blacklabrador

Oh whatever you reckon lovey I am intelligent and have a flexible mind and can see the difference. Obviously you can't but that's not my problem. I made the switch to raw feeding several years ago.

So you feed a kibble that doesn't contain chicken? I feed my dogs chicken pieces no more than twice a week - they get turkey quite often though. For us I buy organic chicken - it's not chemical free but it contains less.

You got that wrong. If I do buy kibble it will be Optimum and it's only to supplement the calorie intake of an extremely thin dog that I have difficulty keeping weight on. He gets puppy kibble to supplement his diet sometimes. When I have it here he gets it about twice a week as an extra meal at the other end of the day to his 2kg of raw food. Otherwise my dogs get it on occassion out of pure convenience when I've been working long hours and haven't gotten to the supermarket. Early last year I scored some 8kg bags of Optimum for $20 each and they lasted about 8 months between three dogs. T bone is 7 and I've been feeding mostly a raw diet since he was 12 months old. Why the hell would I be talking about raw food and promoting it if I had my dogs on an 'Optimum' diet?

I am happy to give dogs the same food I eat, but I would not eat Supercoat No sense of adventure Gareth!! I've heard that it's really ummmm 'meaty'.

what ever!!!!!! I dont actually give a rats arse what you think. It is all relevant to how much someone knows about dogs. We all started somewhere and we all continue to learn. Judging by your topics you have a long way to go but you come across as if you know it all. By the way Do you really know how many growth hormones are in beef, pork and chicken. do you know what chemicals have been used on the vegetables you use in your barf diet??? These are the same products we eat as well. all natural!!!! I dont think so. To everyone out there.. make up your own minds please. Supermarket food is not all crap :laugh: I don't think "everyone out there" had any intention of doing anything else other than making up their own minds Stonebridge. I am well aware of the pesticides and chemicals used on my food and my dogs food. It doesn't mean that I resort to eating fast food because I can't get wholefoods with no traces of chemicals. Interesting logic though. I love both the vets who I use who support the use of raw diet - one doesn't sell premium dog food in his waiting room. He is an extremely well known vet amongst show people and people travel far and wide to see him for the various treatments he can offer. "Junk food" was the words I recall him using in relation to dry kibble when I told him that I'd made the switch several years ago. I guess he sees a lot of the arthritis and chronic conditions caused by long term feeding of grains and cooked meat.

Your vet is very sensible. :D

ooohhh the expert has spoken. Good on ya love. Keep up the good work and best of luck with the stinky poo problem eta by the way...just out of curiousity how long have you owned dogs for????? I know people who've owned dogs for 40 years who are terrible and irresponsible owners - how is your question relevant? No stinky poo problem here. answer my question and I may tell you why I asked it. Its all about lifes experiences So you know people who have owned dogs for 40 years.... what does that have to do with what I asked? Because it's not relevant to how much somebody knows about dogs. Some people have the same experience over and over and never learn from it. Others sit back and learn from others mistakes and learn a whole lot quicker. I don't really care why you asked it. It doesn't change the fact that supermarket dry food is crap. :D

ooohhh the expert has spoken. Good on ya love. Keep up the good work and best of luck with the stinky poo problem eta by the way...just out of curiousity how long have you owned dogs for????? I know people who've owned dogs for 40 years who are terrible and irresponsible owners - how is your question relevant? No stinky poo problem here. :D

If people want to recommend a certain diet then they should be able to. The downfalls of feeding dried up, cooked, cereal based pellets that don't resemble real food are well known. If people choose to feed a poor diet to their dogs then that is their perogative but it is well within the rights of others to comment. We know that dogs eat the stomach contents of an animal - I'm guessing there is no bloody Supercoat in there either. There may be small amounts of partially digested grains mixed with folliage - something the dog eats as part of the meal along with offal and large amounts of raw meaty bone. It's a far sight different from setting down a big plate of cereal based food day after day. Feeding large amounts of offal also does not reflect what might happen in nature. Feed your dogs what you like but you're going to meet with plenty of resistance if you try to convince people here that Supercoat is healthy and good for dogs. I would be thinking twice before I purchased a pup that was raised on that stuff - it's not exactly a balanced start to life. Haven't seen any feeding regimes being mentioned here at all. The details are on websites and in books, not in this thread at all.

Why does somebody have to be labelled a "food nazi" because they go to the effort of feeding raw? Does that mean that somebody can be labelled "food lazy" if they feed their dog out of a bag? Funny how it looks when you turn it around eh? Offal doesn't comprise of very much of any diet and so it shouldn't. Most of the organ foods are waste organs of the animals and are full of toxins. Liver and kidney should be kept to a minimum and given with a cautious awareness of their former function. Not sure what giblets functions are ( I guess I know more about mammals).

