Royal Canin..........what do you think??

tkb1127

Sophie is a Maltipoo.  Unfortunately, I bought her from some backyard breeders who were selling their dogs at the Farmer's Market last Jan., and they had about every breed of dog for sale.  She was so tiny and she was filthy, and when I picked her up, she licked me and licked me and I fell in love and so I left her long enough to go get the cash and came back and bought her.  She had severe bronchitis when I bought her, and has had allergy and asthma problems from the beginning.  I did report the sellers to everyone I could think of to call, because when I took Sophie to the Animal Hospital in the middle of the night because she couldn't stop this horrible cough, a few days after I bought her, they told me that about a dozen of those puppies had come in around Christmas time with pneumonia where people had bought them as gifts from the sellers who were selling at the Farmer's Market.  Luckily, I caught Sophie's illness before it became pneumonia.  Some of the puppies had died.  So I got those sellers shut down and about 37 of their puppies were confiscated in the raid.  But the newspaper reported that people were calling the local humane society where they were being kept and they had found good  homes for all of them.  It has been a tough year for us, she has been so sick that at one point, she had to stay overnight with an IV because she got dehydrated.  That time it was tainted dog food.  I have learned a lot since then.  I didn't even know at the time that I bought Sophie that a seller has to give you a vet health certificate!  But she is one of the best things that ever happened to me.  She is so funny and sweet, and she gives me so much love.

Anyway, I went to the Fromm website and found out there were no dealers around me, so I went to another site and ordered the Salmon a la Veg.  Sophie likes fish snacks, and the Salmon dry food seemed like it had the least amount of different ingredients and looked healthy to me.  Sophie also has problems sometimes with chicken.  She used to eat chicken jerky and then would have a bad asthma attack, where it looked and sounded like she couldn't get enough air, so I don't like to buy her anything with chicken now.  She can have beef, duck, fish, and I want to try bison, it is supposed to be good for you.

I will let you know how she does with the Salmon a La Veg.  Thanks for all your help!

 

I really can see both Poodle and Maltese features. That's an awful situation that she came from and so sad about the puppies that died. That is wonderful though that they got shut down!! And poor little Sophie, that's just insult to injury that she got sick from the tainted dog food after everything else. I've always said the one and only good thing that came from the dog food fiasco is that so many people became more aware of dog food ingredients.

I hope Fromm works for Sophie!! There aren't any stores around here that sell it either; I had to order it from Petfooddirect.

 That's where I went to get the Fromm too, Petfooddirect!  They have the best prices.  Too bad they don't offer free shipping.  And you are right.  I didn't really think about food for Sophie until she got sick.  I was feeding her Eukanuba dry and Eukanuba pouches, and it turned out that the pouches that I had were tainted.  And another one I had that I was putting over her dry food was called Mixables, and that was tainted also.  Poor little thing, I was poisoning her every which way.  She was one sick puppy.  At one point I said to the vet that I ought to just rent a room there.  Another good thing that came out of the food fiasco was that I met her vet, he was part of the practice but I had never met him before, and we are now really good friends.  I just talked to him on the phone.  And when Sophie went in to get spayed she got extra special treatment.  I made them write on her file before I would leave her that morning that I didn't want her to have ANY pain, and so he sent me home with a bunch of syringes with liquid pain medication to give her by mouth.  And now if I have a question or problem, I just call him at home.  So now Sophie has her own personal Doctor! 
 

tkb1127

I just call him at home.  So now Sophie has her own personal Doctor

ooohhh Is he cute,are you single?  It would be so cool to have a vet in the family!

As for the food issue,if i had a fussy pup i would try Timberwolf "wild n natural". 

That's awesome that you have such a good relationship with your vet. We just switched to a new vet that was a customer at my husband's work (he sold him a mattress). It turns out he's a super nice guy and gave us 50% off on Fudge's neuter!! He's just as good as our previous vet and his prices are much, much lower. He actually used to work at that same vet clinic before he started his own practice.

Anyway, I had really good customer service with my Petfooddirect order. They sent an e-mail with the UPS tracking info and the food got here within just a few days. There's a 20% coupon code floating around on the internet- GEICO.

I have brought open bags to the shelter before.

 Yes, he is cute and I am single and so is he!    But although he calls all the time, he has not asked me out.  I think he is lonely, because he talks a lot, but maybe he is shy???  My mother said the same thing, that it would be nice to have a vet in the family!  He also left the vet office that I met him at and started working at the Animal Hospital that is open around the clock, so he is working a lot of weird hours in the night, and I work during the day, so our schedules are off.  And he has this goal, he is on a mission to make as much money as possible because he wants to open his own practice.

Well, I have 3 bags of food coming to the house now.  I ordered the Fromm Salmon a La Veg, (Luvntsus I didn't know about the 20% off coupon!), and then I went to the Timberwolf site and to get free shipping, I had to order $15.00 worth of food, so I ordered 2 different 4 lbs. bags, Ocean something, and the Lamb one, and because I was a first time customer, I got a sample pack with 4 little bags (a $12.00 value) for free!  

