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What is your choice of dog food and why??


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well Shuras a really fussy eater but since we got lola she seems to eat the things shes gone off ( must the compotition lol ) we feed them what ever biscuits we can afford depends on what in come we have when they run out. We also feed the wet food and every no and then (most of the time) any food left over from our plates. Shura also tend to love eating cerial specialy coco pops lol xx

Sorry but I'm shocked at how open you seem to be on this subject given what you just said. I would expect some harsh responces, however I'll simply tell it as I see it.



  1. I cannot honestly believe that you have to buy whatever buscuits you can afford when they run out. If you cannot afford to feed a dog healthy food, then you should not have a dog.

  2. You was told specifically by your breeder about husky diets. There are not many who I can comment upon personally however in this instance you know I can. Huskies can be a little 'funny' with their diets and feeding them different biscuits all the time and just buying what you can afford at the time is simply not the way to go. Its unhealthy and will cause problems

  3. You have also just said that 'most of the time' they get whatever is left over on your plates. Again this is not a good way to feed a husky as you well know. You have been on this forum for long enough, read enough threads, and been given enough advice to know better.

  4. You have said you feed 'What you can afford' and yet only a month ago, even though you feed what you can depending on income, you still decided to get another dog?

  5. Shura loves eating Cocopops??? yeah I'll bet she does. They are full of sugar which is bad for them, full of chocolate which is poisoness to them, and full of all sorts of other shite most people would avoid for their huskies.

I find it quite disturbing that you post this in such a 'relaxed' manor. I am usually the first to say people can be a little anal about what they are like with their huskys, however this is simple things you should have been doing right from the start, and that you were told specifically by your breeder.

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well Shuras a really fussy eater but since we got lola she seems to eat the things shes gone off ( must the compotition lol ) we feed them what ever biscuits we can afford depends on what in come we have when they run out. We also feed the wet food and every no and then (most of the time) any food left over from our plates. Shura also tend to love eating cerial specialy coco pops lol xx

Oh my gosh. I hope you are not serious. If you can't afford to properly feed your dog, why do you even have a dog? I don't mean to jump down your throat, but certainly you must realize, especially for a Husky that is still growing, how critical nutrition is to their development. What you are feeding, table scraps, biscuits, COCO POPS! are not the proper diet for any dog, especially a Husky. Coco Pops have chocolate, which is toxic to dogs, not to mention sugar, which dogs cannot tolerate and can quickly lead to diabetes for a dog. You seriously need to re-evaluate what you are feeding Shura and Lola and make darn sure you are a responsible pack leader. Sorry for the rant, but maybe others will learn from this post, including you.

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I use TOTW its the only thing that stopped Dakotas diarrhea. Plus he is a real picky eater so we go between the salmon, deer & bison, and the water fowl he loves all the flavors. We also mix in cottage cheese in it every day so he gains a little more weight.;)

We've been alternating between the Wetlands and the High Prairie TOTW. We've been thinking about trying the Pacific Stream TOTW. Does Dakota have a preference?

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well Shuras a really fussy eater but since we got lola she seems to eat the things shes gone off ( must the compotition lol ) we feed them what ever biscuits we can afford depends on what in come we have when they run out. We also feed the wet food and every no and then (most of the time) any food left over from our plates. Shura also tend to love eating cerial specialy coco pops lol xx

Thank god for breeding restrictions am lost for words sorry.

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what can i say like Dunc lost for words on this one, i can't belive you went ahead and got another dog when you clearly can't afford the one you have. I'm not going to go in to a rant as it's all been said plain and clea, if you carry on like this you will harm your husky or even kill her sorry but true, i feel for her please please sort out her diat or let her go to someone that can afford her.

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Fussy eaters

Blitzen_and_Yakut.jpg Ours were on Pro Plan puppy, which went well for the first 6 months. For the last two we are struggling. We've tried mixing dry and wet, dry and gravy, dry and tripe and wet food only. First one dog then the other stopped eating. They try the other stuff then turn their noses up. We also tried a day of chicken wings, carrots and apples which they tried but were not very impressed.

