Let share Diets

[Vani]

Lets share our diets......... ;D

Feeding a raw diet has many benefits. My dogs are healthy and thriving.......What do you feed and how does your dog benefit from your diet?

below is a link of some other breeds on the raw diet and how well they are doing......enjoy!!

www.ighawaii.com/member/diet.html

[ShepVet]

We also feed BARF to ALL my dogs.

We decided to switch mainly because of my Senior GSD, 8-9 year rescue who is also my Service Dog, who has irritable bowel syndrome which causes INSTANT gas and violent Diarrea when stressed or sick.

He was put onto Prednosone (sp) and then on the BARF diet. Now almost a year later he has gone from 63 lbs to 93 lbs!!!!! His color is filled with intense shades of red and a full coat.

To note he is also off the meds and is managing GREAT!

We also feed BARF to 2 bitches, 4 year old and 10 months, a Great Pyrenees who is our livestock guardian dog for our Myotonic/fainting goat herd and 2 brat cats.......

I love the book by Johnson, Switching to Raw.......

GREAT resource!!!! Esp for newbies who want the bare bones and clear definititions....

www.switchingtoraw.com

Dana Whalen

[Nightshadows]

My dog Angus was brought up on Raw since he was just a wee baby. He was fed Farmore and then once I got him the price of it just got too much so I researched a quality kibble and started feeding both my GSD's Innova which was about $60 for 35lbs. It made their coats very nice but after awhile I would wake up to the dog room (garage converted for the dogs complete with a couch ) just covered in runny poos. I had read Innova is too rich for some dogs so I took them off of it. Next, I found Mountain Dog Food made here in Canada that is all raw with the veggies and bones already ground in. It is very easy and the price is about the same as feeding kibble. Im very happy with it. Coats are shiny and arent dry, teeth are white.

[xoxogsd]

We’ve been feeding a homemade BARF diet for almost 1 year now. The primary portion of the diet is raw, meaty bones (chick wings/necks/backs, plus some beef necks or tails, and pork necks). Extra muscle meat is added in the form of ground beef or turkey, or beef heart. In terms of offal, I feed mostly chick livers & beef kidneys. Once a week, there’s also a fish meal (canned salmon, mackerel, or sardines) – and each week or so I do up a batch of veggie mush too. Each meal gets supplements too (Vit C, Vit E, Salmon oil, etc.), & once a week I hide garlic, kelp/alfalfa, and apple cider vinegar in the fish meal.

Cougar’s coat is fabulous (shiny and no doggie smell) and his skin is healthy (no flaking or excessive oiliness). He’s got white teeth, nice ears, hard poops, and energy to boot. His nails do grow very fast though!!

PS - nice to see y'all here!

[Nightshadows]

oops forgot to add, the dogs get eggs and sardines also. They get Vitamin C, salmon oil, and kelp powder. They also get big raw knuckle bones to chew on every so often.

[Mary]

We've feed raw now for close to 8 years. We love it. We feed Fargo (FarMore). Since feeding Raw our vet bills have gone to 1% of what they were before.

We wean the pups onto Fargo mixed with goat milk. The dogs get big raw beef bones 2-3 times per week.

The coats are shiny & clean bright white teeth.

For the puppy clients that don't want to feed Fargo, we recommend Di?? van Patton's Natural Balance. No puppy food to our puppies!

[JanisN]

We started feeding exclusively raw 18 months ago (for a progress report check my message about Sheila's vet visit in the Senior Dog section).

Primarily, our dogs get chicken. Wings, backs, necks, leg quarters. About once a week they get hamburger ground up with veggies. We feed chicken livers and gizzards once a week, an egg once a week and fish meals once a week. They LOVE their sardines.

Of course, Enschi extended her raw diet the other night by eating the 5 lb roast beef that was sitting on the kitchen counter. Lesson learned : Do NOT slice up 5 lbs of roast and then go answer the phone. The roast will NOT be there when you get back. She had roast, we ate frozen pizza.<sigh>

JanisN

[Schaeferhund]

We've been feeding homemade diets for the last 17 years. Our two pervios dogs got to live till 15-16, and died of, basically, old age. They were in great condition, vet I've seen once a year for shots. No tumors, artirits, HD or any of those common deseases... My shepherd, who got to live till 15; worked SchH till he was 12.5 without any signs of old age. He still loved tracking till about half a year before his death. He was very fit till the end. I must also ad, that we only supplemented their food, when they were puppies. ( now I do supplement)
The other dog was a poodle, he didn't work at all in his life ... But was very fit chasing cats, and when he was a grumpy old doggy, he still loved chasing them.

Now understandibly I feed homemade to my dogs as well.
I do sometimes boil the meat for a minute or two, so I get some juice and can mix stuff in (otherwise they'll just pick out the meat)
Their main food is beef and chicken (all parts), mixed with oats, rice or noodles or buckwheat, with a little mix of veggie pulp, I vary the veggies. Once or twice a week they get a bone. Beef ribs or chicken parts. Eggs, flaxseed (or other) oil, yoghurt, curd cheese, nuts, herbs like dill, parsley etc., fish every now an then. Once a week I try to give them garlic. Rarely a tsp honey. I vary supplements, I never give one supplement all year round.
Basically their diet is as varied as mine. I not concered with their diet been balanced every day, it has to be balanced on a weekly basis.

I feed Nurto when travelling, I found they can switch to it on the spot without getting digestion problems.

I guess that's it

[Schaeferhund]

I feed Nutro of course when travelling, not Nurto ;D

[LauriS]

My gang has been raw fed for 6 years or so. I switched them when my girl Tessa was diagnosed with an immune system disorder and put on high doses of Prednisilone. The vets all told me the Pred would kill her long before the disease. So I did some research and found the raw diet! By the end of the first year we had completely weaned her off the Pred! The diet gave us an additional 6 years with her. Sadly we lost her this past August.

My guys get mainly chicken (leg quarters for the most part) and rabbit (home raised). Canned mackerel, lamb necks and fish round out the RMBs.

Beef heart and ground turkey are the main muscle meats - I also get some prok neck trim but my guys sometimes get bad gas from pork so it's a sometimes thing - not often!

Beef liver and kidney are the main organ meats - and the stuff from the rabbits.

No veggies except ground green tripe (Aunt Jenis) once or twice a month. NO grains of any kind (well, there were those leftover pizza crusts tonight ... ;D )

Supplements - all dogs get Salmon Oil and a daily blend vitamin (size, age and overall health determine how much and how often of each). My new guy gets a digestive enzyme to help him transition to the diet (he switched cold turkey but was urping up bone chunks). My oldest girl (11.5) gets supps for her joints.

That's about it.

[JanisN]

Lauri, pizza bones are ALWAYS fair game around here.<grin>

JanisN

[BetteBoop]

GREAT thread!! Love the Mountain Dog Food site Dana, talk about feeding Raw made lazy just for me!!

[Jody]

I also feed my dogs a raw diet and have for 8 years. I have raised 6 litters of pups this way.. and have found them to be more active and alert than the pups I raised on commercial foods way back.

I have (2) twelve year old girls.. a malinois and a shepherd..that are in super condition.. Teeth white as a pups..

I give my puppy buyers a copy of Switching To Raw a couple weeks before they pick up thier pups..

Once you get into it.. it isn't as complicated as it appears. And the dogs thrive on it.