standard poo people!

Or, any big dog, I guess!
Natalie is my first big dog I've had since a puppy. I feed her (and Mingo) Wellness kibble and frozen raw.
She is almost a year, end of month.I noticed she has been leaving her kibble and snacking on it thru the day. She eats all the raw, about1/2 cup. Morning and night. So I have decreased the kibble.
Am I feeding her too much? She weighs about 40 lbs. now. Is she done growing? Is it worth it to contact the person I got her from to find out how much the parents weigh?
Also, with the cold weather here keeping us from our walks they both have been getting more bully sticks as busy work. Do they have calories? Should I limit them and to how much? I'd hate to, they love them and their teeth are sparkly..

Oh and a By the way, they have been on Comfortis for almost a year with no problems, and no fleas! I still get a lot of flea dogs so I think this product is working pretty well., today I got a 6 month supply and the vet tech had a hard time finding them, it has not really caught on here..

on the comfortis thing,.......just last night i was reading the technical data sheet for that stuff ,and it didnt make for pretty reading lots of side possible effects ,as well as some pretty sad dogs that were used for the testing.It was all there to be read.I know probably every other similar product probably has a similar sheet,and i know people have to use something....but what i read made me sad and mad .

http://elms.xh1.lilly.com/comfortis-product-label.pdf

Natalie is my first big dog I've had since a puppy. I feed her (and Mingo) Wellness kibble and frozen raw.
She is almost a year, end of month.I noticed she has been leaving her kibble and snacking on it thru the day. She eats all the raw, about1/2 cup. Morning and night. So I have decreased the kibble.
Am I feeding her too much? She weighs about 40 lbs. now. Is she done growing? Is it worth it to contact the person I got her from to find out how much the parents weigh?
Also, with the cold weather here keeping us from our walks they both have been getting more bully sticks as busy work. Do they have calories? Should I limit them and to how much? I'd hate to, they love them and their teeth are sparkly..

Oh and a By the way, they have been on Comfortis for almost a year with no problems, and no fleas! I still get a lot of flea dogs so I think this product is working pretty well., today I got a 6 month supply and the vet tech had a hard time finding them, it has not really caught on here..

Hi Lorie,
First, I wouldn't advise leaving food down for her to snack on. Give her time to eat, say five to ten minutes, then pack it up. That way you know exactly what she's getting. She isn't finished growing as far as mine go, but definitely contact her breeder as they do vary in growth rates and final weight. I don't worry about how much they weigh at her age, I feel them. They should have light covering of flesh over their ribs and tuck up in the tummy. They are better off lean than fat!
Don't know what a bully stick is but if it's food it has calories....go by their condition...if they are getting fatter than you want, cut back.

Sorry, haven't heard of Comfortis either. I use Advantix, but you can't use it around cats. If she is healthy and active and covered as I described you are not feeding her too much. My standards only eat what they need but my mini would eat until she burst. Hope this helps,
Merryl
PS Tammy posted while I was writing - I don't like the sound of that comfortis stuff either........

Thanks, Tammy, I'll read that. What I read on THEIR site sounded fine, but it would, wouldn't it. The problem is, Frontline and Advantix, fleas are becoming immune, I had fleas in my house all winter last year because of client dogs no matter how much I cleaned...

Thanks, Mutt, I decreased the kibble enough so she finishes everything. I'm paranoid she will get fat!

Lorie I really lean towards the Bones and Raw food diet so I'm gradually cutting down on commercial dog food. I think Tammy is a supporter too but there are a few versions, so we should ask her what she feeds. I am concerned that they won't get all the vitamins, minerals etc they need so I'm reading up on "Grow your Pups with Bones" which followed "Give Your Dog a Bone" both by Dr Ian Billinghurst.
I'm not saying I'm in total support as I'm still learning, but I've been to two vets who said NEVER give your dogs bone and I just couldn't believe that that could be good. They told us to brush their teeth every day

At the moment we use human grade beef, chicken liver, heart, kidney etc cooked with a variety of vegetables. We mix that with a good quality kibble that doesn't include grains. As I said, I'm changing gradually....other meals are chicken necks, wings, meaty bones of various kinds, omelettes, raw eggs, cheese and yoghurt for those who will eat it. Treats are cooked sausage or dried liver, carrot and apple.

My pregnant bitch is being very picky (that's normal for her at this stage) and gets whatever she will eat - last night chunks of raw beef.
Don't worry about Natalie getting fat - just when you brush/cuddle her check the amount of body fat and cut back accordingly. It doesn't happen overnight

Have PMed Tammy about Raw food and you can do a search on this forum. I think she's pretty busy right now as the weather is diabolical in her neck of the woods - way way south of me.

i'm pretty much an advocate of Billinghurst .I dont tend to go overboard with veg and stuff.Like he says,relax,its easy & sooo natural for dogs to eat raw bits of other animals,that if you do that as the staple ,its hard to go wrong.
The raw meaty bones have just about every conceivable vitamin & mineral,as well as calcium ,that a dog will ever need,in perfect balance and in a completely available form (ie not messed up by human intervention!) .If you must,just add a complete supplement like missing link or the like,and you need not worry any more.
I feel sad when people feel so compelled to keep feeding kibble,and justify it with "high quality,grain free' etc. Kibble is not ,never has been,and never will be a natural or ideal food for dogs. Highly processed over cooked food day in day out is not fit for dogs....just look what happens to humans that eat over processed foods as their staple ,with little or no fresh foods!
remember though that 'FRESH FOOD' to a dog is raw whole food in its natural state,not home made cooked '
recipes'
lol ,i could go on all day....but the best path IMO for beginners is to get hold of the 2 books by Dr.Ian Billinghurst that Merryl mentioned above . The book "give your dog a bone" is the raw feeders bible,and 'grow your pups with bones',although not an easy read,is extremely enlightening & informative ,and takes you to a level of understanding that you wont question .
That is what i love about Billinghurst.you read his books and the pennies start dropping! You really cannot argue with such plain common sense

Tammy, I didn't mean to justify my choice of kibble or the home cooked food, I was trying to explain to Lorie that I was making the switch gradually and that one sometimes has to convert the other human in the house I finally just had to tell him that we were going to feed raw!
I think he actually enjoys "cooking" for them...


