Feeding

[mandy15]

Ellie could you give me more information on Stella and Chewy's raw diet. Angel is getting picker with her food. I looked up duck duck goose up at Stella and Chewy's and they said it has 42% crude protein. Isn't that a little high for our little ones. Then I looked it up at a place to buy and it said it has 13% crude protein. Which one is right? And which one do you feed Gracie. Also can I keep giving Horizon Amicus and I mix in Wellness puppy super5mix. Also can I mix in cooked chicken every once in awhile. And can she eat her same treats like organic peanut butter treats. She won't eat the cooked white chicken breasts because they're to dry for her and I tried mixing in rice and other things to make it softer. She won't eat it anymore. She wants the thighs which are greaser. She eats some puppy food but I'm afraid its not enough to get the nutrients she needs. I tried raw before and my vet had a fit and said get her off of it. I am so frustrated because I'm scared she's not eating healty enough. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[ellietoo]

First of all when I stopped mixing rice in with the chicken and started adding baked sweet potatoes instead Grace ate the food I cooked for he a lot better. She just does not like grains. There is a difference in the amount of protein in the S&C food. I think the lamb is lower in fat and protein than the chicken. I have had no problem feeding Gracie Stella & Chewy's. She is supposed to eat two of those disc things a day but I find she still wants more. Some people mix the S&C with a kibble to get them to eat. Gracie will lick the S&C off then spit out the kibble. She's such a stinker. Apparently it works for some dogs so I would give it a try. I don't allow Gracie to eat any treats if she hasn't eaten her main meal yet. Once that is done then she can have healthy treats. I am a mean momma. I think a Yorkie or other small dog that has liver problems may have problems with a high protein diet but a healthy dog should do fine once they have been slowly switched over. If you think about it though it is the closest to what a dog would eat without human intervention. You just don't see dogs eating grains and white potatoes in the wild and they don't have cancer or diabetes or obesity in the wild either.
I just bought a bag of Natures Variety Instinct for Gracie. That is the grain free stuff. I put a half a cup of it in a container with some broken up S&C's and let it sit closed up for the day. She was hungry when I opened it up for her tonight and she ate the whole thing! I was so happy. She ate kibble and S&C's! The Instinct is a very small kibble and I think she liked that too.

[mandy15]

I just called Stella and Chewy's on the phone and asked them some questions. They suggested feeding them just Stella and Chewys and no kibble or other food. They said it digests in their belly better if just given that. I guess they would say that so they sell more. If I go that route I am still going to give her treats. They suggested for Angels size 21/2 to 3 patties a day. Do you give Gracie the frozen patties or the freeze dried patties. The freeze dried doesn't have to be kept frozen or in the refrigirater they said. They said just add water to it. That would make it simpler if a person is going somewhere I guess. Let me know. I'm really thinking about switching her. I bet it's pretty expensive though. I'm still kind of leary switching to raw again but I feel Angel isn't getting enough nutrients the way she's eating.

[ellietoo]

Gracie is 4.5 pounds so I afford to buy her better food. I don't know what I would do if I owned a big dog. I would hate to have to feed them the garbage they are putting in dog food these days. We had a yellow lab years ago that suffered terribly as he got older with obesity and arthritis and other health problems. Gracie is supposed to get like 1 and 3/4 patties a day. Sometimes I just give her two. I give her the dehydrated kind as we don't have a place locally that sells the frozen. I had emailed S&C's to get info. So far Gracie is doing well on this food. It is the only thing she really loves to eat. I don't always rehydrate it. Sometimes I just break up a patty and give it to her. You have to make sure they drink well after doing that though. I usually give her the lamb or the chicken patties and I use chicken broth to rehydrate it. After going a year with a dog that refused even can dog food I am very happy to have her loving this food. My only issue is that she would like to eat more than what she is supposed to! I think you should give your dog snacks that are good for them after they have eaten their food. I give Gracie a patty in the morning and part of a patty mixed with the Instinct kibble in the evening. Did the Stella & Chewy's person say anything about the high protein content's effect on dogs?

[mandy15]

The woman I talked to said that the protein content isn't as high on the dehydrated dinners as the frozen dinners. She said {I don't know if I'm getting this exactly right} that when the food is dehydrated and then rehydrated the protein rate goes down alot. She couldn't say exactly what. I think thats why they sell the puppy only in dehydrated form. Oh she also said it goes down because the juices are dehydrated. Do you think that makes sense? But she claims the protein isn't that high. I ordered Angel the 16ozs I think, for 26 dollars and some. Do you know how many patties that is? So I can add up what its going to be every month. We have two other big dogs, well 45 and 55 pds. I feed them cooked chicken and usually a piece of ham in the mornings and then we feed them Wellness Super5 mix. And they get their snacks usually like milkbones. I wish I could feed them this too but we just can't too expensive. They're healthy though with shiny coats. It gets very expensive with three dogs. To tell you the truth I wasn't this well informed on dog food and other food since I got Angel. This site has really informed of their eating. And I look on the internet alot now. I just feel like since Angel's so small and every little bit matters what I put in her. But I think wellness is a decent dog food.

