8 posts tagged “dog food”

This is a great site for drilling down to information about ingredients in commercial dog foods - what to look for, what to avoid, how to identify better products.

But what is most useful for me is this "short list" of beneficial food items that include important vitamins, minerals and trace elements for a healthy dog. We are pretty much on top of everything with our home cooked, I find - though after perusing this I've decided to add the occasional egg to Sky's diet... and ongoing is my search for nutritional yeast, which I want for both her and us. (Not too many retail health food options in Athens, that I've been able to ferret out so far, anyway.)
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The only thing we seem to be mostly missing is this:

Chloride: kelp, tomatoes, celery

and to a lesser degree:

Sulfur: eggs, garlic, lettuce, cabbage

I do include garlic in her cooked meals (just a bit of raw, minced garlic - not a lot), but adding some egg here and there will help with the latter... and I suspect that the chloride is a non-issue, since chloride is found in table salt, which is how we humans get most of ours, and though I don't add salt to her food, I'm pretty sure it's probably included in a lot of the dog treats she gets. However, I'd like to mostly stop using commercial treats for reward training, and try healthier items if possible, so I'll add a bit of tomato to her diet. This is something we always have around, in season, anyway.

So, at this point our usual home cooked meals consist of either turkey/chicken/liver/fish (I'd love to include beef - but we hardly spend the big bucks for beef ourselves - it's become very expensive!) and veg mix (carrot, zucchini and/or green beans, spinach - and soon to include some tomato) and brown rice (roughly 1/3 each, but a bit more veg than meat and rice), plus some grated apple or pear usually, a bit of minced garlic, and a small splash each of olive oil and apple cider vinegar. In addition, she gets a couple of large tablespoons of yogurt separately most days, plus the occasional peanut butter treat or bit of cheese.

If we ate only what we feed her, we'd be in super great shape, I think. :)

At the moment, we're out of kibble (and the only place we've found so far that has minimally acceptable dry food is quite a walk away - and it's hot out!) so she's eating the home cooked for both meals, and I'd actually prefer to feed her only this all the time, but I worry that she will refuse the dry food eventually, which would make things difficult while travelling, say, or if someone else takes care of her.

I mentioned a while back that I was convinced by something I read that I needed to increase Sky's protein in relation to rice and veg in her home cooked meals, but I think this was (probably) wrong. I saw her straining the day before yesterday when she had to do her poop, plus her schedule has gone a bit off, with more time passing between movements, and I think it's due to less fiber in her food. I may be wrong, and it may be down to the heat instead, and the fact that she seems not to drink as much as she should (it seems to me), but I'm going back to our old formulation of about 1/3 each brown rice, veg, meat/fish for now.

Yesterday, actually, I put very little rice, added some black eyed peas (I would have gone with lentils, but black eyed peas was what I had around, and I wanted to start off with what I hoped was a corrective meal in the morning), and a bit more veg (spinach, green beans, carrot, zucchini; all nearly pureed then cooked) than meat (chicken), and made it very wet. (Canned pumpkin is supposed to be a very good thing for this, but not something I can find here.) This actually did show up in a more effortless poop yesterday evening, according to my husband, so I think we're back on the right track - for her, anyway. The whole food thing is so difficult to figure out, and as I keep repeating, for every bit of advice you find, you'll find pretty much the opposite point of view persuasively presented, so it's difficult to be confident of one's choices. I do know that her output has always been good (not too soft or hard) and regular, and it seems like it started veering more towards hard and/or constipated, so I'll go back to tried-and-true for now.

And speaking of food, I want to give you my Mushroom Soup recipe, because it's easy (if you have a food processor) and quite delish. We had this yesterday, and it was ultra-yummy:

Taz's Mushroom Soup (for people!)

1 pound of mushrooms (I used regular domestic button mushrooms)
1 large zucchini
1 large onion
1 large carrot
1 red bell pepper
Sherry
Cottage cheese
Olive oil

Grate or finely chop (I used a food processor) the onion, carrot, pepper and zucchini and sautée in olive oil; meanwhile mince the mushrooms (again, I used the the food processor), and add to the pan. Continue to sautée this mixture for another five to ten minutes, then transfer to a soup pot and add about a quart of chicken broth and 1/4 to a half cup of sherry, or to taste. (I actually used a great homemade sweet red wine that came from a Greek village, but I think sherry is probably the best equivalent.) Simmer for an hour, then add a small container of cottage cheese (probably a cup to a cup and a half ) or an amount to your taste, and puree the mixture (I used a hand-held stick blender for this, but you could use the food processor again). Season to taste (I just used salt and freshly ground pepper). If the mixture is too thick, you can add water or more broth. Let simmer for another ten minutes or so, and it's ready!

