Too Confused!

[Doberluv]

I will never feed a commercially prepared food to my dogs.

Creature Teacher, does that include the premium type foods such as Innova, Canidae, Natural Balance, Chicken Soup and some of those others? Or when you say commercial, do you mean the junk found in grocery stores? I'm feeding Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance. It's the one food I found that agreed with Lyric. He tended toward diarrhea with some of the foods with many meats, like Chicken Soup, Canidae etc. This one seems to work for him, but there's no variety. So.....

That article is freaky. But when they give the sample diet, they include starches, veggies and grains, suppliments and vitamins. I thought that dogs in the wild don't eat much of that stuff and eat just meat. And I thought that meat was suppose to have everything in it that they need. Would that be raw meat and not cooked? But they mentioned the risks of raw meat.

I have a friend who, if I buy the sportsman package, ($100) that is a fishing licence and hunting license (tags for bear, elk, deer, turkey) he will hunt for me and can almost guarantee a deer and a bear. If he's lucky, an elk.) I'd get 1/2 of what he shot. Plus I'd need to pay about $80.00 for butchering, wrapping etc.Do you think that would be a good idea? I don't eat too much meat, but if I had my freezer full, maybe that would be good for the dogs...no preservatives or antibiotics in wild game. I'd have to learn how to do this which is scary...gotta get all the suppliments and vit. right, plus that stuff for dogs prone to cardiomyopathy.

So, what do you think? My Doberman is 93 LBS now and he'd need 3 times what that sample diet showed for amounts. That could be pricey if you bought that much meat in the store, right?

[CreatureTeacher]

There are a lot of opinions as to what to feed and how to feed it, but I'll tell you mine.

My dogs don't eat cooked food ever. That includes anything found in a bag or in kibble form. I've heard of some dogs not being able to tolerate certain raw ingredients, but I've never heard of one that didn't do well on some raw meat or another. My dogs also never get fruit, or grains like wheat or rice. In my experience, grains make them gassy, and gas is a sign of digestive issues. Some people do feed grains, though. My dogs' diet usually consists of probably 80-90% meat, bone, organs, and connective tissue, with the remaining 10-20% being supplemental foods like eggs, the occasional liquified veggies, rarely some dairy like yogurt, straight vitamins and nutritional supplements (but only when needed), bone meal, some sugar-free peanut butter in their Kongs, and various other bits and pieces. They all fast one day a week with only water and just a smidge of liquified veggies to keep their tummies quiet. Some people feed a "primitive" raw diet, consisting entirely of meat, bones, and organs.

I work loosely with a man who knows more about canine nutrition than anyone has any right to know, and I agree with his determination that the key to a dog's health is a varied diet. My dogs never get bored with their food, because at different times they have different tissues from different animals.

I would absolutely take advantage of whatever meat your friend brings you, but I would have it tested for dangerous prions before I gave it to my dogs. Don't butcher it too hard, though. I'd have it skinned, but otherwise let them pick and choose what they want.

Price isn't something that worries me. You could pay an extra 80 cents per pound for healthier food now and avoid a $9,000 surgery in the future due to bone and muscle tissue degeneration. In my opinion, it's cheaper in the long run to feed your dogs something they can digest and get nutrition from. In my training career, I can say with complete confidence that dogs who eat raw have fewer behavioral problems, are more able to learn and adapt, and are emotionally better adjusted than their kibble-eating counterparts. (It makes sense; if you ate "Peeps" three meals a day for your whole life, you'd probably have some problems too!) So you don't just save on vet bills, you save on training costs. You keep friends because your dogs don't fart or have that "doggy smell". Their fur also looks and feels better. But the real reason I do it is because I really care about my dogs' comfort and happiness. A meal of kibble can stay in a dog's digestive system for 10 hours while his intestines try to process it; a meal of raw meat is digested and usually passed in less than 5 hours.

So I think: Go for it!!! The general rule is to feed 2% of your dog's body weight a day, then adjust the amount as the dog's needs become clear. So good luck! You can always PM me if questions come up. I'm not an expert, but I can tell you what I've learned through experience.

[Love4Pits]

I mainly feed organic raw but the dogs get kibble mixed in with their raw once every other week. I buy Innova for my dogs in my opinion its the best thing out there kinda tough to find if you don't know where to look though.

[Doberluv]

Thanks C.T. and Love4pits. I just found out that if I buy the hunting license, (because he's bought his own too) he can shoot the animal, but I have to be present in case a game warden comes along. He can't tag an animal from someone else's license. A-h-h-h. I might not be able to handle watching an animal shot. I'm a wuss. I'm not against hunting at all, as it is healthier for the species as a whole, now that we've upset the balance of nature, (of course, here, where I live, it's a pretty intact ecosystem) but I don't know if I can stand there and watch. Oh gee.....But it would be the best meat....all natural, no antibiotics, no preservatives, low in fat.

Anyhow, I'm seriously going to look into this. It sounds easier to just feed meat, but those who do....are they missing anything. I mean...you give suppliments. Is that needed? Vitamins, bone meal etc? There are those ones that are good for dogs prone to cardiomyopathy which would be good, huh.

Well, I certainly do appreciate your information and testimonials. Thanks!

[juliefurry]

Yeah but what about those people who simply can not afford to feed their dog(s) a raw diet. That can get REALLY expensive. Are you saying they don't care for their dogs as good as the people feeding raw?

[Love4Pits]

I never said that im just saying what I DO. I know not everyone can afford it *shrugs* doesent mean you don't love your dogs.

I don't think I even HINTED at that sorry if you felt that way I don't think CT mean anything but good either. don't read so much into it

[juliefurry]

No, I'm sorry. I was just having a really bad five minutes when I posted that. Trouble with bills and all that fun stuff. My fault though, forget I mentioned that. I can get testy about stuff when I'm under a lot of stress.

[Saje]

Originally Posted by juliefurry

Yeah but what about those people who simply can not afford to feed their dog(s) a raw diet. That can get REALLY expensive. Are you saying they don't care for their dogs as good as the people feeding raw?

I don't think anyway implied that. There are some good quality kibbles out there.

[CreatureTeacher]

No worries, Julie. Frankly, my dogs eat a lot better than I do most the time. I'm a weirdo. And I don't know how I'm going to pay my car note this month, either. So I feel your pain!

Doberluv, you should try to get a copy of Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats. You could probably get it fairly cheap on amazon.com. There's a lot of really good information to get you started in there. I don't agree with all the nutritional information, but everyone ends up customizing their dogs' diets anyway.

[Doberluv]

Thanks CT. I did read about 1/2 of Give your dog a bone. It looked kind of elaborate, adding all these different things on different days...kind of a hassle and more than that, kind of confusing. LOL.

I'll get that book you mentioned. Maybe it's better. Thank you for the help.