Dog Community

What do you think for rotation??

Posted : 9/15/2008 9:31:30 AM

Started feeding all 3 of my guys homecooked about 3 weeks ago, or thereabouts.

So far I've noticed a big difference in my young 17mnth old NSDT/Retriever mix in regards to the fact that he seems more satisfied after eating a meal.

Before, after having spent the first year feeding Innova large breed puppy, TOTW Salmon, Canidae, California Natural puppy, and the last food we tried of Orijen, he would still act hungry or act like a protein raving lunatic.

Now his stools are 100% better, he's calmer, although he has dropped about 2#, which is NOT what needs to happen, so we are going to base his need off of 1400kcal's rather then the 1350 we started with.

For now we've been doing one of Dr. Pitcairn's high-energy recipes, having started with chicken for the first week, we're on turkey this week, and next week they'll get beef. The grains I plan to use are very limited amounts of brown rice, millet, and perhaps steel oats. Quinoa is not agreeing with the gang, neither does cod liver oil, which was highly recommended by 2 different k-9 nutritionalists. 2 out of my 3 dogs puke it back up in short time...I can totally understand why, so i'm not going to force it on them.

Aside from the meats and grains listed, the dogs will get and are getting a huge variety on veggies, salmon, yogurt, cottage cheese, and I'm going to retry what Primal pheasant raw I have left here at the house. Turkey, Chicken and beef are probably going to be the main meats, just wish I had the guts to feed it all raw, but I don't.

Can anyone think of another pre-mixed raw diet that's not off the charts price wise?

For supplements, they are getting Dr. Pitcairn's recipe of Nutritional yeast, Lecithin granules, a little bit of kelp, and some powered human mult-vitamin along with the correct amount of calcium listed for the recipe we're using thus far.

It IS more labor intensive, mainly because I choose to cook the meats and pre-mix everything.

Is it safe to say that the big dog is eating around 10-12# meat a week, give or take a little? Is this about right?

JoAnnDe

Posted : 9/15/2008 10:15:36 AM

personnally I don't like using cod liver oil - its way high in Vit A and D. Dogs don't need to eat Vit D (they can make it in their skin, like we do, assuming they get a few minutes of sunlight a day - I think it takes 15 min a day for a human). I prefer for my dog to get her Vit A as betacarotene (from orange veggies like carrots and sweet potato) or by feeding 2% of her diet in beef liver. Because beef liver doesn't supply omega3s I supplement with Wild Salmon Oil.?

stanton

Posted : 9/16/2008 7:02:40 AM

Yeah, cod liver is definitely out.

They get salmon several times a week, and they also get tons of vegetables that are high in Vit A, I think initially I bought the Cod liver out of paranoia in wanting to make sure they were getting everything the books were suggesting.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 9/16/2008 11:53:18 AM

It sounds like they're doing really good. I had similar changes, when I switched. My PRT became The Calmest PRT In The World. She's satisfied. She just wasn't breaking down dog food like she should have been. She's eating less that 1/4 of what she did, now that she's fully adjusted, and I have to watch her weight. A year ago, she was underconditioned. Today, she's perfect.

I use Bravo, but I don't know how cost effective that is for a big dog. It probably isn't. I just have the two little guys. They eat a 5 lb roll and a tub of tripe every week.