The Kibble Trials: Contestant #4 Fromm Duck & Sweet Potato + Results

I am doing a two in one for this food since I forgot to introduce it and it's all gone now.

Fromm recently celebrated having 10,000 followers on facebook and and gave out a bunch of coupons for a free bag of food. I quickly took them up on the offer, printed my coupon, and went down to Mini Pet Mart and recieved my two for one bags of Fromm. I picked grain-inclusive foods since they only carry one type of grain-free (Surf & Turf) and I'd already tried that.
Note: I have no issues with grain-inclusive foods whatsoever, if you can't tell by how I used to feed Conker prior to his current endeavor. They do tend to be lower in protein and fat and higher in carbs, though, which I do not like.

The Rundown.

The food I tried first was the Duck & Sweet Potato variety.

This food was relatively cheap. Actually, it was free, but otherwise would have cost me $13.


Ingredients:
Fresh Duck, Duck Meal, Pearled Barley, Fresh Sweet Potatoes, Brown Rice, Oatmeal, White Rice, Whole Dried Egg, Millet, Dried Tomato Pomace, Safflower Oil, Fresh Wisconsin Cheese, Flaxseed, Fresh Carrots, Fresh Broccoli, Fresh Cauliflower, Fresh Apples, Fresh Green Beans, Chicken Cartilage, Potassium Chloride, Fresh Cranberries, Fresh Blueberries, Salt, Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Sulfate, Chicory Root Extract, Fresh Alfalfa Sprouts, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Sodium Selenite, Folic Acid, Taurine, Fresh Parsley, Vitamins: vitamin A acetate, Vitamin D3 supplement, Vitamin E supplement, Vitamin B12 supplement, choline bitartrate, niacin supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, L-Ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, riboflavin supplement,Minerals: zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, manganous sulfate, magnesium sulfate, copper sulfate, cobalt carbonate, calcium iodate, sorbic acid (preservative), ferrous proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, magnesium proteinate, manganese proteinate, cobalt proteinate, Probiotics: dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried bifidobacterium longum fermentation product, dried lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried enterococcous faecium fermentation product

Guaranteed Analysys:

Protein	24% Min
Fat	15% Min
Fiber	3.5% Max
Moisture	10% Max
Total Microorganisms	100,000,000 CFU/lb Min
kcal/kg	4,155.40
kcal/lb	1,888.82

The Results.

Conker needed around 2 cups of this food in order to maintain his weight. Which, I might add, he lost quite a bit of during the trial, but I do not know if that was due to the actual food or because of how little he would eat. I think it might have been a mixture of both, but I will hold off on my official decision until I've used the other bag which has similar protein/fat/carb ratios.
So I cannot give an accurate determination of Conker's body condition on this food. But what I did notice that was he was flubby, less muscular, even when he was eating the two cups before and after he went completely off food for three days. This could be due to the initial weight loss, or due to the lower protein content.

Conker would eat this kibble with no additions for the first few days he was on it, then he began to refuse to eat it so I spruced it up with an egg, some sort of ground meat, or meat drippings. This brought the protein/fat levels up a bit. Then Conker started to go off for a while and would hardly eat 1 cups worth. Again I do not know if it was the food or something else, but in the week after the Bend trip (where he hit "bottom" with his weight loss) he started eating the full two cups with additions again.

The kibbles were medium sized and had a pentagon shape. They were lightly colored, probably due to the grains used in the food. It didn't have too strong of a smell.

Conker's poop on this food was pretty big. Again probably due to the grains, and pretty soft compared to other kibbles, but nowhere near as bad as it was on Wellness CORE.
I did not have to give Conker probiotics or chicory root in order to keep things swell inside the digestive tract. That is a good thing in my book.

Conker developed a strong "doggy" odor. I was NOT pleased with this. This food gave him the strongest dog odor I have smelled on him since I first brought him home a year and many months ago.
He did, like with most kibbles, get a bit of tartar buildup on his teeth but not too much.

His energy levels were somewhat less on this food, but I think that is probably due to him not eating much or consistently while on it. 


Overall I did like this food, but the negatives were a bit strong for me to use in rotation. I would in a pinch if I needed it though, and Fromm is carried in many places (not big chains) so I can easily get it, for the most part.

Conker refused a raw meal (which I expected) then kinda surprised me by hurking up some yellow foam with tiny bits of liver than he'd licked off a cutting board in the morning. And a foxtail seed. I don't know what was up with that, if it was the liver or foxtail or what, so I held off on giving him food for a couple hours. He seems fine now.

