Want to start a spirited discussion among dog folk? Ask people what they are feeding their dogs, then sit back and enjoy. Choosing dog food is a very individual thing. It depends on how much money you want to spend, what brands are available in your area, whether you want to commit the time to making a homemade diet (raw or cooked), how supportive your vet is about anything that doesn’t come out of a bag and of course, what your dog will and won’t eat and any health issues he might have.
Obsessing about dog food is reserved for people like us, not “normal” people who never think twice when they grab a bag of “Ol Barfy” off the store shelf. We have books on the subject, visit Web sites on the subject, belong to e-mail lists on the subject and occasionally interrogate each other about what we’re feeding and do we feel our dogs are doing well on it. It’s not that we don’t have more important things to thing about — we just think dog food is one of them!
Believe me, over the years I think I’ve fed EVERYTHING: umpteen different brands of kibble, homemade raw, commercial frozen raw, dehydrated raw, pre-mixes where you add your own meat and a home-cooked diet. What I fed has varied over the years, according to the individual dogs’ needs.
About 10 years ago, I took the plunge and went to a total homemade raw diet. I loved it. The dogs loved it and did great. My vet thought I was a freak but since my dogs were obviously healthy, she couldn’t argue with me. Well, she tried. I refused to argue so that was pretty much the end of that.
I quit feeding raw in 2006. Why? It’s probably more of a psychological thing than anything else.
I came home from a show weekend to find out my big upright freezer had quit working.
Apparently, about five days earlier.
In August.
YUCK doesn't even start to come close.
I had to clean out and dispose of between 250 and 300 pounds of rotten meat. It was one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever done in my life and when it was over, I had absolutely zero desire to restock the freezer and have another go. We did get the freezer fixed eventually and yes, you can get the smell of rotten meat out if you work hard enough and yes, I happen to know an excellent place to dispose of a body if you should ever need one.
Since then I’ve fed kibble supplemented with fresh food (muscle meat, organ meat, eggs, cottage cheese, canned salmon, etc.) and the occasional commercial frozen raw patties when I’m feeling rich. I love the Nature’s Variety frozen raw diet but for dogs my size, it’s pretty unrealistic unless I win the lottery.
I’m currently flirting with the idea of going back to raw. I guess time is gradually erasing the rotten meat mental scarring. The kibble I currently like best is a grain free formula, CORE by Wellness. Around here, it runs about $70 a bag. Without factoring in the cost of my time, I can buy a lot of fresh, unprocessed food and make a lot of meals for $70, especially since we always have beef on hand.
Jamie is a very sensible chewer but Phoenix will never be a candidate for raw meaty bones. He is a gulper. Give him something to chew and as soon as he thinks it’s “small” enough, down the hatch it goes. This, from the dog who chews each kibble three times before swallowing. His idea of “small” and my idea of “small” are definitely not the same and he has taken years off my life by swallowing things that I think have no business being swallowed. So he will either need to have bones ground or have his raw meat supplemented with calcium. It’s cheaper to buy a bottle of calcium than it is to buy a food grinder but I haven’t ruled that out. We’ll see.
I love making dog food the same way I love cooking for people. Yeah, I’m weird that way.
Cool post!
ReplyDeleteCurrently the dogs are on Purina Pro Plan Performance, with a Nupro supplement (http://www.nuprosupplements.com/) I can't say enough great things about the supplement. I originally got it for Layla to help with her coat for conformation (it has - her coat is fantastic). When Casey started to get hot spots I put him on it. It cleared the hot spots up and as long as I keep him on it, he doesn't get them. I buy a 5 pound jar. It's a powder that you mix with water to create a gravy, and then I put it with their kibble.
I do like the idea of raw feeding, but I honestly can't afford it. I know exactly what you mean about Nature's Variety. They have a little case in the supermarket near my house. I was going to get them one of those rolls and then I noticed how much the suggested serving is for a large dog, noticed the cost, laughed, and put it back.
I do try to supplement them with raw bones when I can afford it. I have to be extremely careful with Casey because he's a gulper. I even had to get him one of those special food dishes with the bubbles underneath to prevent him from inhaling his food. If there ever is a poster child (poster dog?) for dogs at risk of bloat, it's Casey.
I can't imagine the smell of that freezer. One time a garbage bag broke and a lone shrimp got caught in the bottom of the garbage can. It sat out in the sun for a week until next garbage day. When I lifted the lid, it smelled like...well, like rancid shrimp. That was bad enough to scar me. I really can't imagine that freezer, but it's enough to make me gag just thinking about it.
Love my grinder... I would probably sleep with it under my pillow if I could :-)... ok - maybe not.
ReplyDeleteMy kids are currently on ground chicken, beef or turkey. The meat gets mixed with Honest Kitchen's Preference or one of their other dehydrated raw foods. The "emergency" meal (ie. if I forget to thaw something out) is a can of mackrel and a can of green beans mixed together and divided up between the four of them. I also keep a small supply of Nature's Variety patties for traveling. I don't use them very often and should probably check expiration dates!!
raw too, but a purest, i don't mess with veggies or fruit. they get them from us, but not as part of a planned meal. it helps if you have hunters in the family or willing to hunt for you. we had 9 deer parts this year, from december and still working on them.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, I will speak for the novice dog owner. I feed Science Diet. Prescription J/D for Jazz and puppy large breed for Coach. I know it's not a popular choice, but I really believe it helped me save Jazz's life when he could not tolerate very much of anything. My vet said pure protein is hard on his liver and he still has an undersized liver. My other issue is that I hate to cook for me, the dogs, anybody. Oh well - so far both dogs are healthy.
ReplyDeleteMy dogs all eat some form of Science Diet. Lyric is on t/d to keep her teeth clean-which is working awesome! Zodiac is on senior and Legend on maintenance. We've also used j/d (joints), k/d (kidneys), and d/d (skin) depending on whatever medical condition someone has had in the past. I don't cook for myself but when Oreo quit eating I tried cooking a renal diet for him. He didn't eat that either but I would have cooked for him as long as I needed to.
ReplyDeleteOmidog, I feel your pain. The same thing happened to me. A freezer full of chicken backs... hundreds of pounds... thawed out over several days when the door popped open (I lock it now). It was disgusting. I did get over it though as I was devout raw feeder at the time. I now feed chicken backs and a grain free kibble. I don't mess with the veggies anymore.
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