When will I see improvement?

[dogsarebetter]

How long does it take to see improvement when you switch to a better dog food. Both of my dogs are on grain free now. Lynn has always been.

Ruckus has done better on Iams healthy naturals than he has anything i have tried! I have tried many holistic natural foods, etc with him. even raw. Well, I thought he was doing great on Iams, and all of a sudden he is getting thin hair, skin rash, and a bit smelly. I am not sure its the food, since he has skin allergies to grass, and in the fall his allergies get bad. but I am thinking its too grain heavy or something.

Do you see anything that might be upsetting his skin? He has never ate corn before, until Iams.

Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewer's Rice, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Brewer's Dried Yeast, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Beta-Carotene, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Flax Meal, Apple Pomace, Dried Carrots, Dried Peas, Choline Chloride, Dried Spinach, Dried Tomato, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), L-Carnitine, Rosemary Extract

I have had Ruckus on TOTW pacific stream before and his poop stayed nasty, runny, mucus like! So I got him wetlands and his stool is looking great. He has been on it for two weeks now.

[ACooper]

Phoebe had issues with corn BIG TIME. It makes her skin itchy, she scratches until it's raw. It also makes her hair thin, and VERY rough/brittle to the touch. She also gives off a nasty odor when she's on a corn food.........the kids won't let her around them poor girl, LOL.

I figured it out a few years back, no more corn? All issues gone for her.

ALSO.... Chicken By-Product Meal! I know you already know this is YUCK, but with by products, the content can vary batch to batch. This weeks supply might have feet and beaks, next week is going to include some yummy, yummy TUMORS.

So until you can get him off by products, it'll be hard to narrow down the cause of his problem........at least that is my opionion.

As far as how long to visibly see improvement? I'd give it at least a month.

[dogsarebetter]

i know that by products is said to be bad. but I dont understand when people dont feed by products because they are bad, yet let their dogs eat tounges, hooves, ears, penis, etc.
I was unaware that it might contain a tumor, or varied batch to batch though.

oh, I and I am very very confused about farm town and what that has to do with anything LOL
I am easy to confuse though.

EDIT- Whoa the farm town thing just vanished. I am sooo confused!

[ACooper]

EDIT: SORRY about the farm town thing! I had copied something and forgotten about it and it pasted on THAT post! So never mind about the farm town! haahahha

Well "by products" in pet food is pretty much ANYTHING they can't sell to humans

This chicken is full of tumors? Throw it in the dog bin. That chicken died of something mysterious? Congrats mister chicken, you are now a by product! Same for cows, or any other meat source.

Yes, they throw in the feet, beaks, hooves, etc..........that isn't the bad part really, it's all the other stuff that is scary!

I do know that it's a nasty business, my cousin used to work as one of the guys who would pick up carcasses for Purina GROSS!

Check out youtube on "by products" YouTube - Dog Food Meat By-products: Dog Food Industry's Dirtiest Sec

[Brattina88]

I've always said it takes at least 30 days before you see the begining of changes (skin & coat, etc) when switching foods. Some dogs take shorter, some dogs take longer. When switching, if you have gross stools, you can try canned pumpkin (not the pie filling) or "real" plain yogurt (with live probiotics).

As far as dogs eating hooves, etc Yes, some dogs chew on those as a treat, but I don't know any who eat them everyday. I eleminated all corns, and 'crappy' ingredients (and started raw) and Maddie's skin issues went away.

Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewer's Rice, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Brewer's Dried Yeast, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Beta-Carotene, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Flax Meal, Apple Pomace, Dried Carrots, Dried Peas, Choline Chloride, Dried Spinach, Dried Tomato, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), L-Carnitine, Rosemary Extract

chicken by-product Chicken Byproduct Meal
AAFCO: Consists of the dry, ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines -- exclusive of feathers except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

Chicken byproducts are much less expensive and less digestible than the chicken muscle meat.The ingredients of each batch can vary drastically in ingredients (heads, feet, bones etc.) as well as quality, thus the nutritional value is also not consistent. Don't forget that byproducts consist of any parts of the animal OTHER than meat. If there is any use for any part of the animal that brings more profit than selling it as "byproduct", rest assured it will appear in such a product rather than in the "byproduct" dumpster.

Brewers RiceAAFCO: The small milled fragments of rice kernels that have been separated from the larger kernels of milled rice.

A processed rice product that is missing many of the nutrients contained in whole ground rice and brown rice. Contrary to what many pet food companies want to make you believe, this is not a high quality ingredient, just much cheaper than whole grain rice.

Salt - Also listed as Sodium Chloride. A colorless or white crystalline solid, chiefly sodium chloride, used extensively in ground or granulated form as a food seasoning and preservative. May also appear in ingredient list as "Iodized Salt" (iodine supplement added), "Sea Salt" (as opposed to salt mined from underground deposits) or "Sodium Chloride" (chemical expression).

While salt is a necessary mineral, it is also generally present in sufficient quantities in the ingredients pet foods include. Just like for humans, too much sodium intake is unhealthy for animals. In poor quality foods it is often used in large amounts to add flavor and make the food more interesting.

The Dog Food Project - How does your Dog Food Brand compare?

[dogsarebetter]

Thank you all!
Ruckus, and Lynn actually do much on hooves, bully sticks, and ears daily. A hoof will last us over a month and the chew on it for hours on end. LOL
No though, for real. I really didnt see what the fuss about by products was. so what if its hooves and beaks!? but tumors... or dying for a mysterious reason, no thank you!

[dogsarebetter]

And now Ruckus has his second hot spot of this year
now he has a bald spot on the base of his tail where i had to shave it.

[bubbatd]

Really diets have always confused me .... with my first golden (1940s ) there were no dried foods and only 2 choices of canned in Quebec . By the time I got my next Golden ( 1956 ) Purina was the best and I stuck with it = 4 bags , puppy chow , regular , low fat and senior . I never had any problems , but when I joined Caz and only had one dog I went to a better food . I really don't see much difference in coat etc , but don't add the supplements anymore . Ollie's on Canidae Lamb and rice Platinum for seniors /overweight right now , it's pricey for me , but I want the best for him I can't do raw !

[DanL]

It took about 3-4 months for an older dog we had (Midnite) who had been fed crap food her whole life to really show improvement once we went to raw.

[ihartgonzo]

Don't forget that anything labeled "by-product" can legally contain a very small percentage (I think it's about 10-15) of what can actually be called MEAT, and what is actually listed. For instance, Chicken By-Product can be 1/4 chicken, and the rest can be whatever happens to be tossed in which includes sawdust, other random meat products and other nasty inedibles.

Ruckus' hot spots are probably his body detoxing. Gonzo shed tons of hair and got itchy (among other things) when I first switched him to raw. Within a month he looked better than EVER, though. I suggest sticking to it and giving him at least a month to adjust. You have to also consider that not every food, even a grain free food, is best for each dog. You might need to try out other foods if this one doesn't work, but don't think that just because he did ok on a grain-laiden food packed with chemicals and by-products, it means that it's what is best for him or feel guilty at all. There could be monumental health impacts to feeding a dog an inappropriate diet that you cannot see on the surface... and finding a good food that is suited to a carnivore might take some time for him, but in the long run it's more than worth it.