Basenji Feeding

@JazzysMom: I have some concerns about the raw diet, but was thinking about giving once a week or so raw to give the dogs a treat but have decided against it. I had been giving them raw bones to chew, purchased from a local butcher, but then realized that every time I did that, Keoki got severe diarrhea for a day. So…. I'm sticking with kibble and cans. What really might be the problem is not the bones but the marrow, if you scrape out the marrow prior to giving them to your dogs then they should have no problems AT ALL with chewing on the raw bones and it will greatly help with cleaning their teeth and giving them something to do. Good choices are like beef knuckle bones as there is very little marrow there (also can cut off excess meat too) and beef ribs are good too (again scrape out as much marrow as you can) the bone marrow is what can cause the looser stool not chewing on the bones themselves or anything to do with actual raw feeding. So go ahead and try it again, I'm sure Keoki would love having it again just takes a little prep she can have it :D

I give uncooked meaty bones 3 times a week to my Duna, The ones you use for the broth or meat soups and i get them from my local butcher that puts them away for me when i do the weekly meat shopping. Natural meaty bones are always the best!

Plain yogurt may be better for calcium than cheese and is more natural than the probiotics (has a similar effect). Also, I have read that pork can be bad for dogs and should be avoided… I sure hope you can get Barley feeling better soon!

@Shaye's: Really glad I checked this thread - I've always given Shaye cooked eggs because of the salmonella scare - wow - I'm sure it'll make her eat better if I can just break a whole egg in there from time to time. We have such a fear of raw anything we've never given our dog raw - except for veggies of course. Also the shells are good for them too

In Australia, (especially in Tasmania :rolleyes:), we have none of the brands of dog food that you guys are talking about… We feed a premium dry food to our 2 B's, in the morning, which I might add, neither eat much of :). In the evening they get dry with a little wet food mixed in, also warmed up. Both of them get a 1000mg Omega 3 capsule, and the difference in their coat is incredible. Both had quite dry, flakey, scurfy coats, and our Vet suggested this, and I couldnt be happier with the results. Im new to the breed, and my mentor lives interstate, so all that I am doing, is trial and error ;). Just a couple of weeks ago, I was showing Ochre, and the judge was going over her coat, again and again, on the table... I was thinking she didnt like her coat, and was dreading what she might say to me !!! I was pleasantly surprised when she actually said that Ochre had the most correct coat that she had touched in the last 12-18 months :D. Thankfully the sun was out, just long enough for the B judging, and she literally glistened in the sunshine. This judge also commented on her bright whites, and shiny red colouring. She said, I dont know what you are doing with her coat, but, please keep it up... I was over the moon with these comments :).

There are too many Mayas on this site, i saw the title and thought it was one i'd done lol!! I have the opposite problem with my Maya, she is a little piggie, eats everything in site, and has learned how to get IN (yes, literally!) the "dog-proof" bin to get leftovers lol I've even been sending pics to her breeders asking if she is too fat as im paranoid lol I have her on a bit of a diet now… I feed Maya a mostly raw diet, but she has a meal a day of dry complete puppy food. She eats anything, but LOVES the raw. If you're trying to get your Maya more interested in eating then i'd buy some cheap mince or chicken and cook that for her, i bet she'd eat that no problems :D

Just a bit on the raw diet-raw digests at a different rate than kibble. Feeding raw with kibble does interrupt the digestion process. They will have diarrhea any time you switch over. No matter how careful you are. I would try something that is raw based, but baked. I know Origen up here is like that-it also has no grains. But there is also Wilderness that is based on the same lines. I find, though, that it has grains in it. Depends on how you feel about grains. It really will be trial and error. I would try treating with the dry kibble first and then building up rather than using the kibble as a meal. Just MO.

