Folklore, Feeding, Supplements & other ?'s and Suggestions... - Page 1

Ok here is what we do,  Anyone see anything that is out of line or needing adjustments ??

Also what is the folklore of supplements,  Are they needed or are they a waste of time & money this costs us a fortune and is a bit of a pain to feed but my dogs look great and are always healthy.  Also my vet is pretty happy.

We Feed Solid Gold,  Hundenflocken Puppy.  (Yes to all of our dogs including adults)  and add the following ingredients...

Solid Gold HundenFlocken Puppy Food  ***Solid Gold MultiVitamin & Mineral Supplements***Solid Gold Steamed Bone Meal

Solid Gold SeaMeal***Solid Gold MSM***Solid Gold Flax seed oil(added to top of feed and blended) ***Red Cell (same as above)

BARF Omega 3 oils (same as above)***AniMed L-Lysine Powder (found at most feed stores in the horse section)

AniMed Pure Brewers Yeast (Same as above)***NaturVet Ester-C Plus (same as above)***NaturVet Garlic pure (same as above)

NaturVet MSM, Glucosamine, Condroitin. (same as above)*** Whole Flax Seed (same as above)***Satin Finish Rice Bran (same as above)

Of course proportions are determined by weight of dog, and are worked down for appropriate dosages.

Bitches in whelp or nursing are increased on some ingredients, and are also given Milk Replacer without Medication.

We periodically if anyone gets a runny stool,  will add powdered probiotics.

Thoughts....  

Interesting.. sounds like you have made it more involved than I have.. you could feed raw and do less work!! And why, puppy food for adults?? when I fed kibble, I never used puppy food for puppies..

Just curious

Denise

Very interesting.   I feel supplements are absolutely necessary when feeding a commerical kibble.       I would feed the probotics on a daily basis a BARF or raw diet is the best way to go.    I use a modified BARF diet with a combination of Urban Wolf and raw.    Instead of feeding all those supplements you might want to look at a supplement like Canine Complete   www.thewholisticpet.com.   So you can feed just the one supplement instead of the bunch you are currently doing.    Otherwise you are doing a pretty darn good job ot feeding your dog.     On the other hand you might enjoy mixing all those supplements.          If you want to stay with  kibble you might want to take a look at a real high qulity kibble like Orijen.   Best of luck to you and keep up the good work.

I have a friend who used Solid Gold and loved it so I tried it some years ago and my dogs did not seem to do well on it. They got alot of dandruff from it and the poop volume was softer and larger. I tried it for about a month if I remember right. Maybe I didn't give it a long enough chance.

It does seem like alot of work too that you do. Roughly what is your cost per month on food and supplements and how many dogs? I really like RAW, I just feel better about it and my dogs look good. I ad supplements like fish caps, alphalfa/kelp. Also just bought a huge tub of K9 Show Stopper. They like this stuff, it smells (to me) like cooked chicken. It has a large aray of ingredients like beef fat, rice bran, olive,primrose, borage,canola and safflower oil, fish oil too, glucosomine, msm, the list goes on and on. Here is a link if interested in it: http://www.k9power.com/k9_show_stopper.php  I have been talking to Larrydee and may try the Canine Complete when this batch is gone. I think variety is a good thing. I sometimes feed a little Canidae or California Natural Chicken & Rice. When  my pup seems still hungry after her meal I give her a half a cup or so. She will just look at it unless I ad the Show Stopper. I might phase the dog food out all together now. It was here for my old girl, she liked it and it helped keep her stool firmer in her old age. She just left us this month to visit her old buds at the Bridge...

DKiah  Solid Gold is really great so far so good,  however the adult kibbles are very low in protein,  like 22% low some up to 26%  I just like a higher protein.  My vet too.  The only formula that has a higher protein is the puppy.  and the dogs do excellent on it.

