What do you feed your dog?

[wisco61]

specifically big dogs...(rotts, pitts, mastifs...ect)

just curious as to what brand food you feed your dog? if not brand name but home made please share your info...

ive noticed that most(90%) of dog foods dont use real mean, but rather use a meat "meal"...like chicken meal, lamb meal....ect, and then load their products with grains...when do you ever see a dog eat grains...imo this is mostly filler with small benefits for the dogs.......so im looking to change dog food...

im looking for something with more real meat and protien...


so what do you guys feed your big dogs?

As far as meat vs meal, my understanding is that the meal is already dehydrated so it doesn't mostly evaporate like the regular meat when they cook the dog food. So chicken meal in and of itself isn't bad, but the grains absolutely are terrible for all dogs.

Taste of the Wild would be my choice if I fed kibble. They have a few different formulas for variety or dealing with allergies. It might seem expensive at first, but realize you will be feeding half the amount of other kibble because they can actually digest the TotW.

I couldn't imagine feeding a giant breed corn kibble, 3 days of poop would fill a 5 gallon bucket. A grain free food like ToTW will cut the poop in half, and feeding raw will cut it down half again at least. Plus their breath, poop, and gas will all smell better as compared to dog food with corn and soy in it.

 

[izzywozzywizzy]

theives, vaga bonds and police 4 times a day

 

[izzywozzywizzy]

ridgeback eats phals and vindaloos the hotter the better

 

[JVonChron]

bag of frozen chicken-3 LB bag-$6.00
bag of frozen veggies----------$1.00
1 cup of brown rice-----------~$0.50
Make rice, boil chicken 30 minutes and add veggies to same pot.
Lasts a solid week all shredded together depending on how big your dog is. thats only $30 a month and its real deal food, and sheeit I could seriously eat my dogs food if it came to it for some crazy reason

 

[ICMaggotMe]

Diamond Lamb and Rice. Seems to be a quality food.

 

[Green Supreme]

My dog loves this one. All her friends too, they all eat it while they visit. Peace GS

Taste of the Wild: High Prairie Canine® Formula

with Roasted Bison & Roasted Venison

Grain-Free
Roasted Bison and Roasted Venison
Optimal Amino Acids
Antioxidants
Omega Fatty Acid Blend
Digestive Support System
Sweet Potatoes
Berry Blend
Tomatoes & Tomato Pomace
No Corn, No Soy
Chelated Minerals

ps. they use filtered water too

 

[Trichgnomes]

Last week my dog ate the following (all on different days):

raw grass fed beef
raw grass fed bison
raw pasture raised chicken
tempeh

Each meal was served with oats or brown rice, steamed vegetables, and supplemented appropriately for his weight. We use quite a variety of sups including bone meal, cod liver oil, vitamin E, miso (gotta feed the microbes )-- the list is really too long to put it all, but send me a pm and I'll tell you where to get the proprietary meal plan.

Can't remember the last time I bought a bag of dog food...

 

[wisco61]

To the above posters feeding Diamond Natural and ToTW, both of those are under a recall from the manufacturer for salmonella contamination.

http://www.diamondpet.com/information/

Sucks because those are both high quality kibble, but that's kibble for ya.

 

[Guest1298]

two of my dogs
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Cracking dogs you got there...

 

[Stoner4Life]

Since adopting my little Scooby Doo I've been feeding her Canidae brand kibble.

Four High Quality Meat Meals: Chicken, Turkey, Lamb, & Fish
All Natural, High Quality, Holistic Pet Food
Natural Ingredients Plus Essential Vitamins & Amino Acid Chelated Minerals
Naturally Preserved Herbal Formulation
Excellent Palatability - Dogs Love CANIDAE®
Contains Skin & Coat Conditioners to Maintain a Healthy Luxurious Coat
Balanced Omega 6 & 3 Fatty Acids
Wholesome Nutritional Brown Rice & Diversified Carbohydrates
Superior Digestibility
Guaranteed Viable Micro-Organisms
Guaranteed Enzyme Activity to Help Break Down Cellulose
Made the CANIDAE® Way with Superior Quality: No Corn, Wheat, Soy, Grain Fractions or Fillers and Naturally Preserved.


Canidae All Life Stages.

in Bemidji a 44# bag runs $48, not bad imo.


Scooby had some wicked awful farts when I first (but no more) got her, I suppose that was just from switching foods from whatever her foster family was previously feeding her; Alice (my old timer) is finishing her last bag of Purina One a food she's favored well over most of her 9.5 years and will be going to the Canidae kibble which she devours when put in front of her.

 

[818Medicineman]

Since adopting my little Scooby Doo I've been feeding her Canidae brand kibble.

Four High Quality Meat Meals: Chicken, Turkey, Lamb, & Fish
All Natural, High Quality, Holistic Pet Food
Natural Ingredients Plus Essential Vitamins & Amino Acid Chelated Minerals
Naturally Preserved Herbal Formulation
Excellent Palatability - Dogs Love CANIDAE®
Contains Skin & Coat Conditioners to Maintain a Healthy Luxurious Coat
Balanced Omega 6 & 3 Fatty Acids
Wholesome Nutritional Brown Rice & Diversified Carbohydrates
Superior Digestibility
Guaranteed Viable Micro-Organisms
Guaranteed Enzyme Activity to Help Break Down Cellulose
Made the CANIDAE® Way with Superior Quality: No Corn, Wheat, Soy, Grain Fractions or Fillers and Naturally Preserved.


Canidae All Life Stages.

in Bemidji a 44# bag runs $48, not bad imo.


Scooby had some wicked awful farts when I first (but no more) got her, I suppose that was just from switching foods from whatever her foster family was previously feeding her; Alice (my old timer) is finishing her last bag of Purina One a food she's favored well over most of her 9.5 years and will be going to the Canidae kibble which she devours when put in front of her.

My Red Heeler and Heeler Hound mix both love Canidae Lamb and Rice. They are very healthy.

Canidae is made at the Diamond facility and that bothers me. They are however moving into their own plant soon if not already. Check the recall site for the date code on your Canidae.

I would like to start making them homemade food.

 

[paladin420]

Snitches n Bits

Leg O Leo

and Ripper Strips for snackin

 

[l337purpl3]

I feed my dogs, taste of the wild (high prairie) Great food but expensive for only a 30lb bag.

