I Love To Talk Nutrition!!

[tigerlily46514]

Ha, Lexy, you sound a bit like me, when i first realized, most dog food is crap. i had no idea.....i feel so guilty what i once fed previous dogs....i just hope the dogs i had before, did not realize they were getting crappy food....that thought bothers me, if i stop to think about it...

Lexy, HERE is a "Rate your own dog food" (ANY brand)
which i think is kinda lax, really, it only subtracts 3 points for the filler "corn" which is undigestible to dogs, and often the main ingredient in grocery store dog foods.

is simple, only takes minutes, grab your dog food and a pencil and paper.

other links are on page one of this thread. Your brand *might* be on there..?

remember, if you do decide to swap out your dog's food, do so sloooowllllly, only a few kibbles a day, slowly adding more of the new dog food as you remove the old dog food, or dog could get diarhea, etc.

 

[tigerlily46514]

charmed,
when you wrote this:
//". 2-3% of the app. adult weight of the dog or ideal weight"//

are you saying, the amt of raw meat we feed our dogs should be 2% or 3% of our dog's body weight? Sorry, i am a know-nothing on this, but, i tell ya, Charmed, i am getting convinced, i need to get on this train, at least, so far as i can financially afford to. Charmed, you and your links make such great points, it all makes so much sense to me.

My dog weighs 50 lbs, so how much meat per day should he get?
(btw, i do vary the amts of his kibble + meat on how active he is, adding in a lil bit extra if he ran his feet off that day, or subtracting just a tad if it was pouring rain all day and he ws not super active, he gets a tad less that day, etc etc)

 

[charmedwolf]

At the least 1lb and at the most 1.5lbs if you think he is at a good weight. I eyeball on how much I give, like you. I give more if they work hard or less if they are lazing about.

The easiest way to afford is to try and make friends with hunters, or put up a post on craigtlist for older meat, there are also raw feeding group around the world that will also help people on getting meat or bones.

And I'm glad that I can help you with the switch. I'm sure Buddy will love it!

 

[Lexy88]

tigerlily - thats the site I used. On the site, they rate it as F, but when I do it off the packet of dog food I have here, it gets a C! When I visited the other links you posted, the ingredients they posted for the brand does NOT match what is on my packet right here, at all! It is compleeeeeeetely different. Which is why I emailed the manufacturer for more details on the indredients

 

[tigerlily46514]

THANK YOU Charmed Wolf, i actually do know a hunter or two, i never thought about that.

Ha, poor Lexy, that is a quandry!! Good luck! Some manufacturers also have toll free phone numbers...Still, a C to an F is not too too good...not really, either one.
the dog food i USED TO use, ohmidawg, it was horrible, and i never knew it...i never knew any better back then. H aha, boy oh boy, was I honked off when i found out.

 

[Lexy88]

The reply from the dog food manufacturer.

Thank you for your contact regarding the above mentioned products. In
order to answer your query we would like to know if you are enquiring in
regards to a sensitivity your pet may have to certain colour or
preservatives or other ingredients. As you may have noticed we have
changed our formulation recently and taken out the artificial colours and
flavours. If you can provide us with that information we can then answer
your query.
regards
Kim Smith
Call Centre Co-ordinator
MARS petcare-Australia

Soooo... when I asked them to specify all the ingredients, they didnt... Will enquire further.

 

[Lexy88]

So I got a packet of the new formulation of my usual dog food to find their new formulation which is 'highly digestible' is now grain based, where as it used to be meat based. I emailed and told them I was disppointed and would no longer be buying their product.
Onwards and upwards, I found a company only 10mins from my mum's who make and sell a frozen, balanced raw diet, which is packed into meal portions!! AND its cheaper to feed than my old kibble! Stoked!

 

[bekah1001]

Onwards and upwards, I found a company only 10mins from my mum's who make and sell a frozen, balanced raw diet, which is packed into meal portions!! AND its cheaper to feed than my old kibble! Stoked!

Awesome!

 

[bekah1001]

Does anybody know about dehydrated raw food ....I'm interested in it and was wondering if anybody tried it

 

[charmedwolf]

I tried it once when I had to go on the road for a while with all the dogs. It wasn't difficult. You measure out the amount put some water in it and let it sit. You have to add a bone to it if you want it to count as a meal. The dogs had no trouble eating it and they ate it just as quickly as their RAW food. The only problem that I had with it was that it was soooo expensive! Mind you I was taking 3 dogs and 1 cat on my journey for two weeks. It cost us just for that time about $85! Way to expensive to continue all the time, at least for me.

I was using Force and Prowl by the Honest Kitchen.

 

[bekah1001]

I found the honest kitchen and I wish they shipped to Canada .... the closet store to me is two - three hours away -___-