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Dehydrated dog food
Has anyone tried N-R-G dog food? Dehydrated food seems like a happy medium for those of us who don't want to feed kibble but don't have the time or knowledge to feed home prepared food. N-R-G is the only dehydrated food I've been able to find in the pet stores around Calgary but I haven't been able to get much feedback on it. The Honest Kitchen is another one I've read about but I'm not sure if it's readily available here in Alberta.
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I recently switched my dogs from raw to NRG grainless.
My Shepherd is having HUGE poops - 4-5x a day .. the first one being the largest dump ! Is anyone else out there experiencing this ?
Hi I feed Honest Kitchen, NRG, and Dried N Alive and raw meat and bones. Honest Kitchen is my favorite, my girl dog has some food sensitivities confirmed by Dr. Dodds. I avoid anything that she is even mildly sensitive to. HK Preference and raw meat, and the other 2 foods she can have so I switch around. Her poops are firm and twice a day and if left in the yard too long turn white. Very healthy girl!!
Whether your dog is on a raw diet or raw dehydrated diet,a the poops should be much smaller than that of a kibble based food. The reason the poop is smaller is the fact that the food is unprocessed and should be easily digested by the dog with very little waste. The more the food is processed the more the body needs to expel. We have Mastiffs and they have been fed both a raw diet and a dehydrated raw diet for years... they have a grow a very well a and I cannot member the last vet visit. They pass a small stool a once a day...usually in the morning. The foods we feed is made fresh and dehydrated immediately. It consists of a protein source currently chicken, green beef tripe, kale, broccoli,spinach, parsley, pulverized carrots and sweet potato for easy absorption. Having tripe in the food is very beneficial for the dogs. Besides aiding in digestion, it has the perfect calcium to phosphorous ratio as well as the omega 3 & 6. If your dog has that many stools a day, the food you are feeding is not benefitting him at all.
why can't bones be dehydrated? i raw feed my dog and give him raw beef bones from the local meat shop. they are taking up a lot of room in my freezer and was going to dehydrate them and store elsewhere.
I have two shitzu papillon female i yr old girls
I am feeding nrg maxim dehydrated
One of these days I'm actually going to save and measure the poop that comes out of them
When I told the telephone contact at nrg how much they were pooping she dismissed my comment and talked about how good it was for the colon to have lots of poops
They are fed twice a day and have on 4 to five poops a day
BING BING BING IT IS....NOT...GOOD FOR THE COLON TO HAVE SO MUCH POOP. WHAT A MORON..LESS IS BETTER MEANS THE FOOD YOUR FEEDING THEM IT NUTRIENT RICH AND GOING TO SUSTAIN THE DOG. THE MORE POOP MEANS THE MORE GARBAGE YOUR GIGING THEM! I FEED RAW THEY HAVE PPOP A DAY THE NICE OF MY MIDDLE FINGER ( A WOMANS REG SIE HAND) HAS NO OROR VERY FIRM AND TURN WHITES AND DISSOLVES INTO THE GROUND! YOU CAN JUDGE HOW GOOD THE FOOD IS YOUR FEEDING BY THEIR STOOL THE MORE AND STINKIER MEANS,,,,,NOT....GOOD FOOD...VICE VERSA MEANS...GREAT FOOD!. ALSO NO FLEAS OR TICKSS WHAT ANYTHING TO DO WITH RAW FED DOGS BECAUSE THEI BODY PRODUCES NO YAK COMING FROM THEIR BODY! FLEAS AND TICKS WANT NICE STINKY DOG BODIES!
Whether or not you are correct, anyone searching for the right answers here deserves your patience and respect! Shame on you! I looked this subject up myself because I wanted to learn about NRG. I happen to know something about feeding RAW as I feed my large dogs this way but it can be a budget-buster and some people are vegetarians which makes serving raw meat to the dogs somewhat challenging...
You may be knowledgeable but you are certainly very rude! Get off your high horse, Dawn!
