Before I start she's a 3 year old jack russell and she weighs 13 kilos
I mean snacks you buy in the supermarket for pets. like the rawhide sticks, or the schmakos , or the natural scooby snacks with carob in them ?
I use to feed my dog all these snacks but I'm starting to think it's probably not good for her. I'm still giving her one dental stick daily , as well as her normal dog food . Which I am in the process of changing to a better brand just as soon as I find one.
She has been crying at her snack cupboard because I have stopped giving them to her in the last 5 days, they are gone though , she ate them all I'm just not replacing them anymore because she's a few kilos overweight , and I want her to eat healthy food from now on .
I have a couple of questions for anyone nice enough to help :)
1- Are the snacks mentioned above, bad for a dog to eat on a regular basis (daily)
2- What is the best diet my dog can have to obtain optimum health , and do you have Australian brand names ?
3- How do I wean her off of her old biscuits , onto the new healthy food ( once I find it ) ? because I tried giving her can food last night and she just will not have it . She cries for the biscuits .
Thanks in advance for answering, you will be a huge help and I appreciate any helpful honest answers :) easy. avoid ANY dog foods OR treats that contain CORN (corn meal, ground whole corn, corn syrup, corn gluten) or By-products of ANY kind in their ingredients.
corn is known to cause allergies in dogs, hair loss, skin problems, digestion issues, severe allergic reactions etc.
by-products are anything considered unfit for human consumption, including innards, feathers, hair, intestines w/feces still in them, diseased tissues and cancerous tissues.
yummy huh?
I feed my dogs solid gold dog food and snacks Are you sure even the "Brand" dogfoods are safe?
Read this! its a little lengthy, but it's some of the best reading information you'll ever have about dog nutrition, and could add many years to your dog's life and reduce many problems:
http://www.thedogfoodconspiracy.com/dog-... Why not feed her some snacks that are natural like vegetables? Many dogs like carrots and green peppers.
Or save a few bites of food from your dinner plate and save them for a nite time snack.
Or a small handfull of dry cereal like Froot Loops, Honey Oats, etc.
Ok, so before you read my answer, know that i am a very experienced, qualified vet nurse and have had 4 years of intensive training, which includes nutrition, and i work full-time in a vet clinic helping clients like yourself. If you listen to any advice, I hope it's mine.
Get your dog onto a super premium brand of dog food such as Hills, Advance (Australian made and owned) or Eukanuba. You may want to put it on a light diet at first. Dont worry about giving wet food, it is bad for her teeth and will make her have smelly poo's and farts.
Wean her over a 5 day period starting with giving her majority old food and a little new food. By day 3 it should be 1/2 and 1/2, the next day more new food and less old food. By day 5 she should be almost 100% on the new food, and then day 6 is new food day. Be sure to mix the old and new kibbles to prevent her picking them out.
Treats are exectly that - treats. Give them to her occasionally and make sure they are better quality than schmakos which are full of salt (which is why they love them) or those carob things which are fatty.
Liver treats are good, as are Greenies ( a dental treat). 1/2 a pig's ear is ok once a week, it sounds fattier than it actually is, remember it is made from cartilage, so is not that high in fat.
Another thing you can try is putting some of her breakfast kibble in the treat jar, and when she wants a treat, give her a kibble. This helps you keep control of the amount of food she is getting.
Oh - make sure you are using a measuring cup for her 2 meals a day. Yes, make sure she gets 2 meals a day. If you are only feeding her 1 this could be the reason she is hungry.
Take her to the vet for regular weight checks - most vet clinics have scales in the waiting room and dont charge anything to go in and use them. They can record the weights on her file.
Last of all - dont give up. The control is in your hands. An overweight dog leads to many health problems.
Good luck DOG'S
Dog's are they carnivore's Are they really like wolves,hyena's and jackals?
Or are they more like us? Is it foolish to feed them only meat? Should they be fed what their human family eat?
The truth encompassess a little of each
In the wild, other hunting animals that seem similar to dog's, such as wolves and hyenas, eat fruit, leaves, grasses, dig for roots and even obtain vegetable matter from the stomach of their prey.The bone's of their prey provide calicum and help keep teeth clean.Their diet's are highly varied and also change seasonally.
A domestic dog fed on human diet struggles with dairy products and can actually be poisioned by some of the common ingredients in human pantries.
Dog's are actually omnivorous.They need alot less meat protein then cats, ferres, snakes and feeding a high animal protein diet to a dog will take a toll on its health.A dog is designed to digest a wide range of plant and animal products.Dog's must eat more then just muscle meat.they need plenty of carbohydrate's and fibre from vegetable and plant matter and only a very small amount of fat.their protein can come from both plant and animal product's.the other thing's to consider are sources of mineral such as calcium and phosphorous and of cause vitamins.
CATS
Cat's are strict carnivores.this mean that some of their nutritents can be obtained only from animal sources.However being a carnivore doesn't mean that all of the nutrients need to be from animal products or that a carnivorous animal could survive eating muscle meat only.
A wild carnivore such as a lion will kill and eat an atelope.it will lickthe hair off and chew on the skin.the organ are consumed, including partly digested grass, leaves, and other grazed plant material.Last of all, the bones are eaten too.
Cat's and Dog's are also very different in their needs
Some of the brands i recommend are Proplan, Science diet, Royal Canin and Eukanuba. I have used proplan with success on my 10yr old labrador x golden retriver-still using and very happy with results!, note the Dog Food Analysis is RUN BY SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T HAVE A DEGREE IN THE VETERNARY NUTRTITON
my website on pet and pet food-i Got some of this information from a senior vet that work at the Lort Smith Animal Shelter! Her name is Sasha Herbert
http://www.freewebs.com/petsinformation/...
Read this
http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dogdiet.html
Note some of these brands listed here are not available in australia
Read this and ignore the stars rating-read the ones that have actually fed the products to the pets!
http://www.rateitall.com/t-353-dog-food-... |
