u/hellohelloitsme_11

Hi everyone,

I’ve been really confused about food labeling here. My dog has potential pancreatitis issues so we’re feeding low fat. Advice is to keep it below 5% crude fat for wet food and below 10% for dry food. Now I keep seeing that you need to calculate crude fat. The label on the food over here gives the exact crude fat percentage (no min or max). Are the fat percentages on the packaging wrong?

Now I am really surprised seeing a lot of supposedly GI foods from WSAVA having 20% of fat. Someone also said for pancreatitis it should be below 20% when I thought that’s why too high. Someone even posted here saying they calculated the RC gastro low fat crude fat (wet food) and
it’s been way too high. I’m just really confused on all this.

Our vets have not been helpful at all here. One told us to just feed low fat if we want to and others have said to just feed whatever is agreeable with my dog and what he likes. None of them have apparently heard of WSAVA. People here have a very bad perception of WSAVA foods and trust anecdotes from friends and sometimes holistic nutritionists.

Any and all recs welcome for a summery beach read!!

Upfront: We don’t actually know if our pup has issues with chronic pancreatitis. It’s an ongoing thing. However, to be on the safe side we’re feeding low fat.

Problem is he also started to get dandruff and generally a dry skin and dull coat. So we’re thinking to up it just a little bit. Anyone have any recs for lower fat foods? The RC digestive care we’ve been eyeing has 20% which sounded like a lot to me. We would wanna switch to WSAVA food but are unsure given all the options.

Hi everyone,

Basically what the title says. We have a 4 year old rescue (poodle mix, male, neutered). We are also in Europe. A year ago he started showing signs of reactivity towards bikes. He also has a high prey drive which is why he is usually on a long line since we have a lot of wild animals including deer. Over the past years, especially noticeable this summer there are a lot more people on bikes around. My favorite trails in the woods have now become very stressful ones. The paths are pretty narrow and there’s lots of weeds etc so it’s hard to see especially in some bends on the way.

The people on bikes we encounter have been extremely careless. They do not use the bell and not only does my dog get startled, I do too. They come at a speed as if they want to qualify for the Tour de France. They expect you to jump out the way on the most narrow of paths when it should be the opposite according to the law. It’s mostly middle aged men, and I’m a woman. It seems they don’t even care when I say something because they straight up don’t respect me as a person. Often they wear headphones so they don’t even hear.

My problem is that I’m unable to properly train my pup. As I’ve said, the paths are very narrow and most of the time I don’t notice the bike approaching and it’s too late because usually my dog notices it first and starts running towards it and growls. If they stop, he doesn’t do anything. He just stops. I usually try to have him focus on me and scatter treats on the ground. The past couple of times this isn’t working at all and my dog is completely distracted. At the speed the bikes are coming towards us, I don’t have time to get treats out (although they are pretty accessible) as I’m also trying to shorten the leash so he can’t full on lunge and run towards the bike. He doesn’t react to bikes on the street (I guess because they are far away enough). I can’t go anywhere out of the way either (in the woods) and outrunning those bikes doesn’t work either. Sometimes they even have e-bikes. What makes it worse is that there are popular forums filled with some of these people waiting for a chance to kill a dog knowing dog owners can’t do anything since dogs are just considered “things/property” and not living beings by the law.

This is stressing me out to no end. When I want an easy walk I already choose routes where I barely see bikes. But that’s not a long term solution. I’m constantly paranoid on walks and keep looking over the shoulder while also trying to look ahead. It’s so sad because just a year or two ago, I was able to let the leash drag on the ground and I had zero issues with bikes since there weren’t any of the crazy fast ones around. It pains me to think that my dog would have to be on a crazy short leash (not even a long line) even in the woods.

Does anyone have some advice or successful experiences to share? Is this a permanent issue? Can this successfully to be trained so I don’t have to be this paranoid?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been a bit confused when it comes to food. I’m in Germany at the moment and all the vets I’ve been to don’t really have any recommendations when it comes to food. They will mention a couple of brands (if you don’t know, most people here do not feed RC/Hills etc, the market is filled with a ton of brands and you don’t know what’s good and what’s not). None of them have heard of WSAVA but one did say that the big brands do a lot of studies but generally ingredients aren’t that great compared to other brands. One said a home cooked meal would obviously be the best (only if done right with all the supplements and whatnot). He did say if the dog has a specific health issue then RC/Hills would be good for that since they’re specialized in that. We don’t really have time nor space to cook though.

