[ferst]

All kibbles, especially Purina Pro Plan, are bad choices. You are on the right track with considering a natural raw diet. There are a few excellent commercially prepared natural raw diets, but The Farmer's Dog is not one of them. The best commercially prepared natural raw diets are Evermore, Viva Raw, Dr. Harvey's, and We Feed Raw. Personally, those are the only ones I'd ever consider, but they are pricey, and I have a better suggestion. I have made my dogs my homemade natural raw diet for over thirty years. My recipe, which I've perfected over the years, is at the link as follows:

Dropbox

bit.ly

For the person who suggested chicken and rice for an upset stomach, chicken and rice will not help an upset stomach. Chicken is inflammatory, and many dogs have trouble digesting it. Rice is a grain that is a high-calorie carbohydrate, which should always be avoided. Also, there are often traces of arsenic in rice. Two excellent choices for an upset stomach are pure all-natural:

canned pumpkin (ex., "Nummy Tum-Tum Pumpkin")
bone broth

Make sure they are pure and all-natural with no additives (like sugar or salt).

You can also find my personal bone broth recipe at the above link.

 

[ferst]

Our vet always told us to do chicken and rice. We do hamburger and rice as chicken doesnt do well with one of ours. And rice is in a ton of dog foods.
Canned pumpkin makes my pups stomach worse and its litterally just pumpkin nothing is added.

Don't you hate it when facts get in the way of reality.

Vets are not canine nutritionists. Many dogs do not do well with chicken because it is a warm protein, and is inflammatory.

The reason why many dog food companies use grains (such as rice), especially in kibble, is that they are inexpensive fillers. Rice has little to no nutritional value and is high carbohydrate. Carbohydrates digest into sugar which is bad. If you want an overweight and unhealthy dog with a shortened life, feed them a high carbohydrate diet.

By the way, many of the dog food companies have been bought up by giant candy companies (Nestle and M&M Mars) ... what does that tell you?

 

[ferst]

Whenever the topic is food, you are bound to get a wide variety of opinions. I would take the advice of a board-certified veterinary nutritionist first, but also heed advice of other board-certified veterinarians, including those who have observed the health impacts of a deficient diet. They will give better advice that the rest of us.

Personally, I will not risk DCM in my dog. I do care about longevity and my last kibble-fed golden lived to 14.5. There likely are ways other than WSAVA-compliant kibble brands that can avoid health problems, but I would defer to a boarded veterinary nutritionist on those.

Few Vets are degreed and certified nutritionists. Avoid nutritional advice from a Vet who has an office display of kibble brands like Science Diet and other high-carb kibbles. Also, stay away from dog food brands made by candy or processed food manufacturers. Personally, I would never trust a WSAVA certification.

If you don't feel comfortable doing a homemade all-natural raw diet, go with a commercial all-natural raw diet with Evermore, Viva Raw, Dr. Harvey's, or We Feed Raw. You can be assured that you will notice huge positive changes in your dog, both immediately and over time (as indicated in my recipe link: Zuma's Recipes).

 

[ferst]

... I will not risk DCM in my dog. ... WSAVA-compliant kibble brands that can avoid health problems ...

The DCM studies focused on grain-free kibbles, not raw diets. Also, the grain-free kibbles that were studied, replaced the grain with other cheap fillers.

WSAVA-compliance is bought and paid for by the big commercial brands: Royal Canin, Hills Science Diet, Purina One, Purina ProPlan, Iams, and Eukanuba. I would never feed my pup any of these. They are nutritionally deficient and loaded with carbs, fillers, and synthetic vitamins. BTW, not only are these brands grossly overpriced, Vets are paid big subsidies to sell them.

Beware of mass-produced dog foods that are commercially manufactured by big multinational conglomerate candy, processed food, and consumer product companies ... M&M Mars, Nestle, and Colgate-Palmolive. They are good at one thing ... marketing, but they are not good at making nutritional dog food.

 

[ferst]

80/20 ground beef with Volhard Canine Nutrition supplementation

I think you are on the right track.

I use 70/30 ground beef because I feel the extra 10% fat is better for their coats, and my pups have no problems digesting that extra fat.

I'll do some research on Volhard Canine Nutrition. In my recipe, I use Dinovite as a supplement to fill in any missing vitamins. There's a new supplement on the market called Ruff Greens. It seems pretty good, but it is extremely expensive, so I stick with Dinovite.

The key to feeding a raw diet is getting the right balance between ingredients. There is plenty of info out there on how to create that balance. Also in my recipe, I provide links to a lot of helpful raw diet info.

 

[ferst]

I have fed raw for about 6 years now to all my dogs, my golden has never eaten kibble, and the difference both outwardly and inwardly is astounding compared to before I started raw.

BINGO !!!

All well said.

This is why, in my homemade raw diet recipe (Zuma's Recipes), I have a number of different proteins.

 

[ferst]

Hi all, thinking of trying The Farmers Dog fresh food for our new 3 month old golden retriever. She is currently on Purina Pro but will not eat it unless mixed with wet food, and still does not eat much. We just got this dog 3 days ago from a breeder and she is absolutely gorgeous. I am willing to invest the money needed into the proper food that will allow this puppy to grow up full potential. I have heard great things about The Farmers Dog, would anyone here be willing to share their experience with it? Also if I do make the switch from purina pro, to Famers can I safely switch all at once or do I need to slowly mix them

Do your pup a favor, don't feed them kibble. Instead, feed them a balanced whole-food raw diet. Here's a link to my personal homemade recipe: 2024_03_14 Zuma's Raw Diet Recipe.pdf