We have three dogs. Rodrigo and Blue love table scraps, but they’re not upset when I say “no.” Sydney, on the other hand, is a food motivated dog and I have trouble explaining to her what what dogs should eat and what dogs shouldn’t eat. As far as she’s concerned, it’s all fare game.
As a dog owner, you’re probably just like me and you’ve spent a lot of time researching what your dog should eat. We all have opinions on different food. I’ll share my biases…
I love Halo, Purely for Pets Spot’s Stew
I think Life’s Abundance is great, but a mail order only food doesn’t work with our lifestyle and they only offer Chicken (Rodrigo is allergic, allegedly).
Grocery store bought food is bad bad bad. But I think this is going to change as the premium brands start finding their way on grocery store shelves. Dog owners are become more and more educated and this Infographic on What Dogs Should Eat might help you when you’re deciding on the best food (or diet) for your fur kid.
What Your Dog Should Eat via EarthRated.com
January 12, 2013 at 12:06 am
Dogs don’t need to know how to read, they know what they WANT to be eating. Well, some of them, anyway. JD will eat anything that fits in his mouth, he doesn’t care.
Once I saw a video comparing foods. Very simple set up. Lots of little bowls with all kinds of different dog food. Give a dog a choice, they’ll go for the right stuff.
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Jana Rade recently published..Show Off Your Dog’s Waistline: Cardiff
Twitter: DawgBlogger
January 12, 2013 at 11:34 am
That’s good to know, Jana – What I love is when our dogs will turn down food. I’ve learned that they’ll eat if they’re hungry, they won’t eat if they’re not. Blue and Rigo are good about not eating whatever they find. Sydney needs a little more convincing. Thank heavens everything that does go down their throat is edible for someone. No socks, rocks, or tennis balls.
Twitter: thefurmom
January 12, 2013 at 11:37 am
Oh how I wish Felix could read. Given then choice, Kolchak makes the healthy choice every time. Felix however, is a garbage dog. Before we got him, he lived for years on fast food scraps. He cries everytime we drive past the Golden Archesband will do things he should be ashamed of for those popular bone shaped grocery store treats that banned from Casa de Kolchak.
Twitter: kolsnotes
January 12, 2013 at 11:54 am
LOL – Our Sydney loves her junk food and we have to watch her diet, because she can pack on the pounds easily. The other dogs will take a bite too if offered so I have to remind my boyfriend not to treat them except designated treats (occasionally).
Kimberly
Twitter: thefurmom
January 12, 2013 at 1:29 pm
What a fun and educational infographic. Thanks for sharing. I’m glad you pointed out that the grocery-store-food-is-bad-for-dogs thing is starting to change. I even checked the labels at Wal-mart recently and was pleasantly surprised that several brands of kibble had real meat (not meat meal) at the top of the ingredients list and were USA-sourced.
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Crystal Wayward recently published..Help Me Promote Your Favorite Animal Rescue Organizations
Twitter: crystalwayward
January 12, 2013 at 3:27 pm
Thanks, Crystal – I check the labels when I’m at the store too and it has been interesting watching the change. The pet industry is noticing that we love our pets and want them to live longer and we don’t mind paying a little more to get them there. I saved $15 the last time I picked up pet food at Petco, because of the coupons/rebates that I had. I watch for sales, I have a Google Alerts set up for our favorite brands. In this information age, pet owners are more educated – it’s fun to see the pet food industry slowing catching up with us.
Twitter: thefurmom
January 15, 2013 at 12:32 pm
I’m glad they can’t read, because they’d be super disappointed to learn the FDA disagrees with their raw food eating!
But then they’d be super excited and waggy again when I tell them the FDA has no idea what they’re talking about, while tossing them a raw duck wing.
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Jen recently published..Book review and interview: Not Your Mother’s Book on Dogs
Twitter: dogthusiast
January 15, 2013 at 2:06 pm
LOL! Jen
I’m thinking about switching our dogs to the raw food diet. Do you have a recommendation on a book that will guide me through the transition of kibble to raw? Thanks!
Twitter: thefurmom
January 15, 2013 at 4:01 pm
Unfortunately I didn’t use one! However, we did talk to the vet before doing home-cooked (pretty much the same), and she told us to do the typical 9-day transfer (3 days of 3/4 old, 1/4 new, 3 days of half-and-half, 3 days of 3/4 new, 1/4 old). I did this when going from kibble-to-home-cooked, and then home-cooked to raw (freeze dried) and the 3 dogs I did this with were fine. When going from freeze-dried to “fresh” raw (bones and grind) we didn’t do a traditional transfer period. Not sure if that was the perfect thing to do, but the dogs were fine (I think because the content and proportions were so similar).
The only difference I noticed with the switch to raw (grind + bones) is there was a brief learning-curve if you’re feeding bones. The best I can tell is it’s instinct kicking in on what to do with them, then how to best eat them. One of our dogs took to it very quickly, and the other watched her for guidance a bit. Kind of neat to watch, actually.
For resources, I have seen a BARF book available at the local store that might have some guidance on transferring. And there are also a ton of online resources and email lists (very helpful ones too). The folks we buy our raw from also have some good info about raw on their website, http://feedthis.com/.
Good luck! So excited to hear you’re considering it. We saw so many improvements after the switch (teeth, fur, skin, and … er… poops), definitely a fan.
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Jen recently published..Book review and interview: Not Your Mother’s Book on Dogs
Twitter: dogthusiast
January 15, 2013 at 8:07 pm
Thanks for sharing these details, I so appreciate it. I think I’ll start with cooking and then build from there. I appreciate the encouragement and support.
Kimberly
Twitter: thefurmom
January 15, 2013 at 8:25 pm
Great place to start! We did that for a year or so, maybe a bit longer. Because it’s a good idea to steam and process veggies (easier for them to digest), I recommend a great big steamer and food processor because you’ll save a lot of time
Also check out local-to-you meat buying co-ops (such as the raw feeding co-ops, you’d just cook instead), as you can save a lot of money that way. OK, I just found a bunch of supplement links and then remembered I had already listed them on my blog (argh! haven’t looked at this page in over a year):http://dogthusiast.com/dog-products-we-use/ — some of the home-cooking tools and supplements we used are near the top.
Twitter: dogthusiast