What should I put in the dog food?

[XemaSab]

:shrug:

[Taverner]

1. Cat Boogers

Actually, make that cat poop

My mutts loved them some Almond Roca ala Chat

[Blue-Jay]

2. Dog food, and maybe an egg twice a week.

[Kali]

3. what do you mean?

:shrug: doesn't it come already done? or are you making from scratch? (I have recipes) or is this something funny I am oblivious to?:crazy:

[XemaSab]

4. I am making it from scratch

and I am worried that the dogs are getting burned out on brown rice, beef, peas, and carrots. :P

[Kali]

9. the peas leap out at me as a possibility for gas

they are legumes after all heh heh

dogs can do vegetarian like above, but doubt if the meat is the cause of gas
I would ADD some more oil (and you can use real butter) calcium (dried crushed eggshell is fine), brewers yeast and maybe some fish (cod liver) oil - don't get that on your hands or you will WISH for dog farts to cover up the smell.

eggs are good and while they seem to cause humans gas sometimes, I think pets handle them better
also you can vary the beef with heart and organs like liver (if it looks healthy, feedlot livers are not the healthiest stuff out there - some small farmers will give it and "pet bones" away free) and turkey

chopped spinach is another veg they can use, also you can use oats or cream of wheat for the grain portion.

[XemaSab]

10. For the cod liver oil

I feed the dogs about a caplet a week.

The first time I gave them caplets, they were both like WTF, but now they pop 'em like candy. :)

[flvegan]

5. Here's my recipe:

Quality rice, boiled in water with some "butter" and low-sodium soy sauce.

Veggies: carrots, bok choi, peas, green beans and spinach cooked in canola oil, garlic and lots of ginger.

Eggs, scrambled. I cook two dozen at a time.

I make huge batches that last around 3 days, keep them in the fridge. 4 of the dogs are on this.

[dropkickpa]

11. Definately green beans

They are Agatha crack! I make a trip to a little farmers/flea market once a month and pick up a ton of them for super cheap, and I swea Agatha knows I have them before I even get in the door, she does her whining happy butt wiggle dance for them.

[Sanity Claws]

6. I used to make dog food too

I had a dog with kidney and heart problems and followed a recipe specifically made for dogs with kidney problems. It was about 1/3 beans, 1/3 grain, and the other 1/3 was mixture of meat and vegetables that I cooked together. He loved it.
Why are you cooking for your dog? Special health problems?

[XemaSab]

7. One of the dogs is GASSY and the other dog has skin problems

I suspect a corn allergy in both cases. :shrug:

[Sanity Claws]

8. It may be an allergy

Or maybe the dog food was not nutritious enough. When I started cooking for my dog, his arthritic knees felt better and his fur improved. He didn't have an allergy to his previous food -- my guess is that it wasn't sufficiently nutritious.

[dropkickpa]

12. Agatha has allergies

And gas is just one of the symptoms (pit bull paint peeling poots are a smell to behold). She is allergic to grain, corn, beef, chicken, and pork. Lamb is okay from an allergy standpoint, but the farts from it are record breaking. She's now on Wellness whitefish and sweet potato and her coat is gorgeous, no gas, no itching, it's great. I've found that single source protein and simple carb sources (sweet potato, carrots, and barley) do the best for her. She's dropped fat and put on better muscle, is more alert and energetic, doesn't get that kiddie kool-aid like sugar high then drop, and is all around better. It took a while, but once I hit on the fish protein source it's been smooth sailing. And the volume she eats is actually less than on any other food we've tried, but she's at a great weight and poops a LOT less (always good with a 70lb dog).

[Kali]

15. I'm curious how you determined she was allergic to beef, chicken, and pork

is this from observation or actual testing of some sort? Also you said grain, but feed her barley? barley is grain so maybe you meant wheat or rice? I have never heard of a dog allergic to meat or rice. (I'm not a vet though!)

