# Natural high fiber dog food?



## lavender (Dec 14, 2010)

I was wondering if anyone's come across a high fiber dog food that's actually good? I'm investigating raw food to help my dog with her anal gland problems, but I'm interested if anyone's come across a good, natural high fiber dog food. The highest I've found is 5%, and in my experience she needs at least 10%. 

thanks!


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

lavender said:


> I was wondering if anyone's come across a high fiber dog food that's actually good? I'm investigating raw food to help my dog with her anal gland problems, but I'm interested if anyone's come across a good, natural high fiber dog food. The highest I've found is 5%, and in my experience she needs at least 10%.
> 
> thanks!


It's not lack of fiber, its too much inappropriate ingredients.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Just to be clear, there are some breeds that it won't matter the food you feed; raw or kibble you will still need to express their anal glands. My female BT still needs to have her anals done on a regular basis with a raw diet, her brother seems to express his on his own.

But it is not a given that switching to a raw diet or even a higher fiber diet will ensure that you will not have to express the anal glands, there are some dogs that just need them done.


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## SamWu1 (Oct 15, 2010)

lavender said:


> I was wondering if anyone's come across a high fiber dog food that's actually good? I'm investigating raw food to help my dog with her anal gland problems, but I'm interested if anyone's come across a good, natural high fiber dog food. The highest I've found is 5%, and in my experience she needs at least 10%.
> 
> thanks!


High fiber will draw moisture out of the stool but will cause a host of other problems. Raw with a good bone content should remedy the anal gland issue unless there's another underlined problem.

Some dogs just simply need to have them expressed.


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## lavender (Dec 14, 2010)

What is being said makes sense, except when Stella eats the high fiber formula(from the vet) she rarely, if ever, needs to be manually expressed. 
Thank you all so much for your help, there's a lot to learn. Regardless of helping with her anal glands or not we're going to change her to diet. 
I've been taking the advice from my vet for years, upsetting to learn it's not true.. time to find a good homeopathic vet!


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

A raw diet would be the best option to help with the AG problem.. If you want another option, I would switch to a high quality dry food. I would not worry about the fiber. Than add some canned pumpkin to the food, when your dog is having problems with the AG. This should solve your problem. Make sure you buy 100% pumpkin. There should not be any other ingredients. By the way, pumpkin is very high in fiber:wink: I noticed you live in Canada. Try out Acana dog food.


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## lavender (Dec 14, 2010)

cast71 said:


> A raw diet would be the best option to help with the AG problem.. If you want another option, I would switch to a high quality dry food. I would not worry about the fiber. Than add some canned pumpkin to the food, when your dog is having problems with the AG. This should solve your problem. Make sure you buy 100% pumpkin. There should not be any other ingredients. By the way, pumpkin is very high in fiber:wink: I noticed you live in Canada. Try out Acana dog food.


I forgot to mention that we already give Stella pumpkin. I'll check out Acana, thanks!


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

lavender said:


> I forgot to mention that we already give Stella pumpkin. I'll check out Acana, thanks!


I thought that would defintely solve the problem You could try adding 1 tablespoon of extra virgin coconut oil to the food. I would also investigate raw. That might be your only solution, unless you want to continue using the vet's food. Good luck:smile:


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## lavender (Dec 14, 2010)

cast71 said:


> You could try adding 1 tablespoon of extra virgin coconut oil to the food.


I've heard of giving dogs coconut oil, how would that be helpful for her anal glands? Thanks


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

lavender said:


> What is being said makes sense, except when Stella eats the high fiber formula(from the vet) she rarely, if ever, needs to be manually expressed.
> Thank you all so much for your help, there's a lot to learn. Regardless of helping with her anal glands or not we're going to change her to diet.
> I've been taking the advice from my vet for years, upsetting to learn it's not true.. time to find a good homeopathic vet!


