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- This topic has 16 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 1 month ago by WolfSpirit292.
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July 12, 2016 at 12:43 pm #88meParticipant
I hear a lot about dog food safety. Does anyone have any knowledge about commercial dog foods. Which type should I buy? I really don’t want to make my dogs food, but is that what I need to do to make sure he lives a long time? Someone please help me make sense of all this information!
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August 16, 2010 at 7:16 am #425WolfSpirit292Participant
Most commercial foods are crap. Buy holistic, natural foods. The market of these foods has increased greatly because owners are becoming more aware of what they feed. Stay away from corn, wheat, and soy. These 3 ingredients can cause food allergies/sensitivities. Even then, they are just unhealthy fillers, and you won’t find them in a good brand of food. Also, stay away from by-products. By definition, by-products are “anything unfit for human consumption.” But a better way to put it is that this ccan be feet, feathers, feces, beaks… all kinds of nasty things. If you’re interested in feeding something that’s more “natural”- like the idea of raw feeding- then find a brand that’s also grain free.
I fully recommend the 3 brands I use in a rotational diet: Blue Buffalo, Taste of the Wild, and Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul. Blue has a wide variety of foods to mmeet your needs (they have a few grain free formulas available too). Taste of the Wild is also grain free. Chicken Soup isn’t grain free, but still a good holistic choice. I probably would only use it though as part of a rotational diet of other brands as they only have one flavor. You could feed JUST Blue or Taste of the Wild without rotating brands as they have various recipes (Blue having many more choices). Changing the meat sources every couple months is really nice.
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April 5, 2008 at 4:00 am #255AnonymousGuest
I have noticed that when I add the raw eggs, my dog doesn’t want to eat it. Any other ideas/suggestions for easily adding good stuff to my dogs food? Do you ever add salt? I am beginning to learn that dog food really isn’t the best for my dog. How can I make sure she gets enough nutrition with BARF feeding?
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March 21, 2008 at 3:41 am #264AnonymousGuest
I gave up on commercial dog foods personally about two years ago and have been feeding raw ever since. I’m a huge fan of it but if you would like to stick to dry dog food, here’s an excellent site for analysizing different dog foods out there as well as an all around educational tool ;o)
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March 25, 2008 at 3:29 pm #266AnonymousGuest
Hi. I am very interested in learning more about BARF feeding. Can you give me an idea of where to start? I would be interested in knowing what types of raw foods I can feed my dog and what I shouldn’t feed her. Please post what you have learned and what you find works for you and your dog. Thanks so much. I look forward to reading your next post.
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March 27, 2008 at 5:28 am #267AnonymousGuest
The easiest protein to start with is chicken. I would start off with trying to find a place to buy meat in bulk for a discount. This yahoo group will help you out with that: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/CarnivoreFeed-Supplier/
I have on my website some links that I am really fond of for people starting off with raw: http://www.iboxboxers.com/rawdiet.html
There are just soo many different view points out there on what should be fed and what should not. For instance, some say don’t feed fruits and veggies and others say it is a must. I personally feed my dogs plain, nonfat yogart every morning with their chicken along with Nzymes (http://www.nzymes.com/) and every night they get sardine oil mixed in with their food. Now somedays I add raw eggs (shells included) or steamed vegetables, or fruits (bananas, apples, berries, cantelope) or even chicken guts (liver, heart, lungs, etc)
Anyways, start researching some of those links and let me know what questions you have. If I don’t have your answer, I will find it out for you ;o) My email is on my website
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March 27, 2008 at 6:09 pm #269AnonymousGuest
Wow! Thanks for the wealth of information. I will e-mail this question to you, but I am also posting it here so everyone else can learn from you.
Can I do half raw and half dog food? Or do I need to do all raw?
thanks again!
