The Art of Natural Dressage

As I saw Josepha suggested to start a topic on feeding dogs, I thought that a great idea, so here I go:

When we got Leila from the breeder, she seemed to be so thin and she was one of the smallest of the litter. At home I soon noticed that she would not want to eat her kibble - which we did get from the breeder.
I had to come up with tricks as I discovered she would take the food when she had to work for it. She would take a pebble as reward, or when I would throw them around, or when they fall out of her "Kong-ball".

Now I am on a pre-Barf diet, as I had bought a whole bag of best Canadian kibble for puppies. So she gets 1/3 ratio that and 2/3 home cooked. She did catch up with her siblings by now, I am quite sure. And she has the most shiny coat I have ever seen - people even asked how I get it so shiny

The cheaper dog food contains stuff, that makes it more tasty for the dog. Many people have then problems to switch to better quality food.

I found now a source for buying meat for BARF (like chicken necks) and will switch as soon as the kibble is all gone. As the ph in the stomach needs to be different for digesting dry food versus raw meat, I for now do cook the meat and give some egg shell instead of the meaty bones.

Luckily on BARF there are quite good forums to be found. But it is so nice to be able to discuss experiences her on AND.

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Andrea
http://www.youtube.com/user/FinhorsesAndPinscher
http://basichorsemanship.blogspot.com/

oh, I want to tell the tale sooo much, but i have no time at the mo...

Just make sure the stomach is empty (also no H20) before you introduce the raw meal. So wait at least two to three hours before you feed. Then the stomach acid will be at his best to kill bacteria etc.
Because that is what it was made for in the first place (and de-worming will never be necessary again!).

The sooner you start, the better cells and tissue your pup will build for the rest of his life!

You are what you eat, and you eat best what you were made for to eat.
For dogs and cats that is prey.

But never feed pork.

For the rest it is pretty simple,
For pups and kittens 6% of the body weight each day in 2 or 3 meals.
For adults 2 or 3 % of the body weight each day in one meal, ever changing meal time, so the animals do not know a feeding hour, this is really important.

70% muscle tissue, 15 % bone and 15% intestents.

You don't have to have this every day, but say every week. It's more like a random thing and you will develop a feel for it soon enough

Questions?
And I'll get back to this later!

Josepha in a hurry

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www.equusuniversalis.com

Hi all!

I have been feeding some sort of raw for about 12 years now.

At the moment I have 3 Border Collies and Staffordshire Bull Terrier, all retired agility and/or sheep dogs. I feed chicken necks and backs, and ground chicken with bone, especially for my 15+ year old, which I can purchase readily at an hormone-free chix farm close to where I live.

The oldest dog has been here just over a year, as she was adopted from a friend who is ill. Her teeth were HORRIBLE from eating kibble and had to be scaled. And now after a year on the raw diet and daily hiking, she is like a puppy!! She will be 16 in January!!!

I supplement the raw chix with a dehydrated raw food from The Honest Kitchen, grain free, either turkey or chicken. I also use a dehydrated veggie mix called Preference that I add to the ground chix. I use this as sort of a 'gravy' that adds some 'green' stuff to their diet. It's a bit expensive but it balances out the meat.

The only thing I am missing at the new place we are living is good chew bones, like beef neck bones, and can only get marrow bones from the store, more as a treat on a rainy day. For treats I keep a small bag of high quality kibble, or they get leftovers, apples, or veggies. They will basically eat ANYTHING!!

Oh and they LOVE horse manure!!!

Brenda

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Lucy04574
http://www.youtube.com/user/Jack04574

I have now established a feeding plan for Leila and thought to share it with you. It has developed partly on basis of what the shop does offer, as the butcheries in Finland are so regulated and I know of only one source in this area for the raw diet.

Leila is now almost 8 months old and weights soon 13 kg. I estimate she might have about 15 kg of adult weight and took that as basis.

In the mornings she gets raw chicken wings or chicken necks. (620 gr per week)
Afternoons she gets minced beef, or minced rumen (cow stomach). (each 625 gr per week)
She did not want to eat the beef raw, so now I do fry it a bit and she really likes it. The rumen is washed and minced, it is the only way I can get it around here, it seems. But it still looks bit greenish
Then she gets two eggs, 5 chicken hearts and a spoon of honey per week.
A small spoon of oil (rape-oil/fish-oil) per day.

On our walks she finds usually at least 1 mouse per day

Then she does get some food spread over the day, or just as entertainment. So she gets some cheese and carrots. While cooking she might get pieces of raw vegies/salad or leftovers after dinner, like potatoes and cooked vegies. She gets some fruits when I eat, like bananas, plums, oranges, berries.
I noticed she likes oats, but those are mostly for the horses and birds Also we give pig ears and meaty cartilage sometimes.

Now that I have worked this out, it is really easy to feed her, only little work and she enjoys the variety.

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Andrea
http://www.youtube.com/user/FinhorsesAndPinscher
http://basichorsemanship.blogspot.com/

Hi Andrea!

Sounds yummy!!!

What is meaty cartilage?? Like neck bones?

The only thing I would add it a good chew bone, either neck, or knuckle, or??? Something she can really sink her teeth into, for cleaning her teeth and good gum health! Maybe what you mentioned above is good fro cleaning?

Fortunately since my last post above, I have found a source for knuckle bones, and the dogs get them once a week, but chew them for days (they're GIGANTIC!!). I would rather have neck bones, cuz they're softer and they usually eat the whole thing, but haven't found any yet... But, their teeth and gums look FANTASTIC again!

So glad we started this section, got me motivated to go out and find them!

Brenda

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Lucy04574

http://www.youtube.com/user/Jack04574

Well, actually again that is bit limited to what is available here. It was offered as cartilage and I thought that is great for chewing and won't bring an calcium overload - as it was said for puppies one should not overfeed with bones. Cartilage is very low on calcium. When I opened the box, I found that there is lots of pieces with mostly bone. So now I select those with little bone and mostly only cartilage. It is all kinds from cattle I would say.

Leila is occupied for a long time with those. After her first such chewing treat her jaw muscles surely were tired

I have one huge bone in the freezer, that might be what you call knuckle bone. I decided to give that for her first birthday

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Andrea
http://www.youtube.com/user/FinhorsesAndPinscher
http://basichorsemanship.blogspot.com/