Dog "allergies" & dogfood vs home-prepared food?

Well it looks like we're well on our way to adopting our dog. I am awaiting a call this evening to hear if Kiki was adopted out today, or if we will be going to meet her this Saturday.

Seeing as we are VERY close to bringing our new fur-friend home, I cross-checked dozens of sites to compose a "Doggy No-No" list for our refrigerator. I didn't include anything that we just don't use, (or never WOULD feed to a dog) but does anyone see anything obvious that should be added to this list? We are looking at a 12 pound dog so rather than take chances with POSSIBLE issues I'd just rather avoid anything that MIGHT cause problems. Here's what I found:

DO NOT FEED DOGS:
Real Animal Bones, Avocado, Broccoli, Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, or anything else with Caffeine, Citrus, Fat-trimmings, Grapes & Raisins, Macadamia Nuts, Milk & Dairy, Mushrooms, Onions & Garlic, Soy, Sugary Foods, or Yeasts (including nutritional)

Also, I would LOVE to know everyone's opinions on organic or other "quality" dogfoods, home-cooked dogfoods, and combinations of any or all of these. We plan to start with the foods she is used to & slowly wean her onto our own choice of foods to avoid a whole new diet along with her new home, but we are still unsure exactly what that should BE! I have found & read literally thousands of recipes & opinions at this point, but there are literally millions more still out there and everything I read contradicts everything else.

So I know that this is something people are rather opinionated about, but I would really like is to hear all of YOUR opinions so that we can make the best possible choice for our own dog... and family. I know that many of you who frequent this board tend to believe in what's best for an animal rather than what's most convenient... and as I hunt the internet that's not always what I'm finding. To be honest, I don't think that preparing a fresh batch of doggie gourmet EVERY evening is very realistic for us, but I DON'T want to just hand her a bowlful of dried "crap" every day either!

What I am particulary looking for is the best possible combination for small dogs... while (hopefully) keeping in mind that we ARE on a slightly snug budget. It would seem that home-cooked foods are ideal, but what ingredients or types are best? And then what do we do while traveling? We plan to bring our dog with us on vacations to Colorado & Florida and camping trips, where I won't always have a stove or fridge handy. I am GUESSING that it would be best to feed her a combination of some sort of higher-quality kibble AND homecooked foods so she wouldn't rebel during vacations... right? Also, for those of you that do cook your own dog meals... is it possible to cook a batch of food weekly, and freeze it in daily portions, or must it be prepared fresh each day?

I truly apologize for the length of this, but I have so many questions that are STILL unanswered despite a month of hunting the internet!
love,
mom

 

http://www.healinghope.net/downloads/canine_raw_food_diet_basics.pdf

this is the guideline that we follow on our raw food diet. our three pyrs have been on it since April- they arre thriving on it. one has allergies- mostly to grain and one is a puppy. Bones are ok for your dog as long as they are NOT cooked. cooked bones will splinter and cause all sorts of problems. After all ----in the wild- there were no BBQ's......
I cuisinart all sorts of veggies and they love them. dogs are omnivores- not carnivores as is commonly believed. our puppy has frozen yam slices as treats- no more dog cookies loaded with calories and chemicals.

PAX

 

so nobody likes or dislikes my dog's raw food diet?

PAX

 

lol... I was hoping SOMEONE else would have opinions too!

I did look into the raw food concept, I'm just terrified of all those foodborne illnesses that MIGHT be hiding in raw food. What do you know about avoiding these in dogs? I'd be interested in trying this - at least as a part-time concept for her. Our little girl is all of 12 pounds so I'm a bit leery of trying too many "risky" things with her since she just doesn't have the fortitude of a full-size lab.

We brought Spirit home about 3.5weeks ago, and so far she has been eating Blue Diamond rice & lamb "kibble" with little bits of beef or turkey on top. She also likes raw carrot, apple & pear, cilantro and the chewy all-natural treats that look like miniature gingerbread men. (sorry, forgot the name!) I've also been alternating between unsalted/ungarlic-ed gravy and plain yogurt as a mix-in for her kibble at lunchtime... she seems to really like it, and the yogurt was suggested as something that would help with her tear-staining.

