What Do You Feed Your Dog And Why?

[squirt80]

This topic has probaly been covered a few times !!, I have 12 week old bulldog and have had so much different advice on what to feed her. Our breeder told us to feed her Supercoat (or Bonnie Puppy but have not been able to find that) and Beef Mince which we have been doing and she is doing quite well, BUT i have heard that Supercoat is not the best quality and it is full of fillers.

Our Vet also recommended feeding her a diet of 3/4 dry food and 1/4 mince. He said that super coat was Ok but that there are better products on the market. So I went to the Pet supply store and the girl there gave me a spiel about all the different Brands and their benefits( there are soooo many). My sister feeds her Dog on what she describes as a modified BARF diet her dog eats mainly raw foods, Chicken necks and Wings and fresh mince which she supplements with a small amount of dry food. Our Breeder told us not to feed her chicken as Bulldogs tend to get fussy on chicken. I would like to feed her some bigger Bones eventually though.

So now I will get to the point I would like to know what brands of dry food people here recommended. I intend to follow my breeders advice as it has been backed up by my vet However the vet said sometimes breeders recommend a cheaper food that is good quality because it is more affordable. Also where would I find more information about the BARF diet? and Where do I get bones suitalbe for a puppy????

Edited December 7, 2006 by squirt80

[Nekhbet]

Bones like chicken necks are a great start for pups. Mix of protein and calcium in a neat little package

I use Eagle Pack for my dogs, one of the best on the market. I also feed raw foods like chicken (maryland, wings, necks) lamb necks/flaps/offcutts. Then I cook up some vegetables and rice to add to this too, sprinkle some Vets All Natural nutritional powder and there is a meal. Both my dogs get 2 meals a day, one kibble one fresh.

It depends what you can afford. If you can get things like Royal Canin, Nutrience, Eagle Pack etc then go for it. If you are limited to supermarket brands you will find that going to factory shops or markets for your meat and getting a bag of mixed veges (coles sells a big bag for like $2) and rice is a better option. I dont like buying pet mince as I dont know exactly what goes into it and some people mince bones in there too. I got my dogs used to eating whole things like necks early on in life (never gave them a choice really) so they had to work for their food.

Fussy dogs are usually created when the owner keeps changing the diet, or keeps pandering to the pups habits. Stick to set meal times, if it wont eat it throw it out and wait till the next meal time, and you shouldnt have too fussy a puppy.

[Carla2]

HI Squirt,,

Yes I can understand your confusion, there is so much to choose from out there, and really it shouldn't be, growing dogs need good food, but where the confusion lies is what?

Growing dogs need calcium, protein, and minerals, no different to what a human needs, so you need to feed accordingly, I don't know much about the bulldogs needs, but over the years I have had many breeds, and I have fed them all the same way, my dogs die of old age, they live long healthy lives and are fit and agile without weight problems.

The diet I use can take a bit of time in preperation, but you can make a weeks supply or more and freeze it into daily rations, or make 3 days at a time and store in frige.

I use Beef or Chicken mince or pieces, allow the recommended amount of meat per day put into a large pot and add 1/4 cup of brown rice per day and 1/4/ cup of wholemeal pasta per day, cook 20 mins, then add 1 cup of vegetables per day and cook further 5 minutes, any kind of veges except onions and garlic. to can add a little beef or chicken stock to flavour and get them use to this food, then omit the stock flavour as it does contain a lot salt. Do not give doggy any cooked bones.

Now to bones for a dog I give large marrowbones ask the butcher to cut them lengthways so the dog can get to the marrow inside as this is highly nutritious, also as your doggie matures you could give a little cooked liver into his diet but don't be tempted to feed liver as a soul ingredient as it makes a great servant but a poor master, liver has all the known vitamins and a small amount is beneficial to health.

To their feed i add the following additives, 1 fish oil capsule, 1 dsrtspoon of LSA. ( linseed sunflower and almond) grounds, you can purchase from Safeway, a boiled egg 3 times per week, no raw egg white please. As the dog matures you can increase these items.

I also add the their main meal, grated raw carrot, fruit, and small amount of cheese.

I know this seems a long way around to a dogs diet, but you will be giving your dog clean healthy unadulterated food withoout preservatives, they cant help but grow strong healthy active dogs, because when you think about it, when a dog is in the wild that's exactly what they eat.

Hope this helps Squirt .

Carla....

[ShesaLikeableBiBear]

We feed Nutro Natural Choice, a super premium brand of dry food, together with chicken wings and sardines once a week.

Whatever commercial food you decide to feed have a good look at the ingredients list and the guaranteed analysis.

Many have chemical preservatives, added colourants, by-products and corn.

Nutro do not have the above.

