Dry Food, Raw Or Home Made

[Monchichi]

Morning All,

I have been reading this DOL forum since last year, especially leading up to the exciting times of having the puppy (as i'm the first time puppy owner).

Well, now I have my lovely Japanese Spitz who is 5 months old already! Time does fly!

These questions probably have been answered somewhere in this forum, but as I keep reading so many posting, my brain goes into freeze mode now I do hope if any of you experienced puppy or dog owners can help to answer my questions as per below:

- Dry food, i had read some posting saying grain free, prefer no corn meal etc. Why do we need to stay clear of the dry food which has grains or corn meal in it? Is that better to feed the dog without these? reading on the dry food ingredients, i've found a long list of ingredients in it and most of it i don't understand (or more likely i need to google it hahaha)does dog really need these kind of ingredients?

- Dry food, do you find these dry food to smell bit disgusting? or in yucky side? expecially when it is soften up?

i know this is like an odd question.. :D

- Raw, what is the benefit of feeding raw? and do you have to add supplement and vegie pureed as well into it to make it well balanced food? I do feed my puppy like 2x a week with chicken necks & diced beef at her dinner time and chuck bones as her treat.

- Homemade cook food, is this better? what to look for and to add? and how often will you feed this?

- How about those pet food in the supermarket fridge, eg VIP Rolls, Puppy 4legs or 4legs products in general, Dog mince in the pouch,etc. Are they good to be given everyday or how often will you feed to the dog?

I'm not looking into buying tin food or food in that square foil eg My dog products, as i feed my puppy once with each of these types (as i've got the samples) and the stool was so soft. And looking at the product itself, it seems it just contains liquid/gelatine more than the meat itself.

- Pork/Beef bones dipped in liver, is this good for the dog? i imagine this product has been "cooked"? how often will you give this to your dog? I bought it once, as my puppy keep sniffing & licking it when I was in Petbarn, and yes she loves chewing it...

Anyhow, that's all for now. Thank you! :)

[Sandra777]

The best food for your dog is the food your dog does best on.

Yes - many dry foods are sprayed with fat and flavours to make the dog want to eat them, so some do smell horrible to us.

What are you feeding now and what specific things are you hoping to improve with a change?

[The Spotted Devil]

Yes - what Sandra said. Everyone will do something different. I keep it simple because I don't have a lot of freezer space and am a bit time poor. The adult dogs get a really good quality dry food about 4 nights a week and frozen chicken frames or a lamb neck as a meal on the other nights. An occasional raw egg. 4 Legs is one of the better quality packaged foods (no colours, flavours or preservatives) but I only ever use it for training - I also use cheese, tinned salmon, cooked chicken, raw chicken wings, boiled egg etc. I only use raw mince to mix with dry and stuff into Kongs.

[Monchichi]

thank you both!

I am feeding her with Eukanuba Puppy Small Breed.

I tried feeding her Pedigree Puppy dry food when she arrived from her breeder, as that's what she got at that time, and her stool was runny and smelt like yeasty chicken. So i switched to Eukanuba after 3 days on Pedigree.

She is good with Eukanuba so far, until the past few weeks where she starts reluctantly eating her kibble in the morning.

In progression she eats less and less of the kibble. Even though most of the time I mix the kibble with yoghurt or tuna or grated apple/carrot (which she used to love it). I know she is teething badly at the moment, probably this is the reason the past 3days her kibble gradually eaten only 1/2, then 2/3 and yesterday not a touch.

I have soften the kibble with chicken soup (hence i sniffed the yucky smell )

And probably I have been feeding her bit too much. But her weight for 5 months is just ok, 5.6kg.

When i feed her homemade chicken soup with chicken offals (or diced beef soup) & vegies and mix it with rice, she eats it in no time.

Fortunately enough, I work in a place that every now and then I get meat(chicken the most) samples. Time wise, I can spend a bit of time during the weekday after work or weekend to cook her meals.

