Dry cat food help, please!
I have been buying 10 lb bags of Natural Balance Grain Free Limited Ingredient dry food for $20/bag, and it’s been great. It’s good quality food, my kids like it a lot, my wallet says it’s bearable, and so we were all happy.
But now it’s gone up in price and so I’m on the hunt for a new dry food. I need something that is grain-free and relatively cheap. Suggestions?
Oh my god I never realized that is was you that was talking about vegan dog food! Can you give me some tips; I've got 3 Siberian Huskies I'd love to get on a home cooked vegan diet, perhaps in conjunction with Natural Balance's vegetarian line.
Hey! Vegan dog food is the greatest. I am constantly getting compliments on how healthy and ridiculously shiny Grover looks.
He mostly eats the Natural Balance vegetarian food, which says vegan in big letters right on the front- so convenient. The Natural Balance is pretty reasonably priced (he probably eats about $1-2 of that food a day) and seems like it is pretty high quality. He maintains a good weight and seems to be pretty fit. I think its probably way better than some of the mainstream dog food brands that have tons of junk in them because he has lots of energy and endurance when he’s playing in the back yard or with another dog, but is pretty calm in the house and never seems to not be able to control his energy levels. This is interesting because we were warned when we adopted him that he was really high energy and was even profiled at the spca as a dog that would need someone capable of handling him.
I am also constantly pleasantly surprised by the vegan dog treats that are available at big pet stores as well as the many options for treats you can make at home. One simple option- great for the summer- is savory popsicles with whatever you have on hand. Grover’s favourite treat is dried yams, which are great for dogs. Often we give Grover leftovers from dinner (or make a little extra for him) if I know that what we’re making will be good for him, since some foods are bad for dogs. It’s interesting that this list includes things like dairy, raw eggs and several kinds of meat!
Another great way to do vegan dog food if you’re going to be cooking for your dogs is the vegedog supplement which is about $20 for about 90 days of supplement plus added ingredients. The supplement comes with a book of recipes that includes TVP, yeast, oils, fresh vegetables, options for soy or no soy, lentil, oat, rice, and garbanzo. They even have recipes that cater to puppies, pregnant or lactating, and senior dogs. This is probably the best option if you’re wanting to make your own food, its just really important to verse yourself on the things that are bad for dogs to eat and what they need to be healthy.
Thanks for the question!
So my dog's food was voluntarily recalled this morning.
I have no idea what to think right now. I finally found a food that works for my dog, and it gets recalled for potential salmonella contamination.
But here’s the thing- Natural Balance was only voluntarily recalled. No foods have been found to have salmonella in them, and no dogs or people have been sickened by it. Plus, the bag I had for him wasn’t included in the list of skus that were recalled. Long story short, the bag should be fine.
Do I try a new food, or do I just keep feeding him Natural Balance?
OFF, OFF, OFF WE GO TO THE VET TOMMOROW
I’m actually really nervous. It’s two fold. 1) This is the first time I’ll be taking one of the pets to the vet all by myself. I’m sure I’ll do fine, but this is one of those smallish steps that I stumble over from time to time. 2) I’m afraid of what is going to happen tomorrow. Hayden needs his claws trimmed. I’m tried to do it a hundred times and he will have none of it. I can’t even get him to roll over on his stomach. I hope the vet with give him something to calm down or it’s never going to get done. I’ll have to research that. Then there is the mysterious itching/hair-loss. I checked dog foods and we haven’t switched flavors in a while. I could have sworn that the Senior formula of Blue Buffalo dog food was lamb and rice, but their website says all they make for regular old dogs is chicken and rice. When I started working at PETCO, I got him on one of the supposedly “good” foods that was chicken and rice. After I started to learn about the different brands and ingredients and flavors, I switched his food a couple of times until we found something he liked. That was Natural Balance lamb and rice flavor. When he stopped eating that, I switched him to Blue Buffalo, which he seems to love. I thought it was lamb and rice instead of chicken and rice. This makes a difference because quite a few dogs and cats are allergic to poultry. Many times, the owners just misdiagnose it as dry skin or something else. Lamb is the preferred flavor for animals with food allergies. Hayden has been on both, so I don’t see why it would manifest itself so late in his life. I don’t know about the itching (dry skin may be the answer), but I think the bald spot and sore on his face are ringworm. My dad and sister don’t think so. I almost want to bet some real money on it, but on the chance that I am wrong, I’d have nothing to pay them with. I do hope it is something simple and benign and won’t cost a trillion dollars or take a million tests. I just want to get in and out of there in an hour and take my newly claw-shaven, ringworm-treated puppy for a walk.
If you feed your pets Natural Balance
… and would like a really easy way to help out the awesome Magnificent Mutts Rescue (they rescue cats as well) you can send them the proof of purchase and the receipt and Natural Balance will give them a monetary donation. Mag Mutts needs to have at least 50 UPCs and receipts before they can send them in and it would be so very appreciated! I can personally attest to the awesome job they do and this would really help them out.
You can mail your Proofs of Purchase and receipts to
Magnificent Mutts
55 N. Wolf Road
Hillside, IL 60162
or you can send them to me (drop me an ask for my address)
Please reblog!
Socially educating people not to seek happiness through excessive consumption will be a huge and possibly doomed undertaking, however many times it is shown that it can’t buy you happiness. So perhaps the answer is in trying to restore the natural balance of things.
In nature, ‘resources’ are cycled – for example, water taken up by plants is eaten by animals that breathe out water vapour, returning the water to the soil for the plants by way of rain. Nothing is lost. But the scale with which we humans are using resources is too rapid for natural systems to manage. Microorganisms, for example, can degrade our waste, but not at a rate that matches our production. Likewise, trees and plants can take in our carbon dioxide, but not fast enough.
quoilecanard replied to your post: Oh my god I never realized that is was you that was talking about vegan dog food! Can you give me some tips; I’ve got 3 Siberian Huskies I’d love to get on a home cooked vegan diet, perhaps in conjunction with Natural Balance’s vegetarian line.
I’ve yet to see any vegan dog food sold in stores, and I’m too broke to make my own. I want to try transitioning my dogs to vegan dog food but I’ve never seen any around here. ;(
Hey! You could try searching the Natural Balance store locator to see if there is anything nearby. If not maybe a pet store would order it for you? Even if they have any Natural Balance and don’t have the vegetarian formula they probably would get it in. It’s really reasonably priced, especially considering its also a high quality food and you can supplement it with your healthier leftovers. Good luck!
