Dog Diet!

[Benjamin]

Hi Guys I'm looking to make some changes to my dogs diet. Below is what I currently Feed him. Any changes/criticisms/tips are highly appreciated!

Monday – Chopped Carrot, Cucumber, Pumpkin, Cabbage, 5 chicken necks, Boiled Egg mashed shell and all, 1 fish oil capsule.

Tuesday – Chopped Carrot, Cucumber, Pumpkin, Cabbage, 1 ½ tin of sardines, 1 raw egg.

Wednesday - Chopped Carrot, Cucumber, Pumpkin, Cabbage, 5 raw chicken drumsticks, Boiled Egg mashed shell and all, 1 fish oil capsule.

Thursday - Chopped Carrot, Cucumber, Pumpkin, Cabbage, 5 chicken necks, Boiled Egg mashed shell and all, 1 fish oil capsule.

Friday - Chopped Carrot, Cucumber, Pumpkin, Cabbage, 1 ½ tin of sardines, 1 raw egg.

Saturday - Chopped Carrot, Cucumber, Pumpkin, Cabbage, 5 chicken necks, Boiled Egg mashed shell and all, 1 fish oil capsule.

Sunday – Pasta, 2 tins of Sardines, 1 raw egg.

Thank you

[bridgie_cat]

wow - thats an impressive menu - how is his health on this? ie weight good? energy levels?

Lana just gets dry in the morning and meat at night - so I have no advice for ya sorry

[First Time Puppy Owner]

I am no expert at this but what are the vitamin/mineral supplements you are adding? As that is what I thought you needed to do with a BARF diet?!?!?

[Benjamin]

Well, my old boy was very very fat weighed 27kg, Beagles Ideal weight is apparently around 11-14 kg But Then again my dog is 2 Inches taller then the Average beagle. He now weighs around 19kg is looking much more healthy and can walk longer distances. As for his energy level... He has it when he wants to, He spends most of his day sleeping or lying next to me, but when the lead comes out or the bowl goes on the floor ready to eat He has a lot of energy.

[bridgie_cat]

I do not like to judge healthy weight by breed standards - as you say, he is tall - and then you have many different builds within a breed etc...

I judge by how the dog feels - ie I like to be able to feel a couple of ribs without digging through a wall of fat

[Benjamin]

I am no expert at this but what are the vitamin/mineral supplements you are adding? As that is what I thought you needed to do with a BARF diet?!?!?

mm. I'm adding Fish oil on the days that he doesn't get any natural Fish oil from the Sardines. That's about it I don't know much about BARF diets or RMD diets, I just made this myself without any extensive research. All the Veggies are home grown aswell, So it works well economically aswell

[bridgie_cat]

with my limited knowledge... at a guess - you need to watch feeding raw eggs - however feeding the whole thing you should be fine. (supposidly the yolk has something in it that cancels out the ill effects of the raw whites). 5 necks sounds like a lot to me for a beagle on a diet - although, since he is losing weight it must be a small enough amount (my largish sheltie gets 3 necks and a handful of dry)

dont know what veggies are good and bad for dogs - am sure someone who feeds this type of diet will jump in to answer that part...

Sounds like a LOT of fish - good or bad? dont know - although you are probably in an excellent position to either back up or prove wrong the theories of fish oil making coats shiny! - so is it shiny?? :rolleyes:

If he is losing weight, getting more active, coat and eyes look healthy etc... then I would say the diet is going well! Hopefully you will get some of the keen doggy nutritionist types coming through to help you with any improvements

[goldielover]

All i know is that i wouldn't wanna be too close to him with all that cabbage, cucumber, etc!!! LOL

On a serious note, best of luck with the diet

[DeltaCharlie]

I cant say I would ever feed this diet to any of my dogs.

Dogs need meat but all your boy is getting is chicken and sardines? Where is the red meat? That should make up the majority of the diet. If you feed fish once a week you do not need fish oil tablets. He certainly doesn't need fish every day.

Get rid of the vegies. Dogs cannot digest them and they will simply end up on your lawn. BARF feeders will blend the vegies so that the dogs can digest them but most people are of the opinion that if human/machine interference is necessary then they cant be too important to the dog. Mine don't get any vegies at all (unless as a treat but I recognise that it has no nutritional value to them).

Raw egg is great for dogs but as soon as you cook it there is no nutritional value. Feed it raw, dont boil it. One egg a week should be plenty.

