SAmmy

Cats are harder to switch to raw food so I feed them Innova or Chicken Soup for the Cat lover's soul. I also feed them raw chicken with bones (ground up). You won't find these foods from your local petco, but you can go their websites and put your zipcode and it will tell you where to get them.

Msjam

That said, apparently the problem has to do with wheat gluten, and only one SD product uses that, the dry cat M/D prescription formula for diabetic cats. If your Science Diet bag says it has corn gluten, it should be safe (or no more dangerous than it was before the recalls, anyway -- dogs were not meant to eat corn gluten either!).

Carla

Who would have thought the dog would eat a whole strawberry cake. Obviously, I cannot leave cake rounds to cool on the dining room table from now on.

I've been feeding Felco Beneful Healthy Weight, but am having second thoughts. Felco likes table food way too much - considers dog food emergency rations - like after table scraps AND cat food. Right at the moment, he could lose a bit of weight. I guess I'm going to start reading the label on dry dog foods with more care.

None of the foods I feed the cats were recalled, but I'm back to reading labels on those also. I've never fed the cats anything with gravy, just because I think gravy means overweight cat.

Mable's Meat Loaf - meat eater's version
(makes two large loaves - 24 slices)

1 1/2 pounds Ground Beef , Venison, Chicken or Turkey
2 cups cooked & pureed Beans and/or Lentils- I use Pinto Beans
2 cups Corn Masa Harina Flour (corn flour)- Masa Harina is a fortified, fine ground corn flour that has been partially precooked in lime water (which makes it easier to digest). It is usually used for making tortillas and tamales and can be found in the ethnic (Mexican) section of most grocery stores. If you cannot find it, you can substitute regular corn meal.
1 cups Rolled Oats (I buy in bulk)
4 cups cooked rice (I buy in bulk)
1 cup wheat germ (I buy in bulk)
1 - 2 cups liquid (water, milk, whey, stock, etc) - This amount will vary depending on the moisture content of your other ingredients.
2 eggs
2 cups (1 lb.) vegetables, pureed - You can use any vegetable. It's good to vary ingredients because variety in diet contributes to good health. I usually use frozen mixed vegetables, peas or broccoli. I buy them is a really big bags (it's cheaper that way) , thaw, puree in my food processor, divide into 2 Cup portions and refreeze for future use.
3 tsp. garlic (granulated)
3 tsp. Calcium Citrate -OR- 6 tsp. egg shell powder - a source of necessary calcium
1/2 tsp. salt substitute (potassium chloride) - a source of necessary potassium - you can find this in any grocery store where they sell salt.
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 cup ketchup (optional- not for use with diabetics)
6 tsp. Herbal Nutritional Supplement (optional, but highly recommended)
other optional supplements if necessary such as Arthritis & Joint Support mix, Glucosamine, MSM, Kelp, etc. (Mable got 1 1/2 tsp. of Glucosamine & 1 1/2 tsp. of MSM - Note: reports now suggest not giving glucosamine to diabetics)
It is important that your dog should also receive a good dog multi-vitamin each day (a vitamin formulated specifically for dogs, not humans), either as a powder mixed into this loaf, or a tablet given as a treat.
In a very large bowl. Using your hands, mix all the ingredients together very well. (Since ground meats differ in consistency, you may need to add more liquid). Put into two large loaf pans and spread out evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Cool and store in the refrigerator. Makes 12 slices per loaf.

To serve, slice and cut into bite sized chunks. You can also slice off servings, put in ziplock bags and freeze them for later use.

Measurement of the loaf pans I use:
measurement taken from bottom of pan: 8 1/4' X 4 1/4'
measurement taken from top of pan: 9 1/4' X 5 1/4'
height: 2 3/4'
I bought my pans at Wal-Mart.
Serving amount:
You will have to adjust to fit the caloric needs of your own dog. See the Daily Caloric Requirements for Adult Dogs chart.

BARF is the best, but expensive.

Beneful is awful. The marketing is great. Read the actual ingredients.

Dogs need little or no grain. The first few ingredients should be meat or meat products. If there is no grain, and no vegetable/grain baesd ingredient for the first 3 or 4 ingredients, it is probably a healthier food.

The link should help with analyzing the quality of your dog's food. I am not a BARF nazi and do feed some kibble, but a lot of what's in the biggest selling kibble is filler or worse.

Jody, a whole cake? LOL, I just read about the Labor Day Brisket on the ARF coffee-thief thread. Too funny. Oh my Pack would make very fast rations of a cake, for sure. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I HAND-FEED all of mine, but I have to be so strict about what they are allowed to put in their mouths, they think even dinner needs to come directly from my hands!! Ah, well, silly but they don't eat the couch then ;]

aprille

Aprille

While I do feed my dogs high quality food they also get treats and biscuits. All this recall stuff is pretty scary. And I feel so bad for all the sick pets and their owners having to deal with it.

For those of you that can't find some of the high quality foods in your area you may want to check out Flint River Ranch (dog & cat) food. I have fed it for quite some time and IMHO it is one of the best foods out there. One big added bonus is that you order the food on the internet and it ships directly to your house from the closest distributor. There are many distributors on the internet selling the food. Just do a search for Flint River Ranch and pick one you would like to buy from. The distributor I buy from (www.safe-t-pet.com) will send out free samples of the food.

The link is: http://www.frrinc.com/freesample.html

I am absolutely in no way affiliated with that company or dog food manufacturer, I am just a satisfied customer passing the info along.
Also, their Dry Water dog food is really good. I know it sounds funny but the first time I made it up I thought it smelled good enough for ME to eat. Smelled a lot like a stew and the dogs went absolutely crazy for it. I used to mix it with the dry food to make it last longer but every time I fed it they acted like it was the best thing in the world..

Thanks

Thanks again.

aprille

Lots of old-school vets want absolutely nothing to do with a raw diet. Since I moved, I have two vets -- one traditional style who is near me -- she does sports with her dogs and doesn't keep telling me my dogs are too thin , and one holistic vet who is farther away but doesn't argue with me about what to feed. I know there are some very well-thought-of holistic vets in the Bay Area, but the ones I was familiar with are pricey and have a long lead time for appointments. Good luck.
What kind of puppy will you be getting?

We are getting a Leonberger - they are a rare giant breed and we found a wonderful breeder who's been very helpful with information and stuff through the breed webpage. any idea's how I'd go about locating a Holistic vet around here? nothing came up in a google search ... someone I met recently said there was one down in Castro Valley that's about 5 miles from us.

Thanks again for all your help.

aprille

When I lived in the Bay Area, I took my cat to see Dr. Alan Stewart, an internist who is the best vet I have ever seen, hands down. He has moved his specialty practice to San Francisco and Marin, but it appears there is now a holistic vet (Dr. Rice) on his staff at the San Francisco practice.

I do not know this vet, but I would implicitly trust anyone Dr. Stewart chose to hire.

I have no connection with this practice -- I just found it while googling. There are quite a few other holistic practices in the Bay Area, as you might expect, but as I said I don't know enough to recommend one over the other.

Carla