Should I be giving more variety?

[misticaleclipse]

Is it a bad thing to feed the same dog food day after day without
any variety other than occasional treats?

If so, what can I do to try and put more kick into his diet?
I want to be honest and say that I do not have the time or energy
to prepare home cooked meals for Charlie, but if there is something
I am put on top of his food to give him a bit of change here
and there I would be open to looking into it.

 

[Mordy]

Adding fresh foods to a dog's commercial food is a good idea. The less processed the additions, the better, and also don't forget to slightly reduce the amount you feed when you add extras, or your dog might gain quite a bit of unnecessary weight.

Some suggestions:
* egg, either raw or lightly scrambled (hard boiled is difficult to digest)
* plain yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese
* leftover veggies without sauce or dressing (no onions!)
* pieces of apple, banana, melon, berries other fruits (never grapes or raisins!)
* leftover meat, raw or cooked that isn't highly seasoned (never any cooked bones!)

Since most commercial foods are high in carbs to begin with, don't add things like leftover rice, pasta or potatoes. It doesn't really add much nutritional benefit. The most valuable things to add are sources of quality protein.

 

[misticaleclipse]

Great ideas, but do you think it is a must to add variety to the diet?
or is it just a nice thing for the dog? Charlie is on Innova, so its
a pretty balanced diet.

 

[showpug]

Your dog can only benefit from variety. It's not something you HAVE to do for your dog to be healthy, but it sure helps. Innova, although very healthy, is still commercially processed food. The cooking process kills off a lot of the good stuff that real, fresh food can make up for.

 

[Herschel]

I agree with Showpug and Mordy, but you should be glad that your dog eats the Innova everyday without any additions.

Once you add something fresh, it might be a slippery slope of finding something new and appealing to keep your dog happy.

 

[Mordy]

I don't think variety overall is as important as adding at least some food that hasn't been highly processed.

Dry food is just about the most unnatural thing to feed to a dog (I'm not saying all kibble is bad though ) and I'm not an advocate of feeding a dog nothing but kibble.

 

[juliefurry]

I will add stuff to my dog's kibble every so often. I'll usually grab a thing of cottage cheese, plain yogurt, and raw eggs, and will rotate every day (and meal) what gets mixed in. Holly's stomach is too sensitive to get stuff other than her kibble right now but Hannah really enjoys it. And doesn't seem to mind that I give her less kibble than if she just got kibble alone. I didn't know dogs could eat ricotta cheese. I have a tub sitting in there from when I made lasagna the other night so I can try a little of that for Hannah and see how she does. Atleast now it won't go to waste.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

I'm with Herschel. It's cool to add stuff for variety, nothing wrong with it, but if you have a dog who may be picky, you can end up making them the queen or king of picky. I was adding random stuff to my dog's kibble to change it up, and it created a dog who wouldn't eat until she was starving. While not horribly terrible, it's a pain in the butt. Tried begging for table food when she decided her kibble additions were no longer high enough value, and wouldn't eat it.
We're back to a scheduled meal time and if she doesn't eat I take it away. Too much stress playing with her food, but for other people it has been great.

 

[elegy]

i add stuff to my dogs' food fairly reguarly, and if they started pulling the whole "i can't eat unless there's something yummy added" bit, they'd be out of luck. adding extras is only a problem if you let it be a problem.

 

[carlar]

I do't add anything to my dogs food and they don't have any problem. If I did then they wouldn't want to eat the plain any more. It only takes once with my gang to make them go on a hunger strike for the better stuff.