He ate 1/2 cup each of Fromm and Before Grain kibbles mixed with a large egg in the early afternoon. He left a very small amount in the bowl, which Juneau ate. Did not barf it up.
I gave him another 1/2 cup of each kibble in the afternoon mixed with some lightly microwaved ground beef. He ate all of it. Microwaved beef (or the juice) seems to be the thing right now with Conker.


Today Conker and I visited several petshops to compare the prices of some wet foods. I think a wet food might entice him to eat more readily than the whole foods I have been trying. We bought one can each of EVO 95% Salmon & Herring and Red Meat. At Petco, which almost always has terrible prices, I was surprised to find a bag of Innova Red Meat for 50% off (nothing wrong with it) and the rest of the Innova products were either sale or clearanced as well. I bought the 15 pound bag since they were out of 30 pounders, and the smallest bags were the same price as the 15 pound bags. I also got a large bag of Before Grain Chicken (Merrick is discontinuing Before Grain and replacing it with something else) for about $20 off regular price.
I will probably feed the Before Grain to the Girls, since I am still unsure of how Conker will react to a chicken-based food. He seems to be able to tolerate low levels of chicken fine in most foods, so maybe he will be able to eat a chicken-based one. Maybe not. I'll test that out when he's eating reliably again.

Limpy Creek

A short while ago in June, Conker and I finally went back to Limpy Creek. The past two times had not been fun. The first visit I had poison oak rashes on my legs and it was really hot. The second time a bunch of fatass hicks were camping in the parking lot, which, I'll remind you, it's ILLEGAL to camp in day-use only areas. Fucking assholes.

Anywho, when Conker and I went back to Limpy Creek in June, there was nobody there. That was nice.

The trail at Limpy Creek is very lush. Probably because the creek borders it almost the entire way.

It's about a mile long, so it doesn't take very much time to do.

Shortly after the parking lot is the first section where the water is assessable down a seeply-banked hill..

Conker could not find the path to get onto the log I was standing on, and was very pissed about that.  He kept running and splashing and barking angrily at me as I laughed at him for missing the very obvious log path. (Which he watched me walk onto.)

 He figured it out eventually.

He loves to climb on things like rocks.

 And explore large tree roots.

And climb onto those tree roots.

After the first ditch, the trail winds through the dense forest. There are several other parts where the creek is visible and assessable. Sometimes it's quite flat, othertimes it's very steep. Conker is down there somewhere.

Random creek shot.

Conker really liked exploring the forest around Limpy Creek.

Jumping onto and over logs.

Towards the latter half of the hike, the trail goes through a dry section. The lushness disappears and gives way to a crusty type of forest that is very similar to those in Northern Arizona. As cool as the lush forests are, I much prefer the dry AZ type.

The section here is "fragile" since the water table is right below the surface, and is actually a marsh. You'll sink if you step off those boards.

GP is out there somewhere.

Finish with an obligatory pick-nick table picture.

Limpy Creek is nice, but not exactly worth the 25 mile round-trip drive. If it was longer than 1 mile, say, closer to 3 at the shortest, then I'd probably be more inclined to drive out there. But unfortunately it's not, so I won't be visiting it very often.

4th

I have noticed something with Conker. Whenever there are loud noises, like thunder or fireworks, he does not get scared. He gets angry. He will grunt and growl and strut around the house, in the same manner as he would if another dog here violating his front yard.

Anywho, last night, I suddenly remembered we had a rabbit in the front yard. I grab some lettuce and brocoli and head out there, to make sure the rabbit is not dying from fright and to give him some snacks. The rabbit is fine, he doesn't even seem to notice all the noise going on around him.
Conker, on the other hand, decided he was sick of being in the house, and bolted out the door.
Now, I imagine most Shiba (or dog) owners would have freaked out at this point, but I didn't. It's pretty normal for Conker to accompany me into the front yard to feed the rabbit, or to just go outside. And, I knew he was not going to freak out from the noise. Why?

He was not showing any fear signs in the house.
He LOVES to go outside and play in thunderstorms.

And what did Conker do while he was in the front yard? He turned into a spazzout machine! He started running like mad around the rabbit's pen, jumping against my leg, chasing his tail, running around the yard, leaping, snarling, and generally having a blast. None of the fireworks phased him in the slightest.
When it comes to loud noises like that, Conker is bomb proof. Now I just need to find a way to transfer that over to his stranger fear.


