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  #1  
Old February 26th, 2005, 09:05 PM
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ScottGoodburn ScottGoodburn is offline
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shiny coat?

Is there anything I can give Buddy to make his coat more silky and shiny and nice. I'm sure that finesse or vidal sassoon won't work! Throw your two cents in.
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Old February 26th, 2005, 09:14 PM
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What brand of food are you feeding Buddy? I noticed in another thread you made some inquiries about raw feeding. I don't raw feed, myself yet, but everyone I know who does comments on the "shiny coats"

Maybe this is for you? Carina is our published expert on this...you could ask her,..
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Old February 26th, 2005, 09:16 PM
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We feed Buddy Purina Dog Chow, he enjoys it fine. I've heard some people mix in a raw egg or two with the food. Ever heard of that? It's supposed to help their coats! So many questions , so little time!
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Old February 26th, 2005, 09:31 PM
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Egg is good!! Fish oils--omega 3-6-9--sold at health food stores/drug stores. Plain yogurt is wonderful for their intestinal tracts and bacterial flora, but you should try something a bit better than Purina. A good food, human grade food that is, if it is for example "chicken" or "lamb n rice" then the chicken/lamb is the first ingredient. No by products either. If it's sold by the grocery store-then forget it. Names to look for would be, Wellness, Nutros, Solid Gold, your pet retail stores would have them. (Don't encourage pet shops!!)

But if you are looking into raw or Barf(bones and raw food) diet, I believe they even have food brokers that ship to your door, not sure about that one...
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Old February 26th, 2005, 09:34 PM
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I have heard that Purina isn't very good from other people, I guess if I change, I should do it gradually, as not to upset his tummy? We switched once before when he was a pup and he had the runs for a week or two.
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Old February 26th, 2005, 09:40 PM
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I usually take about 10-14 days to switch over, but my gang all have tummy probs except for Gypsy who could eat rust!!

Yeah just gradually increase the ammount of new kibble(if you go that route) and decrease the old. If you get a bout of diarrhea then return to the mixture of the previous day and stay there until you get normal stools.

Good quality food pays off, you'll spend more on food, but less time at the vet, and wait till you see his coat!!
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Old February 26th, 2005, 09:50 PM
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Well, I just ran out of dog food tonight, so out to the stores tomorrow, I'll be buying bags of food now! One of the old and one new one. Since you've been so helpful, can you recommend a pet store? Super pet or petsmart? Are they any good? We also have ruffin's pet stores in Hamilton here? Ever heard of them? sorry about all the questions twinmommy, but I am learning tons and looking forward to making Buddy's life the most enjoyable he can have!
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Old February 26th, 2005, 09:59 PM
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Ummmm, not sure about those store names, being from QC, we don't have those, but I think I've seen other members post good things about PetSmart...(please don't let it be an evil store!! ) The important thing to remember is not to buy your dog food from a store that sells puppies/ kittens etc. so as not to encourage backyard breeders and puppy mills.

Let us know how it goes, and how Buddy likes his new food
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Old February 26th, 2005, 10:04 PM
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I'm going to post about the pet stores, see what other people have to say, the ones that live in ONTARIO that is! You are super helpful and thanks for the advice! I think I will go to petsmart tomorrow!
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Old February 26th, 2005, 10:15 PM
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I mix a raw egg in Molly's breakfast food. She loves it and is so spoiled that if I forget her egg she looks at me like "Where is my egg mum" and she won't eat until I add the egg. What is even funnier , we have a border and I usually fix Molly's breakfast when I am fixing everyone elses and he reminds me not to forget Molly's egg too.
She doesn't seem to care that there is no egg in her dinner food because she doesn't hesitate eating when dinner is put down.
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Old February 26th, 2005, 10:20 PM
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That's cuz she knows eggs are for breakfast
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Old February 26th, 2005, 10:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScottGoodburn
I'm going to post about the pet stores, see what other people have to say, the ones that live in ONTARIO that is! You are super helpful and thanks for the advice! I think I will go to petsmart tomorrow!
Both petsmart and superpet are fine. They did recommend a food (when Bear was a puppy) that made him stop using his back legs. Vet was telling me that certain types of dog food have high protein which in large breeds (I guess at 161lbs he's an extra large breed) makes their bones grow faster than their tendons, causing them to stop using the limb. Anywho, I can't remember the brand of food (purple bag-ha, like that's helpful), but I stopped using it. He's now on the walmart brand Actrium, as it's the only food that doesn't give him hot spots. For dry skin, which he has all winter long, the vet recommended a vitamin E pill once daily, and that seems to help. His coat has never been that shiny, but I have heard that either fish oil or egg works. Bear just barfs up egg. What a princess. :queen:
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Old February 26th, 2005, 10:47 PM
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I found when I switched off iams to nutro max that my puppy's coat got shinier and silkier. I heard a lot of people mention that a higher quality food or a raw diet vastly improves coat quality.

