What kind of food do you feed your cat and or dog and do you stick with the same food no matter what or go with whatever is on sale?
I feed my dogs dog food - that's what I feed them. I try to stick with dog food, even when cat food is on sale for cheaper. I think it's the right thing to do for my dogs.
My Boxer is epileptic and on meds. He gets a high protein, no wheat diet to keep him healthy, control seizures and keep his weight down. Typical meal is squash, mixed vegies, boiled chicken breast, sometimes some potatoes or sweet potato for carbs..boiled or scrambled egg, some cottage cheese and garlic powder..mix it up a little to keep it interesting dependent upon vegies on hand etc..once in a while I will make beef stew with no onions ( I know we humans have to spice to taste) he also gets milk thistle, and a centrum silver twice a day to keep his vitamins up and clear the effects of his meds the cats eat his left overs on the rare chance he does not and basic Purina in door dry cat food
Everyone has told us that it is important to be consistent with the food you give to a dog. Dogs have strong constitutions and scant taste buds meaning they can eat just about anything but consistency promotes good digestion. Our dog began with specialized puppy food then ate Kirkland brand dog food until many bags were recalled due to a salmonella outbreak. Since then we've tried Eukanuba, Blue Buffalo, Royal Canin, and another one the name of which escapes me at the moment. The best results have been with Royal Canin which he's been on for several months. A 35-lb. sack runs about $70. RC ships in a resealable sack which is helpful since the plastic container we used previously tainted the scent of the food putting the dog off. He's an extra large lab mix (125-lbs.) and although RC has a lab-specific formula and a giant breed formula we were recommended MAXI adult high digestion which has been great so far.
I have 3 big dogs. I'm as consistant as possible with food but not to crazy about it. Most important thing is to feed good quality food, they don't need to eat as much and so they poop much less, TIMES THREE!
My cats get organic cat food. An occasional human food treat. And what they catch; I guess mice are organic.
We used to feed our dog Orijen, switching every 6 months or so between the Red meat or 6 fish varieties. They have a poultry version too, but when he was a puppy, he didn't digest poultry very well, so we avoid any poultry food/treats. They had a fire in one of their ovens and those were hard to find so we switched to their slightly (just barely) cheaper Acadia brand and he's been doing better on it. I think the Orijen was slightly too rich for him. Both are EXCELLENT. If you look at the ingredients, they start with real, whole, meat for the first few ingredients. I thin Orijen ranges from 75-90/30lb bag. But, since it's so high in nutrients, you really don't have to feed your dog all that much. Samoyeds are pretty efficient to begin with, so we only feed him 1.5 cups a day (he's 50lbs). Here is the ingredient list for the Orijen 6 fish Whole salmon*, whole herring*, salmon meal, herring meal, Pollock meal, whole flounder*, boneless walleye*, boneless northern pike*, boneless lake whitefish*, salmon oil, herring oil, chickpeas, red lentils, green lentils, green peas, pea fiber, canola oil, sun-cured alfalfa, yams*, pumpkin*, butternut squash*, spinach greens*, carrots*, Red Delicious apples*, Bartlett pears*, cranberries*, blueberries*, kelp*, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile, dandelion, summer savory, rosemary, Enterococcus faecium.
I haven't tried it, but I've been curious about The Honest Kitchen's food. They are a local (San Diego) company that sells freeze dried, raw food. I think one of my wife's coworkers feeds it to his dog. It seems like a good way to feed your dog a raw diet, w/o the hassle and mess that normally comes with it. It comes in a box and you measure out the appropriate amount of dry food (like you would with normal kibble) and then add some water to rehydrate it. Since we're happy with what we have, we haven't felt the need to switch it up. http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/resources-and-programs/feeding-tips
So years ago, my two pit bulls were young and well house trained. They both could easily hold their bladder or shit till I got home from work, so I started taking that for granted. One night I made a big meal of beef ribs and fed all the bones to my dogs because they loved them and I didn't think much about it. The next day I left for work, locked the door and didn't think twice ....... till I got home. I looked like a giant turd had exploded in my living room. There were shit paw prints on the couch, rug, and pretty much everywhere else. There was splatter so far up the wall, I didn't think that was possible. I had an area rug that that was ground zero and I just rolled that up and threw it away. Only saving grace was that I had shut my bedroom door. I felt so bad for my dogs because knowing them they held it as long as possible and were probably in a serious amount of discomfort till the explosion.
I have done a lot of research on that as well as several raw food diets. In my opinion, it was not a good choice for us. Raw food and small children do not work well together. The risk of salmonella no matter how small. Lastly, I could not find any benefit over what I am doing. As an aside, one of the benefits of always having fresh vegies, fruit and boiled chicken breast on hand is that I snack healthier. I do like the ingredients in Orijen 6 fish, and if my guy could eat processed food I would be interested in that
