Hi, I'm Julie and I am Mum to Thomas, who has a Labrador disability/seizure response dog, named Tori.
We are first time dog owners so struggling a bit with so much conflicting info out there about feeding Tori properly. I am embarrassed to say that she weighs a tad over 40 kg. I know I am feeding her incorrectly, I must be!
When Tori came to us (2 years ago) so came with instructions on the (expensive food) to feed her. I kept it up for almost a year but at the expense of other things like bills and food.
I ended up buying bags of supermarket branded kibble and the rolls of Natures (something-or-other) meat rolls.
She was getting 3 cups of kibble and about 400g of the roll each night. Her poos were terrible! I cut out the meat roll and now feed her 4 cups of kibble a night with a cup of warm water poured over it to make it a bit soupy (I started the water because I once bought a brand she didn't like so was dissolving half a stock cube in water to make it more palatable until I could afford to buy a different brand. Now she expects to have "soup" every night...how smart are these dogs??........and how dumb am I??)
Anyway I have rambled one (sorry)... I am really hoping to have a question answered if that's OK?
How much, and what do I feed Tori?
What is best to 'treat' her?
Things to consider:
I am on a pension and pay ridiculous rent and really cannot afford big brands.
Bones really scare me because she eats so fast and I've read horror stories about bones splintering etc.
Treats are usually 1 dry cat biscuit at a time. When she is working, she gets rewarded regularly for following commands. she probably gets a small handful of cat bickies 2 times a week in all.)
She occasionally has a pigs ear to chew.
She gets no table scraps at all (in fact 'human food' is forbidden for service dogs so they aren't tempted by food bits on the ground when she is working.)
She appears to be starving to death all.the.damned.time!
The only food she hates is carrot. She will accept a carrot off me, only to promptly grate a neat little pile for me to clean up! (She loves apple though!)
Thanks so much for reading this ramble and I hope to hear back.
Julie
