What do you feed your dog?

Skeptik said:
Dogs are carnivores - like wolves and Wild dogs. If you are feeding them samp, rice, bread, chocolates and other gunk, no wonder so many dogs are fat and sickly looking!
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I didnt see anyone mentioning feeding their dogs chocolate (which in itself can be deadly) but as for them being strictly carnivorous, well that's debatable.
At present, there is some debate as to whether domestic dogs should be classified as omnivores or carnivores, by diet. The classification in the Order Carnivora does not necessarily mean that a dog's diet must be restricted to meat; unlike an obligate carnivore, such as the cat family with its shorter small intestine, a dog is dependent on neither meat-specific protein nor a very high level of protein in order to fulfill its basic dietary requirements. Dogs are able to healthily digest a variety of foods including vegetables and grains, and in fact can consume a large proportion of these in their diet. Wild canines not only eat available plants to obtain essential amino acids, but also obtain nutrients from vegetable matter from the stomach and intestinal contents of their herbivorous prey, which they usually consume. Domestic dogs can survive healthily on a reasonable and carefully designed vegetarian diet, particularly if eggs and milk products are included. . . . .
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Dogs need meat protein. Uncooked is better as heat destroys nutrients. The plants that dogs eat like grass are more for theraputic measures like cleaning out the digestive tract, bowels etc. Not much in the way of nutrition is gained. The reason for this is the digestive system of dogs is not designed to break down the nutrients available in vegetable matter if it is raw. In the wild canines eat partially digested veg matter from the stomach contents of their prey. If you feed your dog vegetable matter you will need to break it down my mashing it up in a blender or something.

Do a search on BARF diet (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) Dr Ian Billinghurst has some good books on natural diets.

www.barfworld.com
 
What do you feed your dogs?

I've been reading up on different methods of feeding dogs and so far it seems the best one (wrt preventing cancer and joint problems) is the BARF diet (bones and raw foods). This involves feeding dogs as they would eat in the wild...raw meat and bones (chickens, liver, unwashed tripe etc).

I currently cook the food I give my dogs (minced chicken heads, hearts liver etc) so I'm not sure if they would take to eating raw food...they dont seem to like the texture. I'm going to add the unwashed tripe (if I can find it) because that provides the probiotics and "greens" to their diet. Dogs can't digest cellulose properly (veggies) so it has to be partly broken down before they get any benefit from it.

I've been avoiding any kind of commercial food since the melamine scandal hit the pet food industry, plus carbohydrates feed any kind of cancer cells should they be present so I'd rather not give them dry dog food at all
 
My dogs get crumbles(aka Pedigree)... finish and klaar....

Although occasionally they get a bit of a treat of some gravy with that..
 
You are cruel to your animals if you feed them on the barf diet. They dont get the necessary vitamins and minerals their body needs. I give my dog only Hills Science - and she is healthy as can be. It does cost a bit more, but its worth it. She has a beautiful skin, no teeth or joint problems and she is in excellent health.
 
I'd agree with the OP on that diet. For years I fed only Vet purchased food- eg, Eukunaba/iams, and others and the last big male dog I had developed all manner of aggressive cancers that would pop right back the minute they were surgically excised. The dogs I had prior to that were farm raised and ate raw meat and never had the cancers we see today. I'm convinced that the cancers we see are related to commercial pet foods and while the vets are given preferential access by the pet food companies to sell the food either on discounts or commission (Why can't one buy this in supermarkets???) they are NOT qualified in pet nutrition and all pet nutrition research is sponsored by the pet food companies. surprise surprise.
There's a local company that makes excellent dog pellets and more importantly, affordable, unlike the imported foods. Montego Classic is the name but I've recently found that there's no consistency in the product. Some months the dogs like the food other months the dogs won't. This stuff is made fresh and it's well priced but now I'm steering back to feeding the dogs dirty tripe which I buy prepacked and frozen in meal size portions of 1kg. Thing about tripe is that it's a fatty food and gives their coat real gloss. The downside is dirty tripe smells like week old corpses left in the sun, so it's advisable to thaw the stuff early in the morning for an evening feed:sick:
 
I like the idea of quality dry foods and supplementing it with partially cooked meat (to sanitize the meat). Best of both worlds, so to speak.

Although, by what I know about dogs, if they like, or is use to something they will only want to eat that. So giving them two drastically different kinds of foods as a staple will be problematic with some dogs.
 
