Food questions

[lovelife82]

Hi,

Luna is nearly 7 weeks old and was wondering if you recommend a mainly wet with a little bit of dry food diet? Also should we be feeding her the same brand wet food or is it ok to switch between brands?

Thanks

Amanda

[chelseafan]

I’d keep to what the breeder fed her for a couple of weeks and whichever food you decide to feed make the transition slowly, add a little at a time to the food she’s having now until you’ve made the change completely, otherwise she’ll have diarrhoea, husky’s can have sensitive tummies any sudden changes in their diet affects them and when you introduce treats or bones do this slowly also, too many treats can cause diarrhoea.


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[lovelife82]

Thanks for the advice  The breeder was feeding her on adult food by the looks of things. When I bought her food I bought a couple of pouches of different brands and two different brands of kibble. So I shouldn’t be feeding her on two different brands? Just stick to the one?

Thanks

Amanda

[2Huskyfun]

Yes.

Stick with one and feed puppy for large breed.

These guys have very  sensitive tummies. 

 

[chelseafan]

Stick to one is best as she’s still young, she should have puppy food as it’s higher in calories for growth and development and then change to adult food at around 12 months of age, some do it earlier but they still need the high calorific value as they’re still growing. I wouldn’t mix the wet and dry as they digest at different rates and it could cause diarrhoea, she should be having about 3-4 meals spread throughout the day and if you’re feeding kibble she’ll need plenty of water. I’ve recently read about what we feed our dogs and how it can affect their behaviour, if dogs are fed on foods with lots of additives and cheap food they become aggressive and hyperactive. There are lots of choices out there, from cold pressed pellets to ready prepared raw and it’s worth paying abit more to keep our fur babies healthy.






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[lovelife82]

This is what we are feeding her on at the minute. Is it good enough dry food?

Thanks

Amanda

[robke]

Just know that huskies are not a large breed...

[lovelife82]

@robke they’re not? @2Huskyfun has just said puppy food for “large breed” in the above comment and also on the back of that dry food packaging it says 20-30kg dogs so going by that they are classed as large breeds for this dog food? Since most huskies are between 20-30kgs?

Should I stick with this or get the same brand but for medium size dogs? Or a different brand altogether?

Thanks

Amanda

[chelseafan]

Huskies are classed as medium size, large breeds would be Great Danes etc. When choosing a food look for a grain free, I know the top 3 for husky’s are Orijen, taste of the wild and wellness core, I can’t advise as I’m a raw feeder but I know a few on here feed taste of the wild, it’s a personal choice what you decide to feed.


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[robke]

they are a medium size breed... and as a rule of thumb feed them less then it says on the packaging...

[Luna-tic]

I’m curious about why they show chicken as 50% then chicken meal then fresh chicken??? Chicken meal is any part of a chicken, including possibly feathers, ground up and dried, fresh chicken, well that’s anyone's guess, could be the combs, the feet, what? Chicken gravy? Possibly the liquid used to boil it all up. Then there’s maize, doesn’t say it’s not GMO,so it almost certainly is, rice which is a cereal so undesirable, beet pulp which is a filler. A couple of reasonable ingredients but there’s no indication of how much so it may be enough or it may not. Personally when I see “recommended by vets” I avoid it, vets know as little about animal nutrition as GPs know about human nutrition, it isn’t taught to them.

 

This article says it for me: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2546512/How-pet-food-killing-dog-feeding-parsnips-yoghurt.html When you’ve paid out a lot of money for a pup, wouldn’t you want to keep it as healthy as possible? That means species appropriate food, for a dog that’s meat. At the very least if you are going to give it kibble, give raw food too.

 

 

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[2Huskyfun]

3 hours ago, lovelife82 said:

@robke they’re not? @2Huskyfun has just said puppy food for “large breed” in the above comment and also on the back of that dry food packaging it says 20-30kg dogs so going by that they are classed as large breeds for this dog food? Since most huskies are between 20-30kgs?

