Food Ideas?

[jillybean]

After having abit of a read I've noticed that a lot of you guys get quite "gourmet" with preparing your dog's meals!

At the moment my 9 week old puppy gets 3 meals a day, usually made up of a combo of kibble, can food, raw mince and a chicken neck. Most days she'll get some apple or pear too. I've tried carrot too but she won't eat it..

I'm not looking to change her whole diet, just looking for suggestions of other things I could add in for variety and to keep her healthy! Thanks

[bridgie_cat]

I am not very inventive. My usual is dry in the morning, some form of meat at night. Generally this will be chicken necks but will often use chicken wings, boneless cooked chicken, lamb flaps, kangaroo mince (as in the pet food stuff), any raw meaty bones... and on occasion will throw in an egg (note: whites should always be cooked as these are bad for them raw) or some cheese or kitty milk... or any good leftover meat from dinner etc etc...

im sure you will get some of the v creative doggy chefs in here later!

Bridget

[persephone]

Hi..

Glad to see that your dog gets bones and meat

people on here aren't really being Gourmet chefs, .....really

they are using a wide variety of fresh foods to try and provide their dogs with a balanced diet.

Just as we are told to eat a wide variety of food each day to obtain everything from fibre to enzymes...so too should dogs ;)

Commercially prepared food does the basics, but fresh food, chosen with care, provides a wider range of things the body needs , without the colours, preservatives and dubious sources of the ingredients.

[chloebear]

I have been asking heaps of questions regarding feeding puppy, as I have never given my previous dog anything but commercial prepared food. Some suggestions I have had are - natural yoghurt, fresh fruit and vegetables, raw meat, sardines, fish oil for omega 3 (I just use the sardines instead of oil). But please remember some foods are toxic. In the puppy section of the forum their was a thread about what is BARF ( linked website) their is also a thread about "all you things you wanted to know" (i think this was the name) in another section of the forum, which someone was nice enough to link for me, sorry I don't have that level of computer skills.l

Hope that this helps some what.

[jillybean]

I chopped up some carrot and hid it in with her canned food and kibble tonight - she ate it! Perhaps that's the trick... Last time I tried giving her bits of carrot by itself.

With the canned sardines do you give them some of the oil or just the fish?

[Flaves]

I tip a fair amount of the oil out and give ht esardines mixed in with their dry food and some yoghurt.

[poodlemum]

The thing to avoid is attributing too many human characteristics to your dog - dogs don't ususally get "bored" with food. If they like something, they will happily eat it every day. A case in point is Sophie. She is on the Hill's Z/D Low Allergy Diet and still gets excited and dances around when I feed her! If you are feeding a good balanced diet & your dog is happy with it there is no need to add anything else. Other wise we'll end up like those looney Yanks, who pratically give there dogs a menu to approve every day!