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Changing food

Basenji Feeding
  • AJs HumanA

    I'd rather keep pills and additives to a minimum if possible. :)

    Besides, his digestion is working just fine…I can smell it from here. :D

    AJ's Ride:

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  • nobarkusN

    @AJs:

    I'd rather keep pills and additives to a minimum if possible. :)

    Besides, his digestion is working just fine…I can smell it from here. :D

    Wonderful! Gas is a result of poorly digested food. Digestive enzymes are a natural product that can mix right in. If AJ is not digesting his food thoroughly other problems will show up.

    Buddy, Paolo and Dan

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  • SharlaS

    The musical butt could just be the transition. I would not give up the duck until you have completely switched. I use the the nature's variety raw diet mixed in with my kibble and dogs seem to enjoy the variety. I also use 1000 mg of human fish oil gel tabs (human version from wal-mart). beautiful coats! good luck

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  • AJs HumanA

    AJ didn't have any trouble at all when he was on Pinnacle. I'm considering going back to it because he's still got the toots pretty bad. I did notice that one of the preservatives in this food is citric acid. It's great for Vitamin C, but from what I've heard, it can cause "bloat." Isn't that another word for gas?

    He didn't have this with Pinnacle. It was worth the try, but my olfactory receptors are getting burned out.

    AJ's Ride:

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  • -ClarEmmKai--

    We used to alternate Kairoe on Nutro Natural choice Chicken or Lamb kibble when he was a puppy and found that he was doing well with it. We'd also add a teaspoon of cod liver oil into every other meal to keep his coat shiny and to reduce his dandruff. The added oil has been a bonus since he rarely has dandruff. However, it does not bode well for his breath. Ikes!

    When he got to about 8 months old, we decided to switch him over to Nutro's ULTRA small breed adult formula and since the switch we've notice that he's doing extremely well on it. No gas, no bloating and his coat is amazing looking. He even looks leaner.

    BUT…

    I decided to ween him over to EVO's red meat small bites formula [heard good things about it] but he has yet to eat a full meal and actually puked a meal that he eventually finished! It's funny but He would pick out the Nutro kibble and leave the Evo alone. And his gas is h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e! Holy. This also happened with that Call of The Wild brand. When he was on those formulas he looked tubby and bloated looking. We didn't over feed him and actually cut down each feeding to 3/4 cups compared to full cups with Nutro.

    I guess, the food is just too rich for his young tummy?

    So, now we're switching back to Nutro.

    -Clar|isse + Emm|anuel- = -Kai|roe-

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  • lvossL

    Evo and other grain free foods can be quite rich for some dogs depending on what they had been eating. A really good alternative to EVO, made by the same manufacturer is California Natural it comes in chicken and lamb formulas. If you find California Natural doesn't have enough calories or fat they also have Innova so there is a whole range within the Natura pet line.

    I have also had really good results with Nature's Variety kibbles both their grain free Instinct and the with grain Prairie.

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  • KanangaK

    @lvoss:

    I have also had really good results with Nature's Variety kibbles both their grain free Instinct and the with grain Prairie.

    +1

    I'm now using the Instinct kibble and their raw food daily. Using both seems to have cut down on the room clearing gas. I was using just the Instinct kibble before.

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  • AJs HumanA

    @Kananga:

    I'm now using the Instinct kibble and their raw food daily. Using both seems to have cut down on the room clearing gas. I was using just the Instinct kibble before.

    The Instinct was causing gas? That's what I've been trying to switch the Knucklehead over to. Now he's an olfactory assault weapon. He was doing fine on Pinnacle, I just wanted to upgrade his food because of the dandruff. If adding fish oil to his kibble helps with that, I will go back to the Pinnacle and buy some fish oil. He loves fish.

    AJ's Ride:

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  • KanangaK

    @AJs:

    The Instinct was causing gas? That's what I've been trying to switch the Knucklehead over to. Now he's an olfactory assault weapon. He was doing fine on Pinnacle, I just wanted to upgrade his food because of the dandruff. If adding fish oil to his kibble helps with that, I will go back to the Pinnacle and buy some fish oil. He loves fish.

    It might have been, but I'm not certain. It is a bit rich but i think it helps to mix up his diet a bit by offering different proteins daily.

    Since I've started doing raw meals in the evenings, he hasn't had any problems. Instinct is great dry kibble though. I'm really tempted to do all raw but it does get a bit spendy. He absolutely go nuts over the raw food and still desires his dry kibble.

