Beneful Problems

Thank you so much for the compliment on my dogs.  I think they were beautiful, well toned, and healthy.  The English setter Mack, died at 15.  When he was about 11 he had been run over by a pick up truck loaded with fence posts--we had sold our place and daddy gave the guy permission to start putting up new fences out around the barn, etc, before we moved and he ran over mack, front and back wheels.  luckily there were no borken bones, or bad internal injuries, but ever after that Daddy had to take mack in about every 5-6 weeks have fluid drained from around his stomach.  Anothe thing about mack--in those 15 yers we never heard him growl at a person or anothe dog.  i don't even know if he knew how to growl.  he was such a gentle soul with all people and dogs, cats, chickens, etc.

Sandra, I just wanted to say that Hunter was gorgeous. I've always loved goldens, and he looked like what I would call the "perfect" golden.
 
Obviously your dogs are in great shape, and I don't think anyone's denying that. But what you have to realize is you are NOT the average Purina feeder. If there was something even slightly wrong with one of your dogs, you would notice and take action. Most people don't. They chalk things up to "normal" dog stuff, when it's NOT. But the fact is, most people are not ever going to be as obsessive about their dogs as we here are, and therefore I don't feel the best chance for their health and wellness lies with Purina, Pedigree, Alpo, whatever.

Sandra, I just wanted to say that Hunter was gorgeous. I've always loved goldens, and he looked like what I would call the "perfect" golden

My Hunter was as beautiful in spirit and soul as in body.  You could see the love in his eyes.  people who saw us together would comment on that "special bond" between us. The day he got that fatal injection, I was standing talking to the receptionists an one of them said "Look at him, he adores her.".  he was sitting there watching my face--he always wanted to see my face even at night.  He would get on whichever side of me where my face was, and if i turned to other side, he crossed over.  I lost 40 pounds after his death blaming myself for allowing him to have proheart6, which was suppose to be so safe.  HA.

However, i h ave been trying to make the point for ages that NONE of our dogs ever had a problem with Purina.  My Dad always took any sick dog in to the vet and i don't think Lucky ever saw the vet except for vax, and mack didn't either until he was run over...then it wa every 5-6 weeks to have fluid drained from  his stomach.  i lost two to distemper back in late50's, early 60's, both English setters, both had had vax.  When my one English died over night, Daddy had a necropsy done to determine what could have killed my Duchess--rat poison mixed in with  hambergur and tossed into our back yard.

My Buck is 12 and outside of wellness checks, vax, rattle snake bite to face, reaction to a bee sting, dentals, his only visits were for low thyrid checks (and low thyroid is VERY common in goldens) and then of course the kidney infection was found during a full blood panel check last may.There has never been any problems to take him in for.  Our Honey (golden mix) was adopted  4 years ago last Dec. and outside of treatment for heartworms right after we got her, a single ear infection,  eating d-con, her only visits have been for vax and wellness.  Hunter's only visit was for a couple of hot spots early on when he was a puppy and a strained shoulder muscle.  he was 4yrs. 2 months when he died.  KayCee is different--both knees operated on, severe reaction to 2ed set of vax, allergic to bermuda grass, fleas and live oak pollen, one episode of vertigo because of a one time ear infection, a virus that caused her to become dehydrated in a matter of hours due to constant throwing up.  She is the one who has spent time at the vets, but nothing food related.

i agree 100% that all dogs would not do so well on Purina dn i am beginng to think maybe it works great for sporting group dogs, as that is all we have every owned, all have been healhty, lived long lives unless  things laike proheart6 or distemper took them years before they should have died.

I think i will post a picture of our adopted golen mix, honey, so named because hubby said she looked like she was made of spun honey.  As you can see, her coat is beautiful, not oily or greasy.  Same with KayCee and Buck only it doesn't come out as clear in pictures.  Buck is a red golden, kayCee a medium golden.

By the way, our neighbor's cocker mix fits the description told by so many--she has sores from chewing, your hand smells if you pet her, her coat is matted and greasy, and she has heartworms because they didn't think she needed the prevention because she is an 'indoor dog".  She is dying, as the older one died ab little over a year ago, heartworms, same conditon. as this one. I dont' know the brand of food, but do give her a lot of people food and scraps.

Sandra, I love looking at the pics of your dogs, they are all so beautiful, Hunter was an especially beautiful boy.  I do believe, like chelsea_b said, that they have thrived because of all of your love and care and devotion, despite whatever brand they have been fed.  I'm not sure if you answered this already, but how old was Hunter when he died?  What a sad, tragic thing to happen, I would have taken it badly as you although you can't blame yourself, we have no choice but to trust the information that companies give us about the safety of their products, how else could we know?

