What do you feed your dog?

[jmt1]

would be interested in hearing what everyone feeds their dog.

i have a 60lb american pitbull terrier.

for the first meal i give my girl 2 cups of Nutro Natural Choice lamb meal formula.  usually mix in a little cooked ground beef, whole egg ...i cook the egg white and put the yolk and shell in raw...and a spoon of fish oil.  a couple times a week i will mix in some vegs also.  at first she wouldnt eat the vegs until i started to mix them in a little yogurt.

for her second meal she just gets raw.  usually it will be chicken wings, turkey neck or wings, beef ribs, lamb breast.   ive also read that it is good to give them organ meat a few time a week.  i havent tried any of that yet. 

[~flower~]

Raw - 100%.  May I ask why you feed kibble and raw and don't just go raw?

 Yes, add some offals, liver, kidney, heart (which actually is a muscle meat).  Briona doesn't really like liver, so I will usually grind up a bunch of liver, kidney, some gizzards, maybe some rabbit, and mix it in some ground beef so she can't pick it out. 

[Luv2Hurt]

I have great results with the Solid Gold line of dry foods.  Great quality and not too pricey, there is no way Im feeding him food that costs as much as mine or more.  Dogs get too picky if you give all kinds of different food plus the same food all the time is good for them as long as its good.  Constant change is hard for their systems, dogs love routines.

But I guess if I could afford the time and money, yes giving him beef, chicken or whatever other meat it would be great for the dog.  But they do fine on good dry.

[lilwoday09smb]

jmt 1, if you think 60ilbs is a large pit your fooled. i have a female who i feed dry food and shes built at about 78 ilbs and shes a year old. i think most if the (human food) your feeding will just give the dog shits and gas

[~flower~]

raw meat, bones and offals, are not "human food".  What do you think kibble is processed out of?  Or at least the "meat" portion of kibble?  

  And it is the grains that will give gas and the shits being that dogs are carnivores and don't have the digestive system to properly digest grains.

  I can feed my 4 dogs the same, if not cheaper, money wise, comparing to a "better quality" kibble.  They are not eating steaks, they need bones and muscle meat, chicken backs, quarters, pork necks, turkey necks, liver, kidney, heart, some lamb (but that is a fattier meat and only one here actually likes it), green tripe, oxtails, etc, etc..  The cheaper cuts of meat are usually perfect.  You can make it really expensive and feed buffalo, quail, and more exotic game meats, but that is not necessary. As long as you feed a prey type model, muscle meat, bones, and offal, it is pretty easy.  Doesn't take any more time to feed, (throwing some pork necks in a bowl is not difficult).  So I can't throw a bag into my cart (unless you order the preground or freeze dried premade versions). I have to get cases of meat (I feed about 400# of dog), and break them down to more manageable chunks, that really doesn't add that much time.  I go to the butcher every other week. I spend anywhere from 60-80 each trip and I pick up a few things at the grocery store when they are on sale or I find something interesting.  So I probably feed 400# of dog on $200 a month, probably less.  How much does a "better quality" kibble cost and how many would I need to feed that many dogs?    At $40 a bag that would be about 5 bags, I could easily go through (5) 40# bags of kibble a month I bet.   I am going to look at a bag sometime and see the feeding recommendations and see how long a bag would last, if anyone wants to look at theirs and let me know that would be great.

  Plus no vet bills for "allergies" and skin problems, etc, I save their too. And teeth stay nice and clean and healthy from the bones and not having starchy kibble stuck to them.  So no teeth cleaning which can be expensive and unpleasant and dangerous (the anesthetic risk), and I am saving more both in money and health and happiness for my dogs. 

    Please check out the Truth About Raw Feeding thread.  Kibble is an  unnatural way to feed, raw or "species appropriate" as I prefer it called, is the natural way.  People have been made to think they can't feed an animal properly. Kibble is not going away I know that, but I wish that the untruths would stop and people would realize that there is no "kibble tree" that dogs and cats fed off before humans came around.


 ps- if feeding a kibble find one that has the first 4, or at least 3, ingredients are meat, like the Chicken Soup line. 

[jmt1]

Raw - 100%.  May I ask why you feed kibble and raw and don't just go raw?

 Yes, add some offals, liver, kidney, heart (which actually is a muscle meat).  Briona doesn't really like liver, so I will usually grind up a bunch of liver, kidney, some gizzards, maybe some rabbit, and mix it in some ground beef so she can't pick it out. 

i still feed her kibble mostly out of convenience.  i plan to take away the kibble soon and feed her one homecooked and one raw.

just never felt ready to move into 100% raw.  i need to read more about raw and barf before i can really fully commit myself either way.