 

[DIDM]

Solid Gold WolfKing Adult Dog Food First Five Ingredients:

1. Bison
2. Ocean Fish Meal
3. Brown Rice
4. Millet
5. Oatmeal

he loves it, and has nice healthy regular movements

 

[azad]

Feeding raw examples

Feeding raw examples

A “prey model” diet

One style of raw feeding called “prey model” advocates feeding a diet based on whole prey and excluding anything else. This is based on a desire to mimic the diet of the wolf in the wild. Ginny Wilken, of Alameda, California, describes the prey-model diet she has fed Tomo, her 11-year-old, 85-lb American Staffordshire Terrier, since he was four years old:
Tomo had three surgeries for hip and knee problems when he was young, prompting me to seek options to help him. I started with a Billinghurst-style raw diet, which soon morphed into a prey-model approach.
“Prey model” is a concept with wide latitude. Tomo is not fed a strict prey model diet; I’ve tailored it to meet his individual needs. I think this diet is well suited to folks with moderately good access to meat sources.
Tomo is a low-activity senior, an easy keeper with definite preferences. He enjoys food, but sees a meal as a social event, and is always happier to eat if someone is watching or sharing. This is sometimes a challenge, as he will turn down "difficult" meals at home alone that he will gladly tackle in "public."
Here are his diet items:
• Pork neck bones (whole split necks), ribs, shoulder, and shanks
• Turkey parts, including unattached necks
• Chicken and duck (whole or half)
• Lamb necks (whole), heart and kidney
• Goat (six-way cut)
• Meaty chunks of beef, lamb, pork and venison
• Raw eggs, free-range (home grown)
• Organic or natural beef liver, heart and kidney
• Green tripe, cow gullets and tracheas (from greentripe.com)
• Chicken feet
• Pork brains, spleen and pancreas
• Whole small fishes, like smelt or sardines
• Intact heads or whole animals, when available
• Homemade soups from all varieties of bones
• My table scraps or "shares," just meat, fish and vegetables (only broccoli and greens, and only with fat on it)
• Timberwolf Salmon oil
I buy food from butchers, Asian markets, or wholesale from packers and ranchers. All our food is from quality sources, and much of it is organic or naturally raised.
These days, Tomo can’t skip meals, as he needs to take a number of supplements twice a day, including antioxidants for his heart, anti-inflammatories for arthritis, and thyroid medication. He gets pills in slices of meat or handfuls of tripe or ground beef, usually when I am eating, to make a treat out of it.
Tomo is a very careful chewer, but large pieces may come up and go down a few times to get chomped just right. He has never choked on food. I don't fast him, but I do feed a bountiful day, followed by one or more lean days. He averages 1½ pounds of food a day, with a higher percentage of bone than is common with a prey-model diet. This regulates his digestion, which tends towards quick and loose.
I saw lots of positive changes. First, he ate, without being picky! Then I noticed that fleas no longer bothered him. His skin and ear problems cleared up quite a bit, though not entirely. His breath and coat improved, and his digestion became much more consistent. He became less manic, and easier to train and handle. His hips seemed to bother him less. Eight years later, I’m still very happy with his diet.
Comments: It’s important when following the prey-model style to feed a wide variety of foods, as shown here, not just meat and bones, and not just one or two meat sources. Tomo’s diet also demonstrates how supplements can be used appropriately.

Getting started
All those who shared their diets with us have fed a raw diet for a long time, and we’ve become quite relaxed about it. Believe me, we all suffer anxiety attacks the first time we hand our dogs a raw meaty bone. It’s hard to overcome the warnings we’ve received all our lives about giving bones (especially chicken bones) to dogs. Remember, though, that those warnings apply to cooked bones.
Most dogs handle raw bones without a problem, especially if they are careful chewers. However, if you have a dog who tends to gulp his food, or if you just don’t feel comfortable feeding whole bones, you can still feed ground or cut-up raw meaty bones, and can give recreational bones instead for chewing pleasure and dental health.
Most of us who feed a raw diet have seen a variety of health improvements in our dogs, including cleaner teeth, healthier coat and skin, less problem with fleas and allergies, better muscle tone, and increased vitality. As always, however, if your dog has any problems, it’s a good idea to try changing what you feed. If you see an improvement after making a change, that points to a nutritional problem, either due to excesses or deficiencies in the diet, or to an allergy to one or more ingredients. No matter what style of diet you feed, the cardinal rule is to always do what works for your dog.
Countless dog owners have witnessed the benefits of feeding their dogs a home-prepared diet, such as cleaner teeth, brighter eyes, thicker and glossier coats, more lean muscle and less body fat, and better energy level -- hyper dogs often become calmer, while couch potatoes may become more energetic.
In last month’s article, “Have Dinner In,” we discussed those benefits at length and introduced the fact that there are many different styles of homemade diets. In this article, we’ll explain how to formulate a raw diet that includes bones – perhaps the most commonly used “evolutionary” diet for dogs. In a later installment that will be posted to this site in December, we’ll discuss cooked diets.
When I first began to consider feeding my dogs a homemade diet, one of my biggest concerns was the fact that I am not comfortable in the kitchen. I don’t really cook for myself, so the thought of preparing meals for my dogs was overwhelming. Once I started, though, I was happy to discover that it was not as much trouble as I had feared – in fact, it was quite rewarding. Dogs are usually so appreciative of everything we offer that it makes meal time a real joy. I feed a great deal of variety, yet my dog Piglet tells me that each and every meal I put in front of her is her absolute favorite, and she devours it, practically licking the finish off the bowl (I call it “checking for molecules”). How can you resist something that makes your dog so happy?

Raw Meaty Bones
Most of us who feed a raw diet to our dogs include whole raw meaty bones (RMBs), animal parts that are at least half meat but also include bone that is fully (or mostly) consumed. This is in contrast to recreational bones, such as knuckle and marrow bones, which usually have little meat and where the bone itself is not eaten.
RMBs that are commonly fed include chicken necks, backs, and leg quarters; turkey necks; lamb breast and necks; pork breast (riblets) and necks; and canned fish with bones, such as jack mackerel, pink salmon, and sardines (preferably packed in water rather than oil). Raw fish can also be fed, though some may harbor parasites (freshwater fish are more likely to have problems than saltwater fish). Never feed raw salmon or trout from the Pacific Northwest (California to Alaska), as this can cause a fatal disease called salmon poisoning in dogs. Cooking makes salmon safe to eat; canned fish is cooked, so there’s no concern about salmon poisoning from canned salmon.
It’s not always easy to find RMBs. If you ask your local meat manager or butcher; they will often be able to order them for you, though you may have to buy a case at a time. (Most of us who feed our dogs a raw diet have purchased a separate freezer to help store their food!) Ethnic markets often have a wider selection than grocery stores do. There are a number of raw food co-ops and groups who share information and to buy in quantity directly from vendors, both to lower the cost and to gain access to a wider variety of foods. If there is no group in your area, you might consider starting one.
You can keep costs down by buying in bulk, looking for sales, and buying meat that is close to its expiration date and marked down. It helps to develop a relationship with your suppliers, who may be willing to save bargain-priced meats for you.
RMBs should make up 30 to 50 percent (one third to one half) of the total diet, or possibly a little more if the parts you feed have a great deal more meat than bone (e.g., whole chickens or rabbits). The natural diet of the wolf in the wild contains 15 percent bone or less, based on the amount of edible bone in the large prey they feed upon. While a reasonable amount more won’t harm an adult dog, it’s not needed and reduces the amount of other valuable foods that can be fed.
Too much bone can also cause constipation, and the excess calcium can block the absorption of certain minerals. The stools of raw fed dogs are naturally smaller and harder than those fed commercial foods, and often turn white and crumble to dust after a few days. If the stools come out white and crumbly, or if your dog has to strain to eliminate feces, you should reduce the amount of bone in his diet.
Most dogs do fine with raw meaty bones, but a few may have problems, including choking and (rarely) broken teeth on the hardest bones. In my experience, turkey parts are associated with the most problems, though many dogs eat them regularly with no trouble.
If you are concerned about feeding whole RMBs, there are alternatives. You can feed RMBs in ground form, either by purchasing them that way, or by grinding them yourself. You can buy a grinder for around $100 to $150 that can handle most chicken parts and possibly a few other kinds of bones. More expensive grinders may be able to handle bones that are somewhat harder, but they all have a similar chute size, which makes it difficult to fit in larger parts. Note that none of the makers of these grinders claim their products have the ability to grind bones.
Another option that I use for my older dogs, whose teeth are too worn to be able to chew bones properly, is to cut up the parts into bite-sized pieces using Joyce Chen kitchen scissors, which have worked better for me than poultry shears. These scissors handle chicken parts and lamb breast easily (except for the hardest end of the ribs).
For harder bones, such as turkey, pork and lamb bones, you can use a hatchet, or a cleaver that you hit with a mallet (which is safer than swinging the cleaver). While ground and cut up RMBs will not provide the same chewing pleasure or dental benefits, many people who feed ground RMBs report that their dogs’ teeth stay cleaner than when they fed packaged foods, probably due to the lower carbohydrate content of the diet.
You can also feed larger, harder bones with a lot of meat on them; just take the bone away when your dog is done removing the meat. I have done this with beef rib and neck bones; people with large dogs use bigger bones. There is still some danger of broken teeth, but less than if you allow the dog to continue to chew on the bone after he's eaten the meat (bones also dry out and become harder over time).
Remember that if you feed a diet that includes 30 to 50 percent RMBs, there is no need to add calcium supplements.

