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Permalink Reply by susan on December 10, 2013 at 3:44pm

I had the same problem with my Jeli when she was just 10 weeks old.  Had recurring UTIs, or it was never completely cleared up the first time.  For all the same reasons you stated, I put her on raw.  I use the Stella and Chewy's frozed patties.  She loves it.  If you go by the chart, it seems like you would be feeding them a crazy amount.  I'm trying purposely to keep her weight in check, so I feed one patty (the size of a small hocky puck, not the big patty) and two teaspoons of good quality wet dog food in the morning and night.  I also put a few carrots, brocoli, apples, beens, or whatever in it.  So far she is doing great with it.  I also give her a cranberry supplement that includes Dmannos to stave away UTIs, and I wipe her after she pees.  Seems like a lot of things to do, but I don't want her to get another one, and I don't want her to get the crystals either.  Good luck with your Ein, and please share if you find out any other good rememdys. 

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Permalink Reply by Lawren and Teddy on December 10, 2013 at 4:21pm

Darwin's Natural Pet Products.

John has raved about them and I love them. I actually find them to be cheaper than kibble.

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on December 10, 2013 at 5:17pm

Darwin's delivers to our door in Seattle, monthly.  Helps if you have a freezer.  We add just a very little Wellness kibble (it does have grain, barley).

It is raw meat, so observe hygiene practices:  we keep the thawed stuff in a shallow lidded tupperware in an aluminum drip tray on the bottom shelf, don't allow drips, keep dog food stuff rigorously segregated, wash hands afterwards.  It's allegedly human-grade, but I trust nobody.  Basic hygiene practice is to pretend everything is contaminated.  We handle dog food in the "dirty" half of the sink and keep it away from human dishes.  We've had no problems, it's simple.

Tip: 

It takes about 1/2 day for those bricks to thaw in the refrigerator, so we always have 1 meal thawing inthe refrigerator.

At feeding time, open the NEXT meal FIRST, when your fingers are dry.  I can't grab and peel the little flaps apart if my fingers are wet (if they are wet, a scrap of paper towel makes them easy to grab).  Open the packages when they are frozen hard, else it's messy.  I used to use a knife to slice the packs, and used that knife for nothing else. 

I add a lot of water to the food, sometimes hot water in the cold season because the meat is usually ice-cold.

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Permalink Reply by Andrea on December 10, 2013 at 7:20pm

Thank you so much everyone! I ended up going with a local Raw company. They had some really nice blends, don't do HPP, and all ingredients are local and organic. Plus I can buy it in bulk. Now, the problem is that I'm going to buying them in big ole 10lb blocks. How should I handle this? Defrost a block and break up into 2-3 day portions? Keep 1 defrosted and refreeze the rest. Does that sound right? The lady at the store said Ein should be eating 6-8 oz per day. Does that sound correct as well? Thank you guys so much!!

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on December 10, 2013 at 7:37pm

I think with raw you feed 2-3% of their body weight daily. Make sure to transition slowly to the raw diet and weigh her regularly in the beginning until you figure out how much you can feed her without her gaining weight. 

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on December 10, 2013 at 7:36pm

I feed Franklin Natures Variety raw bites mixed with Honest Kitchen in the am. Honest Kitchen is a dehydrated raw that is human grade which is super awesome. I mix the two together because feeding strictly the Instinct frozen raw is really pricey. Honest Kitchen is just a tad more expensive than the Taste of the Wild. I use Force but they do a make a grain free and gluten free variety too, just more costly.

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