Feeding Dogs

Over the years we have come to the conclusion there is simply no single answer to the question, "what should I feed my dog?" Sorry, if you thought we were going to give you strict guidelines for feeding our puppies, we just can't. So in lieu of that, how about we just share our experiences and thoughts.

We started out feeding one of the many premium kibbles (such as Science Diet, Eukanuba, Canidae, Nutro, and others--just because I didn't list it, doesn't mean it isn't a good food). There are many of these available at vet offices, wholesale clubs, feed stores and some have even found their way into discount marts and grocery stores. In general, our dogs did well. And the average dog will do well on these foods.

We never did try bargain brands and still feel they are a poor choice for most dogs but especially for large and giant breeds. Mastiffs in particular simply can't eat enough quantity of these foods to get the nutrition they need.

We switched brands now and then either because of availability or because the dogs just weren't eating well. Over the years we've had a couple of dogs that didn't seem to do as well on kibble. Either their coats were as nice, their stools weren't solid, they didn't keep weight on, or they had some skin issues. We consulted with a vet that practises traditional Chinese veterinary medicine and tried adding herbs and veggies and although that helped some, things for these certain dogs just weren't quite right. Although this vet herself fed raw, she didn't push us to do so.

Which brings me to feeding a raw diet. I have had several friends and acquaintances over the years that swore by raw diets but I resisted even considering it. First, I thought it was just too complicated, I didn't have the freezer space for the number of dogs we were feeding, and I was still convinced commercial dog food companies had done their research and were providing us with the best solutions for dog food.

But we have one Mastiff girl, Mira, who just did not thrive on any premium kibble we tried. She is a very large-framed girl who was very underweight and had poor coat condition. One would expect her to be ravenously hungry, yet faced with a bowl of kibble (even with lots of tempting mixin's) she would stand there staring at as though she had to get up her courage to eat it. And then it seemed that it went straight through her and she got just enough nutrition to stay alive, but not thrive and not put on any weight. We feared she was starving to death despite eating 8-10 cups of kibble per day.

Two friends in particular were having great success feeding raw and with them in mind, and fearing Mira was just going to die on me if I didn't do something, I went to the grocery store one day and bought chicken backs and necks and offerred them to her. Wow. I can't tell you how good it felt to see Mira eager to eat. It was the first time since she was a puppy that she actually ate with gusto. Ok, gusto may be too strong a word for anything Mira does, but she ate the chicken immediately and finished every bite. I waited to see what would follow (stool wise) and I had to wait three days. Just about the time I had convinced myself I had blocked her up with bones and really was killing her, she finally pooped a nice, small, solid stool. Whew. She went from a frightfully thin about 170 pounds to a still lean 207 pounds.

Well, seeing the nearly magical change in Mira, it was hard to not give some of our others dogs a try on raw. We had a litter of Spinone puppies not long after we started Mira on raw and although I started weaning them with kibble, one day I threw the last few pups that hadn't already left some raw chicken. They loved it. Those pups went to their new homes eating raw and two of them are still eating raw and triving.

I whelped a litter for someone else and weaned the pups on raw. I was not happy with the early results and by 6 weeks switched to Iams Puppy and the pups quickly gained weight and thrived. I've talked to other breeders who also experimented with weaning to raw and were also unhappy. Others swear by it. It seems to me the smaller breeds do well weaning on raw but the giant breeds, not so much.

For a while we fed everyone raw, and even bought a large freezer to store the meet. But the truth is, we found it to be more expensive and difficult to feed raw. Keeping the food prep area clean was a real pain. Dogs had to be separated for feeding because they were more likely to squabble over raw than kibble (which could be viewed as evidence they more highly value raw!). And then friends feeding raw had issues with Neospora (a parasite sometimes acquired from raw red meat).

By then, Mira had been spayed and we discovered that what had seemed to be allergies or issues with kibble disappeared after she was spayed. She now eats kibble just fine and has no skin problems. Hmmmm, very interesting.

So, we're back to kibble!! Puppies are weaned on Iams Smart Puppy--Large Breed. The adults are fed Purina Pro Plan chicken and/or the salmon based variety. If the store is out of Pro Plan regular, we buy Pro Plan Selects (more expensive, similar product). We add some cod-liver oil and calcium to Mastiff puppy diets.

I know people feeding all different types of diets with success -- premium kibble, raw, home-cooked, holistic, and combinations.

So, as I have always said, feed for results. If a dog is in good condition, at a good weight, with healthy coat, then whatever you are feeding is fine.