Feeding?

[melbell]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post! I have recently become a 'mummy' to a one year old staffy x mastiff. He is approximately one year old and came from the animal welfare league - they had found him as a stray and his owner never came to get him...that’s so sad .

Anyway my question is about feeding him. What do people recommend? Once or twice a day? Dry or wet (meat) food and any particular brands? Are the expenisve brands really that much better?

At the moment I am feeding twice a day, half dry food (supercoat) and half dog roll stuff from the supermarket. He seems happy with this but I just want to make sure im doing what is best for him.

I would be very gratefully for some advice.

Many Thanks

Mel

[Miranda]

I have recently become a 'mummy' to a one year old staffy x mastiff.

Wow! Staffy x mastiff! That boggles the brain, they must have been contortionists! Which one was the male, not the mastiff I hope!

Seriously what you're feeding sounds fine as long as your dog looks well on it , has plenty of energy and is a healthy weight. You could also try giving him some raw chicken wings/necks now and again and maybe a brisket bone a couple of times a week for his teeth.

There are so many different ways you can feed your dog, I'm sure you'll get many more suggestions.

Welcome to the Forums!

[haven]

I'm personally of the opinion that commercial pet food is not as good as a more natural diet. Check out the B.A.R.F. diet (web search) and a product called Vet's All Natural. If you're an avid reader, try "give your dog a bone" by Dr. Ian Billinghurst.

Miranda, I once saw a mini foxy whelp rottweiler pups. Not pretty.

[Kez]

Twice a day is great as a minimum, as it reduces the likelyhood of stomach upset (from remaining empty too long, and getting an acid buildup).

B.A.R.F. is advocated by a lot of dog owners, but has it's own downfalls if you don't pay good attention to the vitamin and mineral balances, protein, fat & fibre percentages.

Supercoat is one of the better "supermarket" brands of dry foods - being a mastiff cross (heavy breed) I would steer clear of any "large breed puppy" branded dog foods, and try to keep your protein levels down. I've successfully reared Great Danes on Supercoat + raw meat etc.

The "loaf" from the supermarket will depend on the brand - there are a couple that are very good, and some that are pretty bad. I don't feed them, so I can't say which is which

Another to avoid is canned food. Raw meat mince, raw chicken (wings, necks etc) are a lot better....

The more you pay for a dry feed, as long as it is a Premium feed (some will say so, but you need to know your dog foods), are better than "supermarket" brands.

The best dry food in my opinion is Eagle Pack - the meat sources are human grade, the meat sources are not treated with sodium metabisulphate before being turned into the meat meal, it contains 3 meat proteins, is wheat free, and has a well balanced range of vitamin and mineral levels.

Congrats on your new "baby" - don't forget to put up some photos

[jelly]

One thing with the premium type kibble (dry) you can get from not at the supermarket is that although it's more expensive weight for weight you may find you don't have to feed as much. Having said that I've heard Supercoat is pretty good for a supermarket brand. I give a raw bone once a week, great for their teeth, you can get bags for $2-3 from a pet warehouse type store, or the butcher.

I'm happy you adopted this fella , and yes put some piccys up in the photos forum!

[Koza]

I took a stray 1 yo from AWL, too:) Vets in Uni recommended to feed him a "puppy large breed" for another 0.5 - 1 year, to give him a boost. I don't see much point in giving the cooked loaf with dry food. If he eats just dry (I add some water... my personal liking ), that's fine... Plus chicken necks and wings, yougurt and cottage chese, sometimes whole eggs... for a difference. I stoped giving him any other bones, as he gulps them like crazy

I feed Hills, and dog looks good, nice silky fur

[melbell]

Thanks for all the advice it’s really appreciated. Chicken necks sound like a good idea and thanks for specifying to feed them raw (I probably would have cooked them!). He really likes the dog roll stuff but when I look at it I have trouble believing that there is any real goodness in there...just looks and smells like rubbish...it’s the VIP dog roll.

