What Do You Feed?
- Thread starter Caiti
- Start date
Pawbla
Experienced Member
I envy all your grain-free food.
When I move to Canada (because dreams become true lol), I'll have my dog eat grain-free kibble and rotate.
Right now I have to do an average (or "extra mega premium" where I live) kibble (that at least doesn't include carcinogenics) and Royal. D:
When I move to Canada (because dreams become true lol), I'll have my dog eat grain-free kibble and rotate.
Right now I have to do an average (or "extra mega premium" where I live) kibble (that at least doesn't include carcinogenics) and Royal. D:
.
Dogster
Honored Member
May I ask why you want her to have grains in her diet?
Are you feeding raw as in making your own menu and giving bones and meat or do you mean ready made meat (from brands)? It is import to feed different species when feeding raw to prevent shortages.
Sorry maybe you already know this, I do support raw feeding, but sadly a lot of people don't read into it (which is very important when you are messing with menu's/food).
I want Shivon to have some grains in her diet because I don't want her to develop any food sensitivities or allergies if I stop feeding her grains altogether. I want her to still have a tolerance for it.
Since I just started raw feeding, I have been only feeding chicken, but I am planning on switching in between protein sources.
I feed ready made food (I wouldn't be able to make it myself)
Mutt
Experienced Member
With your "own" made food I mean that you get cow from the butcher around the corner, wild rabbit from hunters and chicken from a farmer (just examples) so the food isn't modified and you have to decided the percentages on your own (within the guidelines). It is very important with raw feeding that you exactly know what you are doing 
Make sure you feed complete (as in containing all necessary nutritions) by either feeding enough animal species (I believe at least four, but I don't know for sure) or when the food is labelled as complete otherwise you risk shortages.
Make sure you feed complete (as in containing all necessary nutritions) by either feeding enough animal species (I believe at least four, but I don't know for sure) or when the food is labelled as complete otherwise you risk shortages.
Dogster
Honored Member
I feed complete meals for raw food. http://www.bigcountryraw.ca/bigcountryraw/menu.asp
jackienmutts
Honored Member
Good for you switching to raw, Dogster!
I have some kibble left, so they're getting small kibble breakfasts (til the kibble is gone) - and they're getting homecooked crockpot dinners. I can make enough for about a week at a time - a few days goes in the fridge, the rest goes in the freezer. This week, I put into the crockpot: a whole organic chicken, a whole tilapia (yeah, I know, they're farmed, but it's all I could find quickly), 4 eggs, gizzards, livers, veggies(broccoli, zucchini, carrots, cauliflower), 6 oz of oats, water, and cooked it for ~18 hours. When bones are slow-cooked, they can be totally mashed up so the dogs can eat them, they get all the marrow, etc - so the whole thing is mashed up, the dogs love it!!!
No tellin' what will go in next week. The sky's the limit - and I think it's actually proving to be cheaper than kibble.
I have some kibble left, so they're getting small kibble breakfasts (til the kibble is gone) - and they're getting homecooked crockpot dinners. I can make enough for about a week at a time - a few days goes in the fridge, the rest goes in the freezer. This week, I put into the crockpot: a whole organic chicken, a whole tilapia (yeah, I know, they're farmed, but it's all I could find quickly), 4 eggs, gizzards, livers, veggies(broccoli, zucchini, carrots, cauliflower), 6 oz of oats, water, and cooked it for ~18 hours. When bones are slow-cooked, they can be totally mashed up so the dogs can eat them, they get all the marrow, etc - so the whole thing is mashed up, the dogs love it!!!
No tellin' what will go in next week. The sky's the limit - and I think it's actually proving to be cheaper than kibble.
Mutt
Experienced Member
Good for you jackie yo be starting with your own menu!
Watch out with cooked bones jackie, these splinter (raw feeding is better, but don't feed bearing bones from big animals). I see you only have one animalspecies in your menu, I'd recommand more (I recall 4 species in two weeks is advised), fish is good but I recall that it does not count as a species (and it best to have max one fish day a week).