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Niccia said:
You are cruel to your animals if you feed them on the barf diet. They dont get the necessary vitamins and minerals their body needs. I give my dog only Hills Science - and she is healthy as can be. It does cost a bit more, but its worth it. She has a beautiful skin, no teeth or joint problems and she is in excellent health.
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The BARF diet contains all the vitamins and minerals they need
http://www.tanyatiboxers.co.za/raw.html
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm
http://www.barfaustralia.com/
 
Hosehead said:
I'd agree with the OP on that diet. For years I fed only Vet purchased food- eg, Eukunaba/iams, and others and the last big male dog I had developed all manner of aggressive cancers that would pop right back the minute they were surgically excised. The dogs I had prior to that were farm raised and ate raw meat and never had the cancers we see today. I'm convinced that the cancers we see are related to commercial pet foods and while the vets are given preferential access by the pet food companies to sell the food either on discounts or commission (Why can't one buy this in supermarkets???) they are NOT qualified in pet nutrition and all pet nutrition research is sponsored by the pet food companies. surprise surprise.
There's a local company that makes excellent dog pellets and more importantly, affordable, unlike the imported foods. Montego Classic is the name but I've recently found that there's no consistency in the product. Some months the dogs like the food other months the dogs won't. This stuff is made fresh and it's well priced but now I'm steering back to feeding the dogs dirty tripe which I buy prepacked and frozen in meal size portions of 1kg. Thing about tripe is that it's a fatty food and gives their coat real gloss. The downside is dirty tripe smells like week old corpses left in the sun, so it's advisable to thaw the stuff early in the morning for an evening feed:sick:
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So true...plus if our dogs were 100% healthy the vets would go out of business :)
 
Ok, so what do you actually give your dog? like raw pet mince? or do you cook the meat first or what? i dont like cooking dirty tripes and stuff, so how do you go about it? give them raw bones and meat?
 
Niccia said:
Ok, so what do you actually give your dog? like raw pet mince? or do you cook the meat first or what? i dont like cooking dirty tripes and stuff, so how do you go about it? give them raw bones and meat?
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BARF advocates RAW chicken necks, chicken backs- I don't know what chicken backs are in SA ? Anyone?, and turkey necks as staples with raw offal (ox hearts, livers, tripe) occasionally and raw vegetables pulverised first in the blender (dogs can't digest cellose so blender breaks plant matter down and the result you feed is what is found in preys stomach- what wild dogs do eat- like dirty tripe!)
Live cultured yogurt! Must be live or Probiotic supplements
and powered supplements of B&C vitamins and Fish oils because some dogs are intolerant to flaxseed oil.
Bottom line is that nothing is cooked!
 
The BARF diet has huge potential but there is danger that one could leave out some vital component crucial to animal health. To counter this potential risk one simply needs to read up and follow recipes that people have already perfected. No use in re-inventing the wheel now is there?

It also requires alot more of your time so that could be a problem. I believe that the likes of Hills, Eukanuba etc are death in a bowl. Wont bring that stuff near my dogs.
 
When I grew up we fed our foxterrier on a diet of canned food and dry food, and of course whatever we ate. HE LOVED CHICKEN.

Of course every couple of months we had his teeth cleaned.

He was only sick one day of his life. Next day he was fine. He got to be 16 and half years old when he became lame in his hind quarters. We had him put down.

Snoopy weren't your regular wire-haired foxterrier. He had muscles that rippled like a thorough-bred race horse when he pranced in the sun. He got the muscles from me taking my fathers 1-wood and his beloved tennis ball and hitting it from one side to the other on the rugby field ... him chasing it at full speed, non-stop.
 
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Freshy-ZN said:
The BARF diet has huge potential but there is danger that one could leave out some vital component crucial to animal health. To counter this potential risk one simply needs to read up and follow recipes that people have already perfected. No use in re-inventing the wheel now is there?

It also requires alot more of your time so that could be a problem. I believe that the likes of Hills, Eukanuba etc are death in a bowl. Wont bring that stuff near my dogs.
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Really - are you driving around on stone disks or steel belted radials? ;) The wheel has been reinvented more times than Madonna and prince combined. :)
 
Rice, bit of bread, veggies done in the food processor and half pet mince half real mince ..... the crunchies is for the day.
 
Rice, roasted chicken/boiled mince, gravy and pellets. They each get a bowl of yoghurt after dinner and dog biscuits for breakfast...
 
yeah my lot also get yoghurt now and then .... they go nuts for the stuff :)
 
Samp with the meat of the day with biscuit.

They also get to keep whatever is dumb enough to climb over the wall.
 
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