Food help please!

[familyissues12345]

Hi,

We have a 7 year old female schnoodle (schnauzer/poodle cross). She weighs 10kg.
I'm desperate for any kind of feeding tips please!

We currently give her half a pot of dry kibble in the morning (Canagan) and at the moment she has ROR raw food (6 defrosted blocks)

She's a little heavier than we'd/the vet would like and we've now had a couple of vets turn their noses up to the idea of her being on raw food.

So now we're considering other options. She can be fussy with the canagan, seems to much prefer wet food. However, if dry food x 2 is the best way to go, then we'll do that. The vet didn't say either way!

We avoid chicken after being advised to avoid that due to paw chewing. I tend to favour giving her fish to eat, as in my mind that's healthier than say Beef/Lamb. We also use Turkey too, as again I thought healthier.

Money isn't an issue, she doesn't eat loads (could have a diff opinion if she was a lab!), so we're happy to get the best we can.

I've just tried the all about dog food website as I've used that before, but didn't find it particularly helpful.

Thanks for any ideas!

What is the vets issue with raw food? I’m genuinely interested, as our vet has never said anything against raw food. The breeder of our dog actively encouraged us to feed raw food. He said tinned dog food in an emergency, but never kibble.

One we didn't follow up on their reaction, the second we asked and they said they feel that they weren't convinced about the nutritional value of raw - you don't know if she's being given good stuff. I got the sense though that the vet was just anti raw.
Our breeder recommended raw too

Is your dog healthy with good firm poos?

If so, just keep feeding her what you do now but a little bit less.

Forthglade is a nice food. I've got a fussy lurcher and she's not turned down any since we put her on it. They do a 90% wet food so would be fairly similar to raw

Poo can sometimes be on the soft side, but not too bad. Coat looks nice and glossy, eyes are bright etc. She looks great, just a bit heavier than she should be

We've tried forthglade before when she was a pup, I'll have a look at it. Thanks!

The forthglade 90% is not a complete food, so needs something else fed alongside it.

@Kittykat2014 In case you haven't seen, Forthglade have a sale on their website!

I've always found it pretty easy to control our raw fed dogs' weights by mixing liquidised veg into their food, but mine aren't fussy (i.e. will eat anything). If weight starts creeping up a little, I make a bigger proportion of the meal veg and then cut it back down when the weight drops off. I've also found the Yumove probiotic supplement good for firming up poos.

Have literally just had a massive order arrived today because of the sale 😂.

No I know that, but as familyissues was saying that the dog is already on a dry and raw mix that she would understand it was with the kibble not exclusively

We use Butternut box (with kibble). Works well for us. (If interested, I can give you a code).

Pretty much all vets are 'officially' anti raw. They say there is a high chance of bacteria contamination and the dog becoming unwell. There's also issues with dogs choking on bones and it being harder to feed a complete, balanced diet. Unofficially lots of vets feed their dog raw, it's all just personal preference and what suits you and your dog. If your dog is happy and healthy on it then continue.

I did wonder if the display of very expensive, ‘ vet approved’, food on show at the vets, had something to do with it 😀. I think I’ll stay with raw, but I totally agree - whatever suits your dog is best.

As a PP said, if your dog is doing well on your current food then I wouldn't change it. Just reduce the amount. I'd start with reducing by to 3/4 and see what that does for them.

If they are struggling with hunger then I would top up with veg (carrots, green beans, etc.) to fill them up but low calories. Cooking them will make most dogs eat them if they are fussier and mix it in so it's coated with the meat.

Can't edit my post for some reason, to be clear it was reduce to 3/4 of the amount. Not by 3/4

@Flat04 is that the yumove digestive care tablet? DDog has been on it for five days following on from protexin kolin and so far stools are not getting better and farts very smelly. I know they say probiotics can take a while to work but I'm not sure how long to give it before deciding they might be making things worse.

Ugh @timeforachange999. That sounds awful! My dogs don't really have an issue, we just use it as a supplement and it seems to keep things ticking along well.

Is this a new issue? The one time ours really had soft stools (tried pro kolin, switching food, etc. with no results) it turned out to be Giardia.

It comes and goes. I did do a giardia test last time it was really bad and it was negative. I think it might be stress colitis as this episode started after a severe hair cut at the groomers. Have a vet appointment soon to discuss and I guess they might test the stool again.

Our pooches do very well on butternut. One is sensitive and one is fussy but they both enjoy this one, and are healthy and shiny with nice firm poos (sorry 🤢)

Most vets are contracted to sell expensive kibble so they can’t say raw is best. But honestly raw is best. Expensive kibble is just about ok. Cheap kibble is garbage and likely to cause issues. I had a litter of puppies and sent them home on a diet of 50% raw and 50% Acana (posh kibble) so owners could choose. I asked owners to stick to Acana if going the kibble route. One lady switched to Eukanuba (garbage kibble). Puppy was soon chewing his tail raw due to itching (grain intolerance) and I was really upset when she told me. I said please switch to either raw or a better kibble - best you can afford.

So please persevere with raw if you can afford to. Make sure it is complete which means 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% offal. Don’t get one without bone - dogs need a lot of calcium. Veg is not necessary as dogs make their own vitamin c. Quantity is around 2% of dogs body weight so not much. My 30kg lab has 500g per day so just under 2% and a few treats for being a good girl. She is super slim and fit and never needs the vet.

Sorry only just remembered this thread! @Hellohelga that was a really helpful post, thank you!

Thanks all

None of the veterinary staff get a thing for selling very expensive veterinary food. They barely get paid a fair wage never mind commission.

I think the issue is the majority of clients are not doing raw right. Dedicated owners who educate themselves fine, but the majority are not. A nutritionally balanced complete food is much easier for an average owner.

Often the diet they feed is not nutritionally balanced. We also regularly see a lack of hygiene, feeding raw around immunocompromised people, bacteria’s, bones stuck, gastroenteritis, growth disorders. We mainly see the worst.

It's also worth bearing in mind that the best thing you can do food-wise for your dog's health and longevity is to keep it slim.

Fat dogs die over a year earlier than slim dogs.

That's our concern. She's not massively overweight, the vet has no desire for her to go on a diet, but he said she shouldn't put any more on. We're conscious that everytime we go ( yearly vaccinations) she's gone up slightly.