Food, show me how much!

[CorvusCorax]

Regarding all the posts and questions about food recently, brands, amounts etc, was wondering if people could post pics of what their dogs eat, and how their dogs are looking, if you wish to.
Before and after pics if you want to show improvements in terms of dogs who were over or underweight or who were out of condition.

Each of my dogs get this, twice a day. Each bowl is two scoops (an empty tin can) of Skinners. Up until recently, they were on Arden Grange and we may switch back.

B gets natural yogurt mixed in and they often both get an egg and veg oil too.
They are 2yo, working-fit GSDs who get a lot of exercise. They get nothing else apart from a small amount of reward food when training, which will be cheese, ham, chorizo, liver or pate/tuna when B is tracking

and that will perhaps be every
other day.

If anything, I would say Bella is a wee bit too cuddly, I wouldn't want her to put on any more weight. However she is quite short-legged and deep so it probably looks worse than it is.


I appreciate some multiple dog owners may not be able to get back to me right away

and that the raw feeders will have to snap the contents of their freezer!!!!

All input appreciated

 

[Zoobie]

I wll take pictures tomorrow and if I am being honest they have food down all day. Gulp

This is because there used be such a hoo har at feed times and now they dont bat any eyelid no drama at all. They are happy to have empty bowls and if I put more food in they dont rush in.

What your post has made me realise that I dont actually keep an eye on how much I feed

Oh I am going to see if I can find my camera now.

 

[Spudlet]

Good God woman, have you ANY idea of the looks I am getting right now for measuring out food and not giving it to 'is Nibs?

Henry gets this much Skinners Field and Trial Duck and Rice, twice a day

When I got him he looked like this

And now he looks like this

So I think I'm doing something right

 

[kirstyhen]

Otto gets a cupful of Skinners Duck and Rice twice a day, plus an extra half a cup at lunch. I've weighed it out and it amounts to 500g a day. He will often get left over mash, extras (tuna, sardines, chappie) and gets lots of biscuits during the day

He is a 18 months old castrated Springer Spaniel, very active, stresses weight off and suffers from upset stomachs if something disagrees with him. He weighs 21kg.

He doesn't look too bad ATM, but I would prefer him a bit more covered as it can drop off him so quickly.

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

I will photo mine in the morning - couldn't stand the tantrum tonight!!

 

[CorvusCorax]

Wow Han, he is like a different dog! Good for you. Yes, I also got a big 'what are you DOING?!' from my two when I was taking the pic

Hen, I found it very hard to keep weight on B between 12-18 months! Bella used to run her weight off too but she has settled a bit, thank God!

 

[Spudlet]

Thing is, it just dropped off him, I dread to think how much he was being fed by whoever had him before

Hen - just goes to show you should feed by eye not by what it says on the pack! Henry would be a bloater if he got what the pack says he should, and I bet Otto would be a hat rack!

 

[kirstyhen]

It's been a constant battle to keep weight on him from the day we got him home! Just as he reaches a nice weight something will happen and he will either stress it all off or get an upset stomach

He is certainly starting to settle a bit now, but I think he will always be a ribby runt, his chilled out is like most other dogs warp speed

 

[Colleen_Miss_Tom]

KFC
potatoes
vegtables
chicken
chips
ham
sausages
bread
rice crispies
apples
biscuits
toast
tea
chocolate







and thats just for breakfast

 

[KarynK]

Ohh you asked !!!!

(Warning please don’t look if you are squeamish!!!)

Perhaps 5 or 6 of these:
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/5297145/2/istockphoto_5297145-chicken-wings.jpg

Or one of these:
http://www.rawessentials.co.nz/media/p4828e2c99274a.jpg

Or about this amount of this
http://www.grasslandbeef.com/catalog/LambRib.jpg

Or two of these
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/743/150101.JPG

Oh and a litlle bit of fruit and veg like this now and again
http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2005/05/13/HIWT-107_fruity-blender_lg.jpg

Power snack =
http://mrsellars.com/mrblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/raw-eggs.jpg

Well to make a long story short a wide variety of dead things less if they are putting on weight more if they are having a lot of exercise

 

[kirstyhen]

Do they get the slice of lemon and sprig of rosemary with the Lamb Ribs??

 

[CorvusCorax]

Karyn, is that per day? For Cattle Dogs?

You advise against mixing dry and raw, is that correct?
What about having raw days and dry days?

Colleen - do you feed any commercial feed? My Nan used to feed bread, milk and whatever the family hadn't finished after lunch and tea

Questions questions questions!

 

[KarynK]

If it's veg nite yes!!!!

 

[KarynK]

Sorry CC fell in between there

Those proportions would be per dog for maintenance mine weigh about 22kg. Lynn has had to cut Nick Nick back a bit as she was getting podgy but she has wings I think for breakfast and about the same as the husky's (in full work ATM) at night so a large carcass sort of size but she is still a puppy!

Mine and her adults get fed once a day but will have biccies as treats and mine have raw eggs sometimes.

I would never feed comercial or cooked near raw, (especially bones) for risk of impaction, the foods move at different speeds, but I cant see any reason why you cant feed both.

To feed full time raw with 2 or more larger dogs you really need a freezer and a friendly butcher, so as a compromise it's feasable to do both.

Cost wise mine's staple chicken carcasses and lamb ribs cost about £10 for a months supply for both but I need the freezer to get the benefit, wings are very inexpensive from supemarkets and are a good basic for a raw diet especially for older and small dogs, they are quite soft from there too.

