Well, the last change I wrote about here didn’t last very long. About the third or fourth day in, Ducky upchucked her whole dinner. And I didn’t like the way the stuff looked when I rehydrated it going by the directions, so I gave up. Luckily I bought the box from Chewy so I had no trouble getting a full refund on the product. I just brought it to the vet and put it in his bucket for our county animal shelter (the one from which we adopted Ducky 6-1/2 years ago).
So, what to do? I swore on a whole stack of bibles (well, not literally speaking) that I would NEVER go back to the Hills’ Prescription Diet food. (That was even before the initial recall for the Vitamin D excesses. And they’ve expanded the recall twice already!) And I had promised hubby that I wouldn’t buy any more of the The Farmer’s Dog food than I already had (there was still one more order due to arrive a few days after I made the promise). So, I had to come up with another plan. I thought of trying other commercial, dehydrated brands but never could find one that appealed to me, especially after the fiasco with the Only Natural Pet stuff mentioned in Part 3 of our “saga”. So, I decided I’d buy some doggy vitamins from Pet Naturals of Vermont (via Chewy of course) and make the food myself. And I just don’t have the stomach for a raw diet – either homemade or commercially dehydrated.
And then the unthinkable happened. Shadow started her decline. She went from loving every meal from The Farmer’s Dog and actually taking her medications that were hidden in the food to not wanting any food, not even treats. So, I fed Ducky her meals and pleaded with Shadow to at least eat something. When Shadow left us to reunite with Callie, I still had about 12 of the 14 packs of food I’d gotten in my last order. So, I used them – reproportioning them for Ducky’s needs – and then used Ducky’s remaining packs.
As of last Monday, I’m feeding Ducky an all-homecooked diet of ground turkey, carrots, spinach, and chickpeas. And I’ve been researching the grain-free vs. not-grain-free issue that the USDA warned about a few months ago. (Many thanks to Jen at My Brown Newfies for her article about that! It was the best one I’ve read; and totally un-biased!). I also bought a few books about homecooked dog food. I’ll tell you about those another time, but two of them were suggested by Maggie at the Oh My Dog! Blog. So far, Ducky’s enjoying her home-cooked meals. And I’m enjoying making them for her. I’ll keep you posted.
in my heart 4ever 
Keep up the good work, Mom!! ♥♥♥
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Thanks Jan!
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Tender tummies can pose all sorts of challenges. I’ll keep my paws crossed things continue to go well with the home-cooked meals. You’re a brave soul, I wouldn’t know where to begin to prepare meals for the Knuckleheads. 😍
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The good thing is I have the Farmer’s Dog ingredients list to work from. 🤓 And the InstantPot makes it so easy!
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I’ve heard many good things about those InstantPots. I wish I had space to house one but my kitchen is crammed to the gills. 🤨
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They make a 3-qt pot, but I’m not sure about the actual size of the thing. I love my 6-qt cuz I can do so many different things with it – my big clunker stovetop pressure cooker and my veggie steamer have been relegated to the “don’t need but don’t discard” pile in the utility building; and the 2 crockpots are under the sink and in the pantry closet.
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I use my vintage ’70’s crockpot all the time and love it. Alas even a 3-qt. wouldn’t fit in my teeny kitchen. *sigh*
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we had super bad adventures with hills too…my heart was in my pants as I saw how Phenny turned into a fountain after every meal… and that only 2 months after we lost Easy…what a nightmare. After we even failed with the expensive food from the vet what was more than a dinner in a five star restaurant we started with home made meals and it works. but I rather knock on wood 3 times… hugs to you we hope so much that this is the solution for you too.
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Oh goodness, I didn’t realize poor Phenny had problems with the Hills, too. I’m soooo glad you got him off that stuff!
The sad thing is that Hills used to have an excellent reputation when it came to their prescription foods. When Callie, Shadow, and Ducky first were diagnosed with the IBS, I really had no problem putting them on the i/d. And it actually helped all 3 of them get back on track. But last summer I started noticing subtle changes in the formula effecting Shadow in particular. When I called the consumer affairs folks – 3 different times – I got BS answers. I need to adjust Ducky’s fresh food diet a little bit, to give her more meat/calories.
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