[dropkickpa]

18. Elimination diets

For the past year. I meant wheat when I said grain. I have a LOT of experience with dogs that have food allergies. Chicken is a pretty common allergy that a lot of people don't know about, and an insidious one, as chicken fat can be component in a lot of diets while chicken itself is not. My dog started out okay as a pup, but symptoms started popping up (and I feel bad that I missed/ignored them for so long), off and on diarrhea all the time (NOT due to worms, I ran weekly fecals myself at work!!), inflamed itchy skin on her chest and face, gas, and eye boogers. I immediately suspected food allergies once I twigged to her symptoms, having been down this road before, so I started eliminating. First went beef, symptoms subsided a bit, but then came back. Eliminated corn, same thing. Eliminated chicken, same thing. Eliminated grain, same thing, and the pork I found out because she'd been getting pig feet as a treat when everything else had been eliminated (most treats have at least one of her allergies in them!!). I am a vet tech by training, and work with 2 vet pathologists and 6 other vets on a daily basis, so I just kept in contact with them through the whole process (saving big $$$, veterinary allergy specialists are PRICEY!!!). We've finally hit on the right feed and have had 2 months completely symptom free, and she is actually getting better every day still.

Here's a good rundown of food allergies in pets, with a snippet included below http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1664&articleid=143

Common food culprits

Several studies have shown that some ingredients are more likely to cause food allergies than others. In order of the most common offenders in dogs are beef, dairy products, chicken, wheat, chicken eggs, corn, and soy.

[Kali]

21. thanks for that link

it would seem I am a few years and studies out of date!

[dropkickpa]

24. No problem!

I've become well versed after having to deal with it for so long (a rescue dog we had for 10 years was also allergic to fleas and grass in addition to her many food allergies, poor thing). My dog eats better than I do! Treats now consist of green beans, pineapple chunks, and frozen baby carrots!

[XemaSab]

22. Feeding 165 lbs of dog here is expen$ive

How do you find affordable fish? :shrug:

[dropkickpa]

26. She's actually on kibble

But I am very picky about what she gets and am an avid label reader now! She eats Wellness Whitefish & Sweet Potato. Ideally, I'd have the cash and time to feed a raw diet made at home, but that just isn't gonna happen any time soon. The food seems expensive initially, but as I said the actual volume she eats is much smaller, and her poop output is less but weight and health is good, indicating that a lot more of what goes in is utilized and less is useless (crap in crap out!). I spend roughly $50/month on food, and she eats roughly 30lbs of kibble a month, excluding the supplemental veggies she gets, so the cost comparison is about equal. At 40lbs and still growing, she was eating 50lbs of poorer quality kibble a month for $30 just to maintain her weight, and her health wasn't great at all. Now, on payday, I will hit the fish market and get a couple pounds of what's on sale for her as a special treat.

[Deja Q]

13. Well, depending on where it's made, melamine...

:yoiks:

[Historic NY]

14. Dick Cheney, ground up.

hey its protein, even if its rancid.

[LostInAnomie]

16. About an ounce of pot.

[LostinVA]

17. Well, our dog gets a mixture of things

His base diet is EVO (grain-free) and Merrick (any flavor, we switch it up) dry food mixed. Once a week, we'll throw in a can of water-packed sardines. They cleared up his dry skin, and he loves them. After a herding lesson, he'll get a can of 100% vension, buffalo or rabbit (Evanger's) for the extra calories he burned off.

He'll also get leftover veggies and raw eggs (with shell) on occasion. We'd love to do the raw food diet, but we don't have the freezer space.

[XemaSab]

23. We're not doing raw food

I know people who swear by it, but I don't want to get kisses from a dog who has just eaten raw hamburger. :scared:

[LostinVA]

25. Our dog doesn't give kisses

Problem solved.

He does, however, give "alligator bites" to one of the cats. The cat just pretends it's not happening.

Seriously though, EVO is based on the raw food diet. If you think they have a corn allergy, it's a grain-free food. You should be able to get a free sample off their website.

[Danger Mouse]

19. Fresh horses!

[texas1928]

20. chipmunks...

Fresh if you can get them.

[dysfunctional press]

27. our dog gets a glucosimine-chondroitin tablet and a fish-oil gelcap every day.

her dry food is a mix of fromm's mature, kirkland super-premium, & beneful.
she also gets a slice of some dick vanpatten lamb formula dogfood roll.

some things you should NOT give your dog, EVER- chocolate, grapes, raisins, raisinettes.

[dropkickpa]

28. Include onions, macadamia nuts, and caffeine in the no list

all have been shown to be toxic in many dogs