How can I improove his diet? musing.

[Buds_mum]

I have a little hienz terrier. His diet is terrible imo I like to compare it to a child living on mini chedders and chocolate.

Supposedly he is fed pedigree small dog real meals(from the sachet), with bakers biscuits...
Actually his day goes like this...
Breakfast: Toast crusts, and any milk he can lap up from cereal bowl
Lunch: any scraps he can scrounge, maybe some kind of chew/bonio
Tea: some meat, maybe and or a few biscuits
bedtime:dentastick
midnight snack:all his meat and any biscuits left in the big dog bowls, literally like a secret feeder, gorges himself!!

He looks well and healthy, has loads of energy, no behavior or health issues, I just worry he isn't eating 'properly'.

Am I being silly? Like I say he's healthy and gorgeous

 

[krlyr]

The way I see it, many people eat poor diets and appear to be healthy, of normal weight, good skin, etc. for years - but that kind of diet takes its toll and can lead to issues like diabetes, high cholestrol, clogged fatty arteries, bad dental health, etc. after many years.
So I don't particularly buy into the "but they look absolutely fine" argument, not longterm anyway, when we know that the diet does have downfalls like high levels of sugars and other ingredients that aren't that good for an animal.
Saying that, though, I'd rather feed my dog your diet of scraps than Pedigree wet food and Bakers biscuits! The latter really are the McDonalds/Smarties of the dog food world, full of sugars, salts and artificial colourings. Many rescue staff have a nickname for Pedigree, they call it Pedigree Bum, because they can always spot the dogs fed on Pedigree by the squishy, smelly by-product on dogs fed it. Bakers is also quite commonly linked to behavioural issues in dogs because of all the e-numbers in it.
I would either look into a better quality commercial diet - if you're on a budget I'd look along the lines of Skinners Field & Trial, Autarky, CSJ, something like that - not bad for the budget and not filled with colourings or sprayed with sugars to make them more appealing. This may mean that the dog doesn't find them quite so tempting at first, but their tastebuds will adjust. You could always add some wet food, again I'd go for a better quality, something like NatureDiet or Wainwrights trays (PAH's equivelant to NatureDiet).
Alternatively, if you're up for the preparation (sounds like you do a fair bit of work with all those mealtimes!) you could consider a raw diet. It does take a bit of homework to make a balanced diet, but it can work out quite cheaply (you may need to make space for a chest freezer to buy in bulk, but you might get lucky with a supplier nearby or a butcher willing to sell/give you meat and bones) and dogs often find it a lot more interesting than dry biscuits!
http://www.rawfeddogs.net/FAQs/

I'd move away from the Bonios and Dentastix too - you're paying a small fortune for basically a bunch of cheap cereals with very little meat-content in them. Buy a pack of tripe sticks, or some bulls pizzle, cows ears (less fatty than pigs ears) or even get him a raw meaty bone from the butcher or some raw ribs from the supermarket - much better for him, and they'll last him a while longer too (good for his teeth as well!)

 

[Buds_mum]

Thank you, yes I had heard that the commercial foods are full of c**p.

The 'meal times' are not dictated by me. he chooses them himself, I leave his tea down but he prefers what ever else is available in the kitchen. then when he doesn't get any tit bits he will eventually pick at it.
the only things he really eats with any gusto is bonios. i've tried him with all sorts of bones (cooked and raw), he won't touch them.

The vet actually recommended dentastix as he gets food stuck in his back teeth and the detastix clean this out...? His breath is clean now whereas before got quite stinky.

I guess I just presumed that these foods you buy have all this info on, and claim to be this and that so they can't be that bad

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Bakers contains mostly cereal plus artificial colours and e number as well as 'permitted EC additives (often BHT/BHA, used as a preservative and widely held as carcinogenics.)

Pedigree is one of the worst quality foods available. As mentioned, the poo demonstrates thatitisnt being digested/used as the poo is soft and huge.

Dentastix are awful, full of rubbish.

Never feed cooked bones or those horrible bones you get in pet shops. Both can splinter inside a dog and cause awful problems. Raw chicken necks and wings or nice lumps of tripe will clean teeth properly, as will whole raw carrots.

Raw is not for everyone, so have a look at food that isn't recommended by vets or in supermarkets.there are lots of food threads on here recently with good ideas. Table scraps (unless high in fat, salt, sugar) are superior to most commercial foods, I would suggest.

If he's fussy and prefers anything bu his food, you have trained him that way. Choose a decent food and leave it down for ten minutes then take it away again. Be strong, don't give scraps if you want him to eat what you give at designated meal times!

 

[emmah1979]

I just put a post up about my dog having IBS and briefly mentioned my research to becoming a fully fledged dog food geek 'expert'!!

I used to feed my dog pedigree chum pouches and bakers but apparently they are super bad! Naughty dog owners! I now feed Arden Grange biscuits and I still feed pouches but ones that have a high quantity of proper meat or fish in them - Nature's Choice, James Wellbeloved and Prestige. It hasn't cured my doggy's illness but at least I am trying to do my best for her. Ironically she never really enjoyed her Bakers/PC diet and used to eat it half heartedly, whereas now she seems to love her new diet. However, I was dog sitting for a friend recently whose dog was fed Bakers. Suddenly, in the eyes of my dog, Bakers became the most delicious, tasty, irresistable dog food ever!!!!!! Every time I turned my back she had nabbed another biscuit from the other dog's bowl.

Incidently, the other dog who is fed Bakers is a 10 year old labrador and is the fittest, healthiest, slimmest lab i have ever seen...!