iamshack Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Does anyone feed their dog/cat a raw diet? If so, what? If you feed them a regular kibble or wet food diet, what brand do you buy? What are your experiences with your dog's diet? Allergies or other expensive vet bills? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoSox05 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 My dog supports the vegan lifestyle. Natural Balance Vegetarian Dry Dog Food. He is one of these crazy animal right dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 When I first got my dog, I took him to training classes when he was old enough at Petsmart. The lady trainers said she recommends foods high in protiend, specifically endorsed Pedigree and Purina. Specified that you should not feed your dog what your vet gives you at their office as they are probably getting paid to do that. Case in point, our vet gave us some kind of Science Diet and it gave my pup the runs. Never head a problem with Pedigree and Purina stuff. Only when I give him too much rawhide, will he get tummy aches but that is my fault and I portion it. He will be 2 in May and he is fully potty trained but still wants to go out and tinkle every 2 hours. I used to give him a treat after he pee'd so figured maybe he was going out so frequently just to get a treat so I started just giving him a treat after he went #2 and it worked. Lots of learning as I go with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Feb 3, 2012 -> 11:11 AM) My dog supports the vegan lifestyle. Natural Balance Vegetarian Dry Dog Food. He is one of these crazy animal right dogs. Interesting...what inspired you to feed him that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 3, 2012 -> 10:53 AM) Interesting...what inspired you to feed him that? He hates his dog. I keed I keed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 3, 2012 -> 11:51 AM) When I first got my dog, I took him to training classes when he was old enough at Petsmart. The lady trainers said she recommends foods high in protiend, specifically endorsed Pedigree and Purina. Specified that you should not feed your dog what your vet gives you at their office as they are probably getting paid to do that. Case in point, our vet gave us some kind of Science Diet and it gave my pup the runs. Never head a problem with Pedigree and Purina stuff. Only when I give him too much rawhide, will he get tummy aches but that is my fault and I portion it. He will be 2 in May and he is fully potty trained but still wants to go out and tinkle every 2 hours. I used to give him a treat after he pee'd so figured maybe he was going out so frequently just to get a treat so I started just giving him a treat after he went #2 and it worked. Lots of learning as I go with him. Hills (the company that makes Science Diet) basically owns the veterinary industry in the US. They subsidize the schools, the clinics, you name it. Therefore, most veterinarians will straight-up lie to your face about what your pet should be eating and why what you are feeding him (if it's not Science Diet) is not the ideal food for him. Imagine your doctor telling you that you shouldn't feed your children free-range meat and organic vegetables, but instead Hungry Man dinners? When it comes to protein, however, there are all sorts of arguments out there regarding how much a dog needs. The bigger question is what is the quality of the protein. Not the quantity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleHurt05 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 10-year old lab mix, always have just fed him Purina Dog Chow, recently switched him to the Senior (7+) chow. (Don't tell anyone, he doesn't like people knowing his age) The PetSmart near us has a Banfield hospital inside. We have the pooch on their wellness plan. About $32/month, every year it includes 2 health exams, all needed shots, & a dental cleaning, which alone makes it a great deal. Also, gives discounts on any other medicines/services you may need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soxbadger Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 High protein isnt necessarily good, especially in cats because of kidney disease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 3, 2012 -> 11:59 AM) 10-year old lab mix, always have just fed him Purina Dog Chow, recently switched him to the Senior (7+) chow. (Don't tell anyone, he doesn't like people knowing his age) The PetSmart near us has a Banfield hospital inside. We have the pooch on their wellness plan. About $32/month, every year it includes 2 health exams, all needed shots, & a dental cleaning, which alone makes it a great deal. Also, gives discounts on any other medicines/services you may need. You'd be surprised at how little you need from the vet when you invest that money into their diet instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 3, 2012 -> 11:03 AM) You'd be surprised at how little you need from the vet when you invest that money into their diet instead. I had to take my dog to them once becuase he got sick on a Wed when my vet was closed. They tried to get me to pay for all that medical stuff and I wasnt having it. You don't need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleHurt05 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 3, 2012 -> 11:03 AM) You'd be surprised at how little you need from the vet when you invest that money into their diet instead. We just started going there about a year ago. They definitely try to sell you up on all kinds of extra stuff. Before that, the only time we ever visited a vet was to get his shots up to date. Just fed him the store-bought Purina food and he always stayed healthy for the most part, lucky for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 The thing