I hope you won't see this post as annoying, I findit very good people think about what they want to feed, but knowledge and care is needed.
Watch out with cooked bones jackie, these splinter (raw feeding is better, but don't feed bearing bones from big animals). I see you only have one animalspecies in your menu, I'd recommand more (I recall 4 species in two weeks is advised), fish is good but I recall that it does not count as a species (and it best to have max one fish day a week).
I hope you won't see this post as annoying, I findit very good people think about what they want to feed, but knowledge and care is needed.
jackienmutts
Honored Member
Mutt, I've been reading and reading for months, I clearly don't take their diet lightly. I'd love to feed raw, but for me, it's prohibitively expensive. And no, I don't see your post as annoying at all! 
Chicken bones in the slow cooker become very soft and just crumble, no worries about splintering - so the dogs do get the whole carcass, just mashed up. They'll also get fed raw wings etc as treats. And I change the menu each week - variety. I keep looking up different recipes (there are loads for dogs). There's a vet (imagine .. one who's big into nutrition that's NOT by Hills!!) who wrote "The Dog Dish Diet" - with great success, and I'm following that. He himself homecooks and uses the crockpot. He's also got a great Youtube video (well, several), but one showing one of his recipes. I knew I couldn't (wouldn't) cook daily, or every other day - but once I week I could do.
Look at all the dogs who eat the same dog food, day after day, year after year, some their whole lives. I figure changing this up each week has GOT to be better. I saw a guy at the park with his two Chi's a few months ago running around. He leashed one up right away, and had to go after the other one, he said sorry, she was old and hard of hearing (no one was in the park but them when I arrived, so he was just letting them run -- no problem). He ran after her, she was running all over the place - but he finally caught up with her and leashed her. We got to talking -- she was 18! Granted, Chi's are long-lived, but 18 and running like a youngster! He said people thought he was crazy, but he always just fed them whatever they were having for dinner (always meat and potato type things) - and a little egg for breakfast. I said well, it's obviously working. It really got me to thinking - even more than I had been.
So - still reading .. and reading .. and learning. Don't think it will ever stop. We're all looking for that secret to make our dogs live forever. I hope one of us finds it.
Chicken bones in the slow cooker become very soft and just crumble, no worries about splintering - so the dogs do get the whole carcass, just mashed up. They'll also get fed raw wings etc as treats. And I change the menu each week - variety. I keep looking up different recipes (there are loads for dogs). There's a vet (imagine .. one who's big into nutrition that's NOT by Hills!!) who wrote "The Dog Dish Diet" - with great success, and I'm following that. He himself homecooks and uses the crockpot. He's also got a great Youtube video (well, several), but one showing one of his recipes. I knew I couldn't (wouldn't) cook daily, or every other day - but once I week I could do.
Look at all the dogs who eat the same dog food, day after day, year after year, some their whole lives. I figure changing this up each week has GOT to be better. I saw a guy at the park with his two Chi's a few months ago running around. He leashed one up right away, and had to go after the other one, he said sorry, she was old and hard of hearing (no one was in the park but them when I arrived, so he was just letting them run -- no problem). He ran after her, she was running all over the place - but he finally caught up with her and leashed her. We got to talking -- she was 18! Granted, Chi's are long-lived, but 18 and running like a youngster! He said people thought he was crazy, but he always just fed them whatever they were having for dinner (always meat and potato type things) - and a little egg for breakfast. I said well, it's obviously working. It really got me to thinking - even more than I had been.
So - still reading .. and reading .. and learning. Don't think it will ever stop. We're all looking for that secret to make our dogs live forever. I hope one of us finds it.
brody_smom
Experienced Member
I wish I had the energy to put into cooking for my dog. I have enough trouble getting interested in menu planning for my human family. My kids have often heard me say I wish there was human kibble, because I just can't get into thinking about food all the time. Mind you, I have some really picky eaters, one with gluten and dairy issues, another who is going vegetarian for the summer. Menu planning for Brody would be a walk in the park compared to figuring out what to make for my family for dinner!