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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Aug 19, 2008 12:58:21 GMT -5
I would like to be feeding my dog, Ajax, a raw diet. The problems: I live with my boyfriend and his chihuahua, Vita, and my boyfriend doesn't want her to be eating raw. Our dogs go to my parents 4-5/7 days a week to play while we aren't home. My mom doesn't want her boston terrier, Izzy, to eat raw either.
I can't feed raw to my dog when she is constantly able to access kibble at my apartment and my parent's home. All three dogs eat Science Diet kibble but we have all agreed to switch kibble.
What would you recommend? All three dogs 6-25lbs, 1.5 - 3.5 years old, healthy, fit, but not EXTREMELY active. They aren't show dogs, just our best friends.
Evo? Wysong? Natural Balance?
They don't want to do the prepackaged raw and the kibble has to be somewhat reasonably priced... such as $40 for a 30lbs bag, maybe more.
What do you feed your dog and what's your suggestion?
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Post by buzzonesbirdie on Aug 19, 2008 15:44:18 GMT -5
I feed Chicken Soup for the Puppy lovers and Dog lovers soul to my dogs. this is also what my cat is feed (the cat verison) and the cat version was also in my ferrets kibble mix before they went raw. Its a good food (i think) and about $30 for a 35 lb bag of food
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Post by tss on Aug 19, 2008 22:19:38 GMT -5
I'd go for Taste Of The Wild, it's grain free and has more meat then EVO but it's sky high in fat and lower in protien. It runs right at $40 for 35 pounds..
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Post by weloveourweasels on Aug 20, 2008 1:02:28 GMT -5
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Post by Forum Administrator on Aug 20, 2008 2:50:35 GMT -5
I live with my boyfriend and his chihuahua, Vita, and my boyfriend doesn't want her to be eating raw. If you don't mind me asking, why?
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Aug 20, 2008 11:16:08 GMT -5
Of course you can ask. My boyfriend and I are both vegan, so the switch to raw for the ferrets has been very difficult for both of us. The difference is... The ferrets are MINE so I can do whatever I want with them. He hasn't ever touched their food (or litter box!) and he doesn't feel comfortable touching meat. If I were to switch the dogs to raw there would be even more meat in the house and since its his dog I would hope he would help out feeding them. At this point he doesn't want to hear about the benefits, so I will give him time and hope for later. I told him that he is already feeding her meat by giving her kibble, but its the thought of seeing the meat that freaks him out. But I do want to clarify... I'm not the kind of person that would let my man choose what I should and shouldn't do with MY dog. At this point it wouldn't be realistic to expect my mother to not leave kibble out for HER dog while my dog is visiting, so I am keeping my dog on kibble for the sake of the people that are helping me out. Thats why I want the best kibble out there
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Post by tsslilsis on Aug 20, 2008 11:38:10 GMT -5
I say, Taste of the Wild and you can maybe (your choice) use Evo as a bit of a kibble topper. The dogs are so small it will barely cost anything to feed it to them.
They have three formulas and High Prairie has more meat in it. You can rotate between them, though.
I don't have room to speak (My dogs are on a grainy kibble ATM, though they are half raw half kibble fed) but Chicken Soup is Pretty grainy. I say, the less grainy you can get the better. Dogs can't digest grain. And they should eat less Taste of The Wild than they do SD. SD is really bad for what it is priced. Basically compareable to Purina Naturals or such. On a better kibble your getting more *bang for your buck*
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Post by buzzonesbirdie on Aug 20, 2008 12:06:24 GMT -5
The Chicken soup was a comprimise price wise but i would feed the dogs raw too but only one dog is mine and the other two are my step-sons and he does not want to feed raw. so with kibble being out in my house all the time i didnt even try to feed my dog raw. The cat was a different story she did not want to switch no matter what
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Post by desertram on Aug 20, 2008 22:45:31 GMT -5
wellness is really awesome no grain made all from human grade food try the small breed or core its really good we feed our dogs that or soild gold and they do really good on it good luck with it
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Post by tss on Aug 21, 2008 13:24:02 GMT -5
Not all Wellness is grain free, just Core.
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Post by Heather on Aug 24, 2008 23:05:25 GMT -5
Why don't you mix up your raw into serving containers and feed that way? Then no one has to handle the food except you. In the packages it's no different than feeding canned...only you've created the canned. I know of many people who deal with dog and cat food in this manner especially when someone else has to do a feeding. I made up plastic baggies of food, so that my pet sitter could feed the raw to my dogs when I was away (she has since converted her dog to raw as she discovered that because my kitties are raw fed, she's not allergic to them). All she had to do was take out the bags, thaw and pour into the bowl...really simple. I took all the guess work and labour out of it by making up the meals (oh by the way she's vegan, she wears gloves when handling the meat). Good luck, I hope you can make things work. I really is the ultimate way to feed but it's something you have to work toward ciao
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Post by razzlette on Aug 25, 2008 7:56:07 GMT -5
May I ask why?
The natures variety is a good raw food. It is in little cubes that looks like baby food. I get the snack size baggies and divide all the food in to 2oz helpings for when I work on the weekends, all the hubby or the kids have to do is dump it in the bowl. I also do this with the cornish game hens. I don't want the kids touching raw meat so this works out great for them.
~Stacy
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Post by aleronferrets on Sept 4, 2008 8:49:15 GMT -5
This shouldn't be a problem at all, you just need to stop free feeding the dogs. From both a behavioral and health standpoint, free feeding is not a good idea anyway. And yeah a kibble change is called for. I would suggest actually rotating through different brands maybe every month. Variety is important to dogs and I would also suggest adding as much "real" food as possible to the meal - canned fish, eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, cooked meats. Quality canned food is a GREAT addition to a kibble fed dog's diet (actually would be a great alternative to kibble but the price is too much for any people). Quality canned food contains far more meat than kibble does and it is in a much less processed form. Also I would suggest supplementing fish body oil for essential fatty acids which are destroyed by processing and a quality mineral supplement such as Longevity by Springtime or Dogzymes Ultimate by Nature's Farmacy. While I don't agree with this woman on everything, she has a lot of good nutritional info for kibble feeders on her website. www.greatdanelady.com/ I strongly suggest reading the book See Spot Live Longer by Steve Brown for anyone interested in their pet's health
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