I'd never feed Pedigree...

Food, Fitness and how to keep them healthy.

Postby mnp13 » January 26th, 2006, 11:02 am

Ruby is on Marrick (doggy crack), but she did the absolute best on Royal Canin Natural Select. No dog breath, her poop wasn't horribly stinky or huge and soft, great coat, no eye boogers. Every premium food I have tried has caused one problem or another. She loooooooves the Merrick, but the breath was killing me (and everyone in a 4 block radius.) Now that I give her one probiotic capsule every meal her poop is smaller, it doesn't smell as bad, and the breath is manageable even her eye boogers are mostly gone. There is something in it that she couldn't digest, but whatever is in the pills now takes care of that.

I grew up with a Husky that lived to age 16, and was put down at 16 because of arthritis. She ate Kibbles-n-Bits or Come-n-Get it for her entire life.

It all depends on the dog.

Karen, what foods have you tried?
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Postby Favorite Kitty » January 26th, 2006, 11:02 am

Hey, hey now. Don't get snippy with me lady. I'm only trying to help you and your dogs.

I just can't believe that your vet is OK with you feeding your dog, that has Addison's Disease, such a crappy food with that much Potassium in it. When you switched your dogs to a high quality food, and they had runny stools, you do know that it was most likely because of the AD combined with all the binders in Pedigree? Most dogs aren't too happy with diet changes, but they will eat. You said in your website that the dog wasn't wanting to eat for two weeks when she first got sick, so she is known for anorexia. So, you can't be too sure that she refused to eat the new food because she was too picky. AD also has a common "side effect" called Megaesophagus where a dog will regurgitate undigested foods. And that could also be taken as one thinking the new food isn't going to work. Is she eating regularly now?

You feed her Pedigree, that is LOADED with fibers and binders like, are you ready? Ground yellow corn, bone meal, corn gluten meal, wheat mill run(which is the crap scraped out of the bottom of wheat bins. It isn't even whole wheat!), rice, wheat flour, wheat gluten, and other stuff I can't pronounce :) Your dog has firmer stools with Pedigree only because it has natural binders in it. What other foods did you try?

If your dog was diagnosed with AD last year and she is still with you, that is a good sign that the disease won't take her. But, part of keeping dogs healthy, and with you for as long as possible with this disease, is keeping them on a good diet.

Please don't take any of this as "flaming you". It is not. I just hope that there are easy things you can change to make your dog stay with you for as long as possible.
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Postby Karen » January 26th, 2006, 11:07 am

Wysong, wellness, chicken soup, nutros, all of them hated it. They left it and walked away. So we went back to what they'll eat. It's simple. The best food for the dog is what they will eat and what they look good with. Dilly's been on Pedigree since she got here, she doesn't look good? She sure is hard as a rock with muscle, no flaking skin, no dog breath, great teeth and tons of energy. I know someone that has fed Pedigree to all their dogs too and one of the ADBA dogs they had was put down at 18 for a stroke and siezures related to it.

The food depends on the dog that is eating it.
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Postby mnp13 » January 26th, 2006, 11:12 am

Have you ever tried Marrick? I'm telling you, they coat it with crack. It is the only food that Ruby is dog aggressive over. We went through a few periods fo Ruby refusing to eat, so it makes me laugh at every meal time to watch her go nuts over it.

They both have bright orange poop though... that is a little weird.
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Postby Favorite Kitty » January 26th, 2006, 11:15 am

Maryellen wrote:my aunts dalmation was fed purina his whole life. he was just put to sleep at 12 years old for health reasons.. the dog was not sick a day in his life while younger,. but once he hit 11 he went downhill.. could it have been the food? maybe. the vet said he was full of cancer, and his legs had given out.. it also could not have been the food..

what works for one might not work for others, and while we would all love to see all dogs on a healthy diet, some dogs just cant for whatever reasons..


