Huskyluv wrote:

MelissaI wrote:

I don't know if it's me, but since I've been giving him the lil bits of the samples his poop has firmed up even more.

Oh my gosh, Melissa, you have no idea how happy I am to hear that! I hope you will see continued improvement as you try out the new food. I'm so excited for you! Believe me I know how you feel, after 11 months of non-stop diarrhea with Faith, I was tickled pink for the first few MONTHS after putting her on Perfect Form as it is the only product that keeps her from having stomach upsets.

Keep us updated! I'm so happy to hear that you've seen some improvement!!! Yay Kody!

Very happy to hear he's improving more and more, little by little!

11 months Val!?!! WOW! Poor little Faith =( Thank goodness that you found what works for her! You must have tons of patience...that's for sure! I bought him some green beans earlier and gave him a lil with his lunch to see if he does ok with them also. I have a question though....i was reading the ingredients that are in Embark and it has turkey, bananas, apples,etc. Just because those ingredients are in THK it doesn't necessarily mean that he'll do well on them whole?

At some point I would like to try raw turkey ground beef. Is that something that I should consider? Or is it too soon?

Kody could do well on the same ingredients in it's whole, raw form. However, I would take it slow because it could be the 'cooking' process he may not do well on. For example, if there are dehydrated raw apples in THK, he would more likely do OK with raw, whole fruit apples vs. applies in kibble.

Start slow; I start with 1 bite, about as big as a 1/2" square piece for Ginger, and if she does well with that, then I give 2 pieces, and so forth.

With Kody, because you are still figuring out what he can and cannot tolerate, stick with what you have been feeding him right now and get him regulated first, before trying a few more added ingredients. I think right now, you have him on carrots, raw beef and a little THK Embark, correct? This is just me, but what I would do at this point, is SLOWLY phase out the carrots and phase in THK to the point where you know FOR SURE that raw beef and EMBARK makes him firm no matter if you feed more or less of either of those foods.

Remember when we said this will take time and patience? This is where you take things slow because if he's doing pretty good right now, you don't want to try different ingredients and have a set back.

He would probably be OK on the ingredients in THK in it's whole raw form, but take it slow. You're still only at a couple of tablespoons of Embark right now, so work on adding more of that first before trying anything else.

....That's what I would do....and it's because I tried giving Ginger new foods prematurely and had a major set back, and that wasn't fun.

I'm pretty much staying out of this thread cause Claudia and Val have it covered But I'm so happy to hear that Kody is doing better

Woo woo!

Excellent post, Claudia. I agree with everything she said there Melissa.

Honestly, I think you should slow it down a bit. You're introducing two new things at a time and like Claudia mentioned, that can really set you back if one or the other doesn't go over well. And if something does cause stomach upset you won't know which it was because you introduced both around the same time. Choose one and stick with it. Either try Embark or try green beans but wait until you are sure he's doing well steadily on one or the other.

I would stick with slowly increasing the amount of Embark you are feeding. Currently, how much beef, carrots and Embark is he eating on a daily basis? I ask to be sure he's getting a well balanced amount and that he doesn't start getting too much as that can also cause him to regress. As long as he's doing well with the Embark I'd keep slowly increasing his amounts, there's no rush...take your time. As the amount of Embark keeps increasing eventually you'll want to start decreasing the amount of beef. That won't be for a little while yet though depending on how much Embark you're feeding.

I would hold off on introducing any more green beans until you know how he does on Embark and he is consistently giving you formed stools. Although I am curious to know how he does since he has already had some green beans. Let us know!

As for doing well on the individual HK ingredients as a whole, that will depend on the dog really. But it is a starting point in knowing what he can tolerate at least to some degree.

Yes, raw ground turkey is an option that you can consider later on down the road, but it is too soon to be considering that right now while you're still trying to get Kody's tummy back on track. Patience, sweetheart, you'll get there!

You girls know your stuff so i'm going to take it slow. I tend it to get overly excited about things and try to rush them, but you're right about taking it slow. I just got so excited that he's been doing ok. Yes, he's currently on raw ground beef, carrots, and a bit of THK. I'm almost out so I hope my order arrives tomorrow. I gave him 2 green beans earlier Val, so we'll see if he does ok on them. He pooped a few minutes ago and it was still ok, but we'll know for sure by tomorrow.

I felt like a crazy person earlier because I spent 30min separating his meat and carrots into ziplock bags per serving. I have like 10 of them in the fridge/freezer...lol!

I had to boil and then peel 24 eggs at a time and in the beginning, that would last only 2 days before I gotta boil more eggs! I also went through 5lbs of carrots fast! Now that's crazy!!

MelissaI wrote:

I felt like a crazy person earlier because I spent 30min separating his meat and carrots into ziplock bags per serving. I have like 10 of them in the fridge/freezer...lol!

That's not at all crazy! A lot of raw feeders do this once a week to make daily raw feeding easier. To an extent I separate out our raw meals for the week too. Although I put a weeks worth of meat into one container. I started out using Ziploc bags but was going through the bags faster than I would like so I switched over to using washable tupperware.


