Sudden change of diet could be an issue. Is she getting into the other dogs' food?

Don't know if the diarrhea is uncontrolled and frequent. If it is, her tummy may need to rest for 24 hours, no food, just water.

You could try making congee (it's a rice porridge) to firm up stools. My pediatrician was a family friend; her advice to Moms who had kids with diarrhea was to make congee. It's like glue, helps get things back on track.

1 cup raw rice
6 cups water

1. Rinse rice in a strainer under cool water.

2. Combine rice and water in a large heavy bottomed pot.

3. Bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat, partially cover with lid allowing most of the steam to escape and simmer for 1.5 hours stirring occasionally until a porridge forms.

5. If the congee becomes too thick during cooking, add more water.

Should be like thin oatmeal. You can add some plain cooked ground meat (chicken, turkey, beef - whatever she's most used to eating). Several small meals a day to get started.

Vet isn’t a fan of home made food and recommends higher-end canned food. Once he told me that he also told me about Balanceit.com - the same site you use.

I like this guy.

He said the big thing to look for is food that meets AAFCO guidelines. Makes sense, and the Amazon Wag dry kibble we feed the other dogs does meet those guidelines. I soaked some of that in water to accommodate her teeth issues and she ate it like it was filet. Might be just the ticket.

The thing is, the best dog food is one the dog will eat, and in my case the dog food the other dogs *wont* eat. The other dogs don’t like the soft version and don’t muscle her away from it. I’ll probably get some of the canned stuff and will continue to make dog mush but I don’t see any reason not to open feed on the wetted Wag kibble.

Vets worry about clients making all kinds of weird diets that aren't balanced. It's easier to recommend feeding AAFCO-compliant diets than it is to walk clients through the process of coming up with an appropriate home prepared diet.

I was at the client end of that discussion some thirty years ago. My vet at the time posted my query about feeding a home cooked diet on a vet forum. Most of the answers were just insulting and totally unhelpful. Things like why the hell I would want to feed a Newfoundland puppy a homemade diet. Predicted all kinds of dire results and was convinced that I would never end up cooking for the dog when it reached its mature weight of 110+ lbs. None of the predictions came true, the Newf lived to 14 (ancient for that breed) and all the dogs were healthy as hell.

One person on the forum responded intelligently. She was Rebecca Remillard DVM, a pioneer in veterinary nutrition. People like Remillard and the others at VNC are those that do the research whose results end up as the AAFCO guidelines. I ended up doing a consultation with her about the dogs we had at the time and learned a tremendous amount from that exchange.

Veterinary Nutritional Consultations, Inc.

I also worked with Donald Strombeck DVM, and he was great as well. His remarks about AAFCO and how they interact with veterinarians are worth reading. The AAFCO imprimatur may not quite be what it's made out to be.

I've cooked for as many as three large dogs at one time and I know the effort it takes and that not many people have the time and energy to do it. I totally get going the prepared route, and I agree with your vet that the canned or fresh foods are way better than kibble.

This quote from balanceit is obviously BS. “Feeding common human foods is not the same nutritionally as consuming evolutionary whole prey or fresh kills.”

Dogs differ from wolves in that they’ve evolved to survive on human trash piles. Wolves make fresh kills, dogs are notoriously ooor hunters. Until 1950 or so there was no such thing as commercial dog food and the dogs did just fine on scraps.

We may be overthinking this.

I think I had a comment in an earlier post about commercial diets only coming to be in the middle of the 20th century, but I guess I deleted it during an edit...

I agree with the overthinking it part. And the fact that dogs have managed to survive with us for a very long time. It's why I don't subscribe to the "best thing you can feed your dog is an AAFCO compliant diet".

Kibble is like the canine version of an MRE or other highly processed food. I can't accept that it's better for the animal than "real" food that's fresh and simply prepared, and with ingredients that dogs can eat.

