Figured there are enough dog owners on BBI to take a poll. I currently feed this guy an expensive freeze dried organic raw patty from Stella and Chewy. Not that I'm big on any particular dietetic movement, but when he was a pup and I got him home from the puppy mill, I was sold a bag of food that was supposedly what they fed him, and he wouldn't touch the stuff. A week and a few pounds lost later, I was still cycling through until I eventually found this one, and I stuck with it.
Lately, all the dog food recall news has me thinking I'm not a fan of feeding him food out of a bag/can, and maybe it's just best to make him some home cooking. Many of the articles I've run across seem to discourage that because of balancing nutritional needs.
We cook here daily for ourselves and I'm wondering - why not just cook for the dog as well? Anyone else feed theirs a home cooked diet?
A lot of people do that these days, but my vet (who was lukewarm to the idea of home cooking) discouraged it, saying animals can still get food poisoning from bacteria in meat. Far less likely to happen, though.
Just do not, of course, feed your dogs cheap crap from the megacorporations.
If we ever have another dog, I'd go that way again. Even with his seizure issue, he was a happy, healthy boy overall. For the most part, we knew what we were feeding him, too.
If the pup doesn't eat the dry/wet mix, then look at other alternatives (we home-cooked for our first grey the last year or so of his life), but I wouldn't make that commitment until I had to. It is a bit of work.
If we weren't already cooking daily for the 3 kids, I'd probably skip it. But since we're already at it, I figured why not. Not to mention that some of the stories lately have really worried me (the vitamin D overdoses in the grain free brands and the one horrific instance where they put dog euthanasia medicine in the food by accident).
If we weren't already cooking daily for the 3 kids, I'd probably skip it. But since we're already at it, I figured why not. Not to mention that some of the stories lately have really worried me (the vitamin D overdoses in the grain free brands and the one horrific instance where they put dog euthanasia medicine in the food by accident).
Other kibble concerns: There is no law preventing the meat processing plants that service the pet food industry from using road kill and dead, often diseased animals. They also use sawdust which they conveniently label as cellulose. Lately one big processor was caught using chicken feathers, labeling it as a protein source. They claim they use no chemical preservatives in the kibble but the liner of the bag is laced with preservatives. Shelf life rules in the pet food industry.
Unfortunately, I still haven't found anything that he WON'T eat. Leaves and sticks included. He'll eat a cigarette butt on the side of the road if he can get to it. Quite a handful.
Anyway - my last one just loved Purina Beneful dry food. I tried all sorts of more expensive foods for him and higher quality foods and he just wanted the Beneful. Who knows why. But I asked my vet if that was okay to keep feeding him and she said it was fine. He made it to 12 and a half years before his kidney disease finally got a hold of him and the food he ate never gave him any problems.
Most commercial foods are fine to feed as long as you're always keeping an eye on recalls and anything potentially problematic - it's a lot of work cooking for a dog on a daily basis and once they get used to home cooked meals, they probably aren't going to want to go back to kibble/packaged food and it'll be tough to get them to eat anything else. If you can afford to do it, great - it's just time consuming and tough for most people to do regularly.
In another incident, she jumped up to our dining room table to snatch a candy bar that was near the edge. She consumed 2/3 of a full Toblerone bar.
I always thought chocolate was supposed to be fatal for dogs, especially if a lot was consumed, but she's absolutely 100% healthy today.....
Blue River Dog Food
Blue River Dog Food Commercial - ( New Window )
He also gets green beans, carrots, and cucumbers.
He'll often get cutlets of cooked, plain chicken in with his food if we have some for ourselves, and occasionally some steak. On some weekend mornings, he'll get an egg in with his breakfast.
He seems pretty happy but I do think we should make sure we give him more meat regularly with his meals, even though he's getting protein in the kibble.
I have a buddy whose dog was dying of cancer, nothing the vets offered up was helping so they started him on a strict 'human food' diet they cooked at home. The vet was shocked to see how well he had recovered and simply said 'i don't believe in a human food diet but its working so keep doing what you're doing'.
