[BellaWella]

I read a few threads on Dr Harvey's and am def interested in the canine health miracle dog food.

This is for the people that are using it and use it on a daily basis...

Just want a update on if the same people are feeding their dogs this and how long daily have you been feeding? How are they doing on it?

What additional supp/vit/minerals are you adding?

I know there are mix reviews on feeding daily or using sometimes, I am planning on using daily so I'd like to know is there people that used daily that had to stop for any reason??

Yes there are already threads on this topic with some of my questions but most date back to 2008, so just want an update on how things are going??


I know all dogs are different but my plan is to feed.....

Dr Harvey's Canine Health

ground turkey/chicken/ground beef cooked in E.V. coconut oil ( rotating each protein prob weekly or bi weekly)

Dr Harvey's Health and Shine for the oil portion ( flax oil, borage oil, fish oil and Vitamin E)

cottage cheese/fat free yogurt (calcium for my puppy)

animal essentials plant enzymes and probiotics.


does that sound like a balanced meal that is safe for daily feeding? :huh:

 

[Nikki's Mom]

I rotate Dr. Harvey's Veg-to-Bowl occasionally, and all is well.

There is calcium in the Dr. Harvey's vitamin mix, btw, but a little cottage cheese/yogurt is okay, too. Everything else looks good to me.

 

[yukki]

I just started Yukki on the raw food diet that is sold at pet health food stores. I have read a lot in the past two weeks about this type of diet being so much healthier for our babites than commercial kibble. You might want to investigate that type of diet, too. I bought the BARF brand to start with as it is supposed to be a complete diet. It has literally everything in it, including ground flax, veggies and fruits. Yukki used to be a very finicky eater and now paws at me at dinner time letting me know he wants to eat. He seems happier and has so much more energy in just the short time he has been eating it.

I did see Dr. Harveys and inquired about it. They said that was a great way for people who wanted to go to homecook for their babies but didn't necessarily have the time or know how to prepare a well balaned diet. As I am sure you already know, all you have to do is soak it, add your own protein and oil. I have heard salmon oil or sardine oil is the best for them but alternating your protein as well as oil is best. You can also get the oils at a health food pet store. A great book to read about dog care is called "Scared Poopless". It is written by Jan Rasmusen who had done a lot of research on all aspects of dog care, including nutrition. There are two great chapters on nutrition and diet. She does not mention Dr. Harvey's but she does talk some about a raw diet. Good luck. Sounds like you have very lucky babies whose mommy loves them dearly!!!

 

[BellaWella]

This is my first puppy and I have been just going crazy about her diet, I can't decide, change my mind, Come up with a plan then by next day its a different plan.... I may be clinically insane now!!!!!!

I wanted to do raw, Stella and chewy's but am worried about the contamination, we are always kissing her and she's a puppy so she has a ton of toys she has in her mouth! Home cooking sounds best but after research and research I still don't think I get it... I don't think I will know how to balance it out properly ( I have a cook, so I don't do much cooking of my own). So what's left is kibble or Dr Harvey's type dog food and I def want to do Dr Harvey's daily!

So where are the folks using Dr Harvey's everyday?!?? How are your dogs doing? and the other questions I asked etc etc...........


There isn't a holistic vet around where I am and my vets don't know much about nutrition.

I plan on doing a bile acid test/blood work next week before the changing to food, then again 6 months..But would love a 2010 update from daily users. Thank you!

 

[BellaWella]

also how much are you feeding per day? I want to make it for 3 feeding per day not keep it in my fridge for 3 days.

I ask because the instructions say to use 3 scoops of mix, 8 oz of protein and 6 oz of water, to make 1 pound recipe. Well 1 pound sounds a lot and if I make 1 pounds I know Ill have to store in fridge which I am trying to avoid. So for a 4 1/2 -5 lb pup what would be ideal measurements to make to feed 3 times a day...

I don't know If I made it come out right but I want to make the meal in the morning and make enough for 3 feedings per day and not have to store overnight....


I emailed Dr Harvey's but they will probably be off til Tuesday due to holiday.

and I do not mean to come off stupid but I do not cook....how do you measure 8 oz of meat??

 

[Nikki's Mom]

You have to use a kitchen scale to weigh the protein.

I only make 2 servings at a time. I make it in the evening. I give one serving to Nikki for dinner, then the other serving for breakfast.

If you use Dr. Harvey's pre-mixes, you do not have to add any additional vitamins/minerals, except for the omega oils, as the pre mix contains vitamins. If you want to add Animal Essentials enzymes/probiotics, that is fine. Like I said in my previous post, Nikki is doing fine eating Dr. Harvey's Veg To Bowl occasionally when I don't home cook from scratch.