Why don't you just add fiber to a good food? My dog has colitis and also needs higher fiber, I feed Taste of the Wild which is normal and then add 1 tsp of whole husk Yerba Prima brand psyllium to each meal and viola all fixed. My other dog that was constipated due to pain medication that was taken daily I did the same thing with and it fixed her constipation. I don't think there is a good food on the market (non RX food anyway) that has 10% fiber that's REALLY high for a dog food.


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

What does your dog'a poo look like on the vet prescribed food? How firm is it? How big is it? And what does it look like on other foods that you've tried?

If you're up for it, you can use the chart here as a reference: http://dogfoodchat.com/forum/raw-feeding/3093-poop-chart.html

In order to express the anal gland, you may need firmer poos to press on the gland during exit, hence releasing the... the... well, whatever it is that's in anal glands. 

Unless I am mistaken, I don't think that the ingredients in the food will effect the gland. I believe the vet is prescribing this food because it may result in firmer poos. 

If you were to feed a really good, more bio-available food such as Orijen, you might see firmer poos than you do with lesser quality foods with tons of filler. Dogs utilize the ingredients more in a food such as Orijen. Consequently, the output is more of a concentrated mass of firm poo.

And like others have said, some dogs just need their glands expressed manually from time to time.


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

lavender said:


> I've heard of giving dogs coconut oil, how would that be helpful for her anal glands? Thanks


It will keep the anal glands from getting infected. That's what will happen if they are not expressed. It could possibly help them function normally. It has alot of other health benefits as well. My dog gets it and he has no health issues.

I think adding fiber to a top quality food, is much better than the rx food. I would try out a quality food like acana, without adding anything. Than if you have to, add some fiber.


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

Sassy stopped needing her anal sacs emptied when she started eating a really simple cooked diet. I think something in kibble just bothered her, perhaps she had an allergic reaction that was very mild so the opening was swollen so it couldn't empty normally? Anyway they needed attention once a month for 13 years on kibble and once a year for 3.5 years on home cooking. I would go to one of the simple kibble formulas if you aren't interested in trying raw. I do like the idea of adding fiber. Research the sort of fiber the script food has though, it might make a difference.


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

sassymaxmom said:


> I would go to one of the simple kibble formulas if you aren't interested in trying raw.


I guess one of the california natural formulas would be good???


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

cast71 said:


> I guess one of the california natural formulas would be good???


Since P&G just bought this, I'd be leary of formula changes. Personally I'd stay away from this food right now if you have an allergy dog.


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

BoxerMommie said:


> Since P&G just bought this, I'd be leary of formula changes. Personally I'd stay away from this food right now if you have an allergy dog.


I feel the same way. The big problem is, I do not no of any alternatives. It would be suicide, if they played with the california natural formulas!


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

cast71 said:


> I feel the same way. The big problem is, I do not no of any alternatives. It would be suicide, if they played with the california natural formulas!


Natural balance has a bunch of limited ingredient foods that are all grain free as well. Wellness also has 2-3 limited ingredient foods in their Simple Solutions line.


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

And Blue Buffalo has a couple as well. Try the NB formulas, low protein but otherwise a good product.


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

sassymaxmom said:


> And Blue Buffalo has a couple as well. Try the NB formulas, low protein but otherwise a good product.


Yeah I've checked out the so called allergy formulas of BB and they have a ton of ingredients in them, not sure how they can call them allergy formulas. With NB the lower protein can always be remedied by adding some canned food (they have allergy formulas in canned too) or some fresh meat .


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## Christine_72 (Aug 1, 2018)

Just incase anyone is still reading this.. My last dog, a shih-tzu used to have to have her anal glands expressed at the vet every few months, which she hated and was an expensive trip every time!
I solved the problem by adding The Missing link to her food everyday, it bulked up her poops which in turn helped to express her glands naturally. Plus it has added extras for the skin/coat and joint (i used the hip & joint formula). I only had to add 1tsp a day, obviously dosage depends on the severity of the problem and weight of the dog.


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## MyCuteDoggie (Nov 8, 2018)

We also tried cooked diet with our dog and adding fresh vegetables and fruits to provide additional fiber. She loves it!


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## petzzshop (Jan 20, 2020)

Thank You:usa2:


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