# Fitmin dog food



## Igorrito (Dec 25, 2011)

I was thinking maybe you guys could take a look at this dog food and tell me what you think about it. As I wrote in the introduction thread, I have tried lots of foods with my boy. We did kibble, we did cooked, we did raw. And all the time, he was way too skinny. He is a healthy beast, lots of exercise, and needs more body on him. He was the best on raw, but due to his allergies he was limited to pork (he would not touch fish, rabbit, duck, goose, pidgeon, partridge, deer, venison, boar etc.). I tried frozen, I tried steamed, I tried cooked. No version was edible. So we decided to go back to kibble - he cannot live on one single source of meet/bones. His coat deteriorated, his nose lost colour. So, I decided to take a look at kibble again. Our last time he was on kibble he ate Acana Pacifica - and this time we turned to it - and it was a disaster. His ears just exploded with dark brown gunk. SO something in it disagrees with him. So does orijen 6 fish. So does Acana lamb & apple, Fish4dogs, Canidae. 

Apart from these, I tried some veterinary grade foods - with hydrolysed protein - by Trovet - and he won't touch them. Who would blame him  We did try the duck/potato, venison and lamb version. All of them yucky. 

Meanwhile, a friend of mine contacted me via Facebook and told me she finally fould a decent food for her picky eater, quite a good quality, based on rabbit. No corn (that according to all tests and my experience does cause his ears to flare up), good prices. The food is known for its palatability due to the use of liver as a coating. Whatever. I decided to go for it - the said friend told me she would send me a few kilos to try that. That was a month ago. 

This is the food: 

Fitmin Solution Rabbit & Rice

Ingredients

broken rice (33 %), rabbit meal (20 %), oats, rabbit meat and liver (7 % dried form), poultry fat, pressed apple pomace, dried (sugar) beet pulp, linseed, dicalcium phosphate, brewers' yeast, calcium carbonate, sodium chloride, fructo-oligosaccharides (0.2 %), thistle seed (0.1 %), yucca (0.03 %), natural antioxidant complex (0.02 %) 


Declaration of quality features

crude protein 24 %, crude oils and fat 13 %, crude fibre 3 %, crude ash 7 %, calcium 1.2 %, phosphorus 0.95 %, sodium 0.35 % 


Just to be clear. It is NOT what I would LIKE to feed him. Except, he loves it, eats with gusto, poops ok, no ear problems. None. No gass, small poops, easy to pick up. We are training for obedience, and he works for the kibble beautifully. Keeps his weight or maybe even gained a little. Skin ok, too soon to talk about his coat improvement. 

So I was thinking, should I just accept that maybe, for this dog, this food will be ok? I will suppement his diet with pork meaty bones and occasional lamb if I can get it... I wish he could eat Acana or Orijen without problems, or any other brand that does the grain free versions, but what can I do? I need a food he likes and one that agrees with him.

Oh, we are located in Poland, Europe.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Picky eaters are created. Your pooch has you trained! Decide what YOU want your dog to eat and exercise a little tough love...


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## Igorrito (Dec 25, 2011)

Dear, believe me he has not have me trained - I tried fasting him for 3 yo 4 days and he would throw up bile and not eat. Would you rather have your dog starve than find a food that a) agrees with him and b) one that he likes??


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## monster'sdad (Jul 29, 2012)

It looks like many limited ingredient foods sold in the USA. Protein content is decent at about 65 - 70% animal sources (of total protein). 

If the brand has a good reputation then see how it goes. I see it is a Czech brand.

The only brand I know well in Europe is Farmina N&D, which is a very good food.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

You can't beat something that works for him. I say stick with the food if everything looks good. Looks like around 55% NFE, 40 to 45% starch.


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## Georgiapeach (Jan 24, 2011)

I'd try a grain free/potato free food, since your dog gets nasty ears. Grains, and even potatoes (another starch) will feed a yeast problem. This may be why your dog did better on a raw diet. Do you have access to any kibbles that are grain free/potato free? There are several choices here in the U.S. Also, have you always used the same protein? Changing it might also help. 

Also, clean his ears frequently with a 50/50 mixture of apple cider vinegar and water (squeeze it on a cotton ball and wipe out ears), or other ear cleaner made for dogs (vets have ear cleaner with medicine in them, for serious cases). Don't use pure ACV, as it will sting.


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## Igorrito (Dec 25, 2011)

I tried all grain free foods available here, except maybe Ziwi peak and Canine Caviar which is ridiculuosly expensive and I cannot afford buying them - he is 25 kilo standard poodle. Unfortunately his ears get nasty when I feed him these. The only novel protein foods are with rice - thus the Fitmin rabbit trial.

Farmina's Natural & Delicious is only available in 400 gram packages...


And his ears do not require cleaning now that he is on the said Fitmin food - they are clean!


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## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

Well I've learned over the years, if it works, stick with it! I have one dog with a sensitive gut who can only eat California Natural formulas, and another who can only have homecooked, or her skin turns into a miserable yeasty mess. In that food you listed it is one i couldn't feed to my yeasty girl because of the brewers yeast, she would turn into a big yeasty mess. 

Good luck give it a try and if he does well, I think it's a fair compromise... Certain dogs do well on simple food.


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## Igorrito (Dec 25, 2011)

Ok, thanks for your insights. I will feed him that Fitmin food for a month and two and see how he does. I can already say he likes it enough to work for it during our training sessions (we are training obedience and rally-o).


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