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  • What do you feed your dog?

    Or your cat for that matter.

    I worked for many years as a vet, treating pets. There is a massive increase in the number of obese pets and diabetic pets and they were a common sight in the waiting room. What did we do? Blamed their owners for feeding them too much and not walking them, told their owners that the pet's constant craving for food was not hunger but greed. You know, the usual stuff (guff) that fat people are told too.

    I am now ashamed to admit that our first step in treating them was to put them on a special diet - even higher in carbs and lower in fat than the one they were already eating. These are carnivores - I feel so bad thinking of it and how wrong it was. But almost all I ever learned about pet nutrition I learned from pet food companies, and I believed it all. Duh.

    Since I have been on Atkins I've been thinking about this a lot, and I've changed my own dog and two cats to a mainly raw meat diet for the last 5-6 months. They are as healthy as it is possible for animals to be. My dog is very old, he's somewhere over 14 and could be as old as 18, not sure because he is a rescue. He was looking his age and seemed to be feeling it. He isn't now, he is fit as a fiddle and his coat is magnificent. He is almost totally blind but that doesn't hold him back a bit - he flies around like a greyhound.

    Have any of you thought about this? How feeding carnivores dried food which is very high carb and low fat - as all dried foods even premium ones and almost all tinned foods are - is potentially affecting your pet's health. They are carnivores after all, in the wild they don't eat a lot of carbs and can survive on none at all quite happily.

    I really think that the pet food industry and their total hold over nutrition education is as bad if not worse than then the human food one. Almost every chair of animal nutrition in Veterinary faculties the world over is sponsored by one or other food company. It's a real closed world, where the dogma is that formulated high carb food is the best thing to feed your pet. I believed it. I don't any more.
    Kate




    F, 50, 5'5 Start: Sept 5th 2007
    Start Weight: 255
    MG1: 238 Sept 23rd
    MG2: 224 Oct 23rd
    MG3: 210 Dec 3rd
    MG4: 196 Jan 26th
    MG5: 182
    My Journal






    "Everyone is entitled to an informed opinion."

  • #2
    Re: What do you feed your dog?

    Hi Kate,

    I've thought about this too but wasn't real sure how to go about it. I didn't want to do more damage then good. My chiuaua is 13 years old. In pretty good health. Very picky about what he eats. Will only eat one brand and one flavor of dog food. But loves people food, especially chicken. Exactly what do you feed them and how much? My Jason is my baby and very spoiled. I would love to make him healthier and have him enjoy his food more. He does go for lots of walks with me so he does get his excersize in.
    My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.
    ~Orson Welles




    Everytime I am tempted to use food to satisfy my frustrated desires, build up my injured ego, or dull my senses, I will remember,
    That even though I overeat in private, my excess poundage is there for all the world to see.
    ------------------------------------------------------------

    "Eating like most people won't, so I can look like most people don't."

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    • #3
      Re: What do you feed your dog?

      sI mostly feed them chicken legs, which I buy pretty cheaply in bulk and freeze.We eat them ourselves too!! I also get some beef bones, particularly ones with lots of marrow, from the butcher. Also general household leftovers in the case of the dog - the cats are all meat, again bone in thought they don't really eat the bones.

      I feed them raw, skin, bone and all. He absolutely loves them, though isn't now as hungry as he used to be - surprise surpirse!!

      I don't feed cooked bones as they have a tendancy to splinter. He hasn't even been constipated. My dog is a small terrier of undetermined parentage!! My thinking on feeding leftovers - which are mainly veg and meat - is that wild canines eat the stomach contents of prey they kill, so do get some veg type food that way.

      I remember working with an elderly vet years ago who used to say all packaged pet food was rubbish and dogs should be fed raw meat, bone in, as they would eat in the wild. I thought of him as an eccentric old chap to be honest. He also used to say that people ate too much bread and potato and all they needed was meat and veg and a nice dollop of butter to make it taste good. And that Vit E was powerful stuff and kept you young (this at a time when Vit E was considered almost pointless and nobody knew about antioxidants). This sort of 'nonsense' just confirmed for me that he was indeed eccentric. Oh the arrogance of youth!!

