questioning my food choice...

[daisyandme]

I have been feeding Daisy Nature's Variety Instinct for awhile now, she was on wellness super 5 mix for puppies before this. I have also tried Nature's Variety Raw since I got a coupon. Daisy seems to love the raw more than the kibble. Can anyone direct me to a good source so that my dad can see how to do raw feeding correctly?

 

Also, until we can get the dogs on raw, I need to find another kibble. It seems on the bc board after doing some searches, evo, orijen, and taste of the wild are popular choices. Orijen seems to be hard to get around here so that may not be an option right now. Any thoughts?

[Brad]

This is a good start for raw info

 

http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html

[rushdoggie]

I feed raw but keep Taste of the Wild or Evo on hand for when I forget to thaw or when we travel. My dogs seem to like them more than the Orijin. YMMV.

[Maralynn]

Try the Dog Aware diet section there is a ton of good information there for preparing both cooked and raw diets.

 

I've been feeding TOTW to Missy, but now I'm getting her back on raw for a while. I got a great deal today on chicken/pork necks, chicken liver and hamburger. I dug out some beef heart and chicken hearts/gizzards out of the freezer and made up raw meals for the next two months or so. My basic mix was 4-6 oz of chicken or pork neck, an ounce or two or heart or liver and 6-8 oz of hamburger or gizzards or a hamburg/egg/canned mackerel mix (just to add some more variety. I put each meal portion in a fold top sandwich bag and stuck it in the freezer. Took me about 1 hour to prep food for about 2 months. The cost will be about 60 cents/day - much cheaper than any pre-made raw!

 

ETA- What is a denaturant?? all I could see from your link was that it was charcoal?? If that is the only concern, I don't think I'd worry about it. I take charcoal myself from time to time for an upset stomach/gas - it works better than pepto-bismol IMO. I'll also give it to my dogs when they've got mild digestive issues and it help them, too.

[M.L.]

My advice would be to go to the bookstore and get a few dog books that have a lot of dog food recipes in them. There was even a recipe for dry kibble from Bark Magazine that looks pretty easy. Here is the link.

 

Bark Kibble Recipe

 

I have a lot of dog books with recipes, but my new favorite is this one Dr. Khalsa's Natural Dog.

 

Dr. Khalsa was Kody (when he was alive) and Bailey's vet when we lived in NJ, so I trust her completely. The recipes are easy to follow and uncomplicated.

[daisyandme]

Try the Dog Aware diet section there is a ton of good information there for preparing both cooked and raw diets.

 

I've been feeding TOTW to Missy, but now I'm getting her back on raw for a while. I got a great deal today on chicken/pork necks, chicken liver and hamburger. I dug out some beef heart and chicken hearts/gizzards out of the freezer and made up raw meals for the next two months or so. My basic mix was 4-6 oz of chicken or pork neck, an ounce or two or heart or liver and 6-8 oz of hamburger or gizzards or a hamburg/egg/canned mackerel mix (just to add some more variety. I put each meal portion in a fold top sandwich bag and stuck it in the freezer. Took me about 1 hour to prep food for about 2 months. The cost will be about 60 cents/day - much cheaper than any pre-made raw!

 

ETA- What is a denaturant?? all I could see from your link was that it was charcoal?? If that is the only concern, I don't think I'd worry about it. I take charcoal myself from time to time for an upset stomach/gas - it works better than pepto-bismol IMO. I'll also give it to my dogs when they've got mild digestive issues and it help them, too.

[daisyandme]

Just wanted to say thanks for all of the help. Quick question...is TOTW or Evo ok for an older puppy (8 months)? I am assuming it is since it was ok to give her nature's variety....

[njnovice]

Just wanted to say thanks for all of the help. Quick question...is TOTW or Evo ok for an older puppy (8 months)? I am assuming it is since it was ok to give her nature's variety....

 

Mick was fed EVO Red Meat Large Chunks from Day 1 of us bringing him home (at five months). When Beag was brought home (four months), we ended up switching to TOTW (the fowl one). Only because she couldn't handle the EVO (super sensitive tummy dog).

 

After Beag moved out, I went back to the EVO with Mick (now three years old).

 

Edited to add: I picked the EVO because it was at the suggestion of my then vet...who feeds a raw diet to her GSDs.

[Tommy Coyote]

Mick was fed EVO Red Meat Large Chunks from Day 1 of us bringing him home (at five months). When Beag was brought home (four months), we ended up switching to TOTW (the fowl one). Only because she couldn't handle the EVO (super sensitive tummy dog).

 

After Beag moved out, I went back to the EVO with Mick (now three years old).

 

Edited to add: I picked the EVO because it was at the suggestion of my then vet...who feeds a raw diet to her GSDs.

We do Evo at my house. Both dogs get 1/2 can everyday and the rest is Evo dry. They love it and they seem to be doing really well. I tried Orijen but both dogs got terrible runs so we went back to Evo. The thing you have to watch is that Evo is really calorie dense so you don't want to feed too much. Ellie has gotten too heavy so she is on a diet. Each can is about 500 calories and so is a cup of dry.

[Liz P]

I raised a litter of pups on Evo from day one and I was thrilled with how they grew. (Slow and steady.) I consulted with a veterinary nutritionist ahead of time and she gave me the green light to feed Evo. One of the pups had a spinal cord injury and broken leg from the dam jumping on him. His orthopedic surgeon and neurologist were both amazed at how well he recovered. They think that both the PT I did at home and diet played a large part in his recovery.