I don't know how much I had fed my dogs already but I think if I combined all the food I fed them than it could fill more than 50 refrigerators already. I spoiled my dogs with food luckily they don't have weight issues.
I'm looking for a dehydrated food that has very limited ingredients since my 4 year old shih tzu has a protein allergy. Because of this she has been on Hill's z/d for over 3 years. She had liver shunt surgery 3 months ago and about one month ago I switched her food to Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Sweet Potato and Venison. She has done great on this food as far as her allergy is concerned, but I would love to feed her dehydrated food. Does anyone have any suggestions of any brands with limited ingredients? Thanks! =)
Have you tried primal turkey and sardine freze dried or zewipeak
Try Honest Kitchen-Preference and raw meat, works for my golden, and switch around with NRG and Dried N Alive. I get everything online.
Which protein source does your pup have allergies to? NRG has different formulas - beef, chicken, buffalo, or salmon - but they do have eggs in all formulas so if she is allergic to eggs then NRG isn't an option. I tried the NRG Vitality first because it's lower priced but has a grain component - hence the lower price. Two of my dogs had looser stools so I switched them to the Maxim formula which is grain-free. What a difference - smaller, firmer stools. If your pup can tolerate any of the protein sources I mentioned above I would definitely give NRG a try. I add the water 12 hours before feeding and refrigerate so it's a really nice consistency for them. You can actually see all the ingredients in the bowl, unlike Honest Kitchen which is mostly powdered form. But speaking of Honest Kitchen, they do have a formula called Preference, to which you add your own protein source, perfect for dogs with allergies such as yours.
Good luck! I wish you many happy healthy years with your pup!
sooo i just wanted to put my 2 cents in.
as per the smack pet food dehydrated they claim that they are organic but you cannot say that you have organic veggies if you are not certified by AFFACO.
they have no vitamin supplements in the food. The Honest kitchen has vitamin D3 and E.
just my thoughts.
Do your homework, actually The Honest Kitchen is rated by AFFCO, all are complete except the Preference formula because you have to add the protein which is clearly stated.
where do you see that?
I have no comment on dehydrated food (haven't tried it) but raw isn't always better. Some dogs with medical conditions can't eat it so always check with your vet first. You also need to make sure that your dogs are getting all the nutrients they need if eating raw, maybe add a vitamin supplement or two.
Raw dog food is definitely the ideal for feeding dogs, cats or ferrets for that matter.
Dehydrated is not raw, it is still processed using heat, though not at nearly as high a temperature as dry dog food.
Freeze dried is better than dehydrated food, most enzymes and vitamins are still intact but the results aren't nearly the same as raw and it is much more expensive.
As for Ziwipeak I would say it is a really good food, it's certainly better than most kibbles and being meat based matches the natural diet of the dog much more closely.
I believe dehydrated raw food (like Addiction) is the new, healthy wave in premium dog food. After a ton of research I decided on this because it leaves the nutrients and enzymes. There are other great frozen raw foods like Honest Kitchen, NRG, and Northwest Naturals.
Nutrition is key..and not over vaccinating.
I've since tried my dogs on Honest Kitchen, and also the following pre-mixes to which you add meat - U-Stew by Know Better Dog Food, Wendy Volhard's NDF2, and most recently Urban Wolf. Still haven't tried N-R-G yet though! I discussed the different diets with a holistic vet and she said some of her clients have had great success with Urban Wolf. She also recommends N-R-G as a healthy option. I am biased toward Honest Kitchen but she pointed out some of their mixes are very high in alfalfa content which she suggested is mostly filler. I'm in Western Canada so until Honest Kitchen is able to sell through local stores here it is quite cost prohibitive to order the good ones like Thrive, especially to feed 3 large dogs. U-Stew seems very good but the makers can't supply me with a complete nutrient profile so I'm hesitant to feed it long term. I'm going to try them on some of the N-R-G formulas since it's available in the stores locally, and although it's very expensive, hopefully it will be more economical than what I've been paying to have Honest Kitchen shipped. I must really love my dogs : )
Ha! I know the feeling . . . my dogs eat much better than I do! I'm in the US, and my pet food store is looking into trying NRG, so I'm open to feedback on that food. I've been feeding Honest Kitchen since 2004, and added Addiction recently (few months or so, now). My babies love it all, and I've been very comfortable with both. I do interchange the different formulas for different reasons and variety. I did read a comment that NRG doesn't let you choose which protein . . . I thought each formula (ie: Maxum, Optimum) each came in separate protein formulas to choose from . . . do you know anything about that? OR do they mix the different proteins in one formula . . . I wouldn't like that! Thanks, and good luck with your doggies' feeding! :)
It is not true that you can't pick the protein for your dogs when feeding the N-R-G dog food. They offer Buffalo, Salmon, Beef and Chicken, they do not mix proteins, if you buy Salmon then the protein source is Salmon!
