The cost of making Bender’s food has been slowing going up. Every time I cut costs on one ingredient another ends up costing more. For a 45 day amount the cost is running me about $80. The time that it takes to make the food is also running about 8hrs between prep, making the food, packaging it, and clean up.
I recently saw a commercial for a brand called Wellness. They have been around for a while but I’ve never heard of them. I will have to make a new batch of food for Bender within next week I decided to look around for a commercial food. At $80 I’m sure I could find a great all natural food that will last 45+ days.
After looking around I narrowed the search down to Blue Buffalo Chicken & Brown Rice Adult Dog Food and Wellness Super5Mix Healthy Weight. Upon comparison Wellness Super5Mix Healthy Weight has a better line up of ingredients for a diabetic dog.
Wellness Super5Mix Healthy Weight
Deboned Chicken, Ground Barley, Rice Bran, Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Tomato Pomace, Natural Chicken Flavor, Rye Flour, Oatmeal, Oat Fiber, Deboned Whitefish, Tomatoes, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a natural source of Vitamin E), Ground Millet, Carrots, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Blueberries, Calcium Carbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Ground Flaxseed, Minerals [Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite], Vitamins [Beta-Carotene, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement], Choline Chloride, Taurine, Mixed Tocopherols (a natural preservative), Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Chondroitin Sulfate, Chicory Root Extract, Garlic, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Green Tea Extract, Dried Lactobacillus plantarum, Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation products.
This is a naturally preserved product.
Blue Buffalo Chicken & Brown Rice Adult Dog Food
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (naturally preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Rye, Tomato Pomace (natural source of Lycopene), Natural Chicken Flavor, Whole Potatoes, Peas, Whole Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Blueberries, Cranberries, Flaxseed(natural source of Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids), Barley Grass, Dried Parsley, Garlic, Alfalfa Meal, Dried Kelp, Yucca Schidigera Extract, L-Carnitine, L-Lysine, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Turmeric, Sunflower Oil (natural source of Omega 6 Fatty Acids), Fish Oil (natural source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Dried Chicory Root, Oil of Rosemary, Beta Carotene, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Niacin (Vitamin B3), d-Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Biotin (Vitamin B7), Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Ascorbate (source of Vitamin C), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Choline Chloride, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate, Salt, Caramel, Potassium Chloride, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecium
I decided to try Wellness and for the past week I have been slowly switching Bender over.
Bender loves the food. Then again I think he loves any food. He has crashed 3 times during the night though so I’ve dialed back his insulin just slightly. He glucose levels are good so far beyond the crashing.
In another few days he should be totally on Wellness Super5Mix Healthy Weight. Hopefully this food works out because a 30lb back is $45-50. Which should last Bender a month or more.
Any one else have their dogs on Wellness or a similar brand?
Wellness Core Reduced Fat is a grain-free food with a higher protein source and is found to work well with our diabetic dogs.
These dogs should not suffer such ailment. I have a dog that suffered from diabetes. I quickly change the course of her diet. I bought lots of organic pet foods and also made my own version of organic pet treats at the comfort of my own home. Now shes getting well and I could see how healthy she is now.
With my cat, I actually had a problem of very HIGH BG for the type they recommended but couldn’t figure out why. I had to switch back because we were traveling for the end of year holidays but I’m going to try it again with a different type myself.
It wasn’t anymore expensive than the canned DM/WD canned foods and the DM dry food we supplement her wet food with.
With 4 more cats, I’ve gone back and forth for some time about making her or their food. I’m glad to hear someone else that takes into consideration the $ and time rather than making me feel guilty for not having them eat wild caught game (some holistic sites are crazy).
What food were you feeding your cat and what did you switch to?
Below is DK’s (Dumas Kitty) normal ‘combination’ diet. We tried completely replacing this diet with the Wellness brand dry food for weight management and her BG registered HIGH almost everytime on the alphatrak. We took her off after about 5 days because she was simply not feeling well. We’ve discussed dry food options and several vets including our main Vet stand by that diabetic cats simply should not be on a dry food diet.
Luckily she’s not incredibly picky so she doesn’t freak out if we have to switch food like most cats (unless we’re dealing with a bout of pancreatitis).
Twice daily:
1/2 wet food mix
~1 TBlsp dry food
*Smushing dry food into the wet food is a tactic we figured out and employ to get her to eat her wet food. It doesn’t spike her BG and helps keep from going to low BG later in day while we’re at work.
‘Wet’ mix lasts us three days of feeding her.
The ‘perfect’ mix we’ve come up with is:
— 1 can Rx Diet DM (high protein, high fat diabetic management) It’s flavorful and she would eat only this if we allowed her. Unfortunately the high fatty content gives her pancreatitis if not mixed.
— 1 can Rx Diet WD (blander high protein, lower fat Weight Diet) She will NOT eat this on it’s own.
— 1 can OTC science diet Mature adult cat ‘active longevity’. This is a low fat, low carb for Mature cats that flavor enough that.
If she gets pancreatitis (twice now) she goes on a VERY bland I/D diet food (it’s basically chicken and rice mix) that is meant for intestinal issues and easy digestion. It’s very hard to get her to eat this and once she gets through a couple cans we slowly mix in W/D and then D/M when her blood tests are back up.
I have 5 cats with only 1 being diabetic although the others are on the same twice a day feeding schedule. This allows DK to be in the office for a couple hours twic ea day while everyone eats their own food and then be out during the day while we’re at work.
The rest are on dry food OTC science diet for indoor cats and seem to do just fine.
I was just curious what your tactic for feeding and having one diabetic animal is…
I just realized in another photo that you seem to have multiple animals; Do you feed all of them homemade food or do give everyone else general food like we do?
Jeff could you explain what you mean when Bender crashes??? Is it hypoglycemia? Yesterday Pearles BG was 116, thats 6 hours after eating and her morning shot of 30 units of Novalin N. Tomorrow we will be doing her first glucose curve, the vet has an Alphatrak 2, thats available for use for a nominal fee. We will be purchasing one soon.
John,
Yes, hypoglycemia is what I mean when I say Bender crashes. Besides checking glucose levels, a good way to know is your dog will probably seem drunk and will be searching for food.
Your dog’s glucose levels should have a high point and a low point twice a day. Your dog’s glucose should be lowest right before eating. Then the levels should peak 3-5 hours after eating. Then they will drop again and should be at a low point right before dinner.
You don’t want the glucose levels too high but you don’t want to have it drop too fast. So 30 units might keep Pearl at a high point of 200 but by the time dinner comes around she is crashing a hour or two before eating, which isn’t good. It is the game that I have to play with Bender.
I try to keep Bender around 100-200. But sometimes he gets up to 250 and some times down to 50-70. If those level are consistent, I adjust insulin slightly to see the change.
Since Pearl was recently diagnosed it might take a few weeks to get her regulated and for you to figure out and understand how her food and insulin affect her.
I would keep a log.
I’m glad you are going to get an AlphaTrak 2. It will really help you regulate Pearl.
-Jeff
Jeff,
I just read this comparison between One Touch and Alpha Trak meters done on a single sample of blood.
Very interesting. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts.
See: http://www.k9diabetes.com/monitoring.html
Regards,
Max R