I’m partnering with Castor & Pollux to bring you today’s post. My fellow dog mommas are going to love this one!
I typically write a weekly post where I share what I’ve been eating but today I’m switching gears and showing you what the furry members of this household have been eating recently. It’s been about four years since I’ve addressed this topic and I know many of you are newer readers (and fellow dog moms) so I think we’re overdue an update! I’ve also got some general feeding time tips to share with you.
Choosing the Right Dog Food
I will start by saying that I am a tad fanatical about what I feed my dogs. I did a lot of reading about various dog foods when Sullie was a puppy (10 years ago, I can’t believe it!) and made the decision that even with a tight budget, investing in high-quality dog food was a priority. One thing that really helped me make this decision was thinking about my own body and what makes it feel good. When I eat a lot of crappy food, I honestly feel bad all over. I notice a difference in everything from mental clarity to energy levels to skin quality to digestion and much more. When my diet consists mostly of clean and healthy food, I feel about a million times better in my body both mentally and physically. It made sense to me that the same would apply for animals.
(Sullie on her second birthday back in 2008!)
This point was really driven home for me when after three years of feeding Sullie a relatively good dog food, I discovered that her food was the culprit for recurring ear infections. Y’all, it was terrible. Sullie was at the vet constantly for the better part of two years for terrible, painful ear infections. Not only were the infections themselves painful but sweet Sullie would cry at the vet while they were cleaning out her ears. We had resigned ourselves to the fact that this was something we would deal with forever until a new vet suggested we switch her food. She hasn’t had one single infection since. When I got Zoey I started feeding her the same thing and we switched the pug Arnie over as well when he moved in.
Fast forward to now…I have been approached with many dog food partnerships in the past but I’ve turned them all down because I wasn’t willing to mess with the health of my dogs. I accepted this partnership with ORGANIX® because it offered the opportunity to try out a food that is even more highly rated than what I was feeding. After reading a lot about ORGANIX, I liked a lot of things about it and was genuinely interested to give it a try.
ORGANIX by Castor & Pollux Natural PetWorks
ORGANIX by Castor & Pollux Natural PetWorks is the leader in organically-certified and natural food for dogs. Here are a few of my favorite features about the brand.
- ORGANIX recipes feature a balanced combination of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals.
- Every recipe contains omega 3 fatty acids to promote healthy skin and coat.
- All ORGANIX recipes are cooked in the USA at an organically certified kitchen. None of these recipes contain corn, soy or wheat.
- Options for grain-free recipes.
- No fillers or antibiotics and no ingredients from China.
What makes ORGANIX different from other natural pet food brands?
- The first ingredient in every recipe is always organic free-range chicken or turkey, real salmon or lamb.
- Organic ingredients produced without chemical pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, artificial preservatives or added grown hormones.
We received two big bags of the Chicken & Brown Rice recipe and the ingredients list is solid.
And judging by the giant string of drool Sullie has going here, I think it’s safe to say that it’s a winner when it comes to taste. (I’ll have to trust the pups on this one.) I’m pretty sure that this new dog food test has been the highlight of my pup’s month! They’re so excited about it.
We are starting with the Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe but here are the additional recipes offered…
- Grain-free Chicken & Potato
- Grain-free Lamb & Peas
- Grain-free Salmon & Peas
There are also small-breed, large-breed, puppy and healthy weight formulas in addition to a selection of canned food. And for my cat mommas, ORGANIX has you covered as well. You can check out the full ORGANIX product listing on their website.
To locate a store that sells Organix® recipes in your area, visit ORGANIX site. If you want to save yourself a trip to the store, you can visit their shop online search menu.
5 Feeding Time Tips
- When transitioning your dog to a new food, start by replacing a small portion of their existing food with new food. Gradually increase the quantities over the course of a week or so until you’ve fully transitioned to the new food. Do not make a sudden switch!
- Have a feeding “place” and always feed your dogs in that same place. It creates routine and order.
- If you have multiple pets, feed them separately. Even though my girls have never shown signs of aggression towards one another, I don’t trust them with food. Zoey zooms through her meal and rushes over to interrupt Sullie and I think it’s an altercation just waiting to happen. Zoey gets fed in the bedroom with the door closed, Arnie in his crate and Sullie in the kitchen.
