Healthy suppliment mix

[Chewbacca_&_me]

Healthy Food suppliments For Huskies and Malamutes.

When I was 10 my parents selected their first breeding pair of Siberian Huskies. Over the last 17 years I have come to really love this breed. I prefer them as family dogs over evey other, despite their size and their many naughty habits...lol.

My least favorite issue with huskies is that some eat very well and will take any food you put down for them (when I was 3 we owned a husky who would literally eat mud pies...LOL) and then some of them are such choosy eaters that in order to ensure good health and growth in the first years of their lives you must find a way to add something both nutritious and tasty to their daily meals so they will eat their regular daily meals.

Chewbacca is one such picky eater...lol. I have had to add flovor and extra nutrition to his meals every day just to make sure he would eat.

The truth is that making strictly home made meals is healthiest for our fast growing pooches, but not really the most cost effective or practical way to feed them because it may encourage our huskies to steal food that is not intended for them and even dig in the garbage if something smells good...lol. Not habits we really want to encourage since they are already messy enough...hehehe.

In order to be satisfied that i wouldnt be feeding him anything that would make him sick, I have spent hours doing research to find out what kinds of foods Could be used as yummy additives to his hard dog food diet.

Hard foods even when they are higher quality are not necessarily the worst thing to feed your husky but in order to help them have healthy muscles, boones and organ growth there are some things we can add once or twice a day to give them vitamins and nutrients that are not included in regular hard foods.

What I would like to do is share some old tricks that breeders use to get huskies to eat and also share some tasty and healthy ideas of foods that can be added in small amounts each day without compromising our budgets....since im sure that im not the only one who has been interested in adding a few more healthy years to my husky's life without breaking the bank...lol.

More to come!!

Sarah...if you could ensure that this gets tabbed so it can always be easily found...that would be awesome...HUGS!

[Sarah]

Fantastic thread, added to rep - Thread stuck (but moved to Food and diet section)

[Chewbacca_&_me]

SUPPLIMENTAL FOODS TO ADD TO DAILY DIETS (ADD TO HARD FOOD)

Meats and Fish:

Chicken -bone in- (thighs/drums) (Some people boil lightly making broth as well)

Turkey (raw or lightly boiled)

Beef (hamburger) (lightly browned or raw)

Livers and gizzards...(best raw and maybe once a week)

Tuna (fresh and de-boned)

Dairy (for Calcium and vitamin D):

Cheese

Yogurt -plain

Cottage Cheese

Carbohydrates and even Iron:

Brown Rice

And some People add:

Eggs

carrotts

fresh greens (baby spinach)

Boiled potatoes

Depending on your husky and any specific tastes they may have you can vary which foods you add to their diet each day. Some people decide to add the foods bowl by bowl and others choose to premake and freeze/refrigerate/store enough mix for up to 4 days at a time.

Good Examples of mixes would be something like this.

3/4 cup of hard dog food

1/3 to 1/2 cup boiled chicken

2 to 3 tbsp of plain yougurt

and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of brown rice

and 2 to 3 fresh chopped baby carrotts

a less active husky should use the lesser amounts of added foods, and larger more active huskies should have the larger amounts to maintain weight and optimum health for working.

[siberian_wolf]

fantastic info!! added to rep

[Sarah]

oh am going to like this thread! added to rep again

[Chewbacca_&_me]

Im glad you are cool with me doing this because it took me days to find anything useful that I didnt have to pay for...

I think that with all the common illnesses that dogs get as they age (such as arthritis) that it makes alot of sense to provide a place where people can find this info easier and for free. I LOVE LOVE Chewbacca...lol...and there is not alot I wouldnt do to make sure he is happy and healthy....but the reality is that it is so expensive to find information and still have money to use the info you find later. There is one lady who is supposedly an animal/dog nutritionist who does evaluations online...but I decided not to trust her when I got to the part of her website where she listed her evaluation prices. My thought was HOLY FREAKIN WOW....LOL.

As far as I can tell it just makes sense to use common sense in this department...LMAO.

We husky owners eventually figure out what our dogs love and crave but are not always sure "how much is too much?"

Like when I asked about eggs...my parents used it 2 to 3 times a week as a way to help with protien, and healthy skin and coat. Beyond that most huskies love the taste of egg whether its mixed in their food or not...lol.

