What did your dog(s) eat today?

[Jakesmom]

breakfast and dinner: IVD Rabbit and potato dry food mixed with rabbit and potato canned food, and some "pure rabbit" canned food (topper treat), and some roasted taters...(rabbit and potato restricted diet for allergies). Also, a few taters as the day goes by for treats.

Jake's mom.

[mjsteiro]

I only feed my dogs Purina Dog Chow and Purina Puppy Chow........The puppy chow is out at all times as my German Shepherd is only 4 1/2 months old but Xena the Blue Healer mix will be 11 years old this Sept. They seem to do really good on just the dry food, should I be feeding them something else?

[.sarah]

So it's okay to give dogs raw eggs WITH the shell? Do you think it would be okay if I gave Cagney one tonight? I'm kind of scared too...it seems so gross!

Yeah, the shell is fine! Mandy won't touch the shell unless if it is crushed up (about as crushed as a fork can do, I'm not about to get out a blender to grind up an egg shell, she'll just go without!).

It's funny, when I'm baking or cooking, the dogs are always right beside me. When I use eggs and have to get rid of the shells, screw the garbage disposal, I have Labbie disposals! lol

Sounds like you guys are feeding the BARF diet. I posted today under dog health. I have just lost my second seven year old Rottweiler to cancer. I am looking more and more at feeding the BARF diet and changing my vaccination plan. What do you think?

Sounds like a great plan! Feel free to ask any questions, we are all here to help you!

I am sorry but I laughed *very* hard when you called Nova a big fatty. I am incredibly immature.

lol, that's okay, it was meant jokingly

should I be feeding them something else?

Well I'm going to say yes, only because I despise kibble, but what do you expect from a raw feeder who's had fantastic results? Look into raw feeding if you're really interested, and I'm here to answer any questions you may have

[Kfamr]

should I be feeding them something else?

You could be feeding them a whole lot better kibble than ProPlan. I'm not sure what your budget is, but ProPlan is one of the lowest kibbles out there.

If you're not sure about feeding raw, there are a lot better kibbles!
Because of time/money I personally feed kibble (TimberWolf Organics Ocean Blue) in the morning and RAW/BARF at night. It is a lot easier because I work early in the morning and have more time at night to prepare meals.

[lv4dogs]

I was a bad mommy and didn't thaw anything for dinner, and to top it off I didn't notice until it was too late for me to want to go to the store. I fed them a little bit of kibble but they hardly ate any if any at all. I think they fasted themselves. lol

Good news though! Thanks to some tips from sarah, some people from rawfeeder group and some of my own thoughts/ideas I am almost possitive I can begin feeding ONLY raw once again, in the very near future. Not sure if I want to try to feed the rest of the dog food I have (pretty sure I'll be feeding all raw before their dog food runs out) or what though.
And more good news, I found a butcher locally (about a half hours drive) that is saving all the tracheas, chicken feet, pork necks & gullets for me. Which are all excellent foods for arthritis & other joint problems. Hooray for Nanook & Raustyk, hopefully I'll be able to cut down on some or all of their supplements.

[Kfamr]

Hermph. Kiki has threw up small pieces of bones the past two nights they've had chicken legs. The weird thing is, she takes the longest and chews the most when I've given them to her. The pieces have been smaller than an inch long.

I've been trying to find a place that sells necks/better bones with no luck. I wish I could find some deals like you all have!

How do I teach her to chew better? LOL

[lv4dogs]

Kay, it's pretty common for dogs to throw up a little bit of small bone fragements when first switching over. Mine have all done it, Kaige was worse than the others, and many others that I know of have done it too. Their bodies are adjusting to "different" things to digest, raw digests differently than kibble.

Do you find it happening more often in the morning (if you feed raw at night)? And do you find a little bile with it as well, or actually its a yellowish foam? If so it is probably because they have an empty stomach.

Either way it should go away within a few weeks once on raw, once her body becomes used to it.

You can try adding some yogurt with active cultures or some digestive enzymes for the first 1-3 weeks to help his digestive system handle this new switch.

[.sarah]

I echo what Sue said.

I've been trying to find a place that sells necks/better bones with no luck.

Necks are not better bones Necks are an odd shape and are easy to choke on. They are also far too boney to be a good meal. If they are attatched to a bird then they are fine, but otherwise, skip 'em and spend your money on something better.

Do you have any international markets? Co-ops? They usually have good prices. Know any hunters? Have you looked at the butcher? Have you looked online for a supplier in your area?

Maybe when I come down to visit you we can go shopping together? (If we ever settle on a date ) I'm going to hopefully bring a cooler down and on the last day I'm there go shopping. You may have some good deals down there that you don't know about

[.sarah]

Good news though! Thanks to some tips from sarah, some people from rawfeeder group and some of my own thoughts/ideas I am almost possitive I can begin feeding ONLY raw once again, in the very near future. Not sure if I want to try to feed the rest of the dog food I have (pretty sure I'll be feeding all raw before their dog food runs out) or what though.
And more good news, I found a butcher locally (about a half hours drive) that is saving all the tracheas, chicken feet, pork necks & gullets for me. Which are all excellent foods for arthritis & other joint problems. Hooray for Nanook & Raustyk, hopefully I'll be able to cut down on some or all of their supplements.

I'm glad the rawfeeding group helped you! They were my lifeline when I first started. I still have the occassional question but mostly enjoy reading on that list and learning more. I'd reply more often, but most people on there are way more knowledgeable than me so I don't waste my time. Plus there are generally a billion replies already by the time I go check my e-mails ... I come to Pet Talk first

I do wish it were a forum though, I hate Yahoo groups

[bckrazy]

Sarah, now I hecka want to join the rawfeeder group! It sounds awesome

Gonzo & Fozzie haven't had anything too exciting today... for breakfast, they each had a beef rib and I had to chase Fozzie around the yard to get his when all of the meat was off. I just gave them each a chicken wing as a snack. Fozzie will have CN with some yogurt for dinner and we have 500 cherry tomatoes so they'll get a bunch of those mushed up. ^_^ Preparing their day-to-day food takes all of 10 seconds, put it in the fridge overnight or in warm water in a bag and throw it at them and you're done. Just for you raw-curious people who think it's too much work, it isn't!

[.sarah]

Sarah, now I hecka want to join the rawfeeder group! It sounds awesome

It is, and I can't reccomend it enough! Articles are great, but hearing what works best for thousands of people's dogs on this group instead of just one person's dog in an article is really more encouraging to me I probably would have fed raw with just the articles, but they are all so conflicting that I would have been very confused. This group has helped me to rationalize what does and doesn't make sense.