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<DIV>Hi guys - the ever wonderful discussions of poop - both eating of
it and out the other end.</DIV>
<DIV>It is rather ironic that we all share the same conversations nationwide as
to poop - consistency, color, regularity - you name it, we all talk poop!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>For 6 years here at Daphneyland we have fed Canidae.</DIV>
<DIV>When the recipe change (and also MANUFACTURING CHANGE) hit without advance
warning, we became extremely involved in once again researching the commercial
grades of food available on the market today.</DIV>
<DIV>If you think researching a self regulated industry that relies
completely on PR and uses the wording "Confidential" and "Trade Secret" is
an easy thing, then you obviously have never attempted to find out truly what is
in the food you are feeding. It was not a fun month - and in the meantime
our 100 hounds had a slowly shrinking supply room of the original recipe Canidae
- </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Without doubt I can say - home cook for your hounds if you can.
Commercial foods are NOT the healthiest way to raise a hound, its the convenient
way. There are many resources available for self education - please talk to a
canine nutritionist, get educated!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>After all of our teams research, and understanding that here at Daphneyland
we have an ever changing basset population of on average 100 daily - a
large population of hounds that were neglected, abused, had no vet care and
rarely had any type of good nutrition. We came down to 4 commercially
prepared higher grade foods that would help the hounds in our
rehabilitation. Of those 4, 1 was found to be less than superior despite
research, 1 was found to be hiding a company buy out and transfer, the 3rd
refused to answer any questions about co-packing and source of ingredients which
left us with Naturapets.com.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In talking with all of our experts, getting advice, and reading SEC filings
as well as testing results - for our breed, and for our needs of high energy,
rehabilitation and recovery, California Natural is the Natura recommendation of
choice. We have gone a step further and have now transitioned the hounds
onto Healthwise blended with California Natural. For our kids who require
soft food - they get either a home cooked diet, or Evangers canned. It
takes 30 days to fully transition a hound onto a new food - 30 days to truly see
benefits as well as problems. For those of you with 3 or 6 hounds - I do
feel it for you while runny poop is the norm during the first week or so of a
transition - at the same time can one imagine how our first 2 weeks went with
90+ hounds and goopy soupy poop. Life was truly poopy - this weekend we
began achieving FIRM POOP. The cheering could most likely be heard all
over North America. We are 100% on Healthwise Chicken Rice & Oatmeal
Adult as of Saturday morning. The 30 days will be a long
countdown.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We would LOVE to be able to feed a cheap or free food, we have LOTS of
manufacturers who offer us programs etc... - sadly, there are NONE that are
good for our bassets and we pledge health to our kids here in rescue. We have to
have pallets of food - we don't buy in single quantity - yes, we have the
incoming case who needs special food - but ironically a slight modification of
the home cooked diet handles these cases very well.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>One thing I do want to say - if you are still feeding Canidae - PLEASE over
soak your food. It expands greatly, and despite what bloat studies say one
year, then change the next year etc. the one thing that holds true is common
sense. If Bassets are prone to bloat, and documentation is confusing on
what to do or not to do - common sense tells us if you know the food expands
when wet - expand it outside of the body. Completely remove the risk of
stomach fluids expanding a kibble and causing torsion. It really is a no
brainer. In our circle of basset owners, we've had 4 cases of bloat within the
last month. This is almost unheard of for us - we should have HUGE losses
to bloat, but we don't. The only commonality in these 4 cases is food -
all of them did not even know Canidae had switched formulas and manufacturers -
I may be an alarmist here, but for me its really simple. Good
Nutrition. The key to our senior 17 year old rescue hounds. We
see miracles every day, and they are nutritionally based. We are so concerned
about this problem, that we have put on our front page a notice about our food
transition.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>May firm poop and calm bellies rule your lives!</DIV>
<DIV>Dawn of the West</DIV>
<DIV>Daphneyland</DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.barniatdaphneyland.org">www.barniatdaphneyland.org</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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