Kez

According to the data I have here, Science Diet and Purina dog foods contain Soy. Iams, Pedigree, PRISM, Hy-Ration, Nature's Recipe, Nutro Premium, ProPlan, Sensible Choice, Eagle Pack and Eukanuba do NOT contain Soy. Purina, Pedigree & Science Diet do not contain 2-3 proteins - the others do. Only Eagle Pack and Eukanuba contain 3 MEAT proteins. This is only the data I have here; Is it possible that there are two different types of "Science Diet"? Or is Science Diet and Hill's Science Diet one and the same?

Cetrigen used to be purple, but one of the ingredients was found to be dangerous (or something) and it went off the market. When it returned it ended up being a bright pinkish colour. The only problem with cetrigen, is that it dries the wound out - the wound area as it heals will be prone to cracking, and the flies will be attracted to the weeping flesh underneath. Spray some Debrisol on the area & clean it - this will help keep the granulation to a minimum (so your dog doesn't end up with a cauliflower ear). Put a thin coat of vaseline over the top to reduce the "smell" to the flies & keep the wound supple. Spray some citronella over the vaseline - dogs also hate citronella, so it will help stop your other dogs from licking it off.

racknrune2000, Your post comes across quite aggressive, so I'll apologise now for the tone of my post, if that wasn't your intention. Do you have any idea how much work goes into training dogs, not just as Assistance dogs, but even just running an adoption agency with foster carers? Some adoption groups are lucky enough to get sponsorship which helps them support their foster carers. Some foster carers are lucky enough to be able to afford to "for-go" the financial assistance available (through sponsorship of the adoption program)... but it is barely enough to go towards travel costs & feeding. Where would a group get money for De-sexing, veterinary costs, feeding, grooming supplies or travelling to pick up/drop off dogs - If not for Sponsorship? I foster for a group - and I can tell you, that they certainly DO NOT complain if I take the foster dogs to dog obedience!!! They certainly WOULD NOT complain if one of the dogs was good enough to actually gain it's Title!!! What I do with MY money, and how much of it I spend on the foster dogs, is nobody's business but MINE! The same goes for any other foster-carer - If they go out of their way to improve the training of a dog beyond their call of duty... GOOD ON THEM! :cool: Your not so intelligent statement that gaining the CD would not make a better assistance dog is..... Ridiculous! CD is a COMPANION DOG Title.... since Assistance dogs are Companion Dogs as well, the ability to get the title shows the dog is BETTER than one that doesn't pass. :rolleyes:

I made an Excel spreadsheet to compare the "Super-premium" brand dog foods, and their nutritional value... And had the spreadsheet work out (for me) how close to the Recommended Daily Intake (for racing greyhounds) for each vitamin & mineral each was. I'll say that according to my "research", from the information I have, Hills Science Diet is not the most nutritionally balanced feed available (for my purposes); However, for the two other Super-premium brands I have complete data (Eagle Pack and Eukanuba). AFAIK only one of the Super Premium brands does not get their meat protein source from Offal. Whilst this is of great importance to me, for general dogs (not extreme performance dogs), any of the Super Premium brands would be "much of a muchness" I would guess.

Beef mince is best sourced from a greyhound supplies place (price wise) - I get mine for $1.90 a kilogram (if I was willing to buy it in 10 kg bags & divide it into smaller portions myself, I'd probably get it cheaper! )... If you are a "regular" (or make yourself known to the staff that you will be a regular) you should get the cheaper price, as I think "pet buyers" that only go in for 1 kg every 6 weeks (to give the dog a treat) pay a bit more, around $2.50 a kg IIRC. Yes it is still treated with a preservative, but AFAIK it is only a salt based preservative (short term preservative for transporting only) due to the "health needs" of racing greyhounds. Your DH is correct about horse meat being in cat food - it's also in cheap brand dog foods (and some more expensive ones), and in garden fertiliser (blood & bone)... but lord knows what else is in with the horse meat too for that matter! You should be able to get Roo meat cheaper than beef mince, from the same "greyhound supplies" places - a lot of greyhound trainers feed roo meat because it is cheaper. :rolleyes:

I won't feed a dry feed that gets it's meat "content" from Offal, since ALL offal is treated with a preservative before it is turned into the pet food. One of the most common preservatives used contains SODIUM METABISULPHITE (and 18% by weight, Sulphur Dioxide). Sodium metabisulphite is a reducing agent, and is a "reverse" action agent to the common HYDROGEN PEROXIDE...'metabisulphite' removes oxygen from a product and 'peroxide' adds oxygen to a product... In both cases the chemical reaction leaves both a salt, gas or an acid as the residual... It is not harmful in the designated dose, but it does remove flavour and goodness from the product. It is regularly used in cooking to "green" vegetables and "tenderise" meats, and is closely related to, and substituted for MSG. Cooking won't reduce the amount of Sodium Metabisulphite in the meat. This product is known to destroy the Thiamine (Vitamin B1) in the diet, and in the long term, this may cause severe nervous system damage and possibly even death. The fact that the preservative also contains Sulphur Dioxide is more of a worry. This product in susceptible dogs can affect the hemoglobin part of the blood and produce Sulfhemoglobin. As little as 0.5 g/dl of Sulfhemoglobin is sufficient to cause rapid oxygen depletion of the body during exercise.

