We currently have a 9 month old standard poodle and war is on about what to feed her.
From before I was born my family has always had at least one dog (and a cat and and assorted lot of other pets).
My family had a bit of a reputation for having pets that “last forever”. I had to have my cat put down last year and she was 21. We had a Alsatian/Dobbie X live to 17 and poodle/border collie X live to 19. Those dogs in particular ate home made stew (rice, minced beef, veggies) mostly, sometimes they had manky old dog roll, they ate lots of leftovers.
Our last dog was an Airedale (a pure bred) she ate VERY expensive dog biscuits (kibble?) the best brand and had to be put down with cancer of the spleen at only 9 yrs old.
I want to feed the poodle wet food and and table left overs because from the very small poll of very old pets that is seems to work. Other people in the family seem to have been brainwashed by petfood companies.
We give our dog a bit of everything. Fortunately he sort of has the eating habits of a cat in that he will only eat when he’s hungry, so we leave a bowl full of dry food and he goes and picks at it through the day.
We feed our adult Standard Poo’s premium dry food (Iams lamb/rice). This is suppemented with a little home-made “stew” of chicken and veg. which we prepare every couple of weeks and freeze. We make beef liver jerky to use as training treats.
The new puppy is getting Iams Smart Puppy Large Breed.
Have always had dogs and all have lived long, with the exception of one which got cancer. I don’t use heaps of expensive medically balanced food for us, and don’t believe that dogs need it either. We are sensible about our diet, and theirs. But not so fanatically that it sucks all the fun out of life.
I use a combination. Leftovers, partly because they love them and partly because I hate waste. They also have dried food, the sort that is good for their teeth. They also have a half raw chicken wing each day (the current dogs are little) - again for their teeth.
At the moment, Chloe is getting dry food, with some dog food gravy on top, because she isn’t crazy about dry dog food. We recently spoke about trying her on ground beef and rice, home-made…
We feed our dog “premium”-quality dry dog food pretty exclusively except for training treats, and she loves it. We figure, as long as she’s happy with her dinner, and we’re happy with the ingredients, it’s win-win. We don’t feed her table scraps because we don’t want to encourage begging, or cause her to decide that the dry food isn’t good enough because she wants people food.
For training treats we use Natural Balance rolls, cut into small chunklets. Highly recommended! She only gets these when we’re working with her.
Well, Baron eats Purina Dog Chow. We don’t buy the canned stuff - especially after the scare - what was it - a few years ago when they pulled most of them off the shelves? I had (prior to that) purchased a can or two now and then and mixed it with his dry stuff but no more.
He eats Purina Dog Chow, MilkBones as treats, Beggin Strips or something similar as special treats, and people food. (When we adopted him, my husband said, "This dog will NOT GET PEOPLE FOOD! Only DOG FOOD! He hadn’t been in the house an hour and husband gave the poor thing a bowl of chili. :rolleyes:
So do you believe dry food is mostly the way to go? Our girl just doesn’t seem to enjoy it. Tonight her bikkies were topped with leftover sirloin steak and roast potatoes. She only showed interest in dinner when the extras were added.
I hate seeing her not interested in her dinner.
Standard poodles are HUGE fun ain’t they! Ours is too clever by far, a total commedian and way too lovable (though a sock stealing addict!).
We do an fairly expensive dried food - because generally speaking, you can feed them less of a better quality food and less going in means less coming out the other end. And because what comes out the other end when he eats a fairly high end dried food is much nicer than when he eats canned food or a lower quality food. Poopy scooping is my least favorite part of dog ownership - and is a critical factor to me in picking a dog food.
He does get occasional table scraps (but not from the table - in his bowl when everyone is done), a little cheese, and peanut butter (he has his own jar), and marrow bones.
Dried food is generally thought to be better for helping keep tartar off teeth.
I had an 18-year-old cat who only ate Purina, with the occasional empty tuna can (I’d buy tuna in water).
My boyfriend’s 5-year-old Beagle is in excellent health, on a diet of Beneful, Milk Bones, and the occasional piece of popcorn. My 7-month-old puppy was eating Science Diet when I got her, but a month later I transitioned her to Beneful’s puppy food and that’s what she’s had ever since – and Milk Bones and the occasional piece of popcorn. Other than the popcorn (which is not very often), the only people food they get is tiny pieces of leftover turkey on Thanksgiving, and sometimes cheese or peanut butter if they’re taking pills for something.
I think that there’s a reason for dog/cat food. Not that pets can’t do well on homemade diets, because obviously they can, but I just read somewhere (can’t remember the source, sorry) that pet food of any decent quality is balanced and contains nutrients that the animals need, and is developed to be their sole source of sustenance.
And you see cause-and-effect there? Seems to me that something like cancer is going to happen no matter what the dog is being fed.
Like Zsofia said, it’s because she knows that she’ll get the extras if she waits. Don’t give her a choice and see how fast she starts eating the plain dry food.
This is how I feel, too. Although, I would prefer to have my dogs on a non-commercial diet, I don’t have the time, knowledge or access to the kinds of things that I think would be necessary to make balanced meals for them. I’ve read up on it, and things like appropriate calcium/phosphorous ratios, and the debates over vegetables vs. prey model formulas, or raw vs. cooked make it sound like a big undertaking that’s easy to mess up.
So, I just stick with the highest quality kibble I can afford, and occasional people food, like raw meat, and vegetables and the occasional raw bone. They Unfortunately, I haven’t been lucky enough to have the “less in, less out” thing **Dangerosa **described though.