Should I stick with this or get the same brand but for medium size dogs? Or a different brand altogether?

Thanks

Amanda

 Honestly I don’t think I have ever seen medium breed food in my area. Its always been small or large. But then again I haven’t looked all that hard. I just found it easier to go with a good large breed and then adjust the amount. 😉. 

While speaking with my vet and some others (Husky rescues and trainers) *in my area,* everyone agrees large breed kibble puppy works best with the correct adjustments to amounts.If raw is not an option.

As I have experienced; mine do eat less than other breeds (what it says on the bag) and if I feed them too much they will have the runs. But never had and issue with weight or development. Knock on wood. LOL

 

1 hour ago, Luna-tic said:

I’m curious about why they show chicken as 50% then chicken meal then fresh chicken??? Chicken meal is any part of a chicken, including possibly feathers, ground up and dried, fresh chicken, well that’s anyone's guess, could be the combs, the feet, what? Chicken gravy? Possibly the liquid used to boil it all up. Then there’s maize, doesn’t say it’s not GMO,so it almost certainly is, rice which is a cereal so undesirable, beet pulp which is a filler. A couple of reasonable ingredients but there’s no indication of how much so it may be enough or it may not. Personally when I see “recommended by vets” I avoid it, vets know as little about animal nutrition as GPs know about human nutrition, it isn’t taught to them.

 

This article says it for me: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2546512/How-pet-food-killing-dog-feeding-parsnips-yoghurt.html When you’ve paid out a lot of money for a pup, wouldn’t you want to keep it as healthy as possible? That means species appropriate food, for a dog that’s meat. At the very least if you are going to give it kibble, give raw food too.

 

 

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There are so many brands and so many claims, it is unbelievable. Plus the same company can make several different brands. Sooo same food just claiming something different.?.

 I do believe that is why raw is the best when done correctly.

I am slowly switching mine over. 

Until then, I just went with what worked for mine. 

[lovelife82]

@2Huskyfun Hey, thanks for your reply and thank you to everyone else too. Can I ask what brand dry/wet food you give your doggies? 

Thanks

Amanda

[petertmartin]

I think, no I know, the pet food industry is full of smoke and mirrors unfortunately. Finding a high quality dog food is quite difficult. We feed taste of the wild high prairie venison which is one of the highest protein dry foods we could find and think this is what you should look for. The less fillers the better. I mix in a 98% protein food (Ziwipeak) which is so expensive and wish I could just feed this on it's own but has green lipped mussels and pure dried beef. I've been thinking of switching to raw as it actually works out cheaper and at least know what I'm feeding. You could always start by looking at sites like this https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com
For detailed food information

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[2Huskyfun]

I don’t feed mine the best, but it is the only kibble that works for mine.

Blue  Diamond Limited Ingredients large breed puppy Dry. No can. At 7 weeks I feed them a little over 1/2 a cup 3 times a day and then used a quarter cup through out the day for training.

Now at 8 months (started at 6 months) my male gets 1 full cup 2 times a day and about a half cup through out the day for training. My female gets a little less since she is smaller. 

My pups dad was a around the mid 60 pounds and mom was a little over 50 pounds. 

While switching them to raw: from what I have read here on the forum... great info👍

Feed raw and kibble separate. Kibble AM and raw PM. 

One protein for a few weeks at a time. My pups can only have lamb. They are allergic to chicken and everything else gives them the run. 

Others on the forum can give much better info on raw and what kibble is the best.

 I know someone posted the top three best foods for Huskies and I did read those when I first got my pups. Wellness is a pretty penny but I like that one a lot.  Taste of the Wild,  competitive pricing, easy to find, (I think the same company makes Blue). Has great variety. And there was third but can’t remember what it was.

[wolfpup]

If you are interested in feeding raw  -  I have loads of website pages that can give you a decent grounding - and created a spreadsheet detailing which meats contain which vitamins and minerals so its easy to see if there is a gap in what you are feeding.