Thanks Jenns.  he was beautiful, loving, my heart dog of dogs.  he was born Aug. 19, 2003 and died at 8;40 PM on Oct. 16, 2003, just 3 days short of being 4 years and 2 months old.
 
his death was an awful experiece for me, thos 8 days in ICU hooked to IV, throat shaved for blood tests daily, legs shaved to change iv from leg to leg and for blood transfusions 2 of them, 2 units each time). stomach bloating because his speleen couldn't kill all the red cells it killed And i am not going to describe that last day (I visited him 3 times a day while he was in there)  But i can tell you, if you have never lived thru a dog having this it, you can not imagine the horror of it.  right now calliecritturs here on this formal has a dog battling it and she said of all the diseases she has encounterd, cancer and remal failure, this is the most horrible.  And i know that a an immune surpressed dog CAN develope it by even a food change, there is no way i could possibily change what my dogs were eating unless totally necessary.  however, they are all in great health, and do great on what i feed, so no sweat. 
 
however i dread every time it comes time for any vax as that can set off AIHA in an perfectly healthy dog.  Proheast6 wa suppose to be such a great thing, no more remembering to give your dog it's heartworm pill on the first of the month--and absolute must here on the Texas coast--and they said it was perfectly safe.  only later did we find how little testing had been done, the label changes adding more and more warnings --FDA required the changes--the reacll because the rtime release spheres were not working correctly (never did find out the exact problem there, and finally it was pulled Sept. 3, 2004 becuase of the extrememly high number of reported reactions and deaths
 
Anway, on one of my golden retriever forums I post a post about hunter's life, not his death.  A member asked if he could do a memorila to hunter, and use my sotry and if so, would i sent pictures.  If you want to read about my most precious boy, why he was so very special, and see pictures of him from puppy hood til the last one taken a month before his diagnosis (and read the peome mike posted.  i geot it sent to me by several.  And he picked the perfect song.
 
[linkhttp://www.mikeandjordan.com/hunter.htm]http://www.mikeandjordan.com/hunter.htm[/link]

And i know that a an immune surpressed dog CAN develope it by even a food change, there is no way i could possibily change what my dogs were eating unless totally necessary.

 
Wait..didn't you just recently switch them from Dog Chow to Purina One? Just because they're both Purina, that's okay? That confuses me.

Yes, for the old man I went from the chow to purina one senior at my vet's suggestion.  And for the girls i went from Fit & Trim to the one management.  Also, Buck did spend 3 months on Science Diet for his kidney infection, and kayCee spent time on Science Diet for weight loss--this was before Hunter's death, tho, following her knee operations.
 
one time i did try the old man on a 'better food" and he threw up every meal for 4 days and i went back to Purina and no problem.  i also had no problems when they went from the chow and fit & trim to the One formulas. And i did buy a can of Iams' to m ix pills with the other night, but it is gone and we are back to normal food for them.  I will not change to Iams or Pedigree or Wellness or any  other as long as what i give them works.  By the way, i only changed the girls as it was a purina product and i could ot get Bucks One where i got theirs, so changed them to one so i could get all food at same time.  And i would not have switched Buck if my vet had not said he thought the One senior was the food to have Buck on.

Purina One's ingredients are drastically different from Dog Chow or Fit n Trim, so I guess I just don't understand why you say you wouldn't change your dogs' food, when you just did, and they're still fine. Do you think Purina's just magical, and all their formulas are perfect, and every other food in existance would cause your dogs problems? I'm really not telling you to switch. You could do a lot worse than Purina One, I'm just so confused.
 
What "better food" did you try Buck on, if I may ask?

It was several yeras ago and i don't remember, just someone told me they used it and their dog loved it and i thought i wold try it for Buck.  I am thinking this was before we got Hunter and KayCee, so would have been over 7 years ago.  I wish I could remember the brand.  But since i decided to stick with purina, i never gave it a second thought. 
 
I guess it is because I h ave used Purina for 50 years and never had a problem with my dogs, with our farm critters that was on it, with my rabbits, so i just flat out trust their food.  But i will not get their that new one they came out with because i think it is to rich or whatever for my dogs.  And it would be to much of a change.  I do not think there is THAT much of a change in the chow and  Firt & Trim and the one.

[&:]I believe Sandra has sufficiently explained many times why she uses what she uses.  Do we need to constantly have her re-explaining herself???

I know I'm being really argumentative, but I just can't help it.
 
