Does anyone else feed Abady?

Out of ten dogs I own, and rescues in and out all the time, only Ben is on meds that are not part of the nutritional profile of what I do.

Supplements (OFA and antioxidant) are counted in the cost of feeding, because they are nutrition, not something I do to "make up for" some dietary deficiency.  I  sincerely doubt Abady would meet  the antioxidant requirements of my dogs either as there is no natural food source that offers the level of E and selenium they need.  Nor is there enough fish based ingredients (at least in the ingredients lists I've seen), which most of my gang need for optimum health.

The things that annoy me about this product are the downright arrogant claims of exclusiveness on issues that just aren't true.  It's NOT the only "carnivore-focused" diet, for instance, just as one example.

It's a unique product and if I had the PR for the firm, I'd focus on the delivery - the granular formula that's got to make it easier to digest - and the wide range of products for lots of different needs.  I'd also see whether the price point could be adjusted to make it more attractive to people who could potentially be a primary market - dog professionals and folks with special needs.

What puts me off this product, even apart from its being totally inappropriate for my situation, lol, is the nasty politics surrounding it.  The secrecy, the fanaticism, the talking points - it's just all too bizarro and black helicopter for my taste.  I like a company like Natural Balance or Blackwood, where I drop a line to them and have a personal, polite, and clear answer within hours.

ORIGINAL: chewbecca   I did!When my dog was on an all raw diet she was on meds because she got a HORRIBLE skin infection.   ... oh, and her hair started thinning.  Not to mention I was feeding darn near 3 lbs. of meat a day to keep weight on her.[]

 
 
 

 HM    I had them on antibiotics every few months for eye & skin infections when they were on 100% raw ... oh, yeah, and lets not forget the seizure control meds for the one dog who we later learned could not tolerate 95% of the raw foods he was eating [sm=sad.gif] Now feed cooked foods with grains but still use supplements - no meds tho.

 
 
There is a reason for your problems.  Modern Raw diets have followed the same path as many kibble diets being improperly
focused.  Like the kibbles, you are getting an omnivore approach to feeding despite the being boasted as a carnivore focused feed.  Brookcove mentions there are other carnivore focused rations.  What are they?  How come all the kibbles and raw I see
ingredients read like a supermarket aisle.  Is this supposed to make everyone feel good and happy for their humanized dog?  Meanwhile dogs eating these diets are still breaking down, case in point the above quotes?  Apple Cider Vinegar, some type of Clay beginning with a M (which is I think a fancy way of telling you it's plain old dirt), Peas, Carrots, Alpha, oatmeal, Apples, Potatoes, tomato pomace, seaweed....come on friends, open your eyes and look at what they are doing.  Rosemary extract, Yucca extract, etc....
 
Quoting, every time a non-species appropriate ingredient enters the marketplace a new problem arises.  Key words, non-species appropriate.  Most dogs may do fine on some diets, a small number of others run into problems like the above folks.
 
Dogs are not allergic to Abady feeds.  There is nothing in there that could potentially harm your dog.  It has plenty of added vitamins and nutrients in the mix, and yes plenty of fish as well.  It even smell like fish up close, but doesn't overpower the room. 
 
If your a person having problems and you're chasing something just going seemingly in endless circles....STOP.  Stop listening to whoever is advising you, I don't care if the call themselves "professionals" just stop and relax.  Nothing is wrong with your dogs but improperly focused nutrition.  It is not my goal to convince you all this is the best product out there.  If you like what you feed and your dogs do well, awesome.  I want to see people overcome problems.  There are a ton of folks spending big dollars chasing problems.  It is unnecessary.  Feed accordingly and appropriately and your dog will be on the path peak health and nutrition in all aspects.  This food is supreme in holistic principle.  It is about curing common problems found through appropriate feeding.
 
Boy I tell ya...how weird is that?  Must be some sort of conspiracy.
 

When my dog was on an all raw diet she was on meds because she got a HORRIBLE skin infection.

oh, and her hair started thinning.
Not to mention I was feeding darn near 3 lbs. of meat a day

Did you manage to pinpoint the problems down to the food you were feeding,or was it something you were doing wrong?
The problems you encountered could just as easily be blamed on human error...

Oh, I'm sure that I did SOMETHING wrong as I'm not a canine nutrtionist.

But she wasn't typically fed veggies and oatmeal. She was fed all meat with proper supplementation, as far as I knew.

The skin infection, yes, we think we pin pointed that. My vet believes that was due to an allergic reaction to some homemade liver and wheat treats I was making for her (and she was getting a LOT of them at once due to the fact that we had started training her) and the vet STRONGLY believes it was the wheat in them.


But the thinning of the hair? We don't have an answer for that.
If I ever did a completely raw diet for her again, I'd add a carb, for sure. I think it's obvious that's why Ella was having to be fed almost 3 lbs of meat a day to keep on weight.

But as for now I feed her Timberwolf Ocean Blue kibble, Orijen Kibble, and I'll be starting her on Addiction's Wild Kangaroo and Apples kibble (just to add into her rotation).

Her morning meal is one cup of kibble with her salmon oil added. Her night meal is a frozen Kong with raw meat (beef,beef heart or sardines, usually) and yogurt, or all of that with a little kibble as well. Sometimes if I forget to thaw meat, I'll make her kong up with a can of dog food.

She eats well, trust me.
She has nice muscle tone and a coat that practically glows in the dark []

It costs me about $130 monthly to feed my 4 giant breed dogs.

 
wow. That seems a lot to me, and I feed mostly raw to giant breed dogs. You have read the ingredients on your Abady, right? compare them to the ingredients listed on Bil-jac, look at the price of Bil-jac, and think long and hard.
 

Bil-jac is new to me. I'll take a look.