- Use a food command. I like for my girls to know that their humans are in charge of the food so they have to sit and wait to eat until given their food commands. Sullie’s is “oink, oink” (video here) and Zoey’s is “wiggle, wiggle.” Arnie is 14 so he gets a pass on this. He can barely even see to eat his food. 🙁
- Interrupt your dogs and mess with them while they’re eating. Again, I want to avoid food aggression and guarding at all costs so since both of my girls were pups, I’ve messed with them while they’re eating. This is everything from patting them to sticking my hand in their faces to picking up the food mid-meal and making them go through the command drill again and much more. I don’t do this all the time by any means and I know it might sound a little crazy but I swear that it works.
Coming Up Soon
Stay tuned…in a few weeks I’ll have an update on our experience with ORGANIX along with scenes from an upcoming doggie adventure!
I’d love to hear how you address your pets nutritional needs. Are you choosy about dog foods? Do you give any supplements to your dogs?
Do you use a food command or have any feeding-time routines?
I’m also happy to answer any dog food and feeding time related questions you might have. 🙂
Make sure to stay connected with Organix® by following them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
ohhhh…I recently switched my dog to a higher-quality, grain free food and just realized that he hasn’t had an ear infection since! he’s got some hound in him so he has floppy ears and would always get really gross ear infections. it’s so amazing how the quality of your food makes a huge difference (for dogs and people)!!
I have been in the research phase of what to switch our 10 month old lab’s dog food too and this might be the winner. Thanks for the great post, I love knowing there are other dog moms out there who value quality food as much as we do at our home! I have a random question for you though, do you happen to know where you got their food dishes and mat from? I love the simple look of the dish and I can’t seem to find a food mat that will stay put and not get all gross! thanks!
We had a *lot* of trial and error with our dog’s food, she was getting recurring skin irritations that have finally seemed to improve once we switched to a grain-free food. We even tried a super-expensive hypoallergenic dog food from the vet and it was the only one she refused to eat (of course!). We finally found one that seems to work well for her skin (Taste of the Wild).
We make her “sit” and then go “down” before we get her food. When she’s feeling excited, she doesn’t go all the way down, she’ll just kind of hover. But since she’s on a tile floor, eventually her feet slide out haha! So I will sit there and wait until she’s actually all the way down. Then she gets an “OK!” after her food bowl is on the floor, that’s when she can come eat.
Hey Jen!
I had a female rottweiler (she went to the rainbow in 2008) and she used to get horrible yeast ear infections. A trainer told me it was the food and I switched to a different brand and the ear infections went away!
Thanks for posting about Organix. I am going to check into it because what I thought was a good brand for my dogs turns out not to be so much so.
As a dog mom, I totally appreciated this post. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one that prioritizes routine, messing with them while they eat, and give commands before your dog is allowed to chow down. My boxer has a very large vocabulary and usually starts whining for food around 5pm. When the time rolls around, I ask him, “Do you want puppy chow?” He usually gets crazy excited and waits by his bowl near the kitchen for me to pour it in. He waits and then I say, “Ok, go get it.” He knows to go ahead and start eating.
As far as brand names go, my boxer has a super sensitive tummy and sensitive skin so the food that has worked best is Blue Buffalo. I swear by this food!
Thanks for this post, really enjoyed it!
~American Dog Mom in Japan (yes I flew my furry baby over with me)
Oh my – yes, we’re kind of crazy about what we feed our dogs! The backstory is that our first dog had an autoimmune disorder that ended up why she passed — so we knew we wanted to prioritize nutrition with our next dogs. We actually fed our next dog raw food for the first 8 months of having her — and we go our second dog during that time who ate raw for 2 months. In the end it was SO much work for us that we spent more time on meal prep for them on Sundays that for ourselves! ha I think there are EASIER ways to do it than we were but needless to say – we now feed a high quality food with no fillers. Unfortunately the two of them go through a bag ever 3ish weeks! We feel that its an investment in their health! They also get a probiotic kelp powder — their favorite snacks are just peppers, carrots, and cauliflower when I’m copping and of course, egg yolks are a hit!
I have a 12 yr old golden and a, just turned 1 yr old, golden. I always feed wheat free. have gone around and around, probably too much, but have settled on Merrick. they seem to like it. I add about a tablespoon of wet food and mix it up.(Purina One Smart Blend) a couple of days ago the one yr. old doesn’t even look at it. sometimes I’d add half a scrambled egg and she’d pretty much just eat the egg out. 12 yr old is fine. what should I do?
First I would check with your vet to make sure nothing is going on with her!