Half and half

[yourjustnotfunny]

Great programme last night on how to make up dog food using everyday foods that humans normally eat.Boiled carrots,potatoes,brown rice,pasta,raw eggs aswell as chicken can be mixed together to make meals to save money during the recession.
Any good advice please on which foods are ok to go together and would half canned dog food go ok with say bolied potatoes or rice,pasta.
Would this be ok with a Dalmation aswell as other breeds...thanks.

Replacing half your dog's food with pasta / rice / potatoes (which are all fundamentally just carbs) would lead to a diet that's unbalanced for dogs, and it's going to cause issues either in the short and/or long term.

I do feed my dog table scraps, but err towards the more nutritionally appropriate things like fish skin and eggs, and it certainly doesn't make up 50% of his diet. Do be aware that certain human foods (onions, grapes, raisins, chocolate, and others), are really very bad for dogs.

What brand are you currently feeding your dog? It's likely that there are options that are both cheaper and better quality out there; www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk is a fantastic independent comparison website.

If you're really struggling, there is such a thing as Per Food Banks.

Dalmatians have the added complications around purines, which you need to factor in www.dalmatiandiy.com/dalmatian-diet-and-purine-problems/

Unless you can get the balance right, this wouldn't be a good idea long-term as it will start to impact their weight and health, as well as things like their anal glands.

If you're struggling to afford food, I would look at switching to a complete dry food and adding human toppers to that.

Far too many carbohydrates which dogs aren't designed to eat so much of. A can of dog food is already a balanced food. Kibble works out far cheaper, especially if you buy it by the sack.

Great thankyou.

If your dog is on a complete dog food do not add in human food. The complete dog food will be a balance of all the nutrients that the dog needs. Adding human food will upset this balance and either add unnecessary calories or mess up the nutritional balance of the diet.

What was the TV programme?

Feeding half gain free complete from sainsburys/tesco wih grain free kibble...hope this ok thanks.

If you have a Dalmatian you'll need to check all the ingredients as they can't process lots of purine - it can cause kidney stones and other problems.

Dogs are scavengers. They have hung around humans for so long eating our leftovers overs that they have evolved to be able to break down carbohydrates (this is less the case for primitive breeds like huskies). And like humans, they are good are obtaining what they need from a random diet. So feeding your dog leftovers as well as dog food isn't an issue, so long as you leave out things that could harm your dog (too much onion or leek, raisins, chocolate). Our dogs get plate scrapings, ends of bread, potato and carrot peelings, oil drained from cans of fish, meat trimmings and other random stuff, along with their complete diet.

That aside, perhaps check out working dog foods which are VAT free and good value for what you get.

Sounds like a very irresponsible programme , dogs don’t need to eat most of that list aside from the chicken and eggs

Sounds like a recipe for trouble to me. It is hard to get the balance right and the pennies you’ll save on a complete dog food you’ll end up spending on health conditions if you don’t feed a balanced diet.

id look for intro offers for other complete dog foods to bulk out your feed- so I feed a mix of kibble and wet, but the wet I tend to buy just whatever grain free I can get on offer- so last month barking heads, now I’m using pooch and mutt and I’ll see what other deals I can find.

i also use an app called biscuit- they have some money off coupons- it’s where I got the pooch and mutt but you can also get cash value vouchers for walking your dog that you can spend on the weekly shop. Much better to save money this way than trying to feed scraps