Feeding Dry Only

[Rebanne]

Been reading some topics lately about how good *insert whatever brand you want here* dry food is but what I have noticed is how many people are also feeding extra's, ie, one feed might be dry but the next is raw etc. I have seen this about brands from woofbix to blackhawk and everything in between.

So how do people who feed both know that the improvement in their dogs health, coat, poo etc, whatever makes you think the dry food you are using is the bees knees, is from the dry food when there is a lot of extra's?

How many feed a dry food pretty well exclusively?

At the moment I am feeding Supercoat to my dogs, I've fed cheaper and I've fed more expensive dry, I've fed dry half and half with raw, but this brand all the dogs like. And are doing well on. No gas, firm poo's, maybe a tad more of them but as I pick up twice a day not a problem. So that is all they are getting except for recreation chew bones - marrow bones cut in half, once or twice a week. Mind you once the marrow is gone there is not a lot of chewing going on.

I fed all raw for at least 10 years and to be honest never saw any difference in my dogs to when they were fed only the cheapest stuff. The last few years it's been a bit of a mixture. Overall I've been feeding dogs for over 30 years now, most of that multiple dogs.

[anniek]

I feed 80% raw - the rest dry - currently EP holistic.

The raw is all/any manner of animal parts, and is rotated.

So if I change the dry to XXX and their coat/poos whatever changes, then because the raw is pretty much set in stone, I have to "blame" the dry.

[anniek]

I feed 80% raw - the rest dry - currently EP holistic.

The raw is all/any manner of animal parts, and is rotated.

So if I change the dry to XXX and their coat/poos whatever changes, then because the raw is pretty much set in stone, I have to "blame" the dry.

eta I tried Proplan sensitve and their coats went bad. Tried Nutro - Cowboy had soft poos. So even though the dry is a small % , I have to say it must be the dry

[Tilly]

I have been feeding 100% raw but lately my youngest has gone off his food a bit and seems to prefer a bit of dry. I have started giving him canidae grain free which he is loving.

Not sure I would ever feed 100% dry but every now and again is fine.

[Rebanne]

I feed 80% raw - the rest dry - currently EP holistic.

The raw is all/any manner of animal parts, and is rotated.

So if I change the dry to XXX and their coat/poos whatever changes, then because the raw is pretty much set in stone, I have to "blame" the dry.

eta I tried Proplan sensitve and their coats went bad. Tried Nutro - Cowboy had soft poos. So even though the dry is a small % , I have to say it must be the dry

great answer, thanks

[Rebanne]

I have been feeding 100% raw but lately my youngest has gone off his food a bit and seems to prefer a bit of dry. I have started giving him canidae grain free which he is loving.

Not sure I would ever feed 100% dry but every now and again is fine.

I wasn't asking if it was okay to feed 100% dry. But one of the main reasons I am is cause my girl was never fussed about raw, strange I know, a dog turning it's nose up at a nice bit of meat or similar, but loving dry.

[meluchja]

Been reading some topics lately about how good *insert whatever brand you want here* dry food is but what I have noticed is how many people are also feeding extra's, ie, one feed might be dry but the next is raw etc. I have seen this about brands from woofbix to blackhawk and everything in between.

So how do people who feed both know that the improvement in their dogs health, coat, poo etc, whatever makes you think the dry food you are using is the bees knees, is from the dry food when there is a lot of extra's?

How many feed a dry food pretty well exclusively?

At the moment I am feeding Supercoat to my dogs, I've fed cheaper and I've fed more expensive dry, I've fed dry half and half with raw, but this brand all the dogs like. And are doing well on. No gas, firm poo's, maybe a tad more of them but as I pick up twice a day not a problem. So that is all they are getting except for recreation chew bones - marrow bones cut in half, once or twice a week. Mind you once the marrow is gone there is not a lot of chewing going on.

I fed all raw for at least 10 years and to be honest never saw any difference in my dogs to when they were fed only the cheapest stuff. The last few years it's been a bit of a mixture. Overall I've been feeding dogs for over 30 years now, most of that multiple dogs.

Funny I came across this thread, when I came on to post a thread just like it. I'll be very interesed to read what other members have to say.

