You might've read our previous post on Amber's K9 trial [here], here's Part 2 of our review on this food. After trying all of K9's available flavors - Beef, Venison and Lamb, here goes our final thoughts!
Amber's poo was still inconsistent after trying the last meat - Lamb, the salesperson advised us to change the preparation method by using room temperature water instead of warm water, it didn't help much, her pee continued to smell weird, she urinated more frequently and poo was always soft, sometimes even watery (diarrhea). We were advised to continue as they mentioned diarrhea was a common problem when on K9, though they couldn't understand what the smell was about, we decided to stop everything. I suspected something is wrong and hoped it wasn't UTI (Urinary tract infection), we then made up our mind that it's time for Amber to visit the vet.
On our first visit to the vet after a year, we were lost as our usual vet - Light of Life Vet couldn't be found, after calling we then knew that they had changed their locations (silly us), luckily it was within walking distance. We explained everything to the vet and she decided check Amber's urine, everyone including the staffs and vet tried but nobody managed collect her urine as she peed too fast, they then decided to take the leftover pee drops to try out, fortunately it worked, however the results showed that Amber was officially diagnosed with UTI.
The vet started to ask into details, saying that Amber was always healthy and had no problems with food in the past, she also mentioned that raw was supposed to be good. Amber's PH level was too high which means that UTI is present and we needed to find out the exact cause. After some discussion, the vet suspected that Amber's UTI was caused by the alkaline water that we had given her for the past year, it was unexpected as we had been giving this to her for a year and did not encounter such problem, however we decided to follow the advice, stopped giving Amber alkaline water for 2 weeks and continued the same food with some medications.
After just 2 days of medication and stopping alkaline water, Amber's pee started to smell better, she also peed a lot more than the usual, though poo was still sometimes soft. This was the 2nd pack of K9 venison as we were advised by the salesperson to use the same protein, and also adding another pack of green tripe which was said to be able to help with the transition, she was trying her best to help and we were grateful for that, however we still needed to judge Amber's condition based on our feeling and experience.
The medication finished in about a week, and right after stopping medication, Amber's pee problems appeared again! We gave it another week of monitoring before visiting the vet, it didn't help, Amber's PH level was still over the regular limit after the urine test, which meant that UTI was still present. The vet then asked us to stop K9, we followed the advice and gave Amber another 2 weeks with the same medications. Problems finally started to disappear completely, even after finishing medications the weird pee smell did not reappear, she peed less frequently and in larger amount, it became obvious that K9 was the cause of Amber's UTI, not the alkaline water.
The vet then concluded that Amber was not suitable to take raw food, especially not K9 freeze dried. We were told to get Amber to drink more water, and some tips were to give her things like meat broth, fruits, wet dog food and even baby food. Some of the suggestions sounded a bit far fetched so we'd just give Amber some fruits from time to time. Her problem is now stabilized and we are back to Orijen kibbles.
From this we learned a couple of things:
1. First of all, Amber's body cannot take raw food even though it's good. In our past articles you should've understood that different dogs have different tolerance to things especially food, what works for one dog may not work for another.
2. If there are doubts, visit the vet. Never delay too long just because someone says otherwise.
3. UTI is a very common problem in dogs, it can be very hard to find the cause. Drinking lots of water can help to prevent and even eliminate this problem.
4. Dipping fruit or meaty treats in water can enhance the taste and promote drinking more water.
5. Vets are not well equipped with nutritional knowledge, medications should be followed but diet must be considered with caution. You don't want your dog to become completely dependent on tasty food and risk their appetite and/or health in the long run.
6. Sometimes it's good to make your own decisions and not follow blindly (If you know what you're doing), because of this we managed to put Amber back to healthy state before it becomes worst.
7. Green tripe does not help a dog to adapt to raw food, it is just a tasty snack.
K9 Natural itself is a very good source of protein, it is also very tasty according to Amber's reaction. However, I have to emphasize again that being good doesn't mean that all dogs can take it, raw is good only if a dog can digest and break them down, if not it'll just be junk that will further deteriorate it's health. Always be vigilant and take notice of your dog's reaction when trying something new!
