For the past few months, we’ve been having two issues: upset tummy and itchy skin. Mauja has had really inconsistent stools – some loose and some firm. We haven’t been able to find an exact correlation to her diet, but my first instinct tells me that’s the issue. Atka’s tummy has been fine, but boy has he been itchy.
Atka has had itchy skin issues since he was about 10 months old. The first issue occurred around his eye. The area around his right eye became inflamed and the fur actually began to fall out. Thankfully, it never seemed to bother him. After Benadryl, several rounds of antibiotics, and a few types of ointments, it eventually went away. Unfortunately, after a few months it returned.
The second time we didn’t pursue any medication because we couldn’t say that one approach was actually effective. He wasn’t itching or rubbing his eye, so after a discussion with the vet, we decided to simply monitor it for a few weeks. Eventually, it went away again. This seems to happen every few months.
Currently, he’s not showing any symptoms with his eye, but his skin is quite itchy. We constantly see him scratching the back of his front legs and chewing on his back legs. Benadryl seems to help the symptoms, but it doesn’t get to the root cause of the issue.
We’ve been experimenting with different proteins and a variety of high-quality foods, but we haven’t found one that improves either of their issues. After awhile, I began to seriously contemplate feeding them home-cooked meals.
That thought terrified me.
What should they be eating? How much protein? How many fruits and vegetables? How would they get all of their essential vitamins and minerals? How do I determine their macro-nutrient needs?
So many questions and so few answers.
After dancing around the idea for a few weeks, I remembered a product we were able to try at BlogPaws last year. The fluffies had received a sample of Dr. Harvey’s Veg-To-Bowl and absolutely loved it.
Veg-To-Bowl is a grain-free premix of nine different vegetables and herbs. You simply add your choice of protein and oil to create a complete, well-rounded meal. It makes feeding your dog homed-cooked meals extremely simple. At least, that’s the way it sounds.
I was still really nervous about making the switch to home-cooked meals, but thankfully, it was very easy to get my questions answered. After a phone call with Dr. Harvey himself, I felt much more at ease with my ability to adequately feed Mauja and Atka. I was really impressed that Dr. Harvey was so willing to take time out of his day to answer my long list of questions.
Last week, we slowly began to transition Mauja and Atka to the Veg-To-Bowl food so today begins the first day of their journey. I’m really hoping that switching them to a fresh-food diet will solve the issues we’ve been having. After reading so many of the testimonials, I’m pretty confident we will see success.
Each week, I’m going to write an update on their progress. Hopefully, these posts will assist any of you that have been considering making your dog his own meals. We also have a few other products from Dr. Harvey’s that we’ll be trying and telling you all about soon.
Stay tuned for more of Mauja and Atka’s journey to home-cooked meals!
Disclaimer: Dr. Harvey’s provided Veg-To-Bowl in order for It’s Dog or Nothing to try home-cooked meals. Don’t worry – an advertiser will never influence the content of this blog.
Oh, Oz loves Dr. Harvey’s Veg-to-Bowl! It definitely makes it easier to feed raw or home-cooked meals. I cannot wait to hear how your transition goes to home-cooked. I bet it will help a lot, as switching Oz to raw really helped alleviate his allergies and itchy skin.
I think it will help, too. I know one thing for sure – Mauja and Atka are going to like this food a LOT better!
Please let me know how they do. I cook homemade and it’s a pain but so worth it. If this is easier and just as good, I’m happy to switch!!
I will definitely keep you updated! I’m really hoping we see success.
Your story sounds familiar. Rodrigo had skin and digestive issues; resolved with a diet of raw dog food and a digestive supplement helped improve his immune system so that we don’t have these issues anymore.
Good luck with the new diet. I’ve heard great things about Dr. Harvey’s.
The Honest Kitchen dehydrated human grade foods are also wonderful. Using either you will probably see less “poop” – which doesn’t hurt my feelings in the least 🙂
Our boys are doing so much better since switching to Dr. Harvey’s. We made it through a whole summer without an allergy issue or skin irritation (a first!) Harley’s energy levels have improved dramatically as well and that alone is worth the extra time and effort.
It seems a bit overwhelming at first but after a couple weeks you will get into a groove with preparing their meals. One key for us has been the crock pot. We cook 9 pounds of ground turkey in it at a time and it is so simple.
Isn’t it awesome that you can actually talk to Dr. Harvey for advice?!
I started doing some partial home cooking for the dogs to try to help Sheba fight her cancer. We’re in the middle of selling our house and moving now, but once we get settled into our new home, I’d like to go fully home cooked. It sounds like Dr. Harvey’s is a great option that doesn’t require as much work (right now I’m cooking meat and vegetables). I am interested to follow this and see how you make out.