[zacpud]

I am not familiar with Nutro Natural Choice. Where do you buy it? I live in SE QLD.

[koolietas]

My boy is fed on a BARF diet (mostly organic). He is never supplemented with any processed foods and all treats I buy are preservative free.

I have read online that some dogs don't do well on Barf - so I am really glad that my boy does as I much prefer the Barf diet to cooked/processed foods.

You will find very few vets that either know or will recommend a Barf diet. From what I understand, many don't even know what it is and keep in mind most vets get a 'kickback' from selling processed foods (kibble, cans etc.) in their clinics. You will also not find many breeders in Aus that feed their dogs on Barf either. Many receive bags of kibble as prizes at shows - so they seem to use these for their dogs.

My vet (a holistic one) highly recommends Barf diets for dogs and cats - but other vets in the same practice don't even know what barf is...

IMO Barf is definitely worth a try with your gal...

My cats (13, 11 & 9) were never brought up on a barf diet - (although any cats I have in the future will be fed barf) so I feed them Eagle Pack or Nutrience cans & kibble - and they all seem to be doing really well on these products.

Good luck - its a very important decision to make. I would recommend doing as much reading/research as possible.

[Norskgra]

I feed my dogs on Nutro Natural Choice. They also get chricken frames, turkey necks, sardines and an egg once a week. Nutro is the only dog that all of my dogs happily eat. Since I changed them to Nutro, they are in the best condition they have ever been. They also don't lose as much coat. I like Nutro because it does not contain any chemical preservatives, artificial colouring or corn.

[Staffy-Lover]

i have two staffies one little 17 kg girl and one 30kg boy - my boy has epilepsy so i need to be careful there is no added colours and preservatives etc.. and i think this is a good general rule for all dogs.

there is so many different opinions so you need to go with what best works for your own dogs by trying them out.

i feed mine:

weetbix or porridge in the morning with warm water and a dash of milk

dinner:

one cup of Bonnie Dog - my epi dog seems to work best with this but over the years i have used various products. just make sure it is low in salt, and no colours and preservatives.

a fistfull of lamb or beef mince with one teaspoon of natural yoghurt, one teaspoon of pulped mix vegetables and two capsules of fish oil tablets. (alternate with chicken)

Snack: home made snacks by pulping up mince and veg and rice and freezing them.

sometimes a slice of cheese

Kong balls are great to hide mince yoghurt and rice in and then freeze. this way pup has to use his brain to get it out and it is good for their jaw... cleans their teeth etc.

a lamb shank once a fortnight/week depending.

This has worked really well for my dogs.. they are both very muscular and healthy and have great teeth and coat. I would try your pup with chicken despite what the breeder has said and find out for yourself if they like it or not.

good luck.. read all the information think about what fits best with your lifestyle and your dog then take all the bits you think are useful and give them a go... then be ready to change what doesn't work... just remember that any changes to food need to be done progressively or you may upset pups tummy

good luck

[rockhard_mastiffs]

I fully understand how confusing it is with everyone telling you something different Every breed is different and need different things when growing. I feed my bullmastiffs eukanuba large breed puppy biscuits (you are able to feed them this and thats it seeing as though it has all their nutritional needs already in it)

aswell as raw mince, chicken wings and vegetables. I was cooking the mince and adding pasta and the veges but they weren't interested in it cooked.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Congrats on your new pup!

The topic of feeding is a broad and well-debated one on many dog forums including DOL. You'll get many opinions b/c everyone generally *likes* what they feed and so will suggest or recommend THAT to anyone that asks the question.

I have three dogs and usually a foster dog too. My own dogs are all fed on raw, whole foods, primarily meaty bones, offal, veg/fruit, sardines or mackerel, egg (sometimes in the shell), and from time to time they also get a pre-made BARF patty (frozen, made by the BARF Diet "father" Dr Ian Billinghurst). I started off reading his book, "The BARF Diet" and went from there.

My foster dogs are fed primarily on dry foods. Partly b/c we are lucky to get food donated to us, and partly b/c most people won't want a dog that's accustomed to a diet other than a dry foods one. I do give Piper (my current foster) two or three raw meals per week though, b/c I believe this is better for her than the dry food despite the dry foods being of fairly good quality in most cases.

My experience, advice and opinion is that if you are so inclined, please research a raw approach and if/when you feel confident, switch your pup over. But please do adequate research b/c it's so easy to get the balance wrong. I've taken four years to come up with an approach that works consistently well for my dogs...but the beauty of this method is that you can easily adjust things as the dog's condition changes.

HTH. ;)

[Flaves]

I feed my two NUTRO.

I give them raw mince, yoghurt and the NUtro daily. THey also have raw chicken wings, bones and sardines throughout the week.

Their coats are glossy, they lose very little hair and their teeth are really clean.