Dog Chow:
 
Ground yellow corn, poultry by-product meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), corn gluten meal, brewers rice, soybean meal, animal digest, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2, Yellow 6), vitamins & minerals.
 
Purina One Senior:
 
Chicken (natural source of glucosamine), brewers rice, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine), whole grain corn, oat meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), whole grain wheat, corn bran, fish meal, non-fat yogurt, pea fiber, animal digest, vitamins & minerals.
 
Or how about..
 
Fit & Trim:

Ground yellow corn, ground whole wheat, soybean meal, corn germ meal, soybean hulls, corn gluten meal, turkey by-product meal, chicken by-product meal, meat and bone meal, animal digest, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), calcium carbonate, salt, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2),  brewers dried yeast, vitamins & minerals
 
Purina One Weight Management:
 
Turkey (natural source of glucosamine), brewers rice, poultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine), corn gluten meal, corn bran, whole grain corn, whole grain wheat, oat meal, non-fat yogurt, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), animal digest, vitamins & minerals.
 
You don't see a HUGE difference there?

No Lori, she doesn't need to explain why she uses Purina. What I had to ask about was her stating that she wouldn't change their food unless absolutely necessary, and yet she just switched her girls from Fit & Trim to Purina One. Just because they're both made by Purina, they're somehow the same. I couldn't let that go.

Well, we are told over and over that meal 9not meal, just meat) is so much water that even if it is listed first by weight, it should actually be listed on don the line bcause of the water.  So, the One lists meat first, grain 2ed., by products, etc, as it goes down.  Well, if meat should be listed on down the line because it is so much water, then actually, the grain and by products would be the at the top.  I am seeing pretty much the same ingreidents , maybe a little different order.  And the things in the chow 7 fit trim that are not listed in the One never bothered me in the least.  i figure one teaspoon of salt in a ton of food would have to listed, so when it gets on down the list, it doesn't bother me in the list.  and since i have read on many sites that digest and by products are good things, i don't worry about them.  in fact, i prefer to have them in the food.  So no, i don['t actually see that much difference.
 
Also I have never seen purina dog chow senior, don't even know if it is made.  And when my vet i should put Buck on the one senior, I did it.  Ajnd since KayCee is 7 1/2, i am going to be changing her over to it soon as well.  She is the one i tend to worry about the most as she does have allergies to live oak pollen, bermuda grass and live oak pollen, and had that severe reaction to her 2ed set of annual vax.  Her brother, Hunter was allergic to fleas his first couple of years, but overcame it, how i don't know, he just did.

   i agree 100% that all dogs would not do so well on Purina dn i am beginng to think maybe it works great for sporting group dogs, as that is all we have every owned, all have been healhty, lived long lives unless  things laike proheart6 or distemper took them years before they should have died. 

 
     Sandra ... all your dogs are just gorgeous! They have such striking coats, and the condition they're in will not happen by accident. I see quite a few hunting Beagles on plain ol' Dog Chow or Pro Plan and their coats are remarkable. I'm not saying all dogs will do well on all of Purina's formulas, and honestly, they make certain foods I wouldn't touch, but JMHO - I'm not at all surprised anymore when I see a Dog Chow fed dog in sparkling health! Offhand, I can't even think of any dog I have seen on Dog Chow/Purina ONE/Pro Plan that didn't look awesome. Seriously.
     Recently, I even purchased a bag of a relatively new food which is part of the Dog Chow product line, called "Naturally Complete". I'm trying it out on three of my hounds and while their coats were good before, I already notice improvements (they've only been on it 3 days)!
    

I am seeing pretty much the same ingreidents , maybe a little different order.

Wow, I see some big differences. In the Fit n Trim, the first SIX ingredients are grains! The fact that the meat is in meal form doesn't make up for the fact that it isn't there until the seventh ingredient. [&:] There are lots of ingredients that I don't like in both foods, but the second one is far worse. The only form of meat at all is by-products and "meat" meal. I don't have a problem with organs as part of the diet, but I really don't think it should be the bulk of the diet. Plus "meat" meal, who knows where that came from. And then the added color. It's obviously not there to benefit the dog in any way and it can't be healthy.


Purina One Senior:

Chicken (natural source of glucosamine), brewers rice, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine), whole grain corn, oat meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), whole grain wheat, corn bran, fish meal, non-fat yogurt, pea fiber, animal digest, vitamins & minerals.

Fit & Trim:

Ground yellow corn, ground whole wheat, soybean meal, corn germ meal, soybean hulls, corn gluten meal, turkey by-product meal, chicken by-product meal, meat and bone meal, animal digest, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), calcium carbonate, salt, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2), brewers dried yeast, vitamins & minerals