Diet And Games

[Oscar (AmBull)]

Hi I have a 12 week old Amstaff puppy, just have a few questions.

1. I am looking to make his lunch meal all chicken wings and necks, he at the moment has them in his diet so that is not a problem. Just wondering how many wings and necks he should be having for this meal? I have never given him over 2.

2. Does anyone know what vegies are good and bad for dogs? I am looking to make up some to mash in with his dry food. Any vegie recipes much appreciated.

3. We play tug of war with a red rope, it was not a cheap toy and was purchased from the pet shop, however the red string pieces at the ends seem to be pulling out. I try to get most of them out of his mouth as I was worried about him chocking on them. They are really fine pieces of string and he is so excited during play it is difficult to get them out of his mouth. My concern is that this morning I noticed the red pieces of string in his poo. Will this cause any harm. Should I remopve the toy completely?

Thanks so much.

[Sandra777]

1. I am looking to make his lunch meal all chicken wings and necks, he at the moment has them in his diet so that is not a problem. Just wondering how many wings and necks he should be having for this meal? I have never given him over 2.

IMO wings and necks are pretty puny food for a Amstaff puppy. Have you considered either Turkey necks if you really want to feed necks, or chicken carcases. I would feed a Stafford puppy (so smaller than an Amstaff) about 150g of food as a mid-day snack. You can make this up out of anything you like.

2. Does anyone know what vegies are good and bad for dogs? I am looking to make up some to mash in with his dry food. Any vegie recipes much appreciated.

Green leafy veges are good, they need to be whizzed in a blender/processor. Avoid starchy root vegetables at this stage as they're good fillers but not so great for nutrition. Carrots are often appreciated as a snack. Zucchini goes down well here, I wouldn't be feeding any bull breed dog cabbage

3. We play tug of war with a red rope, it was not a cheap toy and was purchased from the pet shop, however the red string pieces at the ends seem to be pulling out. I try to get most of them out of his mouth as I was worried about him chocking on them. They are really fine pieces of string and he is so excited during play it is difficult to get them out of his mouth. My concern is that this morning I noticed the red pieces of string in his poo. Will this cause any harm. Should I remopve the toy completely?

I wouldn't be worried about him choaking, but the fact that he's swallowing them isn't great - not because of any inherent problem with the fibres, but who knows what's in the dye! I wouldn't continue to use this as a tug toy.

[Nekhbet]

why do you want to mash vegetables with his dry food? He's a dog give him meat!

I would be going drumsticks instead of necks or even turkey, lamb bones, rabbit etc

there are rubber tug toys available or you can even use the Jute/firehose style from sporting dog stores for schutzhund and security dogs.

watch the tug of war when he starts teething or he may injure himself on the tug toy. Stop completely until his new teeth come through.