Moon's Graden

As a pup, Salsa would go through times of eating clothing. It was
really bad for a while, then no problem, etc. I finally figured out
that it was related to what food she was getting. We had been in the
habit of getting whatever was a good deal at the time for the other
dogs.
        We found "Mainstay" to work while in Canada, and "Ol' Roy Lamb
and Meal" here in the States. I once got another flavour for Ol' Roy
by mistake recently and we lost a few more articles of clothing. It
seems like she is experiencing problems digesting the food and eats
clothes to try to fix the problem. She is not a chewer otherwise, she
doesn't even care for leather chews.
        Does anyone have any ideas of what we might look for in the
way of ingredients to give us a clue as to what be the problem?  I
know that at least a couple of the problem foods contained chicken. Is
this just coincidence, or is chicken known to cause digestive problems
in some dogs?

I am having a similar problem, my dog has a chronic vomiting problem. We were
feeding her Ol' Roy and she threw that up every day. We also found out about
several deaths being linked to Ol' Roy dog food, and that made us quit buying
it too. We switched to Purina Lamb and rice and she stopped vomiting for about
3 months, then started again. Now she's finishing a bag of Pedegrie lamb and
rice, but she's been throwing that up too.
        I think the problem is with the corn meal ingredient. It's listed first
on the ingredients (meaning that ingedient is the main ingredient). I read that
corn and wheat meal is mostly bulk to fill up your dog and is mostly
indigestible. Besides, dogs are carnivors, they need meat. Anyway, I think our
dog is alergic to corn. I gave her a stale corn muffin once and it stayed down
only an hour before it reapeared. I'm going to look for a brand with a meat
listed first in the ingredients, and see how that goes. That's what I would
suggest to you.

Our friend had similar problems .She uses Solid Gold and has no trouble.

I am writing to the usenet for the first time so if I have made a mistake
in this posting please be gentle in your instructions.

I have looked at 50 different brands of dog food.  I believe that the
poultry by products are the culprit.  I've been using Pro Plan because it
has no by products in it.  We have been pretty successful with the Pro
Plan line and supplementing with home cooked meat and rice about a cup a
day with the dry.

Solid Gold and Flint River Ranch are both SUPERIOR quality foods, meant only for
the most wonderful dogs in the world. :-)

Phoenix Area Rottweiler Rescue
http://www.syspac.com/~kmayer/rar.html

TIA
Gaudia (who's never seen either in a pet store, and who feeds with
Hund 'n Flocken, a meat first dry food.)

Solid Gold first 3 (Hormone Free New Zealand Lamb Meat, Whole Ground Millet,
Ground Brown Rice) Don't recall price. I fed it for awhile, but the local supplier
was unreliable, and my girls did not do well on it either. It has only 8% fat, and we
had very dry skin and coat..

Innova (Turkey, chicken, chicken meal first ) - about $40 for a 33 lb. bag, delivered
to my door. Very high in calories, not good for dogs that tend to overweight. My own
PWD girls, at the height of agility season, only required about 2 cups/day.

California Natural (Lamb Meal, brown rice, rice, naturally preserved sunflower oil
and essential vitamins and minerals is the entire ingred. list). I think about $35
for 35 or 40 lbs?

Flint River Chicken, Rice and Lamb Health Food (1st four, have to go that far to find
the lamb - chicken meal, wheat flour, ground rice, lamb meal)

California Natural is often a good choice for dogs with food allergies because it has
so few ingredients. The Innova is great because it has so many of the things that
those of us who prepare our own dog food use (Whole Ground Barley, Whole Ground Brown
Rice, Whole Steamed Potatoes, Ground White Rice, Herring Meal, Whole Raw Apples,
Whole Steamed Carrots, Cottage Cheese, Sunflower Oil, Alfalfa Sprouts, Whole Eggs,
Whole Clove Garlic)  In my mind, its about the closest you can get to a good,
complete diet.

Lisa Baird
Haleakala PWDs

try switching to an all natural food such as nutro (Nature's Choice). even
top of the line dog foods have preservatives in them....

On Fri, 15 May 1998 22:46:05 -0400, Mike Diamond

        My daughter gave Salsa a small s***of KFC last night without
thinking and within hours I had to get out the carpet shampooer.  That
pretty well  puts a lid on it for me.  

--

Puppies Need Help!
http://www.syspac.com/~kmayer/parr/helppups.html

Phoenix Area Rottweiler Rescue
http://www.syspac.com/~kmayer/rar.html

Lisa Baird
Haleakala PWDs

My dog thrives on Bil-Jac Senior, and loves it.  The thing that impresses
me about Bil-jac is that it has meat first--even in the reduced fat and
senior formulas, which are what I've always used. Lucie's doing so well
on it,has never had digestive trouble, has small stools, and is
maintaining a healthy weight even as she becomes less active with age.
I'm please with Bil-Jac.