Helping a picky pooch want to eat is important to help them maintain weight and even to help them maintain body heat...so I think everyone should be able to find information without paying $100.00 fees to get a recipe from a nutritionist or veterinarian.

[Sarah]

couldn't agree with you more....I'm sure the info is going to be a help to everyone

[Chewbacca_&_me]

I read somewhere that people are really begining to come around to feeding dogs scraps from meals and specially made home food because it was quite normal and even natural to do so for hundreds/thousands of years...before the dry bag dog foods ever really came on the market.

Personally, I feel it is smart to include certain food staples to your husky's diet because they are large dogs and the quality of the food often coincides with the dog's quality and length of life.

A few weeks ago I met a lady with a female shepard. Beautiful dog, very very beautiful...the only exception is that the dog was unusually thin to me. Not that Im judging...just making an observation as to why I think that large dog breeds really need the added benefits of food scraps that contain needed nutrients that hard food cannot (does not) provide.

I was going to watch this lady's dog for her because she is going to visit her family for a few weeks...but the visit/interview went south when I told her that I have no issue with giving a good steakbone or other little healthy treats.

I can understand the idea that people dont want some dogs to get used to eating human foods, because it can cause them to steal food from tables and hands, but I was astonished at her response to me giving Chewbacca scraps or cheese, etc.

The truth is that I think its really good to give your dog bones and meat, small amounts of dairy, vegies and sometimes rice/potatoes because they contain needed fats, healthy burnable carbs, and nutrients that bagged hard foods cannot contain without adding more unnatural preservatives.

I by no means give large amounts of table food to my dog but I do like to suppliment his diet because I noticed very quickly that (since he is growing very quickly) he would either refuse to eat certain brands of bagged food because it contained very little of the nutrition that dogs crave, or that he would eat excessive amounts of food and still be thinner than he should have been (no thanks to cheap fillers and artificial taste/flavor).

Would you buy puree(s)/sauces made of natural foods to mix with hard foods for your dog if someone made the mixes?

I have been working on recipes for mixes and I think tasty purees to add to food would be a good option.

[Bec]

The only thing I want to add to this is that no matter the breed of dog you own, you should never, ever feed cooked bones to your dog. Cooking bones cause them to become brittle and the dog can easily choke on them. They should always be raw, not just for safety but because dogs have evolved to get all their necessary nutrients from raw food not cooked.

I also never feed grains like rice as dogs can't process grain and it has no nutritional benefit for them. Feeding table scraps is usually ok (as long as there is no cooked bones in there!) as long as they aren't making up the total of the dog's diet, as obviously a canine's nutritional needs is quite different to our own, and they don't need a lot of what we put in our food (i.e. they don't need to eat cooked food, food with extra flavours/herbs/spices or salt, onion, garlic, chocolate, grains etc).

But all on all if a diet is done properly, a 'home prepared' diet is great for your dog (I personally feed two of mine on raw so I am a big supporter of a balanced "natural" diet).

[jules dief taz tor]

mt two r thriving on the raw diet, the only thing we did have to change was the veg slop, dief will eat anythin, taz was a bit more picky and enjoys crunch, so to their morning feed we add a handfull of kibble , apart from that they eat all sorts of fruit and veg, cheese, yougharts , carrots are their fav's , we also add eggs with the shell a couple of times a week

[Sarah]

Chewie - I think a paste to go with kibble is a great idea!

I think these days people tend to give their dogs leftovers from the human foods as it's cheaper than buying actual dog food - well they think it is any - personally, it will cost you more in the long run IMO

[Chewbacca_&_me]

Ok so I have a common question that I really think we should chat about so that people who look at this can see some answers....

Honestly...my parents never fed our dogs anything other than hard food and eggs so I am just learning the raw foods diet stuff.

Alot of people ask this question:

IS THERE ANY CHANCE MY DOG COULD CONTRACT AN ILLNESS FROM RAW FOODS??

This is a good question to put out there especially for raw meats as there are so many bacterial infections and serious illnesses that people (and cows etc) have contracted from tainted or uncooked meats. For someone who might just be curious or just begining research this is a serious matter that they really want to know about otherwise they will not want to feed raw foods.

