Merrick for Older Rottie

[goldiegirl]

Our vet advised us to give our new rottie a better quality food than the Nutro we were feeding. She is a rescue and 8 years old and seems to be picky.

She seems to like the Merrick foods we are giving her however she always seemed hungry on 1/2 can in am and 1/2 at night mixed with Merrick dry.

We started to give her a whole can in am and eve and she seems satisfied. My only concern (besides the darn price of the stuff) is that it seems to be 90% gravy. I want to give her good nutrition but if the reason she is eating a whole can twice a day is because they are giving more gravy than food, then I would like to find a better alternative.

I have heard good things about Buffalo Blue and a few others. Any suggestions?

I am trying to keep her (per vet) on a higher protein diet to keep her fit and trim in her older years. She is currently 88 lbs and seems very solid.

Any suggestions on good quality food? Also, is the one can morn and night too much??

Hugs

A

[Shelby427]

do a search in the nutrition forum - lots of great information there. Food can also be the cause of her ear infections.

Don't base the amount of food you feed on how "hungry" she looks. Dogs are always hungry. You need to base it on caloric content, how active she is, how she looks and feels etc.

[brunie's mom]

Thank-you for rescuing your 8 year old girl.
Canned food is too expensive to be feeding such a large breed. I would suggest you go to a good kibble that is higher in calories, and only feed a tablespoon of canned food....or go with some fresh food toppers to add to the kibble. Half a can of sardines, left over lean meats, yogurt, cottage cheese, left over steamed veggies, a raw egg or a lightly scrambled egg.

Good quality foods often recommended here are Innova, EVO, California Natural, Canidae,Orijen,etc. These foods are high in quality. I tried Merrick a couple of years ago...and was not all that impressed(kibble)...it's not high in calories and the dried veggies went right through my dogs.

Gina

[cally01]

I fed complete canned and NRG dehydrated to my dogs (6 large dogs) for quite awhile. I rotated between Canidae, Nature's Variety, Natura, Zinpro. For our Newfoundland she was starting to go through a bit of incontinance at 10 years and found the canned food diet helped her a great deal...no more dribbles. :)

The dehydrated foods mixed with canned or freeze dried helped save me some money. Plus, unlike kibble they were not so processed and unhealthy. Cassie proved to us that kibble is not great for urinary tract issues.

We have now put them all on raw home prepared, for the older girl Cassie (she is going on 12 years)...We add digestive enzymes to her food to insure she is getting everything out of her food and to keep her from loosing weight. She also gets higher fat yogurt etc.

[AngelBunny]

Have you thought about putting your girl on a raw diet? I feed the raw prey model.

That's cool your vet advised you to put your girl on a better quality food than Nutro. Many vets aren't good sources of info on what to feed dogs. Sounds as tho yours is an exception.

Did you vet give you any suggestions as to what a better quality food might be??

When I fed kibble I never fed BB so I have no experience with that particular food. I fed Wellness, CA Nat, EVO, and Canidae.

[goldiegirl]

He gave us an entire list of premium foods and Merrick was just one we chose. Its fairly pricey and she does like it. She would not eat any dry food but the Merrick so we went with it for the dry portion.

The raw diet might be an option but I want to be sure first. Its a big commitment for me as far as time. I have another thread about a constant ear infection for this girl and they suggest it might be the food so that might be something to expolore for that as well.

A

[goldiegirl]

Initially we were giving her yogurt as well for her tummy but it turned out to be the oral antibiotics that were giving her an issue. She cannot take Clavimox even with an oral stomach med.

Right now we are just adding fish oil caplets and Dasaquin with MSN and she has a beautiful coat and her arthritis has perked up completely and she even climbs the stairs now for us.

So diet is just one more thing to get "under" control. LOL

[AngelBunny]

Originally Posted by goldiegirl

He gave us an entire list of premium foods and Merrick was just one we chose...

Your vet is remarkable. Most vets have no clue when it comes to making recommendations on what to feed.

Originally Posted by goldiegirl

The raw diet might be an option but I want to be sure first. Its a big commitment for me as far as time...

Altho I've long felt raw is best for our canine companions, one of the reasons I held back was concern about the time factor.

Yes, it takes more time than measuring out kibble and dumping the kibble into Fido's bowl, but it's not as big a time suck as I'd feared. Perhaps because I'm now in a routine!

I buy bulk, Oma's Pride. 30 and 40 lbs of chicken, turkey, and duck necks; 40 lbs of tripe (a box of 5 lb bags); and the like. Once every 5 weeks or so I drive to the distributor's house to pick up my order, drive home, and pack it into the freezer. The freezer is now turned over to dog food and the fridge downstairs (that we only used once/year for our big summer party) is now turned on all the time--DH doesn't want thawing dog food in the kitchen fridge.

