[Zendo]

Not sure if this has been covered to death,but I couldn't find a thread with searching..

Wondering what the other people in here feed your animals, either as a supplement or in general. I'm trying to break away from what seems to me to be the 'hydro store' for animals.

I have two dogs that I feed EVO brand food, and while it's good, I sometimes feel like I'm at the hydro store, with a bunch of advanced nutrients and great white mycorrhizae in hand..$50 a bag for dog food is fine, as I don't have any qualms about providing the best for my animals.EVO and others are much better than your 'regular' foods..BUT.. if I can do it better, at home for less, I would totally be stoked. I also have two cats that get Innova brand right now as well.

I've been making my own Lacto cultures, but have been too paranoid to feed them the solidified top layer as I've been told you can, as I don't want to turn my dogs into test case #1.

So, what do you guys do for feeding your animals, or for making their lives better / easier. Anything DIY would be great.

Peace.

[big ballin 88]

excuse me if im wrong but isnt the protein in the top of the milk from LB yogurt? Lactobacillus is a pro biotic and helps with many things in the gastrointestinal world.

[Clackamas Coot]

Zendo

A good place to start looking at alternatives to manufactured pet foods (even the high-end products like EVO) would be BARF (bones & raw food aka biologically-appropriate raw foods).

Besides this process I would recommend adding kelp/seaweed extracts to your pet's food. These are widely used in farming swine, poultry, cattle, horses, etc. Health food stores also carry a wide range of products for people containing seaweed products.

Making your own food is cheap, cheap, cheap and the benefits are worth the effort, IMHO.

I treated a Yellow Lab who had seizures and was able to greatly reduce the number as well as the intensity of his seizures.

HTH

CC

[guest2012y]

I have always gone with the mainstream dogfood for the pooch. Good organic stuff for the chickens (since the eggs will be used by us),and decent molasses coated grains and alfalfa for the goats. Recently started thinking the dogs would live longer if we do them better by making food for them.

[Zendo]

To start it off..

I purchase a brand of 'natural' cat litter called Swheat Scoop.

After learning about Bokashi, it only took forever for the gears in my head to click..

Wheat cat litter...bokashi wheat bran...wheat cat litter..bokashi WHEAT bran..etc...

Finally I figured it out..duh.


"Thanks to our patented process, this litter's natural wheat enzymes work continuously to neutralize litter box odor"

Boom. Make bokashi with wheat bran for the cats, and with rice bran for the gardens. Wheat bran is 1/2 the cost. Instead of landfilling, put the litter to good use as a fertilizer for your ornamental plants, trees and flower beds.

My local store charges 12 bucks for a 14lb bag.. I just got 50lb's of wheat bran for $9, 1 cup of EM-1 $5 , 1 cup of Molasses $2.

$16 for 50 lbs sure beats $12 for 14lbs.

[Zendo]

Originally Posted by big ballin 88

excuse me if im wrong but isnt the protein in the top of the milk from LB yogurt? Lactobacillus is a pro biotic and helps with many things in the gastrointestinal world.

It is..

like I said.. I'm not being rational about it I've just been dumping it outside in my beds.

I'll try a bit out of next batch and see..

[Nicedreamz]

i think there is a lot of rice and corn in dogfood

[Clackamas Coot]

Originally Posted by Nicedreamz

i think there is a lot of rice and corn in dogfood

Nicedreamz

Rice, especially organic brown rice, is a good thing to add to a dog food mix. Same with millet, flax seed, et al.

The bad one is corn because it's not really corn. It's the corn skins that are removed when corn syrup is made (along with other corn-based products) and these skins cannot be digested by any mammal that I'm aware of - I don't want to get too graphic here.

Beta-carotene food sources is also a good thing to add - like carrots, sweet potatoes, yams, etc.

Adding EM-1 to your pets water dish is said to reduce the smell of their feces - not my claim but it's out there.

HTH

CC

[Zendo]

Originally Posted by Clackamas Coot

Zendo

A good place to start looking at alternatives to manufactured pet foods (even the high-end products like EVO) would be BARF (bones & raw food aka biologically-appropriate raw foods).

Besides this process I would recommend adding kelp/seaweed extracts to your pet's food. These are widely used in farming swine, poultry, cattle, horses, etc. Health food stores also carry a wide range of products for people containing seaweed products.

Making your own food is cheap, cheap, cheap and the benefits are worth the effort, IMHO.

I treated a Yellow Lab who had seizures and was able to greatly reduce the number as well as the intensity of his seizures.

HTH

CC

CC, thanks for your input, as usual.. I knew you raised dogs? or something, and figured you would have input..

I've already got 10 sites worth of BARF bookmarked for later this evening.

If I'm feeding EVO and was going to moisten the food and sprinkle on the seaweed, how much would I use say..per cup of food?

FYI , I have the SP-90 from arcadia/KIS whatever.

[Clackamas Coot]

Zendo

About 1/4 tsp. per week of the SP-90/ASL is a good amount.

That or kelp meal as long as you mix it well into the BARF mush (lentils, yams, greens, potatoes, etc.) and I would suggest adding about 1/8 cup to 4 gallons of mush).

HTH

CC