FranVT Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Okay so with the help of lovely lappiemum I sourced the two non-grocery store places that sell dog food in my town and went to check them out today after work. The first place I went to, a specific dog food place, the lady seemed to REALLY know her stuff and she was extremely patient with me and explained everything really well but I am not naive and I do realise she was trying to sell me stuff. They seemed to have everything there! Including these bags with frozen blocks of meat in them that'd been band-sawed into separate daily-meal blocks which were impressive but kind of expensive. So I told her I had a 2 year old bully and a 14 week old lappie and she said that roo mince (which is what I feed Atlas currently) is too rich for Luuka (I knew that - I'm still feeding her premium mince from Woolies at the moment plus some mushed up veges, brown rice, chicken necks (supervised) etc) so she recommended a mixture of horse and beef mince - it's about 70% beef I believe. Now, here's my personal quibble - I frickin love horses. I asked her where it comes from and she said she is very good friends with the guy who owns the local knackery (I didn't even know we had one) and the horses often are injured racehorses / pony club horses / old horses etc ... I dunno I just didn't really think of feeding horse to a dog. Naive? Anyway, I bought a little bit of it, and will gradually introduce it to see if they tolerate it. I also bought 3 bags of chicken necks, a bag of turkey necks for Atlas and some preservative-free lamb's fry treats. This lady was so incredibly nice and down to earth, I really liked her and would like to give her my business regularly if you guys think she is probably above board? I know it's hard to tell sorry She had heaps of other stuff, different kinds of mince and steaks and roo tails and stuff. No ProPlan though, bummer! The next place is a horse chemisty / saddlery kind of place, and sold BARF packs, Breeder's Choice, chicken carcasses for $1kg, chicken mince, all kinds of stuff, not as good a range as the other place and all pre-packed mostly, and seemed really expensive, the Breeder's Choice rolls were $10 for 2kg rolls and they seemed to have a lot of other stuff in them like chicken bones ground up, veges, flaxseed and what seemed like a LOT of other stuff... The guy didn't know his products at all and seemed put out by my questions And no ProPlan! So I'm moving Atlas to being fed once a day (probably should ahve done that ages ago ) with a mixture of mince and brown rice as usual and some chicken necks and a turkey neck as a substitute sometimes and continue feeding Luuka mince and veg etc plus a cup of ProPlan in the morning and at night and a cup of ProPlan when I get home from work. Sound reasonable or what am I missing? Oh PS they could both do to put on some weight, Luuka is fine but is a growing bub and Atlas could use to gain some weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 We avoid beef & i always thought horse was rich?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spottychick Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 I also avoid beef. And I don't think I can come at the horse thing. Poor retired racing horses and such - something about it just doesn't sit right about that, with me anyway. Roo is good tho - my dallys can't have too much of it but I've had local registered shooters occassionally drop meat off for me or just tails and .... er .... feet (blurk). They love them BTW why do you think you should be feeding only once a day??? Just curious. I feed mine 2 x daily with the first meal being around lunch time (and preferably the first meal is RMBs). This helps with keeping their systems less acidic apparently but seems to be recommended for a few reasons. I'd be interested in alternative thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 I dunno if i could go horse... guess it would depend on where it came from? I fed camel in WA, dogs LOVED it I feed once a day, i did go to two a day, but then they were getting up all night to go outside to the loo, so back to one. I feed dry food with bones/beef or chicken mince. I am lucky that they have no problems with food and do well on anything I looked at the prepacket barf here, and it costs way too much, no way i could justify spending that much on food! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranVT Posted January 19, 2010 Author Share Posted January 19, 2010 The lady said I don't need to feed Atlas twice a day Beef mince was what Luuka's breeder was feeding her so I've just continued on with that and the ProPlan, and some chicken wings / necks etc. I told you I was more overwhelmed than before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Why do you want to change your food? I know a lot of people say "feed this, dont feed that" but what are they on now and why do you want to change it? The way i see it, if your dog is doing well on the food it is on, why bother changing it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranVT Posted January 19, 2010 Author Share Posted January 19, 2010 Mainly because I feel like I am not buying efficiently, plus I can't keep feeding Luuka premium beef mince forever. I figured