Purina One? & how much?

[naturalfeddogs]

Purina is one of the worst foods out there. If you can find Orijen or Acana, they would be the absolute best. Otherwise, if price is an issue Kirkland from costco is good, Diamond Naturals(Natural formulas only), Wellness core, Blue Buffalo. Those are really good as far as kibble goes and affordable. You will pay about the same price as any Purina product, but will get ten times the quality!

 

[patandchickens]

Yup, dogs are the same as any animal, feed them by EYE not by label. That is, pick a sensible starting point and then if after a few weeks the animal is gaining or losing weight, adjust accordingly til you find what keeps it stable at an appropriate weight.

("By eye" isn't just by EYE, it is also by feel and in the case of a dog perhaps by bathroom scale)

I find that commercial dogfoods and catfoods tend to suggest feeding MUCH more than my animals typically need, probably not an accident since they are of course in the business of selling ya bags of food

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[believer01]

Hey Becca - my two cents worth comes from 32 yrs of sharing a home with dogs as well as 7.5 yrs working in a health food store. We had hundreds of customers who had experienced a whole spectrum of problems which were corrected by switching to a 'better' dog food! Everything from epilepsy to hot spots to yeast infections, allergies, diabetes! Really.

Our store focused on helping people and pets get well, not selling stuff....so we advocated that folks fix their own pet foods! Its so much cheaper, there are many books/articles available to guide you with correct amounts. I have a friend with a Great Pyrenees who figured up how much she saved by making her own and it was a large amount! The store didn't sell most of the ingredients, but we knew it was the best way. Dr Pitcairn's Natural Dogs/cats has a great section on it. Most libraries carry that one.

One thing you'll notice right off is that dogs/cats eat less of the good stuff b/c their nutritional needs are met! Even those that wolf down a bowl and then throw it up normally slow down and walk away when full! I do about half and half store bought and homemade. You can mix up a week/month worth at one time, put into bags or freezer containers and store in the freezer. Let it come to room temp before feeding so plan ahead to take another days meals out every day. We also provide raw meat (like they would eat naturally, there's no oven in the wild), but only cooked fish. They get a raw egg 1x per week (too much causes other problems), cooked eggs, table scraps. Dogs should Never have raisins, grapes, onions, chocolate (there's more, google it).

Its best to switch slowly so as to avoid stomach upset, but most dogs will start to refuse the bad stuff once they get some of the good! So just plan on extra potty breaks at first!

Kibble is very dehydrating to an animals system (the primary cause of cystitis in cats nowadays) so either moisten one portion of dry every day or provide canned once a day! If kibble really prevented tartar buildup then vets wouldn't be removing it from so many, nor would owners need to brush their dogs teeth (never heard of just 40 yrs ago and not needed, either).

And please! Please....feed your dog more than once a day. That concept came into practice due to more people leaving home to work and is only for the owners convenience! Think how you'd feel if you only got one bowl a day!!! Their system is not designed to handle that much at once.

Hope this helps!

 

[BeccaB00]

I've put things in her bowl, spread the food around a (hardwood floored)

room, and all do ok... But she still vaccums it all up with-in 15 seconds

I'll definatly ask the vet when we take them for their check-ups. What bothers

me is that when we first brought her home from the shelter she was the LEAST

interested in food. absolutely 'full'. My beagle mix ended up eating her food.

edited: sorry! I posted this before I read the others above me!

 

[MustLoveHens]

Quote:
Ahhhh....that makes sence. I have rescues and they were like your girl. After they got home, they would not be super interested in food unless they were either very hungry or very comfortable.
Im not sure how long you've had her, but the whole shelter experience is extemely stressfull and it takes awile for dogs to get over it. Sometimes a lack of appetite is one symptom of dogs coping with the stress of the shelter experience and then the excitement of getting a home and dealing with fitting in and getting rules. Sometimes for the first time. They also might have slight illnesses like kennel cough and that will also effect appatite. Once the rescue dog gets more comfortable, then appatites improve and sometimes the dogs go over board in the hunger department. I always thought of it as making up for the lack of food from their previous life.
Mine went through this but finally have slowed down. Some still are quick eaters. The slower ones, I watch to make sure that the fast eaters leave them alone.
Another thing that might be happening is that being a BC she is very energetic and she may just need to be feed a little bit more kibble because she needs it. Some sporting type dogs are feed a "high energy or high performance"" type of diet. Diamond makes a good high energy kibble as does Pro Pac. It might be worth it to look into a diet like that for her.