Hence, I have been thinking either giving her raw food (which to myself not really appealing...yes I Humanize the thought probably hahaha) or cook her homemade food.

And yes, I'm quite good at cooking, as used to be a chef as well.

Back to where I come from, my uncle's and sister's dogs are fed mainly daily with rice and chicken offal soup (occasionally raw eggs and table scraps), and they are as healthy as ever. No sign of deformity etc. Which made me thinking puppies and dogs here in Australia are so lucky to have these such varieties of food and supplements etc.

Hence my questions regarding different types of food before. As my puppy is lucky with all these options, so I want to get the opinions on which one best/better.

[Sandra777]

Teething probably hasn't helped, but dogs are also very clever at training their owners, it all starts by the owner only wanting the best for their pup.

You feed her plenty of good food so she doesn't have the idea that she has to eat or starve.

She doesn't like something very much she just picks at it because she's really not that hungry

You worry she's not eating enough so you give her something tastier

She learns that if she refuses to eat what she's given she'll get something better

One owner successfully trained :)

Personally I don't like a lot of dry food, but if this is what you want to feed her then stick to it.

Serve out the amount of food you think she should have, put the food and the dog in a quiet place (laundry? crate? en suite? puppy pen?) Leave them alone for 20 minutes (10 minutes for an adult). Any food that's left after this time gets thrown away and pup gets NOTHING else until the next feed time. This includes no training treats, no bits off the bench, nothing. Repeat until the dog realises it eats when food is served or it is hungry until the next meal time.

As she is teething you could soften her food just for now if it makes you feel better but IME most pups actually prefer to chew while they're teething, it seems to help ease any discomfort they are feeling.

ETA: raw meat by itself is not good for dogs, it's very unbalanced nutrition, so if you are going to give her meat make sure she eats dry food too, or bones and other sources of vitamins & minerals.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Sandra777

[Monchichi]

One owner successfully trained :) <---- hahahahaha now i realised this...! yes, she proabbly has succesfully train me instead the other way around!

The only reason I still keep giving her the dry food, because her breeder insists me to keep giving her the kibbles, as it has all sort of vitamins etc for the puppy. (not specifically to Eunkanuba brand though..)

I have been feeding her morning meal just before i left to work. So she gets to access her meal a whole day outside in my deck (as there where i keep her during the day, which also have the access to the garden for her). She used to eat it in no time, these days she even reluctantly moves her bum from her crate to have her meal. Probably she knows she still can eat it later when i'm gone.

The reason i left her food with her, because i was reading as puppy they need 3 meals a day,unfortunately for my situation i can only feed her twice a day ( breeder was feeding her 2x a day too). And she used to lick & eat her poop when she was having those Pedigree food. Hence i have been thinking if i only allow her to have her meal in 20minutes and take it away from her, then if she is starving during the day..she might eat her poop? or dig my garden harder to find milipeds, slugs, nails, worms etc to eat?

Is this just my imagination??? :laugh:

Chewing... I also give her chuck bones like 2-3 times a week next to her morning kibble. She never chews it as soon as i give her. Probably she is too full with her kibble? All she does is digging the garden and hide the bone in there. When i get home, she will sniff the garden and undig her bone and start chewing it in front of me (her face like saying " here mum, I found my treasure...you cannot have it now..it's mine! so i am chewing it). But lately, her bones even pig ears got burried in the garden until it's rotten and not a touch from her, so i have to throw these treats. The reason i give her the bone/pig ear while she is alone , as again i was reading here, those bones and pig ears can accompany the puppy/dog to spend their time alone...

Probably now she is getting bigger, I will try your method Sandra777 of timing her meal for 20minutes. If she doesn't eat, then she won't have anything until the next meal.

Her teething stage, both top & bottom insicors have fallen (with last night being the last one of her top insicor came out after bleeding). 3 of her canines also have dissapeared. The permanent insicors have started to grow, not canine yet. Not sure if her molars will come off as well?