I'm thinking about converting back to feeding 100% dry, as my boy seems to become very fussy if offered either Raw or Canned food. I had received a great sample of the BH dry, and my boy seems to really enjoy it, but he always does at the the start when I try and give him something new. But I'm thinking about sticking with the dry, as I can keep giving him the same bowl of food I have taken away from the meal before if he wants to be fussy and not eat it. I'm sick and tired of throwing away perfectly good food that has soiled because he won't eat it for days on end. I'm really happy with the ingredients of the BH so I think I might stick with it. And to be honest, I didn't see any improvement in his condition when I took him of kibble to a diet of raw in the first place.

I guess though all dogs are different. But very interested to hear from other dog owners on their experiences.

[anniek]

I am not against dry, but I find feeding raw is cheap and easy. There are a lot of poultry places not far from here when I can get chicken offcuts very cheap. As Cowboy ages he goes off the kibble now and again - but is always up for a kg of chicken necks And he needs fairly fatty meat to keep his weight up, whereas Phoebe would eat toasted cardboard (without the butter) and she would look like a porky pig. So I would have to keep two kinds of dry on hand if feeding more than what I do. With raw it is easy - he gets more anyway, but for him I leave all the fat on the chicken frames, for her she has it trimmed a bit.

[aussielover]

I feed mostly dry (bones only 3x a week and sardines/fish/egg 3 x a week mixed with the dry).

I recently changed from advance to pal and did not notice any change, if anything the dog's poos are less frequent and firmer and her coat looks shiner. No idea whether this is due to the extras though. I've been feeding her the extras for about 6 months now.

I think some of the premium dry food are a bit of a rip off, a good supermarket brand (not that im saying pal is good) could work just as well for some dogs and is a lot cheaper.

I think the prescription diets have merit though and probably do help dogs with specific problems.

[Rebanne]

I actually can't believe this was running around my head for the past few days and I couldn't work out the answer So I post, AnnieK gives a great reply and it's as clear as. Oh well I will blame too many night shifts

[Rebanne]

I am not against dry, but I find feeding raw is cheap and easy. There are a lot of poultry places not far from here when I can get chicken offcuts very cheap. As Cowboy ages he goes off the kibble now and again

As Piper has aged I have found I can't feed him raw meaty bones at all because he nearly always throws up some hours later and I am sick of the bile spots in my carpet. I had to give up on chicken necks for him years ago because of his throwing bits up.

[Staranais]

I feed about half raw, half kibble. That means about 80% of her calories/minerals/vitamins etc come from kibble, since it's so much more concentrated.

Does the raw "do" anything for my dog that the kibble wouldn't?

I figure bones are fun for my dog - she likes them - and why not give her something that's fun.

They help keep her teeth clean.

Also, since I use food for training I do give her treats, something more exciting than kibble, and since some weeks she eats a lot of treats I figure she might as well get healthy food treats (= raw or cooked meat and organs) instead of junk commercial treats.

If the raw parts of her diet do anything else beyond that for her, I can't say. I do know that I feel better eating a diet of mostly fresh rather than mostly processed food, so just from analogy, I'd wonder if she feels better with some fresh food in her diet. But of course I couldn't prove that in any way.

Whether or not I feed raw or dry, I'd always supplement with joint food also.

[sas]

We have recently changed from Barf to Black Hawk and feed exclusively BH only.

My boy doesn't get bones due to a recent operation to remove a blockage.

I personaly trial foods straight up without additions for 8 weeks to get a feel for it and then you can start mucking about with additions, mind you I have an allergic dog so we do things a bit differently.

Most of the time when people add supplements to a dogs feed they aren't doing any good because alot of supplements cancel out other supplements, you have to actually be scientific about it and know what depletes what and what are the correct dossage rates so to me if you can find a feed with everything in it already and not add supplementation where possible you're on the right track.

Edited December 23, 2010 by sas

[pipsqueak]

I fee 100% dry most of the time. One dog cannot tolerate raw - gives her gastro for days.

[OSoSwift]

I feed mainly dry, and they get bones, dried chews, bit of meat, sardines, yoghurt etc.

One cannot eat beef and another can chew on beef ribs that have all fat removed and on a very small amount of meat, but no raw meat, lamb bones, chicken etc he gets very unwell.. The last one eats whatever!

