Wednesday, August 28, 2013

WE ARE WHAT WE EAT: PART 2

Remember my lengthy rundown of the evolution of Kaya and Norman's diet? Well...here's a little update on what they're eating these days. I am thrilled that both of them are now eating the exact same thing. Their weight is awesome, their coats are shiny and soft, they love their food, plus they never have itchies or upset stomachs!


For a long time I thought Norman had to eat a larger portion than Kaya because he is a bigger dog (Kaya weighs 55lbs & Norman weighs 65lbs) but it finally dawned on me that Kaya is more active and so she expends a lot more calories than him so now they're getting the same amounts. It also took me a long time to narrow down the right amount. I like them to be on the lean side as I think it's best for their joints but not too thin like true sport dogs would be. I also would never want them to be hungry of course! So for a while now, they have been getting 1 1/4 cups in the morning and 1 1/2 cups at night and it's just right!


And they still have plenty of energy to do this for a couple hours every day...



Their current kibble is Nature's Variety Instinct limited ingredient, alternating between lamb and turkey. Why limited ingredient? Their only dietary requirement is grain-free (grain makes them itch) and while all of the Instinct line is grain-free, the limited ingredient type has less protein at 29%. The rest are 35% to 42% which I believe is too high for their activity level.


This food is a high quality 5-star kibble and while it is expensive, they eat much less of it and so it lasts longer than a cheaper bag of food. Plus they love, love, love it and they digest it so well. There are tons of reviews saying this food works miracles for pups with allergies and stomach issues. They don't typically have these issues but I think it is a testament to the quality of ingredients in the food.


Along with each meal they get a teaspoon of coconut oil which they love so much. I was previously giving them salmon oil, which was great for their coats but it gave them stinky fish breath and as much as they love giving kisses, it was not cool. My housemate now tells me that they always come into her room in the morning "smelling like a piƱa colada"...yum! I've read that coconut oil is very high in omega goodness and great for fighting cancer. If that's not true...at least they still have sweet breath and shiny coats. Cat bonus...Gina goes crazy to lick the spoon after!


They also get a teaspoon of Missing Link Ultimate Hip & Joint with each meal too. The don't have any aches and pains yet at their young age but I feel like it's good for them after all the running, wrestling, climbing and swimming they do! Plus there's tons of other goodies in this supplement.


Last but not least...treats! They only get treats for training so I like to keep it to bite-sized and easy to chew treats with no junky fillers so they can eat several at a time. I love a lot of the freeze-dried type treats like the Raw Natural's turkey treats, PureBites' duck and Nature's Instinct raw boost bites. The raw boost bites have to be broken up but they're great for bribing Norman to get in the car.

They also get Dogswell dried chicken or duck strips which I cut up into bite-sized pieces. These are great to shove in my pockets when we're out too because they don't crumble, smell or dry out.


I'm so relieved our hunt for the perfect food is finally over! What are your pups eating these days?


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15 comments:

  1. You may want to double check the Dogswell jerky- some of their products are made in China.

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    1. I know, there is a recall on bags with a certain best before date so I make sure to buy the ones dated after. I've got some usa made jerky somewhere too but I don't know the name:/

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  2. We just switched from Blue Buffalo Basics to Victor Grain-Free. Both are made in the US, but we couldn't find reliable info on where the ingredients in BB were sourced from. We're happy with the switch and the dogs don't seem to mind!

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    1. I haven't heard of Victor but it's great to make sure you know about all the ingredients going into your pups:)

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  3. I've been feeding Wellness Core Grain Free original formula (and puppy formula) and have been happy with the results. It has 34% and 35% protein respectively but that has been ok for now. I was actually giving Julius the salmon oil and Ray the coconut oil but I'm out of both and can really tell the difference.
    Love reading this, though, for the great ideas on foods.

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    1. Oh I like Wellness too. I used to feed Kaya the puppy formula. The great thing about coconut oil too is that you can just grab it from any supermarket.

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  4. Getting your pups on the same food is huge! We struggled with that - Emmett needs grain free, and Cooper is allergic to beef and poultry (even eggs, sigh). We finally hit on Wellness Core Grain Free Ocean so that everyone could eat the same thing. However, I've been researching a lot about the benefits of rotating food every couple bags, so I'm trying to find a few more to test out because it seems like rotating might be a good step. I'm adding that Lamb variety you mentioned to our list!

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    1. Oh cool! Like I said, it's a great LID food, has better ingredients than others like Natural Balance. They have others in the LID line I'd like to try like rabbit but it's not sold at my Petco.

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  5. Gambit's been on 4Health for a couple years and I really like it. We switched Eddie to it after we had trouble finding his food for awhile and the closest substitute had him eating us out of house and home. His coat definitely looked better on it! Getting the right amount is so finicky -I constantly increase and decrease food as needed.

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  6. That must make it so easy that they eat the same thing. And yay, we are going to get some coconut oil for Cocco! His coat is always dry despite emptying pill capsules into his food and daily massages of baby lotion. Time for a change, thanks for that idea!

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  7. Our pups are on the Wild Boar formula of Taste of the Wild and its been AMAZING. The pups get coconut oil as well. They also usually get parsley and kale with breakfast. We also mix in some raw at every meal. Currently we do raw rabbit bites from Nature's Variety Instinct--that's definitely a favorite! The kibble stays the same but the add-ins always vary--the plus side: Braylon's extremely troublesome gland issues are gone!

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    1. Oh I like Taste of the Wild too. Your pups are so healthy! I gave Kaya and Norman NV raw food a few times and they inhaled it:D

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  8. I enjoyed reading about what you feed your dogs. I've fed Ace Nature's Variety before, but it's been a few years. I recently bought him a bag of Nature's Domain grain-free turkey from Costco, and it seems to be making him itchy. The bag is almost used up, so I might try the Nature's Variety Instinct again.

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