Very important: This is not a dish to make for (or share with) your dog, because of the onion and alcohol. Keep this one for yourself! However, I find it is one good use for some of the broth that I get when I boil turkey or chicken for Sky's meals. I have a tiny little freezer, and can't save all the broth, so I try to plan some dishes that would benefit from the broth when I make her meals for the week.

Our latest Sky House entree, introduced just today, is the most pupular so far, it seems. This time around our menu features cod as the main attraction, and Miss Sky is going pretty nutso for it. The ingredients are boiled cod, brown rice, carrots, zucchini, green beans, spinach, olive oil and a little garlic powder. The ratio is about half cod to half rice-veggie combo - so, about 1/2 parts cod, 1/4 parts each rice and veg. I boil the rice and steam the vegetables in the left-over fish water. (I always use the cooking water if I boil the meat or fish source; I usually end up using all of it.)

And I'm organizing the food a bit differently these days. Now I mix together the rice and vegetables in one bowl (or two - one in the fridge, and one in the freezer) and store the cooked meat or fish separately (usually, also part in the fridge and part frozen), and mix them together just before I feed her. The reason is that the rice and veggies are a lot less likely to spoil, and will last at least a week in the fridge, while I'm always cautious with meat and fish (and for good reason! I recently got food poisoning from fish soup I made for us, and I was actually very, very, extra careful with it, since it's summer now - freezing half immediately, and putting the rest in the refrigerator right away... but two days in the refrigerator was too much, it seems. Or our refrigerator isn't cold enough - I don't know. But aaarrgggh. So. Sick. Crazy.)

Also, I used to shred the raw vegetables, but now I steam them and roughly puree them, since an article I read argues that the dog's shorter intestinal tract is not efficient at dealing with raw vegetables. You can read a hundred things, all advising radically different methods of feeding the dog, but for now I'm going with high protein / cooked meat or fish  / steamed veg, with the veg in a sort of artificially "pre-digested" form. No corn or wheat, plus active plain yogurt (I feed it separately, since she loves it like dessert). There are a few other health food things I would like to add, if I can ever find them, but I feel pretty good about this diet for now.

Our tally thus far is:

1. Boiled turkey leg meat, plus brown rice, plus raw shredded carrot and zucchini (plus olive oil and light powdered garlic - just add this to description for the rest, as well), plus yogurt added in before serving = Liked Very Much!
2. Boiled turkey thigh meat plus chicken livers, plus oatmeal, shredded carrot and zucchini, and steamed, shredded green beans = Didn't Like Very Much At  All.
3. Sauteed chicken livers, plus brown rice, plus steamed and mashed carrot and zucchini and spinach = Eh. Meh. Not Bad, Not Fab.
4. Boiled Cod, plus brown rice, plus steamed and pureed carrots, zucchini, spinach and green beans = OMG, SO GOOD, I Go Crazy!

And there you go. That's our user-reviewed list of homemade dog foods so far.

I think I may be including too little animal protein in relation to grain and veggies in Sky's home-cooked meals. Of course, all sorts of different advice can be found, and according to a lot of the recipes, we're on target - but this forum post was interesting to me, and is a pretty convincing argument for a higher percentage of protein. Of course, it's easy to add more meat or cheese to what I already have prepared... so not a problem.

We are now having one home-made meal, and one kibble meal daily. I finally found a dog food here that seems to be fairly good relative to what's generally available here (Nutra Nuggets Super Premium Lamb Meal & Rice), though I will keep searching for something better, but I think we need to keep dry food on the menu so that our options are open for being able to feed her when we are not at home (travelling), if someone else is taking care of her, etc.

At any rate, I didn't update about our second entree on the Sky House Menu, because it wasn't such a big hit. I made chicken liver and turkey thigh meat with shredded green beans/carrot/apple and oatmeal (plus a bit of olive oil, and a little bit of garlic powder), and while she ate it, she couldn't be described as "enjoying it with gusto". I think that she didn't like the texture of the oatmeal. At all. She did like it a lot better when I mixed it with some peanut butter, so we muddled through a week of that, but I have almost half of it in the freezer, and I think we'll save it for emergency use. o_0

Well we had our first home cooked dog food today - and it was a ringing success. You might remember that I was trying to find the one brand on the Whole Dog Journal approved dry food list that is supposed to be available here in Greece, and the importers sent me somewhere they said had it... but they didn't.

