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Changing food

Basenji Feeding
  • 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

  • @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.

  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • @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.

  • @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.

  • @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.

  • 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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  • Changing food to diet

    Basenji Feeding 4 Sept 2013, 00:59
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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.
  • Food recall

    Basenji Feeding 8 Apr 2012, 03:20
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    Ive just put one of my guys on TOTW, and just bought a bag yesterday. Thankfully this bag appears to not be affected, BUT… I have 4 sample packs, one of which is open and has been fed to the dog... I cant find a Production Code box on any of the sample packs ??? Should I just chuck them out, or does anyone know how I can check to see if these are contaminated ??? ETA Im in Australia, and have heard nothing about this recall, until I came here today...
  • Food Question

    Basenji Feeding 29 Sept 2009, 03:43
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    @agilebasenji: If you and your vet are happy with their weight, I would not change the amount you're feeding them. However, my pups need more calories in the winter to maintain their weight. Treats - my pups love sweet potatoes and raw (or cooked) zucchinis. sometimes dogs like green beans or carrots. at my house, tri-ing is really bad about taking the carrots, chewing them up and spitting them out all over the place. Yea, thanks Jet. Otherwise, they also like cheese, waffles, eggs, etc, but given you pup's allergies, you may not want to try the later. LOL…. leave it to the "Tri-ing" to make a mess out of the carrots!!!!
  • Poisonous foods

    Basenji Feeding 19 Dec 2007, 02:18
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    Yeah, Jack is like that with broccoli- when he sees me pulling it out of the fridge to cook for me, he gets all excited and trembly with anticipation. He immediately sits and watches until he just can't stand it anymore and then he's HANGING TEN COUNTER SURFING!!!!!!
  • 0 Votes
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    Topper,12; Nicky 10, ; and Eddie 8 all eat a combination of 3/4 EVO by Innova, and 1/4 regular adult Innova. We free feed, dry kibble is down all the time, but I think I put about 3 cups out a day, some days they eat it all but some days I don't add kibble at all. Mine do get a bit of whatever we have for dinner, mostly veges, they love all veges as long as they are cooked, especially broccoli and sweet potatoes. IT acts as an appetizer, as soon as they finish their plates they run to the kibble bowls to finsih their dinner. We used cheaper grocery store foods for many years but I felt my dogs deseerved a better quality food so tried several premium brands and settled on Innova. Then when they came out with EVO, I slowly added that but when I went 100% EVO, their poops were a bit loose, so we re-added the regular Innova and it seems to suit them perfectly. Eddie's coat was very coarse when we rescued him, he is soft and silky now. Even though it costs about twice as much as the cheaper stuff, I know they are getting good nutrition and their coats glow and their teeth are clean, so it is worth every cent to me. We are what we eat, and if we eat 'animal by products' (hooves, bones, feathers and even sawdust in some) sprayed with flavors and dyed with food colorings, we may be saving money now, but inviting health probelms in the future. Just MHO, but strangers compliment my dogs on their gloss and vigor! Anne in Tampa, off the soapbox
  • Homemade food…

    Basenji Feeding 2 Apr 2007, 02:32
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    I have now switched from Blue Buffalo food to Merricks wet and dry. The Blue Buffalo was hard to get, I had to buy it out of town. I get Merricks locally, and Sahara absoutely eats it better than all the rest. She is a picky eater and doesn't have a big appetite, but man oh man is she waiting when it is meal time now. She cleans her dish, a new thing for her. I am very happy, I use the dry also with about 1/4 cup of wet mixed in. I add alittle warm water to the dry (it makes it's own gravy) heat the wet alittle and add to the dry. Yes, I know Sahara is spoiled b/c I heat her wet food but what the heck, she is worth it, only takes a few seconds. Merricks is pricey $2 per can but I make it last for about 4-5 meals. Anyways, if you read the can and bag of the dry you will see what I mean, it is very good dog food and the family that has the company has been in business for 3 decades.