Dalmatian Nutrition

[Belijae]

Ok, so with impending arrival of "My pup", I have been reading lots of stuff about nutrition because Dalmatians are special

I was wondering what DOLers feed their Dals (and any other special info about raising a happy healthy Dal).

Cheers big ears

- Belinda

[Tawnydal]

Hi Belinda

I feed my spotted hoons on bonnie white & lite dry food and chicken carcass and wings, its a very simple diet that works for me.

With dallies you do have to watch the protein/ purine levels so that stones dont form I always try and keep my protein below 22% hence the bonnie dry food. I never feed any sort of offal or a lot of red meat.

Your breeder will give you an information sheet on what to feed your puppy and also should offer great advise as to what they feed their grown dogs.

[horus]

I feed my 2 adults a mix (which I make up myself) of chicken mince, rice, veges put through the blender, eggs and fish oil. I also feed lamb or chicken bones daily. I supplement the mince, rice and vege mix with a a good quality dry food.

I avoid beef and liver as it is supposedly high in purines, which causes problems with Dallies unique urinary tract.

[Belijae]

Oh, good. My plan thus far was pretty much what you guys have said. I was considering Nutro or Eagle pack for the dry component. I'll keep in mind to choose the ones with low amount of protein - I had previously been concerned with type rather than amount. I'll check out bonnie white & lite and see if I can get it.

I feed my 2 adults a mix (which I make up myself) of chicken mince, rice, veges put through the blender, eggs and fish oil. I also feed lamb or chicken bones daily. I supplement the mince, rice and vege mix with a a good quality dry food.

I avoid beef and liver as it is supposedly high in purines, which causes problems with Dallies unique urinary tract.

Do you mean supplement as in:

- mince mix one day, dry food the next

- you use dry when you run out of mince mix

or something else...?

Knew about organ meats, but will be avoiding beef now

The breeder feeds raw, but I can't remember if they feed it exclusively or in combination with other stuff... I'll ask when I see them tonight.

Thanks everyone!

Edited March 19, 2007 by belijae

[horus]

I normally mix the dry and home made food together each night, 1 cup of my mix with half a cup of dry per dog, and I scatter a cup of dry out in the back yard each morning as a bit of a treasure hunt for them. It keeps them entertained for a good half hour as they search for the food.

I do just give them dry sometimes when I run out of the mix, too.

The dry I use is Supercoat for sensitive skin. While Supercoat doesn't have a very good name, I've been told that the one for sensitive skin is OK as it is chicken and rice. Anyone else had any experience with this variety of Supercoat?

Edited March 19, 2007 by horus

[Janba]

I feed a mixture of raw and low protien dry food twice a day.

They get some kibble each meal with the raw or cooked food added. about 50/50

The raw food depends on what I have at the time - chicken mince (whole carcass), chicken necks & wings, some vegetables, eggs, yoghurt, sardines

Cooked is basically rice or pasta, vegetables, left overs (they love my chicken vegie soup). If I a cooking things like pasta I do extra for dogs, same with vegies.

They also get fish oil tablets and cod liver oil tablets (hairy sheepdog has a high oil requirement) which they just eat.

They also get raw bones every so often and rawhide chews. I don't feed that many bones because of the red meat.

With puppies I feed a puppy kibble and the rest of the meal is the same as an adult.

I never feed canned food or supermarket processed rolls, but do feed barf patties now and then.

[Tawnydal]

The dry I use is Supercoat for sensitive skin. While Supercoat doesn't have a very good name, I've been told that the one for sensitive skin is OK as it is chicken and rice. Anyone else had any experience with this variety of Supercoat?

Horus when I was homless after selling one home and waiting for settlement on the other, I fed supercoat for sensitive skin because it came in a smaller bag and easier to carry around with 4 dogs in the car from one friends house to the other and found that my dogs did fine on it too.

I also fed supercoat puppy to all my pups, as a dry base to their chicken/pork/lamb mince ,veggies, yogurt, chicken frames/wings or necks

[horus]

Thanks, GM. I was a bit worried that as Supercoat for Sensitive Skin is a lot cheaper than other premium dry foods, so was wondering about the quality. I have heard a few people say that it is OK, so I will stick with it. I originally started using it as Toby had big red welts on his stomach that he scratched until they bled and after changing to the 'sensitive skin' formula the welts have cleared up and he has been fine.