Amber's poo was still inconsistent after trying the last meat - Lamb, the salesperson advised us to change the preparation method by using room temperature water instead of warm water, it didn't help much, her pee continued to smell weird, she urinated more frequently and poo was always soft, sometimes even watery (diarrhea). We were advised to continue as they mentioned diarrhea was a common problem when on K9, though they couldn't understand what the smell was about, we decided to stop everything. I suspected something is wrong and hoped it wasn't UTI (Urinary tract infection), we then made up our mind that it's time for Amber to visit the vet.
On our first visit to the vet after a year, we were lost as our usual vet - Light of Life Vet couldn't be found, after calling we then knew that they had changed their locations (silly us), luckily it was within walking distance. We explained everything to the vet and she decided check Amber's urine, everyone including the staffs and vet tried but nobody managed collect her urine as she peed too fast, they then decided to take the leftover pee drops to try out, fortunately it worked, however the results showed that Amber was officially diagnosed with UTI.
The vet started to ask into details, saying that Amber was always healthy and had no problems with food in the past, she also mentioned that raw was supposed to be good. Amber's PH level was too high which means that UTI is present and we needed to find out the exact cause. After some discussion, the vet suspected that Amber's UTI was caused by the alkaline water that we had given her for the past year, it was unexpected as we had been giving this to her for a year and did not encounter such problem, however we decided to follow the advice, stopped giving Amber alkaline water for 2 weeks and continued the same food with some medications.
After just 2 days of medication and stopping alkaline water, Amber's pee started to smell better, she also peed a lot more than the usual, though poo was still sometimes soft. This was the 2nd pack of K9 venison as we were advised by the salesperson to use the same protein, and also adding another pack of green tripe which was said to be able to help with the transition, she was trying her best to help and we were grateful for that, however we still needed to judge Amber's condition based on our feeling and experience.
The medication finished in about a week, and right after stopping medication, Amber's pee problems appeared again! We gave it another week of monitoring before visiting the vet, it didn't help, Amber's PH level was still over the regular limit after the urine test, which meant that UTI was still present. The vet then asked us to stop K9, we followed the advice and gave Amber another 2 weeks with the same medications. Problems finally started to disappear completely, even after finishing medications the weird pee smell did not reappear, she peed less frequently and in larger amount, it became obvious that K9 was the cause of Amber's UTI, not the alkaline water.
The vet then concluded that Amber was not suitable to take raw food, especially not K9 freeze dried. We were told to get Amber to drink more water, and some tips were to give her things like meat broth, fruits, wet dog food and even baby food. Some of the suggestions sounded a bit far fetched so we'd just give Amber some fruits from time to time. Her problem is now stabilized and we are back to Orijen kibbles.
From this we learned a couple of things:
1. First of all, Amber's body cannot take raw food even though it's good. In our past articles you should've understood that different dogs have different tolerance to things especially food, what works for one dog may not work for another.
2. If there are doubts, visit the vet. Never delay too long just because someone says otherwise.
3. UTI is a very common problem in dogs, it can be very hard to find the cause. Drinking lots of water can help to prevent and even eliminate this problem.
4. Dipping fruit or meaty treats in water can enhance the taste and promote drinking more water.
5. Vets are not well equipped with nutritional knowledge, medications should be followed but diet must be considered with caution. You don't want your dog to become completely dependent on tasty food and risk their appetite and/or health in the long run.
6. Sometimes it's good to make your own decisions and not follow blindly (If you know what you're doing), because of this we managed to put Amber back to healthy state before it becomes worst.
7. Green tripe does not help a dog to adapt to raw food, it is just a tasty snack.
K9 Natural itself is a very good source of protein, it is also very tasty according to Amber's reaction. However, I have to emphasize again that being good doesn't mean that all dogs can take it, raw is good only if a dog can digest and break them down, if not it'll just be junk that will further deteriorate it's health. Always be vigilant and take notice of your dog's reaction when trying something new!
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