about the veterinary clinics is they understand what their livelihood depends upon, which is you bringing your pet into them with all kinds of annoying allergy problems that cost you thousands of dollars over the life of your pet. They also understand what causes these same allergy problems is the crappy foods they recommend you feed your pet (which is why they recommend them instead of common sense things like, umm, real vegetables and meats). If you actually invest the money you waste at the vet on silly allergies or other maladies related to diet, on the actual diet, you will find your pet enjoys eating more, has more energy, has a cleaner, softer, shinier coat, brighter eyes, is at his ideal weight, and will age much better. Oh, and you hardly ever have to take him back to the vet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I have fed my dogs Nutro Natural Choice for the past 12 years. It doesnt have filler(read: corn) that other major brands have(Pedigree, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba), so there is less stool and more compact stool, easier to clean and easier to notice when your dog isnt feeling well. No rawhide for my dogs either, i have read too many horror stories about intestinal blockage from dogs swallowing whole pieces of rawhide. So i just get Mammoth bones(cow femurs) and pig ears for my dogs to chew. Before my basset Clark passed away he went to the vet for a checkup last year and i was told that his teeth were remarkable for a dog his age(he was 13). Im sticking with what I do, it has worked so far. There are other really good dog food brands that i would consider though, Royal Canin is one of them. I have never tried the raw food diet, but I did watch a Dog Whisperer episode with a family that did with their great danes. It seemed incredibly expensive to me, but its your money and if you think your dog is worth it go for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Our boston terrier eats Science Diet lamb and rice with a side of a potato chip every now and again. She also gets an old-dog treat with gluclosamine for joint pain/arthritis because she had a luxated putella as a puppy. Once we started with the treats she's never had it again (4+years...knocks on wood). She never has any health problems and has one of the best coats i've ever seen with a boston. Cheap hint: grab a bottle of the fish oil pills they sell at walgreens in the drug aisles. That really makes the coat shine. I also get into a fight every year with my wife about taking the dog and our two cats to the vet. They're beyond their shots so it's just routine check-ups at this point. I refuse to spend 100-150 bucks or more so they can look at their poop, check their weight, etc. If they have any serious problems I'm sure we'd be able to tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 3, 2012 -> 12:33 PM) I have fed my dogs Nutro Natural Choice for the past 12 years. It doesnt have filler(read: corn) that other major brands have(Pedigree, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba), so there is less stool and more compact stool, easier to clean and easier to notice when your dog isnt feeling well. No rawhide for my dogs either, i have read too many horror stories about intestinal blockage from dogs swallowing whole pieces of rawhide. So i just get Mammoth bones(cow femurs) and pig ears for my dogs to chew. Before my basset Clark passed away he went to the vet for a checkup last year and i was told that his teeth were remarkable for a dog his age(he was 13). Im sticking with what I do, it has worked so far. There are other really good dog food brands that i would consider though, Royal Canin is one of them. I have never tried the raw food diet, but I did watch a Dog Whisperer episode with a family that did with their great danes. It seemed incredibly expensive to me, but its your money and if you think your dog is worth it go for it. I feed mine a raw diet and it costs me an arm and a leg. You can actually do it for a similar cost to the quality dry foods, but you have to be willing to deal with a lot of disgusting raw meats and organs and stuff. I feed them a chicken or turkey with vegetables and ground bone from a company called Darwin's out of Seattle. It's the best and most reasonably (still ridiculous) priced balanced raw diet I can find. I also feed them green tripe from a supplier out of Hollister, CA, which they go absolutely bonkers for. I supplement these with sweet potatoes and carrots when they are available in bulk in my area. I am getting another GD pup in a month or so, and so I have realized I need to figure out a cheaper way to do this, but I don't want to lower the quality of their food. I am just going to have to work a bit harder, by getting things from my local butcher and doing the dirty work myself, rather than having some hipster company do all of it for me. I found a butcher that will sell me chicken backs in 40 lb packages for about .50 a pound. This is going to become a main staple of their diet, to be supplemented with the other products I mentioned above. A few months from now, I'm going to be looking at feeding 8-10 pounds a day, so $3/lb isn't going to work so well anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiliIrishHammock24 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I don't remember what our dog gets. IAMS maybe? My brother just got a golden retriever puppy a couple weeks ago, and I am so excited to go home next weekend and play with her! Also, if you guys don't use an auto-matic feeder for your pets, you NEED to start doing this when you get a new pet (your current animal might flip out and eat itself in to a coma). This looks like the one we have for dog food. We've had it my whole life with both the dogs we have had. And then they drink from a similar thing, but smaller, and obviously for water. It's the best. No one has ever had to "feed the dog", just refill the feeder every couple weeks or so. I have never been to anyone's house who has one of these, and I don't understand why. People too lazy to train their dog to have self control? