Mince/wet Food

[5tumpy]

Evening All!

Just after a bit of advice on what food to give my 18 month old black Lab, Mackenzie.

We feed her once a day, she gets about 2 cups dry food, we buy PAL dry food, from what I can see it's the best value, $$$ for weight, that has "meat and meat by-products" listed as the 1st ingredients, and she also gets about 300g (she's about 30kg) of "Petbarn" chicken mince, or about a 1/3 of a 750g can of PAL wet food, we give her about a month on each, as she get bored with one after about that time. We also replace her meat with Tuna once a week for her coat, as recommended by our vet, and once a week, replace her meat with a meaty bone, as she's a little on the heavy side, again, recommended by the vet.

Now, to my question;

I've noticed, when she's on the mince, she's really, really flatulent, and when she does pass wind, it could strip the paint off the walls, it's that putrid! She loves the mince, she seems to inhale it, and her poo is fine, well-formed, not hard, not runny, so I'm not sure there's anything to worry about, but though it was worth asking, because when we get her back on the canned food, she stops passing wind again. So, is the flatulence something to worry about? Or is it just a doggy-thing? We're happy to ignore the smell, as long as she's happy, which she seems to be.

Thanks guys!

[WreckitWhippet]

If it's fed at the same time as the dry, the two do not digest at the same rate. Raw food digests much quicker than dry.

If you want to feed her some raw in her diet, maybe look a couple of days a week where it's raw only. Give her chicken wings, carcass, lamb flap, a roo tail, or rabbit. There's lots of things to choose from and none of it requires and prepartion and it's all easily stored in the freezer. Introduce the foods to her one at a time, chicken or the lamb flap is probably the best place to start.

Mackeral or sardines, rather than tuna.

[5tumpy]

EDIT.... Forgot to thank PPS for the quick reply.

Thanks so much for the speedy reply, PPS...

If it's fed at the same time as the dry, the two do not digest at the same rate. Raw food digests much quicker than dry.

Fair enough, we do actually give them to her at the same time, but in different bowls, she never eats the dry straight away, usually she eats it in the morning, so we might start giving her the dry in the morning... But that still doesn't explain the passing wind exclusively on the petbarn mince? The other, canned wet food, she doesn't experience any wind at all... That's my major concern here...

If you want to feed her some raw in her diet, maybe look a couple of days a week where it's raw only. Give her chicken wings, carcass, lamb flap, a roo tail, or rabbit. There's lots of things to choose from and none of it requires and prepartion and it's all easily stored in the freezer. Introduce the foods to her one at a time, chicken or the lamb flap is probably the best place to start.

I've been reluctant to give her anything with chicken bones in it, as I have a friend who's dog nearly died when piece of chicken bone from a chicken frame punctured his throat... I was bad enough getting my girl desexed, don't even want to fathom anything of that magnitude! She does get plenty of bones though, mostly beef and lamb bones from our local butcher... He sell bags of "Dog Bones" that are offcuts from the human stuff, lots of meat and all the good stuff on them, she gets the bigger, meatier ones as meals once or twice a week, and smaller ones as treats if we want to behave while we have visitors etc...

In saying that though, given that she's in great condition, granted a little on the heavy side, is it really necessary to be changing her diet dramatically? If the wind is a major concern, then I'd do it in a heartbeat, but it seems to me to be a case of "If it aint broke, don't fix it."... That is with the assumption that the wind is nothing to worry about...

Edited July 13, 2009 by 5tumpy

[sandgrubber]

I distrust chicken mince. It's like sausage in a situation where there are no health inspections. It often smells almost as bad as the farts of the dogs that eat it. And if you shop around you can probably find chicken carcass that's as cheap, or cheaper, than mince. Whole carcass has the advantage that it keeps your dog's teeth clean, AND you can see exactly what you're getting. Also, for Labs, you can trim off the fatty bits, which is great for avoiding weight problems.

[Miranda]

Does the chicken mince contain the livers? Offal will often cause gas and sometimes loose poo as well. Personally I wouldn't feed any mince from a pet store. If you must feed mince buy it from Lenards where the chickens used are for human consumption and you know the mince is 100% chicken.