flycow

What happens if there's health concerns? Wouldn't getting it from the vet so he can monitor be better than just trying on my own? My maltese has a list of problems from skin to hips, now I just hope to extend his lifespan by getting him on a proper diet. LOL

Hey thanks witheverythingiam, will check with vet then.

What kind of variety does Hills prescription has? Would all vets know? My vet is kinda retired old man. I thought of trying something for my obese old maltese. ETA: For ever hungry overweight dogs, I know you can put grated carrot into dog's diet for some bulk. My maltese is picky though, won't eat the carrot, sigh.

I have been feeding Advance and Eagle Pack puppy range previously, they are good. It is until I change to Nutrience puppy that I see changes in my pup, mainly in the improvement of the poo quality (less smelly, firmer, smaller and less frequency), and she has sustained energy level during play rather than tires out right after zoomies. She has also stopped eating her poo since. What I like is the big kibble for munching (keep teeth healthy) rather than gulping it and it doesn't swell in water much so won't bloat up my dog's stomach. Her coat is really glossy and soft now. And Nutrience smells really good too! Dog loves it! I believe in giving a dog carefully selected options and let her show me how she fairs rather than just me deciding the food for her based on recommendations or advertising etc. Every dog reacts really differently to different foods, just thought I'd share this. ETA: if you don't want corn, you can try the Nutrience Holistic version. Corn also comes in many forms, sometimes they put it as maize, maize gluten, corn gluten etc, it's pretty much the same, read the labels. It is also Wheat/Wheat gluten free and have a big variety of good herbs in it.

Yes try the chicken and rice, I fed it to my maltese when he vomitted and had a few runs last time and that helped. I hope your dog's blood test has good results and you can update us, I'm also quite curious to know what going on with him. As for the food, you probably asked the wrong people, every food retailer/manufacturer will promote their own food, nothing wrong with that it's a business, but they really shouldn't bagged other brands and told you lies, it's very unethical. If I had been you, I would have take this as warning bells and seek info elsewhere. If you want to know more about food you can ask those guys at the Rescue part of DOL forum, they managed so many different dogs I think they will have more unbiased suggestions for you. Best wishes.

Best is check with your Vet first. There is no miracle dog food. Narrow down to two or three brands and see how your dog response to it is the wiser way. There are several super premium brands, Eukanuba, Proplan, Royal Canin, Nutrience, Innova etc they are all good, most important is let your dog tell you how he fair in it. You can get some samples from the manufacters, just write an email to them, or get the smallest pack of two to three brands and see how your dog respond to it first. Don't lock yourself into any brand straight away, otherwise you never have any comparison, there is no one best dog food in the world, different dog fair differently on each brand. Check with your vet first, if in doubt, get another Vet's opinion.

bounce!

I slit the capsule and squeeze out most of the oil into the food, left capsule in food too. This is because pup likes to chew the capsule and spit it out before chewing again so some oil is dripped onto the ground if I leave it whole. Depends on your dog, if they will swallow it, you can give it neat. ;)

;) Hey like to ask where do you guys get your pigs ears? I've been buying in small quantities (20 pieces) so far, now like to get one whole bulk at a time, maybe a hundred or something. And I noticed there are two sizes, some shops sell smaller ears and some bigger.

I used to feed mine flaxseed oil which is rich in Omega3, then I changed it to Fish oil capsules for human, whichever brand is on special. I feed one capsule every night, seems to help with the itching from grass seeds.

what is this hallballz thing, it sounds fun, where can I find one? Any websites?

uh, not sure if this will help, only work for glass doors though. Can she see you from outside when she barks? If she can see you, remember don't make any eye contact. The moment she barks, you leave the room so she can't see you. I have to leave my dog outside sometimes for short periods when I need to vacuum etc, and she can see me from the glass door. What I do is, the moment my pup whinges (she don't bark much), I turn my back. The more she whinge the further I walk away, finally dissappearing from her sight. If she's all good minding her own business, I wave to her and sometimes go out and give her a treat.

My pup is a scavenger too because she loves to eat and also due to coming from a farm environment and grew up playing with twigs and rocks a lot. When she's in the yard alone, she eats dirt, grasss, twigs, rocks, leaves, sometimes her own poo. She don't eat poo anymore since a change of diet recently but she still do the scavenging thing when she feels bored. Diva knows the leave it command but I don't bother to use it 90% of the time when she picks up harmless things like leaves or dirt. I'm afraid it will have less effect if I used it every single time. This command is so useful on more important things like food thrown over the fence from feral neighbours! hehe The leave method we learned from puppy school to put a piece of food in front of pup and control her from getting it, the moment she gets disinterested in the food (even for a second), we said 'leave' and reward her something else from another hand. I think you can ask your preschool trainer, they have various methods I heard.