I use balanceit to generate a recipe that is generally balanced and that is appropriate for the dog's health (for instance, takes into account medical conditions like kidney problems that would benefit from a particular diet). As I mentioned earlier, I don't buy their supplement to get precise amounts of various nutrients. But then I've never been big on supplements for humans, either.

Which is kind of what Stromberg says, if you read the interview with him....

quote:

Caring for Dallas at the end nearly killed me.

i loved big puppy!

quote:

Originally posted by CHAS:
My mother was a lyric soprano. She studied at the Metropolitan Opera. Her studies ended due to the Great Depression.
I do not have a recording of her singing. Not one. There were some when she had a radio show for a short period, but the recording quality was poor.

that's a shame. this winter i at last ponied up the insane amount of money it cost to have my vintage tuner/amp restored. it was a gift from my dad in 1975, a marantz 2230, and i also have the marantz speakers to match.

when it came back about a month ago from the hobbyist in NJ who restored it for me, the very first thing I put on was a 2003 recording of my father playing the mozart clarinet quintet in concert. it was like having him in the room with me.

i have a bunch of other recordings around somewhere. he played first clarinet with the met opera in the 1950s and never quit trying to improve his playing the rest of his life. i was often used as his rehearsal coach before a performance, even when i was just a kid. if he were still alive, this would have been his 100th year.

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
I think I had a comment in an earlier post about commercial diets only coming to be in the middle of the 20th century, but I guess I deleted it during an edit...

I agree with the overthinking it part. And the fact that dogs have managed to survive with us for a very long time. It's why I don't subscribe to the "best thing you can feed your dog is an AAFCO compliant diet".

Kibble is like the canine version of an MRE or other highly processed food. I can't accept that it's better for the animal than "real" food that's fresh and simply prepared, and with ingredients that dogs can eat.

I use balanceit to generate a recipe that is generally balanced and that is appropriate for the dog's health (for instance, takes into account medical conditions like kidney problems that would benefit from a particular diet). As I mentioned earlier, I don't buy their supplement to get precise amounts of various nutrients. But then I've never been big on supplements for humans, either.

Which is kind of what Stromberg says, if you read the interview with him....

So here’s my plan.

I’m going to let the moistened, approved kibble take care of the odd amino acid and vitamin. I’m going to augment with homemade dog mush, varying it according to what I have.

I keep cheap chicken parts on hand for stock and I got some sweet potatoes. I always have carrots and wonder if we’ll boiled carrot peelings will work. Moistened stale bread, oatmeal, and rice can’t hurt.

She doesn’t have diarrhea any more.

Let’s see what happens.

As an aside, is it possible to buy a package of backs and necks any more?

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
As an aside, is it possible to buy a package of backs and necks any more?

I have not seen one recently. But go to a specialty butcher.

I haven’t found one of those yet. The butchers I can find are like grocery stores -their meat comes in already butchered.

The one I did find gets $8.99/LB for dog bones.

Seriously?

Are there any Asian or other ethnic markets near you?

Old dogs are special.

Ruca will love the attention and whatever you feed her.

Holy carp. I found chicken necks and backs at a local chain for $2.19 a pound. Chicken feet are $4.39.

Prices are on Instacart; don't know what the in-store price is.

Crazy.

Steve, are there hunters in your area? If so, there must be an abbatoir somewhere nearby. It's not hunting season, but it is lambing season. There could be places that process meats from local farms. Those, I have found, are the best and most reliable places to get offal and things like necks, spines, and tails. If you do get bones it is critical not to cook them, but rather to feed them raw. For an elderly dog, you can grind up the soft, non-weight-bearing bones like necks, spines, and tails. highly nutritious, but only feed ones that have meat on them. otherwise you'll get the opposite of diarrhea, and that is even less fun.

for veggies I always made up a mix of dark leafy greens ground up in the blender and added to the regular ration twice a week. a weekly raw egg is very nutritious as well.