Switching

[quavec]

to Nature's Variety. Or at least, gonna give it a try. I ordered a small bag from sitstay.com. Just the 4.4lb one of their Instinct kibble. There is a 'local' store in Mobile that I can get it from but I figured I'd buy a bag from this site first and see how it goes - the store is about 45 minutes from me and their traffic is AWFUL. If the dogs like it, I'll start buying it from the 'local' store to save on shipping.

It's got virtually no grains in it at all - which is good for cancer or recovering dogs.

Anyone else feed this? And how is/are your dog/dogs doing on it?

I am trying to move more towards RAW, but I'm not there yet.

[Rae]

what a good mommy you are.

[lotsadox]

I've never used their kibble, but I use their raw premix. My vet highly recommends Nature's Variety. I'd go with it and see how they do.

I'm glad you're considering feeding raw. :banana: :banana: May gross the kids out at first, but they'll get used to it. They'll probably do a lot of in the meantime.

[Frzframe]

What type are you trying out?

I looked at the Chicken and I don't know but the first few Ingredients don't look that great to me (but heck what do I know). They are Chicken Meal, Tapioca, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Pumpkinseeds ...

I thought it was better to not have meal as the first ingredient and I know tapoica is used to thicken things up so I'm sort of HELP ME LEARN.

[Jen]

We feed Tasha their raw and its good.

As for their kibble, the Instinct worries me since meat should be the first ingredient, not meal. Maybe its to do with the freeze dried raw biocoating they use, but I'm hesitant. All of their dry foods are meal not meat. I wonder why?

Tasha loves Evo as a grain free kibble. What are you feeding now? Have you tried Evo or Wellness Simple Solutions?

[quavec]

so this is what I got out of all the junk I've been reading about kibble:

Out of the first five ingredients, two meat sources should be listed. The products in kibble are listed in order by weight. To have just 'chicken' listed (say, first ingredient), instead of chicken meal, then the manuf would have to add water to that 'chicken' to make up for the weight of it. With 'meal', there is more chicken and less water.

That's what I understood from dogfoodanalysis.com

The tapioca in NV is a carb source.

All kibbles have some form of grains in them to hold them together, unless there is gluten in it (which is a grain source I think? ). But apparently NV is grain free. Maybe the fat holds it together?

Anyway, with Ree's MCT history, I need to feed her something low in grains (esp starchy kinds) and higher in protein. From what I've been reading, grains actually help feed the cancer, so the less grains the better.

There are only two sure fire ways for me to not feed her something with grains - and that's either home cooked meals or RAW/BARF.

The fat was a concern of mine too, but the site I was at (above) said that is was okay as long as it was for an adult dog.

Jen - I haven't tried EVO or Wellness. It has been recommended by a boxer person though. I might need to check that one out also. It's also more readily available to me (PetSmart).

[Frzframe]

so this is what I got out of all the junk I've been reading about kibble:

Out of the first five ingredients, two meat sources should be listed. The products in kibble are listed in order by weight. To have just 'chicken' listed (say, first ingredient), instead of chicken meal, then the manuf would have to add water to that 'chicken' to make up for the weight of it. With 'meal', there is more chicken and less water.

That's what I understood from dogfoodanalysis.com

The tapioca in NV is a grain source - the grains holds the kibble together. All kibbles have some form of grains in them to hold them together, unless there is gluten in it (which is a grain source I think? ).

Anyway, with Ree's MCT history, I need to feed her something low in grains (esp starchy kinds) and higher in protein. From what I've been reading, grains actually help feed the cancer, so the less grains the better.

There are only two sure fire ways for me to not feed her something with grains - and that's either home cooked meals or RAW/BARF.

The fat was a concern of mine too, but the site I was at (above) said that is was okay as long as it was for an adult dog.

Jen - I haven't tried EVO or Wellness. It has been recommended by a boxer person though. I might need to check that one out also. It's also more readily available to me (PetSmart).

So meal is better then just chicken? hmmm, I'm so totally confused with all this and there is so much information out there that my brain freezes up after reading it!! :duh:

[Jen]

For some reason I thought meal was less desirable but maybe that's wrong.

Evo is wonderful, Tasha loves the taste--its stinky--and no tummy troubles. Simple Solutions was good too.

[quavec]

For some reason I thought meal was less desirable but maybe that's wrong.

THAT'S what I've always thought.

I got the info from this site:

dog food site

If you browse around, look for a brand that has just 'chicken' as a top ingredient and then scroll to the editors notes and read what he/she says about 'chicken' vs 'chicken meal'.

I admit, it cornfuses me :duh:

[Jen]

Courtney? What your