Organ meat
Organs are an important part of a raw diet. Liver and kidney in particular are nutrient-dense and provide a great deal of nutritional value. These foods should make up 5 to 10 percent of the total diet. Note that they may cause loose stools if too much is fed at one time. It’s better to feed smaller amounts daily or every other day than to feed larger amounts once or twice a week. This also spreads out the nutritional value, allowing your dog to receive more benefit.
Heart is nutritionally more like muscle meat than organ meat, but it is rich in taurine and other nutrients. If possible, make heart another 5 to 10 percent of the diet. More can be fed; just remember that too much can lead to loose stools in some dogs.
Other organs, such as spleen, eyeballs, sweetbreads (pancreas and thymus glands), brain, etc. are nutritious and can be added to the diet in small amounts.

Muscle meat, eggs, and more
The rest of the diet will be made up of muscle meat and eggs, along with dairy products and other healthy foods.
Muscle meat consists of all meat that is not considered organ meat. Feed muscle meat from a variety of sources, such as beef, lamb, pork, chicken, and turkey. Muscle meat can be fed ground or in chunks. If you have difficulty feeding much variety in your raw meaty bones, you can make up for it in this category. For example, if your raw meaty bones are mostly poultry, then you can feed beef, lamb, and pork muscle meat. Never feed more than half the total diet from a single protein source, such as chicken.
Eggs are an excellent source of nutrition. They can be fed raw or cooked; cooking actually makes the whites more digestible. You can feed as many eggs as you want, as long as you still feed lots of variety.
Dairy products, such as yogurt, kefir, and cottage cheese, are well tolerated by most dogs and offer good nutritional value. Yogurt and kefir have the added advantage of providing beneficial bacteria (probiotics). Dairy fat is a source of medium-chain triglycerides, a form of fat that is easier to digest for dogs with pancreatic disorders and other forms of fat intolerance.
Green tripe, which is the stomach lining from cows and other animals, is an excellent food for dogs, but be warned that it smells awful – at least to us; dogs love it. Nutritionally, it is similar to muscle meat. Green tripe can be purchased only from sources that sell food for dogs; it cannot be sold for human consumption. The tripe that you find in your grocery store has been bleached and treated, and does not provide the same nutritional value as green tripe.
It is also fine to feed healthy leftovers (food you would eat yourself, not the scraps you would throw away) to your dog as long as they are not too great a percentage of the diet – 10 to 20 percent of the diet should be okay.

Vegetables, fruits, and grains
Feeding vegetables, fruits, and grains is optional, as dogs do not require carbohydrates in their diet. Even though these foods would make up a tiny percentage of the natural diet, they provide some nutritional value, especially trace minerals and phytonutrients from leafy green vegetables.
If you feed veggies, they need to be either cooked or pureed in a food processor, juicer, or blender. Whole, raw veggies are not harmful, but their cell walls are not broken down during digestion so they provide little nutritional value to dogs. Most veggies have few calories, so they should be added on top of the amount of food you feed, rather than calculating them as a percentage of the diet.
Good veggies to feed include broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, all kinds of leafy greens, celery, cucumber, bell peppers, zucchini and other summer squashes, carrots, and more. You can mix up a large batch and then freeze them in ice cube trays or muffin tins for easy meal-sized portions.
Steaming is the best method to cook fresh or frozen veggies. You can add the water used to steam veggies to the meal, as it will contain the minerals that were leached out during cooking. Small amounts of leftover meat juices, drippings, sauces, and gravy will make this into a savory soup.
Some dogs enjoy vegetables, but others refuse to eat them no matter how they’re prepared. If your dog won’t eat vegetables, or if you prefer not to feed them, you may want to add a blend of kelp and alfalfa, or a green food supplement (more on this below).
Fruits such as apples, bananas, papayas, mangoes, berries, and melon can be added to the diet in small amounts. Don’t feed grapes or raisins, which can cause kidney damage in some dogs.
Grains, legumes, and starchy veggies, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes and winter squashes, are a source of inexpensive calories, but don’t provide as much nutritional value to dogs as foods from animal sources do. These starchy foods need to be cooked in order to be properly digested by dogs.
Many health problems can be caused or exacerbated by grains and other starchy carbohydrates. If your dog is overweight or suffers from allergies, arthritis, seizures, chronic ear infections, incontinence, IBD, or other digestive disorders, you may want to try feeding a diet without these foods to see if your dog improves. If you decide to feed them, it’s best if they make up no more than 20 percent of the diet.
Potatoes (not sweet potatoes), tomatoes, peppers (all kinds), and eggplant may aggravate arthritis pain, but are otherwise fine to feed. Grains and starchy veggies may also aggravate arthritis and other forms of inflammation.

Fresh food supplements
Healthy dogs that are fed a wide variety of appropriate foods should have no need of supplements, but there are several fresh food supplements that may provide additional benefits when added in small amounts:
• Fish body oil, such as salmon oil, provides beneficial omega-3 fatty acids that help to reduce inflammation and regulate the immune system. Sardines can also be fed to provide these omega-3 fatty acids. However, you must add vitamin E to the dog’s diet whenever you supplement with oils, to prevent the body from being depleted of this vitamin over time.
• Sea blend, green blend, or kelp/alfalfa mixture supplies trace minerals. These are especially good to add if you don’t feed green veggies.
• Organic (unpasteurized) apple cider vinegar provides some trace minerals and may possibly offer other benefits.
• Raw honey has antibacterial properties and offers a variety of nutritional benefits (see "Bee Products have a Special Meaning for Dogs," September 2007).
• Fresh crushed garlic has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, as well as other benefits, and may help to repel fleas. Give no more than 1 small clove (one small portion of the bulb) per 20 pounds of body weight daily, as high doses can cause anemia.
• Ginger is good for digestion and may help with inflammation.
• Nutritional yeast is an excellent source of B vitamins, along with trace minerals.
• Dark molasses can also be used in small amounts as a source of trace minerals.
More information on supplements will be provided in the upcoming article on cooked diets, to be posted in December.