AND WE HAVE NO FARTING!!!!!!!

My cats are also on Nutro and are doing brilliantly on it.

[flycow]

Hello, if you decided to feed dry food, you might want to consider a few brands rather than lock yourself into one. Some brands might not be mentioned as much as others but try to do some homework and narrow down to a few brands, then give each a go and see how well your dog does.

I think what's most important is how well your dog do on the food. Some food are good but if you look at the ingredients it really might not justify the price of what you are getting out of it. This is especially if you have a big eater or a lot of dogs.

I have heard different dogs that do well on all kinds of brand, so don't lock yourself into one brand yet. Most importantly try to get unbiased recommendations. Just my two cents.

Edited : spelling.

Edited December 8, 2006 by flycow

[Teebs]

Nurto here too

[cassie]

I'm a newly converted Nutro user and lover! ;) I made the switch only a week ago, but my boy loves it WAAAAY more than anything else I've ever tried him on (eats with so much more enthusiasm) and his already beautiful coat is starting to show signs of even more improvement!

[Georgie-boy]

My 2 get Eaglepack Holistic and Nutro Choice - they are worth the expense IMO. My boy has always had a rough fly away coat and after a few months on the above food - his coat is glossy & has no fluffy bits! Both my kids are doing really well on my chosen food - I also chose it due to having no preservatives, additives or corn. My boys breath has become nice again too. I will be sticking to this food for good.

[squirt80]

Thanks everyone for all the advice when I spoke to the girl in the pet shop she recommened Nutro as well. It is good to hear users opinions on the products and diets, as thier are so many differnt ones to chose from. I have to admit I am a bit scared of the BARF diet as I don't really understand it but I want to feed her the best possible. I will look into it alot more before I attempt the switch. The Mince we give her is prepared at the store the owner is very proud of its quality and it has no preservities so I am happy with that at the moment.

[ShesaLikeableBiBear]

With a super premium brand like Nutro Natural Choice, it may be expensive for the initial outlay, but in the long run you are feeding a lot less as you are feeding quality as opposed to quantity.

[Jed]

If you are interested in a raw diet, I suggest you check out

http://www.drianbillinghurst.com/

which is the site of Dr. Billinghurst's BARF diet

a raw diet.

If you wish to feed dry, the "better brands" (in no particular order) are

Nutro

Nutrience

Eaglepack

Eukanuba

IAMS

Advance

followed by other dry food, which IMHO, is adequate and balanced, not perhaps the quality of the ones above

Supercoat

Bonnie

Cobber Working Dog

Pedigree All Natural

Optimum

Things to look for in a dry food - the first ingredients should be meat (or chicken, or lamb or fish) and with perhaps meat meal etc before grains on the list. No artificial preservative or colourings. The label should have "Balanced" on it somewhere - but most do anyhow. There are probably other brands, but the above are those I have fed, and been satisfied with.

Dry food can be confusing, particularly when you are trying to work it out from the label, and I have found sticking to the above rules simplilfies it for me!!

And - most important, you do seem to get what you pay for. The cheaper ones tend to have cheaper ingredients!! And - the dogs don't do as well on them.

As far as raw goes - meat, bones, veges, fruit, as per Billinghurst's recommendations. I think anyone who is not familiar with a raw diet ought to read Give A Dog a Bone, by Dr. Billinghurst, and go from there.

People get their knickers in a knot about raw diet, but it is as simple as can be. The diet needs to be balanced, and if the greater part of the diet is meat and bones, and about 20% is other, different things, you will, over a period, achieve that balance.

Most feed their own variation on the BARF diet - for instance, rice, or cooked veges, and the dogs do well, so everyone here can give you their own version, but you would do better to read the original.

I would not, unless I was desperate, feed any quantity of rice, because I have proved my dogs fail to gain or hold weight when rice is regularly included in the diet, but others feed and like it.

I do not cook veges either, because I believe cooking destroys a lot of the goodness. However, as some veges contain a coating of cellulose, which makes efficient digestion for a dog difficult, it is important to break this down prior to feeding. I put all veges in the food processor to mince them. Cooking meat destroys the enzymes which help a dogs digestion.

Raw food is cheaper, and if you are sensible, the dogs do get a variety of food, which I feel satisfies their requirements.

Edited December 8, 2006 by Jed

[Guest Tiggy]

I feed an all raw diet and my dogs look great . I feed raw meaty bones and BARF patties on alternate days. I feed natural preservative free treats and the only dry food they get is half a cup of Innova Evo in their Aussie Dog tucker ball to share.

[mollynme]

Looking for a good dry food, and the Nutro brand seems to be the go, but also more expensive....where's the cheapest to get Nutro in Australia? hopefully online?