Thanks for clarifying about my concern that they get all they need from raw meaty bones - I'm not that big on the vegetables either. I did suggest to my OH that he actually READ the books.
One more question Tammy, I know you breed occasionally....do any of your bitches get fussy with food? What do you do in that case?

Merryl ,that was a very broad statement about the kibble,definitely not aimed directly or just at you

as for bitches...there really is no 'normal' there .They all so different at that time ,and usually drive us batty .As long as they seem well and are eating something (preferably raw ,but....) ...............

as for bitches...there really is no 'normal' there .They all so different at that time ,and usually drive us batty .As long as they seem well and are eating something (preferably raw ,but....) ...............

Thanks Tammy She is driving me batty, but I have a tendency to worry too much She does seem well (wants to chase the ball with the rest of the gang, but they are getting too hot and never want to stop - retrievers to the core!)
She is making her own wise choice and will only eat raw[b] That is what she did last time, supplemementing along the way with freshly caught (slow?) pigeons. I've just made sure that she has a variety of raw meat and the occasional egg or some cheese. Luckily we have our own free range chickens

Merryl, I know what you mean about converting the OH
I actually had Mingo on a raw diet after several informative e-mails from Tammy. She did good until her throat got scratched by a chicken bone. Hundreds of vet$'s later, I switched to frozen raw and she loves it.

Natalie CAME to me on kibble, and I introduced the raw and better kibble, bt I think I need to cut back on the kibble even more and wean them off it...It's so expensive I could just feed them extra raw with that money.

lorie wrote:Merryl, I know what you mean about converting the OH
I actually had Mingo on a raw diet after several informative e-mails from Tammy. She did good until her throat got scratched by a chicken bone. Hundreds of vet$'s later, I switched to frozen raw and she loves it.

Natalie CAME to me on kibble, and I introduced the raw and better kibble, bt I think I need to cut back on the kibble even more and wean them off it...It's so expensive I could just feed them extra raw with that money.

Hi Lorie,
Somehow I missed this post It only takes one mishap to make you second guess your feeding, like when Louis had gastroenteritis we had to take him to the 24hr emergency clinic (vet$'s as well!). The vet made us feel like criminals for feeding him bones..told us about how many dogs he had operated on to remove bone masses. We left feeling awful and very confused. I now still feed lots of raw and also leftover veggies, eggs, cheese, yoghurt and sometimes (sorry Tammy, not for much longer) a stew we make.

Lily is insisting on raw, apart from the scrambled eggs for breakfast.......I totally agree about the kibble - I may keep some on hand for emegencies but a pregnant girl must know what she's doing Assuming she's pregnant or she needs to go on a serious diet

Oh Dear! Hope Lily is not "playing" you to get what she wants!!!!
I'm on my last bag of kibble. I'm using it up and then they will get just the frozen raw.
Don't lkill me but, Mingo was on strictly raw when we got Nat, but she saw Nat was getting kibble too and rushed her dish a few times so I gave her a few kibble to shut her up and now I think she has gained a pound she doesn't need, so back to reality when this bag of food runs out..

Mingo sounds like a typical littlie - loves her food Lorie I don't think Lily is playing me......it's not really like her to do that and her appetite is picking up - I went to pick her up this morning and she is a lot heavier, poor girl.
I don't think a little bit of quality dry food is going to hurt Mingo

Lily's fat tummy

Ohh! Chunky Monkey!

i suspect the imminent pitter patter of tiny poo paws

And when they're weaned... the slopping of pooey paws... 10 of them here Or should that be 40 paws

So what was the final count from the other day?? Sent u a PM ..Still waiting???

Ohh! Chunky Monkey..
i suspect the imminent pitter patter of tiny poo paws...
And when they're weaned... the slopping of pooey paws... 10 of them here Shocked pale silent Or should that be 40 paws..


Very funny guys.....and she's only five weeks and 5 days Anthony, how old are yours? Lily had ten last time and I thought my OH was going to leave home this time. I don't mind anyof the work raising them, it's placing them I find exhausting. I posted a litter of 9 black and one white and still had people ringing for brown

Sorry Donna, thought that you'd heard.

OK, first litter was 2 days after christmas and Ally had 6 pups - 2 white girls, 2 black girls and 2 black boys. First time mum, but is perfect. All happy and healthy.

Second litter was a couple of days ago, and Piper had 5 pups - 2 white boys, 1 white girl and 1 black boy. First time mum too, but she's always been a tomboy, so is a bit clumsy... just sits anywhere type of thing, so needs constant attention. The white boy and girl are small but should be OK.

Will get pics soon

You're mad!!

HELLO HELLO HELLO
Want a whitie here! Maybe I should come over and pick one out!!!!!