[espinay2]

My Dally girl - now a spritely 12 years old who rules the roost and the couch - is fed a raw diet pretty much the same as the Pyreneans (except the little porker gets less!). She has always been fed beef and organ meats, though in lesser quantities to things like chicken and lamb (just because that is the way I feed though). She has never had an issue and in fact has been a happy healthy girl for all of her 12 years (and hopefully a few more).

Because of the uric acid issue, some Dals do require a lower purine diet. I would talk to your breeder though about the incidence of the condition in their lines and what they recommend you feed. It can be more prevalent in some than in others. It can also affect males more than females.

Just remember that if you do want to feed a more specific diet, that it is the type of protein that is important (ie purines), not protein itself. Just aim for foods lower in purines. IMO though the diet for the average Dally does not need to be severely restricted in this repect unless there is a known issue or a strong history of the issue in the lines. Personally I would still feed some organ meats and the occasional beef etc. I also personally believe the quality of the protein has a lot to do with maintaining healthy kidneys and urinary system (the reason I feed raw).

[Belijae]

Thank you all very much! I like to hear differing opinions - a different angle on things is always helps.

[MontysMum]

Monty at the moment is on Vet science diet for sensitive skin but I wouldnt reccomend it we are changing to Nutro. He also gets a tin of sardines a week and an egg a week. He also gets apples and carrots raw & marrow bones for treats

[juice]

my dally got a stone stuck last year and had to have emergency op.

i had no idea about stones till this happened, i am now well read on it!

i contacted lots of dally people, i now feed him supercoat special care.

my vet had recommended one they sell, think it was hills, but spoke to one person whose dog still had the problem after feeding it.

spoke to another who had fed special care for years with no recurring problem.

its the purine's you need to keep low, be careful. not all veggies are"good". i have a list somewhere, on good and bad veggie's for them.

i actually have all my dogs on supercoat now, they have never looked so good

[Janba]

Because of the uric acid issue, some Dals do require a lower purine diet. I would talk to your breeder though about the incidence of the condition in their lines and what they recommend you feed. It can be more prevalent in some than in others. It can also affect males more than females.

From what I have read lately every dalmatian is a potential stone former and most breeders recognise this.

AussieDals yahoo list has a lot of informatian on stons in the files section under health issues. If you don't belong to Aussiedals I can email you the informatian.

The Dalmatian Club of America also has informatian on their site

http://www.thedca.org

There is also a project in US called the dalmatian backcross project where 1 pointer was introduced to produce low uric acid dalmatians. It is now up to about 7 generatians from the original cross and efforts are being made to get them registered with the AKC.

http://www.dalmatianheritage.com/about/links.htm

[Belijae]

I'm glad that you haven't had to deal with stones again juice, and that every thing's fine now - it's good to know what definitely works and what doesn't!

Thanks for that too MontysMum - thats two crosses for science diet. Nutro does look very good.

Oh, and the breeder said they used to feed just raw (and does for her other dogs), but their male Dally (who turned two yesterday) gets the premium dry to keep the weight on him, and now so does mum to be for all her puppy growing needs - she's a bit bigger, but it may just be the extra food she's getting.

ETA-Janba! You snuck that post in while I was writing. Thanks!

The Heritage project looks very interesting.

Edited March 19, 2007 by belijae

[juice]

i was also recommended to put a pinch of bicarb in his food everyday to level out the ph, so have been doing that too.

suppose the males have more of a problem as they can't "pass' any stones out, whereas females could. thats where our problem happened.

[enna]

I feed my girl roughly 50/50 dry food (Dick Van Pattens Natural Balance Organic Formula) and fresh food. She gets one meal of dry and one meal of veges&fruit/mince and RMB (generally lamb or chicken). Sometimes I mix some rice in with the veges and mince, and she gets eggs, yoghurt and tuna or sardines occasionally. I am mindful of which veges and what kind of meat she gets, according to their levels of purine.

I also make home made treat biscuits, a different flavour every week...