I feed my guys the raw BARF diet, but if you're going to go freeze-dried or dehydrated, I lean towards "SOJO'S" or "GRANDMA LUCY'S ARTISAN". Both use completely organic vegetables and hormone, steroid, and anti-biotic free meats.
I was using this food until I recently learned that some of the ingredients come from China........not too happy with that so I am looking to switch to something else. I have used Addiction, Grandma Lucys and Honest Kitchen but really looking for something new.
I love The Honest Kitchen! It's great because it's human grade (made in a human food facility), and it just takes 5 minutes to hydrate. They also have a budget formula, Keen, it's about $55 and lasts my 45 pound dog about a month. It's done wonders for my dog.
Hi All!
I don't mean to complicate things but my understanding is we want freeze dried because it's minimal processing is much closer to the raw that we all really seem to want in the first place. I have read that dehydrated is processed (for lack of a better term) at much higher temperatures.
I have been feeding my 3 year old English Bulldog the BARF world products (all raw) that he really loves. I have included some raw meaty bones this week from Primal. My only concern is the cost aspect. My thought right now is to replace his evening meal with a high protein freeze dried meal. I just have not found a source I love yet. I agree that so many of them actually do not have a high enough protein content which is unlike their natural diet. I do contend however that all we seem to be doing is much better than store bought highly processed, grain included, cooked to death formulas.
Any freeze-dried suggestions? I am grateful for any thoughts as well.
I have been using Stella and Cheweys' freeze dried patties for about a year now and my dog loves it. I use it over high quality kibble and sometimes Honest Kitchen Preference.
I would try Stella and Cheweys- check their website as they certify every batch as contaminant free and yu can check your batch number to make sure. Their patties are just all meat- I use the lamb.
I heard that dehydrated food is processed at a much lower temperature, not much higher temperature! It doesn't matter so long as the food is good for them. We tried a dehydrated food with our dog before. It was salmon and vegetables, can't remember the name, but he loved it. We only stopped because it was a little inconvenient since you have to rehydrate the food half an hour before you feed it. We feed raw in the morning and dehyrated (Canisource) in the evening. Sorry I don't have any suggestions for freeze-dried. I'm not even sure what it is! Is that different from dehydrated?
We've been interested in trying The Honest Kitchen, but seems like the price-tag is a bit steep! I'm all for giving my buddy the best food for him, but I don't eat steak everyday either! :)
Any word on what is the best kind of dehydrated food for the cost?
Cheers!
-Booker
I had a very sick dog that I use to cook human grade food for and since he passed away I am feeding my new guy dehydrated food as it is more convient. He was on NRG and we both liked it but he chewed his way into the box and ate 4 days worth of food, it left him gassy and going outside every 3 hours as it needs to be rehydrated. I have since switched him to CaniSourse which can be served either rehydrated or dry. I was happy with both foods, both are made in Canada (BC & PQ), both use lower cooking tmeperatures to cook which maintains higher nutritional value and having compared the 2, CaniSource is 2% higher in protien content. Max loves both and I have found CaniSource a little more convient, slightly less expensive, and it has slightly more protien but you really cannot go wrong with either. My local Global pet foods gave me samples of both to try and I was very pleased with them.