When my cat Spot got sick with Fatty Liver, he associated feeling ill with the food he was eating. When we were trying to get him to eat it was really hard because he would not touch anything with the same protein source he had been eating when he became ill. We ended up wandering by and Canine Caviar booth at a dog show and picking up a can of the Beaver canned food which was very high calorie and something he had never eaten which got him over the hump. Now that he is better he won't eat the same flavor or even the same brand more than about 3 days in a row. So when we get food for the month we get a couple of cans of everything, the cashiers think we are really nuts, but it is the one way we have found to keep his appetite up. So maybe instead of buying the large cans of dog food might want to look for brands that have the small cans and buy a variety for her. Even the higher protein ones, which in wet food max out at about 10% and Wellness 95% Turkey is only 8%, shouldn't be a problem especially if they are in rotation with lower protein ones.

I've used a lot of the water and vinegar mixture to clean up pee accidents over the years but I've never tried it as a weed killer. I will give it a try. It sure would be a lot safer and a lot cheaper than the weed killer. Pat

I give it to dogs who don't eat…or to hide pills in. But not as a regular thing.

@Kananga: +1 Fish oil is the answer. I bought a 16oz bottle of natural Salmon fish oil extract awhile back. I put a teaspoon or two of it in Kananga's food in the morning. He loves the added flavor and his dandruff has greatly decreased. The air up in MN is very dry in the winter so it is a must. Should work wonders in warmer climates. +1 on the Salmon fish oil. Works wonders!

Hey Janneke. We tried chicken wings for a few days and the only result was diarrhea ! So maybe it's better to move more slowly towards BARF :confused: The approach of Dr. Pitcairn towards healthy food for animals in casu dogs and cats seems logic and reasonable to me and he uses raw meat in his recipes so that's a plus too. Healthy powder is a mixture of the following ingredients. He uses it in all of his recipes and… I tasted it myself and it's not that bad at all ;) HEALTHY POWDER (recipe copyright of Richard H. Pitcairn,D.V.M.,Ph.D.) 2 cups (1 cup=250 gr) nutritional yeast (no beer yeast !) 1 cup lecithin granules 1/4 cup kelp powder (zeewier) 5 teaspoons eggshell powder optional 1000 mg vitanin C (I didn't use it) We just have to monitor Bendji for a few weeks to see if he does react positively to the yeast because some animals are allergic to it. And so far he loves it !! (in fact he loves everything that's eatable hahaha);) If you have more questions please feel free to contact me for more info.

I feed www.vetschoice.com The food I like is the Holistic Health Extension Little Bites and you can order it online and have it shipped directly to you.

What is Arlene weaning the puppies onto? Orijen has a good grain-free puppy kibble. I feed mine twice a day. The best schedule I have found for housetraining is to get them up and out to potty first thing then they play while I get breakfast together, they get their breakfast and then are out again after 20 minutes, usually for a short walk. The pup is then crated or ex-penned while we are at work. One of us comes home for lunch and the pup is pottied and played with so they are ready for an afternoon nap. When I get home they go out again and then play with the "big dogs". Everyone gets dinner between about 5-6pm then they are out for their evening walk about 20-30 minutes later. Then I make sure the pups get a good play session before bed and out to potty right before. Usually it takes a few weeks before they can hold it all night so plan on pee break in the middle of the night, just pick them up and out to potty then back to bed so they know it is for business and not play.

I give mine the Mother Hubbard Charcoal treats also… they are black and don't look very appetizing, but I guess they are supposed to help with dental health.

The issue with chocolate is theobromine. Carob contains theobromine but in much smaller quantities (somewhere similar or lower than white chocolate). So a dog would have to ingest a large quantity to have a problem. I see carob on hand baked dog treats at local pet boutiques. Based on that, I think probably a small amount infrequently wouldn't be a problem. For me personally though, I probably wouldn't give it to MY dogs…that is just me.

Oh… the things we do for our babies!! :)

Thanks to you both, Ivoss and Wizard. This isn't my first basenji, but it's my first time with health issues like this. Ivy just came to me the weekend before Thanksgiving and she's a treasure - the sweetest little lady ever. I want to do the best I can by her and I want her to be with me for many years to come, despite the cardiologist's bleak prognosis.

I'd be interested in learning the dosage as well as whether this will help with other stresses (I'm still working through Luny's separation/aloneness issue).