What should she eat?

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#1
Most have you have met Josie, my purebred Australian Boarder Rottiba ;) , what would you folks recommend as a good food for her?

She hasn't eaten much since we brought her home yesterday, which I attribute to stress, etc. My philosophy with pets has always been a (healthy) animal will never starve itself, which proved true today when she finally ate some puppy chow I bought her. The only reason I bought puppy chow was that she was a pound dog for a few months and I figured that was probably what she ate in "the joint", so I didn't want to exacerbate her stress by giving her a stomach ache with "rich" food.

Once she gets on a regular eat/poop schedule I want to feed her "good stuff", so I'm curious what you guys and gals use.

FWIW she's a medium sized 30 lbs-ish, and nice and fit. She could probably stand to gain a pound or two, but not much.

Iams? Hills? Stray cats? ;)

Thanks for your continued good info!

-Kev

P.S. What the heck is up with a dog that won't eat dog biscuits? Hell, I've eaten a dog biscuit and they aren't that bad This dog will NOT eat a Milk Bone or a Bil-Jac dry biscuit.
 

Debi

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#2
Hi! Lots of great advice on prior posts regarding diet....check them out. This board is VERY helpful. I just wanted to say that neither one of my dogs seem to want dog biscuits. My sister in law even bought them ultra fancy gourmet doggie 'cookies'........made me want one........and they weren't impressed. It's not as though they've eaten people treats or anything either. I finally had my hubby stop giving them a biscuit when he was leaving for work...........Heaven only knows how many must be buried out there! I might try making my own. :)
 
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#3
Hmmm. Don't much blame her about those dog biscuits. You wouldn't eat them either if you knew what kind of garbage they put in them.

First: check out the thread with the link to the table that tells you about all the dog foods that are laced with the drug that's used to euthanize animals. That will scare you.

Vets sell Iams/ Eukanuba and Hills products because they are good profit centers. You can get far superior foods for the same price - or less. And, your dog won't eat as much of the good stuff because there's more nutrition in it. And her yard bombs won't be as big or as numerous.

Find a high quality, organic food made from human grade ingredients. There are several threads here on the subject. Serena feeds hers the BARF (Bones and Raw Food Diet), which can be great, as long as you're able to get meats that haven't been injected with growth hormones and chemicals and antibiotics. I think Brattina's gone to the home cooked diet for Maddie; or maybe it's Grace who's doing that with Ripley. My Monsters eat Innova (plus whatever they catch out here in the boondocks). Shiva supplements her diet with whatever's delicious that she can steal from the kitchen cabinets. She's eaten an entire jar of probiotics and last night she had a little snack of about a cup of whey protein. The girls (still pups) also get calf milk replacer most mornings.

Try to find the Mother Hubbard treats. Not only are they safe, the dogs seem to go nuts for them. They come in a variety of flavors.

AAARRRGGGHHH! Shiva just brought in an old feed sack and shook it violently right in the middle of the living room! Hack, hack, dust everywhere. At least it wasn't something dead! :eek:
 
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Smooshie

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#4
I am currently feeding Canidae with great results. As far as treats, Old Mother Hubbard treats are good.....mine also get Canidae snap biscuits which they go CRAZY over.

Good luck with the new pup :)
 

RD

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#6
Personally I think hill's science diet is just about as nutritious as sawdust.

I feed a raw diet to Ripley, best results I've ever seen. (Unfortunately I have a mother with Kibble Blinders on who is resisting me when I say i want to feed Dakota raw) If you have the time and will to put in a little extra effort, raw is, IMO, the best. (Of course you have to feel comfortable doing this) I plan on switching my cats to a raw diet soon as well.

I feed Dakota Innova, which is also a very good food. (The best I've found, at least. It could be lower in carbs and grains to suit my liking but overall it's good)
 
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#7
Grace, as energetic as a Border Collie is, the extra carbs are just extra rocket fuel (lol). I gave up trying to feed Bimmer the adult Innova, since Kharma eats out of his bowl most of the time (he's never let anyone else) and she needs the extra boost in the puppy food. Bimmer's such an active dog and an athlete that the puppy food has probably been good for him, especially the extra carbs.