Juneau did relatively well. I played with her in the backyard with the Gourdo and a Coot wing before the fireworks got going, then threw the de-Coot winged Gourdo in the house for her whenever one went off that was relatively loud/close. I also gave her some Rescue Remedy, which helped a bit. We played a "catch the kibble" game a few times, which Sasha was more than eager to join, and I played classical music loud enough to cover up the vast majority of the explosions going off around the neighborhood.
Gotta love small towns, where the fireworks actually are explosions a lot of the time.
Juneau got lots of chews to keep her busy when she looked tired from chasing the Gourdo. Not once did she start to shake, and she only got nervous when I made a strawberry smoothie and didn't warn her before I turned on the blender. Figures.

The Badlands

I really, really, REALLY loved this place. It was fucking amazing. AMAZING. I wanted to stay longer, but all the dogs were pretty wiped, even Sasha who did a lot of nothing that entire trip. Anyways, with how little Conker was eating, and how quickly my ginormous jug of water was running out, I decided to cut the trip short and only spent a day in the Badlands. I wish I hadn't, but really, when you've got just one gallon of water left to share amongst four guzzling creatures, it's not wise to push it.

The overall scenery was, to most people I would say, blah. but to me, it was gorgeous. The above was taken on the drive in, as I was scouting for a campsite. It was about 9:15PM.

Obligatory pick-nick table picture

I ended up staying in an "OHV Staging Area". There was nobody there, and no signs that said I couldn't sleep in my Jeep (Conker and I were in the back cargo area, the Girls in the front seats. It was cramped, but worked), and nobody came by to tell me not to, so I did. I probably wouldn't do it again unless I was actually using the area for off-roading over a period of days, but hey, it worked, and it was free.

We heard a bunch of coyotes howling, which was cool. I love hearing coyotes, their sounds are so creepy and awesome at the same time. I think it was the dog's first time hearing them that close. They were all very quiet, and looked curious, but nervous at the same time.

Finding a usable trailhead was a bit of a challenge. The trail I wanted to use was, I guess "closed" since the road leading to it was blocked for vehicle traffic. I was miffed, so I found a small lake and let the dogs run around it for a bit. (No pictures of that.)
I drove around a bit and found an unblocked trailhead, geared up all the dogs and set off into the Wilderness.

There were lots of spiffy looking lava rock formations in the Badlands.

At first, like usual, Juneau ran off in a spaztastic endeavor to see how far away she could get before I realized she was not on the trail and started yelling at her. Sasha kept herself busy with sniffing horseshit, and Conker patrolled the front of the pack.

After Juneau got over her first bout of "I'M HIKING OFF LEASH WHEEEE!" She kept her butt on the trail, for the most part.

Then she found a "creek" which was actually an irrigation ditch for the farms neighboring the Wilderness. All the dogs thought this was amazing and all took a swim in the ditch.

After the swim we pressed on. And ran into some horses, but thankfully, I grabbed all the dogs before they spotted the horses. After the horses passed, I let them go and Juneau made a beeline for the horses, but came right back when I yelled "Juneau NO!" In the deepest, meanest voice I could muster.

Conker waits for Juneau to come back to the trail as she explores the high desert on one of her off-trail expeditions.

Despite having run three 600 yard courses in the two days beforehand, Juneau was very energetic for most of the hike. She carried all the water for the dogs, about 2 liters or so.

Since Conker wasn't eating much, and had also run three 600 yard courses, he did not carry a pack. But he did wear a cowbell.

Around the 6 mile mark, the dogs began to get tired. It was probably at the hottest, about 72, but it was very dry. We had to make frequent water stops to make sure everyone stayed hydrated and cool.

The terrain was relatively flat, and the scenery stayed about the same during the entire hike. Some of it was slightly more desrtish, other parts slightly more scrub pineish (I forget what those are called). The ground was a mix of sand and sandy dirt. I did not like the sand parts, but once it got a bit harder I was okay with it.

OH MY GOD IT'S A PICTURE OF LOSECH!  (Don't get used to it.)

It was partly cloudy that day, and wasn't sunny nor cloudy for any particular length of time. But for most of the last mile, the clouds covered the sun and it cooled off a bit. This gave the dogs a bit more energy and they started ranging out more than when the sun was out. They stayed pretty close for most of the hike, except when Juneau decided to go on off-trail excursions.

As we were about 1/4 mile from the trailhead, the sun came back out and all the dogs dropped in close again. They visited the irrigation ditch once more and cooled off, which was good since the Jeep was pretty warm when we got back.
As I was loading up the dogs, a group pf horses came by. The riders were very interested in Conker, and lure coursing when I told them why I was there. They also thought Juneau was a badass, which was cool. I hardly ever get compliments on the Girls.

