My Labradors Diet

[Bonbongirl]

I have an almost 2yr old Labrador. At the moment I am feeding a mixture of raw and dry. Just looking for some advise on how I can improve her diet. I would like to feed as little dry as possible as I have noticed it tends to give her flakey skin if we feed her dry only (at the moment we are using Proplan). At the moment she has:

Breakfast - 3 frozen kongs with a mixture of dry food (approx 1/2 cup in total), mashed banana, water and a spoon of yogurt

Dinner - 1 brisket bone (or a chicken frame) + a small bit of dry for supper

Weekends - weekend breakfast is a small tin of sardines, 1 raw egg with shell and a little dry + brisket bone for dinner

She also gets leftover veges, mainly carrot tops & bottoms as she is normally hanging around when I cook!

What should I be adding/removing??

[Joan of Arc]

Not sure what your girl weighs but if she is having dry biscuit in her Kongs of a morning I would be inclined to leave out the biscuit at the other meals.

Mind you at two she really only needs one meal a day unless the Kongs also serve the purpose of keeping her amused while you are at work etc.

You could add a small amount of cod liver oil to her diet, on top of the sardines.

[puggy_puggy]

Do you want to go totally raw or keep feeding the dry food.

If you wanted to get rid of the dry food I would replace it with offal & muscle meat.

[Bonbongirl]

She weighs 26kg so she is only a small girl.

I use the kongs for entertainment when we are at work so would like to keep them at the moment.

When you say muscle and offal meat what sort of things should I buy and how much of it? I have given her a few pieces of liver with her dinner before but she wasnt too keen on it (and she will eat just about anything! )

[RubyStar]

Interesting thread, I've been thinking about posting a similar thread for my 2 lab girls so I will watch this one with interest.

I tried cutting out dry food and switching to completely raw, but I obviously wasn't getting it right because Millie would sometimes be constipated to the point I'd have to "assist" her, and then one day she threw up both breakfast and dinner complete with undigested meat and large bits of bone she wasn't chewing properly :rolleyes: So I've put the girls back on kibble for breakfast and either a chicken frame/chicken wings or lamb meaty bones for dinner. They get the occasional whole raw egg or sardines or yoghurt with their kibble for brekky.

Mind you at two she really only needs one meal a day unless the Kongs also serve the purpose of keeping her amused while you are at work etc.

My girls (who are both 2) get fed 2 meals a day as they very much look forward to meal times! It's part of their routine. But I split a whole days worth over the 2 meals so they aren't getting fed double. Both girls are ~25kg a piece so definitely on the lean side for Labs, even with 2 meals a day (plus training treats - I don't include training treats as part of their daily allowance as they are both already on the lean side)

[J...]

I also feed my 3 yo twice a day, probably 3/4 cup of vegie mush, yoghurt, a few supplements and maybe some extra protein (fish/offal/egg or heart) for dinner, and her bone for brekky (mostly roo tail).

I think the morning Kongs are a great idea for keeping them busy. I should keep one already done just in case I run out of bones. :rolleyes:

[ozjen]

She weighs 26kg so she is only a small girl.

I use the kongs for entertainment when we are at work so would like to keep them at the moment.

When you say muscle and offal meat what sort of things should I buy and how much of it? I have given her a few pieces of liver with her dinner before but she wasnt too keen on it (and she will eat just about anything! )

Some dogs don't like the texture of liver but will take it frozen or semi frozen so that it's not slimey. If you feed a variety of meats and offal along with some bone it doesn't have to be an exact balance each day as long as they get a mixture over say a week it will usually balance out. There are a few yahoo lists on raw feeding and you will find that they do contradict each other at times but will still give you a general idea. Offal meat is your organs etc although heart is also counted as a muscle meat. Muscle meat I count as any meat where muscles would be on the animal which is most of the rest.

In my dog freezer I have raw meaty bones (Lamb offcuts ribs, legs etc and chicken carcases and portions) Beware of teeth wrecker bones(beef weight bearing bones) Chicken mince, pork mince and beef mince (mince because it was on special), roo, lamb and beef hearts, liver, kidney, a homemade variation of satinballs/barf patties, salmon (courtesy of fisherman son) and some frozen green vegies(green beans, brussel sprouts) for when I don't have fresh (spinich, parsley, cabbage, zuccinni being the main ones I use, although they don't really need the vegies if you have grass to graze. with the vedgies I mash them or zap them in the blender as dogs have trouble absorbing them otherwise (something to do with the outer coating).They also get tinned mackerel(human quality), eggs,lactose free yogart and milk, a little cheese or cottage cheese and I give a variety of supplements which probabaly aren't really needed spaced out over the week. Fishoil, Vit E, evening primrose, Flaxseed oil & powder, kelp, Vit C, Digestive enzemes and apple cider vinegar. The powders I usually mix together and sprinkle over the food and the capsules, and ACV get alternated over the week. They also get the odd apple or carrot to chomp on simply because they enjoy them.

Introduce the proteins one at a time to ensure the dog handles each new one fine before introducing another, once you know what you can feed then give a mixture to ensure balance. Its not unusual for the dog to bring up some bone fragments at first as the body adjusts to the new diet. I think my Aussie threw up quiet a few times when she first started but has been on raw along with my old Papillon for a number of years now both have never looked better.

Although they call it a raw meaty bone diet bones should only make up about 10% of the diet or your dog will end up very constipated. The aim should be for a firm stool that holds its shape when lifted but not something that is rock hard and causes the dog problems to pass. If stool is very hard or very white and crumbly then feed less bone, if stool is too soft after dog has become use to the protein then they may be getting too much or too much fat. I have read that if feeding a pregnant bitch you should actually ease up on the bone abit. Everyone has to fine tune it to their own dog as what works for one dog may not work for another. Aim to feed about 2% of the body weight so alittle over 500gms for a 26kg dog and then adjust to suit the individual dog.

Steamed pumpkin is great if your dog gets the runs and apple puree for settling the tummy if they are bringing up alot of bile.

[Baby Dragon]

I tried cutting out dry food and switching to completely raw, but I obviously wasn't getting it right because Millie would sometimes be constipated to the point I'd have to "assist" her, and then one day she threw up both breakfast and dinner complete with undigested meat and large bits of bone she wasn't chewing properly

RubyStar can I ask which type of bones she was throwing up that she wasn't chewing properly? I'm always curious to know about bones that some dogs don't do well on so I can avoid them or be extra careful with them for my dog.