So I had to step up my home meals project without the chance to buy any extra ingredients, since shops were closed yesterday, and we ran out of food last night. I made a turkey/rice dish based on something our friend Fay makes for her Branco. I boiled two large turkey legs, minced the meat (and threw out any small bones), and used part of the broth to cook two cups of brown rice (four or five cups after cooking). While the rice was cooking I threw in a couple of handfuls of frozen spinach. I grated a large carrot and a large zucchini and mixed it all together, sprinkled a bit of garlic powder* and couple splashes of olive oil... and that's it for this first batch. I refrigerated half, and froze half. I also mixed a teaspoon of yogurt into the bowl before I put it down for her, because it adds calcium, and I hear it "contains 'good' bacteria, which can aid in digestion and help keep your dog's digestive system clean and functioning optimally". But, hey - also, yum!

So, that's it for the first entree on the menu... I'll be beefing it up with some other stuff once I can find the things I want, but this is better than the bad dry food I would have buy on the spot right now when we're out of food. We'll be doing a mix of both dry kibble and home made, but I still need to find a decent dry food. In the meantime, I don't feel bad about giving her this.

* Too much garlic is not good for dogs, so this was just a very small amount. Many believe it's good for overall health and flea control - and pretty much everyone says dogs enjoy the extra flavor.

Wow. DogFoodAnalysis.com is super-handy for getting the low-down on ingredients and quality of dog food brands. This site is a gem.

It gives calculated calorie contents, a list of all ingredients, a percentage analysis, pros and cons of each food, notes and comments about the quality, a star rating, and a yes or no recommendation. Really fantastic. Unfortunately, it's looking more and more like I won't be finding a top-quality premium brand here in Greece. Bah. I've written to the Nutro brand importers here, asking them where I can find Nutro Ultra (mentioned here earlier), or if they don't offer it (I don't think they do), asking that they please start to carry it.

Update: Oh, they've responded already! They do carry Nutro Ultra, but there is a shortage because of the Port strike. They say they will find a pet shop that has some near me if I give them my location, or they will send me some! My goodness. I really wasn't expecting such a great response! I'm so pleased.

Also, I should add that at the dogfoodanalysis.com site, when you look for a particular brand, be sure to check the date it was reviewed; if it hasn't been updated recently, you should probably compare the ingredients list on the bag to the review list, in case it has changed.

So, I've been putting off making a decision about how to schedule feedings for Sky - whether to put her on a strict routine as so many sources recommend, or leave food out, and I've pretty much decided to let her eat when she wants to. She's just not food-motivated... She sometimes turns down treats, she doesn't go ga-ga when I put pour food into her bowl, and she definitely doesn't snarf down whatever's in there immediately. In fact, she doesn't even eat as much as recommended for her weight/age/activity (she's not underweight, though, and definitely not overweight). She eats casually, when she feels like it, and I like it this way. If I start putting down her food and then removing it after 10 minutes as a lot of advice would have me do, then she would be gobbling it all up as quickly as possible, knowing it was going to disappear. And eating more, because I would be pouring the recommended amount, which she doesn't seem to want. That doesn't seem to me a good thing.

She does love and show enthusiasm for a tidbit of real turkey (so far this is the only meat we've had), or a bite of cheese, and today I hesitated before throwing away a cheese slice that had some mold on the edge... I could have cut off the mold and kept it, but since I have more cheese in the fridge, I threw it out. And put the garbage by the door to take out when we had our walk. She apparently disagreed with this decision, and took matters into her own paws. When we went to the front door to leave on our walk, I found the moldy edge rind on the floor, the cheese eaten, the rest of the garbage entirely undisturbed.

Waste not, want not.

I've been thinking a lot about Sky's diet, reading and learning... and discovering how really crappy most dog food is. Unfortunately, most of the brands that I've been able to ascertain are more nutritionally sound aren't available in Greece. Here is a list of "The Whole Dog Journal's" approved dry dog food for 2008, which is good, because their standards are extremely high, and they inspect every production facility. Of course, none of that will probably be available here, and I don't know of such a list for European dog foods... but I think I may have a shot at finding one brand. I've seen Nutro Choice advertised here, and if there's one Nutro brand, perhaps others are available. I want the Nutro Ultra, which is on the WDJ list, and which I learned about from a post by biscotti on Ask Metafilter. Biscotti is our personal godess for all things pet-related, and it's what she feeds her own dogs, so that's pretty much the best endorsement I could get.

If I can't find that, or something that is that good, l will go with the best dry food I can find, and serve that for one portion a day, and for the second, I think I will adapt this fantastic recipe for homemade raw food cakes. I'll add the right percentage of meat to mine (but cooked - I can't go the entire raw route), and feed her this once a day as well. I can make it once a month and freeze it in portions, so it really won't be that time-consuming. I need to keep dry kibble on the menu, though, so if someone is taking care of Sky, or she needs to be fed somewhere else than home, the dry food won't be a departure from what she's used to. I really hope I can find the Nutro Ultra, or convince someone here to carry it.