At our wits end what to try next. Wet food is winning but we don't really want to get them on this permanently.

Any suggestions of what we do next. Apart from the worry the vet bills are escalating when we ask what to do next! Decided to ask those who will know the answer!

Thanks for any suggestions.

Helen and Lee

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try leaving the food down for 15 mins, if they've not eaten it, remove it and dont give anything - food or treats until their next meal, do the same again and if they dont eat it - remove it - they will soon learn that when the food's down if they don't eat it they wont get anything :)

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We feed probably a higher-energy diet than non-working owners need, as ours are in full-swing training now and will be spending most weekeds racing in a couple of weeks.

The majority of our diet is a varied BARF diet. Several meats, offels an fish, pureed fruit and veg, brown rice etc. We occasionally feed a good quality rice-based kibble and insist on this having NO artificial addatives, colourings or preservatives. We don't feed any product containing wheat to any of ours.

We do occasionally add suitable leftovers in small amounts. Suitable being any veg, rice, meat juices and veg-cooking water. Unsuitable things are binned and never given to the dogs!

Our overall analysis of the two main componants is around 30% protien, 20% oil and we are careful to include all the other nutritional elements in our diet.

We don't have any fussy eaters. Just one dog who likes her chicken carcasses cut into pieces as she does not like them whole!

We don't have any issues maintaining weight and rarely have upset stomachs. If we do, it's never due to something we fed.

Cost per dog is around 8-9 per month, though to be honest, cost is overruled by quality, and we will only feed ours the best diet available.

If we couldn't afford to feed them the diet they deserve, we wouldn't own them!

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cost is overruled by quality, and we will only feed ours the best diet available.

If we couldn't afford to feed them the diet they deserve, we wouldn't own them!

Perhaps harsh, but realistic and honest.

Over the years we have tried most brands of food and the two best (ie - the two that our dogs both liked and thrived upon) were Techni-Cal and the food we are using now - Best Choice - a food that was developed in Germany on working sled dogs. One of the benefits of having a large pack, as I'm sure Lyn would agree, is that the dogs always seem enthusiastic to eat. Feeding time at our house never lasts longer than 5 minutes max. We also feed raw chicken wings and raw carrots as occasional treats.

We are training three times a week at the moment, so our adult dogs are on the Performance Grade food, but one of the excellent things about Best Choice is the large range of foods to choose from (our Leo puppy is on Giant Breed Junior and Bam-Bam is on medium Breed Puppy). Anita and Nigel (Leonslord Pet Nutrition) are also always available for advice on nutritional issues.

Not all huskies are the same however, and the best advice is to feed your dog(s) whatever keeps them happy and in good condition.

Mick

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I agree we should always feed what our dogs do best on but price is not always indicative of quality.

I feed a raw diet and it works out cheaper than premium dried food.

There are "premium" brands out there like Eukanba and Hills Science Diet that are incredibly expensive for what is at best a pretty average product.

Then there are cheaper brands of dried food that are actually pretty good quality (when you consider the ingredients).

There are some dogs that won't do well on the best quality most expensive brand of dog food. I have known dogs who do incredibly well on super premium brands and some dogs who do very poorly on the same brand.

I feed my dogs what they do best on and price is not really a factor that comes into it. I understand some people are on a budget and can't afford to spend xyz amount on dog food which is why there are some great affordable options out there when it comes to dog food. As long as they are feeding their dogs what they do best on that is the most important thing.

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If you look at the ingredients list on Science Diet foods, the majority of them have corn right up near the top of the list. For example, the first ingredient listed for Science Diet Large Breed Pupply is "corn". Corn is not well digested by dogs, and is for the most part, a filler. It's cheap and abundant, and equally cheap to process. The third item is "corn gluten meal", also a filler, and the fouth ingredient is "dried beet pulp", also a filler. Below is a link:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1026&cat=all

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I do agree Mick. If ours don't eat something with gusto, Im wondering why? We have had that happen with a kibble we used to feed. We stopped using it!