Problem is hubbys stepdad works at VIP so brings it home for us, so kind of hard to say no...ahhh the politics of it all!!

We are off to the butchers this afternoon so will be getting some bones, would I be right in saying these will probably help him occupy his time when we are not home?

He is a great dog and the people at the AWL do such a good job, the only probably was choosing - I must admit I had a bit of a cry on the way out, thank goodness for sunglasses!!

Thanks again.

[t-time]

Just noticed this thread.

I have an AWL dog too.

Get this - Border Collie X Irish Wolfhound X ???? We bought him as a BC X and he seemed just that - soft coat, black and white, sweet face etc etc until he started growing....and boy did he grow, and grow, and GROW!

By the time he was 6 months, he was about a metre tall at the shoulder, had a wire coat and grew his lovely hairy face. Luckily, he stopped growing there but because of the size mistake, he was thought to be a 12 week old BC when we got him and they had already desexed him! Turns out the poor bugger was knackered at 5 weeks of age!!! (the teeth at "16" weeks was a give away - he still had all his baby teeth and no sign of big boy teeth).

Anyway, he is now 3, and our gorgeous man with the divine nature and a penchant for licking little tiny puppies. Also an excellent teaser for the bitches -seems his early desexing hasn't quelled any urges!

One for the purebreds though - he has luxating patellas and the bones in one his back legs are completely deformed vet said he'd never seen anything like it except in Chi's - and commented slyly that he didn't think there was any Chi in him!

As for your food issue, stick with your bikkies, though don't overdo it - most of these dry foods are now recommended to be used as a full meal with no extras and IMO you definitely need to feed raw meaty bones. My dogs, including the littlies, get Supercoat and chickens frames or necks. A big lamb or beef bone once a week to really have a good chew - it actually lasts all week once they've buried it, dug it up, swapped and buried it again! They also help themselves to our vege patch and prefer the pumpkins!

Sorry for the long post but I just love a good luck rescue story!

[Prydenjoy]

Problem is hubbys stepdad works at VIP so brings it home for us, so kind of hard to say no...ahhh the politics of it all!!

Maybe you could graciously accept it, and sneak it into animal rescue centres when he's not looking ;)

I feed my dogs a BARF diet, with a bit of Eagle Pack in the mornings to fatten them up! They are doing great on this. Supercoat is probably the best supermarket brand, but the dogs do SO much better on Eagle Pack! What it really comes down to is how much you want to spend on feeding your dog, although I would not recommend anyone feed anything cheaper than supercoat (eg Pal etc), if you want to get that cheap you might as well not have a dog at all!

[melbell]

Maybe you could graciously accept it, and sneak it into animal rescue centres when he's not looking

He He He That has crossed my mind many times! Would give us more room in the fridge thats for sure...i dont know how much they think this dog eats!

I think once this bag of supercoat is gone i might try the Eagle Pack as everyone seems to rave about it. I dont mind spending the money as long as it is better food...just wanted to make sure i wasnt being ripped off!

I will have to hide the reciepts from hubby, he is always pointing out the 2 bags for $25 of Chum at Big W.

Im also going to try mixing it with some chicken necks. Okay here is a really silly question but what will my dog do with the bones in the necks? Will he eat them or spit them out??

Thanks

Mel

[katetk]

He'll eat them...

So..any pics of your boy??

[Em & Taco]

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!

We got Buckley (daschoundx Jack Russell) and Taco (Mini pin x chi) from the Animal welfare leaque at The Gold Coast.

I placed a post this morning about dry dog food because I just changed them over to Iams. ( You can read if you want to know more... weight issue etc) I only feed dry food due to the fact that my bf is repulst by the smelll, look and everything about wet food. He dry reaches at the smell of it.

Apparently wet food (tin and rolls) it is not very nutritional and full of products that arn't good for dogs with super senstive skins, digestion etc. My sis makes her own wet food every couple of weeks with all these different things like kelp, garlic, livers and stuff and she said that it's quite cheap and lasts a long time.

