We actually have a shop here that is B.A.R.F. based. I'm not sure I'd be able to do full raw, but they do carry some kibbles in their store too.

http://www.waggintailsbarf.com/

Anyone ever tried some of these?

NutriSource, Fromm, PureVita, EVO, or California Natural

They all seem to have 4/5 stars on DFA's website. Just trying to figure out what I will eventually be feeding if I don't just go with BB Wilderness (depending on prices).

Here's what we give Kaya - she likes it and we've had good luck with her. She's been really healthy. We order it through the vet.
http://www.ivetfoods.com/product/adult-dog/

As much as I would love to feed just raw, it is not feasible for me at this time. So I feed Natures Variety Instinct Rawboost. It is made in Lincoln Nebraska; I live in Auburn Nebraska. It is kibble combined with freeze dried raw pieces. My girls do VERY well on it. I have gone through a lot of different brands to be where I am now.

I have tried Blue, Breeders Choice AvoDerm, Loyall, Simply Nourish, TOTW, and Merrick. Of all those brands, the only one I would recommend would be Merrick. Merrick is very well rated on most all food comparison and ratings sites and is very well priced for the quality. If price is an issue, I suggest you check out Merrick.

^ I've been feeding Kale Nature's Variety Inatinct Raw Boot as well! It's the only food that Kale has done exceptional on. I've only tries the chicken so far, just got our 3rd bag. He LOVES it. I've also been giving a little over 1/4 of a cup of Honest Kitchen Thrive as well.

Oh awesome!!! Lincoln is only an hour away from me, so I get REALLY excited when I hear other people are loving their food too! I have fed chicken and now I am trying Duck and Turkey Meal. We just opened it so I have nothing to report yet. I'm glad your baby is doing so well on it!

I almost got the duck and turkey, but I'm wary because Kale detests duck, but he loves turkey. Maybe next time ill get a small bag to do a taste test

I forgot to add I'm giving Kavik NuVet Plus vitamin wafers on top of his Sportmix food. Both were suggested by the breeder.

Kavik_the_Havoc wrote:

I forgot to add I'm giving Kavik NuVet Plus vitamin wafers on top of his Sportmix food. Both were suggested by the breeder.

DO you buy them from the breeder? I tried them once, and I didn't see any difference. I started doing supplementing myself and its significantly cheaper AND I see results.

Hey, you can't beat cheaper

No. I bought the kibble from a feed store and ordered the vitamins from nuvet.com. All I've noticed from giving him the combo is a happy, hyper puppy with soft fluffy fur.

There's nothing wrong with cheaper! How do you give your pets supplements? It's a bit insane how human vitamins cost significantly less than animal ones.

Kavik_the_Havoc wrote:

No. I bought the kibble from a feed store and ordered the vitamins from nuvet.com. All I've noticed from giving him the combo is a happy, hyper puppy with soft fluffy fur.

There's nothing wrong with cheaper! How do you give your pets supplements? It's a bit insane how human vitamins cost significantly less than animal ones.

I hadn't even thought of vitamins up until now. Time to do more research I suppose.

Kavik_the_Havoc wrote:

No. I bought the kibble from a feed store and ordered the vitamins from nuvet.com. All I've noticed from giving him the combo is a happy, hyper puppy with soft fluffy fur.

There's nothing wrong with cheaper! How do you give your pets supplements? It's a bit insane how human vitamins cost significantly less than animal ones.

Depends on what you are looking to supplement.

I found the most effectiveregimen for my two is:

1000mg of fish oil daily
400 I.u. of vitamin e every other day for respiratory and circulatory. Health as well as facilitating the fishoil effectively.
Coconut oil

I also feed lots of freeze dried organ treats. When meat is freeze dried it only loses 3% of its nutritional value so freeze dried is great for for your pup. Liver can be rich in vitamin a, so I feed avarietyof organs....lungs kidney etc. Primal makes afull line so do others.