Get rid of the pasta. Grains like rice etc are no good for dogs.

This is a weekly feeding schedule I give people as a guide. I dont feed my dogs this structured, mine get whatever I pull out of the freezer that day. I just cross it off on the whiteboard so I can make sure they are getting 4 meat meals, 2 bones meals, and 1 organs meal each day.

Monday: BONES (chicken necks, wings, drumsticks; duck necks; turkey necks; lamb soup bones; kangaroo tails; ox tails; lamb flaps; ribs)

Tuesday: MEAT (a raw meat mince thing I get from a racing greyhound supplier near me. I usually get a beef/lamb/chicken mix but if Im short on money I get chicken mince. I try to get a different meat though as their bones meal is usually poultry based.)

Wednesday: MEAT

Thursday: MEAT

Friday: BONES (unless mondays bones had very little meat on them, then I feed meat again)

Saturday: 1/2 ORGANS (liver or kidney usually) 1/2 FISH (canned tuna/salmon/sardines/mackeral)

Sunday: 1/2 ORGANS 1/2 FISH (basically the other half of the packets from the night before)

Basically each day they should get 2-3% of their body weight.

Basically a rough guide is to feed

10% organs

15% bones

75% meat

I also feed raw egg a few times a week (plus the shell crushed, its great for calcium) and 50-100g plain yoghurt once a week/fortnight. So long as you are also feeding fish weekly you shouldnt need to supplement their diet in any way. They get plenty of omega-3 (eggs and fish) and calcium (eggs and yoghurt) as well as all the good bacteria that yoghurt provides. Off the top of my head I cant think of the names of all the vitamins and minerals needed but I know that they are provided by this diet

[Benjamin]

with my limited knowledge... at a guess - you need to watch feeding raw eggs - however feeding the whole thing you should be fine. (supposidly the yolk has something in it that cancels out the ill effects of the raw whites). 5 necks sounds like a lot to me for a beagle on a diet - although, since he is losing weight it must be a small enough amount (my largish sheltie gets 3 necks and a handful of dry)

dont know what veggies are good and bad for dogs - am sure someone who feeds this type of diet will jump in to answer that part...

Sounds like a LOT of fish - good or bad? dont know - although you are probably in an excellent position to either back up or prove wrong the theories of fish oil making coats shiny! - so is it shiny?? :rolleyes:

If he is losing weight, getting more active, coat and eyes look healthy etc... then I would say the diet is going well! Hopefully you will get some of the keen doggy nutritionist types coming through to help you with any improvements

Thank you for the tips, Yes, 5 does seem like alot! But in the batch of chicken necks I bought him they were really tiny! maybe 5-6cm going up and 3cm in girth so I bumped up the feeding a bit. And with "drumsticks" I meant to say Drumettes which are the really small ones. Yes, Now that you pointed it out it does seem like a bit too much fish :rolleyes: I'll see if I can swap some things around, His coat is nice and shiny now and has improved alot in condition with shedding and all.

Thankyou again for your insight!

[Benjamin]

I cant say I would ever feed this diet to any of my dogs.

Dogs need meat but all your boy is getting is chicken and sardines? Where is the red meat? That should make up the majority of the diet. If you feed fish once a week you do not need fish oil tablets. He certainly doesn't need fish every day.

Get rid of the vegies. Dogs cannot digest them and they will simply end up on your lawn. BARF feeders will blend the vegies so that the dogs can digest them but most people are of the opinion that if human/machine interference is necessary then they cant be too important to the dog. Mine don't get any vegies at all (unless as a treat but I recognise that it has no nutritional value to them).

Raw egg is great for dogs but as soon as you cook it there is no nutritional value. Feed it raw, dont boil it. One egg a week should be plenty.

Get rid of the pasta. Grains like rice etc are no good for dogs.

This is a weekly feeding schedule I give people as a guide. I dont feed my dogs this structured, mine get whatever I pull out of the freezer that day. I just cross it off on the whiteboard so I can make sure they are getting 4 meat meals, 2 bones meals, and 1 organs meal each day.

Monday: BONES (chicken necks, wings, drumsticks; duck necks; turkey necks; lamb soup bones; kangaroo tails; ox tails; lamb flaps; ribs)

Tuesday: MEAT (a raw meat mince thing I get from a racing greyhound supplier near me. I usually get a beef/lamb/chicken mix but if Im short on money I get chicken mince. I try to get a different meat though as their bones meal is usually poultry based.)