 

[BellaWella]

Thanks Nikki's mom.... I read a lot of threads on here and I read a lot of your post and think you and a few others are very knowledgeable and very greatly enjoying reading what you guys have to write and share with us... Thank you

I know you can't stress enough that you only share your opinions and your experiences and not to sway people to your way of thinking but I do use you as a path to keeping my baby healthy.... I know you only feed Dr Harvey's sometimes but I will have to do everyday...

What I have come up with is this.... the 3 scoops/8 oz protein/6 oz water is for 1 pound recipe....I believe my puppy for her size will only need 1/3 of that a day....so every morning I will be mixing 1 scoop Dr Harvey/ about 2.6 oz of protein / 2 oz of water then once that is complete, split that into 3 portions and feed morning/afternoon/night! I hope that's right! :blink:

 

[Toby's Mom]

I feed the Dr. Harvey's as well and I have been mixing the proteins as suggested.

Here is how I do it...

I mix the 3 scoops, 8 oz of water (which did you know is really only supposed to be 7.5 oz of water?) and 6 oz of protein. Then I add in the oil. Usually I add one capsule of Dr. Harvey's Health and Shine OR Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

As for the proteins, I rotate them. If you would like my list, let me know and I can get it for you.

This mixture usually lasts Toby about three days. I weight his food out each time I feed him. He gets. 2.3 oz of food (twice daily).

Also, a little tip...when I cook his beef, chicken or whatever other protein that needs to cooked, I cook/boil it and use that water to add to the food so whatever proteins were cooked out end back up in the food.

Hope that helps some. BTW, Toby LOVES this food!

 

[BellaWella]

Thanks Toby's Mom...you guys are such great moms I feel so much more confident in everything I do now because of you guys!!!!!!!

I know I def want to do Dr Harvey's, infact I already ordered every.... There were just things that weren't clear like the daily portions...

see Toby's mom you mix a batch for 3 days worth...I don't want to do that and only want to do one days worth and can't seem to figure the amount out... I emailed Dr Harvey so hopefully they get back to me soon.

so if you do 2.3 oz twice a day of completed mix that's 4.6 oz total...if I feed 3 times a day I guess I should be doing about 1.5 oz each feeding... being if our dogs were same weight and required same amount of food.

Thanks for the tip!! The chicken is the only thing I'll most likely boil and will be using your tip...the Lean ground beef and ground turkey Ill lightly cook in coconut oil.

 

[Nikki's Mom]

You'll do fine. Your baby will be fine. After she is on the food for about 6 months, you should have blood work done to see how she is doing on it. Nikki just had blood work done and everything came out perfect.

A kitchen scale really helps a lot. After you've been doing it for a while, it will be a lot easier.

 

[PreciousPrince]

I've been feeding Dr. Harvey's for 2 years now. I rotate chicken, ground turkey, ground lamb, and recently added in ground bison. Besides the oils and enzyme probio supp, chia seeds, and some of Honest Kitchen's Invigor supp. which I add into his DH mix, he gets a customized supplement from a nutrionist based on annual bloodwork. From what I understood about the DH was that there aren't vitamins added to the mix, but that they are getting what they need from the whole foods already in the mix. What I can tell you is that I had a family member who wanted to try the DH and I asked his nutritionist during one of our consults about people who do the Dr. Harvey's without doing what we do with the specialized supplement, and if they should add some sort of vitamin supplement to it, and he said yes.

Other things- if you haven't given her the cottage cheese/yogurt before, I would introduce that first to make sure she can handle it so if she can't, you're not wondering later if she gets an upset tummy-less things to weed out.
I cook his chicken in the coconut oil or olive oil bc he seems to like it better sauteed than boiled, but for the ground meats I don't cook them in anything bc they cook in their grease which I have to drain off and then pat, so I just reheat them in the oil. Do what makes sense to you, but go easy on the coconut oil at first too.
Those directions about amounts on the bag don't make sense, I just cook 1 scoop of mix and a few days worth of meat, put them in separate containers and mix them together for each meal. That's what's easiest for me. The nutritionist couldn't even tell me how much I should be giving him, only recommended percentages, so it was just trial at first to see how much he would eat, if he maintained his weight, ect... I think you'll find it's a surprisingly small amount of food though-I did.

 

[Toby's Mom]

I've been feeding Dr. Harvey's for 2 years now. I rotate chicken, ground turkey, ground lamb, and recently added in ground bison. Besides the oils and enzyme probio supp, chia seeds, and some of Honest Kitchen's Invigor supp. which I add into his DH mix, he gets a customized supplement from a nutrionist based on annual bloodwork. From what I understood about the DH was that there aren't vitamins added to the mix, but that they are getting what they need from the whole foods already in the mix. What I can tell you is that I had a family member who wanted to try the DH and I asked his nutritionist during one of our consults about people who do the Dr. Harvey's without doing what we do with the specialized supplement, and if they should add some sort of vitamin supplement to it, and he said yes.

