When I made the switch to this Fromm food eighteen days ago, I was wanting to change the food of Winston and Sadie to a lower fat or what most companies call a "Senior" blend. Sadie needs to lose some weight and I thought feeling her this food instead of cutting her portions of the other food would work out better.
This summer, along with a lot of other bloodhound owners, there has been more shedding than normal. I just figured it was the extreme heat. Winston was shedding more than normal also and both hounds were itching more than they had previously. With half a bag gone I started noticing that Sadie was no longer sprinting outside at 10pm every night to eat grass. Neither hound was itching as much if at all and my vacuum was showing a lot less shedding was taking place.
Stella arrived a few days after I started this food. She had and still has a great coat, no shedding and made the immediate switch to the Fromm food from her previous food without any digestion issues.
This morning I was close to moving to the Earthborn Weight Management food since Heidi is having great results on their Meadow Prairie blend but when you are feeding around 80# of dog food a month, a difference of 5# in bag size makes a big difference. Fromm has a 33# bag, Earthborn's largest bag is 28#. I'll do a little more cost analysis later to find out which is the best deal. Both foods are great dog food. Both companies use USA ingredients and is produced at their own plants.
With a short trip outside this morning, my trip to Bloomington to buy food and a siesta for all of us this afternoon ... not a lot got done. Nor was anything planned but restocking their food supply. It was a successful day in the life of a retiree.
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| Sadie |
Stella must like the Fromm food a lot with Duck being the #1 ingredient because she still is trying to "flip up" and open a locked lid on the dog food container. She finds it hard to understand her failed attempts, but she is persistent.
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| Stella |
After downloading the photos after taking them this morning I noticed that Heidi's front paws hasn't looked this good since last December. Even her rear legs were not red and I still can see hair coming in thicker on places the vet said not to expect any hair to come back. She is on her 8th day where the food #1 ingredient is Lamb after switching it from Bison. Both blends worked well but I have to wonder if the change in the protein source is the cause for improvement. She has not had any Epsom Salt soaks in the tub this week.
If you remember or you can see past photos under the label on the right called "Heidi's Treatment", that part of her shoulder in back where the white hair is growing back was almost all raw skin and at times had the "elephant skin" look to it.
Also her legs and paws were red, inflamed and at times chewed raw. It might be just one of her better days but at least I will be able to tell what may make it flare back up.
Winston still continues to stretch his diet by eating that fine grade dirt from what the moles push up through the grass. I'm not sure what the attraction is but if he likes it that much, he's been doing it for weeks, I'm not going to stop him. In the photo below you can see some of the dirt residue under his nose.
The hounds played a little this morning when they first went out but nothing like Monday where they were doing all out sprints in the field. At 6 and 7 years old they may have over extended themselves in the aerobic department.
It was a pretty laid back day here in "the tropics" ... just the way we like them.
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| Stella |
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| Sadie |
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| Sadie |
I think it shows that Stella is pretty happy with the fresh cut yard and some afternoon sunshine. I am still amazed how fast I was able to let her off leash (except on the walk) and how she recognizes her new name and will come when that name is called.
Also there have been plenty of chances for dogs fighting with the change in seating at times, or a bone that was never shared until now, including a water bowl of Sadie's that she would lay beside to guard against any basset hound infiltrations. They have their own water bowl in a different room because of Sadie. There have never been any fights over that water in the past 7 years and the past 17 days that Stella has been a resident here.
All seem to get along ... Heidi did bark at Stella this morning to let her know the couch was her's during the daylight hours.
For those that have been emailing the past few weeks asking about my travel plans, rving, the change in my blog, etc ... I am going to post answers to your emails in tomorrow's post along with some other thoughts. Photos of the hounds will also be included throughout the blog post although they might not be part of the subject matter.
This time of year is beautiful in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.
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