Update on nature's logic

I dont know if anyone remembers a post I made a while back, I was trying to find a food for my parents dachshund Indy that would work with his digestive system. I really wanted him to be on grain free because he gets dry, dull coat on most grain inclusive foods, but after trying 4-5 grain free foods, they all give him the runs, even after reducing the amount, which resulted in anal gland issues (at one point they became impacted while on totw). 

Anyways, I decided to try him on natures logic because even though its not grain free, it has a decent meat content and is low glycemic. My main concern was the yeast in it, though he hasnt had any ear issues, he does scratch sometimes, and I was worried that it could make things worse. 

We'll he's been on it for over a month now and I'm happy to say that he seems to be doing really well! His coat is fantastic, good energy levels, small firm poops, itching seems to have reduced and he loves the taste. Right now he's on a beef formula which is 31.5% protein which is pretty good for grain inclusive food.

Oh diamond, where did you go wrong?

I'm sure by now everyone is familiar with Diamond fiasco and multiple recalls which include diamond naturals, premium edge, taste of the wild, canidae, solid gold, natural balance just to  name a few.
I wanted to give them a second chance since their previous shady history, and I was hoping since the introduction of TOTW, they would see the positive turnout and avid following of their consumers and clean up their act. Well, it doesn't appear that way. Since FDA took over and did an inspection of their plant, the results were less then ideal.
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/OfficeofGlobalRegulatoryOperationsandPolicy/ORA/ORAElectronicReadingRoom/UCM304252.pdf

Ok, its understandable that such a large scale company would have few quality control issues, but me thinks that they have far more than I would be willing to accept as acceptable. It appears that they have some major sanitary violations and even possible cross contamination with uknown fats and digests.. yuk.
I dont even want to know what goes behind closed doors when inspection team isn't around.

So with a heavy heart, I can no longer in good conscience recommend any diamond products. It makes me sad because price wise, they made a good option for people on tighter budget that didn't want to settle for grocery store foods. Now, I fear that a lot will go back to feeding worse quality foods because of cost and more faith in the company, even if its a large conglomerate like Purina or P&G.

I don't know if diamond will be able to recover from this hit, based on facebook alone, taste of the wild has gone down from 40,000 to only 13,000 fans in matter of few weeks.

So are there any affordable brands that I would recommend? I'm still in process of trying to figure this one out. For example Healthwise is an inexpensive food thats made by Natura (aka P&G), while I'm not a fan of the company take over, since there hasn't been any issues or ingredient change, I feel better recommending that then any diamond foods. Another option is Nutri-Source, it appears to be manufactured by an independent company that also makes pure vita and natural planet organics.

Have you fed any diamond foods, what do you think of the whole fiasco, do you plan on switching? if so, to what?

Considering new rotation addition

So I've been looking into incorporating more dry food choices into Uno's rotation and I've been mainly using dogfoodadvisor.com as a reference. I've already tried several 5 star kibbles, including acana, totw, wellness core, orijen, BB wilderness, dogswell, earthborn, NV instinct and pinnacle.

I'm pretty happy with Acana, but I wont be able to get a good discount since leaving work and anything besides the chicken formula, is out of my budget.
So I've come across horizon legacy fish formula on sale at petflow.com http://www.petflow.com/product/horizon/horizon-adult-grain-free-salmon-dry-dog-food

its on sale $50, plus I found an $8 off coupon which came out to $47 for 25 lbs, shipped.

I've tried their chicken formula before and Uno has done pretty well on it, but there's not a lot of retailers that sell it, so I moved onto other brands.
I'm pretty impressed with the ingredient list, its comparable to Acana Pacifica, except that Horizon used pea starch as a binder instead of potatoes. Peas are a low glycemic carb source, so it's a better choice for dogs with ear infections and yeast issues. Uno doesn't have either one, but regardless, if I had to chose, I would pick peas over potatoes.

Ingredients:

Salmon, salmon meal, peas, pea starch, menhadon meal, salmon oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), pea fibre, alfalfa, flaxseed, liquid egg product, carrots, apples, broccoli, bok choy, cabbage, blueberries, salt, fructooligosaccharides, yucca schidigera extract, glucosamine hydrochloride, chondroitin sulphate, dried saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation extract, dried aspergillus niger fermentation extract, dried aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract, pineapple, dried trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, dried rhizopus oryzae fermentation extract, dried enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried bifidobacterium bifidum fermentation product, dried lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, d-calcium pantothenate, biotin, l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), ferrous sulphate, iron proteinate, zinc sulphate, zinc proteinate, manganous oxide, manganese proteinate, copper sulphate, copper proteinate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite, magnesium oxide.

This particular formula is 34% protein, 15% fat and 8.6% ash. 

The company is located in Saskatchewan, Canada and similar to Champion (maker of Oriejen/Acana), they only use locally sourced ingredients. They have their own plant and produce several varieties of dry foods which include grain free and grain inclusive varieties. 

http://www.horizonpetfood.com/index.php?page=about-us

I'll update on this food once Uno is done with this bag of Acana, but I'm hoping that I can keep this in our rotation because it looks like a good choice for us. 

Back from the real world..

So I've had some personal issues these last few weeks and haven't had a chance to post much unfortunately. For good news, I decided to go ahead and officially advertise my pet-sitting business. So I ordered a bunch of business cards and created a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/EmbarkPetCare

My goal is to have one of a kind business where I can educate the owners about nutritional aspect of pet care as well as possible alternative means to managing health issues that I often come across such as allergies, hot spots, ear infections, etc. At some point I would like to expand it into in home boarding facility and have a small retail space that specializes in natural foods, supplements, and few other pet care items.

As far as other things I've had on my mind lately is the issues of dental health. I noticed that a lot of people are far more concerned with the outward appearance of their pets (dogs especially) and spend a significant chunk of money on grooming and making their dog look and smell pretty on the outside, with no regard to their internal health. The other day we had a cocker spaniel come for a monthly groom. He was probably around 14 and pretty old, but still alive and kicking. Out of curiosity, I decided to check his teeth and was completely horrified. They were brown and rotting, the gums were so inflamed, they glowed red and the breath was pretty terrible as well.
I don't know if you've ever had a toothache, you know that it hurts, enough to ruin your whole day. Can you imagine walking around with a mouthful of rotten and sore teeth? I cant.
Yet, the owners would rather spend $60 a month on a groom to make their dog look good, then save up for few months and get him a dental that would not only better his quality of life, but extend it as well.

Considering how many options there are out there as far as keeping our pets healthy, there is no excuse. If the dog hates having its teeth brushed, there are dental gels and sprays such as petzlife or leba that work really well for finicky dogs. In addition raw meaty bones are excellent for keeping those chompers nice and clean, plus other hard chew like bully sticks and antlers.
Dentals are not cheap and often, it poses an anesthesia risk to older pets, but thats why its absolutely essential to stay on top when it comes to dental health of your pet. Its easy to put it off , but it will come at a cost later on which can compromise the quality of life for your pet.

I'm pretty hyper vigilant when it comes to Uno's teeth. He gets RMB's every other day and I brush his teeth usually once a week. He also likes his antlers. I am proud to say that he has pretty good teeth for a 6 year old, no plaque build up and gums are pink and healthy. He has a bit of yellow staining which is normal and comes with age, so I'm not worried about it. I know that those few minutes a week can and will greatly improve his life, especially as he ages.