I give our 2 a few lamb bones on the weekend for their teeth mainly but apparently they are good for fattening up aswell. Taco used to hide his, dig them up a couple of weeks later and roll over it! But Buckley loves them and eats them straight away!

Depend s on the condition your dog is in weight wise and if he/she has any health conditions as to the diet you feed. Consult your vet or local petshop/produce for some products aswell.

[katetk]

Apparently wet food (tin and rolls) it is not very nutritional and full of products that arn't good for dogs with super senstive skins, digestion etc.  My sis makes her own wet food every couple of weeks with all these different things like kelp, garlic, livers and stuff and she said that it's quite cheap and lasts a long time.

I would say Tin food is crap for any dog IMO full of rubbish. BARF/Raw is the way to go!

Depending on how much you make depends on how long it lasts. Here is a link to show what some of us feed our dogs...

BARF

Edited May 20, 2005 by katetk

[KateC]

My pup is 14 weeks old - Can anyone recommend what sort of bones/chicken pieces I can give her? I have been told to be careful with her teeth at this age

thanks!

[Dogsfevr]

Feeding is a personal choice & whilst some think barf is the greatest its not for all dogs,to be honest if your dog is happy,healthy & its toilets are fine dont rush into a diet change ,do so gradually as you may upset the dogs stomach & get more than you bargained for.

We run boarding kennels & 90% of dogs are feed lower quality biscuits & tin at home & these dogs are thriving & living to a good age & yes there teeth are great & stools fine.

Even within our own dogs we feed different things due to what works well with some totally disagrees with another,i have a dog that is meat sensitive & i have to be careful what he gets & the amount.

So my advice introduce things slowly into his normal feed & if all goes well change a bit more until your happy the dog is fine on the new diet

[melbell]

Thanks everyone, the advice is really appreciated and its good to know im not feeding him totally the wrong thing! We got a compliment on his coat when we were walking in the park this afternoon so I was quite happy about that.

I’m looking into the BARF diet but it seems quite a lot of preparation time. I think we might give the Eagle Pack a go next time with some chicken necks etc. I gave him a huge marrow bone the other day which he really enjoyed…the bone has now mysteriously disappeared, along with my gardening gloves.

More VIP food has arrived from the out laws (sigh) but this time its cat food?? I read the label and its pure kangaroo mince, so I mixed it with the dry food and he seems to quite like it…I figure it probably has more nutrition in than the dog roll.

I will endeavour to get some pictures of my new baby posted but im a bit of a computer dunce so I will have to get some help from the man.

[haven]

Depends on how you do it in regaurds to prep. time. I thought the same thing when I first looked into it. That's why I recommended the Vets All Natural. It comes in a complete mix with fruits, veg, grain and added vit and min. All you have to do is add water, leave it for 24hrs and mix it with meat. In addition to this and the chicken/lamb bones I feed my dogs I'll throw in things like fish, eggs, yoghurt once a week or so. With my Rottis its easy cos they eat anything, I can peel a banana and give it to them and they eat it. My GSD not so simple unfortunately. But feeding a BARF diet doesn't have to be as complicated as it sounds. Takes me five mins to feed (five seconds for them to eat) and costs less than $25 a week to feed 4 dogs.

[melbell]

Thanks Haven,

Im looking at there website now and it looks good. I take it you use the 'Complete Mix'? So many different choices its crazy!!

Edited May 23, 2005 by melbell

[haven]

I know! I can be a nightmare with so many options, knowing which to choose (you should see me trying to buy pantyhose)!

Yes, I use the complete mix and also use the omega blend and the joint formula. The wound spray is magic too!

Basically I mix it with water, let it soak, mix it with mince and stuff chicken frames with it and ta da! The other stuff (egg, yoghurt etc) I'll add every now and then, or feed seperately. If you go with the omega blend or flax seed oil you will need to supplament with vitamin E.