1 week into home cooking

[Shannon Querry]

And what a difference it has made! We started last Wednesday and Fleury still had 2 looser stools on Thursday and Friday but then she didn't have a BM for 2 days until Monday morning! And when she did it was this perfect little poo! LOL!!

 

So now I'm trying to figure out where to go from here. Right now she's getting 2 cups total of a mixture of chicken and rice with a few dollops of yogurt on top each meal. I just bought a bag of The Missing Link w/glucosamine yesterday also to start adding to it. Do I now start adding a veggie in to see how she tolerates it?

 

I want to make sure she's getting everything she needs since she's still so young, anything else I should be adding to her meals. She won't be a year old until May.

 

Thank you all again, this is such a fantastic board!

[Shannon Querry]

Last year before the pumpkin shortage happened I was able to get Libby's for $1.39 a can at Walmart. I actually bought the bread making kit a few times just to get the pumpkin!! LOL! The mix was good for awhile so when it starts coming back out we'll be eating lots of bread ;)

In the animal one, the ingredients are pumpkin, calcium carbonate, Taurine, Ginger, L-Carnitine, Choline Chloride and Cinnamon. It's made by Fruitables Pet Food.

Her poop has been, dare I say, perfect these past few days so I'm anxious to see what happens after today!

[Cheri & Bonny]

Just wanted to say thanks for the tips on the pumpkin! It was the missing link in solving the poops problem -- after switching to EVO two months ago, adding in some rice, a spoonful of pumpkin finally solved the problem. Now I have a new problem... I ran out of my stock of pumpkin puree I made over the winter and I cleaned out the local store -- no more pumpkin. I saw earlier in the discussion that sweet potato or lentils might work as a substitute. Any other squashes work as well?

Of course I still have the issue of the buyout of Natura by Proctor & Gamble to deal with... I stockpiled several large bags so I have time to make the switch to Orijen gradually...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If you want to try other squashes, they need to be winter squashes such as acorn or butternut squash, and not summer squash like zucchini. I don't know if they would help with soft poop, but they couldn't hurt.

[Cheri & Bonny]

Thanks, Karen! I'll see what I can find this time of year. I did check on Amazon.com and you can still get cases of the organic pumpkin ($28.32 for 12 of the 15 oz. cans) from them with free shipping. Might be a good alternative, especially for people with less access to stores. My sister-in-law just told me she gets lots of her groceries from Amazon -- all with free shipping. I had no idea they were selling groceries now.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That's a great price! I paid $3.99 for a 15 oz can of plain old Libby's pumpkin at the grocery store!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Groceries from Amazon? I'll have to look into that for certain things!

[Cheri & Bonny]

I just ordered a case of the pumpkin. My only concern is that there have been several reviews that the cans have been delivered severely dented and most people think it is the manufacturer's fault. Amazon does offer a refund if this happens, so we'll see if it is still a problem. Worth it in my book! Took me about 2 minutes to complete the order....better than hours going from store to store!

[Holly St Pierre]

I am curious on the same subject of the home cooking, I mix veggies with Gunner's food, right now I do 3 parts Taste of the Wild & 1 part veggies, I am wondering if its ok to do 50/50 & then go to 3 parts veggies & 1 part Taste of the Wild. Any thoughts?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Holly, if I'm understanding you correctly, that would be far too little protein. Even if you used one quarter fresh meat (which is all protein) instead of the TOTW and three quarters vegetables, it would be too low in protein.

[Holly St Pierre]

That is what I kind of figured, thank you

[Holly St Pierre]

Karen-what would you recommend for protein, or if you could lead me to a link of previous discussion on home cooked ideas high in protein

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's a link to a fabulous discussion on homecooking which includes a PDF file that Jane posted on her routine, with detailed food selection choices.
http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/home-cooking-where-do-i-be...
Basically, 50% of the meal should come from animal proteins...beef, chicken, fish, lamb, duck, turkey, lean pork, venison or other game animals if available...you get the idea. Eggs are complete protein, too.
If you read the above discussion, you'll see that Jane's plan was supervised & approved by her vet, and I think it's one of the best.