I know now that for the most part dogs, cats and most animals have natural immunities to illness caused by raw foods...but not alot of people know this.

What are the chances that a dog could get sick from raw foods...are there things we should watch for when feeding raw foods??

Please leave any info you know...especially if you have been doing the raw foods diet for a long time.

[Sarah]

Good question Erika added to rep - and one i don't know the answer to so will be watching out for replies from more experienced BARF feeders

[siberian_wolf]

I wouldnt say I am an experienced BARF feeder but one of my concerns before I changed over was risks of illnesses such as salmonella which we can get through eating raw food.

When dog was first domesticated both us humans and dog ate raw food as our normal diet and in time dogs were kept on the same diet whereas we discovered other ways to feed and so began the food trade of different ingrediants and we began to spoil ourselve to the point where our stomachs have evolved to cope with these other foods and so we lost the bacteria required in our system to cope with things such as salmonella. However the dog being kept pretty much on the same diet and it wasnt until 1860 when the first commercial dog food trade began which is (not 100% sure) a few centuries after we had started discovering other foods for ourselves. And even then many pet owners stuck to the same diet of raw meat and bones and so many dogs these days still carry the natural gut bacteria to cope with salmonella making them able to eat the raw meat without being affected. However some dogs can still get affected by the BARF diet as some dogs can be allergic to some or all the types of meat/bone/veg/etc that they are fed on this diet.

[Chewbacca_&_me]

Thanks for the response...its basically what I read before. Rock on!

[SarahNukka&Shadow]

Hey,

I have a suppliment based question for dogs in general not just huskies, as you might know I am a dog walker and one of my regular walk dogs has the rather vile habbit of pavement hoovering for more than just leftover takeaway! He doesnt tend to go for dog poo I dont think (not really looking THAT hard) but it looks like fox and cat poo... and he just scoffs it down! Very gross but I have been told this may be to do with some particular thing he needs that his normal diet (I think hes on James Wellbeloved dry) doesnt give him... Does anyone else have this problem with their dog? Know of someone who has the prob? and most importantly know what to give to fix it!?

I'd love to be able to tell his owner as I know she also finds it rather disgusting so if I could advise what she could try to help Im sure she'd love us all!! :oD Thanks!!

[Sarah]

I'm sure pineapple is supposed to stop them doing this - or is that eating mud i can't remember

[Chewbacca_&_me]

Rooo-Rooo-Rooo!! Glad to see this post again...lol.

I dont do the barf diet fully, but I have supplimented alot.

[SarahNukka&Shadow]

Bump! Thought this might be good for some newbies to read and also would still like a deffinate answer to my question above.. especially since my Nukka has now taken up this minging habit about 3 weeks ago! Dunno if it was a learned behaviour from Hoolie or because she started her season and this changed her nutritional needs???

[Siberian25]

So how much would a puppy(till how many weeks is it considered a pup btw?) and how much would an adult, be getting fed of raw meat per day? is it like two chicken thighs and an egg or two..etc If you are feeding a mix of raw and dry food..how much then?

Thanks for all the answers.

[valkyries]

my 3 get kibbe in the mornngs and 2 of them have 3/4 chicken wings in the evening pluss a little kibble, the 3rd one wont eat raw so he gets cooked chicken without the bones.

they also get other meats on different days i some times give the 2 a full chicken each and the 3rd has cooked mince.

they get an egg twice a week.

they love carrots, cheese, sausages, friut.

Any gravy or juice left over from any human cooking they get in their kibble.

they are two at 2 years old and one is 3 years old xxxxx

[Siberian25]

Thanks for your response.

Sid also had a very informative post in another thread so now I get a good idea.

[Rotorhead]

From reading I have done it seems that while wolves require a diet of raw meat and are unable to digest carbohydrates, dogs have a different genetic makeup than wolves and in fact their genes evolved to permit the digestion of carbohydrates.  This is the adaptation that allowed dogs to live with humans, and a diet of pure raw meat is not necessarily healthful for a dog.  They need some carbohydrates for a healthy balanced diet.

 

I haven't figured out how to link the NPR article on this subject to this site but when I do I will provide the link.  The story has been carried in some newspapers too.