Post Punk Kitchen Forum

So I've been feeding my dog Natural Balance kibble for as long as I've had her (almost two years). Occasionally she gets these puke-y spells, where she'll throw up about once a day and it's pretty much straight undigested kibble. These spells would last for a couple days and then clear up. She never lost any weight or seemed adversely affected by it and my suspicion was that maybe it was an allergy issue. (I didn't ask the vet about it because she will just try to sell me chicken-filled Science Diet.) Anyway, she had one of her puking spells a couple weeks ago that went on for longer than usual so I bought her some Natural Balance canned food to see if that would be easier on her system. It worked like a charm (no idea why, since the ingredients are nearly identical to what's in the dry food) and when I tried adding in a little kibble it was instant puke time. So she's been happily eating the canned food, but that shiitake is expensive. Which brings me to...

I'm thinking I should just start making her food with something like VegeDog. But all their recipes seem pretty heavy on either soy or wheat, which I've always heard were bad news in dog food. If you use VegeDog, do you follow their recipes or do your own thing? Are there other supplement mixes I should know about? I'd try a different dry food, but Natural Balance is the only one I can easily get around here.

I have Gizmo on a mixed diet. Most of her food consists of homemade food for her, a little bit of Natural Balance Veg kibble mixed in for crunch and the vege dog supplements and a little flax oil sprinkled in.

Before I started the kibble and supplements she was on just homemade and she was pooping undigested food, and then eating her poop. It was so gross and I was so worried, but once I added the kibble in she was fine.

For her homemade food, I dont use a recipe, I make a huge batch every month and freeze it in week size portions. She is a small dog so a little goes a long way. Anyways, I cook up sweet potatoe or pumpkin, brown rice, beans, whatever extra veggies I have laying around, usually some broccoli, green beans, carrots, a little fruit - apples and pears are her fave and some veggie broth. It's cheap, easy, healthy, she loves it, and with the kibble and supplements mixed in I don't have to worry about her not getting all the nutrition she needs to thrive. And she doesn't eat her poop anymore :)

You could also try ordering another brand of vegan dog food, I'm pretty sure veganessentials or another vegan online shop has some sample sizes.

Isabella is a vegan as of today! I'm so excited for her. I have her on the Natural Balance Vegetarian Formula and put about a tablespoon of the wet food on top to make it extra delicious. She ate ALL OF IT. I'm pretty pleased right now.

I'm a huge fan of the VegeDog supplement. I've had my dog Sugar on it for over a year now (with my last dog, Jade, I had her on Natural Balance dry food and Nature's Recipe in the late 90s/early 00s before I realized it's not totally vegan). The greatest benefit to the VegeDog - you use regular every day ingredients and can make a ton of food in about 5 minutes!

I use the oatmeal/tvp recipe mostly, sometimes the rice/lentil recipe from the VegeDog recipe booklet. The oatmeal recipe is done in 5 minutes, and feeds her for 3-4 days (she's about 60lbs). I get a 50 pound bag of quick oats from the co-op for about 50¢ a pound... you can't beat the price. I'll add in some green beans, kale stems, broccoli stumps, peas, carrots, etc with the food, and trust me, she inhales it.

I do buy the VegeYeast for her food, which is also available from veganessentials.com. The recipes call for yeast, and you can use nutritional yeast in it's place, but I read the VegeYeast is supposed to be more suited for dogs/cats. A lot of conventional pet food manufacturers use it in their food as well.

There's a great vegan dog blog out there - http://www.vegandogslife.com/
It'll give you lots of inspiration for homemade treats, etc!

Yes more encouragement about veg dog food. I always need a good reminder to buy that vegedog supplement. Now is especially perfect timing since their bag of fishie dog food is starting to run low.

OK so Bella's been a veggie for a couple of days and her poops are ginormous now. Eek. This is ok right?