Well, that didn't take long. Lots of beet pulp. This MAY be a cause of bloat. I would never feed it over the Abady classic.

I can't argue ingredients on a product that doesn't publicize ingredients, but I'll tell you this is exactly the kind of talking point that drives me crazy:

Dogs are not allergic to Abady feeds.  There is nothing in there that could potentially harm your dog.

Ben's violently allergic to rice, chicken, eggs, and processed beef products.  Any of those in there?  Like, those ingredients make him deathly ill in any form.

 I don't know what the difference is between feeding a "carnivore" a food with miniscule amounts of herbs and veggies, and feeding a food with large amounts of grains.  Neither one is any more "species appropriate" in the sense you are trying to claim, than the other.  Neither rice, nor gobs of processed lard, are on the diet of wild canids.  I personally don't care.  The kibble I use has mixed whole grains as the first ingredient, and a few other things no self-respecting wild canid would choose over a nice bit of raw meat or offal.  It gets the kcals into my beasts at a very reasonable price, however, and I am free to add whatever fresh, whole meats in whatever form I want (cheap chicken for the rescues, and a wide variety for the home dogs).

I do annual vet visits for everyone and the only dog I've had get sick here, since my geriatric dogs passed away five years ago, is Ben.

I feed twelve dogs here, two of which are 100+ pound Maremmas, and four of which have very high energy requirements, for about 30% less than the person who was feeding 500 pounds of dog with Abady classic.

I don't see why I'd switch.  It still doesn't make any sense to me.

ORIGINAL: louiereck

Well, that didn't take long. Lots of beet pulp. This MAY be a cause of bloat. I would never feed it over the Abady classic.

 
 
There you go friend, good one.  Absolutely 100% correct in your assessment.
 
To feed each large breed dog very well each month is costing you $32.50 per month.  That is what it takes I guess.  Good to know for the lg breed dog owner thinking about doing it.

ORIGINAL: brookcove...

Ben's violently allergic to rice, chicken, eggs, and processed beef products.  Any of those in there?  Like, those ingredients make him deathly ill in any form.

 
If you say so.

I don't know what the difference is between feeding a "carnivore" a food with miniscule amounts of herbs and veggies, and feeding a food with large amounts of grains.  Neither one is any more "species appropriate" in the sense you are trying to claim, than the other.  Neither rice, nor gobs of processed lard, are on the diet of wild canids.  I personally don't care.  ...

 
In regards feeding a food with 'large amounts of grain' in regards to feeding carnivores, the important issue is the carb content.
Abady clearly states the carb content on the box of feed.  The carb content of Abady "classic" is 22.6%
 
How many companies do you know of Brookcove that will advertise the carb content on their products?
 
Also advertised on the box in NO ALLERGY CAUSING grains, and that would be white rice. 
 
Heard it all before, my dog is allergic to this that and the other thing...but the last thing to get blamed is the Yucca and Rosemary and Cranberry dust.  And that is one way the industry attempts to protect its own interests, justification of ingredients geared to make the company a healthy profit.
 

People really seem to feel strongly about this. I'm not trying to convert anybody as I don't really care what other people choose to feed. I was just curious who else likes this feed. On this forum their only seems to be one other person. This product works for my dogs and I feel it benefits my animals. They love it and they're very healthy. I can feed a low volume of food to them which I feel is safer. It's full of animal protein which I feel is better. It is somewhat costly but I spend $100 taking my family of 6 out to a nice dinner. I have no problem paying $130 monthly for my dogs food. If I couldn't afford it i'd feed something else. I think that Abady Classic is as close to a raw diet in a box as there is. It's worth the money to me. I hope that all of you have success with your chosen feed. I'm sure all of you feel you feed your beloved dogs the best you can afford. This isn't an argument. I was just curious what you guys feed.

To me, it's not about what I can afford.
It's about what I feel my dog does best on.
Have I tried everything out there? No.
But Timberwolf works for her and that is what I feed her along with other mixed in raw meats and high-quality, grain-free, canned foods.

To me, it's not about what I can afford.

I agree with Chewbecca here:

You could charge $250000 for a honda civic but it still wouldn't make it a Ferrari. I think the point that the Abady people don't get is that no one is saying it's to expensive for me, we are saying it's too expensive for what you get. As many have said before, there are LOTS of foods with comparable and frankly better ingredient profiles that cost much less. Paying for hype is just paying for hype.

ORIGINAL: cc431

ORIGINAL: brookcove...

Ben's violently allergic to rice, chicken, eggs, and processed beef products.  Any of those in there?  Like, those ingredients make him deathly ill in any form.

If you say so.

I don't know what the difference is between feeding a "carnivore" a food with miniscule amounts of herbs and veggies, and feeding a food with large amounts of grains.  Neither one is any more "species appropriate" in the sense you are trying to claim, than the other.  Neither rice, nor gobs of processed lard, are on the diet of wild canids.  I personally don't care.  ...

In regards feeding a food with 'large amounts of grain' in regards to feeding carnivores, the important issue is the carb content.
Abady clearly states the carb content on the box of feed.  The carb content of Abady "classic" is 22.6%
 
How many companies do you know of Brookcove that will advertise the carb content on their products?

Also advertised on the box in NO ALLERGY CAUSING grains, and that would be white rice. 

Heard it all before, my dog is allergic to this that and the other thing...but the last thing to get blamed is the Yucca and Rosemary and Cranberry dust.  And that is one way the industry attempts to protect its own interests, justification of ingredients geared to make the company a healthy profit.

Why does this company seem so terrified of listing the ingredients of their food on their web site?

Also advertised on the box in NO ALLERGY CAUSING grains, and that would be white rice.

 
I'm sorry, but that's total BS. White rice has protein (and quite a bit of it). Therefore it can be an allergen.