Can you all stop by and tell to me about dog feeding, but nicely?

[HoneyDragonWearingLederhosen]

I have searched loads and some threads are bunfighty some are not. I have over the years used Skinners, James Welbeloved, Nature Diet and so on.

I am interested in raw feeding, is this suitable for a Puppy? Is it ok/better just to feed dried food as the vets seem keen to recommend?

Which are definitely food brands to avoid? I was told today Beta is full of sugar today for example.

I know this is an area many people are passionate about, and I'd like to get into good habits now

I am genuinely not being lazy, I realised when I had over 13 tabs open on feeding dogs it was better to ask direct

Our collie puppy came from her breeder with a big sack of Royal Canin Puppy which we assumed was "the best" until we looked at the ingredient list on the back. It clearly didn't agree with her - lakes of liquid green poo and sulphuric emissions which were a clear and present danger to the ozone layer.

After some research, we switched her to Origen, a high quality grain free dry food. Her poo was a bit better, brown rather than green but still VERY loose. Finally, I took the plunge and started her on a raw diet at 5 months. Because I lacked the confidence to DIY raw feed, I fed her Natural Instinct Puppy with one meal of chicken wings. She is a bit of a greedy gobbler, so I initially held onto one end of the wing until she got the hang of it. She is now 18 months and I still feed her Natural Instinct as well as flee-frow tripe and other meat minces. Her evening meal is chicken wings with the occasional lamb neck. About once a week she gets a fish meal - Sainsbo's economy frozen white fish fillets, tin of sardines, a blob of yoghurt and egg. The results have been amazing. Her poos are small and firm and her beautiful red coat is very glossy as are her teeth. In fact, I am often asked whether I have her teeth "professionally" cleaned!

We have just adopted a 2 year old Springer with liquid poo and a dull, lifeless coat. He had his first taste of raw today and I am hoping that he will be as healthy as my collie in the not too distant future. I have to say that having seen the benefit of raw, I won't ever feed my dogs anything else.

Yeah raw here too. Have used those you name but raw has sorted my most digestively sensitive dogs. I feed it frozen as they eat more slowly and it is less repulsive:)

So raw chicken bones are safe then?

Sorry posted too early I know they are fr reading about it but has anyone had bad experiences?

I have two golden retrievers and am interested in the raw food diet but how much would you give a dog of their size to eat for one meal and how many meals would they have?

This is definitely the thread for you then Harlot. The information I find is always very enthusiastic but with no real detail.

At the moment my Puppy is only just 3 months. Dh was aghast at the idea, but I'll bring him round to at least one raw meal a day if I can.

I stopped feeding my greyhound raw chicken wings because I actually sliced my finger on a very sharp piece of bone that was sticking out of his poo. I was worried about what it could do to his guts.

I feed raw chicken bones all the time. Mine seem to crunch it up well.

Everyone feeds raw differently it would seem. Some stick with just meat and bone and some add veg, natural yogurt and eggs.

At risk of being a kill joy, raw does have downsides - it isn't a cure all, but of course does suit many people.

Risks include internal perforation/damage, foodborne illness (bugs such as salmonella in the food given and in a small proportion of resulting stools; I've read a study on a small number of dogs where I think I remember 80% of food samples offered contained salmonella and 20% of stools produced by the dogs that at the food also contained salmonella) and very importantly, nutritional imbalance.

A number of pre preprepared diets are very high in fat and I have heard of a link being drawn between these type of high fat diets and pancreatitis.

Nutritional imbalance is something that worries me a lot - especially in young, large breed dogs where their growth needs careful management. I absolutely wouldn't bugger about with raw feeding in a puppy which is going to end up a billion times bigger than it arrived over quite a short period of time. At 8 weeks old, their joint sockets are not even fully formed, and aren't until about 4 months later. They need excellent nutrition during this period.

Of course, most of these things are manageable and dried food has it's opponents too.