Will write more later

I love reading your posts Megan. I have learned so much from you! 3% isn't bad at all! I thought it would be more than that, but never looked it up lol

hypers987 wrote:

I love reading your posts Megan. I have learned so much from you! 3% isn't bad at all! I thought it would be more than that, but never looked it up lol

I'll have to find the link for the information online..but i thnk it was from a scholarly journal for a research paper I did for a nutrition course. I'll post if its accessible for the general public. If it's a journal I can't

mheath0429 wrote:

I found the most effectiveregimen for my two is:

1000mg of fish oil daily
400 I.u. of vitamin e every other day for respiratory and circulatory. Health as well as facilitating the fishoil effectively.
Coconut oil

I also feed lots of freeze dried organ treats. When meat is freeze dried it only loses 3% of its nutritional value so freeze dried is great for for your pup. Liver can be rich in vitamin a, so I feed avarietyof organs....lungs kidney etc. Primal makes afull line so do others.

Will write more later

I heard you need to build up a dog to organs or they can't digest it right. Does freezing it help?

Where did you hear that?

Many recommend waiting a few months after beign on raw to include organs - its a person choice and I didn't wait a few months. I had min on organs in about 6 weeks with out issue. It is not about digesting it, they can very easily digest meat based proteins, its about the fact that its rich. Freeze dried treats should pose no issue.

mheath0429 wrote:

Where did you hear that?

floating somewhere around the infallible internet.

Ah, ok, so I guess the richness could simply mess with their stomachs a bit.

So I just started my girls on Fromm. I got a 30 pound bag for free because of horrible customer service (thank you bitchy cashier lady!). My girls LOOOOVE IT! Kennedy literally DROOLS over it. I'm feeding the chicken flavor right now, but I will try another flavor after this bag is up. Pretty good stuff.

Snoopy LOVES the Fromm Gold. He sings and dances when it's feeding time haha

Tried Earthborn Primative naturals. Hated it. It smells like the feed mill my dad works at. Kale's stools are soft and he's popping frequently. Switching him back to canidae pureElements and Nature's variety Instinct.

Tried the Fromm Salmon flavor..won't be doing it again. All three dogs had semi soft poopies the whole time. Nasty smelling farts as well. I think I'll be going back to Natures Variety.

Am currently working our way through BBW Duck recipe and O MY GOSH Karli LOVES it!! She devours it faster than I've ever seen her eat anything. She was eating the Salmon flavor before this and she'd eat it but not with this kind of gusto! I think I have a bird dog on my hands!!! lol

Luckily my pups haven't been picky yet. The breeder had them on Purina Proplan performance. I bought a bag to transition them and went with Blue Buffalo Wilderness chicken for puppies after that. Two bags of that I switched again to Acana regionals due to my wife's belief that their stools were a little soft on BBW. I started on Acana Wild prairie because I wanted to transition them on chicken. They have eaten Purina, BBW and Acana with no problem. Now I gave them Acana Pacifica and they go coo coo for cocoa puffs. Now they jump and talk when they smell it. And they eat faster than I've ever seen. I've also got Acana ranchlands and grasslands next. Hopefully they like it as much as Pacifica. So far Acana has been great.

I just switched Koga over to Taste of The Wild High Prairie Puppy Formula, mixed with some of the wet High Prairie or Wetlands canned formula. He really likes their wet food.

With Lexi we have tried all of the Blue Buffalo Wilderness and she loves them all! We try to switch it up every bag or two for a little variety. The formulas are pretty similar between them all (except for the main flavor), so we haven't had any problems when switching between them.

Hopefully we can do the same with Brandi!

Scott

Question.. I feed koda nutrisca chicken and chicpea recipe. They have other recipes like lamb and chickpea and salmon and chickpea. Those 2 are more expensive but i was going to buy on ocasion for some variety. Can i switch between flavoras without mixing the old flavor?