Feeding dogs

[bittymatriarch]

To those of you with dogs - WHEN do you feed them their main meal, and WHAT do you feed them? Badge - a Jack Russell - is on dry food which seems to suit her fine, but I imagine could become a bit boring.

I was reading up on the BARF - bones and raw food - diet last night on the Jack Russell forum and a lot of owners use the BARF principles.
http://www.ukbarfclub.co.uk/ (http://www.ukbarfclub.co.uk/)

[Fossy]

Our German Shepherd is always fed on dried food, but then again they do have sensitive stomachs.

One of our previous dogs, a Dobermann loved vegetables and she ate all of our peelings, cuttings and left over veg's with her biscuits along with fresh tripe. She lived to be a ripe old age.

[shelleywelley]

My mum has 2 dogs, one German Shepherd and the other a mixture of god knows what lol. Both are fed together on dried food which they do well on, they do get given scraps as well, particularly like the scraps from Sunday lunch and are fed around 1pm as that is when I go down there. They are outdoor dogs and my mum is disabled and can't feed them herself.

I also have 2 dogs, Alsation X Collie and Boxer X Labrador, both big dogs and they are also fed on dried food. They normally get fed around midnight, but they do have a little bit to nibble on during the day if they want it. Again they don't have a problem with it.

The only important thing to remember is they must have plenty of water, which of course they should have anyway :)

[mrsandman]

Hi

I have a Collie x Lab . I feed her Chappie about 9-10 am. She has dried food throughout the day and as her ' last Supper' about 6 pm.. and she still hovers around ... No Worms , just very greedy

[phanmale]

When I got Charlie my KCS from Battersea almost 3 years ago, he was extremely overweight and they said to put him on a diet. My own vet said not to be too drastic but to cut back portion sizes gradually, allowing his stomach to shrink rather than diet food, and to feed dry food as opposed to tinned because its better for his teeth.
He has a daily allowance of dried food divided into 2 meals, morning and evening, a carrot at lunchtime and a dentistix or similar which we call his toothbrush (he understands that) about 9.30pm.
He would still eat more if he could, but King Charles are renowned to be greedy anyway.:)

[lisajohn2008]

i personally feed my staffordshire bull terrier on butchers canned dog food, it does stink a bit but she loves it lol, also she gets scraps from sunday dinner etc, and what ever the kids decide they dont want, but basically she will eat anything exept cucumber lol, she is getting on now nearly 12 but is fit as a fiddle, and will run anywhere if im out on the pushiron (bike), i had her at the vets a few weeks ago for a health check and the vet was very impressed with her condition and fitness for her age, so from my experience its what a dog will eat (almost anything) lol,

[madelaine]

Our chocolate lab, Algie, and springer, Freddie, are fed twice on dried food - 9 and 2 - the lab has the MOST sensitive stomach I've ever come across so it is the same food in the same quantities with almost no kitchen scraps (he's allowed apple cores which he adores). The Springer has the constitution of a .. I would say horse but they are sensitive.. so of a Springer (!) and can eat anything (ten day dead magpie anyone? It didn't make him sick and he ate all the feathers as well) but I can't face feeding two different diets so he has the same as Algie

Dogs don't get bored with food - they are not people in fur coats. They will, however, often learn to be fussy if you let them.

All those fancy foods in different flavours are created by Pet food manufacturers to extract money from your purse not for the benefit of pets.

[e_nviable]

Charlie (the Yorkshire Terror(!))

http://helpdesk.ebid.net/group.php?do=picture&groupid=19&pictureid=619
has a daily allowance of Iams. It's put down for him about 10am and he just helps himself throughout the day. He's recently been banished from the room during mealtimes as he's becoming very bossy and LOUD when begging for scraps. It's soooooooo easy to overfeed a dog though and I don't want to damage his health.

I agree with madelaine too ....... all the pet food manufacturers are interested in is parting you from your money :rolleyes:

e :)

[mrsandman]

I had to laugh at the lost post re Charlie.... I am going to admit Poppy ( bless her) seems to walk aroud holding her stomach in whenever I have company... This often leads to ..." oh bless are you hungry" followed by " hmm is she crossed with with a Lurcher ? as she does seems slim"... She has managed to hold her stomach in , walk with a sigh, plus being a brave little Soldier ,,,,,

[morganjeans]

my scully gets some dried and a tin of butchers or winalot at 4pm

shes a 12yr old staff cross and other than parvo virus when she was 8 mths and an infection from a sting 2 yrs ago she hasnt needed a vet and she runs round the park like a loony

[Gothicina]

To those of you with dogs - WHEN do you feed them their main meal, and WHAT do you feed them? Badge - a Jack Russell - is on dry food which seems to suit her fine, but I imagine could become a bit boring.

