The subject of feeding dogs is one that may be lumped into the category "I asked 100 people and got 100 different answers!" I am occasionally asked what and how I feed my dogs and the following is my reply. It does NOT mean that I necessarily think that feeding twice a day, raw feeding, different supplementation, or other ways of managing canine nutrition are wrong! We all do according to what we believe is good for our own dogs, fits our own lifestyles, and agrees with our own experiences.
I feed my adult dogs once daily and give them a good dog food, often with some fresh food (meats, eggs, fruits, vegetables) mixed in. They also get a biscuit now and then as an extra. The foods that I buy are nearly always various 4- and 5-star foods as rated and recommended by dogfoodadvisor. Another site that I like is dogfoodanalysis which rates foods on a 1-6 star scale.
I say "various" foods because I practice rotation feeding. Meaning that every time I buy a dog food, I select something different than what I got the last time. I may feed a dozen different foods in succession before my dogs get one of those same foods again. This is because, just as is true for people, a variety of food covers the dogs better nutritionally than consuming the very same stuff all the time. A side benefit is that I have no concerns about the dogs being sensitive to changes in their diet!
Interestingly, I have found that some of the pet supply superstores do not sell the better and best dog foods. I go to the much smaller We Lov Pets store in town to get those foods because the great big pet store does not carry them.
Some of the brands that I look for are Instinct, EVO, Nutrisca, Innova, Taste of the Wild (which can also be found at Tractor Supply), Wellness, Solid Gold, Before Grain, Pinnacle, Earthborn and Nature's Variety. We Lov Pets does not always have all of these brands so I pick and choose according to what is on the shelves at the time. Additionally, all of these brands have a variety of formulas so there are always a number of options.
I usually feed the food dry. I might add chicken. Some liver. An egg. Greens. Carrots. Cabbage. Or apple. Taya likes bananas. Sometimes I will add some water, especially warm water on a chilly day. I also like to add water when we are traveling to increase the dogs' fluid intake on the road.
When we are home, I add salmon oil every day. And I often (not always) give a bit of powdered pro-biotic and/or a multi-vitamin. It is no big deal that they don't get these things when we are away.
As for feeding puppies, I let their mothers wean them with very little interference from me. Whether the mother weans them at five weeks or at nine weeks is fine with me. Then, three or four times a day, they get the same food mama gets. Gone are the days when very mediocre dog food made the more nutritious puppy food better for puppies. Today, the better so-called puppy foods can be "too much" of a good thing and have resulted in negative developmental consequences for some puppies and their breeders. I went to a couple of Pat Hastings seminars years ago and her photos and documentation convinced me of this. I have not fed puppy food for a dozen years.
So here is an observation about another food that I have been interested in but have not used before and that is Fromm. I have looked at Fromm but not bought it because the store always seemed to have it in the small and very large bags. For my four dogs, I like to buy the 15-20 lb bags. Last time I went, however, they did have Fromm Gold Adult in a medium-size bag and I bought it. I have been seeing for several days that, while some dry dog foods cause the dogs to drink a lot of water after they have eaten, Fromm does not. I am favorably impressed by this and have placed Fromm high on my list of preferred dog foods.
I feed my adult dogs once daily and give them a good dog food, often with some fresh food (meats, eggs, fruits, vegetables) mixed in. They also get a biscuit now and then as an extra. The foods that I buy are nearly always various 4- and 5-star foods as rated and recommended by dogfoodadvisor. Another site that I like is dogfoodanalysis which rates foods on a 1-6 star scale.
I say "various" foods because I practice rotation feeding. Meaning that every time I buy a dog food, I select something different than what I got the last time. I may feed a dozen different foods in succession before my dogs get one of those same foods again. This is because, just as is true for people, a variety of food covers the dogs better nutritionally than consuming the very same stuff all the time. A side benefit is that I have no concerns about the dogs being sensitive to changes in their diet!
Interestingly, I have found that some of the pet supply superstores do not sell the better and best dog foods. I go to the much smaller We Lov Pets store in town to get those foods because the great big pet store does not carry them.
Some of the brands that I look for are Instinct, EVO, Nutrisca, Innova, Taste of the Wild (which can also be found at Tractor Supply), Wellness, Solid Gold, Before Grain, Pinnacle, Earthborn and Nature's Variety. We Lov Pets does not always have all of these brands so I pick and choose according to what is on the shelves at the time. Additionally, all of these brands have a variety of formulas so there are always a number of options.
I usually feed the food dry. I might add chicken. Some liver. An egg. Greens. Carrots. Cabbage. Or apple. Taya likes bananas. Sometimes I will add some water, especially warm water on a chilly day. I also like to add water when we are traveling to increase the dogs' fluid intake on the road.
When we are home, I add salmon oil every day. And I often (not always) give a bit of powdered pro-biotic and/or a multi-vitamin. It is no big deal that they don't get these things when we are away.
As for feeding puppies, I let their mothers wean them with very little interference from me. Whether the mother weans them at five weeks or at nine weeks is fine with me. Then, three or four times a day, they get the same food mama gets. Gone are the days when very mediocre dog food made the more nutritious puppy food better for puppies. Today, the better so-called puppy foods can be "too much" of a good thing and have resulted in negative developmental consequences for some puppies and their breeders. I went to a couple of Pat Hastings seminars years ago and her photos and documentation convinced me of this. I have not fed puppy food for a dozen years.
So here is an observation about another food that I have been interested in but have not used before and that is Fromm. I have looked at Fromm but not bought it because the store always seemed to have it in the small and very large bags. For my four dogs, I like to buy the 15-20 lb bags. Last time I went, however, they did have Fromm Gold Adult in a medium-size bag and I bought it. I have been seeing for several days that, while some dry dog foods cause the dogs to drink a lot of water after they have eaten, Fromm does not. I am favorably impressed by this and have placed Fromm high on my list of preferred dog foods.
