Good luck with that, Misfit. I would imagine, too, that you'll have to make sure that the old dog maintains a kind of lean weight, to put less pressure on the hips.
 
I met some people with a lab/wolf hybrid. He was old and had hip dysplasia but they cared for him. I don't know what they fed him, though.
 

ORIGINAL: keva
 I find animal nutrition really interesting and could probably talk about it all day. 

Same here!  I find it fascinating.  Just the other evening, I was on the phone with a dog friend, and we were talking about homecooking.  To overhear us, you'd think we were sceintists - talking about calcium and phosphorus ratios!  [sm=lol.gif]   If someone gets into a dog food conversation with me, their eyes will probably glaze over and they'll be sorry they brought it up!  LOL   Esp my grooming clients (I live in Ol' Roy Country).