Unfortunately, I still haven't found anything that he WON'T eat. Leaves and sticks included. He'll eat a cigarette butt on the side of the road if he can get to it. Quite a handful.
Anyway - my last one just loved Purina Beneful dry food. I tried all sorts of more expensive foods for him and higher quality foods and he just wanted the Beneful. Who knows why. But I asked my vet if that was okay to keep feeding him and she said it was fine. He made it to 12 and a half years before his kidney disease finally got a hold of him and the food he ate never gave him any problems.
Most commercial foods are fine to feed as long as you're always keeping an eye on recalls and anything potentially problematic - it's a lot of work cooking for a dog on a daily basis and once they get used to home cooked meals, they probably aren't going to want to go back to kibble/packaged food and it'll be tough to get them to eat anything else. If you can afford to do it, great - it's just time consuming and tough for most people to do regularly.
Royal Canin is the best. I have two bulldogs that we feed Royal Canin Bulldog adult, we originally bought it because it is supposed to cut back on the amount of gas they have. Stuff works like a charm! They pass gas significantly less, and when they do it doesn’t smell nearly as bad. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the unfortunate issue of having a gassy dog.
Grain-free potentially linked to heart disease - ( New Window )
Grain free is the way to go.
Grain free is the way to go.
Would love to hear the reasoning behind that. Every vet I’ve ever gone to has said grain free is just a marketing gimmick. What makes it so much better than a food that contains grains?
We save all of our cooking scraps like potatoes, carrots, squash, broccoli, celery and then boil a chicken or cow and blend it down. It's not too bad if you are used to cooking. We freeze them in about 3 day servings and need to make a batch every 2-3 weeks. Dog loves it and scarfs down every bit every time.
Would love to hear the reasoning behind that. Every vet I’ve ever gone to has said grain free is just a marketing gimmick. What makes it so much better than a food that contains grains?
The idea behind grain-free is to avoid nutritionally empty foods that many food manufacturers add as fillers, primarily rice and corn meal. By adding peas instead of rice for example, some valuable protein is included.
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In comment 14216334 RinR said:
Would love to hear the reasoning behind that. Every vet I’ve ever gone to has said grain free is just a marketing gimmick. What makes it so much better than a food that contains grains?
The idea behind grain-free is to avoid nutritionally empty foods that many food manufacturers add as fillers, primarily rice and corn meal. By adding peas instead of rice for example, some valuable protein is included.
Most of these grain free foods are loaded up with things like potatoes which i guess would fall under the term of "nutritionally empty," so what's the difference? All foods have a guaranteed analysis on the bag, and personally I would rather go with the one that is getting the proteins from the actual meat source rather than something that is primarily a carbohydrate like a pea.
Most of these grain free foods are loaded up with things like potatoes which i guess would fall under the term of "nutritionally empty," so what's the difference? All foods have a guaranteed analysis on the bag, and personally I would rather go with the one that is getting the proteins from the actual meat source rather than something that is primarily a carbohydrate like a pea.
Mike, that’s a good point. I looked hard at the ingredients Of many of the commercially available products, and I found one that was potato free, as well as grain free (Biljac grain-free). After chicken it’s next ingredient is pea(s).
I ultimately compromised. In my busy life I don’t have the time or budget to prepare fresh proteins and veggies every day. So I concluded this product was good for everyday use. I supplement my dogs diet with extra cooked proteins and veggies when I can. Between the 2 she is very healthy and active.
What are you feeding your dog?
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has been eating Simply Nourish grain free since the day we brought him home. We sometimes add a little pumpkin puree but he loves it.
Grain free is the way to go.
Would love to hear the reasoning behind that. Every vet I’ve ever gone to has said grain free is just a marketing gimmick. What makes it so much better than a food that contains grains?
Our first dog who was not on a grain free diet used to occasionally have these bile spit-ups. She got no table food/scraps so the vet said to try grain free. Sure enough the spit-ups stopped.
So our current dog has been on grain free since day 1 with no issues. He has a good appetite and is healthy so we are not changing anything.