Dog Community

Posted : 12/4/2006 11:07:27 PM

he gets 8 oz of raw beef heart or king mackerel,

I just wanted to let you know that beef heart is high in iron; 4 oz. has 27% of the recommended daily amount for people; [linkhttp://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20ts.html]http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20ts.html[/link]. You may be giving him too much iron.

kpwlee

Posted : 12/5/2006 8:20:18 AM

thanks - I had read on some site it was a great raw meat to feed and didn't worry about it - I presume that it will have the same impact on a dog as it would a human causing too thick a blood. I limit it some - my fish supply is to be restocked today (great to live in a place where nearly everyone goes to the coast to fish and no one likes mackerel!)

chewbecca

Posted : 12/5/2006 8:35:07 AM

ORIGINAL: sooner

ORIGINAL: kpwlee

Hi the kcal/cup are on this website - they calculated it from the kcal/kg
The bison, fish, and elk formula are 550-551/cup, lamb is 587/cp and hte black forest is 529/cp

I fed according to those kcals and found that my dogs didn't maintain well. We ended up at about double the recommended feeding amount. Someone mentioned the other day that they weighed a cup of TO and it didn't weight as much as was stated on the bag - which dropped it down to around 350 kcal/cup. I thought that explained our experience, but maybe my dogs are just weird. We haven't had that trouble on other foods.

Kelly,
When I weigh T.O. kibble, the W&N AND Ocean Blue both weigh as follows:
1/2 cup=4oz.
1 cup=8 oz.

dogslyfe

Posted : 12/5/2006 9:07:52 AM

he gets 8 oz of raw beef heart or king mackerel

do you mean king mackeral or do you mean jack mackeral? If you mean jack mackeral that's fine, but king mackeral has one of the highest concentrations of mercury of the fish - and I would avoid it like the plague. I feed jack mackeral, sardines, and wild atlantic salmon.

sooner

Posted : 12/5/2006 9:25:24 AM

ORIGINAL: chewbecca

Kelly,
When I weigh T.O. kibble, the W&N AND Ocean Blue both weigh as follows:
1/2 cup=4oz.
1 cup=8 oz.

In the "My TWO..." thread, Chelsea said the bag says a standard measuring cup holds about 5 oz, or 150 grams. Then she weighed a cup and it only weighed 100 grams. That seemed to explain our experience. I know people have asked TO several times for kcal/cup, but I don't think anyone has ever gotten an answer - just kcal/kg.

jessies_mom

Posted : 12/5/2006 9:11:15 PM

thanks - I had read on some site it was a great raw meat to feed and didn't worry about it - I presume that it will have the same impact on a dog as it would a human causing too thick a blood

You're welcome; also, I hope you don't mind if I suggest that you add some calcium to the meat since you may be upsetting the calcium-phosphorus balance by adding that much meat; 250mg of calcium for every 3 and a half ounces of meat is what Monica Segal recommends. It sounds like Bugsy is allergic to fowl related foods since he's allergic to eggs, chicken and turkey. Jessie has had a mild flare up in her allergies recently; her ears have been itchy( no infection though). Our derm vet wants us to try a food without chicken fat.

kpwlee

Posted : 12/6/2006 8:41:08 AM

I've been adding calcium - had to go with a supplement as even the cleaned, dried eggshells were a problem for him - hopefully removing all fowl will be the ticket

jessies_mom

Posted : 12/6/2006 3:36:17 PM

I've been adding calcium - had to go with a supplement as even the cleaned, dried eggshells were a problem for him - hopefully removing all fowl will be the ticket

That's what we may need to do; we've known for a while that Jessie was allergic to chicken but foods with eggs or chicken fat didn't seem to cause a problem. She's been on immunotherapy for environmental allergies and been doing great until the last few months when she's been having mild flare ups. I've kept a record of pollen counts and her diet since the flare ups started and there's no pollen now where we live to cause itching. She has been eating food with chicken eggs ( EP Fish) or chicken fat ( EP Duck and Sensible Choice Lamb). I asked our derm vet if either could be a problem for Jessie and she said they could so I'm switching Jessie to Nature's Variety Lamb and Oatmeal to see if it helps. Good luck with the TO.