I noticed the original poster mentioned having used "Mainstay".  Mainstay
is the very bottom of Purina's product line.  It is made overwhelmingly
of corn, and has little meat protein (I'm not sure it has any).  When I
hit a financial rough spot, due to my own health problems, I fed Lucie
Mainstay for a while.  She did okay on it, and I figured it was still
better than the generic/stroe brands.  But I was determined to get her on
good food as soon as I could, especially after reading the list of
ingredients.

I don't know anything about Ol' Roy, but there are plenty of good foods
on the market.  And the thing to keep in mind about the cost of premium
foods is that, because they have better nutritional value, you'll feed
less of them than of the cheaper brands.  A 30# bag of Bil-Jac seems to
last forever.  

Hope this helps.
--

My 11 year old schnauzer was suffering from ongoing diarrhea and much
tummy discomfort.  The crummier he felt the more he would*** his front
leg.  After much deliberation we had a ultrasound and intestinal biopsy
performed, which indicated an allergen-related sensitivity.

Meanwhile we had tried various dogfoods; went the higher fibre route
then the lower fibre route; the reduced fat route the lowered protein
route.  And then the vet suggested Elisa Testing which is a rather
controversial *** test that can point to possible specific allergens
that your dog is receiving in the form of common dog food ingredients.

Well our pooch was sensitive to turkey, chicken, pork, beef, yeast, corn
and peanut oil.  Well we were beside ourselves with this information.
Vet was encouraging us to start low dose steroids.  Well I did some
reading and decided that before we took that route we would try out some
dog food that had none of the above and one that had a protein source
that our dog had never before eaten.

After perusing all the shelves at the local Petsmart I noticed a canned
dogfood called Nature's Recipe.  Came in many varieties.  But the one
marked "Maintenance Venison & Rice" caught my eye.  Label-reading found
none of the possible allergens and also the line that read:

"Free of artificial perservatives, colors, flavors, surgars and dairy
products" was rather reassuring.

So Caesar started to dine exclusively on this food.  And within 3 days
we had a totally different dog.  Happy, frisky, playful and a settled
digestive system.

It has been 2 months now since we have been feeding him this diet
exclusively.  He eats nothing else; not even a milkbone (contains yeast)
and for the first time in about 7 years this guy has returned to a
comfortable life.

Cheers,
Sharron

there is an issue with meat meals that I am not sure you are aware of - it
can consist of almost anything in the animal typically lamb meal has fleece
and lungs and other only semi digestible stuff  in it while lamb meat would
not - chicken meal has beaks combs feathers etc and when you get to that
word by-products look out for what got swept up off the floor!
Nancy

Lisa

Meat or Meat Based - Meat is the clean flesh of slaughtered cattle, swine,
sheep or goats. The flesh can include striated skeletal muscle, tongue,
diaphragm, heart or esophagus, overlying fat, and the portions of skin, sinew,
nerves, and *** vessels normally found with that flesh.

Meat Meal - Rendered meal made from animal tissue. It cannot contain hair,
hoof, ***, horn, hide t***s, stomach or rumen (the first stomach)
contents, or manure except for amounts that may not be avoided during
processing. It cannot contain any added foreign matter and may not contain more
than 14% indigestible materials. Indigestible crude protein in the meal cannot
be more than 11%.

Meat By-Product - Clean parts of slaughtered animals, not including meat. These
parts include lungs, kidneys, brain, spleen, liver, bone, ***, partially
defatted low temperature fatty tissue, stomach, and intestines freed of their
contents. It does not include hair, teeth, hooves or horns. Only 14% may be
indigestible residue and no more than 11% indigestible crude protein.

Meat and Bone Meal - Rendered from meat and bone, but it does not include hair,
***, horn, hoof, manure, hide t***s, stomach, or rumen contents except
that which is unavoidable during processing. It does not include any foreign
matter. Like meat meal, only 14% may be indigestible residue and no more than
11% indigestible crude protein.

Poultry By-Product - Clean parts of slaughtered poultry, such as heart, lungs,
liver, kidneys, feet, abdomen, intestines, and heads and must not contain feces
or foreign matter except that which is unavoidable and then only in trace
amounts.

Poultry By-Product Meal - Made up of ground, rendered, and clean parts of
slaughtered poultry, such as undeveloped eggs, necks, feet, and intestines. It
does not contain feathers except those which are unavoidable during processing.