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March 27, 2008 at 10:33 pm #270AnonymousGuest
That’s again something that you can choose to do. I do know people who do that but if you decide that’s a route you want to take, there are foods specifically designed to be mixed with raw meat if so desired such as the Timberwolf brand: http://timberwolforganics.com/
I do know people who split the raw and kibble but I personally do not do it because dogs digest raw diets and commercial dog foods and different rates. They can digest raw diets in 4 hours and commercial dog foods up to 16 hours (depending on the quality… poor quality taking longer). So, mixing the two can cause digestive upsets.
I also like feeding just raw because I know what my dogs are eating and it is actually cheaper (unless you go with premade raw). For instance, I just picked up 80lbs of Chicken backs today for $34. ;o) They eat A LOT less raw than they do kibble and they also consume less water (they get moisture through the food instead) and less poop!! I think my mom’s pugs which eat Science Diet poop more than my boxers combined do!
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March 28, 2008 at 9:34 pm #271AnonymousGuest
So, here’s my situation. I have a large female dog. We just had her spayed. She is 1 yr. Where do I begin? Can I feed her apples? What about tortillas? a steak? I just don’t know what to do. Where do I buy her food? Do I need to worry about mad cow disease or avian flu? Do I boil the food first? Do I steam the vegetables or just feed them raw? Is it more difficult to raw feed? Expensive? How do I know if it’s right for us? Does it really make your dogs healthier? I just want to know as much as possible before investing money. You help has been wonderful!
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March 29, 2008 at 4:45 am #272AnonymousGuest
LOL, i remember how scared I was when i was first going to switch over to raw. It tooks months of research, I knew I wanted to do it, and I still put it off because I was nervous. Well, once I started I realized how easy it was. And it is cheaper to feed too depending on the price you pay for your meats. And what type of raw diet you choose to do (for example, the Volhard diet, is more expensive to do and more time consuming: http://www.amazon.com/Holistic-Guide-Healthy-Howell-Reference/dp/1582451532/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206765754&sr=8-1)
The Holistic Guide for a Healthy dog is an excellent resource to have in your library whether or not you decide to follow her diet plan.I personally feel that my dogs are way healthier than they ever were on raw. For instance, my female, Lily, has always had digestive issues. We literally spent $1000’s of dollars at the vet and not one person could come up with a solution why she was always sick. So after exhausting every premium kibble out there, I finally grew the guts to try her on raw (started with chicken wings). My dogs always gets compliments from vets how soft and shiny their coats are and can’t believe how white their teeth are (raw diet along with raw green tripe naturally whitens their teeth).
Anyways, first if I were you, I would go to this yahoo group: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/CarnivoreFeed-Supplier/
and they will tell you locations were you can get raw meat for cheap or a group that can help you out. For instance, the yahoo group I’m a member of has a account set up for wholesale meat at a company called Harvest Meats and we can also get wholesale fruits and veggies from Federal Foods.The only foods you cannot feed your dogs are of course chocolate, as well as grapes and onions. Mine LOVE apples, especially Fiji apples. You can feed vegetables raw but it is easier on their digestive systems to break down if you steam them and/or blend them into a pulp. Whatever you do, do not cook, boil, microwave, etc any meats that have bone in them. It is fine to give them bones raw but not cooked, even for a few minutes because it can splinter and hurt their stomachs. You don’t need to worry at all about mad cow, avian flu, or salmonella. Yes, dogs can get salmonella but studies show they are more likely to get it from kibble than raw meat because their digestive systems are set up to break down raw meat. I suggest reading the Tail Waggin Bakery’s Newsletter achieves. It has excellent articles (I like the articles on salmonella, new vaccination protocols, apple cider vinager, coconut oil, etc.. ok, they’re all good)
http://tailwagginsbakery.com/newsletter.htmIf you email me, I can send you a basic excel file that you enter your dogs weight and if calculates how much meat and vegetables to feed your dog based on age, weight, and energy level
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March 29, 2008 at 4:47 am #273AnonymousGuest