Prey model
There is a style of raw feeding called “prey model” that advocates feeding a diet based on whole prey, and excludes anything else, such as dairy, vegetables, fruit, or supplements. This is based on a desire to mimic the diet of the wolf in the wild. The true prey model diet involves feeding large chunks of mostly meat with small amounts of bone, as well as organs and eggs. It is certainly possible to feed a good diet using this model, but there are some factors that should be taken into consideration.
Feeding parts is not the same as feeding whole prey. When wolves in the wild eat a deer, they consume almost everything except the stomach contents and some of the hardest bones from the skull and legs. That includes not only the muscle meat, bones, liver, and heart, but the eyes, tongue, brain, blood, intestines, kidneys, lungs, and various other organs. If you are not feeding actual whole prey, you may be missing parts of the diet that include important nutrients.
In addition, whole, large, grass-fed prey such as deer, moose, and bison have different nutrient profiles than animals that are farm-raised, and smaller animals such as chickens. The nutrient content of animals raised in various ways (wild animals, grain-fed animals, animals raised on grass from depleted soils) also varies widely. Even if you feed whole rabbits or chickens, the nutrition will not match that of the large ruminants that our dogs evolved to eat.
While some people swear by prey model diets, I believe that there is no benefit to be gained by leaving healthy foods such as dairy and vegetables out of the diet. The more restrictions you place on a diet and the less variety you feed, the higher the likelihood that something may be missing. I believe that adding foods and supplements not found in the natural diet of the wolf can help our dogs live the longest, healthiest lives possible.

Commercial raw diets
There are two types of commercial raw, frozen diets currently available. The first type is a complete diet, formulated to meet the nutrient levels suggested by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). Examples include Home Made 4 Life, Steve’s Real Food for Dogs, and Prairie from Nature’s Variety.
These foods can be used just as you would commercial dry or canned foods, with no need to add anything else (though just as with other commercial diets, it’s best to rotate between different brands and protein sources, and it’s fine to add some fresh food as well). Complete commercial raw diets are generally quite expensive, so they’re usually not an option for those who have large dogs or limited funds.
The second type of commercial raw, frozen diets provide a variety of different parts that can be combined, along with other foods, to create a complete diet. These parts may include meat, bone, organs, and vegetables, but generally nothing else. Examples of companies that offer these types of diets include Bravo!, Oma’s Pride, and an increasing number of small, independent local companies. These are great foods to include in the diet you feed your dogs, but you cannot feed them alone, without adding anything else.
When you compare the ingredients of the complete diets to those of the incomplete blends, you will notice that the complete diets add a number of foods in addition to meat, bone, and organs, including such things as eggs, kefir, tripe, kelp, alfalfa (sprouts or dried), garlic, raw honey, organic apple cider vinegar, ginger, oils (fish, flaxseed, olive, coconut, cod liver), seeds (sprouted or ground), nuts, and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. They also sometimes add specific vitamin and mineral supplements, such as vitamin E, manganese, zinc, iron, and copper, or a natural source of minerals, such as montmorillonite clay. Note that complete diets usually include more muscle and organ meat and less bone than the meat/bone/organ/veggie blends.
If you want to use incomplete blends as the basis for the diet you feed, most often you’ll want to add a bit more organ meat (particularly liver), some additional muscle meat that does not include bone, and a variety of other healthy foods, including eggs, dairy, canned fish with bones, green tripe, healthy leftovers, and some fresh food supplements. Fish oil (or sardines) and vitamin E would also be good additions to the diet. The fewer additional foods that you add, the more important supplements will be.
For example, the Bravo! blends are approximately 10 percent organ meats (equal parts heart, liver, and either kidney or gizzards), 15 percent vegetables, and the rest ground meat and bones. These blends should be used as one half to two thirds of the total diet, with a mixture of the other foods listed above making up the rest of the diet. You can get some of these other foods, including muscle meat and organ meat, from Bravo! or at your grocery store.

Puppies
For the most part, puppies can be fed the same diet as adults, though young puppies will benefit from the addition of goat’s milk to the diet. It is even more crucial that you get the proportions correct and feed a wide variety of foods when feeding puppies. It is also imperative that you feed an appropriate amount of bone, neither too much nor too little, especially to large- and giant-breed puppies under the age of six months, when they have less ability to regulate their uptake of calcium, and both calcium deficiencies and excesses can lead to serious orthopedic problems.
Raw meaty bones should comprise around 30 to 50 percent of the diet. Be careful if you supplement with cod liver oil or another form of vitamin D. Vitamin D increases the absorption of calcium, so if you feed high amounts of bone and vitamin D, you increase the likelihood that too much calcium will be absorbed. Never add calcium to a diet that includes appropriate amounts of bone.
Remember that high-protein diets will not cause excessive growth or lead to orthopedic problems in puppies. These problems are caused by overfeeding and by improper calcium amounts (either too much or too little). In order to avoid orthopedic problems, keep your puppy lean and slow-growing by limiting the total amount fed.

Remember the rules
As a reminder, there are three basic rules to feeding a homemade diet: variety, balance over time, and calcium.
All homemade diets need to contain a variety of different foods, including different types of meat and raw meaty bones, different parts (especially organs), and different foods, such as eggs and dairy. A lot of people depend on chicken since it's cheap, but if your dog gets nothing but chicken, even if you feed organs along with muscle meat and bone, he will not get all the nourishment that he needs. As a general rule, you should never feed one kind of food as more than half the diet, and preferably less.
When you feed a variety of different foods, every meal does not need to be “complete and balanced.” You should ensure that all of your dog’s nutritional needs are met over a period of a week or two, but that can be done by feeding different foods at different meals, and on different days; you don’t have to combine all the different foods into a single meal. It’s also fine to feed just beef, for example, for a couple of weeks, and then switch to another meat source for the next two weeks.
A raw diet that includes 30 to 50 percent raw meaty bones will supply the proper amount of calcium; there is no need to add more.

Amounts to feed
As a general rule of thumb, dogs will eat around 2 to 3 percent of their body weight in fresh food daily, but remember that each dog is an individual, and the amounts they eat can vary considerably. There will be more details on calculating amounts to feed in the article on cooked diets, to be posted in December.

Making the switch
The first time we feed raw meaty bones to our dogs is always frightening. We’ve been told so many times to never feed bones to dogs that it’s hard to believe they won’t drop dead when we do. It’s important to remember that the warnings are about cooked bones, not raw, and that eating bones is natural for dogs.
Most raw feeders can empathize with my friend, Mindy Fenton, who says, “The first time I fed one of my dogs a raw chicken wing, I followed her around for three days, terrified that I was going to kill her, and waiting for that darned wing to come out whole because I was sure it would. Of course, she was perfectly fine, but it took some time before I became relaxed about feeding raw meaty bones.”
The choice of what to start with can vary according to your comfort level, and how likely you think your dogs are to gulp their food. Many people advocate feeding pieces that are too large to be swallowed, requiring the dog to chew on them first. This doesn’t always work, since large pieces become small pieces as the dog eats them, and he may still try to swallow pieces too large to go down easily.
I am most comfortable with feeding chicken necks and backs to my dogs; the bones are soft and easily chewed, and the pieces are small enough to be swallowed even if the dog does not chew them well (small dogs may have problems with chicken necks). Others will feed chicken wings or leg quarters. If your dog is not protective of his food, you can try holding onto one end while she chews on the other, to help her learn to chew rather than gulping, but watch your fingers, and don’t try this if it makes your dog anxious.
Many people worry that their dogs may be too old to switch to a raw diet, but in my experience, older dogs do as well as younger ones with the change. My oldest dog was 13 years old when I switched him overnight to a raw diet, and he had no problems.
Most dogs do just fine when switched “cold turkey” from commercial food to a homemade diet, but a few will experience digestive upset from a sudden switch. The longer a dog has been fed the same food with no variation, the more likely he is to have a problem if his diet is changed too quickly. Dogs that are prone to digestive upset may also benefit from a slower, more careful approach.
To make the change gradually, start by adding small amounts of fresh food to the current diet, then gradually increase. If problems develop, return to the prior diet and make the change more carefully once your dog’s digestive system is back to normal. That may include feeding the new food separately from the old (at least a few hours in between meals), or feeding only one new food at a time, to see if your dog reacts to any of the new ingredients.
The one exception to mixing foods is when you feed raw meaty bones. I find that the consumption of kibble interferes with the digestion of bones; digestive problems are more likely if you mix the two together. If you are feeding whole raw meaty bones, feed them separately from kibble, at least a few hours apart.
It’s fine to start with limited variety until you see how your dog does, but don’t feed just one food for long periods of time. Sometimes people will start with just chicken parts, for example, but this may lead to constipation if there is too much bone in the diet. While you may want to feed just chicken at the beginning, be sure to feed plenty of meat as well as bone, and don’t feed such a limited diet for more than a week or two.
If your dog has any problems with the new diet, back up and start again, making the change more slowly this time. Do not blame problems on “detox.” If your dog develops diarrhea or other forms of digestive upset, it is because his diet was changed too quickly, or because he is reacting to one or more of the ingredients in the new diet.
In that case, again, go back to what you were feeding before (or what you know your dog can tolerate without a problem), then add new foods one at a time in order to identify which one(s) are causing problems.

