Miranda

Steve I know that this is going off topic a bit, but can you tell us what you feed to your dogs? I would be very interested as I remember you saying somewhere that you don't see many health problems and since I had a relatively young dog die from cancer a few years back I have become very interested in this subject. I feed lots of meat and bones, veggies etc., but they still get 1 cup of kibble a day (Eagle Pack Holistic) and I can't seem to find the courage to wean them off kibble altogether. If this has alraedy been discussed somewhere else, can you give me a link to it? Many thanks. ;)

I don't have any links Nadia, but I would certainly be interested in reading some studies if any have been done.

George my Doggie I hope that you don't consider everything you read in books and on websites to be fact. There is more c**p written on the internet than anywhere else and I have seen books written about dogs (and many other subjects) that make no sense whatsoever. And what is advice if it's not based on opinions? If people have no opinions what advice can they offer................"err, I dunno"? Also I hope that you have plenty of money if you are intending to feed your dog free range/organic meat. I am not poor, but I certainly can't afford to feed organic meat even though I would like to, it is much more expensive. There are a lot of people on DOL who have years of experience in breeding, training and owning dogs and that is what counts, EXPERIENCE! You can read all the books and websites and do all the courses, but experience holds sway over theory every time. It's important to read about dogs and ask questions, but it's no substitute for the real thing. It is actual hands on EXPERIENCE that teaches you things and six months of dog ownership means that you know very little even if you think otherwise. You seem to have lots of confidence in your own opinions which is probably why you are reluctant to accept or listen to those of others. Therefore I suggest that you go ahead and act on those opinions and I wish you luck. Please don't think that I'm having a go at you, I am simply trying to help to the best of my ability and knowledge. It is the welfare of the dog that I am interested in, and I'm just trying to educate the owner. ;)

Yes this is true, I've been in a piggery and they're horrific, intensively farmed chickens are no better off either.

Great post Steve, I entirely agree with you. Incidentally when we lived in the country my dogs used to catch rabbits, usually young ones that couldn't run quite as fast, but occasionally they'd catch adults too. They used to eat every single piece of those rabbits, nothing would be wasted or discarded and their poos used to come out filled with fur. IMO my dogs were never healthier or happier than at that time. I'm certainly not into hunting and as I've already stated I don't eat meat, but even though I felt guilty (I don't really know why) whenever they caught a rabbit I never tried to stop them because it's natural and that's what dogs do. I did, of course, worm them regularly, and they certainly never suffered any ill effects from their truly 'natural' diet.

Hi John, Had your puppy had his second vaccination?

I don't eat meat either KathP so I know what you mean, I hope you have some success with the smoked bones, it does sound like a good idea.

Is it possible that he ate something when he was out for his walk? My dogs pick up all sorts of things when they're off running and I don't like it at all, but I don't know how to stop it other than keeping them on leashes. As they're a running breed this would be very unfair. I really hope that your dog is ok.

You could always try giving her a big MEATY bone, she'd be so surprised it might keep her quiet for hours! Sorry KathP, not trying to belittle what is a very serious problem, just couldn't resist making that little joke I'm not a great believer in Clomicalm either, but it apparently does help in some cases and I hope it works for you. It certainly helps the vets' hip pockets!

I'm a panic merchant too....I would go now.

Raz, biotin is one of the B vitamins (there are quite a number of them) and it is true that raw egg white binds to biotin and prevents it being absorbed. However it doesn't affect the other B complex vitamins. Fortunately there are quite large amounts of biotin in egg yolk which means that a dog would have to eat a large number of raw eggs before a deficiency developed. I researched this a number of years ago when I lived in the country and had chooks and my dogs were getting a few raw eggs a week (usually stolen from the chook pen). I hope I've remembered it correctly. George my Doggie, I also thought that you were breeding GSD's, sorry I must have confused you with someone else

Oops! So sorry for the misunderstanding LOL.

Yes I'm sure that this can be done with a lot of research and planning, although I still don't advocate the feeding of soy to dogs. However George my Doggie is intending to breed GSD's and I just can't imagine breeding dogs whilst feeding them a vegetarian diet. Personally I wouldn't even attempt it, so I'd be very interested to hear if you've ever had a litter. Human vegan mothers frequently have babies with lower birth weights and I would imagine that this would be true for dogs too, but I'd be interested in your experiences.

