[Erin G]

Hi All – I know a lot of you are subject matter experts when it comes to dog food as I have relied on your comments and advice over the past 5 years being a mommy to my senior rat terrier. Dogs change lives and my sweet girl has been the best blessing ever and has led me down an endless path of trying to provide her with the best life possible…including supplements, herbs and especially nutrition. This started first as a need…she is a picky eater and also has Cushings…but has now developed into a real interest of mine. As I have yet to find the perfect food that my girl will actually eat (she will only eat home cooking right now) I keep fighting the urge to throw myself full in and start a formal education on canine nutrition with the goal of developing a new dog food. I should add here that I know there are suitable foods out there for her (she loves most pre-mixes except they all contain items to which she is allergic – potatoes, chickpeas, sweet potatoes) but all that she can tolerate are inedible to her or leave her pooping 5 times a day!

I thought this would be a great place to start to hear some feedback from y’all on what would be a dream dog food if you could invent one. Or maybe you can tell me about a brand I haven’t discovered that is sweet and white potato free, preferably dehydrated or freeze-dried so I can control her protein (she has a sensitive stomach) and doesn’t leave a dog pooping 5 times a day (which was the issue with Honest Kitchen and also she didn’t like it…I thought it smelled great!)

[crazy4cats]

Hi Erin G-
I was checking out balance it’s website today. You can build homemade recipes on the site by choosing the ingredients and protein levels. Of course, you have to buy a supplement from them to add the required vitamins to the meal, but the recipes are free. Maybe this would be of interest to you.

[Erin G]

Thank you for the reply. I have checked out balance it before. I do find their site a bit confusing. Do you do homemade for your cats?

Erin

[crazy4cats]

Hi Erin-

No, I do not make homemade for my cats. The only thing I’ve done so far is feed my dogs one kibble free meal per week using the See Spot Live Longer Dinner Mix with either ground turkey or beef. I also add fresh, canned or frozen to all of their other meals with kibble.

For my cats, I have been feeding mostly all canned food to them due to one of them having a urinary tract blockage about six months ago. It is recommended to get as much moisture in their diets to prevent this from happening again. I am really getting tired of going through the mess and expense of 5 cans per day and was exploring the idea of homemade for them. (I have 4 cats and 2 large dogs)

BDog mentioned the Balance It site a while back and I just happened to be revisiting it the day you posted. I was a little overwhelmed as well the first time I took a peek. But, it made a little more sense the second time I looked at it. LOL! My cats are so picky that I’m afraid they will just turn their noses up at it. However, my dogs are always more than willing to eat whatever my cats don’t!

Let us know what you figure out. Good luck!

[zcRiley]

“Zignature Zssential Multi-Protein Formula Dry Dog Food” is the closest I’ve found with a lot of controversial ingredients deleted. Only 3 proteins and grain-free, gluten-free, no potato, chicken or eggs, no guar gum or carrageenan, etc. HOWEVER, chickpeas are listed as the 5th ingredient, which is already a very small amount but if your dog is allergic…..

Primal Freeze Dried Formula is great. Portions can be mixed with your cooking, etc.

MY DREAM DOG FOOD would be Zignature Zssential (dry) without the chickpeas. Or any dry dog food with zero fillers like various Potatoes, Legumes, certain Peas, Tapioca, Clay, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Oatmeal……..it’s just not what dogs would eat in the wild. And the amount of yeast disorders they can produce is disconcerting.

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