      He lived to be 94 and was healthy to the end - he still played golf well into his nineties. It should have occured to me he was on to something.
      Kate




      F, 50, 5'5 Start: Sept 5th 2007
      Start Weight: 255
      MG1: 238 Sept 23rd
      MG2: 224 Oct 23rd
      MG3: 210 Dec 3rd
      MG4: 196 Jan 26th
      MG5: 182
      My Journal






      "Everyone is entitled to an informed opinion."

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: What do you feed your dog?

        I feed my cats California Natural...chicken & brown rice dry food. They do very well with this brand of food! We tried Innova which has no carbs. My older cats had a hard time with all the protein...some digestion issues so we went back to the California Natural.

        My son swithed his dog to a raw food diet nearly 1 year ago & is very happy as is Rosie~~the dog.
        "You always had it. You always had the power."~~ Glinda the Good Witch

        Glenda
        F/5'10/47
        261/xxx/???
        "Happiness is a habit~cultivate it." Elbert Hubbard
        "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." Albert Einstein

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        • #5
          Re: What do you feed your dog?

          I have 3 dogs- 2 white boxers - one deaf and the other just stubborn. Their names are Maddy and Tinkerbelle. The king of the home is named Blue and he is a blue and tan mini dachshund. They eat Beneful or Healthy Vitality Pedigree.

          We also have an albino hedgehog named Marley (after Bob Marley) and she eats Tasty Treats cat food.
          sigpic
          Start date - Jan. 15/08, 204 - Aug 2009 - final 168
          Restart date - Jan. 6/10 - 195

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          • #6
            Re: What do you feed your dog?

            My brother feeds his cats a raw food diet and they are super healthy. I am planning to switch mine over as they need to lose weight...then my whole house will be on Atkins!

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            • #7
              Re: What do you feed your dog?

              for the first year or so, eukenuba, raw beef stew chunks, and olive oil.
              then just eukenuba

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              • #8
                Re: What do you feed your dog?

                I've heard about the BARF diet (bones and raw food) but unfortunately doing it here supervised costs way more than i can afford. I'd never take my dog's health into my hands and attempt to feed him bones and raw food without medical supervision personally. no matter how many people told me how great it is. My dog eats IAM's usually, and gets very little/almost no table scraps (i think this is a big issue with dog health). his treats are only organic dog biscuits.

                I have a 4 year old Border Collie that is the centre of my life, in great health with an abundance of energy (as does every border collie LOL). I'm going to stick with his food as is..it doesnt seem to be doing him any disadvantage. I'm not going to risk what few years i have with him (i wish they lived as long as we do!) by playing around with his health. Sorry..but just my 2 cents.


                Oh and i do suppliment him with fish oils also.
                Jen, 39, F
                In maintenance



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                • #9
                  Re: What do you feed your dog?

                  I feed our cats IAMS light dried food and they are thriving on it.
                  Lili gained weight after the vet made sure she couldnt have kittens but didn't tell us that the hormonal changes would make her eat more and she could gain weight.
                  she did get a wobbly tummy but has lost weight on that food and our vet says she is super healthy.
                  Gizmo gets the same "diet" and is healthy and not the slightest bit overweight.
                  they share 3 portions of about 50-100 grams a day and are doing very well.

                  I'm sure they would prefer meat but dont see a reason to change their diet when they are doing so well
                  Date to reach goal: I don't care, as long as it happens :P



                  sigpic

                  Wedding picture!

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                  • #10
                    Re: What do you feed your dog?

                    I feed my cats Evo cat food. (They also make food for dogs and other pets) It is a grain free food.