Next week, once we've got a few moments to play with this kind of thing, I wanted to make up some homemade treats - probably peanut butter flavor, and try a few of these recipes I've found.
love,
mom

 

hey hun, this is late i know but i'll share any way.
there are 3 things that pet carnivores need nutritionally.
meat, bones and offal. these 3 things will provide all the vits minerals etc that they need.

DO NOT FEED DOGS:
Real Animal Bones, rubbish, animal bones are fine and completely species appropriate. always raw, never cooked. i personally dont feed the huge marrow bones as they are apt to wear teeth quickly.

Avocado, Broccoli, i dont know if these are dangerous, but they are not species appropriate, and unless thoroughly cooked will be indigestible. dogs dont produce the digestive enzymes that enable the breakdown of cellulose.
Chocolate, containes theobromine, which can be fatal.
Coffee, Tea, or anything else with Caffeine, dogs are unable to process caffine, and although i dont know how harmful it would be it is certainly not needed.
Citrus see avocado
Fat-trimmings i occasionally add small amounts of raw animal fat to my dogs meal, if they are eating an exceptionally lean cut of meat and will be working hard the following day, especially in winter.
Grapes & Raisins, can harbour a mould (which i cant remember the name of, sorry!) which can damage kidneys, not worth the risk imo
Macadamia Nuts, i have no idea on this one
Milk & Dairy, once weaned dogs lose the ability to digest milk products, but here in england stinky cheese is often used in tiny pieces as a reward in training Mushrooms, no idea!
Onions & Garlic, the onion one i have heard of, and again cant remember why, but garlic has been used for years by many....
Soy, Sugary Foods, or Yeasts (including nutritional) all of these are highly likely to trigger allergies.



and i will just add, though no to be picky (one of the few things i will always point out if it comes up )

dogs are indeed carnivores, though able to survive on a man made omnivourous diet.
they are of the order carnivora, and a sub species of the wolf. the domestic dog has recently been reclassifies as 'canis lupus familiaris'.
they are true carnivores the same as the wolf. they cannot dogest cellulose unless it has been cooked (i dont know many wolves or dogs who can cook) or rendered to a pulp, which a dog cannot do as they cannot chew in the sense of masticating, they have no side to side action with their jaws, unlike the bear - a true omnivore. they simply render food into small enough lumps to fit down their throats, therefore they can only assimilate vegetable matter if we process it for them. no species natural diet relies on man to prepare it for them.
many people argue that wolves get vegetable matter form the stomach of their prey, this is also false. when wolves bring down large ungulates (moose etc) they will indeed rip open the belly almost immediately. it is the easiest place to open a carcasse!
they take the stomach and shake it to remove the contents (how many of our dogs like to grab and shake their toys?? it's instinct from this very behaviour!). the stomach will be eaten, the contents rejected or rolled in.
all this said, if your dog isnt prone to allergies and likes his veg, it's not going to do him any harm! my lab adored carrots, raw ones. they came out the same as they went in, but he loved them and as he was a chunky thing it was better for him than commercial pet treats!


my dogs eat raw meat, bones and offal. some eggs, some fruit if they pick the blackberries themselves. some fish. grass from the fields if they want to.
i will allow them a few left overs, though once i have finished eating and the ratties are all fed, there is rarely anything left!
i have fed this way for over a decade, i used to feed ceral but it caused too many problems. i also used to feed veg, but i didnt ever notice a difference when i stopped. my border collies wont eat it, so i dont force them.
they thrive on their fare, beautiful coats, small stools, heck even my puppy hasnt had any trouble teething, he has to spend too much time chewing his meaty bones to resort to destroying the furniture!

love
bunjies xx

 

Aww, thanks!

The only one we've been questioning is the dairy. Everyone I've talked to with eskies swears by yogurt as something to help lighten tear-staining. And just in case I was missing something, I DID double-check that they meant to feed it to the dog rather than rub it into the stains or something & sure enough they meant as a treat. Most of my friends swear that their dogs absolutely love cheese too. We've tried tiny shreds of cheese on top of her food... and she loves it. Plain yogurt too, has been devoured. Oh yes, and peanut-butter! She REALLY liked that too.