What kind of vitamin supplement do you use?

 

[Nikki's Mom]

EDITED to add more.

I'm sorry, I don't think I was clear about the vitamins in Dr. Harvey's.

This is just my opinion. Everyone has to make their own choices. When you use Dr. Harvey's you are using a whole food supplement, not a vitamin mix.

Most nutritionists haven't actually tested Dr. Harvey's food to register the vitamin/mineral content/ nutritional data. Because the vitamins/minerals contained in the food are from herbs/veggies, rather than a synthetic vitamin mix, nutritionists just don't trust that it is nutritionally balanced. I can understand where they are coming from. However, anecdotal evidence from pet owners suggests that it is. It's up to the individual pet owners to decide.

Dr Harvey claims that the pre-mix products make up a complete whole food nutritional supplement. I spoke with him last year, and he told me that most people do not add additional vitamin/mineral supplements to his pre-mixes, (if their dogs are healthy to begin with.) He said that their dogs do just fine. Some add probiotics/enzymes.

It's really a matter of personal choice whether to add an additional vitamin supplement or not. I think a lot of animal/human nutritionists are concerned about having a balanced vitamin mix added to food, when in most cases just eating the right mix of food itself is fine. It is the quality of the PROTEIN is what matters the most. Buy the best-quality meats/fish/chicken that you possibly can afford. Organ meats, which most people shy away from, are extremely nutritious. And they are less expensive than lean cuts of meat.

I use Animal Essentials Herbal Vitamins and Animal Essentials Calcium (which are whole food supplements,) when I home cook from scratch. I've been using it for almost 2 years, and Nikki's doing fine. I probably don't need to use the herbal vitamins, but I do it because I can't always afford the best food. Calcium is a necessity, though, and I personally like using Omega 3 oils.

(After years of using multi vitamins and herbal supplements myself, I have backed off most of them, and instead, started eating properly. The doctor said that the only thing I was low on was Vitamin D, and that is mostly because I don't go out in the sun enough.)

IMO, if we are generally healthy, there are enough vitamins and minerals in good quality meats/poultry/eggs/fish, veggies and fruits, to sustain our health, and our dog's health without overdoing supplements. But, you have to seek out and eat good quality food.

The reason why commercial dog foods have a vitamin/mineral mix added to their food is that the quality of the proteins are very poor, and their high-heat food processing methods remove vitamins/minerals, so a supplement must be added back in to make the food nutritionally complete.

Remember, this is just my own personal opinion, and everyone has to make their own decisions.

 

[PreciousPrince]

Nicole, it's something the nutritionist has made for him.

 

[kathym]

I home cook for Baci ..Would the grain free or the reg be better ?I keep going back and forth.I have been mixing in Nordic Naturals plus Missing Link to home cooking plus Merrick dry food I would like to get off of the dry food and sub it with the Dr Harveys food .

 

[Nikki's Mom]

IMO, Nordic Naturals makes a quality product. I wouldn't trust either Missing Link or Merrick.

IMO, I'd go with grain-free, but I am not a fan of grains. However if the dog does fine on grains, then it's really a matter of personal choice.

 

[CrystalAndZoe]

Every dog is different. When I put my 2 on the Canine Health, I added the AE Multi-Vitamin one day and then alternated the next with AE's Green Alternative. I had blood work done 3 months later and Zoe's phospherous level was low. Jett's was fine. So the small amount of calcium in the AE's Multi-Vitamin was more then she needed...even though it was given only every other day. There is calcium added in the Veg-to-Bowl and there are vitamins and minerals added in the Canine Health. I stopped adding all supplements except for AE's Probiotics with Digestive Enzymes and the Oils and 3 months later both Zoe and Jett's levels were perfect. I imagine as my Zoe is beginning to enter her 'senior years'...still think that's weird that age 6 she's entered her senior years, Malts live to be 14 plus years old for pete's sake...I may need to add some calcium as they tend to need more as puppies and seniors. For Callie, I'm adding cottage cheese or plain yogurt as Dr. H recommends for additional calcium.

Zoe & Jett have been on Dr. H for 2 1/2 years now. I was told by Callie's breeder to transition her very slowly from what she had been on to Dr. H because all of hers tend to have a sensitive tummy. She also told me Callie is a very picky eater and just nibbles a few pieces of kibble at a time all day long. Well....I started out half and half (which isn't very slow) and only did that for 2 days and she's totally on Dr. H with no tummy upsets at all. None of my fosters had any trouble transitioning either and I just fed them Dr. H from the get go. And my little nibbler Callie is now eating with GUSTO and doing dances like her big brother and sister do when I'm preparing their meals. lol

 

[Nikki's Mom]

Thanks, Crystal. I am so glad you shared your experiences here.