How to cook for your dog?

Hi
We're back on chicken/rice diet =again. Debo has very sensitive tummy,seems llike no dry food is good for him. So want to start cooking for him,what should I put in there? Some people said that should buy vits as well. Any one?

Hi. Sophie is allergic to most foodstuffs. She is thriving on a diet of chicken, potato, peas and carrots, (rice and pasta off the menu as they both made her sick). She can now tolerate peanut butter in small doses and I use fish4dogs as a training treat.

The vet prescribed a vitamin powder which made her throw up but like I say, she is thriving on the limited diet she is having ><

What portion I should give him,he's nearly 6mnths and 12kg and in what proportions?

Be weary, vegetables have little to no nutritional value for a dog. Have you considered a raw diet? Most dogs do very well on it esp ones that have sensitive stomachs. It's natural and not full of grain - which has no nutritional value for a dog..

A homecooked diet is not straight forward and yes you would need to supplement on it.

A raw diet is much much simpler to do however

I know little about home cooked diets for dogs apart from they're not straight forward as Ella has said and it requires plenty of research to ensure your dog gets enough and/not too much of what it needs.

From what I can gather, you'd be much better off feeding raw if you want to avoid a commercial diet.

What commercial brands have you tried? Although I notice you say you've only tried dry foods; dry just doesn't suit some dogs no matter what brand.

I would try a good quality wet if I were you before looking at home cooked if you don't want to go down the raw route. I image if you're feeding chicken and rice that he's ok with rice? In which case I'd try Wainwrights trays (trays, not pouches) decent meat content, not much rice and pretty easy on the pocket.

I agree a homecooked diet is hard work. We cook chicken and veg every other day. I too was concerned about her not getting all her food groups but she couldn't even tolerate the vitamin powder given by the vet.

Now she is being supplemented by the fish4dogs and is perfectly healthy in herself I am happy she is getting all she needs. She is on quite an intense training programme at the moment so is getting quite a lot of the f4d.

For her, this diet works. It was awful seeing her sick every day for several months so if it means I have to make a bit more effort for her, so be it.

Debo was on dry food all the time. He came with eukanuba,whitch he didn't like,we changed it for pero,after a while he started having runny poos ,changed it to Jwb ,he loves it but 2 weeks ago he ate but chicken,ended up at vet,after chicken and rice diet we slowly came back to JWb and now we're dealling with more runny poo. He' s very young don't want to upset his tummy by changing his food. I know cooking is not easy but will do anything to make him healthy dog and cut those vets bills

How do you do the raw diet?

Well, first you will need a large freezer.

Ella is the raw guru.

Have a look here. It may look complicated but the benfits for your dog are worth it.

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t14787-raw-diet

You can make it as gross or as plesent as you like. Ella feeds anything, heads, legs etc, other raw feeders stick to minces and steak type slices.

jola139 wrote:Debo was on dry food all the time. He came with eukanuba,whitch he didn't like,we changed it for pero,after a while he started having runny poos ,changed it to Jwb ,he loves it but 2 weeks ago he ate but chicken,ended up at vet,after chicken and rice diet we slowly came back to JWb and now we're dealling with more runny poo. He' s very young don't want to upset his tummy by changing his food. I know cooking is not easy but will do anything to make him healthy dog and cut those vets bills

The three dried foods you have tried aren't bad but aren't great either, especially for sensitive tums. Fish4Dogs is a good quality dry that is usually very well tolerated.

I don't feed raw so can't help but I'm sure someone who can will be along soon.

Have a look through these sites, they might help you to understand the raw diet better. If you do decide to go raw, try to keep clear of the minced food - it's much better for the dog to have to rip & tear pieces of meat from a bone or a large slab, it's the ripping & tearing that keep the teeth pearly white, not the bones themselves. Also, always feed raw bones, never cooked & in the main try to avoid the big weight bearing (narrow) bones.

http://rawfed.com/myths/preymodel.html
http://www.rawmeatybones.com/petowners/whatisrmb.php
http://www.freewebs.com/krisannriorawfeeding/

Yep ,it's his food for sure. After few days on chicken/rice diet we mix his dry food today ( 50g rice,50g chicken ,20g dry)- runny pooafter 15min from eating. Now we have do something with 20kg of dry food:) Don't know what to do with it.I think on Sat we're having trip to dog trust.
I'm gonna get him some royal canin,good?