[2Huskyfun]

Correction: I feed Blue  *Buffalo* Limited Ingredients puppy 

The breeder had them on Diamond. I switched them because Buffalo has less fat and filler 

[lovelife82]

Thank you so much for all of your replies everyone. It’s really helped  

I saw this on Facebook last night. What do you guys think? It looks pretty good, right? 

Heres the link to their site too. 

https://paws.com/

Thanks

Amanda

[wolfpup]

The only thing I would mention is that one of the additives is Zinc Oxide.                                                  zincdeficiencyinsleddogs.pdf

Zinc forms ranked from best to worst:

Zinc citrate, picolinate and gluconate are very easily absorbable and well  utilized by your dog’s body. ( 25mgs up to 100mgs daily)

Chelated Zinc does not bind to iron so it tends to upset the stomach less than some other forms of Zinc but maybe slightly less absorbable than picolinate and gluconate forms.( dosage is the same as above)

Zinc Methionine combines Zinc with Methionine and is reasonably well utilized in most dogs. ( 40 mgs daily dosage)

Zinc Sulphate tends to be very hard on the stomach causing unnecessary stomach upset. For that reason it is recommended that it be crushed and added in with food but this also makes it less absorbable. ( 200mgs daily dosage)

Zinc Oxide is a very cheap and highly un-absorbable form of Zinc. Sadly this is the form of Zinc being used by most mid to low end dog food manufacturers. No wonder so many Snow Dogs suffer from Zinc Deficiency. 

 

[lovelife82]

@wolfpup Hi, thank you for letting me know about that. So you wouldn’t recommend that food based on it having zinc oxide in? Or would it be ok to feed her that food if I gave her some sort of zinc replacement like, fresh boiled chicken, tuna etc? Also does the rest of the ingredients look like a good dog kibble?

Thanks 

Amanda  

[wolfpup]

2 hours ago, lovelife82 said:

@wolfpup Hi, thank you for letting me know about that. So you wouldn’t recommend that food based on it having zinc oxide in? Or would it be ok to feed her that food if I gave her some sort of zinc replacement like, fresh boiled chicken, tuna etc? Also does the rest of the ingredients look like a good dog kibble?

Thanks 

Amanda  

I am afraid I am really not the person to be talking about kibble   -  I have never fed it to my dogs   -  I've been raw feeding for around 10-11 years now.    Give as much raw food as you can  - even 10-25% raw mixed with the best kibble on the planet will increase its nutritional value.      I believe Taste of the wild is one of the better kibble type foods  -as @Chelseafan mentioned.    I only mentioned the zinc because if this food is being advertised as one of the best - and they take such great care in what they put into the food   -  then why put the cheapest, worst absorbed form of zinc in their food   -  particularly when so many huskies need a much higher amount of zinc than other breeds of dog.  Humans need 15mg  - most dogs need 40mg   - huskies need much more  -  up to 100mg a day.    The generally accepted reason is because their ancestor's diets consisted mainly of fish and fish eating animals.

One other thing to bear in mind is that  if a product has got vitamins and minerals listed on the label  -  they have had to add it because the food no longer contains that vitamin or mineral  - its been destroyed by the preparation process  -  and that vitamin or mineral is of chemical origin rather than natural.   The chemical versions are not always recognized by the body  -  or as easly absorbed  -  they may be chemically identical - but are usually in a mirror image format that the body does not fully recognize.   I cannot find the article I wanted, but these three should help a bit and skirt around what I have said above..

https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/vitamins-dogs-3-reasons-stay-away/

https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/synthetic-vitamins-and-minerals-in-dog-foods/

https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/why-kibble-harming-dogs/

We all want the best for our furbabies  -  and we all have our own ideas on what is best,  depending on our own circumstances  i.e.  cost, convenience, time  etc   -  so I would not dream of knocking anyone for what they feed their babies.    I am a self confessed nutrition nerd (or more accurately I am trying to be) as far as my dogs are concerned  -   I am still learning  -  the reason being that in the past I got it wrong so now I am trying to make up for that.