On a direct cost basis, feeding raw is cheaper for me than feeding kibble.

Originally Posted by goldiegirl

...I have another thread about a constant ear infection for this girl and they suggest it might be the food so that might be something to expolore for that as well.

May well be food based.

The reason I finally moved to feeding raw is because our current foster failed to thrive on 3 months of Canidae, followed by 3 months on CA Nat. I was at my wit's end--never in years of fostering have we ever had a foster who didn't turn into a rose, once minor health issues were addressed and dog got put on a better diet.

My vet finally suggested a raw diet.

The change in Sailor is beyond belief. The first to improve was his coat. It was AWFUL on kibble--just awful. Now, his coat is so magnificient I call him my Velveteen Rabbit.

One of the issues plaguing Sailor was a chronic ear infection, particularly in his right ear. Dr. Donna told me that Sailor's ear condition may resolve itself, once his system adjusted to a correct diet for him.

While his ears still are still yeasty, they are looking better. While I haven't yet let myself believe he's out of the woods in terms of his ears, they do look better. They don't smell as badly as they did and they aren't as black with yeast.

Sailor was switched to his raw diet June 26, 2007.

I do not plan to feed kibble to any personal dog again.

[goldiegirl]

WOW that is remarkable. Yes, the smell from her ears is horrible. Hate the whole black crap etc. Besides the change in diet, what else can be done for the yeast. I never asked the dog if yeast was an issue. I know there were bacterial infections but never asked if anything was yeast based?

What is a treatment for yeast? She has tons of black smelly stuff in there.!

[goldiegirl]

PS what is Omas Pride?

[tla0126]

AngelBunny, thank you for going so indepth about the raw food diet. It was very interesting and it definately might be something I consider!

[AngelBunny]

Originally Posted by goldiegirl

PS what is Omas Pride?

Oma's Pride is a supplier of raw food.

[AngelBunny]

Originally Posted by goldiegir

WOW that is remarkable.

The change in Sailor is beyond remarkable. He was on premium kibble for 6 months and I was embarrassed to take him into public. His coat was dry, brittle, and I could pull it out by the handful. Sailor started to have a reverse Ridgeback--a thinning patch running along his spine. But, even tho his coat was so dreadful, it had this grey film on it that coated your hands when you pet him.

I joke he's our celiac foster. I think he's grain intolerant. Since making the switch, I don't give him anything with grain.

I've been tempted to put him on EVO to see how he does. (Sailor was on EVO for almost 2 weeks before I switched him to raw--not long enough to see any result.) I haven't done this, however, because he looked so awful when he was on kibble. I'm reluctant to mess with success because it was a long expensive road to figure out what was wrong with him. Sailor has absolutely blossomed on his raw diet.

Originally Posted by goldiegir

Yes, the smell from her ears is horrible. Hate the whole black crap etc. Besides the change in diet, what else can be done for the yeast. I never asked the dog if yeast was an issue. I know there were bacterial infections but never asked if anything was yeast based?

What is a treatment for yeast? She has tons of black smelly stuff in there.!

I'm sure her ears reek. Sailor's ears, especially his right ear, were black and revolting. His right ear in particular was a mess--on top of his yeast infectons, he also had a bacterial infection in his ears.

Yeast is a single celled organism that thrives in moist areas, including the long ear canals of dogs. Often dogs that swim have problems with yeast infections in their ears because water gets in the dogs' ears. Allergies--and hypothyroidism--can exasberate yeast infections in dog's ears. (Our foster, Sailor, is hypothyroid, btw, something we found our early on.)

At this point, I do not remember the various treatments Sailor had to try to fix his ears, tho I know that yeast doesn't like dry, acidic environments. Sailor's ears really started improving once his diet got squared away. When his thyroid med dosage got figured out, his ears started improving, but from what I see by looking into his ears, they really started getting better when his diet got to be what his system needs.

[AngelBunny]

Originally Posted by tla0126

AngelBunny, thank you for going so indepth about the raw food diet. It was very interesting and it definately might be something I consider!

You are welcome.

I've come a long way in what I feed my dogs.

I fed my first Rottie Science Diet. Back in 1984 I didn't know any better. My poor Otto was plagued by hot spots thruout his life. I probably put my vet's kid thru a semester's worth of college with all the money I spent on cremes, dips, shampoos, sprays, ointments, et al, trying in vain to give my dog relief.

When I started doing research, I found out all kibble isn't created equal. From about 1990 onwards I fed premium kibble. More research led me to believe raw is best for our canine companions. Tho I believed this for years it wasn't until our current foster simply failed to thrive on kibble that I finally moved to where I am now--feeding raw.

I won't go back to feeding kibble for extended periods of time to our personal dogs. (If I run out of raw before a shipment it due to come in, I'd feed EVO or Orijen, but I don't plan to go back to feeding our dogs kibble.)