                    I was told by two different vets and a few other pet owners it is almost as good as feeding a raw diet.

                    Here is a link to the site of anyone wants it: http://www.evopet.com/

                    It took my cats a few days to make the transition over to it, as I mixed it in with the food I was feeding them and gradually added less and less of that until it was all Evo. When they got used to it, they ate it just fine.

                    One of my cats was a bit over weight and is losing weight fine on this food.

                    (I have three cats total, btw)

                    There was also another brand my vet suggested, it was called "Taste of the Wild." It was another grain free food: http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/

                    I was given samples of it and two of my cats would eat it, but my little one is a picky eater and snubbed her nose at it. lol
                    Female

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                    • #11
                      Re: What do you feed your dog?

                      I give my dogs diamond brand dog food. quite expensive but it's got a ton of protein. My dogs are lean and very active (german shorthaired pointers)

                      If my dogs weren't so healthy, I woudl definately do the raw diet. They sell pet food at the dollar store. I can't even imagine what is in that stuff!
                      Re re starting this time for good with the support of my husband. He is doing this with me.


                      Jan 25th Start Weight 228.6
                      Feb 25th 221.6

                      Slowly but surely

                      "celebrate we will, cause life is short,but sweet for certain"









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                      • #12
                        Re: What do you feed your dog?

                        she did get a wobbly tummy but has lost weight on that food
                        LOL I hav this problem myself!
                        Jen, 39, F
                        In maintenance



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                        • #13
                          Re: What do you feed your dog?

                          I give my cat friskies both wet and dry food and she is doing really well on it. She was the runt of the litter so has always been small. She is an indoor cat but she is all over the place. I keep her food on the shelf so she does have to "workout" to get to it - keeps her active.

                          My doggy is on Beneful and she does need to lose weight. She was on the weight management stuff which looked to me to be a lot of veggies. We just switched her over to the regular stuff which looks to have a lot more meat in it so we shall see how that goes. My bf and I do take her for walks and we try to go hiking every weekend with her
                          F 24 5'10 SW - 217 GW 170 restarted atkins 1/14/08 - This time I'm sticking with it!




                          1st pic Pre restarting atkins @ 217 lbs. 2nd pic 20 lbs lighter @ 197 lbs! on 3/1/08
                          :oha:






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                          • #14
                            Re: What do you feed your dog?

                            I no longer have pets, but I always fed mine meat scraps and good pet food. If I had one now, I would do raw food. I have a S-I-L that has purebred cats and dogs and she feeds them carrots and veggies, mostly, and very little meat. We had a 'discussion' about it once and she swears that dogs used to be vegetarians and people started them eating meat, which is not good for them. I asked her how a wild dog would eat in the winter when there are no veggies, but I couldn't get through to her. I feel really sorry for her dog, a beautiful Papillon. Poor thing gets raw baby carrots and green beans for supper. All that is ever in her food dish is baby carrots. She does really like them. She gets peanut butter if she needs a treat.

                            Sunny!
                            People who say it can't be done, should not interrupt those doing it.


                            "Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; While others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than ever before."
                            ~~Herodotus


                            Doin' the "Real Deal" Atkins 2002 since 9/15/2005
                            Sunny's Secrets: My Journal



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                            • #15
                              Re: What do you feed your dog?

                              I have 2 dogs, a 10 month old Rottweiler named Sophie and a 1-1/2 yr old Miniature Pinscher named Sadie. I feed both of them Royal Canine which every vet i've gone too recommends this brand. I've never really thought about feeding them more meats to be honest.
                              Chelsey ~ 23 ~ 5'9"
                              Start Date ~ 3~17~10
                              SW
                              ~ 167
                              CW
                              ~ 167
                              GW
                              ~ 145 (for now)

                              1st Mini Goal ~ 160
                              2nd Mini Goal ~ 155
                              3rd Mini Goal ~ 150
                              GOAL ~ 145


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