I've heard great things about nutro, natural balance, flint river, chicken soup for a pup lover's soul and innova.

Also, while paying slightly more for food it has balanced out, my pup eats less better quality kibble than she did of the iams since it doesn't have not so great fillers in it.
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  #14  
Old February 26th, 2005, 10:57 PM
Lucky Rescue Lucky Rescue is offline
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Purina is one of the cheapest foods out there, and it's cheap for a reason - corn doesnt' cost as much as meat. However corn is not a good diet for dogs since they cannot digest it.

I've been feeding my dog Wellness for 2 years now, and her coat is tight, smooth and actually glistens. Also, you feed about 1/2 the amount that you do of Purina, so the cost is not much more. Less poop too, since the food is completely digestible.
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  #15  
Old February 26th, 2005, 10:59 PM
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Thanks everyone , learning so much from this site, and Buddy will be much happier!
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  #16  
Old February 26th, 2005, 11:01 PM
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Lucky, what's Wellness? I need to be careful because Bear is extremely prone to very severe hot spots, so I don't want to experiment too much with food types.
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  #17  
Old February 26th, 2005, 11:23 PM
Lucky Rescue Lucky Rescue is offline
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Wellness is made by Old Mother Hubbard, and you can read about it here:
http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/index.asp

It's made with only human grade ingredients. Don't take my word for this, cause I'm not sure, but I have heard that food too high in protein can cause hot spots on dogs....?
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  #18  
Old February 26th, 2005, 11:52 PM
LL1 LL1 is offline
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There are alot of high quality foods better than Purina.

Whole Dog Journal publishes a list.All dogs are different tho and for some the highest quality foods are too rich.

Some foods I would look at when choosing a food,and these will not be at petsmart,Ryan's or Global will have them


Wellness
Innova
Wysong
California Natural
Canidae
Holistic Select by Eagle Pack
Newman's Own
Chicken Soup
Naural Balance
Royal Canin higher end stuff

Then again there are things many of us do not like even in the higher end foods.They are better than any Purina food,but there are milder concerns of course,as far as what I would give my own dog.
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Old February 27th, 2005, 12:01 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LuckyRescue

It's made with only human grade ingredients. Don't take my word for this, cause I'm not sure, but I have heard that food too high in protein can cause hot spots on dogs....?
Thanks for the link. I'm reluctant to switch his foods if he's not reacting to it. For some reason, this cheap food seems to be the only thing he's not reacting to. The vet seems to think he might be allergic to beef. Who knows, I just hate to see him suffer with the hot spots when this food seems to be working fine.

I don't know about the high protein, I'll have to ask the vet.
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  #20  
Old February 27th, 2005, 08:47 AM
momofrhonda momofrhonda is offline
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shiny coat

We started giving our Golden Nutricoat about 3 weeks ago and have noticed a great difference in how soft and shiny she now is. (It has also cut back on the amount of shedding!)

We bought Nutricoat at Pet Valu. It sold for 11.99 for a small bottle of liquid that I squirt (about 2 tablespoons) into her breakfast kibble. She loves it!

A friend of mine suggested it back in January when our Golden's fur was looking and feeling very coarse from the cold weather. I'm very pleased with Nutricoat.

Good luck!
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  #21  
Old February 27th, 2005, 09:31 AM
kayla kayla is offline
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Flax seeds are really good for shiny fur, and cheap! You can get the oil too but it is pricey. Just grind up the seeds in a coffee grinder if you have one and add some to your dogs food.
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  #22  
Old February 27th, 2005, 01:29 PM
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Costco's Kirkland Brand

It's awesome! Made by Diamond and the generic version of chicken and rice is $22.99 for lamb and rice $24.99 for a 40 lb bag! This comapres to $63 and $68 dollars for the same food in a different bag. It has NO corn, no junk. Purina is not good food at all, Pedigree sure makes it LOOK like it's good stuff. Become a label reader and you can find some really good foods out there. Agreed raw diets are great for dogs, my older dog will not accept it though. Hmm for allergies, the most common meat cause is beef, most common grain source is corn. Corn is useless to a dog but cheap to use a filler. Corn is the number one ingredient in Beneful...so misleading.
Here is the label from the lamb and rice, I can't get the chicken and rice one to be clear enough to read grr.
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