Hello everyone,
it’s been a while since my last post. Last time I was feeding Elsa with Arden Grange large puppy when I’ve noticed her coat was turning to brown (she is a Mantle from Harlequin + Black) and more and more “cuts” on her paws. On top of that, randomly, she had the runnings. Our vet didn’t want to run any test to exclude allergies or intolerances because she thought it wasn’t necessary; but she suggested to think of changing diet / food. So I did.
Raw is not an option for me, so I didn’t even consider that and wanted to stay on dry food. Few options on the list but in the end, after speaking with Gentle, was to order the first bag.
I’ve had a great support (and I’m still having a great support every time I call to place a new order), with precious suggestions to start with and as soon as the food arrived I’ve started immediately to feed Elsa with it. I remember I was running out of AG and was a bit worried because of the transition time. Elsa had no issue at all and she liked the new food straight away (which was a good starting point). After few weeks came the big surprise: her coat was turning to black again, not just black…super shiny polished black…no runnings and her paws soft and smooth again. I was simply delighted! Since then I of course carried on feeding her with Gentle and another thing I have noticed is that she doesn’t smell at all (which I guess is food related as well).
The news is that few weeks ago we have adopted Odin, a 2 y.o Blue Great Dane. He was on raw diet and after talking to the breeder about the chance of changing his diet to dry food, we started to feed him as well with Gentle. Results: I have a very shiny Blue Gentle Giant, who likes his food a lot, is in great health condition and great shape too!. In Odin’s case I am starting noticing the same improvement in the smell as well…it had a quite strong one when he arrived but is now progressively loosing it.
So, all in all, I’m very very happy with this food…highly recommended!! 
Elsa & Odin
Thank you so much for getting back to us on this. It really is great to have members talking of their experiences and after all that is what forums are all about. I agree with you about Gentle, having fed it to my dogs for some time. I liked the food and the dogs seemed to do well on it. The only reason I changed is that at the time two of the dogs needed to lose a bit of weight and I had to keep reducing the amount. Because the food is dense they ended up having a really tiny quantity and it made me feel guilty. :-[ Otherwise, they did well on it and yes - I totally agree about the doggy odour. With cold pressed food it seems to disappear.
It’s good that you have found something suitable for your Danes and that they are doing so well on the product. Well done for persevering and again, thank you for your appraisal of Gentle cold pressed food.
The moderators put a lot of their own time into the forum and don’t always get the feedback that they or the forum as a whole deserve so it’s always pleasing to see someone take the trouble to get back and tell of their experience. To get your views on Gentle cold pressed food and your Danes, Elsa and Odin and that they are happy, healthy dogs is valuable information that may well help others. The smell issue is interesting and will be of interest to see if this improvement is seen with other cold pressed brands.
Hi Elsa
Indeed your feedback is very much appreciated. I am glad gentle suits. I have also used it and was very happy. I initially changed to Markus Muhle and noticed an improvement in smell almost straight away. Both from wind and coat. ;D
Hello everyone,
my pleasure in sharing with you what is my experience
Talking about the smell this is what I was reading around the web and basically every person who switched to cold pressed noticed that…which is really good!
Dottie mentioned the quantity and yes…it took me a while to get used to the very small portion I am feeding Elsa and Odin with. It depends on how much often we go for walks but the quantity vary between 550 and 620gr a day. Elsa is now 16 month old and 53kg, Odin is 24 month old and 65kg (when it was on raw his daily feeding was about 3kg of meat a day). I am now slightly increasing his portions just to double check if he can take it in without having the runnings, but I would say he will never exceed the 650gr a day (he just need a tiny bit more just to put on maybe 1.5/2 kg more).
Wind is another area where the improvement has been very, but very noticeable.
On my side I feel a lot better also because if you look at the videos about the cold pressed food and the way it is processed by the digestive system, I know that in less than 2 hours it will be completely absorbed; and if you consider that Great Danes are, unfortunately, prone to bloat and torsion of the intestine…well, this is another pros I am very happy with! I can tell that they feel very light in their belly and the breath is improved as well.
They don’t drink as much as I would expected too. I was reading of people not too happy about this, with their dogs drinking gallons of water a day. This is not my case and I have to say that is quite the opposite. When Odin came to our house was used to drink a lot…and I mean a lot (to me he was eating way too much but I don’t know the rules of raw feeding so I cannot be sure). Since we moved him to cold pressed the intake of water has gone down dramatically. Elsa on AG was used to drink quite a lot and the same for her since we changed her diet.
I take this as a very good sign and should means I am not overfeeding.
I’ll keep you posted