Whats Actually In Cheap Tinned Dog Food?

[dogcop]

You do realise cat food is higher in salt content we use human grade for fish content. Or as we are lucky to live by the sea fresh salmon fillets big hit with the Saint.

you feed the fish cooked or raw? can u feed raw fish to a dog? is it any better than cooked fish?

we give the fillets a zap in the microwave for 4 minutes let it cool. don't see why you cant feed totally raw though. I have a client that has a Portuguese Water Dog and the only food it gets is raw this was one of the stipulations from the breeder.

[carabelle]

A book by Dr Donald Strombeck has been recommended. 'Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets: The Healthful Alternative'

I have that book, Mita.

I got it from Amazon a few years ago. It's a reasonably good book, I think, although I don't really subscribe to how much carbohydrate he feels is necessary, and all the food is cooked.

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Hi, I have this book also, I bought it some years ago when one of my dogs was diagnosed with pancreatitis and had to import it from the US. I think the book 'Canine Nutrition - What Every Owner, Trainer and Breeder Should Know' by L Ackerman is a much better book and much easier to read. I have a number of books on canine nutrition and only managed to buy one in Australia. I cook all my dogs food (toy dogs) but do not give as much carbohydrate as Strombeck specifies as I also think it is too much.

Edited October 9, 2007 by carabelle

[mita]

Carabelle, thanks for that heads-up, too. I've taken note of the title of the Ackerman book.

Like you, I own a small breed (tibetan spaniels)....& I've found they respond differently to diet than the working dog breeds we used to own. And I've found that their needs become different as they get older.

As I've said earlier, a uni vet told me not to overdo amount of protein with older dogs.

What's worried me.....is that, in reducing protein, the temptation is to increase carbs. And over-use of carbs doesn't seem to fit in with what a dog's 'natural' diet would be.

[smisch]

I am not a big fan of tin food, most nights most of mine get dryfood and then they will recieve an egg and a chicken wing at least once a week but I have dicovered one tin of dog food I do like..

My Dog: the tin with the light green label off the top of my head I think it is contry lamb veges and pasta! I open the tin and there is real pasta and veges in there and they make up majority of the tin! so aregualr soup tin size of that will last my two a fortnight!

the resluts of being fed on tin food are not pretty... when we got snoopy he was nothing but skin and bone due to the shelter only being able to feed him tin food cos thats all they had.. when we went to pick him up we left them a 20kg bag of dry food! I feel sorry for all those dogs who only get fed tin food... the stuff stinks and its full of nothing its like a human living off gravy and water for their whole life, I have educated all my friends who have gotten dogs don't feed them tin its not worth it!!!

[Asterope]

Ive taken after my mother and my grandma (and probably those before them as well!)

Devo gets human grade cooked food.

my standard method is about 1/2 a kg of fresh human grade meat which i dice up into small peices, a little bit of mince or some fish (sardines in oil from woolies are great) along with shredded veges (beans, carrot, peas, sweet potato... whatever i have) and just enough rice or pasta to cook it into a yummy doggy risotto or tasty casserole, with lots of slurpy gravy. I keep enough for 3 dinners and freeze the rest... usually only need to cook once a fortnight, and its cheaper than buying tinned food.

If friends just happen to drop by when im cooking, they ask what smells so good and then they find out its the dogs dinner I guess if you put some onion and garlic into it it would make a pretty tasty meal!

We fed devo some gourmet super $$ tinned food when we first got him because we didnt have anything else, and the vomit on the floor was enough to put me off feeding him tinned food ever.

Devo gets 1/2 a cup of dry food in the morning, which he grazes on through the day... sometimes doesnt eat it at all.

and gets fresh raw meat every day, either a meaty bone or chicken necks/thighs/wings. If hes really lucky, he gets a tin of sardines all to himself!!

My mum cooks liver and heart and kidneys into her dog food, which both Devo and Beau (our mini foxie) absolutely adore. I cant bring myself to cook that stuff even though i know dogs love it, so i wait till we go visiting and mum cooks up some extra for me to take back home.

Dogs have been hunting and eating with humans for millenia... i cant see how heavily processed food could be good for them at all!!