LOL Claudia, I cannot imagine having to peel 24 eggs every 2 days! Bet that gets old fast!

I'm pretty sure I didn't make hard boiled eggs until just recently!

cmanding wrote:

I'm pretty sure I didn't make hard boiled eggs until just recently!

I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND THE FEELING!!! I don't think I want to see another boiled egg for a LONG time! Even the smell kinda grosses me out now. I would boil/peel 24 eggs for 2 days also. NOT FUN!

The THK arrived today!!! I also just found out that an ex co-worker of mine recently opened up a pet store 3 blocks from my job and they carry THK and Orijen and limited ingredient treats! Plus, they'll deliver to my job b/c he knows me. WOOHOO! Obviously I'm sticking to the THK for a while, but in the future it's good to know what they carry Orijen (I think you guys said it was a good option for kibble).

Val, the green beans didn't affect Kody...at least not yet...so that's a plus! I gave him 1/2 cup of Embark for dinner with his meat/carrots. Let's see...hope it all goes well. He loves the stuff...he was licking the bowl for 5minutes after.

Did you go from 2 tablespoons of Embark with his beef and carrots to 1/2 cup? That's a big jump...2 tablespoons = 1/8 cup...This is just me, but I would have gone from 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup of THK. That means 2 tablespoons, and then add 2 more tablespoons.

If Kody is still firm and formed after adding 1/2 cup of Embark, keep him there for a few days - at least 3 or 4 days...if he's still doing good, then add another 2 more tablespoons while backing off the beef and carrots.

That's great news Kristina! I agree I would have started at 1/4 cup but we'll see how he does. If he does fine than keep him on that like Claudia suggested. Fingers crossed for good results. And I am very pleased to hear he did not react to that small amount of green beans, there is hope!

Ha, oops girls!!! I meant 1/3 cup...not 1/2. I was typing with them play fighting right under me while having dinner on the stove and it got hectic there for a while! So, yes, 1/3rd cup it is...maybe a bit too much =\ Didn't seem like a lot though...let's see how it goes. He should be ok...I HOPE!

1/3 cup is a little better. Can't wait to hear how he does, fingers crossed for you!

So far so good as of this morning!

That's what we like to hear! Did he have a BM?

good to hear Kody is doing good so far!
BM still formed and firm?

Yep, he had two BM's actually. One at 630am and the other at 8am both formed...same as they've been. I don't know about firm though because when I go pick it up they fall apart, but I think the carrots that's causing that. Claudia, I think you mentioned that that happened to you also?

Yes, carrots in his BM will cause it to fall apart, especially if there are lots of carrots in his BM. But it shouldn't be really mushy even with all those carrots in it. Once you start to decrease the amount of carrots you feed him, it should hold form and you should be able to pick up his BM in one piece.

It shoulds like he's doing pretty good so far...so, I would keep him on 1/3 c Embark, and whatever you're feeding him for beef and carrots at least until Thursday - so 3 more full days. I would personally keep him there until the end of the week and Sunday decrease beef and carrots and add another 2 or 3 tablespoons of Embark - so ja little less than a 1/4 c of Embark. BUT, if he's doing well today, tomorrow and Thursday, I think it would be OK to decrease beef and carrots and increase Embark on Friday...

Val may even go less on adding Embark, and she may even go a a few more days before adding more Embark...but I like to go at least 5 days before I add more of anything new to Ginger's food.

Yep, I'm planning on keeping him on the 1/3 cup for a few days and slowly try to fade out the carrots a bit once I increase the Embark. I'm thinking of keeping him on the ground beef for a while longer because he really likes it and I think without it he might stay hungry =( He's ALWAYS HUNGRY! He would eat all day long if I let him! LOL!

ok!
keep us posted!

Is Kody still going pretty good?
Update please!

HE IS!!! Poop is formed, not hard to pick up, but it's not extremely firm like Mya's either. He's also pooping a lot more now. I've had to take him out twice in the middle of the night to poop. Is that normal on THK?

His skinny butt gained 4lbs too! He's at 40lbs now..woohooo!

Yay for formed poop! And I'm glad to hear he's putting on a little more weight. You may want to watch that - you don't want him gaining too much weight in too short of a time.

Sometimes Ginger will have a big BM but it kind of depends on when she last had a BM and how much she pooped. She usually will have at least 3 BM's in a day, but if she has 4 and the last one is right before she goes to bed, then the morning one is small and sometimes little turds. If she didn't go before she goes to bed, she might have 2 the next morning: one when I first let her out which is usually small, then on our walk about 30 to 60 minutes later, she'll have a bigger one. One morning, she didn't have a BM and when hubby took her on a walk at 10/11am, he said it was a 2-hand pick up job! LOL!

Sometimes Ginger will have really firm BMs and sometimes they're semi-soft/firm. Depends on how much chicken she eats - but nevertheless, it's still formed and very easy to pick up.

It sounds like Kody is doing ok so far so you may want to decrease the amount of carrots and beef and add a little more THK...I think it's been a few days so I think you can do another small transition toward more THK and less beef/carrots....and see how he does.

Keep us posted!