Congrats on your boxer! I'm sure your rescue will give you lots of specific info, but we feed our 2-year-old, 50-pound collie 2 cups of Canidae per day. She gets one cup in the morning, and one cup in the evening. It works out well for her (and for us!).

Best wishes!

fivemonkeys - Is Canidae an allergy food. It sounds like the same thing my parents feed their dog who is having a lot of allergy problems?

shell8 - congrats on your new addition. Whatever the shelter is feeding you will need to use that and slowly introduce the new food (if you change foods). I have had to do it and I start with 3/4 of what the dog was eating and 1/4 of new, then 1/2 and 1/2 and then 3/4 and 1/4 then all new. Don't want the new dog to get an upset stomach. hope you have many happy years with your new girl. BTW what's her name??

You might want to find out if the dog is a grazer or gulper. My dogs and all the dogs I was raised with are/were grazers. For my two, I just make sure food (Wellness Super 5 chicken) is always available in their bowl. They are very uninterested in it except when they eat but they don't overeat. They are both the right weight. They check the bowl all the time to see if something interesting has landed in there but that's it.
I don't worry about "how much" each day.

Gulpers, of course, need regular feed times and the same amount each time.
Perhaps as they grow older this might change but my parents dogs were never fat and the food was always available.

Hi labmomma, No Canidae is not a hypo allergenic food, but it is free of many of the offending agents such as wheat, soy,and it is much better made than commercial foods. A hypo allergenic diet consists of one meat and one carb source where as Canidae has several of each. Canidae is a decent food, and so are their snack treats. So remember if you feed a good food make sure you feed just as equally good treats. Also when feeding dog food it's wise to always add some canned of the same food in with the kibble.

Thanks all. Im sure the rescue will advise us but I thought I would ask here too. My dog is a graizer~ all my dogs were as a matter of fact. They usually ate when we did; breakfast and dinner. We will keep her name, Brandy as she was a surrender and does respond to it.

Thanks for your replies.

cindy x wrote:
Also when feeding dog food it's wise to always add some canned of the same food in with the kibble.

Why is this wise?

Shell 8:

Just a thought, did you adopt Brandy from Francisvale Home for Animals? We adopted a dog from those folks a little over a month ago, we saw a beautiful blond Boxer mix there. Any chance it's the same dog? (Just bein nosy!!!)

What is the protein source in the Canidae, if its the food I was speaking I think that was duck. Any event, I feed Nutro weight management food to my 2 male labs, 3 and 5 and Nutro Gastro food to my 12 year old female lab. The only one who gets any wet food is my old gal and she only gets it because she takes alot of pills and we are able to hide them in the food with the addition of the wet. She's had so many bouts with diarrehea this spring that the vet said she would always have to eat the low residue prescription food (very expensive)- not even try to put her back on the Nutro. After the last time it resolved I gradually put her back on the Nutro and she hasn't had any GI problems since. I think the former bout was due to her drinking of creek water when the weather started to warm up and she started swimming again.

As for the grazer or gulper. Since I have three I think that is the reason they are all gulpers. Either that or because of their breed. I have lots of friends who have single dogs who graze all day long. My guys clean their bowls as soon as they are put down.

Also when feeding dog food it's wise to always add some canned of the same food in with the kibble.

Why is this wise?
Hi Quirky.. I was wondering what you meant so I had to re-read what I wrote, I meant to say it's wise if your going to add can food, add the can from the same line of kibble. LOL ( sorry about that)
Although there actually are some benefits to adding can to kibble such as it makes the kibble less alkaline, it adds moisture, and it also makes the food more palatable.

What is the protein source in the Canidae

Hi Labmomma, the regular line of Canidae's meat protein sources are lamb, turkey , chicken, and fish.
It appears I was wrong about Canida not having a hypo allergenic line, they didn't use to. They have a chicken and rice and a lamb and rice now. Below is a link for you. Also if you can't find a store near you that sells this you can always order it from waggintails ( yes it is spelled that way)

Here is a link that might be useful: Canidae dog foods

Congratulations on the new boxer, shell8!

As to feeding, we buy the best dry food we can find, sometimes Chicken Soup for the Soul, Merrick, Innova - any brand with meat as a first ingredient, whole grains and veggies, no dyes, no additives. We follow the criteria set by the Whole Dog Journal. One thing we do is to change the food with every bag. That way, they never get stuck being sensitive to food and unable to change. DH loves the Merrick foods because they "smell like real food." The Chicken Pot Pie flavor has whole veggies in it and DH loves to add water to make gravy and puff up the veggies.

Thanks for some great advise!!

gardenut: we are in NJ; i'm not ever sure where Francisvale is LOL. Our new girl is fawn/black mask. Her ears cropped very badly...pitbull like.

In the past I had 3 dogs at one time...they were grazers. I will have to just play this one by ear...see what her habits are.

I will also look into the Canidae food

Nancy - am I reading correctly that you change your food with every bag? How long does a bag last? In our house (2) that eat the same food a bag doesn't last all that long. Doesn't the changing often cause upset stomach. It is such an ordeal in our house to change with mixing the old with the new and introducing it slowly so they don't get upset stomach? I have changed within a certain brand without slowly introducing it into new food, but was told could only do that if I was staying with the same food i.e., puppy to adult or adult to weight management. Who makes the Chicken Soup food, I see those books at the bookstore, is it connected with those? I have fed the Innova in the past and like it although it was super expensive. That's how we ended up with the Nutro. First ingredient is chicken and not chicken by product (YUK). You can't get it at the grocery but I can get it at the Pet Smart whereas they didn't carry the Innova. I was getting it from a feed store and they were getting fortune for it.

labmomma, the whole idea is that there is no stomach upset with the changes in food because they never acclimate to only one food. When you think about it, why on earth would a dog - nature's scavenger - get a stomach upset just for changing food? If they are used to change, there is no problem. That is how it works here, at least. Mine are mutts and don't have any digestive problems, generally. Plus, by changing between several different foods all the time, the dogs are not getting the same nutrients in the same proportions all the time, so there is no risk that one food's quirks will cause any nutritional gaps. After all, dog food testing is not done to make sure our pets get optimal nutrition. The food just has to keep a dog generally healthy for a few weeks or months to pass the testing.