I was reading up on the BARF - bones and raw food - diet last night on the Jack Russell forum and a lot of owners use the BARF principles.
http://www.ukbarfclub.co.uk/ (http://www.ukbarfclub.co.uk/)


My dogs have a mixture of home cooked & barf (not inthe same meal), so I know exactly what they are eating.

They have some cooked because they're not keen on raw mince, it's also easier to add medication to.

I have a local butcher that freezes anything that is getting too gamey for humans, or he has bought too much of, & sells it for pet food.
He also does offal, including lights, poultry giblets & minced chicken (including minced bone), at a reasonable price, & throws in quite a lot for free.
I also buy frozen tripe chunks & occasionally the other AMP frozen meat.
They have tinned fish, pilchards,tuna,sardines,mackerel, or even, when it's on offer, pink salmon, at least once a week, usually in place of a cooked meal.
They sometimes have fresh fish when available at an afforadble price.

I do very occasionally use Denes (http://www.denes.co.uk/dogs/index.php), Natures Menu (http://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/), or Naturediet (http://www.naturediet.co.uk/), pouches, trays, or cans only, & usually keep some as a standby.


I refuse to use dried & almost all of the manufactured pet food out there.

Most of the pet food companies also make human food, if I don't trust them to feed humans without all the unecessary additives & E numbers, why would I trust them to provide safe food for my animals?

Although the rules & regs covering what is allowed to be used in petfood are much stricter in the UK than they are in the USA, the manfrs hide behind phrases like meat and animal derivatives, derivatives of vegetable origin, & EC permitted additives. Some of the additives allowed in petfood are banned for humans!!

The only time I ever tried Trouble (my last dog) on some dried food, he had an epileptic fit.

Mine get their cooked (small meal), in the afternoon, their main meal when I eat mine usually during the evening, or sometimes in the summer when it's very hot when I get in from work in the early hours.

[bittymatriarch]

Thanks everyone for your comments - some interesting ones too.

I want to get Badge settled in more before we start changing anything.

I gather from another forum that raw chicken wings given at breakfast time are good, nutrition wise :D

[phanmale]

Thanks everyone for your comments - some interesting ones too.

I want to get Badge settled in more before we start changing anything.

I gather from another forum that raw chicken wings given at breakfast time are good, nutrition wise :D

I didnt think you could give a dog chicken bones? they are too soft and can choke the dog? :confused:

[bittymatriarch]

Raw are OK; it's the cooked ones that can splinter.

[pearlygirl555]

My grandmother had a dog who got into some pork bones during a naughty foray into the trash. One of those bones punctured all the way through his neck :( but he ended up to be fine after some surgery.

My dogs have access to dry food and water 24/7. Certainly not an ideal system but we travel enough that this allows me to have simple method for people who watch the critters while I'm gone. That way, if someone misses coming over here for a day, hopefully no one runs out of kibble. Scraps are given out to one and all when I'm home, and I get them cow hip bones for chewtime heaven.

[raindropsies]

We feed ours on dry dog food. It's called Breederpack complete dog food. £7.65 for 15kg and last about 5 week for 2 dogs

[nostalgiacentral]

My Cocker won't touch the dried food. He varies between cans and fresh meat. He's partial to braised liver, which I cook at the same time I cook our meals, but only in water, no gravy. Or chicken can work out fairly cheap if you buy cheaper cuts. He gets wheaty terrier meal with it.
And he definately won't eat anything without his veggies. He sometimes has cabbage, broccoli, or brussel sprouts. When I make it he ignores me but as soon as the iceberg lettuce comes out of the fridge he's up and can't wait to get stuck in. This all keeps his skin in lovely condition.

[JerseyDevil]

Max the Pita eats wet food only....and then according to his whims. He prefers the organic products ( so more $$$$ ) when he doesn't approve of our own main course.
We had chicken stew with home made dumplings over the weekend which he said was fine with him.