Wednesday: MEAT

Thursday: MEAT

Friday: BONES (unless mondays bones had very little meat on them, then I feed meat again)

Saturday: 1/2 ORGANS (liver or kidney usually) 1/2 FISH (canned tuna/salmon/sardines/mackeral)

Sunday: 1/2 ORGANS 1/2 FISH (basically the other half of the packets from the night before)

Basically each day they should get 2-3% of their body weight.

Basically a rough guide is to feed

10% organs

15% bones

75% meat

I also feed raw egg a few times a week (plus the shell crushed, its great for calcium) and 50-100g plain yoghurt once a week/fortnight. So long as you are also feeding fish weekly you shouldnt need to supplement their diet in any way. They get plenty of omega-3 (eggs and fish) and calcium (eggs and yoghurt) as well as all the good bacteria that yoghurt provides. Off the top of my head I cant think of the names of all the vitamins and minerals needed but I know that they are provided by this diet

Wow! thankyou.

Few questions, With Mondays bone meal Do you chuck all that stuff in? (chicken necks, wings, drumsticks; duck necks; turkey necks; lamb soup bones; kangaroo tails; ox tails; lamb flaps; ribs) Or are they just various options and combinations I can put in there.

Would I be able to pick up Kangaroo tails and Ox tails from the local Butcher?

Thankyou for the Extensive answer.

[DeltaCharlie]

Wow! thankyou.

Few questions, With Mondays bone meal Do you chuck all that stuff in? (chicken necks, wings, drumsticks; duck necks; turkey necks; lamb soup bones; kangaroo tails; ox tails; lamb flaps; ribs) Or are they just various options and combinations I can put in there.

Would I be able to pick up Kangaroo tails and Ox tails from the local Butcher?

Thankyou for the Extensive answer.

God no, they would be rather fat if I did that lol. They are just examples of good bones to feed.

To tell you the truth, after a month or so I started mixing things around. I needed something like that to get me started and stop me worrying so much about it, but then I relaxed and realised that the basic idea is that the diet balances out over time. You would drive yourself batty if you tried to follow the schedule too closely. I also feed organs and fish as seperate meals. Some dogs cant handle organs on their own at first so I find it easier to mix it until they get used to the taste.

I have this on my fridge:

Every meal I write next to it what they had (c= chicken, f= fish, l= lamb, b=beef, k= kangaroo) so that I dont feed them chicken all week etc. I write breakfast on the left, dinner on the right, although they usually just get one meal as Im lazy so I write both the same time. Any extra stuff I added gets written down the bottom (e= egg, y= yoghurt). It is easy to keep track of what they have had this way and I dont double up too much.

I get my meat from a guy near richmond racetrack in sydney. Great stuff, no preservatives- that is no exaggeration, even in a fridge it smells by that night, has to be portioned and frozen as soon as you get it home or the whole house smells. He minces it fresh every morning.

I get bones from butchers and supermarkets mainly. There is a butcher at Minchinbury that will sell 2kg of lamb offcuts for $1. I get chicken stuff (necks, wings, frames, etc) from a place out at bonnyrigg. Its usually 5kg for $5. Butchers have ox tails, not sure about kangaroo tails though. I get them from petbarn (although my dogs rarely get them as they are expensive).

Organs I usually get from the woolworths. They are already diced (which stops my cat dragging them through the house) and it is just easier. Some butchers will sell individual organs for about $1 each but Id rather just get it from the supermarket.

[cazxxz]

Would I be able to pick up Kangaroo tails and Ox tails from the local Butcher?

Not sure what it's like in Sydney, but in Melbourne roo tails aren't too hard to find, but aren't everywhere. At markets I can get them, but they aren't always generous enough to cut them up for me. At pet shops they have told me that their saw won't cut them, but I have managed to cut them with a sharp knife (though it wasn't that easy), so surely any saw would cut them! 1 kg of roo tail is too much all at once.

Jake has only had ox tail once. The tail was cut up, and the pieces were too small - he choked on one. So make sure you don't get tiny pieces!

The argument FOR feeding vegetables is that if a dog ate vegetables in the wild, they would have been the contents of an animal's stomach, so would have been totally crushed. That's why they have to be pulped/blended to be of any nutritional value for your dog. So... do some research and decide what will work best for you and your dog. I have Tom Lonsdale's book, Work Wonders, and two of Billinghurst's books including Give your dog a bone; both diets include vegetables, but at different levels.

