[FreeholdHound]

Anyone feed this? I saw it mentioned in a Greyhound Forum & it looks to be a local company (for me). They have a Beef or a Tripe formula that looks okay for Harry. All contain sweet potato which is on his avoid list but I may risk it & see how he does on an occasional meal.

Jeanne

[theBCnut]

Dr Mike did a review on them, but I guess he must have found something questionable and he ended up pulling the review. They started posting here, but wouldn’t answer straightforward questions, like “How much calcium is in your food?” If they would have answered questions, I think they sound like an interesting product, but they seem too shady for me. Their product label did not have the info on it that it is supposed to have.

[Mom2Cavs]

I actually bought some. When it came it looked like freeze dried ground beef (which is good since I bought the beef one lol) and it had a vinegary smell to it, which I attributed to the fermented veggies that are in it. It didn’t work out for my dogs, though….they had some pretty bad diarrhea from it. I do think I probably transitioned too quickly but I just don’t want to chance it again.

[losul]

Yeah what Patty said about the calcium levels and ratios. They were either confused, evasive or both. I think both.

Also one of them made a statement that I found really incredible. Something to the effect that freezing foods lost up to 50% of their nutrients, whereas dehydrated only 10%. My research confirmed for me exactly the opposite.

Otherwise, I agree, the food was interesting.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by losul.

[FreeholdHound]

Thanks for the info everyone! I won’t be ordering anytime soon.

[FreeholdHound]

I think I may try THK. I have to decide between the LOVE & the VERVE. Both have “avoid” ingredients, oats in one & sweet potato in the other. But it seems to be readily available which is a plus. Not for daily feeding so we’ll see how he does.

[InkedMarie]

IMO, Verve is the lowest quality THK and a Love one of their highest. Any reason you can’t try Embark?

[FreeholdHound]

No chicken or turkey, so looks like LOVE is the best option then 🙂

[InkedMarie]

I feel the Love, Jeanne lol! Love on Harry for me!

[FreeholdHound]

Harry isn’t a happy hound today Marie. My Florida Greyhound is fascinated by snow except when it’s actually falling on him. He’s a bit pissy & being a hermit in his crate all day LOL

[theBCnut]

HaHaHa!! Our Greyhounds don’t like temps down in the 60s, snow is right out!!

[InkedMarie]

Poor Harry. We have snow and ice coming tomorrow, ginger will be thrilled. The other two? Not so much.

[theBCnut]

Stay warm and stay safe!!

[FreeholdHound]

He just tried to tippy toe around the yard… Pretty damn funny to watch an 80 lb dog do that! It’s only 2-3 inches. Such a wuss. He gets used to it eventually. Last year after Hurricane Sandy the snow was up over his chest… THAT freaked him out completely. This is all supposed to melt overnight – I hope they’re right. Stay warm and toasty too Marie- hopefully the icing won’t be bad for you. I HATE ICE!

[FreeholdHound]

… And then the power goes out!!! Ugh. Luckily only for a few minutes 🙁 we installed a generator after Sandy, which just kicked on for a few minutes, but i still hate that moment of darkness. I never want to relive 10 days of no heat & power. We got away lucky compared to soooo many.

[losul]

Ah the security of a backup generator. One takes for granted the convenience of electricity, until one does without for even a short time. 10 days I couldn’t even imagine.

[InkedMarie]

We have a back up generator too. We got it because we had parrots & I didn’t’ want dead birds. We have a dusting, ice supposedly coming but there isn’t much for school cancellations.

[theBCnut]

We had 3 major hurricane and 1 minor in ’04 and where we live the power goes out because somebody sneezed too close to an outlet, so we got a generator after 5 days of no power. We’ve only had to use it 1 time since, but I do love knowing it’s there.

[FreeholdHound]

I think it’s like car insurance… Nice to know its there but you hope you never need to use it 🙂

[theBCnut]

Definitely!!

[FreeholdHound]

This was posted a a Greyhound forum in regards to BDN (not my post)

My inquiry:
“Thank you. I found the product analysis, but need the nutrient profile, ie how much protein, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, sodium, potassium, zinc, niacin, folic acid, iodine, pantothenic acid, iodine, riboflavin, thiamine, vitamin A, D & E, etc, etc, etc………………..you get the idea. It’s usually broken down into three different groups: “As Received”, “Dry Matter Basis” “As Served (Hydrated)”.
This analysis is crucial for dogs with kidney or liver disease as an example. I have a dog with kidney disease and it is vital to know the calcium/phosphorous ratio.”

Their reply:
“According to our latest analysis, the ca/ph ratio of the beef is 1.1:1. The Tripe Supreme has a ca/ph ratio of 1.78:1.
The ratio of the chicken is 1.56:1. All the calcium in our products is from natural origin. You can’t compare this with the studies out there based on products where calcium is added as a supplement.
We have our analysis split up in “As received” and “Dry matter”. I really don’t understand the “As Served” part. This all depends how much water is added by the customer. Some dogs like it a bit dryer, some a bit more moist.

We are looking for the highest bio-availability possible. Most artificial supplements that you see used in all kind of different dog foods simply don’t do the job. They are not readily available. This is also the reason we ferment the vegetables. The fermented vegetables make the calcium, vitamins, and the ingredients in general, highly bio-available.
We hear excellent testimonials from our customers on a daily basis. Older dogs that start playing again, dogs that get better muscle tone, long time ear infections that disappear, etc… the list is endless. Dogs that went from one vet to another for years, and get better after being on Big Dog Natural. This keeps us going and tells us that we’re doing the correct thing.

I know what your saying but I raised and owned Mastiffs for over 30 years. We have an old school approach of dog food. Use high quality ingredients and you’re good. I never raised my kids by over analyzing their foods but they were fed well and healthy. I really don’t believe there is a need for deep analysis when the ingredients are top quality. You only need supplements and additives when crap is used. We use the analysis as a guideline to formulate the product, not as a marketing tool. We just want a healthy dog food for healthier dogs.

Hope this help

Carl Van Bael
The Big Dog Natural Team”

[theBCnut]

Basically, they want you to feed their diet full time, but don’t want to provide any information that may prove or disprove that it has everything it needs to have to be fed full time. I find that to be shady. If their analysis is so great, then when people specifically ask for it, they should be willing to share it, even eager. The fact that they always redirect tells me there is something about it that they don’t want people to know. It’s not just because they don’t want to use it as a marketing tool. That’s a load of c**p!

[FreeholdHound]

That’s what I was thinking too. I’ll pass

[pugmomsandy]

I use this as part of a topper. My topper is usually a mix of freeze dried and BDN. It rehydrates well. Sometimes I’ll use it by itself as a topper. No GI problems.

[theBCnut]

I would use it as a topper, since a topper is only a fraction of the diet and if something is off, as long as it isn’t too far off, it won’t harm anything.

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