I don't like raw feeding - and of course that's why I've pointed out the downsides but I honestly think it needs very careful management and I KNOW that I wouldn't be happy or confident doing it. I'd rather feed a good quality dried complete.

One of my girls had a double blockage last year and we so, so nearly lost her - a large chunk of bone was one of the problems, so I am very, very wary!

This is why I wanted a thread on feeding. She is a lab so needs management. I want different opinions and experiences.

My old lab in latter years once I'd learnt more about dog foods thrived on James well beloved and occasionally nature diet. But the well beloved seems to go straight through the puppy.

Recommendations for dried food seem very varied too.

I feed raw, but am not "evangelical". For a while, we were happily feeding a dried kibble - there are some good ones around like James Wellbeloved, and I hear v good things about Burns. The arrival of a dog with a very sensitive tum led us to feed raw and as we had three it seemed sensible for all of them to switch over. It's worked very well for us, especially the dog with the sensitive tum. He's now looking happy and healthy, does firm poos and we are experiencing much less of the satanic bottom (not entirely eliminated!).

I think this is an issue where so much depends on the individual dog - if you find a food that "suits" them then carry on. Feeding is also dependent on budget, lifestyle,convenience and even number of dogs. All these factors are real considerations.

Where i think there is consensus is in avoiding a lot of the commercially available foods that are stuffed with colouring, additives, useless cereal etc. Sadly, many vet surgeries also seem to peddle food which is of limited nutritional value.

Even though we feed raw, we still use small snacks such as dog biscuits for treats/training etc - again, I am not evangelical about it.

I dont feed raw entirely but do give raw chicken carcass/ meaty bones / wings to the dogs. Fed with fish 4 dogs dry kibble.

I know some people exclusively raw feed but we found that going away and taking dogs with us it was easier to do a mixture. Tripe defrosting in summer makes me heave and I wouldnt inflict it on other holiday makers.

My dogs coats are amazing on the fish 4 dogs and their teeth lovely and clean with the bones etc.

As Loofa has broken teeth and gingivitis I have to be careful with his diet, so a mixture works for him too. I make liver cake and chuck some veg in his dish now and again when we have leftovers and he is happy.

There are companies that do meals for dogs (raw) and if you have a large freezer you can order direct from places like berriewoods for tripe/mince etc.

Really it is all about what works for you and your lifestyle.

I wouldnt feed burns as it keeps the dogs on the lean side and loofa struggles to maintain weight as it is, Arden Grange is good but my favourite is fish 4 dogs.

hth

Honey, we fed our girl sheepdog a mix of homecooked food and some dry dog food. She did rally well on it, even as a puppy, and she is in great health (vet comments on it as well)

With her pup, a mix of sheepdog, lab and golden retriever, it is a bit of a different story. He loves the diet, but is short in calcium according to the vet, and is taking a calcium supplement. I think it might be because he, ahem, loves his food more, so eats a lot more meat and is throwing the calcium/phosphorous ratio off kilter.

We give a variety of cooked meats over the week, along with vegetables like carrots and sweet potato and pumpkin (he loves sweet food). And a nice soup bone cooked with the broth once a week. Also eggs thrice a week and sardines twice a week.

The base is dry dog food, rice or pasta. I prefer this to only dry dog food because I find he (and the girl dog when she was a pup) bulk up too quickly with commercial dog food, while with a home cooked diet he grows more slowly and his bones are stronger as a result.

It is a bit harder to do portion control this time around. With the girl dog, she was not that interested in food, when she was done, she would walk away, even if something was left on her plate. With this pup, no way! He will gompsy everything on his plate and hers, if he could. So we really need to watch how much he eats. But he sooo loves his food. He had tripe yesterday and the look of joy in his face was heart melting. He has to sit for his food, and even after the meal was over, he kept sitting for a looong time hoping that the tripe would magically reappear.

I don't feed raw. Just don't have the space to bulk buy and haven't the time to go out every couple of days to keep stock.

