Meet Kona

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Diana

Yeah I pride myself on keeping my dogs a perfect weight... especially with min pins since they certianly are eaters (every one I meet at the dog park is FAT!) hehe. But a puppy should be a little porky, she is a growing little girl!

I get them all sorts of raw meats, beef, chicken, lamb, duck, buffalo, venison, elk, etc etc! Most of it is pre-ground with a good percentage of bone and organ meats. I will pulp my own veggies to add in, but sometimes I will buy pre-made raw meat mixed with veggies right in. They get the occational par-boiled egg. There is a great pet store here in North Van that specializes in raw diet, its like a kid in a candy store! (errr for the dogs, not me!) . I also made this great recipe for putting weight on skinny dogs, its called "Satin Balls" if you google it. I just omitted the grains from it.

-Diana

Yes, me too (on priding myself on a dog's good weight). I think people should be charged with animal abuse for keeping dogs (and cats and horses, etc) excessively obese. It's disgusting.

The nice part about owning small dogs is that raw feeding is much more affordable. Having a large dog means that ground meats won't suffice, as big dogs need the chunks of meat in order to get enough chewing power to properly activate salivary glands, which means a much higher cost per pound. When I moved to Kelowna, I couldn't find a decent source for affordable raw meats, and I was spending about $6-12 per day for my dog's food. I bit the bullet and switched her onto ultra grade kibble, which was very disheartening, but there does not appear to be any difference in her health or coat.

As much as I will preach "no grains" to anyone who will listen, my dog needs a very small amount of grains in order to keep weight on. Otherwise she eats an abnormally large amount. It is quite weird how a small amount of rice will beef her right up, and I mean muscle, not fat. She is also more active when she has those grains. However, too much grains and holy moly stinky farts!!! *barf*