It doesn't make sense to me when someone says, "yeah, I feed this crap but so-and-so's dog lived to be 100 on it." It is bad, we know it is wrong, most dogs *don't* do well on it, but because we know someone that was OK on it, we rationalize.

I compare it to this ~ we know smoking is bad, it is scientifically proven to be a killer, but our friends Grandmother (for example) lived to be 85 and was a smoker for life, we tell ourselves it is OK? It isn't OK, is it? Just because she didn't die from a smoking related death doesn't mean that all that time of not caring for her body by poisoning it with cigarette smoke didn't help her to death faster. She didn't die of lung cancer, but it was from Diabetes that progresses faster when one is a smoker. Can anyone see what I'm saying here? A dog might not *die* from feeding it garbage it's entire life, but it sure as hell isn't going to live as long as it should living off of ground up corn and BHA, right?

I can have McDonalds everyday (UGH, can you imagine that?!) to sustain my body, keep my weight on, but how yucky am I going to feel everyday? How long will I live pumping all those bad things into my body day after day? Some people might not become overweight easily by doing this, or have a little more energy everyday unlike I would, but how bad do they look and feel on the inside?
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Postby Maryellen » January 26th, 2006, 11:16 am

bright orange?? are you feeding the dry merrick?? i am giving rufus and sonny the canned merrick.. its true, its doggy crack... the smothered chicken actually looks good..

i used to feed pedigree and purina to my gsd when i first got her.. but due to her allergies and immune system i had to switch to a premium food.. granted , pedigree and purina, iams, eukaneuba, they are all crap food.. mostly 90% fillers in those.. usually when switching a dog over you should do it gradually.. maybe that is why cuddles didnt like the other foods, it wasnt switched gradually.. with her addisons she should be on a proper diet, whether kibble or raw.. speaking of, karen have you thought about doing a raw diet with all your dogs?? it would probably help cuddles the most, but they would all benefit from it.. just a thought..
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Postby Karen » January 26th, 2006, 11:18 am

Favorite Kitty wrote:Hey, hey now. Don't get snippy with me lady. I'm only trying to help you and your dogs.

I just can't believe that your vet is OK with you feeding your dog, that has Addison's Disease, such a crappy food with that much Potassium in it. When you switched your dogs to a high quality food, and they had runny stools, you do know that it was most likely because of the AD combined with all the binders in Pedigree? Most dogs aren't too happy with diet changes, but they will eat. You said in your website that the dog wasn't wanting to eat for two weeks when she first got sick, so she is known for anorexia. So, you can't be too sure that she refused to eat the new food because she was too picky. AD also has a common "side effect" called Megaesophagus where a dog will regurgitate undigested foods. And that could also be taken as one thinking the new food isn't going to work. Is she eating regularly now?

You feed her Pedigree, that is LOADED with fibers and binders like, are you ready? Ground yellow corn, bone meal, corn gluten meal, wheat mill run(which is the crap scraped out of the bottom of wheat bins. It isn't even whole wheat!), rice, wheat flour, wheat gluten, and other stuff I can't pronounce :) Your dog has firmer stools with Pedigree only because it has natural binders in it. What other foods did you try?

If your dog was diagnosed with AD last year and she is still with you, that is a good sign that the disease won't take her. But, part of keeping dogs healthy, and with you for as long as possible with this disease, is keeping them on a good diet.

Please don't take any of this as "flaming you". It is not. I just hope that there are easy things you can change to make your dog stay with you for as long as possible.



You know what? I've said it time and again what good is a food swap if the damn dog starves herself rather than eat it???? She went a whole week and crashed because of a food switch. If you think I've gone through everything I have with this dog the past 7 years and am throwing it away because someone on a message board seems to know her and her needs better than I do, you're crazy.

Beat your chest and pontificate about what's bad in the food (according to you) and totally ignore the fact that it is high in SODIUM read SALT and that's what she needs. With the health food kick there are not that many sodium high foods out there. But even if there was something else if she won't eat it and starves herself to death, why bother?