I've noticed you said you've tried JWellBeloved, have you thought of the Cereal free ones?
I ask because I have a grain allergic Staffy that is thriving on it and the pig with fur Doodle wolfs it down too.

Our vet says our dogs are some of the healthiest she's seen!

I think JWB has changed a little over recent years and a number of people have said it goes straight through dogs.

I have 4 working labs, aged between 11 and 1, and have tried a number of dried foods. Burns is good, but I don't feel it's as good as it was 6 or 7 years ago. JWB is also well received, but not by everyone. Pets at Home do their own food called Wainwrights which is also good.

I keep coming back to Fish4Dogs and haven't been able to better it.

It is easy to digest - made of just fish and potato - and isn't crammed full of nasties.

Common allergens are chicken, lamb, maize, wheat - grains really. Give your puppy a try on something which is either fish and potato (Fish4Dogs) or pork and potato (Wainwrights) and see what happens. A bit of live yoghurt will help at this stage too.

Oh and I really, really wouldn't dare raw feed with a lab pup!

Maybe once they've got to a year or so and done the bulk of their growing, but not until then.

I can't feed Fish4Dogs. It has Brewer's yeast in it which sets Staffy boy's skin flare ups off.

Daisy - I was vvvvv scared, some website advocate straight away, saying its no good changing later.

I like the idea of a mixture I think. Dried and the introducing mince, meaty bones etc when she's older.

But you kind of get the feeling it's one way or the other. It's nice to hear what others do. And you can mix and match, once weights are settled.

Interesting read but if you feed a dog a raw foos diet how much would you give per meal? Would a golden retriever need a whole chicken or what? It would be really helpful for me to know thanks!

Daisy you mentioned that a number of the pre-prepared raw diets are high in fat. Would you mind naming "names" - am a bit worried now! Thanks.

I've got three dogs, the older two were switched to raw but the pup has been fed raw since 8 weeks. She is 18 months now, she has grown slowly and steady, she's chunky, with a clean bill of health, never been to the vet for anything other than vaccinations. As a pup I more or less fed her as my older dogs for breakfast and dinner but at lunchtime I would give her chicken wings etc for extra calcium.

HarlotOtara, my dogs are small Lab sized and eat around a pound of meat a day. As a rough guide, for an adult dog, you should feed 2% of your dog's body weight a day.

MrsSpoon - mine are about 32kgs in weight so 640g a day? Is it any raw meat? What about fish? ALso is there somewhere that supplies raw meat for dogs or is it just butchers and supermarkets?

Sounds about right to me, they might need a little more or less depending on activity levels. I order my dog's meat from Durham Animal Feeds but Landywoods is another company that I believe deliver. I prefer to order pet minces as some meats will be ground with the bone for extra nutrients. Also as I understand it the freezing process kills off most nasties so the fact that the pet minces are ready frozen is good too.

Bit of a silly question, possibly, but when you give your dogs chicken wings do you just take them out of the wrapper, bones and all and give them to the dogs? Can they just eat all those little tiny bones? What about, say, whole fresh sardines with little bones. Would those be okay? I've never purchased tripe ever...do you have to do anything with it before giving it to a dog? I give my dogs Orijen and sometimes cooked chicken, fish or sweet potatoes but am interested in giving them some other types of "real" food once again if the consensus is that there are inherent benefits, particularly if it's supposed to be good for growing pups? I'm also a bit apprehensive about the thought of slimy, messy meat being dragged around all over my floors. I have no problem with mud and dog hair but raw meat has me a little bit queasy. Could you just chuck stuff into the garden for them to feast on?
Any other suggestions for raw newbies who'd like to ease in slowly?

I always feed bones in the garden . Chicken wings raw, bone and all, you can bash it up a bit for a puppy or small dog. You could feed other stuff in the garden but I tend to feed my three in the kitchen where the floor can be easily cleaned, I f