[jmt1]

jmt 1, if you think 60ilbs is a large pit your fooled. i have a female who i feed dry food and shes built at about 78 ilbs and shes a year old. i think most if the (human food) your feeding will just give the dog shits and gas

i never said i thought 60lbs was a large pit.  i do know that she is a good size for a female apbt according to ukc breed standards. 

the larger pits are nice.  i just dont like that there are too many breeders out there whos main concern is breeding for thicker more muscular dogs,

with the biggest heads or for a certain color.  things start moving further and further away of what the breed standard for the american pit is.

as far as feeding yours dry food only, i just think you need to be sure that you are feeding her a quality kibble. 

alot of the stuff out there is complete garbage. 

[lilwoday09smb]

i agree trhat most is garbage filled with alot of fillers. i used to feed her the standard pedigree and noticed her stool was very large and unconsitant. now i feed her a special brand without the oats and such and shes much better

[jmt1]

there is a good website called the dog food project.  for those who feed their dogs kibble it shows some of the things you should look for when reading labels and lists the many ingredients that alot of these kibbles have which are useless for dogs.

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=main

[beatmaster]

what about this! 

[lilwoday09smb]

what do you gusy i recomend i feed my dog. im up for changes

[jmt1]

what do you gusy i recomend i feed my dog. im up for changes

you should consider starting to feed some raw meaty bones. 

many people feed their dogs 100% raw or BARF diet (bones and raw foods).  i started with raw about a year ago and i definelty noticed a change

for the better.  if you remember a dogs digestive system is designed to eat raw foods so the diet makes alot of sense.

i still feed mine some kibble meals along with raw but eventually i will drop the kibble all together.   there loads of info on the web about what and

how to feed.   here is a little info on the BARF diet.  the second link has some sample meals listed.

 http://www.barfworld.com/html/barfworld/about.shtml

http://www.auntjeni.com/barf.htm

[~flower~]

Don't forget get to check out the "Truth about Raw Food" thread

     

[Tapper]

Cooked chicken cut into cubes/strips, rice, beef broth and cooked veggies.

[~flower~]

Cooked chicken cut into cubes/strips, rice, beef broth and cooked veggies.

 Tapper, what about calcium?  Are you giving bone meal or egg shells to make up for the lack of bone in this diet?   You should add 1/2tsp of dried and ground eggshells per pound of meat.

 Or........... you could stop cooking the chicken, toss the rice, toss the veggies, and feed whole chicken backs,quarters, pork necks, beef, offals, and such.


             

[Slin1]

A friend of mine once fed his dog half of ecstasy tablet it was the funnies dog i have ever seen

[SinCitysmallGUY]

A friend of mine once fed his dog half of ecstasy tablet it was the funnies dog i have ever seen

Your friend should be feed 10 hits of LSD and locked in a kennel.... For the whole fry... Bet he wouldn't do that shit again.. I hate idiots who give animals drugs.. even blowing weed in a dog's face is stupid..

[~flower~]

A friend of mine once fed his dog half of ecstasy tablet it was the funnies dog i have ever seen

  your friend is an asshole who is lucky his dog didn't die.  X makes your temperature rise, dogs don't sweat like people do, that dog easily could of had brain damage, people have died from X from over heating.  Besides it being wrong to give an animal a drug just for kicks, your friend should of thought of this, so he is a stupid asshole. 

[Slin1]

  your friend is an asshole who is lucky his dog didn't die.  X makes your temperature rise, dogs don't sweat like people do, that dog easily could of had brain damage, people have died from X from over heating.  Besides it being wrong to give an animal a drug just for kicks, your friend should of thought of this, so he is a stupid asshole. 

It was the same friend that got bitten by his rotti i guess he deserved it

[~flower~]

It was the same friend that got bitten by his rotti i guess he deserved it

  maybe he fried his brain a little, yeah, he deserved it.   

[SinCitysmallGUY]

  your friend is an asshole who is lucky his dog didn't die.  X makes your temperature rise, dogs don't sweat like people do, that dog easily could of had brain damage, people have died from X from over heating.  Besides it being wrong to give an animal a drug just for kicks, your friend should of thought of this, so he is a stupid asshole. 

Excellent point.. Dogs cool themselves thru panting.. As where we humans sweat.. Great point I never thought about that factor.. But giving animals drugs of any kind is screwed up..

[Princess L]

there is a good website called the dog food project.  for those who feed their dogs kibble it shows some of the things you should look for when reading labels and lists the many ingredients that alot of these kibbles have which are useless for dogs.

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=main

BUMP

[Butterbean]

Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul Adult

[temper35]

jmt 1, if you think 60ilbs is a large pit your fooled. i have a female who i feed dry food and shes built at about 78 ilbs and shes a year old. i think most if the (human food) your feeding will just give the dog shits and gas

Not another one of the OMGZ HYOOOOOOOOOOGE PITBULLZ crowd.

Your dog is probably a fat slob like most people who think they have a "big" dog.

60lbs for a female in a breed where males who conform to the standard are around 60lbs is quite large.

[Lord Humungous]

Raw- (thanks for flower for calling my pal Regan and working things out for me )

Beef and Bone, Raw green tripe , and pork