Pet foods!

michika · #1 02-20-2009, 06:21 PM

Since Diana sort of started on the topic when she introduced her adorable new adoptee, I figure we should continue on it.

I wanna hear about pet food. What do you feed and why? Raw, kibble, mix of both?

I feed kibble, because my dogs need to be on a low-protein diet. Low-protein here actually means low purines, however its sometimes difficult to figure out the purine content of a food, so the blank decision is to look for lower protein foods. I also feed my dogs veggies (carrots, tomatos, etc) as snacks, on top of eggs, wet food, snowballs (a well loved winter treat) and dog treats.

Whatigot · #2 02-20-2009, 07:08 PM

I feed kibble.
I have a 6 year old german short haired pointer.
I was using nutro (and nutro max cat for my kitties) and was extremely satisfied with it until I read that one of the major brands of pet food had bought them out and shortly thereafter, a bunch of animals died from eating their wet food (i wasn't feeding wet, but tha was too big of a breach of trust for me to continue using their product on things I would like to keep around for a while).
so now I am trying to find a good kibble to replace the nutro stuff...

I feed my cats orijen, and their coats look better than maxcat ever had em looking.

EmilyB · #3 02-20-2009, 07:13 PM

I feed Now!

http://www.petcurean.com/index.php?page_id=161

It was hard to find a lower protein, super-premium dog food. My vet told us to get off of the Wellness Core we were feeding, because he is a believer in the fact that too high a protein affects the liver, and indeed my dobes liver tests were elevated before she had surgery last fall.

My dobe will be considered a senior (7), and my GSD tends to just be too plump, so we chose the senior/weight management variety.

They get it mixed with a small amount of Deli-fresh dog food, and warm water.

A good link for things to avoid in dog food, and all kinds of other good information:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index....badingredients

mseepman · #4 02-20-2009, 07:24 PM

We feed our dog Eagle Pack Holistic select kibble. All Canadian content (no Chinese crap) and no or little corn filler. We have a miniature Schnauzer which have a tendancy to get fat easy. This food has kept him healthy and happy since we brought him home.

michika · #5 02-20-2009, 08:23 PM

I have two Dalmatians, one 100% pure, and the other is questionably pure...until Champion Foods, they make Orijin and Acana, changed their receipes, my dogs both loved them. Now we're bouncing between foods trying to find something that works. Its a huge PITA because my older dog is such a picky eater. We are feeding Go now, which is made by the same people Emily mentioned, although it isn't looking like its the right food for us, it creates a lot of mess, and my older dog now has stupid amounts of gas.

Thanks for the link Emily!

workn2hard2day · #6 02-20-2009, 08:33 PM

I have a Blk Lab & a Golden Ret. they both get ORIJEN 6 FRESH FISH with SEA VEGETABLES. I would like to put them on a raw food diet but I just can't get my head around how to do it. I know it would be about 350/mth, that part doesnt bug me so much, I just cant figure out all the portion correctly.

michika · #7 02-20-2009, 08:35 PM

I got some great instruction from my favorite pet place, however that was about 6 months ago, so I've pretty much forgotten it. My dogs thumbed their noses at raw food, and when they ate it, they had foul! breath.

Myka · #8 02-21-2009, 12:10 AM

My dog was on a 100% raw meat diet for a long time, but when I moved to Kelowna I couldn't find any affordable raw meat sources, so I was forced to switch to kibble which is considerably cheaper, even though I feed Ultra Grade.

I feed 75/25 Wellness Core Chicken and Turkey/California Naturals Lamb & Rice. The Wellness Core is an ultra grade high protein, no grain food. My dog gets stinky farts and needs to eat a lot of it though, so I add just a little bit of the California Naturals to give her a small amount of rice for carbohydrates which increases her energy, gets rid of farts, and she eats less. Plus she gets 3 different protein sources. It's the perfect combination for her.

Diana · #9 02-21-2009, 04:07 AM

I am always interested to hear people's experiences with dog foods...

My dogs were on kibble and Deli Fresh for years before we recently switched to raw foods. We tried many different brands of kibble, with our dogs loosing interest in any particular brand after a couple months. Deli Fresh is alright but it still has grains in it (I dont feel like grains are bad for dogs, but I dont think they can digest it fully, and I know they cannot digest cellulose).

My 4 year old girl has always had really bad skin allergies... and she always reacted to something in the winter. So we switched her right over to raw and she has been GREAT. Her skin is getting better and her coat just gleams, not to mention she is putting on weight and muscle which is great cus she has always been on the thin side.

My 2 year old boy has always put on weight easily, and will eat almost anything. Since raw he has thinned down to ideal weight and he seems to have calmed down.

I dont think kibble is entirely bad, but I have heard some horror stories about it, and after doing a lot of research on the BARF diet I really cant think of any reason not to do raw (except maybe the cost, but since we have small dogs it hasnt been that bad). Plus the dogs just LOVE it. Thier poops are smaller, breath better (depending on the meat), and no stinky farts! hehe.

They get beef, chicken, venison, elk, buffalo, eggs, lamb, duck... the possibilities are endless. Most of the meat comes from dog food stores, but I will buy ground beef and buffalo at the grocery store. I pulp some veggies to add a bit in and they will get a meal of cooked rice & egg once a week to give them a chance to "fast" and completely digest their stomach contents.

Sorry for writing so much but I am excited to share my good experiences with BARF diet.

-Diana

Pan · #10 02-21-2009, 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diana

I am always interested to hear people's experiences with dog foods...

My dogs were on kibble and Deli Fresh for years before we recently switched to raw foods. We tried many different brands of kibble, with our dogs loosing interest in any particular brand after a couple months. Deli Fresh is alright but it still has grains in it (I dont feel like grains are bad for dogs, but I dont think they can digest it fully, and I know they cannot digest cellulose).

My 4 year old girl has always had really bad skin allergies... and she always reacted to something in the winter. So we switched her right over to raw and she has been GREAT. Her skin is getting better and her coat just gleams, not to mention she is putting on weight and muscle which is great cus she has always been on the thin side.

My 2 year old boy has always put on weight easily, and will eat almost anything. Since raw he has thinned down to ideal weight and he seems to have calmed down.

I dont think kibble is entirely bad, but I have heard some horror stories about it, and after doing a lot of research on the BARF diet I really cant think of any reason not to do raw (except maybe the cost, but since we have small dogs it hasnt been that bad). Plus the dogs just LOVE it. Thier poops are smaller, breath better (depending on the meat), and no stinky farts! hehe.

They get beef, chicken, venison, elk, buffalo, eggs, lamb, duck... the possibilities are endless. Most of the meat comes from dog food stores, but I will buy ground beef and buffalo at the grocery store. I pulp some veggies to add a bit in and they will get a meal of cooked rice & egg once a week to give them a chance to "fast" and completely digest their stomach contents.

Sorry for writing so much but I am excited to share my good experiences with BARF diet.

-Diana

Does this ^ work? Where did you get the advice for this? sounds healthy for a dog...