Other meat choices for dog food?

[Duck Keeper]

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I attempt to cut out all corn, wheat and soy from my dog's diet (too bad the food he's on now has to have sweet potato). I would love to do the bones and raw food/biologically appropriate raw food diet for him, but I can't at the moment.

As for what's in grocery store bargain foods, I shudder to think what would happen if people were forced to eat that stuff.



On with the original question though!
Feeding too much liver can give the dog (or cat in some instances) an overload of vitamin K, which can kill them if it gets too high.

And this is all just a personal preference, but I don't eat organs. Period.

I know what goes through them and I don't like it. Blech.

 

[Redyre Rotties]

Most anything in excess is not good.

The fact that a poster stated on this thread that they don't feel that dogs need variety in their diet shows you just how well the public has been brainwashed in this country to think that one complete dry food is actually nutritionlly "complete" and healthy for their dogs.

I do NOT believe this. I do NOT believe that it can be healthy for any animal to exist with no fresh food in the diet.

I do NOT believe that it is any harder to construct and prepare a balanced diet for a dog than it is to do it for yourself or a child.

I DO believe that my dogs are infinitely better off in all respects on a fresh food diet.

Things to add could include chicken necks, wings, backs, or quarters, completely raw. Your dog is not designed to eat cooked food. This is not to say he cannot exist on it. However, he was not designed for that. He is exactly like his wild counterparts on the inside. He has the mouth and digestive tract of a meat eating predator. Most dogs know what to do with prey. Just ask the chicken owners on here about chickens and dogs!

Adding fresh food to a kibble diet is almost ALWAYS a GREAT idea. Keep the kibble if you want. You can feed raw one meal and kibble the next. I would not do a lot of combining the raw and kibble at the same time, as the dog will not generate the quality or quantity of digestive acids and enzymes if he is presented with both as he will if presented only with raw.

I also suggest and highly recommend that anyone considering starting their dog on any raw first get a good digestive support supplement for the dog. I use the one from Nature's Farmacy http://www.naturesfarmacy.com

Other things you can use are beef heart, liver, as stated, in smaller quantities, eggs, cottage cheese, plain yoghurt, any lamb you can get a deal on, groung turkey. I do not use turkey products such as wings or legs because of the round tubular bones, and the risk of perforation, and I don't use necks because of the choking hazard. Necks may be fine for smaller dogs.

If you can get rabbit or other wild game, that is good too, in season, however, I would freeze all game at 0F for several weeks before feeding it.

 

[gritsar]

Thanks for all the imput.
DiVon80, Jax is a GSD that will be six months old tomorrow. He's a big boy @ 55 lbs.
Canned mackerel you say? Ugh, flashbacks to being force feed canned mackerel as a child. Still, if it's for Jax's wellbeing.....

 

[Stefrobrts]

Mackerel kisses - ew! Well, we'll do just about anything for our dogs.

The raw diet is very controversial. I have asked my vet, my dog's oncologist, and a family friend who's a retired vet, and they all recommend against it, and none of them feed their own dogs raw. They have very good reasons, including having seen medical emergencies caused by raw bones tearing up dog's digestive system, or food poisoning from raw meat. Obviously this doesn't happen to everyone, but each vet thought there were safer ways of getting the same results. I'm not going to debate it, I know people can be very passionate about the topic, but when it comes to my dog's health, I really rely on our vet's advice.

In the future I'd like to try some lamb instead of chicken for our homecooked portion. I have a friend with sheep and I was thinking of seeing if he wanted to split a lamb next time he has one done. I do think it's good to vary things a bit so it's not a shock to their system when something new comes along.

When I was growing up our dogs lived to a ripe old age on ken-L-ration and leftovers, so I'm trying to kind of do the same thing with my own dogs.

 

[Brindlebtch]

I think variety is good. The dog's taste area of the brain is much larger than ours and researchers feel dogs can taste so much more than we can that they may be able to identify separate components of what they eat. It is related to their incredible scenting ability.

How would you like taste buds like that and be fed meatloaf all your life?

Let's please not turn this into a raw vs. kibble or a good kibble vs. bad kibble debate. We just had one of those recently and I really don't feel up to another just now.

People do whatever works for them or whatever they believe in as long as it works for the dog.

 

[gritsar]

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Ain't that the truth!

This may sound silly but.....
Due to my illness there may be times when its necessary for Jax to be fed a dry kibble for a few days. For instance, if I am in the hospital and DH is trying to do it all himself. I don't want kibble to become a foreign concept to Jax.

 

[protodon]

Perhaps this is not on topic but I feed my dogs Taste of the Wild. It's for dogs of all ages. I just started 6 months ago after my mom bought my dogs this nasty food, that was probably all newspaper, while I was on vacation. I bought a small bag of this stuff and they LOVED it. They still love it. In the 5 years I have been feeding them and all the food i have tried, I've never seen them so excited to eat before. It's like a treat everytime for them. It's a bit more expensive than most fdog food and about middle of the road for price and quality when it comes to grain free. But it works out great for me and my dogs. Plus it is cheaper and easier storing dry food they do like rather than getting gravy and chicken to dress up food your dog might not like.

 

[Stefrobrts]

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I agree! No matter what people choose, it's important to remember that everyone loves their dog or they wouldn't be going through the trouble to even worry about feeding them right!

The thing about their sense of taste makes sense - after all, taste is linked to smell, and we all know how much better their sniffer is!

 

[thecochincoop]

Unless you are having a problem getting him to eat, just keep with dry food that is best. Dogs don't need variety we just like to give it to them. My dog is on prescription food and will get diareah (can't spell) and vomit if he eats anything else. If it is working then dont' change it

 

[Tala]

I feed raw.
If you're cooking then don't feed bones, that's the hard fast rule. The thing about organ meats is that they are rich and you have to just feed in very small quantities or else you will get runny poo. Don't know how cooking might affect the poop issue, but play safe and just don't give him a bucket of liver, OK?

For raw I have fed chicken, turkey, pork, beef, lamb, any meat that you can get
To get more specific:
whole chicken = meat, liver, heart, gizzards, everything, even a few feathers
Turkey = meat and all the "guts" that come with it from the store, heart, liver, gizzards, I've never had a real "whole" turkey since I've had a dog
Pork = besides meat, pork trotters are the only obscure part that I've fed and my dog didn't care for them although others do
Beef = I personally have fed regular meat, kidney and liver, others can get hearts and tripe and stuff too
Lamb = my dog didn't like it
I haven't killed a deer since getting the dog, but people feed pretty much all parts of them too.