[KristenC]

Charlotte ( almost 3) does not turn into a monster, but she too does not like to play. There was a period of time when she would not play at all. we have been trying to encourage her to play daily.

Now she will chase the ball outside, maybe three times, then run around the back yard twice. We have tried many different toys and tug of war. This has not helped. I just bought her a flrt pole which I use but not everyday as I don’t want her to tire of this game either. She likes the flirt pole.

she will bother me for a bully stick daily. I buy her the huge ones for an extra large dog and let her chew on it for 30 min. It will last for about 8 to 10 chewining sessions.

we still put her in the crate at night. She loves it there and stays in the crate until 7 am When we get her out. The only thing easy about Charlotte is that she was easy to potty train. She only had three accidents inside the house, and this was because we did not take her out.

 

[KristenC]

Grain free kibble is starchy too. So that won’t help. Although the article talks about cereal grains, legumes and potatoes which is typically found in grain free food, is also starchy. All starch turns into sugar in the body. All kibble is starchy, so if you feed kibble they are going to get starch. However, some kibble is starchier than others. So if you want to feed kibble, you could try a brand with a lower carb content. The only other thing you can do is find a food without grains, potatoes or legumes which usually means raw. Note that this may not be your dog’s problem, however I thought it was worth mentioning.

As Charlotte has anxiety, I saw a you tube by Emma parsons who wrote Click to Calm. In the video, she spoke briefly about how a lower protein dog food (22% protein) has helped dogs with anxiety. She did not go into details and did say that there was not real research on it but many people who have reactive dogs have been better on lower protein. I’ve tried to search for some brands but I’m not sure what to get. Right now she is on dehydrated raw patty from Stella and chewy, gets a bit of honest kitchen kibble, a tsp of sweet potato, broccoli and egg a day. Does not drink any water and so I wet the patty with water.

any thoughts?

 

[KristenC]

What is most important in looking at the protein content of dog food is the moisture content. The higher the moisture content, the lower the relative protein. Raw dog food is actually the lowest in protein content compared to other types of food. So if you are looking for low protein content that is also very high in quality, I would go with raw. Contrary to popular belief, kibble has a very high relative protein content due to lack of moisture. In addition, kibble typically contains large amounts of poor quality plant protein and the quality of the meat protein it does contain is overly processed and low quality. I assume the fresh food diets are also on the low end protein wise although I am not as knowledgeable about them. As far as freeze dried, I would think adding enough water to it would make it similar to raw, however it would be important to make sure it is rehydrated properly especially since you mention that Charlotte does not drink water.

I am not sure how much Honest Kitchen kibble Charlotte is eating, however reducing this or eliminating it could be helpful in reducing protein content, especially since Charlotte does not drink water. You could also try hydrating it to up the moisture content.

As far as brand recommendations, I am currently not up to date on all the premade raw foods out there. I make my own food so I do not use a premade mix. Stella and Chewy’s sounds like a good brand. I personally like rotating brands and formulas. I think this is safest as far as avoiding imbalances or excessive amounts of anything.

One other thing. You mentioned Charlotte eats an egg every single day. Eggs are wonderful and healthy but a feeding an egg every day to a small dog seems like alot. Are you feeding the whole egg including shell? Do you feed both the yolk and white? Is it cooked? The reason I mention this is that the egg white contains a biotin inhibitor that could lead to a biotin deficiency over time. However, the yolk has plenty of biotin so if the yolk is also fed then things should balance out. The other thing is that feeding the egg without the shell could make it very high in phosphorus. The shell contains calcium that balances out the phosphorus in the rest of the egg. All this may not matter that much if you feed egg a couple times a week, however if you are doing this every day imbalances could occur over time. This is just something to be aware of. Sometimes dogs can get too much of a good thing.

Hope this helps.

Just wanted to add…I find it interesting that there are many articles linking high protein to anxiety however not much out there link high carbs to it. The kibble marketers are very clever.

Thanks. I was also looking into just food for dogs as well becase I can buy it frozen or in a box from my local petco. Yes I saturate the raw dehydrated patty in water and them put it in the Kong and on her lick mat to eat. There are usually small pieces left in there and we call it her “ cereal” when it’s breakfast or “ soup” for dinner. As for the egg, I have been putting a tsp of a frozen scrambled egg in her Kong with a tsp of sweet potato and a sometimes broccoli with 6 pieces of kibble mixed with some of her Stella and chewys patty. Is a tsp of egg too much. Maybe I should do it once a week.