# Dog Food - What do your dogs eat?



## French Maiden (Feb 5, 2012)

I recently lost my Boxer cross to major health issues including hip displasia and spine and nerve problems.

I am getting a little maltese girl in about 9 Weeks and have been on a research spree to find what dog food would be best for her. 

Since losing my dog just weeks ago, I am now dedicating myself to find a way to minimuse/eliminate any, if all health problems that may pose a threat to my new puppy. 

I understand that some health problems can be predisposed because of the breed of animal and are in some cases herediteary, but for the ones that arent I have to try. 

I have just read an article Commercial Pet Food Exposed - Dog Health Report - Dog Care - Dog Health Problems Solved! and looked on wikipedia Raw feeding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and it really made me think about what I (and anyone) am feeding my babies when I buy commercial pet food.

I've been looking into the BARF (Bones And Raw Foods) diet. It looks like it will possibly be the best choice for keeping my baby safe and healthy. 

What are your opinions on the topic? 
Do any of you practice the BARF diet with your pets?


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## Furbabies mom (Jul 25, 2011)

I think there are several members here that home cook for their fluffs.I feed mine Eartthborn Holistic small breed kibble. They also get veggies and fruit and some yogurt and boiled chicken occasionally. My fluff are not picky eaters they would eat anything. I think a lot of small dog's might be picky eaters and sometimes you have to find the food that is good for them and also that they like.


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## cyndrae (Aug 30, 2009)

My pups get Wellness. I tried different ones when Lilly was small but Wellness is the one she likes the best.


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## Bonnie's Mommie (Mar 2, 2006)

Hi Francine - there are a lot of posts on here about food, and how to identify quality food. I've never used BARF because I don't want to give Bonnie little bones. I feed her Stella and Chewy's freeze dried raw and have been for 6-8 years.

Here is a good post about food: http://spoiledmaltese.com/forum/60-...reats/58420-foods-we-use-recommendations.html


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## Aarianne (Jul 22, 2005)

I highly recommend the book K9 Kitchen (2nd ed.) by Monica Segal. 

Here is the book on her site if you're interested: K9Kitchen: The Truth Behind The Hype

Amazon doesn't carry the 2nd edition, but here's a link to the first if you want to see a couple reviews: Amazon.com: K9 Kitchen- Your Dogs' Diet: The Truth Behind the Hype (9780973094800): Monica Segal: Books


And here it is on Dogwise: Welcome to Dogwise.com


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## SammieMom (Nov 13, 2010)

Furbabies mom said:


> I think there are several members here that home cook for their fluffs.I feed mine Eartthborn Holistic small breed kibble. They also get veggies and fruit and some yogurt and boiled chicken occasionally. My fluff are not picky eaters they would eat anything. I think a lot of small dog's might be picky eaters and sometimes you have to find the food that is good for them and also that they like.


Deb you and I are in same boat. Sammie would eat till he popped. how often do you feed the chicken, yogurt, veggies?

I am just now in the process of changing from Natural Balance because the first one and on some the first two ingredients are not MEAT but potatoes. I don't want to feed Sammie sweet potatoes as his main food source.

I went to a pet store and got sample packs for *Fromm regular*, not the non grain formula. As I now think he is prob not allergic to grains. He scratches his ears, but I want to try grain based food again and see. I want to transition him to new food, but so far he won't touch anything but the Fromm :aktion033: now, so I keep tossing the Natural Balance at the end of the day. This is my 3rd food. Like I said, he loves to eat, so he may not have issues.


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## Madison's Mom (Dec 26, 2007)

My two malts are pretty picky eaters (the Yorkie will eat anything!) but they both like ZiwiPeak lamb.


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## Furbabies mom (Jul 25, 2011)

Sammie said:


> Deb you and I are in same boat. Sammie would eat till he popped. how often do you feed the chicken, yogurt, veggies?
> 
> I am just now in the process of changing from Natural Balance because the first one and on some the first two ingredients are not MEAT but potatoes. I don't want to feed Sammie sweet potatoes as his main food source.
> 
> I went to a pet store and got sample packs for *Fromm regular*, not the non grain formula. As I now think he is prob not allergic to grains. He scratches his ears, but I want to try grain based food again and see. I want to transition him to new food, but so far he won't touch anything but the Fromm :aktion033: now, so I keep tossing the Natural Balance at the end of the day. This is my 3rd food. Like I said, he loves to ieat, so he may not have issues.


 They get veggies every day, chicken once or twice a week, and yogurt once or twice a week. I also give them fruit.


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## RE823 (Feb 11, 2012)

So sorry for you loss Francine, I am in a similar situation. I had a little chihuahua for 7 years and she recently passed. She had some stomach issues and was a picky eater. 
I just got a Maltese today, a cute 7 week old little man.. I love him so much already! I am on the search for dog food... not sure what to start him on. I am so hesitant because of the issues my chihuahua had....


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## French Maiden (Feb 5, 2012)

Congrats on getting your little man. I bet he will bring some much needed love and smiles to your home after the loss of your chihuahua.

I have spent countless hour going on days researching, trying to find a diet that will keep my new baby girl healthy. When I read the article (Commercial Pet Food Exposed - Dog Health Report - Dog Care - Dog Health Problems Solved!) it made my skin crawl, I was so horrified. It was then that I made the decision to feed Charm on the BARF diet, somewhat controvercial it may be, I believe it is what is going to keep my baby healthy. 
I've sufferend too much hardship to lose another child of mine (without soundling 'poor me, poor me').


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## silverhaven (Sep 6, 2009)

I home cook mainly, but they get some Now! small breed for the occasional snack.


