Let me first say that we don't believe that Zach's recent illness has anything to do with his dog food but...

After Zach's visit to the hospital last week I was talking to some friends about dog food. They had learned, through their vet, that the one they used was of poor quality. Well Zach hasn't shown any interest in his food lately (doesn't eat dinner until 3pm some days so on) so I started doing more research, try to find a more appealing food and swtich.

I talked to many experts and our vet. I was shocked at what I learned. The name brand dog food that we fed Gero and are feeding Zach is about of the lowest quality it can possibly be!

Not only is the food just junk (fillers, by products, nothing "real" in it) but it also contains a very controversial preservative that is believed to cause cancer. In fact this preservative is banned in human food!!

After days of research I finally found a new food for Zach.

Here is a website that I was given... Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble

This site is just what it says... dog food analysis, they aren't selling or promoting anything on it.

I encourge you to look up your dogs' food and see what it is really made of.

We aren't sure what lead to Gero's many health problems... but we do find it interesting that one of the leading dog foods (what we fed Gero) contains a chemical that is believed to cause cancer and that cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs.

It was enough information to prompt us to switch!

Who knows.. their may be no link.

At the very least Zach will now be eating a well balanced, natural dog food rather than by products and fillers that may or may not be harmful to his health.

Hope someone else can benefit from this information.

Please feel free to email me if you have questions about our personal experience.

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Thank you! I am going to start changing over their food ASAP! It's going to take me a while to mix it...but I am giving them a 1 star dog food! I'm such a bad mom!

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Thanks for the info Mandy!!!

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December 2007-
January 2008-
April 2008-
50mg Clomid
1000mg Metformin
May 5, 2008 !
June 3, 2008 first u/s detected no
June 19, 2008

I'm also using a 1 star food. I feel like such a bad mom.

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We were using a 1 * too and the review said it was a 1 star simply because there was no lower rating!!!!

Who would have known!

I just got back from the store, I bought his new food. It has a 6 star rating on that site, I am still having heart palpitations after seeing the price tag, but it's worth it!

that he likes it!!!!

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the link doesn't pull up anything for me...

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Try typing the address in yourself. I'll type it so that the address is still shown. I'll spell out the "dots" that should do it. Go to:

www[dot]dogfoodanalysis[dot]com

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for some reason it says that the website is encountering problems.... I'll try again later

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The site worked for me. I wonder what the problem is?

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That's interesting, Mandy!

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Holy crap...I'm also a bad mom.... I'll have to check out what Wal*Mart has that's a better rating...Our closest pet store is an hour away. I could order through the mill, but we go through 100 lbs a month. Not sure what we can afford...

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I know what you mean about ordering it. I looked into that but a 26lb bag of food costs around $13.00 just for shipping.

I hate to tell you this but I have looked and WalMart doesn't carry anything other than the 1 * stuff. At least not ours. Do you have a health foods store? The health foods store here also sells the stuff I bought today, I got this at a Petstore because it was closer, but the health foods store does carry it.

Is there a local vet that might have something better?

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Mandy,
Which dog food did you choose, after researching? I'm happy that the food we use is a 5 star one. My dad owns a do-it-yourself dog wash store, and only sells healthy/organic dog and cat food. The cat food brand I use is a 6 star for the dog version. And it's not cheap for sure. My dad sells it to me at cost, which is still expensive. Good for you for doing the research and making the switch!
Laura

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Maybe the vet..However, that's still 45 min away... And no health stores that I know of. The feed mill will order anything, so I'll have to do some research. My friend pays over $75 for 50 lbs of food. I can't afford that. I'll have to go down the list and research prices. Oh, boy.... You can't win, can you?? You're not supposed to feed them people food, but yet the dog food can kill them!! It's like you're danged if you do and danged if you don't.

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Laura, I chose Wellness Core Original. It was $51 for a 26lb bag.

Jess-There are actually lots of people who feed their dogs "real food" diets. It would be time consuming for sure, but may work out to be cheaper than buying dry foods. Definitely check with your vet before doing a "human food" diet with your dog.

Which actually brings up something I meant to mention earlier. Please talk to your vet or at least do your own research before changing your pets food. I am no expert by ANY means. And if you do decide to switch it's best to do it gradually. For instance do a mixture of old food/new food for a few days at least, slowly increasing the amount of new and decreasing the amount of old.

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I bought the Innova EVO (I think that's how it's spelled)

The website is down right now, but hopefully it will be up later.

The EVO is $50 for a 28lb bag, which is more than twice as expensive as my old brand, but it's a 6 star and it's worth it to me. I can't get them crap food and spend money on going to the movies...

Also, you should take at least 2 weeks to switch over their food. 25-75, 50-50, 75-25, or something like that.

I bought the 5 lb bag to make sure they liked it, and they did.

Also, when you feed them better food, usually you feed them less, look on the package. the good stuff is more "nutrient dense"- sorry, WW phrase

Thanks Again Mandy!!

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Ashley you brought up some GREAT points!!!!

VERY IMPORTANT:

* When you switch your dogs food do it slowly!! My vet recommended at least 7 days. Like Ashely said, slowly introduce the new food a little bit at a time.

* Higher quality food usually has more calories (because there is real food in there) so you may feed them less. For instance Zach was eating 2 cups of food in the morning and 2 cups in the evening of the old stuff. With the new stuff he eats 1 1/8 cup in the morning and 1 1/8 in the evening.

I know what you mean about not being able to buy the less expensive food anymore. I just couldn't have this information and continue to feed him the food. I just wish I would have learned about this with Gero.

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I know how you feel! No matter how many kids I have, my puppies will still be my children. I'll do anything I can to have them have a long and healthy life!

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