You probably won't see the speed of improvement on going raw totally but by introducing it you will make up for any deficiencies in the commercial feed, but I would if you can afford it come off of wheat based food.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I am paranoid about bloat and torsion so it is something I would tread carefully with - I am really keen on giving it a try but in terms of space for another freezer, my mother and I's working schedule etc and her overall attitude to it, full time raw would be a bit of an ask.
A few people at my club have raw days and their dogs all look fab.

I just emailed Lynn actually

 

[Colleen_Miss_Tom]

In all seriousness, Tikka is fed mainly what we eat, our diet really isn't that bad as above

She is also fed on proplan, about half a cup .


*goes off to find recent pic*

 

[KarynK]

If you fed every other day or so and make sure no kibble on the day you feed raw until the following evening I would have thought there would be no risk of the two interacting. You might even find that you can cut the amount of kibble around the raw days as well.

Colleen I do say to people if you can't go raw then cooking your own is better than some commerical foods, but again I would avoid too much carbohydrates in the diet, I am sure that it is this that is causing a lot of the diabeties in dogs and associated conditions as well as the itching, which I think might be linked closely to wheat.

CC
(ps she's off in Sherwood racing this weekend she'll probably reply when she gets back, and she's missing dog training on Sunday, have told her off for getting a proper dog and turning it into a husky, it only started barking a couple of weeks ago when kindly uncle Blue showed her how!!!)

 

[CorvusCorax]

Thanks, I'll have another go at suggesting it!

 

[RobinHood]

Will take photos tomorrow of everything Ped has. A typical day would be:

Breakfast - 2 chicken wings
Back from yard - 4 sausages
Lunch - tin of pilchards/sardines/tuna
Afternoon - chicken leg/turkey leg/beef steak
Dinner - minced beef/lamb/turkey
Pudding

- yoghurt or a whole egg

I always have a pocket full of cheese, dried meat or gravy bones and i probably go through a double handful each day.

He's a 9 month old whippet x bedlington, weighs 23kg atm but he's very active so it's hard to keep the weight on him

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

Ok so breakfast was a bit late today due to photos and weighing - you have no idea at the paw stamping,whining and barking that was going on!!

So here is their measure of Skinners - Sweep gets one measure twice a day (200gms) and Max gets 1 1/2 twice a day (300gms). Sweep weighs 17 - 18kgs (depending on feed bin raids!

) and Max weighs 23kgs.

What this doesn't show you and I can't photograph is the amount of petrified hare,rabbit, pheasant etc etc that they eat as we walk across the fields as well as the carrots, pony nuts, sugar beet etc they steal from the horse feeds, horse/sheep poo and horse and sheep toe nail clippings.........

In summary a small amount of Skinners and shed load of minging and stolen food.........

 

[Tinkerbee]

About a fist sized lump/splodge

of potatoes or bread, beef/chicken/whatever we had for dinner last night and some nuts of varying brands. No idea wha it is atm.
One meal at breakfast and one at dinner.

Probably not very healthy but wet dog food runs right through them

and they refuse to eat dry food on its own.

Dougal has to have his heated as well.

*slinks out of thread*

 

[Charmaine18]

I feel like a terrible owner now.

I must be doing everything wrong! Leah gets a vaguely fist-sized splodge of tinned dog meat with around a double handful of mixer biscuits on it, and Poppy gets about half the amount of meat and only a tiny sprinkling of biscuits. They only get fed once a day, in the evenings. Sometimes they'll also get leftovers of whatever we've had (depending on what it is), and they often get gravy if dad's made any.

Is that really bad?

 

[CorvusCorax]

Charmaine, why do you feel like a terrible owner? Loads of dogs get fed once a day!

 

[Spudlet]

When I took Henry to be dog-sat they were teasing me for being soft for feeding him twice a day not once

Leah and Poppy are happy and healthy - therefore you're doin it right

 

[Aru]

once a day, in the evening after dinner normally,
two cups of feed(i measured them out as the recommended daily allowence for a not in work lab at some point but i cannot for the life of me remember what it is)


occasionally Jesse gets given the scraps from dinner but ive tried to discourage the boys and have had to remind myself occasion that this is how we had an obese dog before!

She also gets the odd cracked egg from my uncles hens, puts a great shine in her coat!

Most recent pic ive got is probly the one in my siggy...black lab

should go pull up a pic of her as a Fat abuse case though theres a bit of a difference

Scraps, potatos etc plus feed and a labrador who isnt getting enough exercise was a bad combination...
Fat jesse..

Skinnier Jesse...the angles dont make a gret comparison though...must get new pic next time im playing the the mutt

Ps dont have an issue with feeding dogs scraps..plenty of dogs thrive without commercial food it all depends on the individual dog
its just in our case that combined with exercise problems meant it really wasnt working out well for our Jesse

 

[MurphysMinder]

Can't post pics as still on borrowed lap top. Evie gets coffee mug of skinners F & T duck and rice (seems popular on here) in the morning, Saff gets slightly less, Buff gets a handful. They all get mug and a half at night plus approx 2 table spoons of pet mince which is basically ground up bones, used it for years, its good stuff. Weight wise Evie was 30 kg last time she was weighed at 12 months,suspect she has muscled up a bit now,other 2 are around the 35 kg mark. I am happy with their weight, even though it would seem I am starving them compared ot some of the portions on here

The 2 oldies take less exercise now so don't want them getting porky.