Greentea advised in a previous thread that she had bought the dog as a show dog, but then discovered that she was unable to groom it so was looking for someone to do it for her. She then says that she is unable to train it and wants someone to do it for her. I just found this a little odd, usually people who buy a show dog are reasonably well informed about the breed and its grooming and training requirements. Had she bought a dog just as a pet, I wouldn't have found the situation quite so strange. Greentea I had no idea that you are unwell and awaiting a transplant, obviously this is why you are having difficulties. Perhaps it would have been better to wait until you are better before committing to a dog, especially a breed needing such specialised presentation. I really think that your breeder should have informed you better. I certainly hope that your health improves and that you are feeling better very soon.

George my Doggie, I know all about tofu, I eat it, it is made from soy beans, DO NOT feed your dog soy products. Soy contains saponins and saponins have been implicated as a cause of bloat in dogs. Tofu is certainly more easily digested than other soy products............by humans! I agree that there are plenty of high protein non-animal foods available, but the protein in vegetable matter is of a much lower grade and is not as easily utilised as the protein in meat, especially by dogs. Why don't you feed your dog BARF, believe me your dog will thank you for it. Regarding veganism, I used to be a vegan and found it very hard to keep up my energy levels, even eating lots of sprouted grains didn't help. I also lost too much weight (I'm pretty slim to start with) and eventually I introduced some low fat quark into my diet which helped a lot. Also watch your B12 levels, it is best to take a supplement or drink B12 enriched soy milk as contrary to popular belief there is no B12 occurring naturally in mushrooms or tempeh. As you're a male you probably don't have to watch your iron levels as much, but just make sure you eat plenty of iron rich vegetables. I applaud your motives in wanting to feed your dog a vegetarian diet, but I still don't agree with it.........for the dog's sake.

I am also a vegetarian, but I wouldn't recommend that anyone feed a dog a vegetarian diet. The dog is first and foremost a carnivore and has a digestive tract perfectly made for processing meat and bone. Of course dogs have become more omnivorous since mixing with man, but they are still primarily meat eaters, their gastro-intestinal tract just isn't designed to deal with large amounts of cereal and vegetable matter. Here are some of the ways that they are adapted for processing flesh and bones, but not vegetable matter a) Their front teeth are designed to rip and tear meat from bones, the rear molars are perfect for gnawing bones and gristle b) they have no enzymes in their saliva to pre-digest cereal matter c) their stomach acid is 10 times more powerful than the acid in a human stomach, powerful enough to dissolve bone d) their intestines are far shorter than ours and food passes through much more quickly thus enabling them to eat rotten meat with no ill effect e) the shorter digestive tract also makes their system very inefficient at processing vegetable protein f) they have a very efficient vomit reflex so that anything unsuitable in the stomach can be quickly rejected. Dogs in the wild derive goodness from the pre-digested matter in the stomachs of their victims, if you feed raw vegetables to a dog they will come out of the other end exactly the same way as they went in as they just can't break down the cellulose. Some BARF feeders put the vegetables through a processor to help the dog to digest them, but you will have great difficulty getting most dogs to eat this without the addition of meat to make it palatable. As a vegetarian human I can tell you that it takes a lot of planning to ensure that your diet is complete and that you are getting enough protein etc. Doing this for a dog would be just about impossible. You will have to feed heaps of food (there is much less protein in vegetables and it's not as easily utilised, especially by a dog) and you will also have HUGE amounts of dog poo to pick up and dispose of and I can assure you a great deal of it will be on the soft side. I know that there will probably be people on DOL who do feed their dogs a vegetarian diet and I don't mean to disparage you at all, it's just that I like to feed a dog as nature intended. Would you feed your horses rump steak? I think not. This is just my opinion George my Doggie, certainly not meant to flame or insult you at all. Hope it gives you 'food for thought' LOL.

I am totally against this sort of thing. YOU need to be trained how to train your dog. Sending a 12 week old puppy away to one of these establishments is just ridiculous. Take your puppy to puppy pre-school and learn how to do it yourself! Believe me it's the best way! In a previous thread you say that you can't groom the puppy and now you say that you can't train him! Sorry that was a bit unkind, but I'm still posting it. I feel VERY strongly on this subject.

