I've tried to do as much research on this as I could muster, I've spoken with my vet and other husky owners - but I keep getting mixed ideas, I thought I'd ask you guys. Maybe you have some experience with it.

Aevyn will quite often either throw up or have bouts of diarrhea if he eats anything that isn't his dog kibble or the very small, occasional treat. My vet believes that the food he is on is working well for him, that he's perfectly healthy and the symptoms are from him being a puppy (6months currently).

However, I've had other owners tell me I shouldn't be feeding my husky kibble at all, that he should only have home cooked meals, premium meats, organic veggies, etc. That huskies cannot break down the carbs or somethignrather in the kibble.

There was one period where Aevyn was so sick we were told to not feed him for 24 hours, then boil him up some white rice and chicken. Which we did, however he didn't receive it too well, not to mention he stuck his nose up at it. He did much better when put back on his kibble.

I've always enjoyed being able to feed my previous dogs fresh veggies and fruits every now and then, is it possible Aevyn wont ever be able to enjoy these? What sort of food do you feed your husky, and what treats can they handle well?

What kind of kibble are you currently feeding Aevyn?

There are a few here on the forum that cannot tolerate rice, including my female, and did the same thing when we were going through diarreha issues. Since then, I have found she is intolerant to chicken in kibble form and rice. She's also intolerant of something in certain brands of dog food.

Since Aevyn is still young, you want to make sure he gets proper nutrition for puppies, and if his current kibble seems to be working well for him, I would keep him on that as his base food.

As for treats for Aevyn, maybe find treats that are limited in ingredients. That way, you have an easier time figuring out ingredients that he does well on, or what makes his tummy upset.

It could be that Aevyn has a sensitive tummy, but it could also be that he will grow out of it as he gets older. You may also find that as you get more into finding foods that work well for Aevyn, he may tolerate more types of foods.

I have my female, Ginger (about 4 years old), on The Honest Kitchen Zeal (fish formula) which is dehydrated raw. Fish is her main source of protein. She also gets raw chicken. As far as her treats, they are freeze dried or dehydrated and contain no more than 2 ingredients, otherwise, I make her treats and know exactly what goes in them and they are still limited ingredients.

My male, Storm, is on weight loss. We recently adopted him, and he was extremely overweight. We've managed to drop 10 lbs off him, and we are now slowly transitioning him to a partial raw diet.

Aevyn's on a brand called Nutram. Its what he came with from the breeder, and the vet seemed happy with it. Its about $60 for a large bag, so it certainly isn't the -best- but I'm sure we could be doing much worse.

So far carrots seem to be okay, but only one or two baby ones. I guess we'll keep experimenting to see how he does. I really hope he outgrows it.

Are treats very difficult to make? Are the ingredients expensive? I certainly wouldn't mind putting the effort into them, if we can find things he enjoys and can handle well.

Here's a link to dog food rating and analysis:
Dog Food Analysis and Reviews

Nutram has a 3 star rating. There are other 'better rated' dog food, but it all depends on what your finances can afford and what's available to you. If there's another dog food that is rated better, and is available to you and you can afford it, some pet stores will carry trial bags or sample bags so you can try it out for free or buy a small bag to test out.

As a personal preference for myself and my 2, I don't like anything with rice which Nutram has. If I am going to do a dry dog food that has grain in it, I would chose something with either oatmeal or quinoa.

Making my own dog treats/biscuits aren't very hard at all. Here's one recipe you could try - maybe cut it in half so you end up with a lot of treats that Aevyn doesn't like or doesn't do well on:

Gluten Free Dog Biscuit Recipe
- 1 Lb ground meat ( lamb, beef, chicken, turkey ) Lamb and beef tend to be higher in fat. Chicken and turkey might be a better choice for an overweight dog.
- 1 large sweet potato ( cooked and mashed )
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ( not garlic salt )or one large clove pressed
- 5 tbsp. large flake rolled oats ( organic if possible ) or 4 tbsp. ground flax seed meal

--heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mixing up very well.
--lightly grease a cookie sheet with olive oil. ( very slightly )
--Dump ingredients on cookie sheet and spread evenly and flatly to the sides of pan. This should be about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
--Bake for one hour at 350 degrees.
--Remove pan from oven and use your cookie cutter at this time, if you want. If you don't have a cookie cutter, just score the 'cookie dough 'with a knife or pizza cutter, into squares.
--Put back into the oven and bake for another hour at 250 degrees.
This will dry these healthy dog treats out. Keep an eye on your oven. The time could be more or less, depending on how hot your oven runs.

