What Do You Feed Your Dogs?

[Mason_Gibbs]

My boy gets roo, lamb or goat plus some veg daily - he also gets sardines, eggs and some cheese weekly. I have been wondering lately if that is enough variety in his diet, he cant get beef, chicken or anything with wheat due to allergies.

[Guest belgian.blue]

Ivy gets nutro dry for dinner and raw lamb for breakfast. Badger gets puppy nutro for dinner and raw minced chicken frames for breakfast.

They both get sardines, yoghurt, egg, tinned natures gift with their dry every few days. Also a lamb shank once a week each. They're probably having a shank today. Badger is a gulper and I have found shanks are something he will take time to eat.

[Babesmum]

good topic! I've often wondered what others feed their dogs.

My girl Babe had chicken necks or chicken mince morning & night, with cooked veges and/or fruit. Veges include mashed pumpkin, beetroot (fresh not tinned), brussel sprouts, avocado, spinach, or bok choy, and fruit is either apples or melon. Whatever is in season she gets so it varies from time to time.

A couple of times a week she also gets a soft cooked egg and once a month she has a liver or a heart.

Every night she has two crushed brazil nuts and 3 ml of Omega 3,6 & 9 oil on her food along with her vit C, chelated zinc and another vitamin powder (she gets these last three in the morning too).

I'm looking forward to seeing others menus.

Cheers!

Lis

Just be aware that Avocado's are not good for dogs and it is not recommended that they eat it.

Mine get something in the morning, either a bone, large crunchy dog treat, dried roo flap, tendon etc.

Training treats sometime during the day (fourlegs ATM)

Dry foo and either, meat, sardines, yoghurt, cottage cheese, sometimes dog roll etc for tea.

And whatever they manage to counter surf and steal! buggers!

Avocadoes were recommended by her holistic vet as she has an auto-immune skin condition. They are full of good oils. Though with the price of them atm she isn't getting any!

Cheers!

Edited October 15, 2010 by Babesmum

[noisymina]

At the moment, mine gets:

Morning

1/2 cup premium dry

!/2 barf pattie with yoghurt, supps & meds (twice a week a raw egg instead of the yoghurt)

Night:

All raw - about 350 - 380g mix made up of any of the following:

Barf pattie (3-4 a week)

Turkey necks (about 1 kg a week)

Chicken frames/necks/wings

Beef/Lamb heart

Lamb flap

Maybe some raw pet mince.

[Danois]

Diet here is around 300gm of Eagle Pack Power for breakfast and a BARF brick in the kong. Might also get something like 4Paws in the holey moley ball - if so it's only around 200gm of dry.

Dinner is around 200gm of dry (i.e one full EP measuring cup) and 2 chicken frames 4-5 nights a week. Other couple of nights its 300gm of dry and then a tin of sardines in tomato sauce or a sprinkle of parmesan or some tuna.

He'll get a big marrow bone most weekends too.

[twodoggies2001]

My two are also fed 100% raw. The have only eaten commercially prepared food when they arrived into our household and were gradually weaned over to the raw and natural. My garage fridge is more for them than it is for our use.

[Tiggy]

Raw feeder here to but I do keep Ziwipeak on hand as a back up to the raw .

[mackiemad]

my boy gets about 70 grams of tripe/offal/butcher's scraps or meat/sardines/ or a raw egg with half a cup of pro plan sensitive in the evening. unless he he gets training treats during the day in which case the kibble is reduced.

if he gets a RMB (usually chicken, turkey or roo) during the day (3-4 times per week) then he only gets the kibble in the evening.

he does however tend to 'clean up' after the cats if they don't finish their dinner within half and hour. they get canned fish (usually tuna) and half/half nutrience senior and original kibble.

oh and when he visits the horses he consumes as much old horse poo and horse hoof trimmings as his stomach will allow. the fresh horse poo is more important for rolling in than eating...he doesn't visit the horses much anymore!

[wuffles]

Mine get Royal Canin of an evening with sardines, table scraps or chicken wings. They get some Natures Gift tinned frozen in their kongs of a morning as well as a handful of kibble scattered across the yard.

[Chezy]

mine get home made doggy stew for brekkie

raw meat250gm each and kibble advance active 1/2 cup each for dinner , plus yogurt and occasionally eggs

a variety of bones from brisket to chicken even turkey necks every 3rd day or so

after trial treat is a lamb neck

i make most training treats my self[tuna bake or liver biscuits], but have been lazy lately lol and used store bought

Edited October 17, 2010 by Chezy & Chopper

[matilda1]

I have tried all sorts of things with mine.

raw food gives them sloppy stools and really bad flatulance.

I used to feed hills Science diet but have just switched over to Advance. it's a great product and they need nothing else. All dogs are doing well on this.

I noticed how many of you are feeding raw eggs and some other food which worry me as a vet nurse:

Raw Eggs: Contain an enzyme called avidin, which decreases the absorption of biotin (a B vitamin). This can lead to skin and hair coat problems. Raw eggs may also contain Salmonella

Avocado: The leaves, seeds, fruit, and bark contain persin, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

Some nuts: Contain an unknown toxin, which can affect the digestive and nervous systems and muscle

Also with the people who feed raw I was just wondering if you have adapted your worming routine to suit? This not a critcism, I am really just wondering. Sometimes i wish i could feed mine more raw, but as it turns out it is not something my dogs do well on

Raw meat: May contain bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

A very interesting topic, I would love to learn more about the nutritional benefits of feeding raw. I have done a lot of study on Commercial foods and a balanced diet but not from the raw aspect. I am open to all well researched material

[Hafhafa Hounds]

Hi Belladonna,

I have 6 dogs ranging in age from 16 years to 2 years and in size from Salukis to Tenterfield Terriers. I've fed my dogs raw (in a variety of forms, beginning with BARF and progressing to prey-model as I learned) for over 15 years. I have had great success, raised 3 litters of pups on raw and will continue to feed raw until the day I no longer have dogs or I die (probably more likely!). I switched an itchy-all-the-time Tenterfield Terrier to raw 15 years ago and haven't looked back. She's now 16 and going strong!