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  • barklessk9B

    I would highly recommend the fish oil. As I stated before in a previous post, I put Zak on a grain free diet and added fish oil pills daily and a Cosequin DS (glucosamine & chondroitin) capsule sprinkled on his food each day for arthritis and he has not had a problem with arthritis since. There are foods with these supplements included, however, it is my understanding that they are just sprayed on the food. My vet had in the past suggested for my senior dogs at least 1000mg fish oil daily for cognitive health and the arthritis. For Zak and some early kidney disease he is showing she is recommending, and I have also read on line, 100mg fish oil per 10 lbs. of body weight (2500 mg daily). I don't think you're going to find the best level of fish oil supplement in a kibble. Oh, and his coat this year is sooooooooo soft! :)

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  • mikesullM

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    I would find out what he scared of or what he dislikes about the car. Is it the car itself, the sensation of being closed in, the movement when the car is being driven? Then work on whatever the problem is, with food. As for food, I use raw duck and vegetables. And I hand-feed all meals, so I never have a problem with not eating/partially eating. I would also recommend hand-feeding for anyone who does have a dog with food issues. Shredded chicken is good (as long as he doesn't have any reactions). But that and some kibble isn't a balanced meal. You may wish to look into a vitamin supplement, specifically something that has a focus on omega 3 (since chicken is high in omega 6), Vitamin C & the B vitamins (because if all he's eating is chicken and kibble, where is his source of vitamin C and the B vitamins?), zinc & copper (same reasons). All the best. EDIT: I just realized this thread is a year old and was bumped by what is almost certainly a bot.
  • mustBcrazyM

    Changing food to diet

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    i should add that, as long as the hips/knees are good or excellent, I don't mind my seniors carrying a few extra pounds. years ago we had a lab who was dysplastic and I was very careful she NEVER carried extra weight. Jet's ideal weight is about 26 and he maybe a few pounds overweight. It's a little more difficult for the seniors to bounce back from any sort of illness and Jet's hips were OFA'd Good, so I don't worry about a little extra. The veggies will add fiber to the dogs' meals and help fill them up. I would not use canned as it tends to be high in sodium. If they don't like the veggies, you may want to try to cook them in a little chicken broth to help the flavor. or you can decide if they aren't hungry enough to eat the veggies, they aren't really hungry. My house is colder in the winter, so I tend to feed the b's 1/3-1/2 a cup 2x a day. And I tend to train more during the nicer days, so Z gets very little at meal time as I have to watch that. (I use lots of treats during training.) But really, I would not switch to a different food just to reduce the weight. For Z I also usually use a puzzle toy for feeding her meals so it lasts longer. For comparison, Zest!'s official measurements (for AKC agility) were 15.88 and 16 inches and I think she looks best at 20 pounds.
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  • H

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    We switched our 2 boys to raw from kibble about 6 months ago. The switch came because we were simply exhausted from walking them 3 times a day because they had loose stool (we don't have fenced in yard, so we need to walk them to go to the bathroom). Our vet recommended more fiber in their diet to help with loose stool. This intuitively just didn't resonate with us. Basenji are one of the most ancient breeds of dog… why on earth would more fiber be a solution to their problem (I know the theoretical why, but logically it was counter-intuitive)? We read many sources or literature on the raw diet and thought this would be a good switch for them. Again, they are an ancient breed so moving toward raw foods seemed appropriate and logical. It took that about a month for them to get really accustomed to eating raw chicken quarters, rabbit halves or pork shoulders but now they have no problem gulping their meal right down, bone and all (for those of you who don't feed raw, gulping is a normal behavior and bone is an essential part of the diet). Their digestion issues have vanished and we've even seen marked improvement in their destructive behavior. Two super happy boys now, two super happy Basenji owners!!
  • P

    Best Food?

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    @Patty: Interesting that you had a problem with loose stools, Pat, because I had exactly the same but with a puppy who was eventually discovered to have Giardia. It did take us a very long time though and in the meantime the pup was suffering. It also happened to a friend of mine herself who for years had a stomach problem that finally was discovered to be a Giardia infection. Because of my experience with the puppy, I had jokingly suggested the problem to her as well. Yes… Giardia "hides" very well..... Many Vets will write it off to a sensitive digestive system when in fact it is not. Like I said with my OJ, once it was cleared up, he could eat anything...
  • H

    Food options???

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    SharlaS
    I agree with Pat regarding the coat. It is very common for reds to be "washed out" when they loose their coat. It unusally returns. But if he is doing well on the food, don't change it. The old saying, don't break what not broken.