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## Patsy Heck (Jun 10, 2011)

I too am in the same shape as two previous posts. I lost my 15 y.o. Jack Russell to liver failure this past Thurs. I will be getting two Malts next Thurs. As not to upset them I will use the food the breeder has suggested. They are on Natures Variety and Stella and Chewy Raw. I can't get them here in town but was able to order them on line.


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## French Maiden (Feb 5, 2012)

the breeder I am getting Charm from is already feeding her on raw meat and organic dog food, so she's already half way to what I want her to be. 

Sorry to hear of the loss of your Jack Russell.


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## Mini Pearls Mom (Mar 4, 2011)

Pearl was recently diagno$ed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. This requires excellent food intake, limited ingredients and often Vet Rx food. I ran the gamut of the Rx foods and did a lot of home cooking and she turned her teeny nose up at it all. Yes, even my cooking. I worked with a Veterinary Nutritionist Specialist who recommended Freshpet (frig section) as possibly a solution as Pearl was losing weight and just not interested in food.

Freshpet saved her. She immediately put the lost 2 lbs. back on, is symptom-free today and I have to NOT feed her as much as she'd like as she simply adores this healthy food.


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## pippystrong (Dec 2, 2010)

I just started Pippy on raw less than a week ago. It's the prepacked raw and she loves it. She has horrible allergies and I have tried everything out there and nothing helped.
I am keeping my fingers crossed this makes a difference.
I am definatley going to start preparing it myself and get a grinder so I can do it in bulk and freeze it.
I think you are making a wise decision going raw to begin with..... I wish I had done it sooner! Good luck


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## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

I like to give Bailey a variety of foods and he is not picky at all so he scarfs down anything I give him. I mainly use canned food and dehydrated/freeze-dried raw. For canned, I like Party Animals Organic and for the dehydrated I usually use The Honest Kitchen, Addiction or Stella & Chewy's. He has had frozen raw before (Paw Naturaw, Primal and Nature's Variety) and he did well on it but I have a kind of a sensitive stomach and it really grossed me out


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## LexiMom (Feb 7, 2012)

I feed Acana Gasslands and also use ZiwiPeaks or Stella & Chewys


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## Snuggle's Mom (Jan 3, 2008)

Both Chrissy and Snuggles are fed Blue Buffalo Longevity and I have no problems whatsoever. They have both been on other varieties and had no trouble switching. I guess I have been blessed with two dogs that have not been picky eaters.


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## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

I am back to Fromm. I was doing freshpet but after a while of eating it, Rocky started having pee accidents. He even peed on me! At first I thought it may be a uti but after taking out the freshpet it stopped. I dont think its a bad food, but for whatever reason it just didnt work out for him. :-(


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## aksm4 (Nov 28, 2011)

I feed Luna Horizon Legacy grain free she is doing great on it , but I also give her blueberries, greek yougurt, veggies today we tried bok choy she loved it !!))) 


Anna


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## rsg (Feb 29, 2012)

We put our maltese Oliver (who will be estimated 6 years old this summer - he is a rescue we adopted when he was said to be a year old, and we don't know exactly how old he is) on a grain-free diet a few months ago. He had developed a urinary tract infection (rare for neutered males, though much more common in females - what tipped us off that something was wrong was his mood and that he asked for 1 additional trip to the backyard after dinner) and the vet determined he had crystals in his urine after the infection went away. Crystals can be a precursor to future bladder stones, but X-rays showed he didn't have any bladder stones thankfully. Our vet originally told us we had 'no choice' but to use a Royal Canin urinary diet but when we saw what was in that food as well as the Hill's version of it, we said there must be a better way and took him to a holistic vet. (These special diets included a lot of salt in order to make a dog thirsty and drink more, and both had a lot of meat byproducts and filler high up in the ingredients list. We had been feeding him the regular Wellness wet food for dinner mixed with fresh boiled chicken with broth and vegetables, and Wellness Super-5 kibble for breakfast - both of which had some grain, and we gave him healthy treats that were mostly grain-based. 

The holistic vet felt that we could keep his PH low and keep him healthy through a grain-free and partially raw diet which gave us some room to customize. She also thought that given the timing of when he got sick, which was not long after annual vaccinations, that he may also have had a vaccination reaction. She said that regular vets don't adjust the dose for small dogs. We could get extra water into him by adding it to his food, not by giving him salty food. So for breakfast he has 1/4 cup Orijins seafood kibble, and then 1/4 cup Wellness Core (grain-free) wet food with a little extra water. (We found when we mixed the kibble with the wet food he wouldn't chew it - he's just swallow it. )

For dinner, he gets 1/4 cup raw meat (ground turkey and/or ground buffalo meat - he spits out the ground beef so it was clear he didn't like the beef) to which we add Coral Calcium since we're not giving him bones (which the holistic vet said was better for him than Calcium Carbonate in light of his having had struvite crystals. )And he gets vitamins added. We add to that 1/4 cup of the Wellness Core wet food which is grain-free, and some pureed raw vegetables. He likes broccoli, zucchini, green beans, chard, etc. I prep enough for several days at a time and it doesn't take long at all to do.

For treats we give him 100% liver or 100% turkey treats (grain free).

So far, he is doing well on this. He and his younger "brother" (a 2-year old Shi-Poo) who we also put on this diet are thriving on it. Oliver's PH has stayed at 6.5-7.0 for months now which is perfect, a PH that will not allow crystals to form. And he and his brother have never been more excited and happy at dinner time.

Hope this helps. I know it's a lot of detail, but so far, so good.


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## gopotsgo (May 21, 2009)

Kudos for everyone on a raw diet! I think it is the best, especially the raw frozen, and my girls have been on it for 2 years. I have tried several and so far I like Darwins the best. I also mix in homemade organic pureed zucchini/celery/kale as well as homemade organic yogurt, coconut oil and blue green algae


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