Sample Diets
Remember that it’s not necessary to feed a balanced diet every day, as long as the diet is balanced over time. For example, it would be fine to feed eggs one day alternating with organ meat the next, rather than feeding both foods every day. Or you might feed just muscle meat one day, with a mix of organ meat, eggs, and dairy the next. Many raw feeders feed two meals a day: one meal of raw meaty bones and one meal of everything else.
Following are sample diets for a 40-pound (18 kg) dog. Remember that amounts will vary depending on the individual dog.
Sample daily raw diet:
• 6 to 8 ounces (175 to 225 grams) raw meaty bones (may include canned fish with bones once or twice a week)
• 4 to 6 ounces (100 to 175 grams) muscle meat/heart/tripe/leftovers
• 1 to 2 ounces (30 to 60 grams) liver or kidney
• 1 to 2 eggs (daily or every other day)
• spoonful of yogurt, kefir or cottage cheese
• 1 to 4 ounces (30 to 100 grams) pureed or cooked vegetables (optional)
Sample daily raw diet using Bravo! blends:
• 7 to 14 ounces Bravo! Original Formula Blends (may replace up to half with canned fish with bones once or twice a week)
• 2 to 4 ounces muscle meat/heart/tripe/leftovers/Bravo! Boneless Meats
• ½ to 1 ounce liver or kidney, or 1 to 2 ounces Bravo! Organs (daily or every other day)
• 1 or 2 eggs (daily or every other day)
• spoonful of yogurt, kefir or cottage cheese
Sample daily supplements (optional)
• 1 or 2 fish oil capsules (or 3 small sardines)
• 200 IUs vitamin E (required at least a couple of times a week if giving oils)
• ¼ tsp each kelp and alfalfa, or ¼ to ½ tsp green blend
• 500-1,000 mg vitamin C once or twice a day
• vitamin B-50 complex once or twice a day
• cod liver oil in an amount yielding around 100 to 200 IUs vitamin D
• ½ teaspoon organic apple cider vinegar mixed with ½ teaspoon raw honey
• 1 clove fresh crushed raw garlic
• 1-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Those of us who feed our dogs a raw diet that includes bones believe that this is the healthiest, most natural diet they can eat. But not everyone is comfortable feeding such a diet to their dogs. You may worry about bacteria or parasites in raw meat, or about feeding bones, or you may have a dog who doesn’t enjoy or do well on a raw diet.
If you prefer to feed your dog a cooked diet, or a diet that includes raw meat but no bones, that’s fine; everyone needs to do what feels right to them. Your dog will still benefit from a variety of fresh foods in proper proportions, regardless of how they’re prepared. For simplicity’s sake, these diets are often referred to as cooked diets, but the meat portion may be fed raw if you choose.
Cooked diets that do not include bone are a little more difficult in terms of making sure that all of your dog’s nutritional needs are met. We can supply the calcium that bones provide from other sources, but it is hard to know exactly which other nutrients present in fresh bone might be missing in a bone-free homemade diet.
In addition, cooking destroys or reduces certain nutrients, such as vitamins C and E, and taurine. Cooking in water also leaches out minerals, though this can be resolved by feeding the water the food was cooked in. Light cooking at lower temperatures has less effect on nutrient value than cooking foods until they are well done.
While dogs (particularly adult dogs) can survive on a wide variety of diets, this article will give you guidelines for optimal nutrition, to help your dogs live the longest, healthiest lives possible.

Review: three basic rules
As we discussed in the first two installments of this series (“Have Dinner In,” April 2007 and “A Raw Deal,” May 2007), the three most important rules of home-prepared diets apply to cooked diets, too:
1. Variety: A homemade diet must include a variety of different foods, not just meat and grains. It’s best to feed many different types of meat (beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, etc.), as well as other foods, such as organs, eggs, yogurt, and healthy leftovers.
Most people who feed cooked diets also feed grains or starchy veggies. If you do, make sure that meat and other animal products make up at least half the diet, and preferably more. Remember that dogs do not require carbohydrates, and they do not supply as much nutrition to dogs as animal products do.
2. Balance over time: When you feed a wide variety of different foods, there is no need to make each meal “complete and balanced.” Think of how you eat yourself, and how you feed your children, providing different foods at different meals and on different days. Make sure your dog gets everything he needs over a week or two, not at every meal.
3. Calcium: One of the most common mistakes that people make when feeding a home cooked diet is the failure to add calcium. You must add calcium when you feed a diet that does not include bones.
Adult dogs need around 800 to 1,000 mg of calcium per pound of food fed. They also require the calcium to be supplied in a proper proportion to phosphorus.
The ideal calciumhosphorus ratio in the canine diet is between 1:1 and 2:1. Meat contains a lot of phosphorus, so the more meat a diet contains, the more calcium will be required to reach the correct calciumhosphorus ratio. Adding 800 to 1,000 mg of calcium will provide the correct calciumhosphorus ratio even for a high-meat diet, unless you use a calcium supplement that also contains phosphorus. In that case, moderately higher amounts of calcium may be needed to balance out the additional phosphorus contained in the supplement.
Ground eggshell can be used as a calcium supplement. Rinse eggshells and dry them on a counter overnight, or in the oven, then grind them in a clean coffee grinder. One large eggshell provides one teaspoon of ground eggshell, which contains 2,000 mg of calcium, so add ½ teaspoon ground eggshell per pound of food fed. Don’t use eggshells that haven’t been ground to powder, as they may not be absorbed as well.
You can use other types of calcium supplements (any form of calcium is fine). Calcium from seaweed, such as Animal Essentials’ Natural Calcium, also supplies other minerals (including magnesium, iodine, and selenium) that are beneficial.
Bone meal is frequently used as a source of calcium in diets that don't include raw bone. However, bone meal contains calcium and phosphorus. Different brands of bone meal supplements contain different amounts of calcium and phosphorus, but the calciumhosphorus ratio is always the same: 2:1. To balance a diet that contains lots of phosphorus, then, you will need to give an amount of bone meal that will provide 1,000 to 1,200 mg calcium per pound of food to keep the ideal calcium: phosphorus ratio in the diet correct.
Look for bone meal supplements that are guaranteed to be free of lead and other contaminants. You can also use a purified bone extract called Microcrystalline Hydroxyapatite (MCHA), but most of these supplements also contain vitamin D in high amounts, which would not be appropriate to use (see Supplements section further on in the text).
Another option is to use a supplement designed specifically to balance a limited diet, including supplying the proper amount of calcium. There are two products designed to balance diets that are high in meat: See Spot Live Longer™ Homemade Dinner Mixes and Wysong’s Call of the Wild. Two additional products are designed to balance diets that are high in carbohydrates: Vitamins & Minerals for Home-Cooked Dog Food made by Furoshnikov's Formulas, and Balance IT.
One last option is to use a dog food pre-mix to which you add meat, eggs, dairy, and other healthy foods. These pre-mixes will include calcium and other nutrients to balance out the fresh foods that you add. (See “Have Dinner In,” WDJ April 2007 for more information on pre-mixes.)
If you feed meat with ground bone, there is no need to add calcium. (See “A Raw Deal,” May 2007, for more information about diets containing ground bone.)
When you use supplements or pre-mixes designed to balance a limited diet, you should restrict the amount of liver you feed to no more than half the amount recommended below, due to high levels of vitamin A. Also, do not add cod liver oil (or other source of vitamin D), or kelp (due to the risk of excess iodine, which can interfere with thyroid function), unless the pre-mix instructs you to do so.
Remember that you should never feed cooked whole bones, unless they have been cooked into mush in a pressure cooker or by boiling for many hours. (This will only work with some chicken bones; other bones remain too hard no matter how long you cook them, though you can add some vinegar to the water to help leach out some of the calcium into the food.)
You can cook meat-based foods that contain ground bone, but this is not ideal. Cooking food that contains a large amount of ground bone can lead to constipation or even impaction. That’s why cooking ground-up necks, backs, wings, etc. -- or commercial blends that contain ground bone -- is inadvisable. Either feed this ground food raw, or add in an equal amount of meat (without bone) to lower the percentage of bone in the mix.
Again, when bones are fed, you do not need to add calcium to the diet.