There is no "problem" with a raw diet - you just have to learn the balance. Learning is part of being a reponsible owner. If you want to feed raw then you have to learn a new way. It's not difficult. You also have to have a balance between dry food and bones. I think lack of confidence is a common reason why people don't make the change but really the information is not difficult to find and it's difficult to go wrong feeding dogs what they were designed to eat. The balance happens on a week by week basis rather than a meal by meal basis.

*Nods* RIP Gherkin. So sorry for your huge loss.

Their butt holes. really?????? well you learn something new everyday. sorry you have had such a bad experience. Well you asked the question! No need to be sorry - it's not exactly a problem and I wouldn't call it a "bad experience" because I choose not to feed it. I can tell by the general body odour of a dog when they are fed on cheap kibble. I can tell the change in the smell of my own dogs if I've had to feed kibble for some reason for more than 2 days. Having looked after lots of different dogs in rescue I firstly haven't come across one whose poo doesn't smell (your dogs must be super special) and secondly haven't come across one whose poo doesn't change to the white crumbly, almost odourless poo when fed on a raw diet. It's all relative. You get what you pay for. Personally I'd prefer to put the time, effort and money into raw feeding to ensure my dogs health. It would be much easier to scoop the food out of a big bag but I see the disadvantages of being fed an inappropriate diet as too great for the dog. It's worth the money and effort for me.

Their butt holes.

Pretty much what you get with feeding dogs a food that is very high in grains. A lot of very stinky poop. The grain = a filler and their body can't utilise it properly so they poop it out. Good for people who like cleaning up lots of stinky poop I guess. I can't stand the poop my dogs do when I feed them dog roll either. The preservatives in that stuff give me a headache when I'm cutting it up, I'd hate to think what it does to the dogs. Raw diet = non stinky poops, non stinky dogs, no skin problems, shiny coat, lean dogs, happy dogs. Did I mention beautiful teeth? Feed then what they were designed to digest and the benefits are obvious.

Sounds like a chemical - I'd be watching her closely.

Not had a problem but it's a pretty poor quality food to be feeding a dog.

You need to get a behaviourist to your house to help you. It's not normal for any dog to bark like that. I feel for you and your neighbours.

Not too much of a problem. I already syringe different things down my boy's throat to ensure he's getting what he needs and he's such a trouper. He even gives me a tail wag when I tell him he's a good boy in between the little breaks I give him as a chance for him to swallow. Bless him. He's only 21 months old, a big dog and strong. Yet he's so compliant. Gotta luv 'em. :D Oh - I was thinking it was a powder form. I'll check with the Naturopath about it. I'm thinking of taking it myself as well. The part about 'falling asleep after eating' (or wanting to) is a symptom I've been experiencing of late. My boy is already on a couple of other supplements and for all I know, maybe this is part of it. I don't want to double up or give him something that's incompatible with what he already is getting, so I'll definitely check first. Sorry - what I meant is that you need to take it AS a supplement rather than eating the root. The supplement form has it in concentrated form so you get enough to make a difference. I think otherwise you'd have to eat 30g of root every day which would be horrible.

Probably more dangerous - frozen bone will splinter and can cause oesophageal and stomach perforation. I would never give a dog frozen bones. Wire is the dog a labrador? :D

From what I know you need to be taking a supplement because of the concentrations needed to get a result. You'd need to take a lot of the root as a food to get the benefits. I first knew of it when I looked after Islander women who would rub it into cuts - I couldn't work out why their wounds were yellow

aah OK, I'd better make sure I write it down. Feather is still huffing occasionally, I think the other 2 might be over it but I will bundle them all together, no one goes out while anyone is still coughing. Yep I've been told this too. I always isolate all the dogs from the public until that 2 week period is up, regardless of whether an individual dog has it or not. They are most contagious just before the become symptomatic and it's impossible to tell if they are about to come down with it.

Do you use the capsules? Thats a great idea, i will give that a go too. Yep. Blackmores or Cenovis - something in the big tub. It's my compromise for not giving them sardines... I can't stand the smell.

My lab is hungry ALL the time Yeah - how the hell do you tell the difference? :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Fish oil tablets are an excellent supplement to add regardless of what other food you feed. The dogs love them - they come running when I get them out and I just throw them a couple each.

Jodielass has already mentioned having ongoing contact with her dogs breeder.