Another Round of Food

Click here to visit the most complete Maltese site on the WWW

Please bear in mind when reading topics pertaining to health issues, that most of these questions were answered by helpful Maltese owners with no formal education in veterinary medicine. When in doubt seek a professionals advise.

Archived Message

Another Round of Food
by cathy brown
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Another Round of FoodHere I am..Cathy Brown Girl Food Critic with the latest update on "What to Feed the Fluff Balls." As most of you probably know, a bunch of us were feeding Nutro (my kids got the Lite) and finding the fur babies had more than their fair share of tummy upsets. So, this week folks, we are trying BilJac lite at our house. First, the results of the taste test. Being a good mom, I, of course, planned to mix the BilJack with the Nutro for a few days to avoid more upsets. Nice thought, but... We began our test by hand-feeding each fluff ball some of the BilJac. Everyone sniffed and walked away. OOOPs. But wait, one of them is coming back: it's Ms. Adventurous Lucy. She sniff, she bites, she crunches, she looks for more. Here comes the Boo Boy (who I guess saw all those "Look, Mikey's eating it" commercials. Sniff, bite, crunch. Longing looks. So I put a handful in each bowl. The two, now ravenous creatures, hunker down. In moments...you guessed it..two empty bowls. So, folks, the results of the taste test are in and BilJac wins, hands down. Stay tuned for any signs of throwing up...I'll let you know.

DISCUSSION:

Cathy: My girls haven't miss a meal since we switched to Bil-Jac. tonight Shayna decided she'd wait to see what MoM and Dad are eating before she filled up on doggy food. Big mistake Shayna, Mom had to retreave the bowl before the KoKo Bear finished hers and Shayna's Bil-Jac. Shayna got a taste of turkey from good old Dad and decided it best to finish her dinner, Bil-Jac in the bowl. Can't tell you how much easier it is to walk them and when to expect a movement because they are eating regular again. Should we have let Nutro know what problems our babies where having? Just for information purposes. By the way, if you missed us, we were in the FL Keys for 5 days. Still had BAD weather, rain, wind and cooler than expected. Always glad to come home.
Shelley

Cathy, That was cute!!! Well, I am off on my all day trek to Portland, where I will scour the big city for Pro Plan......Taffy's Mom is on a mission! All I have to say is, "She better love it!" She has never had a new dog food and is rather picky even to treats. BUT, I am getting it and she HAS to eat it, right? Well I guess we will see. If she does not like it, then next time I will stuff her in her Sherpa Bag, (which she hates), and make her go with me to pick out her own good, healthy food!
Robin K.

Hi Cathy - I'm still feed my girl Bailey Eukanuba Puppy Lamb & Rice because my Vet said its good for them as puppies but as they get older to switch. Well, she's now 10 months and I'm starting to look around for an adult food - I was settled on the Pro Plan from everyones advice here and was wondering if you had also tried that before the Bil Jac or if you are just doing a taste test? Glad you found a good one your babies like!
Robin D.

First of all...Shelly it's about time you got back! Cathy, hopefully the BilJac works well. I am feeding my 7 month old Buster IAMS Puppy food with no problems at all. Good Luck and keep us posted.
Libby & Buster

Where do you'll buy Bil-jac. Never heard of it. Thanx.
Dottie

Where can you find Bil-Jac? I have heard my Veterinarian talk about this product on the local TV news station here in Maryland, but I don't know where it is, do they sell it at PetSmart? Thanks,
Opl, Lalita, & Veba

Hi Guys, Just writing in to tell you that my Taffy so far is doing ok with Nutro, and has no problems. The only thing is, is that she eats late because she waits for us to throw her any morsal of human food! Even if it is a drop! Put it this way, she doesn't growl, snap, or bite us when she eats her Nutro, and I'm glad for that because some dogs I here can take off a finger when eating dog food. In any case, if its not broke, why fix it. She seems to be doing well with Nutro anyway.
Margaret