I forgot to add, if you want to start right away, before finding a meat wholesaler, look for sales on meats at the grocery store or you can buy a 10lb bag of chicken leg quarters at Walmart (those are just a pain to deskin, and chop up and the bones are bigger because they are weight bearing bones). Perhaps you can first try giving some ground turkey or chicken wings to see how your dog reacts. They might be scared at first and lick the meat to death, lol ;o) I love feeding mine chicken backs personally
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March 29, 2008 at 7:20 pm #274AnonymousGuest
Okay. I did some research last night. I learned a couple things I found very interesting. I have a question about chicken wings… Do you feed them with the skin on and bone in them? I’m also interested in knowing if there is a way to combine raw with kibble. I feed my dog Kirkland brand lamb and rice formula. She seems to be thriving fine and is finally gaining weight. We used to use the really expensive kibble that’s supposed to be all natural. She got sick and had stomach upset for over a month. We finally switched her to Kirkland and she seems much happier. What I would really like is to have the option of feeding raw sometimes and kibble other times and then to be able to mix them. I found a site that gave some basic information on doing this. I realize it’s not as good as just feeding raw, but I need to have some options. Between three kids, a husband, and a house to care for. After doing laundry, cleaning, getting kids to school, and cooking meals, I just don’t know how much time I want to spend preparing food for my dog. Does that make sense? What do you think? Is it very time consuming feeding your dogs raw? Thanks again for all your help.
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April 1, 2008 at 2:00 pm #231AnonymousGuest
Sorry for the late response. When I fed Chicken Wings, I tried to take off as much skin as possible and but it is hard, if not impossible to take all the skin off. You don’t want to feed your dog too much skin because it can cause issues. I’m not as familiar with the laws of feeding raw and kibble but you could possibly feed your dog kibble in the morning and raw at night when you’d have more time to prepare it. Kirkland is a good food because it contains chelted minerals and does not contain corn. Once you get started trying raw, you’ll find that it really doesn’t take that much longer to prepare. I know some people will prepare a few days to a weeks worth of food in advance and put it containers so that all they have to do in the morning is drop it in their dogs bowls. So that’s another option for you. If you feed chicken necks, you don’t have to worry about deskinning them or cutting them up so that meat source takes a lot less time to feed than say chicken leg quarters. I should also add that chicken wings are really expensive so you might consider that. But it is easy and convenient to give your dog to try out raw. For example, chicken wings can cost on average $1.50 lb in the store were I can buy chicken necks from a wholesaler for $.42 lb or I just found somewhere yesterday to buy chicken backs from for $.18 lb
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April 2, 2008 at 4:58 pm #251AnonymousGuest
I have started feeding part kibble part raw. I found a couple websites that offer advice on doing this. Since kibble has a lot of starch and grains, it’s recommended that you only add proteins. I have been adding raw eggs, some apple slices (for a treat), and omega 3 fish oils. She seems to be doing well. It turns out she has an infection, so she is also on antibiotics now. We are going to add apple cider vinegar after she is done with her medicine. That will help to reactivate the good bacteria in her intestines.
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May 3, 2008 at 4:17 am #277AnonymousGuest
I haven’t been on here in awhile but I was wondering how you’re girl is doing on raw?
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June 5, 2008 at 5:52 pm #278clbroadbentParticipant
It’s going well. Our dog doesn’t like the raw eggs very much, but when I lightly scramble them, she loves them. We are working on fruit and softened vegetables. She seems to enjoy it, and I like knowing I am doing something good for my dog. Thanks for all your help and advice. I hope other people are able to learn from your knowledge.
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March 20, 2008 at 4:32 pm #263meParticipant
You know, it’s tough to know what to do when it comes to your own health. Do eat eggs, don’t eat eggs, do drink milk, milk is bad, chewing gum can give you cancer… Who do you listen to!? You just don’t know. My suggestion is, learn about the dog food you want to feed your dog, read the label and learn what those things mean. I personally choose to feed my dog Kirkland Brand dog food from Costco. I think it is one of the better types of dog food. If you are really worried about what to feed your dog, learn about RAW or BARF feeding. Good luck and if you learn anything new, please post it so we can learn from you.
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