[Benjamin]

Wow! thankyou.

Few questions, With Mondays bone meal Do you chuck all that stuff in? (chicken necks, wings, drumsticks; duck necks; turkey necks; lamb soup bones; kangaroo tails; ox tails; lamb flaps; ribs) Or are they just various options and combinations I can put in there.

Would I be able to pick up Kangaroo tails and Ox tails from the local Butcher?

Thankyou for the Extensive answer.

God no, they would be rather fat if I did that lol. They are just examples of good bones to feed.

To tell you the truth, after a month or so I started mixing things around. I needed something like that to get me started and stop me worrying so much about it, but then I relaxed and realised that the basic idea is that the diet balances out over time. You would drive yourself batty if you tried to follow the schedule too closely. I also feed organs and fish as seperate meals. Some dogs cant handle organs on their own at first so I find it easier to mix it until they get used to the taste.

I have this on my fridge:

Every meal I write next to it what they had (c= chicken, f= fish, l= lamb, b=beef, k= kangaroo) so that I dont feed them chicken all week etc. I write breakfast on the left, dinner on the right, although they usually just get one meal as Im lazy so I write both the same time. Any extra stuff I added gets written down the bottom (e= egg, y= yoghurt). It is easy to keep track of what they have had this way and I dont double up too much.

I get my meat from a guy near richmond racetrack in sydney. Great stuff, no preservatives- that is no exaggeration, even in a fridge it smells by that night, has to be portioned and frozen as soon as you get it home or the whole house smells. He minces it fresh every morning.

I get bones from butchers and supermarkets mainly. There is a butcher at Minchinbury that will sell 2kg of lamb offcuts for $1. I get chicken stuff (necks, wings, frames, etc) from a place out at bonnyrigg. Its usually 5kg for $5. Butchers have ox tails, not sure about kangaroo tails though. I get them from petbarn (although my dogs rarely get them as they are expensive).

Organs I usually get from the woolworths. They are already diced (which stops my cat dragging them through the house) and it is just easier. Some butchers will sell individual organs for about $1 each but Id rather just get it from the supermarket.

Okay thankyou very much for all your help. That works out really conveniently for me My cousins live at Minchinbury And they visit very regularly. I'll be making a trip to Minchinbury to get those lamb off cuts and then to pick up some other Meats and Organs Before I pick up my rescue Staffy tomoroow. He can have a nice first meal now!

Thankyou again.

[rose of tralee]

Quick comment re whole ox tail etc.......feeding a large meaty bone for a limited time e.g. 20 minutes then popping it back in the fridge for 'ron, cleaned/ hosed or not as deemed necessary has worked for me when I don't want a big session or burying to take place.

Butchers do vary, as with pig's heads.....some won't halve them them saying it's hard on their saws, others up and offer. Good to have access to the brain.

[Tiggy]

I wouldn't feed small bones like chicken necks/wings/drumettes to a Labrador. He needs bigger bones like chicken frames, kangaroo tails, lamb necks etc.

[DeltaCharlie]

I wouldn't feed small bones like chicken necks/wings/drumettes to a Labrador. He needs bigger bones like chicken frames, kangaroo tails, lamb necks etc.

Labrador? He is feeding a staffy and a beagle.

My dogs do fine on chicken wings etc if thats what I happen to feed that day and my dogs are both bigger than Benjamin's. Usually they would get frames etc but when you also need to accommodate a cat, finer bones can be easier. Chicken necks are actually thicker than any bone you will find on a chicken frame.

[cavNrott]

The vegies you are feeding need to be blended to a liquid or put through a juicer and mix the pulp with the juice. Chopped vegies are of no nutritional value because the dog's digestive system can't break down the cellulose walls in vegies. You also need to be feeding your dog more meat. He has hardly any meat in his diet and no red meat at all.

[rudie]

That is a very fancy menu for a Beagle! 5 chicken necks is a lot! :D

ours get half a cup of dry in the morning and half a cup at night with a few spoons of our home made mince / veggie / mineral mix! and they are usually borderline chubby!

Maverick

Diva

Edited January 12, 2008 by rudie

[persephone]

You certainly are putting in the effort...

however, I would be feeding more large meaty bones,and meat, and drastically reducing the vege portions.

Dogs systems are designed to run on mostly meat proteins etc..not nourishment from veges or grains :D

The vegetable matter eaten by dogs, as I understand it, is just a supplement..a vital one..but a very small amount.