How to get some meat on my pups bones???

[Stina]

Once a dog's nutritional needs are met, everything else is simply personal preference or vanity.

Until you start adding ingredients that dogs don't digest properly....

People are not the same as dogs. You cannot compare what we eat to what we feed our pets (btw I am NOT a vegetarian and am in no way a healthy eater......I eat crap and I know it). We are physiologically omnivores and are designed to be able to eat both carbs and proteins. Dogs are not. It is not a matter of protein levels....its a matter of ingredients that they do not digest completely or properly. Essentially all dogs can live happily and healthily on the exact same diet.....from a pet Japanese Chin in a climate controlled house to a racing husky in Alaska.....all that needs to be varied on a truly proper diet is amount. A less active dog can do ok on lower protein than a working dog....that is true, however removing protein generally means adding carbs...which are just not good for dogs. Our pets also don't get to make their own choices....we do it for them....so I do what I can to keep mine happy and healthy. I don't make the best choices for myself...but I make my own choices, and I know what the risks and likely outcome are....my dog doesn't.

Like I said...I'm not going to tell anyone that they can't feed their dogs whatever they want to....I'm just going to tell them what all of their options are...and why other options could be healthier for their pet.​

 

[insiderart]

Well I didn't go through the other 4 pages, but she looks like a healthy pup to me! You must be feeding her just fine. I wouldn't go fattening her up any.

You can tell from the back shot that she isn't indented at the ribs, that her spine isn't sticking out in the back, pads and tail appear good and full.

Sweet pup! Enjoy her!

 

[Wifezilla]

I feed my dog Natural Balance

Other good kibble includes Wellness brand CORE, Innova EVO, BG (Before Grains) and Taste of the Wild.

My cats use Taste of the Wild cat food.

If you feed too much for the dog's needs it will spill over into the urine and may even cause kidney and liver issues.

The whole "protein makes your kidney's explode" idea has also been circulating for years when it comes to the human diet for years. Too bad science doesn't back this up.

Just look at the dog's relative the wolf. What do they eat? Even if they do get carbohydrates by eating naturally growing grains, the grains are whole and not cooked, chopped, heated, and ground in to a mush then shaped. They eat large game, and when that isn't available, smaller prey like mice and the occasional berries. (I had an Irish Setter that LOVED blackberries and would pick her own)
http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/wildlife/wolves/wolf_grey.html

The best, healthiest diet for dogs and cats is a raw diet that matches what they evolved to eat. That does not include corn, wheat, rice, soy or oats. Second to that is a low carbohydrate, high protein wet food followed by low carb, high protein kibble. Commercial corn based dog food is like raising a kid on twinkies and fritos and then slipping them a Flintstone vitamin.

The only reasons I do not feed my cats raw is because I did not know the dangers and problems associated with commercial foods until a few years ago. My cats were already used to dry food and they will not eat raw.​

 

[Stina]

My cat won't eat raw either....annoys the crap out of me...lol I am feeding her wellness core and Nature's Variety Instinct (rabbit and chicken)...all three mixed together. Once this mix is gone I will probably switch to all Instinct as I like the fact that they do a freeze dried raw coating, which supplies some intact enzymes and such......at least its a little raw if she won't eat it straight

 

[countrybum]

Well my dogs get can food, dry food and raw beef. They use to also get raw chicken, until I broke them of that habit. My cats get can food, dry food and raw fish, along with the occasional baby chick that escapes the coop, a rabbit baby/adult here and there and raw birds. I also mix minced garlic (controls fleas and ticks and raw egg in with the raw food. My dogs love it and it is way healthier than the crap dog food that mine barely touch. Have you ever actually read what is in it?

Animals ate raw long before we came along and made them pets and it did not hurt them then, so it will not hurt them now.

 

[Wifezilla]

I think you have to start them as kittens on raw. I did have a kitten once that loved to chew on raw fish heads. She would growl and purr at the same time while she ate them. It was so gross but what a happy baby she was chewing on that perch

Cookie and Xena would not be amused if I gave them a raw fish head

 

[Stina]

I don't think buie would even look at a raw fish head...... Only raw thing I've seen her actually eat was a tiny piece of beef heart....she doesn't even understand canned food...she'll lick some moisture out of it and then leave it... She's not very smart....when she was a kitten it took her THREE MONTHS to figure out she could get over a 3 foot tall baby gate....and when she did it took her another couple months to figure out that she could JUMP it and didn't have to CLIMB it........lmao

On another note...I would suggest being very careful giving dogs garlic. Anything in the onion family (including garlic) is toxic to dogs. In garlic it needs to be very large amounts.....but I dont' think that anyone has ever done a study on long term effects of smaller amounts, so that makes me nervous personally, and I do not give my dog any garlic whatsoever.

 

[emvickrey]

I like to see all my animals eat well. I had aquired a ST. Bernard that was skin and bones and he was about 6 months old. He was very worny and had a skin infection from the malnutrition.

We feed our dogs Pedigree, He gets the kind for large breeds. When we where working on "Fattening him up" I made him a gravy every morning and added it to his food. It was a mixture of a meat grease gravy with milk and thickened with oatmeal and 3 eggs mixed in. When It cooled I mexed it with almost a full gallon bucket. Theo buckets that ice cream comes in. That is hoe we measure his food. WE give our animals scraps. Better than throwing it away so when we finished our dinner he got the left overs. The chickens get the veggies. It took a couple of weeks to get him to his ideal weight and it worked. The vet said it was a great mixture. Try it for a little bit until you get him to where you want him.

 

[Wifezilla]

Eggs are great for pets...and people!!!

 

[LoupGarou]

I'll bow out of this thread now, since it is getting ugly, but I never did say that "protein makes the liver explode." What I did say was that protein is hard on the kidneys--and it is, if too much is consumed. What people are not taking into account is that the proteins in raw food are different than the proteins in kibble and other processed food. I am not opposed to raw diets; however, they are not always practical for everyone. It's like the difference between raw garlic and garlic powder--one is more safe than the other when it comes to dogs.

Feeding the average, healthy dog foods with exotic proteins is unnecessary. It leaves the pet owner nowhere to go if the dog develops allergies to the proteins that it eats, among other issues. However, I don't stand in the way of people who want to throw their money away on such things, if they feel that they are doing the best by their animals. I sure would love to see what they feed their kids, though: "Here Bowser . . . eat your buffalo and sweet baby carrots; Timmy, your Kraft Mac and Cheese is on the table!" Huh?

I see nothing wrong with feeding our pets good things, but tossing Canidae at a puppy who might need to gain a few ounces (if any weight at all) and who otherwise seems healthy just seems unreasonable to me.