Overall it was a very fun hike, which went for about 8 miles or so. I know to bring much more water next time (if I hadn't gone lure coursing, I would have had enough, but the dogs sucked it all up after their runs) and Conker learned that anthills are a very bad place to take a nap.

Lure coursing videos

These are of their first runs. Conker did pretty good. Juneau lost the lure a couple times, but was otherwise pretty good. Her second and third runs she kept up with it and didn't fly off in the wrong direction like she did on the first.


You can hear Conker flipping out as Juneau runs.


Juneau made the camera shake since she wanted to run again.

Steak

Steak is apparently good. Conker showed interest in MY steak, my marinated, grilled, very rare steak. So he helped himself to a piece. Swallowed it in about a half second before I knew what he was doing. Well, I guess that's alright, since he's eating something. So I gave him another piece. Similar reaction. Conker probably ate about 6-8 ounces of steak, which is about how much meat he'd normally be getting per day.  This is good! But I don't want him eating MY steak. My marinated, grilled, very rare steak. That's mine dammit.

I'll try giving him some unmarinated, ungrilled, very very rare steak tomorrow. If he don't eat it, then I lightly grill it. Still won't eat it? Tough shit. I ain't teriyaki marinating a steak for him. There's like, way too much sodium in that stuff for him. I might try making a marinade with like, olive oil and some type of vinegar, but only if he won't eat the steak raw or lightly grilled.

We'll see.

Conker is two years old today

Today is Conker's 2nd birthday. Since we just got back from an exhausting trip (lots of running and hiking) we aren't going to do anything special except lounge around the house, and probably go to the dog park/creek a little later.

Hiking in the Badlands Wilderness

I bought Conker a cornish hen, it's defrosting right now, but I doubt he'll eat it. He's been off food recently (I blame the traveling), not eating more than a small handful of kibbles over several days. He did eat a lot of chicken jerky that was given to me at the lure coursing, and a bit of my beef jerky. He showed interest in some Zuke's treats when we were in the Badlands and some freeze dried treats I had, so he ate a lot of those. He had a few bits of kibble when we got home, but nothing else so far.

He's still the same insane Conker, just not eating much at all.

Unfortunately, he really loves bread and would eat as much as he possibly could. If he didn't have those nastyass problems with wheat I'd probably buy him a whole loaf so he would at least be eating something. But, I can't find any bread that ain't got no wheat in it, and I have no clue how to make any (Fail Bread) and he won't touch any homemade foods anyways.


 Happy Birthday Conker! You frustrating little dog.

Chasing plastic bags

Juneau thought this was the SHIT.

Conker thought it was pretty badass too.

Money spent in June

Here is last month's writeup: Money spent in May

This month... I kinda splurged. I was originally going to try to make ti a raw-only month, but certain circumstances (Conker's refusal of food) and several good deals made this month, a food-heavy month. I bought a LOT of food stuffs, both commercial and raw.

Lets see how much the total is.

June 2012

• Food: $98.25
• Treats/Chews:  $8.00
• Equipment: $10

Total:  $116.25

Eeek! That's kindof a lot.

Raw foods.
I bought several pounds of beef heart (4 hearts) for about 1.70 per pound, totaling $10.65, and 18.3 pounds of chicken backs for $0.60 a pound for about $10.90, turkey misc for $0.99 per pound for $1.35, tripe (2 pounds) for $5.75, a pound of venison liver for $2, 5 tins of sardines for $0.80 a tin, 2 cans of mackerel for $1.75 a can, 3 cans of clams for $1.65 a can, and a can of salmon for $2.85.

That's $43.95 for raw materials.

Commercial foods.
A 4 pound bag of Fromm Beef Frittata for$13, a 5 pound bag of Fromm Duck and Sweet Potato for $14 ($1 off), a 6.6 pound bag of Before Grain Pork for $13.40, and a 6.6 pound bag of Before Grain Buffalo for $13.90.
I got a free bag of Fromm Duck and Sweet Potato, which otherwise would have cost $14.

That's $54.30 for commercial foods.

Treats/Chews.
I bought a bag of Zuke's salmon Mini Naturals for $5. No idea why. Some trachea chews at the farmer's market for $2 and some pig ear strips at Mini Pet Mart for $1.

Equipment.
I spotted an Outward Hound backpack for $10, figured I'd grab it and try it out, compare it to the Ruff Wear packs. It normally retails for about $30.


Lets see, since June is the half-year mark, I will post the 6 month total that I've spent on Conker so far.

$588

Um... I hope I don't double that by the time this year is over. Then again, I have been buying a lot of commercial foods, which I normally don't, and probably have enough total food to last for at least three months, so I shouldn't need to buy much next month. Hopefully.