kpwlee

Posted : 12/6/2006 4:01:53 PM

Its all a bit crazy and frustrating at times - i keep thinking we are sorted out and then some other wrench gets thrown in
I do think we will go to the TO and hope that he can keep a good weight on it without having to eat HUGE amounts - the Blue Buffalo is 505/cup or 3590/kg, TO bison (or elk) is 3680/kg so it should be caloric enough.
We don't really know how old he is, definitely in the 15-16 mo range and this week is going through another growth spurt. Sleeping more and ravenous (having to feed more to save the furniture

and visibly bigger. Even DH noticed last night that he's suddenly packing muscle on. I worry that he has had these food problems through his entire growth period.
I don't seem to have Nature's variety around here, NB is darn $$ for a food I feel I HAVE to give him more protein with. Blue Buffalo is a better food in my eyes, is more caloric,and has a fish formula that you may want to try.
I am very, very glad that he responds to benedryl and costco has 400 for $3.50. In NC there is something in the air year round so hopefully once we get the food settled that's all we will have to deal with.

Best of luck to you and Jessie! I very much appreciate all the help you've given us

jessies_mom

Posted : 12/6/2006 8:50:11 PM

NB is darn $$ for a food I feel I HAVE to give him more protein with. Blue Buffalo is a better food in my eyes, is more caloric,and has a fish formula that you may want to try.
I am very, very glad that he responds to benedryl and costco has 400 for $3.50. In NC there is something in the air year round so hopefully once we get the food settled that's all we will have to deal with.

I agree with you about NB, and I would also have to pay shipping since it's not available here. There are a lot of members who have very good results with it though. Do you know about this website; [linkhttp://www.aaaai.org/]http://www.aaaai.org/[/link] ? You click" pollen counts" at the top of the page and that takes you to a page where you click the" view counts" tab. That takes you to a map where you can choose a city in your state and see the latest pollen count. It will tell you the amount of weed, grass, and tree pollens, and molds from the latest count. You can create an account for free and get counts for specific types of grass, weed, and tree pollens. I checked Duram NC and there isn't any pollen this time of year. You're doing a great job finding out Bugsy's food allergies; allergy dogs keep you on your toes. According to my vet they can develop new food allergies and their allergies to the environment can change[&o].

kpwlee

Posted : 12/6/2006 9:45:06 PM

great site, thank you again
and I appreciate the pat on the back, I didn't even know dogs could have allergies until he came along. Can't say enough how beneficial it has been to have this forum too.
Despite the site saying its all clear I can state without equivocation that my asthma is still a problem - and when I'm outside more than inside and he has got a runny nose and red, red eyes. I have always had allergies but always considered them mild. Then a year after we moved here I started having breathing problems, turned out I developed asthma (age 40!). Went to the allergist who asked about what I was allergic to, I responded not much, he did 80 pricks and I was positive for 75! (not dogs thankfully)
I have spoken to so many people that have had similar experiences and/or have intensified allergies since moving to NC.

chelsea_b

Posted : 12/7/2006 12:46:50 AM

In the "My TWO..." thread, Chelsea said the bag says a standard measuring cup holds about 5 oz, or 150 grams. Then she weighed a cup and it only weighed 100 grams.

Yes, true. I measured and weighed the Ocean Blue several times, using different measuring cups. The most I ever got was 106 grams, which is like 3.75 oz, and the least was 96 grams, and that 10 gram difference is I'm sure just about my inexact measuring, I sure didn't count the kibbles out or anything. I'm out of Ocean Blue now, and not planning on buying more right now, so I can't do anymore measuring, but I am positive about the weights I got when I did it.

Chewbecca, I don't want to say you're wrong about the weights, but 8 ounces is like 225 grams, which would put calories per cup at over 800, and that seems highly unlikely to me.

going to be TO for us