As for veggies - she seems to like carrots well enough, but won't touch the others. We've got a guinea pig, and she gets jealous when Oreo gets a carrot... I don't know if she eats them because she enjoys it, or just to prove to the piggie that she can eat the same thing he's getting though. Blueberries were pretty tasty to her - she actually begged for a few extra! She'll also nibble at a thin slice of apple or pear - it gets eaten, but slowly. I think she likes sniffing it more than actually eating it. I've been offering her tiny wedges of "safe" fruit & veggie as they come into the house, and so far those are the only ones she'll touch.

We are treating her as an omnivore (her kibble is rice & lamb) with 80% of her nutrition coming from meat. Her favorite snack so far is freshly cooked nibbles of chicken... and the slice of bacon my mother fed her at new-years. I don't think I'd be nearly as paranoid about feeding her the wrong thing if she were just a tiny bit bigger... at 12 pounds I'm just afraid there isn't enough "there" to try the wrong food!
love,
mom

 

Thank you for sharing. I will have a look at it and let you know. We have been focusing on our own diet and have been lazy with our pets, though they (cats and a dog) do get raw eggs, milk, and meat when it is available to give them.

Thanks to everyone else as well.

 

I've been away, or I would have chimed in, but I am mostly with bunjies on this one. Bones are wonderful for dogs as long as they are NEVER cooked bones and always raw bones and always supervised when eating, and always balanced with meat and offal at the very least.

I've found that veggies, grains, vitamins, dairy, etc are all optional, as it really depends on the individual dogs. It takes time and trial and error to find out exactly what each of your dogs needs in his/her diet. I had one dog that only needed raw meat, bones, offal and rice, and carrots twice a week. My other dog only needed raw meat and bones and nothing else at all. The most important thing here if you are feeding this type of diet is to have your dogs blood checked every month the first 3 months, then every 3 months for 6 months after that, then every 6 months for a year, then at least once a year for teh rest of their lives. This does, of course, mean you'll need to find a vet that supports a natural raw diet for a dog, which is the hardest part. But if you do, they can read the blood test results and let you know if there is anything the dog is lacking and how to give them what they need. For example the reason one of my dogs was only on raw meat and bones and nothing else is because she is allergic to nearly everything or if she wasn't allergic to it, she'd get tummy troubles. And through the bloodtest, I found out that surprisingly the raw meat and bones being the only things she ate were perfectly enough for her and kept her completely healthy, because of how her body worked. The blood test revealed that the bloodsugar was consistently too low for my other dog, corrected by adding rice for her carbohydrates. Something else, I forgot what, was corrected by adding carrots. So, I can't stess enough how helpful a supportive vet and blood tests are in putting a dog on a raw diet, if you can afford it, and usually when you are doing regular blood tests for this purpose, if the vet is supportive, they will often offer a deep discount on the blood tests (because they know you'll be getting more).

 

Wow. I hadn't thought of all that, Lilyrayne. Thanks!

I think for now we're going to NOT try raw food for her. She seems to have a fairly iffy-constitution... we've been experimenting with table-scraps when they're not too fatty or over-seasoned, and quite a few of them leave her ill.

Raw fruits & veggies, the ones she'll try, are gobbled up happily. Fresh rice & eggs are favorite treats for her - though we learned the hard way to scramble her eggs so she doesn't leave the whites behind. And she adores cheese & plain yogurt. But her favorite treat remains fresh meat... especially chicken.

I did find a source for bones for her. A local "natural food" petstore has Moo! brand bully-sticks, and slow-cooked knucklebones that are supposed to splinter less. So far we haven't had a problem with these, other than the speed that she can gnaw through them!
love,
mom

 

I'm glad you're finding things that work! Just one more thing I forgot to mention, that I want to make sure is in this thread for future reference if other people read it - for reasons unknown, it is very common for dogs to not be able to tolerate dogfood and raw meat in their system at once. If you give them raw meat without fasting them a meal or two to rid their stomachs and intestines of dogfood it can give them tummy troubles you'll never forget. It seems they have an easier time going from raw food to dog food, though. However, it is rare that I have read of someone's dog being able to eat raw and dog food all at the same time, together, or even in the same day. Something about the combination of dog food and raw meat (not the other raw foods tho, those seem fine with dog food).