[mandy15]

I forgot to say I ordered the lamb for Angel. It was the lowest in protein. I'll see if she likes this and if she don't I'll try a different one.

[ellietoo]

I started Gracie on the chicken and the next time I bought the lamb. She didn't want the lamb at first but when she saw may cat trying to eat it she decided to try it. I had no problem after that. The cats love these raw and grain free dog foods. I can't just leave them down because the cats would eat it all up.
If you go on the Stella & Chewy's website there is a place where you can put in your zip code to find a place near you that sells their food. You should always call ahead though and make sure it really is in stock. There are also several websites that sell their food. Most of these brands have samples at the dog food stores that you can try and some of the companies will send you samples if you email and ask them. The last time I bought Stella & Chewys I had to drive 30 miles to get to the store that has it. I guess others travel farther but it was a town that I don't usually go to. I did no want to pay what they want for shipping for one bag of food. Some places will give you free shipping if you spend a certain amount on their products.
Stella & Chewy's is made in Wisconsin. They use grass fed cattle and other animals and the meat or animal has not been injected with steroids or antibiotics and other drugs like most of our meat has been. It is actually much healthier than our meat.

[mandy15]

Ellie I have to get this right. We're getting the freeze dried Stella and Chewys right? Not the frozen. They also call freeze dried dehydrated don't they. Also they don't have to be refrigirated right? And you just stir in water or broth to it and eat. I'm getting them today or tomorrow. Also did you slowly change Gracies diet with the patties? One more thing are the patties hard and they have to be thawed out or what?

[ellietoo]

Yes, they are freeze dried or you could call them dehydrated. They are a round dry disc or patty that can be broken up. It feels and looks just like dehydrated meat. Some people rehydrate them or just break them up and feed dry. They come in a bag that has several round discs or patties in it. I have never used the frozen ones. The Stella and Chewy's people told me that the freeze dried is better for the little dogs.

[ellietoo]

I'm sorry I forgot to answer you about how we got her eating it. Gracie wasn't really eating any dog food when I started Stella and Chewy's. I was just cooking her meat and veggies. So I started giving her one patty in the morning and the food I had cooked her in the evening. She had no problem at all with it. I started her on the Instinct this week and she has had no problem with that either. I still give her other things off and on but her main food is the Stella and Chewy's and Instinct. I make sure she has eaten what she is supposed to for the day and then she can have chicken or treats.

[mandy15]

Thanks alot Ellie. I didn't mean to sound pushy. I just can't wait to get her started on them!

[ellietoo]

Gosh, Mandy don't worry about it. I got so desperate to find a food that Gracie would eat that I spent hours doing research on dog foods and dogs eating habits. I did read that little dogs tend to have a problem with not eating dog food. I had a Maltese and a Shih Tzu that both ate fine. Gracie is smaller than they were but I never expected to have such a problem as I have with her. Between not eating and her thinking that she is a German Shepherd it has been quite and experience.

[mandy15]

Well here how it goes. Angel wouldn't eat the lamb when I mixed it up with water Thursday. I even went outside to give it to  Mandy because if Mandy eats something she wants it. She still didn't want it but Mandy loved it. I then tried feed it plain and she ate some of it with Mandy. Friday she didn't even want to eat it plain but I gave one to Mandy and she loved it. Angel is such a picky eater. I thought for sure this would be the one since Gracie liked it so well. I going to try it today again. I might try ordering the beef next time and you said you use chicken broth with it. I wonder how that would work on beef? They won't go to waste Mandy will eat them all. If that doesn't work I guess I'll keep searching. I could never get the frozen because there isn't a place close enough to us to go. On another thought I'll use beef gravy on it. When she  was little she was on a raw diet and it was packaged like hamburger sometimes is and kind of looked like hamburger. Maybe I could just try that again and its close enough I can pick it up. I'll keep on trying Ughhhh!

[ellietoo]

Gracie still has days when I offer her food and she will not want it. I just get one of the cats to start eating it and that makes Gracie become suddenly starving. I buy one of those containers of chicken broth and use it to rehydrate the food. If she is going to eat it wet she will eat it with chicken broth. Maybe warm it up a bit in the microwave. If I can get her to eat the first bite she usually will start eating pretty well. Make sure Angel is really hungry and hasn't had any treats or anything before you try to feed her.