[Markulous]

That Canine Choice looks pretty good. OK, the zinc thing isn't ideal (I once had an 'interesting' discussion with someone selling a kibble which was specially made for sled dogs and had increased zinc...... but the guy refused/didn't know what form the zinc took except to say it was "vet selected". Conversation ended there!) but zinc deficiency isn't always a problem (we've never put any emphasis on it for ours, admittedly raw-fed, but never had any problems)

Personally, I'd say that if you wanted a Pets at Home brand (AVA is their own), then go for the fish - though it is adult kibble. We give our German that and she does really well - tried her on the breed specific and it was a bust
AVA Veterinary Approved Sensitive Skin and Stomach Adult Dog Food 15kg

[lovelife82]

2 hours ago, wolfpup said:

I am afraid I am really not the person to be talking about kibble   -  I have never fed it to my dogs   -  I've been raw feeding for around 10-11 years now.    Give as much raw food as you can  - even 10-25% raw mixed with the best kibble on the planet will increase its nutritional value.      I believe Taste of the wild is one of the better kibble type foods  -as @Chelseafan mentioned.    I only mentioned the zinc because if this food is being advertised as one of the best - and they take such great care in what they put into the food   -  then why put the cheapest, worst absorbed form of zinc in their food   -  particularly when so many huskies need a much higher amount of zinc than other breeds of dog.  Humans need 15mg  - most dogs need 40mg   - huskies need much more  -  up to 100mg a day.    The generally accepted reason is because their ancestor's diets consisted mainly of fish and fish eating animals.

One other thing to bear in mind is that  if a product has got vitamins and minerals listed on the label  -  they have had to add it because the food no longer contains that vitamin or mineral  - its been destroyed by the preparation process  -  and that vitamin or mineral is of chemical origin rather than natural.   The chemical versions are not always recognized by the body  -  or as easly absorbed  -  they may be chemically identical - but are usually in a mirror image format that the body does not fully recognize.   I cannot find the article I wanted, but these three should help a bit and skirt around what I have said above..

https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/vitamins-dogs-3-reasons-stay-away/

https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/synthetic-vitamins-and-minerals-in-dog-foods/

https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/why-kibble-harming-dogs/

We all want the best for our furbabies  -  and we all have our own ideas on what is best,  depending on our own circumstances  i.e.  cost, convenience, time  etc   -  so I would not dream of knocking anyone for what they feed their babies.    I am a self confessed nutrition nerd (or more accurately I am trying to be) as far as my dogs are concerned  -   I am still learning  -  the reason being that in the past I got it wrong so now I am trying to make up for that.

Yeah, we definitely want what’s best for them  thank you for all of that information. So hard to try and find what’s best and in my price range. If I can’t fond anything else then will go for Taste of the Wild  

Thanks

Amanda

 

@chelseafan @2Huskyfun @petertmartin @wolfpup @Luna-tic @Markulous 

I’ve just been on huskyguru.com and they have a link that takes you to the best UK foods by ratings and I came across this one. What do you think of that? Is it as good as Taste of the Wild?

Thanks 

Amanda  

[2Huskyfun]

This is where I am in a serious disadvantage from most of you guys. 

I am noticing UK has much better food options and all the raw food companies that I would be willing to order from are mostly in the UK.😒

I am part of a pet recall notification site.... it is almost every week that I am getting notices of recalls for kibble and raw food companies. I don’t believe that there is a single company that has not been recalled for one thing or another.

Even Taste of the Wild has a law suit against them right now.... 

I just go with what works.

[chelseafan]

I can’t advise on kibble as I’m a raw feeder, I buy human grade beef, lamb, chicken, fish, offal etc. IMO dogs thrive on raw, I fed kibble until they were 4 months old and then changed to raw, whatever you decide to feed make the change over slowly, add a little of the new into the food you’re feeding now.


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