What are you feeding your dog?

I was wondering what kind of food all of you are currently feeding your dogs? Commercial kibble, canned food, home cooking, etc? If you’re feeding commercial food, what brand, and do you think your dog is doing well on it? if you’re feeding a home cooked diet, how’s that working out for you?

Hi Kelly - One of my Japanese Chins is very picky - almost a vegetarian. The other one is a meat and potatoes kinda guy. My pug just loves to eat but gets sick on beef. He also gets sick on canned dog food and most dry foods.

I make a lot of chicken for them - usually soup or stew without any chicken skin because my pug has trouble digesting fat. I make BIG pots full because the chicken is also the base for the cat food I make.

I put in a mixture of different things (depending on what I have) - vegetables (carrots, broccoli, celery, green beans);  brown rice, potatoes or noodles.

I make other things also - they seem to like a little variety.

They also take their doggie vitamins.

Hi Terry, it sounds like your pets are living good at your house. I like the fact that you supply them with a vitamin to make sure they are getting all the nutrients they need. Do you cook for them full time, or do you ever offer dry kibble?

Hi Kelly,
I feed my six year-old Schnoodle Prescription W/D since she is prone to kidney stones and crystals. It is more of a preventative diet. She was put on the diet after having a severe bladder infection with crystals last year. Prior to that she was on Science Diet her entire life.

She is doing really well on the W/D. She has high energy, playfulness, good general health, bright eyes and a glossy coat. I really believe that the W/D provides complete nutrition. Also, the bladder infection and crystals have no come back.

Anyone else have a dog doing well on a prescription diet?

Adrienne

My dogs eat Canadae Chicken and Rice. We have it delivered because no one sells it near us.

When we got Tango, his former owners said that it was the only food he could eat; other foods made him itch. We did try other foods but Tango did get pretty itchy. We decided it wasn’t worth his misery to experiment, so we stick to what works.

Hi Kelly - Sorry I didn’t see your question to me sooner. Yes - they are definitely living the good life Sometimes I feel like I am running a pet restaurant.

I actually cook for them full time but my Pug gets a little Original Beneful in his homemade meals(about 1/4 of the meal). I have tried a few other brands but he got sick on them to - so I stick to what I know he will be able to eat.

I used to keep a small bowl of the dry food out but my cats think it is great fun to take it piece by piece and drop it in one of the water bowls. My Japanese Chins actually enjoy eating a little dry cat food occasionally but Benny (my pug) wouldn’t think of eating such a thing - maybe he’s afraid he will start to meow…. 

Honestly, with 3 dogs, 11 indoor cats and 4 outside ferals (that now have moved in and call it home) I do a lot of cooking for them. The cats are all on home cooked food also since the terrible incident with Fernado and the FLUTD.

Gosh Terry, it sounds like you ought to open up a pet restaurant! That’s a lot of home cooking. So, do you cook everyday, or do you do it in batches and refrigerate or freeze the extras? You must have some sort of routine down by now.

Terry, you could start a business doing that. I bet people would pay very well to have someone cook good food for their pets. You could create a little menu and take orders and have a nice little business.

HI Kathleen and Kelly - I do cook in batches usually twice a week and shred everything and mix the meals. I put them in individual meal size containers and refrigerate them. I always make sure to have completed meals in the freezer also just in case something comes up and I am unable to follow the normal routine.

We try to get everything in one shopping trip each week and have a big freezer so we have a good back up supply.

It would be great if I could get a couple of people that want homemade food. It would be a nice little business - maybe someday…....

Hi everyone,

1st post here. I have a 2 year old GSD, named Prudence. She is my 2nd Shepherd. My 1st lived a full happy life to 15. We also have 2 chi’s (Alice and Chito). Right now we are feeding Wellness Super 5 with mixed results. The chi’s are doing fine but the shepherd sometimes has loose stools. I have been doing alot of research and am learning much. 1st of all, I discovered that Diamond is involved in the production of many brands including TOTW and Solid Gold. I am afraid of Diamond - too big and too many bad stories. I am now looking at Origen, Fromm, and Wysong. I am also thinking about the Dr Harvey’s Canine Health with cooked meat. I don’t think raw is for me.
If you use or tried any that I mentioned I would like to hear from you. I’ll keep you all posted on my decision and results as well.
Thanks!

Hi,

I feed my pet Orijen along with gr.vegetables (low carb) and some brown rice, Wellness is a good choice also and Evo, Evo did not help us as it didn’t work with my dogs diabetes, I’ve read some good things about a brand called Blue Buffalo, I think thats the name.

Itchmo is a site where everyone discusses pet foods and treats.

Hiii,I remember receiving many articles sometime back thru email informing about the side effects of commercial food in the market. Is it true that commercial dog food ( including good brands) can cause cause various illnesses in the dog’s body? It also shortens the life span of the dog it says. I used to have a german shep and my mom would only give her home cooked meals which had no salt/sugar. Her diet consisted of liver/meat, rice. but she used to enjoy a ig bowl of milk with just plain bread and egg yolk it didnt cause her any health probs. But one day a friendw who was managing Eucanuba dog food introduced Sandy ( our dog then) to it and though she liked it…it caused her stool to get unusually hard and she would vomit etc.. also another little doggy (pom crossed) lived on dog food and only survived just yrs. she underwent womb cancer. so this made me think maybe it was the commercial dog food? Right now with my pet i dont give her our food. its just Pedigree Adult. thats it. Since she was anemic i have her some chicken liver thats it. She was fussy over the dog food earlier. We cant afford Royal canine which is way too high in price where we stay so i get the dogs food at the supermarket which is still expensive but ok ( hehehe) But each time i see her eat i worry abt her health if it would have any bad effect on her in the long run? I like to know what you think and if I am worrying for no reason? Thanx =D

My personal opinion on this is dogs will manage on commercial dog food, unless it is something they are specifically allergic to, but they will thrive on a more natural diet.

I recently spoke to a lady who works for a pet supply company. She said commercial kibble is just made for a dog to survive, not necessarily thrive. Of course, there are higher quality kibble out there as this doesn’t necessarily fit all dry dog foods.

She also told me that dry dog food is difficult for dogs to digest and utilize. So even if the dog food is “nutritionally complete”, the dog will not get all the nutrients from it. This causes problems such as skin allergies.

I’m not a dog food expert by any means. These are just my thoughts in regard to your question.

Kathleen hit the heart of the issue with the phrase “nutritionally complete”. What I’ve learned about commercial kibble is that there are many ways for a manufacturer to meet those minimum nutrition requirements. AFFCO, doesn’t care about the digestibility of the ingredients included as protein, so a company can get away with using corn as a main protein source, even though dogs can’t render very much of that protein because corn is harder for them to digest. The most important thing you can do read the ingredients label, and make sure that a named, real meat source is used in the first five ingredients. Fillers like corn should never be listed in those first five ingredients because the ingredients are listed by amount, beginning with the largest.

Hii, i jsut checked my the dog food packet and the first words are wholegrain cereal! there is also picture which has corn. (ｕｈｏｈ）then it says beef, chicken liver etc. but they have also added Iodized salt!! So is this salt ok for the dog?
My dog eat a lot from this now. so im wondering if its bad?

cheers,
T

No, salt is not good. I have a website saved that I use fairly often to “test” different brands of dog food. You start with a score of 100 and subtract points for certain ingredients and add points for other ingredients. Your final score tells if you have a healthy dog food or not.

I hope it’s okay to post it here. I think it’s really useful and I figured everyone would enjoy it.:

http://www.acreaturecomfort.com/ratingpetfood.htm