there must be a more budget-friendly way to buy food, which is why I checked out places that sell bulk pet food. Also what I'm feeding now obviously isn't working since Atlas isn't gaining weight and hasn't since his accident (and no he doesn't have wormyworms). I'm feeding him twice a day, roo mince and cooked brown rice, he flat out won't eat dry food, he gets chicken necks / carcasses etc as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Roo has no fat in it? (Correct me if i am wrong?) so it wouldnt help him gain weight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranVT Posted January 19, 2010 Author Share Posted January 19, 2010 Yep that is what the chicken necks are for, besides when he came out of the vet he had to be on a virtually no-fat diet because of his liver thing, but we have the all clear (in early December, when we added the chicken necks / wings) to reintroduce fat into his diet. Plus he frickin loves roo mince and he is kind of fussy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Maybe one meal a day would help him eat more? He may feel more hungry if he only gets one meal a day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranVT Posted January 19, 2010 Author Share Posted January 19, 2010 I thought maybe if I raised the fat content of what he's eating and reduced the frequency? I dunno I might be just silly Don't worry guys I am a pain I know I'll figure it out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spottychick Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 I'm not an expert in nutrition so I could be completely wrong but surely you don't need animal fat to gain weight??? Otherwise my poor stone-forming dal will NEVER stop being a skeleton LOL I source meat for my other dally from the local butcher or from chicken processors. THey will usually do a fairly reasonable deal if you buy in bulk. So when I had 3 dallys I could buy a couple of crates of chicken frames and several kilos of good quality chicken meat for a very good price - and it would last several weeks. Cheaper than commercial I can tell ya! My friend who has a greyhound buys the same stuff from the same people (chicken meat and necks) plus buys some inexpensive lamb flaps for her dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranVT Posted January 19, 2010 Author Share Posted January 19, 2010 That's a good idea, I'll ask OH, he is a qualified butcher and he might be able to tee me up a deal with his old work (he still does a few days a month there). Don't know why I didn't think of that before! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggy Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 (edited) I can't bring myself to feed horse . I had horses for years and I love them. I just don't like not knowing where the meat came from. Edited January 19, 2010 by Tiggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranVT Posted January 19, 2010 Author Share Posted January 19, 2010 Yeah it just doesn't sit right with me either, I don't think I'll buy it again, only bought 2kg of the beef/horse today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggy Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 I must admit I bought some dried horse treats once and felt terrible about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spottychick Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 I'd go with the camel meat tho if the dogs could eat it. There is a bit of a camel epidemic (well more than a bit) in Australia so we might as well make use of them rather than just culling them and leaving them to rot or whatever. And it's a bit like roo or other game to me, can't see the same issues with camel as I do with horses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Roo has no fat in it? (Correct me if i am wrong?) so it wouldnt help him gain weight? True .I would also scrape the rice a waste of money if trying to budget feed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all that glitters Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 How come you guys avoid beef? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spottychick Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 In my case it's just not a great diet for dalmatians (too high in purines). BUt it's also apparently a food that a lot of dogs are allergic to or have tolerance issues with. It's also highly acidic and the health of the meat will depend a bit on whether the cattle are fed on grass or grain (grass is better!). Beef can also be high in toxins and has been linked to high incidences of cancer in people and animals. Which is probably related to how beef is produced for the most part. SOme people just have issues with the whole beef industry and if you could see (and more to the point SMELL!!!) the beef production place near Launceston you'd probably be put off beef for life too!! It probably doesn't mean you shouldn't feed your dogs ANY beef but maybe it's best to feed it in moderation. If I didn't have dallys I still wouldnt feed them much beef if any. I'd rather go with the wild/free ranging animal diet like Roo and camel etc or healthier poultry and fish (and perhaps lamb). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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