Larrydee,  so far Raw is out of reach for us,  Hot summers, shipping,  You know... But I would if I could.  Thanks for the input I appreciate the time you took to let me know what you think...   :-)

Trailrider,  I've used some of the K-9 superfuel, puppygold, and show stopper,  compared label's with what I mix and are just about the same...  Your right though, They do LOVE it !!    But they love the mix I give them too, so that's a good thing.   :-)   13 dogs that are  over 1 yr. old.  and currently 3 pups,  Our feed bill is over 1,000.00 per month.  That's Feed and Supplements.

EchoMeadows   You are to be congradulated there aren't very many dog owners out there that will go thru the time and expense to make sure their dogs get the proper diet.   You are doing a first rate job.

Trailrider----I read the other day about your old girl passing---really sorry.

Larrydee----From time to time, I check out the 'complete' powdered supplements (all versions and brands). The only concern I have with them all is the fact that I want to know the exact amount of each ingredient is in that daily teaspoon. For example.....how much vitamin ester-C.....50mg...500mg...1000mg.....? What????  Because the ingredient lists are all rather vague......for now.....I'll continue with the individualized supplementation.  (Later, I'm going to add up these 'human grade' supplements.  I'll probably have a fit......but continue.)

As for the dog food.  What haven't I researched, analyzed, evaluated and occassionally tried.  I'm into half  semi-raw fresh meats (1 example--2" steaks seared for a couple of seconds (for my peace of mind...by no means is the meat cooked....it's raw), raw eggs, yogurt, fresh veggies, etc., plus some kibble.  I also feed table scraps.......but everyone's version of what comprises table scraps are subjective.  It's not gravy...sloppy joe's...boxed mac&cheese, etc.  It's a couple of slices of roast beef, chicken or turkey..with perhaps half a potato and whatever fresh veg I've cooked.  My dogs have always been lean....eat a good amt.....never altered.  Haven't had a fat dog yet, but I place more emphasis on the fact that I usually choose the more devilish, active pup, rather than the composed, docile one in a litter. (Let's all get real here----fresh, whole foods could never be considered detrimental.............kibble is a gamble (but I've been sufficiently brainwashed to continue giving some.........supplementation is the same for humans and dogs.  People who take a daily vitamin are more likely to realize the benefits and provide for their dogs.

Echo WOW!!! My hubby would throw my butt out! LOL! That many dogs it would be very time consuming to feed RAW as well, so what you are doing is great. If you look into it though you could probably find some fresh meat locally instead of shipped. I am lucky to have found Hutterite stewers, their meat is free of hormones etc. and costs about .30 a lb. I also have a local butcher that does deer & elk so I get alot of trim from him in the fall to fill my freezer. Most of it looks so good you could make burger with it. If it is all sinew or fat I chuck it. He has gobbs of it. I bring out a tub, he fills it, I stuff it in zip lock bags and freeze. It is a couple month process but lasts a year.

LMH Thank you for the kind words... she was such a good ol' girl.  Curious, what kibble do you feed?

"Solid Gold is really great so far so good,  however the adult kibbles are very low in protein,  like 22% low some up to 26%  I just like a higher protein.  My vet too.  The only formula that has a higher protein is the puppy.  and the dogs do excellent on it."

Echo:

By no means am I suggesting you switch food because what you're doing is working for you.  However, have you ever looked into Innova EVO?  I think their protein is roughly 42-43%.

Hi Trailrider. I don't even know if it's fair for me to recommend kibble, since I feed an extremely varied diet.  SG Hund-n-flocken has proven to be a good choice for a couple of my guys, but my young male didn't fair so well when I tried WolfCub and WolfKing.  Tried a couple of other holistic brands.....no good.  Got lucky with TimberWolf's 'wild and natural'.  Firm stools, looks great.  Added 'lamb, barley, and apples' to the mixture 3 weeks ago.  He's been on the TW for 3 months now and I'm happy.  But 3 months is still 3 months...not 3 yrs.  I'll keep watching him.

He's doing well on the added raw fresh meat and occasional organs.  Started giving TW and raw at same time.