Types of foods and proportions
When feeding a homemade diet, it is essential that different types of foods be fed in appropriate proportions. Meat, eggs, dairy and other animal products should make up at least half of the diet, and preferably more. The diet needs to include organ meats as well as muscle meat.
Liver and kidney should make up 5 to 10 percent of the total diet. It’s best to feed small amounts daily or every other day, rather than large amounts at one time. Because these organs are so nutrient-dense, use the raw weight to determine the amount to feed.
For example, if you feed a total of 20 ounces of food daily, use 1 to 2 ounces of raw liver/kidney, even though the cooked weight will be less. If possible, make heart (nutritionally, more of a muscle meat) another 5 to 10 percent of the diet, or even more, though too much may lead to loose stools in some dogs.
Eggs are an excellent source of nutrition. They can be soft-boiled, hard-boiled, gently scrambled, etc., or fed raw, if your dog likes them that way. You can feed as many eggs as you want, as long as you still feed lots of variety.
Dairy products, such as yogurt, kefir and cottage cheese, are well tolerated by most dogs and offer good nutritional value. Yogurt and kefir have the added advantage of providing beneficial bacteria (probiotics). These products should be added after the food is cooked. Goat’s milk may be tolerated by dogs who have problems with cow’s milk.
Muscle meat from a variety of sources such as beef, lamb, pork, chicken and turkey should make up most of the rest of the diet. It can be fed ground or in chunks. You can also feed canned fish, such as jack mackerel, pink salmon, and sardines, one or two meals (out of 14) a week. (There is no need to add calcium to those meals, since the bones are included.)
Vegetables are optional, but provide many benefits. Leafy greens are among the healthiest veggies to feed; other good veggies include broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, bok choy, cabbage, turnips, rutabaga, celery, cucumber, bell peppers, zucchini and other summer squashes, carrots, and more. Spinach and swiss chard can be fed in limited amounts.
These veggies provide few calories, so I usually advise adding them on top of the amount of food you feed, rather than calculating them as a percentage of the diet.
Steaming is the best way to cook vegetables, as it removes fewer nutrients than boiling. You can add the water used to steam or boil veggies to the meal, as it will contain the minerals that were leached out during cooking (add leftover meat drippings, gravy, soups, sauces, etc., to make a savory broth). Some vegetables may cause gas if fed in large portions.
Grains, legumes (beans) and starchy vegetables (such as potatoes, sweet potatoes and winter squashes) are usually included in cooked diets, but remember that dogs do not require carbohydrates in their diet, and plants supply incomplete proteins for dogs. If you do feed them, it’s best if they’re a small percentage of the diet, around one quarter or less. At a maximum, carbohydrates should never make up more than half the diet, with the other half coming from animal sources.
Grains that can be fed to dogs include white rice, brown rice, oatmeal, barley, amaranth, quinoa, bulgur and more. Just as with other foods, feeding a variety of different grains and carbs is better than always feeding the same kind. Remember that grains contribute to weight gain and sometimes other health problems. If your dog is overweight or suffers from allergies, arthritis, seizures, urinary incontinence, chronic ear infections, IBD, or other digestive disorders, you may want to try feeding a diet without grains or starchy carbs to see if your dog improves.
Fruits can be added to the diet in small amounts. Overripe fruits are easier to digest. Don’t feed grapes or raisins, which cause kidney damage to some dogs if too many are eaten. Good fruits to feed include apples, bananas, papayas, mangoes, berries and melon.
Remember that you can also include healthy leftovers (foods you would eat yourself) from your own meals in the diet you feed your dog.

Putting it together
While meals can be prepared individually, you may find it easier to cook up large batches at one time, and then divide the food into meal-sized portions and freeze. Because variety is important over time and not necessarily at every meal, you can feed the same foods for a week or two, and then switch to something else when you make the next batch.
It’s best to add most supplements at the time of feeding, rather than mixing them in ahead of time, as many vitamins and other nutrients are affected by freezing, or by exposure to light or air. The probiotics found in yogurt and kefir will also not survive the freezing process.
You can add herbs and spices if your dog likes them, but avoid onions, which can cause anemia in dogs. The small amounts in leftovers should not be a problem.

