Puppies and nutrition

[Kevin565]

Have you looked into a Prey Model diet?

 

[dainerra]

I did BARF for several years until I moved to AR. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a reliable supplier anywhere close. By far it was the best my dogs have ever been. If you can't do BARF or Prey Model Raw, get a good kibble that your dog does well on. 4Health at Tractor Supply is a good one for a cheaper price. I feed NutriSource Grain-free. Dogfoodanalysis.com or dogfoodadvisor.com and type the name of the kibble you are considering in the search box. It gives a breakdown of the food based on the ingredients. http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1028&cat=all here is the review of Science Diet, for example http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=255&cat=all and ProPlan large breed puppy when searching for a kibble, you want MEAL to be the first ingredient. no by-product meal either. If it lists just chicken, that means it includes all of the water weight and, in processing, the chicken will move WAY down the ingredient list. That is how they get away with listing meat as a first ingredient and still keeping their cost low. Meal means that the water has already been removed so if it is the first ingredient, then it will remain the first ingredient.

 

[wyoDreamer]

My neighbor used to make her pets food, at least until she hurt her back at work and cant do it anymore. However, she only has two little King Charles Cavalier Spaniels. I use the recipes for whenever my dog get an upset stomache, but with 50, 60 and 80 pound dogs, it was too expensive and laborous to make dogfood for them all the time. She used the recipes from this book:

I have a copy of it, and there is alot of good info in there.

 

[dainerra]

honestly, if it involves cooking the meat, I wouldn't bother. Cooking destroys most of the nutrients and it is near impossible to do the variety needed to balance it out, so you need to supplement. It's just more cost-effective and time-effective to just feed a high quality kibble.

Now, a raw diet, takes very little time. Maybe 1 or 2 days a month you spend a couple hours chopping and bagging meals. I used big bags that held 1 day's meals. After that, you just thaw out a bag and give 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at night. The main effort goes into making sure you feed a variety of meats over time to give them the nutrients they need.

 

[newchickgal]

My neighbor used to make her pets food, at least until she hurt her back at work and cant do it anymore. However, she only has two little King Charles Cavalier Spaniels. I use the recipes for whenever my dog get an upset stomache, but with 50, 60 and 80 pound dogs, it was too expensive and laborous to make dogfood for them all the time. She used the recipes from this book:

I have a copy of it, and there is alot of good info in there.

Thanks for the recommendation, I will look for this book, looks really informative.

 

[newchickgal]

honestly, if it involves cooking the meat, I wouldn't bother. Cooking destroys most of the nutrients and it is near impossible to do the variety needed to balance it out, so you need to supplement. It's just more cost-effective and time-effective to just feed a high quality kibble.

Now, a raw diet, takes very little time. Maybe 1 or 2 days a month you spend a couple hours chopping and bagging meals. I used big bags that held 1 day's meals. After that, you just thaw out a bag and give 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at night. The main effort goes into making sure you feed a variety of meats over time to give them the nutrients they need.

I am going shopping on Monday and will stock up on meats such as liver. I've already started making the mixture of what I had on hand. I cooked up brown rice, added raw carrot and a can of tuna. Both our big dog and our new puppy love it.

 

[dainerra]

liver isn't a "meat" it's an organ. Feed very sparingly as it can cause diarrhea. Dogs don't need veggies in their diet, feed green tripe. Canned meats like tuna can be high in oil and salts.

Start off with one meat source, such as chicken. Try to get organic or similar if you can - most commercial meats are injected with saline.

 

[Jubilee1111]

A good raw diet should include 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% organ meats, with no more than 5% of the organ meat being liver.

You should slowly introduce the organ meat once they get used to the meat and bone.

 

[newchickgal]

liver isn't a "meat" it's an organ. Feed very sparingly as it can cause diarrhea. Dogs don't need veggies in their diet, feed green tripe. Canned meats like tuna can be high in oil and salts.

Start off with one meat source, such as chicken. Try to get organic or similar if you can - most commercial meats are injected with saline.

Ok, thanks for the info.