These dog treats should be fairly dry and a little crispy, but not burned.


The other ones I make uses Ginger's dehydrated dog food (Honest Kitchen) with tuna and egg. If you want that one, let me know and I'll send that to you also - you should be able to order THK online if you don't have a pet store near you that carries them.

i started a thread somewhere on there with a bunch of dog bone and dog cake recipes.... bet its under the food section some where, check it out! it cost some to buy everything but then you get like a TON for bones from all of it! i like to freeze them for later
(sorry i suck at adding links)

I will look into his food further. I have to admit, we let ourselves get a bit lazy when our vent gave us the all clear on the Nutram. Aevyn's been perfect at all his checkups, but if he can be doing better I certainly want him to be.

I'm going to try that recipe for the treats, I'll have to let you know how it goes! I've been known to bake some some questionable things, so lets just hope my boyfriend doesn't get confused and takes a mouthful of those!

Doggie cake sounds interesting, I'm almost a little sad his birthday is so far away!

Hey guys,

Aevyn being sick is an ongoing issue right now, and at the moment he's even getting sick on his puppy food alone. I figured it might be time to try to switch his kibbles to a better quality one.

Using that site you provided with the ratings and a local website to see what was available to us, we came across a brand called Innova, supposed to be a 5 star meal and we can afford it.

It still has rice, however. But also Barley. Is this something we should try or keep searching for one with oats?

Oooor, continuing the search, the Blue Wilderness rates high as well. With no Corn, wheat, or soy. Is this an option?

So confusing.

Blue Wilderness is for adults if I remember correctly- how old is Aevyn? Taste of the Wild is all lifestages food and unless prices have risen, it's about $45 for the big bag.

Do you have a Costco? If your dog is good with fish, they have Nature's Domain, it's grainfree and all lifestages and I think $30 for the big bag.

Orijen has a puppy grainfree formula but it's pricey.

I've heard good things about Innova puppy but don't know any sibes who've been fed it. I personally would never include rice in my dog's diet though.

They do have a puppy formula of Blue Wilderness - which, at first, we thought it was funny. The naming of the bags is things like "Blue Wilderness Salmon" "Blue Wilderness Duck" and then "Blue Wilderness Puppy" -- Hmm. Puppy flavor?

We do have a Costco in the area, however we don't have the membership to shop there. I'm not sure how much those even are.

Is rice something that particularly isn't good for Siberians? Or just dogs in general is it something that should be avoided?

There's debate on it, but to play it safe, rice and other grains generally don't mix well with sibes. Mine can't handle anything other than high-quality oats it seems.

Shoot, Wilderness keeps popping up with new things everyday! Costco memberships are $50 a year I think BTW.

There's levels of Costco Memberships. The general membership is $35/yr. If you spend over a certain amount at Costco, there's a membership where you get money back which at the very least pays for the membership. This one is $50/yr. Then there's other business memeberships...

I have the $50/yr because I do spend over that certain amount. So I get at least my membership paid in rebate checks, and more if I spend more.

KareBear wrote:

"Blue Wilderness Puppy" -- Hmm. Puppy flavor?
Is rice something that particularly isn't good for Siberians? Or just dogs in general is it something that should be avoided?

haha puppy flavor! love it

rice is a "cheap" filler in the foods and i feel its not really good for any dogs. our boy have a grain issue and we found that out with trial and error on foods till he did well on grain free TOTW. but sometimes money is a issue so if you can at least fined a good stare rated food that does have some grains in it you at least know the rest of the ingredients are better then most.

i have found shopping at "local" pet stores are better then the big box ones, they all have rewards and i get a $5 off $25 coupons every few months or they have better sales and carry better brands. just an idea for you.

The Whole Dog Journal has an issue out (I think it was February) where they did a review of the best dog foods out there. It was LOADED with great info on all these foods - I'd highly recommend reading it. The current issue has ways to enhance these already good foods (adding a dollup of yogurt for pro-biotics, adding green beans to help dogs feel fuller, pumpkin for help with loose stool or constipation, flax/chia seeds and various oils for omega-3 fatty acids, etc.). Worth checking out.