Amounts to feed
One of the first questions that comes up when anyone wants to switch to a homemade diet is, how much should I feed? There are guidelines that can help you figure out a starting amount, but remember that each dog is an individual. The amount of food needed by each dog will vary considerably depending on activity level and metabolism, and such factors as the amount of fat in the diet. Keep a close eye on your dog’s weight whenever you switch diets and adjust the amounts you feed up or down as needed, increasing or decreasing no more than 10 percent at a time.
It is healthier for dogs of all ages to be lean rather than plump. If you have a dog who is relatively inactive, or tends to gain weight easily, you can reduce the amount of fat in the diet by removing skin and visible fat from poultry, and by feeding leaner meats and low-fat dairy products. For dogs that need a very low-fat diet due to chronic pancreatitis or fat intolerance, boiling meat or rinsing after cooking will remove most of the fat.
As a general rule, dogs will eat around 2 to 3 percent of their body weight in fresh food daily (use cooked weights for foods that are cooked). Large dogs will tend to eat a lower percentage, and small dogs a higher percentage of their body weights. Toy breeds may need as much as 4 to 5 percent of their body weight daily, while giant breeds might eat as little as 1½ percent, or even less.
I might start with around 2 pounds of food a day for a 100-pound dog (2 percent of their body weight), 1 to 1½ pounds of food for a 50-pound dog (2 to 3 percent of body weight), ½ to ¾ of a pound (8 to 12 ounces) of food for a 25-pound dog (2 to 3 percent of body weight), and 5 to 6½ ounces of food for a 10 pound dog (3 to 4 percent of body weight). When making your calculations, remember that ounces are not the same as tenths – 1.5 pounds is not 21 ounces (1 pound 5 ounces), it is 24 ounces (1.5 * 16).
If you feed two meals a day, divide the total amount in half for each meal. If you know your dog is very active, tends to be on the thin side, or eats more now than would be expected for his age and size, then start with higher amounts, and feed fattier foods. If you have a couch potato, or a dog who is overweight or gains weight easily, start with less, and feed lower-fat foods. Again, watch your dog’s weight closely, using a scale if possible, and adjust as needed.
Note that leafy green veggies supply few calories, so don’t count them in when calculating the amount of food to feed, but add them on top of the rest of the diet. If you have a dog who is overweight and likes veggies, this is one way to increase the amount of food that she can have without causing weight gain.
The fat content of the diet will affect the amount you feed. Most dogs should have a moderate amount of fat in their diet, which means limiting meats that are really high in fat, such as 75 percent lean ground beef and some ground lamb and pork products. When feeding poultry (e.g., chicken, turkey, duck), remove visible globs of fat, and maybe some of the skin as well, particularly if your dog isn’t very active.
If you find you need to feed less than the amounts recommended above to keep your dog at a healthy weight, try reducing the amount of fat, so that he can have more food in order to get the nutrients that he needs (but don’t feed a really low-fat diet, as that will cause your dog to feel hungry all the time).
On the other hand, if you find yourself having to feed more than would be expected for your dog’s size, you can increase the amount of fat. Working dogs and those who are very active and have trouble keeping weight on will benefit from a higher-fat diet. Keep in mind that dogs do not normally have problems with high cholesterol, so that is not a concern if you need to feed a high-fat diet.
Grains and starchy carbs can also affect weight. Dogs who have trouble maintaining their weight on a normal amount of food may benefit from added carbohydrates, while reducing them can help those who need to lose weight

Making the switch
Most dogs have little problem switching to a home-cooked diet. If your dog is prone to digestive problems, then you may want to make the change gradually. Add just one new ingredient at a time and wait a few days to see how your dog does before adding something else new, gradually increasing the amount of new food and decreasing the amount of the old.
If you add a lot of new ingredients at one time and your dog develops problems, it’s harder to tell what the cause might be. If your dog vomits or has diarrhea, return to his prior diet and make the change more carefully once his digestive system is back to normal. That may include feeding the new food separately from the old (at least a few hours in between meals), and feeding only one new food at a time, to see if your dog reacts to any of the new ingredients.

Supplements
The choice of whether or not to add supplements is an individual one. Healthy dogs fed a wide variety of fresh foods in appropriate proportions should have no need of supplements, though they may still benefit from them. The less variety you feed, the more necessary supplements become. Cooked diets are more likely to need supplements, since cooking destroys or reduces some nutrients. Dogs with health problems may also benefit from certain supplements regardless of their diet.
The most important supplement is fish body oil (not cod liver oil), such as salmon oil or EPA oil. This supplies omega-3 fatty acids, which provide a variety of benefits and are hard to find in any diet, whether homemade or commercial. The recommended dosage for healthy dogs is around 1 gram (1,000 mg) of fish oil per 20 to 30 pounds of body weight (dogs with certain health problems may benefit from higher doses). You can also use sardines in place of fish oil. Two or three small sardines supply as much omega-3 fatty acids as one gram of fish oil.
When fed in doses high enough to supply the recommended amount of EPA and DHA, cod liver oil would contribute too much vitamin D. Restrict the amount of cod liver oil you feed your dog so that it does not contribute more than 100 IUs daily for a small dog, to 400 IUs daily for a large dog. Do not add cod liver oil or other sources of vitamin D to any commercial diet, as most are already high in vitamin D.
Note that flaxseed oil and carmelina oil are not good choices to replace fish oil, as the form of omega-3 fatty acids found in plant oils (alpha linolenic acid, or ALA) must be converted in the body to the forms that dogs can utilize (EPA and DHA). At best, dogs probably convert 15 percent of ALA to EPA and DHA; at worst, none of it. Fish, grass-fed meats, and eggs are also good sources of omega-3 fatty acids.
Whenever you add oils of any kind, you need to supplement with vitamin E, or the body will become depleted of this vitamin over time. Give around 100 IUs to a small dog (under 25 lbs), 200 IUs to a medium-sized dog (25 to 60 lbs), and 400 IUs to a large dog (more than 60 lbs), anywhere from daily to once a week.
Because dogs can make their own vitamin C, this vitamin is not considered essential, but that ability may be reduced during times of stress or illness, and additional vitamin C may provide benefits even to healthy dogs. Similarly, dogs may be able to get vitamin D from sunlight as people do, but during winter months, this may not be enough. Dogs that are kept primarily indoors or that have heavy coats may also get limited vitamin D from sunlight.
Minerals are tricky to supplement, as they can be dangerous at excessive levels, or if they are not balanced properly with other minerals. For example, zinc binds with copper, so if you give a supplement long term that includes zinc but not copper in proper proportions (10:1), eventually this can lead to a copper deficiency.
Minerals are most safely supplemented in whole food form. Green blends that contain foods such as kelp, spirulina, Irish moss, fenugreek seed, and alfalfa are an excellent source of trace minerals. (Note that it is important not to give too much kelp, as it is high in iodine and too much can suppress the thyroid.) It’s best to give kelp in very small amounts -- ¼ teaspoon or less for a large dog.
Organic apple cider vinegar, nutritional or brewer’s yeast, and dark molasses also supply trace minerals. Other fresh food supplements that may provide benefits include raw honey, ginger (especially good for digestion), and fresh crushed garlic (no more than 1 small clove per 20 pounds of body weight daily; more can cause anemia).
You may want to add probiotics, especially if your dog is stressed or ill, has been treated with antibiotics, or has had diarrhea. Supplements with multiple strains of beneficial bacteria are preferable to plain acidophilus; Lactobacillus spirogenes and Enterococcus faecium are two that may be especially good for dogs. Digestive enzymes are also helpful for some dogs with gastrointestinal problems.