I feel very conflicted by what I’ve read on here vs what all the vets I’ve been to tell me. It seems a bit contradictory. I also feel like there is little transparency when it comes to food where I’m at. We’re trying to figure out what is causing my dog’s general acid reflux/stomach issues and are unsure if it comes from the food itself. Here a lot of people including the vets say that food can be very impactful in terms of health (which makes sense) so certain stomach issues are often attributed to food rather than a medical issue. I feel like I’ve just lost the thread. Is there anyone here who lives in the area and/or has a similar experience?

Hi everyone,

Please bear with me. I’m not in the US but in Germany and I feel very lost in terms of dog food. I have read some of the Wiki so I’m not entire clueless. Our dog is going through some stomach issues (potentially chronic pancreatitis) and we are looking to switch his food at one point once those are resolved. A person I really looked to for advice as she is working in animal rescue and helped us with our rescue before we got him has been telling me to go to a “Ernährungsberater/Tierheilpraktiker”. Basically someone who did a year or two of apprenticeships in animal nutrition. Not a vet by any means. That friend cooks for her dogs in accordance with a plan she got from that nutritionist which includes a bunch of supplements to make the food nutritious and complete. We frankly don’t have time for this.

WSAVA brands have a gigantically negative reputation here based almost entirely on the “bad” ingredients. Vets recommend them but my friend and everyone else insists it’s because they’re big corporations and hence pay the vets. The German market is heavily saturated with what Americans would call boutique brands and people here almost entirely rely on friends/store employees and their anecdotes when it comes to food. I feel completely lost because I realize that I have no way of knowing what’s good or not. There doesn’t appear to be much regulation nor much information on the respective brands’ websites. In addition, most foods are grain free as people think it’s the devil personified to put that in dog food.

I had a conversation with my friend about WSAVA foods and at first she didn’t even comment on it. At one point she said WSAVA has such a bad reputation here because Germans and Europeans generally care more about higher quality ingredients the same way as it is for humans. I sent her the tufts articles and others about ingredients but she didn’t seem to read them and only said “articles are cool and all but reality and talking with friends would help a lot more”. This is someone who always wants to come off as highly educated on these matters and always doing right by her dogs. She even said that feeding WSAVA brands would usually help get dogs better and work but then immediately clarified that you can’t feed this long term because of the bad ingredients. I felt like I was talking to a wall.

I tried to have a conversation and actually get her to give me concrete points refuting what I sent her with all the articles but she just kept on going about bad ingredients. She mentioned several ingredients in WSAVA brands are fillers/preservatives/high in sugar etc. Hills already had recalls etc. She said the nutritionist she recommended could explain all this better especially since she also lived in the US for a bit. I just don’t want to spend money on someone who potentially just spreads misinformation. They all seem to be dead set in their opinions. So many dogs have stomach issues here, virtually all of them have a supposed grain allergy etc etc. And people are deadly afraid of anything “chemical”.

The thing is, there is no one really to talk to about nutrition. Most vets here really don’t know much or will just recommend RC (which is great) or tell you to get anything that works for your dog. They don’t do general advising when it comes to it though. The ones specialized in nutrition are said people who work more holistically. I can’t seem to cut through the noise. Even when I search dog food/ingredients/WSAVA in German to see local articles there is nothing much that comes up. It seems to be one whole country’s preference to say xyz is bad when it doesn’t seem to be supported by science at least from what I’ve read here. I feel so conflicted with no one to turn to.

Could someone explain a bit more the bit about ingredients? Whenever I wanna hear from the “anti-WSAVA” crowd all they seem to say is “how can these ingredients be better than fresh food/xyz brand etc” which isn’t really a valid argument.

Hi everyone,

I’m getting my first racquet and the recommendations from the store employees surprised me a bit. For reference I’m a woman, 27 years old, 5’11 and generally a big girl. He told me not to get a 300 g racquet, especially not the 2026 Head Speed MP which I asked him about. He instead recommends the L version.

He also mentioned 265 g racquets which felt extremely light. I’ve heard about the Head Speed MP 2022 model though and how that has less swing weight. I’m a beginner so I’m unsure what that really means, if it feels lighter. He also recommended grip size 1 and said the finger rule is a bit outdated. He said that generally he rarely sells 300 gram racquets to non-pros. I did play with some racquets including a Babolat Pure Drive Team but didn’t notice much difference.

I honestly would just love to have a solid racquet that serves me well now and allows me to advance and keep it more long term. Since it is a bunch of money I do wanna make the right choice. Would appreciate any advice!