You're not her vet, or her owner, or her lab tech that sticks her twice a month for blood so you're not part of her equation at all. Pedigree works for HER and she EATS it. Period. End of discussion.
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Postby Favorite Kitty » January 26th, 2006, 11:20 am

Guys, I thought Merrick was a good food? I feed my cats canned Merrick sometimes and they also love it. It is all human grade ingredients and my petfood guy even went as far as eating some of the Granny's Pot Pie! He said it was pretty good :P

I'm going to guess that the orange stool is from the carrots. If you look at the canend food closely you can see chunks of veggies in it.
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Postby Karen » January 26th, 2006, 11:21 am

Maryellen wrote:bright orange?? are you feeding the dry merrick?? i am giving rufus and sonny the canned merrick.. its true, its doggy crack... the smothered chicken actually looks good..

i used to feed pedigree and purina to my gsd when i first got her.. but due to her allergies and immune system i had to switch to a premium food.. granted , pedigree and purina, iams, eukaneuba, they are all crap food.. mostly 90% fillers in those.. usually when switching a dog over you should do it gradually.. maybe that is why cuddles didnt like the other foods, it wasnt switched gradually.. with her addisons she should be on a proper diet, whether kibble or raw.. speaking of, karen have you thought about doing a raw diet with all your dogs?? it would probably help cuddles the most, but they would all benefit from it.. just a thought..


They hate raw and I don't believe in it after losing Zephyr the way we did. Her body had no immune system, true but the fact that the bacteria that is found in chicken invaded her endocardium, nope no way.

And yes the foods were switched gradually. The new foods were left at the bottom of bowls as so much refuse. The more food added the less the dogs ate. You could see them nosing around the pieces til they found what they wanted. It's not worth messing with anymore.
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Postby Maryellen » January 26th, 2006, 11:26 am

at least you tried it.. whatever works for cuddles is what is important.
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Postby cheekymunkee » January 26th, 2006, 11:30 am

Look, keep the attititude to yourself. If you wanna feed crap to your dog, knock yourself out but do not get an attitude when someone suggests there just MIGHT be a better way of doing things. You said yourself Karen, "flame me all you want", if you didn't expect people to question what you said ,why did you say it?
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Postby Karen » January 26th, 2006, 11:36 am

cheekymunkee wrote:Look, keep the attititude to yourself. If you wanna feed poopy to your dog, knock yourself out but do not get an attitude when someone suggests there just MIGHT be a better way of doing things. You said yourself Karen, "flame me all you want", if you didn't expect people to question what you said ,why did you say it?


Because I knew they would. Not every dog is the same as the next. What one dog does great on another will totally do lousy on. This thread is a Pedigree bash and I happen to feed it and my dogs do great on it. The better ways (according to some) have been tried and they don't work for MY dogs. I'm not wasting any more time and money trying to switch to foods that they won't eat.

The Timberwolf Organics folks couldn't believe 2 of the dogs I had at the ocal specialty shop spit their food out faster than they took it in. Try it for a few doys and free samples. I think there is still a small bag in the back of the pantry unopened and 3 years old.

I was simply pointing out that even a food as science death has its place. Their KD is unmatched by anyone else's.
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Postby Jaime » January 26th, 2006, 11:50 am

cheekymunkee wrote:Look, keep the attititude to yourself. If you wanna feed poopy to your dog, knock yourself out but do not get an attitude when someone suggests there just MIGHT be a better way of doing things. You said yourself Karen, "flame me all you want", if you didn't expect people to question what you said ,why did you say it?


you said it sister!! man if the discussion was over, as you said, karen, then why do you continue to post?
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Postby cheekymunkee » January 26th, 2006, 11:53 am

Come on all, let's just let it drop. No reason to fight over dog food when there are much more important issues to fight over. :wink:
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Postby Jaime » January 26th, 2006, 11:59 am

amazing how these thinngs can get so heated lol!