No, not royal canin!! Seriously, if you want to try another dry then get some Fish4Dogs, it's the best tolerated dry I know of

Shaz here. We took about £100 of Sophies food, biscuits and treats to the Dogs Trust. We both came out in tears looking at all the pooches there

Do you meant the one at Chestifeld? If so, we are only a few miles from there.

If you are local to us, the butchers at Tankerton (Surmans) does us our chicken legs. We phone on Thursday mornings (they have a delivery on that day) and order 20 lb of frozen chicken legs at a time. They charge us £17 for that amount. We have a chest freezer in the garage that has more of Sophies food in than ours but it is worth it to see her healthy.

Suplemented by the f4d Sophie is thriving and it works for us. Like all of us, we can't all tolerate the same things.

Having said that, we are having chicken, chips and salad for tea.

Sophie never had canin royale but a friend with two dobermans (aged around 1 - 2) gave hers some and they went crazy hyper

jola139 wrote:
I'm gonna get him some royal canin,good?

Preferably not! It's very expensive & for some reason seems to make certain dogs very hyper!

What about sience plan hills?

Again, very expensive! Not one I'd personally recommend, although the ingredients (I think) aren't too bad.

Foe any dog with food allergies I'd probably advise a fish based food - preferable an all-fish fish one like Fish4dogs. Janey's Moo had awful stomach problems until she tried fish4dogs & Moo has no problems at all now!

jola139 wrote:What about sience plan hills?

I wouldn't. Same category as RC IMO. I honestly think F4Ds is your best bet if you want to try another dry

I will support everything all have said about f4d

Hi,
Makka has been on a raw diet since the day we got him, minced whole chicken, bones and head and all and he has never had the runs which is a first for a puppy i have had. He now eats the same as the others chicken heads and neck or duck carcass and chucks of beef with a little salmon oil and sometimes some natural multivits and a spoonful of veggie gloup to keep them regular, they love it.
Definatly worth trying a raw diet the dogs love it and its loads cheaper than commercial food, most of it is free or 1 euro/kg. Only problems is remembering to get something out of freezer every night

What about Arden grange?

jola139 wrote:What about Arden grange?

Not a bad brand, certainly better than RC or SP but still not one I'd feed or recommend for a sensitive dog, even the 'sensitive' one they do.

Is there a reason you seem to want to try anything but F4Ds?

ETA: Look at the ingredients:

Arden Grange Puppy/Junior:
Fresh Chicken 18%, Chicken Meal 18%, White Rice, Chicken Fat, Beet Pulp, Egg Powder, Whole Grain Maize, Dried Brewers Yeast, Fish Meal, Linseed, Fish Oil, Minerals, Vitamins, Nucleotides, Prebiotic FOS, Prebiotic MOS, Cranberry Extract, Chondroitin Sulphate, Glucosamine Sulphate, MSM, Yucca Extract.

Fish4Dogs Puppy:
Ocean White Fish*, Potato, Fish Meal*, Salmon Oil*, Beet Fibre, Brewers Yeast , Minerals and Vitamins. *contains Over 70% Fish.

Rough idea of daily feeding cost:

Arden Grange: 79p

Fish4Dogs: 82p

Where can I get it cheapest? I want the best for DEbo but would like to eat myself;)

Jola, what part of Kent are you in? Our local garden centre orders it in for us at cost so we don't even pay a delivery charge.

jola139 wrote:Where can I get it cheapest? I want the best for DEbo but would like to eat myself;)

Looks like you can get a big bag of the puppy one (if that's what you're going for) for around the £40 mark - http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=fish4dogs+finest+puppy&hl=en&client=safari&prmd=imvns&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=v2g_UOL8OIq-0QXcwIHoCA&ved=0CEQQrQQ&biw=320&bih=417 although I'd suggest getting a small bag to start with to make sure it agrees.