Would add I wouldn't entertain some of what are considered 'premium' foods. Take a good look at the ingredients before you part with the premium price for them ;). Our kibble is 25 a large bag. Far less than some well-known 'premium' brands but reads a lot better on the ingredients :grinning-smiley-003

look for things like chicken, chicken meal, lamb (or whatever other meat) to be TOP of the ingredients list, with a percentage beside it. this should closely be followed by a high-quality cereal and percentage (rice in ours). Next should come things like fish, prarie-meal (high protien by-product of maize production) etc, then your other added suppliments and NO cheap fillers.

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I feed ours on Simpsons Premium...

https://www.simpsonspremium.com

We do however add sardines a couple of times a week and give them a raw egg to play with, lol :)

As most of you know i don't own a husky (just fostered one, Luna, for a month) and i understand Huskies have a higher energy level than my Dogue & Frenchie but i will say when Luna came ot us she was being fed on Bakers and her owner struggled to get her to eat anything else and not much of that!!

She loved this food (it's coated with chiken livers too to make it more palatable than most dry kibble) and she thrived on it. She put weight on and her coat was lovely.

awww i miss her bless!!

I think everything has been said (especially on the cocopops diet!!!!!!!) and i have really enjoyed reading the BARF posts. I know lots of people who feed BARF and i would do this if it was more convenient (i.e. i weren't so lazy) but we are forever taking the dogs away on holidays and weekends in the caravan it is just more convenient for us to feed dry, rather than swap and change when we need to.

Also it's important to realise that if you are feeding a puppy a good quality food right from the off (as well as not exercising too much etc) then there should be little chance of them needing supplements when they are older, which could actually save you money. Of course there are exceptions to this and it depends on the breeding of the puppy you have selected too!!

I have a rescue DDB that i have to add glucosamine to her diet and it costs a fortune, something like this can possibly be avoided with the correct diet & breeding.

The only thing left to say is if it ain't broke don't fix it!!!! By all means change their diet if you think they require it but if they thrive on what they have, have healthy coats, no dietry problems, little vet visits, no allergies, no behaviour problems, no temprement problems, have healthy stools & don't drink excessively then i say stick with it!

xx

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I feed Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish L.I. (limited Ingredient)

She doesnt have allergies. But the fact that they dont use fillers because its limited ingredient is what i like. AND its not outrageously expensive.

My bag costs $47 for 30 lbs. And she only eats 2 1/2 cups a day so it last a while.

I know there are EVEN better foods out there, but seriously i'm not paying more than $55 a month for dog food. no way

Sweet Potatoes, Salmon, Salmon Meal, Canola Oil, Potato Fiber, Natural Flavor, Salmon Oil (a source of DHA), Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Methionine, Choline Chloride, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Folic Acid.

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We use Taste of the Wild pacific stream canine formula with smoked salmon. Both dogs eat it, and we can get the large bag from Tractor Supply down the road from wehre Jay works. We also give them treats - carrots, chicken jerkey, and natural choice crunchy treats (haley doesn't like the apple ones, but Kahtadin does. They both like the blueberry ones though).

We've seen Blue Buffalo Wilderness at PetSmart, and I've read good reviews for that. Has anyone tried it before? We've tried Blue Buffalo wet food for an occasional treat, like if they did extremely good on a walk. That lasts about 2 seconds, the bowls hit the floor and they just about inhale it But we haven't tried the dry food, and don't plan on switching from TOTW unless Tractor Supply stops carrying it.

Here's some comparison pics of Haley when we first got her on 1 Sept 2009, and then oiin n Sept 2009 after she'd been with us and eating well. We found the change in her fur amazing! And she's put on weight and looks very healthy now.

Here she is the first night, eating her food. Her fur was wirey and rough, and we thought she looked a little underweight. She wasn't eating well before we got her - had to hunt and catch her own food, and was feeding Kahtadin.

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And here she is in more recent photos, her fur has thickened and is a lot softer, she's filled out more (she was 54 pounds, we'll hopefully have an update tomorrow at the vet)

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