Libby & Buster: thanks for the welcome back. I get Bil Jac at a local Pet Store (no they don't sell dogs, my trainer owns the shop) called Pet Masters. I have seen it at Petsmart and have been told I can find it all over the country, as we travel in the summer in our motorhome and availability was important to me. My girls love it. I have also tried a new trick, Foster Smith sells something called Gravy for Fido, I put a drop (size of a dime) on their food at dinner time and don't blink because you'll miss them eating. Yes, they will eat it plain too.
Shelley

Hi-- Nutro is all we use here !!. I am very happy with the results.My oldest (will be 9 years) has lost weight that she needed to lose, is much more playful, and all three of them have nicer coats. I am sure Nutro is part of the reason all are doing well.My puppy throws up at times.....but I do not blame Nutro.She just plain "Eats too fast." So, I feed her in three segments and separate her from the other 2 m & m girls.The people at the pet store also tell me that Nutro is the freshest. I have tried many different dog foods over the years,but will sure stick with Nutro.
Bel and the m & m & m girls

Ok guys. So far, no throwups at our house. And I've noticed that Carty's stools (in particular, as he's the one with the touchy digestive tract) are firmer--in case you wanted to know! Both kids still chowing down like it's dinner from the Outback (one of my personal favorites). Where to get it? I, too, live in Maryland. Got it at PetSmart. Happily this is much more convenient than buying the Nutro, which I found only at a local pet store. And for those who asked. I picked BilJac because I'd heard good things about both here and on my email list. Pro-Plan was also on the "to try" list, but I found the BilJac first. If there are any changes, I'll let you know. So far, though, I feel a whole lot better just because my BooBoy has stopped tossing his cookies every morning at 6 AM!
cathy brown

Mika has been diagnosed with epilepsy and we are looking for an all natural dry dog food for our holistic approach. Any suggestions. P.S. Mika is very dry food picky. She didn't like the Bil-Jac.
Jackie and Mika

Jackie- I don't have an answer for you as to which food to try for Mika. But I wanted to let you know that a co-worker of mine has a dog with epilepsy and has set up a web page with links to other sites on canine epilepsy. The link to "Emma's Page" may be of interest to you. Emma goes to a holistic vet. Emma's owner has posted a log of events from August 1997 to present. The address for the page with Emma's link is http://www.realtime.net/~dclark/epil_links.html Hope it helps....
Sharryl (Nitro's mom)

Hi Jackie - try this site, they list addresses and URLs for some manufacturers of "natural" dog food: http://www.rahul.net/hredlus/dog-food.html Or this site, which gives a REALLY comprehensive comparative list of ingredients in various different kibbles, as well as contact numbers and URLs: http://www.aloha.com/~wolfepack/foodcht4.html You can find out all you wanted to know about the different foods and then some. Sim (Snowy's mum) gave us some Innova to try from a sample pack - Moose and Squirrel LOOOVE it, but apparently Snowy wasn't quite so keen (he prefers Pro-plan). I have been giving the Innova to Moose and Squirrel as treats (we still have lots of puppy kibble to get through) and they prefer it to the other treats we have tried. Hope that Mika is OK, give her a hug from us.
Deanna (Moose & Squirrel)

Jackie, California Natural contains lamb meal, brown rice and sunflower oil, that's it. Rudy was scratching constantly up until about 3 wks to a month ago when he went on this. He hardly scratches anymore. They have a website, http://www.naturapet.com Also, they have sample packs so you can see if Mika will eat it or not without buying a whole bag. There's another you might want to check out and it's called Solid Gold. Their website is www.solid-gold-inc.com and their brochure says they are the "the holistic animal nutrition center established in 1974". They also will send sample packs. Their's arrived after I had already started Rudy on California Natural, but I will probably try it when he tires of the CA Natural. Good luck and bless you.
Marie

Thank you for all of the links. I have been keeping up with Emma's Page for a while and also belong to the Epil-K9 e-mail list, There are some great people on there. Mika is now in love with Innova dog food. It is made by Natura (??) . It is one of the all natural dog foods and isn't very expensive at all. I almost clapsed when I saw her eating dry dog food!!
Jackie and Mika