I give Jalna and Pauls full fat original, they have good amount of cultures and no sugar added. I've checked Vaalia is as good but it cost a bit more.

Jack@sandysmum, the amount to feed is on the packet but generally you don't need to feed as much. Although IMHO it all depends on your dog how active he is. There are a lot of brands of dry foods in the market, it's best to check with your breeder for advice on what is best rather than just walk in a pet shop or ask retailers. And then also get food that is more widely available in different pet shops than just one or two retailers in case your regular petshop ran out of stock.

Lilyw, I have a calender for my dog's dinner. Breakfast are always plain dry food with a touch of flaxseed oil and yoghurt (dog's favorite). For dinner it's as follows. Mon, Wed, Fri are meat days, means I add a teeny spoonful of mince or can meat for flavouring into the dry food. Tues, Thurs, Sats are fish days, I divide the smallest can of sardines into three and mixed each portion into the dry food. Sundays are Egg days, I mix one egg into the dry food. So if you look at it meal by meal, none is the same flavour as the previous.

Hello, if you decided to feed dry food, you might want to consider a few brands rather than lock yourself into one. Some brands might not be mentioned as much as others but try to do some homework and narrow down to a few brands, then give each a go and see how well your dog does. I think what's most important is how well your dog do on the food. Some food are good but if you look at the ingredients it really might not justify the price of what you are getting out of it. This is especially if you have a big eater or a lot of dogs. I have heard different dogs that do well on all kinds of brand, so don't lock yourself into one brand yet. Most importantly try to get unbiased recommendations. Just my two cents. Edited : spelling.

Lamb shanks or any bones should only be fed raw, so I heard. Anyway they are yummy, Midol I'm sure your cheeky one will like it, they don't last long as the cow bones though. BTW those cow bones are so big, it occupies half my freezer, like to know how many of you guys got a second fridge for the dogs' bones? Oh and the bloody flies, every time I give a big bone I will have my fly spray ready. Does anyone washes the left over jumbo bones every once a while? I was quite worried about fly eggs being eaten.

Nah, like I said it's just one dog. My other old dog (maltese) do well on table scraps and pedigree so what I posted doesn't say anything except the experience of my this one lab. Actually I don't know what is going on in there as well, I haven't tried any other brands of kibble besides EP and Nutrience, so I don't know what is 'normal' for her. Just that she just didn't do as well as I hope on EP, especially the poo and energy part. Maybe it's not about nutrience, maybe if she take other brands of kibble other than EP she'll do well too, I'm just pretty convinced she's allergic to EP, who knows.

cheeky, this one must be watch like a hawk, hee.

gosh Midol your Axe is really smart. How old is he? If he's poo-ing I'm sure he's eating something (albeit not from his dinner bowl)

Thanks Hesapandabear, i am aware of the ingredients of Nutrience but has decided to let her try it out. ------------------------------------------- Hello, it's been over three weeks since the switch. Just to share my experience with changing Diva's kibble from Eagle Pack Large Puppy to Nutrience Large Puppy. This is purely on one individual dog. I am not in anyway promoting Nutrience over EP, both which are great food. Diva just so happens to have improved in some areas so far since changing her kibbles. A lot of dogs thrive on Eagle Pack, but I think Eagle Pack didn't suit her, perhaps it's some of the ingredients. Here's the improvement so far. The number of poo has decreased from 4 times a day to 2-3 times. Size of poo has shrank by about 40% and is hard compared to soft to semi-hard when on EP. Poo is also much less pungent. Short burst of hyperactiveness has lessen by half, she's calmer now throughout the day. I didn't notice any other differences to her breath and coat yet, will observe further. Nutrience kibble is quite big so Diva get to munch a bit which she loves and the smell is quite palatable to me (smell like twisties). The other thing I noticed is that Nutrience doesn't swell much when soak in water unlike Eagle Pack. I don't know if this means anything at all. Diva did use to taste her poo once in a while when on Eagle Pack, since changing to Nutrience, she seems to be slowly losing interest in it, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Edited for spelling.

Thanks for the replies guys. I've decided to change the EP food, I'd be checking out other brands, Nutro is too exp and Hills have some preservatives that I don't feel comfortable with, may try Nutrience and observe her energy levels. Anyone on Nutrience?

thanks guys. hope there's more input, wish to know how others are doing. I really need to change Diva's food....

would you described a little about the energy? What happen when on supercoat and then EP?