I'd ditch the chicken for a start (or at least swap at least half of it for another meat protein source)... Chicken (standard cull hen, meat only, no skin) is 10% fat, 21% protein, contains 165 kcals/100g ME, and is only 0.5 mg/100g Iron. Chicken mince (including bones, but no feathers or gut) is 19.4% Fat, 21.2% protein, contains 250 kcals/100g ME, and is only 1.0 mg/100g Iron. Chicken Necks are 18.6% fat, 13.2% protein, contains 233 kcals/100g ME, and is only 1.8 mg/100g Iron. As an alternative: Fish (steamed whiting) - 0.9% fat, 20.9% protein, 92 kcals/100g ME, 1.0 mg/100g Iron. Fish (whole mullet) - 4% fat, 20.3% protein, 119 kcals/100g ME, 1.3 mg/100g Iron. Fish (steamed flounder) - 0.5% fat, 15% protein, 85 kcals/100g ME, 1.2 mg/100g Iron. If your dog doesn't have a red meat allergy: Very Lean beef (eg: skirt or beef flap) is only 4.6% fat, but has 22.4% protein and contains 123 kcals/100g ME. It also has 2.1 mg/100g Iron. Horse meat may cause a digestive allergy when fed alone, and the protein is less digestible, but for comparison sake: Is on average 7% fat, 19.3% protein, contains 130 kcals/100g ME, and has 4.8 mg/100g Iron. It is best mixed with chicken on a 50% basis. Kangaroo Meat is exceptionally low in fat and energy. It has 0.6% fat, 21.6% protein, contains 100 kcals/100g ME - Iron content I don't know. Lamb (leg meat) is 18.7% fat, 17.9% protein, contains 240 kcals/100g ME, and has 1.7 mg/100g Iron. Pork (regular) is 22.5% fat, 16.6% protein, contains 269 kcals/100g ME, and only 0.8 mg/100g Iron. Veal (meat, lean average) is 2.6% fat, 19% protein, contains 1103 kcals/100g ME, and has 1.7 mg/100g iron. Rabbit (raw) is 4% fat, 21.9% protein, contains 130 kcals/100g ME, and has 1.9 mg/100g Iron. Hopefully that might help you decide how to adjust your feeding :rolleyes:

Are they ever GROSS to empty out!!! When I had my big operation in December, my dogs went to stay with a friend (and when I got out of hospital I went to stay with my dogs! ) I rang my DBF and asked him to go around to my place and make sure the trap had enough water in it, He rang me back to say he couldn't get the lid off. When I got home 2 weeks later, I knew exactly what had happened - he took one look at the (now overflowing) trap & decided to stay right away from it!! I ended up dropping the lot into a bucket of boiling water (yes, there were live & wriggling things in there! :shakehead: ) before emptying the carcasses out of it. To make your traps last longer - carefully tip the "bodies" out & keep the stuff in the bottom! I haven't had to put new "bait" in mine for 12 months & it is still going strong (even after the hot water dunk). :cool:

Cintronella. See if any of your Stable supplies stores has any "Donerite" Herbal Stable & kennel spray (contains citronella, neem oil, and tea tree oil). You can spray it everywhere your dog "hangs out". You can even spray it onto your dog, or wipe some on him with a cloth. Also, get a "fly trap" and hang it up somewhere away from where your dog "hangs out" (but not too far away or it won't be effective). Vaseline over the fly bitten areas will help keep the skin supple, and should reduce their attractiveness to the flies. :rolleyes:

Can I hazard a guess that this is the same organisation that is now directing all it's "shelters" to Euthanise any breed that looks like a Malamute, Husky, Doberman or Rottweiler (or a cross-breed of the same)? If it is, then I haven't supported them for over 15 years. R.I.P. Puppy :rolleyes:

Eagle Pack for my dogs. I wrote an Excel spreadsheet that compared the Protein/fat/energy/vitamin/mineral contents of most of the feeds, and Eagle Pack came out on top. Also - Eagle Pack doesn't use OFFAL (which has been treated with preservatives) for their meat protein source, like other "Super Premium" brands do.