Dog Food

[f0rTyLeGz]

I used to feed my dogs store bought food. But, when I was living in a yard I inherited a likkle pack of five mawga dogs that had been fed table scraps from a restaurant (every other day), that was tossed on the ground their whole lives. I started making a big pot of rice with a chicken back or two in there with a little salt for them every day. And in a few months those dogs were all shiny and fit. And... on my side, and watching my back 24/7, cheerfully.

At first there was some eye rolling and kissing teeth, but it ended up bringing many good changes over the years to the whole neighborhood, and brought some remarkable dogs and dog stories our way.

Years later I still feed my dog rice and chicken or burger... sometimes a few sardines stirred in, or an egg... a piece of cheese.

[Nanook]

Re: Dog Food

Great topic 40! I cooked for Peanut the last 3 years of his life and he made it to dang near 17. A lot of times I'd pick up a chicken and cook it and mix it with eggs in the food processor because by the time he was 15 he didn't have any teeth. Sometimes I'd add a can of sweet potato or even a can of natural dog food for added flavor. He just loved that and I got a lot of mileage with a half dozen eggs to a chicken ratio.

Mostly I feed Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul right now. It is an excellent food and contains ingredients such as fresh chicken never frozen, and protein from multiple animal sources such as duck, salmon, and vitamin and mineral sources from tomatoes, blueberries, apples, cranberries potatoes, carrots peas and even rosemary and flax seed. It contains 24% protein.




Otherwise I feed Eagle Pac foods which are also wonderful. They also have a holistic line.



I've made the mistake of thinking I was doing Peanut a favor when he first started going downhill and I almost starved him. He was eating like a little piggie and still losing weight! Well duh! Non of the can foods have enough protein content! If you go out and read labels you won't find a can of food with higher than 8 or 9% protein!

I also soak my food and feed it warm, often adding cooked eggs, never raw. I add stuff from the fridge to the mix as well. I soak my dogs food for a couple of reasons. I have several oldies that start to loose their teeth as they approach the mid teens. The soft food insures that they will digest what they eat. Also, large chested breeds such as Dobermans and Standard Poodles are suseptible to bloating, which is very deadly and will kill a dog faster than anything besides a car. The soaked food helps keep air from entering the stomach when they eat. Paris gets two small meals a day instead of one large one for this reason too.

Small breed puppies do not need puppy food until they are a year old or so. They stop growing much earlier than a large breed dog so only really need puppy food for 6 months or so. It's pretty easy to tell, just watch the weight. If they start getting a little chubby, it's time for adult food.

An excellent puppy food is put out by Eukanuba and is formulated by breed sizes which is what I started Paris out on when she was younger. She eats the Chicken Soup food now and is doing great at 11 months old.

Then there is the BARF diet, which is great but I don't have either the stomach or the time for that.

[diabolical_Tanya]

Re: Dog Food

At home (Jamaica) our dogs were/still are fed cornmeal mix wid butcher scraps and table scraps all fish bone did mix in deh. All were healthy and shiny an dem ting dere.


currently my Brother feeds his dog (Sandy) brown rice wid liver an ground beef (xtra lean) mixed with dry kibble.

tango now eats science diet small breed sittn nedda dry kibble. so i have 6 cans of the very hexpensive vet formula wet food an no idea wha fi do wid it.

When Tango gets older 6 months + I will cook for him.

[CeaBee]

Re: Dog Food

my dogs in jamaica when i was growing up used to have cornmeal and chicken back....

the dog that my mother has now gets rice and chicken...looks very tasty too

all the same back then it was 4-6 very big dogs (german shepherd and rottweillers)

[Gen]

Re: Dog Food

back home it was cornmeal, meat scraps and table scraps mixed up.

[kia027]

Re: Dog Food

good idea

I think I am going to start doing that for them instead of the dry dog food because all they do is look at it until I get them something to add to it

[f0rTyLeGz]

Re: Dog Food

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kia</div><div class="ubbcode-body">good idea

I think I am going to start doing that for them instead of the dry dog food because all they do is look at it until I get them something to add to it
</div></div>
So true... like our dogs wait all day to eat and then we often give them the same boring dry food every day? That seems like prison to me... don't?

Take Pepper my dog, she's a herding dog, and if I move, she moves. I started giving her a little milk first thing in the morning and last thing at night. She likes that. It's a perk for watching watching watching

[diabolical_Tanya]

Re: Dog Food

is milk okay to give to puppies?

[f0rTyLeGz]

Re: Dog Food

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Diabolical_Tanya</div><div class="ubbcode-body">is milk okay to give to puppies? </div></div>
Sure. Puppies thrive on just meat and milk.

[Shine_Eye_Girl]

Re: Dog Food

I used to cook for my dogs.....no nadda needa

My sweet pomeranian kobe used to lub chicken an rice w/ veggies. Mi used to gi him all porridge too.....yu shooda si him mowt an belli wen him done.

Bout 20 minutes yu yell him name an him nah ansah. Yu look an him inna him bed sprawl out fram di full belli.

[diabolical_Tanya]

Re: Dog Food

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: f0rTyLeGz</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Diabolical_Tanya</div><div class="ubbcode-body">is milk okay to give to puppies? </div></div>
Sure. Puppies thrive on just meat and milk. </div></div>

thanks 40legs

[Nanook]

Re: Dog Food

Sure you can feed them milk but you might see the end result of that in the form of diarrhea.

Tanya, you can mix that canned food with your dry kibble! They really go for that. I add warm water so it becomes like a gravy.

Yes, meal time is the highlight of their day so I always make it fun for them. I sing to them and bang their stainless dishes and make all kinds of fun for the occasion and serve them warm food. That's mostly because I don't let them be noisy in the house the rest of the time. It is a noisy time when I feed!!! Oh, and the banging stainless steel dishes together is for a reason too. If anyone goes outside a little too far from my house I start banging the dishes and they come a runnin! of course they get rewarded for that!

[diabolical_Tanya]

Re: Dog Food

Nanook I tried that and it was a waste of a $5.00 can of dog food

[Nanook]

Re: Dog Food

bummer! Well, you could always donate it to the food shelf! They also have bins at our local PETCO for donations.

[schultz]

Re: Dog Food

Dottie has seizures &amp; takes meds. and she is hungry 24/7! I've been mixing vegetables in with her dog food and she loves them and they seem to fill her up better. Green beans, peas, corn, whatever I eat she loves too. Dogs are omnivores so they are not limited to just meat. I feed mine Iams dry and canned mixed in.