I feed a franken-prey-model diet, made up of chicken carcasses, lamb, beef & pork meat, lamb & beef heart, lamb tongue and liver. It's approximately 65% muscle meat, 25% bones and 10% offal. That's not even close to the "model" diet recommendation of 80:10:10, but it works for my pack.

I have tried all sorts of things with mine.

raw food gives them sloppy stools and really bad flatulance.

Possibly you haven't persevered long enough, or tried feeding too much variety/fat too soon. A lot of dogs get "loose" when going thru a change of diet, but it can be reduced by giving more bone or sticking to one protein.

I noticed how many of you are feeding raw eggs and some other food which worry me as a vet nurse:

Raw Eggs: Contain an enzyme called avidin, which decreases the absorption of biotin (a B vitamin). This can lead to skin and hair coat problems. Raw eggs may also contain Salmonella

Eggs DO contain an ENZYME INHIBITOR in the WHITE which can make them difficult to digest for very young puppies, sick dogs, old dogs, or dogs with pancreatitis. Apart from that, unless a dog has an allergy to eggs, there should be no problem. Egg whites contain a substance called AVIDIN, which binds with the vitamin biotin (a member of the B Complex group), making it unavailable for your dog. The only situation where this has been a problem was when an experimental diet, totally deficient in biotin was fed together with lots of raw egg whites for several weeks. It is possible that lots of egg whites could precipitate a biotin deficiency, in a dog fed a poor quality dried dog food. If that dry food was low in biotin, as they often are, the dog may suffer a biotin deficiency. It's worth noting that egg yolks contain lots of biotin, so feeding whole eggs is very safe.

Also with the people who feed raw I was just wondering if you have adapted your worming routine to suit? This not a critcism, I am really just wondering. Sometimes i wish i could feed mine more raw, but as it turns out it is not something my dogs do well on

Nope. My dogs are wormed when they have worms - no more often and no less.

Raw meat: May contain bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

Disagree. Not that raw meat contains Salmonella & E. Coli, but that dogs can't cope with it. Healthy dogs are designed to eat raw meat & bones, their digestive tract is short and food passes through more quickly than humans. Besides which their stomach acids are stronger and "kill the germs" as it were.

A very interesting topic, I would love to learn more about the nutritional benefits of feeding raw. I have done a lot of study on Commercial foods and a balanced diet but not from the raw aspect. I am open to all well researched material

Have a read here: http://www.rawlearning.com and please note that all of the above reflects my opinon and what works for me, may not work for you.

Regards, Sonia

PS No comments on the avo or nuts - I feed neither to my dogs.

[SkySoaringMagpie]

We have a number of menu options which depend on what is cheapest at the butcher and whether we have a show the next day (no messy bones) or whatever.

Our base kibble is Royal Canin Maxi - they get that in buster cubes in the morning before we leave for work if they are not getting kongs, which are usually filled with either leftovers (I cook without stuff like onion) or mince.

Other meals are:

Kibble and a tin of sardines - in olive oil for the young ones inclined to be too ribby, and in spring water for the ones inclined to be tubby

Kibble and tinned mackeral

Chicken wings

Brisket bones

Lamb neck (but only for 3 of them, the other two can't tolerate lamb)

Chicken carcasses

Turkey necks

Kibble and giblets, chopped liver, chopped kidney or other offal

Butcher's pet mince from the local butcher, has a lot of soft bone in it which is good - mixed with rice or soaked pet "muesli"

Bags of beef bones from the local butcher

Human leftovers

Occasionally goat bones if I can get to the Canberra farmer's market

Occasionally supervised marrow bones

I use the same principle i use with us - go for variety within a budget. Our kids have lovely shiny coats and no probs with infections etc so I figure we're onto a good routine.

[TeamSnag]

Edge

[matilda1]

Thanks for the feedback Sonia,

like I said, the whole RAW diet is a learning experience for me.

I feed dry food and it works for my dogs very well, so i am not about to change, but I always appreciate learning from those who know about other options.

[MavericksMission]

My boys get Holistic Select dry.

Some days they will have chicken necks.

They also regularly get fresh bones.

[whiskedaway]

Akira gets two cups a day of Supercoat Puppy, morning it goes in her treat ball and evening she gets it in her bowl which we use to practice her sit/stays. She sometimes gets sardines or raw chicken mixed in with it as well.

We considered switching to Pro Plan, but Akira is doing so well on the Supercoat that we decided to stay as we are. When it comes time to change to adult food, we may switch her over then.

[Skitch]

All raw diet here :D. Lots of different meats and bones and plenty of offal (kidney, liver, etc) several times a week. Makes for very healthy dogs with non stinky breath and shiny coats!

[Hafhafa Hounds]

Thanks for the feedback Sonia,

No problem...

I feed dry food and it works for my dogs very well

what works, works.

My preference is that my dogs don't get commercial food because it contains grains and my dogs are carnivorous, but it's not everyone's deal.

I like that I can quality control and I like that my dogs are healthy on raw. Everyone has to do what's best for themselves and their dogs.

Sonia

edit for spelling

Edited October 17, 2010 by Hafhafa Hounds

[hopenfox]

Completely raw (prey & prey model) fed here...to both ferrets and dogs.

I haven't had to worm for years (I have a faecal test done once a year, which has always comes back clear).