All good pet owners know that feeding their dog a raw food diet is the best type of diet that you can put your dog on. However, given busy schedules and the work that it takes to prepare this type of diet more and more are turning to dehydrated raw dog food. What most dog owners would like to know about something like this is whether or not it is still as healthy. While there are a number of dehydrated raw dog foods that you can buy in stores, you can never really be too sure. Any type of meat can be dehydrated, but something to remember is that you should never dehydrate bones.
Ruzzel Walsh
Dry food storage
I suppose it all comes down to what kind of dehydrated food you are buying.
I haven't heard anybody mention them yet so I will since I'm a really happy customer.. Smack Pet Food is from Winnipeg and has been making raw dehydrated food since 2008. They use low-temperature dehydration and the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. The poop comes out the same as a raw diet would. This is the real test! The food also smells fantastic and my labs love it! A great combo I've found is Very Berry Chicken and Caribbean Salmon Fusion.
The great thing about true raw dehydrated diets is that they offer the same tangible benefits as raw but it involves none of the hassle and is super easy to prepare.
Check Smack out! These guys make awesome food and definitely need to be seen some more, plus I'm from Winnipeg too so I want them to get their due!
Companies like NRG tend to dehydrate at higher temperatures. This kills the digestibility of the meat for dogs. In my experience using the nrg diets, the food looks the same going out (poop) as it does goin down the hatch.
Just my 2 cents!
Hello,
I am fairly new to this forum & just had the urge to introduce myself + say "howdy".
For once a stable forum with colors that I can follow - which
is a refreshing change!
I'm here to learn @ participate. How can I best contribute?
Laters Ya'll~
Well thank you very much Mr. Cadbury, but I have one question. Which dog food would be a good choice? I've heard that stuff like Purina and Ol'Roy and the like aren't good brands because they don't have enough meat in them. However, for those of us with a tight wallet like you said, those are also the only ones I can find find coupons for.
I thought Freezing was best? I order Primal from a place down in florida, Lukesallnatural.com
Dehydration is the oldest and best way to preserve food and maintain the nutrients that would otherwise be burned of in the manufacturing process. The processing (or lack of processing) of dog food has a lot to do with the health of our pets. Extruded food leaves a lot of ash (burned ingredients) which can actually make your dog's body acidic - cancer thrives in an acidic body so maybe that explains why canine cancer is so prevalent. Second to the processing you have to look at the quality of ingredients. Some ingredients that go into dog food are so substandard that it's a wonder they are allowed to be used. That's why feeding a raw diet is the best option - that being said though, not everyone had the time or expertise (or money!!) to feed raw. So in situations like that, a dehydrated food is your best bet. Have you ever heard of CaniSource? It is a Canadian dehydrated food using low temperature air dehydration in a kibble form (no water needed). You can find more about it at www.katoby.com. It is the only kibble manufactured in North America that uses only ingredients that are fit for Human Consumption. There is a marked difference between "human grade" ingredients and "fit (or approved) for human consumption" ingredients. Human grade has no regulation to the term and could actually be anything that at some point in time was destined for human consumption but fell off along the way (expired, contaminatd, etc.) Good luck with finding the best possible food for your dog.
Hi! I live in Calgary too. I feed my boys Ziwi Peak. I don't know if counts as dehydrated, it feels sort of like those jerky treats but they are cut up smaller and are more moist. My boys love it. I get it from the Tail Blazers store. It is a little on the expensive side so I mix in some fresh veggies (carrots, green beans) with it too.
I'm sorry to tell you this but Ziwi Peak isnt a dog food, its a dog treat. its a great treat but you should be feeding your dog something more substantial as well./
ZiwiPeak makes dog food as well as treats. Check your sources.
Ziwi Peak is not a dog food? On what information do you base this statement? Please elaborate?
Dog food coupons is a good way to save money on your dog food, so if you want the best for your dog but have a tight wallet this is an option for you.
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