I thought I'd reply because I have a breed with a coat that requires a lot of work, but unfortunately they're the wrong breed......and I could do with the money LOL. I can't really come up with a solution other than learning to do it yourself. It will be a great pity if you have to give up showing because of the presentation issue. Really you should have done a little more research before you got the pup, didn't your breeder explain that the stripping required is a specialist thing? Most, if not all grooming parlours will have no idea how to present a dog for show, especially a minority breed. Plus it's not something that can be done all at one time, it's an ongoing thing. Do you have anyone living with you or close to you who has an interest in the breed and would be prepared to learn to do it?

Hi birni, I'm so glad to hear that Kiya is still ok. It is such a shame that he had to go into kennels, he would have suffered stress and obviously that set him back quite a bit. If you have to go away again is there some other alternative to the kennels? I know that keeping stress to a minimum is very important in this disease as stress lowers the immune system even further. Re the fly bites, please be careful that he doesn't get an infection. My boy who had lymphoma contracted an infection through an open sore on his foot. Because his immune system was so compromised it wouldn't heal and the infection spread to his kidneys and killed him in two days. I will be thinking of you.

Hi hape2cu, You do not appear to know much about dog behaviour and are relating to your dogs in human terms. It is totally useless to reprimand a dog after the act, it will have no idea why it is being punished. I would suggest that the actions of both you and your partner are largely contributing to your dog's unwanted behaviour as your dog appears to me to be more than a little frightened of you. You say that the dog knows when it has done wrong, this is totally incorrect, the dog can detect from your body language that you are angry, but it doesn't know why. You appear to be either punishing (and I CANNOT condone physical punishment) the dog or spoiling it rotten, it is no wonder that the dog is confused and afraid, it never knows what's going to happen next. Please enrol in an obedience club asap and have a good talk to someone who knows dogs and dog behaviour, the way you are treating the dog at the moment is only exacerbating the problem.

Wow! Staffy x mastiff! That boggles the brain, they must have been contortionists! Which one was the male, not the mastiff I hope! Seriously what you're feeding sounds fine as long as your dog looks well on it , has plenty of energy and is a healthy weight. You could also try giving him some raw chicken wings/necks now and again and maybe a brisket bone a couple of times a week for his teeth. There are so many different ways you can feed your dog, I'm sure you'll get many more suggestions. Welcome to the Forums!

Oh dear, that's not good at all. You say that the parents scored 14 and 20 which IMO is a little high. Generally if your dog or bitch is close to the breed average (which from memory is 16 in Goldens), you would try to pick a partner whos score is a lot lower than the breed average ie. if the bitch's score is 14 you would look for a mate with a much lower score and vice versa. So if the dam scored 14 and they picked a sire with a score of 20, I think the mating was a little risky to begin with. Personally I wouldn't have purchased a puppy from this litter unless I was very familiar with the lines and knew the hip scores of siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts etc. However there are a lot of variables and I certainly wouldn't pass judgement on the breeder without knowing the full story. You really should phone the breeder asap and discuss the situation with him/her. Please let us know the outcome.

Sorry byott, but can we have some more info please. How do you know that your puppy has HD, is he limping? Has he been x-rayed? If he is showing signs of HD at 5 months it is very likely that he will worsen as he ages, but if you haven't had him x-rayed you can't know for certain. If he does have HD cartrophen injections can be very helpful combined with glucosamine/chondroitin supplements.

Hi Chezzyr, I think you'll find that these were 'meat chooks', they're a different variety to the chickens that are used for egg laying, much, much heavier. When I lived in the country my neighbour had some of these and they grow so big and fat that they can hardly walk. I always buy free range organic eggs. If you are buying ordinary eggs from a supermarket you are supporting battery chicken farms and believe me they are much worse than puppy farms! They are disgustingly cruel and there is absolutely no way that I would buy eggs from them. IMO if you are against cruelty to animals you just cannot buy eggs from battery farms.

The people next door to us feed cooked leg of lamb bones all the time. Because their dogs are small they smash them up with a hammer first. The dogs eat them every week and nothing has happened to them yet. On one occasion (never repeated) their daughter threw some of the slivers of bone over the fence for my dogs and boy were they sharp, sharp enough to draw blood when one of the pointy ends stuck in my finger. Personally I never feed cooked bones to my dogs, raw bones are so much better for them so why take unnecessary risks? I would say that the chances of your dog being harmed by the bone are remote and she'll probably be fine, but really it's your decision to make.