Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:24 pm Post subject: What do you feed you dog and why?
Bailey is 10 1/2 months now and has always been fed on Technical large breed dried dog food. As a small pup, he woofed it down. As he got older he ate slower and would leave a bit. Now he only eats it if we play a game, training or play with his kong etc. He loves his treats, which I started flavouring his dinner with but he still manages to pick out the goodies and leave the rest.
I'm thinking he's bored? He does obviously eat but isn't enthusiastic about his dinner. He's 30 kg but looks fairly slim.
We're considering changing his food to a different brand when he reaches a year old but don't know if it's the right thing to do or if he'll get bored again? Also he has a lovely coat and touch wood is healthy so I don't want to jeopardise that.
His current food does look bland, it's all one colour. I don't know how significant that is.
I feed Jet a home prepared BAFR diet because I feel it is best for him and I want to know exactly what my dog is eating.
Possibly an answer that's not much use to you though
You mention that his current food is all one colour and looks a bit bland, as far as I understand it, commercial dog foods have different colours added to them to appeal to the owners buying it, not for the dogs' benefit.
There are two trains of thought. There is the "If they don't know anything else, then they don't get bored" and there is the "If I don't change food often, then they refuse to eat" and most people will tell you you get to the second one because you didn't stick to the first one.
I've had lots of different breeds and types of dog and so far I've not had a Lab get "bored" and refuse to eat, but I do know others who have. However I have had other breeds which if you didn't change food regularly, then they refused to eat and would prefer to starve and look emaciated than eat the "wrong" food.
As for what I feed, I'm not your run of the mill dog owner. I've never been happy feeding my dog something so unnatural as dry brown balls, as their only source of nutrition. So at the moment, although both Pickle and Mojo have some kibble (Wainrights salmon and potato) they also have raw bones 2-3 times a week and also they have a cooked "dinner" daily which comprises of whole (barring the feathers) minced chicken, rice, or pasta, or potatoes, carrots, green veg (not broccoli), mint, parsley and a tiny amount of garlic. We are gradually weaning Pickle and Mojo onto a raw and cooked diet and Pood is totally fed this way now, which is great as she actually eats and enjoys her food now.
You mention that his current food is all one colour and looks a bit bland, as far as I understand it, commercial dog foods have different colours added to them to appeal to the owners buying it, not for the dogs' benefit.
Was about to say the same
Mine have Naturediet - a good quality moist food - and some Arden Grange salmon, a dry food.
I would really like to feed them a homecooked or raw diet at some point. Something I've been contemplating for years but money/time/storage space/squeamishness (veggie) get in the way. For me, Naturediet, or similar, is the closest I can get to that with a commercial pet food and I added some dry food in when prices went up/money went down!
My dogs are always interested in eating and never leave their food. When they have dried food I do quite often add something to it to make it a bit more interesting, whether that be a spoon of yoghurt, a little fish, some of our leftovers/veg, a bit of cheese etc. but they will happily eat it on its own too.
Mine are raw fed, as already said, I like to know what goes into their diet and I give them things that I think will help keep them in good condition. They get a bit of apple cider vinegar, nuts and turmeric mixed in with their blended veggies, funnily enough I'm half way through preparing a batch.
I am thinking though, that if/when I do breed that I will be weaning pups going to new homes straight onto a good quality adult complete. I don't see any need for puppy or junior complete foods, I think it's just commercialisation, the same as putting colourings in, we buy it because we are told it's the best option for them, and we believe it because we like to think we are doing the best for our dogs.
I am thinking though, that if/when I do breed that I will be weaning pups going to new homes straight onto a good quality adult complete.
Sorry to go off topic here..... But what is your reasoning behind weaning the pups onto any sort of complete kibble, when you are clearly very happy feeding raw? Is it just for the convenience of the puppy buyers? I ask as Pood came home on a BARF diet, which wasn't that difficult to stick to, however it seemed awfully unfair that Una (my GDBA pup) had to just eat brown balls, so I swapped Pood off the BARF and onto a more commercial (boring) diet. I have always regretted having to do this though, as she has been such a fussy eater since and it's only now she is on Raw and Home Cooked she is happy with her food again.
I would happily switch to a completely BARF diet but Pood won't eat her veggies, unless they are cooked and mixed in with meat....and Hubby has a "thing" about feeding raw chicken, although he is happy to feed other raw bones (weird I know ).
I do firmly believe BARF or at least Home Cooked is better than feeding dry brown balls, as at least you KNOW what they are eating.
Yes Jules, I'd only be doing it for pups that went to homes that wanted to feed a complete food. I would however, give them lots of information about the options so they could make their mind up, and if they chose to feed barf I'd obviously help them out as much as possible.
Quite a few people commented on Indie's lovely soft coat at the fun gundog day, and I firmly believe that their coat/skin condition as well as their general well being is to a very large extent down to the goodness they get from the barf diet.
I feed Wellbeloved. Bob doesn't like it completely dry though, and when we got Biff he ate dried Pedigree with a little bit of tripe just to wet it. Bob naturally 'sampled' this concoction and seemed to like the tripe. I transferred Biff onto Wellbeloved and now both have the Wellbeloved with a bit of tripe. Bob much prefers it wetted up and wolfs it now!
Jed eats Vitalin Adult Maintenance Diet, it suits him - as a pup he had Vitalin Puppy which also suited him and when I thought it was time to move him on to grown-up food, I stuck to the same brand - I tried him with Chudleighs, but it didn't suit, so back to Vitalin we went.
I know it's not one of the very well known brands, but it's mid-ranged price-wise, ie, affordable and hopefully reasonable quality, and he's very fit and well on it (fingers crossed!).
He doesn't seem to get bored on it, and usually eats whatever he's given. I slightly reduced the amount recently, because I felt he was carrying a kilo or two more than I thought was a good idea, and it seems to be working - back to the vets for a weigh-in in a couple of weeks.
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