Switch between different styles of the Nutro adult. One of my dogs is finicky so switching gets her interested in eating more. the other dog would eat bolts and ball bearings if I put them in her bowl. I've seen some of the results of the cheap food. Its usually large and stinky all over the backyard.
We've killed about two dozen deer, and I've been feeding mine the scraps. She seems to like it. Is that bad?
Not at all. I feed mine some scrap venison once in a while too. It's really great to have raw protein fed to your dog, and even better if that raw protein is from wild game.
No, it's not bad. In fact, it's very good. Lots of people feed raw diets. You don't have to worry so much about correct proportions of meat: organ: bone if you're occasionally feeding it, but a fair amount of research needs to be done if it's an exclusive diet.
flaco: What breed is your dog? He looks a lot like my border collie mix. Mine also likes to chase and eat whatever he can catch. In the greenbelt behind our house in SA we have a lot of deer, coyotes & foxes. Sometimes he gets lucky and catches a squirrel or a possom.
ousux - well, anytime you switch foods you want to do it gradually. not doing so can lead to problems like indigestion, diarrhea, vomiting, etc. however, with EVO, since it's such a high-protein food and very unlike most other dry foods, those problems can and do show themselves much more often. i believe you can feed a dog far less EVO than other normal dog foods, so that's good. but some dogs just don't do well on it, but i can't remember where i read or elaborate further on that. i'll try to find that information and post it back.
I have a 9 year old Rhodesian. I feed him Nutro Large Breed in addition to some select table scraps. I try to avoid giving him most bones, especially chicken bones.
A dog should never have chicken bones to begin with so you can minimize that even further. You are playing Russian Roulette with a visit to the emergency room otherwise. The bones splinter too easy and are too small and fragile. Problematic.
Yeah chicken bones are a bad idea. My picture is of one of my dad's cowdog's who is obsessed with the chickens. He stares at them constantly. He even found a way to climb on top of the chicken coop and stares down at them. Kinda like Snoopy the vulture. Bill they are Border Collies mostly. The one with the deer bones is 1/4 Blue Heeler also. I raised his sister. She is the smartest dog I have ever had.
Iams causes cancer. Don't use it. We rotate our dog's food among these: And then about once every 4 rotations we mix in one of the premium high-protein foods like Evo.
Yeah the only reason I'm switching to the high protein food is my lab is a working dog and burns a lot of energy. Otherwise, I would use Innova.
His dog is a female but that does not stop the other dogs from trying. The Wolf King is like Funky Cold Medina. Spuds McKenzie, Alex from Stroh's..all of them try to hump his leg.
We feed our dogs Natural Balance dry food. We had been feeding the older one (a lab husky mix, his mom, a lab, jumped a 6 foot fence to run down the road and party with a neighbor's husky) Science diet years ago and he was doing ok on it and I read about this stuff on Hornfans and NB was one of the reccommended ones. We put the older dog on it and it really made a difference in his health. He's now 13 and still going strong. We just got a Lab becgle mix from the Lab rescue people in Orlando and they were feeding her Nutro puppy, we fed her that for a couple of bags and then switched her to the NB and she likes it better and her coat is better with the NB. They occasionally get chicken if I am grilling some they get a taste, and they love bananas. The only problem I see with the NB is with the type that has sweet potatoes in it, makes the new dog gassy and man do they stink when she passes gas. We also feed our cats NB cat food and they were switched from Science diet because they were not doing very good on it, they like the NB a lot better and are much healthier and have put on weight which is a good thing because three of them are geriatric and were thin. They get grilled chicken tastes too, but my orange and white cat won't eat anything but the NB cat food, he won't take treats, but the others love chicken.
I want to stress again, however, that the specific prescription foods that Science Diet has when your animal is sick is wonderful food. It is made for a specific purpose and to a quality that a medicine should have. But their regular food is what is not spectacular and rides off of a quality from the past.
i use pro plan, since i heard it was comparable to SD and other premium foods. maybe i should switch. I do feed the large bred formula by the way.
That sounds about right. This means you have to plan ahead. Don't go buy the new food when you have about a day or two of the old food left. Do it with a weeks worth of food or slightly more. Start off for two days 90/10. Then two at 75/25. Two at 60/40. Work down the same way which will take you ten days, give or take. Finish off the last two mixes with only 10 to 20 percent of the old food. Watch their stool to see the consistency and color to make sure it is going well.
We feed our 10 yr old pug, Natural Balance. He was fed Science Diet for his first 8 years which was OK, but he suffered from skin allergies which led to infections needing costly treatment (e.g. steroids, antibiotics, etc). The vet was no help. A kennel tech recommended we switch to a higher protein/less carb diet. Come to find out, Science Diet contains a lot of corn. Natural Balance doesn't; it contains rice or potatoes (along with fish, duck, venison, etc). We made the switch and no more allergies (and costly vet bills and meds). Regarding feeding amounts and schedules. With pugs, you have to tightly control the amounts or they will eat whatever amount you put out until they are the size of Jabba the Hutt.
I had to chuckle when I saw that "breakfast taco" was the last to post here. I looked at my dog and laughed again. She sure would like to have some breakfast tacos to eat at any time, any day!
For her birthday or super special days I will scramble up some eggs, put a tad bit of cheese, crush some dog food and put into a taco. I roll it up and tie it with some seaweed that I use to try to make sushi. I hand one to her and she just flat out flips the hell out!!! She gives the, "Whoa, what? Really? Are you giving me away or something? This is not happening...is it? GIVE IT TO ME!!!", look. A couple times while chomping it she looks up at me. I pretend she is looking at me in thanks and adoration/love. Truth is she is looking at me to see if I am going to take it away.
Raw Chicken Bones = Good Cooked Chicken Bones = Very Bad It's cooking the chicken that makes the bones brittle.
Regarding set times for feeding dogs: If you have large dogs, they shouldn't exercise for a couple of hours after eating, or they risk bloating, a deadly condition. If you free feed, you may not know when your dog has eaten the majority of his/her food. Most resources I've read on bloat recommend 2-3 small meals a day. I have a Saint and a Lab-both breeds prone to bloating-so I try to keep them on a feeding schedule for this reason. Here's some information on bloat: www.globalspan.net/bloat.htm. There are some links on that page about prevention and what to do (aside from rushing the dog to the vet, which you must do if they bloat). Also, here is information on a bloat acupressure point acupressure point. I don't know much about the pressure point, except that I've met some people who swear by it. It's worth reading about if you've got a large dog. I currently feed Innova Evo large bites chicken flavor. My dogs seem to like it, though my Saint has had on-going skin allergies on any food I've tried, even Evo, which is grain-free. I may try Wellness Core, also rated 6 stars, because it's egg-free as well as grain-free. He's also going back to the vet to see what else they recommend.
