CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Feeding => Topic started by: jonnytrabant on April 13, 2016, 09:00:10 AM
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Just finished the first week of Harry's new grub, McAdams. At £90 for 10KG it ain't cheap, but it is very high quality ingredients British free range chicken minus head, feet & offal, NZ mussels. The reason we changed was Harry was just producing too much waste, he was on Arden Grange Premium and getting 180gr a day, obvious answer was to reduce his amount but he started to lose weight, so we decided to change. So, at roughly double the price i want to see a big improvement, his waste has improved all solid and greatly reduced in the amount, we are also now feeding him 100gr in the morning and 60gr at 4pm.
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Blimey I can feed Natural Instinct and DIY raw for about 5/6 months for less than that and less poops
Erica.
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Blimey I can feed Natural Instinct and DIY raw for about 5/6 months for less than that and less poops
Erica.
Good for you ;)
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its always good to hear experiences with different foods, we all search for that perfect one to suit our dogs. Neither of our previous cockers would touch raw, faced with a chicken wing they would just sniff, lick a couple of times and then leave it :005:
Now if it had been found in a disgusting smelly ditch that would have been a different matter >:D
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Glad Harry is doing well on his new food. I remember he had problems too with Eden.
It's all about finding what suits him and what he thrives on, hopefully this is the new food .
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Thats a very good food, and if it works for you, well done. If Harry gets any problem with it, it could only ever be the chicken content, so let's hope not!
My Greek rescue dog had awful poop with manufactured dog food.. A quick think pointed me back to what she lived on....raw anything, cafe meat scraps, and roadkill. Raw food shops sell it ready mixed but I want human quality. I reduced her huge poops from kibble to beauties with home mixed minced meats and offal, ground eggshell, oat bran, and mineral supplement. I mix a big batch , bag it , freeze. . Sometimes l cook it in the microwave. It's real food, and makes me question why I ever bought processed.
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Back to square one, I am afraid folks. Like Eden Harry just hasn't took to McAdams, not sure why but he just lost weight and ended up at the vets with a bug. He lost a total of 1.1kg, he was only 14.2kg anyway. I think I am going to take the plunge and try him on a raw diet, he does have the odd chicken wing which he adores, but to be fair he is a very greedy dog and there in lies my problem, the better the food, the less waste in theory, but less for Harry meant weight loss and more just created huge poo's. Damned if I do.
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Have you tried Lily's Kitchen - might be worth trying
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Lily's Kitchen is excellent. But I'd really give raw food a chance. So many dogs do well on it and it does seem to make sense since it's what biology meant them to eat. And mostly they love it too. :blink:
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Took the plunge and after an excellent chat with my local pet shop, I've settled for Nutriment, excellent review but that doesn't really mean much in my experience. Started Harry yesterday 150gr for breakkie and 80gr of Cannagan for tea for the first week. Fingers and paws crossed.
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Nutriment sounds really good. It's the same as what I mix in home made, except I bake and grind egg shells instead of bone. I don't know why, but my smaller dogs always sick up small bone fragments , and don't digest them. They never mastered chicken wings either. I would love to how what size the bits are in Nutriment, it would be a great standby.
One word of warning is that for any reason you suspect your dog is in pain, with gut trouble, think about pancreatitis, which needs a low fat low protein food. Likewise kidney trouble. If they are happy and healthy, then it's great.
What quantity do they suggest for Harry's weight?
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Harry certainly isn't in pain, he's as lively as any Cocker, he's got huge energy levels. Ever since I've had him it's been a struggle to keep the weight on but as any vet will tell you a skinny dog (within reason of course) isn't a problem and coupled with his endless energy I don't worry, certainly not as much as I used to.
As for Nutriment, I've bought 4x 500gr tubs just to get me started, I'll buy weekly until I am happy Harry is taken to it. Then I plan to buy a freezer for the garage and just fill it up. When you open the Nutriment it's just a solid, frozen paste like a tin of any regular dog food. For some reason I thought it would have chunks of meat and bone, but that's how it comes all the meat, veg and bone are ground up, so could be ideal for you.
As for Harry, certainly the early signs are good we are feeding him 150gr in the morning then 80gr Canagan about 10-12 hours later, he also gets one whole chicken wing to help with his recent weight loss. He lost approx 1.4kg which was certainly noticeable, I'll weigh him tomorrow at the vets to see if he's regained some weight.
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Sounds hopeful. Fingers crossed for him. But they are like us...they go off things, their metabolism changes as they get older. I never think I've got exactly the right diet but know I'll always have to make adjustments depending on age, health and cocker taste buds... ;)
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Thanks Jonny, I'll try to find it somewhere. It's good for when someone else is feeding them. I hope it suits you. I usually freeze plastic bagfuls of a home minced mix, fine when my son has her, as he isn't squeamish . It would be ideal for going to the kennels.
I'm glad the veg are pulverised , mine will carefully spit out carrots etc.
Ploughing through the health page, I was interested to see that they have a version specifically for pancreatitis, which so many people on the forum have to contend with. Usually it's impossible to find a commercial raw diet for it. The reviews re pancreatitis and kidney disease are impressive. Wish I'd had it for Bobby.
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Just be aware that giving an extra chicken wing will change the daily bone percentage and might lead to constipation or very hard poo s. All of us raw and wet food feeders are experts in poo. The ideal in my opinion is 2 a day quite firm but not dry and crumbly and enough bulk to naturally empty the anal glands
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I hear you PatP, Harry is in transition phase, one raw and one Kibble (Canagan) meal a day. he's definitely doing less poo's, this mornings effort was hard then a touch of the runs, presumably due to the mixture.
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It will be interesting to see if the rest of the day's poos stay firm. Henry always had firm one first thing in the morning even if the rest were pure liquid, presumably because it had been sitting in for bowel longer and had more time to form and dry out.
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My dogs have always had progressively looser poos throughout the day - even on full raw, also on kibble, and also on a combo of both. Patp - you don't have to feed raw to be an expert on dog poo ;)
As long as their main poo in the morning is firm and what I would tend to call 'good' I don't tend to worry any more - and nor does my vet.
Jago's will end up as slush after a long walk - mind you he covers more ground than most other dogs we see so it's understandable ;) Jarv's used to but he doesn't expend as much energy any more so most often his stay firm all day.
And Jago has also had colitis from feeding raw chicken wings so watch for that too ;)