It seems these days that everyone has something to say about what kind of dog food to feed a dog. There is a dog food for the active dog, the puppy, old dog, fat dog, itchy dog and you name it. I fed commercial brand dog foods for most of my career and I honestly thought my brand of dog food was the best. Then I started noticing things. The food would disappear from the shelves of the local pet food store. Many times the manufacturer will have voluntary recall and not always disclose why. You had to search for the reasons a company would pull a product off a shelf. A standard excuse was that the manufacturer wasn’t sending food for shipping and warehouse issues. Finally, the food would appear back on the shelf in a newly designed bag. Then things would happen to my dogs. Diarrhea, itchy skin, vomiting and ear infections were just some of the fun things my poor dogs endured. I have known for some time that one of my dogs has a problem with corn so I took care to feed foods minus the corn. Apparently after a while other grains started bothering him as well, including rice, wheat, barley and others. Then after seeing other brands change bags, I realized they were changing the ingredients in the food as well as the look of the bag. I struggled with different foods until I met a weight pull judge at a pull in North Texas.
Her dogs were absolutely beautiful. She owned old family red nosed American Pitbull Terriers. When asked if I would hold one of her beautiful dogs I couldn’t believe the softness of the coat and the overall health of this dog. Naturally the big question had to come, “What do you feed these guys?” Her answer changed my way
of thinking when it comes to dog food. RAW!
I had tried raw in the past and it was a pain. My new friend sent me some information and when I saw what she did, it was not only easy, but made too much sense. I can now off the top of my head tell anyone what is in my dog food. Lettuce, apples, carrots, celery, green beans, peas pureed and added to ground beef, occasionally I’ll toss in other fruit or veggies. Added fresh each morning are; ground alfalfa powder, ground kelp, Missing Link Plus and a fish oil capsule. In the evening they get raw chicken backs. Each dog gets 2-3% of their body weight in food. I adjust a little depending on each dog. Here are the things I noticed since the big switch. No more itching, ear infections, diarrhea, vomiting bile mid afternoon and most of all the vet bill has decreased considerably. The heavy dogs have lost weight, the skinny dogs have gained, my picky eater is the first to the food bowls and the dogs behave much better. If it were just one or two dogs I would say it was a fluke, but we are talking eight dogs. Ranging from 7lbs to 80lbs aged 1 – 10 all with different, jobs, health conditions and allergies. They are all now focused on their work, very happy, frisky and active. So now when people start recommending xx brand of dog food I ask, “Can you name all the ingredients off the top of your head?” If they can’t then there if too much junk in the food and I want to stay away from it.
While I prefer raw, I know that it is not for all. However, there are some very good foods out there that are great choices for those who would love to feed raw and can’t. For me I love my once a week hour of making dog food. It is a labor of love that my hard working dogs deserve. I control the quality of the food I feed and know exactly what is going into the diet of my hard working friends. That makes for a very happy pack.
Her dogs were absolutely beautiful. She owned old family red nosed American Pitbull Terriers. When asked if I would hold one of her beautiful dogs I couldn’t believe the softness of the coat and the overall health of this dog. Naturally the big question had to come, “What do you feed these guys?” Her answer changed my way
of thinking when it comes to dog food. RAW!I had tried raw in the past and it was a pain. My new friend sent me some information and when I saw what she did, it was not only easy, but made too much sense. I can now off the top of my head tell anyone what is in my dog food. Lettuce, apples, carrots, celery, green beans, peas pureed and added to ground beef, occasionally I’ll toss in other fruit or veggies. Added fresh each morning are; ground alfalfa powder, ground kelp, Missing Link Plus and a fish oil capsule. In the evening they get raw chicken backs. Each dog gets 2-3% of their body weight in food. I adjust a little depending on each dog. Here are the things I noticed since the big switch. No more itching, ear infections, diarrhea, vomiting bile mid afternoon and most of all the vet bill has decreased considerably. The heavy dogs have lost weight, the skinny dogs have gained, my picky eater is the first to the food bowls and the dogs behave much better. If it were just one or two dogs I would say it was a fluke, but we are talking eight dogs. Ranging from 7lbs to 80lbs aged 1 – 10 all with different, jobs, health conditions and allergies. They are all now focused on their work, very happy, frisky and active. So now when people start recommending xx brand of dog food I ask, “Can you name all the ingredients off the top of your head?” If they can’t then there if too much junk in the food and I want to stay away from it.
While I prefer raw, I know that it is not for all. However, there are some very good foods out there that are great choices for those who would love to feed raw and can’t. For me I love my once a week hour of making dog food. It is a labor of love that my hard working dogs deserve. I control the quality of the food I feed and know exactly what is going into the diet of my hard working friends. That makes for a very happy pack.