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwritecode Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 We've got a 13-year-old Husky that has eaten Purina Dog chow pretty much his whole life. In the past couple of years he's started to gain some weight We think it's because he has arthritis. He's not nearly as active as when he was younger and he's really slow to lay down and get back up again. We also finally had him neutered and that really slowed him down as well. We've also got a 3-year-old Shar-pei/Pug mix and she eats Purina Beneful. She chases the Husky around and keeps him a little more active than he would be on his own otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Feb 3, 2012 -> 01:45 PM) I don't remember what our dog gets. IAMS maybe? My brother just got a golden retriever puppy a couple weeks ago, and I am so excited to go home next weekend and play with her! Also, if you guys don't use an auto-matic feeder for your pets, you NEED to start doing this when you get a new pet (your current animal might flip out and eat itself in to a coma). This looks like the one we have for dog food. We've had it my whole life with both the dogs we have had. And then they drink from a similar thing, but smaller, and obviously for water. It's the best. No one has ever had to "feed the dog", just refill the feeder every couple weeks or so. I have never been to anyone's house who has one of these, and I don't understand why. People too lazy to train their dog to have self control? What is the benefit of doing this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Geez Shack, you better get to breeding those dogs and get a return on your investment! 24-30 bucks a day is no joke! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 3, 2012 -> 02:00 PM) Geez Shack, you better get to breeding those dogs and get a return on your investment! 24-30 bucks a day is no joke! I know...right now it costs me about half that and I just paid it rather than deal with the disgusting poultry parts and what not...but with another dog on the way I just refuse to spend that kind of money, and yet I don't want the dogs to suffer for it. So disgusting chicken backs and turkey necks, here I come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Feb 3, 2012 -> 12:45 PM) I don't remember what our dog gets. IAMS maybe? My brother just got a golden retriever puppy a couple weeks ago, and I am so excited to go home next weekend and play with her! Also, if you guys don't use an auto-matic feeder for your pets, you NEED to start doing this when you get a new pet (your current animal might flip out and eat itself in to a coma). This looks like the one we have for dog food. We've had it my whole life with both the dogs we have had. And then they drink from a similar thing, but smaller, and obviously for water. It's the best. No one has ever had to "feed the dog", just refill the feeder every couple weeks or so. I have never been to anyone's house who has one of these, and I don't understand why. People too lazy to train their dog to have self control? Wait, you are using a self feeder for your dogs, and you call others lazy for not teaching their dogs self control? What is good for the goose is not always good for the gander. Many dogs will completely gorge themselves until food is not available, you can't just teach them to eat until their stomachs are full. It is great it works for you, doesn't mean it would work for me. And I know it wouldn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamshack Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 3, 2012 -> 02:04 PM) Wait, you are using a self feeder for your dogs, and you call others lazy for not teaching their dogs self control? What is good for the goose is not always good for the gander. Many dogs will completely gorge themselves until food is not available, you can't just teach them to eat until their stomachs are full. It is great it works for you, doesn't mean it would work for me. And I know it wouldn't. Besides the fact that a dog's gastrointestinal system does not work the same way as a human's. A dog needs to eat once or at most, twice a day once it reaches maturity. Not constantly or several times a day. Most of the dog's digestion occurs in the stomach, and that muscle needs time to rest because it works very hard to break down the food dogs digest for energy. Once the stomach stops working and rests, the liver begins to transform fats from the body into carbohydrates. However, if the stomach is always busy digesting, the liver never undertakes this function. Without this function, the dog isn't able to sustain efficient use of its fat reserves for its energy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 If I got one of those things, my dog would eat until he puked, than start eating again. He is only 35 lbs and give him 1/2 cup 3 or 4 time a day. If I give him a cup at a time, he throws up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cali Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I'd contribute by me and my girlfriend only have cats, and this seems to be a dog heavy thread haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 QUOTE (Cali @ Feb 3, 2012 -> 02:52 PM) I'd contribute by me and my girlfriend only have cats, and this seems to be a dog heavy thread haha We've got cats too. Dogs are too damned high maintenance. We don't have the time they should get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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