Puppies
The nutritional requirements of puppies vary from those of adults, and deficiencies (or excesses) are more likely to cause harm. Puppies need more protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus than adult dogs do, but too much calcium can lead to serious orthopedic problems. This is especially true for young (prior to puberty), large-breed puppies. These increased needs continue as long as your puppy is growing, and are highest during periods of peak growth.
The exact amount of calcium that puppies require is a matter of endless debate among nutritionists. I’ll outline the most prominent recommendations, and suggest an approach that should result in your home-prepared diet falling into the middle of these ranges.
The 2006 National Research Council (NRC) guidelines recommend that puppies receive 3 grams (3,000 mg) of calcium per 1,000 kcals, which is four times its recommended amount for adult dogs. The minimum requirement is 2,000 mg/1,000 kcals.
The nutrient guidelines published by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) express the recommended amount in a different way, suggesting that puppy diets include between 1.0 and 2.5 percent calcium on a dry matter (DM) basis. In comparison, the 2006 NRC recommendations are 0.8 to 1.7 percent for smaller breed puppies (adult body weight under 55 lbs) and 0.8 to 1.2 percent for larger breed puppies (based on a diet that contains 400 kcals per 100 grams of food).
Some nutritional research suggests that large-breed puppies have optimal skeletal development and mineralization when fed a diet that contains between 0.8 and 1.0 percent calcium (DM), as long as the diet uses high biological value protein (from animal products) that provides 420 kcals per 100 grams of food. The percentage of calcium needed increases when caloric density is increased (higher-fat diets), so that the total amount of calcium per calorie remains the same. The percentage of calcium needed also increases when more grains are fed, since the phytates in grains bind calcium.
Studies have shown that skeletal abnormalities and lameness can result in large-breed puppies fed more than 2.6 percent calcium (DM), or more than 6,500 mg calcium per 1,000 kcals (one study found significant bone abnormalties in growing dogs feed 4,900 mg calcium per 1,000 kcals). The 2006 NRC recommends a safe upper limit of 4,500 mg calcum per 1,000 kcals for giant-breed dogs (the limit is likely higher with smaller breeds).Minimum amounts are less well defined, but problems may occur when diets contain less than 0.6 percent calcium (DM). The amount of vitamin D in the diet will also have an effect, since it increases the absorption of calcium. Small-breed puppies can tolerate a much wider range of calcium than large-breed puppies without developing problems.
Heres my suggestion: If you add an amount of bone meal that provides between 1,000 and 2,000 mg of calcium per pound of food fed (not counting any low-calorie veggies), this should provide adequate but not excessive calcium. If you cook the meat, use the cooked weight to determine how much calcium to add.
The higher amount in that range (2,000 mg per pound of food) will meet both NRC and AAFCO guidelines, providing between 2,000 and 4,000 mg of calcium/1,000 kcals and 1.6 to 2.0 percent calcium (DM) based on the diet recommendations I've given.
The lower amount (1,000 mg per pound of food) will provide between 0.8 and 1.0 percent calcium, which some feel is most appropriate for large breed puppies. This is lower than NRC and AAFCO minimums, but not low enough to cause deficiencies. Remember, you need to add more calcium per pound of food fed if you use a high-fat or high-grain diet.
Because puppies also need more phosphorus than adult dogs, I suggest using bone meal for a calcium source, rather than a calcium-only supplement. (Again, bone meal contains calcium and phosphorus in a ratio of 2:1.)
If your dogs diet provides calcium in amounts that fall at the low end of the ranges suggested by experts, its advisable to supplement the diet with vitamin D, which enhances calcium uptake. (Don’t use calcium supplements that contain vitamin D, though, as the amounts will be too high). If you want to do your own calculations, you can analyze the diet you’re feeding using a nutrition analyzer (see Resources below).
Remember that if you feed a diet that includes ground bone in appropriate amounts, there is no need to add additional calcium or phosphorus, as bone supplies both minerals in the right proportions. (Isn’t nature wonderful?)
Puppies also require more protein than adult dogs. Remember that there is no danger in feeding high-protein diets to puppies. The best thing you can do for large- and giant-breed puppies is to keep them lean and slow-growing by limiting the total amount fed, not by limiting the percentage of protein in the diet.
Most puppies will do well with a diet that has a moderately high amount of fat. Puppies need more fat than adult dogs, but too much can lead to rapid growth (if they get too many calories), or limit nutrition (if you have to feed less than the normal amount to control growth). If you have a very active puppy who eats more than would be expected for his age and size, then you can increase the amount of fat in his diet. Don’t feed a low-fat diet to a puppy.
Figuring out how much to feed a puppy will depend on the pup’s age as well as current weight and anticipated adult weight. Puppies eat much more for their weight than adult dogs do, and young puppies eat more for their weight than older puppies do. That’s one of the reasons why it’s important to feed younger puppies three to four meals a day.
The amount fed to puppies should gradually increase from a little over half of the appropriate adult serving (when the puppy is very young) to close to the adult ration (for older puppies). Here’s what that would translate into based on percentage of current weight:
1/4 grown: 4.5 to 6.5 percent of current body weight (55 percent of adult diet)
1/2 grown: 3.5 to 5.25 percent of current body weight (88 percent of adult diet)
3/4 grown: 2.75 to 4 percent of current body weight (100+ percent of adult diet)
Fully grown: 2 to 3 percent of their body weight daily (100 percent of adult diet)
Small-breed puppies reach their adult weights more quickly than large breeds do. A small-breed puppy will eat as much as an adult by the time she’s around three months old. A large-breed puppy will eat as much as an adult by the time she’s around 5 months old. In both cases, they’ll eat a little over half that amount at 8 weeks of age. Small breeds will eat a higher percentage of their body weight daily than will larger breeds.
Keep in mind that the appetite of puppies is notoriously varied -- they eat more when they're in a growth spurt and less when they're dealing with hormones and teething -- so it's important to pay attention to the individual dog and adjust as needed. It's best for puppies to be lean, not chubby, especially the large breeds; keeping them lean will decrease the likelihood of hip dysplasia and other orthopedic problems developing. Adjust the amount of food as needed to keep your puppy at the proper weight, with ribs easily felt and not covered in fat.

Following are suggested amounts for a 40 pound (18 kg) dog. Adjust as needed for your individual dog, keeping in mind that, on average, larger dogs will eat less for their weight, and smaller dogs more.
Sample daily cooked diet:
• 8 to 12 ounces (225 to 350 grams) muscle meat/heart/fish/leftovers (raw or cooked weight)
• 1 to 2 ounces (30 to 60 grams) liver or kidney (raw weight before cooking)
• 1 to 2 eggs (daily or every other day)
• 1 to 4 ounces (30 to 100 grams) yogurt, kefir or cottage cheese
• 2 to 8 ounces (60 to 225 grams) grains (cooked weight) or veggies (no more than half the diet)
• 1,000 mg calcium (for example, ½ tsp ground eggshell, or 1 tsp Animal Essentials Natural Calcium, or 1 tsp NOW bone meal, which has 1,000 mg calcium per rounded teaspoon).
Sample daily supplements (optional)
• 1 or 2 fish oil capsules (400 to 600 mg combined EPA and DHA), or 3 small sardines
• 200 IUs vitamin E (required at least a couple of times a week if giving oils)
• ¼ tsp each kelp and alfalfa, or ¼ to ½ tsp green blend
• 500 mg vitamin C once or twice a day
• vitamin B-50 complex once or twice a day
• cod liver oil in an amount yielding around 100 to 200 IUs vitamin D
• ½ tsp organic apple cider vinegar mixed with ½ teaspoon raw honey
• 1 clove fresh crushed raw garlic
• 1-2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

 

[DIDM]

 

[saluki]

Eukanuba kibble/dry food and goats milk daily for my saluki. I guess I'm a bad owner but I give him live rabbits sometimes.

 

[Samporasa]

Boiled chicken and rice or bread

 

[IGROWMYOWN]

Orijen expensive but my English bulldogs seem to love it

 

[Aeroguerilla]

orijen is what i feed my shepherds very nice coats and they love the food.