Hey - I just adopted a boxer too!! AND he has kinda a pitbull ear crop too!! His ears aren't really poorly done so much as they don't look like a boxer crop (whatever that is - lol).

He's very mellow for some reason - I had him checked for heartworms and tick fever since he seems so quiet. Also did a complete blood count and he's fine as far as that goes. I pulled him out of a shelter where they were going to kill him because some low-level employee decided he was not suitable for adoption. He had a leg wound that caused some swelling.

I named him Kevin - he's a stocky, almost pit-bull-looking dog that is the most gentle soul.

Boxers are so cute.

vicky

Congrats LUVDOGS on your new family member. Ours is very calm also altho she has lots of energy she isnt hyper. We walk her everyday at our park which is a 2mile track.

Good quality food reduces the quantity you have to feed the dog. Do a comparison of different brands and you will see that quantities recommended on the package per weight vary by as much as 100%.

Choose a good quality dog food as suggested (crap in = crap out) and start with the brandÂs recommendations on the bag for the dogÂs weight. Increase if the girl starts to looks thin, decrease if she starts to looks fat as activity and metabolism are an important factor. Simple, but it works for me.

Thanks everyone for all your responses. Brandy is fitting right in. Great disposition so far. However, yesterday we got some really alarming news from our vet. We took her to have the stitches out; she was spayed by the rescue. Anyhow, we showed our dr her gumline; bottom jaw in front. It seemed swollen or some weird extra tissue; turns out they are pretty worried abt it and she has to have laser surgery within the next 2-3 wks. The say it is either epulis or hypertrophy(sp)cant read dr handwriting. Summing it up could be cancer. We are pretty upset worried and kinda pissed too at the rescue's vet. I have his "comprehensive" physical report and nothing was even noted abt it and believe ME it is noticeable. We noticed right away; it bleeds sometimes when she plays ball etc.

Say some prays for her please. We were not really prepared to pay over $600 buck right after getting her for $250 from the rescue but whats a dog lover to do...she is now a part of the family.

Michele

Please inform the rescue of this, even if you aren't expecting them to help. They should be made aware that possibly their vet is not as thorough as he/she should be.

It costs 250.00 to get a dog from your rescue? where I am at that is what a registered boxer is priced at. our rescue charges 55.00 including shots and spaying and or neutering, my lands! I am not saying a rescue dog is not worth that, it is just a shocker.
I hope it is not cancer.
We have had boxers in the past and they are such sweet dogs, I would hope the rescue would try to help you with this, but I bet their answer to the problem will be to take her back to them, and that would be so hard!

Beeanne: we did contact them and they have replied to us also.

Micki: YES, $250 and that is cheap...other rescue charge at least $100 more for any purebreed dog. A purebreed from the breeder would be between $600 to $1000; our nephew just paid 800.00 for a boxer.

The rescue was floored and called the vet herself. They did offer to return her but of course we arent going to. The woman from the rescue also said she was bringing it up at the next board meeting and going to try to help us out on the surgery cost. Honestly these rescues run on limited funds; I know they try to do the best they can and I actually dont blame them for our boxers issue at hand but the vet. Basically, the way I see it is the vet is just stealing from the rescue; not really checking the dogs out...this gum issue is very noticeable and should have been detected if the vet even looked at the dogs teeth/mouth area.

I will keep everyone posted on the findings once she had the surgery; it is scheduled for Nov 21 or sooner if it gets any bigger. Thanks All!

Sounds like a very good rescue org. Hopefully they can help some if you need it.
In all fairness to vets... many help rescues at a substantial discount. That doesn't mean they should give substandard care though.

Okay, took me about 45 mins. to use antiquated computer and figure out how to log on, just to say...
In November I adopted a dog at Francisvale Home for Animals, a no-kill shelter in Radnor, PA. Not only were the employees extremely professional with the proceedings, they really seemed to care for all their charges. (Volunteers too!)My girl had a serious disease, which didn't dissuade me from adopting her because it was love at first sight (1st on Petfinder, then when I met her she just kept kissing my face -- impossible to resist). The shelter was very-upfront about the costs/level of testing involved with my dog's illness. She was due for an exam; we told Francisvale we would have our vet take care of it, and they waived the adoption fee. Additionally, while the vet that the shelter uses may have been more thorough (my dog is having kidney probs so an ultrasound might have been helpful)they also supposedly did not charge the shelter for some of her treatment. Guess I'm trying to say, there are some really good shelters out there and there are people who genuinely want what's best for the animal, not just what benefits their pocketbooks. (And no, I don't work there; I was just googling them so I could sent an update, and saw their name mentioned--by gardenut--on this page.)
Now that I'm down from my soapbox --
How did things turn out with Brandy's surgery? And what was the outcome of your discussion/s with the shelter?
Also gotta say: purebred Boxers around here are going for at least $600 and up. Breed prices definitely fluctuate with popularity! Bulldogs are really in now, and you can't find one listed around here for less than $900 (and that one probably has something wrong with it). Goldens and Labs are outre, now in the $200s and up. This will all change. Remember when everybody watching Fraser (sp?not a watcher)wanted a dog like Eddie--until they realized those dogs are crazy-smart and a total handful!