If you want to boost Dakota's protein, try getting beef hearts. I get them sometimes and cook them for mine, braising them in a crockpot, then freeze the broth for cold weather and nuke it and pour it over their kibble on cold days. The beef heart is probably the cleanest meat in the entire carcass, unlike liver and kidneys (something you never, ever want to feed your dog or cat), which accumulate all the toxins that food production animals are injected with and fed.

I just went ahead and started mine on the Innova immediately. They had two or three days of loose stools, but no diarrhea, and the amount of stool was moderate. I don't think you CAN upset a Fila's digestion - at least not Shiva's! (rofl)

I've heard nutritionists refer to Hill's as "Science Die."
 
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#8
I'll pick up some Innova today at the Petmart...I need to replace a defective leash anyway.

Do you prefer the kibble or canned? Right now JTWD will only eat kibble if I mix it in with soft.
 

RD

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#9
Ooh, I don't think you can get innova at petsmart...
 
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#10
Rip's Girl said:
Ooh, I don't think you can get innova at petsmart...
You're right, the store I was thinking of is actually a "Complete Petmart", which I like better than Petsmart.

My bad.
 

RD

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#11
Oh OK... Do you know if they carry it? I had to look on the natura website to find a retailer near me, and it's still about ahalf hour away. (no biggie for me & my mom, but some people don't like to drive somewhere just for dog food)
 
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#12
If they don't carry Innova, they might be persuaded to pick it up if they're not a big chain store.

If you can't get it, check out www.greatdanelady.com for other high quality foods to look for.

Josie's a smart girl - got you buffaloed into the canned food already! You can always mix a little of the canned in with the kibble, reducing the amount until she's off of the canned. But you've probably figured that out already ~ ;)
 
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#13
Rip's Girl said:
Oh OK... Do you know if they carry it? I had to look on the natura website to find a retailer near me, and it's still about ahalf hour away. (no biggie for me & my mom, but some people don't like to drive somewhere just for dog food)

Complete Pet Mart is a chain store, but tries to carry more boutique stuff I think. I'm going today...maybe I can get some Perrier Ice Cubes :D
 
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#15
Just got back. Darn dog won't eat the Innova kibble by itself OR the Mother Hubbard treats I got her :mad: She seems to eat anything soft, and I just can't afford the Innova soft food until I start my new job in a couple weeks. Right now she just woofed down a mix of 2/3 Innova kibble and 1/3 Pedigree Puppy soft mixed with some water. The Pedigree seems like the "best of the worst" according to the labels and the "black list", which found all of the Pedigree foods o.k.

I guess Complete Petmart only has stores in Cincy, Dayton and Columbus. They carry all of the good stuff though, Innova, Wellness, and a bunch of stuff I'd never seen including Paul Newman's hippie food. Prices seem good.

Complete Petmart Vendors

Funny story...as I plopping down $60 for the mutt, I felt guilty for feeding the cats grocery store grub, so I bought them some Innova food and Nutro treats :)
 
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#16
Good boy!

She'll come around. You can gradually cut back on the canned and/or add some unsalted chicken broth until she gets with the program. Remember, a dog's not going to let itself starve - hard as they try to convince us! Amazing, though, how they do seem to love the Twinkie and Cheetos version of dog food. (g)

Now, if it will make you feel better, think about feeding two Fila Brasileiros and a German Shepherd - that run around on a farm . . . :O
 

RD

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#17
Aww well your cats will thank you. Mine did well on friskies for years, but once I wised up and bought them a better food, they just look and act so much better.

If you want to do it for the rest of her life, keep feeding her the soft food with the kibble. If she's part BC, she's smart and knows that she'll get that yummy pedigree crap on her food every time she refuses to eat the plain food.

If she's not severely underweight or hypoglycemic (Both of which I highly doubt she is) then it's OK to set the plain dry food down for about 15-20 minutes, and if she doesn't touch it, pick it up again and try again 6 hours later. She might go hungry for awhile, but eventually she'll realize that she's NOT going to get her way. :p
 

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#18
yeah for my husky I had to leave the food down three times a day for four days before she would eat anything. I completely stopped giving her any kind of dog treat (or human food as well) until she would consistently eat the kibble. Ofcourse I do mix in cottage cheese and plain yogurt as well.
 

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