Guest jbbuzby Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 As I'm on the forever mission to find the best food for my hounds like many GTers, I've recently decided to give the dehydrated "Raw" a go. So far, they have done fine on Dogswell Vitality dry, and Nature's Domain, but I have to admit, the volume of poop is quite high, even if it is mostly formed up until the very end . The benefits of raw are quite tempting (much less poo, healthier, happier pups at meal time, etc) but the price certainly isn't. Up until now, I've only given the occasional turkey neck when they've come available as special treats. While shopping and researching though, I found this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002FZLJWG/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details where $26 gets you 3lbs of mix, or 17lbs of food, which is relatively comparable to the $30 or so I was paying for 22lbs of Dogswell Vitality. You can also buy 10lbs of mix (making around 58lbs of food) for ~$60, which is even more reasonable (I just wanted to make sure they liked it first!). Additionally, my male has become increasingly lackluster over the past year when it comes to kibble; while he will eventually eat, he still drags and it's pretty clear he would rather eat something else besides brown pebbles every day. Even if we did the dehydrated in the morning and kibble in the evening, it would be worth it if I had happier hounds! So, wish me luck! If anyone has any experiences with dehydrated foods, I'd love to hear it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartdogs Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 My DD has a small girl that must be on grain free food uses this as part of her food. You have to remember to add water to the food & let it sit for a while before feeding. There are many different kinds of dehyrated foods & you want to watch where the food stuffs come from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSquare Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 We have been feeding Honest Kitchen for about 3-4 weeks and throwing in some chicken backs or frozen patties (these are super expensive but I had to work up to throwing the dogs a piece of raw meat We love it and it isn't costing more than the Science Diet Sensitive stomach we had to feed the Grey and the TOTW we fed the Springer. We are really hoping for a full remission of allergy symptoms in our Springer. We probably won't get a cure, but it seems to have helped some, although it is difficult to tell what causes or helps it sometimes. Our Grey has a super sensitive stomach and on this new food, no gas, poo you can pick up and no stomach rumbling Good luck, I'd be interested to see how it goes for you. P.S. I found really competitive pricing online. I really like to keep my business local but the difference in price was huge. If the prices change or come close to my locally owned store, I'd pay a little more to shop there. I used doggiefood.com Quote Taunya and her Supreme Grace, Anna - Sharsanna (Kiowa Sweet Trey x Camden Coming), Surge (no races), Kelsos Yorktown (Trent Lee x Kelsos Spotswood), Galgo Espanol - Valentin. Forever waitin' on Red (Kiowa Mon Manny x Bella Ionic). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wasserbuffel Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I tried a sample of a dehydrated food. I thought it was really weird and it had the drawback of getting the dog excited for her meal a full five minutes before I could give it to her. She kept running between me and the counter trying to communicate that I had forgotten to feed the poor starving dog. Of course, that would be a good thing in your case, since your dog isn't excited over his food. Jayne is a complete chow hound, so the wait for dehydrated food is unbearable for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwiggysMom Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I'm not entirely certain I'm right about this, but isn't the 17 lbs of rehydrated food roughly 85% water? If that's the case, and considering that kibble is generally only about 10% water, you would have to feed vastly more food by weight of the rehydrated raw versus kibble, and therefore not really similar cost-wise at all. Like I said, I could be wrong, but you might want to check the label to see recommended feeding amounts, and make calorie comparisons before jumping fully into this. I've looked at foods like Honest Kitchen in the past, and thought it would be far less expensive to just do raw (though I don't-not recommended for pups on chemo). Quote Wendy with Twiggy, fosterless while Twiggy's fighting the good fight, and Donnie & Aiden the kitties Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbbuzby Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I'm not entirely certain I'm right about this, but isn't the 17 lbs of rehydrated food roughly 85% water? If that's the case, and considering that kibble is generally only about 10% water, you would have to feed vastly more food by weight of the rehydrated raw versus kibble, and therefore not really similar cost-wise at all. Thanks for your responses . There would be a lot of water, but it'd be no different than if you were feeding canned food, which also has around that much water. Also, I think the dog is able to maintain a lot more nutrients with the raw/dehydrated food, as there is a lot less filler (hence the dramatic decrease in waste). But, we'll see. I don't plan on switching over completely. I actually just tried the dehydrated sample I had, and he loved it! It did look gross, and yes, it took a few minutes to firm up, but it did make him happy and he was very enthusiastic about eating. I think I would still feed kibble at dinner and the dehydrated food at breakfast, as well as the occasional bit of physical raw meat to make sure all our bases are met, and to maintain a relatively normal budget. So far so good. Grandma Lucy's Dog food does get 4-5 stars (depending on the mix) on dogfoodadvisor.com. Hopefully they like it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packmom Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I tried Grandma Lucy's. I has way too much garlic for my dogs. It reeks of garlic. Even mixing with kibble it was too strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest snakes Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I tried free samples of different flavors of Honest Kitchen, mine wouldn't even touch it and they eat EVERYTHING! It did smell kinda weird... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbbuzby Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I tried free samples of different flavors of Honest Kitchen, mine wouldn't even touch it and they eat EVERYTHING! It did smell kinda weird... Eeep! Well, I hope they like garlic . I know it's linked to a rare anemia, but hopefully dogfoodadvisor.com is correct in its statement of: "no definitive warnings regarding the use of garlic… especially in small amounts (as it is here)." He did really like the free sample, and I purchased the smaller amount (3lbs) to try it first for a while to see how they do. Funny, my female eats anything and everything happily...maybe she won't like this! But my male was thrilled, and he's the one that needs to eat more. Hope it arrives soon....he's sitting there in his crate sulking with his food as I type . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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