misty

Question
QUESTION: hi. i have a lab that is almost 3 yrs old. just to give you a little back ground i got her from someone that bred her two times before her 2nd birthday and i think that that has messed with her insides a little. i got her a year ago now and she is a very hard dog to keep weight on she has been on eagle pack performance for almost a year and it did not seem to be doing the job, so i put her on beneful for about 2 months now. i wanted to maybe put her on nutri source performance.the vet says that she is healthy just needs to put on a little weight she gets wormed regularly.i want to see that extra weight on her.
also i have moved recently and ever since we started packing misty has been not waiting to go to the bathroom and going in the house a lot . nothing that i seem to do helps . she goes outside alot. just looking for a little advice with both of these
thanks

ANSWER: Hi Joanna,  Two things. I recommend switching carefully to a premium grade food - Beneful is one of the worst out there. For your dog I like Natural Balance Ultra Premium,  Wellness Superfive, any of the Fromm FourStar line, or if possible one of the Acana foods (Adult or Grasslands). She needs better food and more of it. Is she nervous and high strung? how much exercise does she get? You don't say how much she weighs, how much you feed - not a lot for me to go on. If you tell me what she weighs, what she should weigh and how much you feed, I can give you a calorie range to shoot for.


Some URLs for you to check out:

http://www.championpetfoods.com/acana/products.php

http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/dog_wellness_dry_index.html

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/RedCalDog.html

http://www.frommfamily.com/products-fs.php

All these companies use high standards in their testing and ingredients, far and away superior to Purina. The Eagle Pack Holistic food is pretty good as well but the ones above are my favourites.


In answer to the stress issues (defecating in the house) I am not a  behaviourist, but it seems to me she is just worrying about the changes. If it were my dog (and I have a nervous, reactive, jumpy boy) I would start by using a Bach Flower Essence called Walnut - four drops in the water four times a day. You can find BFEs at your local healthfood store, more information available here:
www.bachcentre.com

I would use some Tellington Touch (www.ttouch.com) and extra periods of play and exercise. Safe chew toys like bullysticks or a Kong stuffed with treats to help burn off stress.... but someone in the behaviour forum will no doubt have more ideas for you with regard to this.

All the best, Catherine

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: sorry for being so vague before. i was feeding her the eagle pack as i said before and it didn't cut it. i do want to feed a high quality food for her.i feed her as much as she will eat. she is going through a lot more of the beneful than the eagle pack. she is not really nervous but is very high stung you would think that she is just a 6 month old pup. she was living on a farm and running around whenever she wanted to go out. now that we have moved she is living in town so it is a huge change and i'm worried thhat she will not adapt to it. she weighs 72.4 lbs and i would prefer to see her about 76 77 lbs i think that would make all the difference. your help is much appreciated

Answer
Ok - I still don't have an idea how much she is eating (eg, calories) because I would need a rough estimate of the number of cups per day. But let's take a quick peek at Beneful and see the ingredients NestlePurina is foisting on you as a consumer, claiming this is a healthy food for dogs:

"INGREDIENTS
Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, sorbitol, tricalcium phosphate, water, salt, phosphoric acid, animal digest, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, sorbic acid (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, dried peas, dried carrots, calcium carbonate, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, Vitamin A supplement, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin B-12 supplement, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, copper sulfate, biotin, garlic oil, thiamine hydrochloride, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite."




Now, if this isn't one of the worst foods I've seen...let alone they try to market it as healthy.

- corn wheat and soy as key ingredients
- no presence of whole chicken anywhere
- unidentified animal fat, could be coming from anything
- poorly absorbed minerals (cheap)
- and why do we need all those yellow/red/BLUE dyes?
- sugar and sorbitol???

360 calories per cup. Your dog would probably do best on about 1850  calories per day, so thats around 5 cups a day. IS she eating that much?


I don't even know where to start with how awful this is, so I'm very glad we are chatting here and I can help you to not only put weight on your dog but vastly improve her nutritional status and prospects for longevity as well.

Let's look at Eagle Pack (I couldn't find one called performance but I suspect this is the one you meant?):

"Chicken Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Pork Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Ground Brown Rice, Anchovy & Sardine Meals, Brewers Dried Yeast, Corn Gluten Meal, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Pantothenic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Choline Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Biotin, Rosemary Extract, Lecithin, Inositol, Kelp, Polysaccharide Complexes of Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Copper and Cobalt, Potassium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Enterococcus faecium, B. subtilus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus coagulins, Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus niger."

This food is better - no wheat, no unidentified "animal" products, no soy and much better mineral forms - but it's still not what I would call a premium food. It contains 449 calories per cup so you would need to feed 4 cups a day to reach your goal of about 1800 calories a day.


Now let's look at a premium food, Eagle Pack's Holistic line (Chicken):

"Ingredients:  Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Pork Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Anchovy, Sardine & Salmon Meals, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Tomato Pomace, Menhaden Fish Oil, Carrots, Peas, Sun-Cured Alfalfa, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Quinoa (Organic), Blueberries, Apples, Inulin, Beta-Carotene, Cranberries, Dehydrated Kelp, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Pantothenic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Choline Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Biotin, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Inositol, Polysaccharide Complexes of Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Copper and Cobalt, Potassium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Lactobacillus acidophilus Lactobacillus casei, Enterococcus faecium, B. subtillus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus coagulins, Aspergillus oryzae, and Aspergillus niger."


What do you notice here? Chicken meal (not by products or plain chicken, which is weighed with water) but chicken meal as the first ingredient. NO CORN or God forbid, wheat or soy. Fully identified fish meals, lots of nice extras for intestinal health and the immune system, high quality minerals,no vegetable oils, no sugar, by-products or dyes. This is by far the better food of the three. Now, the energy density is a bit low for my liking at 368 per cup, so you're back up to feeding 5 cups a day. but the good news is this is likely to be a very palatable food (compare with the grain heavy Beneful) and your dog may well like it a lot more. If you purchase a few different kinds of the high quality foods and offer different meals,  thats wonderful (during times where I know I can't cook for my dogs and will need to use commercial, I often buy three different types and at least 5 kinds of canned toppers so they don't have to eat the same thing day in/day out). You can encourage a dog to eat more enthusiastically just by offering variety and using a premium level diet.

Remember the bottom line here is to provide optimal nutrition at all times while helping your girl put on a little weight. Use a premium food (there are plenty more available - check out Innova, Solid Gold, Fromm, Merricks, Acana and Natural Balance) and use some variety. USe healthy fresh foods as treats - sardines, a little liver, cooked turkey or beef, quality biscuits, up to 15% of the caloric total. Shoot for the 1800 calories a day. Feed three times until your dog gains weight and then cut back to twice - NEVER once a  day with so much food(I personally think it's unkind anyway).

I hope some of this helps with your challenge here. If you're interested in ongoing discussion, my yahoogroup is lively, friendly and very well educated. We'd be delighted to have you join and share your progress with your dog.

All the best, and good luck, Catherine