Because I do feed largly dry I can tell if a particular food does not suit them. The allergy dog rips his skin, gets really bad gas and very runny poo. The other two seem to tolerate most things. I have been feeding Optimum as it has no wheat, but have recently tried BH and really like the ingredients and the allergy dog did really well on it. Their poops were the same on BH and Optimum

After christmas I am ordering BH

[Koemi]

I had to feed Bambi (RIP) 100% dry because her poor stomach could not process anything raw at all. She also did not eat rawhide, was incredibly picky about treat biscuits and dry-offal treats made her vom. Very frustrating! When I was feeding her Hills her coat fell out, when I fed her Nutro she vomitted it back up 75% of the time, she tolerated Royal Canin half half and wouldn't touch any other kibble besides the Eagle Pack Holistic fishy. EPH suited her quite well until I believe there was a formula change and then it was just as crap as any other food. She died a couple of weeks later (not related to food) so I don't know what I would have done after that. Feeding her was a constant nightmare. I was just very lucky that I worked at a pet supply store and could afford to trial virtually every dry available.

My current dog is on 80% kibble 20% bones. We feed half a meal a day in a bowl, the rest is used in training or he's given a meaty bone to chew. He does well on his current kibble (Advance), but has also done really well on Black Hawk, EPH, Nutro, Royal Canin, okay on Eukanuba, pretty crappy on SD, the supermarket foods (altho he was pretty good on Optimum when I went thru a particularly poor period).

I admire people that feed 100% raw and would like to do something like it one day, but his current training schedule means it's a lot more convienient to feed kibble with the clicker, and I'm just so relieved to have a dog that eats whatever he gets that I really can't be bothered stressing out about food again for the time being.

[PANDI-GIRL]

On 12/23/2010 at 5:51 PM, Rebanne said:

Been reading some topics lately about how good *insert whatever brand you want here* dry food is but what I have noticed is how many people are also feeding extra's, ie, one feed might be dry but the next is raw etc. I have seen this about brands from woofbix to blackhawk and everything in between.

So how do people who feed both know that the improvement in their dogs health, coat, poo etc, whatever makes you think the dry food you are using is the bees knees, is from the dry food when there is a lot of extra's?

How many feed a dry food pretty well exclusively?

At the moment I am feeding Supercoat to my dogs, I've fed cheaper and I've fed more expensive dry, I've fed dry half and half with raw, but this brand all the dogs like. And are doing well on. No gas, firm poo's, maybe a tad more of them but as I pick up twice a day not a problem. So that is all they are getting except for recreation chew bones - marrow bones cut in half, once or twice a week. Mind you once the marrow is gone there is not a lot of chewing going on.

I fed all raw for at least 10 years and to be honest never saw any difference in my dogs to when they were fed only the cheapest stuff. The last few years it's been a bit of a mixture. Overall I've been feeding dogs for over 30 years now, most of that multiple dogs.

Hi, @Rebanne  this discussion about food is very interesting,   do you still feel this way,  which foods are you feeding your dogs now

 

I have tried Pandi on raw bones & raw meat quite a few times & she will get an upset tummy for days &  sometimes vomit

funny thing is she can eat small amounts of  K9 or Frontier freeze-dried foods & is fine as long as it is only a snack

 

Currently,  she eats  Royal Canin Digestive Care mini for most meals,  she loves the taste & her tummy is doing very well 1 small poop a day &  I can see she is feeling happier 

She also can eat a small bit of cooked meat with no problems 

 

 

[sheena]

This post is 9 years old

[Rebanne]

Hi @PANDI-GIRL. I'm currently feeding a mix of dry food and cooked chicken mince. Had a great pet food shop open up in town a few years ago so was feeding mainly raw minced chicken carcasses with some dry. With marrow bones weekly at least. I'm now cooking the mince since my youngest dog got very ill earlier this year. Turns out the raw chicken wasn't the problem but not game to go back to it. Still feeding raw marrow bones, goats necks and similar. Some they eat, some they don't

https://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/271640-apr-now-unlikely-possible-meningitisencephalitis/?tab=comments#comment-6944426

 

I still don't believe the $100 plus bags of food are any better then the $50 bags. I buy supermarket type brands on the whole. Supercoat, Natures Gift dry, Natures Goodness etc. I buy grain free and grain included. I buy whats on special from both the supermarket and Budget pet supply on the web.  All 3 dogs are doing very well, I had to cut them all back a bit recently as they were stacking on the weight. I've had people ask what supps I use to get such a shine on their coat. Answer is none.