Ginger doesn't tolerate rice at all, so for her, she's grain free.

Sooo, just as an update (because you were all so concerned, I know. Rofl) we've switched Aevyn's food to a brand called Orijen. He's on Orijen large breed puppy, he -loooooves- it, and is doing very, very well on it. His stomach hasn't been upset once!

And, for the record, Orijen is a 6star food! Definitely worth the extra money for it.

We picked him up some Nupro as well (I read that someone suggested it somewhere around here.) and he loves that too.

Spoiled boy, very happy. :3

Yay for Aevyn! Orijen is really good food! I didn't know anything about it until I started hearing about it on here. I've been giving it to Kody every other day for the past months and he too has done great on it AND lovvesss it! I say every other day because I alternate between THK and raw with them. His tummy is SO sensitive so I was so happy that he did good on it!

Orijen is definitely one of our top 3 most recommended kibbles If you are willing to pay for it, it's an excellent, excellent food.

So glad to hear Aeyvn is doing better! Thanks for the update!

Very happy Aevyn is doing well on Orijen! It's what I have my sensitive girl on for kibble (besides Honest Kitchen and raw).

I tried a couple of 5-6 start rating kibble in the fish formulas, and it was Orijen that did not upset her tummy! It is pricier, but for me, feeding less of a high quality kibble that won't upset my girl's tummy is worth it!

Nupro Silver is also what I have my boy on for joint supplements. The Myristin tablets for glucosamine supplements that my female is on did not go over well with my boy, so I decided to try Nupro Silver which a few other forum members use, and he LOVES it!

The one thing I was curious about is how -much- of the Orijen should I be giving him? The bag says 3 cups, but that's a whole cup more then what he got when he was on another brand. At 6 months how much should he be eating?

Also, the Nupro says one scoop but thats... a lot. Does he need that much this young?

Oh puppies. So complicated.

For Nupro, the 1 scoop/day is initial load for 3 months, then you cut that in half. While you're in the inital load/dose phase, you could give 1/2 scoop in the morning and the other half at dinner.

For Orijen, I would start with 2 cups at first - 1 cup in the morning and 1 cup at night. If Aevyn is still putting on healthy weight, then you're OK. If he's losing weight, then increase it by another 1/4 cup at each feeding. If he's gaining weight too fast, then decrease each feeding by 1/4 cup. The feeding guide on the bag of food is usually a little too much for Sibes. I will usually use the less active portions to start and adjust up or down from there.

Alright, thanks. :3 I was worried that maybe I was starving him or something by only giving him 2 cups.

I have done a lot of research on what to feed my husky. Keiko has sensitive stomach issues. Vomiting and diarrhea for a while. We have been to the vet many of times he is perfectly normal and healthy. We started out giving him Blue Buffalo fish and still having diarrhea issues. Switched to Nutro nothing is helping. I read that Orijen or Acana was one of the best foods for a husky. Then again I also read that Blue Basics, and Wellness Simple were also good foods. We are going out today to buy another brand of food. What is the best food that I could give my dog to where he doesn't have the vomiting or diarrhea? I am just clueless as what to do on getting him to eat and keeping it down.

Blue Buffalo has gone through a lawsuit over putting things in their food that they say isn't in there so we have taken a bit of a questionable stance where they are concerned. Orijen and Acana are great foods. Acana seems to be better geared toward dogs who are pets where Orijen is better for working dogs (ie. legit sled dogs, SAR, etc.) Have you tried an elimination diet to see what about foods could be causing his upset? Even the best of foods won't help if he is allergic to chicken possibly since most foods have some kind of chicken product in them.

Just and FYI - we had Kai on Blue Buffalo wildness for over a year with no issues. We came home with a new bag one day and she would just push the food around in her bowl with her nose and wouldn't eat. We thought it was just her usual husky behavior, but after 2 days on a hunger strike she forced herself to eat. Within a few days she started getting extremely sick (vomiting, diarrhea, and refused to eat/drink). We had to take her to the emergency vet. The vet did a bunch of tests and ruled everything out. It turns out Blue had changed their formula without announcing it. We took her off of it and switched to Welness Core and she was better in a couple days. I will never ever feed Blue after that.