I am off Monday, and I don't know if the shelter and Humane Society will be closed for the holiday, but I am going to try to call them and see if they will take all these opened bags of food, and the canned stuff that I had to buy a case of that she won't eat. 

tkb1127

 Yes, he is cute and I am single and so is he! 

tkb.... how long was your dog on EVO for ??  EVERYONE has the same experience w/EVO... diarreah. It's absolutely unavoidable when switching from a low-medium percent of protein to a protein level over 40%.  The food is SUPER RICH and it takes about 3-4x longer to do a switchover than from other foods.  My dogs all got diarreah too and so I slowed the switchover to over a month...and then only used 1/2-2/3 the recommended amount of food. I also added pumpkin and yogurt to the food during the switchover and that nipped the runs in the bud.  My problem w/EVO was that the percentage of Omega fatty acids was SOOOOOO low in comparison to the Timberwolf my dogs were on for the last few years that their coats got very dry, dull and greasy.   The same exact thing happened when I switched them to Fromm for 2 months. They also have VERY low Omega 3's & 6's so you have to supplement HEAVILY w/fish and flax oils, brewers yeast, etc.

On another note.. I don't know where you live but alot of the smaller independent pet shops and pet boutiques near me carry free samples of the foods they sell so every time I go to pick up a bag I grab a bunch of samples for foods they haven't tried yet or even ones they like so I can have "emergency" stash when I run out of kibble and can't get to the shop.   Also alot of times companies like Artemis, Orijen, Wellness, etc will have Trial Size bags of 1 or 2 lbs for anywhere from $1.99=$2.99.

 That's another food you may want to try that hardly anyone speaks of on this board but it's an excellent quality food and VERY reasonably priced.  They just came out with a brand new high protein formula called  Maximal :

I've had excellent results with their cat food and the new Organic Green Tea treats.

24Pawsnclaws

...their coats got very dry, dull and greasy.   The same exact thing happened when I switched them to Fromm for 2 months. They also have VERY low Omega 3's & 6's so you have to supplement HEAVILY w/fish and flax oils, brewers yeast, etc.

24Pawsnclaws

 

What were you feeding before ?? 

24Pawsnclaws

tkb.... how long was your dog on EVO for ??  EVERYONE has the same experience w/EVO... diarreah. It's absolutely unavoidable when switching from a low-medium percent of protein to a protein level over 40%.

Not true.  Neither of my dogs have any trouble with a cold-turkey switch to EVO (although I feed it only occasionally, and the other brands I use are not high-protein).

 Thanks Luvntzus!  I really don't think anything will come of it, because although he would always tell me that I looked nice whenever I took Sophie in to see him, he will not ask me out.  I was thinking of telling him that I wanted to take him out to eat to repay him for all the free advice he has given me over the phone, but I do not have the guts to do it.  And he is either too shy or too busy.  I can't figure it out.  He calls and asks how I am and then asks about Sophie.  I think he loves Sophie!!

I have a question and maybe you can help.  I have these huge wolf spiders in my house.   He told me they were poisonous.  Sophie growls at them, but doesn't mess with them.  They are so big that they freak her out.  I am infested with them.  I think it's because I live in the woods. I worry that Sophie is going to get bit by one of these spiders.   I put sticky traps under the furniture, which get filled with them.  I need to stop them from coming in though.  I was wondering about diamateous earth.  I have to be very careful, because Sophie bites any other bugs that come in.  I find dead crickets, grasshoppers, etc, that have found their way in, and that she has killed on the floor all the time.  So I know that whatever I use is going to end up in her mouth, because the other bugs will get it on them and then she will bite these other bugs.  So it has to be absolutely safe.  I put it out on a forum, but so far, no response.  Do you know of anything?

I have been thinking of trying Fromm again. The store down my street sells it. I did buy a small bag last yr, they loved it, then I switched to TO. The kibble size is nice and small for toy breeds too, and small puppies. Only thing, I think they have their canned foods made in China, so I would stay away from the canned product.  My two Pugs that have been on Ocean Blue have the nicest coats, but both smell like cat urine now! They have always been sweet smelling, but since being on a fish food, they really smell!

One of my puppy buyers put her puppy on Fromm. She came back to stay with us for two weeks this summer while they were on vacation, and she looked really good, small stools, really nice coat.

 I had just switched her to the Evo that day, fed her some for breakfast and was sorry all day...Cleaning her and cleaning messes.  It was horrible.  I am waiting now for my Timberwolf and Fromm to come in. 

I live out in the middle of nowhere, so there are no pet boutiques nearby.  I have a shopping center about a 1/2 hour drive away from me and that has a Petco.  So that is where I go for her treats and potty pads.  Everything else I have to order online.

There is a feedstore nearby, for livestock supplies and all they carry are these huge bags of big dog food.  Then there is the grocery store if I wanted to go with Alpo or something, which I did try once and she liked it, but she had about 6 b.m.s for each meal.  Not diarhhea, just stool.  Weird!