Changing Dogs Food

[Islay]

I currently feed my dogs mixer and tinned food and up to last week they did not have a problem with it.

All of a sudden both of them have gone off the tinned food, once has very loose stools.

For the last 4 days I have fed them the mixer with roasted chicken and a little of the stock, both love this but one still has very loose stools.

Now thinking of swapping them to vegetables chicken and pasta, my parents fed this to their dogs for years just wondered what other dog owners thought of that diet?

[RATTER15]

Ok, but I would give the chicken raw with the bones! anything has got to be better than tinned food to be honest!

You can even feed the chicken still frozen if need be, its good for a dog to chew on.

[wolf63]

Hello

I think that there are so many different dried foods out there that it would be easier to move them onto one that helps both of them. At least you know that they are both getting all their minerals, vitamins and stuff to make them shiny.

Might be trail and error and runny poo until the magic food is found.

Enjoy your hol.

[Islay]

I really don't fancy the raw food diet to be honest, the whole thing turns my stomach.

Wolf they hate dried food I could just about get them to eat it with tinned food!

Ratter how do I work out how much to give them? Both way 30kg one is ideal weight but the girl is about 3 kilos overweight!
Chicken has 128 cals per 100g
Pasta has 351 cals per 100g
Veg has 41 cals per 100g

Thanks for your help

[TonyV]

Islam imo dried food is always better providing plenty of water avaiable. Leave it down for a couple of days they will eat when they are hungry

[viv41]

I fed my dog tinned dog food with mixer for the 11 years I had him and he lived to be 17, so it didn't do him any harm, nor my dogs before him. I hate the thought of dried food, it would be like us eating chips all the time. and nothing else! I think veg, chicken and pasta would be fine.

[woofgang]

dog food makers do change the recipe without notice. If you can home cook for the dogs and it settles their stomachs and they stay well then I would do it. Mine get a very little dry food morning and evening and home cooked to make up their ration.

[pastafreak]

Dogs are not natural grain eaters,so how can dry be better?
My dog will eat around any grain( I give her Burns but only a handful )...she'd still rather have any raw( lamb or beef mince) or cooked meat. I think veg and chicken are fine,but I'd give rice instead of pasta. I'm no expert,this is just my opinion. Good pet supply shops will stock frozen raw mince(beef,tripe,lamb,chicken,Turkey) and bones at reasonable prices.
Also...Iwouldn't be counting calories for a dog...bad enough for humans!

[viv41]

And as a treat every now and again, I'd buy him some fish (sardines or mackerel) which he absolutely loved.

[woofgang]

Latest research on what dogs would eat naturally suggests strongly that they were midden scavengers which means they ate whatever humans left or what was digestible from human poo which would have included some grain. It used to be thought that dogs (and wolves) had no amylase which is the enzyme used to digest starch. Humans have amylase in their saliva Wolves have the ability to produce small amounts of amylase from the pancreas and domesticated dogs produce much more than wolves do. Grain may not be a natural part of the wolf diet, but dogs are not wolves.
http://www.livescience.com/26513-starchy-human-diet-domesticated-dogs.html

[AlwaysConfused]

I'm not stating that this is a healthy diet for a dog, but I used to feed my collie a combination of the following: turkey, chicken, small amount of liver, rice, veg (peas, carrots, beans, sprouts etc). He loved his roast dinner on a Sunday too! Also fed him a a frozen food from pets at home. He was a super fit dog.

we have a new Staffy (8 months old) whom I'm feeding him on a mix of wet and dry Wainwrights. His previous owner gave him Bakers complete dry food, so I give him a very small amount of that each day, as he has only been with me for three weeks.

Dogs love pasta. Keep the meat lean an non-greasy and it should be fine.

[Islay]

Thanks for your help all, tbh even more confused now! just want whats best for her stomach, can't be good having the runs everyday! will check with the vets I think. Cheers

[RATTER15]

I would never trust a vet to advise on a dogs food to be honest. Vets have virtually no training on a dogs diet unless they take that specific module of training, and that module is usually funded by Purina, one of the biggest dog food manufacturers.
Also Vets stock the top of the market brands where they make very good profits, so they will naturally push their own supplies onto you and give you all their spiel as to why you should feed it.
As long as their is no underlying medical problem with your dog giving him loose stools, just try giving him bones, that will firm up his stool very quickly.

Their is an enormous amount of great advice on the net about the best way to feed your dog, do some research and see.

Also, have a look at this. http://barf-diet.co.uk/

[RATTER15]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=barf+diet+for+dogs Also plenty more advice on feeding raw.

[woofgang]

....and when you research, make sure that what you read is based on research and not opinion.....

[woofgang]

with respect to RATTER, his first link is filled with unsupported statements and appears to be the work of one person with no links to other views or evidence and only one source of food suggested.
here is a pro raw site with more actual facts
http://therawfeedingcommunity.com

[Retrochic]

maybe your dogs colin and jess just picked up a tummy bug and its nothing to do with the food?. We feed our dogs raw meat with cooked rice and carrots with some kibble mixed in for their teeth.

[Islay]

Thanks for your response - as I have stated I am not keen on the raw diet, I will seek advice from my vet when I get back from holiday. Sam and Ben thank you.