here this should make evryone laugh a little
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/ ... itled3.bmp
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Postby realpitbull » January 26th, 2006, 12:14 pm

Karen, I understand you're happy with Pedigree, but just as an FYI, I feed Luca a vegetarian dry food called Natural Balance. He's got severe allergies/leaky gut syndrome after having eaten a couple pounds of dry horse grain (don't ask :rolleyes2: ) Anyway, I had him on all the premium drys and then switched to BARF and not only did nothing help, he got WORSE! This went on for over a year, visits to vets, steroids, then homeopathy, blah blah blah. Out of desperation I tried this veggie food. Within probably a month all his hair grew back and he stopped itching. It really was like a miracle. He's been on it for hmmm I'd guess close to two years?

Pedigree really is yucky, the first ingredient is corn and second is chicken by-product. BUT, I do have to say, I went against what EVERYone said and tried the veggie food, and go figure...it worked! :clap: So you do what you gotta do for your dogs.
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Postby mnp13 » January 26th, 2006, 12:14 pm

Favorite Kitty wrote:Guys, I thought Merrick was a good food? I feed my cats canned Merrick sometimes and they also love it. It is all human grade ingredients and my petfood guy even went as far as eating some of the Granny's Pot Pie! He said it was pretty good :P

I'm going to guess that the orange stool is from the carrots. If you look at the canend food closely you can see chunks of veggies in it.


Merrick is great food. Ruby and Connor are on Turduken. Each bag comes with a free sample of the canned food as well. They like the canned food even better than the dry.

Yes, the first ingredient is crack. I am sure of it. Nothing else can explain the crazed look the dogs get when you say the words 'breakfast time' or 'dinner time'

Thier poop is dark orange on the outside, almost brown. But when it 'breaks' it is bright pumpkin color. (dog people are so weird - we think it is normal to discuss poop texture and color)

I'm sorry you are offended by this thread Karen. There are a few simple facts here - nutritionally, Pedigree is not a high quality food. If your dogs are doing well on it, that is fine, but that still does not change the quality of the food.

The first ten ingredients of Pedigree Complete Nutrition for Adult Dogs - Small Crunchy Bites Original Beef Flavor
ground yellow corn, meat and bone meal, corn gluten meal, chicken by-product meal, animal fat (preserved with bha/bht), wheat mill run, natural poultry flavor, rice, salt, potassium chloride,


By contrast, here are the first 10 of Merrick Turducken
Turkey, Oatmeal, Barley, Chicken Meal, Chicken, Duck, Whole Brown Rice, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Natural Vitamin E and Ascorbic Acid, a source of Vitamin C), Flaxseed, Potatoes


They are night and day, even after you figure in the loss of water when the turkey, chicken and duck are processed.
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Postby Maryellen » January 26th, 2006, 12:19 pm

i have not seen the dogs poop broken in half, so you are probably right michelle.. i have not given the dry merrick , the bags are very expensive for a 25lb bag.. but the canned they go nuts over... i will give them allthe canned ones BUT The campfire trout.. it is more like cat food, and is pureed and not in chunks, and is a pain to clean out the can afterward for recycling.. all i do is put a can in my hand and they all do jumps and go nuts.... jesse will literally talk while i am carrying the cans to the counter, and she gets louder as i mix the food with the salmon oil and kelp... they still get the timberwolf too, i just vary it every now and then..the timberwolf ingredients for the bison are:Fresh Bison Meat, Salmon Meal, Millet, Sweet Potatoes, Oats, Flaxseed, Carrot, Watercress, Spinach, Celery, Parsley, Fennel Seed, Wild Salmon Oil, Atlantic Kelp, Alfalfa,
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Postby mnp13 » January 26th, 2006, 12:21 pm

yeah... $40 for 30 pounds is not cheap. But she's healthy so I'm not complaining.

(well, I am, but just a little bit)
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Postby Emi » January 26th, 2006, 12:27 pm

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