How much does Debo weigh?

Bobs.I'm in Folkestone. Galadriel- he's 13,5kg lol!
For 2weeks we are having bit of history. The bad poo's started after he had some nasty chicken,we ended up in vet with probotics and chicken and rice. When it started to improve we started adding his food. Then we had a trip to the beach ,he had a bit of sea water and the runns came back. So we put him back on rice and chicken. After a day we started with his food and it all happened again. My husband went to see vet today,he said to keep him on rice and chicken for few days and then start giving him his food.
The story of his food is,he was on Pero before,runny poos,switch to JWB ,which really helped. We went on holidays,run out of food and ordered same brand but made in Germany. Since that he keeps having loose poo. Do you thing the staff from here and from Germany have different things inside?

Wow ,I checked F4ds web and there is 12kg for 60 pounds,that why was trying to avoid it. But this is a bargain!

Shaz (the wife, here)
Hi, we are just outside Canterbury. LOL. Our local garden / pet food supplier buys it in on request so you may like to ask around in your area. At least that way you avoid any delivery costs on smaller amounts. We are buying a 1.5kg bag at a time and using it for training treats to supplement her diet. The normal price excluding delivery is £8.89 but as Bob is over 60 he gets a 10 % discount bringing it down to £8.00. For us, even cheaper than buying online.

On the f4d website there is a list of local stockists ><

Hope you get her sorted. We had months of worry whilse Sophie was being sick.

So,have ordered sample of f4ds,will see. How much do you feed 6mths,13kg staffy?

Can't help you there as only used as a top up but I am sure there will be guidance on the packet ><

Dont try royal canin its a waste of money, we bought a large bag of it and vinnie really didnt enjoy it at all weve put him on wainrights now and he loves it the duck and rice one,

and yeah i agree with you about fish 4 dogs i thikn it was caryl who told me about it and vinnie loves all their treaties!

Oh,we did as told by the vet. We kept him on ( Debo,not the vet) on rice and chicken and on Sat added 20g of JWB to every meal-went down well. Sunday,40g- also happy,this morning before breakfast the poo was half/half bur gave him 60g anyway and this afternoon we are back to loose poo . I'm now 99% sure that it is his food. Tomorrow back on rice/chichen ,waiting for F4Ds samples.

So ,it is the food 100%. On Monday night, Debo woke me up,because hi was moving around in his cage. I was thinking that he's trying to find comfy position and went back to sleep. He did not stop moving for another 30min so I knew something is not right because he likes his sleep at night. And I was right-poo on his bed,he sitting on the cage floor,looking very sad and sorry. He never poos in his cage. He ended up sleeping with me that night in case he neede to go out. No more JWB,waiting for F4Ds.

Sorry but everytime I see this post I think it reads "How to cook your dog"

Rocky used to have JWB and have recently changed to Barking Heads. He is now much more calmer.

Keep us posted ><

As I said it is a bit of a faff cooking for Sophie, but she has had a perfect tum since we started it. Still using the f4d for training and treats

She also has the sea jerky tiddlers when she has been a really good girl

I know you've said you'll probably avoid dry food, but Daisy also had issues with various dry food brands. She is now fed Purina Pro Plan. This has made a huge positive impact on not only her bowel movements, but also to her condition and coat overall. She also seems better in herself, ie behaviour (but that might just be her growing up).

Hope you find a solution soon!

Purina is a low quality food unfortunately I'd say definitely give the f4d a go

Yep, my samples arrived today,will strat giving them on Saturday.Also checked local pet shops and order 1,5kg bad of f4d. Hope he likes it and will do for him. My employes using purina for there dog and are really happy with it and recommend it but I'm not sure.