So I've tried blogging about a billion times but I'm definitely inconsistent with my posts... and then the ones that I do post, I feel are too self-centered, and not productive to read, which is what twitter and FB are for! so here's another attempt!
Danny told me that seeing me with a puppy is a reflection of how I will be with a baby one day. Who knew I'd be such a crazy OCD mom?
A lot of my posts will be about this little guy and our adventures to making him more awesome everyday :)
Anywho, a big part of keeping him healthy, is having him on a healthy diet. The thing is, Cruz is a PICKY EATER. If he doesn't like his food, he won't eat it. So I'd have to hand feed him, but even then, he'll slowly just not eat anymore. When Me and Danny first brought him home, we got him fancy food that looked healthy. Actually we got him Bil-Jac because it had a picture of a cute puppy his size on it...
Even though a lot of pet owners said their dog loved Bil-Jac, it's like the fast food for dogs - it tastes great but it's not too healthy. An easy way to tell how good the dog food is, health-wise, look at the first 5 ingredients. Bil-Jac's first 5 are: Chicken, Chicken by-products, Corn Meal, and Chicken by-product meal and Oatmeal.
By-Products are left overs of whatever. "Meal" is pretty much a condensed version of X. So you've got left-over chicken parts and condensed left-over chicken parts. Corn is also known to be the least nutritious veggie for dogs...I decided I didn't want to spend money on stuff that wasn't that good..
So I talked to my vet to see what would be good for him, and they suggested to ween him off Bil-Jac and get him on Purina Pro-Plan. Thinking vets know best, I went ahead and bought it. He liked it at first, but then he started getting diarrhea and again.... picky eating syndrome. I looked online, and some people were saying that some vets only promote what they sell... Great. Did some more research and the Purina Pro-Plan, recommended by vets, is also mediocre. [Reality: It only takes ONE vet to recommend a product for them to advertise it on their package]
There are many things that the USDA wouldn't allow for human consumption, but allow animal consumption - such as the ingredients in the "by-products". I don't ever want to see by-products in his food, and here it is.. 4th on the list. 2nd is Brewers rice, small left over fragments from milling regular rice. 6th on the list is what really made me roll my eyes...Animal Fat. Dogfoodadvisor.com explains that "Since there is no mention of a specific animal, this item could come from almost anywhere: restaurant grease, slaughterhouse waste, diseased cattle - even (although not likely) euthanized pets." Though it's not one of the main ingredients per-se, but I'd rather pay a couple extra bucks for it to not be in there.
So as of right now I'm weening him onto Castor&Pollux Organix. It's a little on the pricey side, 17.99 for a 5.25lb bag, (almost as much as a 36lb bag of Pedigree), but it takes Cruz about 2 months to finish a bag, so it's not so bad. You really are paying for quality. USDA inspects all the ingredients, most are organic, and enforce the quality required for human consumption. Top 5 Ingredients in Organix is: Organic Chicken, Chicken Meal, Organic Brown Rice, Organic Peas, Organic Millet.They also advertise their lack of corn, wheat and meat by-products.
I fed Cruz the mix of Pro-Plan and Organix, and he made a MESS. haha He pretty much picked out all the Pro-Plan out of the bowl so he could eat the Organix. Then I put straight Pro-Plan in one hand and straight Organix in the other and it's he's definitely loving the Organix. I'm worried that he's going to try to eat only Organix and get the case of the mudbutt.
I got a lot of my info from other puppy-moms on boards, reviews, and www.dogfoodadvisor.com. It's a website with unbiased opinions that give you detailed info about all different foods.
I'll post again soon on longer-term affects :P
